Chapter 308: 306. How much value does your so-called brother actually have?
Having dealt with the Liu sisters, and given enough time, I believe there's a chance they can help me win over Little Liu.
With my silver tongue, being both eloquent and flattering, Liu Yifei's immature mindset makes her the easiest to sway at her age.
After attending the opening ceremony, Elena, that saucy woman, somehow found out he was in New York and invited him to meet.
The two hadn't seen each other in several months, only occasionally contacting each other through calls or texts.
He initially thought she was inviting him to drum up business or, well, for a quickie.
It turned out Eric was half right; they did have a quickie in the hotel bathroom. Afterward, Elena revealed her true intentions.
"Eric, I know you must be curious how I knew you were in New York. The answer is simple: Ashley told me."
Cutting a piece of steak to replenish his energy, Eric glanced at her: "So, you still keep track of my whereabouts? Through her?"
"Not really, just occasionally. I was worried it would arouse suspicion from Ashley and Mary, but seeing how they talk about you, your relationship must be going well."
"Yes, it's very good, excellent even. My relationship with Little Elizabeth is also great."
"I know. You often take her to Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch to play."
"Haha. It seems you really do know a lot. What's the real reason you asked me out today? It can't just be for a fancy meal, can it?"
After a pause, Elena suddenly said, "I'm preparing to resign, resign from Morgan."
"Hmm?"
Eric put down his cutlery: "Why? What happened? Your position isn't low; with more effort, you should be able to climb higher. Why resign?"
"I tried, but I didn't get the desired outcome. Now my arch-rival has taken the position, and I'm having a very difficult time."
Seeing her mood was a bit low, Eric held her hand and comforted her: "Elena, my dear, many things don't yield rewards just by effort. You need to be more open-minded."
"If that son of a bitch had defeated me through professional competence, I would, of course, accept it. But that bastard played dirty behind my back."
As she spoke, she stared intently at Eric: "Speaking of which, this matter is related to you."
"Related to me? What are you talking about?"
"Hmph, do you remember when you asked me to approve that irregular loan? Although it didn't cause substantial losses to the bank in the end, I was attacked because of that incident, and then things turned into what they are now."
Eric recalled that Elena did seem to have pulled strings for him, and not just once.
It was just that after he paid off the debt, he never had any dealings with the bank again.
"That was a year ago. Why bring up old scores? Besides, you also made a lot of money."
"I didn't say I didn't profit, so I don't hate you, but I did lose my job. It's a major blemish, at least I probably can't make it in this industry anymore."
"Uh, what do you want to do? Actually, with the money you've earned, normal financial investments would last you a lifetime. If you don't have a job, you don't have one."
"You could take a break, for example, go on a world tour, buy a beach villa for a vacation. Those are all good choices."
"Then why are you still striving? Eric, your net worth has already exceeded ten billion. Why are you still working? Why are you still going head-to-head with The Big Six?" Elena retorted.
"That's different. I'm only in my twenties. You can't expect me to retire now, can you? Many people are depending on me for their livelihoods."
"One decision of mine can affect the livelihoods of tens of thousands of families. This isn't something you can just let go of."
"So am I very old?"
"Of course not, you're always so charming in my eyes!"
"Bastard, that mouth of yours always knows how to please women."
Mmm.
After a passionate kiss, Elena licked the corner of her mouth: "Eric, I want to ask you for a favor."
"Tell me, as long as I can."
"Ashley and the others know about my current situation, so they invited me to work at Dual Star Entertainment, but you are the largest shareholder."
"I can't just go there and be a nobody. This requires your consent. They respect your opinion, and so do I."
"Do you want to see a woman past her prime wandering the streets? Or do you want to give her a warm home? The decision is in your hands."
The true intentions were finally revealed. After all that talk, Elena finally stated her real purpose. It seemed the Olsen Sisters sent her.
Dual Star Entertainment, after more than a year of Eric's infiltration and reorganization, now had many internal personnel who had been placed there by him.
It wasn't that he didn't trust the Olsen Family, but mainly because when he first became the major shareholder, his relationship with the Olsen Sisters wasn't stable enough.
To be on the safe side, he naturally had to be fully prepared.
And after such a long period of development, Dual Star Entertainment's main source of profit had shifted from primarily selling merchandise related to the two sisters to primarily selling merchandise licensed by MGM.
Interest is always the most stable adhesive. Now, Eric no longer had to worry about the Olsen Family having ill intentions.
Unless they could find a more powerful and suitable collaborator, but the premise would also be to get back the 45% stake in Eric's hands.
Is that possible? Absolutely not!
The meat he had eaten, he would not spit out without a greater exchange of benefits.
What's more, according to his plan, Dual Star Entertainment would gradually merge with Hasbro. Once realized, it would be an inextricable tangle.
When relationships become too complex, no one can shake his position as the supreme overlord.
Given the overall stability of the situation, letting Elena in was actually fine.
Even if he gave her the CEO position, she wouldn't dare to act recklessly; major decisions would still require Eric's approval.
"Dual Star Entertainment, what position do you want?"
Elena instantly perked up: "Financial Director. I think this is a suitable position. I have relevant experience and certifications."
"I also don't want to make things difficult for you right away, although I believe I can handle more important positions."
"Finance, hmm, it does suit you quite well."
Eric tapped the table lightly: "Let me think. The current head of that department is Yellen. He works hard and hasn't made a single mistake in all these years."
"Perhaps it's time for him to advance further. Yellen should be very grateful to you."
Seeing him agree, Elena almost clapped her hands with joy. After all, she was only in her thirties, not even as old as Nicole.
"Thank you, you've helped me a lot, my dear. If we hadn't just, well, used it, I'd really want the little guy to enjoy it again right now."
"Don't jump to conclusions, perhaps you can try." Eric raised his eyebrows.
Rolling her eyes at him, Elena slowly bent down under the table, and the scene from Flinthill played out again.
Since The Voice ended, UTA's development has been very smooth.
More than two months of national tours not only boosted the popularity and exposure of the top eight contestants but also filled the company's coffers.
Although the Chinese music scene is a mess, singing is far less profitable than acting.
But in the highly developed music industry of the United States, singers earn money no less quickly than movie stars.
After the pandemic, this trend became even more apparent.
Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Mars Bro, and Cyril also released their first albums after the tour, including the songs from the final night.
Although only a week has passed since their songs were released, the Billboard charts have been thrown into chaos.
Unsurprisingly, four songs simultaneously entered the top ten of the overall chart, sending many big names scrambling.
After 11 consecutive weeks at number one, "Let It Go" finally relinquished its throne.
Katy Perry's "Stronger" successfully seized the high ground, taking her first Billboard number one.
Closely followed was Cyril's "Sugar," with its fast-paced rhythm having a relative advantage.
Although the studio version lacked the ambiance of the live performance, it smoothed out the flaws in the live delivery.
Every song sounded flawless and flowed naturally.
Still in third place was "Let It Go"; Queen Elsa remained incredibly strong, and it is expected to continue to hover in the top ten of the charts until the summer blockbusters completely end.
Mars Bro ranked sixth on the chart, while Taylor Swift was slightly behind at ninth.
However, one of Taylor Swift's self-composed country-style songs climbed to 12th place, and several others also entered the overall chart, highlighting the young Taylor Swift's songwriting ability.
In terms of album sales, all four broke through 150,000 copies, ranking among the top ten this week.
Don't think 150,000 copies sold is a low number.
My lord, times have changed.
From the late 1990s, the global album and record market began to decline overall, and after the millennium, the decline accelerated even more rapidly.
Especially with the rise of online media, many music fans chose to listen to and download songs online, further targeting the recording industry.
Since 1991, Nielsen Music started tracking U.S. record sales data.
The highest single-week sales record was in December 2000, with a total of 45.4 million units sold in one week, and annual sales exceeding 785 million units.
At that time, some organizations and individuals even thought the recording industry was going to revive, but it turned out to be just a brief resurgence, followed by a continuous decline.
If you push the time back 10 years, this data would shrink to 4.9 million units, with annual sales of only 289 million units.
To give two very intuitive examples, Avril's iconic album "Let Go" in 2002 sold less than 90,000 copies in its first week, yet it ranked 8th on the charts.
In 2013, "Let It Go," with the boost of movie promotion, sold only 86,000 copies in one week.
During this period, although singers like Adele, whose album sales could rival ancient mythical beasts, emerged, there was ultimately only one Adele, and the development of the global recording industry continued to decline.
In this broader environment, the album sales of the four were already impressive enough, with multiple agencies predicting that all four albums would go platinum.
Platinum means sales of over 1 million copies, gold is 500,000 copies, and diamond is 10 million copies.
Of course, this is the American standard. If you switch the region to the UK, there will be an additional standard for silver records.
Silver record is 60,000 sales, gold record is 100,000, platinum is 500,000, and there is no concept of diamond.
Japan has gold records at 100,000, platinum at 250,000, and diamond at 1 million, making it one of only two countries outside the US to set a diamond record standard.
South Korea has gold records at 0.5 copies and platinum at 10,000 copies.
Taiwan's early standards were gold at 25,000 and platinum at 50,000, later changed to gold at 15,000 and platinum at 30,000.
Hong Kong's standards have also been continuously lowered.
All of these clearly reflect the decline of the recording industry and the differing levels of development in music industries across various regions.
Why does "Singer 2024" get trounced by international acts domestically? You're decades behind them, so getting trounced is quite normal, isn't it?
So, when you see a certain young idol receive a platinum certification, don't get too excited. Look closely at the region of certification, the difference is truly enormous.
If it's an online era certification, like Tencent Music's own standard system, its authority is merely for entertainment, to amuse brainless fans.
They no longer use album or single sales as the basis for judgment, but rather how much money was made.
For example, when Lu Han or Hua Chenyu claim to have achieved diamond record status by selling 10 million RMB, it sounds incredibly impressive.
But if you convert 10 million RMB into the price of records, it actually equates to selling around two to three hundred thousand copies, and the effect immediately diminishes significantly.
My brother's album sold 10 million copies versus my brother's album sold 200,000 copies.
How much value does your so-called brother actually have?
As the music industry has developed to this point, the last diamond record was Adele's "21," a true swan song!
Aside from the four who are busy touring the country to promote their music, Michael is still on his national tour.
When it comes to making money, he is UTA's most formidable money-making machine.
Although cooperation with Sony is no longer possible, Universal has extended an olive branch, hoping to host his global tour.
Currently, both sides are in further negotiations. Michael is no longer the lone artist he once was; he is the boss of UTA and has the power to demand more.
As October arrived, the weather turned decidedly cooler, and people now needed to wear jackets when going out.
But Los Angeles remained a hot city, as the world's most famous stars converged there.
The ArcLight Theater was a prime example; tonight, it would host the premiere of "the hunger games."
As MGM's major film this year, the publicity was in full swing, and the premiere invited numerous stars to endorse it.
Eric walked the red carpet, holding Gadot's and Liu Yifei's hands.
Little Liu was incredibly excited; her first major film was finally about to be released.
At 17, it seemed she had suddenly achieved her ultimate life dream, and as a yellow-skinned person walking the Hollywood red carpet.
Besides Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Lucy Liu, Michelle Yeoh, and a mere handful of others, who else could achieve this? And while still a minor.
"I have already made history and am destined to be recorded in film history."
Liu Yifei thought to herself, her beautiful eyes constantly glancing in Eric's direction. She felt she could never leave that man in this lifetime.
With a roar from Leo the Lion, everyone was invigorated. It was time to experience this blockbuster produced by MGM.