[Chapter 805: The Buyer]
Feeling vaguely that someone was watching her, Christina Aguilera opened her eyes and happened to notice Eric smiling at her from the open door.
"Good morning, Eric," she greeted softly.
"I saw you sleeping so soundly that I wasn't sure whether to wake you," Eric said, coming in. "Why don't you rest here for the next few days? Your place isn't as nice as this. I ordered breakfast for you, so when you get up, just call room service. They'll bring it up. If you need anything else, you can also call my assistant," Eric said, placing a small card on the nightstand. "Here's his number."
Feeling a little downcast, Christina looked at Eric and asked, "Are you going to work?"
"Yeah, it's already eight o'clock. Hundreds of people are waiting for me," Eric replied.
Christina nodded obediently, saying, "Okay, then, goodbye."
"Goodbye," Eric leaned closer and kissed her cheek. Christina, feeling bolder, lifted her head and kissed him back, playfully sticking out her tongue to give his cheek a quick lick.
Eric didn't mind at all and laughed, "You're just like a little kitten."
Christina giggled, "Eric, you seem to really like cats."
"No, I don't like cats. I like women who are like cats -- docile, lazy, mysterious, but also wild and untamed at times."
Christina blinked rapidly, asking, "Then can I be your little kitten?"
"Sure thing," Eric chuckled, pinching her cheek playfully. He stood up and said, "I'm heading to work. When I have some time off this week, I'll take you out. Where do you want to go?"
Excitement lit up Christina's face, but she hesitated, saying, "I'm not familiar with Venice. I'll go wherever you go, Eric."
"That won't work. The Venice Film Festival is about to start, and with us filming here, there are too many reporters around. We'll definitely get mobbed. We need to get away a bit. How about Paris?"
Christina's mind didn't quite catch up. Of course, she wanted to go to Paris -- what girl didn't dream of it? But with the crew only having one day off a week, was it realistic to go that far?
Seeing the confusion on her face, Eric chuckled, not needing to explain further. "Then it's settled, Paris it is. I'm off to work, so you just keep sleeping. Wake up whenever you like."
She waved her hand at Eric as he left, and once she heard the faint sound of the door closing, she waited a moment before finally getting out of bed.
...
Christina first called her assistant, Miliya, and vaguely explained that she had stayed over at Eric's hotel last night. She told her assistant to manage her schedule for the next few days as she hung up, then ordered breakfast from room service to fill her stomach before crashing back on the bed.
When Christina finally woke up, it was already evening, and the thick curtains let little light through.
Hearing faint voices from the living room, she tiptoed to dress and opened the door, finding only Eric in the living room on the phone.
Noticing Christina had come out, Eric nodded and pointed to the couch opposite him.
Christina walked over and sat down, dressed in a fitted T-shirt and jeans, barefoot. The clean floor felt slightly cold without any carpet, so she curled her legs up, hugging a pillow while listening quietly to Eric on the phone.
"If that's the case, we can accept the $300 million price," Eric said, holding the phone while glancing through a blue folder resting on his lap, discussing something important with someone on the other end. "However, we can't budge on the payment deadline. Amblin wants the rights to The Matrix, so they must pay in full as soon as the contract is signed. It's just $300 million, Jeffery. With Microsoft backing Amblin, if they truly want to make this deal, they can manage it."
Christina couldn't help but gasp at the casual mention of $300 million. She knew Firefly was selling the rights to the sequel of The Matrix but hadn't realized it was worth that much.
Eric caught Christina's small reaction and waved his hand at her, signaling her not to be silly.
Christina shrank back, giving him a smile.
"And there's one more thing," Eric continued after finishing up with the Matrix discussion. "I've seen the final cut of Titanic, and aside from the end theme, there's nothing wrong with it. Jim flew back to LA this morning to handle the new end song, which I wrote myself. Can you have the record department coordinate to get it sorted out before the Venice Film Festival opening? And we can kick off the promotional work now. I'm not planning on compressing any further, so have the distribution department come up with a solid marketing plan."
"..."
"Bad Boys II?" Eric hesitated then thought about it. "Let's not release it alongside Titanic. I know you're not confident in this film. We have no say in other studios' plans, but Firefly can't sabotage itself. Let's push it back to next summer. This sequel should be strong enough to hold its own in the summer..."
After hanging up, Eric saw Christina poking her head curiously. He smiled and waved her over.
Christina got up and settled beside Eric, curling her legs and leaning against him while glancing at the documents on his lap. "Eric, what's this?"
Eric knew she wasn't really interested but was just looking for a conversation starter. "Nothing much -- just some copyright transfer agreements."
Christina glanced at the file but didn't pry. "Is it about The Matrix?"
"Yeah," Eric nodded, flipping back to the front page of the file, then feeling Christina lean against him, he chuckled, keeping his gaze on the documents, changing the topic. "What do you want for dinner?"
With Eric shifting the conversation, she absentmindedly replied, "I don't really know... what I had for breakfast was... um, nice."
"Breakfast?" Eric teased. "Never mind. Just call room service and have them send a menu up. Pick whatever you want."
"Okay," Christina nodded.
"Just take it easy and rest for these next few days," Eric said with a smile, gently pinching her cheek. "If you don't want to stay here, you can always go back to that street hotel."
Hearing this, Christina felt relieved and smiled sweetly. "I'm not leaving. I'll just call for the menu."
Saying that, she jumped off the couch and picked up the mobile phone Eric had just set down to start dialing.
Eric chuckled to himself and returned his attention to the documents.
...
Being away from Hollywood had kept Eric from witnessing the wild happenings lately, especially surrounding the sale of The Matrix's copyrights.
It was evident, just as Eric initially suspected, that the studio most interested in The Matrix was Amblin, powered by Microsoft's behind-the-scenes backing. Of course, other major studios were also involved in this copyright competition to varying degrees.
Firefly was certainly not going to hastily sell the Matrix rights without due diligence. In fact, many executives were reluctant to sell it outright, just dragging the matter along in hopes that it would fizzle out over time. Hence, when negotiating with interested studios, Firefly held a firm stance.
In this situation, companies like Paramount with more conservative management progressively withdrew, leaving only Warner Bros., Universal, and Amblin standing their ground.
However, the stringent conditions proposed by Firefly led to Warner and Universal dropping out, leaving only Amblin willing to meet Firefly's demands.
Under the preliminary agreement, Amblin would acquire the rights to the future film production and distribution of The Matrix for $300 million cash. The agreement did not restrict Amblin to just two sequels; in fact, if Amblin ever wanted to reboot the series, Firefly wouldn't object. Of course, most fans of The Matrix already knew the script issues for the trilogy, and it was unlikely Amblin would change it under pressure after this sale.
However, the agreement also stipulated that Firefly retained the development rights for all non-film-related aspects, such as comics, video games, and toys related to The Matrix series, including characters from the sequels. Firefly would not take part in any revenue sharing from theatrical, DVD, or tape releases of The Matrix sequel, while concurrently, Amblin would also have no claim to any of the ancillary profits from the franchise.
Though Amblin had great ambitions, it was still in its infancy and needed to focus on establishing its distribution networks. Thus, it agreed to this deal. Meanwhile, developing peripheral products was precisely what Firefly excelled at.
With The Matrix's first installment grossing around $600 million worldwide, Firefly had earned over $300 million just from theater viewership and tape distribution.
Even if the Matrix sequel didn't repeat past mistakes, Firefly still wouldn't lose out on this deal. With the American economy recovering overall, recouping $300 million in cash ahead of time -- whether allocated to entertainment or tech -- Eric was confident he could multiply that investment several times in the coming years.
Although outsiders viewed Firefly's recent profits as alarming, Eric knew the truth: Firefly had been in a heavy cash burn period for years, quickly turning most of its profits back into further investments within its various subsidiaries.
To minimize tax burdens, Eric began considering making direct investments in Firefly's subsidiaries under the Firefly Group name. This would, although indirectly, lead the 27% minority shareholders into the Firefly system. Still, it would save on many tax liabilities by skipping intermediate steps.
When excess funds directly converted to project investments, Firefly Group's pre-tax profits would significantly drop, allowing for reduced corporate tax obligations. For a company of Firefly's scale, the pre-tax profit tax rate hitting 35% was considerably higher than the 27% for minority shareholders. Investing in shares would also gain favor with these shareholders, reinforcing Eric's control over Firefly and garnering support from the influences they represented. However, if handed over to the IRS, Firefly would gain no substantial return.
Thinking about all this, Eric decided he would address the issue of Clover Holdings -- originally a Disney investment company -- during his next call with Katzenberg. Clover had always operated on a small scale and, unless someone closely examined Firefly Group's balance sheet, many wouldn't even notice its existence.
While Disney had expanded rapidly, it hadn't much interest in outside investments. Clover's most notable project was the $20 million investment aimed at building the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. However, that project had yet to generate any profit since it primarily served to enhance the Disney family's public presence and was largely philanthropic in nature.
Currently, though, this investment company could serve as a direct window through which the Firefly Group could invest externally. American corporate law is quite flexible, not restricting companies to specific fields of operation -- similar to Berkshire Hathaway, originally a textile mill that has evolved into a comprehensive holding group involved in insurance, bookstores, beverages, candy, and entertainment.
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