Chapter 247: Beverly Hills

Xiaoling’er giggled noisily, unsure whether she was saying something or not. But something interesting happened—she stretched out her hands toward Xiao Ran. Xiao Ran immediately laughed and lowered his head to let her touch him, experiencing a different kind of satisfaction and joy.
“Dad!” Xiao Qing must have been brought over by his grandmother at some point. Seeing Xiao Ran holding his sister, she also stretched out her hands. “I want to hold her too…”
Xiao Ran glanced helplessly at Lin Qingxia and handed Xiaoling’er to her before picking up Xiao Qing. Lin Qingxia stared at Xiao Ran with envy, while his mother smiled so widely her eyes almost closed. “This is what a family should be like! Xiaoling’er is always so clingy to you—Qingxia is so jealous!”
Xiao Ran reflected that he used to dislike children, but now he loved them so much. People could change dramatically, to the point where even he found it hard to believe. Yet he had to admit that with these two children, their family life seemed to have a center and was filled with more laughter.
On the third day, Xiao Ran and his team arrived in Los Angeles. What people often refer to as Hollywood is actually the entire city of Los Angeles. The so-called Hollywood district now only includes Paramount and Universal (actually, just Paramount; Universal’s headquarters location couldn’t be found, so it was placed here). Universal has a Universal Studios theme park there, which is what local Chinese people consider Hollywood.
Tom “Pilock” Parker, the president of Universal Studios, was frustrated. He hadn’t expected the wealthy boss, Matsushita, to sell them like that. Glancing casually at the reporters preparing nearby, he couldn’t help but sneer. (Murdoch acquired American citizenship to facilitate competition, and since the WTO required China to open its television media market, theoretically, there should be no issues with nationality, allowing him to enter other countries’ television media industries.)
A few people soon came out. Pilock and his assistant exchanged a look, finding it amusing. He thought to himself that such a wealthy “Eastern miracle” still had to fly commercial flights—it would be more convenient to own a private plane.
But now he had no urge to laugh. Whether he could stay in his position depended on what his new boss decided. So, he had to memorize the boss’s appearance the night before. However, he found it difficult because he thought all Orientals looked the same.
Seeing a familiar young man smiling happily, accompanied by a group of people, Pilock guessed it was his boss. To confirm, he checked the newspaper. Then he stepped forward, extending his hand with a smile. “Chairman Xiao, welcome to Los Angeles!”
Xiao Ran narrowed his eyes slightly as he smiled at the man in his fifties. He understood this guy’s mindset well. But he didn’t plan to get rid of him—after all, having such a familiar person around was still very useful. So, he shook Pilock’s hand and said with a smile, “Mr. Pilock, I’m honored beyond words!”

Reporters swarmed over, with countless microphones and cameras pointed at Xiao Ran. Yang Guang and Monkey parted the crowd for him, clearing a path. At that moment, a female reporter pushed her way through and said, “Mr. Xiao, we’re from CNN. May I ask you…”
“I’m sorry, you know I just got off the plane and I’m very tired. Let’s talk another day, okay?” Xiao Ran replied kindly with fluent English before getting into the car amidst the questions. It was a Rolls-Royce, which made him feel sad as soon as he saw it.
After checking into the Beverly Hills Hotel, Xiao Ran introduced Han Long to Pailock. Yang Guang and Monkey inspected the room to ensure there were no hidden microphones or anything similar before nodding at Xiao Ran. Pailock watched their actions in confusion, not understanding what they were doing.
“Mr. Pailock, you’re a seasoned power figure in Hollywood. It’s a great honor for Universal to have your help!” After everyone sat down, Xiao Ran said with a smile, “So, I really hope you’ll continue as President of Universal and lead it toward glory!”
Upon hearing this, Pailock immediately felt relieved. No longer worried about losing his job, his expression softened. He thought to himself that these Chinese still needed him to manage the business. “Of course, Chairman Xiao. I’ll do my best.”
“However, you know about the stupid mistakes Sony made in Colombia, and I don’t intend to make the same errors!” Xiao Ran’s expression suddenly became serious. Mentioning Colombia made Pailock’s heart tighten slightly. Xiao Ran continued gravely, “So, Han Long will serve as vice president, and his subordinates will hold various positions in the film studio.”
Pailock broke into cold sweat. This meant that the people Xiao Ran brought would replace some others, and it seemed layoffs were inevitable. He quickly asked cautiously, “But this could likely lead to unemployment for others…”
Xiao Ran smiled slightly. In fact, he hadn’t brought many people—just those who would hold important positions at Universal. Han Long would supervise Pailock, and with Han Long in charge, Xiao Ran was confident that there wouldn’t be many financially disastrous films.
Actually, Xiao Ran had been training people like Han Long for a long time, helping them gradually adapt to North American sales strategies. For example, he sent Han Long to North America for half a year shortly after establishing the local branch, to investigate the market and understand what kind of movies were needed there. Now it was time to put him to use. As for those from Ghost North America, like Ge Wenqiu, they were the ones Xiao Ran needed to pay close attention to.
The next day, Xiao Ran attended a company meeting with senior executives. After meeting the heads of various departments, he said nothing more and let Han Long explain the company’s strategies to establish his authority.
“The headquarters believes that Universal can focus more on developing theme parks, while I and President Pailock will personally decide on film production and investment,” Han Long said. His name sounded powerful, but he was actually quite ordinary. However, since he was conveying Xiao Ran’s orders, it gave him an especially authoritative presence.

“Meanwhile, the headquarters’ branch in North America will become an independent subsidiary, and we will establish a strategic partnership with that company!” Han Long said in one breath, glancing at the executives seated on both sides of the long conference table before continuing, “The company will expand into theme parks, media, and cable television networks, and within five years, it will become the largest integrated entertainment company in North America!”
Han Long sat down. Seeing the executives discussing among themselves, Xiao Ran gently tapped the table a few times, stood up with firm determination, looked around, and then said in a strong voice, “The company’s American music division will be split off and merged with Tianlai Music Company. What are everyone’s thoughts?”
No one spoke. This wasn’t a shareholders’ meeting—once Xiao Ran made a decision, who could change it? After Tianlai acquired PolyGram like a snake swallowing an elephant, it became the world’s largest music company (as previously overlooked, PolyGram was indeed very powerful). If it could acquire music companies under Universal that held significant market shares, Tianlai would firmly take the top spot in the music industry.
In fact, Xiao Ran was quite cunning. He planned to have Universal focus on horizontal expansion, just like Disney, using its own brand to expand into television and other areas. By then, it could either continue operating or split off and sell Universal, keeping businesses like theme parks and television media for itself.
Don’t think Xiao Ran intended to engage in a loss-making venture. Just like Disney, which made movies, television shows, and operated theme parks, its market value reached nearly $40 billion by the late 1990s. After a few years of operation, with countless ideas and scripts in Phantom’s hands, selling Universal off at that point would surely yield billions in profits.
Of course, if it were Li Ka-shing, he would definitely do the same. This “Superman of Li” was best at such tactics. However, since Phantom Group focused on movies, and Xiao Ran wasn’t solely driven by profit, splitting off and selling the company was for now just a possible idea.
For all of Universal’s executives, Phantom taking over might not necessarily be a bad thing. The original owner, Panasonic, pursued an electronic entertainment path like Sony but didn’t want to be dragged down by its film business, offering little financial support either. Only through careful management had Panasonic managed to avoid losses over the past two years.
Phantom was different. Almost everyone here knew of Phantom’s existence. Its core business was movies, so this new owner would naturally be able to provide appropriate and sound strategies for management. Moreover, since it could acquire Universal, it must have quite a bit of money. So, securing such a wealthy backer was clearly advantageous.
Many decisions were made at this meeting. Xiao Ran didn’t make any major changes to Universal—after all, this was America, not Hong Kong, and he was well aware of that. Besides, Universal itself had no real problems; it was just frustrated by competition from peers.

Xiao Ran’s instructions to Han Long and Pylock were very simple: Phantom didn’t need financing for profitable films, nor did it need to expand through financing, as the headquarters would provide full financial support. Since Phantom had plenty of money, there was no need to share profits with others. The first distribution task for Phantom upon entering Universal, as assigned by Xiao Ran, was to handle “Jurassic Park.”

Unlike Hong Kong and Europe, Hollywood had passed anti-monopoly laws for the film industry as early as the 1940s and 1950s. These laws separated theater operators from film production and distribution companies, limiting the ownership stakes of production and distribution firms in theater chains to prevent them from colluding to suppress smaller companies.

Nevertheless, the Big Seven still held stakes in some of America’s five major theater chains: Regal, AMC, New Mark, Carmike, and Lux. These five chains, which were adapting to the times, accounted for at least 40% of all theaters and screens in the U.S. Universal controlled stakes in Regal, New Mark, and Lux, which together accounted for about a quarter of the over 20,000 screens currently in use. In fact, at the beginning of the 2000s, there were over 6,000 theaters in the U.S., yet it was rare to see more than 4,000 premiere theaters, proving that these major chains weren’t necessarily united.

Of course, Xiao Ran wasn’t worried about Universal’s films not having distribution channels, as Regal, New Mark, and Lux combined had over 2,000 theaters. Strictly speaking, the Big Seven’s current ownership structure was quite straightforward. For example, Phantom was able to acquire Universal outright thanks to Panasonic’s support.

By the late 1990s, Hollywood film companies had extremely chaotic ownership structures, with almost every company holding stakes in others, making it impossible to track where the financing went. Still, the Big Seven were active in acquiring theater chain stakes—Time Warner, for instance, also held stakes in Regal.

While Han Long and Pylock were busy making things right, sweating profusely, Xiao Ran watched with interest the people coming and going at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Among them were big stars and politicians, but only a few of them were familiar to Xiao Ran.

Soon, Xiao Ran met the person he had come to see: Ted Turner, Vice Chairman of Time Warner. This old man was a typical self-made gambler, and Xiao Ran held some respect for such a person.

Turner was only in his fifties, not too old, but when walking alongside Xiao Ran, he seemed like twilight compared to midday sun. As the leader of Hollywood, Turner personally coming to meet Xiao Ran was clearly no simple matter.

They entered a stylish café, sat down, and after ordering coffee, the wrinkled Turner looked at Xiao Ran and said, “Mr. Xiao, your arrival has shocked us all. Now we really want to understand what you mean. Of course, I assume you understand what I mean.”

Xiao Ran thanked the waiter before gently stirring the water in his glass. Turner clearly did not represent all of Hollywood, but his words reflected Warner’s views, which made things a bit tricky.
He had anticipated this and calmly stared into those blue eyes, saying, “Mr. Turner, I believe you understand that I’m not here to cause trouble. In the East, you’ll follow my rules; here, I can follow the local rules.”
Turner chuckled, took a sip of his drink, and said, “But do you know Hollywood’s rules? I suppose not. So, I think it’s necessary to tell you what’s required in Hollywood…”