Hollywood:Starting out as an MV director

International United Media finally decided to package and sell its advertising business in batches.

The advertising channels of populous states would be bundled with those of less populous states.

This meant that to buy advertising rights in states with strong returns, one had to also purchase rights in states with weaker returns.

This arrangement avoided a scenario where everyone competed for populous states, leaving the less populous ones unsold.

When Fernando relayed this information back to the company, Ethan immediately began discussing the acquisition with Jimmy.

"It's now confirmed that they will split the advertising business into four parts: California, Texas, New York, and Florida."

Ethan marked these states on a map of the United States with a red pen. "Each economically developed state will be tied to several less developed ones. It seems the executives at International United Media are well aware of how terrible their advertising channels are in those smaller states."

"Otherwise, they wouldn't have been losing money," Jimmy shrugged. "So now it's turning into an auction or a sealed bid process?"

"Exactly," Ethan said, twirling the pen in his hand. "They're requiring all advertising companies to submit bids by the end of the month. Now, the only question is..."

"What question?"

"How do we obtain the other companies' bids?"

Ethan crossed his arms. "We don't have as much capital as other companies. If we want to win the bid for the prime regions, it's best to know their exact bids and slightly outbid them."

"But how could we possibly obtain their bids? This kind of information is surely kept confidential among the top executives and wouldn't be known even to their staff."

Jimmy thought for a moment but couldn't come up with a solution. This wasn't ordinary business intelligence.

For acquisitions involving such large sums, the figures were typically decided by the board of directors and delivered directly to the CEO, who would personally hand them over to the selling party.

Even if a secretary were involved, bribing the personal secretary of a top executive would be exceedingly difficult.

Given the number of participating companies, it seemed impossible to gather information on all of them.

Jimmy looked at Ethan helplessly.

But Ethan simply smiled. "Don't look so glum, Jimmy. In fact, we can approach this from a completely different angle."

"What do you mean?"

"While we can't bribe the internal staff of these major advertisers, that doesn't mean we can't learn their bids."

"What's your plan?" Jimmy raised an eyebrow.

"It's actually quite simple. Fernando has already done us a huge favor."

Ethan finished speaking and tossed the red pen onto the map, where it landed on California. The red dot it left resembled the decimal point in the bids listed on the companies' documents.

Within International United Media, Trist, the person in charge of the acquisition, held the board's minimum expected bid amounts for each advertising channel.

For example, California's minimum bid was $60 million.

Texas was $50 million.

New York was $20 million.

While New York's name might be famous, the state of New York was not synonymous with New York City.

Outside New York City, the state contained many sparsely populated and underdeveloped areas. The city's prominence gave people a skewed perception of the state.

But if anyone actually moved there, they might book a return flight home the next day, unwilling to stay even a moment longer.

Most of International United Media's advertising channels in New York were within the city, so the scale was not as extensive as in California or Texas.

Additionally, New York's higher labor and maintenance costs meant that bidding more than $20 million for New York would be a loss.

Nevertheless, New York's bidding activity was double that of other regions, likely due to the many advertising companies headquartered there.

Even Ogilvy & Mather planned to acquire both New York and California.

After reviewing the bid expectations, Trist instructed his trusted subordinate, Regin Stone, "In the coming days, each company's bid documents will arrive. Make sure they are delivered to my desk immediately upon receipt. Understood?"

"Rest assured," Regin, with his black hair neatly combed, nodded. "I'll personally handle the bids."

"Good." After providing a few more instructions, Trist dismissed Regin.

In the hallway, Regin adjusted his sleeve, glanced left and right, and then returned to his office with a sly smile. He pulled out a bank card from his pocket.

If all went as planned, this card would soon receive a $200,000 deposit.

This was a "token of appreciation" from a certain advertising company for his work, which he considered simple.

All he needed to do was glance at the bid amounts and ensure that a slightly higher bid, say $1 million more, was submitted at the last moment.

With Fernando's help, Regin had gained this opportunity, which he saw as a win-win-win:

The company would earn an extra $1 million, the advertiser would secure the desired channels, and he would pocket a tidy sum.

A perfect arrangement, as far as Regin was concerned.

Through Regin's leaks, Ethan and Jimmy effortlessly obtained all the companies' bids.

"California's highest bid is $72 million from Ogilvy & Mather, New York's is $31 million from HMG, and Texas' is $42 million from WAG. Florida... we can skip that one," Jimmy reported.

Ethan circled California on the map. "This one."

"Not New York? We could secure it without needing a loan," Jimmy suggested.

"No need," Ethan shook his head. "If we're going to bid, we'll aim for the best. New York is a money pit. Regin mentioned that California's channels are the most comprehensive and cost-effective. New York, on the other hand, is the exact opposite."

"True, but we only have $30 million."

"Don't worry. I've already asked Loren to negotiate with a bank for a $50 million loan."

"$50 million?!" Jimmy's jaw dropped. "We haven't even earned that much yet, and you want to spend it already?"

"To make money, you have to spend money," Ethan quipped. "Once we secure California's advertising channels, we can bundle our creative services with them for sale."

"Didn't International United Media lose money doing that?"

"Because their creativity was lacking," Ethan said confidently. "That's not a problem for Supreme Creativity."

Jimmy nodded in understanding. Over the past year, Ethan had hired and trained numerous creative talents, making the company less reliant on him.

"So, we just need to put up $73 million, right?" Jimmy felt a twinge of pain in his heart as he uttered such a staggering amount.

"Yes, that's the price. Go ahead and draft the bid."

"Should I deliver it now?" With only half a day left until the bidding deadline, it seemed unlikely any new bids would be submitted.

Ethan nodded but suddenly called out just as Jimmy opened the door: "Wait, Jimmy."

"What?" Jimmy turned back, puzzled.

"Prepare two additional bids besides the $73 million one."

"Why, Ethan? Is it really necessary to be this cautious?" Jimmy was confused.

"Emmmm..." Ethan leaned back in his chair, spinning a red pen in his hand. "Although we got the intel from Reggie, there's no guarantee others don't have the same channel. Never underestimate anyone, Jimmy."

"Alright." Jimmy agreed. "I'll just write the numbers by hand."

"Do as you see fit."

Meanwhile, Reggie from International Allied Media was sitting anxiously on his sofa, waiting for the bid from Supreme Creative. As long as he secured the bid, his $200,000 commission would be in the bag.

However, he waited and waited, and no one came to submit the bid. Reggie frowned, unsure what Supreme Creative was up to.

Time ticked closer to 5:30 PM, leaving only half an hour before the deadline.

The door suddenly knocked, and a secretary walked in, saying, "Ogilvy & Mather has submitted another bid."

"What did you say?" Reggie was stunned. "Didn't they already submit a bid?"

"Yes, but they said they wanted to submit a revised one."

"Tch..." Reggie felt the situation becoming tricky. He hadn't expected such a move.

"Alright, bring me the bid."

The secretary handed the bid to Reggie. He glanced at his watch. "Go make me a cup of coffee."

After the secretary left, Reggie quickly tore open the package.

He found that Ogilvy & Mather had raised their bid for California to $74 million.

Reggie restored the package to its original state and was about to use his phone to notify Supreme Creative when the secretary suddenly burst in, startling him into sitting on his phone.

"What is it?" Reggie asked, trying to calm his pounding heart.

The secretary replied, "Crown Creative has submitted their bid."

"Crown?" Reggie furrowed his brow before quickly relaxing.

He had planned to stall for time but decided to take a look at Crown's bid first. "Alright, bring them in."

"Understood."

A few seconds later, a thin man walked in.

"Hello!" Reggie got up to greet him. The man smiled and introduced himself, "Hi, I'm Sig, CEO of Crown Creative."

After sitting down, Sig didn't immediately hand over the bid. Instead, he launched into a discussion about his company.

This went on for over ten minutes, and Reggie's impatience was almost palpable. Finally, the secretary walked in to announce Supreme Creative's bid had arrived, prompting Sig to stop talking.

"Here are our three bids." Sig handed over Crown's documents, then left the office with a polite smile.

"Bring in the representative from Supreme Creative."

Having wasted so much time, Reggie felt exasperated.

Without passing on the intel to Supreme Creative, it seemed unlikely they could win the bid.

Still, out of curiosity, he quickly glanced at Crown Creative's bid.

$74.5 million for California, $32 million for New York, and $43 million for Florida.

Every bid was the highest, not only showcasing Crown Creative's financial resources but also their capabilities.

The $74.5 million for California was particularly striking, an unmistakable jab at Ogilvy & Mather's management.

Reggie's eyelid twitched. He had no idea where Crown Creative had come from, as he hadn't heard much about them last year.

Moments later, Jimmy walked in with Supreme Creative's bid.

At Reggie's instruction, the secretary went to pour coffee. As soon as she left, Reggie leaned forward and said, "It's unfortunate... Two companies have submitted higher bids."

"Higher? Who?" Jimmy asked calmly.

"Ogilvy and Crown. California's highest bid is now $74.5 million, and New York is..." Reggie quickly whispered the numbers. When the secretary returned, he resumed his formal tone.

Jimmy, unperturbed, calmly retrieved one of the three bids from the stack and handed it to Reggie.

"This is Supreme Creative's bid."

"Got it. Anything else?"

"Nope." Jimmy sipped his coffee, smiled at the secretary, and then left without hesitation.

Reggie was puzzled by Jimmy's indifferent demeanor, as though he didn't care about the other companies' bids.

Regardless, Reggie's $200,000 was gone.

Not bothering to look at Supreme Creative's bid, he handed all three companies' documents to Tristan's desk.

.....

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