Chapter 444: The Tisch Brothers

After Arthur expressed his interest in acquiring CBS, Lawrence Tisch quickly consulted with his brother, Preston Tisch.

"Arthur Smith, $5.2 billion. That's a decent price," Preston Tisch pondered for a moment.

"What do you think of him?"

Lawrence shook his head, "His rise to prominence has been too fast, but he does have quite a few connections in Washington. And besides, you saw how Galaxy is growing; Westinghouse can't hold a candle to them!"

Preston glanced at his elder brother, "In broadcasting, our primary focus is the news segment."

"Forget about CNN for a moment; NBC is forming MSNBC with Microsoft, and FOX is building FNC," he continued. "Soon, there will be a growing number of competitors in the news sector."

Lawrence nodded, "What worries me is that after Galaxy acquires CBS, the news channels may go through some changes. Let's face it; Galaxy is no rookie in the television industry. Perhaps CBS won't operate under the old Jewish factions anymore!"

"But the situation at Loews is not great right now; selling CBS is part of our strategy," Preston Tisch replied, hoping to find a Jewish group to take over. Disney originally seemed like a great fit since the upper management, aside from Roy Disney, was predominantly Jewish.

However, Disney had only offered $4.5 billion for CBS, which was even less than Westinghouse; now, Disney was turning its attention towards Capital Cities/ABC.

...

Meanwhile, Arthur was horseback riding back with Kate Beckinsale, and in the afternoon, they returned to the pool for a swim!

"Hmm," Arthur embraced Kate Beckinsale as they kissed in the pool.

The sexy bikini accentuated Kate Beckinsale's allure even more.

"Hey, isn't there an investment summit at the Cabin Lodge later?" Kate grinned while hugging the man.

"Yeah, we still have time," Arthur replied, gently caressing her. "So, have you been having fun these days?"

"Yeah, it's been an amazing graduation trip! GoldenEye is about to hit theaters; we should head back for the premiere."

...

With the Summer Sun Valley Summit taking place, Hollywood quickly buzzed with new developments:

Disney was set to acquire Capital Cities/ABC;

Galaxy was planning to purchase CBS!

The mergers of Hollywood movie companies with television groups had become inevitable.

With the backing of TPG, Fidelity Investments, Merrill Lynch, Berkshire Hathaway, and other investment firms, Galaxy, following Arthur's orders, officially approached the CBS board with a bid;

They were now in competition with Westinghouse!

...

In Los Angeles, in Arthur's office at Galaxy headquarters in Glendale, Arthur sat in his chair discussing matters over the phone with Leon Panetta, the White House Chief of Staff. "I understand Loews' concerns," he said. "I don't care about any Jewish interests; I just know that Galaxy won't back out now that we've decided to acquire CBS. Westinghouse is also looking to merge its broadcasting network with CBS; I need Washington's support for this nationwide television network acquisition!"

The KDKA radio station, which had gone on air in the 1920s, was set up by Westinghouse in Pittsburgh and was the world's first true radio station.

Now, Westinghouse primarily focused on power equipment manufacturing. As for TV stations? Their outlook was rather bleak, similar to General Electric's NBC.

"CBS," Leon Panetta contemplated a moment over the phone, "The White House will send someone to lobby the Tisch brothers at Loews. However, the competition between Galaxy and Westinghouse is mainly on price!"

"Don't worry, Galaxy will start the IPO soon..."

If Galaxy went public, it would encourage investors to contribute willingly and would make it easier to persuade CBS board members and shareholders.

Before long, Arthur gathered company executives Tom Rothman, Amy Pascal, Nick Davis, and consultant Jim Colt in the meeting room to discuss.

...

On the meeting room's television, Galaxy spokesperson Kate Beckinsale was responding to media inquiries.

In New York City's Times Square, Summer Redstone sat seriously on a couch in the Viacom headquarters office.

"Mr. Redstone, both Disney's acquisition of Capital Cities/ABC and Galaxy's acquisition of CBS have been formally acknowledged," reported Redstone's assistant, Philip Dorman.

"TBS, ABC, CBS -- looks like they're all changing hands at the same time," Summer expressed helplessly. Viacom also wanted to acquire a national network, but after continuously acquiring Paramount and Betamax, Viacom had fallen deep into debt. Currently, they were selling off unnecessary assets to lighten their load.

Philip Dorman understood his boss's concerns; however, Viacom simply did not possess the capacity for major acquisitions at that moment.

Selling MSG and stakes in Simon & Schuster and USA Network only aimed to alleviate the financial burden.

"Comcast acquired QVC, and Barry Diller has left QVC!" Philip changed the subject.

"Just a dog without a home," Summer shrugged, not caring much about Barry Diller now and feeling less than satisfied with Paramount's performance.

Despite the positive reception of Braveheart, its North American box office results were unimpressive at just $65 million.

Paramount's biggest summer hit turned out to be a jungle adventure about a battle between humans and gorillas, Congo, grossing $75 million!

Galaxy had My Best Friend's Wedding and Toy Story, and now they had GoldenEye about to premiere.

Universal had Apollo 13 and Ghost, 20th Century Fox had Die Hard with a Vengeance, Warner Brothers had Batman Forever, and Disney had Pocahontas -- each had summer releases exceeding $100 million.

But what about Paramount? Nothing!

Paramount's position at the bottom was pretty much set. Summer took a deep breath, "You need to have a serious talk with Sherry Lansing and make her understand the importance of film to the company."

Philip nodded, "Paramount is currently collaborating with Tom Cruise's studio for the spy action film Mission: Impossible. With Tom Cruise's star power, it's bound to be a blockbuster!"

Last year, Warner Brothers' Tom Cruise film Interview with a Vampire had grossed $220 million globally.

Was Mr. Summer Redstone already dissatisfied with Sherry Lansing?

*****

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