César Chávez Avenue was part of Sunset Boulevard, named after the Mexican-American labor leader César Chávez. The Starbucks in the middle of the street had won over white-collar workers in America and around the world with its trendy, minimalist style.
Once I've got more money to spare, Starbucks might be a pretty good investment target.
Thinking about how Starbucks would one day spread all across China, along with its soaring market value, Bruce couldn't help but have the thought.
Maybe it was because he wanted success and wealth so badly, but aside from writing books and building companies, investing now took up more of his mind than anything else.
Pushing open the glass door and stepping inside, he quickly spotted a middle-aged Black man sitting in one corner, dressed in a black suit, somewhat overweight, with a troubled look on his face. Bruce walked straight over.
"Mr. Morris?"
"And you must be Mr. Gu?" The man looked up, then quickly rose to his feet.
"That's right."
"Hello. I'm Buddy Morris, owner of Morris Pictures."
"Nice to meet you."
After a simple handshake and a few polite words, the two sat back down.
"Mr. Morris, I've brought the contract. If you don't have any objections, we can sign it right now. Once it's signed, we'll take over all of your company's bank debt. And the acquisition payment of 1.2 million dollars will be transferred to your account immediately afterward."
Buddy Morris took the contract Bruce handed him, but hesitation appeared on his dark face.
"Is there a problem with the contract?"
"No, none at all. But before I sign it, I hope you can agree to one condition."
"Mr. Morris, we already discussed the acquisition terms over the phone. And I believe the valuation report on Morris Pictures was accurate enough. If you're trying to raise the price at the last minute, I'm afraid I can't agree to that."
Bruce frowned slightly, his tone turning serious.
"No, no, you misunderstood. I'm not trying to raise the price. I just hope that after you acquire Morris Pictures, you'll try not to lay off the employees. They all have families to support. If they lose this job, a lot of them will lose their livelihood. And the company is only in this situation because of my own bad decision. I can't let everyone suffer because of my mistake."
Seeing the guilt on the man's face, Bruce fell into thought for a moment before nodding.
"I can agree to that."
"Really?" Buddy Morris asked in surprise.
"Of course."
The truth was, the reason Bruce had chosen this obscure little studio out of all the companies in Hollywood was precisely because, while it wasn't big, it had all the essential departments and a staff of experienced film workers. Even if Morris hadn't brought it up, Bruce had no intention of cutting them.
"That's wonderful! Mr. Gu, on behalf of everyone at Morris Pictures, thank you. And I promise you, they're some of the best people in this business."
Bruce smiled and accepted the gratitude.
"So, can we sign now?"
"Yes, yes, absolutely."
After signing and making sure there were no issues, Bruce looked up.
"Mr. Morris, can you take me to the company?"
"Right now?"
"Right now."
It was already getting close to evening, but Bruce had long since trained himself to treat every day as valuable. He had no interest in wasting time.
Buddy Morris nodded. He got up, left Starbucks with Bruce, and drove him to Santa Monica. Compared with Burbank, Universal City, and Wilshire Boulevard, Santa Monica was more popular with small independent film companies and private studios. Lionsgate was the biggest name there, and Morris Pictures was one of the many companies clustered around it.
Any company Bruce had his eye on was never some completely amateur operation. In fact, Morris Pictures had a certain level of recognition in Santa Monica—not in feature films, but in the niche field of documentary production.
Before trying to move into feature films, Morris Pictures had been making a steady profit of around 400,000 dollars a year just from documentaries. It had a production department, marketing, distribution, administration, and logistics, with about 150 employees and roughly 280 square meters of office space.
If Buddy Morris hadn't tried to transform the company into a full-fledged film production studio and suffered major losses because of a bad investment, there was no way 1.2 million dollars would have been enough to buy it.
"Boss!"
As the two entered, the blonde girl at the front desk immediately stood up.
"Heidi, I'm not the boss anymore."
Morris shook his head with a bitter smile.
A trace of sadness flashed across Heidi's fairly attractive face. When she looked at Bruce standing beside Morris, her eyes showed obvious tension and worry.
Bruce glanced at the two of them but said nothing, simply walking toward the office area. Morris waved for Heidi to get back to work, then quickly followed after him.
"Boss…"
As soon as Morris appeared, concern and unease spread through the office.
It was obvious everyone knew what was happening to the company. And if nothing unexpected happened, the young man walking in front was about to become their new boss.
Under the employees' complicated gazes, Bruce pushed open the door marked General Manager's Office. He sat down on the sofa in the guest area, then gestured to the sofa opposite him. Morris understood and sat down as well.
"Mr. Morris, I can tell these employees respect you a great deal."
Morris let out a sigh. "Maybe that's the only thing about all this that still gives me some comfort."
Bruce nodded.
"According to the information Merrill provided, Morris Pictures is being sold because a failed investment left the company unable to repay five million dollars in bank loans?"
"That's right."
"Can you tell me the details?"
Morris gave a bitter nod.
"I got greedy."
He paused before continuing.
"My biggest dream has always been to build Morris Pictures into a major film studio—something like Lionsgate or DreamWorks. So last year, we started investing in feature films. At first, our luck wasn't bad. Two horror movies both turned a profit. Not much, but enough to give me confidence. So this year, we decided to go bigger. Morris Pictures put up 3 million dollars of its own, and then borrowed another 5 million from the bank to shoot a drama feature."
"What's the title?"
"Legally Blonde."
"You mean Legally Blonde?"
Bruce froze for a moment, then his eyes widened.
Morris didn't understand the sudden reaction, but he nodded seriously.
"Legally Blonde… Legally Blonde…"
Bruce repeated the name to himself a few times, then took a deep breath and suppressed the shock and excitement rising inside him. He might not remember exactly which company had produced and distributed the film in his previous life, but he knew the title very well. He had watched it more than once online, and he clearly remembered that it had done extremely well at the box office.
"Where's the finished cut?"
Bruce asked quickly.
If things were really what he thought they were, then this acquisition was about to turn into a huge win.
"It's not finished yet."
Morris shook his head with a bitter smile.
"Not finished?"
"No. When we first made the budget, it was set at 8 million dollars. But after we used up all of that money, only about two-thirds of the film had been completed. To finish the remaining part, plus post-production, we'd need more than another 5 million. We don't have that kind of money. And the bank loan is almost due…"
"You never thought about bringing in another film company as a partner?"
"Of course I did. But with the Nasdaq crisis and the economy slowing down, everybody's become cautious about high-risk film investments. Even the companies that were willing to consider taking it over offered extremely harsh terms."
Bruce nodded in understanding. He was just about to speak when hurried footsteps sounded outside, rushing closer and closer. Then the office door was slammed open.
"Buddy, I just talked with the people from MGM. They're willing to put up 500,000 dollars, take on all the bank debt, and buy all the rights to Legally Blonde plus the footage that's already been shot—"
The excited middle-aged man stopped when he noticed there was a stranger in the room.
"Robert, let me introduce you. This is Bruce Gu, an investor from San Francisco. We just signed the acquisition contract. Morris Pictures isn't mine anymore."
Morris turned toward Bruce.
"Mr. Gu, this is the director of Legally Blonde, Robert Luketic."
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