The research and investigation of the American videotape rental industry lasted for nearly a month, and AC Nelson finally submitted a research report to Tao Yushu.

The conclusion is that the video tape rental industry is already a red ocean and it is not recommended to enter.

Tao Yushu directly ignored this conclusion, and what she needed more was the details in the report.

Cooperating with the information surveyed by Lin's Film employees and her personal visits these days, Tao Yushu has more confidence in entering the video tape rental industry.

In summary, this industry has gone through the stage of wild growth back then, but vigorously trying to achieve miracles is still the most effective way.

Just look at Blockbuster. In less than ten years, thousands of stores have been opened and tens of thousands of employees have been hired. Do you think it has any technical content?

If you want to talk about the biggest technical content, it is probably the inventory allocation of video tape resources.

"Or it's the calculation of late payment fees. Damn it, a videotape dared to take me $40 off! The Federal Taxation Bureau is not as cruel as them!"

The talk was Willmont Reed Hastings Jr., a partner of Mark Randolph, whose companies were facing acquisition.

After Mark Randolph found a new direction, the first thing he thought about was to bring his old partner to the new company, and Reed became the financial officer of the new company.

The late payment fee he mentioned is exactly what Blockbuster is most tainted by its customers.

Blockbuster only charges late fees every year, accounting for 16% of their revenue, which is as high as hundreds of millions of dollars.

There is almost no cost.

"So, we have another reason to defeat Blockbuster!"

Tao Yushu smiled relaxed, but he aroused his momentum in just one sentence.

"That's right!"

In order to establish a new company, Tao Yushu specially rented a beige building at 165 Paloato University Road, which is the core area of ​​Silicon Valley. The previous tenant of the building was Logitech, the now famous Silicon Valley personal computer peripheral overlord.

More than 20 years ago, during the GM of Langzi, Said Armid, the owner of this small building, ran away from the United States and fled to Paloato with his family.

At that time, the Silicon Valley technology industry was developing rapidly. Many young people who had just become rich bought brand new big houses, and of course, high-end carpets worthy of the status of a new house are indispensable.

Armid, who was new to the city, immediately smelled the business opportunity and decided to buy this beige building in the core area of ​​Silicon Valley, which specializes in Persian carpets.

So the first floor of this beige building became a store for buying Persian carpets, while the second floor of more than 460 square meters of office space was rented out by Said Armid, and Logitech became the first tenant here.

Now that Logitech's shotgun has been replaced, he has just moved away and Tao Yushu needs an office space, so he rented it down.

Tao Yushu does not intend to enter the video tape rental industry under the name of Lin's Pictures. Originally, Lin's Pictures' acquisition of theaters has aroused the vigilance of Hollywood giants.

If she is more successful now, she will be more likely to be jealous or even attacked by the giants.

So she simply put the new company in Silicon Valley and put it on a coat of "high-tech enterprise", just like the online shopping websites that are popular in the United States now.

As for the company name, she listened to Mark and Reed's opinion, and was called Netfli, the Chinese name Netfli, which sounds like she has nothing to do with Lin's Pictures.

Although videotape rental is a derivative downstream industry in the film industry, its industrial scale in Western countries that attach importance to intellectual property rights actually exceeds the box office of theaters.

It is enough to make Tao Yushu spend his time and huge amount of money to start another business.

Today's meeting determined Netflix's development route and policy, but there are still two issues to be resolved.

The first is that the DVD format that Tao Yushu values ​​is still in the stage of formulating technical standards. Sony and Toshiba have the most patents on this technology.

Currently, the two companies are fighting for the right to formulate technical standards, and there seems to be little hope of mass production of DVD players in a short period of time.

The second is the cooperation of DVD format players and video tapes. Even if the player is now produced, it may not be able to promote without the support of major film companies.

In fact, for a moment, Mark and Reed felt it was a little ridiculous.

Even the upstream industries have not been formed. They are discussing here openly how to win the competition in the downstream industries. It is really funny to say it.

But this is Silicon Valley, this is the American dream!

Tao Yushu has no way of knowing the self-PUA of his subordinates, but she never fights unprepared wars.

"Tomorrow morning, I will visit Mr. Nobuo of Sony."

Mark and Reed heard this from Tao Yushu's mouth and looked serene.

Sony is now at its peak in the United States. Last year, after Sony founder Akio Morita fell ill, he became Sony's new CE0.

Of course, the two of them would not know about this kind of big news in the business world.

Tao Yushu wants to visit Shinjitsu, is it necessary to promote the mass production of DVD players?

Mark and Reed have begun to fantasize about Tao Yushu's feat of stirring up the DVD industry.

It’s so satisfying to hold the thighs of a big company!

In fact, the two of them were thinking too much. Lin's Pictures and Sony are not of the same magnitude as the same company, and Tao Yushu is simply unable to influence any decisions of Sony.

She went to meet Nobuyuki Irii to express her support for Sony.

The popularity of DVD players is inseparable from the support of the movie, TV, record and even gaming industries. After all, these industries supply the content needed by the entertainment industry.

Among them, movie videotapes are the most important industry and the largest industry.

Lin's Pictures' business spans the eastern and western hemispheres. Although it cannot be compared with the six major Hollywoods in the United States, its overall strength is not inferior at all.

One of the difficulties in promoting DVD players lies in the support of large companies in the industry.

Tao Yushu took the initiative to come to express his supportive attitude, and Shinojiuzumi naturally welcomed him warmly.

With the premise of being kind, when talking about the formulation of DVD standards and the production of players, Nobuyuki Izumi told me bluntly.

Regardless of whether there will be an agreement on the final dispute with Toshiba's technical standards, Sony's players will be put into mass production in the first half of next year and will be available for sale as early as May.

There are still 14 months left before the launch of DVD players, so naturally I can't be idle during this period. Tao Yushu has formulated a KP1 for Mark and Reed.

The content includes building a website, formulating a nationwide logistics link map, and inventories planning, she also acquired FutureFantasy, a local online bookstore in Paloato for $2 million.

In the past two years, the online bookstore business in the United States has been developing like a lot of tea and flowers blooming. Tao Yushu feels that online bookstores are actually similar to what they are going to do next, and wants to buy a company to practice for Mark and Reed.

After finishing all these things, it was already early May, and the couple had been in the United States for almost two months.

Before returning to Xiangjiang, Lin Chaoyang called a few American acquaintances to tell him about his itinerary. Luan Walter did not forget to remind him: "Lin, remember to send me the manuscript of the novel when he goes back."

Lin Chaoyang's new novel was completed as early as March, but it took so long to receive the award in the United States that the manuscript has not been handed over to any publishing house.

Random Bookstore has already learned about the content of Lin Chaoyang's new novel. Although it feels that this novel may not necessarily meet the appetite of American readers in terms of history and culture, it is Lin Chaoyang's new work after all.

Out of his consistent trust in Lin Chaoyang and his recognition of his appeal among readers, Random Bookstore still actively proposed to introduce this novel, which is to avoid other publishing houses taking advantage of loopholes and be able to cooperate better in the future.

After returning to Xiangjiang, after a few days of rest, Lin Chaoyang returned to Yanjing.

After winning the National Book Reviewers Association Award, he was lively on the domestic media page for several days. Several cultural departments, including the Cultural Association, called him several times to invite him back to do activities.

But Lin Chaoyang was with Tao Yushu at that time, so things were delayed.

Now that people have returned to China, the activities naturally have to be arranged. The symposiums held by the National Association for Literature and Arts, the works seminars held by the Yanjing Association for Literature and Arts, university speeches, and media interviews were so busy. Wherever he went, he was also warmly welcomed by his peers and book fans.

On the third Saturday in May, Lin Chaoyang ran to the Shijingshan Military Region compound. After he finished writing the new book, he handed it over to Du Ruolin and asked him to help hand it to the General Political Department for review to see if there were any problems.

It has been two months since he had not made any noise. He suspected that Du Ruolin had forgotten about this.

"Don't worry, this is still under trial."

"What review takes so long? Your efficiency is worrying!"

Seeing that Lin Chaoyang was a little dissatisfied, Du Ruolin had to say, "It's not that the efficiency of the General Political Department is not high, but that there are several leaders who like to watch it. They are looking at it, how dare you urge me?"

Lin Chaoyang asked curiously: "Who are they?"

Du Ruolin mysteriously said a few names. Lin Chaoyang's psychological balance was a little bit, and he said with a smile: "Then should the government underwrite me one hundred and eight million copies?"

"You think beautifully."

"Then please help me. I've been here in the mainland, so there should be no problem publishing abroad?"

Du Ruolin said in a strange way: "Is there going to publish it abroad?"

"Look at what you said, which of my works has not been published abroad!" Lin Chaoyang said with a smug sentence.

Du Ruolin waved his hand, "Okay, okay, I'll think about this for you, and then I will study it."

The content of Lin Chaoyang's new works is a bit sensitive, and it really needs to be discussed carefully when published abroad.

A few days later, Lin Chaoyang went to the Third Hospital of Peking University. He heard Chen Jiangong say that Li Tuo’s wife Zhang Nuanxin’s current situation is not very good.

I only found out when I arrived at the hospital that Zhang Nuan had a very poor condition.

Li Tuo also lost a lot of weight, without seeing the enthusiasm and cheerfulness of the past, Lin Chaoyang could only comfort him for a few words.

"Last night, she begged me to save her. But I-None of us can save each other." Li Tuo said sadly.

Lin Chaoyang sighed lightly, and did not say the comfort he had reached his mouth. At such a critical moment of life and death, all words were pale and powerless.

Li Tuo is usually popular, and Zhang Nuanxin has been visiting her continuously during the period of hospitalization, and some friends have taken the initiative to help take care of her.

Before, everyone was afraid of disturbing Zhang Nuanxin's rest when they came to visit her. But these days, many times, even though Zhang Nuanxin was exhausted, she was willing to chat with her friends and let them be with her.

Death stares at her like an abyss, and only the company of relatives and friends can make her feel at ease.

She likes to listen to everyone talking and laughing. At that time, there was a faint smile hidden in the corner of her mouth, and she tried her best to suppress the pain.

Lin Chaoyang, Li Tuo and He Zhiyun chatted casually until the night Zhang Nuanxin couldn't hold on and fell asleep.

On May 28, the 48th Cannes Film Festival fell.
To be continued...