Crisis in California

For Hollywood at present—and indeed for businesses across the entire United States—the most important development was undoubtedly the America Online-Time Warner Group merger announced at the beginning of the year;

This, the largest merger and acquisition deal in the world to date, was still undergoing negotiations and regulatory review. Although both sides had announced the merger, the Federal Trade Commission had yet to formally approve it.

Unfortunately, America Online and Time Warner had already begun integrating internally. After half a year of adjustment, conflicts between the two sides seemed to be emerging;

Setting aside the economic issues, their corporate cultures alone were vastly different. The ambitious, aggressively expansive America Online, which held the dominant position, was fundamentally incompatible with the relatively conservative Time Warner.

Then there were the difficulties of technological integration. After all, the two companies' technical platforms and business processes differed too greatly;

Finally, there was the antitrust investigation. This merger involved an unprecedented integration of old and new industries, and both the European Union and the United States required rigorous approval procedures!

Meanwhile, J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire had gone on sale in many locations across the country and achieved unprecedented success;

Through publishers such as the United Kingdom's Bloomsbury Publishing and the United States' Putnam Publishing, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire sold 2.7 million copies in the United States within its first three days of release, directly breaking the country's children's book sales record.

While Hollywood was ablaze, an energy crisis had descended upon California, where warnings of a strained power supply had appeared;

In May, the California State Government issued its first emergency warning over insufficient electricity supplies. In June, a massive blackout affected 100,000 households in the San Francisco Bay Area.

California's two major power companies, Pacific Gas