Wald Pictures

The next morning, after getting up and washing up, Zucker drove out. Besides keeping an eye on Pixar's stock, he had plenty to do today, most importantly inspecting the seven SpongeBob House locations.

Hollywood and Highland Center.

SpongeBob House No. 2.

Other than the flagship store, it was the best-performing location. Its excellent location brought in plenty of tourists, and sometimes its business was even better than the flagship store's.

"Boss, welcome to inspect our work. Even if you hadn't come today, I was planning to visit you tonight to report on things," Victor said.

Victor Jones was a thirty-year-old white man, married with a two-year-old daughter. He was currently the manager of the second store. Before becoming the manager of SpongeBob House No. 2, he had been the director—essentially the general manager—of a local Los Angeles toy factory. He had performed exceptionally well, but the factory owner had become addicted to gambling and lost his entire fortune in Las Vegas. That was why he had joined Zucker.

Without question, Victor Jones had the most impressive résumé of anyone currently working under Zucker.

Before Toy Story was released, the second store under Victor's management had generated the highest revenue of all the locations. For two consecutive months, it had also been the only profitable store.

Given that alone, who else would Zucker value if not him?

Talented people were hard to come by!

"Victor, I heard that before you became a toy factory manager, you worked in Hollywood for a while?" Zucker asked.

Victor nodded. "That's right, Boss. I wasn't a good student when I was young, so I started working after graduating high school. I worked on Hollywood sets, and later spent several years in management."

As he spoke, Victor could not help showing a nostalgic expression.

After all, that had been Hollywood!

"Oh? Then why didn't you keep doing it?" Zucker asked curiously.

"Boss, the company wanted to transfer me to manage its New York branch. But my wife was pregnant at the time, and her pregnancy reactions were severe every time. I had no choice but to resign and join the toy factory. You know the rest," Victor said.

Zucker nodded at that.

Victor Jones was indeed a manager with both ideas and ability.

Before Toy Story was released, Zucker had stockpiled merchandise on a massive scale, drawing doubts from many store managers, including James. They all thought Zucker had gone crazy.

Victor alone had supported Zucker's decision!

His reasoning had been: "Ever since Jobs took over Pixar, they've poured in enormous investments while still failing to make ends meet, researching a lot of seemingly useless things. But they've also accumulated a great deal of advanced 3D animation technology. And if you watch Tin Toy, the Oscar-winning animated short they made several years ago, you'll see that their rendering technology and storytelling ability are both outstanding. They are undoubtedly at the top of Hollywood, even the entire world. Toy Story is their all-or-nothing project, made over four years. Its chances of success are far greater than its chances of failure."

It was from that day onward.

That Zucker had confirmed Victor was a true talent.

As for why Zucker had never heard Victor's name in the future, what was so strange about that?

Were there really that few talented people overlooked by Hollywood?

Besides, sometimes opportunity mattered more than one's own ability!

"Victor, get your work organized soon and prepare for a handover," Zucker said.

"Uh... Boss, did I do something wrong?"

Victor's heart skipped a beat upon hearing Zucker's words.

What was this about?

Was he going to fire me?

He needed money right now. His wife stayed home to care for their two-year-old daughter, and they needed money! How could he go without a job?

"You misunderstand."

Zucker laughed. "I'm planning to acquire a Hollywood film company soon. Well, a relatively small one. I don't think much of its current manager. Would you like to give it a try? Of course, you can refuse and keep this job."

"I accept! I desperately want to join it."

Victor could barely contain himself. He had worked in Hollywood for nearly ten years, and that attachment was not something he could simply cut away. Now that the opportunity was right in front of him, how could he let it slip by?

In the blink of an eye, half a month passed.

After Pixar Animation's market value surpassed one billion dollars, Zucker decisively cashed out. The return did not reach the tenfold gain he had expected, but it still came to four times his investment.

It was terrifying enough!

"An investment of six million dollars turned into more than twenty-four million in half a month. A profit of fifteen million dollars is pretty good."

With more than twenty million dollars in cash flow on hand, Zucker was naturally in an excellent mood.

Three days later.

After a week of negotiations with Hughes Pictures, Zucker, Victor, and Candy finally reached an agreement.

For 2.8 million dollars, Zucker completed the full acquisition of Hughes Pictures and renamed the film company—Wald Pictures!

Its full name was Zucker Wald Film Entertainment Company.

That was right. Zucker was just that narcissistic.

"Look at Disney and Warner Bros. Which of those film media groups wasn't named after a surname? It's about writing your own name into film history!"

The other four of the Big Six Hollywood Studios—Paramount, Columbia Pictures, Universal Pictures, and 20th Century Fox—were equally great, but unless someone knew Hollywood history well, who would still remember their founders?

Zucker's entire fortune now totaled nearly thirty million dollars. And as a transmigrator, he firmly believed he would become even richer in the future. Shouldn't he pursue something more?

For example, leaving his mark on film history!

"Zucker, congratulations. Starting today, you're officially part of Hollywood!" Candy said with a smile.

"Candy, congratulations to you too. You've made another ten thousand dollars off me!" Zucker said.

Candy's mouth twitched. "You vampire. My fee is already low enough. If it were someone else, I wouldn't even look at it for less than thirty thousand dollars."

"Thank you, my friend."

Zucker truly meant those words.

Generally speaking, companies handling acquisitions charged a substantial commission. For deals under ten million dollars, the going rate was at least five percent.

Michael Ovitz, one of the founders of Creative Artists Agency, was one of the leading figures in entertainment-industry acquisitions.

In 1989, when Sony Group acquired Columbia Pictures, one of the Big Six Hollywood Studios, for 3.4 billion dollars, it paid Ovitz a personal commission of thirty-five million dollars. In 1990, when Panasonic Group acquired MCA for 6.59 billion dollars, it likewise paid an enormous commission—forty million dollars.

Put that way, Candy's fee really was not expensive.

This time, he had given Zucker a huge friends-and-family discount!

Of course, with Zucker's vampire-like nature, Candy could forget about receiving a hefty service fee.

"Victor, you're now the CEO of Wald Pictures. I'll be watching what you do," Zucker suddenly said.

Victor Jones immediately replied, "Boss, I definitely won't let you down."

Zucker nodded, then left Wald Pictures with Candy. As for the customary speech to all employees after acquiring the company, Zucker did not attend it either.

A boss had to keep his employees on their toes!

All right, that was not actually the reason.

Generally speaking, after a new owner acquired a company, employee salaries and benefits would be raised by ten to twenty percent. That was no small sum. Zucker No One Gets to Earn More Money Off Me Wald was back online!

Of course, Zucker still had work to do!

"Now that the Hollywood company acquisition is complete, let's hurry up and start making movies."

He could not help being excited.

Making movies!

Despite graduating from a directing program in his previous life, Zucker had never gotten to be a director—not even an assistant director. Now he was going to direct in Hollywood. How could he possibly not be excited?!