Chapter 253 - A Hot Shot

Legend of the Dark 2" location shooting in Russia lasted more than a month in total, Lin Mingyang back to the United States when it was already in mid-October. Because of this period of time the media suddenly spread some "rumors" sake, Kate did not return with the crew to one, but decided to go back to the United Kingdom to rest for a period of time. On the plane Lin Mingyang still feel a little regret, but in the airport was surrounded by media reporters at that moment, he suddenly felt that Kate's choice is very correct.

Separated by three tall and strong bodyguards, the frantic reporters still had a way of handing microphones and recording pens to Lin Mingyang.

"Recently it's been widely rumored that you're close to Kate Beckinsale, the lead actress of Legend of Darkness 2, and the media is saying that you're in a relationship...are you prepared to respond to such rumors?"

"In Legend of Darkness 2 you and Kate have a passionate scene, is it because the movie shooting made you collide?"

...

Lin Ming Yang had a cold face, not even caring about the reporters' questions that surrounded him, and walked straight outside with his bodyguards.

The reporters who had been waiting for hours were naturally not willing to return empty-handed like this, and they chased after Lin Ming Yang all the way, noisily shouting, "Mr. Felix, would you please answer our questions?"

"Mr. Felix, does your lack of response mean acquiescence?"

Misplaced footsteps and skewed lenses, the reporters rushed up one by one, pushing and shoving each other, and for a while the scene was thrown into chaos. The number of bodyguards around Lin Mingyang was only able to ensure that the reporters could not get close, but it was a bit overwhelming to divide their strength to stop the siege of these reporters. The more the reporters gathered, the more the scene was already partially out of control.

Just at this time, from a passageway in the airport hall suddenly appeared more than twenty black-clothed bodyguards, these people familiarly separated the reporters, to help Lin Mingyang break out from the crowd.

Lin Mingyang was very grateful to this group of bodyguards that suddenly appeared, but he soon realized that he didn't recognize any of these guys, and the direction they were taking him was not a parking lot, but more like a special boarding channel.

Just as he was filled with doubt, someone in this group of bodyguards suddenly angled their head to his ear. People in the distance could only see that bodyguard's lips move, Lin Mingyang was wearing sunglasses and couldn't see the expression on his face, the onlookers could see him nod his head, and then turn his head to instruct a few of the bodyguards that he had brought with him, one of them squeezed into the crowd and left in a hurry, while the rest of them followed Lin Mingyang into the special boarding channel. All of the reporters were stopped at the entrance to the channel, dumbfounded as they watched Lin Ming Yang walk away.

----

Ten minutes later, a private luxury airliner was already flying steadily into the sky. Lin Ming Yang had seen a lot of big scenes over the years, but the luxurious scene when boarding the plane still gave him a small shock. A Rolls Royce Phantom was already parked at the boarding gate, and the waiting attendant opened the door for Lin Mingyang.

The car drove directly onto an airliner and slowly parked in the airplane's garage. After getting out of the car Lin Mingyang realized that the belly of this medium-sized airliner had been transformed into a leisure area, that driver brought Lin Mingyang to a spacious bedroom, then a beautiful flight attendant lady walked in holding a set of well-made bathrobe.

"Mr. Felix, may I help you change?" Her sweet and creamy voice matched with a charming smile and the attractive curves outlined by her short uniform skirt as she stood with her attendant's hands, a normal man's heart would pound when he heard this suggestion.

Unfortunately, Lin Ming Yang's mind was now filled with thoughts about the owner of this airplane, and this charming and graceful blonde beauty who took the initiative to "stick up" was directly ignored by him.

"Oh, no need, I'll do it myself!"

Lin Ming Yang shook his head, the blonde beauty's regretful expression flickered, and soon replaced it with a professional smile and nodded at him, backing out obediently.

Lin Ming Yang changed into a bathrobe, then under the guidance of the flight attendants, he came to a room with a lavishly decorated marble bath, before him, there was already a person soaking in the pool, the hazy mist didn't manage to completely cover the other person's expression, and the pair of gleaming eyes on the pale face seemed to carry a power to penetrate the heart.

From Viacom, Paramount, CBS to MTV; from Forrest Gump, Braveheart to Titanic; from the hero of World War II to the proud son of the media, the old man sitting quietly in the bath, his life is full of legend and battle. He is in charge of the world's largest media and entertainment company, and he is the richest and most successful entrepreneur in the world's media industry today, and he is the media emperor - Samer Lei Shi Dong.

"Taking a warm bath is good for removing the fatigue from the journey...all of this was prepared especially for you!" The old man's voice came lightly through the bath, Lin Mingyang nodded, he naturally wouldn't refuse this luxurious enjoyment high in the sky.

After Lin Mingyang sat down in the bath, Lei Shidong continued, "I entered Harvard University at the age of 17, and received my Doctor of Laws degree at the age of 24... in terms of experience, we are considered alumni!"

Lin Mingyang wore a humble smile on his face, but remained silent.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Lei Shidong suddenly laughed as if mocking himself, "You're very good, I didn't have as good of a fixation as you at such a young age...let's talk!"

In response to Lei Shi Dong's comment, Lin Ming Yang just smiled bashfully, he had already vaguely guessed the purpose of Lei Shi Dong inviting him here with such great vigor, he was waiting for Lei Shi Dong to open his mouth to confirm his guess.

"I thought that after you acquired MGM, you wouldn't star in movies outside of your own company, I didn't expect Legend of Darkness 2 to be made so quickly!" Lei Shi Dong didn't directly insert himself into the topic, but made small talk with Lin Ming Yang.

"Before the film started shooting, MGM had already bought the rights to the entire series of Legend of Darkness..." shrugged Lin Ming Yang, "What I'm trying to say is that I'm actually still essentially an actor, and as long as there are good scripts and roles, I don't really care whether or not the investor is own company. During this time I've merely prioritized my own company, and when MGM is on track, I should be doing more of what I like to do."

"Becoming an actor used to be my dream as well, but now that dream is far from me!" Lei Shi Dong sighed emotionally, "But since you've said that, you shouldn't turn down the next step with Paramount... Even though you're now one of the few highest-paid actors in Hollywood, our director Michael Bay insisted that Transformers can't be made without you."

Lin Mingyang naturally wouldn't be foolish enough to think that Lei Shi Dong had sent out his private jet and conducted such a high-profile reception simply for the sake of inviting himself to join the filming of the Transformers sequel, he knew that this was only the beginning.

Lei Shi Dong looked at Lin Ming Yang's unperturbed expression and secretly praised him in his heart, next he didn't continue to beat around the bush, he directly picked his words apart and said, "Between you and me, this cooperation is actually insignificant, what I personally would prefer to see is the establishment of a long term, trustworthy and strategic partnership with MGM Studios!"

"Viacom's Paramount Pictures had already established a similar relationship with DreamWorks a few years back, what interests me is, what's the difference between our cooperation and that?" Lin Mingyang's reply was rather tit-for-tat.

"We can use that model as a reference, but of course we can go further!"

Lei Shi Dong's unapologetic answer revealed an important message to Lin Ming Yang: Paramount's cooperation with DreamWorks might have gone wrong, Lei Shi Dong should be ready to kick DreamWorks towards the side, so that's why he approached himself.

Combined with the memories of his past life in his head, DreamWorks did announce in the near future that it was parting ways with Paramount, and Lin Mingyang was sure that the conflict between the two sides had already arisen by this time, only that it had not yet come to the moment when they turned their backs on each other.

In 2005, Paramount beat out NBCUniversal at the "last minute" to finalize a purchase agreement with DreamWorks for about $1 billion, in what was an "unexpected" ending to a Hollywood blockbuster. Through this acquisition, Paramount acquired the film distribution rights to the independently-traded DreamWorks Animation, as well as ownership of 60 films, including Gladiator.

This acquisition should be considered a mutual agreement, Spielberg wanted to use Paramount's wide distribution channels to develop and grow their own, and Paramount also gained a rich treasure trove of movies, plus Spielberg's reputation. But everything didn't look so rosy to Lin Mingyang, and now the contact has made him further certain of his thoughts: in the eyes of Lei Shidong and Viacom's executives, DreamWorks is nothing more than an excellent content producer, which can be casually tossed to the side after it has been milked of its value. And now he had his eye on MGM.

It must be said that in terms of personal charisma, Lei Shi Dong may not be as good as GE's Welch; in terms of creative ability, he may not be as good as Disney's Eisner; in terms of adventurous spirit, he seems to be on a par with media tycoon Murdoch. However, his legendary life and overpowering entrepreneurial passion far exceeds that of his rivals. In Lei Shi Dong's entrepreneurial journey, he has always realized rapid development through continuous mergers and acquisitions.

This kind of thinking was not wrong in the past, but before the acquisition of DreamWorks, Viacom Group was already the largest media and entertainment company in the world. Under the reputation, the company's excessive size of all the disadvantages have been implied. Especially its Paramount "blood" function is insufficient, the face of increasingly fierce competition in the market began to fail.

Unable to salvage the decline of Lei Shidong can only once again take the risk of embarking on the road of mergers and acquisitions to expand, but the acquisition of DreamWorks did not allow Paramount to restore the "hematopoietic" function, but on the contrary, the external "blood transfusion" appeared to rely on. Continuous mergers and acquisitions can only temporarily alleviate this contradiction, it is estimated that even Lei Shidong himself is not sure, Viacom can still walk on the road of mergers and acquisitions for how long.