Although Allen Larsen served as Deputy Secretary of State, he did not have the hypocrisy of a politician, and he seemed very straightforward.

After greeting Zhang Ran, he said directly: "Netf's lobbyist is James Langton, a close friend of President Bush. He once raised funds for President Bush's re-election campaign and served as chairman of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Committee. He is a very difficult opponent. However, our biggest threat is not him, but the report submitted by Rep. Jim Coulbeson. There is a view that online videos are an extension of cable TV and may be used for political propaganda. Since the government does not allow foreigners to set up TV networks in the United States, foreigners should also be banned from operating online videos."

Before coming to the United States, Zhang Ran felt strange that the Foreign Investment Commission generally only reviews projects involving national security. How could it review the acquisition of Netflix? Now he completely understood: "Hastings, he must have made this report!"

Larsen said: "What matters is not what anyone raised, but how to solve this problem."

Zhang Ranshen agreed: "You are right, what should we do now?"

Larson said: "It is mainly communication, providing information to members of Congress and the Foreign Investment Committee, emphasizing that the acquisition of the Century Peak is a business act and has no political intentions. I suggest you accept an exclusive interview with the Washington Times. Do you know this newspaper?"

Zhang Ran shook his head, he only knew the Washington Post.

Larson introduced: "The Washington Times is more **, and he especially likes to promote ******** Although it is only sold in the Washington area and has a small sales volume, it has a great influence in the US politics and is regarded by the outside world as a frigate of the US government, and even a political vane of the CIA and the Pentagon. If you can make a positive voice through the Washington Times, it will have a good publicity effect. However, this newspaper will definitely be asked many tricky and even sharp questions in their interviews, which will be a big challenge."

After saying that, Larsen looked at Zhang Ran, wondering if he was willing to accept this challenge.

Zhang Ran shrugged his shoulders and said disrespectfully: "No problem, I went directly to the Washington Times newspaper on Monday to accept their inquiry in person!"

Larsen was surprised: "You go directly to the newspaper? Then you will face a group of hostile reporters, which is terrible!"

Zhang Ran smiled and said, "Maybe it's scary, but it's easier to gain their trust, right?"

Larson nodded. He was able to show such demeanor and courage to conquer many people, and said, "Then I wish you success. However, to gain the favorable impression of politicians towards foreign companies, media and lobbyists alone are not enough. The most effective and long-term way is to hire Americans. When the interests of American voters are closely related to foreign companies, the political pressure on companies in Congress will be much less. Suppose your company has created 20,000 jobs for California, and if Congress points fingers at China's problems, California workers will say to the state's congressmen: What are you doing? These Chinese people give me jobs and wages!"

Zhang Ran said in confusion: "Tingfeng Entertainment has hundreds of employees in California, but this time the California lawmakers jumped out to oppose us. What's going on?"

Larsen explained with a smile: "After Netflix acquired Blockbuster, it announced a plan that in the next two years, it will close 2,000 stores and lay off 20,000 employees. In the eyes of many Americans, you are the boss of an Internet company and have no store experience. If you take over Netflix, the layoffs will definitely be greater. If you acquire a listed company in the United States, if it can have a positive impact on a specific state or region, politicians will say that the reason why such a good company invests and acquires our factories, creates new jobs, and promotes the economy is because of me. In this way, they can get re-election. If it can be proved that through mergers and acquisitions, not only will the existing job opportunities not be deprived and transferred, but more jobs can be created, then their attitude towards acquisitions will be completely different."

Zhang Ran now fully understood that this time several state legislators targeted him mainly because of layoffs. If he promised not to lay off employees on a large scale after the acquisition, then the government departments, whether it is the state legislature or Congress, will give the green light.

However, with the development of the Internet, DVD store business has shrunk particularly sharply. The second-ranked film library company went bankrupt in July this year. According to market analysis, Blockbuster must close at least two-thirds of its stores to maintain competitiveness. Therefore, even if Zhang Ran takes over, it will definitely close the stores on a large scale.

If there are one or two hundred people, it would be fine for Zhang Ranbai to raise them, but there are 20,000 people, and the annual salary is several hundred million!

Blockbuster's business is for renting DVDs, which is very single. If you want to not lay off employees or lay off fewer employees, you can only introduce other businesses.

Century Peak is a film and television company. In addition to DVDs, only derivatives can be put into stores. T-shirts, toys, books and other related products of Century Peak’s film and television works can be put into Blockbuster’s stores, making Blockbuster a specialty store for DVD rental and derivatives. Disney has thousands of chain stores around the world, and Blockbuster can also develop in this direction.

However, there are too few films produced at the peak of the century, and apart from "Time Warriors" and the later "Twilight" are not many valuable IPs, which are very difficult to develop derivatives. If you want to obtain more valuable IPs, the only way is to acquire them.

Among all the companies that can be acquired, the one with the most IPs is undoubtedly Marvel! Superheroes such as Iron Man, Captain America, Thor Thor, and superhero teams such as the Avengers, Illuminati, Fantastic Four, Guardians of the Galaxy. Taking over Marvel not only has a large number of superhero movies to shoot, Netflix can shoot various TV series, but Blockbuster also has enough derivatives.

Before this, Zhang Ran had never thought about acquiring Marvel. Although he knew that Marvel was a big gold mine, he knew very well that companies like Marvel would never be sold to Chinese people easily. After all, Sony's acquisition of Colombia was exclaiming that the Japanese bought the Soul of the United States, and in the end, Akio Morita got his wish with Kissinger's help.

Marvel is the childhood of countless American children. If Zhang Ran acquired Marvel, I am afraid that the whole United States would exclaim that the Chinese had bought the Americans' future. Who could Zhang Ran ask for help at that time?

But now Zhang Ran thinks he can give it a try. After all, he has tens of thousands of job opportunities in his hand. If the government departments are stuck, it will be difficult for Blockbuster to operate, and it will close stores on a large scale and make tens of thousands of people lose their jobs.

Zhang Ran raised his head with a little excitement and said, "Mr. Larson, what do you think if I make a promise that I will not cut jobs in the next three years and that all existing employees will remain unchanged?"

This is not two hundred jobs, but twenty thousand! Larson was surprised: "Are you really willing to make such a promise? You must understand that once you make this promise, you must report progress to the committee every 12 months. The committee will check whether you fulfill your promise at the time of the acquisition. If you fail to do so, you will face a huge fine of up to hundreds of millions of dollars."

Zhang Ran nodded affirmatively: "If I were in Hastings' position, I had no other choice. I would definitely lay off employees on a large scale, but the peak of the century is not Netflix, and I am willing to make this promise."

Larsen stared at Zhang Ran for several seconds before saying, "If you dare to make this promise, then the government will no longer be an obstacle to the acquisition, but will vigorously promote this matter. Even the most powerful member of the parliamentarians dare not easily object!"

At 10 a.m. Monday, Zhang Ran came to the door of the Washington Times. He looked up at the newspaper's sign, took a breath, and walked towards the front desk.

"Hello, welcome to the Washington Times!" The front desk was a blonde in her twenties, smiling very brightly.

Zhang Ran looked at her work card, Blanche Cole, and smiled and said, "Miss Cole, my name is Zhang Ran, and I am the founder of ly. Recently, the Washington Times has published a lot of reports about me, and some of them have obvious misunderstandings. I want to meet your editor and talk to him!"

Blanche Cole stared at Zhang Ran for several seconds before coming back to his senses. There were many companies and individuals that were slandered by the Washington Times. This was the first time she saw her when she came to the door. She quickly picked up the phone, dialed it, and said, "Mr. Sanders, Mr. Zhang Ran, the founder of ly, wants to see you and talk to you. Yes, he is at the front desk. Well, okay!" She smiled at Zhang Ran, stood up, and said, "Mr. Zhang, please come with me."

She made a gesture of inviting her, turned around and led the way, Zhang Ran followed closely behind.

Blanche Cole took Zhang Ran to a conference room, opened the door, and smiled at the team Zhang Ran, saying, "Mr. Zhang, this is the Green House where the Washington Times is receiving important interviewees. Please wait. Mr. Sanders and the others will come soon." After that, she turned around and went back to the front desk.

Zhang Ran was not polite either. He came to the opposite side of the long table, pulled open the chair and sat down, waiting for the next storm.

After about five minutes of coming, the door of the green house was pushed open, and seven or eight men walked in. Walking in front was a middle-aged white man in his forties, wearing black-framed glasses, a blue suit and a red tie. When he saw Zhang Ran, he walked over with a smile, stretched out his hand and said, "Mr. Zhang, I am David Sanders, the editor-in-chief of the Washington Times, and I am very happy to see you!"

Zhang Ranhe and Sanders shook briefly: "Hello, Mr. Sanders!"

Sanders briefly introduced Zhang Ran to several other reporters, all of whom were reporters of the Washington Times. Sanders had been paying attention to Zhang Ran's reaction. He found that Zhang Ran's face was not nervous at all, but kept smiling, and was a little surprised: "It was really unexpected that you dare to come here. Many heads of state walked into the green house and were beads of sweat as big as beans."

Zhang Ran said lightly: "There is a saying in China that I will never do bad things in my life and are not afraid of ghosts knocking on the door in the middle of the night. What are I afraid of? I am here to tell American readers what the real Zhang Ran is like."

Sanders stared at Zhang Ran for a few seconds, took out a recorder, played it in front of Zhang Ran, and said, "Mr. Zhang, from now on, every word you say may appear in the newspaper."

Zhang Ran shrugged and said, "Of course, can you start?"

Sanders smiled slightly, took out a report, and put it in front of Zhang Ran and said, "Mr. Zhang, this is a report submitted by Rep. Jim Coulbesen. How do you explain this report?"

Zhang Ran asked without answering, "Mr. Sanders, can I ask you a question?"

Sanders said: "Of course."

Zhang Ran said in a row: "How many times did Mr. Courbesen go to China? Did Mr. Courbesenks visit the peak of the century? Did Mr. Courbesen see me?"

Sanders was stunned: "I don't know."

Zhang Ran raised his eyebrows and raised his voice and said, "I can tell you that I have never been to China, to the peak of the century, and to see me. The whole report has not been investigated, and it was imagined out of thin air. Is such a report valuable?"
Chapter completed!