May 26th.
This morning at 9 a.m., Zane Blackwood stood in front of a big group of reporters. He was there to sign a huge contract.
His company, Golden Dawn Entertainment Group, was officially buying the WB Television Network!
This meant that, starting today, Zane's company now owned two TV networks: UPN and WB.
Here was his new, smart plan:
UPN would become a special, high-class channel (like HBO). People would pay to subscribe. It would make amazing, expensive, high-quality TV shows and movies, with no ads.
WB would become a public TV network for everyone. All the popular shows Zane already owned, like "America's Got Talent" and "WWE Wrestling," would move over to this channel.
By splitting them up, Zane was making both of his networks stronger and more professional. With two networks, his company was now one of the top ten biggest TV players in America. The reporters in the room were all taking pictures like crazy.
...
But not everyone was happy. In the back of the room, two men who worked for Time Warner (the company that sold the network) were grumbling.
"The bad guy always wins!" one of them, named Lawson, whispered angrily. "Why did our bosses sell the WB network? We spent over $200 million building it! And why did they sell it to that darn Zane Blackwood?!"
Lawson hated Zane. Zane's hit show, "America's Got Talent," had stolen so many viewers that Lawson's bonus had been cut in half last year.
"I agree with you," his friend, Jankford, whispered back. "Our bosses just... sold it. They didn't even tell us. It's crazy."
The truth was, many people at Time Warner and their partner, Columbia, were unhappy. They all knew Zane's movie studio (Wald Pictures) and their movie studio (Warner Pictures) were big rivals.
So why would their parent company sell one of their biggest toys to their biggest rival?
...
The day before the signing...
Kevin Fitch, the vice president of Wald Pictures, had asked Zane the same question. "Boss," he'd said, "how did you do this? Warner and Columbia are giant, rich companies. They don't need our money. Why would they ever sell you the WB?"
Zane just smiled, a friendly, knowing smile. "Well... what if I offered to sell them my shares of ICQ?"
Kevin's eyes went wide. "Boss... if you did that... then yes. They would definitely want to make a deal."
"It wasn't just my shares," Zane added with a little laugh. "It was my shares and Jeff Bezos's shares."
Kevin was stunned.
Zane's team had tried to buy the WB network with just money, but Time Warner had refused. They'd laughed at him.
But... when Zane's team came back and said, "Okay, forget the money. What if we give you our ICQ stock instead?"... the bosses at Time Warner couldn't stay calm.
Everyone knew Time Warner was desperate to get into the internet business. They had tried and failed. Now, Zane was just handing them a giant, delicious piece of ICQ, one of the biggest internet companies in the world. How could they say no?
They quickly called their partners at Sony Columbia. When the Columbia bosses heard that their rivals at Fox owned a piece of ICQ, they got jealous. "We must have ICQ shares, too!" one of them had said. "We can't let Fox be better than us!"
And just like that, Zane easily and happily got exactly what he wanted.
"Boss," Kevin said, still feeling a little sad about it, "that's ICQ. It's so powerful. Are you really okay with giving it up?"
Kevin was right. ICQ was a giant, with 200 million users! In the middle of the internet boom, it was like gold.
But Zane just smiled. He knew a secret. He knew the big internet bubble was not far away. He and Bezos were already planning to sell their shares anyway.
This way, he was trading something he was already going to sell... for a giant TV network that he really wanted. It was the perfect deal!
...
That morning, after signing the big contract, Zane had another big meeting.
In the afternoon, Ms. Donna, on behalf of the "Talent Show," officially signed the new advertising contracts for the show.
The total price was a giant$180 million! That was $60 million more than last year!
Why so much more? Because the show was a huge hit, and now it was moving to a public broadcast network (the WB), where even more people could see it.
That same night, all the major American newspapers reported the news with a giant headline:
"ZANE BLACKWOOD, THE NEW EMPEROR OF TELEVISION."
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