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Leon had just left and hopped into a taxi.
A text from Beyoncé came through right on his heels.
[Hope we can collaborate in the studio sometime.]
"Collaborate?"
Because the scene just now had nearly led to "sparks flying," Leon had to think for a while to confirm that the collaboration Beyoncé mentioned was a serious collaboration.
The diva finally couldn't hold back and proposed the idea of commissioning a song.
A bitter smile appeared on Leon's lips.
This was a sweet burden.
First Taylor, now Beyoncé.
Two of the hottest female singers in the music industry asking him for songs was something that would excite any male singer.
But Leon couldn't feel happy at all.
Before his contract with Roc Nation expired, all his moves were constrained.
---
Inside the office, Phil had been waiting for over an hour.
Bored out of his mind, he turned on the vinyl player.
Amidst the 43-minute masterpiece The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd, he drank by himself.
By the time Leon arrived, he was already dead drunk.
Head tilted, face red, collapsed on the sofa.
Leon plonked down onto the swivel chair, rolling his eyes at Phil. "I should have reminded you not to drink so much. Cardiovascular and liver diseases will kill you sooner or later."
"I don't care~ Besides bxxches, cigarettes, and alcohol, there's nothing left in my life." Phil shook his head and laughed loudly. "Of course... there's also you."
Hearing this, Leon felt nauseous and quickly corrected him. "Don't count me in."
Perhaps because he had drunk too much, Phil's mental state was very off.
A layer of liquid constantly covered his cloudy eyeballs.
"I have nothing left. Family, wife, children... Fxxk! They all abandoned me!" When mentioning his son, Phil's expression gradually distorted. "I need the stimulation of alcohol. This fxxked-up world has turned into a giant mental asylum!"
Leon spread his hands and handed Phil a cigarette.
He then lit one for himself. "Stop being so sentimental. I don't like hearing this victim talk. Tell me about the Adidas thing."
"You really are a hopeless asshole. Don't you have a family? Don't you have a mother?" Phil turned his head away.
"Watch your attitude," Leon said. "I see you bastard are already delirious. Let's talk about this tomorrow."
Phil snorted coldly, responding extremely reluctantly, "A month ago, I took Cardi to perform in Oregon and stopped by Portland to watch an NBA game."
"At the Trail Blazers' home court, sitting next to me was Thomas, the marketing director for Adidas North America. He was scouting Blazers star Brandon Roy."
"When he learned I was your agent, we talked a lot... He suddenly called me just now, asking if you were interested in being the spokesperson for Adidas sneakers."
Just as Leon had thought, after Billy was released and caused huge waves, the impact didn't stop at the entertainment industry.
Every industry wanted a slice of this traffic pie.
Although the lead singer of Billy was 50 Cent, everyone knew the core figure of the entire beef was the producer, Leon.
The competition between Adidas and Nike had lasted for half a century, and for most of that time, the two were neck and neck.
Until 1984, when Nike signed an NBA rookie named Michael Jordan.
No one, including Nike's management, could have imagined at the time that this event would rewrite the company's future and shake up the entire sporting goods industry.
In 1985, the first Air Jordan was released, announcing a complete reversal of offense and defense between Nike and Adidas.
Especially in the North American market, Nike was considered part of street culture—rap, basketball, street dance...
Associated with all trendy cultures.
While Adidas became a representative of rigidness and dullness.
In 2010, Nike's revenue reached 19 billion dollars, exceeding Adidas by nearly 6 billion dollars.
Phil continued, "Adidas has been seeking recognition among the youth demographic. They acquired Reebok for 3.8 billion dollars and signed the 2008 NBA draft pick Derrick Rose..."
"Now, they urgently need to sign a new spokesperson to increase their influence on the streets."
Since his debut, Leon had been entangled in various scandals and black material. With his "bad boy" act and abuse of negative traffic, he had completely become a negative street figure.
Targeting such an extremely negative public figure clearly showed that Adidas had been beaten senseless by Nike.
Severe illnesses require strong medicine, but Adidas chose to drink poison directly.
No one knew when a trouble-magnet like Leon would cause a huge scandal, subsequently biting back at the brand, Adidas.
"How much is the contract worth?" After listening to Phil's long narration, this was the only question Leon cared about.
"This matter is still in the contact stage. I don't know their specific offer yet." Phil paused and continued, "Thomas once inadvertently revealed that the value of this contract might not be lower than 3 million dollars a year."
3 million dollars a year—this number made Leon swallow hard.
He had already tasted sweetness in the Durex endorsement campaign.
Just reciting a few stupid lines to the camera, and quick money was easily in hand.
At most, taking time out a few times a year to show his face at brand-hosted events and posting a few tweets on social media.
This money was earned too easily.
"Very good, you did a fantastic job." Leon patted Phil's shoulder. "Now you can go home and rest. Once you sober up, contact Thomas immediately. Say I've loved the Adidas brand since I was a child and am very interested in endorsing products for this great brand."
3 million dollars wasn't a ridiculously high number for the current Leon, but the key point was that a company like Adidas wouldn't sign just a one-year contract.
The contract Derrick Rose signed with Adidas totaled 185 million dollars over 13 years.
Players had to actually wear Adidas products to play games, while Leon didn't have to do anything except shoot ads and some photos.
The only downside was basically saying goodbye to the Nike brand in the future.
But Phil quickly poured a bucket of cold water over him. "It's not as simple as you think... Adidas' intended target isn't just you. Kanye West is their number one target."
"Kanye?" Leon thought about how although the other party was also one of his opponents and had long spent big money to smear him on social media...
This name didn't have a strong presence.
Compared to P. Diddy, Pitbull, and others, Kanye West was just a weak pxxsy.
When Leon was besieged by a group of East Coast hip-hop singers, Kanye, as Diddy's little brother, didn't dare to make a sound.
Because he feared Leon's reputation, he only dared to play dirty tricks behind his back, completely lacking the appearance of a street rapper.
In fact, he indeed didn't come from the streets.
Kanye came from a middle-class family in Atlanta. His mother was a teacher, and his father was a newspaper reporter.
Even though his parents divorced when he was 3, he was much better off than his peers who often had no father or didn't know who their father was.
Such a family background, placed among a group of hip-hop singers, could simply be considered a god-tier start.
The relatively affluent family environment meant he didn't have much street experience growing up, and his lyrics rarely contained depictions of violence.
Leon suddenly thought of something and asked hurriedly, "Doesn't Kanye have a contract with Nike?"
"You know this too?" Phil was stunned for a moment; the other party said what he wanted to say.
"I saw the sneakers he designed for Nike on Kendrick's feet." Leon complained, "How dare they price those clumsy, stupid shoes like the Air Yeezy 1 so high."
Phil pointed to his head and said, "This is the added value of merchandise brought by celebrities. Although you are good at making money, compared to JAY-Z and Kanye, you are much worse."
In the subsequent conversation, Leon learned that the cooperation between Kanye and Nike had almost come to an end.
Because sneaker sales didn't meet expectations, arrogant Nike would rather donate the proceeds to charity than pay the necessary royalties for the other party's design.
The reason given was simply that Kanye wasn't an athlete.
"The relationship between the two sides is very stiff now. Kanye is on the verge of leaving Nike, and Adidas is very willing to let Kanye serve as a designer while endorsing." Phil said.
"Shxt..." The enthusiasm Leon had just ignited was instantly extinguished.
Even setting aside the knowledge blind spot of sneaker design, he had absolutely no advantage in competing with Kanye.
This middle-class rapper had released five albums so far, with total sales far ahead of Leon.
At the same time, he held 14 Grammy Awards, including three "Best Rap Album of the Year," leading his contemporary rappers by a landslide.
If not for Leon recently skyrocketing in traffic thanks to the "East vs. West Coast Gang War" event...
If forced to choose one of the two, Adidas could choose with their eyes closed.
Seeing Leon's face written with disappointment, Phil smiled proudly.
He knew his moment to flex was coming. "Even if Kanye really terminates his contract with Nike, you are not without a chance..."
"Let's hear it." Leon lay flat on the swivel chair, lighting another cigarette.
Phil got up unsteadily, staggering with each step.
Walking to the window and looking into the distance with his hands behind his back, looking melancholy, "Thanks to you having the world's best agent, I am a master of insight into human nature. I know too well how to close a deal..."
Leon frowned and stared at Phil, not knowing whether to interrupt him for a moment.
Phil continued, "Thomas looks quite dull and rigid, a typical German... but I understand his nature, what is missing in his soul..."
Leon nodded repeatedly, but cursed in his heart about the dilly-dallying.
"He was transferred from the headquarters in Bavaria, Germany only last year, and his wife is still far away in Germany."
"I get it." Leon curled his lips helplessly, knowing what the other party wanted to say next.
"During the days in Portland, I took him to experience Latin girls, Black girls, Brazilian girls... he has fallen completely in love with this country." Phil showed a lecherous smile on his face. "Guess what he said?"
"What did he say?" Leon asked perfunctorily.
Phil grinned broadly. "He said he finally knows why everyone wants to come to America. The soft power of this country is indeed hard not to admire!"
Leon spread his hands and got up to go home.
He was too lazy to listen to the other party's drunken nonsense anymore. "I don't care what dirty means you use, do your best to fight for the Adidas contract for me."
After speaking, he hurriedly left the office and boarded the business van driven by Jorge.
Since the start of the Beef war, he rarely drove that eye-catching Porsche 997.
This Dodge Caravan was commissioned by him to Bonnie to find from the second-hand car market for 20,000 dollars.
The condition was almost brand new, sturdy and durable.
Most critically, it could accommodate 7 bodyguards at the same time, which doubled his sense of security.
It was already 9 PM when he left the office.
Leon looked at the night view outside the car window, his mind full of Taylor's song request.
Rejecting Taylor meant rejecting a large sum of money, which he couldn't accept no matter what.
And if he directly brought out We Don't Talk Anymore, binding deeper with the Roc Nation Kingdom would also mean Robbie's rage.
"Damn it..." The success of the Diss brought him traffic but also happy troubles.
At this time, he received a call from Bonnie.
"Hey, I'm very tired recently. If you have needs, solve them yourself..."
He was interrupted before he could say a few sentences. Bonnie's tone was very anxious. "Mr. Jones seems to have changed his mind."
"What? Speak clearly!" Leon immediately straightened up and sat upright.
"I just received an email from Miss Kidada. Her father seems to have changed his mind..."
"Fxxk, I'll be home right away!" Leon hung up the phone, muttering, "What tricks does this cunning old fox want to play again?"
---
Inside the Henry Street apartment, Leon stared at the content on Bonnie's laptop and fell into a long silence.
The lengthy text was filled with hypocritical words like "very sorry" and "look forward to future cooperation."
Only one paragraph had real value: Time Warner had reignited its enthusiasm for acquiring Vibe.
Unexpectedly, Old Jones deliberately revealed Time Warner's specific offer in the email—5.5 million dollars.
Seeing this, Leon's face instantly darkened.
A large part of the reason he held onto Vibe tightly was that there were no strong competitors.
This meant he could easily take down this magazine at the most economical price.
But facing Time Warner, a top giant in the media industry, he instantly lost all confidence.
Old Jones deliberately revealed the other party's offer, and Time Warner's offer was only 500,000 dollars higher...
Combining all the above...
Leon realized immediately—he had been played!
"Fxxk!"
It was as disgusting as encountering a minimum increment bid at an auction.
He should have thought of it earlier. Old Jones had struggled in the music industry for more than 60 years; of course, he wouldn't let himself be manipulated like a toy.
"What should we do now?" Bonnie asked.
"What else can we do? We can only give up."
"But you put so much energy into getting Vibe before..." Bonnie said. "Maybe as long as our bid is a little higher than Time Warner's, we can facilitate this deal?"
Leon rolled his eyes at her. You better stick to selling second-hand underwear online.
"A small price increase is meaningless. This is clearly a trap."
Hearing this, Bonnie also completely gave up.
Most of the matters regarding the acquisition of Vibe were handled by her. Now that the negotiation had hit a dead end, she was equally disappointed.
"Let this old bastard take this money-losing magazine to his coffin. I will laugh at him beside his grave."
Leon was too lazy to ponder this matter anymore, taking off his clothes while walking into the bathroom.
Amidst the swirling steam, he suddenly thought of something as if enlightened, muttering to himself:
"Time Warner... Warner Music..."
"Leonard?"
Although in 2004, Warner Music was sold by Time Warner to the Bronfman Investment Group for 2.6 billion dollars...
Leonard had worked for Time Warner for more than 10 years and still had powerful connections within its executive circle.
"Fxxk! You two damn bastards are playing dirty with me..."