Chapter 426: Secrets

Chapter 426: Chapter 426: Secrets

Although Irene Coppola verbally rejected the proposal to immediately establish a media group, this extremely clear-headed and deeply analytical judgment was precisely a testament to the extreme importance she placed on the matter of "grouping and empire-building" and her cautious ambition.

It was not that she did not want to, but that she wanted it too much.

Precisely because her goal was to rival or even surpass the Hollywood Big Six and build a media territory that was truly her own, she was unwilling to act rashly when her wings were not yet fully fledged, her channels were incomplete, and the timing was not right, lest she suffer the consequences of forcing growth.

Every acquisition plan and every layout of hers now was a quiet hibernation, but this was not an indefinite passive acceptance; rather, it was a long-planned, methodical accumulation of strength.

She was waiting, waiting for an opportunity, waiting for the most critical piece of her territory—an independent overseas distribution channel.

She knew better than anyone that the ultimate voice in the film and television industry was never the director’s creative ability, nor the box office word-of-mouth of a single film, but the distribution network firmly grasped in one’s own hands.

The reason the Hollywood Big Six could monopolise the global film and television market for years, wantonly crush emerging companies, and choke their opponents’ lifelines was ultimately because they held a complete, mature, and globally covering overseas distribution system.

Without exclusive overseas distribution channels, no matter how high-quality the films or how complete the content industry chain, they could only be trapped in the North America local market, with overseas profits being peeled away and manipulated by the Big Six at every turn, forever destined to be "content workers" dependent on the giants.

Only by building a global distribution pathway belonging to Echo Pictures could her media territory be considered truly closed-loop, and only then would she have the confidence to completely jump out of the shackles of the Big Six’s rules and truly rank among the top-tier production companies in Hollywood.

All the pacing was within Irene Coppola’s plan, and time soon arrived at her birthday.

Compared to the busy state of previous years, filled with filming, project wrap-ups, and business coordination, this year’s birthday was exceptionally leisurely and relaxed.

After years of high-pressure work, Echo Pictures’ various businesses had long been on the right track, with dedicated managers overseeing each project; she only needed to make the final decisions, with no need for her to handle everything personally.

After Transformers finished principal photography, she completely let go of all subsequent complex tasks, such as post-production editing, special effects, colour grading, and theatre distribution, handing over a concise and precise document of modification suggestions before completely entrusting the project to the Paramount team to polish and offloading the heavy burden from her shoulders.

This was the benefit of just taking a salary; less money meant less to worry about.

This year’s birthday had no urgent work pressure, no complex project trivialities, and with friends and family gathered around, acquaintances for company, and stable years, the atmosphere was relaxed and warm.

Irene Coppola rarely let down all her defences and fatigue, thoroughly enjoying her own leisure time, quietly savoring a rare moment of peaceful life.

As she was leisurely enjoying her afternoon tea, her phone screen lit up, with the incoming call labelled as Chen Shiyu.

Irene Coppola looked at the call, answered it casually, her tone carrying a bit of lazy teasing, her smile relaxed.

"It is my birthday today, and you are only calling now, and empty-handed at that? Is that not a bit insincere?"

Chen Shiyu on the other end of the line chuckled upon hearing this, his tone firm and carrying a bit of mystery.

"I would not do something so perfunctory. Picking today to call is, of course, to give you a birthday surprise worth its weight in gold, as my exclusive birthday gift to you."

Irene Coppola raised an eyebrow slightly, a bit of interest piqued.

"Oh? Let us hear it."

Chen Shiyu stopped beating around the bush, reined in his smile, and entered the main topic with a serious tone, slowly revealing the long-dormant bombshell intelligence.

"Remember at the beginning of the year, you specifically entrusted me to secretly help you investigate Marvel’s current CEO, Isaac Perlmutter? I have had people secretly following up and digging deeper during this period, and finally found the core trickery hidden privately, almost unknown to anyone—it is an absolute bombshell insider scoop."

Irene Coppola’s heart skipped a beat upon hearing this, instantly pulling herself out of her relaxed state, a trace of caution surfacing in her eyes.

With complex affairs at the beginning of the year and too many branches in her layout, the Marvel matter had long been temporarily shelved in a corner by her.

For these years, she had been silently and secretly absorbing Marvel’s scattered circulating stocks, her actions low-key, hidden, and unhurried, without encountering any resistance or attention throughout the process.

Marvel’s current development was tepid, and it was at least two years away from the era of superhero IP explosion.

For her, the Marvel acquisition was not an urgent project that needed to be landed immediately, so she had maintained a Buddhist-like layout, waiting for the opportunity, and had almost forgotten about the investigation she had commissioned back then.

But at this moment, Chen Shiyu’s bombshell news instantly brought the originally dormant Marvel chess game back to life.

"Everyone outside thinks that Isaac Perlmutter holds onto Marvel’s superhero copyrights tightly, refusing to sell or split the licensing, out of long-term strategic planning, to preserve Marvel’s core assets and wait for the future IP explosion. But in reality, that is not the case at all. The real reason he refuses to let go of the copyrights or licensing is that it hides a huge personal hidden danger."

"He privately used a large number of core Hero copyrights under Marvel as collateral assets to apply for high-value loans from a top-tier high-end private asset management company on Wall Street, and all the funds were invested in the stock market."

This news was extremely secret, and could be called Isaac Perlmutter’s top-tier private secret.

Chen Shiyu confessed that very few people knew about this.

That Wall Street asset management company had an extremely high threshold, belonging to a top-tier membership-only private institution that was not open to the public, did not disclose client information, strictly kept all transaction records confidential, and specifically served top-tier capital tycoons on Wall Street and top power-holders in various industries, with maximum privacy, making it impossible for ordinary people to find out any wind of it.

Being able to dig up the truth this time was purely a coincidence.

One of Chen Shiyu’s high-end clients happened to be a member of this asset management company.

When visiting the institution recently to handle business, he accidentally ran into Isaac Perlmutter, who had come in person to handle the procedures.

This client liked to pay attention to the Hollywood entertainment industry in his spare time and was quite familiar with the executives of major companies.

Plus, as a fan of Marvel himself, he recognised the Marvel CEO at a glance.

Afterward, this client just treated it as fresh gossip, casually complaining to Chen Shiyu, sighing that entertainment industry tycoons looked glamorous and held billion-level assets, but behind the scenes, they also needed loans to turn over capital and enter the stock market themselves—seemingly controlling capital, but actually being bound by it.