WEBVTT - Byron Allen: A Born Entrepreneur Fights for ‘Economic Inclusion’ 0:00:06.440 --> 0:00:11.120 Welcome to Strictly Business Varieties podcast featuring conversations with industry 0:00:11.160 --> 0:00:15.080 leaders about the business of entertainment. I'm Cynthia Littleton, managing 0:00:15.200 --> 0:00:18.680 editor of Television for Variety, and today my guest in 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:21.640 Los Angeles is Byron Allen. Byron is one of the 0:00:21.680 --> 0:00:26.160 busiest entrepreneurs in show business these days. He founded his company, 0:00:26.360 --> 0:00:31.240 Entertainment Studios, in in his living room. Since then, it 0:00:31.280 --> 0:00:36.440 has expanded rapidly from syndicated programming into cable television and 0:00:36.479 --> 0:00:41.440 now independent film distribution. In this lively conversation, he takes 0:00:41.520 --> 0:00:44.360 us through his recent three hundred million dollar acquisition of 0:00:44.400 --> 0:00:47.839 the Weather Channel, his strategy in the film business, and 0:00:47.880 --> 0:00:51.160 he also talks about his controversial decision to pursue civil 0:00:51.280 --> 0:00:56.480 rights legal cases against major distributors alleging discrimination in their 0:00:56.520 --> 0:01:01.160 business practices. So, by Ron all and thank you for 0:01:01.240 --> 0:01:04.040 joining me today. Well, thank you, Cynthia Littleton, and it's 0:01:04.040 --> 0:01:05.640 good to be here and hang out with you. I'm 0:01:05.680 --> 0:01:08.280 a fan of yours. You started, So your company is 0:01:08.280 --> 0:01:12.120 called Entertainment Studios, and you started you founded the company 0:01:12.120 --> 0:01:16.760 in yes, but you have really been on a growth spurt. 0:01:16.800 --> 0:01:19.479 You really expanded quite a bit in the last three 0:01:19.480 --> 0:01:22.280 to five years. Yeah, yes, yes, I'm a fifty seven 0:01:22.319 --> 0:01:26.160 year old overnight sensation. So you know, I started the 0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:31.559 company from my dining room table five years ago. And uh, 0:01:31.680 --> 0:01:36.920 for me, it was always business show, not shill business. 0:01:37.720 --> 0:01:39.480 And I made it a point of that. You know. 0:01:40.360 --> 0:01:43.280 I started as a stand up comedian when I was 0:01:43.440 --> 0:01:48.000 fourteen years old. Fourteen years old, Uh, summer of seventy four, 0:01:48.000 --> 0:01:49.920 I think it was, it was either seventy four seventy 0:01:50.280 --> 0:01:54.360 I should know by this point. And uh, you know, 0:01:54.440 --> 0:01:57.160 my mother, I was born in Detroit, Michigan, so I 0:01:57.200 --> 0:02:01.000 come from that whole blue collar background. My dad worked 0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:03.480 at Ford Motor Company for over thirty years, and my 0:02:03.520 --> 0:02:06.800 grandfather worked at Great Lake Steel for over thirty years. 0:02:06.800 --> 0:02:09.080 And these guys, I mean, if they ever called in 0:02:09.080 --> 0:02:11.040 a day sick, I'd be shocked. And they got to 0:02:11.040 --> 0:02:13.400 work an hour early, and they always tried to figure 0:02:13.400 --> 0:02:15.960 out how to put a you know, twenty six hours 0:02:16.000 --> 0:02:18.320 in a in a twenty four hour a day, and 0:02:18.680 --> 0:02:21.960 just good guys, hard workers. And my mother and father 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:25.440 got a divorce. Um we came, my mother and I 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:28.200 came out here summer sixty eight to Los Angeles, to 0:02:28.240 --> 0:02:32.200 Los Angeles. Excuse me, Yes, to Los Angeles from Detroit. Um, 0:02:32.240 --> 0:02:34.560 there was you know, a lot of riots. I was 0:02:34.560 --> 0:02:39.079 gonna say, that's a heavy time Detroit and for Detroit. Right. 0:02:39.160 --> 0:02:43.880 So when Martin Luther King was assassinated, you know, uh, Detroit, 0:02:44.680 --> 0:02:50.040 the top blow off and military immediately took over my neighborhood, 0:02:50.800 --> 0:02:53.560 shut us down. Um, you know, I'm looking down the 0:02:53.560 --> 0:02:57.160 barrel of the tank troops walking on our lawns with 0:02:57.200 --> 0:02:59.359 bayonets and made it really clear if you don't get 0:02:59.360 --> 0:03:02.160 in the house, we're a shoot and kill. And um, 0:03:02.520 --> 0:03:05.520 so we thought, okay, let's go visit some family and 0:03:05.600 --> 0:03:08.519 friends in l A. And Uh, I thought it was 0:03:08.560 --> 0:03:11.200 a two week vacation and summer of sixty eight and 0:03:11.240 --> 0:03:13.600 never went home. I was seven years old at that point, 0:03:14.440 --> 0:03:17.600 and my mother who had me seventeen days after her 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:20.160 seventeenth birthday. So I tell everybody I have too high 0:03:20.160 --> 0:03:26.120 school diplomas. My mother happens to be very beautiful and smart, 0:03:26.200 --> 0:03:27.960 and she ended up going to u c l A. 0:03:28.840 --> 0:03:32.480 And she ended up getting her master's degree and sent 0:03:32.560 --> 0:03:35.480 him a TV production at u c l A. And 0:03:35.480 --> 0:03:39.160 while raising me, she was attending school and she went 0:03:39.240 --> 0:03:42.800 to NBC and asked them, Uh, could she get a 0:03:42.880 --> 0:03:48.640 job doing anything? And they said no, and she said, well, 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:51.480 can I be an intern? And they said, we don't 0:03:51.480 --> 0:03:53.920 have an intern program. And then she asked a very 0:03:53.920 --> 0:03:57.280 important question, will you start one with me? And they 0:03:57.320 --> 0:04:00.880 said yes. And from that she became a tour guy, 0:04:01.120 --> 0:04:05.400 and later she became a publicist working in the publicity 0:04:05.400 --> 0:04:10.560 and marketing department at NBC. And UH, when she was 0:04:10.600 --> 0:04:13.120 a tour guy, I used to go out to NBC 0:04:13.320 --> 0:04:15.200 with her and wait for her to get off work. 0:04:15.560 --> 0:04:18.159 And as a kid, I just sat and I watched 0:04:18.200 --> 0:04:21.040 them make television. And up until this point, I was 0:04:21.040 --> 0:04:22.960 going to go work with my dad at Ford Motor 0:04:23.000 --> 0:04:27.320 Company or my granddaddy at Great Lake Steel and build cars. 0:04:27.720 --> 0:04:30.719 And UH, when I saw this different kind of factory, 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:34.600 a content factory, it changed my life and my perspective. 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:38.440 I saw Johnny Carson tape The Tonight Show, and then 0:04:38.480 --> 0:04:40.600 I would walk across the hall and I would watch 0:04:40.640 --> 0:04:43.719 Red Fox tape Sanford and Son, and then I go 0:04:43.800 --> 0:04:46.520 around the corner and watch Freddie Prince du chic on 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:49.520 the Man, and then the next day would be Flip 0:04:49.520 --> 0:04:51.800 Wilson doing the Flip Wilson Show, and then I go 0:04:51.839 --> 0:04:55.040 across the hall and I would watch a local sportscaster 0:04:55.200 --> 0:04:58.320 named Bryant Gumbel do the local sports and a local 0:04:58.360 --> 0:05:01.400 weather man named Pat Saj do the weather for k NBC. 0:05:01.920 --> 0:05:03.640 Then I go down the hall and watch them do 0:05:03.640 --> 0:05:06.640 a soap opera, Days of Our Lives, and I just was. 0:05:06.760 --> 0:05:09.080 I would go from studio to studio studio and watch 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:12.919 Bob Hope and George Burns and all of these amazing, iconic, 0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:16.600 super talented people make television, and I was, I was 0:05:16.680 --> 0:05:20.200 instantly in love. And I watched the executives in NBC, 0:05:20.600 --> 0:05:25.040 Fred Silverman and Brandon Tartakov interact with the producers, George 0:05:25.040 --> 0:05:28.680 Slaughter and Jimmy Komack interact with the with the writers 0:05:28.720 --> 0:05:31.800 and the directors and the crew and the unions, and 0:05:31.839 --> 0:05:34.440 it was a symphony. And it was a symphony that 0:05:34.560 --> 0:05:38.359 I loved watching and listening to. And I thought, and 0:05:38.400 --> 0:05:41.320 I knew, right then, this is what I'm going to 0:05:41.480 --> 0:05:44.440 dedicate my life too. This is what I'm going to 0:05:44.560 --> 0:05:48.760 do until the day I die. I read one day 0:05:48.760 --> 0:05:52.839 in the New York Times that Verizon was going to 0:05:52.880 --> 0:05:55.880 spend twenty three billion dollars to bring fiber to the 0:05:55.920 --> 0:05:59.160 home and offer a hundred and fifty h D channels 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:02.760 and compete with cable. So I went to Verizon and 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:05.800 I said, okay, I read about your initiative and I said, 0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:12.160 I'm here to launch ten HD networks, ten of them. 0:06:12.200 --> 0:06:15.000 And they said, how many do you have now? I 0:06:15.040 --> 0:06:20.159 said zero and they were like, okay, he's cuckoo for cocopuffs, 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:22.760 and they go, what are you thinking? I said, well, 0:06:22.800 --> 0:06:24.240 if you really want to know what I'm thinking, I 0:06:24.240 --> 0:06:28.960 think that I said, this is a huge opportunity. I said, 0:06:29.240 --> 0:06:33.760 a hundred years ago, it was the industrial revolution, and 0:06:34.080 --> 0:06:37.359 the industrial revolution was fueled by gas and oil, and 0:06:37.440 --> 0:06:41.080 today it's the digital revolution, and that this revolution is 0:06:41.120 --> 0:06:44.440 being fueled by content. And we're not very efficient, and 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:47.320 we have to do exactly what Rockefeller did in Henry Ford. 0:06:47.360 --> 0:06:49.520 And I love and I've studied all of their moves 0:06:50.040 --> 0:06:54.120 because I just love entrepreneurs in business. It's just something 0:06:54.120 --> 0:06:57.000 that I was more into that than sports. And I said, 0:06:57.040 --> 0:07:01.120 black Rockefeller was vertically integrated. He we have to be 0:07:01.279 --> 0:07:04.359 vertically integrated. He took the oil out of the ground, 0:07:04.360 --> 0:07:07.040 put it in the pipelines, send it to the refineries, 0:07:07.120 --> 0:07:09.200 put it on the trucks, send it to the gas stations, 0:07:09.440 --> 0:07:11.240 and put it in every gas tank and made it 0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:13.280 affordable and efficient. And we have to do the same 0:07:13.280 --> 0:07:17.760 thing with content. One years later. That business mind set 0:07:17.920 --> 0:07:22.840 applies to day and I said, when I sent a crew, 0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:27.040 I said, look, my dad worked it forward. My granddaddy 0:07:27.040 --> 0:07:29.600 worked at Great Lake Steel. These guys worked twenty hours 0:07:29.600 --> 0:07:32.840 a day, but sometimes TV crews want to work two 0:07:32.840 --> 0:07:35.480 hours and try and get paid for twelve. It's a 0:07:35.600 --> 0:07:39.600 very inefficient business. And I'm here to bring that Henry 0:07:39.600 --> 0:07:43.960 forward Rockefeller efficiency to this space. So when I send 0:07:44.000 --> 0:07:47.040 a camera crew to Pebble Beach to cover the car show, 0:07:47.080 --> 0:07:50.239 concourse the elegance, I don't want them to just shoot 0:07:50.280 --> 0:07:53.400 the car show for our twenty four hour television network 0:07:53.440 --> 0:07:55.840 Cars dot TV, which we want an Emmy for and 0:07:55.840 --> 0:07:58.880 I'm very proud of. I also want them to shoot 0:07:58.920 --> 0:08:02.040 the resorts and Pebble Beach for our travel channel My 0:08:02.120 --> 0:08:06.280 Destination dot TV, Shoot the chefs up there for our 0:08:06.280 --> 0:08:09.640 cooking channel Recipe dot TV, Shoot what's going on in 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:12.280 the pet community up there for our twenty four pet 0:08:12.400 --> 0:08:15.480 channel Pets dot TV, and shoot all the celebrities that 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:18.800 come to the show for our entertainment channel ees dot TV, 0:08:19.400 --> 0:08:22.360 and they say, wow, that's brilliant. We've had a lot 0:08:22.360 --> 0:08:25.080 of pitches. No one's ever come to us with that 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:28.040 point of view and that unique business model. They say, 0:08:28.120 --> 0:08:30.840 we won't give you ten networks, but we will give 0:08:30.880 --> 0:08:34.240 you six. And we made history and we launched six 0:08:34.320 --> 0:08:38.080 twenty four HD networks in a single day a little 0:08:38.120 --> 0:08:41.079 over nine years ago. And those are all of our 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:43.760 twenty four hour networks that are on Verizon and A 0:08:43.960 --> 0:08:45.760 T and T and some of them are on Dish 0:08:45.800 --> 0:08:48.560 and Direct and you're up to eight now we have 0:08:48.679 --> 0:08:50.719 eight now, right? And so what I did was I 0:08:50.760 --> 0:08:54.240 went involve all the dot TVs about twelve years ago. 0:08:55.800 --> 0:08:59.320 It's the premium dot TVs. Uh, And I said, look 0:08:59.400 --> 0:09:01.720 the Internet. At this point it was we're in you know, 0:09:02.280 --> 0:09:04.319 we're coming out of you know, we're in dot coms. 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:07.560 And I said, dot com is for me? Was internet? 0:09:07.559 --> 0:09:13.000 One point out it was read it? But I said, habitually, 0:09:13.520 --> 0:09:16.600 we watch more than we read. And I said, what's 0:09:16.600 --> 0:09:19.680 going to happen is we're going to have an unbelievable 0:09:19.720 --> 0:09:25.120 insatiable appetite to watch it online. So I said, dot 0:09:25.160 --> 0:09:29.720 TV represents watch it. So I started buying all of 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:32.600 the beach front real estate. That's why we ended up 0:09:32.640 --> 0:09:35.680 with comedy dot TV and cars dot TV, pets dot TV, 0:09:35.920 --> 0:09:37.560 and we have a number of them. We haven't turned 0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:41.040 on music, dot TV, kids, dot TV, sports dot TV, 0:09:41.360 --> 0:09:44.160 news dot TV, and we'll turn them all on. And 0:09:44.200 --> 0:09:47.520 the goal is to be direct to the consumers worldwide 0:09:47.520 --> 0:09:53.320 on every device, different verticals. That's the vision, and that's 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:58.319 been the vision since day one. So we we turned 0:09:58.360 --> 0:10:01.360 on those networks and and we we said we're gonna 0:10:01.360 --> 0:10:06.120 own all the content, shoot everything in native HD. A 0:10:06.200 --> 0:10:10.120 day crew and a night crew that produces and edits, 0:10:10.160 --> 0:10:12.920 just like at Ford Motor Company. Because when I was 0:10:12.960 --> 0:10:14.839 a kid, my mom and I used to drop my 0:10:14.920 --> 0:10:17.160 dad off at Ford Motor Company at the night crew. 0:10:17.520 --> 0:10:19.280 So I said, we will have a night crew here, 0:10:19.559 --> 0:10:21.480 so we'll have editors to go during the day, and 0:10:21.520 --> 0:10:23.600 they will have editors go at night and keep the 0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:27.199 machine going and keep making the content and make it. 0:10:27.520 --> 0:10:30.959 And what like my mentor who took the radio shows 0:10:31.800 --> 0:10:35.600 and made and made television shows, I took the magazine 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:39.920 stand and made them twenty four hour verticals. You have 0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:43.800 plenty of car magazines, and plenty of cooking magazines, and 0:10:43.960 --> 0:10:47.640 plenty of travel magazines. There those are passion points. People 0:10:47.640 --> 0:10:51.680 will always be interested in that. And our new magazine 0:10:51.720 --> 0:10:56.680 stand is the mobile phone, not your traditional magazine. Acade ago. 0:10:57.160 --> 0:10:59.240 That's why I started buying all the dot TVs. And 0:10:59.280 --> 0:11:03.440 I said, you know, I couldn't raise money, so I said, 0:11:03.480 --> 0:11:06.960 I will finance it myself. Uh. And this is a 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:11.199 vision that's hard to explain, and but they will eventually 0:11:11.240 --> 0:11:14.640 show up, and they will eventually start watching over the top. 0:11:15.440 --> 0:11:20.320 And we we uh launched, and then we added a 0:11:20.360 --> 0:11:23.760 seventh network. We became the largest producer of court shows 0:11:24.480 --> 0:11:27.240 and now we have six of them, and I created 0:11:27.280 --> 0:11:30.440 a twenty four hour vertical. I couldn't license the court 0:11:30.480 --> 0:11:33.000 shows to any cable network, so I said, okay, we'll 0:11:33.000 --> 0:11:35.720 just start our own one. So we started uh Justice 0:11:35.760 --> 0:11:40.160 Central dot TV and UH then someone came to me 0:11:40.200 --> 0:11:43.920 and said you should buy the Weather channel. A buddy 0:11:43.920 --> 0:11:48.080 of mine who satellites our networks and he's the largest, 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:51.160 one of the largest in that space, satellite networks, and 0:11:51.200 --> 0:11:53.160 he said you should buy it. And he said, I 0:11:53.240 --> 0:11:55.720 used to be, uh, one of the top executives at 0:11:55.720 --> 0:11:59.040 this at the Weather Channel, and he says, people don't 0:11:59.040 --> 0:12:02.200 realize how much money it names, and they don't realize 0:12:02.200 --> 0:12:04.400 what a cash cole it is and how he goes 0:12:04.400 --> 0:12:08.000 and it fits your other seven networks perfectly. It's your model. 0:12:08.120 --> 0:12:10.720 It's a vertical into itself. It's a vertical into itself, 0:12:10.720 --> 0:12:14.240 and it's you own all the content and you're able 0:12:14.280 --> 0:12:16.319 to go on every device everywhere. We were one of 0:12:16.360 --> 0:12:19.080 the first to achieve to v everywhere, not because of 0:12:19.120 --> 0:12:21.840 the technology, but because we own the rights to our 0:12:21.960 --> 0:12:26.000 content and we were able to go on every vertical everywhere. 0:12:26.640 --> 0:12:29.920 And I looked at it and I said, you're right. 0:12:30.280 --> 0:12:34.200 He said, Look, it's owned by black Snow, who manages 0:12:34.240 --> 0:12:37.679 over four hundred and thirty five billion. It's managed its 0:12:37.679 --> 0:12:41.280 owned by Baying who manages over a hundred billion in cash, 0:12:41.640 --> 0:12:44.520 as well as Comcast, and so these are really smart, 0:12:44.600 --> 0:12:49.960 sophisticated operators sellers. And I said, I love it, So 0:12:50.040 --> 0:12:52.079 let's get into it. And we got into it. It 0:12:52.200 --> 0:12:54.559 wasn't an easy deal to get done. How long did 0:12:54.559 --> 0:12:56.800 it take you to to to work that out? Because 0:12:56.800 --> 0:12:59.600 you announced the deal in April, a three million dollar 0:12:59.679 --> 0:13:02.760 deal March twenty two. We didn't announce the deal. We 0:13:02.800 --> 0:13:05.560 did the I remember I could barely go to bed 0:13:05.600 --> 0:13:08.160 the night before because I didn't want to oversleep. And 0:13:08.360 --> 0:13:11.840 all the bankers and lawyers and I mean dozens and 0:13:11.960 --> 0:13:17.000 dozens on the phone at five am, uh, confirming everybody 0:13:17.040 --> 0:13:20.760 had all their paperwork in line, check check the wire 0:13:20.800 --> 0:13:26.280 transfer went through, and uh it was. It was at 0:13:26.320 --> 0:13:28.400 five am, and it was all done at five ten, 0:13:28.760 --> 0:13:31.680 and the wires started going through, and I think it 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:36.520 was sixty eight different wires to various entities. We did 0:13:36.559 --> 0:13:39.360 a test run the day before of a dollar per 0:13:39.400 --> 0:13:42.080 wire to make sure all sixty eight of them worked. 0:13:42.520 --> 0:13:44.080 So I told them, I said, look at this, we 0:13:44.120 --> 0:13:46.800 haven't even closed. I'm already sixty eight bucks over budget. 0:13:47.280 --> 0:13:51.480 So all the wires went through, and after we confirmed 0:13:51.840 --> 0:13:54.520 that all the wires had gone through and everybody had 0:13:54.520 --> 0:13:58.840 gotten their share, then we announced at eight am, and uh, 0:13:59.120 --> 0:14:02.320 you know, it was great. The team did a phenomenal job. 0:14:02.400 --> 0:14:05.800 It wasn't an easy negotiation. Uh. These were some of 0:14:05.840 --> 0:14:11.240 the brightest and toughest executives and lawyers. And it tested 0:14:11.320 --> 0:14:13.960 me and it tested me. I mean at one point 0:14:15.880 --> 0:14:17.880 we had we had the deal two or three times 0:14:17.880 --> 0:14:19.640 and we lost it and it was at the end 0:14:19.680 --> 0:14:23.640 of the day. Uh was it over? Price? Was it over? 0:14:24.000 --> 0:14:29.960 It was over? Well, it was over terms, conditions, price. 0:14:30.080 --> 0:14:32.400 It was like everything. You had to go through the 0:14:32.600 --> 0:14:35.240 entire menu of everything, and it was. It was one 0:14:35.280 --> 0:14:38.400 of those things. It was. It was a marathon times ten. 0:14:38.880 --> 0:14:40.680 You had to run it and you had to just 0:14:40.840 --> 0:14:44.560 not let go. And finally this was this will be 0:14:44.600 --> 0:14:47.680 in my book. One day we had agreed on everything. 0:14:47.760 --> 0:14:51.400 I had it done for a lot less. I had 0:14:51.400 --> 0:14:57.200 the deal done, uh, for forty one million dollars less, 0:14:59.400 --> 0:15:04.400 and uh, they said, we only need one signature. And 0:15:04.480 --> 0:15:06.560 this was on a Thursday. I had signed my name 0:15:06.600 --> 0:15:10.240 two hundred times and those signatures were being held in 0:15:10.560 --> 0:15:13.560 escrow by the attorneys, and I had signed everything and 0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:16.560 everybody had signed everything except for one signature. And this 0:15:16.600 --> 0:15:19.120 was a Thursday. So I said, can we get that 0:15:19.160 --> 0:15:20.960 signature and so I can wire you this money and 0:15:20.960 --> 0:15:23.640 we can be done. And they said, yeah, we just 0:15:23.680 --> 0:15:26.520 need that one signature. You'll get it on Monday or Tuesday. 0:15:27.400 --> 0:15:31.040 And didn't come Monday, and in Tuesday, I said, where's 0:15:31.080 --> 0:15:34.760 the signature. Well, I'm ready to wire this money and 0:15:34.760 --> 0:15:37.600 on Tuesday, say we got some bad news. I go, 0:15:37.680 --> 0:15:40.440 oh yeah. I said, there's no such thing as bad 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:42.360 news right now unless you will want to take less. 0:15:44.600 --> 0:15:46.880 And the bad news is for you. They said, no, 0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:51.080 two more bidders. Two more bidders emerged over the weekend, 0:15:51.880 --> 0:15:55.320 and they're higher than you, and one is ten million 0:15:55.360 --> 0:15:58.400 more than you, and people closing in a natal second. 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:01.760 And they and we're sure you're really upset with us 0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:04.520 and you don't want to participate in the process. And 0:16:04.640 --> 0:16:07.120 I said that's not true. I said, I am upset, 0:16:07.920 --> 0:16:11.400 but I am going to continue because this is a decision. 0:16:11.640 --> 0:16:14.680 I can be bitter, I can be better. And they said, 0:16:15.480 --> 0:16:18.920 I said to them, give me a number that you 0:16:18.960 --> 0:16:22.000 want me to pay you, so we can end this 0:16:22.560 --> 0:16:26.280 right now. I said, here's the difference. I own my company. 0:16:28.200 --> 0:16:32.960 I don't have a board of directors. Here, no analysis, paralysis. 0:16:33.800 --> 0:16:36.240 The decision is made right here in the moment. As 0:16:36.280 --> 0:16:38.640 you tell me. You tell me the number, and I'll 0:16:38.640 --> 0:16:40.960 either say yes or no, and if it's yes, it 0:16:41.000 --> 0:16:44.360 will be done within ten minutes. And they said, I 0:16:44.400 --> 0:16:46.720 don't have a number, and I want, Oh my god, 0:16:46.720 --> 0:16:49.040 how do you not have a number. You have to 0:16:49.040 --> 0:16:52.440 give me a number. They said, no number, and then 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:54.000 I said, and they said, we'll get back to you. 0:16:54.880 --> 0:16:57.440 And I knew what was going to happen. Next we 0:16:57.560 --> 0:17:00.120 hung up the phone. I looked at my executives and 0:17:00.160 --> 0:17:02.400 I said, and we're now going into a bidding war. 0:17:03.240 --> 0:17:08.159 So let's gear up and uh. The next morning, at 0:17:08.200 --> 0:17:10.320 six thirty five in the morning, I got an email 0:17:10.880 --> 0:17:13.760 and they said we have three interested parties. And I 0:17:13.840 --> 0:17:15.960 was one of them. Do you know who the other 0:17:16.000 --> 0:17:18.720 two were? I didn't, and and and all of my 0:17:18.760 --> 0:17:21.400 executives wanted to know, and I said, ladies and gentlemen, 0:17:21.640 --> 0:17:24.879 it doesn't matter. We have to get rid of them. 0:17:25.080 --> 0:17:29.640 So and so they said, we have three interested parties 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:33.919 and we want best and final bids by two pm 0:17:34.119 --> 0:17:39.040 Easterom today and we're going to make a decision and 0:17:39.080 --> 0:17:42.199 sign with one of you today. So I called up 0:17:42.600 --> 0:17:45.639 and I said, well, this isn't fair. They go, why, 0:17:45.880 --> 0:17:47.960 I go, well, I know my two competitors are on 0:17:48.000 --> 0:17:50.480 the East Coast. I knew that about them. I said, 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:52.760 so it's nine thirty five for them. They're at their 0:17:52.800 --> 0:17:56.280 desk having coffee. It's six thirty five here. I said, 0:17:56.280 --> 0:17:59.680 My people are still asleeper, waking up or getting ready, 0:18:00.000 --> 0:18:02.199 and they go, yeah, we thought about that, but we 0:18:02.240 --> 0:18:05.359 know you're awake. I go, how do you know I'm awake? 0:18:05.400 --> 0:18:10.280 They go, because you never sleep. I said, that's true. 0:18:10.560 --> 0:18:13.840 But I go, we have to get this on the 0:18:13.880 --> 0:18:16.400 same level playing field. They go, nope, you gotta get 0:18:16.400 --> 0:18:19.680 yours in by eleven am. And they said, are you in? 0:18:19.800 --> 0:18:21.919 Are you gonna go for it tonight? They go I 0:18:21.960 --> 0:18:23.800 said yeah. They go, So what do you have to say? 0:18:23.960 --> 0:18:28.680 I said, Mohammed Ali. They go, Mohammed Ali. I got 0:18:28.760 --> 0:18:30.399 those were just the two words that just came to 0:18:30.440 --> 0:18:33.800 my mind at this particular moment, Mohammed Ali. So they go, 0:18:33.880 --> 0:18:36.320 what does that mean? I said, tell the other two guys, 0:18:36.320 --> 0:18:39.200 I'm gonna hit him so hard. I'm gonna knock him 0:18:39.200 --> 0:18:42.440 out of the ring into the cheap seats like Mohammed Ali. 0:18:43.600 --> 0:18:48.040 They go, Okay, bye bye. Mohammad Ali. So I hung 0:18:48.119 --> 0:18:49.639 up the phone and then I said, what do I 0:18:49.680 --> 0:18:51.800 need to do? And I it was an instinctive thing. 0:18:52.280 --> 0:18:53.760 I said, what do I need to do? Beat these 0:18:53.760 --> 0:18:55.680 other two guys? And I don't really know who they are, 0:18:56.400 --> 0:18:58.520 but I said, what is it worth to me? The 0:18:58.560 --> 0:19:01.520 top line number, because this is a asset we must 0:19:01.520 --> 0:19:04.560 have for strategic reasons. And the number that came in 0:19:04.600 --> 0:19:07.280 mind was forty one million more than our previous bit. 0:19:07.880 --> 0:19:09.919 And so I put it up, We wrote it up, 0:19:09.960 --> 0:19:13.920 and I sent it at ten fifty nine am our time. 0:19:13.960 --> 0:19:19.080 I made it with one minute to spare, and five after, 0:19:19.240 --> 0:19:22.639 like ten minutes after eleven am, they called me up 0:19:24.000 --> 0:19:26.439 the bankers on Wall Street, the bankers on Wall Street, 0:19:26.760 --> 0:19:29.200 and you could hear like almost this crackle on their voice. 0:19:30.359 --> 0:19:33.480 Are we reading this right? I go, what are you reading? 0:19:34.200 --> 0:19:36.000 And they explained it to me and said, yes, those 0:19:36.080 --> 0:19:40.440 numbers are correct. Those are the numbers. And they went, okay, 0:19:40.520 --> 0:19:42.399 we'll get right back to you. I go, yeah, it's 0:19:42.440 --> 0:19:45.720 time to close, guys, this game is over. And we closed, 0:19:46.520 --> 0:19:48.600 and uh, and I just said, I'm not gonna let 0:19:48.600 --> 0:19:51.000 it go. And why was it an important transformative deal 0:19:51.040 --> 0:19:54.679 for us? It helped to bring along our other seven 0:19:54.720 --> 0:19:57.840 networks because our other seven networks were having a tough 0:19:57.840 --> 0:20:01.080 time getting distribution and I didn't have the average. And 0:20:01.119 --> 0:20:04.880 this is a this is a unique iconic network. This 0:20:04.960 --> 0:20:08.560 network is it's in the American homes for nearly forty years. 0:20:08.600 --> 0:20:11.719 It's the most widely distributed channel in your portfolio now, 0:20:11.920 --> 0:20:15.800 the most widely distributed homes. It's the only network that 0:20:15.880 --> 0:20:20.119 protects and saves lives. A lot of people depend on it, farmers, 0:20:20.160 --> 0:20:24.920 the government, businesses, retail. It is an extremely important information 0:20:24.960 --> 0:20:27.959 source and it's twenty four hours of weather news and 0:20:27.960 --> 0:20:31.520 it is a phenomenal, best in class asset and it 0:20:31.560 --> 0:20:38.680 will only lift our others. And uh, we immediately saw that. 0:20:39.119 --> 0:20:42.240 So we had a big negotiation right after we close 0:20:42.960 --> 0:20:46.959 and someone with millions and millions of subs, and we 0:20:46.960 --> 0:20:49.639 were we're talking about negotiation with a distributor, with a 0:20:49.720 --> 0:20:53.280 distributor with a platform for the Weather Channel. And we 0:20:53.280 --> 0:20:56.480 were able to renew the Weather Channel, and more importantly, 0:20:56.480 --> 0:20:58.720 we're able to get distribution for some of our other 0:20:58.800 --> 0:21:02.800 cable networks to leverage game. And that that was it. 0:21:02.960 --> 0:21:06.240 So that's why I said, I'm not I'm not gonna 0:21:06.320 --> 0:21:09.320 lose this. I'm gonna And I said to him, I said, 0:21:09.320 --> 0:21:13.159 be really clear, I'm not gonna lose this. This is 0:21:13.280 --> 0:21:16.719 not having I'm going to win. You can tell whoever 0:21:16.760 --> 0:21:19.520 you need to tell, but just now I'm taking this 0:21:19.560 --> 0:21:21.960 one who was the main banker that was orchestrating the 0:21:22.000 --> 0:21:26.520 deal for the sellers. They were using, Uh, Morgan Stanley 0:21:27.040 --> 0:21:30.359 and they were terrific and Morgan Stanley and they were 0:21:30.440 --> 0:21:33.399 nice that they at the end they said, wow, they said, 0:21:33.520 --> 0:21:36.560 you have been amazing every step of the way. When 0:21:36.600 --> 0:21:38.919 we thought you would get upset and step out, you didn't. 0:21:39.040 --> 0:21:42.120 You were cool, you were calm, you were focused. Uh 0:21:42.160 --> 0:21:44.600 And they were, they said, and you beat some really 0:21:44.640 --> 0:21:49.560 sophisticated players. The financing of your company and your ambitions. 0:21:49.600 --> 0:21:53.960 So you own you own entertainment studios outright. You don't 0:21:54.000 --> 0:21:57.879 have investors, do you? So you financed it with bank loans? 0:21:57.920 --> 0:22:00.960 How do you you know to enter? Seeing this company 0:22:01.000 --> 0:22:03.960 shouldn't be around today. I don't have it. I own 0:22:03.960 --> 0:22:06.879 it on not by design. I couldn't get anyone to 0:22:06.960 --> 0:22:09.520 invest in me, or to believe in my vision, or 0:22:09.520 --> 0:22:11.960 to offer me one penny. I watched a lot of 0:22:11.960 --> 0:22:14.359 people raise money, and for whatever reason, I just didn't 0:22:14.359 --> 0:22:17.760 have to access to capital. And I said, that's okay. 0:22:18.280 --> 0:22:21.399 You know, you just you do it yourself, you know, 0:22:21.560 --> 0:22:25.840 you just build it yourself. And as a kid, I 0:22:25.840 --> 0:22:30.920 would study all these iconic entrepreneurs and one of them 0:22:30.920 --> 0:22:37.200 I loved was Annenberg, Walter Walter Hannenberg and uh, publisher 0:22:37.240 --> 0:22:40.199 of TV Guide and other things, other things, and you know, 0:22:40.359 --> 0:22:43.119 he was terrific. And there's a story where you know, 0:22:43.160 --> 0:22:45.760 they wouldn't let him in the country club because he 0:22:45.880 --> 0:22:50.000 was Jewish, and and he just went and built his 0:22:50.080 --> 0:22:55.119