After hesitating for a moment, Lou Vassalman said: "Simon, it is impossible to completely waive the exit fee, and the board of directors will not agree. However, we can discuss the specific amount in detail."
Simon didn't plan to waste too much time on this matter and said: "Then let's go to $50 million, a fixed number."
50 million US dollars is a huge amount of money that is out of reach for most ordinary people, but for Simon now, this money is nothing.
The exit fee negotiated by MCA and Panasonic is 2.5% of the final transaction amount between the two parties. If calculated based on MCA's recent market value of nearly US$6 billion, once Panasonic abandons the acquisition, it will need to pay an exit fee of US$150 million, which is roughly equivalent to MCA's half-year net profit.
Vassalman originally considered that Daenerys Entertainment’s exit fee could be set between 1% and 2%, which was already a big concession. After hearing that Simon was only willing to give a fixed fee of US$50 million, he shook his head and said : "Simon, this number is too low."
Simon insisted: "You want me to get involved as soon as possible, Lou, and that's the price that has to be paid."
Vassalman thought for a moment and said, "Then, the matter must be made public in advance."
Simon shook his head: "No, after signing the agreement of intent, Daenerys Entertainment will start a feasibility investigation on the acquisition of MCA, and will not actually start the acquisition immediately."
Vassalman twitched the corner of his mouth. Feasibility investigation, who would believe that Daenerys Entertainment has not even completed this preparatory work
However, everyone understood that this was just an excuse, and Vassalman did not refute it.
The two continued to bargain for a while, and Simon reluctantly raised the exit fee to $60 million, roughly equivalent to 1% of MCA's current market value. Daenerys Entertainment will sign an agreement of intent with MCA within a week to investigate and evaluate the feasibility of acquiring MCA. MCA needs to cooperate and proactively provide necessary internal assets and financial data.
At the same time, although this matter needs to be kept secret from the outside world, MCA can inform Panasonic of Daenerys Entertainment’s official participation in this bidding.
After seeing Simon off in person, Vassalman returned to the office where he was just now. MCA President Sid Sheinberg had already appeared. Seeing Vassalman nodding, Sheinberg knew that Simon had confirmed his entry and asked: "Lou, you and Has the stewardship of the Corporation been discussed in Westeros?"
After a serious illness three years ago, Lou Vassalman finally expressed his intention to retire, which is why he agreed to sell the company he had controlled for decades.
However, things like power have always been more difficult to let go the deeper they are immersed.
Over the past few years, as his physical condition improved again, Vassalman's thoughts of retirement gradually faded. Among the acquisition conditions discussed by Panasonic and MCA, continuing to maintain the control of the company by the existing management is a very important one.
Compared to Lew Vassalman, who is 77 years old this year, Sid Sheinberg, who is still only 55 years old and in his prime, does not want to give up his power.
Lou Vassalman shook his head, sat down behind his desk slowly, and said: "A friend of mine in Washington called me yesterday morning and said that Ovitz and the others were contacting people to try to stop Danielle. Silk Entertainment’s acquisition of MCA. I asked Ovitz personally this morning and he admitted it.”
Ronald Reagan was a signed artist under MCA in his early years, so Vassalman actually has good connections in the political world.
Sid Sheinberg was a little surprised by the news. He forgot the question for a moment and said subconsciously: "We can't let Ovitz ruin this acquisition."
"Of course," Vassalman motioned for Shenberg to sit down opposite him and said, "I have already warned him. However, if I have to choose between Panasonic and Daenerys, I still prefer to sell MCA. To Panasonic, do you understand why?”
Sid Sheinberg pulled up a chair and sat opposite Vassalman. He thought about it and nodded quickly: "If the company is acquired by Daenerys Entertainment, Westeros will probably not continue to let us be in charge. MCA.”
"It's not very likely, definitely not," Vassalman said: "Once Westeros gets MCA, he will definitely integrate Daenerys and MCA. Many of our company's businesses happen to be related to Dany. Lies complements each other. Westeros has built a very good management team in recent years, and it is impossible for him to keep us by then."
Sid Sheinberg quickly clarified Wasserman's thinking.
Vassalman urged Daenerys Entertainment to join the bid, which could force Panasonic to raise its offer.
Then, Ovitz took action at the right moment to squeeze out Daenerys Entertainment, so that he could successfully sell MCA to Panasonic. Although the shareholders have changed, MCA will continue to be in the hands of his own management.
Seeing the understanding expression on Sid Sheinberg's face, Vassalman added somewhat quietly: "And, after all, Hollywood has always been ours, and Westeros is just an outsider no matter what. I don’t believe that other companies will really give up and stop Daenerys Entertainment from continuing to expand just because of the interests of one or two movies.”
The 'we' here naturally refers to the Jews.
The Seven Big Seven in Hollywood, or now you can count Daenerys Entertainment as the new 'Eighth Big', regardless of the shareholders behind the scenes, the heads of the studios themselves who hold real power are basically all Jews. Lew Vassalman, Sid Sheinberg, Steve Ross, Barry Diller, Shirley Lansing, Peter Cooper, and many more.
Even Amy Pascal is the same.
Therefore, few would disagree with the statement that Hollywood is Jewish Hollywood.
The Jewish community that dominates Hollywood will surely instinctively resist a non-Jew taking over more and more power.
Simon Westeros is precisely a person with an unknown origin. Although there was a surname before Westeros that could show racial origin, no one knows whether it is true or false, so no one Know what his ethnic origin is.
In Western countries, which are traditional and conservative at heart, different groups of people have always been very concerned about this issue.
The unconfirmed rumors that a certain American president must be more or less related to the British royal family by blood is actually the best proof of this point.
The rise of Simon Westeros has been so fast that people can’t see it. However, this time around the MCA acquisition, probably no one will be too slow to react.
Although Westeros did not exclude Jews or other racial tendencies in the process of running Daenerys Entertainment, he was not a Jew after all, or had not publicly acknowledged that he was a Jew.
Regarding this matter, although the Jews in Hollywood may not necessarily know about Eastern culture, they understand a common truth.
Non-my family, its heart must be different.
Sid Sheinberg didn't think there was anything wrong with Vassalman's words at all, and asked: "Lou, what are Ovitz's specific plans to do?"
…
Simon didn't know Lou Vassalman's thoughts. When he returned to Daenerys Studios, he told Amy and others to formally start contact with MCA.
Sign the agreement of intent as soon as possible. This will not only determine the exit fee of US$60 million, but also formally request some internal corporate assets and financial data from MCA that were previously unobtainable, allowing the acquisition team to make appropriate adjustments to the original acquisition plan. .
After the meeting with Amy and others, Simon returned to his office, and the female assistant followed in holding a document.
"This is information from New York. Regarding David Meros's bill to restrict overseas companies from acquiring U.S. assets, they will be formally submitted to Congress next week. Also, we have helped contact the New York Times ", "Los Angeles Times" and "Washington Post" will follow up and report on this bill simultaneously."
Simon took the folder from the female assistant's hand, sat behind the desk and looked through it with his head down.
David Merloth is the U.S. Congressman Simon met at the Hearst party last time.
Although he broke up with the Hearst family and did not think that David Merloth's bill could win the support of Congress, Simon later told James Raybould to contact the other party and let the Westeros Company The funded Schlapp Consulting Company followed up on this matter and took the initiative to help David Melloth build momentum.
As long as it can put some pressure on Panasonic's acquisition of MCA, it is worthwhile.
Moreover, after one cooperation, Daenerys Entertainment was able to successfully establish contact with the congressman named David Meloth. Things like connections have always been accumulated bit by bit between you and me.
Because they were fully prepared for the MCA acquisition, Daenerys Entertainment quietly signed an agreement of intent with MCA in just two days over the weekend.
Although MCA did not quietly disclose the matter to the media this time, due to the official entry of Daenerys Entertainment, Panasonic withdrew an offer from last week and restarted negotiations with MCA.
Due to this change, the MCA acquisition is destined to be delayed until at least the end of October, which is exactly what Simon wants.
After settling this matter, Simon flew to Melbourne as planned on the new Monday, October 15th.
For several days in a row, I spent time with Jane de Bont and others in the shooting base in the western suburbs of Melbourne, which was originally an abandoned factory and now had a prototype of a movie studio. Although I was very satisfied with most of the samples De Bont had shot, because After all, he was not at the helm himself. Simon still found a lot of shots that needed to be reshot, partly for technical reasons and partly because he was not satisfied with the effect of the shots.
However, the re-shooting work did not start immediately, but was scheduled for three months later, that is, in January next year.
By then, the rough cuts and special effects shots of "The Dark Knight" will basically be completed, and the details of reshoots can be confirmed more accurately to save budget.
Due to the success of the first film, The Dark Knight's budget was virtually unlimited for as long as needed, but Simon has always been very mindful of the issue. With strict and meticulous early planning, even including about two weeks of reshoots, the final budget of the project was able to be controlled within the planned US$80 million.
While Simon was in Melbourne, Panasonic made an emergency weigh and submitted an offer to MCA again, raising the overall acquisition price to US$6.5 billion, which was already equivalent to the transaction price in Simon's memory.
Probably because the news of Daenerys Entertainment's official entry into the game was inevitably leaked, MCA's stock price also saw a significant rise again this week.
According to this trend, it is only a matter of time before MCA's market value exceeds the US$7 billion quotation limit in Simon's plan.
The only good thing is that compared to Columbia Pictures' huge debt of more than one billion US dollars, MCA, which has always been in very good operating conditions, has an almost negligible debt ratio. Although it is impossible to have no debt, it is basically short-term accounts payable. There are no operating liabilities such as loan bills and no large bank loans.
The Johnston family mansion outside Melbourne.
It is already Saturday, October 20th, and he will return to Los Angeles tomorrow. Simon came here specially to have dinner with everyone today. Because of some matters in North America, Janet did not come to Australia with Simon this time.
Still a big family, the Anthony Johnston family, the Norman Johnston family, and the youngest of the Johnston family, Patrick Johnston and Sarah Keyston, who have recently been officially engaged at the urging of the old man, Victoria. Ronika naturally rushed over.
After dinner, Simon came to the study with the old man and the eldest and second eldest son. Patrick felt that since he was a man of the Johnston family, he should also have the right to listen in. However, the joke was not over. After being glared at by the old man, he turned into a quail.
“Initiating the acquisition of two companies at the same time may avoid excessive enthusiasm in some markets, but Simon, have you considered the financial pressure in the later period? I mean, not only the repayment pressure in the future, but also the further pressure of the two companies. The capital required for development itself, especially for Bell Atlantic, if the telecommunications industry wants to expand, investment has always been very huge. Although it is only a regional telecommunications company, if you want to develop emerging Internet access services, it is only infrastructure investment. , probably calculated at the billion-dollar level?”
In the study, Raymond Johnston obviously knew everything about Simon's recent movements, and he asked with obvious disapproval when he opened his mouth.
Simon has naturally considered these issues.
With the current accumulation of the Westeros system, Daenerys Entertainment’s profits in the next few years, some of the technology stock assets planned to be sold, and the cash flow of the two target companies themselves after the acquisition is completed, we can support the next three to five years. Debt repayment is not a problem.
Further ahead, after the Gulf War next year, the U.S. economy will recover again. Various other assets held by the Westeros system will rapidly increase in value in the coming years.
I remember that in 1995, the market value of Microsoft and Intel would reach about 50 billion US dollars.
With the Westeros system holding 20% and 15% of the shares of Microsoft and Intel respectively, by then, the value of these stocks alone is expected to reach 17.5 billion U.S. dollars. If necessary, Simon can completely cash out some of his assets. form to relieve their own financial pressure.
After roughly describing his plan, the old man frowned even more tightly and said, "It's really stupid to place your hope on the U.S. economy to get better. Bush is not a president who cares about the domestic economy, and he is still To plan to drag the United States into another war, you can check what the U.S. economy was like during the Vietnam War. If he is successfully re-elected, the U.S. economic situation will only continue to deteriorate and will never get better."