During this long air journey, Simon's Boeing 767 car served as his office in the sky.
When the private plane departed from Melbourne and was about to arrive in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, Simon was still having a video conference with Danny Morris, the head of New World Pictures in Los Angeles, and the topic was "Anti-Fight" which was once again an unexpected hit. "Zhiduoxing 3".
As the film became a hit, some Hollywood media also exposed Simon's serious 'mistakes' in the salary negotiation for "The Last of Us 3".
According to the sharing contract signed with the three main creators, based on the original basic salary, based on the film’s final domestic box office of 200 million U.S. dollars, plus other channels, Daenerys Entertainment will subsequently pay the three main creators up to 50 million U.S. dollars in full. Channels share dividends, which already exceed the film's production cost of US$40 million.
In comparison, Mike Myers' initial offer was only a Hollywood maximum salary of US$15 million and a 10% share of global box office net profits. The other two main creators only asked for about half of Myers' fixed salary. Based on the current box office results, including dividends, the total expenditure will not exceed US$35 million.
Now, including the basic salary, the total compensation paid by Daenerys Entertainment to the three main creators will reach 70 million US dollars.
Doubled.
Mike Myers' total compensation is expected to be as high as $33 million.
An obvious mistake.
But Simon is certainly not swayed by this argument.
The three main creators share 30% of the omni-channel net profit at US$50 million, which actually means that Daenerys Entertainment can earn more than US$160 million in net profit from this project.
Still a big head.
This is a profit distribution model that Simon is very acceptable to, and it is much better than Warner's work for Mel Gibson and others in the "Lethal Weapon" series.
What's more, compared to the nearly 500 million U.S. dollars in total revenue brought to Daenerys Entertainment by the "Today's Trilogy" trilogy, the main creative expenditure of 70 million U.S. dollars this time is nothing. Just think of it as Simon giving the three of them this A big bonus in the total series. Simon is far less obedient to stars than other studios. To be precise, it is very demanding. Even the biggest stars can no longer behave in front of Daenerys Entertainment in all kinds of arrogant ways and raise prices. .
However, being harsh does not mean being stingy, and Simon has never been a boss who wants the horses to run but doesn’t want them to eat grass.
When this plan was finalized, Simon had corresponding considerations.
First of all, 30% is the highest share ratio that Simon has always accepted, whether it is box office share, omni-channel share or other messy share models.
Secondly, adopting a sharing model can also stimulate the enthusiasm of the main creators.
This is the most important point.
In the past "Transformers" series, why did Michael Bay finally get out of the way? It was not that the great commercial film director was exhausted, but more because of Paramount's obedience and the fact that Explosive Beth didn't need to take any risks for this series. Can get huge salary.
Anyway, you can make a lot of money no matter how you play, and I’m really tired of doing five movies in a row, so just do whatever you want.
The result is that Paramount ambitiously wanted to create a Transformers universe, but because Explosion Bay messed up "Transformers 5", the entire plan basically came to nothing as soon as it started. The following year's "Bumblebee" was released in "Transformers 5". 》It is also tepid in the haze.
Simon was very surprised that Mike Myers was able to make "The Stars" become as popular as "Austin Powers" in the original time and space.
However, Simon did not hesitate to reject the fourth plan proposed by Danny Morris.
Or because of risk and cost.
The local box office of the third part is estimated to be 200 million, with a net profit of 160 million US dollars. This is actually a full 30 million lower than the second part, while the local box office of the second part is only 140 million US dollars.
The key is the increase in costs and the dividends paid by the main creators.
If the fourth part continues to be launched, it is absolutely impossible for Simon to add an additional US$10 million to the production budget according to the rules of the first three parts, not to mention the rising publicity expenses, and it is impossible for the three main creators to accept the salary of the third part. and sharing standards, so even if the fourth part still maintains the box office level of the third part, the revenue that Daenerys Entertainment can obtain will only be significantly reduced again.
As for surpassing the third part, Simon has no ambitions.
Each type of film has its own ceiling. A phenomenon as high as "The Hangover" will only be released in decades.
If not for Daenerys Entertainment's unexpected emergence, Jim Carrey would have received the first fixed salary of US$20 million in Hollywood history this year, and an even more exaggerated 20/20 model of US$20 million would soon follow. The film salary plus 20% of the global box office dividend.
Now, Simon has successfully locked in a Hollywood actor's maximum salary of $15 million.
Regarding dividends, although there is no upper limit of 15%, Simon's requirement is that actors must share risks with Daenerys Entertainment, and they must not receive a maximum salary and a high share.
There was no room for negotiation in Simon's tone, so Danny Morris could only give up.
Then he said that Mike Myers had a new script idea. It was a spoof of the 007 series. Simon knew it was "Austin Powers" when he heard it.
However, because the two parties were not very happy about their cooperation in the "Today's Stars" series, Mike Myers was indifferent to New World Pictures' contact. Moreover, Mike Myers also planned to personally serve as the producer of this project. Together with the starring and screenwriter, this time they directly offered a base salary of US$15 million plus a 15% global box office dividend.
This time the 15% is no longer omni-channel net profit sharing.
If you go by the box office performance of "Toy Fighter 3", of course, the net profit share from all channels will be more. However, the box office dividend means that Mike Myers will maintain income through drought and flood, because this is a situation that ignores the studio's costs. Cut the cake directly from the global box office below.
Although it is not literally cutting the cake from the global box office total, but the studio gets 15% of the box office share, it still means that there is no need to take any risks, and it can be obtained in a relatively short period of time. Revenue sharing is far from as long-lasting as omni-channel sharing.
Based on the box office performance of the "Tokyo" trilogy, Mike Myers does have the confidence to make such an offer.
Simon would have none of it.
The basic salary of the main creator is US$15 million, which means that the production cost of "Austin Powers" alone may reach US$40 million, even if this series is still as good as Simon remembers, each one is better at the box office, and the studio's profit margin But it will be small.
So just skip it.
New World Pictures now has no shortage of such projects.
After Jim Carrey received Simon's understanding, the two parties are already preparing for "Planet 2", which is only the third of the five films signed by Jim Carrey and Daenerys Entertainment. Also, after "Red Zone" was released in February, Simon threw out his creative ideas and asked the New World Pictures team to complete the "Rush Hour" series of Jack. And, it has successfully launched the larger-scale Conjuring movie universe series.
Just these major hits are enough for New World Pictures to develop until 2000 and beyond.
Moreover, both in terms of cost and risk, these are much lower than the "Austin Powers" series where Mike Myers started with a maximum salary plus a share.
The video conference with Danny Morris ended, and the Boeing 767 was approaching its destination.
Girl A knocked on the door and entered the forward cabin study, reminding her boss that she would land in ten minutes, and also brought another document.
The team led by Chen Qing has just reached an acquisition agreement with Scoop.
The day Simon left New York, Chen Qing, who worked overtime all night, handed Simon a complete acquisition plan. Since Simon believes that betting on the VCD industry can only make quick money, Chen Qing has also changed his original idea of fully acquiring the video decoding chip manufacturer Scoop, and plans to only achieve a controlling stake and keep the company listed, so that This makes it easier to cash out and exit calmly after a few years.
Moreover, even if it does not fully acquire Scoop, as long as it fully controls the operation of this company, the Westeros system can maximize its own interests by controlling China's VCD industry.
Partial acquisitions can also minimize costs.
In fact, no one is a fool. As the only supplier of VCD video decoding chips at this stage, Scoop can best understand that in the first quarter that just passed, the shipment volume of the Chinese VCD market in 1994 was less than 20,000 units. The market growth rate has skyrocketed to more than 100,000 units in a single quarter.
Therefore, the company's original price-to-earnings ratio is very high, and with the wave of new technologies, the stock price has continued to rise.
Such a company is actually impossible for Wall Street to be acquired.
Not literally 'impossible' of course.
But, if you want to do this, the cost will be much higher than imagined, and the gain will outweigh the loss.
Scoop's market value reached US$120 million in early April. Simon thought he could win US$200 million. After all, this meant a price-to-earnings ratio of 76 times. In traditional corporate mergers and acquisitions, a price of more than 50 times a price-to-earnings ratio was already outrageous. However, due to the favorable conditions of the Chinese market, even if the VCD market is still small, based on the current popularity of new technology companies and the growth rate of the Chinese VCD market, Chen Qing's team has judged that a hostile acquisition may cost more than US$300 million. Only then can we win this company.
300 million US dollars, this is indeed more gain than loss.
With such a sum of money, Westeros System can cooperate with other electronic manufacturers, such as Japan's Sony, the Netherlands' Philips, etc. By then, the cost of cooperative research and development may be only one-tenth of the US$300 million, and it may only take one year at most.
One year later, China's VCD industry exploded.
However, if this is done, it will be difficult for the Westeros system to carry out further layout and thereby control the Chinese VCD industry to the greatest extent.
After the proposed new plan was approved by Simon, Chen Qing and her team immediately started taking action.
After all, Scooby's stock was not big. In just one week, Chen Qing absorbed 5% of Scooby's shares, completely in the name of an offshore fund that had nothing to do with the Westeros system. Therefore, at that time, After this fund exceeded 5% of its holdings, it reported to the SEC. Neither Wall Street nor Scoop paid much attention to it.
Until the next two weeks.
Chen Qing's team is simply aggressive in attracting Goldberg shares in the secondary market.
In just two weeks, Scoop's share price soared 69%, and its market value exceeded the US$200 million mark from US$120 million at the beginning of the month. By the time everyone realized it, Chen Qing had already absorbed more than 21% of Scoop's shares in the open market, spending US$31 million.
Then, the showdown.
And it's a pretty strong showdown.
Chen Qing's team divided into several groups and contacted several major shareholders of Scobo to launch an offer to partially acquire the other party's shares.
In fact, it is mainly Sequoia Capital in Silicon Valley and Texas Instruments in Texas.
Scoop was originally a peripheral company incubated by the American semiconductor giant Texas Instruments. Subsequently, Sequoia Capital participated in multiple rounds of financing before the IPO, with an investment of more than 20 million US dollars.
In the IPO in March last year, Scoop's publicly listed shares were about 23%. However, as various shareholders continued to reduce their holdings after the lock-up period, the circulating shares on the secondary market have exceeded 30%. Recently, faced with Chen Due to the strong absorption of Qing's team, some people couldn't resist the temptation and cashed out a lot.
As of the showdown, Scoop's equity distribution was roughly 33% from Sequoia Capital and 19% from Texas Instruments. With 21% controlled by Chen Qing’s team, they are already the second largest shareholder. The remaining 27%, and 11% are controlled by another venture investor similar to Sequoia Capital, and the last 16% are the shares held by the circulation market and management.
The showdown content is also quite straightforward.
Chen Qing's team did not hide its capital background in the Westeros system and its optimism about China's VCD industry, and directly presented a business plan to several major shareholders.
Two options.
Or, Sequoia, Deyi and another venture capital holding 11% of the shares will sell half of their shares to the Westeros System based on the current stock price and give up control of Scoob. Then, the Westeros System will Efforts will be made to develop China's VCD industry, and everyone will jointly control this market.
Alternatively, Chen Qing's team could use its own funds and plans to cooperate with electronic manufacturers such as Sony or Philips, and the two parties would become the most direct competitors. Scobo may have advantages. However, these advantages are not obvious in front of manufacturers such as Sony that have mastered the DVD standard. The almost insurmountable gap between VCD and DVD is obvious.
The two sides bargained for three days.
In the end, Scobo's shareholders chose to compromise. The three major shareholders sold a total of 32% of the shares to Chen Qing's team for a price of US$63 million. At the same time, Chen Qing's team also needed to provide an additional low-interest loan of US$20 million to Scobo. Funding for implementation of follow-up plans.
While achieving 53% absolute control, Sequoia Capital founder Don Valentine also gave up his previous position as chairman of Scoop, and planned to hand it over to Emmanuel Brandt, who was recommended by Chen Qing.
In the last ten minutes before the plane landed, Simon fastened his seat belt on his seat and quickly read through the final plan sent from San Francisco.
It is already evening here in Kyiv.
Calculating the time difference, it is around eight o'clock in the morning on the west coast of the United States, which is about to be working time.
Understanding what Chen Qing was waiting for, after leaving the airport, Simon got into the car and rushed to Rivni, and directly asked Girl A next to him to call San Francisco.
The plan passed.
It is roughly conceivable that when working hours come on the West Coast, with the signing of the agreement and the exposure of more insider information, Scoop, a small company that was originally not an eye-catcher, will definitely become the focus of heated discussion in the North American capital market in the next few days. The East Coast In New York, during the remaining hours of today's trading session, as the news spreads, Scoop's stock price will rise to another level.