Simon started buying GE shares very early, and Black Rock Asset Management, a subsidiary of Cersei Capital, is currently the largest shareholder holding more than 5% of GE's shares and has a board seat. Because of his good relationship with Steve Ross, he also holds a small amount of Time Warner stock. Coupled with the close alliance between Time Warner and Daenerys over the years due to the success of the DC movie universe, Simon did not feel any sense of crisis regarding GE's acquisition of Time Warner.
On the contrary, Simon also hopes that Time Warner can develop better under General Electric, forming a two-power confrontation with Daenerys Entertainment in Hollywood.
Only with competition can there be progress.
This sentence may seem cliché, but it couldn’t be simpler.
General Electric's acquisition of Time Warner can be said to be one of the important impacts Simon's big butterfly has had on the American media industry. The completion of this merger actually means that the pattern of the American media industry has basically taken shape, whether it is the three major established TV networks or Hollywood. The seven major film companies have basically found owners. Even if there are changes in the future, they will probably just switch from one big owner to another.
The core is oligopoly.
Then, there will be further ebb and flow in Simon's plan.
The structure of the three major established TV networks plus the emerging FOX is not easy to change. The focus is still on the seven major Hollywood studios.
Daenerys Entertainment has now locked in its status as a giant in the industry. Time Warner is the only one that can compete with Daenerys Entertainment. Both parties are allies. The other five studios, especially Simon, are focusing on Several, if nothing else, will soon gradually decline until they become de facto second-tier Hollywood film companies. Even bankruptcy and liquidation are not impossible.
After all, some of the major Hollywood film companies in the past, such as RKO, have now disappeared without a trace.
Nothing lasts forever.
New York.
After the merger was approved, the two companies began to officially merge. For this reason, a celebration reception was held on the following weekend. Simon was invited to attend, and he happened to handle some work on the East Coast.
Simon spent the week leading up to the Oscars on the East Coast.
Mainly about my trip to China next month.
It is not related to the itinerary, but the business cooperation that will be signed during the visit next month.
The first is a cooperation project with China's telecommunications industry.
In the 1990s, the development of China's telecommunications industry entered the fast lane. By the end of 1995, China's fixed-line phone users had exceeded 50 million, mobile communication users exceeded 3 million, and there were as many as 25 million wireless paging users. Although the penetration rate is far from comparable to that in the United States, the average growth rate of relevant data in the past five years has reached more than 100%, and the potential in the future can be imagined.
The rapid expansion of the market size has also caused China's telecommunications industry to face a very serious problem.
Short of money.
The telecommunications industry is a well-known capital-intensive industry. Whether it is fixed lines or mobile networks, not just any small company can afford it. In China, although the telecommunications industry is a state-owned monopoly and the profits are very considerable, because the related industries are developing too fast, the self-owned funds of China's major telecommunications giants are simply not enough to meet the needs of market expansion.
In the past few years, the Chinese government has repeatedly considered how to solve this problem.
The entire country's finances are very short of money, and it is impossible to obtain sufficient bank loans or fiscal allocations. Issuing corporate bonds has been done for a long time, but after all, it is impossible to issue bonds without restraint, so it is considering overseas listing. .
We discussed it for a whole year in 1995 and finally made a decision recently.
The Westeros system has been paying close attention to various industrial changes in China. Simon noticed this last year and asked the Cersei Capital China Economic Research Institute team to follow up.
In addition, Simon will visit China next month, and the two parties quickly finalized their cooperation intentions.
To be precise, it should be three parties.
The company planning to go public is China Telecom. This is not the China Telecom that was one of the three major companies later, but the predecessor of China Mobile. However, due to the previous form of state ownership, some of China's telecommunications departments did not distinguish between government and enterprises, and there was no clear distinction at all. listed entity. Therefore, in order to go public, the relevant businesses must first be divested and reorganized.
That’s exactly what Cersei Capital’s Apollo Management does.
In the original time and space, China Telecom (Mobile) went public in 1997, with 25% of the shares transferred and a total financing amount of US$4.2 billion. The funds obtained by being the first to take advantage of the market also made China Mobile completely one of the three major telecommunications companies in China. Leader. At that time, it was Goldman Sachs who was involved in this matter. China Mobile began to gain funds, and Goldman Sachs also gained huge direct and benefit through this IPO.
Cersei Capital does not intend to get involved in investment banking, but it is no problem for Apollo Management to participate in the divestment and reorganization of China Telecom and earn a consulting fee.
As for the IPO, in order to further pave the way for Grace Spurter's husband, Simon pulled the strings and confirmed First Boston.
So it’s a three-way collaboration between China Telecom, Cersei Capital and First Boston.
Historically, most other overseas investment banks were very unfavorable about the overseas listing of China Telecom (Mobile). Even Goldman Sachs did not have 100% confidence. It happened that the Asian financial crisis happened during the IPO. If it were not for a Southeast Asian All the Chinese businessmen insisted on supporting the bottom line at the critical moment, and almost lost their jobs in the end.
In short, this is actually not a piece of cake.
At least in the eyes of others who don't have the advantage of a prophet, this is a big adventure.
You must know that although they are only providing services, they involve billions of dollars in IPO financing. If losses are caused to investors in the future, neither Cersei Capital nor the First Boston team can escape responsibility, just like First Boston. On the other hand, Bill Spurter, who is supporting this project with Simon's support, is likely to be fired and his future will be ruined.
It's a big gamble.
However, Simon has no relevant concerns.
Only he knows that many years later, looking back, all the companies or individuals involved in this project have made a lot of money, and it is not just purely monetary benefits. Taking action in the precarious situation in 1997 has also brought benefits to themselves. China has accumulated considerable political capital.
Goldman Sachs later led a series of overseas listings of large Chinese state-owned enterprises because of the friendship accumulated in 1997.
This time, Apollo Management and the First Boston team worked together to manage the IPO, which firstly meant that these two companies directly opened the door to the Chinese financial market. Cersei Capital can earn huge profits from upfront consulting fees and subsequent stock subscriptions, and the First Boston team can also earn generous commissions from this large IPO offering.
After the IPO is successful, the two companies will definitely be able to obtain more business from China in the future. Bill Spurter can basically lock in the position of the next head of First Boston. Even if he goes one step further in the future, it is not impossible to become the core of Credit Suisse, the parent company of First Boston.
It can be said that it accomplishes multiple things with one stone.
As the most important step in developing China's financial market, Simon specially attended this meeting and personally pointed out his ideas to Apollo Management Company.
First of all, we must have a long-term vision and never make a one-shot deal by taking advantage of the situation.
Wall Street has a bad record in this regard.
If Simon doesn't keep an eye on it personally, it's hard to say whether the teams of the two companies will work together to cheat China.
No one is a fool.
If you have been fooled once, you will be surprised if others will look for you again in the future, and this listing of China Telecom is definitely just the beginning.
Therefore, both parties need to cooperate fairly candidly.
The consulting fee can be set higher, and the commission can also be charged higher. After all, this project is very risky, and both parties can understand it, but they must also strive for more benefits for China. After all, the other party is a customer, so don’t sit on your butt. Let alone collusion in selling assets at low prices.
In addition, there is also a large commercial real estate project.
This is also a top priority in the contracts that will be signed during the trip to China next month.
Levison Group, a subsidiary of the Westeros Company, will build a large commercial center in Beijing with an estimated investment of US$1 billion.
This is also a decision made after a detailed internal evaluation within the Westeros system.
The main basis is the Beijing International Trade Center project that was launched in 1985. This large-scale commercial center invested by the Kuok family of Malaysia has been a great success since its opening in 1990. According to a survey by the Cersei Capital China Economic Research Institute team, the International Trade Center is expected to open this year All bank loans can be fully paid off, a full three years ahead of the expected cycle, and the follow-up period will basically be pure profit from rent collection.
Due to the great success of the first phase of the Guomao, preparations for the second phase of the Guomao have also started and are expected to start construction by the end of the year.
In the original time and space, even twenty years later, the Malaysian Guo family can collect more than 5 billion yuan in rent through the International Trade Center every year, becoming the largest charter company in Beijing.
The first phase of Guomao has been successful, and the second phase of Guomao is about to be launched. It stands to reason that it is not wise for the Westeros system to pounce on developing commercial real estate now. Many people think that it is not wise. After all, it will definitely collide with the second phase of Guomao in the future. What if? What about the saturation of the commercial real estate market
Simon knew very well that this kind of worry was completely unnecessary.
China's future development is far beyond many people's imagination.
Just like in telecommunications.
Because of the rapid development of mobile communications on a global scale, although there are currently only more than 3 million mobile communications users in China, according to the growth rate that has more than doubled every year in the past few years, many industry analysts are optimistic about China's mobile communications in the next ten years. Communication users exceeded 100 million.
In fact, 10 years later, this number has reached 400 million, which is more than the total population of the United States.
Therefore, as long as it is done properly, this US$1 billion commercial real estate project will only be a matter of making more or less.
The Levison Group has mainly focused on residential real estate in the past and has little experience in commercial real estate development. For this project, Simon also collaborated with a team of a golden retriever real estate company that has been fully controlled by the Westeros system and the Levison Group. Integration, a large part of Jinmao's real estate company's business is commercial real estate.
After this integration, the Golden Retriever family has been completely marginalized. From now on, they can only be their own shareholders. As long as they don't cause trouble, they will be rich and prosperous throughout their lives. By the way, they can also engage in media and entertainment and do some workplace reality shows.
If he doesn't stop, Simon doesn't mind completely knocking the opponent into the dust.
Along with a few other things, Simon stayed on the East Coast for a week, not returning to Los Angeles until March 25.
This is the day when the 68th Oscars will be held.
Simon not only attaches great importance to the results of this year's awards, but also includes the live viewing data of this Oscar. In the past few decades, the Oscars have been broadcast by the ABC television network, but this year is the first time since Metropolis ABC Group was acquired by Daenerys Entertainment.
However, even though the organizers tried their best to invite him, Simon still did not attend the award ceremony in person.
Just watching the live broadcast at home with my woman and children.
After all, the Westeros system is really everywhere now, and Simon doesn't want to be everywhere.
Speaking of which, this is also inevitable.
Just like Korea.
Why Samsung Republic
Because Samsung is everywhere in the lives of Koreans, and they are inseparable from food, clothing, housing, transportation, life, old age, illness and death. The most popular and crowded job search in China later was the civil service exam, while in South Korea, it was the Samsung exam. Various Samsung job training programs were available everywhere. As long as you entered the Samsung system, you would immediately be superior to others.
The Westeros system is already trending this way in the United States, mainly because the industry exposure is too high.
If it is in fields such as hydropower, medical care, etc., it may not be so conspicuous, and the focus is on technology and media.
The whole world is now staring at the wave of new technologies, and this industrial transformation is driven by the Westeros system.
Not to mention the media field, movies, TV, music, and the Internet, almost everyone is exposed to these every day, and names like Daenerys, Ygritte, Melisandre, Cersei, etc. are too typical. One thing is that the market value of these companies in the capital market is unrivaled. It would not be considered normal if they did not occupy a large amount of media space that day.
All in all, just like the penguin Ali in my memory, he couldn't become invisible even if he wanted to, and ordinary people couldn't hide even if they tried.
The awards ceremony starts promptly at 6pm on the West Coast.
This year's host is still Billy Crystal. In the opening scene this time, Crystal appeared riding a Batmobile, which actually foreshadowed a lot of things.
The result was no suspense.
In less than 10 minutes of opening, "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" won the first statuette among nine nominations, for Best Score.
The soundtracks of the DC movie universe are all outstanding, but in the past, due to the nature of comic-book commercial films, they were naturally discriminated against by Oscar judges. This is the first Oscar since the series was founded, which is a compensation.
After Best Score, things were basically sealed.
In the three-hour awards ceremony, except for the acting awards, there was still no chance for "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice". After all, it is a comic book adaptation, and there is not much room for actors to perform. Except for River Phoenix's Joker who was unexpectedly upset last year, Others have also gained nothing.
However, the core Best Picture and Best Director awards were easily won by Batman Vs.
It stands to reason that the Best Director award is also a bit unrealistic, largely due to the role of public relations, but overall, it is the first film in North American film history that has exceeded 600 million and is still hitting the local box office of 700 million US dollars. In order to make the award more real Well deserved, a Best Director, nothing too much.
In the end, "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" won a total of 7 statuettes including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Visual Effects, and Best Score, becoming the biggest winner of the 68th Oscars.
As the dust settled on the award results, in the following days, the local box office of this superhero blockbuster rebounded again. Many overseas markets that were still in the early stages of release have set off a wave of movie viewing craze due to the award of Batman Vs.