In the next few days, Eric was mainly busy with the establishment of the Williams Trust and the charitable fund for the two women.
Although a detailed understanding has been done in advance, the specific implementation still needs the help of Chris and some professional consulting agencies in New York.
In addition, the acquisition of the IMG Group that Cindy mentioned last time has also taken shape. It happened to coincide with the time of the US Open recently. Mark McCormack, the founder and controlling shareholder of the IMG Group, personally called to make an appointment. Eric watched the game together on Saturday and talked about the acquisition by the way.
Time always flies by.
It was already Saturday at noon, but Eric did not rush to the New York National Tennis Center in Queens. Instead, he met John Casablanca, the president of Elite, again at a restaurant in Manhattan.
After what happened last time, Eric originally wanted to ask Alessandra Ambrosio to transfer the contract from Elite to IMG, but John Casablanca did not let him go, and told Eric through Alexander that he hoped to have a face-to-face talk.
"Eric, the four executives involved in the last documentary have all resigned." After a brief greeting, after ordering lunch, and waiting for the waiter to leave, John Casablanca went straight to the topic: "So, I think Miss Ambrosio can continue to stay at Elite."
Eric already knew these things from Alexander in advance, and even roughly guessed John Casablanca's intention of asking himself out this time, smiled and said, "So, are you just simply inviting me to dinner today?"
John Casablanca also smiled and said, "You must have already guessed it, Eric. Since you are interested in a modeling agency, Elite is obviously a better choice than WM, isn't it?"
John Casablanca obviously didn't know that Eric was about to acquire the IMG Group, and his shareholding in WM was just to give Carmen Kess a small training platform.
However, Eric was still very interested in Elite, so he asked bluntly: "How many shares can you transfer to me?"
John Casablanca said: "15%, Eric, and the price is very fair. If you become an Elite shareholder, you can immediately join the company's board of directors."
According to Eric's prior knowledge, although it has been listed a few days ago, only 25% of Elite's public shares are publicly issued, and the other 75% of the shares are still in private hands. As the founder, John Casablanca holds less than 5% of Elite’s shares, but a Canadian businessman named Nicholas Farley bought most of Elite’s shares in 1990 and is still the largest shareholder of Elite , the shareholding ratio is 37%.
"John, if you want me to invest in Elite, 15% of the shares will definitely be impossible." Shaking his head, Eric said: "Elite is just a very small company for me, and what happened last time It's obviously just the tip of the iceberg of your internal problems, and I won't get myself into a possible trouble just for 15% of the shares."
John Casablanca said: "Eric, I have already started to reorganize the company during this time, and after becoming a shareholder, you can join the board of directors and supervise the company's management at any time."
"Even if I buy all of Elite, I won't join the company's board of directors. I'm more used to standing behind the scenes." Eric shook his head again, and said: "And, John, I think you should be more aware of Elite's problems than me. Overexpansion, mismanagement, low profit margins, and, of course, that BBC documentary is all too common within Elite. I'm sure Elite's current semblance of prosperity won't last long if these issues aren't sorted out. More than five years. I think, you want me to join, also in order to use the resources of the firefly system to digest the problems of Elite and make the company develop further, isn't it?"
John Casablanca has realized at this time that Eric is definitely not ordinary interested in Elite. Although Realization had also discussed with the board of directors that the upper limit of the transfer of shares was more than 15%, after thinking about it, he asked bluntly: "Eric, in this case, how many shares do you think we should transfer?"
"As I said just now, Elite is just a small company for me, but its risks are huge, so I need to be absolutely in control." Eric said, and then he opened his hole card and said: "I see Based on the recent stock price status of Elite, you can tell your company’s board of directors that I will offer a 30% premium on the basis of the current stock price, and acquire Elite for $1.3 billion.”
Due to the impact of the overall market downturn, coupled with Elite's unsatisfactory profitability in recent years, the current overall market value of Elite is only about 950 million US dollars.
However, John Casablanca's expression fluctuated when he heard that Eric was about to acquire Elite in its entirety.
As the founder of Elite, the main reason why he has been able to control the company all these years is that the company's equity is relatively dispersed, and the shareholders can't find another more suitable manager to control the company.
But if Elite is fully acquired by Eric, then this powerful super rich man is likely to kick him out of the company at any time.
Eric waited patiently for John Casablanca to weigh in for a while before relaxing his tone again, and said: "John, if you have paid attention to companies with the Firefly system, you should know that I am a boss who is willing to fully delegate power to professional managers. You founded Elite more than 20 years ago, and it has grown to the world's largest scale. There is no doubt about your ability, so I will be happy to let you continue to manage this company, and you can keep your own shares. Of course, Elite needs a complete overhaul, like a phoenix rising from the phoenix, otherwise, it will only flourish and decline. So, if I buy this company, I will strengthen its control and ensure that it brings benefits to my investment. There will be enough payoffs, but at the same time, there will be no trouble like the last BBC documentary."
John Casablanca hesitated for a moment, and said: "Eric, the modeling industry is like this. If you can't acquiesce in the existence of some unspoken rules, then resources will only flow to other companies that allow these rules to survive."
"But everything should be limited, unless you are willing to see the industry completely rotten. In fact, why has IMG's model company developed so smoothly these years? Because it is a latecomer, this company has no traditional models The chronic problems of the company, at the same time, it adheres to the fundamentals of a commercial company, maximizing the commercial interests of models. If a company only pays attention to its own scale, but ignores the nature of commercial companies that should be profitable, then it is also It’s bound to be difficult to last.”
This time, it wasn't until the waiter brought lunch to the two that John Casablanca nodded and said, "Okay, Eric, I'll tell the board of directors what you mean."
Eric sent the pretty waitress who dawdled and winked at him to bring him a bottle of water, then handed John Casablanca a business card, and said, "John, the $1.3 billion just now is also my final offer. Will waste too much time on Elite, if you guys decide, call me, if you don't accept this offer, don't contact me."
After lunch with John Casablanca, Eric hurried to Queens.
Today is the fourth round of the U.S. Open. Eric doesn’t know much about tennis. He only knows that this match is between Anna Kournikova and another famous tennis player, Davenport. Mark McCormack deliberately arranged that these two tennis players are both contracted sports stars under IMG.
Near two o'clock, Eric rushed to the New York National Tennis Center, and the game was about to start.
Eric's car had just stopped in a parking lot when a tall girl in a blouse and black trousers walked over. It was the life of Catherine Neumann whom Cindy had just hired some time ago. assistant.
It is inconvenient for Cindy to make public appearances now, because both Cindy and Linda will participate in the acquisition of IMG. Eric originally asked Linda to come to participate in this meeting, but unexpectedly, it was the German girl in front of him who came.
Although there are not many opportunities to get along with each other, Eric is very uncomfortable with the style of the girl in front of him.
Catherine Neumann has a taciturn temperament similar to the twins, but the two feel completely different. The quietness of the twins makes people feel very comfortable, but Catherine Neumann is the kind who stands in a dark corner. There is still a sense of presence that makes people can't help but look at the past, and there is an aggressiveness that seems to be plotting something.
Walking closer, the girl just greeted lightly: "Mr. Williams."
Eric looked up and down the girl's attire, with her hair in a bun, light makeup, meticulous shirts and underpants, and black low high heels. Although her pretty face and exquisite figure are quite pleasing to the eye, but It also obviously has an ascetic temperament. Even in the face of Eric's undisguised scrutiny, the only reaction of the girl was to blink her eyes slightly, but this blink was obviously irrelevant to Eric's scrutiny.
After a few seconds of confrontation, Eric finally remembered something, turned around and whispered a few words to a bodyguard behind him, and then said to Catherine Neumann: "Let's go."
Eric didn't lower his voice too much when he spoke to the bodyguard, but Catherine Neumann didn't respond at all, and quietly walked out of the parking lot beside Eric.
As soon as he walked out of the parking lot, Penn Forstmann, the CEO of IMG Group, greeted him and greeted him briefly. Eric and Penn Forstmann entered the stadium through the internal passage and came straight to the stadium. A seat outside.
Although the stadium's occupancy rate has exceeded 80%, there are no other people in the rows of empty seats on the periphery.
Mark McCormack is a burly old man with silver hair and a cane in one hand, and he is in good spirits.
After greeting each other, everyone sat down in their seats.
However, after taking his seat, he noticed the various live broadcasting positions in the venue. Eric looked around and said directly to Catherine Neumann beside him: "Go and see which TV station is live broadcasting, and let their cameras not scan come over."
Catherine Neumann nodded, got up and left.
Mark McCormack listened to Eric's words, but said: "Eric, it's not good to be too low-key."
Eric laughs: "I'm just not used to all the unnecessary public attention."
Mark McCormack nodded with a smile, gestured to the two athletes who had already started warming up in the center of the court, and said, "What do you think of them?"
Eric said: "I don't know much about tennis. However, according to the information I have read, Anna's record from the official professional competition in 1996 to the present can only be said to be mediocre. Last year's record was the best, and it was only in the Three of the four major tennis tournaments stopped in the fourth round, and they are still far away from the championship. I don’t know much about Davenport.”
Mark McCormack showed a shrewd smile on his face, and said: "Davenport has won two Grand Slams, you don't know much about her, but you happen to know Anna's record very well, Eric, do you know , which just reflects the value of IMG."
Eric retorted: "But the tennis game depends on strength after all."
"Of course," Mark McCormack agreed, "Actually, the top players in the tennis world, Williams, Davenport, and Graf, are all signing stars under IMG. However, the strength But it is not the final factor that determines everything. Just like Anna, she is indeed mediocre, arrogant, and does not work hard enough in training, but IMG can make her the most profitable actress in tennis. Only last year, Anna was transferred from Adidas, Rolex The brand received 12 million dollars in endorsement fees. As long as her performance can increase, this number will increase in the next few years. However, 30% of her income belongs to IMG. Compared with , although Davenport, who is playing against her at this time, is stronger, but her annual income is less than one-third of Anna's, and we can only get 10% of her contract."
If it is not for the mature business operation system of IMG Group, Eric will not be so interested in this company. It is said that IMG's business operation methods have even appeared in the case textbooks of Harvard Business School, which is enough to prove the company's Spend successfully.
Hearing what Mark McCormack said, Eric also showed an expression of appreciation and said, "That's why I'm sitting here now. IMG is indeed a very good company."
Hearing Eric's compliment, Mark McCormack showed a little complacency on his face, then shook his head sadly, and said, "If it weren't for the disappointment of my children, I would never be willing to sell this company."
The old man began to feel sorry for his life, but Eric didn't know how to respond, so he could only calm down.
Mark McCormack just sighed for a moment, then quickly recovered, and said: "I heard that you are interested in the entire IMG Group, I can help you lobby other shareholders to sell their shares, but how much do you plan to offer? "
"US$1.5 billion," Eric replied, "Compared to the last offer, you can get an additional US$75 million. If it is only 55% of the McCormack family's shares, my asking price is still US$750 million."
"1.5 billion dollars, IMG is definitely worth the price," Mark McCormack nodded, and said, "I will help you get it."
Eric was a little surprised when he heard what Mark McCormack said. He originally thought that the other party was planning to bargain with him for this meeting.
Mark McCormack noticed the change in Eric's expression, but he smiled, but there was a bit of bitterness in his smile, and said: "Eric, I hope IMG can get a good price rather than sell it for a good price." Destination, this is my life's painstaking effort, so I just want to meet its new owner in person this time."