As the former CEO of Firefly Group's ESPN TV station, Steve Bernstein has witnessed the rise of Firefly Group and even the Firefly system. Therefore, he did not doubt Eric's ambition to stand shoulder to shoulder with General Electric in his words.
In fact, General Electric's development has reached its peak, and further large-scale expansion is impossible. With the retirement of Jack Welch, the legendary leader, the future development trend of this industrial giant is more likely to be one of boom and bust.
But the firefly system is different. Eric is in the prime of his life and has enough time and energy to lead the consortium to continue to expand.
Moreover, if you only talk about the size of book assets, the Firefly system has now surpassed General Electric.
In the next few years, as long as it can successfully absorb the serious bubble costs hidden in its new technology companies and further consolidate its foundation in the two core areas of the Internet and media, the Firefly system can truly grow into a company that has a decisive influence on the US economy. The super-large consortium power.
Although in the eyes of many people, the current development of the Firefly system in the new technology industry and the media field has entered a bottleneck, and future expansion will be increasingly restricted by US anti-monopoly regulations and other competitive capital forces, but Steve However, Bernstein keenly noticed that so far, most of the core enterprises of the Firefly system are located in the United States.
This means that the Firefly system still has a very broad space for development on a global scale.
Judging from Nokia's successful overseas investment case, Eric obviously does not lack the vision of global expansion, and the Firefly system also does not lack the capital strength for global expansion.
With these in mind, Steve Bernstein still had to turn to the problems he needed to face at this time.
In the past month or so, Firefly Group has been secretly buying Comcast's stock with a large order.
At the beginning, the executives of Comcast Group were quite excited. Because of the acquisition of Firefly Group, Comcast's stock price has risen by more than 17% during this period.
However, when Firefly Group submitted a report to the SEC, declaring that it already held 6.5% of Comcast Group’s shares, Comcast’s board of directors and management suddenly woke up. When Howard Glassman, a financial columnist of the "Washington Post", published another analysis article on the Firefly system, the intention of Firefly Group to acquire Comcast was even more obvious.
In fact, since Firefly Group bought Comcast’s stock in a big way at the beginning, Steve Bernstein has already vaguely guessed the possible buyer. After all, although he wasn't the core of the firefly system at the beginning, he still knew the expansion ideas of the firefly system well in it.
However, Steve Bernstein's judgment is just speculation. Although he really wanted to call Katzenberg and others to test it out, Steve Bernstein also understood that he had already left the Firefly system, and Katzenberg and others would never reveal the inside story to him.
Moreover, from the bottom of his heart, Steve Bernstein didn't have much defense against the Firefly system, and he didn't even report his guesses to Comcast's controllers, the Roberts and his sons.
Now, Firefly Group has not only held 6.5% of Comcast's stock, but also continues to buy, and the intention of merging Comcast is very obvious.
Since the basic operator belongs to a standard capital-intensive industry, every step of development requires a lot of cash support. Therefore, although the Roberts family still controls the company, over the years, with the continuous dilution of financing, they have become more and more interested in Concas. Te's shareholding has only 3.1% left.
Although through the licensing agreement, the Roberts and his sons own up to 33% of the voting rights of Comcast, but they are very clear that as long as the Firefly Group offers the right price, the voting rights held by the Roberts family are not enough to resist the acquisition of the Firefly Group.
Aware of the crisis, the Roberts father and son convened the board of directors and the company's top management to go through some trade-offs, and soon sent Steve Bernstein over.
In the empty IMAX auditorium, after chatting casually for a while, Steve Bernstein started to talk about business, and said, "Eric, do you know how Berkshire became the major shareholder of ABC Group?"
Eric shook his head. He naturally understood why Steve Bernstein came here today, but he didn't point it out. He just smiled and waited for Steve Bernstein to continue.
Steve Bernstein did not wait for Eric to answer, and continued: "Buffett has always been very interested in the media industry. In 1985, when Tom Murphy expressed his intention to acquire ABC Group, Berkshire He invested 500 million U.S. dollars in Metropolis at one time, and first became the largest shareholder of Metropolis. Afterwards, Tom Murphy used the 500 million U.S. dollars as a backing, and in the form of capital plus stocks, made a small fortune in the world Acquired what was then the ABC Group."
ESPN TV station has long been an industry under the ABC Group, and Steve Bernstein has worked at this TV station since ESPN was founded. Therefore, it is not surprising that he is familiar with the process of Metropolitan's acquisition of ABC Group.
Eric, however, immediately understood the subtext in Steve Bernstein's words.
Firefly Group's intention to acquire Comcast has been widely known. Similarly, Comcast's secret contact with AT-T in an attempt to annex the other party's cable TV asset telematics company is not a secret in the industry.
What Steve Bernstein meant, or what Comcast meant, obviously hoped that Firefly Group would provide funds to help Comcast successfully merge Telecom, just like Berkshire Hathaway did back then. In this process, Firefly Group can also become a major shareholder of Comcast.
Of course, the subtext on the other hand is also that Comcast does not want Firefly Group to intervene in their management, but only holds shares of this company as a pure investor like Berkshire Hathaway did back then. .
Although the plan proposed by Comcast somewhat coincides with the serial acquisitions that Firefly envisaged to merge Comcast and Telecom at the same time, the final result is definitely not what Eric wants.
After listening to Steve Bernstein, Eric said directly: "Steve, you should understand that what I want is the control of Comcast, not just a simple investment. If it is just In terms of investment, I can definitely find a target with a higher rate of return, and I will definitely not choose Comcast.”
"Eric, it's not easy." Steve Bernstein shook his head and said, "Although the Roberts family's shareholding in Comcast is already very low, they own 33% of Comcast. Moreover, the stock price of Comcast has been rising. If there is no active cooperation from Comcast, even if Firefly Group can absorb enough shares through the open market, it will pay a very high price. In addition, According to my guess, you must also want to merge Comcast and Telecom at the same time, right? But without the cooperation of Comcast, this is also very difficult to do. Several major federal departments will definitely not It is easy to approve Firefly to merge these two companies at the same time. Therefore, it is a very good choice for Firefly to participate in the investment to provide funds for Comcast’s acquisition of Telecom and become the major shareholder of the new company in the future.”
"I know that this choice will be easier for Firefly Group to enter the field of cable TV operators, but if it has been choosing a very easy development path, it is impossible for the Firefly system to have the current scale. More often, we always have to choose more difficult that way." Eric said, turned his head to look at Steve Bernstein, changed the topic, and said suddenly: "Steve, you want to be the head of Comcast and run this business alone. company?"
When Steve Bernstein heard Eric's words, his eyes flickered, and he actively avoided Eric's gaze, saying: "Eric, I am now an executive of Comcast, and I will stick to my own Professional ethics, and will not do things that harm your employer."
"Of course, the most important requirement I have for professional managers of the Firefly system is loyalty," Eric said frankly: "If you do something, even if you get Comcast in the end, I will find a reason to kick you out." I am not asking you to do something harmful to Comcast. Even, in the next acquisition process, you can completely avoid this matter. However, when Firefly Group takes Comcast, I I hope you can take on the burden of running this company, so, do you think you can handle it?"
Steve Bernstein hesitated for a moment, and said: "Eric, I can't answer your question for now. And, in all fairness, I think Roberts and his son have more experience in the field of cable TV operators than I do. Even The successful acquisition of Comcast by Firefly Group, allowing them to continue to maintain their positions is also very beneficial to this company, which is also the consistent style of the Firefly system, isn’t it?”
Whether it is the early acquisition of companies such as Nokia and America Online, or Hasbro, which is currently undergoing acquisition negotiations, Eric is used to retaining the management of these companies.
However, this time, Eric shook his head and said: "I usually do this only because I can't find a more suitable manager, and the premise of all this is that the Firefly system still has absolute control over these companies, As long as I want, I can replace them at any time. But this time is different, even if you are not qualified to manage Comcast in the future, Firefly Group also has talents suitable for managing this company. Moreover, I don’t want Comcast Ast remains a separate operation, and the company must serve the overall interests of the Firefly system. But this will certainly conflict with the philosophy of the Roberts and his sons. As the founders of Comcast, they obviously instinctively strive for more power , and they happen to have that advantage at the same time.”
When Eric said this, he paused briefly, and continued: "In addition, the huge size of Comcast absolutely does not allow two voices to appear in its management system, otherwise, this company with a market value of tens of billions of dollars The company will only fall into chaos. Not only will it fail to help the development of the Firefly Group, but it may even become a drag on the Firefly system. I am a boss who is willing to delegate power to professional managers, but I will definitely not let the Firefly Group fall into AOL- Time Warner is in a situation where there are many hills standing on top of each other. Fundamentally, the Firefly Group, and even the entire Firefly system, can only have one voice, my voice alone."
Steve Bernstein found that he had been led astray by Eric without knowing it. What they were talking about now had nothing to do with the purpose of his arrival today.
Roberts and his son sent him over, but hoped that he could persuade Eric to give up fighting for control of the Comcast Group.
However, Steve Bernstein also realized at this time that the decision of the Roberts and his sons to send him over was a mistake.
As a former executive of the Firefly system, his time at ESPN far exceeded his tenure at Comcast. It has only been a year since he left ESPN, and he still has a certain sense of belonging to the Firefly system. At this time, the conversation between him and Eric, even unconsciously, had the meaning of "one of us" discussing the development of his own company.
Smiling wryly, Steve Bernstein wanted to reorganize his thoughts, but found that he had nothing to say.
After all, Eric's attitude is very firm. Based on his understanding of the former boss, it is obvious that Eric will not easily compromise on what he decides.
"Eric, I suddenly realized that I still don't want to continue the discussion with you. Perhaps, I should fly back to Philadelphia immediately, and then let Ralph and the others send others over."
Eric was also aware of similar problems, or in other words, he had a somewhat deliberate intention. With a smile on his face, Eric looked at his watch, got up and said, "It's noon soon, please have dinner. It's not too late for you to go back after lunch."
Steve Bernstein flew back to Comcast headquarters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the afternoon.
After telling Eric what he meant, Roberts and his son also realized that this matter could not be reversed, so they fought back decisively.
The next day, news of Steve Bernstein's meeting with Eric Williams appeared in a Philadelphia newspaper. This is obviously the news released by Comcast on its own initiative, and the capital market also misjudged that Firefly Group and Comcast Group had started merger negotiations, as Comcast executives expected.
As a result, as soon as the stock market opened that day, Comcast's stock price soared in a straight line. The stock price rose by more than 13% throughout the day, and its market value once again exceeded the $40 billion mark.
Moreover, according to Wall Street forecasts, Comcast's market value is likely to exceed $50 billion in the next period of time. This undoubtedly greatly increased the difficulty of Firefly Group's acquisition of Comcast.
Subsequently, Roberts and his son began to contact other Comcast shareholders non-stop, intending to obtain more voting rights.
According to Comcast’s shareholding structure, if the Roberts family owns more than 40% of Comcast’s voting rights, it will be basically difficult for Firefly Group to threaten the Roberts family’s interest in Comcast by absorbing shares in the open market. controlling position.
However, this time, the lobbying of the Roberts family did not go so smoothly.
From the perspective of most of the capital holding Comcast shares, they will obviously be able to gain more benefits by continuing to maintain contact between Comcast and Firefly Group, or following the acquisition and joining the Firefly system. .
If the Roberts and his sons were allowed to take full control of Comcast, the current boom in the company's stock price would definitely come to an abrupt end. Therefore, some shareholders who have signed a voting authorization agreement with the Roberts family are even more inclined to take back their voting rights in order to have more initiative in the transactions that may occur next.