Eric gently put down the coffee cup in his hand, looked up and said: "Mr. Murdoch, you must know something about me. I am a very stubborn person. If you let me speak, then the conditions I said will not be good. There will be a slight concession, and if Fox can’t accept it, the two sides will definitely have a very unpleasant quarrel. So, let’s talk about it first, if Fox’s conditions can satisfy me, I am not an insatiable person.”
Murdoch secretly scolded a little slicker in his heart, this is not greedy, but Murdoch just thought about it for a moment and said: "Eric, the cooperation between Fox and Firefly has always been very pleasant, so why not, I Replace 5% of the shares of Firefly with 5% of the shares of Fox Films. You must know the market value of Fox. Firefly has taken advantage of it. This will also allow the two film companies to cooperate more closely. I use this price in exchange for For the first broadcast rights of the following four seasons of "Friends", the 70% advertising share ratio just proposed remains unchanged, what do you think this time?"
Eric heard the condition proposed by Murdoch, and after a few seconds of being slightly tempted, he didn't feel any advantage at all.
He heard very clearly that what Murdoch said was to exchange the shares of Fox Film Company for the same proportion of shares of Firefly, not the 7↑ shares of Fox Television Network.
Perhaps the public will think that these two companies are one, but Eric is very clear about the difference. Although both are currently under the control of Barry Diller, Fox Film Company and Fox Television Network are completely different. related company. The current market value of Fox Films is around US$2 billion, and a 5% stake is worth US$100 million, while a 5% stake in Firefly is really not worth that much now. Calculated according to the price when it was merged with the new line. Firefly's market cap is only around $600 million. So figure it out. As long as Firefly agrees to exchange shares with Fox. That's the equivalent of earning $70 million.
But things are far from that simple.
After the merger of Firefly and New Line, no matter which movie giant in Hollywood knows the possible development potential of Firefly, if the momentum of Eric's film harvesting box office continues, maybe within a few years, Firefly's status can be compared with seven The big film companies have joined forces, and accordingly, the market value of Firefly will also skyrocket. Maybe it will surpass Fox.
Eric is very confident that if it goes well, this process will not even take five years. Some time ago, Eric paid 15% of the shares and a large sum of money to acquire the new line. Eric was willing, because this would make up for the shortcomings of Firefly's distribution capabilities and greatly shorten the pace of Firefly's rise.
5% of the shares can already have a certain right to speak in the board of directors. After exchanging shares with Fox, not only did Eric not see much benefit, but he would be constrained by it.
and…
Eric pulled the corner of his mouth lightly and leaned forward slightly. Ask Murdoch opposite: "Mr. Murdoch, how much profit do you think Fox Films will make this year?"
Murdoch's heart skipped a beat. Xin said, could it be that this little guy saw through it
However, Murdoch still held a trace of luck, shook his head and said: "I am not very clear about this matter, and I will not know until the financial report at the end of the year is released."
Eric almost sneered: "Mr. Murdoch, I can do some calculations for Fox, because Mr. Barry Diller focuses on the development of the Fox TV network. Fox itself does not have many movies. There is not a single big-budget movie with box office potential. This year Fox focuses on my three movies, "Pretty Woman", "Sleepless in Seattle" and "Home Alone 2", and "The Wind and Moon" has already been settled , 210 million in North America and 530 million in the world, Fox can get at least 70 million US dollars in profit after excluding distribution costs. Moreover, I personally think that the next two films "Sleepless in Seattle" and "Home Alone 2" can get Fox The profit obtained is at least 100 million U.S. dollars, plus other peripheral income such as other films and video tapes released by Fox, ha, what a good year, maybe this year can create an annual profit of 300 million U.S. dollars, which is almost two times that of an ordinary year. doubled."
When Murdoch heard Eric's summary, he couldn't help but feel happy. If this is the case, this result must rank first among the seven major film companies, even Warner, which made a lot of money from "Batman" this year. It must be able to create such a high annual profit. After the financial report at the end of the year comes out, Fox's market value will definitely usher in a round of surge.
However, after the surprise, some of the luck in Murdoch's heart was completely shattered, and he just asked dryly: "Eric, isn't this very good?"
"Of course very good," Eric said, "Then, let's calculate the profit of Firefly this year."
Eric said, holding up a few fingers and counting one by one: ""Pretty Woman", 105 million; "Dark War", according to the current box office trend, the global box office can still reach about 500 million US dollars, Firefly can once again Get about 100 million US dollars. At the end of the year, "Sleepless in Seattle" and "Home Alone 2", after excluding the cost, Firefly can at least get 100 million US dollars like Fox. Don't forget, I have three other films The movie will be released at the end of the year. I am very optimistic about the three movies, but even if the three movies are combined, they can only get 100 million US dollars. When the account is divided at the end of the year, it is also 5% of the shares, and Fox can get 20 million in dividends. Firefly can only get 15 million."
Speaking of this, Eric took back the arm standing in front of him, but he was very angry in his heart. Originally, after Murdoch proposed the conditions, Eric was still tempted for a moment because of the 70 million dollar difference in share value, but After sorting it out, he found that this frankly was another big hole dug by the old guy on the opposite side.
The exchange of shares and Fox's acquisition of the premiere rights of the first five seasons of "Friends" are two different things seriously, but Murdoch cleverly confuses these two things together, and gave Eric a Fox very sincerely illusion. But if Eric really chooses that 5% of the shares, in the end, there may be no benefit at all. Instead, he will pay Fox a dividend every year because of the profit gap. In addition, this share must have a long sales restriction period, and when it can be sold, perhaps the market value of Firefly is almost the same as that of Fox.
And Fox definitely has the right to take back the shares first. Even if Eric sells the shares back to the other party, the final result is that Fox owns the shares of Firefly and can dictate the affairs of Firefly, but Firefly cannot interfere with Fox in the slightest. Another point is that after the share swap, the interests of Firefly and Fox are tied together. Even if he is reluctant in his heart, Eric has to hold his nose and choose to cooperate with Fox first if necessary. It is estimated that this is also the main purpose of Murdoch wanting to exchange shares with Firefly.
If Eric still has that naive, cowardly, and youthful soul in his body, maybe when he thinks about it, he will definitely be so angry that he burst into tears and shouted: "Too bullying, Not working with you anymore."
To be honest, Eric may have had this kind of youthful impulse in his heart just now because of the residual thinking of the original owner.
However, now this body is still dominated by the soul of a calm middle-aged man in his forties. In addition, because of the special experience of rebirth, Eric has already taken a lot of things lightly. Money matters are even more unlikely to happen to him.
Of course, Eric was still very angry at this time: "Mr. Murdoch, maybe Fox didn't want to show any sincerity at all, so..."
Murdoch showed a faint wry smile, and said, "Eric, listen to me, or we..."
"No," Eric immediately interrupted Murdoch. He was not sure if there would be any big holes waiting for him in the conditions that the old guy proposed next. If he didn't react, he would be killed. : "Let's talk about it, I'm not very interested in the shares of Fox Film Corporation, but since today's discussion is about "Friends", let's talk about Fox TV Internet cafes. I want shares of Fox TV Network, if If Fox wants to get the first broadcast rights of the next few seasons of "Friends", it must transfer to me 10% of the shares at the price of 80% of the market value of Fox Network before "Friends" started broadcasting."
Murdoch was taken aback by Eric's lion mouth. Although he is known as a media tycoon, he currently only owns a little over 30% of News Corporation, and News Corporation only owns about 80% of Fox Television Network. In terms of shares, his family’s shareholding in Fox Television Network is only 24%. If Eric's conditions are agreed, Firefly will become the second largest shareholder of Fox Television Network, second only to the Murdoch family. If there is a conflict between the two parties in the future, as long as Eric gets the support of other shareholders, he is likely to seize the dominance of the Fox TV network.
The Fox TV network is the most important move that Murdoch has made to enter the North American market. In any case, it is impossible for him to agree to Eric's conditions.
To be honest, Eric didn't have such a big appetite at first. His original plan was just to get about 5% of Fox TV Network's shares.
From the collected data, the current value of the Fox TV network is less than 1 billion, which is far less than the huge scale of the three major TV stations of 4 to 5 billion US dollars.
But Eric knows that after more than ten years, the scale of Fox TV will stand shoulder to shoulder with the three major TV stations, reaching more than 30 billion U.S. dollars. Now it only needs to invest less than 50 million U.S. dollars. At that time, the 5% of the shares will be worth a fortune With a huge wealth of more than 1.5 billion US dollars, and compared with the film company, the profit of the TV network is more stable. In the future, he can get a lot of money from the billions of dollars in annual profits of the Fox TV network without doing anything. dividends. (To be continued..)