The atmosphere of a rainy day can always evoke the deepest laziness in people's hearts. Just as Eric was planning to take a day off for himself, the phone rang quickly after nine o'clock in the morning.
The helicopter landed on the rooftop apron of the Firefly headquarters building. Eric got off the helicopter, and Alan greeted him with an umbrella. The two trotted into the elevator room, and Alan said: "Nine o'clock, Summer. Redstone held a press conference at the Sunset Tower Hotel, saying that Viacom would participate in the bid for Disney. Almost at the same time, Michael Eisner also issued a statement, saying that Disney would prefer Viacom to Firefly. Stimulated by this news, after the stock market opened today, Disney’s stock price rose by 6% within half an hour.”
Eric listened silently to Allen's introduction, the elevator door opened, and the two walked into Firefly's conference room together. At this time, the conference room was full of people, including the main executives of Firefly, several executives of Firefly Investment Company, and The head of Morgan Stanley's acquisition team sat around an oval desk, chatting together in twos and threes. Seeing Eric appear, the humming sound in the conference room stopped, and everyone got up and said Eyes turned to Eric.
"Everyone sit down," Eric waved his hand, and walked to his seat in two or three steps. Sitting on Morgan 7 on his left, Bernie Sanders, the head of the Stanley team, skillfully placed a The document was handed over: "Eric, please read the information first, we will talk about it later."
Eric nodded, and opened the blue folder, with the words 'No. 1 White Knight' printed on the cover.
Regarding the possible problems of this acquisition, Eric completed the filming of "Tornado" and returned to Los Angeles. Made quite a detailed preparation. So I didn't feel confused when I saw the word 'white knight'.
'White knight' is a term for corporate anti-takeover strategies. A company that initiates a hostile takeover of a target company is often referred to as a 'black knight', and other acquirers that appear suddenly during the hostile takeover process are called 'white knights', who usually acquire the target company's shareholders or management recognition.
From Michael Eisner's response after Redstone's statement, it can be seen that Viacom's acquisition has won the support of Disney management, at least the Disney forces represented by Michael Eisner, so Viacom Tom could be called the white knight.
Disney's performance has been sluggish for two consecutive years, so many people see a great opportunity to acquire Disney. Before issuing the acquisition announcement, Firefly realized that this acquisition would not be possible without competitors. And there won't be just one.
Looking at the information in his hand, Eric also secretly admired the value for money of the Morgan Stanley team. Less than an hour after Redstone released the bidding announcement, the Morgan Stanley team had already sorted out a long More than thirty pages of detailed information.
The current market value of Viacom Group is about 20 billion US dollars, mainly engaged in TV program production, cable TV network, wireless radio station and other businesses, the most famous of which is the famous MTV music television network, including Madonna and many others Famous singers all rely on the platform of mtv to become famous instantly.
In addition to controlling the Viacom Group, Redstone, the helm of Viacom, also runs a national entertainment company with a large theater chain, with a personal worth of US$4 billion.
Redstone's operation of Viacom Media Group has always adhered to the concept of "content is king", and the idea of acquiring a film company has been around for a long time. In the mid-1980s, Redstone competed with John Kruger of Metropolitan Media for Orion Films, which was thriving at the time. Due to financial disadvantages, it finally failed and exited. In addition, Redstone also invested in the stocks of several major film companies such as Warner and Columbia.
It can be seen from this that Redstone's sudden announcement today to acquire Disney Films is definitely not a whim.
After reading the information in their hands, everyone quickly discussed relevant countermeasures. Compared with Viacom Group, which has a market value of 20 billion US dollars, Firefly may be very weak, but Eric's biggest advantage is that he holds 8 billion US dollars of cash.
When he took over the acquisition, because he didn't know the chips in Eric's hands, Bernie Sanders brought a promise from Morgan Stanley's top management that Morgan Stanley could provide Firefly with $2 billion in financing, If Firefly is willing to accept Wall Street capital as a stake, this financing figure can be increased. So in general, the total amount of funds that Eric can use exceeds 10 billion US dollars.
But even if it is a hostile takeover, of course, the less money spent, the better, otherwise Eric would not have to spend such a high price to hire Morgan Stanley's acquisition team, and directly quote a price that Disney shareholders would not refuse anyway. It's over.
For Eric, the bottom line of buying Disney is about US$6 billion, and the remaining US$2 billion is used to pay off Disney's debts, so that Disney can be completely in his hands.
"Viacom only announced its acquisition intention today, which shows that the other party is not ready. For us, this is a great advantage. Viacom's cash flow is not abundant. , It will take at least three months to complete the financing, and this period is the best time for us.”
"Although Viacom's Redstone is very good at financing, he is not without weaknesses. It is said that the relationship between Redstone and his wife is very bad, and they may divorce at any time. If Redstone's wife suddenly proposes divorce during the acquisition process , because of losing half of the property, Redstone may lose control of Viacom, hurting investor confidence."
"We can't pin our hopes on this kind of thing. The key is to seize the three-month period, but if Mr. Williams doesn't give up his wholly-owned acquisition strategy, Disney shareholders certainly don't mind waiting for a while."
"I also believe that if we only get a 51% controlling stake, we can easily complete this acquisition with no more than US$2.5 billion, and Disney shareholders will be very cooperative."
Seeing that everyone turned the topic to changing the acquisition strategy, Eric said helplessly: "Sorry, everyone. Let me reiterate for the last time. The strategy of wholly acquiring Disney will never change. I don't want to temporarily save 1 billion US dollars in expenses. , which will lead to paying dividends far exceeding this figure to other shareholders every year in the future.”
Everyone looked at Eric with some strange eyes. Although Hollywood's film and television industry is developing very rapidly, so far, when the performance of several major film companies is the best, the annual profit will not exceed 1 billion US dollars.
Listening to Eric's tone, it seems that he is very confident that Disney can be operated as a behemoth with an annual profit of more than 2 billion US dollars.
The development of the entertainment industry is very elusive, just like the 1940s and 1950s. When the big studios were booming, a single Paramount bill plunged Hollywood into a cold winter that lasted for more than ten years. After finally recovering and finding a suitable business method, it ushered in the impact of the TV industry. Immediately afterwards, the launch of the home video recorder made Hollywood, which was worried about piracy, face a formidable enemy. For this reason, it also fought a lawsuit with Japan's Sony for more than ten years.
Although Hollywood has begun to recover again in the past ten years, no one knows what it will face next. If it encounters drastic industry changes again, Hollywood is likely to fall into a cold winter again.
Looking at the eyes of everyone, Eric can roughly guess what these people are thinking. Everyone has their own inherent thinking concept. What's more, all the people here are elites from various industries, and these people are not people whose thinking can be influenced by a few words. So Eric didn't mean to explain, but said in an unquestionable tone: "So, let's discuss the strategy of wholly-owned acquisitions, and don't mention the topic of holding, ok?"
Although he couldn't understand why this young man was so persistent, Bernie Sanders took the lead in nodding in agreement, and the people on Firefly's side maintained absolute support for Eric.
The meeting continued.
Although some corresponding countermeasures were discussed, the negotiations between the Firefly acquisition team and Disney fell into a stalemate because Viacom announced that it would join the competition, and there was no progress in the following month.
As time slowly enters September, the box office of Firefly's two summer movies "Toy Story" and "Terminator 2" are both close to 200 million US dollars, and the two movies have also begun to land in overseas markets one after another, and have achieved very impressive results. score.
Although there are no movies released in the off-season after September like the Seventh National Congress, the third season of "Friends" in the autumn, the second season of "X-Files" and the variety show "Who Will Be a Millionaire" are coming again one after another. Log into Fox Television,
"Friends" has become Fox's absolute trump card program, and its ratings have remained steadily above 20 million. Although "X-Files" and "Who Will Be a Millionaire" are not as impressive as "Friends", according to The ratings of the three programs are only the advertising revenue of Fox TV. The total sum of each season is more than 150 million US dollars, and the subsequent sales of broadcasting rights to hundreds of second- and third-tier small TV stations in the United States will be even more profitable.
However, after several programs were launched on Fox TV one after another in September, it stimulated the stock price of Disney Films to rise, making Eric a little dumbfounded, but he was helpless.
Because of the stalemate between the acquisition team and Disney, Eric also began to shift most of his energy to Firefly's film and television production during this period.
On the shooting site of "X-Files" in the northern part of the Santa Monica Mountains in Los Angeles, Eric planned to leave after having lunch with the crew. It was an afternoon in September in late autumn. Famke Jansen was wearing a gray suit for acting, put it in his pocket, and walked to the parking lot with Eric beside him.
"I just listened to your chat. Do you really plan to let us film in Canada next season?" The tall slender girl couldn't help asking when she was about to reach the parking lot.
"They said that the cost of filming in Canada can be reduced by more than 30%," Eric said, looking at Mick Jansen: "If you don't want to, then I will veto this proposal and stay in Los Angeles .”
"I don't want to be so hated. The cost of 30% is almost 10 million."
Eric stopped and put his arms around the girl: "For you, it doesn't matter if you spend an extra 100 million."
Famke Jansen put his hand on Eric's chest, and joked, "Have you said this to many women?"
Eric smiled and didn't speak, but exerted force on his hands. Famke Jansen hurriedly begged for mercy: "No, this is a costume. If it's wrinkled, I have to clean it up later."
Eric didn't let go, and leaned into Famke Jansen's ear and said, "Go to my place tonight. I just asked the director. You guys will rest tomorrow."
Famke Jansen hummed lightly before Eric let go of her, and the two walked to the parking lot side by side. Eric got into his car, waved to the girl, and then told the driver to drive.
The car drove for more than an hour before arriving at the destination again, the filming site of "Dumb and Dumber" near Culver City.
Because before "Dumb and Dumber", the three women's tg film company also produced "Thelma and Louise", so the progress of this film is slower than Nicole's "Hot Hands". The shooting can only be closed at the end of the month, and "Hot Hands" has been filmed in August, and now the post-production has begun.
In addition to the final chapter of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" released on Halloween, Firefly also focuses on two comedies, "Dumb and Dumber" and "Hot Hands". In addition to these two films, Eric also has something to do with "Home Alone 3", which was handed over to Fox, and "Dances with Wolves", which was cut off from Orion last year.
Fox will focus on "Home Alone 3" in the New Year's file, while "Dances with Wolves" will be screened in accordance with the standard release mode of Olympic films. Eric is not too optimistic about the box office potential of this four-hour art film. He's hoping "Dances with Wolves" can squeeze out the best picture nomination from Disney's "Beauty and the Beast."
But there seems to be some other problems. In the original time and space, "The Silence of the Lambs" was released this year, and now it is equivalent to an inversion with "Dances with Wolves".
Eric leaned back in his chair and was thinking about these things, when he saw Drew running over, knocking on the glass window of his car, and opening the door: "Eric, why are you here?" ?”
"I just have time today, so I'll come over and have a look," Eric glanced at Drew and said with a smile.
Perhaps because of being on the set, Xiao Nizi was dressed very neatly, wearing a pink baseball cap on her head, a white T-shirt and jeans, and a pair of small sneakers on her feet.
Drew pulled Eric out of the car and said, "There happened to be a scene that was filmed several times, maybe you can help take a look." (To be continued...)