"Hello everyone, this is CNN Instant Entertainment News. Since the end of June, due to the great success of the 2D animated film "The Lion King", Disney's animation department, which is in the limelight, and its parent company, Firefly Group, have made a huge difference in the development strategy of animated films. Afterwards, the dispute showed signs of intensification. On Monday, the Firefly creditor alliance initiated by the famous Wall Street investor Ron Perelman suddenly put pressure on the Firefly board of directors to obtain two creditor director seats on the board. Firefly The request of the creditor alliance was soon publicly supported by the Disney animation department. Peter Schneider, director of the Disney animation department, said that the introduction of creditor directors can better supervise the management and operation of Firefly Group, and prevent major shareholders from acting arbitrarily and recklessly, harming small shareholders and creditors The common interests of tens of thousands of employees of Firefly Group."
A small reception was being held in a mansion in Beverly Hills. Ron Perelman, Roy Disney, and Peter Schneider, who attended the reception, were shaking goblets with some other guests. , watching with great interest the TV set that was specially placed in the open air and broadcasting CNN news, as if waiting for something.
On the TV screen, after the host gave a brief account of the news, he went on to say: "After "The Lion King" broke the box office record for domestic animated films last week, the spokesperson of Firefly publicly stated that today they will present "The Lion King" at the Sunset Tower Hotel in Hollywood. "The King" held a grand celebration party. The industry generally speculated that the holding of this party represented the Firefly Group's beginning to compromise with the Disney animation department. However, this afternoon, all employees of the Disney animation department issued a statement in the "Los Angeles Evening News". Firefly’s board of directors and all employees of Disney’s animation department will refuse to participate in this party. It is already 19:15 Western Time. For the specific situation, please see the live report sent back by our reporter from Hollywood Sunset Boulevard…”
The TV screen cut to Los Angeles at dusk, and the CNN reporter standing in front of the Sunset Tower Hotel with a microphone in hand said, "Hello host, hello viewers. We can see that the Sunset Tower Hotel, which should be bustling, is actually Fifteen minutes ago, a spokesman for Firefly announced the urgent cancellation of tonight's "The Lion King" celebration party. However, before seven o'clock, Eric Williams, Jeffrey The cars of Katzenberg and other Firefly executives still appeared in the parking lot of the Sunset Tower Hotel one after another. We guessed that this was the final fight of the Firefly executives, but obviously, this effort ended in failure. So far, we have not found Any executives and employees from Disney's animation department showing up at the Sunset Tower Hotel."
Looking at the deserted Sunset Tower Hotel on the TV screen, Peter Schneider suddenly worried whether he had gone too far. He was not worried about offending Eric. Even if he left Firefly, he felt that he could find another home, but The current situation does not seem to be of much benefit to his own interests.
Roy Disney, who noticed the change in Peter Schneider's expression, patted him on the shoulder and said, "Peter, think about how Eric Williams has treated us in the past two years. And, as long as Ron and the others With two board seats and Disney Animation continuing to be profitable, we have nothing to worry about."
Ron Perelman, still smiling like a Maitreya Buddha, also said: "Don't worry, Peter, as long as we get two board seats, the 11 directors of Firefly will not be Eric Williams. There are as many as five directors, and we can also take this opportunity to cultivate our own power within Firefly. At that time, even if Eric Williams has the absolute controlling stake in Firefly, he will not dare to take the risk of making Firefly turbulent. What a drastic move."
Peter Schneider nodded relaxedly. Roy Disney immediately raised the goblet in his hand and said, "Then, for our common goal, I suggest that everyone raise a glass together."
Most of the participants in this small reception were representatives of Firefly's creditors. Hearing Roy Disney's words, they were about to agree, when the TV screen that was still broadcasting the news just now suddenly changed.
On the screen, the media reporters who were originally scattered around the Sunset Tower Hotel seemed to feel the magnetic nails, and suddenly rushed towards the gate of the Sunset Tower Hotel, among the group of reporters. Eric's figure soon appeared in the shaky live footage of CNN TV.
In the picture, Eric was surrounded by bodyguards with a blank face. After waiting for the surrounding reporters to quiet down, Eric stared at the camera lens tightly, as if staring at some people in front of the TV, and said in a gloomy tone : "Since this is the case, then at nine o'clock tomorrow morning, Firefly will hold a press conference, and those welcome and unpopular people will be there together."
Eric dropped these words, and hurried into his car under the protection of bodyguards.
In front of the TV, a group of people who had planned to toast to celebrate looked at each other in blank dismay. Even the wily Roy Disney felt a bad feeling in his heart. As a member of the Disney family that means a lot to Disney, Roy Disney has had many contacts with Eric. In his impression, Eric has always had a calmness far beyond his peers, but no matter how precocious, Roy Disney E. Disney still has to admit that Eric is just a vigorous young man less than twenty-five years old. If Eric decides to die on impulse, he will probably be beaten.
Because of this anxiety, Roy Disney couldn't rest well all night. Early the next morning, Roy Disney got up and turned on the TV. He waited patiently until nine o'clock, when the CNN news station appeared on time. The scene of the conference hall of the Firefly headquarters.
"At present, Firefly Group already holds 17% of Marvel Entertainment's debts. As an important creditor of Marvel Entertainment, we found that Marvel Entertainment's operating loss in the first half of 1994 has exceeded 24 million US dollars, and Marvel Entertainment Entertainment's stock price continued to fall. Compared with Marvel Entertainment's total debt of 553 million US dollars, Marvel Entertainment, which has a stock market value of less than 300 million US dollars, has already experienced serious insolvency. According to the federal company law, while issuing a statement, Firefly Group A lawsuit will be filed in the District Court of New York, where Marvel Entertainment is located, to request mandatory bankruptcy protection for Marvel Entertainment. At the same time, we found that the huge debt financing used for the company's development was illegally embezzled by Andrews Holdings, the parent company of Marvel Entertainment , This serious violation of the bond trading law has directly caused Marvel Entertainment to be on the verge of bankruptcy. Therefore, Firefly will file a lawsuit according to the law. It is bound to make Andrews Holdings pay the due price for its illegal behavior."
Roy Disney listened patiently to Katzenberg's speech on the TV, and he relaxed after worrying all night. This statement did not mention Disney's animation department at all, which shows that Firefly's executives did not die. Intend.
but. Immediately afterwards, Roy Disney became suspicious about the purpose of this speech. He could hear that it should be Firefly's revenge for Ron Perelman's behavior, but he didn't quite understand many details, so he took picked up the phone. Dial the number of your personal lawyer.
After some explanation from his private lawyer, Roy Disney finally understood.
According to the company law of the United States, when a company is seriously insolvent and its performance continues to lose money, creditors have the right to request mandatory bankruptcy protection for the company. Bankruptcy protection is different from bankruptcy liquidation. During the buffer period before bankruptcy liquidation, the debtor is allowed to propose relevant plans for the company's restructuring and debt repayment within a certain period of time. However, if such a plan still fails to take effect, the company will immediately face bankruptcy liquidation.
The main purpose of Firefly Group's proposed mandatory bankruptcy protection for Marvel Entertainment is similar to Ron Perelman. It is also to obtain control of Marvel as a creditor. However, unlike Ron Perelman's approach, Firefly Group's appeal will be supported by the federal court because of Marvel's insolvency dilemma.
Once the Firefly Group seizes control of Marvel, the weakness of Andrews Holdings’ illegal occupation of Marvel’s debt financing will also become an important handle for the Firefly Group to attack Ron Perelman. Andrews Holdings will not only face the return of Marvel's financing, but also face a huge fine from the Federal Securities and Exchange Commission. This is the final killer.
As a country with very strict financing supervision, the fines of hundreds of thousands of dollars for illegally occupying hundreds of millions of dollars in financing funds are definitely not a joke. Once the crime is proven, even an industry giant with tens of billions of dollars in assets. It may also be punished by the SEC to the point where it hurts.
At this time, in the mansion where the reception was held in Beverly Hills last night, Ron Perelman, who was still wearing pajamas, no longer had the calm expression of the past. Instead, the arm holding the microphone carried a feeling of fear and anger. trembling. Immediately after Firefly Group issued this statement, Berkshire Hathaway, State Street Global Fund, and Firefly Investment Company issued similar statements in their capacity as creditors. Marvel Entertainment's bonds are close to 90%, once the New York District Court judges that Firefly Group's claim is reasonable. Ron Perelman knew he wouldn't even have the wiggle room with other creditors.
"Avi, I want an explanation, why I didn't know this until now, 90% of the bond ownership transfer, shouldn't I be notified in advance, tell me why?" Marvel CEO Avi. After Allard roared angrily, Ron Perelman patiently listened to the other party's explanation, and then slammed the microphone on the table.
Avi Arad explained to Ron Perelman that Firefly and several other creditor institutions have only submitted the relevant debt transfer statement to Marvel Entertainment in recent days, and Marvel has also prepared relevant documents at this time. It was only because Ron Perelman came to Los Angeles that it was not delivered to him in time.
Ron Perelman keenly discovered that there were two time differences in Avi Allard's words. Firefly and Berkshire Hathaway took advantage of a reasonable time difference. Marvel Entertainment was notified in writing within the deadline, and then, Marvel CEO Avi Allard created a time gap again, further delaying the time for Ron Perelman to learn the news.
Ron Perelman found that the situation he was facing seemed to be worse than he had imagined. If his guess was correct, Avi Arad was likely to have been recruited by the Firefly Group. It will make a big fall on Marvel Entertainment.
After walking around the bedroom a few times anxiously, Ron Perelman suddenly patted his bald head. He suddenly realized that the Firefly Group had already started to lay out at least a month ago, so he discovered two possibilities One is that the Firefly Group realized a month ago that he wanted to take advantage of the Disney animation department incident to enter the Firefly board of directors, so he made arrangements in advance to prevent it from happening. Another possibility is that the Firefly Group has long coveted Marvel.
After issuing more than 500 million U.S. dollars in bonds and huge funds, Marvel has no value in the eyes of Ron Perelman. It is just a mess that can be easily thrown away. Ron Perelman is even very Pay less attention to Marvel's business. If the Firefly Group also holds this concept, then the purpose of the other party's doing so is probably to make him retreat and no longer covet the Firefly Group's board seat.
After quickly weighing in his mind, Ron Perelman keenly found that the first possibility was very low. If it was just to take advantage of the flaw of Marvel to force him to stop, the Firefly Group and Berkshire Ha Companies like Savay don't need to absorb nearly 90% of Marvel's bonds, which is 500 million US dollars in cash.
In the eyes of Ron Perelman, the current Marvel is not even worth half of the 500 million U.S. dollars. To be honest, if someone offers 500 million U.S. dollars now, Ron Perelman feels that he will immediately put Marvel Throw it to the other party.
And once the Firefly Group's purpose was the second possibility just now, then the 500 million dollars was immediately explained.
The question now is, why did the Firefly Group want Marvel, and why did they make a move at this very sensitive time
Aren't they afraid of changes in Disney's animation department
Or, does anyone think Marvel is worth more than Disney's animation division
The pace of Ron Perelman's pacing became slower and slower. Soon, he picked up the phone again, bypassed Avi Allard, and dialed the number of another person in charge of Marvel. (To be continued.)