"Ron, I'm a professional manager, not a capital player." Avi Arad pointed to the outdated office supplies in the conference room, and said, "Look at what you have done these years, you only know that there is no Squeeze any trace of residual value of Marvel sparingly. Many people have left in the past few years. The company has no vitality and is burdened with huge debts. If it continues, Marvel will definitely die. I am just saving this company , isn't it right?"
Ron Perelman showed a little embarrassment, but immediately retorted angrily: "But you shouldn't betray me. If you have any opinions, you can discuss it with me."
When Avi Arad heard Ron Perelman's words, he almost wanted to laugh out loud: "Ron, can't you really remember how many times I have consulted with you almost like begging?" 'Have you been?"
Not knowing whether it was shame or embarrassment, Ron Perelman's blood surged, and he emphasized again almost incoherently: "You...don't forget, I am the owner of this company."
"Not anymore," Avi Arad suddenly lost interest in talking to Ron Perelman, dropped this sentence coldly, and also walked out of the meeting room.
More than half an hour later, Katzenberg, Avi Arad, Ron Perelman, and their respective lawyers gathered in another Marvel conference room.
As if he hadn't noticed Ron Perelman, who had regained his fighting spirit after clearing up his emotions, Katzenberg flipped through a thick stack of documents he had temporarily sorted out last night, and said straight to the point: "Ron, now you have two There are two options. First, a private settlement. Andrews Holdings will pay a sum of money to buy all the outstanding shares of Marvel in the market at the current stock price, and then implement a 100% debt-for-equity swap strategy to hand over Marvel to us. Personally, I think this is the best way to solve the current situation.”
Katzenberg didn't mind hearing Ron Perelman's cold snort. Continued in a cold formulaic tone, said: "So, second, we will apply to the SEC to investigate Andrews Holdings' misappropriation of Marvel's debt financing. Although this investigation and subsequent litigation will be protracted, regardless When is the delay, all the evidence is convincing, you still have to return all the debt financing for the embezzlement of Marvel, and you will also face a huge fine from the SEC. I promise you, there is no $1 billion, you don't want to understand this lawsuit , spend this 1 billion dollars, I think you are not far from bankruptcy."
A middle-aged man sitting beside Ron Perelman said, "Mr. Katzenberg, can I see that you are intimidating my client?"
Katzenberg glanced at Ron Perelman's lawyer, and said with a half-smile, "You should know that I'm a movie maker, so don't use the usual lines in movies to talk nonsense on this occasion, It makes you look very unprofessional."
The middle-aged man obviously has the basic thick skin of lawyers. Not minding Katzenberg's sarcasm, he insisted: "Mr. Katzenberg, you didn't answer my question."
Katzenberg shrugged and said, "I'm not intimidating your client, I'm just stating a basic fact and some determination of the Firefly Group."
Ron Perelman stopped the private lawyer who wanted to say anything, and said to Katzenberg: "Jeffrey, I will not choose either of these two conditions. Don't forget, Marvel's bankruptcy protection period It’s a month, as long as I can come up with a reasonable solution to the current matter within a month. Marvel will still be mine, and no one can take it away.”
"That's right, it's a month, but..." Katzenberg said contemptuously: "You can't come up with any way to bring Marvel back to life. Because the current Marvel is completely just a shell In addition to the toy department, which can barely operate, Marvel movies, an empty shell; Marvel TV, an empty shell; the music department, an empty shell; even the root of Marvel, the comics department, was in charge of " The seven chief writers of the main popular comics such as X-Men and Fantastic Four have all left, and now they are no different from empty shells. Mr. Ron Perelman, please tell me how you plan to make comics Will Wei come back to life?"
Ron Perelman yelled at Katzenberg without hesitation: "Don't think I don't know, the Firefly Group doesn't care what you said at all, what you really want is the superheroes under Marvel It's just copyright, I tell you, you will never succeed, I would rather sell Marvel to any third party for one dollar, and would not hand it over to Firefly."
Katzenberg, who was already very hot-tempered, also raised his voice: "But you don't have the right to sell Marvel to a third party for a dollar now, because the federal court will not allow you to make such a move that damages the interests of creditors." , even if you want to sell it, you can only sell it to Firefly."
"Don't even think about it, I have always been the only one who snatches things from others, and no one can take away what belongs to me."
"Do you think it's still in the 1980s? Go to the downtown area and have a look. Drexel Securities has long since ceased to exist, no-exist-exist!"
"..."
"..."
The already very unfriendly meeting quickly broke out into a fierce quarrel. When the two sides were almost about to fight each other, Avi Arad and others onlookers came back to their senses and quickly put Katzenberg and Ron Perelman pulls away.
Frantically dropping everything in the entire office, Ron Perelman finally calmed down, and left the Marvel headquarters with his lawyer and assistants without saying hello.
Eric, who was in Los Angeles, immediately learned of the news of the conflict between the two from the phone call of Avi Arad, who was worried that things would change again because of this quarrel, but he was not too worried. Eric could have put Frank Wells in charge of it, but doing so would only make Ron Perelman go further. Katzenberg's forceful and irascible personality is just right to restrain Ron Perelman's greed.
After the first negotiation broke up unhappy, Ron Perelman did not continue to contact Firefly, but immediately flew to Los Angeles, trying to transfer Marvel, the destined unretainable burden, to the major Hollywood film companies again, but Hollywood, with all its eyes on Disney's animation department, still ignored Ron Perelman. Even Michael Eisner, who realized that it was impossible to get Panasonic's support for the acquisition of the animation department, had no intention of making a move, because he also realized with great regret that the Japanese would also not support Universal because of the conflict between Marvel and Firefly.
Subsequently, Ron Perelman still did not give up trying to test some companies interested in the entertainment industry. However, most of the weaker companies do not want to provoke the capital forces represented by the first and second richest people in the United States at the same time. Companies with sufficient strength also realize that they need to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in order to solve Marvel's dilemma, but even if they grab Marvel and want to develop Marvel's movie copyrights, they still cannot do without the support of Hollywood. And as the biggest coward in Hollywood, Firefly will certainly not let outsiders who snatch their "prey" have a good life, and in the end the gain outweighs the loss.
In desperation, Ron Perelman even came up with the idea of the Firefly long-term bond in his hand.
But in the end it was still nothing, not to mention that the bond of Andrews Holding Company was only worth 400 million U.S. dollars, which could not make up for Marvel's shortfall at all, and aware of Ron Perelman's recent embarrassment, those who intend to take over the bond One investment company offered a lower price than the other, and the highest bidder would also get a 10% discount. It would be a loss of 40 million U.S. dollars in a few months. Ron Perelman was also unacceptable.
After another week or so, Firefly didn't seem to be urging her at all, but Ron Perelman found that he was at the end of his rope.
If the stalemate continues, Marvel will face forced bankruptcy and liquidation if there are still no feasible company restructuring measures after a one-month bankruptcy protection period.
In the early morning of August 21, Avi Arad had just sat in his office when he received a call from Ron Perelman. The hoarse voice in the microphone barely held on to the last bit of strength: "I don't want to see you again To Jeffrey Katzenberg, I'm going to interview Eric Williams in person." (To be continued.)