Chapter 209： Goldman's request

After this wave of banking crises and the stock market slump, News Corp. has accelerated negotiations with William Chen, and they have now agreed to sell Twentieth Century Fox, which includes the film company, TV show company, and film library.

Still hope to retain the shares of the hulu video platform and Fox Searchlight Pictures, so that they still have certain film production capabilities, and are optimistic about the future of the streaming media platform.

However, due to the box office performance of "Avatar", they set the sale price at $5.5 billion, and Nielsen and Goldman Sachs are currently trying to bring the price down to less than $4.5 billion.

Speaking of the performance of "Avatar" in the recent release, it reminds people of another movie that is also a truck driver - "Titanic", because the box office trends of the two are too similar, both of which are very stable at the box office. The decline is controlled within a very narrow range, and the stamina is full. At that time, "Titanic" broke the box office record and has maintained it until now, so "Avatar" is also highly anticipated.

The three-day North American box office of "Avatar" was initially announced at $73 million, but the statistics agency revised the box office to $77 million.

The box office of the film in the second week was $75 million, a drop of only 2 million or 2.6% from the first week of its release. This scene surprised everyone, and media reports began to appear against this The film's increasingly high final box office estimates.

However, it was only after the third week of box office release that people began to determine that "Avatar" is indeed full of stamina, and even has the hope of breaking the previous record of the truck driver and making history.

Because in the third week, the North American box office of "Avatar" reached 68 million, a drop of only 9.7%, which is very rare in the release of new films.

It is precisely because of this that Murdoch's side began to be confident in the film, and accordingly, he was bitten to death on the sale price of 20th Century Fox.

"Judging from the current situation, the box office performance of "Avatar" has brought a certain impact on our acquisition. According to our estimation, if there is no unexpected situation in the final acquisition of 20th Century Fox, the price will hardly be lower than 5 billion. dollars."

Camilo Hagen of Goldman Sachs said to William Chen:

"In addition, there is one more thing I think I need to tell you now, Mr. William."

"What's wrong?"

"According to the notice I have received from the board of directors, I am afraid that Goldman Sachs will not be able to provide financing for this acquisition, so either you go to other banks for financing, or you can only undertake it entirely by Meta Investment Company."

Oh? Hearing Camilo Hagen's words, William Chen immediately realized that if the other party did not participate in such a good opportunity to make money, then the biggest possibility is that there is a problem with Goldman Sachs' funds.

William Chen noticed that Camilo Hagen's expression was a little hesitant when he finished saying the above words, and he asked:

"Mr. Hagen, what else do you seem to want to say?"

"Yes, Mr. William." Camilo Hagen sighed softly and said, "Although I personally don't want to do this, and I'm afraid our CEO will talk to you later, I think I need to talk to you about it. To put it bluntly, we at Goldman Sachs are likely to want to recoup some of our previous financing early if possible."

Now William Chen can be 100% sure that Goldman Sachs has definitely encountered a problem with funding. Linked to the recent run on the banking industry in the United States, William Chen generally understands the current predicament of Goldman Sachs.

"I understand, thank you, and in addition, 20th Century Fox continues to talk, I can accept the price of 5 billion US dollars, but the requirement is, I want a complete 20th Century Fox, including their local and overseas distribution. channel."

"Okay, Mr. William, there's no problem at all."

"Besides, help me make an appointment with Mr. Blankfein. I want to talk to him."

……

Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein responded very positively and met William Chen on the same day.

Lloyd first congratulated William Chen, because they and Morgan Stanley and other investment banks have already closed their short positions in the Eurasian stock market. According to calculations, William Chen made a profit of more than $15 billion from the $10 billion invested at that time.

"I need to congratulate you in advance, William. When the Forbes list is released, you will definitely be at the top."

By convention, the Forbes rich list is usually released in early March, so Lloyd said this.

"You should know, Mr. Blankfein, that's probably not what I hoped for."

Taking advantage of the situation, Lloyd put forward the hope that William Chen can return the financing that Goldman Sachs participated in his recent acquisition in advance. After all, he will soon have more than 25 billion US dollars of funds to return. It can be said that at this time, William Chen is afraid He is one of the richest people who can take out the most cash.

Although Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley made a lot of money in the subprime mortgage crisis, the difference from Chen William is that these two investment banks have more investments in various industries. The difference between the two is like It was William Chen who was standing on the shore and pumping water, and the reduction of the pool had nothing to do with him; while Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were pumping water from the pool, and the reduction of the pool also represented a huge loss of their own, and the water they pumped. , at most to make up part of their own losses.

Don't look at Goldman Sachs being able to participate in financing in the acquisition of William Chen and others, the money is not their own assets, but from customers. Now facing a run on funds and a substantial reduction in reserve funds, it is necessary to recover assets as much as possible to cope with customer runs. If the situation worsens and your pool is drained, it will be catastrophic.

This is why they are eager to withdraw funds from the Eurasian stock market. William Chen learned from Lloyd that after calculating the funds that can be recovered, Goldman Sachs found that at least 10 billion US dollars of funds are needed to cope with the current crisis.

Before, they hoped to obtain these funds through financing, so they contacted the "stock god" Buffett, hoping that the other party can give Goldman Sachs $5 billion in financing. If they can get Buffett's financing, through his influence, as long as everyone sees that Buffett is still Be optimistic about Goldman Sachs, then the remaining $5 billion in financing is easy to complete.

But although Buffett did not refuse financing, he put forward a very harsh condition:

The first is that he can invest $5 billion in Goldman Sachs' preferred stock, but requires a dividend of up to 10% per year; if Goldman Sachs needs to repurchase these preferred shares in the future, he needs to pay a 10% premium; he needs to receive Goldman Sachs' total 50% free of charge. $500 million in call options, meaning the right to buy up to $5 billion of common stock at their current share price over the next five years.

This shows that Buffett is a very chicken thief. He took out the 5 billion US dollars in the form of preferred stock, so he can invest in Goldman Sachs with very low risk, because if Goldman Sachs eventually goes bankrupt, the preferred stock is the first to be paid. order, which can guarantee the security of his investment.

Then you can get $500 million in annual interest If Goldman Sachs buys back this part of the preferred stock, then you can also get a premium of $500 million. The most important thing is that if the situation improves after Goldman Sachs, the stock price If it rises, then he can exchange his $5 billion for Goldman Sachs shares at a low price and enjoy this dividend.

In normal times, Goldman Sachs would never consider such a condition, and would even consider it an insult to itself. But in this situation, they have few choices.

But at this time, if you can get back the financing of William Chen's $10 billion acquisition in advance, then you can completely ignore Buffett's harsh conditions.

The most important point now is that according to the financing contract at the time, William Chen could absolutely refuse their request, which is why the CEO of Goldman Sachs was required to come forward in person to try to persuade William Chen.

Now Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the two remaining two of the five largest investment banks in the United States, are also seeking to transform into bank holding companies, mainly because there are too many uncertainties in the profits of investment banks. If the economic situation is good, then Being able to make profits through investment, once an economic crisis like the current one breaks out and the economy goes down across the board, then they are very vulnerable to a run on their funds because their main funds come from customers, thus encountering difficulties.

Once transformed into a bank holding company, they will not only be able to preserve the business of investment banks, but most importantly, they will be able to open commercial banks to absorb the savings of the people, and they will be able to borrow directly from the Federal Reserve, reducing risks and changing the current predicament of lack of funds.

In Lloyd Blankfein's expectant gaze, William Chen said:

"I have another proposal, Mr. Blankfein."