Chapter 431： Stalemate

The atmosphere of the rainy days always reminds people of the deepest lazyness in the bottom of their hearts. At Eric, they just planned to give themselves a day off. Just after 9 am, the ringing of the phone rang quickly.

The helicopter landed on the roof tarmac of the Firefly headquarters building. Eric got off the helicopter. Allen greeted the umbrella and the two trots into the elevator. Allen said: "At nine o'clock, Summer. Lei Shidong held a press conference at Sunset Tower Hotel, saying that Viacom would participate in the bidding for Disney. Almost at the same time, Michael Eisner also issued a statement that Disney is more willing to work with Viacom than Fireflies. Mu cooperation, stimulated by this news, today's stock market opened, Disney's stock price rose by 6% within half an hour."

Eric silently listened to Allen’s introduction, the elevator door opened, and the two walked into the firefly’s conference room. At this time, the conference room was full of people, the main high-level of the fireflies, and several supervisors of the Firefly Investment Company. The head of Morgan Stanley’s acquisition team sat around the oval desk and talked around in twos and threes. When I saw Eric’s appearance, the sound of the conference room stopped and everyone got up. Looked at Eric.

"Everyone is sitting," Eric waved his hand and walked to his seat in three or two steps. Bernie Sanders, head of the Morgan Stanley team sitting on his left hand, skillfully handed a document. Come over: "Eric, you should look at the information first, and we will talk about it later."

Eric nodded and opened the blue folder. The cover prints the words 'No. 1 White Knight'.

After the filming of "Tornado" was returned to Los Angeles, Eric made a very careful preparation for the problems that the acquisition might face. Therefore, I did not feel confused when I saw the word ‘white knight’.

'White Knight' is a terminology for anti-acquisition strategies between companies. Companies that initiate hostile takeovers to target companies are often referred to as 'black knights'. Other acquirers that suddenly appear during hostile takeovers are called 'white clothes'. The Cavaliers', 'White Knights' are usually recognized by the target company's shareholders or management.

According to the statement of Michael Eisner after the statement by Lei Shidong, Viacom’s acquisition has been supported by the Disney management, at least the Disney forces represented by Michael Eisner, so Viacom Mum can be called a white knight.

Disney’s performance for two consecutive years has been sluggish. Many people have seen a great opportunity to acquire Disney. Before the announcement of the acquisition, Firefly realized that the acquisition would not be possible without competitors. And there won't be only one.

Looking at the information in his hand, Eric also secretly admired the value of the Morgan Stanley team, Lei Shidong issued a bid announcement less than an hour, the Morgan Stanley team has compiled a long More than 30 pages of detailed information.

The current market value of the Viacom Group is around $20 billion. Mainly engaged in TV program production, cable TV network, wireless radio station and other services, the most famous of which is the famous MTV music network, many famous singers including Madonna are famous for their mtv platform.

In addition to mastering the control of the Viacom Group, Viacom’s helm, Lei Shidong, also operates a national entertainment company with a large chain of theaters, with a personal value of $4 billion.

Lei Shidong’s management of Viacom Media Group has always adhered to the concept of “content is king”. The idea of ​​acquiring a film company has been for a long time. In the mid-eighties, Lei Shidong competed with John Kruger of Metropolitan Media. After the performance of the Orion Films, which was booming at the time, the company failed to withdraw because of the financial disadvantage. Also. Lei Shidong also invested in stocks of several major film companies such as Warner and Columbia.

It can be seen that Lei Shidong suddenly announced today that the acquisition of Disney Pictures is definitely not a whim.

After reading the information in hand, everyone quickly discussed the relevant countermeasures, compared to the Viacom Group with a market value of 20 billion US dollars. Fireflies may be very weak, but Eric's biggest advantage is to hold up to $8 billion in cash.

In taking over the acquisition, because he did not know the chips in Eric's hands, Bernie Sanders brought the promise of Morgan Stanley's top management, Morgan Stanley could provide $2 billion in financing for fireflies. If the firefly is willing to accept Wall Street funds to buy shares. This financing figure can also be increased. So in general, Eric’s total amount of funds that can be used is more than $10 billion.

But even a hostile takeover. Of course, the less money you spend, the better, or Eric will not hire Morgan Stanley's acquisition team at such a high price, and directly report the price that a Disney shareholder will not refuse anyway.

For Eric, the acquisition of Disney's bottom line is about $6 billion, and the remaining $2 billion is used to pay off Disney's debt, so that Disney can be completely in the hands.

"Viacom has only announced the intention of the acquisition today, indicating that the other party is not ready. For us, this is a big advantage. Viacom's cash flow is not plentiful, without preparation. It will take at least three months to complete the financing, which is the best time for us."

"Viacom's Lei Shidong is very good at financing, but he is not without weakness. It is said that Lei Shidong's relationship with his wife is very bad, and he may divorce at any time. If during the acquisition, Lei Shidong's wife suddenly proposed a divorce. Because of the loss of half of the property, Lei Shidong may lose control of Viacom and combat investor confidence."

"We can't pin our hopes on this kind of thing, the key is to seize the three months, but if Mr. Williams does not give up the wholly-owned acquisition strategy, Disney shareholders will not mind waiting for a while."

"I think so, if we only get 51% of the controlling stake, we can easily complete the acquisition with no more than $2.5 billion in funds, and Disney shareholders will also cooperate very well."

Eric sees the crowd and turns the topic to change the acquisition strategy. Some helplessly said: "Sorry, everyone, I will reiterate once. The strategy of wholly-owned acquisition of Disney will definitely not change. I don't want to save $1 billion in expenses for the time being, and I will pay dividends far exceeding this figure every year. Other shareholders."

Everyone looked at Eric a bit strangely. Although Hollywood's film and television industry is developing very rapidly, so far, when the major film companies have the best performance, the annual profit will not exceed 1 billion US dollars.

Listen to Eric's tone. It seems confident that Disney can be operated as a behemoth with an annual profit of more than $2 billion.

The development of the entertainment industry is very elusive, just like the 40s and 50s. When the big movie company flourished, a Paramount bill put Hollywood in a cold winter for more than a decade. It was hard to recover and found a suitable business method, but it ushered in the impact of the TV industry. Then followed. The launch of the home video recorder has made Hollywood, which faces piracy concerns, a rival, and has been fighting with Sony Japan for more than a decade.

Although Hollywood has once again begun to recover in the last decade, no one knows what to expect next. In the face of dramatic industry changes, Hollywood is likely to fall into the cold again.

Looking at the eyes of everyone, Eric can roughly guess what these people are thinking. Everyone has their own inherent thinking, not to mention the elites of all industries. These people are not even people who can think about things in a few words, so Eric has no explanation. It’s just an unquestionable tone: “So, let’s discuss the strategy of a wholly-owned acquisition. Don’t mention the topic of holding. Ok?”

Although I don't understand why this young man is so persistent, Bernie Sanders is the first to nod and the people on the firefly side are absolutely supportive of Eric.

The meeting continued.

Although some corresponding countermeasures were discussed, but next, because Viacom announced the competition, the firefly acquisition team and Disney's negotiations were in a stalemate. There was no progress in the following month.

Time is slowly entering September, and the two films of the Firefly Summer File "Toy Story" and "Terminator 2" are both close to $200 million. Moreover, the two films have also begun to land in overseas markets, and they have achieved very impressive results.

Although it is not like the Big Seven, the film will be released in the off-season after September, but the third season of "Friends" in the fall, the second season of "X-Files" and the variety show "Who will become a millionaire" will be repeated again. Log in to Fox TV,

"Friends" has become Fox's absolute trump card program, and the ratings have remained stable at more than 20 million times. The "X Files" and "Who will Become a Millionaire" are not as eye-catching as the "Friends" scores, but according to The ratings of the third-grade programs are only the advertising distribution of Fox TV. The total amount of each season is more than 150 million US dollars. The subsequent profit from selling the broadcasting rights to hundreds of small-scale TV stations in the United States is even higher.

However, after several programs in September were launched on Fox TV, they stimulated the stock price of Disney Pictures, which made Eric laugh and laugh, but he could not help.

Because of the stalemate between the acquisition team and Disney, Eric has also begun to shift most of his energy to the production of fireflies.

At the filming of the "X-Files" in the northern Santa Monica Mountains in Los Angeles, Eric had planned to leave after having lunch at the crew. This is an afternoon in late autumn, when Famik Jensen wore a gray suit for acting, and put it in his pocket and walked to the parking lot with Eric.

"Just listened to your chat, do you really want to let us go to Canada to shoot in the next season?" When I arrived at the parking lot, the tall girl couldn't help but ask.

"They said that the cost of shooting in Canada can be reduced by more than 30%," Eric said, looking at Mick Jensen: "If you don't want to, then I will veto this proposal and stay in Los Angeles." ""

"I don't want to be so hateful, 30% of the cost is almost 10 million."

Eric stopped and reached out and said: "It’s okay for you to spend 100 million more for you."

Famik Jensen reached out and supported Eric's chest and said, "Do you say this to many women?"

Eric smiled and didn't talk, but he used his strength. Famik Jensen quickly asked for mercy: "Don't, this is a costume, crumpled, and so on."

Eric did not let go, and went to Famik Jensen and said, "Go to me this evening. I just asked the director, you will rest tomorrow."

Famik Jensen sighed softly, and Eric released her. The two walked side by side to the parking lot. Eric got into his car and waved at the girl before the driver drove.

It took more than an hour for the car to reach the destination again, at the scene of the film "Dumb and Agua" near Culver.

Because before the "Dumb and Agua", the three women's tg film company also produced a "end of the road", so the progress of this film is slower than Nicole's "Spicy Hand Flower", expected nine The month is low to seal the mirror, and the "Spicy Hand Flower" has been filmed in August, and now it has begun post production.

In addition to the end of the "Ghost Street" released in Halloween, the fireflies are also the two comedy works "Dumb and Agua" and "Spicy Police Flower". In addition to these two films, there is something related to Eric, which is handed over to Fox's "Little Ghosts 3" and "Dance with the Wolf" that was cut from Orion last year.

Fox in the New Year's stalls, "Little Ghosts 3", and "Dance with the Wolf" is shown in the standard release mode of the Okinawa film, Eric's potential for the four-hour art box office is not too Heavier, he hopes that "Dance with the Wolf" can squeeze out the best film nomination for Disney's "Beauty and the Beast."

But there seem to be some other problems. The original Silent Lamb was released this year, and now it is a match with The Dance with the Wolf.

Eric leaned on the back of the chair and was pondering these things. He saw Drew jumping and hopping over, knocking on the glass window of his car and pulling the door open: "Eric, how come you came. ?"

"I just have time today, come over and see," Eric said, and Drew smiled and said.

Perhaps because of the film's sake, Xiao Nizi was dressed very neatly, wearing a pink baseball cap on her head, wearing a white t-shirt and jeans, and a pair of small sneakers on her feet.

Drura took Eric and got off the bus and said, "There is just a scene that has been filmed several times. Maybe you can help." (To be continued)