Chapter 599： sharp question

Eric stayed in Los Angeles for only one night and hurried back to New York the next day.

Although the debt underwriting business for the fireflies had been devastated, Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank still very professionally conducted a thorough review of the firefly business and financial information, and invested in it. The investment intention of the people was investigated. After several discussions, the two parties finally reached an agreement on detailed cooperation terms and bond prices after half a month. Then Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank submitted their respective securities regulatory authorities to the US and Germany. Registration instructions.

The western securities market is very perfect. The Zhengzhou securities department only plays a regulatory role. They often only guarantee the accuracy of the information disclosure by the bond issuers. They do not make any assessment of the investment prospects of the bonds, even if the risks are very large. Bonds that do not have any investment value at all can be easily reviewed by submitting detailed and accurate report documents.

Therefore, bond takers are usually the dominant players in the bond issuance process.

The firefly and the two lead underwriters finally established a bond with an annual interest rate of 5.5%. Compared to the firefly's asset credit rating, the annual interest rate is very high. If the bond financing is not too high, the risk is increased to some extent. The long-term bond rate only needs about 4%. In the pre-market testing process of Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank, investment funds from US states and European investors have raised a total of $3 billion in intentional funds for the purchase of firefly bonds, when the registration documents were sent to the United States and After the German securities trading department audited, it also basically confirmed the success of the firefly's securities issuance.

After subsequent review by the securities department. Fireflies only need to cooperate with Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank for bond sales. And the funds will be paid to the original abc shareholders.

Eric handed over the follow-up of the securities issue to Carolyn Eliot, the chief financial officer of Firefly. Then began to participate in the specific merger process of fireflies and abc.

The previous negotiations between the two companies have detailed the specific merger plan, and the fireflies need to do a detailed review of abc's balance sheet and property list.

The acquisition of fireflies with $15 billion in annexation of abc easily surpassed the funding of Viacom's acquisition of Paramount last year and became the largest acquisition in the North American media industry.

With such huge amounts of money, the result of the acquisition is of course a very large asset portfolio.

In addition to abc's most valuable coverage of the nation's public television network and more than 200 affiliated sub-TV stations, abc's assets include ten self-operated television stations and twenty-one radio stations in major US cities, located in Los Angeles. The abc TV production department, which holds 80% of the espn sports channel, is jointly owned by the Hearst Group. There is also a group of newspaper and magazine assets under the original Metropolitan Media. Moreover, these assets contain a large number of properties such as real estate and automobiles.

In addition, there are many other scattered assets, and Eric even found a French-based hand-painted animation company on the abc property list.

The firefly's acquisition team began the acquisition of the abc board of directors and it took nearly a month to completely clarify the assets.

So until the morning of April 10, Eric signed a final transaction agreement with abc's Tom Murphy. At this point, Firefly finally succeeded in capturing the North American largest TV network.

After signing the merger agreement, the total share capital of Firefly has been expanded several times. A total of 135 million shares were reached, of which the abc original shareholders removed some of the tradable shareholders who exchanged directly for cash or bonds. A total of 32.5 million shares of Firefly will be obtained. Jeffrey and Michael Lynn originally obtained a share of 1.5 million shares and 500,000 shares from Eric. The firefly has spent 1 million shares in the equity incentive program in recent years. The remaining shares were all held by Eric personally, totaling 99.5 million shares, accounting for 73.7% of the total share capital.

After the merger, Firefly Pictures also named the Firefly Group, which evolved from a film company into a comprehensive media group covering film, television, music, books, and travel.

With the more extensive information disclosure of fireflies during the acquisition of abc, the information on fireflies' finances and shareholdings has once again become the focus of public attention.

At this time, most of the well-being companies in the North American stock market maintain a P/E ratio of 10 to 30. The company's P/E ratio represents a company's profit and investment risk information, which is a very important financial data for listed companies. The P/E ratio is usually divided by the company's price per share divided by the net income per share.

According to the price-to-earnings ratio of Time Warner, which is the same level as Firefly, and the total profit of the two companies of Firefly and ABC in 1993, the stock price of firefly totaling 135 million shares will reach about US$252, which means fireflies. The market value of the market is expected to be about 34 billion US dollars, so the firefly has steadily surpassed Time Warner to become the largest media group in North America.

Before the acquisition of abc, fireflies surpassed Time Warner in terms of profit, but because of the uncertainty of film investment, the status is still questioned by many people, but at this time, no one has doubts about fireflies in the United States and even the world media group. Leading position in the middle.

Therefore, this has become the focus of many media attention. At the press conference after the signing of the final agreement, the first question from the US Business Week reporter asked: "Mr. Williams, Firefly has now become the largest media group in North America and the world, and you are so young. I think you will definitely not stop here, so what will the fireflies do next?"

Of course, Eric has a further ambition to control the whole of Hollywood through various direct or indirect means, but of course he will not say it so easily. and. Although the successful acquisition of abc. But the scale has reached such a huge extent. Fireflies will surely encounter a variety of problems, and what Eric will do first is to solve a series of problems that may arise in the future.

After thinking for a moment, Eric replied: "My current plan is to operate the new Firefly Group. In addition, there are no other plans."

"Business Week" reporters are reluctant to continue to ask: "Fireflies and abc are already the top companies in the Federation. Do you have no ambition to continue to expand Mr. Williams?"

Eric realized that the reporter might have something different, but he still replied on the surface with a smile: "I don't know if anyone else has found it. But when I studied a lot of information, I found that many times, Regardless of the size, companies that encounter mergers will encounter a series of problems in the early stages of changing their owners. Even if the company was in very good condition before, it is often difficult to avoid losses. Some companies that have been operating very well are even It will be silent because of mergers, but some will become more prosperous. This process is very similar to the change of a country's regime, like a phoenix nirvana, or a rebirth. Or it is ashes. I personally hope that fireflies can use two to three In the time of the year, it is good to spend this 'Nirvana' period smoothly."

Eric finished. The audience suddenly whispered a whisper. The reporter of Business Week immediately said after a brief thought: "Mr. Williams, your opinion is very novel, I have never heard of it. Can you give me a few examples to prove it?"

"It's very simple, let's take abc. In 1985, before abc was acquired by Metropolitan Media, the annual profit was $130 million, but in the second year after the merger, the metropolitan abc company fell into a loss of $70 million. Mr. Tom Murphy and Mr. Buffett are both excellent business and investment talents, and abc’s excellent profitability in recent years is the best proof. So these should not be their problem, but the kind I just said. The reason for the point of view, of course, my personal knowledge is very limited, and there is no guarantee that this view is really a common phenomenon. So if you are interested in professional economics experts, you can study it," Eric said. Did not continue to let the reporter of Business Weekly entangled, personally pointed to a reporter: "Well, next."

"Mr. Williams, according to recent media information, your personal assets are close to 20 billion US dollars, but we have found that you have never conducted any charity activities, nor have you established any charitable funds. Don't you think this is Is it a behavior that is very lacking in social responsibility?"

Eric squatted and the problem was even more acute. His eyesight is good. He saw the words of the Christian Science Monitor on the passport of the black female reporter under the audience, and he understood why the other party asked.

In addition to Eric, another Buffett who is obviously not enthusiastic about charity is also sitting nearby. Eric doesn't know the details of the Buffett Foundation, but he knows very well that the Buffett Foundation is actually very Less money to do charity activities, most of the time still follow Buffett's willingness to invest, and most of the Buffett Foundation's funds come from Berkshire Hathaway's stock dividends, Buffett is a personal No money has ever been spent.

After the female reporter asked questions, she also looked at Buffett nearby. She obviously pointed out that Eric and Buffett were ranked first and second in the Forbes North American Rich List. Bit.

In the face of such sensitive issues, Eric also had to think carefully for a while before saying: "I personally believe that the true sense of responsibility is to create more jobs for the society by virtue of the wealth in hand, so that ordinary people can support themselves. Instead of blindly trying to get something done, fireflies have been trying to do this, such as the Firefly Studios built in Los Angeles in recent years and the digital field studios invested in Florida, creating tens of thousands of new deals for the Federation. Jobs. Of course, general charity has also played a very positive role in this society. There are many people in this society who are in a difficult situation and need help. In the past, I was too busy because of my personal career. I have neglected this aspect, so I will In the next few years, we will set up corresponding charitable funds to increase investment in charitable activities."

Eric’s answer was a bit slick, and the black female reporter was obviously dissatisfied, but this time, the host realized that he had just made a mistake and quickly ordered another reporter. The next question was not too much. Most journalists are asking questions about the next phase of fireflies, such as restructuring, layoffs, or business adjustments.

After the press conference ended, the group quickly moved to the regular celebration reception.

Eric held a glass of champagne in his hand and just planned to talk to the former abc president Robert Aeg. Tom Murphy and Buffett walked side by side, and the two old men showed a look of sin.

After the merger, abc withdrew the board seat, Tom Murphy will continue to serve as abc ceo according to the agreement until the end of 1995, Tom Murphy and Buffett originally thought that this is Eric's compromise to them, but from Eric’s speech at the press conference, the two old men realized that their self-feeling was too good. The little guy was obviously trying to extract the last use of value from their old man: “Hey, Eric I finally understood that you insisted that this old 70-year-old man should continue to serve as abc's ceo, just to allow abc to smoothly pass the merger."

Eric looked at Tom Murphy, who was still awkward but with a faint smile on his face. He shrugged his shoulders and smiled. "But, Tom, I never denied that I was not planning this way. You are also now. The major shareholder of Firefly should not object to making abc better?"

When Tom Murphy heard Eric’s words, he suddenly felt that he seemed to be really angry and somewhat incomprehensible, but he certainly would not admit it, laughing and blaming: “No, Warren just said that you are too sleek. ""

"Oh, I think this is a compliment to me," Eric smiled at Buffett.

Buffett shook his head with a smile and said: "I really agree with you to answer the words of the black female reporter. It is the real charity to create more jobs for the society. Others are just for those who want to get something for nothing. People have really won't get it. I have already encountered a lot of money like the money of the donors." (To be continued.)