章 214: Chapter 214: Playing a Big Game
Just Jackie Chan, Jet Li two kung fu superstars peak showdown has made Chinese movie fans excited, and now out of nowhere killed a Lin Qingxia, the film was released in 6000 theaters in China, the opening day of the movie tickets were sold out, the degree of fire is shocking.
One month after its release, "The King of Kung Fu" became the first Hollywood blockbuster to gross more than $200 million on both sides of the Taiwan Strait in China with a box office total of $230 million, and more than $400 million in the entire Asian region.
In contrast, the film's release in North America was somewhat "dismal", with a box office of $180 million and Lionsgate's previous expectations for the film having a considerable gap. Some Hollywood even asserted that this is the failure of Chinese movie themes in Hollywood, arrogant Felix Lin finally tasted the box office "Waterloo" taste.
Unfortunately, these media have not been complacent for a few days, Lionsgate announced the "King of Kung Fu" global box office earnings, 760 million U.S. dollars in total box office so that those who are ready to look at the joke of the media collectively "mute", the Asian market this time, and finally "raised eyebrows" for a while! The Asian market has finally "raised its eyebrows" for a while, with box office earnings twice as high as those in North America, finally demonstrating the market potential of the region with the world's largest population base.
In front of the fact, the media changed its face faster than a book, yesterday's newspaper still satirized the failure of Lin Mingyang's "China complex", and the next day the front page made Lin Mingyang a hero for Hollywood movies "opening up new territories". Coveting the abundant profits of the Asian movie market, those who were still in the wait-and-see Hollywood film makers have cast their eyes to the other side of the ocean, a profit-driven "China fever" quietly emerged in Hollywood.
And the originator of this trend, this time is a headache is another problem.
After more than two months of unexplained absences, Lin Mingyang finally received an invitation letter from the Harvard president's office, Lin Mingyang was invited to drink tea for two hours. Harvard's principal is a knowledgeable scholar, and Lin Mingyang and Hutian seabed after a blind flirtation, the principal in Lin Mingyang ready to leave before implicitly reminding him, if according to Lin Mingyang's current frequency of absenteeism, a conservative estimate of ten years, he will be able to successfully graduated from Harvard.
"So you've made up your mind?" Still at the same café he frequented, still at the same window seat, Ecks looked at Lin Ming Yang sitting across from him and sighed with some regret. Harvard had produced two very famous dropouts in its history, and Lin Mingyang was already mentally prepared at this point that he would become the third.
Lin Mingyang bristled and replied noncommittally, "I've already talked to my parents very seriously..."
"So they've already agreed... "Ecks had already guessed that this would be the outcome, he guessed that Lin Mingyang's parents didn't expect Lin Mingyang to become a psychiatrist after he graduated, in that case, continuing to stay at Harvard to attend school no longer had any meaning for Lin Mingyang.
"Do you have any plans after leaving school?"
"I'm going to open a movie company...to make movies I like myself."
It didn't surprise Lin Ming Yang to say this about Ecks, in fact, as early as when he invested in the filming of Gossip Girl, he had already shown his inclination in this regard. Even though Lin Ming Yang's meddling in the matter of Gossip Girl was inextricably linked to Blake Flatley, Ecks was well aware that Lin Ming Yang had deeper considerations in this matter.
"Didn't you previously intend to work with Lionsgate for a long time?"
Because of the bright performance of King of Kung Fu overseas, Lin Ming Yang's cooperation with Lionsgate was in the honeymoon period, and he was ready to set up his own business at this time, which was why Ecks asked this question.
The corners of Lin Ming Yang's mouth rose, revealing an intriguing smile, "Before, there were some things that I had to leave to others because I was too lazy to do them, but now that I suddenly have more time, I have to find something for myself to do in addition to filming, right?"
"Opening a company at this time, you're not worried at all about the current economic situation in the US?" In the United States the subprime mortgage crisis had started to have a bad impact on the entire world economy, everyone was in danger at this time, but Ecks looked at Lin Ming Yang as if he wasn't worried about this at all.
"The ones who should be anxious about this are Wall Street and the White House, I'm just a movie maker, the economic depression people instead need more entertainment, play play play at this time, the entertainment industry are the fastest growing."
Lin Mingyang looked at Eckles, a face of "sorrowful" bad smile: "I have long advised you to sell those funds bonds, this time should lose a lot of it?"
Eckers stomach full of bitter water, this time can only helplessly shrug, Lin Mingyang on this financial crisis had a premonition, so he started from last year, his funds from the financial derivatives retired, and Eckers think this is just a financial cycle of small fluctuations, at first did not think, until he found that the situation is not right, he has already lost hundreds of millions of dollars.
"I've pretty much lost all the money I've worked so hard to accumulate over the past few years, and you guys haven't lost a dime, so naturally you're standing on your head."
Lin Ming Yang smiled in disbelief, "Most of that money was also earned by me for you, the big deal is that you'll work for me for a few more years, I guarantee you won't earn less than before."
Join Lin Mingyang's newly established company, Eckles' status is certainly not low, but the old and cunning him is not so easy to "fall for", Lin Mingyang is as cunning as a fox, if not careful will eat "big loss".
"You don't look at Lionsgate's current scenery, in fact, Hollywood independent production companies are not having a good time...to work in your company, I might as well continue to run my agency."
Lin Ming Yang was not in a hurry, increasing his chips step by step, "The president won't do it either?"
Ecks shook his head very firmly, "With a lazy guy like you controlling the company, being the president will surely exhaust me!"
"What if it's the president of MGM?" Lin Ming Yang winked at Ecks, "This you don't want either?"
Ecks' hand shook, pouring the coffee he was about to pour into his mouth directly onto his crotch, he was busy calling the waiter to bring over paper towels while looking at Lin Ming Yang with wide eyes.
"What did you say...did I hear you right just now, you're talking about the president of MGM?"
Lin Ming Yang shrugged his shoulders in mock helplessness, "If you don't want to, forget it."
"Aren't you going to set up a new company..." this time, Ecks' face wasn't just surprised, it was shocked, "You're preparing to buy MGM?"
Lin Mingyang's breezy expression was as if what he was buying was not a long-established movie company but a bottle of mineral water from a roadside store, his tone indescribably relaxed: "Since I'm going to play, of course I'm going to play a big game!"
Anyone else would have seen Lin Mingyang as a madman, but Eckles was calm at this time. Although MGM was in a deep debt crisis, it was not as easy as Lin Ming Yang said to acquire this film company with a history of 83 years and 170 Oscars in its possession, and the most crucial thing was to have sufficient funds for the acquisition.
"Where did you get that much money in your hands?"
"I'm going to transfer the shares of Facebook that I hold in my hand, I've already talked to Mark about this matter, and according to Facebook's current market capitalization discount, this money is more than enough to acquire MGM."
"You're going to sell your stake in Facebook?" Hearing this news Ecks, face surprised expression even more than just now, and the sunset of MGM compared to the commercial potential of Facebook growth to be even more enormous, Lin Mingyang before and after but invested 200 million U.S. dollars, and now the total value of the equity in his hands has exceeded 6 billion U.S. dollars. With the current growth rate of Facebook, it is likely that in a few years, Lin Mingyang's hands will become tens of billions of equity. Selling Facebook's equity to acquire the soon-to-be-bankrupt MGM is something only a fool would do.
"Before I invested in Facebook in the first place, I had a word with Mark that I wouldn't hold Facebook's equity for a long time. Now most of the shares I transferred out still have Mark to buy them, but he doesn't have so much money in his hand right now, so I will first pledge this part of the equity to the bank first to get the funds to acquire MGM."
Ecks could see that Lin Ming Yang was determined to acquire MGM this time, but he still couldn't help but shake his head, "Which one is more worth investing in between Facebook and MGM, I think you know better than me in your heart."
"By continuing to hold stakes in Facebook, maybe I'll become even richer, but that would just be a string of numbers to me, whereas by acquiring MGM, I can give my dreams a broader platform, and I've insisted from the beginning to the end that I'm not a qualified businessman." Lin Mingyang's words actually also implied another layer of meaning, Facebook development is no longer good, the realization of only Mark's dream, Lin Mingyang always feel that he is taking advantage of Mark's "cheap".
In fact, Lin Mingyang for owning a movie company is not very important, from a certain point of view, the acquisition of MGM and will operate well, but also just Lin Mingyang to the world to prove their own success in a way. As he himself said, left and right are playing, may as well play a big vote.
"After the acquisition, do you think you can manage MGM well?" Ecks asked a very realistic question.
"Can't!" Lin Mingyang shook his head very directly, "That's why I need your help!"
Ecks sighed softly, "Really letting me be the president of MGM, you're overestimating me!"
Lin Ming Yang asked in confusion, "Isn't it always your dream to be the head of a movie company?"
Ecks didn't deny Lin Ming Yang's statement, but he wasn't a three year old child, as beautiful as Lin Ming Yang's future was, there had to be conditions for it to be realized. He looked at Lin Ming Yang seriously, "I admit that you do have a knack for making movies, but are you really clear about MGM's current situation, as well as the distribution of the entire industry landscape in Hollywood?"
Lin Ming Yang shook his head, and Ecks then asked, "Then do you know why MGM has come to this point?"
Lin Ming Yang didn't shake his head again this time, "This I know, because MGM's debt problems over the years have never been completely solved!"
Axe laughed, "Debt is just a superficial problem, the most crucial reason still lies with MGM's shareholders!"
If Lin Mingyang was an investor with idealistic colors, then Ecks was a downright realistic businessman. Lin Mingyang was accustomed to focusing on the future, so he had never made a mistake in making big direction choices; while Eckles liked to focus on the present, so he tended to look at problems in reality more thoroughly.
"The era of having movie studios controlling Hollywood has long since passed. The eight major studios of the day have now basically become the vassals of multinational business conglomerates: Columbia has gone to Sony; Warner has become Time Warner; Murdoch owns Fox; Paramount has been acquired by Viacom; General Electric is in control of Universal...MGM is merely the unluckiest of the eight giants in terms of the studios not having accomplished this conversion in due time. The studios alone can no longer afford to take the risks or seize the opportunities presented by this era of blockbusters or called megafilms. Without any cable channels, TV networks or broadband networks, and without a media conglomerate to back them up, independent studios like MGM are naturally handicapped at every turn."
"MGM is on the verge of bankruptcy, the ordinary people can only watch the hilarity, in fact, behind the scenes are hedge funds as well as investors in the game and operation. These hedge funds don't know enough about how Hollywood operates at the moment, and they've been trying to operate large movie studios in a low-cost way. But in the future, these Wall Streeters will get deeper and deeper into Hollywood's territory, which in turn will make movie studios assets under the hedge funds."
"I've always thought that part of the problem with MGM has always been that many of its shareholders are financial investors who are more focused on the immediate than the long term; investing in the entertainment industry is generally done for the long term, which is a function of the nature of movie distribution and the sheer size of the capital required.MGM was put up for sale in 2005 because of its excessive debt, when it was sold for $2.58 billion. The buyers included Comcast Corporation, Sony Corporation, Providence Equity Partners, and D&T Investments, among other groups. But again, this acquisition was not in cash, so MGM's debt and capital problems were not fundamentally resolved."
Lin Mingyang's understanding of Eckles' words was that the biggest problem MGM had on its hands right now was a lack of money!
"Not a lack of money, but a huge amount of money!" Ecks corrected him on this statement, "After MGM filed for bankruptcy protection, according to the court's investigation, MGM still has 2.67 billion dollars in assets as well as up to 3.77 billion dollars in debt. Only Warner has proposed a plan for a cash buyout, with the rest of the companies looking to merge or acquire in a swap of stock or the like. Warner's offer is only $1.5 billion, which is far less than the current value of MGM's assets. Obviously this way MGM will not get the financial backing it desperately needs, and at best it will only delay the debt crisis."
"Then should I make a move at this time, or wait until MGM goes through bankruptcy and reorganization before making an acquisition?" Since the "prey" has been identified, when to make a move is Lin Mingyang's main concern.
Without thinking, Ecks said, "If you are willing to use more than 5 billion dollars to realize your acquisition plan, then we can negotiate with MGM now."
Lin Ming Yang asked in confusion, "Wouldn't it be more favorable for us to acquire MGM after it goes bankrupt?"
"I've heard that the owner behind Lionsgate, the famous corporate investor Carl Icahn, has the intention to buy 20% of MGM's debt and then push for a merger between the company and his own controlling stake in Lionsgate Pictures, in order to acquire MGM you'll have to rush to do it before he does!"
----
At Ecks' suggestion, Lin Mingyang didn't go directly to talk to MGM, but first found a few of the company's major creditors and offered to buy the MGM accounts in their hands.
Someone is willing to take over this hot potato, MGM's several major creditors are naturally overjoyed, the key is Lin Mingyang out of a very generous, directly with cash to buy all the bonds in their hands. When MGM reacted, Lin Mingyang had already become the largest creditor of MGM. The situation of MGM's bankruptcy became delicate all of a sudden, now it's not whether MGM wants to go bankrupt or not, but whether Lin Mingyang agrees with its bankruptcy or not.
In the hands of enough chips, Lin Mingyang began to wait to MGM to put forward acquisition requirements, he began to give the purchase price and Warner is 1.5 billion U.S. dollars, but the MGM company said nothing refused to do, the two sides are so stalemated.
Lin Mingyang dragged is not to let MGM bankruptcy, and then very patient little by little to increase the price, when he opened to 2 billion dollars, MGM executives fell into a collective silence.
"It's not the same thing to drag it out like this, if the company really goes bankrupt, after the reorganization Felix Lin, in his capacity as the largest creditor, will definitely hold the majority of the new company's equity..." at the directors' meeting, the one who brushes the first to break the silence is the president of MGM, Stephen Cooper, although Lin Ming Yang acquired MGM After that, he, for sure, would not be allowed to remain in the position of president, but he still recognized this acquisition by Lin Mingyang from the bottom of his heart, the key is that the bid of 2 billion US dollars is already not low.
"I agree!"
"I also agree!"
週次パワーステータス
-- 推薦
ランキング 
-- 推薦
チケット