章 478: Chapter 478
On Charles's private jet, only his assistant Amelia and some attractive blonde flight attendants were present.
"Boss, champagne," said a blonde wearing a meticulously designed flight attendant uniform as she approached Charles.
Charles smiled, took the champagne, then pulled the girl onto his lap. He took a sip of the champagne and kissed her. "You're Vivian, right?"
"Yes, Vivian from Seattle!"
Charles smiled, his hand stroking her thigh, "We have three more hours. How about some music and dancing to relax?"
Vivian nodded. Soon after, three attractive flight attendants took turns performing in the cabin. Charles was really thankful for having his own jet.
Otherwise, those American airline grannies wouldn't have been favored by Charles.
...
"So, how was it? What did the Yahoo board members say when you met them?" Charles asked Lily Ying.
"Alibaba's management supports us acquiring shares from Yahoo. I even spoke with Yahoo's new CEO, Carol Bartz, in the US. Yahoo needs cash right now," Lily reported.
"I think it's a matter of price. I've already offered $5.5 billion in cash, which is about a 40% premium based on Alibaba's current stock price!" Lily sighed. Carol Bartz was the former CEO of Autodesk, who became Yahoo's CEO in January after Jerry Yang stepped down last November.
"I've also had a few discussions with Yahoo President Susan Decker. Last year, Carl Icahn's hope for Microsoft to acquire Yahoo failed, and Jerry Yang's decision resulted in Yahoo suffering the consequences now," Lily continued.
"The current trends for Alibaba stock aren't good. She's worried that if Yahoo doesn't sell their Alibaba shares and cash out, they'll face another failure," Lily explained.
Charles nodded, "So, the Yahoo board is inclined to sell; it's just a pricing issue!"
Alibaba's shares are currently owned by group management, including Jack Ma and Joe Tsai, who own about 20%, Japan's SoftBank Group owns 30%, and Yahoo owns 40%. Due to Alibaba management needing control, Yahoo only has voting rights for 30%, transferring 5% to Alibaba's management.
Currently, Alibaba's management has the most voting rights at 60%, and SoftBank also supports Alibaba's management; however, Yahoo's shares are still too significant, posing a big threat to Alibaba's management. Alibaba doesn't have extra funds to repurchase shares now, but Charles remembered that three years later, Alibaba would repurchase half of Yahoo's shares.
"If $5.5 billion isn't enough, just keep increasing it, right? Didn't I set a limit before?" Charles suggested.
"Reduce the time as much as possible. I'm worried that Alibaba's stock price will increase!" Charles urged.
Lily looked at Charles, thought for a moment, and then nodded.
Charles nodded, "You'll be my representative. I'm not interested in the company's management, so you can reassure Alibaba's management."
...
Busan, South Korea, the second-largest city and biggest port in South Korea. Charles and Xu Xiaoling flew.
Haeundae was in its final stages of special effects production. Busan had a visual effects industry park gathering many South Korean visual effects companies!
"No wonder Hollywood outsources special effects work to Korean companies," Charles remarked as they headed to Gimhae International Airport in Busan.
"Haeundae's effects are top-notch in Asia; they really spent a lot!" Xu Xiaoling replied.
"It's just a Hollywood-style disaster movie," Xu Xiaoling shook her head and added, "But this movie should do well at the box office in Asia, especially in the Korean domestic market; it has great potential, just like The Host a few years ago!"
Charles nodded and smiled, "Korean movie storylines are indeed quite good these days!"
...
Seoul Special City, in Charl's Yongsan District villa on the eastern slopes of Namsan, Itaewon.
Son Ye-jin poured two glasses of champagne, joining Charles in the panoramic room where he sat on the sofa, enjoying the night view of the Han River through floor-to-ceiling windows.
"There seems to be a lot happening in the Korean entertainment industry lately," Charles remarked lightly after taking a sip of champagne.
"Who says not? Because of the financial crisis, Korea's economy has declined, and the entertainment industry has been struggling. Earlier this year, the scandal of actress Jun Ji-hyun's phone being wiretapped by her agency came out. Last month, the suicide and exposed suicide note of Jang Ja-yeon shook the entire Asian entertainment industry!"
Son Ye-jin, who had been in the industry for almost ten years, knew well the hidden dark side, unavoidable.
"Indeed, quite a lot," Charles pulled Son Ye-jin onto his lap, "I heard you won the Korean Blue Dragon Award for Best Actress last year, and you've already won the Baeksang Arts Awards for Best Actress. You only need the Grand Bell Award for a Grand Slam, right?"
The Baeksang Arts Awards is the highest television award in Korea, alongside the Blue Dragon Film Awards and the Grand Bell Awards, constituting Korea's top three film and television awards.
"Hopefully," Son Ye-jin smiled, "Haeundae is set to release in July; there's only a bit of post-production left. We've all seen the edit and think it's excellent!"
"Haeundae is mainly CJ Entertainment's project. Capet International (Korea) Films only holds a 30% stake," Charles shook his head, "CJ's distribution power in Asia is fine, but in Europe and America, even if Capet distributes, there aren't many expectations."
Haeundae was essentially developed by Korea's CJ Entertainment, with Capet just as a co-producer.
If it weren't for the movie's promising box office, Charles wouldn't have wanted to invest in it.
T-ara was set to debut soon.
*****
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