Top of the Great Era

Chapter 1360 Cold Capital

Chapter 1360 Cold Capital

In 2007, Terra Firma Capital approached Citigroup for help, borrowed 22 billion pounds, and acquired 100% of EMI's shares in a leveraged buyout.

Because the loan was not repaid, in 2011, Citibank obtained 100% control of EMI through a debt-to-equity swap.Then, the split of EMI Records business was started immediately.

Of course, Terra Firma Capital was not satisfied, so it began to sue Citibank, causing it to lose 15 billion pounds in the acquisition.After suing for several years, nothing came of it, so I had no choice but to withdraw the lawsuit in despair.

On the surface, Citibank is the culprit for the demise of EMI, a music group with a long history of 110 years.In fact, Terra Firma Capital is not a good bird.

Why did the debt-to-equity swap go through so smoothly?How did Citibank get control of EMI without resistance?Because the management of EMI has been deeply dissatisfied with Taifeng Capital for a long time.

Among them is EMI Senior Vice President Gilbert Lawrence, who is willing to cut his salary to join Manchester United.

The next day, Zhou Buqi, Xue Baoshan, Sun Guanran, Feng Muer, Zhu Jun and his two assistants went to meet with Heidrick & Struggles' headhunting team.

Among the three candidates, the most interesting one is of course Gilbert.

George Taylor, headhunter of Heidrick & Struggles, presented his detailed information, and explained clearly the background of his willingness to cut his salary and leave EMI——

After Terra Firma acquired EMI, it is of course right to want to lead the company in a strategic transformation to the digital music industry.But EMI's business is too big, and the music inventory is too much, so it's hard to turn around!
How to do?
Split assets, sell sell sell!

Turn big boats into small boats.

The money from the sale can not only repay the interest, but also make up for the huge losses caused by the economic crisis to the company's business.

In the past two years, Terra Firma Capital has cut nearly 40% of the business lines of EMI Records, the most famous of which is to give up the business in the entire Asia-Pacific region, sell it to Hong Kong businessman Zheng Donghai, and change its name to Gold Medal Gale Entertainment.

In addition, the most disturbing thing is the loss of music copyright.

Copyright is the soul!
Hollywood has always attached great importance to copyright, especially now that the streaming media industry is about to develop, and whoever wins the copyright wins the world.Even if there is a copyright transaction, it is only rented and not sold.

With copyright, it is equivalent to having a steady stream of income. This is a proper tax-collecting business!

But Terra Firma Capital doesn't care.

Sell, sell, sell!
As long as you have money.

Leveraged buyout, the acquisition process is very easy, but under the pressure of huge debts, the most ruthless manifestation is after the acquisition is successful.The Glazer family's leveraged buyout of Manchester United is all friendly.The most popular leveraged buyout transaction is to split the assets after the acquisition and sell them all the way.

Sell ​​assets to pay debts.

This is why leveraged buyouts are notorious.

In short, EMI was ruined by Terra Firma Capital, and there were only 75 songs left in the music library, accounting for only 9% of the music market.

Such ruthless operation, of course, made the management of EMI Records tremble with fear.

That's not counting, there are more cruel ones!
"Mr. Zhou, you are an Internet entrepreneur, do you know Douglas Merrill?"

"Feel sorry."

"Oh, he was formerly the CIO of Google, part of the founding team at Google."

"how is it?"

Zhou Buqi was a little strange, looking puzzled at George Taylor, the big headhunter sitting across the conference table.

George Taylor said: "In order to promote the digital reform of EMI Records, EMI Records hired Merrell from Google with a high salary and let him serve as the senior vice president and the president of the digital department. That happened in February last year."

Zhou Buqi had never heard of this person, but this person used to be the CIO of Google, and his level must not be bad. He said with a smile: "As long as there are no constraints, I believe his work must be very good."

George Taylor nodded, "That's right, when they hired Merrell, they hoped to use his years of experience in the Internet field to help EMI cooperate with major Internet companies, so as to provide EMI and even the entire record industry with a strong presence on the Internet. Times has explored a way to make money from digital music. After a year of development, EMI’s digital business revenue has accounted for 20% of the total revenue, and the digital business market is growing rapidly. They think it is unnecessary to add such a separate department."

"Ok?"

Zhou Buqi opened his eyes wide, thinking of something, he couldn't believe it.

Zhu Jun also looked terrified, and said in a daze: "No... If you don't, then you will be laid off?"

George Taylor said: "That's right, as far as I know, the two parties are in communication, and Mr. Merrell is likely to submit his resignation report within a month."

Depend on!Depend on!Depend on!
Bad character!

People don't even become Google's chief information officer, but they join EMI with ideals and want to bring about great changes in the music industry. How courageous is this?
Over the past year, EMI's digital business has developed rapidly, and the report card is very beautiful.

Then, EMI will turn its face and deny anyone?
Unload the mill and kill the donkey?
This is so clean!
It really vividly interprets the ruthlessness of capital.

No wonder Gilbert would rather cut his salary than leave EMI to join Manchester United.

This is because of what happened to my colleagues!
Terra Firma Capital's control over EMI is really barbaric, extensive, one-size-fits-all, and frivolous.

With a clear understanding of the background, the candidate Gilbert was basically approved.As long as the motivation is clear, it is not necessary to make mistakes and be fired by other companies.

There is no need to doubt the ability of executives at this level.Next, we will meet a few times and talk a few more times. If we can keep up with our character and business ideas, we can make a decision.

However, Zhou Buqi thought of another thing.

Douglas Merrill?
Once one of the founders of Google, the chief information officer?

He has entrepreneurial experience and experience as a senior executive.

There is also the successful experience of leading EMI Records in digital transformation.

He can drive the digitization of music, and he can also drive the digitization of football, right?Ziweixing Digital Media Company is still an empty shell and needs a CEO and a COO.

Gilbert Lawrence and Douglas Merrill, neither of whom had ever seen each other for a week, had no idea of ​​the other's senses.However, at this moment he almost made up his mind.As long as these two people don't perform too badly in the next "interview", they can be hired!

Let Gilbert Lawrence go to Manchester United to do business development, let Douglas Merrill go to Ziweixing to do digitization of the football industry!

Both of them were former executives of EMI Records.

Even after leaving EMI, there is still such a relationship of origin.

Zhou Buqi has a plan. He wants to cooperate with Sun Zhengyi to win the crisis-ridden EMI Records.During the acquisition process, interaction with the management team is indispensable.

The two oriental faces are not very convincing.

If Gilbert Lawrence and Douglas Merrill, two meritorious executives of EMI, take the lead, it will get twice the result with half the effort!

Moreover, after the successful acquisition of EMI, Zhou Buqi must hold the control in his hands.How is this control manifested?In fact, it is the support of management.

With the relationship between these two people, Zhou Buqi can more easily obtain the approval of the management of EMI Records, and thus gain control.Let Softbank be regarded as a pure financial investment. The strategy and business level still have to fit with Zhou Buqi's business map.

Ziweixing, Jieyu Media, Netflix, Spotify, and even Manchester United can also have in-depth cooperation with EMI in terms of business.

Gilbert came out of EMI and asked him to be in charge of Manchester United's business. Can he write a song for Manchester United every year?Or write songs for such merits as Sir Charlton and Sir Alex Ferguson?Or Ronaldo leaving Manchester United, write him a song to commemorate the past?

On-demand on Spotify, a single on-demand $2.99... There are so many Manchester United fans all over the world, 1000 million or 2000 million on-demand is not too exaggerated.

Isn't the money here?
The most important thing is that in this way, Manchester United's humanistic feelings are also reflected. Cristiano Ronaldo abandoned Manchester United and switched to Real Madrid. Not only was Manchester United not annoyed, but they also specially asked the team to write songs to miss him and thank him... Isn't Manchester United's values ​​​​reflected?

From this point of view, EMI should really win!
Great help in every way.

……

There is a big challenge in doing overseas business, that is, employing people.

So sad!

Zhou Buqi felt that he was almost face-blind. He had seen so many foreigners with big noses that he couldn't tell who was who.There are also names like Gilbert and Douglas, which make people dizzy.

If the little beauties are okay, they can be accurately distinguished by their face, cup, leg length, and hip shape. This group of old men, who cares to memorize their appearance characteristics by rote?

Ugh!
stick to it!
In the afternoon, Zhou Buqi and Zhu Jun went to meet Gilbert Lawrence, the senior vice president of EMI.

The overall process is very satisfactory.

He is 42 years old and has been a Manchester United fan for 30 years. His family members are all Manchester United fans.His previous annual salary in EMI was 280 million pounds. If he could join Manchester United, he would voluntarily lower his salary to a base salary of 200 million pounds.

He has a deep understanding of marketing, marketing and commercial promotion, especially the combination of football and entertainment industries, which coincides with many of Zhou Buqi's ideas.

He even believes that Manchester United's business operations should not only focus on the development of the derivatives market, but also focus on the surrounding markets. In addition to writing songs for Manchester United, they must also make TV series and movies for Manchester United!

Especially TV shows.

Every season has to shoot dramas, and use 5-8 episodes to film Manchester United's brilliance, success, failure, and setbacks in a season.Not only the game screen, but also the internal screen, as well as Ferguson's speech in the locker room in some key games, and even some internal conflicts.

These are just like documentaries. We need to organize a special team to shoot every day, every game, and every season, and then sort them out and release them at the end of the season.

Zhou Buqi felt that this idea was great.

Gilbert's idea is still to make it into a series, sell it to TV stations, and burn it into DVD for sale, which is convenient for fans to collect.It will be easier when Netflix succeeds in the future and streaming media rises.

This business is very promising!
In addition, Gilbert also described the operational transformation of Old Trafford, such as the release of a movie or the release of a new song by a popular singer, and this super stadium can also be used to promote the world.

In short, Zhou Buqi was very satisfied, and Zhu Jun was also very satisfied.

Then let San Dezi come over and chat with him.

If the problem is not big, he is the chairman and president of Manchester United Business Company.

Well, this Gilbert's level is higher than all current Manchester United executives combined, and he should be given a seat on the board of the Manchester United club.

To be entrusted with important responsibilities, it is necessary to give enough voice.

(End of this chapter)

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