Top of the Great Era

Chapter 1487 Landing
On September 9th, Zhou Buqi, together with Zhen Yu and Xue Baoshan, participated in a multi-party meeting with more than 12 people, including General Electric, NBC Universal, Comcast, Softbank, Vivendi, and two third parties accounting firms and law firms.

The main research is the case of NBC Universal.

very complicated.

After half a year and 15 rounds of negotiations, all parties finally reached a unified plan.

The total offer was $320 billion.

Comcast can't come up with that much cash, and the acquisition method given is very complicated, including $65 billion in cash, and adding Comcast's cable TV station at a discount of $75 billion, and also assumed $55 billion debt.And it is still paid in installments, first get 75% of the shares of NBC Group.The remaining 25% will be bought out after 5 years.

In contrast, Universal Pictures is much easier here.

Pure cash transaction!
Zhou Buqi didn't want to procrastinate any longer. In terms of the cost of splitting the two companies, NBC and Universal Pictures, he expressed his willingness to bear more, and gave a very beautiful figure in Chinese style, with a total quotation of 88.8 billion US dollars!
For NBC's two major shareholders, General Electric and Vivendi, what they hope most is to recover cash flow and tide over the difficulties of the economic crisis.

Comcast's transaction plan is really too pitted, part of cash, part of physical assets, part of debt, and 25% installment shares...

The fundamental reason why this transaction can be concluded so smoothly is the sincerity from Ziweixing Global!

The pure cash of 88.8 billion U.S. dollars, plus the 65 billion U.S. dollars in cash provided by Comcast, such a large amount of cash is the fundamental reason why General Electric and Vivendi are willing to accept this plan.

If there is no Ziweixing Global, let's talk about such a big case worth tens of billions of dollars!
Without dozens of rounds of negotiations in two or three years, it would be impossible for Comcast to make this happen.

This is also the main reason why Comcast is willing to spin off and sell Universal Pictures.GE and Vivendi just want cash, Comcast is short on money, and Ziweixing Global is rich.

Including Ziweixing Global can advance the case more quickly.If we talk about it for two or three years, Comcast will go crazy.The key is to delay, and California's policy will change.

Hollywood's economic situation is obviously recovering, and California's preferential policies will be more and more inclined to the manufacturing industry.The opportunity was delayed, and now the preferential policies for Hollywood are gone.At that time, the additional cost of the transaction will increase greatly.

In short, Universal Pictures won.

The most important piece of the puzzle of the big project "Ziweixing Global" has been completed!
Without Universal Pictures, "Ziweixing Universal" would have to be renamed.

"There is still the last level, don't be too happy."

At the end of the meeting, Sun Zhengyi happily took him to drink coffee and joked.

"What's the last hurdle? Publicity period? Regulatory evaluation? Who can compete with us for Universal Pictures now?" Zhou Buqi didn't care, and sighed, "The price of 88.8 billion US dollars is spread, and the whole of the United States will have to sell us. The two are being taken advantage of."

It stands to reason that the acquisition of high-quality assets such as Universal Pictures for US$88.8 billion is definitely a good deal.However, this Universal Pictures is not that Universal Pictures.

In the current Universal Pictures, two core assets have been divested, one is the USA TV network under its umbrella, and the other is the amusement park business.These two major businesses can be worth at least 60 billion to 80 billion US dollars.

Sun Zhengyi smiled and said, "Isn't this exactly what you expected?"

"Well, it's right to simplify." Zhou Buqi nodded, "Hollywood film companies are managed by a group of producers. These groups of film and TV dramas should do professional things well. Let They go to build amusement parks and TV stations, they don’t have that level, so why don’t they just make good film and television dramas honestly.”

Sun Zhengyi said with a smile: "Now the most critical part has been basically solved. Universal Pictures, MGM, DreamWorks Animation, Summit Entertainment, Marvel... It feels like it didn't cost much."

MGM: $27.6 billion

Summit Entertainment: $2.7 million

"Spider-Man"-related rights: $7 million

Marvel: $38.2 billion

DreamWorks Animation: $29.6 billion

Universal Pictures: $88.8 billion.

The total investment is 164.3 billion US dollars.

Far below expectations.

When designing the big project "Ziweixing Global" in the first place, Softbank's plan was to invest 200 billion U.S. dollars, and Zhou Buqi raised another 50 billion U.S. dollars from various channels, and the total funding reached 250 billion U.S. dollars.

This can be regarded as overfulfilling the task.

It is also very important to note that not all of the US$164.3 billion in expenditures are pure cash.It also took on $10.5 billion in debt in three deals between Marvel, DreamWorks Animation and Summit Entertainment.Katzenberg's $5 million stake in DreamWorks Animation was still traded in a share swap.

In other words, the real cash outlay is only 148.8 billion US dollars.

Both MGM and Universal Pictures are now debt-free and will have strong debt-raising capabilities in the future.On the whole, it seems that there is no need to invest so much money in the Ziwei Star Global project now.

Of course Zhou Buqi disagrees.

As the chairman and CEO, he got 10% of the super management shares.

This is a fixed ratio.

Of course, the higher the investment, the better.

Zhou Buzheng said in a deep voice: "It didn't cost much to purchase assets, but consulting fees and taxes cost 10 billion US dollars. In addition to asset restructuring and business adjustments, at least 3000 employees need to be laid off, and another 1000 people must be recruited. This part of the expenditure will cost another 5-8 million US dollars. There is also a new headquarters building, as well as some large investment film and television works that need to be approved..."

Sun Zhengyi waved his hand, "It's okay, as I said, Softbank's budget for this project is 200 billion US dollars. As long as it does not exceed this budget, how much is up to you!"

Zhou Buqi said with satisfaction: "Well, next time I will try to buy as many copyrights as possible."

"Scattered distribution rights?"

"Not only that, try to buy two sitcoms."

"Sitcom?"

Sun Zhengyi was stunned for a moment, he never looked at this stuff, he felt that this joking was really low-end and unnutritious.

Zhou Buqi said: "There are two types of TV shows that the American people like most, talk shows and sitcoms. The threshold is low and the audience is wide. But Ziweixing Global does not have any good sitcoms."

It has to do with business structure.

Universal Pictures used to have some cable TV stations, and when producing TV series, it was more for its own TV station.Cable TV stations are generally high-quality channels, while sitcoms are more for wireless TV stations.

After the merger of NBC and Universal Pictures, because of the wireless TV network of NBC, Universal Pictures tried to launch the top-tier sitcom "The Office".

That's all there is to it.

There is no nine-year compulsory education in the United States. The so-called "quality education" and "happy education" are actually an education model that solidifies social classes, causing the middle and lower classes in the United States to be almost idiots. Serious American dramas such as "True Detective", "Game of Thrones", and "Westworld" can't be watched at all. You can only watch shitty sitcoms for fun.

Therefore, if the streaming media business wants to sink in the future, it is not enough to have excellent high-quality film and television dramas. It is also necessary to reserve enough simple content for low-end and mid-end users that they can understand.

Plan ahead and plan ahead.

Sun Zhengyi said, "It's hard, isn't it?"

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "Try it, Warner is the best at making sitcoms, such as "Friends", "Seinfeld", "The Big Bang Theory" and "Two and a Half Men". Now Warner is seeking With MGM co-producing the "Hobbit" trilogy, maybe there is a chance."

Sun Zhengyi couldn't tell whether he was telling the truth or fooling around, so he said helplessly: "You speak clearly and logically, and I don't understand anything. If you think it's okay, then you must do it. I'm [-]% confident about your decision. support."

Zhou Buqi likes such investors, or if Softbank is popular all over the world, "By the way, there are two more things you must understand."

"Oh?"

"Number one, I'll try to make an offer to Lucasfilm."

"Lucasfilm, I came to the United States under the influence of "Star Wars". This deal is good!"

Zhou Buqi went on to say: "Second, Ziwei Star Global will invest in Netflix and reach a strategic cooperation."

Sun Zhengyi said: "Support Netflix first?"

Zhou Buqi said: "Yes, streaming media is an emerging industry after all. All parties should work together to promote Netflix, accumulate some experience, and master the operating model. After two or three years, they will launch their own streaming media platform."

This matter must be made clear to avoid misunderstanding.

Zhou Buqi is the major shareholder of Netflix.

In this wave of operations, there is a suspicion of private use of Ziwei Star Global's public resources for personal benefit.

Sun Zhengyi is a person who does big things, so he has a lot of structure. He said with a smile: "You don't need to explain to me, it's still the same sentence, you can do whatever you want! I can't even trust you, who else can I trust? If There is one person in this world who can lead the transformation of the Internet industry in Hollywood, then this person must be you! Only you can implement all the plans we designed for Ziweixing Global!"

In this case, Zhou Buqi is not polite.

The investment structure of Ziwei Star Global has been officially confirmed, with a total scale of 250 billion US dollars!
Among them, Softbank invested 200 billion U.S. dollars, Zhou Buqi's family fund contributed 40 billion U.S. dollars, Ziwei Star International contributed 5 million U.S. dollars, and Jeffrey Katzenberg paid 5 million U.S. dollars for the shares of DreamWorks Animation.

Because Ziwei Star Global is a technology-oriented company, it is necessary to reserve some options to promote future technology teams to enter the market to develop streaming media business.

The 5% of the reserved option pool will be borne by Softbank.

As a strategic technology investment, Ziweixing International will have a share premium and get 5% of the shares.

So far, the shareholding structure of Ziwei Star Global has been basically determined.

Zhou Buqi personally holds 10% of the shares. This is a dry management stock that does not cost a penny, and has super voting rights with one vote worth ten votes.

The rest are ordinary shares. Zhou’s family fund holds 16%, Ziweixing International holds 5%, Katzenberg holds 2%, and reserves 5% for the option pool.

The remaining 62% is divided among the five investment funds under SoftBank Group.

"Ugh!"

After planning the draft of the shareholding structure, Zhou Buqi sighed and marveled.

Sun Zhengyi asked in wonder, "What's wrong?"

Zhou Buqi said: "You took 62% of the shares! You really took advantage of it!"

Sun Zhengyi almost died of anger, "I took advantage? That's a real 200 billion US dollars! There are dry stocks, options, super voting rights, planes and yachts!"

Zhou Buqi doesn't think so.

SoftBank holds 62% of the shares, which is a bit more.

It seems that it is necessary to further eat into Netflix's stock.

Netflix now has a market value of US$24 billion, but Wall Street has been badmouthing it for the past six months, believing that its stock price is too high.

Might as well find a chance to eat some more!
Taking the exclusive broadcast rights of "The Hobbit" and Ziweixing Global's massive film library as bait, Netflix's board of directors will definitely support the major shareholder Zhou Buqi to further buy Netflix's stock.

(End of this chapter)