Top of the Great Era

Chapter 1591 Muffled layout
Ziwei Star Global is not a listed company, and many things do not need to be disclosed to the public, so it will not be pressured by public opinion and capital from the outside world, so it can do many things with confidence and boldness.

If it is a listed company like Disney and Time Warner, it is simply impossible to spend 20 billion US dollars to buy copyrights in one go.

It's not a question of whether you have money, but simply can't do it.

Even if top executives such as CEOs and presidents have such a vision, it will be difficult to convince the profit-seeking board of directors.

Spend so much money to buy copyright, where is the profit?
The market can't see clearly, and spending so much money leads to a sharp drop in annual profits. The result is a sharp drop in stocks, which will be subject to great external pressure.

This kind of pressure, if it is the pressure of interests, is actually easy to handle. If you persist, you can slap your face in a few years and make a lot of money for the management.

What can't bear it is often moral pressure.

Many people take out their houses for loans and then use leverage to buy stocks. Once the stocks plummet, their families will go bankrupt.

Even many people will jump off the building because of this.

Who is to blame for this?
Even many private equity funds that participated in the investment may have failed to meet expectations in their annual reports due to this incident. Hundreds of employees in the fund lost their year-end bonuses, which also affected hundreds of families.

Who is to blame for this?
Once a company is listed, it means responsibility, not only interest responsibility, but also moral responsibility.Once the stock price fluctuates, it is really impossible to bear it without a bit of hard heart.Even Musk broke down and cried bitterly when Tesla suffered consecutive short-selling, and even clamored for Tesla to be delisted many times.

Delisting is indeed a good choice.

For example, a gossip that has spread in Silicon Valley recently-the well-known PC manufacturer Dell intends to launch a delisting plan.

Times have changed. The computer companies that used to represent the peak of the technology industry have gradually become marginalized. The only PC manufacturers in the world that can be counted are HP, Lenovo and Dell, plus Apple.

Except for the great success of Apple's transformation into smartphones, the other three are in a mess.

The most embarrassing is Dell.

In addition to the PC business, HP and Lenovo have also explored and developed businesses in other fields, and have already entered the transformation process, while Dell is not.The company started out relying on a lightweight market model that focuses on R&D and sales. After the tide fades, the worst-performing company must be the company with the worst technology.

Transformation is the only way out for Dell.

In the past 20 years, hundreds of PC manufacturers around the world have either closed down, been acquired, or died of bankruptcy.If Dell does not transform in time, I am afraid it will be over.

However, transformation means groping, which means high investment that may not be recognized by the market with great risks, which is very painful for listed companies.

Mr. Dale decided to delist.

This is a classic business case.

When Dell delisted, Michael Dell's net worth was $38 billion.

After delisting, Dell can make drastic reforms without the constraints of the outside world. It sorted out its business, analyzed the market, and transformed its strategy, and soon achieved success.

After 5 years, Dell is back on the market!

After the second listing, Michael Dell's personal wealth soared to 330 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of almost 5 times in five years.

After Zhou Buqi's evaluation, he decided not to start the listing plan of Ziweixing Global in the short term, and made the layout in a silent manner, avoiding external interference, and laying out the copyright market with peace of mind.

Within 5 years, at least 80 billion to 100 billion U.S. dollars must be allocated to purchase copyrights around the world.

Streaming is different from TV.The assets of the TV station are relatively heavy, the characteristics of localization are strong, and it is very difficult to go overseas. HBO has been in operation for more than ten years, and the profits of overseas business are almost negligible.

Streaming media is an Internet-based platform with inherent globalization advantages.

Well-known American TV stations such as HBO, AMC, CBS, and NBC can only target American audiences, but streaming media is different and can target the whole world!

Therefore, the content of the streaming media platform must be richer than that of the TV station.

It doesn't make sense that HBO won't buy the rights to a French TV series.But streaming media is different. Once Netflix expands the French market, it will be necessary to provide French users with local French film and television content.

These must be arranged as soon as possible and purchased as soon as possible.

When the trend of streaming media rises, the price of copyrights all over the world will skyrocket. At that time, it will really be unaffordable, and you can only rent copyrights like Netflix in the previous life.

It has been rented for several years, and the copyright fee has not been paid less, and the copyright owner may cut off the supply at any time.

Content rights are the lifeblood of streaming.

Be sure to hold it firmly in your hands!
Film and television copyrights are very expensive here in Hollywood, but they are very cheap in other countries overseas. As long as you have connections and channels, you can buy them like a sweeping purchase.

A few years ago, Zhou Buqi instructed Xu Baihui to purchase a lot of content copyrights, but due to limited funds, the main layout was only in the Greater China region.

Ziwei Star Global is very powerful, not to mention the 50 billion US dollars in cash on the books, and the debt has not yet been built up. The CFO said that $50 billion in low-interest loans can be easily obtained, which means that at least another $50 billion in loans with conventional interest rates of 6%-9% can be obtained.

Fully capable of working hard in the field of copyright!
In order to do this well, Zhou Buqi asked Joshua Kerry, the vice president of the group and the president of the global distribution business department, to take charge. He used the global resources and contacts of distribution channels to cover the whole world to purchase copyrights.

If possible, it is best to buy out the entire copyright.

If you can't buy it, you can buy out the streaming media copyright, adaptation copyright, and renewal copyright.

If you still can't buy it, then just buy streaming media rights.

In addition, Ziwei Star Global has also established a new company called Universal Digital Rights Management Company, which is responsible for managing the streaming media copyright of all film and television content under Ziwei Star Global.

The home entertainment business unit is only responsible for the TV, video tape and DVD markets, and the streaming media rights are managed by this newly established digital rights company.

The candidate for the chairman and president of the new company is Jason Kilar, who was entrusted with important tasks by Zhou Buqi.

This appointment is critical.

Because there are too many copyrights in the world, Zhou Buqi only approved a funding of 20 billion U.S. dollars for the time being.At first glance, it looks like a lot, but if you want to purchase classic movies and TV series, the copyright fees are sky-high.

For example, "Breaking Bad", which Zhou Buqi is optimistic about, has already sent someone to inquire about the price.Sony Pictures lion opened its mouth and expressed its willingness to sell the streaming rights of the entire series of "Breaking Bad" for US$3.5 million.

In Zhou Buqi's opinion, this price is really cheap.

Ten years later, the price of 3.5 million US dollars can also be rented for 5 years.

However, in the United States, there are too many American dramas that are more popular than "Breaking Bad". According to traditional analysis methods, comparing ratings, media attention and audience love, etc., "Breaking Bad" may not even Not even in the top 50.

Therefore, this requires a new "Netflix-style" analysis method.

The thinking of traditional Hollywood people must be changed, and Jason Kilar must be allowed to cooperate with Netflix and use new analysis methods to select films!

"Breaking Bad" was originally a marginalized niche TV series broadcast by AMC, but because it was broadcast on Netflix, it became popular immediately.It can be seen that streaming media has a special charm, and it has the ability to promote "bad movies" and "bad dramas" in traditional cognition into "good movies" and "good dramas".

The copyright prices of "bad movies" and "bad dramas" are often very low.

In other words, Jason Kilar must assist in the business of copyright procurement. It is never possible to buy the copyright of film and television dramas of the level of "Titanic" and "Friends". Even if the content copyright of "Explosion" can be purchased, it must be expensive.

$20 billion is simply not enough.

Therefore, we should use the Netflix-style analysis method to find some content from the market that is regarded as "bad movies" and "bad dramas" from the traditional point of view but has great development potential from the perspective of streaming media, and buy them out. Relatively low and easy to negotiate.

As for the film and television content of countries and regions other than Hollywood, it is very simple.Even the most classic content, the price is not much higher.

After the meeting, Zhou Buqi called Jason Kilar to the office and said succinctly, "We only have 5 years,"

"Year 5?"

Jason Kilar didn't understand him.

Zhou Buqi said: "Five years later, Netflix will inevitably become another shining pearl in the Internet industry, and the trend of streaming media will inevitably come. At that time, the price of content copyright will inevitably skyrocket exponentially. Just like the Just like office buildings, only renting and not selling will become a common phenomenon of high-quality content.”

"How much do you need to invest?"

"It won't be less than $80 billion!"

Jason Kilar took a deep breath, "Your confidence and devotion to the streaming media industry makes people feel like a great voyage."

Zhou Buqi smiled, "I believe I will find Indian."

Jason Kilar nodded, "So in the past few years, my work has mainly been two things. One, to support Netflix and let Netflix drive the trend of streaming media. Two, as much as possible in Global acquisition of copyrights. When Netflix takes off, the concept of streaming media is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and the copyright acquisition plan is over, Ziwei Star Global will start to enter a new field and officially launch its own streaming media platform.”

Zhou Buqi said: "There is one more thing, you need to promote the digital office of Weishu."

Jason Kilar has a headache, "It's harder than being a streamer!"

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "It's not that serious. It's much more convenient to use Weishu for real-time office work. You haven't used Weishu before, have you? You can try it later. This is a very powerful collaborative office product, which is easier to use than Google Docs." There are many. You can also use Weishu to manage mailboxes and send emails directly.”

"I'll fight for it!"

Jason Kilar secretly sighed, it is actually not difficult to promote this kind of thing, this kind of B-end product, employees have no right to speak, they have to use whatever the company arranges.

The main worry is that this product called "Weishu" is too poorly done, which leads to too many internal complaints from Ziweixing Global, which is too offensive.

(End of this chapter)