Top of the Great Era

Chapter 2973: Price Cut

Zhou Buqi said: "I think this is a very difficult matter. Comcast's scale is already scary enough. The current TV industry is much larger than the streaming media industry, and it is far from the time when the industry collapses. Whether it is Comcast or Charter Communications, it is basically unlikely to complete the merger."

Kilar said easily: "Whether it can pass the regulation or not, the impact on us is not that big. The resistance is not with us, but whether media giants such as Disney, 20th Century Fox and Viacom can accept it."

If TV operator giants Comcast or Charter Communications really merge with Time Warner, the biggest threat will not be to Ziweixing Global.

Because Ziweixing Global does not have any TV stations under its umbrella.

Reflecting on other Hollywood giants, they all have a two-in-one mechanism of "platform + content provider" for television. Once they really start the giant three-in-one model, these Hollywood giants will have a hard time.

Therefore, they will definitely unite to oppose and form a lobbying group to prevent the transaction from going through.

Zhou Buqi nodded. "A merger of giants of this magnitude will shake the entire Hollywood."

Kilar smiled and said, "Let them be busy! It has nothing to do with us. Taking advantage of this period when they are distracted, we seized the window of opportunity in the industry and launched our video streaming platform. By the time our peers reacted to the merger of Comcast and Time Warner, we had already established a firm foothold in the streaming market."

Zhou Buqi said: "It doesn't necessarily mean it's irrelevant."

"Ok?"

"Comcast and Charter Communications both want to acquire Time Warner, so it's inevitable that both sides will have to compete."

“No one is a match for Comcast.”

Kirar made an immediate judgment.

Comcast is a giant that is so rich that it has an unimaginable amount of cash flow. Because Comcast is an operator, it collects money directly from users. After receiving the money, they will distribute it to major TV stations in proportion.

Zhou Buqi said: "Let's give it a try. If the authorities really don't allow or agree to this kind of transaction, then forget it. If something unexpected happens and the authorities approve this kind of transaction, we'd better rush in and get a piece of the pie."

Kirar frowned slightly, "How do we divide it?"

Zhou Buqi said: "When Paramount acquired DreamWorks, the transaction price was 16 billion US dollars. However, Paramount simply could not afford that much money."

Speaking of this, everyone in Ziweixing Global knows it.

It's not just Universal Pictures and DreamWorks that have a special relationship.

Universal Pictures also participated in the competition that year.

But the bid was too low and he was eliminated.

Later, when Boss Zhou came, he changed the situation and embarked on a path of asset merger and capital expansion.

Kilar smiled and said, "Yes, Paramount used very clever capital means to complete the merger. Paramount was bidding with Universal Pictures at the time. The reason why Paramount dared to offer a sky-high price of 16 billion US dollars was because it found the help of the capital tycoon Soros. They sold all the film and television copyrights of DreamWorks to Soros in advance and got 10 billion US dollars. With this money, they bought DreamWorks. Later, the film and television copyrights sold to Soros were all bought by you, and now they are all in our film and television library. This film and television copyright asset is very good, all of which are high-quality content, and can generate at least 1.2 million to 1.5 million US dollars in revenue each year."

Zhou Buqi said: "This is indeed a very good acquisition strategy. It can be said that Paramount completely defeated Universal Pictures with its capital strategy. This is also a feasible plan for the weak to defeat the strong."

"You mean..." Kirar immediately understood what he meant, "You mean Charter Communications?"

Charter Communications is much weaker than Comcast.

If the two sides compete in a normal way, Charter Communications will definitely lose. Comcast can afford the price, but Charter Communications simply cannot afford it because it does not have that much money.

The model that Redstone led Paramount to acquire DreamWorks is a good example to emulate.

Zhou Buqi said: "We can talk to Charter Communications and say that we can provide at least $50 billion in cash to help them acquire Time Warner. The prerequisite is that we have to obtain the copyright of the content we need."

Kilar couldn't help laughing. This was indeed Boss Zhou's style. Zhou Buqi said, "In recent years, the rise of the video streaming industry has led to a substantial increase in the price of content copyrights. However, this is just the beginning. In the future, the price of content copyrights will only get higher and higher. As long as there is an opportunity to acquire copyrights, you must not miss it. The layout of the content industry is still the long-term strategic choice of Ziweixing Global in the future."

Kilar said: "Content is the cornerstone of Time Warner. They can't just sell all the film and television copyrights like Paramount did in the past."

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "It is definitely not possible to buy out the copyright. Neither Charter Communications nor Time Warner will agree to it. We only need to acquire the streaming rights of some TV series and movies, and sign 8-year, 10-year, or 15-year contracts."

"Streaming rights..."

Only then did Kirar suddenly understand what Boss Zhou meant.

Zhou Buqi said: "If we really have the opportunity to obtain the streaming rights of Time Warner's film and television content, even if it is only signed for 5 years, it will be a huge help to our own streaming platform!"

Kilar said with a complicated expression: "Time Warner has a lot of copyrights and they are very expensive. Even if we only sign a five-year contract, $5 billion may not be enough."

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "So they want to take advantage of the opportunity. Charter Communications will definitely not be able to compete with Comcast. As long as their belief is strong enough and they really want to acquire Time Warner, they will definitely need our help."

Movies like "Mockingjay" are really boring.

This is an American-style adaptation of a bestseller.

It has great appeal and popularity in North America, but its overseas box office is not so impressive.

Zhou Buqi didn't like this movie at all.

Just take a rough look at it.

The Lord still talked to Kirar about some company matters.

Kilar nodded. "If the regulators can really approve the transaction, this is really an opportunity to get it at a lower price."

Zhou Buqi asked: "The company has more than 200 billion US dollars in cash?"

"Correct."

This is Kilar's biggest reliance and the cash reserve that Ziweixing Global will rely on for its video streaming business. If you want to develop the video streaming business, you need to spend $100 billion, and it is unlikely to scale up even with its own super copyright library as support.

Zhou Buqi said: "In the next few years, we only need to pay out 20% of our annual net profit as dividends. We won't have much cash pressure. You can first check out the situation at Charter Communications. If they are reliable, we can invest up to $100 billion to help them acquire Time Warner! If we can monopolize the streaming rights of Time Warner's movies and TV series for 10 years, then by then..."

"By then, our streaming business will be bigger than Netflix!"

Kirar was very excited.

He is a technology person, not a film person. The reason why he was able to take charge of Ziweixing Global and become the CEO is due to the important role he can play in the field of video streaming.

Zhou Buqi said: "However, I am very worried whether the regulatory authorities can really approve it. If they really don't approve it, then you will have a lot of trouble on your side. You must withstand the pressure, look at the long-term, and start from the long term. When Netflix's self-produced dramas have reached a certain scale and are not highly dependent on our film and television content, we will then take back the copyright and form an exclusive broadcast effect. Don't be too hasty."

Actually, it means the same thing.

Ziweixing Global can target Time Warner when developing a streaming media platform, but don’t target Netflix!

Don’t damage Netflix’s interests just because you develop your own streaming business!

Zhou Buqi is the actual controller of Ziweixing Global, so Kilar naturally has such awareness. Power only serves the source of power. It was not the shareholders' meeting that appointed him as CEO, but Zhou Buqi. When making a choice, he must of course care more about maintaining the interests of Boss Zhou.