America's Road to Wealth

Chapter 119 Capitalist Smith's Means

2000, April 9.

Abel returned to Texas,

Today is exactly the fifth day.

On this day, he met a guest at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Houston.

The guest's name was Isaac Perlmutter.

According to the original itinerary, Abel should have met Isaac Perlmutter in Smith Capital in New York.

But he never went back, and Isaac Perlmutter arrived in New York early.

In desperation, at the suggestion of David Mellon.

Isaac Perlmutter left New York and traveled to Texas to find Abel.

There are many reasons why Isaac Perlmutter came to the door so urgently and proactively.

One is because the company that Isaac Perlmutter is now managing has been on the verge of bankruptcy in 1997.

It was true that he was rescued and came back, but for this company, the situation did not get much better.

It is still on the verge of bankruptcy or insolvency at any time.

All along, as the general manager of this company.

Isaac Perlmutter is looking for new investors and wants to have new funds injected into the company.

Over the past few years, Isaac Perlmutter has found too many capital and interested businessmen.

But these people are either too demanding, or not interested at all.

Either they want the core property of the business, but they don't want to take over a business that has been losing money.

This is something that Isaac Perlmutter and the company's core management cannot tolerate.

For a long time, Isaac Perlmutter could only work hard to run the company, and by the way, continue to look for new investors in the market.

As an investment businessman, Isaac Perlmutter is familiar with Wall Street.

After learning that The Wolf of Wall Street is interested in the company.

He rushed over impatiently.

He also knew that this Wolf of Wall Street was also the chairman of CAA.

This identity just happened to deeply fit another senior executive of the company, one of the plans for the company's future.

This made him work tirelessly, from Los Angeles to New York.

From New York, I found Houston, Texas.

Just to see Abel.

This is one of the reasons,

It was originally the main reason Isaac Perlmutter wanted to see Abel.

But now,

This primary factor has instead become a secondary factor.

It was another matter for Isaac Perlmutter to come to find Abel so urgently.

That is, Isaac Perlmutter is not just the chairman of the board of directors of this company called "Marvel".

He's also a venture capitalist, the notoriously cautious kind.

It's just that no matter how cautious a businessman is, he will also encounter recession or bad luck.

Recently, his luck has been a bit bad. The stocks of several listed companies he bought are all falling.

Several start-up companies he invested in venture capital have also encountered strong blows from their opponents.

In addition to the poor state of Marvel itself, his own investment and financial situation is also very bad.

This makes him have to seek more funds to save Marvel or... himself.

Fortunately, Abel was very interested in Isaac Perlmutter, or rather the company behind him.

In the case of Isaac Perlmutter delivering it himself.

He chose to meet the other side.

The meeting place was the Four Seasons Hotel where he stayed with Liv Tyler for two days before.

Liv Tyler, who is now temporarily housed in a property he recently purchased in Houston.

So not in the hotel, nor did he bring her here to meet Isaac Perlmutter.

Four Seasons Hotel, in the restaurant.

Abel sits with Isaac Perlmutter.

Isaac Perlmutter is a white male about 40 years old.

It looks ordinary, and it belongs to the kind that you can find more than a dozen if you search the street casually.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Smith." Isaac Perlmutter, who was sitting across from him, had a very good attitude.

It's so good that when others look at it, they will know that this guy wants something from others.

"Good afternoon. Mr. Perlmutter." Abel responded with a smile.

"I" Isaac Perlmutter cheered up and was about to say something polite.

He was stopped by Abel. Abel stretched out his hand and waved at him, then said:

"Mr. Perlmutter, I know why you are here. I am also very interested in Marvel. When I was a child, Spider-Man, X-Men, and Wolverine were all heroes in my mind."

"Now in my childhood room, there are stickers and posters of Peter Parker."

"Now that I'm older, I'm not obsessed with them. But if there's an opportunity to own the company that created them, I'd still love it."

Facing Abel's enthusiastic expression, Isaac Perlmutter's face was a little embarrassed.

Abel emphasized that Spider-Man Parker and the X-Men are indeed creations of Marvel.

The problem is that the copyrights of these Marvel's most popular superhero characters no longer belong to Marvel.

During those difficult days, Marvel sold all of its most valuable IPs.

During the bankruptcy crisis in 1997, Marvel even planned to sell all superhero copyrights.

It's just that those buyers are unwilling, and they only pick out those copyrights that they think are valuable.

The rest are basically what they don't like.

Such as Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow and so on.

They don't like it.

Abel does not mention this pot, but what he said is the most popular superhero IP.

But now they don't belong to Marvel, and Isaac Perlmutter doesn't know how to express it.

Isaac Perlmutter said condescendingly: "Mr. Smith, you are right. But."

"Ha~" Abel laughed, "But these most popular heroes, they don't belong to Marvel anymore, right?"

Now that you know it all, why keep emphasizing this.

Isaac Perlmutter complained in his heart, but naturally he didn't dare to say it.

"Yes." Isaac Perlmutter said: "Marvel has experienced a low point, and during that low point period, it almost went bankrupt."

"In order to maintain its own existence, it had to sell these things during that special period."

"But in fact, these superhero copyrights left by Marvel, they are the real treasures!!"

This is what Isaac Perlmutter said.

But as far as Abel knew, that wasn't the case.

Isaac Perlmutter had financial resources at the beginning and used them to support Marvel.

It's just that this kid is very stingy, filming "Iron Man" in a parallel time and space.

You can change the ten Humvees escorting Tony to four in the setting.

He didn't spend much money to control Marvel, mainly using his own toy company to invest in Marvel.

It is impossible for him to use money to save Marvel.

So after he took power in Marvel, this guy couldn't find a sponsor.

The way he keeps Marvel alive is to start selling Marvel's most valuable copyrights.

Spider-Man, X-Men, Fantastic Four, etc., are all out of the Marvel copyright sequence under this circumstance.

Isaac Perlmutter is eloquent at the moment, trying to persuade the rich young man in front of him to inject capital into the dying Marvel company.

In this way, he himself can also get the turnover of funds.

Good to save your investment.

But he saw it again soon, and Abel waved to himself again.

"Okay. Mr. Perlmutter, you don't need to persuade me anymore. If you can see me, it proves that I still have a little interest in Marvel."

Abel made a look of fading interest, and said seemingly indifferently:
"Please tell me directly, how do you want me to invest in Marvel?"

"After getting my investment, what will Marvel have in mind?"

Although it was somewhat different from the imaginary persuasion plan, Abel's reaction gave Isaac Perlmutter some confidence.

Isaac Perlmutter said quickly:
"Marvel hopes to get a mortgage loan from you, Mr. Smith. The mortgage can be the copyright of Marvel's remaining heroes."

Marvel used to be a listed company, but it almost went bankrupt later.

Isaac Perlmutter is currently the largest shareholder of Marvel, which has been delisted after reorganization on the verge of bankruptcy.

The market value of Marvel at this time is extremely low in the market.

This makes it completely impossible to use shares as collateral for loans, and the remaining hero IPs and toy companies are worth a little money.

Hearing this request from Isaac Perlmutter, Abel shook his head slightly:
"My analysts told me that the most valuable Marvel copyrights are Spider-Man, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four. They also said that all the rest of the Marvel hero list combined does not have a single Spider-Man valuable."

"Marvel sold Spider-Man to Sony for only $700 million."

"According to this analysis, if inflation is included, the copyrights of Marvel's remaining superheroes are worth at most 1000 million US dollars."

"According to this data, dear Isaac, you can only use these collaterals at most to get a loan of six to seven million dollars from me."

"Even so, do you want a loan?"

After listening to Abel's precise and sharp analysis of Marvel's remaining hero copyrights.

Isaac Perlmutter was silent for a while.

In fact, the remaining superhero IP copyrights of the current Marvel Corporation are indeed very worthless in the US capital market.

in parallel time and space,
Later, Iron Man, who became very popular, can only be regarded as a third-line superhero in the Marvel superhero sequence.

The front line is Wolverine, Spider-Man, X-Men and Fantastic Four.

Thor and Captain America are the second line.

Tony Stark became so valuable later, purely because of the movie.

Because of the popularity of the movie, Iron Man's status in the Avengers has risen again and again, and he has directly become the Big Three in the Avengers.

Little Spider, the number one giant, turned into his godson in turn.

In the Marvel Corporation around 2000, it was not these hero copyrights that were really valuable.

Its real value is the former Toy Biz toy company that merged in a few years ago and changed its name to Marvel Toys.

Isaac Perlmutter is the owner of the Toy Biz toy company.

The business of this toy company is also the biggest driving force behind Marvel's survival.

According to the current market conditions, Marvel's remaining superhero copyrights are worthless.

Marvel toys transformed from Toy Biz toys are worth the money.

Using it as collateral, at least tens of millions of dollars or more can be loaned.

However, the toy company is now the lifeblood of Marvel, and it is also the most important factor for Isaac Perlmutter to master Marvel.

Isaac Perlmutter has no affection for superheroes and much affection for toy companies.

Naturally, he was reluctant to take out the toy company as a mortgage.

Gritting his teeth, Isaac Perlmutter said softly: "So what do you mean, Mr. Smith?"

Isaac Perlmutter felt that Abel had called someone to find him.

Then it must be interested in somewhere in Marvel, otherwise this kind of Wall Street capitalist would not waste time talking to himself.

So it must be Marvel, and there is something that the other party has taken a fancy to.

And this is also the biggest reliance I can rely on to get money from Abel.

Abel smiled, and he offered two conditions to Isaac Perlmutter.

"First of all, I can give you money. But it's not a loan. I want to buy the copyrights of all the remaining Marvel superheroes. But outside of this regulation, certain authorizations will be granted to toy companies."

"For a certain period of time, your toy company does not need to pay me the copyright, and can produce superhero toys for a period of time."

"This price is doubled, 800 million US dollars."

Hearing Abel's condition, especially the toy copyright that is free for a period of time.

Isaac Perlmutter, the former chairman of the toy company, was a little moved. He couldn't help but ask, "What about the other condition?"

"another?"

Abel smiled, "I will buy the entire Marvel company. There are two ways to buy it. One is to only buy Marvel comics and Marvel Studios."

Marvel has established a film company as early as 1993.

But it just happened to be a cold winter for movies, and the market was sluggish.

Marvel had a Thor and a Hulk at the time.

In the end, none of them were released. First, the two films were shoddy, and second, the market did not accept them.

"The toy company will return it to you. Similarly, it will give your toy company at least two years of free copyright."

Abel continued:
"Another way to buy is to sell the entire Marvel to me, including your toy company."

"call--"

Isaac Perlmutter exhaled lightly, and he looked deeply at Abel.

"So, Mr. Smith, what's the price? The price of the first plan, and the price of the second plan."

“My bid would be $3000 million just to buy Marvel Studios and Marvel Comics. Because that’s all they’re worth right now.”

The current market situation is very pessimistic about Marvel's remaining superhero IP copyrights.

However, it is a comic publishing house itself, and it is one of the top ones in the United States.

Even if the manga publishing industry is in a downturn, it's still worth some money.

What's more, there is an empty Marvel movie, which is also worth several million dollars.

Inside, there are some talents.

"If I buy the entire Marvel company, my bid is [-] million US dollars. Their prices are only worth so much."

Don't look at the fact that Marvel is worth more than 2000 billion US dollars.

That's because after the success of the Avengers Universe, it has such value.

In 2009 before the Avengers did not really succeed.

The entire Marvel package was sold to Disney for only about 42 billion US dollars.

At the moment in 2000, Marvel had just gone through a bankruptcy crisis.

The sales volume of its main business, comics, is sluggish, and it is all supported by toys.

At this point, it's really only worth so much money.

Such a cheap Marvel, not many people liked it before.

The value of Marvel has only improved a little after the first "X-Men" was released this year.

But it's average, because the global box office of the first "X-Men" is only 2.9 million US dollars.

Although it ranked sixth in the annual box office list, its budget was 7500 million U.S. dollars, and more than 2000 million U.S. dollars in publicity and distribution funds were not included.

The box office, after deducting costs, earned less than 1000 million US dollars.

Counting the sale of subsequent DVDs and other peripherals, it is considered profitable.

Marvel was really valued so that it was able to successfully get a loan later after Maguire's first Spider-Man went public.

And after achieving great success, Marvel was really valued by the market.

At that time, the market value of Marvel was at least several times lower than it is now.

Looking at Isaac Perlmutter's hesitation after he stated the conditions.

Abel was a little impatient, because he knew that in another year or two, it would be impossible to buy Marvel for one or two hundred million dollars.

It's just that he can bear it, and he has already prepared some actions.

Isaac Perlmutter, an investor, is currently in an investment crisis.

Isaac Perlmutter's several venture capital investments, as well as several Wall Street investments, have suffered losses to varying degrees.

Isaac Perlmutter needs a margin call in the near future to prevent these investments from being wasted.

In other words, Isaac Perlmutter is more anxious than himself right now.

And Isaac Perlmutter's current investment situation, at least half of it is that Abel let David Mellon push the flames behind!
Abel can bear it, at worst, he will add a little more money after a while.

As long as the first Spider-Man is released, Marvel will not be worth much.

The first Spider-Man will not be released until 2002.

There are almost two years left, and Abel can wait.

Of course.

He will not sit still, he has explained to David Mellon, ready to step up efforts at any time.

If Isaac Perlmutter couldn't make up his mind.

He will let David Mellon continue to snipe Isaac Perlmutter's investment in the market.

The cost of this kind of behavior is not high. After using leverage, it only costs millions of dollars.

David Mellon even said that the company has made millions of dollars doing so.

Continuing to operate, the company can at least earn millions of dollars in sniping Isaac Perlmutter's investment.

When Smith Capital made money, there were naturally people who lost money.

It was Isaac Perlmutter who was sniped again, and he was naturally the one who lost the most money.

Since Isaac Perlmutter couldn't make up his mind so quickly.

Then Abel felt that he should let himself help him make up his mind as soon as possible.

Dare to refuse,
Or hesitate.

Smith Capital will continue to teach Isaac Perlmutter how to behave in the capital market.

This is the method of finance capitalists.

(End of this chapter)