hollywood melon man

Chapter 178 Initiating an Acquisition
Since Marvel went public in 1991, under the operation of Wall Street tycoon Perelman and a wave of capital in the comics industry in North America, Marvel's market value has expanded wildly.

Marvel continues to expand, and its business includes not only the traditional comic business, but also the card business, sticker business, snack business, etc.

At this time, Perelman, the controller of Marvel, did not understand comics, but he knew that he could make a lot of money by developing peripheral industries around Marvel IP.

"X-Men" set a sales record of 800 million copies and was certified by Guinness World Records, which made Perelman even more aware of the value of Marvel.

At this time, because of the acquisition of the toy company, Avi Arad joined the Marvel comics department and made suggestions to establish his own film company and make his own movies.

But this suggestion was rejected by Perelman. He only wanted to sell the adaptation rights and did not want to adapt the film himself.

As a result, a large number of influential superheroes were sold to major Hollywood companies, and Sony Columbia got Spider-Man.

James Cameron once wanted to make a Spider-Man movie, but failed in the end and turned to "True Lies."

20th Century Fox obtained the rights to "X-Men", allowing Marvel to receive a large amount of licensing fees.

Of course, as the copyright owner of the original work, these companies will give Marvel a share of the box office when making movies in the future.

In 1995, Marvel lost $4800 million. By 1996, the situation was even worse. Marvel had lost $ million in the first two quarters.

Misfortunes never come singly. Businesses such as stickers and cards, which account for a large amount of revenue, also experienced a sharp decline due to similar reasons.

For example, an issue of "Avengers" comic released in 1992, originally priced at US$2.5, rose to US$40 less than a year later.

There are many similar collection myths, which have created a lot of bubbles, causing many people who don’t like comics to join this carnival and want to make a fortune.

"In recent times, the company's development has encountered major problems. I suggest shrinking the business, cutting off all businesses that are no longer profitable, and retaining our core business." A shareholder suggested.

At this time, after Marvel's crazy expansion in the 1994s, its stock price rose from US$ per share to US$ per share in .

But another shareholder immediately objected: “As far as the current situation is concerned, no business is profitable, including comic distribution. Do we want to cut off our comic business?

But the good times did not last long. In the early 1990s, due to the boom in comics, not only did the stock prices of comic companies soar, but the comics they published also soared, turning them into collectibles.

Marvel is also struggling to survive and is preparing to file for bankruptcy and reorganization. The entire Marvel is waiting for redemption.

On the contrary, DC next door has never stopped producing Batman and Superman movies.

However, due to technical reasons, superhero movies are difficult to realize. After waiting for a long time, these film companies have not yet started their superhero movie projects.

So are we still a comics company? "

417 Fifth Avenue, New York, is where Marvel's headquarters is located. At this time, a shareholders' meeting was being held. Different from the cheerful shareholders' meetings in previous years, many shareholders at today's shareholders' meeting are frowning.

But at this time, the comics industry was already a hot potato, and no one wanted to take over.

And if the movie is popular, it will drive sales of comics, toys, cards and other peripherals.

The decline in stock prices caused Marvel's market value to begin to shrink dramatically, which made Marvel's controller Perelman begin to consider selling Marvel.

This year, Marvel's annual revenue reached US$5.14 million and net profit was US$6000 million, making it the well-deserved leader in the North American comic industry.

Except for DC Comics, which was acquired by Warner Pictures long ago, the other comic companies are having a hard time, going bankrupt and reorganized.

But in 1994, the comic appreciation bubble burst completely.

To make matters worse, as a public company, Marvel's stock price has plummeted, from a high of forty dollars per share to less than ten dollars per share.

After comic companies saw this phenomenon, they did not engage in hunger marketing, but were eager to cash in, and the circulation of comics began to increase.

“Marvel has grown to this point and is no longer a mere comics company. Current facts prove that entertainment life has undergone earth-shaking changes.

People no longer like comics. They watch TV, watch movies, and play new video games, but they don't read comics.

We at Marvel should transform, and seeking change is the only option. "

The shareholders of all parties quarreled fiercely and eventually broke up. At this time, everyone was eager to run away, and no one was really worried about the fate of Marvel Company.

In fact, if the shareholders are united, Marvel still has a lot to do. After all, it has many very popular superheroes.

But as the old saying goes, external factors are only incentives for the demise of a company, while internal factors are the main factors leading to the demise of the company.

At today's shareholder meeting, Marvel controller Perelman did not even attend. He hid in his office on Wall Street to prevent shareholders and creditors from coming.

The struggle between Perelman and shareholders, and the struggle between shareholders, could be covered up when the performance was good in the past. Once performance is poor, all conflicts will erupt.

After the shareholders' meeting, Stan Lee, who was a key figure in Marvel in the 1960s and 1970s, approached a familiar shareholder and asked, "What happened?"

The shareholder shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, Stan, there's nothing I can do." After that, the shareholder shook his head and left.

Stan Lee stayed where he was, with a look of despair on his face. Could it be that the comic company he had devoted so much effort to collapsed like this?

But as the old saying goes, when God closes a door, he will open a window for you.

Perelman's office on Wall Street attracted a new guest at this time, David, Little Gilbert's investment manager.

"Let's be honest, Perelman, we all know the situation Marvel is in now, and it's even on the verge of bankruptcy," David said.

Perelman knew that David was the representative of the famous Hollywood director Gilbert Jr., and as a Wall Street tycoon, he was very aware of Gilbert Jr.'s current worth.

Last year, two companies, Facebook and Banana, went public, and Facebook's market value has soared to US$5 billion. Banana is even more swollen. With its portal and search engine business, its market value is approaching tens of billions of dollars.

Gilbert Jr. himself has a large amount of assets, some of which were disclosed by the Wall Street Journal. He is a shareholder of Netscape, an online book-purchasing website that just went public this year and was renamed Amazon.

In addition, Gilbert Jr. also holds a large number of stocks in Cisco, Oracle, Microsoft and other companies that have flowed out of the stock market.

It can be said that in addition to Apple, which is still losing money, Gilbert Jr. is a super investment genius, and his total net worth is estimated to have exceeded US$6 billion.

The key is that Gilbert's assets are all clean and he has no bad debts, which is quite good.

Such a super director known for his investment vision actually took a fancy to Marvel, which gave Perelman a whiff that Marvel still had value.

"Just tell me, David, what does Mr. Landrini want to do?" Perelman decided.

David said: "My boss heard that you held 30% of Marvel shares, and he decided to offer $100 million to acquire your shares."

"One hundred million dollars?" Perelman laughed and turned serious: "David, are you kidding? You want to get my shares for one hundred million dollars? At least this amount."

As he spoke, Perelman made a five sign: "Five hundred million dollars, plus shares in the banana company."

"This is impossible," David decisively refused: "You and I both know that Marvel will file for bankruptcy protection before it can survive for long.

While there are still people willing to accept it, Mr. Perelman, now is the best time to take action. "

Perelman was like a greedy wolf. He remained unmoved: "Then we'll just wait and see. In the worst case, I'll sell the shares to others."

"Since Mr. Perelman is so insincere, I don't think we need to talk anymore." David stood up and left.

Before leaving, David left a message: "I hope Mr. Perelman will think about it carefully. Marvel has no value in your hands. Only in the hands of my boss can it achieve its greatest value."

Perelman was disapproving on the surface, but secretly wary in his heart.

Not only did he have problems with Marvel, but other businesses on Wall Street also had problems. At this time, his wealth began to shrink seriously. That's why I thought about the lion opening his mouth to get the urgently needed life-saving funds from little Gilbert.

The entire comics industry is going through a cold winter, and not many people are interested in Marvel at this time. Little Gilbert has an opportunity here.

Perelman quickly gathered his assistants and managers to study how to sell Marvel at a good price and steal a large sum of money from Gilbert Jr.

When David and Perelman ended poorly for the first time, he called Gilbert Jr. in Los Angeles and told him what had happened.

Gilbert Jr. doesn’t know when Marvel filed for bankruptcy, but he estimates it will be next year, not at the end of this year.

There are rumors that Perelman does not actually want to bankrupt Marvel, but he is at odds with shareholders and wants to scare away shareholders through this.

As a result, the court saw that Marvel met the bankruptcy conditions and approved it.

I don’t know whether the news is true or false, but it is true that Perelman is not at odds with his shareholders.

Since Perelman wanted to wait for the price, Gilbert Jr. planned to let him go first, instructing David: "There are many shareholders who want to sell Marvel shares, and there are many small shareholders.

You first contact those small shareholders and acquire all their shares. "

"Okay, but boss, I think using a slow acquisition strategy, if too many are acquired at once, it will make these shareholders think that the shares in their hands are still valuable, and the lion will definitely open their mouths." David suggested.

"It's up to you to decide in this regard. I will send Anna to assist you. In a word, I want to get at least 40% of Marvel's shares." Little Gilbert said.

David agreed immediately and promised that he would complete the task.

In fact, according to Marvel's situation, Gilbert Jr. can make a strong acquisition, but he doesn't want to be taken advantage of. There are currently not many companies interested in Marvel, and there are not many competitors.

So Gilbert can take his time. Marvel will continue to lose money anyway, and those shareholders who are asking for high prices will not be able to hold on sooner or later.

(End of this chapter)