Winning the new financial era

Chapter 464 Reaching Cooperation
Masayoshi Son is very straightforward. He stated: Softbank does not want cash, and the $1 million in equity can be fully covered by Softbank.

Therefore, for shareholders other than SoftBank, the transaction can be regarded as the completion of "$28 billion in cash".

Zhang Yida holds 26.88% of the shares and can get 7 million US dollars in cash.

Of course, a multibillion-dollar deal doesn’t happen so quickly, with all the due diligence and handoffs involved.

After Zhang Yida handed over the aftermath work to Howard and Huang Xiaofeng, he started the second round of negotiations with the three major record companies.

"Mr. Zhang, after discussion, Universal, Sony, and Warner have agreed to take a stake in the music streaming platform Resso.

The three parties each invested US$1 million, and authorized Resso to use music copyrights outside of mainland China for three years, and the price of this part was US$5000 million.

Equivalent to US$1.5 million in cash and resources invested by each of us, accounting for 15% of the shares;

Zhonghe Group invested 5.5 million US dollars in cash, accounting for 55% of the shares. "

The CEO of Universal Music, Grange, said while watching Zhang Yida's expression and reaction.

Seeing that Zhang Yida didn't respond in particular, and was calm, he continued: "Let's talk about the licensing of Musical.ly, the US$3 million equity of Zhonghe Group, and the licensing of global music copyrights outside of mainland China for 3 years.

This is the biggest compromise we've ever made.No matter how much we make concessions, we will not be able to explain to our shareholders. "

Zhang Yida said with a smile: "As a streaming media company that has not yet officially launched a product, Resso's annual music copyright fee of US$1700 million is too high, isn't it?"

"It's not high at all. We have great confidence in Mr. Zhang. Given three years, Resso will definitely become the top five music streaming platforms in the world."

Kazuo Hirai, chairman of Sony, smiled, "Penguin Music Group currently has 1500 million paying users, and its payment scale is among the top five in the world, and the copyright fees paid to the three of us every year also exceed 1 million US dollars.

Seriously, the conditions offered to Resso by our three major records are a bit disadvantageous.

But it doesn't matter, we believe that Mr. Zhang can help us earn back the loss of copyright fees through equity appreciation. "

Compared with Penguin, the copyright authorization fee is indeed not high, even very cheap.

It mainly depends on whether Resso can develop. If it can develop and has 2000 million paying users, the copyright authorization fee is not a loss.

Of course, the three major records are not bad. Music streaming media with 2000 million paying users must be valued at least 50 billion US dollars.

A 15% stake is also worth six to seven billion U.S. dollars.

What's more, the three major records have another rent collector, so why not do it.

These old men are indeed professional managers who have worked for 40 to [-] years. They are indeed all treacherous and cunning, and their calculations are very good.

Zhang Yida didn't argue too much on Resso, and mainly negotiated with the three major labels around the licensing fee of Musical.ly.

"The three major records alone need to pay 3 million U.S. dollars in copyright fees every year, plus other record companies, we have to pay more than 4 million U.S. dollars in music copyrights every year.

This is unacceptable! "

Zhang Yida paused, "How about this, you reduce the three-year copyright fee to 1 million US dollars, and Musical.ly gives Resso free streaming.

Three gentlemen, you should take a long-term view. Resso is the company that really makes a lot of money.

If we surpass Soundwave and have a valuation of more than $200 billion, your 15% stake will also be worth more than $30 billion.

Music streaming is no less a track than long videos. Do you think about the valuation of YouTube? $1500 billion!
If Resso reaches the status of YouTube in the future, how much will your equity be worth? "

Cooper, CEO of Warner Music, pondered for a while, and said: "But Resso will raise funds halfway, and our equity will also be diluted. When Resso is valued at tens of billions or even hundreds of billions, we will not have a few points of equity left. gone."

Zhang Yida shook his head, "Mr. Cooper, you are wrong, where do the two biggest costs of music streaming come from?
From copyright procurement and traffic promotion, there are now three major records that provide copyright to Resso, and the cost of this piece is controllable;
As a music short video platform, Musical.ly has hundreds of millions of active users, which can also save a lot of cost for the promotion of Resso.

Resso will not need continuous financing like other Internet companies.

The $8.5 million in cash on the account is enough for Resso to balance its revenue. "

Now the three of them were finally tempted. Grange asked, "How long will the free promotion of Musical.ly last? Can you sign an agreement?"

Zhang Yida said with a smile: "Signing the agreement is not a problem, as for the time, it should be three years!
Three years is enough for Resso to grow up! "

Grange thought about it seriously, as if weighing gains and losses.

The same goes for the other two, both thinking "whether it is worth spending 6 million US dollars to buy three years of free promotion".

Moreover, they only hold 45% of the shares of Resso, and the majority is still with Zhonghe Group.

Of course, their offer of 3 million US dollars is also a wild asking price, and the bottom line is almost between 1 million US dollars and 1.5 million US dollars.

"Okay, $1 million is $1 million, sign the agreement!"

With Grange taking the lead in agreeing, the other two quickly agreed.

Zhang Yida heaved a sigh of relief, finally got rid of these vampires, it was really not easy.

But everything is worth it. To do music streaming, you must tie the three major records to the chariot. These three companies cannot be bypassed anyway.

When the strength of Zhonghe Group is stronger, Zhang Yida also wants to take a stake in the three major records and achieve a mutual shareholding situation.

Zhang Yida's heart moved, and he said again: "Converting 1 million U.S. dollars into Zhonghe Group's equity is only 0.157%, which is less than two thousandths, which is too little."

Kazuo Hirai nodded, "Indeed, at least 1% of the equity is required. Mr. Zhang, do you still accept investment?"

Zhang Yida smiled and said, "Of course I accept it. Why, Sony is interested in investing?"

Kazuo Hirai said with a smile: "Zhonghe Group also has games, film and other sectors. It is absolutely possible to strengthen cooperation with Sony in this regard."

Zhang Yida smiled and nodded. Sony has a lot of industries, which can be summarized as electronics, games, entertainment, and finance.

This old-fashioned group is very strong, and investing hundreds of millions of dollars in Zhonghe Group is just a drizzle.

Zhang Yida looked at Cooper and Grange again, and both of them waved their hands to show that they were not interested.

Zhang Yida was not too surprised by this result.

The Vivendi Group behind Universal was born purely for profit. A lot of game companies have been squeezed out, and they have little interest in investing in Internet companies.

Even Universal Music and Universal Pictures have been rumored to sell from time to time. This is a company that has always been in and out.

Warner Music is in the hands of the Russian oil tycoon Leonard, and Time Warner, the big six in Hollywood, parted ways many years ago.

Zhang Yida originally wanted to connect with Time Warner through Warner Music, but after understanding the relationship inside, he had no choice but to think of another way.

Zhang Yida had another chat with Kazuo Hirai alone, and the latter said that he could invest 6 million US dollars in cash, plus a three-year music copyright license, to obtain 1.09% of Zhonghe Group's equity.

Zhang Yida agreed immediately, and also represented Zhonghe Group to reach a copyright cooperation with Sony Columbia Pictures, and Rocket Video will purchase their film copyright in the future.

(End of this chapter)