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In 2007, Terra Firma Capital found help from Citigroup, borrowed 2.2 billion pounds, and acquired 100% of EMI Records in a leveraged buyout.

Because the loan could not be repaid, in 2011, Citibank obtained 100% control of EMI Records through a debt-for-equity swap. Then, the split of EMI's music business was immediately launched.

Of course, Terra Firma Capital was not satisfied and began to sue Citibank, causing it to lose 1.5 billion pounds in this acquisition. After years of suing, nothing came of it, and I had no choice but to withdraw the lawsuit in despair.

On the surface, Citibank is to blame for the demise of EMI, a 110-year-old music conglomerate. In fact, Terra Firma Capital is not a good bird either.

Why was the debt-for-equity swap done so smoothly? How come Citibank took control of EMI Records without any resistance? Because the management of EMI Records has long been deeply dissatisfied with Terra Firma Capital.

Among them is Gilbert Lawrence, senior vice president of EMI Records, who is willing to take a salary cut to join Manchester United.

The next day, Zhou Buqi, Xue Baoshan, Sun Wanran, Feng Muer, Zhu Jun and his two assistants went to meet with Heidrick \u0026 Struggles' headhunting team.

Among the three candidates, the most interesting one is of course Gilbert.

Heidrick \u0026 Struggles' headhunter George Taylor presented his detailed information and explained clearly the background of his willingness to take a salary cut and leave EMI Records——

After Terra Firma Capital acquired EMI Records, it was certainly right to lead the company's strategic transformation into the digital music industry. But EMI's business is too big and its music inventory is too big. It's hard to turn the ship around!

what to do?

Split assets, sell, sell, sell!

Turn a big boat into a small boat.

The money from the sale can not only repay the interest, but also make up for the huge losses caused by the economic crisis to the company's business.

In the past two years, Terra Firma Capital has cut off nearly 40% of EMI's business lines. The most famous one is that it gave up the entire Asia-Pacific business, sold it to Hong Kong businessman Zheng Donghai, and changed its name to Gold Medal Gale. Entertainment.

In addition, the most distressing thing is the loss of music copyright.

Copyright is the soul!

Hollywood has always attached great importance to copyright, especially now that the streaming media industry is about to develop, and whoever gets the copyright will win the world. Even if there is a copyright transaction, it is only for rent and not for sale.

With copyright, you will have a steady stream of income. This is a proper tax-collecting business!

But Terra Firma doesn't care.

Sell, sell, sell!

As long as you have money.

Leveraged buyout, the acquisition process is very easy, but under the pressure of huge debts, the most ruthless and ruthless manifestation is after the successful acquisition. The Glazer family's leveraged buyout of Manchester United is considered friendly. The most popular leveraged buyout transaction is to split the assets after the acquisition and sell them along the way.

Sell ​​assets to pay off debt.

This is why leveraged buyouts are notorious.

In short, EMI Records was completely ruined by Terra Firma Capital. There are only 750,000 songs left in the music library, accounting for only 9% of the music market.

Such cold-blooded operations certainly made the management of EMI Records tremble with fear.

That's not all, there is something even more cruel!

"Mr. Zhou, you are an Internet entrepreneur. Do you know Douglas Merrill?"

"Feel sorry."

"Oh, he used to be the CIO of Google and was part of the founding team."

"how is it?"

Zhou Buqi was a little strange and looked at headhunter George Taylor sitting across the conference table with confusion.

George Taylor said: "In order to promote EMI's digital reform, EMI hired Merrill from Google with a high salary and made him senior vice president and president of the digital department. That was in February last year."

Zhou Buqi had never heard of this person, but he used to be the CIO of Google, so his level must be the same. He smiled and said, "As long as there are no constraints, I believe he will do a very good job."

George Taylor nodded, "Yes, they originally came to Merrill because they wanted to use his many years of experience in the Internet field to help EMI cooperate with major Internet companies, so as to help EMI and even the entire recording industry on the Internet. Times has explored a way to make money from digital music. After a year of development, EMI's digital business revenue has accounted for 20% of total revenue, and the digital business market is growing rapidly. They believe that there is no need to add such a separate department."

"Um?"

Zhou Buqi opened his eyes wide and thought of something, which was very unbelievable.

Zhu Jun also had a horrified look on his face and said blankly: "No... If not, then I will be laid off, right?"

George Taylor said: "Yes, as far as I know, the two parties are communicating, and Mr. Merrill is likely to submit his resignation within a month."

Depend on! Depend on! Depend on!

What a waste of character!

He didn't even become the chief information officer of Google. He joined EMI with great ambitions and wanted to bring about major changes in the music industry. How courageous is this?

Over the past year, EMI's digital business has developed rapidly, and the report card is very beautiful.

Then, EMI Records will turn its back on the company?

To kill the donkey?

This is so clean!

It really vividly demonstrates the ruthlessness of capital.

No wonder Gilbert would rather take a salary cut and leave EMI to join Manchester United.

This is because of what happened to my colleagues!

Terra Firma Capital's control over EMI is truly barbaric, extensive, one-size-fits-all, and messy.

Once the general background is understood clearly, Gilbert's candidate is basically recognized. As long as the motive is clear and it's not because you made a mistake and was fired by another company, it's fine.

There is no doubt about the ability of executives at this level. Next, meet and chat a few more times, and if your character and business ideas can keep up, you can make a decision.

However, Zhou Buqi thought of something else.

Douglas Merrill?

Former Google co-founder and chief information officer?

Have entrepreneurial experience and experience as a senior executive.

He also has successful experience in leading EMI Records’ digital transformation.

He can drive the digitization of music, and he can also drive the digitization of football, right? Ziweixing Digital Media Company is still an empty shell and needs a CEO and a COO.

Gilbert Lawrence and Douglas Merrill, two men who had never met each other, had no idea what each other's senses were like. However, at this moment he almost made up his mind. As long as these two people don't perform too poorly in the next "interview", they can be hired!

Let Gilbert Lawrence go to Manchester United to do business development, and let Douglas Merrill go to Ziweixing to do the digitalization of the football industry!

Both men were former EMI executives.

Even after leaving EMI, there is still such a relationship.

Zhou Buqi has a plan. He wants to cooperate with Sun Zhengyi to win the crisis-ridden EMI Records. During the acquisition process, interaction with the management team is indispensable.

Two oriental faces are really not very convincing.

If Gilbert Lawrence and Douglas Merrill, two meritorious executives of EMI Records, took the lead, it would be twice the result with half the effort!

Moreover, after successfully acquiring EMI Records, Zhou Buqi must take control in his hands. How is this control manifested? In fact, it is management support.

With the relationship between these two people, Zhou Buqi can more easily gain the recognition of EMI management and gain control. Just let SoftBank treat it as a purely financial investment. The strategic and business levels still need to fit in with Zhou Buqi's business landscape.

Ziweixing, Jieyu Media, Netflix, Spotify, and even Manchester United can also have in-depth cooperation with EMI Records in terms of business.

Gilbert came out of EMI Records and was asked to be in charge of Manchester United's business. Can he write a song for Manchester United every year? Or write songs for great heroes like Sir Charlton and Sir Alex Ferguson? Or Ronaldo left Manchester United and wrote him a song to commemorate the past?

Put it on Spotify for on-demand viewing, and it’s $2.99 ​​per on-demand viewing... There are so many Manchester United fans around the world, and 10 million or 20 million on-demand viewings is not too exaggerated.

Won’t the money just come?

The most important thing is that in this way, Manchester United's humanistic feelings are also reflected. Cristiano Ronaldo abandoned Manchester United and switched to Real Madrid. Not only was Manchester United not angry, they also specially asked the team to write a song to remember him and thank him... Isn't the value of Manchester United reflected?

From this point of view, EMI really should win!

Very helpful in all aspects.

…

A big challenge in doing overseas business is hiring people.

It’s so frustrating!

Zhou Buqi felt that he was almost blind. He had seen so many foreigners with big noses that he couldn't tell who was who. There are also such annoying names as Gilbert and Douglas, which make people dizzy.

If the little beauties are okay, they can be accurately distinguished by their face, cup size, leg length, and hip shape. Who cares about these big men memorizing their appearance and characteristics?

well!

Keep at it!

In the afternoon, Zhou Buqi and Zhu Jun went to meet EMI's senior vice president Gilbert Lawrence.

Very satisfied with the overall process.

He is 42 years old and has been a Manchester United fan for 30 years. His family are all Manchester United fans. His previous annual salary at EMI was 2.8 million pounds. If he could join Manchester United, he would voluntarily reduce his salary to a basic salary of 2 million pounds.

He has a deep understanding of marketing, marketing and commercial promotion, especially the combination of football and entertainment industries, which coincides with many of Zhou Buqi's ideas.

He even believes that Manchester United's business operations should not only focus on the development of the derivatives market, but also focus on peripheral markets. In addition to writing songs for Manchester United, they must also film TV series and movies for Manchester United!

Especially TV series.

A drama must be filmed every season, and the glory, success, failure, and setbacks of Manchester United in a season will be filmed in 5-8 episodes. Not only the game footage, but also the internal footage, as well as Ferguson’s speeches in the locker room in some key matches, and even some internal conflicts.

These are like documentaries. A dedicated team must be organized to film them every day, every game, and every season, and then compiled and released at the end of the season.

Zhou Buqi thought this idea was great.

Gilbert's idea is to produce it in the form of a series, sell it to TV stations for broadcast, and burn it on DVD for fans to collect. When Netflix succeeds in the future and streaming media rises, it will be easier.

This business has great prospects!

In addition, Gilbert also described the operational transformation of Old Trafford. For example, if a movie is released or a popular singer releases a new song, this super stadium can also be used to promote it to the world.

In short, Zhou Buqi was very satisfied, and so was Zhu Jun.

Next, let San Dezi come over and talk to him.

If the problem is not serious, he would be the chairman and president of Manchester United Business Company.

Well, this Gilbert's level is higher than all the current Manchester United executives combined, and he should be given a seat on the board of directors of Manchester United.

To be entrusted with important responsibilities, we must give them enough voice.