Top of the big era

In the next half month, Zhou Buqi was very busy. He circled the world, flying from Los Angeles to San Francisco, then to New York, then London, Manchester, then to the capital, Tokyo, and then back to Los Angeles.

Mainly I did six things.

First, the split of Ziweixing was officially completed;

Second, the board of directors of Ziweixing International has approved that it will invest US$500 million to participate in the investment project of Ziweixing Global;

Third, the shares held by Ziweixing in the Japanese social networking site Amaba were finally liquidated and sold at a one-time price of US$370 million.

This is a big deal, and it is very valued in the Japanese industry. Even Masayoshi Son flew back to Tokyo to serve as a consultant.

The result is that Ziweixing has made a lot of money!

Last year, in order to build YikYak, Ziweixing Japan spent US$240 million to buy 32% of the shares of the parent company of the social networking site Ameba because of its lack of social connections and celebrity connections.

With this relationship, YikYak quickly became popular.

Now, YikYak has become the most popular social networking site in Japan. Especially in the first half of the year, the popularity of "The Voice of Japan" was so popular that it was carnivally pursued by the entertainment industry.

Affected by this, Ameba is no longer willing to make wedding dresses for others. This blog-like website also wants to make its own Weibo-like social network.

Of course Ziweixing disagreed, so they broke up and sold the shares for US$370 million.

In June last year, it was bought for US$240 million, and in June this year, it was sold for US$370 million... In one year, the rate of return reached 54%!

Who said investing is difficult during an economic crisis?

Facts have proven that as long as you look in the right direction, you can still make a lot of money!

Fourth, a comprehensive cooperation agreement was reached with the British authorities around Ziweixing Digital Media, an Internet company that operates the football industry. Ziweixing Digital Media officially launched the split plan;

Fifth, the transfer of Manchester United.

Manchester United has accepted Ronaldo's application to transfer to Real Madrid and agreed to Real Madrid's offer of 80 million pounds. Next, it is time for Ronaldo and Real Madrid to discuss personal treatment.

Under Zhou Buqi's strong request, Manchester United also needs to make a major change.

Robben's deal is the easiest, he wants to return to the Premier League to prove himself. Robben's move from Real Madrid to Manchester United is also an additional condition for Ronaldo's move from Manchester United to Real Madrid;

Sneijder's deal is not easy, he seems not to want to leave Real Madrid, and has been called by Inter Milan;

The probability of Yaya Toure's transfer is extremely high. He originally moved to Barcelona to play as the main player. Unexpectedly, Guardiola promoted Busquets from the second team, and Yaya Toure was unwilling to play as a substitute.

Ibrahimovic just wants to win the Champions League, and the best choice is of course to go to Barcelona...

Regarding the transfer plan, Zhou Buqi and Ferguson had slight differences, but the general ideas were relatively consistent.

Zhou Buqi put forward three hard standards: first, bring Bale from Tottenham; second, bring Robben from Real Madrid; third, when it comes to choosing the right back, Maicon or Lahm must be chosen. Strengthen this weak link!

One of the most cheering transfers for Red Devils fans has been completed - Manchester United loaned Beckham from the Los Angeles Galaxy for a symbolic offer of 1 pound for a season, and he will put on his own No. 7 jersey again.

The news was announced on June 15.

On this day, Manchester United's No. 7 Beckham jersey went on sale again, and 180,000 pieces were sold on that day, which shows that Manchester fans love the heartthrob.

Sixth, a preliminary agreement was reached through talks between Comcast, General Electric, MSI, NBCUniversal, Universal Pictures and other parties.

All parties formally agreed to spin off Universal Pictures and sell it to Ziweixing Universal.

The TV station business and Universal Studios business will be divested from Universal Pictures. After the audit, Universal Pictures has assets of US$4.3 billion and liabilities of US$2.2 billion.

However, it is not that easy for Ziweixing Global to accomplish this.

Universal Pictures' current performance is very good. Whether it is film production or television production, it has the best and most popular film and television works. If you want to complete this transaction, you must pay a substantial premium.

In comparison, it was much easier at MGM.

On this day, Zhou Buqi took a bus to the Hilton Hotel to meet with representatives of MGM's two major hedge funds, Anchorage and HCM.

Let’s talk about the issue of debt acquisition.

Previously, Ziweixing Global had quoted US$2.5 billion to MGM. This offer was actually made to the bondholders to spend US$2.5 billion to acquire the US$3.7 billion of MGM debt they held.

There are three cars in total.

The one in the front contained assistants, bodyguards and a few entourages, and the one in the back contained two executives from MGM.

Zhou Buqi was in the car in the middle, gently holding Xue Baoshan's soft little hand.

On the right was Senior Sister Zhen Yu, who said softly: "The MGM case is about to be settled. Warner, Lionsgate and News Corporation have all publicly stated that they will not offer more than 2 billion US dollars. "

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "This is because I was frightened by MGM's fooling around in the past few years."

Senior Sister Zhen Yu was also very emotional, "Yes, MGM's management team... I think there is a problem with the concept, their thinking is too old. In 2005, MGM's debt was only US$2 billion. But MGM May successively hired outdated superstars such as Tom Cruise, Daniel Washington, and Kevin Costner at high prices, and made a bunch of movies with high investment and low returns. Their movie concepts still feel like they are still in their teens. Years ago, it was still an old-fashioned action blockbuster.”

Zhou Buqi nodded, "So, after the acquisition of MGM is completed, all existing executives will be dismissed and a new group of people will be replaced."

"Do you know movies?"

Senior Sister Zhen Yu was a little worried. This was just a layman giving guidance to an expert. If he gave instructions blindly, MGM might get worse.

Zhou Buqi is more confident, "It's not bad, I can basically grasp the general direction."

Xue Baoshan blinked a few times, "There is also "The Hobbit". Didn't it mean that MGM will cooperate with Warner to develop a new sequel movie?"

“Forget it about making movies.”

Zhou Buqi knows this. The two things MGM is most concerned about right now are the new version of "007" and the "Hobbit" series. However, MGM only has the distribution rights to the "Hobbit" movie, and the production rights have been divided into several pieces, controlled by producer Saul, producer Harvey Weinstein and Warner's New Line In the hands of the film industry.

In the previous life, MGM had to cooperate obediently in order to make a small profit.

If Zhou Buqi takes over in this life, that won't be necessary.

He would rather not shoot than give up most of the profits to his competitors.

When Xue Baoshan saw the corner of his mouth slightly raised, she pursed her lips and chuckled: "Classmate Zhou, do you have any bad ideas?"

Zhou Buqi said: "It's not interesting to make a movie, it's better to make a TV series."

"TV drama?"

Xue Baoshan was slightly startled.

Zhen Yu was very surprised and said: "Do you want to make TV series of the "Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" series?"

Zhou Buqi said: "The film and television adaptation rights of the novel "Lord of the Rings" were sold to MGM. Later, MGM sold the production rights of the film adaptation and retained the distribution rights of the film. However, it completely retained We have obtained all the rights to adapt the TV series. In this case, why make a movie? How good is it to make a TV series?"

Xue Baoshan and Zhen Yu both suddenly realized something and blurted out in unison: "Streaming media!"

Zhou Buqi was holding Xue Baoshan's soft little hand on his left side. Seeing the radiance of her eyes, he felt a little moved and couldn't help but stretched out his right hand to pull Senior Sister Zhen Yu.

Zhen Yu retracted her little hand.

Zhou Buqi put his hand on her thigh. The thin skirt in summer could feel the delicate warmth of the skin. Zhen Yu was afraid that he would make further moves, and he would have something serious to do soon, so she didn't want anyone to see it. I had no choice but to stretch out my bare hand and let him hold it.

Zhen Yu carefully glanced at Xue Baoshan on the other side and found that she was looking at her with beautiful eyes. Her pretty face suddenly turned red, as if she felt ashamed of being caught in an affair.

Zhou Buqi almost laughed, pretending not to see it, and said sternly: "Whether we make a movie or not depends on how sincere Warner can show it. If they are willing to release the copyright of "Friends", it is not impossible to cooperate."

Zhen Yu glared at him, "How is that possible? "Friends" is a cash cow, bringing $100 million in rental income to Warner every year."

"Right now, the revenue is US$100 million per year, and in a few years, it will be US$1 billion per year." Zhou Buqi sighed, confused, "I really don't understand what's so interesting about this kind of crude melodrama. "

"The "Wulin Gaiden" in China is also very popular, it's almost the same." Zhen Yu was a little embarrassed. She had always regarded Bao Shan as her younger sister, but in the end it was really going to come to this point, so she quickly changed the subject, " I will meet with the creditor soon, are you confident?"

Zhou Buqi said casually: "What's the point? Doing business with capital is the easiest, it's just about profit."

Profit-seeking is the shortcoming and greatest advantage of capital.

When cooperating with other businessmen or institutions, you must also consider the other party's feelings, pursuits, respect, dignity, whether the business philosophy and strategic thinking are consistent, whether the values ​​​​are consistent with geopolitics, etc.

This will be very complicated to communicate.

Capital is different, it only cares about profits.

As long as the other party makes a profit, that's fine!

The other frivolous things are not important. As for whether MGM is dead or alive and can develop better in the future, it is even less important.

Zhen Yu said softly: "From March last year to October last year, these two hedge funds bought a total of US$3.7 billion of MGM's debt at a price of 50 to 60 cents per US dollar of debt, spending a total of 19.2 billion US dollars. One hundred million U.S. dollars."

Zhou Buqi snorted: "That's right. They spent nearly 2 billion U.S. dollars to finally win MGM. The offer from Warner and Lionsgate was less than 2 billion U.S. dollars. How can this deal be completed?" Weird!"

"They don't seem to be satisfied with our US$2.5 billion offer."

"Normally, Ziweixing invested in Ameba and made more than 50% in a year. These two hedge funds have been busy for more than a year. Even if the level of business is not as good as mine, they still have to have a high enough rate of return. Deduction procedures Fees, taxes and operating costs must be at least 25% net profit. Don’t worry, dealing with capital is the easiest.”

Zhou Buqi's negotiating assistants include consultants from Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. Dealing with this kind of matter is much easier than communicating with the board of directors of Universal Pictures.