Millennium director

Early in the morning, the receptionist of Guang Times invited several business elites in suits into the company's conference room.

Wu Yuan and John, who had been sitting in the conference room for a long time, stood up to welcome them.

"Director Daniel, I'm glad we meet again."

"Yes, I'm happy too."

Louen, the vice president in charge of the company's commercial acquisitions business from Disney, hugged and shook hands with Wu Yuan with a bright smile.

Lawn was previously the vice president in charge of film and television production. When filming "Pirates of the Caribbean", Wu Yuan met him several times. At the celebration banquet, the opening ceremony, and the premiere event, they were not strangers.

"So, are you personally responsible for this merger and acquisition?"

Wu Yuan was a little confused. For such a merger and acquisition involving only over one billion US dollars, it stands to reason that there is no need for the vice president to take charge of it personally. It would be enough to send a ministerial-level executive.

"I came in person to show how much Disney values ​​you, Daniel."

Lawn still had a business smile on his face and said in a very fake tone: "You are one of the most prestigious directors in Hollywood. The company should give you the respect and attention you deserve."

"Although the market value of Light Times is not high, this is your company after all."

Market value is not high?

Wu Yuan's smile remained unchanged on the surface, but he shook his head secretly in his heart.

All I can say is that he is indeed Disney's vice president in charge of acquisitions. He is really good at talking and gets the upper hand.

"You are right. In front of Disney, Light Times is indeed just a small thing, and its value is less than one percent of Disney's."

Disney's current market value is more than 200 billion U.S. dollars, and one percent is more than 2 billion U.S. dollars. This is not a small number.

Lao En smiled and shook his head and did not answer. He just signaled to Wu Yuan that everyone should sit down and talk.

In fact, unlike Wu Yuan's imagination, Disney still attaches great importance to this acquisition.

Disney is very profitable, with net profit in a fiscal year reaching tens of billions of dollars.

But among them, the profit share of the film industry is negligible.

Just like before the smartphone era, selling mobile phones has never been Huawei's main source of income.

Before 2010, Disney's annual revenue was only a billion dollars in box office revenue. This was only box office revenue, not net profit. In fact, Disney's revenue was mainly supported by theme parks, copyright operations, and media network businesses.

Especially the latter. In 1996, Disney acquired ABC for a sky-high price of US$190. ABC owns more than 200 affiliated television stations and dozens of radio stations.

In addition, ABC also owns 80% of the world's largest sports media ESPN.

Currently, ABC is one of the three major commercial radio and television networks in the United States.

In 2001, Disney also acquired FOX Family Channel for $5.2 billion.

At this point, the media network business accounts for 40% of Disney's total revenue and is a real cash cow.

However, Disney is also very ambitious in its film production business.

As a result, Disney, which planned to flex its muscles in the film field, began a wealthy acquisition.

In 2006, 2009 and 2012, Disney acquired Pixar Animation, Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm for US$7.4 billion, US$4.2 billion and US$4.1 billion respectively; the three acquisitions cost a total of US$15.7 billion.

It can be seen that Disney is determined to develop its efforts in the field of film production and operate the film industry as an important pillar industry of its business.

As a result, Disney, an independent film production company with healthy finances and huge profits, naturally attaches great importance to Light Times.

Light Age may not have a large number of animation and comic IPs like Pixar, Lucas, and Marvel, but Light Age has rich experience in film production and shooting, and its employees can be considered industry elites.

This talent, coupled with the live-action film IP, is the greatest wealth.

As we all know, the IPs held by Disney, excluding Marvel's superheroes, are all cartoon and animation IPs. The only influential live-action movie IP is "Pirates of the Caribbean".

It wasn't until the acquisition of Lucasfilm that Disney acquired its second heavyweight film IP, the "Star Wars" series.

The "Hangover", "Twilight" and "Kingsman" series in the hands of Light Times are all influential film IPs. Together with the "Hunger Games" series, they are even more coveted by Disney.

"The specific details of the acquisition have been exchanged between us during the negotiations in the past few months."

"Daniel, we at Disney will fully acquire Light Times Pictures with a valuation of US$1.2 billion, including its IP copyright and all film and television adaptation rights."

"Do you agree with this?"

Lawn started the negotiation businesslikely and got straight to the point.

In fact, before today's meeting, the two parties had been talking back and forth through their deputies and subordinates for several months. The specific acquisition contract was almost negotiated, and now only one final confirmation was left. That's why this time the bosses of both parties came together. Meet.

"I have no objection to the wholly-owned acquisition. I'm quite satisfied with the price of 1.2 billion."

"But I have a request."

Wu Yuan shrugged: "This acquisition will not officially take effect until August next year."

"Before that, I need to clean up the company's hands."

"My new movie "The Martian" will also be released at the end of this year. It needs a buffer time."

Prior to this, John had actually talked to Disney and made it clear that Wu Yuan would drain all the company's working capital, indicating that he would only sell it as an empty shell.

It was also because Disney accepted this request that it became the one with the last laugh among the dozen or so companies that came to negotiate acquisitions with Light Times.

Of course, it was also because Wu Yuan only planned to leave an empty shell and not leave a dime to the company he took over except for personnel and copyrights, so Disney made a low-priced acquisition of US$1.2 billion.

Otherwise, Pixar Animation, Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm could get acquisition prices of US$7.4 billion, US$4.2 billion and US$4.1 billion. There is no reason that Light Age would only have 1.2 billion, although Light Age is indeed unable to compare with the above three companies. , but under normal circumstances, selling for more than 2 billion is still no problem.

"Daniel, I don't know why you chose such a troublesome trading model."

Lawn sighed and said helplessly: "Wouldn't it be good to buy it out at a fixed price of US$2.5 billion?"

"As long as you nod, we can sign the contract immediately, and the US$2.5 billion will be transferred to your personal account within a week."

"You no longer need to worry about withdrawing the money from the accounts of the era, and you don't need to go to the publishers who have not yet settled the accounts to ask for money. Disney will take care of all your troubles for you. How simple is this?"

"You will never suffer a loss at this price. I think the current working capital of Light Times and the accounts that have not been received are not even 1.3 billion, right?"

To be honest, not only Lao En, but John also didn't understand why Wu Yuan insisted on such a deal and had to postpone it until August next year.

"Laun, I actually want such a simple deal."

Wu Yuan said with a smile: "3 billion U.S. dollars, as long as Disney comes up with 3 billion U.S. dollars, I will give up everything in the Light Era. How about that?"

"Daniel, you are too greedy. Time of Light is not worth three billion US dollars, even if you include your new movies that have not been released yet, it is not worth it."

"It seems that we can only choose the first trading method." (End of Chapter)