Hollywood Domination Chapter 166: Player
"Ah..." Jenny wasn't surprised, and of course she didn't find it difficult to accept. She was only dissatisfied with her performance: You're so stupid, have all the deeds of Internet predators in later generations forgotten? Compared with trying to test the water in a new field by yourself, the best way is of course to buy directly. How could she not even think of this?
Thinking about it carefully, Bob's idea shouldn't be a whim. First of all, he contacted Cesare, which means that he should already know the real relationship between Cesare and Dameng. ——I also want to know that Jenny didn’t spend much time in Los Angeles last year, and the business of Dameng didn’t stop during her sick leave. Bob definitely didn’t believe that she was the actual person in charge of Dameng. Secondly, the asking price of 200 million yuan was not randomly offered. It was 30% of the copyright income of "The Devil Wears Prada" held by Dameng, 33% of the copyright income of "The Fifth Sally", and "Unlucky Love" 50% of the income from "God", all the copyright income of "Old Friends Are Rich", and the valuation of the existing equity capital - of course, the selling price of the puppet master and a certain profit margin must be added.
Counting the cash in Dameng's account and the expected income from these copyrights, even if the puppet master is discounted by 100 million, Disney's asking price still has a profit margin of 50 million, and it can go up. A pretty decent deal. Even if it's only sold for 200 million, it's 100 million in cash per person - not everyone can get 100 million in cash, even if it's a Hollywood big shot. It has only been more than a year since the founding of the big dream, and Jenny can't even count how impressive the rate of return is - of course, the premise is that she has to be determined to sell the big dream and the puppet master, and give up the hard-earned money in her hand. Block strategic chips.
"Not for sale." She quickly made a decision, "What do you think, Cesare?"
Cesare smiled and nodded, "I'm not short of cash."
"But Bob has hinted to us that he knows about your investment in Big Dream." Jenny frowned, "If we reject Disney, will he—so we still have to go back to using that fake backer Is there an idea to protect Dameng and the puppet master?"
"The lie will be exposed one day." Cesare shook his head, "This lie can only serve as a short-term deterrent, and it cannot stop the coveted eyes of the Big Six forever. Now the Big Dream is for them In other words, it means the two energies of manipulating the Olympic awards and manipulating Internet public opinion. Maybe in the first year we can still reject the offer of the Big Six, but in the second and third years, especially the Big Six finds that the network marketing department is not When it is not so easy to establish, they will come back, this time maybe the methods will not be so formal, and the attitude will not be so gentle. Unless you plan to never use the puppet master, or really make it an independent company, Give up its ownership, otherwise, before the six majors have the same ability, the big dream will never be able to get rid of their entanglement, and we will spend countless energy unnecessarily on the game with the six majors-this is not good for the big dream It’s not good news, what we should do is to develop ourselves instead of fighting with big companies whose magnitude is far beyond ours.”
"It sounds like you already have a complete plan." Jenny narrowed her eyes—she may not be familiar with business struggles yet, but she is already familiar with Cesare: this kind of long preparation often means that he A new plan was operated behind her back, and now it is only inspiring her to think about approval. "Don't tell me you've put it into practice."
"You are indeed much better than you were a year ago." Cesare shook his head bluntly, "I have a bold idea, but I haven't implemented it yet—I can't implement it without your consent. "
"Tell me." Jenny narrowed her eyes even more. "Stop treating me like a child, come on, Chesa—I can take it."
Despite such bold words, when Cesare began to describe his plan, Jenny still couldn't help showing surprise. As the plan in Cesare's mouth gradually moved forward, her eyes Even more flickering - well, if there is no Cesare's foreshadowing, maybe she can't accept his idea at all...
"Are you sure it's really going to work?" she asked hesitantly after Cesare's narrative came to an end. "Are you sure Harvey and Bob are really going to be at our mercy? I mean, they both You are already an old fox at the top of the pyramid, and you and I are at least twenty years younger than them—"
"It depends on your judgment." Cesare spread his hands, "50 vs. 50, without your consent, this plan cannot be implemented."
The media turmoil caused by the Reese incident, the six majors coveting the puppeteer, Oscar's unexpected results, and the current complicated situation... Jenny looked at Cesare suspiciously—she almost felt that the sixth major was right now. The coveting of the big dream is all Cesare deliberately made in order to promote this plan.
However, looking at it from another angle, if it weren't for Oscar's accidental result, most people would not believe that the Reese incident was caused by Jenny's team. , What she should learn is Cesare's ability to adapt, instead of doubting his loyalty and integrity for no reason, thinking about robbing shifts when the big dream cake is still too small.
After thinking about it again, she couldn't help but laugh: What power is there to seize? Cesare is in power now, that is, such a major event requires her consent - and this is not because Cesare is too powerful, but because she is not yet capable enough to take care of her big dream and her acting career To a certain extent, if she really has the ability to operate the big dream independently, why did she invite Cesare to join?
"Since I can't think of a better way," she decided resolutely, "then let's do it—but we must be very careful, very careful, Chesa, this matter is not allowed Error."
A confident smile appeared on Cesare's lips, but his tone was still as calm as ever, "Of course I know, just wait and see, Jefferson—just wait and see Alright."
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"Honey, is it necessary to be so cautious?" Willow Egg gave the child to the nanny with some puzzlement, then turned and walked to her husband, "I don't understand why the children can't have dinner with us, Jenny It’s not the first time that Fer and Cesare have come as guests, and they also like children very much.”
"How much they can like children, my dear, don't always take kind words seriously." Robert Iger kissed his wife on the face, "You are so beautiful tonight-anyway, today's dinner is not suitable The children joined, this is a business dinner after all, or you can treat it more as a business negotiation.”
"Okay." Willow still seemed to have some doubts. "Whatever you say - ah, here they come."
"Let's go, go to the door to meet the guests." Robert looked at his watch, "Virgilia should be here soon."
"Jennifer——Cesare." He smiled and hugged the handsome couple, took the red wine from Cesare's hand, "I'm so glad you finally found time—especially It's Jennifer, I know you must be very busy now."
"There are indeed quite a few party invitations." Jennifer showed her white teeth. Get her fully excited. Robert couldn't help reminding himself secretly: This girl doesn't seem like the type to be moved by sweet words. "But Bob, your invitation is of course number one. Even if you invite me to the United Nations dinner, I will say sorry to them."
Robert couldn't help grinning: Jennifer has always been flattering, which is surprising given her background and education.
"Let's have a pre-dinner bar first, Virginia should be here soon." He led the guests towards the restaurant, "Oh, Chesa, don't show such an expression—we won't play family cards tonight, Virginia is here just to be a witness, you know this is a rule, such a big business, I can't settle it alone."
"You are just flattering people, Bob." Jennifer showed a happy smile, "It's only 200 million dollars, how can this be considered a big business for Disney?"
Indeed, spending 200 million or 300 million to buy a company is not a big deal for Disney, and it is not even as high as the investment in "Pirates of the Caribbean 2", especially in Disney Compared with the big deal that was negotiated last month—the $7.4 billion acquisition of Pixar—the $200 million acquisition can only be regarded as an appetizer, especially since Disney’s motives for acquiring Dream are not pure. There are many things that are not easy to talk about in a conference room, so Robert chose to take the business home and talk about it in a more relaxed and safe environment, which may make Jennifer and Cesare a little more relaxed The last one: Disney doesn’t care too much about the registered capital, cash in the account, or even the copyrights of those movies. What they really care about are the two hidden forces behind the big dream—Oscar and Internet marketing .
Although Miramax is still barely alive and still producing movies, for Disney, without the Weinstein brothers, they have almost lost all the power to hit the important Oscar awards, Miramax It is true that Smith is still working on movies now, but those are all projects left by the Weinstein Brothers at Disney. After these batches of works are released, Miramax can barely maintain a title. After all, the team that actually works has been scattered , most of them followed Weinstein to the new company. Disney is also in urgent need of a new subsidiary to hit the Oscars and decorate the company's appearance. It is also because this demand is different from the other five majors that Robert basically decided on the idea of acquiring Big Dream on the night Jennifer won the award. The asking price of up to 200 million yuan is not so much about buying the movie copyright, but rather about buying the two channels of the big dream—black-box operation to ensure winning, and online marketing to guide netizens' word-of-mouth. Of course, the latter has a wider scope of application, and it is also applicable to Disney's commercial films.
Deducting the valuation of registered capital and copyright, the money used to buy these two channels should be between 100 million and 150 million, and this is an extremely suitable deal for Disney. If the marketing department of Big Dream It can really do so well, even without mentioning the Oscars, the 150 million yuan is just a matter of two or three years. For Robert, it is not difficult to make this decision. The real difficulty is how to convince Cesare Vijari and Jennifer Jefferson that there is a relationship between them, but this is a big deal for 200 million US dollars. It doesn't affect anything, and his biggest worry is not that they dislike the asking price of 200 million yuan, but that the partners are unwilling to sell Dameng, and prefer to run a family business by themselves like Weinstein.
Now, hearing Jennifer's casual and relaxed tone, Robert's mood immediately brightened a lot: It seems that Jennifer is indeed sincere in wanting to sell Dameng, and Cesare's tone on the phone is also very loose, As long as there is intention, the details are easy to discuss. Although he also holds some bargaining chips that can threaten the two, the relationship between the two parties has always been good. Even if the other party is two young people who are just starting out, they can't threaten him at all. Robert doesn't want to ruin his personal friendship for business. — Both Jennifer and Cesare have great potential in their respective fields. If you get the big dream but lose Jennifer, it will be a heartbreaking loss. Who knows how many more high-grossing films this girl can bring? At least until her box office aura has not faded, he doesn't want to turn against Jennifer.
"As long as it's related to you, this business is not small." He happily praised Jennifer, "Ah, Virginia is here——"
Although the food was delicious, neither Robert nor the three guests were concerned about it. After a short but pleasant dinner, Robert invited the three guests into the study. Virginia Vijari did not speak, but found a corner seat and sat down—her role tonight was to be a witness, and to smooth things over in her own special capacity when the negotiations were not going well. Since the negotiation atmosphere seems to be good now, she wisely kept silent.
"Brandy?" asked Robert, "wine?"
He poured wine for several guests, determined to get straight to the point and win the contract as soon as possible. "So, Jennifer, you've heard Cesare say the whole thing, right? Can you tell me, what do you think?"
Jennifer smiled, and she said in a relaxed tone, "Oh, Robert, I don't understand these things at all. To be honest, I have only done one thing since the establishment of the dream, and that is Just pay the money, and I will leave other matters to the men—since Cesare is here tonight, and you were in contact with him from the beginning—"
She glanced at Cesare trustingly, took a sip of white wine self-consciously, Cesare Vijari straightened his back politely, "Bob, regarding your proposal, I and I Our partners have also discussed it."
He didn't look at Jennifer when he was talking about his partner, and Jennifer didn't seem to be bothered by it. Robert blinked, and a string in his heart seemed to be plucked: It seems that Jennifer is indeed not involved in the operation of the dream, and she is not the partner that Cesare said.
So who is behind her? Why such secrecy? Does he already have a wife? Or was that a politician? No, politicians don’t have that much power. If they do, they are some very sensitive departments, maybe even related to national security. After 9/11, people are always talking about cyber-terrorism...
Although Robert is the CEO of Disney, he can be regarded as a top figure in Hollywood, but he doesn't know everything. Spiritually listened to Cesare Vijari's statement, "The first thing to declare is that this year's Oscars...is a special event, and I am afraid that such things will not happen every year."
Cesare glanced at Jennifer and said in a flat tone at first, "Although there are many rumors from the outside world, I can assure you that this year's Olympic Awards have nothing to do with me. What I have done is actually very limited. .The Best Actress still depends more on Weinstein...and some other friends’ public relations methods. As for the Best Supporting Actress, it is entirely because of Jennifer’s relationship that she finally won this award.”
Understood, there is indeed someone involved, maybe this person is another partner of Cesare and Jennifer, another person who is actually talking about the big dream. Robert nodded with a smile, and said nothing: He understood what Cesare meant. The Big Dream may have some power for the Olympic Awards, but it is impossible to repeat Jennifer's crazy achievements every year. Only Jennifer can let the partner behind the scenes release Such a great energy-it seems that she has already fascinated the other party.
"As for the Internet marketing department, Big Dream will not let you down." Cesare also smiled meaningfully at him, "We also plan to use the strategic cooperation with Weinstein for Oscar's operation. To reinforce... We have initially reached an agreement with Harvey that Dameng and Weinstein will exchange 1% of the shares and form a strategic partnership. Therefore, if Disney and Dameng reach a contract, Dameng will also It will become a bridge between Disney and Weinstein, and I believe this will be a very beneficial cooperation for all three parties.”
Weinstein-Robert couldn't contain his astonishment: Weinstein was separated from Eisner, and Robert himself did not approve of this decision. But any further Disney-Weinstein collaboration seems impossible. After all, Weinstein won two Oscars for his first film after becoming independent. Now, even if he wants to sell the company, he doesn’t have to worry about a buyer, so why bother to turn back at Disney? Do you think you haven't been disgusted enough before?
Even if there was a strategic cooperation intention before, after Dameng was acquired, this matter would definitely fall through. Didn't Cesare understand this? Why take it out as a bargaining chip?
Unless...
Robert pointed the question out with a smile, "But I don't think it raises the price, Chesa, as you know, Harvey is a very proud man, Disney has broken his heart, I'm afraid he is not Will return to our arms again."
"That's true at first glance." Cesare nodded, "But what if Disney didn't acquire Dameng, but just injected capital? Maybe Harvey's opinion will be different. What do you think, Bob?"
Ah-ha, here we come, keep the shares, no surprise. This was also in his expectation—Robert glanced at Jennifer: If it was just this girl, maybe she would really sell out the company, but with Cesare and the person behind the scenes, the buyout is not so easy to talk about up.
"Then how much capital do you think is appropriate for Disney?" He asked with a smile—in fact, this is also a cooperation method acceptable to Disney, after all, in these two channels, they still need the founder's guidance and cooperation. If the Miramax model of the year can be repeated, Disney’s management is also willing to accept: Disney holds 80%-90% of the equity, but in terms of business, it can be handed over to Cesare and Jennifer to lead. Of course, in this case, it goes without saying that Jennifer's endorsement must be the rights of the other party. "How much equity do you want to keep, Chesa?"
"We accept a capital injection of 100 million from Disney and own 40% of the equity." Cesare said smoothly, "The maximum limit is an injection of 150 million to own 60% of the equity, but—"
He stretched out his voice, "Ab share system must be adopted, Jennifer and I have 10 times the voting rights of Class A shares of the follow-up capital injection shares, that is to say, the shares of Disney can only own at most——"
Robert had already figured out the answer in his mind, and his expression couldn't help but darken accordingly. "0.58% of the voting power."
"Yes." Cesare nodded, "and we have an additional condition: Jennifer and I will have a pre-emptive stock option equal to the amount invested by Disney, Bob—and I'm talking about the head office .”
Even though he had expected that the conditions of Dameng would not be that simple, Robert was still speechless: 150 million US dollars of stock may not seem like much, but it is close to 1% of the equity, which is already more than many executives. Holdings are much more - and this is not just a matter of 1% equity, but more of a status symbol. So far, both Jennifer and Cesare are just outsiders in his opinion. Although they are outstanding stars and managers, they are still nothing to the core power circle in Hollywood. Giving up the 150 million preemptive stock options is tantamount to acknowledging that these two young guys have entered the circle of power, and they have truly become players who can sit on an equal footing with all executives...
Looking at the self-confident Cesare, and Jennifer, who smiled peacefully, as if she didn't understand the significance of this request at all, Robert found himself in a rare hesitation: he was concerned about the Vijari family's finances. I know better, not to mention 150 million in cash, even Cesare Vijari may not be able to get 50 million. Jennifer Jefferson has been very good at making money in recent years, but in the end there are only four For her work, she still has to pay taxes and inject capital into her dream... On her own, she can make another 70 million is already the limit...
More than 100 million cash, you can take it if you say it...
Who is Cesare Vijari speaking for...