I’m in Hollywood Chapter 599: Sharp questions

Remember [lnmao.org] in one second, fast update, no pop-up window, free to read!

Eric stayed only one night in Los Angeles, and hurriedly returned to New York the next day.

Although the competition for Firefly ’s debt underwriting business was broken, but after reaching a cooperation intention, Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank still conducted a very professional and rigorous review of Firefly ’s business and financial information, and investors Investigate the investment intentions of the company. After many discussions, the two sides finally reached an agreement on detailed cooperation terms and bond prices after half a month. Then Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank submitted registration instructions to United States and the German securities regulatory authorities respectively.

The securities market in the West is very perfect, and the government securities department often only plays a regulatory role. They often only guarantee the accuracy of bond issuance ’s public disclosure of information, and do not make any assessment of the investment prospects of bonds, even if the risk is very high. Large or even bonds with no investment value at all, as long as detailed and accurate report documents are submitted, they can easily pass the review.

Therefore, it is usually bond underwriters who play a leading role in the bond issuance process.

The annual bond interest rate established by Firefly and the two lead underwriters is 5.5%. Compared with the asset credit rating of Firefly, this annual interest rate is very high. If it is not this time, the scale of bond financing is too high. It will increase to a certain extent. ★ , Risk, the long-term bond interest rate of Firefly only needs about 4%. In the preliminary market testing process of Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank, the investment funds from United States states and Europe investors have proposed to purchase Firefly bonds. The intent funds have reached 3billion USD. When the registration documents are sent to United States and the German securities trading department for review After that, it basically confirmed the success of Firefly's securities issuance.

After passing the review by the securities department. Firefly only needs to cooperate with Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank for bond sales. And pay the funds to the original ABC shareholders.

Eric handed over the follow-up of securities issuance to CFO Carloyn Elliot of Firefly. Then began to participate in the specific merger process of Firefly and ABC.

The preliminary negotiations between the two companies have determined the specific merger plan in detail. All Firefly needs to do is to review the balance sheet and property list of ABC in detail.

Firefly 15 billion USD's acquisition of ABC has easily surpassed the Viacom's acquisition of Paramount last year, becoming the largest acquisition in the North America media industry.

With such a huge amount of capital, the acquisition result is of course a very large asset portfolio.

In addition to ABC ’s most valuable public TV Network covering entire US and more than 200 subsidiary TV Station, ABC ’s assets also include ten self-operated TV Station and 21 radio stations located in major cities of United States, located in Los Angeles's ABC TV production department holds 80% of the ESPN sports channel, and a & amp; eTV Network held jointly with Hearst Communications. At the same time, there are a group of newspaper and magazine assets under the original Metropolis Media. Moreover, these assets include a large number of properties such as real estate and car.

In addition, there are many other relatively scattered assets. Eric even found a Hand-Drawn Animation Production Studio in France on the property list of ABC.

The acquisition team of Firefly started from ABC Board of Directors approving the acquisition, and it took nearly a month to completely sort out these asset information.

It was n’t until the morning of April 10 that Eric signed the final transaction agreement with ABC ’s Tom Murphy. At this point, Firefly finally successfully included this North America first Major TV Network in the bag.

After signing the merger agreement, Firefly ’s total share capital has been expanded several times. Reached 100 million 35 million shares, of which the original shareholders of ABC excluding a part of the shareholders of circulating shares directly exchanged for cash or bonds. In total, 32.5 million shares and Firefly shares will be obtained. Jeffrey and Michael Lynn will initially receive 1.5 million shares and 500,000 shares from Eric. Firefly has spent a total of 1 million shares in recent years. The remaining shares are all held by Eric individuals, totaling 99.5 million shares, accounting for 73.7% of the total share capital.

After this merger, Firefly Pictures will also be named Firefly Group. The company has evolved from a Film Studio into a comprehensive media group covering various fields such as film, television, music, books, and tourism.

With Firefly ’s greater information disclosure during the merger and acquisition of ABC, Firefly ’s financial and shareholding information once again became the focus of public attention.

At this time, most companies in the North America stock market with good operating conditions maintain a price-earnings ratio between 10 and 30. The company's price-earnings ratio represents a company's profit and investment risk information, which is a very important financial data for listed companies. The price-earnings ratio is usually based on the company's share price divided by net earnings per share.

According to the price-earnings ratio of Time Warner20 times the same level as Firefly and the sum of the earnings of Firefly and ABC in 1993, the stock price of Firefly ’s total 100 million 35 million shares will reach about 252USD, which means that the market value of Firefly is expected Around 34billion USD, so calculated, Firefly has steadily surpassed Time Warner to become North America's largest media group.

Before the acquisition of ABC, although Firefly surpassed Time Warner in terms of profit, its position was still questioned by many people because of the uncertainty of film investment, but at this time, no one has doubted Firefly in United States or even the world. Leading position in the media group.

Therefore, this has become the focus of many media. At the press conference after signing the final agreement, the first question of the reporter of United States "Business Weekly" asked: "Mr. Williams, Firefly has now become the largest media group in North America and even the world, and you are so young, I think You will certainly not stop here, so what will Firefly do next? "

Eric certainly has a further ambition in mind, that is to control the entire Hollywood through various direct or indirect means, but of course, he will not say so easily. and. Although the acquisition of ABC was successfully completed. But the scale has reached such a huge scale. Firefly will definitely encounter various problems next. The first thing Eric needs to do is to solve a series of problems that may arise in the future.

After thinking about it for a moment, Eric replied: "My current plan is to run the brand new Firefly Group well, and besides that, there are no other plans."

Business Weekly reporters reluctantly continue to ask: "Firefly and ABC are already the top companies in the Federation. Do you have no ambition to continue to expand in Mr. Williams?"

Eric realized that this reporter might have some other thoughts, but on the surface, he still replied with a smile: "I do n’t know if anyone else found it. But when I researched many materials, I found that many times Regardless of the size, the company that encountered the merger will encounter a series of problems in the early stage of changing the owner. Even if this company is in a good condition before, it is often difficult to avoid losses. Some companies that were originally in excellent condition It may even be silent because of mergers, but some will become more prosperous. This process is very similar to the change of a country ’s government. Like the Phoenix Nirvana, it is either rebirth from a baptism of fire. Or it is turned into ashes. I personally hope that Firefly can be used for two to three years Time, just spend this 'Nirvana' period smoothly. "

Eric finished. There was a whisper of whispering in the audience immediately. After a short period of thinking, the reporter of "Business Weekly" immediately said: "Mr. Williams, your point of view is very novel, I have never heard of it, you can feel free to Give a few examples to prove it? "

“It ’s very simple, let ’s take ABC. Before ABC was acquired by Metropolitan Media in 1985, the annual profit was 130 million USD, but the second year after the merger, Metropolitan-ABC was caught in a loss of 70 million USD Mr. Tom Murphy and Mr. Buffett are both excellent management and investment talents. The excellent profitability of ABC in recent years is the best proof. So these should not be their problems, but the reason for the view I just mentioned. Of course, my personal knowledge is very limited, and there is no guarantee that this view is really a general phenomenon. So if there are professional economic experts interested, you can go to study, "Eric finished, and did not continue to let The reporter of Business Week entangled and pointed to a reporter personally: "Okay, next one."

"Mr. Williams, according to recent media information, your personal assets are close to 20billion USD, but we found that you have never carried out any charitable activities, nor set up any charitable fund, do n’t you think this is a kind of Is it a behavior that lacks a sense of social responsibility? "

Eric was stunned for a while, but the problem was more acute. He has good eyesight, and seeing the word "Christian Science Monitor" written on the pass of the black female reporter off the stage, he understood why the other party asked.

In addition to Eric, another Buffett who is obviously not enthusiastic about charity is also sitting nearby. Eric does not know the details of the Buffett foundation later, but he is very clear that the Buffett foundation at this time is actually very Do n’t spend money to do charity activities, most of the time still investing in accordance with the wishes of Buffett, and most of the funds of the Buffett Foundation come from Berkshire Hathaway stock dividends. Buffett has never paid a dime.

After asking a question, the female reporter also looked at the Buffett near her eyes with a certain direction. Obviously, it means that Eric and Buffett were ranked first and second in the Forbes North America rich list, respectively. Two.

Facing such a sensitive issue, Eric had to think carefully for a while before saying: "I personally think that the real sense of responsibility is to create more jobs for the society with the wealth in hand and let ordinary people Being able to support itself, rather than earning nothing for nothing. Firefly has been doing its best to do so, such as the Firefly's Firefly studio built in Los Angeles in recent years and the digital field studio invested in Florida and other departments, creating tens of thousands for the Federation Brand-new jobs. Of course, general charity has also played a great positive role in this society. There are many people in difficult situations in need of help in this society. In the past, I ignored this aspect because of my busy career. I will set up a corresponding charity fund in the next few years to increase investment in charitable activities. "

This answer of Eric looks a bit smooth, the black female reporter is obviously dissatisfied, but this time, the host realized that he had just made a mistake and quickly ordered another reporter. The following questions did not go too far At the local level, most of the reporters asked questions about business issues such as reorganization, layoffs, or business adjustments in the next phase of Firefly.

After the press conference, the group quickly moved to the regular celebration reception.

With a glass of champagne in his hand, Eric just planned to talk about the original ABC Chairman Robert. Iger chatted a few words, and Tom Murphy and Buffett walked side by side, and the two old mans also showed a pair of teachers to blame.

After the merger was completed, ABC withdrew the Board of Directors bamboo seat. Tom Murphy will continue to serve as CEO of ABC according to the agreement until the end of 1995. Tom Murphy and Buffett originally thought this was a compromise by Eric, but from Eric at the conference In the speech, the two old man realized that their self-feeling was too good. This little guy was obviously trying to squeeze the last value of their use of these old man: "Hey, Eric, I finally understand, you insist Let me, the old man, who is now seventy years old, continue to be the CEO of ABC, just to allow ABC to survive this merger smoothly. "

Eric looked at Tom Murphy with a faint smile on his face despite the strong momentum, shrugged slightly, and said with a smile: "But, Tom, I have never denied that I am not such a plan. You are also all Firefly now Large shareholders, shouldn't they object to making ABC better? "

When Tom Murphy heard Eric, he suddenly felt that he seemed really angry and somehow inexplicable, but of course he would not admit it, smiling and blamed: "No wonder Warren just said that you little guy is too smooth."

"Oh, I think this is a compliment to me," Eric smiled at Buffett.

Buffett smiled and shook his head, saying: "I quite agree with your answer to the black woman reporter's words, creating more jobs for the society is the real charity, the other is just to let those who think People who want nothing for nothing are really paid nothing. I have encountered many situations similar to spending money with donors. "(To be continued.)