Global monopoly of technology

At the same time, the person in charge of Merrill Lynch in the reception room introduced Zhang Bowen: "The current head of Marvel Comics is called Avi Allard, who took over the company as chairman and chief executive officer in 1997. , And founded Marvel Pictures. He began to enter Marvel Comics in the 1990s. In 1998, Stan Lee left the company. He created 80% of the well-known comic characters and created Marvel Comics. The miracle of the book is therefore known as the leader of North American comics."

Bluestar Technology wants to acquire Marvel Comics. Merrill Lynch suddenly appeared here for a reason. This is because they have a huge relationship with Marvel Comics.

Things should start in 2005. That year Marvel Comics decided to break the boat and be desperate to raise money to shoot Marvel movies. It used the copyrights of several famous characters such as Captain America and Thor as collateral, and signed with Merrill Lynch on Wall Street. Agreement: If the film is not profitable, Merrill Lynch will immediately have these roles

In the end, the two parties reached the agreement. Marvel Comics was almost worth the price and finally raised enough money, and decided to start with "Iron Man" as the first independent production project.

The film "Iron Man" has now been finalized and will be released in early May. It has been less than a month.

At this moment, Zhang Bowen chatted with the people from Merrill Lynch for a while. After not waiting too long, the head of Marvel Comics came to the reception room to meet them.

The two parties exchanged a few polite greetings. After Zhang Bowen was invited to take a seat, he immediately looked at the head of Marvel Comics and smiled: "Mr. Allard, I'll be straightforward when I come here uninvited. The Bluestar Technology Group has taken a fancy to Marvel, and wants to incorporate this North American comic book giant."

Allard, who had just sat down and hadn't warmed his butt, was stunned, and looked at Zhang Bowen's smiling face in amazement, unable to speak for a while.

It's really straightforward, without any obscurity.

At this time, someone from Merrill Lynch said: "I want to tell you a message, Mr. Allard, that Marvel Comics mortgaged several characters such as Captain America to Merrill Lynch. We signed a new agreement with Bluestar Technology yesterday. The agreement was transferred to Bluestar Technology. Simply put, Bluestar Technology is now your creditor."

Allard once again looked at both sides in amazement: "This..."

The news was so abrupt that Marvel Comics didn't hear anything about it.

It’s normal if you don’t receive it, because this transaction is between Bluestar Technology and Merrill Lynch, and there is no special agreement on the right to know between Merrill Lynch and Marvel Comics, so you don’t need to notify anyone who wants to transfer this claim. Marvel comics, not to mention the consent of Marvel comics.

Before coming here, Zhang Bowen went to Wall Street for this purpose, because he learned of the agreement between Marvel Comics and Merrill Lynch, which was not kept secret. The news that Marvel Comics had been ruined had already been reported a few years ago.

Allard recovered from the astonishment, and did not speak immediately, but thought about it in his heart.

The No. 2 character of Bluestar Technology personally visited the door. Merrill Lynch has transferred the creditor's rights to Bluestar Technology. Obviously, the other party really intends to acquire Marvel Comics.

As for Marvel Comics itself, frankly speaking, Arad was moved.

Without him, Marvel Comics is currently facing a life of nine deaths. The final box office performance of the upcoming "Iron Man" is still unknown. In fact, the whole company is very worried.

Once the box office fails, Marvel Comics will face an unprecedented predicament. The company’s life has been difficult, otherwise it will not sell the film and television rights of its well-known comic characters. "Spiderman" and related characters It was packaged and sold to Sony, and the "X-Men" series was packaged and sold to 20th Century Fox Film Corporation.

Basically, Marvel Comics has sold all its first-line character IPs, and they are also very heartbroken, especially after seeing the great success of "Spider-Man", and regretting the jealousy if not careful, there is no way. You can't open the pot if you don't sell it.

So this time, the first independent production of Marvel Studios was to use a second-line comic character "Iron Man", which actually made them even more unresolved, and they were worried that the film would lose blood. That was the darkest moment for the company.

No, now is the darkest moment of surprise.

Allard finished thinking, then looked at Zhang Bowen and asked, "What price does your company plan to offer?"

Bluestar Technology is straightforward when it comes up, and it also brought Merrill Lynch. There is no need to hide it. Marvel Comics' current bad situation cannot hide these big groups.

This manga giant is really miserable now, especially compared to the DC next door, it is sad to hear it, and tears to see it.

How miserable is it?

Even if I want to sell myself, no one is interested. This time, Bluestar Technology Group is an exception.

Because in the eyes of the industry and capital, Marvel Comics has no value anymore. The "Spiderman" IP is gone, the "X-Men" IP is gone, and the "Fantastic Four" IP is gone.

What's the surprise?

Basically gone!

"We have estimated the value of Marvel Comics based on the information provided by Merrill Lynch Securities and third-party audits..." Zhang Bowen said, looking at Avi Allard, and added: "Our audit results It is Marvel Comics, which is valued at US$2.25 billion, and US$1.5 billion acquired 67% of the equity.

"What? A $1.5 billion acquisition?" Arad's eyes widened, and he immediately said angrily: "NONONO, Marvel Comics has thousands of well-known character IPs. There must be a problem with your audit, which seriously underestimates the value of Marvel."

Zhang Bowen said: "I don’t want to belittle it, but with all due respect, Mr. Allard, the commercial value of your company’s thousands of characters combined is not as good as a "Spiderman". You know what I mean by Marvel Comics. The value is not as good as a "Spider-Man", and it is now owned by Sony Columbia Pictures, and other first-line well-known characters have been sold out by you. Basically, you have sold out everything that can be sold. Please tell me, surprise What else can you tell now?"

These words made Avi Allard speechless for a while. It can be said that the company’s psychology has been dripping with "Spider-Man" and its related IP characters.

Zhang Bowen is right. The IP value of a "Spider-Man" is worth the entire Marvel company multiplying by 2, or even 3 is not an exaggeration.

The first "Spider-Man" was released in 2002. In that era, it earned a horrible box office of US$822 million worldwide and opened the curtain of a superhero movie.

Immediately after the release of "Spider-Man 2" in 2003 the following year, the global box office won 784 million U.S. dollars. Last year, "Spider-Man 3" was released in 2007, and the global box office hit 891 million U.S. dollars, the highest in the series.

The box office score of the trilogy alone reached 2.497 billion U.S. dollars. According to the non-rigorous box office split, the filmmakers accounted for 33% of the box office split. Sony Columbia Pictures achieved a box office revenue of 824 million U.S. dollars. It was a dream. I woke up laughing.

The box office share is only a part. Most of the IP income of "Spider-Man" comes from the sales of peripheral goods, and the other part is the income from the movie box office. Marvel Comics currently only has the comic copyright of "Spider-Man", how can it be compared with the movie copyright Value compared?

Based on the situation of Luo Sheng's last life, the IP value of "Spider-Man" has reached a height of 23.4 billion U.S. dollars, and the entire Marvel Universe, which has become a huge success, is only more than 23 billion U.S. dollars.

It's really a little spider hanging around the entire Marvel universe.

It can be said that Sony is laughing in dreams and crying in surprise dreams.

In the end, Arad used the expectation that he was a little emboldened and tried to say: "It is true that you are right, but as long as Sony does not have a follow-up movie released within five years, the IP copyright of Spider-Man will automatically return. Surprise's hands."

Zhang Bowen smiled and said faintly: "In my opinion, even if Sony makes a bad film every five years, it must hold this IP firmly in its hands. Do you think he will give up the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series. , "Harry Potter" series, "Lord of the Rings" series, IP value can be a cash cow with them?"

Arad was speechless again.

That’s right, Little Spider is now in charge of the front-runners of Sony Columbia Pictures. It has a proper existence like a cash cow. If your brain is not watts, you will definitely not let go of this IP, and will continue to operate carefully as a long-term Cash cow.

Avi Allard could not refute for a while.

Some just regret that it was not at the beginning, but regret that everything is too late.

Suddenly, the head of Surprise, who was poor in words, suddenly looked at Zhang Bowen. He still wanted to sell his company a good price, but the price was too high. He asked: "Why does Marvel Comics have no value in your company's eyes, so why come to buy us? ?"

Zhang Bowen smiled and said what the other party was heartbroken after hearing it: "It's still a bit valuable, but it's nothing more. The core business of Bluestar Technology is the IT industry, but the Internet's web2.0 era content is king. Our group The company has a BV video website. The streaming video business needs some content support. I don’t know if Mr. Allard understands the US$5.2 billion digital film signed by the company with the six major Hollywood movie giants and more than a dozen independent studios some time ago. License agreement?"

Allard nodded: "I know this. Your company's handwriting is pretty scary."

To be honest, Marvel Comics had such an idea that he wanted to sell himself immediately, so he hurriedly called the Bluestar Technology Group "Dad" and reported such a thigh of the father of such a funder. Why does the company rely on selling "sons" "Stop?

Allard realized that Marvel Studios, a subsidiary of Marvel, wanted to break into the film industry and must rely on the big group, especially in the current bad situation.

Even the traditional Hollywood movie giants are backed by large groups. Sony Columbia Pictures is backed by the Sony Group. Although Sony’s market value is not high, its assets amount to hundreds of billions of dollars, which is even more troublesome in the last century. The super giant, the pride of the Japanese;

Disney Pictures is backed by Walt Disney, Paramount Pictures is backed by media predators Viacom, and Warner Bros. is backed by Time Group.

It’s only if you have a "dad" as a backer to be able to get mixed up, and you can come out at critical moments. Like those independent film companies, without the backing of big groups, this year may be good, but next year you may not see He is gone. Because of bankruptcy and bankruptcy, only studios backed by large groups can stand in the industry for a long time.

Marvel Pictures is backed by Marvel Comics...Whoever relies on it is the same. The pro-daddy is too cheap, and he is almost out of food. Only by recognizing his godfather can he have a way out.

And right now, there is a big group to recognize the son, maybe it is the only one. Although the Bluestar Technology Group has a mediocre attitude towards Marvel Comics, at least it is willing to claim it, and others are not willing.

Although heartbroken, this is the state of surprise.

To be honest, Allard himself knows that Marvel does not have much bargaining chips. If you miss this opportunity, Marvel may not have a second time.

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