Hollywood Hunter

Los Angeles Country Club in Beverly Hills.

The time is July 3rd, Sunday.

Simon just got out of the parking lot, and a young man in a white shirt assistant looked up and said, "Mr. Westeros, Mr. Welch, they are already waiting for you. Please come with me."

Following the young man into Los Angeles, the largest golf course with the largest area, Simon soon saw three other people talking and laughing on the edge of the course.Noting Simon's arrival, the three came together. One of the balding middle-aged people in their fifties was Jack Welch, the current chairman and CEO of General Electric.

"Hello, Simon, I'm so happy to see you," Jack Welch looked at Simon gently with a smile on his face, shook hands with him familiarly, and introduced two other humans: "This is Robert · White, he is now responsible for the NBC television network business. This is Larry Couping, he is the major shareholder of New World Entertainment, haha, you must know this."

Unexpectedly received an invitation from Jack Welch, Simon had some understanding of this meeting in advance, and at this time naturally knew the other two.

Robert White was originally the head of the Financial Services Group of the General Electric System and is currently the CEO and President of NBC Television.To be fair, Simon felt that Jack Welch's personnel appointment could only be described as bad, with typical layman leading the layman.

Of course, this is GE's internal affair, Simon does not intend to express any opinions on this.

Larry Couping is the major shareholder of New World Entertainment. He and another partner, Harry Sloan, hold more than 40% of New World Entertainment's shares.

Simon greeted each of them separately, and everyone entered the stadium together.

Each of them knew the purpose of the meeting, and few of them were eager to get to the point, but just chatted about some recent affairs while playing.In the general election year, the upcoming presidential election is naturally a very popular talk.

"The article in the New York Times about "Who Will Be a Millionaire" is very interesting. I really think it would be a good choice to involve Bush and Ducakis in this show," Jack Well Qi changed a cue from the caddie's hand and walked back to look at Simon. He seemed to inadvertently ask, "Speaking of which, Simon, Bush and Ducakis, which one do you support?"

Candidates for the two parties in the United States have already been finalized in May this year, namely the current Vice President George Bush and the Governor of Massachusetts Michael Ducakis.

Simon noticed that both Robert White and Larry Cupin looked at themselves, both intentionally and unintentionally, but shrugged casually, saying, "As a Californian, of course I support Ducakis."

Jack Welch swung a shot, pushed the ball into the hole, nodded with satisfaction, and turned to Simon, saying, "What if Bush won?"

Simon watched Larry Couping, who was divided into his own group, carrying the club and stepped aside, saying: "If there is excess funds, then buy as much military and oil shares as possible."

Simon's words were exported, and the expressions of Robert White and Larry Couping obviously changed.

This young man earned himself a net worth of 2 billion US dollars in just two years. Although he was carelessly tone at this time, Robert White and Larry Couping immediately remembered this sentence. In my heart, make up my mind and study it afterwards.

Jack Welch masked his inner fluctuations and watched Larry Coupin accidentally miss the ball and asked, "Simon, do you mean?"

Simon's expression seemed to regret looking at the ball launched by Larry Copping, saying: "It's very simple. Bush will probably come to power and he will probably be at war. War is the fastest factor driving oil prices up."

Robert White interjected at this time: "Simon, if you make these words public, it will definitely cause strong controversy."

"So, I would definitely not say that in public."

Jack Welch chuckled slightly.

The four played a few more holes, and Jack Welch, who had been waiting for Simon’s initiative, discovered that the young man’s patience seemed to be stronger than their three middle-aged people, and had to take the initiative to turn to the topic: “Simon, about the new world For entertainment, I still hope you can consider my suggestions some time ago."

The two stood in the green watching Robert White and Larry Coupin hitting the ball. Simon glanced at Jack Welch and said, "Now? Jack, don't you plan to adjust the offer?"

It’s just that “Who Will Become a Millionaire”, which has just burst into popularity, is expected to bring billions of dollars in profits to Daenerys.If Daenerys Pictures is a listed company, even if it is calculated at a price-to-earnings ratio of 10 times, the market value of this company can exceed $1 billion.

Jack Welch proposed to use New World Entertainment’s shares as chips to participate in Daenerys Films in several calls with Simon, but his valuation of Daenerys Films was far below $1 billion .

"I have to say that your ability to make money is really amazing," Jack Welch said: "However, Simon, I heard that Daenerys Pictures and ABC have not talked about the distribution of benefits. In the deadlock, the prospects for this project are not so certain."

"The profit share I reserved for ABC exceeds the profit level of all their TV shows in recent years."

Jack Welch said: “However, Daenerys Pictures seems to be asking for more. Are you worried that ABC will really abandon this project? As far as I know, according to the contract, Daenerys Pictures has not This project may be transferred to other TV networks."

Simon shook his head and said: "If ABC just feels that Daenerys has too much inner imbalance and abandons this project, then I can only let them continue to be unbalanced. Of course I will feel a little regret, but, give up this file The impact of the show on Daenerys is not as great as imagined. On the contrary, it is actually beneficial because during the next bargaining process, Daenerys’ competitors will realize that if I If you don’t want to make a compromise, you won’t make a compromise."

Jack Welch said: "But you really want to get New World Entertainment, don't you? Simon, if you want to get what you want, but you don't want to pay enough, this is definitely not enough."

"If I don’t bid, Jack, New World Entertainment’s most likely outcome is bankruptcy and liquidation. By then, creditors’ settlement priority will be very low. Your $220 million loan may only be half back. Now , I can guarantee that GE will recover all the funds, and this is the price I pay."

"Simon, you seem to be very resistant to working with others, which is not good. Even GE, we often establish joint ventures with other companies."

Simon saw Larry Cooper and Robert White finish a hole, and everyone walked down the green together and asked, "Jack, why do you want to work with other companies?"

"This will make full use of the resources of both parties to achieve a win-win situation."

"Yes," Simon nodded. "So, if I agree to GE's participation in Daenerys Pictures, what kind of help can you give me?"

"We own the NBC television network that can help distribute TV shows produced by Daenerys Pictures. We also have strong capital strength to support the rapid expansion of Daenerys Pictures."

Simon nodded again and smiled on his face, saying: "Jack, but the truth is that the TV shows produced by Daenerys Pictures are not short of buyers. On the contrary, if not a few TV shows in the hands of Daenerys Pictures Or maybe we won’t be here today. This is a seller’s market. Therefore, the NBC platform is not that attractive to me. Secondly, perhaps most of the Hollywood companies are always in a state of lack of funds, but This is not the case with Daenerys Pictures. My personal assets are enough to support the expansion of my career, and the profitability of Daenerys Pictures is also very strong, which is enough to make it easy to get the want from major banks. Loan. GE’s financial strength is not too attractive to me."

Jack Welch shook his head and said, "Simon, you are still young. Many things are not as simple as you think."

"Only talented people will complicate simple things," Simon waved his cue with one hand, and said: "But I prefer simple and direct, Jack, I don’t mind working with others, the prerequisite is, as What you just said, the two sides must be able to achieve a win-win situation, not that I sell my fast-growing company at a low price, just in exchange for resources that I don’t need."

"In this case, Simon, GE can only try to fight for its own interests," Jack Welch gestured to Larry Cupping, "We have negotiated with Larry, and GE will pass the debt. In exchange for a 90% stake in New World Entertainment, the relevant contract will be signed next week. Now, if Daenerys Pictures wants our shares, GE’s offer is 300 million US dollars. In addition, NBC also Hope to get the two reality shows "Survivor" and "Big Brother" being developed by Daenerys."

"I really want to be able to get new world entertainment, and I don't hide that," Simon stopped and said to Jack Welch: "But, after all, this company is not as attractive to me as you think Big. What I like more is Marvel Entertainment under this company, because I want to own a comic company. As for the other assets of New World Entertainment, Jack, these are very helpful for the development of Daenerys Films. But it’s totally optional for General Electric. You hold this company in your hands, and the end result will only slowly rot away. So, I will not accept such a quote, $250 million, this is The limit I can give includes all the shares of New World Entertainment, not just the 90% in your hands."

It is obviously impossible for Jack Welch to know Simon’s inevitable mentality about Marvel. Simon’s remarks fully fit his view of New World Entertainment.

Although this scale is not comparable to the seven, but it can be described as an all-inclusive entertainment company. In addition to the comics department of Marvel, it also includes New World Pictures, New World TV, New World Video, New World International, and several other previous mergers. Production and distribution company.

However, with the stock market crash last year and the ongoing Hollywood screenwriter strike, New World Entertainment's operations were in trouble. In addition to Marvel Entertainment, a relatively independent company that has not been greatly affected and can barely maintain profitability, New World Entertainment's Other departments are losing money.

If Simon does not want it, GE will then have to choose to lay off staff and provide as few resources as possible to barely maintain these departments.

The most direct result of this is a more rapid depreciation of the value of New World Entertainment.

In fact, if Simon was not interested in New World Entertainment, GE's management was actually more inclined to liquidate New World Entertainment in order to recover losses as much as possible.

Jack Welch also stopped with Simon and remained silent for a moment before he said, "Simon, what about the two reality shows that NBC needs?"

Simon was just right. If it weren’t for the success of “Who Will Be a Millionaire,” the other three reality shows in the hands of Daenerys Pictures have caught GE’s attention. This meeting.

It is already July, and the autumn season is coming soon.

Although NBC's situation was better than ABC and CBS in the past few years, in this generally bleak autumn file after the strike, if several other companies get from Daenerys Films like "Who will become a millionaire" This reality show, NBC is indifferent.Well, the result is likely to cause NBC to quickly fall below the other two TV networks after experiencing this fall.

As for the Fox TV network, it has not yet been regarded as a threat by the three majors.

Simon felt a change in Jack Welch’s attitude and smiled a little, saying: "Jack, if we reach an agreement on New World Entertainment, you can get a reality show, I recommend "Survivor", but In terms of profit distribution, I will not make too many concessions."

Jack Welch asked: "Simon, do you think "Survivor" can reach the rating of "Who Will Be a Millionaire"?"

"I can't guarantee, but you have missed an opportunity. If you miss it again, I can only say regret. However, among the remaining three reality shows, my favorite is "Survivor."

Jack Welch held the club silent for a moment, then looked at Larry Couping again.

Larry Cooper knew that he didn't have much right to speak, but nodded slightly.Once New World Entertainment goes bankrupt, as a shareholder, his losses are actually the biggest, because New World Entertainment's shares will become worthless.At the beginning, he and several partners only got more than 10 million US dollars for New World Pictures. In the next few years, he basically used other people's money for capital operations.In this situation, they can still recover some funds.

"So," Jack Welch no longer hesitated, reaching out to Simon and saying, "Deal."