Hollywood Hunter

Strictly speaking, compared to Miramax, which has not yet risen, Orion Pictures has a greater threat to Gaomen Pictures in the field of literary and artistic films. This company produced Mozart Biography and Field Platoon in the 1980s. And many other excellent films that won Oscars.

Without the appearance of Simon's big butterfly, "Dancing with Wolves", "Silent Lamb" and other projects will also be produced by Orion.

The reason why Simon did not target Orion is mainly because this company has gradually declined, but it has very deep background support.

In the 1980s, Viacom’s Sam Redstone and media tycoon John Kruger also fought for equity in Orion. In the past few years, the two media tycoons realized that Orion had become weak and found Canada again. Seagram's powerful receiver.

Daenerys Entertainment can easily kill the new line and Miramax, but it is impossible to destroy Orion Pictures, which has three shares of Viacom, John Kruger and Seagram Group.

However, the little Orion cannot satisfy the appetite of the Branfman family who has been interested in entering the entertainment industry behind the scenes of Seagram Group.

After the time Warner merger, Seagram tried to absorb Time Warner’s stock while the group’s debt was high in 1991, but it was firmly rejected by the powerful Steve Ross before it even initiated a takeover bid.

During the acquisition of MCA by Daenerys Entertainment, Seagram Group also expressed its willingness to participate in the competition.

Just considering the strength of both sides, Seagram Group again gave up actively.

Now, Time Warner's business situation continues to recover, MCA has become the baggage of Daenerys Entertainment, Colombia is in the hands of Sony, 20th Century Fox is affiliated with News Corporation, MGM is also controlled by Australian capital, and Disney is in good operating condition. The stock price is too high to acquire.

As a result, Paramount was the only acquisition target left by Hollywood to the Seagram Group.

In other words, unless the malicious acquisition of Disney is launched at a very high price, otherwise all the capital forces coveting Hollywood's major studios, the current suitable acquisition target, are only Paramount.

Paramount was only one of the subsidiaries of Gulf West Industries in the early days.

In the 1980s, with the recovery of the entertainment industry and the excellent leadership of Barry Diller, Michael Eisner, and Jeffery Kasenberg, Paramount grew rapidly from the late 1970s to the 1980s During the first few years, he has successively produced big box-office titles such as "Grease", "Military Officer and Gentleman", and "Avatar".

Gulf Western Industrial Company has gradually sold its energy, food and other businesses, sloping more and more resources in the media field.

The turning point happened in 1983, when the original chairman of Gulf West, Charles Brudan, died of a heart attack and Martin Davis became the new chairman.Compared with Charles Brudan’s decentralized attitude, Martin Davis could not tolerate the three principals such as Paramount’s Barry Diller who are more famous than themselves, and successively squeezed the three out of the company, so they were for Para Meng's decline has laid the bane.

Over the years, Gulf West has long been reorganized into Paramount Communications Group, with companies involved in many fields such as film, television, music, cinema, and publishing.

However, compared to the glory of the early 1980s, Paramount's film business as a leader gradually faded after the third part of Steven Spielberg's "The Treasure Hunt" series.

In the previous fiscal year, Paramount’s revenue was $4.3 billion, and the group’s net profit was only $260 million.

As a listed company, Paramount Communications, which has a total share capital of 120 million, recently maintained its share price at around US$39, with a market value of US$4.7 billion and a price-earnings ratio of only 18 times.

In the case where the US stock market has generally begun to recover, an 18 times price-earnings ratio is obviously a suitable acquisition target.

Compared to the sluggish market value,

In fact, in previous years, Wall Street business snipers Karl Icahn and Ron Perelman have tried to do this. If it was not for the federal government’s extensive investigation of insider trading caused by the fall of Michael Milken, the two People almost succeed.

For Seagram, this company originated in the era of Prohibition in the United States.

At that time, Americans wanted to drink alcohol only through smuggling. At that time, Canada couldn't help alcohol, so it made a lot of profits from the alcohol smuggling industry chain.

The real rise of Seagram began in 1981, when Seagram Group invested heavily in ConocoPhillips in the United States. Subsequently, ConocoPhillips was acquired by DuPont. Through the form of share swap, Seagram became a DuPont company. The largest shareholder with a 24.3% shareholding ratio.

The DuPont Group has grown rapidly over the years, and the shares held by Seagram are becoming increasingly valuable.

However, the two sides basically dislike each other.

Edgar Branfman Jr., who took over the West Gram Group from his father, wanted to get involved in the entertainment industry. DuPont did not want to always have such a large shareholder to constrain its own development. Over the years, the two sides have been discussing this batch Equity transactions.

Now, as long as the Seagram Group initiates the acquisition of Hollywood Media, it is basically the time to sell these shares.

The media's valuation of Seagram Group's 24.3% DuPont shareholding is generally between US$8 billion and US$9 billion. Such a huge sum of money wants to annex Paramount Communications with a recent market value of only US$3.9 billion. Obviously more than enough.

Since Hollywood has only the last best acquisition target, other than the Seagram Group, other capital will certainly not be indifferent.

Barry Diller, who assisted Murdoch in creating the Fox TV network and integrated 20th Century Fox Pictures, left last year from News Corporation and founded QVC Media, which is supported by Comcast and Telecommunications, two major cable TV giants.Although there hasn't been any news for the time being, Simon is very clear that if possible, Barry Diller will not give up the idea of ​​acquiring Paramount Communications.

In the past history, Barry Diller lost to Sam Redstone.

This time, in the face of Seagram with the same financial strength, Barry Diller is equally unlikely, because neither Comcast nor Telecommunications, the two cable TV operator giants, can possibly withdraw large sums of money to support Diller’s competition. purchase.

As for Viacom, Sam Redstone will probably also be interested in Paramount this time.

Unfortunately, Viacom Group cannot have such strength.

In the original time and space, Sam Redstone's family capital once participated in investing in Blockbuster, so in the process of merging Paramount Communications, Viacom first swallowed the full cash flow of Blockbuster through equity mergers and acquisitions. The company then used Best Buy's cash plus stock swap to finalize the acquisition of Paramount.

Now, Blockbuster is one of the important subsidiaries of Daenerys Entertainment, it is impossible to provide funds for Lei Shidong.

Viacom Group is not as spectacular as the original time and space. In 1992, Viacom Group's revenue was only 1.9 billion US dollars, net profit was 56 million US dollars, and the market value at this stage is 2.9 billion US dollars. Comb's MTV and Showtime cable TV channels and other promising development prospects, the market value of 2.9 billion US dollars, already means a price-earnings ratio of 51 times.

In Simon's memory, the AOL merger of Time Warner with a price-earnings ratio of hundreds of times is a miracle.

At present, Viacom, which has a high valuation but a low market value, wants to eat Paramount Communications with a low net worth and a low stock price. A stock exchange is certainly not impossible, but if someone proposes a cash acquisition, as long as it is not too silly Shareholders know how to choose.

Viacom without BesTV is simply unable to produce much cash.

The potential opponent is the Seagram Group, which can cash out more than 8 billion US dollars at any time.

Although Seagram Group only made tentative contacts with Paramount Communications, Simon got the news as soon as possible. He was also very concerned about this matter and preferred Paramount to be acquired by Seagram Group. .

The current US media industry regulation has not lifted the restrictions on foreign investors not being allowed to hold U.S. domestic TV stations. At the time, Rupert Murdoch had to change his nationality in order to develop the Fox TV network in the U.S. Once Seagram acquired Paramount Communications, it must divestiture its own TV station assets.

In fact, it was once that MCA and Paramount jointly owned the USA TV network which is currently owned by Daenerys Entertainment and Paramount Communications.

Moreover, judging from the results of Seagram taking over MCA in the past, Edgar Bronfman Jr. obviously has not much talent in the operation of the media group. Paramount’s strength has been declining in recent years. Simon I'm happy to continue to toss Bronfman for a few years, and continue to consume the vitality of this big studio, so as to achieve the effect of Simon's constant promotion in the dark.

Hollywood, in fact, it is enough to have two or three large media groups.

After more than 20 years in memory, Hollywood has actually been inclined to Simon’s planned “ideal state”. Disney, Time Warner, and NBC Global backed by Comcast have become three-legged, especially after Disney’s acquisition of Fox. The status is even more obvious.

It is said that there are five big left, the decline of Paramount and the sluggish Sony, basically there is not much sense of existence.

This time, Simon hopes to basically complete the foreshadowing of this situation in the 1990s, and even further, the appearance of the three-legged triumph, in fact, should be the sole leader of Daenerys Entertainment.

Malibu, Daenerys Studios.

The time is Wednesday, June 2.

The previous weekend, the opening of two new films "Super Mario Bros." and "Fairy Tale Finale" released last Friday were dismal.

"Super Mario Bros.", which cost $48 million, had a box office of only $8.35 million for the first three days of the weekend. As one of Disney's blockbuster bombs this summer, this door-opening dumb bomb directly caused Disney's stock price to fall by 3.6% on Monday.

The "Fairytale Finale", which tells the follow-up story of Snow White, was tossed by Disney through copyright litigation for three years. After the release, there was no splashing. Only three dollars were received in the first three days of the first weekend. Obviously there will be no follow-up In two weeks, they will basically leave the North American theater completely.

The bleak results of the two new films undoubtedly made more potential market space for "Superman" released on June 4.

On the upcoming June 4th, "Superman" can be described as a dominance. Only this movie will be released this Friday. Warner Bros. Films, which is responsible for film distribution, will be the superhero movie at the Chinese Theater in Hollywood tonight. Held a grand premiere.

Simon was having lunch with Nancy Brill and Robert Shea and Weinstein brothers who had just confirmed to join BesTV Entertainment.

The lunch time was originally reserved for the female assistant. After four months of pregnancy, the female assistant has begun to show her heart. Recently, she quietly moved to the mountain villa in Woodside, San Francisco. Jennifer’s mother Carol Rebold also deliberately After losing his job and coming to the West Coast to take care of himself, Simon's recent flight to San Francisco naturally began to increase, at least two or three times a week.

After completing the auction at the end of May, the new line company was officially disbanded.

Blockbuster finally bought the new line's most important library assets for $68 million, and quietly took over a part of the team including New Line's chairman and CEO Robert Shea.

Despite encountering the target of Daenerys Entertainment during the release of "New Fierce Ghost Street", Robert Shea finally decided to join BesTV after lobbying by Nancy Brill. This filmmaker has only this year At 54 years old, it is far from the age of retirement. The new line went bankrupt, and Shay actually did not have much capital to retire early, and could only continue to work in this circle.

The survival status of Hollywood's second and third-line film companies is becoming more and more difficult. Even if he is used to being a boss, it is difficult for Shay to start from scratch again. Joining BesTV with a strong background is actually the best choice.

The Weinstein brothers are even more so.

Even the three of them were quite surprised when they were recruited by BesTV.

After all, this hugely powerful video chain company that is backed by Daenerys Entertainment, in fact, has more and better choices. The three of them can only be regarded as losers in Hollywood.

Therefore, in front of Simon, even though Robert Shea, who has some suspicions on both sides, was very obedient, the Weinstein brothers did not have any rude strength in Simon's memory, so a lunch can be said to be the guest and the host.

At one o'clock in the afternoon, ending lunch, the three left temporarily, and Nancy Brill continued to sit in Simon’s high-end small dining room and asked, "What do you think of them?"

Simon shrugged: "I only talk about the results."

How about the three, Simon is actually very clear, especially the Weinstein brothers, Simon has been considering adding some restrictions to these two brothers, to avoid the once again Hollywood sex scandal broke out.In fact, as long as the two brothers can always work in the Daenerys entertainment system, the probability of that incident happening is very low.

As for privately, Hollywood has many people like Weinstein.Simon also has no moral cleanliness, or that he is a hunter himself, as long as there is no trouble, it really doesn't matter.