Hollywood Hunter

Simon Morning and Joseph Schlapp re-formulated a lobbying plan on the federal media integration ban.

The French Vivendi Group suddenly launched an acquisition to Disney. In order to avoid more Hollywood big film companies falling into the hands of foreigners, it is now pushing to lobby Congress to lift the ban on media integration, which was passed before Vivendi and Disney reached an acquisition agreement. Not a problem.

Simon did not plan to do so.

From the standpoint of the Westeros system, Simon also hoped that Vivendi’s acquisition of Disney would be successful. When another big film company fell into the hands of foreigners, under the pressure of public opinion, the media integration ban will be lifted in the future. Daenerys The political hurdles for entertainment to start acquiring television networks will be much smaller.

Moreover, if the media integration ban is lifted in advance, it is likely that the shots that compete with Vivendi are the three old TV networks, and even if it is Simon’s favorite metropolis ABC Group, it will be even more troublesome.

Even if it is not ABC, Disney and NBC or CBS will join forces to become another comprehensive entertainment media giant, and will definitely become a strong competitor of Daenerys Entertainment in Hollywood.

Simon is not afraid of competition, and he even hopes that at the right time, a sufficiently strong competitor will face off against Daenerys Entertainment.

It is not now.

By comparison, letting Disney be acquired by Vivendi, the Hollywood giant that has not developed in the past few years because of Simon’s big butterfly, will only continue to weaken.

Neither the Hollywood natives nor the federal government will make the outsiders who try to break into the US entertainment industry too good.

This point has been proved by many previous and future examples.

If Disney merges with the local TV network, if Daenerys Entertainment suppresses it, it will certainly arouse widespread public attention, and the federal government will not sit idly by.On the contrary, if Disney becomes a subsidiary of a French company, even if the Hollywood studio, which has more than half a century of history, is brought to bankruptcy, many people will only keep their eyes closed.

Want fair competition?

nonexistent.

After all, this is protectionism.

Knowing this, Simon’s overseas expansion of the Westeros system will basically establish a close interest relationship with local forces.

For example, at the beginning, Meili Sandra had a chance to buy Gucci and other companies wholly, but Simon voluntarily gave up.Nokia has just developed, and Simon has also taken the initiative to list the company in Europe in order to share benefits.Also in Russia, the Westeros system provides almost all the operating funds, but only requires half of the profit share, which can be called a big release of hematemesis.

And Australia.

If it were not for the Johnston family to be entrenched in Australia, Simon would not be involved in mining resources that are related to the lifeline of the Australian economy, nor would he invest heavily in Australia’s mobile communications and Internet industries.Because it is very clear, without roots and lows, I ran to the site and would only touch my nose.

As a result, many overseas collaborators of the Westeros system feel that they have taken advantage of it, and spare no effort to use their own resources and networks in their respective countries to assist the expansion of the Westeros system, so Simon gains more.

Let's look at another outsider in Hollywood.

Whether it is Sony in Japan or Seagram in Canada, due to their wealth, they have chosen to eat all of their goals in Hollywood, as is now Vivendi.

Since these enterprises have become wholly-owned subsidiaries of your foreigners, the position of the federal government has naturally changed.

Peter Cooper and John Peters have caused serious damage to Columbia Pictures, and even caused a huge write-down loss of more than two billion US dollars for Sony. If Sony is an American company, Peter Cooper and John Peters The two must have encountered investigations and allegations because of suspected serious economic crimes.

As a result, the two left Sony with a mess, and took their tens of millions of dollars in salary and benefits accumulated over the past few years to enjoy retirement.

Simon had lunch at Sofia’s house at noon,

Not only a large number of rich people, politicians and celebrities like to buy property here, Martha's Vineyard is also almost one of the designated resorts of the President of the United States, and there are many famous news events around this famous island.

For example, Spielberg's famous work "Great White Shark" was filmed on Martha's Vineyard.

As another example, John Kennedy Jr., who was responsible for the renewal of the Kennedy family, died after returning to the sea after attending a wedding on Martha's Vineyard.Of course, this happened in 1999 in Simon's memory, and now John F. Kennedy Jr. is still alive.

Two Black Hawk helicopters landed one after another on the lawn of a manor with a private beach in Oak Town, north of Martha’s Vineyard. Simon and Sofia got off the helicopter, and two groups of bodyguards from the helicopter led by Neil Bennett Carry various instruments to enter the villa first, routine anti-eavesdropping inspection, and install and activate the monitoring and warning system around the manor.

After being so busy for more than half an hour, the bodyguards withdrew from the annex, leaving only Simon and Sofia in the three-storey resort-style main villa.

In the two-person world, Sofia is no longer reserved, and Simon is still energetic after experiencing last night.

An absurd afternoon, when I woke up again in the master bedroom of the villa, through the bedroom glass window, I could see the stars outside. Unfortunately, this villa does not have a terrace, and the two of Simon did not mean to go outdoors. Although the scenery and climate of Martha's Vineyard are pleasant, in the summer, there is no shortage of mosquitoes.

The view on the big bed was very small. Sophia simply pulled Simon up and came to the window, removed the original sofa and coffee table here, put a blanket on it, and lay down again.

Sticking to Simon's chest, reflecting the stars, listening to the little man's various strange stories about the starry sky from the east and the west, then happy, and then sleep until the next morning.

Waking up in the morning, Simon made up his mind to abstinence for a week.

However, thinking about returning to Los Angeles in the morning, I pushed back the start of abstinence until next Monday.

Sophia was glorious in the early morning, her fair skin was rosy, and she couldn't help but want to take a bite.

Having eaten breakfast, I finally remembered that there were still some serious matters to be discussed.

In the past few years, Melisandre acquired the expansion rate of a company almost every year. It bought Van Cleef & Arpels in 1991, CK in 1992, and Christie’s in 1993. If it was not Simon’s intervention, Melisandre last year The company will also start a fashion TV station.

This year is no exception.

In fact, from the first half of the year, Sofia was looking for various goals, but some transactions were unsuccessful for various reasons.

Sophia had to invest all the capital reserves of Melisandre’s more than $300 million in the US stock market according to Simon’s proposal.

That’s right, even though a lot of money has been invested for expansion in these years, the luxury industry’s huge profits, even after dividends to other shareholders, still unknowingly bring more than 3 to Melisandre The balance of 100 million US dollars.

The former LVMH boss Bernard Arnault followed Jeff Bezos and became the second billionaire in the world, for no reason.

This time, Sofia also brought information from three companies.

All famous.

Bulgari, Versace, Vacheron Constantin.

On the private beach of Martha’s Vineyard, Simon leaned on a deck chair under a parasol and looked at the information of the three companies. Sophia, who seemed to have only a man’s shirt on his body, came over with a drink and placed it on the side coffee table. , Instead of going to the recliner beside him, he sat directly in Simon's arms and asked, "How is it?"

Simon said: "It's very good, and there are problems."

The three companies, unlike Gucci or CK, which were initially leaked, all have superficial operating conditions.

However, there are many problems inside.

Bulgari is an Italian jewelry and watch company. It is still controlled by the Bulgari family. Compared with Van Cleef & Arpels, this company is also much larger. The annual turnover in 1993 reached 530 million. The US dollar has a net profit of 120 million U.S. dollars and is currently seeking to be listed on the Milan Stock Exchange. The estimated IPO valuation is between 1 billion and 1.5 billion U.S. dollars.

Melissa Sandra has contacted the Bulgari family.

With regard to listing, the Bulgari family has different attitudes. Of course, there are many benefits for companies to go public, but they will certainly be subject to various constraints, with advantages and disadvantages.

This is also the opportunity for Melisandre.

However, although some people in the Bulgari family have tended to cooperate with Melisandre, according to the current negotiation status, Melisandre expects to get up to 30% of Bulgari's shares, which does not meet Sofia's expectations .

Because Meili Sandra has owned a company of the same type, Van Cleef & Arpels, the development momentum has been very good in recent years. The turnover in 1993 reached 350 million US dollars, and the overall turnover increased by 105 compared with 1990 before the acquisition. %, the overall scale is not much worse than Bulgari.

Most importantly, Melissa Sandra’s shareholding in Van Cleef & Arpels is 60%.

Therefore, if you can only buy 30% of Bulgari's shares, this will inevitably face a problem of resource balance.

With the same resources, it is self-evident which side a 60%-owned subsidiary and a 30%-owned subsidiary will have.

This is not what Sofia wants to see.

Later, in order to avoid the emergence of competitors, the luxury goods giants often eliminated potential threats through early acquisitions.

LVMH in Simon's memory has done this kind of thing more than once.

However, Melisandre, which is currently in a fast-rising stage, has not yet entered this stage.

If you want to buy Bulgari, Sofia naturally hopes that this jewelry watch company, which has a better foundation than Van Cleef & Arpels, can go further, instead of unequal internal competition due to uneven resources, even leading to one of them. Eventually declined.

Therefore, if you want to maintain a certain balance, let alone get the same 60% of Bvlgari shares. According to the evaluation of Melisandre, this ratio must reach at least 40%.

The 30% and 40% equity looks similar. For the Bulgari family whose equity has been dispersed in the hands of various family members, it means that whether Melissa Sandra will become the largest shareholder.

The Bulgari family is willing to accept external investors, but it does not want to cause the control of the family business to fall.

If so, it is better to conduct an IPO.

The following Versace, the problem is more'interesting'.

As one of the most popular luxury brands in recent years, Versace's turnover in 1993 reached 650 million US dollars, and the business scale even exceeded Bulgari.

For luxury companies, this is actually very amazing.

You should know that Bulgari was founded in 1884 and has a history of 110 years. Versace was only established in 1978. Even if Gianni Versace is more talented, the growth of luxury brands cannot avoid enough accumulation.

So, what's the problem?

Sofia did not sell the key in the data.

Italian mafia.

As is rumored, the Versace brand is indeed used by the powerful Italian mafia as a money laundering tool.

Outsiders always feel the mystery of money laundering around money laundering. In fact, the operation is very simple.

Take money laundering for luxury goods.

The gang first signs a loan contract with the target luxury goods company and lends the other party a large sum of money out of thin air. Of course, this money certainly does not exist.

Then, the gang used its power to buy a large amount of goods from the luxury company's stores, and contributed a large amount of revenue to the luxury brand. The brand then returned this revenue to the other party by way of debt payment. The money suddenly became legal income. .

In order to save costs, the purchased luxury goods can even be recycled.

However, in general, the cost of money laundering is often very high. If you only consume 30% of the money laundering process, it is a master-level money laundering operation. Usually, the cost of money laundering exceeds 50%.

For a large amount of black money that comes very easily, the cost of money laundering exceeds 50%, which is still within the tolerance range.

Once Jenny Versace was shot, it was rumored that the Mafia tried to steal Versace's ashes to extort debts from the Versace family. In fact, there are signs of many things.

Versace’s business is so good, with huge profits every year. Even if there is a problem with the capital turnover, it can be easily financed through formal channels. How can it be possible to borrow money from the Mafia?

Moreover, in the original time and space, Versace's revenue reached $1.1 billion at the peak of 1996, which is even more unusual.

You should know that after Gianni Versace was shot, even after another 20 years, the Versace brand has recovered and the turnover has not exceeded $1 billion.After the death of Versace, the Versace brand quickly declined, both revenue and profit fell rapidly, and once hovered on the verge of bankruptcy, which is also very abnormal.

Luxury brands that have been able to achieve revenues of more than 1 billion US dollars, even if the founder dies and heirs can no longer be successful, they should have sufficient anti-risk capabilities.

In this case, Versace's brand has declined, and revenue and profits have fallen sharply. What is the problem?People with a little mind understand.

Because some of the original extra income and expenditure are gone.

and.

The matter of stealing ashes also seems to be a bit more detailed in Simon's eyes. Coercion to the dead, how can coercion to the living be effective?

With the influence of the Mafia in Italy, Simon believed that even if Versace died, the Versace family could not escape some of the'debt' owed, and funds were drawn out to repay the debt, which is obviously one of the reasons for the decline of the Versace brand.