Hollywood Hunter

Among the three candidate companies, Vacheron Constantin has the longest history focusing on the production of top-level watches and clocks, and it has been established for more than 200 years.

In 1987, Jacques Cutler, the head of Vacheron Constantin’s then controlling family, died. His children chose to sell the brand, which was bought by Ahmed Yamani, the former Saudi oil minister who had just emigrated to Switzerland.

As a rare non-royal government official from Saudi Arabia, Ahmed Yamani has achieved the core position of Saudi Arabia’s oil minister by virtue of his outstanding personal ability, and he has planned the Middle East oil crisis in the 1970s to fight for OPEC. A lot of benefits.

It's a pity that personal ability can't withstand court struggle after all.

In the mid-1980s, Yamani’s largest mountain-supporting Saudi crown prince was assassinated. The oil minister was dismissed from his position by the new Saudi king the following year and moved to Switzerland to avoid further cleansing.

At the time, Vacheron Constantin happened to be looking for a buyer, and Armani shot.

According to media reports, the former Saudi oil minister loved the watch collection, so he bought Vacheron Constantin.However, in Simon's view, this matter is more like the memory of many emerging countries rich people ran to the West to buy basketball or football teams, a typical way to protect themselves by name.

Vacheron Constantin, like Rolex and Patek Philippe, are the top watch brands in Switzerland. Buying such a company can greatly enhance the holder's international reputation.

Many times, fame is indeed an invisible amulet.

From the mid-1980s to the present, after so many years, the political situation in Saudi Arabia has long been stabilized. No one cares about a long-lost former oil minister. Yamani began to seek to sell this watch brand that takes up a lot of his assets.

Unlike ordinary watch companies that mass-produce, Vacheron Constantin's annual output so far has just exceeded 11,000 pieces.However, because the average price exceeds 10,000 US dollars, there are still many luxury-grade limited editions each year. In 1993, the turnover reached 143 million US dollars, and the net profit was 21 million US dollars.

During the initial contact, Armani gave a quotation of US$300 million.

The top watch brands are not as fast as the apparel, luggage and luxury goods companies through rapid expansion of production and marketing, so although the profitability is stable, the growth is very weak.According to the profit scale in 1993, the price-earnings ratio of 14 times is still high on the offer of 300 million US dollars.

According to the assessment in the data just mentioned, a true acquisition should be able to win this company at a price not exceeding $250 million.

Sofia sent a glass of juice to Simon, still unwilling to get off his leg, and heard the man say "very good and have problems", saying: "So I want you to make an idea."

Simon took a sip of cold fresh apple juice, and wrapped the other hand around the waist of the woman in his arms, saying, "Three companies, should you want to get Bulgari most?"

Sofia nodded and moved slightly to make it easier for men to hug themselves, saying: "I have investigated many comprehensive jewelry watch brands, Cartier, Bulgari, Earl, etc., as well as our own Van Cleef & Arpels, found These companies have a unified characteristic. Jewelry sales are the bulk of the sales. The sales are basically more than 70% of the brand's total revenue, and watches often only account for about 20%."

Simon smiled: "So, it's better to make money for women."

Sophia glanced at him gently, and then said: "Unlike luggage and apparel companies such as Gucci and CK, top jewelry and watch companies want to maintain their brand value, they cannot over-expand, and the turnover of a single brand is maintained at less than 1 billion US dollars. The best. Therefore, if we want to expand this business, we can only expand in disguise by acquiring multiple brands."

Simon directly pointed out the problem facing Sofia: "The Bulgari family is not willing to sell too many shares, how do you plan to solve it?"

Sophia said: "I have considered that if we are willing to give up part of Melissa's shares, the Bulgari family should be emotional.

Melisandre’s previous acquisitions used cash, so now, apart from Simon and Sofia, the company has no other shareholders.

Over the years, Simon has granted Sofia a total of up to 20% of Melissa’s shares through several consecutive equity transfers.

Because it is not listed, the valuation of Melisandre has been very different from the outside world, generally ranging from 5 billion to 10 billion US dollars.Even at the lowest valuation of US$5 billion, Sofia is now a top female billionaire worth US$1 billion.

However, Sofia's performance on this matter is very low-key, and the ownership structure of Melisandre's company has been kept secret. Many media even believe that Melisandre is fully owned by Simon, so the woman has never appeared in any of them. On the wealth list.

Using the stock of Merisandro, one of the four women in the Westeros system, to make a share purchase, as long as the Bulgari family is not stupid, it should understand the gold content.

Simon had no objection to Sofia's suggestion, but just said: "If you think about it, Sophie, this time using Melissa's shares, and later acquiring other brands, the other party is likely to make the same request."

Sophia said: "I know, but we will definitely have no problem in maintaining a controlling stake for a long time to come. For example, this time, I think it is enough to transfer 3% of the shares to the Bulgari family, and the rest will still be used. cash payment."

Simon asked again: "What about valuation?"

Want to exchange shares, Mei Li Shanzhuo's valuation is also a very troublesome problem.

It is not unreasonable for the huge difference in the valuation of Melisandre's company because it is really not easy to value this company.In the past few years, because of the different shareholdings and the different types of subsidiaries, Melissa’s financial reports are calculated separately by each subsidiary.

Take 1993, for example.

Gucci is still the core of Melisandre, with a shareholding ratio of 75%, 1993 revenue of 1.89 billion US dollars, a growth rate of 32%, and a net profit of 310 million US dollars.

Then.

Van Cleef & Arpels: 60% shareholding, 1993 revenue of 350 million US dollars, growth rate of 35%, net profit of 59 million US dollars

CK: 55% shareholding, 1993 revenue of 170 million US dollars, 33% growth rate, net loss of 8 million US dollars

Chateau Latour: 100% shareholding, 1993 annual revenue of 36 million US dollars, growth rate of 7%, net profit of 6 million US dollars.

Christie's auction house: holding 31% of the shares, the 1993 auction turnover was 2.36 billion US dollars, a growth rate of 41%, and a net profit of 73 million US dollars.

Based on the shareholding ratio and profit figures, in 1993, the profits of all brands owned by Meili Sandra were attributable to the parent company at approximately US$290 million.

However, for the development of these companies, Sofia did not implement a full dividend, but only recovered about half of its profits.

Not to mention.

According to the net profit scale of US$290 million attributed to the parent company, and because the Merit Sandra company except Simon Chateau Latour Winery, other brands have maintained a high growth rate of more than 30%, so if the IPO Operation, IPO valuation to obtain 20 times price-earnings ratio is easy, which is close to 6 billion US dollars in market value.

If it is really listed, the issue of the price-earnings ratio rushing to more than 30 times after listing is not a big problem. At that time, it will be a market value level of 10 billion US dollars.

As a result, when both parties are not listed, and want to adopt a share purchase model, the valuation problem will inevitably lead to both sides scrabbling.

The best solution is of course listed.

Sofia was probably able to guess Simon's thoughts. Although low-key in recent years, she did not object to the listing of Melisandre's company at the right time, saying: "If it is an IPO, it will definitely be too late this year."

Simon thought for a while and said: "Then talk about it, try not to lose too much. Moreover, you can ventilate the Bulgari family in advance about the listing, which should also win us a lot of initiative."

Sofia nodded.

The market value miracle created by Daenerys Entertainment IPO is widely known even in Italy.

Melisandre is also a'woman' of Westeros, and no one will doubt her listing prospects.The Bulgari family should also be aware that in the privatization state, they will get the equity of Meili Shanzhuo. Once Mei Lishanzhuo conducts an IPO, the value of the other party's shares may double within a year or two.

This rate of return is definitely very attractive.

After talking about Sofia's most favored Bulgari, Simon asked again: "What's going on with Versace?"

Sophia said: "I met Jenny Versace in Cannes at the May Festival of Cannes in May. After a few chats, the other party invited me to a Versace brand party, and then I had several contacts. In the middle of last month, Versace took the initiative Test if I am interested in investing in his company."

Simon smiled and asked, "What do you think?"

Sophia took the cup that Simon had unwittingly bottomed out, sipped the last juice, put the glass next to it, and said: "Van Versace obviously wanted to use our influence to get rid of the Mafia, so this The thing is not what I think, but what you think. You are a man, of course, you have to decide this kind of thing."

Why was Jenny Versace once shot?

Because Versace wants an IPO.

After the IPO, the business and financial situation must be publicly disclosed. If some people do not want to be caught, it is impossible to use the Versace shell to launder money.

After all, Gianni Versace wanted to get rid of the Italian Mafia.

It's a pity that I didn't get it.

Simon is not afraid of the Mafia.

The Italian Mafia prides itself on a group of desperate men, and is it not that Simon, who dares to wage a war in Africa, is a higher class desperate man.

What's more, the Mafia should have not forgotten Mussolini's bloody methods.

Because the deterioration of public order in the past few years has caused public resentment, the Italian government has continued to increase its efforts to fight underworld in recent years, and the Westeros system has been continuously deployed in various political and business circles in Italy in recent years. If the Mafia dares to provoke themselves, Simon will not Mind spurred the Italian government to launch a larger anti-crime operation.

Sofia, who was waiting for Simon to make a decision, suddenly felt some kind of cold deepness emanating from the man in front of her and quickly realized that she had made a mistake.

Very serious mistake.

The little man who is so powerful that makes many people desperate is certainly not afraid of those underground forces like bugs, which is why she puts the Versace company information in front of him.

However, because this kind of trivial matter released the devil side of his heart, it was not what she wanted.

Sofia would rather his little man bully himself to death on the bed than he would be surrounded by negative emotions that should never appear on him, he should always be decent.

Thinking of this, Sofia leaned over and kissed Simon, and kissed him gently, saying, "I decided, the next goal is Bulgari."

Simon wrapped her hands around the woman's waist and stared at her for a moment, then suddenly smiled and said, "Are you worried that I will get mentally ill one day..."

Before he finished speaking, Sofia kissed again.

After a while, the two parted, and Sofia faced Pangmo with the man's cheeks lightly stubble, and his tone was firmer: "It's Bulgari."

Simon nodded slightly: "Okay, listen to you. However, it's not bad to buy Vacheron Constantin by the way."

The merger wars of some of the world's major luxury goods giants began in the late 1990s when the European economy recovered. Now, since there is no shortage of funds and sufficient strength, of course, the sooner the layout is deployed, the more luxury brands are better.

Sophia yelled softly.

Neither of them later mentioned Versace.

However, Simon occasionally flashed a thought, since it is impossible to acquire, such a company is definitely the best to completely destroy.The same Italian brand, Versace's style has many similarities with Gucci, and belongs to the most direct competitors.Since Gianni Versace has moved some thoughts and cannot rely on the Westeros system, it may be possible to advance the other party's Versace company IPO in advance.

Quietly making up his mind, Simon continued quietly with Sofia to discuss some details of the acquisition of Bulgari and Vacheron Constantin, and the two left Martha's Vineyard together at about ten o'clock in the morning.

Returning to Greenwich from the island, it was almost noon, and I had lunch at Sofia's house before Simon rushed to the airport and set off for the west coast.

Boeing 767 front cabin.

After the plane took off smoothly, Girl A sent a thick stack of documents that Simon needed to read to the front cabin study room. Neil Bennett also gave Simon a password suitcase after he got on the plane. The Trow family intelligence team regularly reports on actions and intelligence aggregation.

Simon did not rush to open the lockbox, but first looked at the North American theater box office data for the past week.

Today is already Saturday, July 16.

In the last box office week from July 8th to July 14th, two new films from the North American theater, "True Lies", relied on James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger who created the "Terminator" series. This pair of main partners successfully withstood the phenomenon-level "Forrest Gump", and reached $40.83 million in the first seven days of the week.

In fact, there are also reasons why "True Lies" and "Forrest Gump" are very different in subject matter audience.

"True Lies" is an action blockbuster, full of popcorn attributes, and the audience viewing desire consumed by "Batman: The Rise of the Dark Knight" released in early June revived a month later, and there were no other similar selling movies. Appear, so you can succeed.

However, "True Lies" still only ranked second in the box office list in the first week.

The second week of "Forrest Gump" was released. After the number of screens increased from 2137 blocks in the first week to 2836 blocks, the box office fell only 11% the next week and received another 47.53 million US dollars, easily winning the single-week box office championship. .

Within two weeks of opening the painting, "Forrest Gump" rushed directly into the 100 million box office club, with a total box office of $10.98 million.

Because the two blockbusters were too strong, another new film last week, the love film "I Love Trouble" starring Julia Roberts, had a box office of only 12.28 million US dollars in the first week, ranking third.

Daenerys Entertainment initially signed five film contracts with Julia Roberts, but with many things changing, the actress has been in the blockbuster movies such as "Wind Moon Beauty" and "Tangge Assassination Order". Still popular, Simon did not value the other party too much.

Coupled with the lack of suitable projects in hand, Simon generously let Roberts cooperate with other film companies.

The "I Love Troubles" invested by Warner Bros., due to Roberts's production, cost $45 million to produce. The first week's box office was $12.28 million. It was less than half of Warner Bros.'s expected results. The total box office in North America is estimated at $30 million. It also means that Warner will continue to lose money on this project.

"The Gambling Horse Warrior", which played in the summer, has already taken the lead. Now, another expensive and expensive romantic film has lost its lead. Warner has to rely on the profits created by "Batman: The Rise of the Dark Knight" to continue to make up for the shortfall.

According to A girl's remarks after the box office statement, after the data of the box office was released yesterday, Time Warner's share price fell sharply by 2.9% in the last trading day of the week, and the market value fell from US$16.1 billion to US$15.6 billion in a single day. The daily market value evaporated by 500 million US dollars.

Affected by the box office sales of "True Lies", the fourth week of "Zhao Hun" dropped 31% at the box office this week, and received another 12.15 million US dollars, lagging behind "I Love Trouble" with a weak disadvantage.

However, the opening box office of this soul-stirring movie universe has reached 96.31 million US dollars, breaking 100 million soon.

Jack Nicholson's new film "Wolf Life and Death" released at the box office week on July 1st, the day of the week, the box office fell 54% the following week, only receiving 11.45 million US dollars, ranking fifth this week's list, the film two weeks The cumulative box office is 36.36 million US dollars, and the total box office in North America is expected to be about 50 million US dollars.

Considering that the production cost of the film is as high as US$50 million, Jack Nicholson, who was out of luck, turned over.

In addition to the top five, the sixth place of "Phantom Man" has a 49% drop at the box office in the next week. The box office has shrunk to less than 10 million US dollars in a week. The box office only received 7.51 million US dollars, and the cumulative box office was only 22.18 million US dollars.

A series of other films originally expected by major Hollywood studios such as "Zero Blast", "Urban Stalker 2", "Beverly Detective 3", with the release of "Real Lies" and "Forrest Gump" "The phenomenal outburst has completely withdrawn from the summer competition.