Chapter 697: The wave of restructuring and mergers and acquisitions in the media industry
"Ronald, I heard that you want to buy MGM together with Kerkorian?"
A few days later, Disney's chairman, Michael Eisner, personally called Ronald and asked him a straightforward question.
Ronald felt a little surprised that the news leaked out so quickly, but then he thought about it, it must have been done by Kerkorian, a gangster in Las Vegas. He always likes to use some "gangster tricks" on his own initiative.
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Originally, Ronald and him had reached a gentleman's agreement on this matter, so as an American businessman who abides by traditional Puritan ethics, he should abide by the promise witnessed by God at this time, and everyone should perform what they agreed to.
Kirk Kerkorian is of Armenian descent. His parents were immigrants who fled to America when Turkey caused the tragedy. Therefore, their traditions are somewhat incompatible with America. Relying on their connections serving in the British Royal Air Force, they fought in
Later, he rented some planes at low prices and made a fortune by providing charter flights for Hollywood stars.
His creed is obviously that you can make a lot of money, and you will never take advantage of it. Where there are no problems, you must stir up all kinds of momentum to mislead the negotiating opponent about your own strength, and then find ways to take advantage.
Their business philosophy is similar to that of the Jews, but they have many more dirty tricks than the Jews. This time, Ronald's intention to acquire United Artists was distorted into wanting to cooperate with them to acquire MGM.
This surprised other potential buyers of MGM.
To put it bluntly, Kerkorian still doesn’t want to pay more than 10% higher than the market price to repurchase MGM. He wants to spread the news that Ronald is cooperating with him and scare away potential buyers such as Disney and Time Warner. This will reduce the number of potential buyers.
In the future, competitors will be able to force Credit Lyonnais into submission at a transaction price close to the market price.
"No, I did meet with Kirk, but I can tell you clearly that I have not, will not, and have no plans to acquire MGM Pictures in the future. You can be sure that my IQ is higher than
Forrest Gump is taller, and he won't buy an empty shell just for the name of MGM."
Ronald immediately completely denied his interest. Anyway, his plan was to acquire United Artists' label. United Artists is United Artists, and MGM is MGM. Although the two have now merged, Eisner will
Understand what you mean.
"Really? If your DDH can own part of MGM's overseas distribution channels, wouldn't it be a good complement to your business?" Eisner is now suspicious. This year's media industry and Hollywood have reached a stage
At this important juncture of mergers, acquisitions, expansion, and reshuffling, everyone is looking for ways to eat themselves fat, so that when the media undergoes major changes in the future, they will have enough fat to avoid freezing to death.
In addition to MGM, there are still several delicious Orions on the market, waiting for some giants including Disney to take advantage of the opportunity.
First, ABC, CBS, and Ted Turner's Turner Media (including CNN), several national television media, are in a financial position where advertising revenue is slowly declining, while broadcast equipment and broadcast networks are facing new technologies.
Upgrade the gates that require a lot of cash.
Television media has always been an asset-heavy industry. In addition to very expensive hosts, there are also intensive broadcast facilities in New York and Los Angeles, as well as the purchase of various series, which can be called terrifying financial expenditures.
In this fierce competition, if you only rely on your own business to move around, you will have big problems and fall into a financial trap if you are not careful.
Among them, CBS is facing a huge revenue crisis. The broadcast rights of the NFL, which they have always broadcast, were snatched away by the Fox Television Network, owned by Australian tycoon Rupert, for a sky-high price of US$1.5 billion over four years.
Fox is a new TV station that was established in the mid-1980s. It does not have much historical baggage and needs to expand subscriptions, so it can offer high prices. With this new broadcast contract, Fox has already established a good relationship with other local TV networks.
It has closed the gap and has officially caught up with ABC, NBC, and SBC in terms of audience numbers and ratings share, officially becoming the fourth largest television network.
And Ted Turner's Turner Broadcasting and Television Network (TBS) has fallen into another trouble, that is, lack of cash. He has expanded too fast in the past decade. CNN, as a 24-hour news network, was in trouble during the Gulf War.
It became famous in one fell swoop. However, the operating costs of cable TV are far higher than those of wireless TV, and the huge number of viewers did not bring the expected huge revenue.
Moreover, Turner has also invested heavily in two other areas that attract audiences, broadcasting sports events and rebroadcasting old movies. Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is the party that acquired the MGM film library, and TNT TV has also signed a contract
Received a broadcast contract for NBA professional basketball games.
He also invested a lot of money to shoot many original TV series, instead of using the procurement system commonly used by other wireless TV stations.
It has to be said that Turner has a very good vision, and the TV series he has shot and the old movies he has acquired are all classics. However, the rapid expansion in the short term cannot be supported by Turner's little financial resources, except for the fact that he was unable to pay the final payment before.
Given the MGM incident, there were also many rumors about his financial strain.
Under such circumstances, major media groups are eyeing these established TV networks to see if there are any opportunities to take advantage of them.
And if Ronald can join Kerkorian in swallowing up MGM, he will indeed be a potential opponent. Although in the eyes of industry insiders, MGM is simply a trash can with no valuable assets. Now Ronald
Even if Nader and Kerkorian join forces, they don't have enough money to buy any TV network.
But considering Redstone's operation last year, the financial market does not price based on such logic. If MGM becomes valuable through some "creative accounting method" in their eyes, then use this as a basis
With the mortgage, Ronald has the possibility to use high leverage to leverage a TV station.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "Ha, wait for me for two days, no, one day."
Ronald didn't want to get involved in this kind of thing right now, so he immediately called Ed Bastian. The next day's Wall Street Journal published DDH's denial of interest in acquiring MGM.
Bastian said that MGM is a miracle in Hollywood, and its classic movies are the collective memory of the American people. But DDH’s development strategy is not to be a big classic studio. On the contrary, DDH wants to be a company for
A production company that provides a platform for numerous artists.
The company does not have any new acquisition ideas in the near future, which is equivalent to denying the rumors through official media channels.
At the same time, Ronald also conveyed his anger to Kerkorian.
He officially stated to Credit Lyonnais that he could not participate in any way in the acquisition of MGM.
After Crédit Lyonnais received Ronald's anger, it immediately took action, doubled its anger, and passed it on to Kerkorian.
The country's "Le Figaro" published news that, according to unnamed insiders, the MGM acquisition case previously supported by Credit Lyonnais may have been improperly defrauded.
At that time, the Italian financial swindler Giancarlo Parretti was also misled by the then owner of MGM. It was reported that the sale transaction at that time was suspected of violating the country's financial laws and America's SEC information disclosure provisions.
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The two countries are considering adding him to their wanted lists and prosecuting him separately in both places. People familiar with the Italian financial practitioner said that Giancarlo Parretti may agree to become a tainted witness in exchange for the withdrawal of the prosecution against him.
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"Ronald, how could you do this? Didn't you promise me that you would buy United Artists?"
Sure enough, as soon as this statement came out, Kerkorian seemed to be hit on a key point, and immediately called and angrily accused Ronald of betrayal.
"Really? What I promised was to buy United Artists, but what I announced was that I would not participate in the acquisition of MGM. What's the problem with this?"
"Nonsense, United Artists is now part of MGM." Kerkorian suddenly blushed. When he was playing gangster, he met a stupid young man who actually started playing word games with himself, an old gangster?
"What, you want to clarify this in the media? No problem, I'll call the Wall Street Journal and give you an exclusive interview..."
"this……"
Kerkorian didn't expect Ronald to be so tough, as if someone was supporting him behind his back. This was not a sign of panic, he was playing tricks on an old gangster like himself!
Seeing this abnormal situation, Kerkorian calmed down. The intuition he had developed from doing business in Las Vegas for many years made him feel that behind Ronald was not as simple as he thought, and that he was not just a banker.
The young man who directed memory and luck made a fortune.
"What, you don't like the Wall Street Journal? It doesn't matter, I can call Mrs. Graham. She just complained to me last week that there is not enough heavyweight news. Do you think the FBI and SEC are investigating the fugitive Italian Ponzi?
How about the promoters of the scam? They are very willing to cooperate with the French newspaper Le Figaro to report this news. I think it is quite heavyweight..."
Ronald just needs to make it clear to Kerkorian that these news about the investigation of Giancarlo Parretti were concocted by him. Don’t you want to play? Then follow the standards of the American politician game and start from the authority.
The media leaks began, followed by in-depth reports by investigative reporters who were getting closer to the truth, and then powerful departments such as the FBI, SEC, and IRS intervened in the investigation. Whether you can escape depends on how many true friends you have on Capitol Hill.
"Ronald, I didn't mean that..." Kerkorian's face began to turn pale again, and beads of sweat continued to fall down his whole back. Fortunately, he had the protection of Nevada state law, and those business financial documents,
Not subject to federal jurisdiction.
"If I were you, I would call the congressman who represents me and the two senators from Nevada and ask them what procedures need to be done to allow federal law to override state law when state law conflicts with federal law.
Above... Let me think about it, my lawyer told me that you should check Article 6, Paragraph 2 of the previous law..."
"What is Article 6, Paragraph 2?" Kerkorian actually hired a lawyer to ask them to explain.
This clause is also a famous override clause. In unspecified areas such as family, marriage, education, minimum wage, etc., state law can have absolute jurisdiction.
But once interstate trade is involved, federal law can override state law when it is inconsistent with it. And the business behavior of selling MGM happens to be an interstate law, and it also involves transnational business behavior.
Although there are still many legal terms and forms that can be challenged, once powerful departments such as the FBI, SEC, and IRS are involved, these businessmen in Las Vegas are often the weak side. They had already been involved in the Prohibition period.
Understand this and don't fight federal law enforcement.
Kerkorian actually called the two federal senators he has always supported, especially Harry Reid, who has a higher status in the party.
As a result, Harry Reid's assistant said that his boss was not in the office and was discussing important matters and could not answer his call.
This made Kerkorian sober up, and he started making phone calls to ask his subordinates to resume negotiations with Credit Lyonnais. Harvey Weinstein has been showing off photos of himself and the current commander-in-chief William in the circle recently, and Hollywood has also
There is a tradition of being close to the White House, and if Ronald becomes more powerful than he can imagine, it will not end well.
"Right? I didn't lie to you, right? It has nothing to do with me. My only mistake was that I got on the phone with Kirk and talked about MGM. I shouldn't have answered his call. Anyone who sticks to this person will have endless consequences.
Trouble, I still haven’t learned enough lessons, I was already fooled by him.”
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! At this time, Ronald was already playing golf with Disney's Eisner.
Ronald had just officially learned to play golf not long ago. Fortunately, he still had the foundation he had gained through wrestling when he was young. His absolute strength was relatively high, and he also had the skills to control his force, so he was able to play well in a short time.
"In this position, you do still have room to learn. Ronald, I hope you won't be unhappy when I say this to you. Being a director is one thing, but managing a large company is another. Haha...
…”
Eisner was dressed in casual golf attire. The light-colored suit fabric mixed with linen fit him very well. He hit the ball high and far with one shot...
"Nowadays, the media industry is undergoing mergers and acquisitions, and everyone's nerves are tense..." The two walked close to the green, and Eisner apologized in disguise for his doubts.
"Indeed, both CBS and TBS are in trouble... Now that someone has come to acquire them, it can be considered a favor to them..." Ronald raised his head and looked at the weather, the sun was shining brightly. No wonder the top executives like this kind of sport, with blue sky and white clouds,
The fresh air and sunshine, which does not require superhuman physical fitness, are indeed the favorites of these executives who have spent most of their lives squatting in offices.
"Why, you also do research on television?" Eisner's suspicious habit started again.
"Of course, don't forget, I am the owner of two New York professional sports teams. The broadcast contracts for the new season need to be re-signed. The bids from TNT and ESPN are quite good. But the players union wants us to raise the minimum wage. Maybe it won't work.
There will be a strike."
"Ha, those people are all millionaires, why are they on strike?" Eisner's suspicions were finally eliminated. He and Ronald chatted for a while about CBS, TBS, and NBC, and ended the meeting happily.
"This old fox, I'm afraid he is targeting ABC..."
After returning, Ronald and Ed Bastian talked on the phone again. If Eisner acquires ABC, it will be another giant merger, which is likely to exceed Viacom's merger record.
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"Ronald, you have an invitation to participate in the regional bridge competition organized by the ACBL." After making the call, Richard suddenly came and brought Ronald an invitation.
"Who sent me the invitation? Oh, the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL), why are they looking for me? I'm not a professional player either."
After reading the invitation, Ronald realized that it was Microsoft's Gates and Berkshire's Buffy who recommended him, and the ACBL invited him to participate in the Masters Tournament in the Los Angeles area.
"Hmm..." Ronald calculated. He still had to find a partner. "Call me the number of the counselor in DC..."