Ronald mobilized some of his personal wealth and bought some stocks recommended by the two richest men. Ronald was satisfied.
After all, a person's wisdom is limited, not to mention that he himself is just a film maker. In traditional American society, film directors are not a very respected role.
Until the 1960s, when Peter Bogdanovich was writing biographies of some of the most outstanding directors in Hollywood film history, John Ford was still making a fuss on the phone with his old friends Howard Hawks, George Cukor and others.
They expressed that now someone actually treated them with the same respect as a real artist.
This situation did not change until the 1970s. From Coppola's The Godfather, to Spielberg's Jaws, and finally George Lucas's Star Wars, fans began to worship the director.
However, this kind of admiration is still limited to the fan groups of specific movies. The whole society, especially the so-called high-end social circles, has not changed much in its view of this kind of entertainment industry practitioners.
However, the situation of old money is also changing. The richest people in America back then were called robber tycoons. Some were engaged in match factories, those selling rubber, including steel, finance, and chemicals. They all had close ties with the government and monopolized the market.
For example, the families of Vanderbilt and others, who were engaged in the ferry and railway business, have fallen into decline, and their descendants have become ordinary wealthy people.
None of the new tycoons are engaged in such monopolistic industries. Buffy gained wealth by relying on his investment vision, while Gates is even more unusual. In his thirties, he relied on software that had just been invented.
How long did it take to become the second richest person in the world.
It just so happened that Ronald did not have much government assistance and became successful by relying on his unique vision and luck in the competitive industry. Therefore, the three of them still had some sympathy for each other, and their attitudes towards each other were different from others.
None of the three of them are Jewish, nor do they rely heavily on politicians. They also benefit from chatting with each other about business experiences. Friends of this level bring Ronald an expanded horizon.
For example, from Buffy, Ronald learned that Disney's Eisner would probably still buy ABC.
Among the possible acquisition targets, NBC has its sole controlling shareholder, General Electric, and is unlikely to be sold. CBS actually has an aging audience problem, and it can be said to have a fatal mismatch with Disney's target audience.
It can be seen from the broadcast of professional sports events by the two major companies that CBS has been the broadcaster of NFC in the two major leagues of the NFL. This is in line with the fact that their audience is older (NFL’s audience is relatively older)
, entertainment for middle-aged and elderly men).
And Fox has snatched this part of the broadcast rights from them. The remaining broadcast rights of the NFL's AFC League will not expire until a few years later, and CBS may have to pay a sky-high price to grab it.
The audience of ABC TV Network is relatively young. The success of their previous hit drama "Growing Pains" shows that the average age of the audience is relatively low.
In addition to the overall age of the audience, ABC's parent company City Capital also has a dedicated children's channel and a growing sports broadcast channel ESPN. They hold half of the broadcast contract of the basketball league NBA (the other half is Turner Broadcasting)
of TNT).
Plus ABC/City Capital boss Tom Murphy, who had worked with Eisner during his time at Paramount, aired Paramount classics on ABC. President Dan Burke also worked with Eisner
Na is an old acquaintance and we have always had a good relationship.
Buffy also saw this, and as an important shareholder of ABC/City Capital, he had some inside information. He asked Ronald about the film industry, especially the operating points of Disney, which also indicated that this deal may be in the media industry.
In the largest merger, ABC, not CBS, will be the protagonist.
In fact, Eisner has already expressed his thoughts. When he met, he drew a blueprint after the merger and acquisition drawn by Tom Murphy, which was called the vertical integration of "content channels".
Disney has a lot of film and television content since its establishment, as well as a number of cartoon characters with intellectual property rights, which will become the best content for children and teenagers.
What attracts him the most on ABC is the children's program time slot on Saturday mornings. This time slot is a time for children and their families to watch TV together. For manufacturers of household products, this is a God-sent advertising time slot, not only for the children who are in the hands of their products.
And teenagers, as well as parents who pay for the product, advertising in one time period can reach these two major groups of people for this type of product.
You know, the most generous advertisers in the advertising market are advertisers in the fast-moving consumer goods industry with the largest sales volume. Eisner’s dream is to firmly capture the content and distribution channels of these two groups of people.
The entire strategy was summarized by him as "children, youth, families..."
If you want to understand this, if you want to acquire another national TV station, facing long-term operating liabilities and upcoming major equipment upgrade costs, only by buying ABC can Disney's story be recognized by Wall Street.
If it were CBS, many viewers would have reached the age of grandparents, and telling this story would be ridiculous...
Although in terms of price, CBS's price will be much lower, but Eisner's purchase of a TV station is not all for Disney's business. His so-called "comprehensive entertainment empire" dream focuses on the empire, which requires an emperor...
Because of this, Eisner is not comparable to a rich second generation like Redstone. The situation he faces is much more dangerous. During the acquisition, Eisner not only faces external competitors, but also faces internal threats.
Betrayal at any time and want to oust him from power.
After Ronald assessed the overall situation, he gave up the idea of making a fortune by imitating Redstone's acquisition of Paramount by shorting the stock market.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! After this matter was known, Redstone was unhappy with himself for a while at most. He did not directly make any money from Redstone, but Paramount and Via at the time.
Come's shareholders foot the bill. There is no deep hatred between the two.
But if the attempt to short Disney or ABC is exposed, disrupting Eisner's dream of becoming an emperor, it will be a deadly feud. Eisner is likely to be sold to Walt Disney, who still holds some shares within Disney, due to the failure of the merger.
The nephew led the opposition to impeachment.
The most dangerous thing was that Disney's nephew was not strong enough at that time and hated Eisner. It was very likely that the fight would end in a draw, and no one could do anything about the other. At that time, they would have to face a crazy man who still controlled Disney's directors.
Eisner, who has grown up, this is very unwise.
There were many ways to make money, and Ronald felt there was no need to wade into this muddy water. Therefore, he did not invest more energy in paying attention to this merger and acquisition case.
However, he was always concerned about the progress of another merger and acquisition case. He also kept it secret and hired a group of practitioners in the consulting industry to provide information and analysis to his anonymous client.
Such was the acquisition of MCA, the parent company of Universal Pictures and Universal Music Group, that Seagram's Edgar Bronfman Jr. led.
Because Ronald paid a large sum of money to hire a top consulting firm in the industry, not only was it related to this acquisition, but also some other Seagram Company trends were also sent to Ronald.
Among them, there was a bit of news that aroused his strong interest.
It turns out that when Bronfman Sr. was managing the company, he had made several attempts to acquire large companies through the open market in an attempt to obtain controlling stakes.
In addition to the attempted and failed acquisition of MGM, another one that had great repercussions in the financial industry was the acquisition of Continental Petroleum in 1981.
Continental Petroleum was an important supplier of chemical raw materials at that time, so the DuPont Group was also interested in acquiring such an old oil company. They raised about 8 billion in funds to buy them.
At the same time, Seagram also participated in the competition. He and JP Morgan formed the acquirer and took the initiative to acquire a lot of Continental Petroleum stocks. In the end, DuPont did not have enough cash and had to exchange Seagram's shares.
The Continental Petroleum stocks in his hand were converted into DuPont shares.
This move of Old Bronfman can be said to be even better than the acquisition of Continental Petroleum. Their shares accounted for 24% of DuPont's total share capital at last count, and they had a high voice in the board of directors. They later used this voice to
, and have enjoyed DuPont’s high dividends for many years.
DuPont, on the other hand, is very disgusted with such a group of vampires. They succeed more than fail in the board of directors, and the main thing they do is to distribute money. This has caused DuPont's reinvestment ratio to drop to an unprecedented level.
As a multinational company in the chemical industry with heavy assets, such behavior can be said to be sucking blood from DuPont without making any contribution. The most disgusting thing is that other DuPont shareholders have also received this benefit in vain for many years.
In the past few days, there is a rumor circulating on Wall Street that Seagram may sell out all his DuPont shares, exchange them for cash, and leave.
Seagram's stock, based on the current value, is worth seven to eight billion U.S. dollars. It is impossible to sell it directly, otherwise even a market maker would not be able to take such a large share.
Therefore, even if you want to sell, it will definitely be a very complicated transaction structure, involving warrants and repurchase agreements, which is very complicated. This complexity itself may lead to uncertainty and different interpretations among investors, thus affecting trading behavior
.
Therefore, it is unlikely that Seagram’s decision will be kept secret from the industry in advance. The consulting report also mentioned that there are various recent signs, including JP Morgan Chase and Arthur Andersen Accounting Firm, that large teams are working overtime day and night, and it seems that they are doing
A very big project.
Of course, this cannot completely rule out the deliberate release of air, so the report did not mention death.
However, Ronald was convinced. The biggest demand of the Japanese people in Panasonic who led the purchase of Universal MCA was that the transaction should not be a loss. They spent 6 billion US dollars to fully acquire MCA.
The amount is in line with Seagram's rumored amount for selling DuPont.
Bronfman Jr. had just started to take control of Seagram, and he made such a big decision to withdraw from the chemical industry, and then turned around and devoted himself entirely to the entertainment industry.
Ronald has to say he admires such a brave strategy, he is worthy of being a rich second generation...
To be safe, Ronald called his friends at Goldman Sachs to get some information. Unexpectedly, Goldman Sachs was also trying its best to get more of the deal...
Ronald's friend Henry Paulson, who became COO and was nominated as CEO's successor for the first time this year, called Ronald and came to visit him.
At the "party" specially held for him by Ronald (in order to hide from others), Paulson and Ronald enjoyed fresh Italian salami and brandy together...
After that, the two of them talked secretly in the pavilion of Ronald's garden, separated by bodyguards. Except for a nine-curved bridge, they were surrounded by ponds. Except for the frogs eating sugar water lilies, no animals could hear what they were discussing.
"It's really weird, a Goldman Sachs banker, talking to a movie director about how to facilitate a merger?" Ronald made a cup of black tea with a Gongfu tea set and invited Paulson to enjoy it.
The latter really liked this brewing method. After smelling the aroma in a small cup, he imitated Ronald and drank the black tea, then let the tea liquid roll back and forth in his mouth, fully enjoying the color, aroma and taste before swallowing.
"It's not surprising. We have never quite understood how the Japanese think. I know that you played a very important role in Sony's successful acquisition of Columbia Pictures, so I am not asking you for advice. On the contrary, this is
The essential skill of a successful banker is knowing who to ask what questions to get the truth!”
"Hey, you need to know about this?" Ronald gave him a refill of black tea. He didn't hold any position in Sony Colombia, so Ronald thought that no one in America knew about his friendship with Ohga-san.
"Like I said, the most important job of a banker is to find the right people and then ask the most important questions."
"Hehehe..." Ronald poured another glass, drank it for himself, and then slowly looked at the scenery.
A few minutes later, Paulson didn't look impatient at all. He and Ronald discussed the techniques of Monet's Water Lilies and the differences between different versions, seemingly just enjoying them with friends.
Ronald admired this very much, and he no longer tried to be pretentious, "Henry, then I would like to know, what question do you want to ask me?"
"What terms will make the Japanese abandon the deal in this business?" Paulson finally asked what he had been doubting.
Panasonic people have a lot more trouble communicating than company executives from their own countries. Most of the time, I can't understand the key points of what they say. Just like in this discussion with them, the Japanese also said something about Konosuke Matsushita, founder of Chase Chase
In the past, during the post-war reconstruction period, how he was admired by all Japanese industrialists. Everyone was discussing Matsushita Konosuke's business law...
"Did they mention the founder, Mr. Konosuke?" Before Ronald could finish his words, he saw Paulson nodding his head and continued, "Did they mention that Konosuke was the first business god after the war?"
"Hiss..." Paulson closed his eyes and drank the black tea in one gulp.
Sure enough, if you ask the right questions to the right people, you will get very enlightening answers. Nowadays, in America, the Japanese people who are known to be very powerful in management are the first one is Sony's Akio Morita, and then the Kyocera Group's Ina.
Sheng Hefu, as for Panasonic...
"So for Seagram, what would make them give up on the acquisition?" Paulson felt that Ronald's understanding of Hollywood was much deeper than he thought. He might as well listen to his evaluation of the buyer.
"He is a proud young man. The last thing he can tolerate is a CEO who has too many ideas that are contrary to his own strategy..." Ronald smiled proudly. This was the opportunity he had been hoping for for a long time.
"How to say?"
"Let me get it straight, although Ovitz is trying to broker deals and is seeking a post-acquisition CEO position, he is famous in Hollywood as a deal maker. In a deal, the most important thing to him is as a
Agents, how much commission they can get, not the profitability and box office success of the film project."
"What's your opinion?" Paulson put his eyes back behind his glasses. Does Ronald have any more ideas?
"There are many successful agents in Hollywood, and they are probably more familiar with the production business than him. In fact, there are people at CAA who are far more familiar with the production business than him..."
"Well... Such parties are very interesting. I have also been to Mr. Ovitz's house. It is very boring there. The Japanese garden style does not seem to have been learned by anyone. It is far inferior to the Impressionist painting-like scenery here. No.
If there is a chance to hold it again, I will invite my wife and friends to come together..." Paulson seemed to understand what Ronald meant, as long as it was not Ovitz, he didn't care about anyone else.
"I'm very happy..." Ronald seemed to understand... I'll help you find an opportunity for several parties to get in touch...