Chapter 260 The increasingly chaotic acquisition case
The way to fight against a large company is to introduce a company of equal size and let them check and balance each other.
It's not like Li Hyuk has never thought of taking full control of Fantasy Records and developing it independently, but this path is completely unfeasible in the business world.
Apart from anything else, if you imagine a record company to develop independently and not accept any capital investment, it will be difficult to move forward in the record industry. The most important reason is resources.
The most important thing in the entertainment industry is resources. Actors need resources for film and television drama projects, variety shows need resources for variety shows, and singers and creators need resources such as song distribution channels.
Even in the entertainment industry, celebrities themselves are a kind of resource. The bigger the celebrity, the more resources they have.
The creative resources displayed by Fantasy Records are enough to get a share of the record market, but it is destined to attract covetous attention from other peers.
If Fantasy Records does not cooperate, everything from physical distribution channels to online distribution channels, as well as the resources of various music variety shows, etc., will be suppressed.
Li Hyuk is not just Li Hyuk, he has a company behind him. The company has bands, groups, singers, and a large number of high-quality music talents.
Without these people, can Li Hyuk alone become the King of Asia in the highly competitive entertainment industry?
I'm afraid no normal, experienced adult would think this way. Heroes saving the world alone only happen in fairy tales and novels, and the reality is always cooperation and competition.
In the past few years, after Penguin invested in Fantasy Records, it protected Fantasy Records, allowing the company's business to develop smoothly, and Li Hyuk also successfully became the King of Asia.
But now, Penguin is not satisfied and wants to obtain greater profits, but Li He cannot agree.
How can being a controlled singer be as comfortable as being a boss? Not to mention that record company bosses earn much more than being a singer.
After bidding farewell to Ding Sanshi, Li He and Fan Nuoxuan met with the heads of Kugou Music and Migu Music one after another, and the conditions were similar to those of Ding Sanshi.
Both platforms said they should go back and think about it carefully. After all, compared to NetEase Cloud and QQ Music, the market shares of the two music platforms are not high, so they should be cautious.
Penguin quickly learned that Li He and Fan Noxuan had been in private contact with several major music platforms, so they accelerated their actions. Finally, on April 10, they spent 430 million to acquire 8% of Fantasy held by Starlight Entertainment.
Record company shares.
Who would have thought that Ding Sanshi would break out of it and quickly invest 520 million to get the 8% equity from Starlight Records.
When the news came out, the industry was in an uproar.
When Penguin launched its acquisition, NetEase did nothing. Everyone thought that because Fantasy Records was a Penguin company, NetEase couldn't get involved.
Who would have thought that NetEase would suddenly strike hard, not only catching Penguin off guard, but also shocking netizens.
"What's going on? Why did NetEase suddenly take action?" At the high-level meeting, Liao Wenhui got furious and scolded all the executives bloody.
"Mr. Liao, we really have no choice. Originally, Fan Tingsheng was about to sign the acquisition contract under the pressure of shareholders. Who knew that he suddenly changed his mind after answering the phone." A senior executive said aggrievedly.
"Why aren't you fully prepared for the acquisition plan? I have reminded you many times before that Ding Sanshi will intervene, but you have turned a deaf ear, haven't you?" Liao Wenhui was furious.
A group of senior executives remained silent, and many people murmured in their hearts: I don’t know who it was at first, saying that we didn’t need to worry about Ding Sanshi, it could be done with more than 400 million, but now we are being blamed...
Not to mention how Liao Wenhui got angry, NetEase spent RMB 5.2 to acquire 8% of the shares of Fantasy Records. The price was definitely a premium, and there was a lot of overflow.
Fantasy Records has a market valuation of up to 2 billion, and 8% is less than 200 million. However, the acquisitions are all at a premium. The amount of premium depends on the target price and the acquirer's funds.
This wave of NetEase joining in comes at just the right time. Four albums from Fantasy Records are about to be released, especially Li Hyuk’s new album, which is even more popular.
If you become a shareholder, why don't you ask for issuance rights?
So at NetEase's strong request, Fantasy Records held a shareholders' meeting to discuss copyright issues. At this shareholders' meeting, representatives from NetEase and Penguin made a fuss about digital copyright.
Penguin took the contract and said that the exclusive licensing contract had not expired and would not share the copyright with NetEase. NetEase said that I have become a shareholder of the company and reasonable copyright demands must be met.
As for Bilibili, the smallest shareholder, it is just a matter of watching the show. It is not a music platform anyway, and it also has the copyright of the MV, so there is no panic at all. Bilibili will not sell this equity because Bilibili is too poor to afford digital platforms.
Netizens provide a platform to listen to songs for free...
Of course, this is not the main reason. The main reason is that Li Hyuk has been at Station B for several years and attracted a lot of traffic to Station B. Only a fool would let go.
As for the two largest shareholders, Li He and Fan Noxuan, they just watched the show and stepped aside from time to time to help NetEase resist Penguin's attack.
This general meeting of shareholders had ups and downs, as exciting as a movie, but ended on an unhappy note.
However, after this, the communications giant Bubu announced that Li Hyuk would be the spokesperson for its M-Zone mobile phone card, and wrote a theme song "Same Tune" for this purpose, which will be included in Li Hyuk's new album.
Because of the exclusive copyright issue, Mobile will start negotiations with Penguin on the exclusive copyright.
Migu Music, a subsidiary of the company, even gave Li Hyuk a huge poster on the homepage, announcing its confidence in the music copyright of Fantasy Records being transferred to Migu Music.
After that, Kugou Music also stated that it would officially participate in the competition for music copyrights of Fantasy Records, and stated that contracts and liquidated damages are not obstacles, and users can look forward to the participation of singers from Fantasy Records.
These news were announced one after another, and each one became more explosive than the last. Users of NetEase Cloud, Migu Music, and Kugou Music platforms were very happy.
Previously, QQ Music had the exclusive copyright of Fantasy Records, which could not be heard by users of other music platforms. Moreover, since the implementation of the new anti-piracy bill, even piracy has disappeared.
Cover? In addition to Bilibili, which can cover Li Hyuk's songs, and major live broadcast websites, QQ Music itself can cover Li Hyuk's works. Don't even think about other platforms.
QQ Music was confused by the successive moves of its competitors. Before the acquisition was successful, QQ Music was the first to suffer misfortune.
I originally thought that the stock price of QQ Music had been good due to the exclusive copyright, but after these news were announced, it was immediately reflected in the stock market, and the stock price of QQ Music fell in response.
The acquisition failed, and instead it lost more than one billion in the stock market. QQ Music was furious and began to accuse the acquisition department of incompetence.
The acquisition department was not willing, so they passed the blame and looked for someone to take the blame. Before the acquisition was completed, they themselves were in civil strife.
QQ Music users are worried that if QQ Music and Fantasy Records fail to reach an agreement, will QQ Music lose copyright in the future? Will they have to switch to another platform?
Next to the advantages of social platforms, QQ Music is indeed the largest digital music platform in China, but a good platform requires high-quality resources.
In China, which high-quality music resource can compare with Li He?
After that, there was even more exciting news. An insider reported that Ding Sanshi had obtained the support of Li He and Fan Noxuan and would launch an acquisition of the shares owned by Penguin. At the same time, Kugou Music and Migu Music also joined.
Acquisition, want to become a shareholder of Fantasy Records.
This cast a shadow over Penguin's brazen acquisition. Boss Pony finally turned his attention back from the gaming industry and began to pay attention to this acquisition.