For Disney, Comcast or other media empires, the allure of Marvel Animation, which is making huge amounts of money today, is simply unparalleled, and its bright prospects are long-term.
In particular, Marvel Animation has more than 3,000 superhero series IPs, as well as the current popular movie series "Iron Man", "Lord of the Rings", "Fast and Furious", "Dead Man", "Harry Potter" and so on.
It has taken the box office by storm in the world market, making people eagerly await it and drooling for more than a foot.
In the past two years, various tentative acquisition attempts have never stopped, and the quotations have also been updated.
For the U.S. media empire that has access to Marvel animation, Marvel animation is the legend of an ugly duckling turning into a white swan. Its market value continues to grow with the deepening of development, and its voice and importance also increase.
There is no doubt that this is a gilt-edged asset.
With the "Harry Potter" series of movies taking over the box office in film markets around the world, the market value of Marvel Animation has officially exceeded the US$100 billion mark, reaching a high of US$110.6 billion.
The Royal Family Fund holds more than 80% of Marvel Animation's equity, and fund chairman Wang Yaocheng's ambiguous attitude towards mergers and acquisitions adds to the market's imagination.
Wang Yaocheng’s true thoughts are:
Sell at a price, become a big boss who hides behind the scenes, and exert a major influence on the media industry through capital.
The reason why there is no action is simply that the other party's offer is not high enough.
In the past few years, Royal Fund has made many arrangements in the media industry and has extensive and far-reaching influence.
Through the Cisco transaction and subsequent continuous investment, the consortium holds no less than 6% of the shares of News of the World Group, maintains a long-term friendly relationship with Mr. Murdoch, and maintains three seats on the board of directors.
After Disney acquired Pixar Animation for US$7.4 billion, Steve Jobs, the former controlling shareholder of Pixar Animation, became the largest individual shareholder. Wang Yaocheng ranked third and also maintained a board seat at Disney.
In addition, when Microsoft acquired Yahoo, Time Warner Group boss Ted Tella stepped in to participate in the joint acquisition, paying 7.5% of the equity.
Therefore, Wang Yaocheng has extensive influence in the North American media industry. Ordinary reporters and TV commentators no longer wink and dare not speak out against their bosses.
In reports involving Wang's consortium, most of them take an impartial stance to avoid being singled out for fault. Although the boss is not the chairman of the board of directors, it is a trivial matter for a reporter or TV commentator to step into the shoes of a reporter or TV commentator.
In Wang Yaocheng's view, this is far from enough.
He intends to form a substantial voice in the North American media industry through the Marvel Animation deal, similar to what the Mitsui Foundation did to form a shadow empire.
Say one thousand, preach ten thousand.
Whether it is Disney, Comcast, Time Warner or other buyers, the acquisition of Marvel Animation is nothing more than an equity plus cash transaction, which gives Wang Yaocheng the opportunity to be picky.
"Hello, Chairman!"
Xie Yi walked in with a respectful look. Wang Yaocheng looked at him kindly and nodded appreciatively: "Xie Yi, long time no see. I am very satisfied with your work."
"Thank you, Chairman, for the compliment."
Xie Yi smiled so hard that his molars were exposed, and he was so happy that he couldn't help it.
"Sit down and tell me, what exactly do you want?"
"Well... the third part of the Harry Potter series has been filmed and is about to enter the post-production stage. The performance of this film is equally brilliant, and the box office is worth looking forward to."
"Hmm."
"Producer assistant Ms. Ivanka performed particularly well. I intend to ask her to share more work in subsequent film productions. I think she is very talented in this area and can do a very good job."
"Hmm."
Xie Yi secretly took a look at Chairman Wang Yaocheng's face. Seeing that he was carefree and joyless, he felt a little unsure.
He hesitated for a moment, considered his words and said:
"Chairman, in recent times, Disney, Comcast and Time Warner have contacted me one after another, trying to find out the chairman's attitude towards Marvel Animation and preparing to formally make an offer..."