America's Road to Fame

Chapter 210 Goldman Sachs' request

After this wave of banking crises and stock market crashes, News Corp. has sped up negotiations with Chen William. At present, they have agreed to sell Twentieth Century Fox, including the film company, TV drama company, and film library.

Still hope to retain the shares of the hulu video platform and Fox Searchlight Pictures, so that they still have certain film production capabilities and are optimistic about the future of the streaming media platform.

However, due to the box office performance of "Avatar", they set the sale price at US$55 billion. Currently, Nielsen and Goldman Sachs are trying their best to lower the price to less than US$45 billion.

Speaking of the performance of "Avatar" recently released, it reminds people of another movie that is also a truck driver - "Titanic", because the box office trends of the two are really similar, and the box office is very stable. The decline is controlled within a very narrow range, with great stamina.At that time, "Titanic" broke the box office record and has maintained it until now, so "Avatar" is also highly anticipated.

The North American box office of "Avatar" premiered for three days, which was initially announced as $7300 million, but the statistical agency revised the box office and increased it to $7700 million.

And the box office of the second week of the film was 7500 million US dollars, which was only 200 million less than the first week of its release, a drop of only 2.6%. Movies are getting higher and higher final box office estimates.

But it wasn't until the third week's box office came out that people began to be sure that "Avatar" was indeed full of stamina, and it even hoped to break the previous record of the truck driver and make history.

Because in the third week, the North American box office of "Avatar" was as high as 6800 million, a drop of only 9.7%, which is very rare in the release of new films.

It is precisely because of this that Murdoch began to have great confidence in this movie, and accordingly he bit hard on the sale price of [-]th Century Fox.

"Judging from the current situation, the box office performance of "Avatar" has had a certain impact on our acquisition. According to our estimation, if there is no unexpected situation in the acquisition of 50th Century Fox, the price will hardly be lower than [-] billion. dollars."

Camillo Hagen of Goldman Sachs put it this way to William Chan:

"Also, there is one more thing that I think I need to tell you now, Mr. William."

"what happened?"

"According to the notice I have received from the board of directors, I am afraid that Goldman Sachs will not be able to provide financing for this acquisition. Therefore, you must either find other banks for financing, or you can only be fully borne by Meta Investment Company."

oh?Hearing these words from Camilo Hagen, Chen William immediately realized that if the other party refused to participate in such a good opportunity to make money, then there was only one biggest possibility, and that was the problem of Goldman Sachs' funds.

Chen William noticed that Camillo Hagen's expression was hesitant to speak when he finished the above words, so he asked:
"Mr. Hagen, do you seem to have anything else to say?"

"Yes, Mr. William." Camillo Hagen sighed softly, and said, "Although I personally don't want to do this, and I'm afraid our CEO will talk to you later, but I think we need to talk to you To put it bluntly, we at Goldman Sachs probably want to get back some of the previous financing early if possible.”

Now William Chen can be 100% sure that Goldman Sachs has definitely encountered a problem in terms of funds.In connection with the recent bank run in the United States, Chen William also roughly understands the current predicament of Goldman Sachs.

"I see, thank you. In addition, Twentieth Century Fox continues to negotiate. I can accept a price of 50 billion US dollars, but the requirement is that I want a complete Twentieth Century Fox, including their local and overseas distribution. channel."

"Okay, Mr. William, that's perfectly fine."

"Also, make an appointment with Mr. Blankfein, I'd like to speak to him."

……

Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs, responded very positively and met with Chen William on the same day.

Lloyd congratulated Chen William first, because they and Morgan Stanley and other investment banks have closed their short positions in the Eurasian stock market. According to calculations, Chen William made a profit of more than 100 billion U.S. dollars for the 150 billion U.S. dollars invested at that time.

"I need to congratulate you in advance, William, when the Forbes list is released, you will definitely be at the top."

By convention, the Forbes rich list is often launched in early March, so Lloyd said this.

"You should know, Mr. Blankfein, that I'm afraid this is not what I hoped for."

Taking advantage of the trend, Lloyd hoped that William Chen could return the financing that Goldman Sachs participated in in his recent acquisition in advance. After all, he will soon have more than 250 billion US dollars of funds to return. It can be said that at this time, William Chen may He is one of the richest people who can spend the most cash.

Although Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley also made a lot of short selling in this subprime mortgage crisis, the difference from William Chen is that these two investment banks have more investments in various industries. The difference between the two is like It was William Chen who was standing on the shore pumping water, and the reduction in the pool had nothing to do with him; while Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were pumping water in the pool, and the reduction in the pool also represented a huge loss for themselves. , at most make up for part of your own losses.

Don't look at Goldman Sachs being able to participate in the financing of William Chen's acquisition and other people's acquisitions, the money is not their own assets, but from customers.Now facing a run on funds and a sharp reduction in reserve funds, it is necessary to recover assets as much as possible to cope with the run on customers. If the situation worsens and your own pool is drained, it will be catastrophic.

This is why they are eager to withdraw funds from the Eurasian stock market. Chen William learned from Lloyd that after calculating the funds that can be recovered, Goldman Sachs found that at least 100 billion US dollars of funds are needed to cope with the current situation. crisis.

Before, they hoped to obtain these funds through financing, so they contacted the "stock god" Buffett, hoping that the other party could give Goldman Sachs $50 billion in financing. If they can obtain Buffett's financing, through his influence, as long as everyone sees Buffett still If you are optimistic about Goldman Sachs, then the remaining $50 billion in financing will be easily completed.

But although Buffett did not refuse financing, he put forward a very harsh condition:

第一个就是他可以投资高盛50亿美元的优先股，但要求每年高达10%的股息；如果高盛公司未来需要回购这些优先股，那么需要支付10%的溢价；需要无偿获得高盛公司总额50亿美元的认购期权，也就是说在未来5年内以他们目前的股价购买数额达到50亿美元的普通股的权利。

It can be seen that Buffett is a very chicken thief. He took out the 50 billion US dollars in the form of preferred shares, so he can invest in Goldman Sachs with very low risk, because if Goldman Sachs eventually goes bankrupt, the preferred shares are the first to be paid. order, which can guarantee the safety of his investment.

Then you can get $5 million in interest every year. If Goldman Sachs repurchases this part of the preferred stock, you can also get a premium of $5 million. Exchange your own $50 billion for Goldman Sachs shares at a low price and enjoy this dividend.

This kind of condition, in normal times, Goldman Sachs would never consider it, and would even consider it an insult to itself.But in this case, they don't have much choice.

But at this time, if William Chen's $100 billion acquisition financing can be obtained in advance, then it is completely possible not to accept Buffett's harsh conditions for the time being.

The most important point now is that according to the financing contract at that time, William Chen could completely refuse their request, which is why the CEO of Goldman Sachs had to come forward in person to try to persuade William Chen.

Now Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the only two remaining of the top five investment banks in the United States, are also seeking to transform into bank holding companies, mainly because there are too many uncertainties in the profits of investment banks. They can make profits through investment. Once the current economic crisis breaks out and the economy goes down across the board, they are very vulnerable to being run on because their main funds come from customers, and thus encounter difficulties.

Once transformed into a bank holding company, they will not only be able to preserve the business of investment banks, but most importantly, they will be able to open commercial banks to absorb people's savings, and they will be able to borrow directly from the Federal Reserve to reduce risks and change the current plight of lack of funds.

In Lloyd Blankfein's expectant eyes, Chen William said:

"I have another proposal, Mr. Blankfein."

　Why are there fewer and fewer tickets...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)