I’m in Hollywood

After returning from Universal without success, Ron Perelman had another closed door at Warner, because Warner Terry Semel was already in trouble and had no time to deal with Ron Perelman. :3w.し

With the continuous explosion of the box office of many large-scale production films, the total box office of the 14-week summer season in North America in 1994 is expected to exceed the $2 billion mark for the first time. In addition to the extremely dazzling Firefly Pictures, Universal, Paramount, and even MGM, which has been silent for many years, have obtained a good 'harvest' this summer. Only a few years ago, it was still firmly in the first place in the market share. Warner, performance can only be described as dismal.

On May 20th, the western film Gambler Ma Huali, which opened the door for the summer season, has a good reputation, but it has been squeezed by blockbusters such as The Mummy, Saving Private Ryan and True Lies in the later period. Under pressure, the original box office expectation of 100 million US dollars ended up with less than 60 million US dollars. Immediately after, another hugely expensive western, The Law Enforcement Warrior, ended bleakly with a total box office of 25 million US dollars. Although the box office of Ultimate Witness released at the end of July is expected to break the 100 million US dollar mark, the whole summer period, Time Warner's cumulative box office receipts are less than $200 million, and its market share will drop below 10% for the first time, and even the first time in the past five years that its summer market share has dropped below 20%.

In the face of such a serious performance decline, Terry Semel, who had just taken the throne of Time Warner, was instantly confronted with joint criticism from shareholders and the board of directors, and the defeated competitors in the competition for the position of Time Warner also began to move. In this case, although Time Warner has enough strength to grab Marvel from Firefly, Terry Semel, who has become very cautious in order to keep his position, would not dare to join Marvel, which requires hundreds of millions A mess that can only be sorted out with real money in US dollars.

Subsequently, Ron Perelman's request for a meeting with Paramount Shirley Lansing was also unanswered. Three days passed quickly, when Ron Perelman anxiously considered whether to return to New York base camp When looking for support or to test whether several major film companies closely related to Firefly are interested in cooperating, a phone call from Viacom Group Summer Redstone personally brought to Ron Perelman again. hope.

Paramount headquarters on Melrose Avenue in Hollywood.

Ron Perelman met Summer Redstone and Paramount Shirley Lansing at the same time in an office.

After the greeting, sitting on the sofa in the reception area, Ron Perelman hadn't had time to deliver his prepared remarks. Summer Redstone said bluntly: Ron, I have learned about the recent events in detail. You hope to obtain the position of director of Firefly Group as a creditor, but you are in trouble because of Marvel's debt problem. Paramount I can help you out of this trouble. Everyone gets what they need, what do you think?

Ron Perelman, who was still a little smug, suddenly felt a bad feeling in his heart. After Firefly expressed interest in Marvel, Ron Perelman had already changed his original plan.

Want to rely on creditors and Marvel owners as two chips. At the same time, he obtained the dual status of director and shareholder of Firefly Group.

But right now, these powerful potential 'collaborators' seem to be only willing to give him a choice.

Sure enough, Summer Redstone didn't wait for Ron Perelman to answer, and said again: Paramount can buy Marvel and assume all of Marvel's debt, and then you can go for it without any burden. What do you want, what do you think?

After hitting the wall twice in a row, Ron Perelman gradually recognized some facts.

Now that he can build a billion-dollar fortune on Wall Street from scratch, Ron Perelman certainly does not lack the decisive side of successful people, and quickly weighs it. Ron Perelman found that by giving up the burden of Marvel, Firefly had no leverage to threaten him, and with the support of the Firefly Creditors Union and Disney Animation Department in his hand, he still had a high chance of gaining the position of Firefly's director.

Almost a fool can see how to choose between the director seat of the No. 1 media group in North America and even the world and the position of the major shareholder of a cartoon company that is on the verge of bankruptcy.

Ron Perelman quickly made a decision and said, Mr. Redstone, I don't know how much Paramount is going to bid?

Summer Redstone: One hundred million dollars.

Ron Perelman almost jumped up when he heard the offer.

$100 million. Are you kidding?

When Ron Perelman bought Marvel six years ago, he spent 80 million. In order to give investors the illusion of Marvel's rapid expansion in order to issue bonds in the past few years, Marvel has successively acquired several companies. Animation company and toy company. Combined, these expenditures are well over $100 million.

Although Marvel is now facing the dilemma of a continuous decline in its stock price and a debt crisis, its actual net asset value is still more than $100 million.

The price offered by Summer Redstone was almost the same as robbery.

Forcibly suppressing the urge to slam the door, Ron Perelman said in a trembling tone, Mr. Redstone, don't you think this price seems too insincere?

Redstone didn't seem to notice the change in Ron Perelman's expression, and still said with a strong attitude: This price is very reasonable, although Marvel's current par value is indeed higher than this. But Viacom buys With Marvel, Viacom had to take on over $500 million in additional debt once Marvel didn't show what it deserved, which was a very risky business.

Ron Perelman retorted: Eric Williams has spent nearly $500 million in cash to get Marvel. Doesn't this explain the value of Marvel?

Redstone sneered: I only know that once Firefly controls Marvel, you will have to spit out the debt financing you swallowed from Marvel, and you will also face an investigation by the (Federal Securities and Exchange Commission). Take Marvel Sell ​​to Viacom and I can promise not to pursue it.

Ron Perelman fell silent. What worries him most in his heart is this matter. There is a 'bad bug' like the US Internal Revenue Service. Once a company is investigated for a problem in a certain transaction, it will Take it with you to investigate all similar transactions in the company in the past. Since Andrews Holdings has been able to use Marvel's means to skillfully extract hundreds of millions of dollars in funds, then the inside story of those past transactions can be imagined. After all, it is impossible for Ron Perelman to obtain his current wealth without using these shady edging methods.

After a few minutes, Ron Perelman said, I need to think about it.

Redstone nodded. Said: Of course there is no problem, Viacom has enough patience, but your opponents are big companies such as Firefly Group, Berkshire Hathaway and State Street Global Fund, and they will not give you too much time.

Ron Perelman replied coldly, I don't need Mr. Redstone to remind me of this.

Leaving the Paramount office building. Ron Perelman stood in the bright sunshine of Los Angeles in August morning, but he felt a little chill all over his body. He suddenly missed Wall Street in the 1980s. At that time, De Chong Securities was still in its prime, and hostile mergers were in full swing. He could obtain inexhaustible funds by issuing junk bonds to attack cities. But that all evaporated in the late 1980s with a stock market crash. De Chong Securities collapsed, the junk bond market shrank, and his rapidly expanding career came to an abrupt end. Back then, even the heads of super-large corporations had to be shy when they heard his name. The Hollywood bosses ignored or mocked.

Recalling the golden age of the past, Ron Perelman soon decided to return to New York and to Wall Street. Maybe Wall Street is more greedy than these Hollywood bosses, but at least that's his turf. On his stage, he can also use the rules more skillfully.

In Paramount's office building, standing by the floor-to-ceiling windows of the office and watching Ron Perelman leave in a hurry, Shirley Lansing couldn't help but ask Redstone next to him: Do you think he will sell Marvel? to us?

Lei Shidong looked at the distant luxury car downstairs and said, It's hard to say, but if you can take it down, it will play a very important role in Viacom's next development.

Shirley Lansing nodded slightly in agreement. Viacom held a meeting specifically on Marvel.

Marvel's current structure is like a mini Disney, although it is very pocket-sized, but the system includes various departments such as film, TV, music, comics and toy peripherals required by a comprehensive entertainment company. Viacom certainly doesn't like Marvel Entertainment's completely unfavorable film and television division. What they need is still the superhero copyright in the hands of Marvel, but also the toy company in the hands of Marvel. The hundreds of millions of dollars in steady profits brought by Disney's peripheral stores in the hands of Firefly are almost the covetousness of any Hollywood film company. Several other major studios have never stopped trying to get into the business, and Viacom has certainly been no exception since buying the Blockbuster video chain. Viacom executives came up with the idea of ​​using Blockbuster's retail distribution system to develop Paramount's movie merchandise.

But when the hardware conditions were met, Viacom found that Paramount did not have many high-quality movies that could be used to develop surrounding areas, such as Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park, which made Firefly a lot of money in recent years. There is not even a single movie with a very rich development surrounding such as Toy Story.

So, when Marvel Entertainment was recently brought into the Hollywood scene with a flurry of talk surrounding Firefly, Viacom executives immediately saw the potential of Marvel. Marvel's popular comic book characters and its toy company can provide a wealth of content for Viacom's merchandising program. Moreover, if it can use Marvel's superheroes to develop several movie series comparable to Warner's Batman, then Viacom can easily open up the entire industry chain from movies to toys.

Lei Shidong stood silently for a while, and suddenly asked, Xue Li, have you seen what that little guy is doing recently?

Shirley Lansing shook her head: If it were me, I would definitely find ways to stabilize Disney's animation department, and then deal with the pressure from creditors. Firefly has just merged with the company, and it can still maintain a net profit of $657 million in the first half of the year. .Look at the next, most of the summer season, autumn TV series and movie New Year's season are concentrated in the second half of the year, and the popular summer movies will bring explosive revenue in the video tapes and surrounding markets at the end of the year. In the second half of the year, Firefly Group With such confidence, Firefly does not need to worry about the pressure of creditors as long as it stabilizes the Disney animation department, but Eric Williams did not do this at all, it feels like...

Redstone followed Shirley Lansing's words and said, It's like he doesn't care about Disney's animation department at all, right?

Shirley Lansing nodded: Although we all know that Firefly originally planned to turn Disney animation into 3D animation production, after The Lion King, I believe that anyone with a little sane will not continue to stick to the original strategy.

Lei Shi Dong said: If that little guy really doesn't care, we can grab the Disney animation department.

I've asked Peter to try this, and I'm sure that several others have also tried to poach people, Shirley Lansing replied, but those people in the Disney animation department don't seem to have any intention of changing jobs. , obviously, the Disney platform is more suitable for them.”

And now, that little guy suddenly pointed his finger at Marvel again, Redstone narrowed his eyes, and a thought suddenly occurred in his heart: Sherry, why don't we make the boldest assumption...

Shirley Lansing looked at the old man beside her suspiciously.

Lei Shidong hesitated for a moment, then continued: Assuming that little guy still doesn't care about the Disney animation department, what do you think he will do next?

This assumption is very unreasonable. No one in Hollywood would care about an animation department that can produce a movie with a profit of 1 billion US dollars. Shirley Lansing retorted subconsciously, but then added: If this is the case, Firefly The next step is to give up the transformation of the Disney animation department and directly lay off the entire department.

Lei Shidong's narrowed eyes suddenly opened, and said, Xue Li, contact the group finance immediately, I want to know how much cash flow Viacom has available now.

Shirley Lansing instantly understood Redstone's intentions. If the very unreasonable assumption just now came true, no matter what the reason for Firefly's abolition of Disney's animation department, Viacom would have enough. The reason is to win it over at all costs, and the role of a full-fledged animation department in Viacom's peripheral plans will definitely be far greater than that of Marvel, a mess that has not yet shown any potential. (To be continued.)