Start by trimming cow hooves

Whether it is Bill Gates' Waterfall Investment or the Saudi Arabian Kingdom Holding Company, they have earned enough returns during the delisting and privatization process of Four Seasons Hotel.

In addition, Suri's offer was quite generous, so it's not surprising that they chose to sell.

After all, it is just a hotel business, and neither growth nor potential rate of return is comparable to many other industries. These two companies were able to take advantage of the opportunity to cash out funds and complete the reallocation of assets.

It can be said that in this transaction, everyone is happy except Mr. Isadore Sharp, the founder of Four Seasons Hotel.

Isadore Sharp is still the CEO and chairman of the board of directors of the Four Seasons Hotel Group. As soon as he learned the news, he contacted the Ineffable family office.

Later, I accidentally learned that Suri had formulated a crazy investment plan.

——Invest US$10 billion in the next five years to build or acquire at least 60 high-end hotels, and also want to include Brando Private Island, Dubai World Island, Lanai Island, Jebel Ali Palm Island, Shanghai City Center Tower and other projects Under the Four Seasons Hotel Group, it is trying to launch some luxury apartments, shopping malls, and office building projects.

Let’s not mention anything else for now, but whether it is Dubai’s World Island or Jebel Ali Palm Island, they were notorious unfinished super projects in the past few years. Not to mention the huge investment expected in the future, the development prospects are still unclear. Big hope.

Considering that the high-end hotel market is basically saturated, due to fierce competition, the net profit rate is much lower than in the early years.

Mr. Isadore Sharp felt that it would be easy to get involved if he took too long. After worrying about it for two or three days, as a small shareholder with no say, he really did not dare to take the risk with Suri.

As an older generation businessman, he likes to take things step by step rather than take radical risks.

Immediately feeling that this might be his opportunity to retire, Mr. Isadore Sharp offered to sell about 5% of his shares in the Four Seasons Hotel Group for US$300 million, which is almost equivalent to a valuation of US$6 billion. trade.

Spending a little more money can avoid a lot of troubles. The moment Su Rui heard the news, he immediately agreed.

Compared with many other high-end hotel chains, Four Seasons Hotel Group's equity is particularly concentrated, and the progress of acquisition negotiations is far smoother than he imagined.

Once officially signed, it means that Suri will completely take over the entire Four Seasons Hotel Group, and then win the Maldives Four Seasons Kuda Huraa Island, Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong City, Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai, Four Seasons Hotel Milan, and the Beverly Hills Hotel. Hotel Hill, etc., there is a long list.

An acquisition of this scale is much more exciting than buying a house.

By the time the transaction is completed, only about 90% of the goal of holding "real estate worth hundreds of billions of dollars" will be left.

The acquisition was initiated in the name of Hong Kong City World Island Group.

With the expansion of the Four Seasons Hotel Group as a reason, Suri also has a reasonable excuse to quietly transfer tens of billions of dollars to Hong Kong City in the future. The actions in the next few years will definitely be big, including the acquisition of a number of high-end hotels, apartments, and office buildings. , shopping malls, etc., are included in them for unified management.

With the help of Four Seasons Hotel Group, it can continue to acquire some sub-brands, and it is very likely to overtake Marriott International, Hilton and InterContinental Hotels in overall scale.

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Suri has other things to do.

When he told the producer of this project that he wanted to find Lindsay Lohan as the heroine of "Dose Lady".

The other party put on a mask of pain during the video call and carefully reminded:

"Her reputation is very bad. Many viewers hate Lindsay Lohan. As far as I know, she is not only addicted to alcohol but also to drugs. And I think choosing her as the heroine may lack some contrast. A sense of surprise. For example, if a beauty like Jessica Alba plays a sloppy woman with no taste, the audience will find it particularly interesting, but Lindsay Lohan is that kind of person and seems to lack some comedy effect. "

After listening to this, Su Rui felt that it made sense and asked, "If you were asked to choose, who do you think is more suitable?"

"How about Winona Ryder? She became famous for her innocence and sweetness after her debut. In the early years, she stole things and was a bit neurotic. Although her reputation is a bit bad, she is not as bad as Lindsay Lohan."

After listening to the words of the producer of the "Dick Lady" project, Suri thought about Winona Ryder's appearance when she was young.

When he was very young, this woman was the girlfriend of "Pirate Captain" Johnny Depp. Later, she fell in love with Matt Damon, the hero of "The Bourne Supremacy" for several years, but they ended up getting engaged and then breaking up.

Later, there was very little news about Winona Ryder, who was a has-been actress. This meant that she only had to spend a low salary to have the opportunity to invite her.

Netflix Entertainment's major production projects already include "Holy Grail", "Game of Thrones", "House of Cards", etc., and they will also shoot Star Wars spin-offs in the future, which is a bit over budget.

As department director, Suri had to think about how to save money.

The main reason is that when new dramas are first filmed, the actors' salaries are relatively cheap, and the later the filming, the higher the price. For example, "The Walking Dead", "The Big Bang Theory", "Criminal Minds", etc., there are still a lot of starring roles, Daddario The salary for a single episode of "The Walking Dead" has risen to $400,000 per episode.

According to this trend, sooner or later there will be a situation where some dramas have to be canceled early because the costs are higher than the benefits.

The same goes for traditional TV stations.

The reason why the filming of "Friends" was stopped in the early years was also related to the continuous demands of several leading actors for salary increases. By the time of the final season, each actor's single-episode salary was as high as 1.2 million U.S. dollars. There were a total of six leading actors, which meant that nothing had been filmed. , it will first cost US$7.2 million in production costs.

You know, this is a sitcom with a small investment, and the purchasing power of the U.S. dollar at the time was still very strong, so it is no wonder that it overwhelmed the psychological defenses of investors.

The same is true for "The Big Bang Theory". At one time, the actors jointly demanded that the salary be increased to US$1 million per episode, which caused the filming plan to be delayed.

For the sake of his own interests and the long-term development of the company, Suri certainly hopes to save money. He has temporarily set the salary ceiling for Netflix Entertainment at US$500,000 per episode. If the actors still want more, then consider replacing them or Cut the whole show.

This can avoid the embarrassing situation of being kidnapped by the actors and using all the budget that should be spent on production on remuneration.

There are not many popular dramas on traditional TV stations, and it is easy for actors to get stuck. Netflix Entertainment has no shortage of new scripts, and there are many actors in Hollywood who want to rise to the top.

After thinking for a few seconds, Suri asked the producers to contact Winona Ryder to audition and ask if she was willing to star.

That afternoon.

He received news that Ms. Winona Ryder was very interested and was trying to shoot a short film on the set (End of Chapter)