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Zhou Buqi is not sure at what cost Wanda completed the acquisition of AMC Cinemas in its previous life.

But that's okay.

Just judge based on the experience of this life.

It is only the end of February, and the film market is in the off-season. This is why the Oscars are held at this stage, because the influence of the Oscars can be used to properly activate the film market and sell a wave of Oscar-winning films.

The real peak season has to wait until May, when the summer season kicks off.

AMC is now heavily in debt and encountering serious operating difficulties.

Now is the best time to take action.

By the time several Hollywood blockbusters hit the market in May and the film market recovered, it would be too late and a higher price would have to be paid to complete the deal.

This is the first time Boss Wang has done such a large-scale transaction, so he is inevitably a little scared. Boss Zhou was different. He expressed his strong support for this deal in an understatement.

The total transaction volume reached US$2.92 billion!

This is indeed a sky-high price.

But these are all figures on the books, which are highly exaggerated.

There are countless twists and turns behind the scenes of capital transactions.

This US$2.92 billion includes US$1.92 billion in debt owed to AMC Cinemas. In fact, only US$1 billion in cash was provided.

That's not all.

Among the US$1 billion, there is US$500 million in cash flow provided by Wanda to AMC Cinemas. This is not free, it is equivalent to AMC Cinemas borrowing US$500 million from Wanda.

You have to pay it back in the future.

That's not all.

Of the remaining US$500 million, US$100 million is the cost of equipment renovation that Wanda promised to inject into AMC Cinemas in the contract. This part of the investment in equipment renovation can be included in the assets of AMC Cinemas in the future, which is equivalent to an increase of US$100 million in net assets.

After careful calculation, Wanda actually paid only US$400 million to shareholders of AMC Cinemas.

After Zhou Buqi heard about it, he was very excited, "Okay! This is a bargain price, hurry up and buy it, the sooner the better! With a real investment of US$400 million, you can get a promotion effect of US$2.92 billion in the capital market. Why are you still hesitating? Once this deal is completed, Wanda’s reputation will spread all over the world immediately.”

Boss Wang said very worriedly: "I am afraid that the movie market will continue to slump. Of the US$500 million in cash flow provided by Wanda, US$320 million will be used to repay debt due this year. Once the market does not recover, AMC Cinemas will still There is a risk of bankruptcy. I am worried that the Americans have set a trap inside and want to sell me junk assets and let me take over."

Zhou Buqi said amusedly: "Old Wang, you are worrying too much!"

"Isn't it?"

"You are right. Americans are not so kind. They really want to sell off their junk assets as soon as possible and get rid of this burden. But you are only half right."

"Um?"

Boss Wang raised his eyebrows.

Zhou Buqi said: "If they want to sell off junk assets, they first have to make a judgment, that is, to confirm that AMC theaters are really junk assets. This is wrong. Americans are not all-inclusive, and their judgments cannot be all right. Old King, if you believe me, act quickly. When this year’s summer season opens, the film market will recover strongly! If nothing else, the films I have are enough to shock the world. "The Avengers" Assembled, you can have a movie binge this summer!”

Boss Wang laughed dumbly.

I think this Xiao Zhou is really confident. This big case with a total value of nearly 3 billion US dollars is as easy as spending 30 US dollars to buy a piece of clothing.

Now that everything is like this, Boss Wang did not hesitate. He slapped his thigh and said in a deep voice: "Then it's settled. I'll leave soon and go to New York! Sign a contract with them!"

Zhou Buqi smiled and said: "That's right. Act quickly to avoid long nights and dreams. When signing the contract, the liquidated damages should be set higher to avoid the other party's regrets after the market recovers."

Boss Wang nodded, a little amused, "They seem to be more anxious than me. The liquidated damages can't be lowered, for fear that I will regret it. They said the last time we talked, the liquidated damages cannot be less than 500 million U.S. dollars. What's more, They said they would come forward and help with the operation to get approval from the U.S. Trade Commission.”

Zhou Buqi asked: "How long does it take for approval?"

Boss Wang said: "The longest is half a year, right? It shouldn't be too long. This transaction is not complicated."

"good."

Zhou Buqi nodded.

For a transaction of this magnitude, it is not enough for both parties to sign a contract. Official approval is also required. This is of course an interference with trade freedom, so in theory both parties can complete the transaction privately without approval.

But there will be certain risks in this.

There are mainly two aspects, antitrust and national security. Transactions that violate these two legal restrictions are illegal transactions. Therefore, most transactions must be approved before being finalized, otherwise the boards of directors of both parties will not agree.

Wanda's acquisition of AMC Cinemas will not involve any of these two aspects and will be smooth.

However, Zhou Buqi also thought of something and deliberately reminded, "Wanda is not listed in the United States. One thing I want to remind you is that none of the Chinese concept stocks listed in the United States has disclosed all company information to the public."

"You mean..."

Boss Wang understood it immediately.

This is no secret in the industry.

Chinese concept stock companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq have special privileges.

Other companies that want to be listed in the United States must submit all financial reports. The most important thing is the list of all major shareholders of the company.

The most important thing for a listed company is to be open and transparent, that is, to be fully open to the society and to accept the supervision of the whole society.

Only in this way can investors feel confident and bold enough to buy the company's shares.

If investors don't even know who the shareholders of the company are, or even the true situation of the company, it would be irresponsible to all investors for the stock exchange.

However, companies with Chinese concept stocks are somewhat special. In order to attract companies with Chinese concept stocks to list in the United States, the United States can only turn a blind eye and acquiesce in not submitting a complete list of Chinese concept stocks.

The names of some shareholders can be made public, while others cannot.

Therefore, when the US Securities Regulatory Commission later demanded uniform standards and took back the privileges of Chinese concept stocks, most Chinese concept stock companies delisted from the United States.

Zhou Buqi has no worries in this regard.

He solved this problem once and for all during the subprime mortgage crisis in 2008. At least Ziweixing does not have this problem and can be listed on NASDAQ in the future.

Other companies can't.

This is a hurdle that cannot be bypassed when doing business in China.

Just like once he met a Chinese entrepreneur in the United States, and the man said with emotion: "I have traveled to so many countries in the world, and the only place where I can't stand and make money is the mainland."

Zhou Buqi said: "Wanda is going to acquire AMC Cinemas. The authorities will definitely ask Wanda for relevant information. You have to be prepared. Some of it can be given, and some... it's best not to give it to you at all."

Boss Wang didn't realize the seriousness of the matter, "Isn't it serious?"

Zhou Buqi said in a deep voice: "It's very important. Wanda wants to be a world-class multinational enterprise and a global business. This is of course a good thing. I believe everyone will support it. However, if you accidentally leak some shareholders information, the people on this leaked list will definitely not support you."

Boss Wang laughed.

Vague.

It’s hard to say anything more about Zhou Buqi.

In its previous life, Wanda was once very successful in overseas markets with great momentum.

But in a speech at Harvard, Lao Wang was asked whether there were so-and-so shareholders in his company, and he admitted it straightforwardly.

Later, it didn’t work anymore. Wanda’s overseas expansion was stopped, all its overseas businesses were sold, and it encountered a serious business crisis.

…

Ziweixing also has a branch in Spring City, which mainly provides consulting, platform advertising, and customer service positions. There are also some rare technical positions, which are mainly technical consulting positions.

However, there are relatively few "on-the-job" technical personnel here, but more "internship" technical personnel.

They are mainly college students from Jida Institute of Planning and Design.

Some have been interning here since their sophomore year.

Zhou Buqi said he was on vacation, so he couldn't let it go completely, so he just walked around the branch... Needless to say, he found that a few working technicians and a group of intern college students had actually made a few things. A pretty decent product. One of them has received high recognition from him, which is a mobile app called "Good Voice Karaoke".

The project manager is a senior student named Yu Xiaoyu. She is a girl with average appearance but extraordinary skills. The most important thing is that she is not from the School of Computer Science, but from the School of Business.

Later, after I went to college, I heard that it was difficult to find a job in business school, so I took a double major in computer science and learned programming.

Zhou Buqi couldn't help but chat with her a little more, "This product is good, how did you come up with it?"

Yu Xiaoyu didn't expect to meet the legendary Boss Zhou here, and felt dizzy, "It's just singing...just...there is a cash box KTV outside our school, which is always full. Especially on weekends. At night, I had to wait in line for hours. I thought this is the Internet age, why do we have to go to KTV to sing? Singing to the mobile phone, singers all over the country can be connected."

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "It's a good idea."

Yu Xiaoyu blushed, "Thank you."

Zhou Buqi then asked: "What about 'The Voice'? Isn't this infringement?"

Yu Xiaoyu said nonchalantly: "Just infringe. If the product fails, it doesn't matter if it is infringed. No one knows about it. If the product succeeds, it will be easier. Just buy the copyright directly from them. One How much money are variety shows worth? If this app has 100 million users, maybe it can buy the entire "The Voice" program."

This is the typical crude thinking of Internet people.

Use it first and then talk about it!

If you fail, no one cares; if you succeed... you are successful, you still care about the copyright fee, just spend money to get it done.

It's obvious that Yu Xiaoyu doesn't know the relationship between "The Voice" and Boss Zhou.

Zhou Buqi smiled and said: "It's very good. You can cooperate with "The Voice"."

"ah?"

Yu Xiaoyu was slightly startled.

Zhou Buqi said: "The Voice has selections, and we can designate cooperation with your product. The outstanding singers in The Voice Karaoke will have the opportunity to participate in the interview for The Voice offline. You We can also use more elements of "The Voice" in our products, and use this popular variety show to enhance the market competitiveness of our products."

Yu Xiaoyu was in a daze, "Designate a partner? Can they like it?"

Zhou Buqi said: "You represent Ziweixing. What are you afraid of? Talk to your leaders and see what to do. Come up with a plan. I'll take a look... Forget it, you can report it directly to Zhang Yiming. There, just say what I said. Before you graduate, your project team will be transferred to the headquarters in the capital, where it will be more convenient to cooperate with "The Voice"."