Heads Up Hollywood

Vivendi's stock price continued to decline. By the end of July, the media giant, which had a market value of 100 billion, had a market value of only 10.1 billion euros!

Of course, such a company with huge assets cannot be measured by market value.

But for Vivendi, the most critical thing is the rating of Moody's credit company!

A low rating means that Vivendi's bonds, stocks, and loans are all in serious crisis.

The depreciation of the stock is enough. If the bond looks bad again, the major investment banks and securities companies will ask Vivendi to repay the debt, which will force Vivendi to go bankrupt.

In order to re-upgrade Moody's rating to BAA, Vivendi's current debt cannot exceed 10 billion euros.

In other words, Vivendi must find a way to eliminate the debt of about 20 billion euros!

Vivendi's board of directors immediately approved the invitation to buy Tang En Pictures, and the two sides began negotiations on the assets of Vivendi's entertainment department.

However, in terms of details, Vivendi's board of directors is relatively conservative. They are only responsible for strategic decision-making and specific operations. They need to wait for the new CEO to take office before negotiating.

By the beginning of August, "Pirate League: The Curse of the Black Pearl" has been released for almost a month.

In North America, it earned a total of US$250 million at the box office, and it was released later in overseas regions, and it also earned US$190 million at the box office.

It is obviously unrealistic to compare "Pirate League" with "Spider-Man 2", which has already grossed more than 1.1 billion US dollars.

After all, this is the first piece of an original theme.

However, under the helm of the great director Tim Burton, the series has already made a good start.

According to the box office trend forecast, the North American box office of "Pirate Alliance: The Curse of the Black Pearl" will exceed 300 million US dollars, and the overseas box office should be around 400 million US dollars.

Without a doubt, this will be the highest-grossing film ever directed by Tim Burton!

On August 2, another blockbuster film from Dunn Films was released. "Signs of the Sky", directed by Nate Shyamalan and starring Mel Gibson, officially landed in the North American market.

On the same day, Vivendi's board of directors also announced a blockbuster news - the appointment of 47-year-old Jean Bernard Levi as Vivendi's new CEO.

After Jean Levi came to power, the first task was to negotiate with Tang En Pictures to solve the problem of high debts and bring Vivendi back to life!

Tang En was dispatched again and flew to Paris in person to congratulate Jean Levy on his appointment as Vivendi's CEO, and had a brief communication with him on the issue of asset acquisition.

The meeting between the two parties was at the home of Jean Bernard Levi, and his wife personally cooked a dinner.

"Vivendi is facing a lot of difficulties now, Mr. Levi, is there any good solution?" Tang En tasted the caviar, which tasted very ordinary.

Jean Levy's English is very standard, he shook his head, "Restart the accounts, and control costs and reduce expenses little by little, there is no good way."

"At least Tang En Films can help you through the current crisis, right?" Tang En smiled, and at this time Mrs. Levi brought another bowl of soup, "Thank you, Mrs. Levi, today's dinner is too rich It made me deeply feel the enthusiasm of France."

Jean Levitt paused for a moment, and said slowly: "The decision of the board of directors is to withdraw from the film and television entertainment industry, especially related assets in the United States. I agree with this point of view."

"Oh?" Tang En vaguely felt that there was something in the other party's words.

Jean Levi said: "Vivendi now has more than 2,600 branches. The internal structures of these companies vary widely. It is almost impossible to integrate them into one development strategy."

Tang En immediately understood what the other party meant.

Vivendi's industries spread all over the world, but the three major companies with the most branches: Universal Pictures, Universal Music and Mifflin Publishing House.

These three companies have almost two or three branches in each country, with a total of more than 1,100 branches all over the world. The total number of employees exceeds 30,000, accounting for 70% of Vivendi's total employees.

Jean Levy wanted to reduce expenses, so he would definitely divest this part of the assets for sale.

Tang En said lightly: "I'm more interested in Blizzard and Sierra Mountain. These two game studios are the memories of my generation of American youth. It's just Universal Music Group and Mifflin Publishing Group. With all due respect, Music and publishing are sunset industries that are already on the wane.”

Jean Levi laughed: "Mr. Walker, the whole world knows that you desperately need Universal Pictures!"

Tang En's face turned cold, and he looked at him, "So you're sure you'll eat me?"

Jean Levi was very indifferent, "This is a normal business relationship."

Tang En shrugged, drank a spoonful of soup, almost spat it out, and suppressed his face from changing, "If I fail to acquire Universal Pictures, I will terminate all exchanges and cooperation between Dunn Pictures and Universal Pictures. If You have a certain understanding of Hollywood, I believe you must be aware that Tang En Pictures is launching a series of business contacts with Disney."

This is not alarmist talk.

Tang En had already made a two-handed arrangement.

If Vivendi dared to open his mouth on the matter of Universal Pictures, then Tang En would definitely not bow his head, and would directly reach out to Disney.

With the potential of Tang En Pictures, Disney's shareholders must be happy to see the success of this M\u0026A transaction.

Although the merger of Tang En Pictures and Disney will greatly dilute Tang En's shares, at least 25% of the new company's shares can be retained, right?

That's enough for him to run the company.

Jean Levi was surprised by Tang En's words.

Fortunately, before he took office, he knew that his first task after taking office was to deal with Tang En. He had checked a lot of information about Tang En, and he knew that this kid's business methods were violent and manic!

Absolutely cannot be forced.

Jean Levi smiled and said: "Negotiation, we have a lot of room for negotiation with each other. You intend to acquire Universal Pictures, and we do have plans to sell."

Tang En shook his head and said, "It's easy to talk about Universal Pictures, but I want to talk about Blizzard."

Jean Levi was very embarrassed, "Blizzard... You know, Blizzard's new game "Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne" will be released next year, and Blizzard has also started the design and production of an online game. We can't At this stage, sell Blizzard."

Tang En disapproved, "Nothing is impossible! Mr. Levi, you don't just want me to take over the music, publish these bad assets, and then firmly control a high-quality company like Blizzard? This is a deal. There needs to be a balance on both sides.”

Jean Levi's eyes narrowed into a line.

Tang En continued: "Back then, Sony and Panasonic both wanted to enter Hollywood, but they both suffered serious losses. The Japanese/people couldn't play well in Hollywood, and neither could the French."

Jean Levi laughed and said: "Universal Pictures' performance has been quite impressive in recent years."

Tang En was funny and angry, "That's because Tang En Pictures is a partner of Universal Pictures! The two films "Spider-Man" and "Unsinkable" alone made Universal a net profit of 100 million US dollars!"

Jean Levy said: "I have no objection to selling Universal Pictures to you, and the board of directors also readily agrees! The key now, I want to sell Universal Music and Mifflin Press, but what you fancy is It's the Blizzard studio I don't want to sell."

Dunn put down his knife and fork, and waved his hands, "Let's not talk about Blizzard, nor Mifflin, let's talk about the TV network. Vivendi now has two large TV networks, Canal+ TV network in France and Canal+ TV network in the United States. USA Television Network. I don’t know if you’ve ever worked in a TV station, but I’m sure you’ll understand that for a TV network, the best way to attract users is to be able to broadcast rich and attractive TV content .”

Jean Levi was silent.

Tang En said: "It's easy to talk about the Canal+ TV network. You also have the support of the largest film company in France, Gaumont Films. But what about the USA TV network? Last year, Vivendi bought the USA TV network at a premium of nearly 200%. What do you want to do?"

Jean Levy said bluntly: "USA Television Network must be packaged and sold with Universal Pictures."

Tang En fixed his eyes and stared at the other party, "Mr. Levi, don't you think your request is too much? What I want to buy is Universal Pictures, but you want to use Universal Pictures to integrate USA TV Network, Universal Pictures, etc. Both record and Mifflin are bundled! Not a fair negotiation."

"I can compromise on price."

"But I prefer Blizzard!"

Jean Levi smiled bitterly, "Mr. Walker, you have to know that my current job is very difficult, and I have countless problems that need to be solved. It's okay to tell you, I need to solve at least 20 billion euros in the next two years. Debt, those entertainment assets in America, I had to sell."

Tang En smiled and said, "That's right, isn't Blizzard an American company? Isn't Blizzard an entertainment asset?"

Jean Levi choked for a moment.

Tang En pondered slightly, and lowered his voice, "Mr. Levi, you must have investigated my information in detail before I came. You should know me well. If it is a happy cooperation, I will never let my partner suffer. .”

"oh?"

"If the cooperation is happy..." Tang En drew a long voice and gave him a deep look, "I will solve most of the debt pressure on you!"

Jean Levi's eyes lit up suddenly, showing a somewhat incredible expression.

most of the debt?

The debt he urgently needs to repay is 20 billion euros. If Twain wants to help solve most of it, he needs at least 15 billion euros, right?

However, the current value of Universal Pictures is about 6 billion to 7 billion euros.

Jean Levy was also a wise and intelligent man.

Instantly understood Tang En's meaning.

Can't help taking a breath.

This young man has great ambition and appetite, no less than the resigned former CEO of Vivendi Jean Messier!

Looking at Tang En who was sitting across from him, who was enjoying dinner peacefully and calmly, Jean Levi felt very complicated.

"Vivendi also has some Internet assets, including the world's largest online music website MP3.com, including the eMusic music website, and also the Intel website that sells records in a joint venture with Sony." Jean Levy said suddenly.

Tang En laughed, "Simple, isn't Sony building the largest music group in the world? They are interested in music, and these assets can be sold to them. They can't buy Universal Music because they are bound by anti-monopoly laws. But these music websites have no restrictions."

Jean Levi nodded slightly and remained silent.

After a long time, I changed the subject, stopped talking about business cooperation, and talked about the customs of France instead.

Tang En's heart was brightened.

It's so much easier now!

Jean Levi is not even a shareholder of Vivendi, but a CEO hired by the board of directors. What he cares most about right now is to solve the debt crisis and secure his position as CEO.

With Tang En's help, why not do it?