Chapter 356: buy again

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According to the development trajectory of the previous life, MGM and Frank Macasso made a fatal mistake and spent 115 million US dollars to invest in the production of "Wind Talker". The global box office of this film is only 77.62 million US dollars.

In other words, as a film investment company, MGM has no way of recovering the investment of 115 million US dollars and tens of millions of dollars in publicity expenses.

It's also one of Hollywood's top ten box office flops.

Because the film failed at the box office, the stock price of MGM plummeted, and a group of senior managers were forced to resign, and MGM once again entered the ranks of being auctioned.

It was also at this time that Sony and Warner Times bid to acquire MGM.

For Orion Pictures, the box office failure of "Windtalker" is also a good acquisition opportunity.

However, in order to avoid competition with Sony and Warner Times, Ryan chose to buy MGM in advance.

After all, the strength of Sony cannot be underestimated, and Time Warner is a global media group.

Compared with Ryan and Orion Pictures, Sony and Time Warner are no less than two behemoths.

Frank Macasso invited Ryan to sit down and asked the secretary to bring over two cups of coffee.

"Mr. Gosling, what can I do for you!"

Frank Macasso was a little puzzled. With the current performance of Orion Pictures, the other party didn't need to come to MGM in person.

At least in terms of production and distribution, Orion Pictures has surpassed MGM.

"Mr. Frank, I heard that MGM is about to face an acquisition? And you don't agree with it!" Ryan said, taking a sip of coffee.

Hearing this, Frank Macasso frowned.

This incident has bothered him for a while recently. The company has changed hands frequently, which is a disaster for MGM.

The main reason why MGM is in the current situation is that it has been continuously sold by major shareholders. Every time a transaction is concluded, the new major shareholders will re-plan the company's development direction and sell some departments and industries that they think are worthless.

"Mr. Gosling, I don't quite understand what you mean!" Frank Macasso asked calmly

Regarding the possible acquisition of MGM, only a very few people know, and even many company executives are not clear.

At this time, it was said from an outsider, which gave him a sudden bad feeling.

"All right."

Ryan put down the coffee in his hand, looked at Frank Macasso, and said, "I hope you can support MGM's acquisition plan and convince the senior management of other companies."

what!

Frank Maccasso stood up abruptly, staring at Ryan in front of him, his expression fluctuating for a while.

After half a minute, he sat down again and said to himself, "It turns out that Orion Pictures is eyeing MGM!"

Then, he showed a look of sudden realization. At present, only Orion Films and Ryan Gosling in Hollywood can spend billions of dollars at a time.

"Once the acquisition is completed, what will Orion Pictures do with MGM!" Frank Macasso did not say whether he agreed, but asked a very critical question.

Compared with the declining and obsolete MGM, Orion Pictures' performance in production and distribution is enough to make any Hollywood film company envious.

In other words, there will not be many things that MGM can make Orion Pictures fancy, and it is very likely that they will face dismemberment.

"Orion Films will selectively sell some properties, such as MGM Hotel, MGM Grand, Mandalay Resort, Dream Resort, etc., as well as a number of properties that have nothing to do with the film industry."

"Shares in companies such as Digao International Cinemas and Comcast TV will continue to be retained."

Ryan did not hide his intention to dismember MGM, "As for the production and distribution business, it will also be selectively merged into Orion Pictures."

For example, MGM's production business and publicity department can greatly supplement Orion Pictures.

North American distribution channels can choose to sell most of the business, while offline videotape, disc distribution, derivative product distribution and other departments can choose to keep a part.

Of course, all of these will not be incorporated into Orion Films, but will be sold in packages after selecting the rest.

There are definitely more than one or two film companies in Hollywood that are interested in these departments.

For example, the ambitious Lionsgate is a good buyer.

"The purpose of Orion Pictures' acquisition of MGM is only for the shares of TV network and theater companies!" Frank Macasso was a little hard to accept.

According to Ryan, most of MGM's properties will be sold by Orion Pictures, and very few can be merged into Orion Pictures in the end.

"This is just one of them."

"MGM still has a lot of high-quality industries, such as film libraries, members of the film association, etc." Ryan said truthfully.

As for the purpose of Orion Pictures' acquisition of MGM, it is not difficult to draw a conclusion after a little speculation.

Member of Film Library and Film Association!

This is what Orion Films is most in short supply.

Frank Macasso said subconsciously: "The licensing agreement between MGM and Turner Broadcasting will expire in 2003."

"A few years, Orion Pictures can afford to wait." Ryan glanced at Frank Macasso, and continued: "Once the acquisition is completed, Orion Pictures will continue to retain the MGM and United Artists brands, and continue to implement the original Some shooting plans."

"You can choose to manage the filming schedule for these projects, or you can manage the network business."

This is a fair condition.

Not exactly superior, but not too bad either.

Whether it's a film project or a television network, both are at the heart of a film company.

Frank Macasso said calmly, "Where's my management team!"

"There is no one who is more familiar with the MGM project than they are."

Ryan nodded, agreeing with Frank Macasso's point of view, "Orion Films has always been in short supply of production manpower, and they are very welcome to join."

It is a fact that the core production team of Orion Films does not have a large number of people, and most of the time they can only choose to cooperate with some independent producers.

Frank Macasso finally breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I will try my best to stabilize the company's top management and facilitate this acquisition transaction."

"Very well, I wish us a happy cooperation." Ryan smiled.

Before the acquisition, reaching a consensus on the acquisition with the top management of MGM can reduce a lot of unnecessary troubles.

What Ryan is most worried about is that because of the acquisition plan, MGM is in chaos. Even if the acquisition is finally completed, many projects will be temporarily suspended.

This is a scene he doesn't want to see.

After all, MGM still has several good projects in the works, including the upcoming "Hannibal," a crime thriller, and the second installment in the "Silence of the Lambs" film series.

The original investment of this film was as high as 87 million US dollars, the North American box office of the film was 165 million US dollars, and the global box office was 351 million US dollars.

In addition, the investment in "Legally Blonde" was only US$18 million, and the original global box office reached US$141 million. The investment in "Scary Cannibal" was only US$10 million. The original North American box office was 37.9 million US dollars, and the global box office was 59.37 million US dollars. It is also a relatively successful film.

The producer of the film is Francis Ford Coppola.

So far, the only project that MGM can make Ryan fancy is "007 Die Another Day", one of the 007 series of films.

Most of the remaining projects will be canceled or stopped.

Of course, those films that have already started shooting or are about to finish shooting can only be released and released according to the original plan.

Ryan remembered that MGM didn't seem to have any blockbuster movies this year.

Even last year, MGM's only profitable films were "007: The Black Sun" and "Stigmata", and "Stealing the Sky" barely lost money, and the rest of the films faced losses at the box office. .

In other words, these three films did not bring real profits to MGM, and they are still in a state of loss on the whole.

This shows how speechless MGM's revenue statement is.

At the same time, in the recent period, the negotiation team of Orion Films has also made considerable progress.

MGM's performance is not satisfactory, coupled with the outbreak of the Internet crisis, financing channels are in trouble, unless the Italian consortium behind it is willing to make an additional investment, MGM will soon fall into a shortage of funds.

In the end, because the war blockbuster "Windtalker" was released, it failed miserably at the box office and was bought by a consortium headed by Sony.

In late March, the long-term acquisition negotiations finally ushered in a glimmer of light, and both parties made considerable concessions.

The negotiating team gave a purchase price of $11 per share, which is close to $4.7 billion.

Among them, US$1.8 billion needs to repay the debt owed by MGM, and agrees to sell MGM Hotel, MGM Grand, MGM Coffee and other properties to an Italian consortium at a reasonable price.

The reason why the quotation given by the negotiating team is not very high is very simple.

Since the Italian consortium bought MGM, its main business is no longer in the film production and distribution industry.

Rather than investing in risky film projects ~www.wuxiaspot.com~, they prefer to expand their film library in order to obtain stable profit income.

There are also high-quality industries such as MGM Hotel, MGM Grand, and MGM Coffee.

What they forget, however, is that MGM is a Hollywood film company, not a television network and hotel group.

In the environment of fierce competition in Hollywood, MGM, which does not have enough vitality, is generally looked down upon by the market, and it is difficult to give a high purchase price.

When the negotiations were most intense, the negotiating team directly took out an evaluation data, believing that MGM, which lost its global distribution channels, had not only become a second-tier Hollywood film company.

Even, in terms of revenue, it is not as good as second-tier film companies such as New Line Films and Dimensional Films. The Italian financier Giancarlo-Palletti cannot refute it.

The decline of MGM is a fact recognized by Hollywood.

Until the beginning of April, the negotiating team formally reached an agreement with the Italian consortium, and finally acquired the entire property of MGM at a price of US$4.9 billion.