Chapter 401 Golden Rooster

After acquiring 14.5% of Lionsgate shares, Golden Shell Investment continued to buy Lionsgate shares from the stock market and other shareholders, spending 210 million US dollars to acquire 26.8% of Lionsgate shares.

At the same time, media tycoon John Malone, the second largest shareholder of Lionsgate, also joined the ranks of acquiring the remaining shares of Lionsgate.

He spent 80 million US dollars to increase his holdings of Lionsgate shares to 32.2%, surpassing Jon Fillmore and becoming the largest shareholder of Lionsgate.

As the two were competing for Lionsgate shares, Lionsgate's stock price on the New York Stock Exchange continued to rise.

From the initial US$7.4 to US$10.2, Lionsgate's market value also successfully exceeded US$800 million. On Friday, the Wall Street Journal quoted 850 million, an increase of nearly 30%.

Next, no matter who wants to eat up the other's shares, Link and John Malone will have to pay a higher price than the original price.

The main target of the next acquisition by both parties is the 28.7% shares held by Jon Fillmore, chairman of Lionsgate.

Whoever can get these shares can completely control the board of directors of Lionsgate and have the decision-making power over Lionsgate.

According to the current net worth of both parties, the two are about the same.

John Malone is a shareholder of American media giants Liberty Media and Liberty Global, and also owns a large number of shares in Discovery Communications.

He is worth about 2 billion US dollars, but he is 69 years old this year. As a veteran investor on Wall Street, he has deep connections in the American business circle. If he wants to control Lionsgate, he has no shortage of funds.

And Link is fighting alone for the time being. If he has no money, he will use his stocks as collateral to borrow money from the bank. He does not seek external help to share the risk, which is more risky.

Just when everyone thought that the competition between the two sides would enter a tug-of-war, Lionsgate Chairman Jon Felmer suddenly announced that he would sell 28.7% of his shares to Golden Shell Investment. The condition of the transaction was 3.2% of Twitter shares.

After the news came out, it caused a huge sensation on Wall Street and Hollywood. Many people said that Link was crazy.

After the third round of financing this year, Twitter's shares entered the fast lane. In just over half a month, the market value increased from the original 4.2 billion to 5.8 billion US dollars.

The Wall Street Journal, Business Daily and other professional media predicted that Twitter's market value is expected to exceed 10 billion US dollars by the end of the year.

If it goes public next year, it is expected to become the next Facebook, with a market value of more than 100 billion or even 200 billion.

Now many investment banks on Wall Street want to get Twitter shares but have no chance. Link was originally the second largest shareholder of Twitter. With 16.5% of Twitter shares in his hands, he is expected to become a billionaire next year and enter the top three of Forbes.

But he sold Twitter shares twice this month at a very low price, and exchanged them for unpopular stocks Nvidia and Lionsgate, which is in general operating conditions.

In the new issue of Business Daily, there is a commentary article titled "Why did investment star Link Baker make so many stupid moves this year? '

When analyzing the reasons, the author believes that this is the negative effect of the surge in net worth.

At the beginning of 2010, Link's net worth was less than 400 million US dollars, but at the beginning of this year, his net worth soared to 2.4 billion US dollars. This rapid expansion of net worth led Link to underestimate the risks of the stock market and make a series of wrong decisions.

In plain language, Link, a nouveau riche, got hot-headed and spent money recklessly after he became rich.

The article also pointed out that if Link could not wake up as soon as possible, he would sooner or later pay for his mistakes and fall from a billionaire to a multi-millionaire.

The most anxious person after seeing this news was Mr. Thompson, the old father-in-law. He put down the Wall Street Journal, picked up the phone on his desk and called Eva Ka.

"Eva, do you know that Link did this?"

"Dad, what are you talking about?"

Eva Ka put down the pen and asked, leaning against the office chair.

"Link exchanged Twitter shares for Lionsgate shares. 3.2% of Twitter shares will be worth at least 400 million US dollars by the end of the year, but he used it to exchange for Lionsgate shares worth less than 200 million US dollars. It's too irrational. Eva, you should persuade him."

Mr. Thompson complained loudly.

"Dad, this is Link's private matter, I don't want to interfere."

"You are boyfriend and girlfriend, the next step is to get married, and Link's money will be yours in the future."

Mr. Thompson shouted.

"Dad, Link's assets belong to him personally, it has nothing to do with me, I have Link Music shares, which is completely enough.

In addition, this time he only sold Twitter shares, he still has Tesla and Link Music in his hands, even if this investment loses money, it will not have much impact, Link is still young, there is still a long way to go in the future, and trying a failure is also good for his growth."

Ivaka said.

Mr. Thompson smacked his lips helplessly, "Eva, when are you going to marry Link? I talked to him last time, he said he would consider getting married after he finished his work, I hope it will be within this year."

"Dad, don't worry, we..."

"Not in a hurry? You are already 27 years old, 28 next year, I tell you, if you don't get married this year, I will accept the proposal of little Kunas on your behalf, I will do what I say."

Click!

Without waiting for Ivaka to say anything else, Mr. Thompson hung up the phone directly.

Evaka heard the busy tone in the microphone and shook her head. She was not too worried about what Mr. Thompson said.

Being in a wealthy family, the most important thing is to get the inheritance right of the family property to maintain the upper-class life and consumption.

For the right of inheritance, the heirs in the family often fight overtly and covertly, and dare not disobey the words of their fathers.

But she is different. The current market value of Link Music is 650 million US dollars. She owns 25% of Link Music shares and is worth more than 100 million US dollars. With these assets, she can live well without relying on her family, so Mr. Thompson's forced marriage is useless to her.

However, Mr. Thompson's words also make some sense. She is not young anymore. If she delays any longer, she will become an older leftover woman.

Eva Ka blinked her eyelashes and opened Google to search for how to get her boyfriend to propose to her.

The first search result was the new movie "Leap Year" starring Amy Adams. It tells the story of a woman who heard that if she proposed to her boyfriend on February 29th of a leap year, she would definitely get a happy love. She flew thousands of miles from the United States to Ireland to propose to her boyfriend, but met her true love on the way.

She shook her head and continued to search for other good ideas.

Dong Dong Dong!

"President, Director Kapal is here. He has something to report to you. Do you have time now?"

Secretary Vivian Jones asked at the door.

"Please ask him to come in. Vivian, you stay here and sort out these documents."

Evaka straightened her back and pointed to the bookshelf.

"Okay, President!"

Vivian turned around and invited Director George Kapar to come in. She walked to the desk to sort out the materials. This was not the first time she had done this. Every time a male staff member came to report on work, she would be left in the office to do some chores.

It felt strange at first, but she wisely didn't ask more.

"George, how did the talk with Spotify go?"

Evaka asked with her fingers crossed.

"It went very smoothly. President Daniel Ek welcomes our Link Music to participate in this round of financing and is also very interested in cooperating with Link Music. However, the valuation of Spotify in this round of financing is one billion US dollars, and investors below 50 million US dollars are not accepted. President, should we continue to follow up?"

George Kapar said.

Spotify is a legitimate streaming music provider platform, and its income mainly comes from advertising revenue from free music and subscription revenue from paying users.

Since its launch in Stockholm, Sweden in 2008, the number of users in Europe and the United States has exceeded 5 million, and there are currently 1.8 million paid subscribers. There are two types of payment models: $4.99/month or $9.99/month.

Last year, the total revenue reached $150 million. Although it is much lower than Link Music, it is also very potential in the streaming music platform.

Eva Ka pondered for a moment, picked up the phone and called Link to discuss the investment share.

Her opinion is to invest 50 million first to see the development potential of Spotify. If the development is good, then participate in the next round of financing.

And Link means to take no less than 15% of the shares first, and at the same time sign in the contract that the singers under Link Music, as the earliest musicians to enter Spotify in North America, need to receive technical and traffic support when releasing songs on the Spotify platform for at least three years.

If Spotify agrees, his new songs in the future can be released on the Spotify platform first.

Eva Ka thought about it, 15% of the shares would cost about 150 million US dollars, which is almost the company's revenue last year. This is a bit risky.

But if Spotify develops smoothly, Link Music will not only have a huge increase in market value, but also have an additional distribution platform, and will make money faster in the future.

"Then do as you say."

Ivaka said.

"By the way, releasing songs on streaming media is different from releasing records. Some singers will mind it. Before entering the Spotify platform, you and Graeme should discuss with your singers first. It is all voluntary. Don't force them if they don't want to."

Link reminded.

He did this because he remembered the news about Taylor.

First of all, releasing a new album on Spotify at the same time will affect the sales of physical records and will also affect the chart rush.

Some users subscribe to Spotify, so they will not buy physical records. Some singers hope that physical records will sell more and have a good performance before they will remove songs from streaming platforms.

In addition, making songs into laser discs and vinyl records for sale looks more artistic and more like works of art.

And selling them directly on streaming platforms, without physical records as a medium, is more like a commodity and looks vulgar.

This is also the reason why many singers don't want to sell their songs on streaming platforms.

But Link doesn't care about this. His main purpose of singing and releasing records is to become famous and make money. He can make money faster by releasing songs on the Spotify platform and receiving monthly dividends.

"Link, did the acquisition of Lionsgate go smoothly? Last September, the Wall Street Journal called you an investment genius. Now I heard that you exchanged Twitter stocks for Lionsgate stocks. Many people said you were crazy, so are you still sober?"

Evaka smiled faintly.

"Yes, I am sober. Twitter has great potential, but it is a golden chicken that does not lay eggs, and Lionsgate will become a chicken that lays golden eggs in my hands. If it were you, would you choose to have a golden chicken or a chicken that lays golden eggs? P.S. Golden eggs can hatch golden chickens."

"I don't know, but I support your decisions, all your decisions."

Evaka chuckled.

"Thank you! Don't worry, I am sober and will not do a business that loses money."

Link said confidently.

"Yes, I said, I believe you."

Ivaka held her cheeks and showed a soft smile.

In the office, Secretary Vivian saw the touching smile on the president's face and was secretly amazed. Usually the president often had a cold face and was very serious, but when he was on the phone with Link, he smiled so much and his voice was so annoying.

"Okay, that's it. I'll come to accompany you on the weekend."

Ivaka hung up the phone, put away her smile, and discussed the investment in Spotify with Director Kapal, asking him to continue the negotiation and try to get the best conditions.