Chapter 516: Take the world home!
Paris, Vivendi headquarters building, CEO's office.
Behind the desk, in addition to Jean Bernard Levi, there is another young face - Don Walker.
On the desk, there are two thick stacks of documents, each with as many as seven or eight copies.
In front of the desk, there are two Vivendi staff members, one is playing with the camera, the other is playing with the camera, looking very eager.
This simple scene will be the signing ceremony of a blockbuster deal!
Dunn will represent Dunn Films, and will merge the related assets such as Universal Pictures, Universal Music, Blizzard, USA TV Network and Houghton Mifflin under the Vivendi Group!
Without a doubt, this is quite possibly the biggest deal in the history of both companies!
But for Vivendi, it's really not glamorous.
These assets to be sold are all the sunrise industries that Vivendi's former CEO Jean Messier worked hard and spent a lot of money to buy.
But the result?
If it doesn't last for two years, it will be resold to Americans at a low price.
Between buying and selling, Vivendi lost at least $10 billion!
No way, the situation forced.
In the era of the Internet bubble, Vivendi's share price was amazing, with a market value of $100 billion. In that case, Messier can of course buy it at a premium, and the money is frequent.
But it is different now. The Internet bubble burst, and Vivendi is in debt crisis again. The market value is only 10.1 billion euros, and it cannot support such a huge media empire.
If Vivendi wants to survive, it can only sell assets!
"Dawn, I have a hunch. With Universal and Blizzard, you can reach unprecedented heights in Hollywood!" Jean Levy sighed, with a bit of self-deprecating helplessness and expectations for Dunn.
The reason why the transaction was successfully completed was that Dunn took a step back at the last moment.
This made Levi very grateful, and was deeply in awe of Dunn's persistence and decisiveness.
Dunn said humbly: "Mr. Levi, I am honored to receive such a high evaluation from you. I wish us that after completing this transaction, whether it is Dunn Films or Vivendi, we can embark on a healthy, stable, A new era of rapid development.”
"hope so!"
Jean Levi sighed lightly.
Compared to the vibrant Dunn Films, Vivendi's situation is too complicated.
Completing this large transaction will not allow Vivendi to get out of bankruptcy. It will take years of operating and fiscal contraction to fully recover.
At this time, the cameraman finally adjusted the equipment and said, "That's it!"
Jean Levi nodded and gave Dunn a deep look, "Then let's just sign it."
Dunn smiled happily.
Under the camera, Jean Levi and Dunn Walker shook hands intimately.
For Vivendi, this deal is not glorious, so it did not hold a public and grand signing meeting with great fanfare, but adopted this secret and low-key approach.
Dunn didn't care, he quickly signed his name in every contract.
Anyway, you're done!
…
On August 28, a photo of Dunn Walker and Jean Bernard Levy shaking hands at the signing table appeared on the front page of the msn website!
At the same time, the msn client also pushed related news-"Agreement! Dunn Walker, bring home the globe! 》
A month ago, Dunn went to Microsoft headquarters and had a long talk with Bill Gates, which not only solved the threat of QQ being attacked by Microsoft's monopoly, but also promoted the cooperation between Dunn Pictures and msn.
Dunn Pictures will take the lead in providing first-hand information to msn; msn will increase relevant news reports on Dunn Pictures.
The deal between Dunn Films and Vivendi has attracted great attention from the business and entertainment circles in the United States and France.
msn can be said to be the first media to get inside information.
However, the specific acquisition details, msn did not disclose.
Half an hour later, cnn TV station suddenly inserted a blockbuster news: "The latest news, Dunn Pictures and the French Vivendi Group have reached an agreement, spending 16.1 billion US dollars to acquire Universal Pictures, Universal Music, USA TV Network, Huo Huo. Dayton Mifflin Publishing Company and other assets. This more than a month-long negotiation has finally come to an end!”
Soon, Fox News also followed up the news: "Town Pictures has acquired the assets of Universal Pictures, Universal Music, USA TV Network, Blizzard Studio and other assets under the Vivendi Entertainment division for $6 billion in all cash. , and take on $10.3 billion in debt, and the total transaction amount is as high as $16.3 billion!"
The nbc news station also gave a similar statement, saying that Dunn Walker went to France to complete this "spectacular" merger transaction. Dunn Pictures originally wanted to reduce the price to less than 16 billion US dollars, but in order to prevent a long night, Dunn and Vivendi's chairman of the board of directors Gene Furtu made a concession after a phone call. It is reported that the total transaction value of this merger may reach 16.2 billion US dollars!
The statements given by several major current affairs news stations are similar, but there are slight differences in the specific acquisition amount.
At 10:30 in the morning, Vivendi held a grand press conference. Almost all major media in France were present, and even well-known media such as CNN, "New York Times", "Wall Street Journal" in the United States also participated.
At the press conference, Vivendi gave the most authoritative statement: For this transaction, Dunn Pictures will pay a total of $5.9 billion in cash! And take on the entire $10.3 billion debt of the entertainment division.
That is to say, through this transaction, Vivendi successfully transferred the debts of Canal+ and Gao Meng Pictures to Tang En Pictures.
There is an advantage to this method of operation: the less cash you trade, the less tax you pay.
By increasing debt and reducing cash acquisitions, it is beneficial to Vivendi's finances.
No harm to Dunn Films either.
However, according to the "Los Angeles Times" report: "Down thinks that the debt of 10.3 billion US dollars is too high, and the annual interest alone will pay 600-700 million US dollars. Although Dunn Films has provided 5.9 billion US dollars in cash to Vivendi , but the cash flow is still sufficient. Dunn will give the bank another 2.3 billion US dollars to reduce the debt to less than 8 billion US dollars.”
However, for this high-profile deal, Tang En Pictures was uncharacteristically calm, only announcing a specious piece of news: "Tang En Pictures will move to the new headquarters park within a week. September 5 , a press conference will be held at the press conference center of the new headquarters park!"
In any case, Dunn succeeded!
Houghton Mifflin Press, Universal Pictures, Universal Music, Blizzard Studios, USA TV Network... These American assets have finally returned to the embrace of the United States!
National celebration!
…
After a busy summer, the deal is finally done.
$16.2 billion!
A little more than Dunn's psychological expectation of 15.6 billion US dollars, but it is not important.
As long as you have acquired assets such as Universal Pictures, Blizzard, and Universal Music, it will be fine.
He has yet to explain the deal to the public, mainly because it hasn't been done yet.
Now, only Dunn Pictures and Vivendi have reached an agreement.
It is also necessary for the judicial departments and securities regulatory departments of France and the United States to review the transaction and investigate whether there are illegal operations such as related-party transactions, insider transactions, and monopoly transactions.
In short, no problem!
The French government desperately hopes that Vivendi can resolve the crisis; the American government desperately hopes the return of century-old labels such as "Universal" and "Houghton Mifflin".
It is initially expected that within this week, the transaction can pass the official review.
"Dawn, reduce the debt to less than 8 billion US dollars, we will be under great pressure." Bill McNick looked like a bitter melon.
Before the acquisition of Universal, Dunn Pictures' cash flow was comparable to that of a bank!
This made Bill McNick's life very leisurely.
Counting the US$7 billion invested by Dunn last year, the net profit last year was US$1 billion, the profit in the first three quarters of this year was US$1.6 billion, and the cash flow of Dunn Films exceeded US$9.6 billion!
This is under the premise that Dunn has successively acquired Dolby Laboratories, imax, Pixar, and invested in film and television works such as "Ant-Man" and "Harry Potter 2".
But now it's over, $5.9 billion was paid to Vivendi, and another $200 million was paid to Michael Ovitz, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Lehman Brothers. M&A advisory fees.
Now, Dunn has to pay 2.3 billion US dollars to repay the debt, reducing the debt to less than 8 billion US dollars.
In other words, Dunn Pictures will only have a cash flow of $1.3 billion left on its accounts.
Tang En said lightly: "The annual interest rate must be kept below 500 million US dollars. I don't want to give all the hard-earned money to the bank."
Bill McNick said in embarrassment: "But "Ghost Rider", "The Day After Tomorrow", "Mad Max 4" and "The Walking Dead" all have to start filming, at least $500 million. Plus some reality shows, TV series , and needs to set aside $100 million. And after the merger is completed, the company will definitely have to restructure on a large scale, and this restructuring cost...no less than $200 million.”
Dunn smiled disapprovingly, "Don't Universal Pictures still have $550 million on its books? USA TV has $170 million on its books, and Universal Music has $88 million on its books. Cash from Blizzard and Mifflin Publishing House. The flow is relatively small, but these two companies do not need to be restructured.”
The two sides negotiated very friendly, so Vivendi did not leave a mess for Dunn.
Generally speaking, in order to avoid taxes, Vivendi will drain the book funds of these subsidiaries, and then complete a lower-priced cash transaction with Dunn Films.
This is in the interests of Vivendi.
However, withdrawing the cash flow of subsidiaries will cause these companies to fall into short-term financial difficulties, or even panic.
Dunn does not want to see such a situation.
This is also the reason why Dunn spent more money than expected in this transaction.
It is to make up for Vivendi's tax losses.
. Nine Heavens God Emperor
c
(Sanqi Chinese)
