Chapter 71: icq's Series A financing
In fact, Zhuke himself was quite surprised to be able to obtain a series of copyrights for "300" so quickly.
Because of the author of "300", that is the famous manga master Frank Miller!
He has created "Batman: The Dark Knight", "Superman and Batman" and other well-known comics for DC;
During the Marvel era, he participated in the creation of "The Amazing Spider-Man", "The Dare" series, "Elektra" series, "Fantastic Four" series and many other comics;
His "Sin City" series of comics created for Dark Horse Comics pushed him to the altar in one fell swoop.
In the field of comics in the United States, he is a well-known figure.
"The Frank Miller in my mind, he is a master of comics. That's right, but he is also notoriously difficult to do!"
"In terms of major Hollywood companies, their reputation is very bad!"
Zhuke couldn't help but recall.
Leaving aside others, it is just the "Sin City" series of movies starring Bruce Willis. In order to obtain the copyright, the film production company has repeatedly discussed with Frank many times, and the negotiation lasted as long as one year; and , The production company also paid a 15% North American box office share for this.
Yes, you read it right!
is the 15% North American box office share, not the net profit share.
That is to say, through the "Sin City" series of movies, Frank Miller received up to 50 million US dollars in share from the production company.
This price completely exceeds the film and television copyrights of many well-known comics!
"The film and television copyright of "Spider-Man", I took it, but it cost 10 million US dollars."
"Frank is really dark enough!"
Not only that, Frank, who tasted the sweetness of the "Sin City" movie, will intensify in the future.
"I want to be a film producer, I must be the first producer!"
"I want to be the director of a famous movie!"
"Box office share 15%?"
"No! There is no 20% North American box office share, please don't bother me!"
"Even if necessary, I will personally be the director of a film adapted from a manga!"
Well, Frank Miller is such a headache for major Hollywood studios.
He is a manga painter, does he know movie production?
Well, even if he understands, how does it compare with those senior Hollywood filmmakers? !
As for this time, Zhuke was able to obtain the relevant copyright of "300" so quickly and successfully because Frank has not yet started the subsequent "vampire" mode.
Before 1997, Frank had many comics copyrights, and he was also famous for the film and television copyrights of "Roboman". Others were either too niche, or he was still hiding and unwilling to sell them.
"300"?
What it is? !
"300" is just a very humble one among the many comic copyrights in Frank Miller's hand.
Therefore, Zhuke only paid 1.2 million US dollars to win a series of copyrights for "300".
Well, of course, there is also a 3% share of the North American box office net profit.
Divided, Zhu Ke really doesn't want to give it!
But Frank is not short of money!
Can't agree, he won't sell it in a big deal.
Frank said at the time: "Without the box office share of the movie, I will never sell any comics copyright."
Hearing these words at first, Zhuke wanted to slap his old face on the spot.
Your face is so big!
In fact, this result is already a blessing in misfortune.
He has money;
There are many copyrights in his hand;
He doesn't worry about not selling the copyrights of many comics in his hand.
In the original time and space, Frank served as the producer of "Spartan 300 Warriors" with a tough stance. He was extremely amateurish in film production. He dragged the film for more than two years before shooting.
His various tough stances have greatly harmed the interests of the production company.
...
Zhuke and Zhadao, after a long discussion, Zach Schneider left Wald Pictures contentedly.
This time, although he was not able to start the film preparations for "300" immediately, he still took a screenplay from Wald Pictures.
is not "300"!
is the script of the "Human Removal Project"!
Well, of course the capitalist Zhu Ke will not let him wait for the 10-month window period, but will squeeze him severely.
Among the many types of Hollywood movies, "Human Removal Project" is considered to be the lower cost one, and it just so happens that Zhuke has watched its tetralogy in his last life. The production cost of the first part of the series was less than 10 million U.S. dollars. However, its global box office was close to 100 million U.S. dollars.
This profit ratio is not as good as the famous "Chain Saw", but it is not much worse.
"It's not that I didn't think about making "Saw Fright", but I just heard of it in my previous life, but I haven't seen it~!"
I hate less when I use the book!
Zhuke was a student in his last life, and he liked all kinds of Lywood movies, whether it was a high-cost popcorn blockbuster or a low-cost genre.
However... after I started working, I rarely watched Hollywood niche movies.
Go to the cinema to watch movies, most of the time I watch domestic comedies. Well, even if you watch Hollywood movies, you still watch various special effects blockbusters.
...
...
The end of January 1997.
Zhuke left the Burbank area where he stayed for a long time and drove to Silicon Valley early in the morning.
Going to Silicon Valley today, but there is a big deal!
Icq will hold its first share expansion meeting today, which is the A round of financing meeting.
Representatives of all parties invited to participate in the Series A financing meeting are not weak, not the current Internet giants IBM, Microsoft, Cisco, or ****, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and other large Wall Street investment banks.
In fact, icq has launched a round of financing at this stage, and Zhu Ke disagrees.
Well, I firmly oppose it!
Because of the current icq users, it can be worth more than 4 million, and it has not shown its potential in the future. Carrying out A round of financing now will only be underestimated by the market.
However, the founding team of icq, such as Visger and Vardy, has a firm financing attitude towards the development of ~www.wuxiaspot.com~, which is now in a bottleneck and requires huge development funds. "
On this point, Zhuke, Weisge and others share a common attitude.
"If I want capital, I can make additional investments. Of course, I can even provide the company with interest-free loans of US$10-20 million for the company's further expansion."
The point of difference is that, as the founding team, they are unwilling to let Zhuke hold 45%, which is enough to threaten their holdings, and continue to exist.
They are eager to bring in other shareholders to counterbalance Zhu Ke, who has a large shareholding.
For this, they did not hesitate to kill a thousand enemies and hurt themselves eight hundred!
Well, even if Zhu Ke had signed a priority follow-up investment agreement with them, it was enough to ensure that the shares were not diluted, but it would inevitably be targeted by a large number of giants, even famous Wall Street investment banks!
Man, no matter which one of them is, Zhuke can't afford to offend at this stage!
There is no doubt that it is inevitable that Zhu Ke's shares will be diluted.
Obviously, Zhu Ke, who is currently the largest individual shareholder of ICQ, is no longer as intimate with Visger and others as they once were, and even began to be in an opposite position.
There is an irreconcilable contradiction between the two sides.
Of course this is not unusual.
When most companies have reached a certain stage of development, the game between the company’s management and shareholders is really a common practice.
"It seems it's time for Lao Tzu to start up again."
Zhuke thought in his heart: "The long-planned Internet company LinkedIn has finally reached its time to come out."
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