Chapter 2659 Sports Group

If you just buy a team, the team can indeed make money, but it is more like a big toy for the rich.

The vast majority of teams are privately owned and not publicly traded. Not being listed means that there is no exit mechanism and it is difficult to cash out the investment.

Larry Fink's personal wealth is not much, but he can manage astonishing wealth mainly because of his strong ability and great influence. Countless investors are willing to give their money to him and let him manage their wealth and help with investments.

So for Larry Fink, as long as he invests, there must be an opportunity to cash out. It’s not necessary to cash out, but there must be an opportunity to cash out.

This is the reward for those investors who trust him.

This is important, Larry Fink asked: "Buy the San Francisco 49ers, and then what? Are you going to be a publicly traded sports group?"

Zhou Buqi nodded, "Yes."

Companies are divided into private and public, but in the understanding of American capital, public ownership means owned by the whole society, which mainly refers to listed companies.

Such as Tesla.

After delisting, even if Tesla has 100,000 shareholders, because it is delisted, it no longer needs to bear the obligation of openness and transparency to the outside world, and the whole society has no responsibility for supervision. Tesla has become a "private enterprise" ", is a private company with these 100,000 shareholders.

If it remains listed, even if Tesla has only 10,000 shareholders, theoretically Tesla only belongs to these 10,000 shareholders. But in fact, because it is listed and open to the public, it becomes a public company and becomes publicly owned by the whole society.

For example, a large company with revenue of hundreds of billions of dollars is not short of money and does not need financing.

U.S. authorities will also force them to go public.

Because private ownership brings great risks to society, only by going public and becoming publicly owned by the whole society can business risks at the social level be resolved.

As long as they are listed, anyone has the opportunity to buy their shares.

The so-called public ownership does not mean that everyone owns it, but that everyone has the opportunity to own it.

The development of capital society in Europe went astray for a period of time, turning "public ownership" into "state ownership" in an attempt to completely eliminate the hidden risks that private enterprises pose to the country and society through state ownership.

For example, a petroleum company is very important to social development. If a private boss has made enough money and stops playing, or if there are conflicts within the family and internal management is paralyzed, resulting in no oil exploration, it will be a huge threat to the country and society.

Later, after decades of development, Europe quickly discovered various disadvantages of state ownership, including some advantages and more disadvantages.

Countries have learned from the painful experience and have carried out reforms and transformations one after another. They have sold most of their state-owned assets to private individuals, and some have even sold half of them and given them half for free. They have returned to the American development path of using listed companies as the industry governance model. Economic vitality and private capital were restored, and an economy like the European Union that could compete with the United States was born.

This is also a good thing for Zhou Buqi.

He is an outsider.

Going public is also a long-term problem-solving strategy.

It has become a socialized listed company and is no longer privately owned by him, so he will not be treated differently because he is an outsider.

Even before it is listed on the market, he must avoid purely personal ownership.

In the San Francisco Giants baseball team, Zhou Buqi holds 65% of the shares, with the remaining 35% in the hands of a local consortium and is responsible for the daily operations of the team; in the basketball team Golden State Warriors, Zhou Buqi increased his holdings by 10% After holding 60% of the shares, he also holds 60% of the shares. The remaining 40% is in the hands of second owner Joe Lacob, who is responsible for the daily operations of the team.

The acquisition of the San Francisco 49ers must be the same strategy this time.

It cannot be 100% personally owned.

It would be too easy to be coaxed around by the American professional manager team, and it would be impossible for Zhou Buqi to personally participate in the management of the club and team.

Manchester United in the UK is 100% owned by Zhou Buqi. That is because he really understands football and is full of love for it. He can even go deep into the front line to formulate the team's transfer strategy.

Not good at football, baseball, etc., I don’t understand them at all.

You have to hand over the power.

To whom?

It certainly cannot be left to professional managers. The best thing is to leave it to fellow capitalists.

If Black Rock Capital can be brought in to acquire the San Francisco 49ers, many short-term risks can be resolved. When the company is merged in the future and a sports company is established and listed, the long-term risks will no longer exist.

When Larry Fink heard that he would choose to go public, he was relieved and very happy, "Okay! With your ability, you can definitely build the world's largest sports company! Just like Ziweixing Global is already the world's largest entertainment company."

Zhou Buqi smiled, "But I haven't figured out how to go public yet. Fortunately, I'm not in a hurry. The sports industry has not really developed yet. In a few years, the sports industry will really flourish. It’s not too late to plan to go public.”

Larry Funk said: "Don't you have many teams? The Golden State Warriors, San Francisco Giants, San Jose Purple Stars, plus this time the San Francisco 49ers, I think they can be integrated to form a sports group, let's come together Listed. As far as I know, most of the listed sports companies in the United States do this."

American football teams have many listed companies.

There are also some basketball teams, such as the New York Knicks.

Another example is the Philadelphia 76ers.

This is very interesting. The Philadelphia 76ers and Kings are actually brothers. They are both teams owned by the listed company Weixin Group. By 2017, Weixin Group wanted to acquire the San Francisco 49ers, a football team that was in trouble.

But there is no money.

So Weixin Group invested US$1 billion, found some partners, took the lead in establishing a consortium, and jointly established the "49ers Group". Then the 49ers Group invested US$1.5 billion to acquire the San Francisco 49ers.

This listed entity owns some of the assets of the San Francisco 49ers.

Later, the 49ers Group went to the UK and acquired the lower league football team Leeds United, and then sent several American players to Leeds United. With the help of Americans and American capital, Leeds United finally returned to the Premier League.

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "So, you will participate?"

Larry Funk nodded, "Although I am not a 49ers fan, I am very interested in football. I went to watch this year's Super Bowl with my whole family. Several of the 49ers' goals were very interesting. Wonderful."

"Well……"

Zhou Buqi is a little irritable.

Here are some of the obstacles he encountered in acquiring the San Francisco 49ers this year.

Originally, this team was run very poorly, with very little profit. The net profit it created last year was only 1.5 million US dollars, which was far from the tens of millions of US dollars in annual profits made by others.

The original owner didn't manage it well, so he sold it when it was time to sell it.

Unexpectedly, in February this year, the 49ers made it all the way to the finals and went to perform in the Super Bowl. Although it failed in the end, it really brought great confidence to the 49ers' management.

The difficulty of acquisition has also increased.

Zhou Buqi said frankly: "I don't know much about football. What I love is football."

Larry Fink knew it right away, "No problem! I'll take care of it! I'll find some friends and set up a negotiating team to run this thing!"

Zhou Buqi was very happy, "This is the best plan!"

"But..." Larry Fink glanced at him, "If you want to acquire the San Francisco 49ers, you may have to pay a high price, especially this year they also made it to the Super Bowl. You have so much liquidity in your hands. ?"

Zhou Buqi said: "I will find a way to solve it."

Larry Fink smiled and said: "If you are willing to transfer the shares of Ziweixing Global, Ziweixing Digital Media, Changyou, or the upcoming Ziweixing to cash out, no matter how much it is, Black Rock Capital can take over!"

Zhou Buqi nodded, "I will definitely inform you if necessary."