Chapter 3142 Sincerity of Cooperation

Robert Iger couldn't help laughing, "Have you found out everything?"

"No, I guessed."

Zhou Buqi really guessed.

Robert Iger was interested, "Then what else can you guess?"

Zhou Buqi said: "The advantage of broadcasting sports events is that it can provide a strong and stable cash flow, but the disadvantage is that it takes up too much money. The copyright of sports events is too expensive, especially after the rise of streaming media in recent years, sports copyright has become more expensive. The new contract of NBA has reached an astonishing 9 years and 24 billion US dollars."

"Well, this contract has brought great operational pressure to ESPN."

Robert Iger also sighed.

The price of copyright of sports events has risen too fast.

But you have to buy it.

If there is no copyright, ESPN will be eliminated by the market.

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "ESPN broadcasts dozens of sports events. The copyright expenses for so many events are astronomical, which means that ESPN must borrow a large amount of various working capital bonds and long-term debts."

Robert Iger nodded, "You are right. The main reason why Hearst Group does not agree to transform into a streaming media is that the cost of transformation is too high... Well, of course, this is based on my previous plan, the plan to acquire BAMTech."

Zhou Buqi said, "This is a major drawback of traditional enterprises. They all rely on corporate dividends to survive, resulting in many companies themselves having no available funds for long-term development."

ESPN is very profitable, with revenue exceeding $10 billion and operating profit reaching $1 billion.

However, ESPN has a certain debt crisis.

Debts are rising every year.

On the one hand, it makes a lot of money, while on the other hand, debts are constantly rising.

Why?

Where did the money go?

Because it was all distributed as dividends.

The money earned by ESPN is constantly divided by the parent company and distributed to the accounts of the two major shareholders, Disney and Hearst Group. As a result, ESPN does not have enough funds available, so it can only continue to borrow money to make a living. Many traditional companies follow this approach. In recent years, Starbucks has also "recovered" from the economic crisis by following this approach.

Robert Iger is ambitious and has aspirations.

He is willing to stop ESPN's short-term dividends to seek a better long-term value for ESPN and promote ESPN's transformation to streaming media. But Hearst Group is unwilling to do so. This traditional publishing company relies on ESPN's annual dividend income. How can it stop? Not only can it not stop, but it must also strive to expand the scale of dividends every year!

There is no other way.

ESPN is not a listed company. For a non-listed company, small shareholders are like leeks and can only protect their own rights and interests through dividends.

"You wouldn't be..." Robert Iger had some thoughts and opened his eyes wide, "You wouldn't be eyeing the 20% stake held by Hearst Group, right?" Zhou Buqi smiled, "You're not worried that I'll steal your skills, in fact, there is a best solution, that is, I will invest in ESPN. We will work together to do the live streaming of sports events. In this way, we can not only resolve your concerns, but also maximize the strategic advantages of our cooperation." "That's impossible." Robert Iger shook his head, "No one can convince Hearst. If Hearst Group is willing to sell that 20% stake, I would have bought it back long ago! In fact, in the past, Disney has made four repurchase offers, all of which were rejected by them." "But this can't cover up the fact that we are working together to do ESPN+. Advantage. Zhou Buqi paused, "I'm talking about cooperation on shares, in the name of Ziweixing Universal, this is cooperation within Hollywood." Robert Iger said: "But it's almost impossible for you to get that 20% of the shares unless you make a super offer that is enough to shock the world." Zhou Buqi smiled and said: "Ziweixing Universal is doing streaming media, and there is also a lot of cash flow pressure. It is planning to issue $10 billion in bonds in the next five years! I won't make an unfair offer to impress Hearst." Robert Iger frowned and said: "Then there may be no way, but it cannot be denied that your proposal is very good. Compared with the stubborn Hearst Group, if it can cooperate with Ziweixing Universal, it will definitely be the best choice for ESPN. "What he is most worried about is that the technology giants will come out to do live streaming of sports events. That would be very dangerous for ESPN! Because technology giants are super rich, and in order to achieve their goals, they often invest huge sums of money and invest at any cost. The result is that the price of sports event copyrights will inevitably rise dramatically. Not to mention that media companies lack money and cannot compete with technology companies, even if they do, they will have to pay unimaginable costs.

If Boss Zhou joins the game and works with Disney to create ESPN+, this risk can be greatly reduced.

At least he is a technology giant.

He has enough ways to deal with the offensive of the technology industry.

For Zhou Buqi, he also hopes to join in, because the streaming of sports events is a missing link in his business map. If he does it himself, it will be difficult and risky, and the cost of copyright backlog is too high. Most sports event streaming platforms have died on copyright.

In recent years, there has been a copyright craze for sports events in China. Many Internet streaming platforms have rushed in, resulting in CCTV being unable to broadcast many popular games because CCTV could not afford the copyright.

Later, most of these platforms died.

Sports events are too time-sensitive. Unlike film and television streaming, old movies and TV series are also important assets and can be watched repeatedly by users for a long time.

This leads to too much risk in sports streaming.

Zhou Buqi does not want to work alone.

At least he cannot enter the market in a muddle-headed way. If Ziweixing Global can join ESPN+ and participate in the sports streaming business, it can not only make up for the lack of its own business, but also be a good learning opportunity.

If he learns well, or if there is a better opportunity for sports streaming in the future, Zhou Buqi will not have no chance to work alone!

Ziweixing Digital Media is a technology company that mainly operates in the sports industry.

It has been ready for a long time.

The Netflix model is a good template.

Zhou Buqi joined Netflix, helping Netflix grow while learning Netflix's operating model and experience in the streaming industry. After exploring the issue, Ziweixing Global can launch its own Peacock.

"ESPN" is the banner of sports broadcasting.

Using ESPN's brand to do sports streaming is much less risky than doing it alone.

"The key is whether you agree with this cooperation model."

Zhou Buqi has already made up his mind.

Robert Iger said: "There are some ideological differences in Hollywood now. If Ziweixing Global and Disney can reach an agreement on this matter and jointly promote the transformation of ESPN to ESPN+, I believe this will be of great benefit to the unity of Hollywood."

Zhou Buqi said: "I think so too."

Robert Iger sighed, "But Hearst Group will not sell its shares. Even if you come forward in person, it will be difficult to convince them."

Zhou Buqi said: "In fact, there are other ways. It depends on your sincerity."

"Huh?"

Robert Iger was slightly startled and had a bad feeling in his heart.

Zhou Buqi said: "Disney holds 80% of ESPN's shares. Isn't that too much? If you really want to consider ESPN and build the world's No. 1 sports streaming platform, Disney must reduce its stake in ESPN. Disney needs such a 'world's No. 1', and it is even more necessary for your personal career as a professional manager!"