Chapter 639: Want to decouple
It's a new week, and Keeley Rose has moved into her newly renovated CEO office.
As soon as she entered the office, Keeley Rose asked her assistant to bring over all the recent film investments and business plans of Warner Pictures, and she wanted to check them one by one.
Among them, the focus is on the business related to Cantaloupe Studio.
At the same time, she summoned Warner Pictures executives one by one. Let them talk about their views on Warner Bros. Pictures and Little Gilbert himself.
In conclusion, Gilbert Jr. is very important to Warner Pictures. Melon Studios' film projects account for 30% of Warner Pictures' overall revenue every year.
If it breaks away from Melon Studios, Warner Pictures will lose an important chunk of revenue.
And it is not easy to decouple. From film copyright income to peripheral product income to the establishment of the film brand, Warner Pictures has been too deeply tied to Gilbert Jr.
It is not an easy task to complete the decoupling, and many people within Sci-Fi Warner Pictures and Time Warner themselves are opposed to decoupling from Gilbert Jr.
But Keeley Rose feels that the more this happens, the more Warner Bros. should completely decouple from Little Gilbert. Otherwise, over time, Warner will take on little Gilbert's surname.
After a thorough understanding, Kelly Rose held her first high-level meeting as CEO.
She made a shocking statement at the meeting, announcing that by 2012, Warner Pictures would reduce all its shares in Melon Film Studio to complete the decoupling.
As soon as this statement came out, the entire Warner Pictures senior management immediately exploded, and many executives expressed opposition.
However, Keeli Rose was firm: "This is the decision of the group company. If you have any dissatisfaction, you can go to the group board of directors to ask questions."
An executive asked: "What about our film contract with director Gilbert Jr.? Not to mention his popular projects. There will be two follow-up parts of "Batman"..."
"So I said it will be until 2012. Isn't this much time enough for Gilbert to complete the contract for two movies?"
Keeley Rose forcefully announced the decoupling, and the content of this meeting was inevitably revealed. The first reaction of many Hollywood companies is, what's wrong with Warner?
Indeed, Warner's mysterious operations have confused many movie company executives.
Although it looks like someone is messing with little Gilbert, is Warner's behavior of eager to break away from the relationship a bit hasty?
Putting aside those interest disputes, Gilbert Jr. is the best film creator in Hollywood.
Such a creator is treated like a treasure by any film company. This is an opportunity for other film companies.
What's more, Xigua Studio also has IPs with huge commercial value such as "Lord of the Rings" and "Harry Potter", as well as other film copyrights.
For a time, companies such as 20th Century Fox, Paramount, Universal, Sony Columbia, MGM and United Artists all took up the idea of Melon Studios.
But perhaps the most exciting one is Disney.
"Good news, this is good news for us." Robert Iger said excitedly to his two deputies: "This is a huge opportunity for Disney, and Warner Pictures is starting to fall behind."
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A deputy reminded: "Bob, if you want to fully control Cantaloupe Studio, you may have to face a lot of problems.
The first is the issue of equity. Warner Pictures will inevitably use an equity swap model to repurchase Warner's equity in Gilbert Jr.'s hands.
So they wouldn't accept our cash offer for the shares, and we were left with all the equity from Gilbert Jr.
This brings another problem. Little Gilbert will definitely not accept cash, so we need a share exchange model, which will inevitably greatly enhance Little Gilbert's voice within Disney. In addition, other companies are also eyeing us, and they will definitely offer better terms than us. ”
Another vice president said: "I think the most direct reason now is the antitrust investigation. If Gilbert Jr. can only hold shares in one movie company, then the best choice is Disney."
Little Gilbert naturally knew about such a big turmoil, and executives within Warner Pictures who were leaning towards him also revealed the specific details to Little Gilbert.
Little Gilbert was not surprised. A certain gentleman he donated also told him that the scale was originally larger, but in the end it only involved the film industry.
This is a back-up move, and people really are not that easy to give up.
In this case, little Gilbert has fulfilled others' wishes and actively cooperated with Warner's decoupling plan.
In 2012, 50% of the shares of Melon Studios held by Warner will return to Gilbert Jr., and similarly, Gilbert Jr. will gradually withdraw from Warner's board of directors.
"Others will not miss this share. I think Bob will be interested in this share." Gilbert Jr. said to Cameron Diaz.
Cameron Diaz expressed doubts: "But if Disney continues to acquire shares, wouldn't you become Disney's largest shareholder?
There is also Marvel Studios behind you, and you and Director Lucas have agreed to take over Lucasfilm. This piece alone is worth a lot. Doesn’t Disney want to take it all? ”
Little Gilbert smiled: "Bob probably wants to, but whether Disney's board of directors agrees or not is another matter. If it is really completed, Disney will be completely under my control."
When most people think of Disney, they first think of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, as well as countless animated images and classics, and then Disneyland.
In the past decade or so, Disney has also performed well in the live-action film business due to its cooperation with Gilbert Jr.
However, Disney not only has made achievements in the film business, but is also a huge media empire. This year's total market value is as high as US$42.3 billion, second only to media tycoon Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.
The reason why it has expanded so drastically, from less than 10 billion U.S. dollars in the early 1990s to today's market value of 42.3 billion U.S. dollars, is largely due to Gilbert Jr.
Moreover, Disney has made big moves. It acquired Pixar Studio. If it completely merges with Melon Studio and takes over Marvel Studios, it will become the number one film company in Hollywood and the number one media group in the world.
So among the major Hollywood companies, Disney is quite special. Other companies have parent companies, only Disney itself is its own parent company.
The decoupling of Warner Pictures and Melon Studios is quite troublesome. After all, it involves a lot of film copyrights.
Not to mention the "Lord of the Rings" and "Harry Potter" series, "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" just became this year's box office champion.
There will be "Pirates of the Caribbean 3" next year, and there will be so many movie sequels and amusement park projects in cooperation with Disney. Will they all be decoupled?
In this regard, the new CEO of Warner Pictures, Keeli Ross, said that the decoupling from Melon Studios does not mean the decoupling of film copyrights. Warner will continue to hold a share of these film copyrights to create value for the company.
This is destined to be a chaotic decoupling war, and who loses more in it depends on whose operation.
However, this process is very long. Keeli Rose is planned to be released in 2012, but it is estimated that by that time Warner Pictures will be disconnected from Melon Studios.
It is rumored that the end of the world will happen in 2012. Until the end of the world, Warner wants to die with little Gilbert. It is so touching.
(End of chapter)