Chapter 1182 Vivendi 2007
After breakfast in the morning and playing with the children for a while, Xu Liang and Christina went to the headquarters of Vivendi Group together.
After a simple meeting with the senior management, the couple came to the office.
Christina also took out the group's operating information and financial reports for the past three quarters.
After a major restructuring in 2005, the assets of Vivendi Group are now mainly divided into two parts.
Part of it is ‘pan-entertainment assets’.
Part of it is ‘utilities’.
Pan-entertainment assets are mainly divided into ‘Universal Music Group’, canal+ Group, Vivendi Video and Vivendi Telecom.
The utility part is mainly the "Veolia Environmental Group", which is divided into four sectors: waste management, water services, energy management and transportation.
In addition, Vivendi Group also has an investment unit, which holds 11.5% of Ubisoft Games and owns two board seats.
NetTech has 4.6% and Sina's 18.46% equity, but most of the shares have been sold under the leadership of Xu Liang.
Universal Music Group, the world's largest music group, carries out all-round businesses such as music production, distribution, copyright management, authorized product sales and audio-visual content in more than 60 countries and regions.
In terms of copyright, Universal manages a lyrics and music copyright library of more than 3.8 million songs worldwide, and its agency scope includes various types of music, including the most famous music authors and music library in the world.
In terms of peripheral aspects, Global's vast global distribution network provides artists and brands with the opportunity to establish deeper connections with fans through clothing, consumer goods and unique experiences.
In terms of record production and distribution, it has hundreds of well-known singers such as Erica Badu and Anne Sophie Mutter, and also serves as a music library of world-class top singers such as the Beatles, Queens, and Rolling Stones.
In the three quarters of 2007, Universal Music Group's total revenue exceeded 4.73 billion euros, a year-on-year increase of 2.37%; net profit was 519 million euros, a year-on-year increase of 5.39%.
The emergence of smartphones and the rapid development of video companies such as YouTube have brought new growth in the global music market, and have also increased the revenue of global record giants, especially top record giants.
Especially for large companies like Global that have the world's top copyright library, the impact will be more obvious.
canal+ Group.
canal+, namely French TV Station 4, is one of the seven national TV stations in France and was established in 1984.
It is a privately owned encrypted radio station that serves for a fee and plays movies and sports programs.
It is ranked among the three largest satellite pay-per-view TV stations in Europe along with Sky TV in the UK and Satellite TV in Germany.
At the beginning, it had four channels: news, movies, sports and technology.
Now it has gradually expanded to 12 channels including music, animation, etc.
In addition to the original TV series production and advertising business, under the leadership of Xu Liang, canal+ Group has developed its film and variety show production business.
In terms of films, the first two years were mainly invested, such as "Extreme Express", "Grand Molna", "I Love You in Paris", "Scientific Sleep", etc.
This year, the script was prepared by Xu Liang and its name is "Violent Block".
This is the French film that impressed him the most.
In terms of variety shows, "The Voice of France" and "The Got Talent" not only made the company earn nearly 400 million euros of advertising revenue, but also added a lot of high-quality singers to Universal Music Group.
At the same time, you can continue to produce new seasons of content in the future to continuously generate revenue.
In addition to the continuous development of content, in order to expand foreign markets, the group has also continuously acquired local satellite TV operators in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Italy.
Driven by many favorable factors, the group's TV users have also increased from 6.1 million at the beginning of the acquisition to 8.03 million at the current time.
The group's total revenue increased from 3.98 billion euros to 4.02 billion euros in the third quarter.
Net profit also exceeded 739 million euros, an increase of 11.8% year-on-year.
It quickly narrowed the distance with Sky TV.
"How is the preparations for "House by the Sea"?" Xu Liang asked.
"The address has been selected, just in 'Espigate Beach', the villa is being renovated, and six of them have been selected by 8 people.
Filming will be officially started at the end of the year at the latest. ”
‘Espigate Beach’ is located east of Le Glaudrova and is one of the most popular beaches in France.
The "Seaside House" is a love variety show, similar to the "heart-to-heart signal" in China.
"A new variety show every year, "The Seaside Cabin" must be well created to make a new hit."
"Don't worry, I have never neglected the program you gave yourself."
After Xu Liang nodded, "Next year will be the new season of the Ligue 1 broadcast rights. Have you talked to the French Football League?"
"I've been in contact with it, and the tone they revealed is no less than 2.5 billion euros in four years."
"Four years?"
When he acquired Vivendi, the group had just renewed its contract with Ligue 1.
Three years 1.8 billion euros.
This price is higher than that of the Premier League and Bundesliga.
Christina nodded affirmatively.
"Four years are just four years. Test the other party's tone in terms of price. If it really doesn't work, you have to take down the broadcasting rights even if you spend more money."
"Yeah."
Football is the number one sport in Europe, and any TV agency that is determined to become a top sports broadcaster cannot ignore football.
In addition to Ligue 1, canal+ Group has also won the broadcast rights for many events such as Eredivisie, BBQ, Ruichao, and Formula Racing, basketball, and tennis.
Although the revenue of canal+ Group is high, its expenditure is also not low.
This is also the reason why Xu Liang has been making the company's efforts on TV programs behind the scenes.
Only by diversifying operations can the performance of canal+ Group be continuously improved.
Vivendi entered the streaming business very early, but after the Nasdaq crisis, he sold it to repay the group's high debt.
After Xu Liang acquired Vivendi, he re-established the 'Viven Video Website'.
Unlike YouTube.
Vivendi's videos are in the 'Netflight mode', focusing on long videos.
With the movie and TV IP reserved by Canal+ Group over the years, Vivendi Video has more than 2 million users in just two years.
"How many versions of Vidiwang Video are now available?"
"Five types are French, German, Italian, Spanish and English. The most French users are 1.12 million, followed by Italian and the least English," said Christina.
"It's enough. There is no need to expand the language for the time being. If you do these five languages well, Vivendi Video is the largest long video website in Europe."
Christina nodded, she also understood the principle that she could not chew too much.
Like YouTube, Vivendi Video is still in a loss-making stage, and the copyright expenditure invested in the third quarter of this year has exceeded 70 million euros.
But unlike YouTube, Vivendi videos are supported by Vivendi Telecom.
Behind Vivendi Telecom are three major telecom subsidiaries, France SFR, Morocco Telecom and Borore Telecom. They are all listed companies, but Vivendi holds the controlling stake.
The former has 3G licenses in France, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands, while the latter has 3G licenses in Morocco.
Borole Telecom does not have 3G service, but it is indeed the largest telecom operator in the French African country.
It should also be emphasized that in addition to France and Morocco, the 3G licenses of European countries such as Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg were acquired around 2005.
After all, the European 3G telecommunications bubble was too serious at that time, and the development of 3G was not mature enough.
Many companies with licenses have reduced their investment in the 3G field, and acquisitions are not difficult as long as the price is right.
However, Vivendi did not go to the UK, Germany, Italy, or Spain. The 3G telecom licenses in these countries are too expensive.
Hutchison Telecom won an A license in the UK (15MHz paired bandwidth + 5MHz non-paired bandwidth) and spent 4.4 billion pounds (6.9 billion US dollars).
Germany's bubble is even more serious. The UK only spent 38.3 billion euros on five 3G licenses, while the Germany six 3G licenses cost 50.5 billion euros.
Of course Germany has a larger population.
In terms of per capita license expenditure, the UK is still higher.
Xu Liang didn't want Vivendi Telecom to step in this huge 3G license bubble.
Therefore, except for France, 3G licenses in other countries are mainly affordable, and the price is appropriate.
Over the past few years, Vivendi Telecom has accumulated 7 3G telecom licenses.
France, Monaco, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, Switzerland and Denmark.
The total license expenditure totaled US$3.7 billion, far lower than its peers such as Telecom and Deutsche Telecom.
In addition to the license, Vivendi Telecom is also investing heavily in 3G equipment in these countries, using base stations and fiber optic transmission equipment provided by Huawei, and has built 4,000 base stations in France with a network coverage rate of 60%.
It surpassed the mobile brand of French Telecom's "Orange" and became the largest mobile telecom operator in France.
In Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and other countries, there are about 2,200 base stations built, with a network coverage of 45%.
No mistakes, one song, one content, one in 6, one book, one bar, one reading!
1,500 base stations have been built in Morocco, with a network coverage of 50%.
In order to build these base stations, Vivendi Telecom started investing before being acquired by Xu Liang, but at that time Vivendi himself was in a financial crisis and investment was limited.
It was not until Xu Liang's acquisition that Vivendi could obtain a large amount of funds from the capital market, and thus continue to invest in 3G construction and broadband access.
"Is Kunlun mobile phone helpful to the development of Vivendi Telecom?" Xu Liang asked.
A hint of excitement appeared on Christina's pretty face, "It's very helpful. Many people have applied for the telecom package we provide because of Kunlun mobile phones.
According to statistics, since the sale of Kunlun mobile phones, Vivendi Telecom's users have increased by 17 percentage points year-on-year.
But..."
"But what?"
"French Telecom has signed a cooperation agreement with Apple, which may impact the market occupied by Vivendi Telecom."
Xu Liang: "Don't worry too much. The production capacity of smartphones is limited now, and just one American market can digest all Apple's production capacity.
Even if you enter France, there are not many mobile phones to sell.
Don't worry too much in a short time.
Wait until Apple's production capacity is increased.
Kunlun and Vivendi Telecom have already occupied most of the share here, and it is not that easy to defeat us. ”
After Christina nodded, "This year, the French telecommunications department plans to release the fourth 3G telecommunications license, with a paired bandwidth of 15 Hz and a price of about 240 million euros. Are we going to join the competition?"
"240 million euros? That's so cheap?"
SFR, a subsidiary of Vivendi Telecom, spent 619 million euros to obtain a license.
Almost three times the reserve price of the new license.
"What do you say about France Telecom and Buigt?"
"Martin Bouig called me and hoped that we would join forces to file a lawsuit with the European Commission to prevent the auction of the fourth telecommunications license in France.
If the French telecommunications department must take pictures, we will have to pay certain compensation. ”
Christina said.
Xu Liang nodded slightly.
This is for sure.
It took us so much money to get a photo, and you got it easily and for less money.
Haven’t we become jokes in the eyes of others?
This kind of thing must be stopped firmly.
"Promise him, this is in line with our interests."
"I think so too. By the way, the joint company of Telecom and Telecom intends to transfer the German and Italian telecom licenses they hold, and ask if we are interested in taking over?"
"How much do they plan to cost?"
"You can give us a 20% discount."
"Reject it." Xu Liang didn't even think about it.
The joint companies of Telecom and Telecom spent US$7.6 billion and US$2 billion to jointly bid for the German 3G license and Italian 3G license respectively.
Total total of $9.7 billion.
Almost three times the expenses of all 3G licenses acquired by Vivendi Telecom now.
Even a 20% discount is an unacceptable number.
The key is that the secondary debt crisis will be coming soon, and any large investment is a pitfall now.
Christina agreed, and Xu Liang's decision was within her expectations.
As of now, Vivendi Telecom has 45.216 million users, including 15.91 million fixed-line phone users, 22.1 million mobile phone users, 5.05 million Internet users, and 450,000 paid TV users.
30% of them are located in Africa.
In the third quarter of 2007, Vivendi Telecom's turnover was 17.826 billion euros and its net profit was 2.43 billion euros.
Vivendi Telecom has become the highest revenue department under Vivendi Group.
The total revenue of the entire Vivendi Group's "pan-entertainment department" in the third quarter was close to 26 billion euros, and is expected to exceed 33 billion euros for the whole year.
It increased by 12.7% year-on-year.
Net profit was 4.728 billion euros, and it is expected to exceed 6 billion euros for the whole year, an increase of 18.4% year-on-year.
It can be said that the operating model of "telecommunications channel + content" inherited from Xu Liang's memory in his previous life has played a huge role in promoting the development of the entire Vivendi Group.
Especially the emergence of Kunlun mobile phones.
While other telecom operators are still worried about the insufficient 3G revenue model and the inability to recover huge base stations and license investments, Vivendi Telecom quickly walked ahead with Kunlun mobile phones.
Users and revenue grow rapidly, and profits continue to accumulate.
In just a few years, it has completed investment in 3G telecom base stations and fiber optic networks in front of giants such as Telecom and Deutsche Telecom.
"There is no problem with Vivendi's 'pan-entertainment assets' layout. What is needed next is to continuously expand on the existing basis." Xu Liang said.
"The European telecommunications landscape is basically fixed. If you want to develop rapidly, you will not be acquired!" Christina said.
Xu Liang smiled, "I won't discuss this issue for now, and I'll talk about it when I have the right opportunity."
He glanced at him, and Christina didn't say anything more.
She knew that this man never did something unsure.
The key is that Vivendi Group is indeed not short of funds now.
In addition to telecommunications and pan-entertainment, another pillar of Vivendi Group is the ‘Veolia Environment Group’.
Unlike Telecom and Pan-Entertainment, Vidiwang Group only holds 45% of the equity of "Veolia Environment Group".
In other words, this is the ‘godson’.
But the godson is also a son.
What's more, Veolia Environmental Group's strength cannot be underestimated.
(This chapter ends)