Chapter 574: Withdrawing from the Acquisition
As expected, more and more people asked about the price.
The first person to ask was MGM.
After Kerkorian made his fortune by acquiring the dilapidated MGM, and then made a profit by acquiring United Artists, one of the eight dilapidated Hollywood giants, he became very fond of this dilapidated Hollywood giant.
The first contact between the two parties, Kerkorian offered $11.2 billion.
Vivendi thought his price was low and refused.
In early July, MGM raised its acquisition offer, but because the offer was too low, it was still rejected by Vivendi.
After several rounds of negotiations, MGM’s offer was never able to meet Vivendi Group’s expectations, and they finally broke up.
Immediately afterwards, Liberty Media Company, unwilling to accept failure, came to the door again.
But this time it is not themselves, but the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) owned by General Electric.
For example, News Corporation owns the FOX television network and 20th Century Fox.
“Come in.”
Jean Foch said tiredly.
However, the two parties were never able to reach an agreement on the purchase price and shareholding ratio, and finally shelved the deal.
Before Vivendi’s financial crisis broke out, it had been pursuing the idea of NBC, a subsidiary of GE. However, GE, which was not short of money, refused to sell it, and U.S. law did not allow it. Foreign companies and individuals own U.S. television stations.
Now that Vivendi is in trouble, GE is interested in acquiring Vivendi's entertainment assets.
After taking a look, it was indeed what he said.
If it weren’t for the fact that Vivendi is also a shareholder of Hongmeng, he would have kicked away Hongmeng’s negotiators.
Several consecutive failures disappointed the executives of Liberty Media Company and gave up completely.
Jean Foch pinched his nose and accepted this merger plan worth US$14 billion.
Good memories came to mind, and Jean Foch immediately terminated negotiations with GE.
There are many successful examples, which also inspired GE’s ambitions.
After all, GE’s bid was the highest after one year.
“What?”
If Hongmeng’s acquisition of MGM does not go smoothly, it will definitely turn to Vivendi.
The shocked Jean Foch immediately took the document from the secretary's hand.
“Dong dong….”
It’s normal that GE doesn’t want it.
But in this way, the cash received by Vivendi will be greatly reduced, with only US$3.8 billion in cash.
And there's still no end in sight.
Although 20% of the new company NBCUniversal's shares are also valuable, it is still better than cash.
He also got the news that Hongmeng was acquiring MGM, so he wanted to wait.
If no other agency shows up.
“BOOS, I just received the news that Hongmeng has officially withdrawn from the acquisition.”
Now the global music market is deteriorating under the impact of MP3. Three years ago, the five major music giants with a market value of over 10 billion US dollars There is also a market value of tens of billions of dollars, which has now shrunk by nearly 70%.
But just when the two parties signed the contract, Hongmeng jumped out.
So it has been unsuccessful.
There was a rapid knock on the door.
But GE hasn’t given up yet.
Media giants owning not only a movie studio but also a radio and television network is a new trend in the American media industry in the past decade.
$9 billion? Who do you look down on?
The only thing that dissatisfied Vivendi is that GE does not want Universal Music Group.
Disney owns ABC and Walt Disney Pictures.
Time Warner, which owns CNN, Turner Networks and Warner Bros.
You want to give up, but you don’t want to.
Only then will the acquisition you are looking forward to officially come.
Once the acquisition is successful, a media giant with a market value of more than 40 billion US dollars will emerge, including a series of heavyweight entertainment businesses such as NBC, Universal Studios, CNBC cable channel, USA TV channel and science fiction TV channel. in Hollywood and the American media market.
Unfortunately, when he was desperate, Hongmeng actually quoted US$9 billion, and then gave up.
The secretary opened the door and walked in immediately.
He longs for a replay between Hongmeng and GE. Back then, Hongmeng competed with Google for Vivendi Games, and forced a game company that could only sell for US$2.5 billion to a deal of US$3.2 billion.
After the acquisition is successful, Vivendi's Universal Entertainment division will be integrated into a new company jointly held by both parties, including Universal Entertainment, Universal Studios, cable TV channels, Universal Music and theme parks.
The above is the document indicating that Hongmeng officially withdraws from acquisition negotiations.
“When did you receive this?”
“Just ten minutes ago.”
Jean Foch still couldn’t believe it, it was obviously just a few days ago. , there are rumors throughout the United States that Google is holding acquisition negotiations with MGM, and both parties are progressing smoothly.
Why did Hongmeng withdraw from the negotiations? Did they reach an acquisition agreement with MGM in just a few days? Jean Foch immediately called Xie Wen.
The other party gave him an affirmative answer.
Call Xu Liang again, but he didn’t get through.
After making a few phone calls, Jean Foch had to accept that his wish had failed.
——
"Mr. Xu, Jean Foch just called me. Judging from his tone, he is really anxious and surprised at our choice." Xie Wen said on the phone.
"Haha, it's normal to be shocked. It would be the same if I were in his position."
After responding.
“Mr. Xu, if after the acquisition is completed, what if General Electric defaults on its contract...?”
"It doesn't matter if he breaks the contract, as long as he is willing to pay twice the liquidated damages," Xu Liang said calmly.
Hongmeng has developed to this day, and the company’s legal team has been very complete.
Contracts that can pass their repeated review will basically have no loopholes.
Coupled with the secret review by the legal department of Hongyan Fund, Xu Liangcai signed the contract after no problems were found.
Once GE breaches the contract and fails to hand over the three assets of Universal Pictures, Universal Music Group, and Universal Studios to him, GE will compensate twice the entire acquisition price, which is a breach of contract of approximately US$30 billion. gold.
This is obviously impossible.
Xie Wen also felt that his worries were unnecessary, so he did not continue the topic.
"Then do you want to retain the MGM acquisition team?"
Xu Liang thought about it briefly and said, "Keep it. Let's wait until the matter is settled."
“That’s fine.”
After the two chatted for a while, Xu Liang hung up the phone.
After pondering for a moment, he turned his head.
"Lu Hui, help me contact representatives from Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Morgan. I will talk to them in half a month."
"Okay."
Lu Hui left in a hurry.
Although when talking to the elder Gates, he said that he would take back half of Hongmeng's shares from the three financial giants, in fact he had no intention of doing so.
A Chinese company acquires the top film company in Hollywood, as well as two famous brands, Universal Music and Universal Studios. You can imagine how much trouble it will cause in the United States.
Although the complaints and dissatisfaction of the assholes cannot hinder the overall situation.
But I am afraid that powerful people such as Larry Ellison, Eric Schmidt, Larry Page, and even George Soros will take the opportunity to stir up trouble.
No, it should be said that they will definitely get involved.
If you want to suppress these powerful people, you must win over more people to endorse this acquisition.
Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Morgan, Merrill Lynch, and even GE, including Secretary of State Colin Powell, whom I met once.
In a word, Xu Liang plans to use this acquisition to cash out the relationships that Hanhua has built up in the past.
——
Without the constraints of Hongmeng, and in addition, GE had been talking to Vivendi Global for a long time before Xu Liang intervened, so the two sides only took eight days to negotiate. All conditions are met.
For $15 billion, GE acquired all U.S. entertainment assets including Universal Pictures, Universal Music Group, Universal Studios, American Network, and 10% of Echostar Communications.
The signing of the contract quickly caused a sensation in the global business community.
It was ranked second among the top ten business mergers and acquisitions in the world by the Wall Street Journal, second only to the Bank of America merger and acquisition.
Just half a month ago, Bank of America acquired the commercial bank holding company 'Boston Fleet Financial Corporation' in exchange for 0.5553 common shares for 1 share, creating the third largest transaction in the history of the U.S. banking industry. The merger gave birth to the second largest bank in the United States and occupied the top spot in the banking retail business in the United States.
The entire merger and acquisition case involves an acquisition amount of US$46.961 billion.
It was the largest acquisition in 2003.
With 23 days left before the end of 2003, there will basically be no larger acquisitions.
——
The luxuriously decorated room was filled with smoke, making the white crystal chandeliers dyed with a light cyan color.
Larry Page frowned. As a technical geek, he doesn't have the habit of smoking and doesn't like such an environment very much.
But in public, it is not good for him to interfere with everyone for his own selfish purposes.
After coughing, Page turned her head.
"Lu, why do you really have no idea why Hongmeng withdrew its acquisition of Vivendi Global?"
Lu Xiaobo shook his head and looked at everyone's suspicious eyes.
“I swear in the name of God, I really don’t know the reason.”
"Scoff. People all over the world know that Chinese people have no faith." Sergey Brin laughed.
Lu Xiaobo looked angry, but he still endured it.
“Because of this matter, I have asked Xu Liang and Xie Wen respectively, as well as all the company executives I know. Most people don’t know the reason, and Xu Liang answered me that he has given up on Pan Entertainment Investment in the industry.
Prepare to invest the saved funds in search engine, e-commerce and other businesses, and build nine data centers in major countries around the world to enhance Hongmeng’s data processing capabilities.”
The last words made Eric Schmidt, Brin and Page look ugly for a moment.
Although Google received US$1.2 billion from Ellison through Series C financing, plus the Series B money and its own profits, the total liquidity is only US$2 billion.
However, Hongmeng’s reserve capital is as high as 15.7 billion U.S. dollars, and combined with the profits of major companies, it is close to 20 billion U.S. dollars.
If all this money is spent on Hongmeng’s major businesses.
It will definitely allow them to achieve explosive growth.
Wait for Hongmeng to occupy the market and customers to form usage habits.
(End of this chapter)