Chapter 214 Pit

Eric gently put down the coffee cup in his hand, looked up and said, "Mr. Murdoch, you must know something about me, I am a very stubborn person, if you ask me to speak, then the conditions I say will not be There will be a slight concession, and if Fox can't accept it, then the two sides will definitely have a very unpleasant quarrel. ↖Top ↖ point ↖ small ↖ say, .. so, let's say it first, if Fox's conditions can satisfy me, I'm not a greedy person either."

Murdoch secretly scolded a little slick in his heart, this is not insatiable, but Murdoch just thought for a moment and said: "Eric, the cooperation between Fox and Firefly has always been very pleasant, so it's better than this, I Replacing the same proportion of Firefly shares with 5% shares of Fox Film Company, you must know the market value of Fox, but Firefly has taken a big advantage, which can also make the cooperation between the two film companies closer. I use this price in exchange for For the premiere rights of the next four seasons of "Friends", the 70% advertising share just proposed remains unchanged, what do you think this time?"

Eric was slightly moved after hearing this condition proposed by Murdoch, and then he didn't feel any advantage at all.

He heard very clearly that Murdoch was talking about exchanging shares of Fox Films for an equal share of Firefly, not Fox Network.

Perhaps the public will think that these two companies are one, but Eric is very clear about the difference between them. Although both are currently under the control of Barry Diller, Fox Films and Fox Television Network are completely different. related companies. Fox Films is now valued at around $2 billion, and a 5% stake is worth $100 million, and Firefly's 5% stake isn't really worth that much right now. Based on the price at the time of merging with the new line. Firefly's market cap is only around $600 million. So count down. Firefly only needs to agree to an equity swap with Fox. That's the equivalent of making $70 million.

But things are far from simple.

After the merger of Firefly and New Line, no matter which movie giant in Hollywood is aware of the possible development potential of Firefly, if the momentum of Eric's film harvesting at the box office continues, it may not take a few years for Firefly's status to be comparable to that of Seven The big film companies are side by side, and accordingly, the market value of Firefly will also skyrocket. Maybe even more than Fox.

Eric is so confident that if all goes well, the process won't even take five years. Some time ago, Eric was willing to pay 15% of the shares and a large sum of money to acquire the new line, because this will make up for the shortcomings of Firefly's distribution capabilities and greatly shorten the pace of Firefly's rise.

5% of the shares can already have a certain say in the board of directors. After exchanging shares with Fox, Eric will not only see little benefits, but will be hindered by it.

and……

Eric twitched the corner of his mouth slightly,

Lean forward slightly. He asked Murdoch across from him, "Mr. Murdoch, how much do you think Fox's earnings will be this year?"

Murdoch's heart skipped a beat. Heart said, was this little guy seen through?

However, Murdoch still held a fluke, shook his head and said: "I don't know this very well, and I won't know until the financial report at the end of the year is released."

Eric almost sneered: "Mr. Murdoch, I can do some calculations for Fox, because Mr. Barry Diller focuses on the development of the Fox network, Fox itself does not have many movies released, and has high There is not even one big-budget movie with box office potential. This year, Fox’s main focus is my three movies, “Pretty Woman”, “Sleepless in Seattle” and “Home Alone 2”, and “Fengyue” has been settled , 210 million in North America and 530 million in the world, Fox can get at least 70 million US dollars in profit excluding distribution costs. Moreover, I personally think that the next two movies, "Sleepless in Seattle" and "Home Alone 2", Fox can get it. The profit obtained is at least 100 million US dollars, plus other films distributed by Fox and peripheral income such as video tapes. Ha, it is a good year. Maybe this year can create an annual profit of 300 million US dollars, which is almost two years of ordinary years. doubled."

When Murdoch heard Eric's summary, he was inevitably overjoyed. If this is the case, this result must be ranked first among the seven major film companies, even Warner, who made a lot of money from "Batman" this year, is not. Must be able to create such a high annual profit. After the financial report at the end of the year comes out, Fox's market value will definitely usher in a ** rise.

However, after the surprise, some flukes in Murdoch's heart were completely shattered, and he just asked dryly: "Eric, isn't this very good?"

"Of course it's good," Eric said. "Then, let's calculate Firefly's profit this year."

Eric said, raised a few fingers and counted them one by one: "Pretty Woman, 105 million; "Dark War", according to the current box office trend, the global box office can still reach about 500 million US dollars, Firefly can once again Get about 100 million US dollars, "Sleepless in Seattle" and "Home Alone 2" at the end of the year, excluding the cost, Firefly can at least get 100 million US dollars like Fox. Don't forget, I have three other films. The movie will be released at the end of the year. I am very optimistic about the three movies, but even if the three movies are added together, they can only get 100 million US dollars. When the accounts are divided at the end of the year, it is also 5% of the shares, and Fox can get 20 million dividends. Firefly can only get 15 million."

Speaking of this, Eric retracted the arm erected in front of him, but he was very angry in his heart. After Murdoch proposed the conditions, Eric was still tempted for a moment because of the difference in the stock value of 70 million US dollars, but After such a combing, he found that this was another big hole dug by the old guy on the opposite side.

The exchange of shares and Fox's acquisition of the premiere rights of the first five seasons of "Friends" are completely different things, but Murdoch skillfully confuses these two things, giving Eric a Fox very sincere illusion. But if Eric really chooses the 5% of the shares, in the end, there may be no benefit at all. Instead, because of the profit gap, a dividend will be paid to Fox every year. In addition, this share must have a long restricted period of sale. When it can be sold, perhaps the market value of Firefly is about the same as that of Fox.

Fox must have the right to take back the shares first. Even if Eric sells the shares back to the other party, the final result is that Fox owns the shares of Firefly and can dictate the affairs of Firefly, but Firefly cannot interfere with Fox in the slightest. Another point is that after the share swap, the interests of Firefly and Fox are tied together. Even if he is reluctant, Eric has to pinch his nose and choose to cooperate with Fox first. It is estimated that this is also the main purpose of Murdoch to exchange shares with Firefly.

If Eric's body is still the soul of some naive, cowardly, and juvenile spirit, maybe when he thinks about this, he will be slapped with tears in his eyes and shouted: "Too bullying, I won't work with you anymore."

To be honest, Eric might have had this impulse full of juvenile spirit just now because of the residual thinking of the original owner.

However, now this body is still dominated by the soul of a calm middle-aged man in his forties. In addition, because of the special experience of rebirth, Eric has become less concerned about many things. The money thing is even less likely to happen to him.

Of course, Eric was still very angry at this time: "Mr. Murdoch, maybe Fox didn't want to show any sincerity at all, then..."

Murdoch showed a faint wry smile and said, "Eric, listen to me, or we..."

"No," Eric interrupted Murdoch immediately. He was not sure if there would be any big holes waiting for him in the conditions that the old guy proposed next. If he didn't respond, he would be dead. : "Let's talk about it, I'm not very interested in the shares of Fox Film Company, but since today's discussion is about "Friends", let's talk about the Fox TV network. I want shares in the Fox TV network, if If Fox wants to get the premiere rights for the next few seasons of "Friends", it must transfer me 10% of the shares at 80% of the market value of Fox Network before "Friends" started."

Murdoch was taken aback by Eric's lion's big mouth. Although he is called a media tycoon, he currently only owns a little more than 30% of the shares of News Corporation, and News Corporation only owns about 80% of the Fox Television Network. In terms of shares, his family's share of Fox Network is only 24%. If Eric's conditions are agreed, then Firefly will become the second largest shareholder of Fox Television Network, second only to the Murdoch family in terms of voice. If there is a conflict between the two parties in the future, as long as Eric has the support of other shareholders, it is likely to seize the dominance of the Fox network.

The Fox Network is the most important move that Murdoch has painstakingly made to enter the North American market. In any case, he could not agree to such a condition as Eric.

To be honest, Eric didn’t have such a big appetite originally. His original plan was to get about 5% of the shares of Fox Television Network.

From the collected information, the Fox TV network is now worth less than 1 billion, far less than the huge scale of the three major TV stations of 4 billion to 5 billion US dollars.

But Eric knew that after more than ten years, the scale of Fox TV station will be side by side with the three major TV stations, reaching more than 30 billion US dollars. Now it only needs to invest less than 50 million US dollars. At that time, the 5% of the shares will be a value. A huge fortune of more than $1.5 billion, and, compared to the film companies, the network's profits are more stable, and he will be able to make a lot of money from the Fox network's billions of dollars in annual profits by doing nothing in the future. dividends. (To be continued..)