Chapter 87 Warren Brothers

The market share of synthetic audio copyright is more than 3%, and there are not many companies that are not in the hands of large companies and are willing to sell. These companies can be roughly divided into two situations. Some of them are very new companies like A+ Audio. Most of them are in the hands of some pioneer musicians. The licensing income is good. They are currently making profits, and the transfer price is high.

The other part is the opposite. They are all old-fashioned companies with a bloated structure, continuous losses, cheap prices but heavy burdens.

After several rounds of inquiries and evaluations, there was only one target left. The Warren Brothers Synthesizer Company in New Jersey was established in 1979. Although the synthesized sound copyright library has a market share of about 5% to 7%, they are all outdated. Licensing revenue last year was about $750,000, which is expected to decline year after year.

"The copyright library is not the main business of this company. They also have a synthesizer factory with more than 30 employees."

"Because of the competition from our subsidiary, they have been losing money since 1985. In order to cope with the new MIDI standard that will be introduced this year, last year, the Warren Brothers mortgaged the land and factory buildings of the factory to the bank to develop new products. This year, new product orders have not increased. Ideally, under the pressure of banks and shareholders, the Warren Brothers sold more than 60% of their company shares to Wall Street AW Investment Company, and after the financial company gained control, it is preparing to split and sell.”

Hayden made a special trip to New Jersey, "Synthetic sound copyright is profitable, not only for sale, AW Investment Company offered seven million dollars, but also bought the synthesizer factory and more than 30 workers. The factory land and factory buildings have been sold. It was spun off, without our share, if we continue to produce, the annual factory rent plus wages and other miscellaneous expenses will be around one million knives, and the synthesizer is unsalable.

"It's a good business." Song Asheng calculated in his mind for half a minute, "We will close the factory when we get it, and the workers will be paid. It means that we will get a copyright library for nothing in about 15 to 20 years."

"It's not that easy."

Hayden smiled wryly, "People on Wall Street are not fools. It is precisely because they can't get rid of these thirty-odd workers that they use the method of selling them in a package with the copyright library."

"Can't get rid of it? Union?" Goodman asked.

"Yes, the workers are currently united under the leadership of the deputy manager Weiser, who is an active figure in the local union. If the factory is closed, the local councilors will be under pressure to cause trouble for our acquisition." Hayden said.

"We are far away in Chicago, what trouble can we have? New Jersey congressmen can't stretch their hands so far, as long as Warren Brothers does not have government funds to intervene..." Goodman said: "The local government cannot use money to save such a small company. "

"We don't have it, but AW Investment Company does. They won't sell it if they can't deal with the union and local councilors."

Hayden looked at Song Ya.

"It seems to be beyond our ability." Song Ya started to retreat.

"Maybe I can go to New Jersey to meet the union leader named Weiser?" DeLay suggested. As the general manager of A+ Audio, he is not willing to give up this good opportunity for the company to grow.

"Don't be distracted, the first priority is to practice your RAP part well, don't put the cart before the horse."

Song Ya thought for a while, "Well, let's put it on hold for a while and let AW Investment Company hang out for a while. I will go to New York to attend the Grammy Awards Ceremony on February 20th. By then, the semi-finished product of Remember The Name will be finished and sent to Columbia by the way. The record company is discussing the next post-production, and then we will find some time, and we will go to New Jersey to see it together.”

"It's best to invest the money before the tax season in April, and then borrow a sum from the bank, and you can get a lot of tax refunds in the future." Song Asheng left the information on the boss's desk and reminded Song Ya.

"I see."

Song Ya sent everyone out, and looked through the materials of Warren Brothers alone, "Roberto Clivell?" He saw a familiar name from the shareholder list. He is a small company with about 5% of the shares Shareholders push out independent directors.

He looked at the photo frame on the boss's desk. Roberto Clivell was sitting next to Mariah Carey, smiling brightly at the camera. He didn't know if it was the same name or not, so he called her.

"Hi, how are you doing recently? How is the preparation of Miss Kelly's new album? It will be released in May? It's so fast."

He exchanged pleasantries with the other party first, and then brought up the topic of Warren Brothers.

"Are you interested?"

Roberto Clivell is really one of the minority shareholders. He was surprised when Song Ya mentioned Warren Brothers, "It's a good business, and the land is very valuable, but you are late, AW Investment Company made the first move... ..."

He didn't mean to hide it. As one of the shareholders, he really hoped to get rid of the burden as soon as possible.

As a composer and arranger, like Song Ya, he invented some synthetic sounds when he was young, and then he was acquired by Warren Brothers in the form of stock and cash in the 1980s, and became a minority shareholder of the company. Thinking of the fierceness of the book, Warren Brothers soon fell into a loss. As a minority shareholder, he can do nothing about the Warren Brothers' business decisions, and can only watch the company fall into the abyss step by step.

"Synthesizers are completely useless. The Warren Brothers want to challenge Yamaha, which is completely unrealistic..."

Roberto Clivell said: "I also helped Columbia Records to buy some, but none of the musicians wanted to use it, which caused me to be scolded by the purchasing department. Now there is only one pedal product left in his family that is still selling. None of those workers could be laid off with the backing of the union, and the Warren Brothers had to pay and leave."

"If you are in charge, is there any way to improve the business situation?" Song Ya asked.

Roberto Clivell and Song Asheng had an idea, "reduce staff, leave at most one pedal factory with about five skilled workers, and outsource pedal components without technical content to Brazil."

"Why outsource to Brazil?" Song Ya asked.

"The labor over there is cheap, and I have a way in Brazil." Roberto Clivell replied.

Song Ya just remembered that Walt mentioned during the dinner that this guy's family is a big Brazilian landowner.

"You can speak Chinese. Is there a way out in Huaguo? The production cost in Huaguo seems to be cheaper, and the shipping cost is better than producing in New Jersey." Roberto Clivell laughed, "Have you heard of it? Huaguo Those who play rock and roll are so poor that they even have to secretly eat bread behind their backs, hahaha!"

"Hua people don't eat bread..."

His words made Song Ya feel uncomfortable, "They eat steamed buns."

Roberto Clivell didn't bother with this topic, "Anyway, if you can't lay off people, you will die together. If you want to acquire this company, I will support it. Of course, our minority shareholders can't help much."

After the call ended, Song Ya called Hayden, "Can Huaguo's rock records be bought in the United States? Get as many as you can and give them to me."

After dealing with these, he began to look through the piles of various emails that he had accumulated.

"NRG?" He saw the name of a group, three resumes of singers, all of them were white girls aged 16 or 17, and one of them, Fergie, was very similar to Cassity McGee, only with flesh on her face. A little bit more, a little bit of chest, a little bit of butt and chin.

As the trio of the Wilson sisters and Phillips reached the top of the Billboard annual list last year, countless white girl groups singing adult lyrics appeared in a swarm on the land of the United States. This is the case all over the world. What is popular will be followed by others, and the supply exceeds the demand. After that, the fate of these combinations can be imagined.

As Hayden said, managers are sometimes like human traffickers. Singers are suppressed and can only sell everywhere, and their A+ records will receive such resumes from time to time.

Song Ya looked at the girl's photo, and the appearance of Kasiti wearing a Nordic sweater, sportswear and school uniform appeared in her mind, and she was a little moved. It has been a long time since he played with Mira in the South Pacific last time. It's time to eat.

The obedient female students dare not touch her. This kind of debut female singer shouldn't have any troubles...

Bar?

He stretched out his hand to the manager's business card clipped on his resume, hesitantly retracted it, "Forget it..." He finally held back, just like he held back Halle Berry's seduction several times, "All I have endured until now, so what if I endure it a little longer? I will endure it, and the weather will be calm for a while, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles."