Chapter 584: Disney Is Rich and Powerful

Early in the morning, the receptionist of Guangshidai invited several business elites in suits and ties into the company's conference room.

Wu Yuan and John, who had been sitting in the conference room for a long time, stood up to welcome them.

"Director Daniel, I'm glad we meet again."

"Yes, I'm glad too."

Louen, the vice president of Disney who is in charge of the company's commercial acquisition business, smiled brightly and hugged and shook hands with Wu Yuan.

Louen was previously the vice president in charge of film and television production. When filming "Pirates of the Caribbean" that year, Wu Yuan had met him several times, at the celebration banquet, the opening ceremony, and the premiere event, and they were not strangers.

"So, are you in charge of this merger and acquisition case?"

Wu Yuan was a little confused. For such a merger and acquisition case involving only a billion dollars, it should not be necessary for the vice president to be in charge personally. It would be enough to send a ministerial-level executive.

"I came in person to show how much Disney values ​​you, Daniel."

Laun still had a business smile on his face, and said in a fake tone: "You are one of the most famous directors in Hollywood, and the company should give you the respect and attention you deserve."

"Although the market value of Light Era is not high, it is your company after all."

The market value is not high?

Wu Yuan still smiled on the surface, but he shook his head secretly in his heart.

It can only be said that he is worthy of being the vice president of Disney in charge of acquisitions. He is really good at speaking and took the lead right away.

"You are right. In front of Disney, Light Era is indeed just a tiny thing, and its value is less than one percent of Disney."

Disney's current market value is more than 200 billion US dollars, and one percent is more than 2 billion US dollars, which is not a small number.

Laun smiled and shook his head, and did not respond, but just motioned Wu Yuan to sit down and talk.

In fact, unlike what Wu Yuan imagined, Disney still attaches great importance to this acquisition.

Disney is very profitable, and its net profit in a fiscal year can be around 10 billion US dollars.

But the profit share of the film industry is negligible.

Just like before the era of smart phones, selling mobile phones has never been the main source of income for Huawei.

Before 2010, Disney's annual revenue was only a few billion US dollars from box office revenue, which was only box office revenue, not net profit. In fact, the main sources of Disney's revenue were theme parks, copyright operations, and media network businesses.

Especially the latter. In 1996, Disney acquired ABC for a sky-high price of $190. ABC owns more than 200 affiliated TV stations and dozens of radio stations.

In addition, ABC also owns 80% of the shares of ESPN, the world's largest sports media.

Currently, ABC is one of the three major commercial radio and television networks in the United States.

In 2001, Disney also acquired FOX Family Channel for $5.2 billion.

So far, the media network business has accounted for 40% of Disney's total revenue, which is a real cash cow.

However, Disney is also ambitious in the film production business.

So, Disney, who intends to make a big move in the film field, began a rich acquisition.

In 2006, 2009 and 2012, Disney acquired Pixar Animation, Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm for $7.4 billion, $4.2 billion and $4.1 billion respectively; the three acquisitions cost a total of $15.7 billion.

It can be seen that Disney is determined to make efforts in the field of film production and to operate the film industry as an important pillar industry.

In this way, Disney naturally attaches great importance to Light Era, a financially healthy and profitable independent film production company.

Light Era may not have a large number of animation and comics IPs like Pixar, Lucas and Marvel, but Light Era has rich experience in film production and shooting, and its employees are considered elites in the industry.

This talent, plus the live-action movie IPs in hand, is the greatest wealth.

As we all know, if you don’t count Marvel’s superheroes, the rest of Disney’s IPs are all cartoons and animation IPs. The only influential live-action movie IP is "Pirates of the Caribbean".

It was not until the acquisition of Lucasfilm that Disney got its second heavyweight movie IP, the Star Wars series.

The Hangover, Twilight, and Kingsman series in the hands of Light Era are all influential movie IPs, and the Hunger Games series makes Disney even more coveted.

"We have exchanged views on the specific acquisition details in the previous months of negotiations."

"Daniel, we Disney will acquire Light Era Pictures at a valuation of 1.2 billion US dollars, including its IP copyrights and all film and television adaptation rights in hand."

"Do you agree with this?"

Lawn started the negotiation in a businesslike manner and got straight to the point.

In fact, before today's meeting, the two sides had already talked back and forth for several months through deputies and subordinates, and the specific acquisition contract was almost negotiated. Now it's just a final confirmation, so there is a meeting between the bosses of both sides.

"I have no objection to the full acquisition, and I am also quite satisfied with the price of 1.2 billion."

"But I have a request."

Wu Yuan shrugged: "This acquisition must not be officially effective until after August next year."

"Before that, I need to clean up the company's hands."

"My new movie "The Martian" will also be released at the end of this year. It needs a buffer time."

Prior to this, John had actually talked to Disney and made it clear that Wu Yuan would drain all the company's working capital, indicating that he would only sell it as an empty shell.

It was also because Disney accepted this request that it became the one with the last laugh among the dozen or so companies that came to negotiate acquisitions with Light Times.

Of course, it was also because Wu Yuan only planned to leave an empty shell and not leave a dime to the company he took over except for personnel and copyrights, so Disney made a low-priced acquisition of US$1.2 billion.

Otherwise, Pixar Animation, Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm could get acquisition prices of US$7.4 billion, US$4.2 billion and US$4.1 billion. There is no reason that Light Age would only have 1.2 billion, although Light Age is indeed unable to compare with the above three companies. , but under normal circumstances, selling for more than 2 billion is still no problem.

"Daniel, I don't know why you chose such a troublesome trading model."

Lawn sighed and said helplessly: "Wouldn't it be good to buy it out at a fixed price of US$2.5 billion?"

"As long as you nod, we can sign the contract immediately, and the US$2.5 billion will be transferred to your personal account within a week."

"You no longer need to worry about withdrawing the money from Era's accounts, nor do you need to go to publishers who have not yet settled their accounts to ask for money. Disney will take care of all your troubles for you. How simple is this?"

"You will never suffer a loss at this price. I think the current working capital of Light Times and the accounts that have not been received are not even 1.3 billion, right?"

To be honest, not only Lao En, but John also couldn't understand why Wu Yuan insisted on such a deal and had to postpone it until August next year.

"Laun, I actually want such a simple transaction."

Wu Yuan said with a smile: "3 billion U.S. dollars, as long as Disney comes up with 3 billion U.S. dollars, I will give up everything in the Light Era. How about that?"

"Daniel, you are too greedy. Time of Light is not worth three billion US dollars, even if you include your new movie that has not been released yet, it is not worth it."

"It seems that we can only choose the first trading method." (End of Chapter)