Chapter 535: People Die for Money, Birds Die for Food

"I invite all editors and reporters to come over today. Tianyao Group has some very important things to announce."

"The first thing is to consider preparing a formal invitation to acquire Warner Bros. Pictures in order to complete the comprehensive development of Tianyao Group!"

Warner Bros. Pictures, this is the first cross-border acquisition formally initiated by Tianyao Group after the financial crisis.

This time, Tianyao Group is planning to acquire Warner Bros. Pictures to achieve absolute control.

It will become a subsidiary of Tianyao Media Group.

After Zhan Mi finished speaking, the scene was in an uproar!

Warner Bros. Entertainment was founded by the four Warner brothers, Harry Warner, Albert Warner, Sam Warner and Jack Warner.

At the beginning of the 20th century, in 1903, they built the first nickelodeon movie theater in New Castle, Pennsylvania.

14 years later, Warner Bros. Studios was established on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood.

Five years later, it merged into Warner Bros. Pictures.

In 1927, the first sound film "The Jazz Singer" was released, ushering in the era of film sound.

Famous for his gangster films, musicals and biopics, such as "Zola".

After the rise of television, it turned its financial resources to the production of television series and began to adopt the production method of investing in independent producers, filming "My Fair Lady" and "Bonnie and Clyde".

Later, he produced high-grossing movies such as the "Harry Potter" series, the "Batman" series, and the "Hobbit" series.

And Friends and The Big Bang Theory.

Company status and influence: It is one of the largest film and television entertainment production companies in the world.

It has had a profound impact on the global film industry in terms of technological innovation, theme expansion, and business models.

Want to acquire? It's not that simple.

But in front of the giant Tianyao Group, Warner Bros. Pictures is still little Karami.

Jimi announced that Tianyao Group would acquire Warner Bros. Pictures.

Although everyone at the scene was very surprised, they didn't think it was earth-shattering.

Because Tianyao Group is now a truly global enterprise.

"Hello, Mr. Li, I am Ming Pao reporter Pan Xianfa. Has Tianyao Group acquired shares of Warner Bros. before this?"

After Zhan Mi's announcement, Ming Pao's reporter was the first to ask questions.

Zhan Mi’s original name was Li Jiayuan, and these reporters had also investigated it.

Zhan Mi nodded and said, "Yes, Mr. Lin has always been very concerned about the development of the entertainment film group."

"In the past two years, we have been acquiring shares in film companies everywhere. There were not many opportunities before. This time we acquired more shares because it is cheaper due to the economic crisis.

"Mr. Li, how much did you acquire? Can you achieve a controlling stake?"

Ming Pao reporter Pan Xianfa asked.

"It has not reached a controlling stake, but it has acquired 25%."

Oh, my god!

As soon as he finished speaking, several foreign reporters screamed in surprise.

Because even if it is 25%, he is already a major shareholder.

However, no media was informed of such an acquisition.

Even world-wide newspapers like the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal have not received the information, which is incredible.

It also shows that Lin Yao has been acquiring secretly, through some means.

Otherwise, according to the sense of smell of reporters from allied countries, especially those intelligence hunters on Wall Street, this matter would have been revealed long ago.

But Lin Yao only disclosed this information after acquiring 25%.

There is no way. According to the laws of country m, as long as it reaches 1/4, then an invitation to acquire all shares must be submitted to the shareholders' meeting.

Otherwise such acquisitions would be made illegal.

The purpose of this law is to prevent listed companies from being taken over by hostile takeovers.

It is precisely because of this law that Tianyao Group held today’s press conference.

Then other reporters rushed to ask questions.

But because no one knew much about Warner Bros., they all asked very common questions.

Zhan Mi quickly finished his answer, and then solemnly announced the second thing.

"Another thing that is also very important is that our Tianyao Group has accepted investment from four financial companies."

“Now I’ll invite the 4 bosses to come on stage!!”

The words fell.

Three ghost guys and a man with an oriental face walked out from the background.

In fact, these four people were carefully arranged by Lin Yao, Zhan Mi and Zhang Linwei, and they were his own white gloves.

The three ghost guys first delivered their pre-prepared speeches, which were actually scripts.

The one with the oriental face is Imamura Hiroshi's subordinate.

On the surface, Imamura Hiroshi also invested US$2 billion in Lin Yaotianyao Group this time.

The other three ghost guys each invested US$5 billion according to the script.

As a result, Lin Yao's shares in Tianyao Group were diluted to only about 35%.

In fact, Lin Yao still holds 100% of the shares and absolutely controls Tianyao Group.

But for the reporters at the scene, they didn't know the inside story.

They were just shocked.

Lin Yao has made huge profits from these financial wars, and yesterday he was ranked 9th on the Forbes list of the world's richest people.

But today, Tianyao Group is about to raise funds.

Does this mean that Tianyao Group is going to be listed?

As a result, these reporters spent the next hour asking questions to representatives of these four financial investment companies.

Because these four people have prepared various scripts for a long time, they can talk freely to any reporter's questions, so that no one can see any flaws.

The press conference lasted for more than three hours before it came to an end. Everything went according to Lin Yao's plan.

After the press conference, major reporters immediately went back to report on Tianyao Group's acquisition of Warner Bros. Pictures.

Soon, the news spread to country m.

under this global financial crisis. Warner Bros. Pictures, which has been established for nearly 90 years, has also seen a sharp decline in revenue and owes banks $1.5 billion.

But after they saw the news, they discovered that the person who acquired their company was a young man from the East.

…

At this moment on the other side of the ocean at the headquarters of Warner Bros. Pictures.

A female secretary opened the door to Chairman Robert's room

"Chairman, something big happened."

Robert held his face with one hand and asked, "What's the big deal?"

Obviously, Warner Bros. Pictures' revenue dropped significantly during this period, which made him, the chairman, very unhappy.

Chairman Robert's full name is Robert Anthony Daly.

He joined Warner Bros. on December 1, 1980. He previously worked at CBS.

After leaving CBS, he joined Warner Bros. as chairman of the board and co-CEO.

A year later he became chairman and CEO, and named Terry Semel president and chief operating officer.

He serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the American Film Institute and is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Advisory Board of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.

"Chairman, the general manager of Tianyao Group in Hong Kong held a press conference 20 minutes ago and issued an acquisition invitation to us."

"No one would have expected that Tianyao Group already owns 25.8% of our shares in Warner Bros. Pictures, and other individual shares are still being acquired."

"What? A company in Hong Kong? No way?"

Robert jumped up from his chair with a shocked look on his face and asked questions directly from his soul.

Because of the global financial crisis, he certainly knew that Warner Bros. Pictures' shares were being acquired during this period.

And he felt relieved.

Because no one is buying the stocks of other film companies.

He thought it was those people who were optimistic about this company and were ready to buy the bottom.

But I never expected that 25.8% of the shares were actually acquired by a company from the East, and it was a wealthy man from Hong Kong Island.

Of course Robert knew about the Tianyao Group.

A few years ago, Warner Bros. Pictures even sent marketing specialists to Hong Kong Island to distribute their films.

Tianyao Group has represented several films.

But I never expected that in just a few years, the other party would want to control Warner Bros. Pictures.

Because it acquired 25.8% of the shares in one fell swoop, it was definitely for the purpose of holding the company.

As a successful businessman, Robert knew very well.

"Lin Yao, chairman of Tianyao Group, how much wealth does he have now?" Robert asked.

"Chairman, you went on vacation some time ago and may not have paid attention to the relevant news. According to the Forbes ranking that came out a few days ago, he has become the ninth richest person in the world with US$18 billion."

"This is just his cash, fixed assets and invisible assets, and has not been calculated," the female secretary said.

Hearing what the female secretary said, Robert's face suddenly became even uglier.

After nearly 90 years of development, Warner Bros. Pictures' equity has long been very dispersed.

The largest shareholder now is Robert, with 32.8% of the shares.

But now Tianyao Group has acquired 25.8% and is still continuing to acquire.

If the shares of the second and third shareholders are acquired, then Robert will not be able to control the entire company.

"Fanny, go and mobilize funds and start the share repurchase process immediately."

"Tianyao Group is a hostile takeover, I can directly conclude."

"Yes, Chairman!"

The female secretary named Fanny immediately went to make arrangements.

Robert didn't waste a second.

After the female secretary left, he picked up the phone to communicate with other shareholders.

The first call was to his good friend George Alter.

"Hello, Alter, the situation is like this...so I need you to be steady!!"

"No matter who asks you to buy your shares, don't sell them."

"Sorry, my old friend, I sold all my shares half an hour ago."

"I have lost everything during this financial crisis. If I don't sell my shares in your company, I will be taken to court and may be sentenced to 50 years. You should..."

Robert hung up the phone before his good friend finished speaking.

Then he called others.

But several of the shareholders he cared about sold their shares of Warner Bros. Pictures.

And his female secretary only acquired less than 2% of the shares throughout the day.

That night, Robert convened a meeting with the company's top executives to discuss countermeasures.

But what countermeasures do others have? The reports coming one after another are all bad news.

The atmosphere in the entire meeting was very depressing. The senior executives who came to the meeting all knew what it meant for the company to continue like this.

No one spoke for a moment, and there was an eerie silence.

A few minutes later, General Manager Bolt said to him:

"Chairman, this financial crisis broke out too suddenly, and the impact was too deep. Someone wants to secretly buy individual shares from outside, and we really can't stop them. Even if we raise the price, we can't do it."

After listening to Bolt's words, Robert became even more depressed, with a gloomy face like a terminally ill diabetic patient.

It seems that Lin Yao, chairman of Tianyao Group, has already targeted his company.

"Fanny, there is nothing we can do, continue to increase the price, add 10% more."

After being stunned for a few minutes, Robert broke the dull air of the scene and almost yelled these words.

Then. In front of all the senior executives, he picked up the phone and called an investment company.

The investment company holds 10% of Warner Bros. Pictures and is a member of the board of directors.

But when he got through the phone, the other party knew his purpose and said: "Mr. Robert, I'm sorry, you increase the price by 10%, and the other party increases the price by 12%, so I still have something to do..."

After saying that, the other party hung up the phone directly.

Robert almost fainted with anger.

There is no way, people will die for money, birds will die for food, and the other party is a venture capital company. All of them are actuaries.

Not to mention a 2% premium, even a 0.2% premium, any friendship is vulnerable in the face of money.

As a successful businessman, Robert certainly knew.

The mall is like a battlefield!

After Robert took a sip of coffee, he picked up the phone and continued to call other shareholders.

But the next scene made him feel even more terrible.

No one answered all the calls I made.

It’s like this person made a promise not to answer the phone!

Their attitude was already clear and they didn't want to talk nonsense with him.

Because there is nothing else to talk about.

Robert then announced the adjournment of the meeting.

He did not go back, but stayed alone in the conference room quietly.

Although I was very sleepy, I couldn't sleep.

Although Robert has other investments, even if Warner Bros. Pictures is controlled by others, he will not become a poor man, he will still be a rich man.

But what he loved most was the movie company.

In addition to bringing him hundreds of millions in income every year, it is also because it is easier for film companies to pick up beautiful women.

Those sexy actresses are generally inaccessible to rich people, but he is very convenient.

As long as you are given a role, the other person will squat at your feet obediently and unzip yourself.

This is the right to be the chairman of a film company without even paying a penny to the other party.

Moreover, the convenience of playing with female celebrities gave him a great desire for power.

In the conference room, Robert thought about it all night.

At 5 o'clock, I couldn't bear it anymore, so I fell asleep on the table.

It was already 8 a.m. when he was woken up by the ringing of the phone, and he had only slept for more than three hours.

He answered the phone with two panda eyes.

The voice of female secretary Fanny came from the other side of the phone.

"Chairman, it's over. Tianyao Group has just announced that they have acquired 58% of the shares of our film company."