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As for the Fox TV network, it is temporarily unable to compete on an equal footing with the traditional three major TV networks.

Simon felt the change in Jack Welch's attitude, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and said: "Jack, if we reach an agreement on New World Entertainment, you can get a reality show, I recommend "Survivor", but, In terms of profit distribution, like "Who Will Be a Millionaire", I will not make concessions."

Jack Welch asked: "Simon, do you think 'Survivor' can reach the ratings of 'Who Will Be a Millionaire'?"

"I can't guarantee it. However, among the remaining three reality shows, I am most optimistic about "Survivor". You have already missed an opportunity. If you miss it again, I can only say sorry."

Jack Welch held the cue in silence for a moment, then looked at Larry Kupin again.

Larry Kupin knew that he didn't have much right to speak here, so he just nodded slightly.

During this period of time, with the further deterioration of the operating conditions, New World Entertainment's share price has quickly fallen below US$6, and its market value is less than US$1.5 million, and it is still falling.

Since the opportunity was missed, Larry Kupin also realized that Simon Westero would never take over the offer at such a high price as at the beginning of the year.

Once New World Entertainment goes to bankruptcy and liquidation, as a shareholder, Larry Kupin will actually lose the most, because the shares of New World Entertainment will become worthless.Shareholders have the lowest settlement priority in bankruptcy liquidation. When they are already insolvent, the asset auction will not bring them a penny.

Now, accepting Simon's offer, they can get some money back more or less.

Jack Welch was confirmed by Larry Kupin, reached out his hand to Simon, and said, "So, Simon, let's make a deal."

Chapter 183 Integration Plan (Revised)

Simon and Jack Welch reached a basic transaction framework for New World Entertainment, and the detailed terms of the contract still need further negotiation between the two parties.

With the acquiescence of New World Entertainment's major shareholders and General Electric, Daenerys Pictures quickly intervened in the company's operations in the next few days, asking New World Entertainment CEO Robert Rehm to temporarily suspend all film and television projects. For production and distribution, any payout over $5 must be approved by Daenerys Pictures.

Due to the long-term uninterrupted paparazzi around Simon, the news of his meeting with Jack Welch and others appeared in the newspapers the next day, and the media immediately sorted out the ins and outs of the matter.

However, this time, there was no such thing as the rush of capital at the beginning of the year.

In half a year, things have changed a lot.

At the beginning of the year, the news that Simon suddenly became rich through the operation of the stock index futures market has just been exposed, and he is just a fat sheep in the eyes of many people.Moreover, the Hollywood screenwriter strike had not yet occurred at that time, and the crisis of New World Entertainment was not as serious as it is at this time.

Now, due to the strike of Hollywood screenwriters, the TV production business that New World Entertainment relies heavily on has almost stopped, which has further deteriorated the operating conditions of the company, which is already in financial crisis.Simon also showed his attitude through the operation at the beginning of the year.

So the deal went pretty well.

The day after Simon and Jack Welch met was July 7, Independence Day.

After four consecutive days of vacation, Daenerys Films, New World Entertainment and General Electric jointly issued an announcement, officially disclosing the news of the transaction.

Daenerys Pictures plans to acquire all of New World Entertainment's shares after General Electric's debt-to-equity swap for $2.5 million.Through this transaction, General Electric can get back 2 million U.S. dollars, and the original shareholders of New World Entertainment will receive a total of 2500 million U.S. dollars in compensation, which is equivalent to one-sixth of the stock price before the transaction.

Although some shareholders expressed dissatisfaction with the transaction, all parties knew that this was actually the best result.

Without this transaction, New World Entertainment would either go bankrupt and liquidate, or sell assets to repay debts, and both options would only leave shareholders empty-handed.

After finalizing these, Simon began to ask James Raybould to organize a team to conduct an asset and financial audit of New World Entertainment.

In addition to loans on the surface, many companies will accumulate certain hidden debts by falsely reporting operating income or defaulting on payables. The worse the operating conditions of the company, the easier it is to do so.Once the acquirer ignores this, it is often necessary to bear this part of the expenditure itself after the transaction.

Hidden debt is even more common in Hollywood, where the accounting system is complex.

Simon did not choose to buy the debt in the hands of General Electric first, and then carry out the debt-to-equity swap operation on his own, because he was worried that New World Entertainment would suddenly have a large hidden debt and Daenerys Pictures would be caught off guard.Let General Electric carry out the debt-to-equity swap in advance. As long as the contract is not formally signed, the risks in this area are still on the side of General Electric and New World Entertainment.

The pre-audit work will take about a month. In addition to the financing problems for the acquisition of New World Entertainment, Daenerys Pictures may not officially take over the company until August.

In such busyness, a new week has passed.

由于连续四天的独力日假期，7月1日到7月7日这一周时间的北美整体票房突破1亿美元大关，达到1.17亿美元。

Eddie Murphy's "A Journey to America" ​​produced by Paramount Pictures, which has a somewhat thematic theme, earned $2065 million in its first week with an opening scale of 3615 screens, making it the highest-grossing film in the first week of this summer.Previously, "Crocodile Dundee 2", which was also produced by Paramount, had an opening screen of 2837 yuan, and the box office in the first week was only 3017 million US dollars.

After Disney's "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" grossed US$2165 million in the first week, with the support of hot word-of-mouth and a four-day holiday, it received another US$2134 million in the next week with almost zero decline, and the cumulative box office in two weeks reached $4299 million.

Sandra's black comedy "A Fish Named Wanda" ranked third in its opening week with $1396 million.Although the start was not amazing, compared to the film's production budget of only 800 million US dollars, the film will be enough to recover all production and distribution costs next week. long line.

"Pulp Fiction" slipped to No. 17 this week, with a 1253% drop at the box office to another $5 million.In the 9579 weeks since its release, the cumulative box office of this film has reached [-] million US dollars, and it is destined to break through [-] million next week.

"Flying Through the Future" starring Tom Hanks has also entered its fifth week of release, and the box office received another 924 million US dollars. , the trend is firm.

On July 7, North American theaters launched four new films from mainstream studios at one time.

However, judging from the box office data of the three-day weekend, the four new films basically ended in failure.It is estimated that the Fox film comedy "Driver's License" with the best opening performance will only have a box office of about 750 million US dollars in the first week, and none of them can enter the top five positions on the list.

In addition, "Basic Instinct" also started the sprint promotion in the last week before its release.

On the other hand, after only a week of stalemate, the ABC television network resumed contact with Daenerys Films.

As Simon has previously judged, ABC does not have enough confidence to give up a TV show that can earn $100 million per episode for the network.What's more, the number of episodes of this TV show per season is three times that of traditional one-hour TV series.

Negotiations were restarted. Daenerys Films still insisted on an offer of US$200 million per episode, but also made some concessions in other areas, agreeing to provide ABC with an additional 15 episodes in the next period of time before the autumn file, to make up for the Shortage of television network programming due to strike.

ABC will pay Daenerys Pictures a one-time payment of $22 million for the additional 3000 episodes including the previous week's pilot episode.

ABC wants to get this extra part of the program, more in order to win more TV viewers before the fall, which is actually the reason why ABC is willing to compromise so quickly.In comparison, although the contract with Daenerys Films was also signed very quickly, the "Survivor" obtained by NBC could not play this role.

On "Survivor", Daenerys Films and NBC also signed a binding clause similar to ABC.

However, Daenerys Pictures only got a one-time buyout price of US$120 million per episode of the first season because it was unable to test the ratings in advance to confirm the ratings.After the program is broadcast, the two parties can renegotiate subsequent quotations according to the specific viewing conditions.

Simon actually wanted to get a sharing contract, but was firmly rejected by NBC.

He later learned that this was more because the TV network did not want to expose its financial data to the outside world. The TV network also had an accounting system similar to Hollywood's ledger, and it was more opaque.

Compared with the standard "Who Will Be a Millionaire" with 69 episodes per season, Daenerys Pictures' plan for the first season of "Survivor" is only 13 episodes, which may be adjusted according to the broadcast schedule in the future. But it will basically be controlled within 20 issues per season.

The production cost of the first season is expected to be about $500 million, which is much more expensive than "Who Will Be a Millionaire".

Therefore, the earnings of "Survivor" cannot be compared with "Who Will Be a Millionaire".

Even if the price is renegotiated for the second season, Simon predicts that the show will probably only get a similar offer to "Who Will Be a Millionaire."However, the expected screen lifespan of "Who Will Be a Millionaire" is much shorter than that of "Survivor". Even if Daenerys Pictures takes the initiative to control the show from being too flooded, it will be three to five years at most. Once the audience becomes aesthetically fatigued, this program will end.

In comparison, according to the production schedule of two seasons per year, "Survivor" can persist on the TV screen for more than ten years.

Although it can't compare with "Who Will Be a Millionaire", the rate of return of "Survivor" is still unmatched by traditional TV shows.

As long as this program can achieve the same success as the original time and space, with two seasons per year, the number of episodes should be appropriately expanded, calculated on the basis of 30 episodes in two seasons, plus the in-program advertising placement income that Daenerys Pictures also retains, "Surviving "The Rabbit" can bring Daenerys Pictures a net income of no less than 6000 million U.S. dollars a year.

In short, these two reality show works are actually like dark horses at the box office with low cost and high box office.If Daenerys Pictures wants to develop the TV business for a long time, it also needs to produce various types of mainstream TV programs.

City of Santa Monica.

Daenerys Films headquarters, the time is July 7.

In Simon's office, a middle-aged man in his 50s was sitting opposite him at this time. Even if he was sitting, he could see that he was definitely taller than 1.9 meters.

This is Robert Rehm, the current CEO of New World Entertainment.

The transaction plan between the two parties was finalized. In recent days, Robert Rem has been very active in keeping in touch with Simon, and Simon has also carefully inquired about the career history of this middle-aged man through his contacts in the circle.

Robert Rehm is 53 years old this year. As early as 16 years old, he used to work as an usher in a local theater.After graduating from university, Robert Rehm has worked in a series of film and television entertainment, and has 30 years of experience in film and television production and distribution.

Before becoming the CEO of New World Entertainment, Robert Rehm was the vice president of the marketing and marketing department of Universal Pictures. His previous work was also more inclined to film distribution.

It also happens to be exactly what Daenerys Pictures desperately needed.

The middle-aged people obviously also saw this, so they behaved so positively.

After all, according to Robert Rehm's resume, there is still a long way to go before grabbing the top chair of a major studio.If he leaves after Daenerys Films completes the acquisition of New World Entertainment, he is more likely to become an independent producer, and he may be able to receive job invitations from other second- and third-tier film company executives, but those jobs obviously It cannot be compared with the fast-growing Daenerys Films.

In the first half of the year alone, the expected revenue brought by "When Harry Met Sally", "Pulp Fiction" and the just-successful "Who Will Be a Millionaire" has surpassed all Hollywood's second-tier film companies whose operating conditions are generally poor , It is even enough to be comparable to the profitability of the bottom-ranked companies among the seven companies.

In fact, Simon also intends to let the other party stay in office, but he must also confirm Robert Rem's attitude.

Compared with Robert Rehm, Amy Pascal's qualifications in Hollywood are much lower, and she is still a woman.However, Simon did not let Amy give up the idea of ​​being the top leader. He has always been very satisfied with Amy.If Robert Rehm is unwilling to take the second place and wants to replace Amy, Simon can only regret it.

The main purpose of Robert Rem's coming today is to send Simon information on various projects in the hands of New World Entertainment.

In 1983, when Larry Cooper and others acquired New World Entertainment from Roger Corman, Roger Corman retained the copyright of all films before 1983.But in recent years, due to continuous large-scale expansion, New World Entertainment has rapidly accumulated the copyrights of nearly a hundred movies and TV series in just five years through self-production and agent distribution.

Simon is most concerned about the company's TV programs.

According to the information in hand, last year several major TV networks announced from New World Entertainment that there are five TV series with very good ratings, such as "Ultimate Police Network" and "Santa Barbara".In the spring of this year, before the Hollywood screenwriters went on strike, New World Entertainment also launched another new drama "The Age of Innocence" that was well received.

However, due to the Hollywood writers' strike, the shows that the network has announced are temporarily on hold.Without this acquisition by Daenerys Films, New World Entertainment would still have to cut most of the projects due to funding and other reasons, even if the TV network still needs it.

As for movies.

Inheriting the production style of Roger Corman's period, the films produced and distributed by New World Entertainment in recent years are generally low-cost B-grade films, and most of them go directly to the video tape market.

Compared with last year's eight-part production list, New World Entertainment has only three production plans for this year, and there are also several projects in the pipeline with obviously uncertain futures.

In terms of distribution, in the first half of the year, New World Entertainment launched a total of seven films, of which four films that entered the theaters all ended in failure.A "Zombie SWAT", which was released on the edge of the summer vacation in early May, cost $500 million to produce and had a screen opening of $1012. In the end, it only earned $359 million at the box office. The other three films were only released on video tapes, which shows how bleak New World Entertainment's film business is.

Simon didn't make Robert Rem wait too long, he quickly browsed through the information in his hand, he raised his head, and said, "Bob, after completing this acquisition, I will integrate all of New World Entertainment into Daenerys Among Silk Films, Daenerys Films was reorganized into Daenerys Entertainment, and a subsidiary company was set up according to the model of New World Entertainment. In a short time, I do not plan to lay off the staff of this company, but according to the practice, you personally Except. However, I also understand your thoughts, everyone be honest, would you like to be Amy's deputy?"

Of course, Robert Rem was unwilling in his heart. Before he came to Daenerys Films, he also considered the idea of ​​persuading Simon to let him be the leader.However, Simon took this as a prerequisite when he opened his mouth, and he was also aware of Simon's attitude.

After thinking for a moment, Robert Rem nodded and said, "No problem, Simon. However, I can serve as Ms. Pascale's deputy in my position, but I hope that I can report directly to you personally, without being under Pascale's jurisdiction."

Chapter 184 Threesome (Revised)

Hollywood's power structure is so intricate that it cannot be judged simply by a person's position.

Oftentimes, trying to sort out a person's face and potential power depends on seeing where in Hollywood he reports.If the president of a major film company is directly responsible to the top management of the parent company, his power may be comparable to that of the CEO.And a director of Spielberg's level, because he can directly communicate with big shots like Steve Ross, his potential influence is still higher than that of the CEO of a big film company.

Simon was not surprised by Robert Rehm's proposal.

In Hollywood today, Disney CEO Michael Eisner and President Frank Wells belong to this level of relationship.Both of them report directly to the Disney board of directors. Michael Eisner is one level above Frank Wells in terms of position, but he has no jurisdiction over Frank Wells and the power to appoint and dismiss. The two have their own work.

According to the information in memory, Disney’s clear division of labor and mutual checks and balances of power structure largely contributed to the company’s rapid rise from the late 80s to the early 90s.

In the mid-90s, Frank Wells died unexpectedly in a helicopter accident. Michael Eisner began to monopolize power. Gradually drifting into mediocrity, it was not revitalized until the era of Robert Iger.

Considering these factors, Simon agreed to Robert Rem's request without much hesitation.

If it is a listed public company, this level of senior management can easily lead to internal struggles in the company.But for Daenerys Films, Simon isn't worried about that.He has absolute control over the company, and once there is an executive infighting, he has enough power to kick the unstable factors out of the company at any time to eliminate the incident.

After confirming this matter, the two discussed the salary of Robert Rehm again.

Daenerys Pictures is developing rapidly, and the expected profitability is even more astonishing. Naturally, it is impossible for Simon to promise Robert Rehm a profit-sharing plan like Amy did back then.

However, Simon is not stingy either. In addition to the agreed three-year contract and the same basic annual salary of 25 US dollars as Amy, Simon also agreed to set an annual bonus of up to 300 million US dollars. The situation determines the amount of bonuses he can get.

In today's Hollywood, even among the seven major studios, there are definitely only a handful of executives who can earn more than $300 million a year.Daenerys Films can only be regarded as a second-tier film company even after integrating New World Entertainment, so Robert Rehm readily accepted the contract.

Similar compensation plans have many precedents in Hollywood, and details such as how to judge Robert Rehm’s business performance only need to be negotiated by the lawyers of both parties based on past experience.

After talking about this, Robert Rem also began to chat with Simon frankly about the operation status and various problems of New World Entertainment.

The main dilemma facing New World Entertainment is the lack of funds, and the strike of Hollywood screenwriters has prevented the company's TV series projects that should have started preparations from being launched.In addition, Robert Rehm also took the initiative to confess to Simon that New World Entertainment has about 2000 million US dollars in various types of hidden debts.

2000 million US dollars did not exceed Simon's expectations, and the money was within his tolerance.

Now that it has been determined to win Marvel, Simon does not intend to make any more troubles for the money.After all, this is a common problem of Hollywood entertainment companies trying to make their own financial situation look better, not to enrich the pockets of shareholders or management.As long as New World Entertainment can resume operations, the money can be directly absorbed in the company's rich cash flow in the future.

The two talked for more than an hour before Robert Rem left.

Simon sent Robert Rem away, and as soon as he sat down behind his desk, Amy knocked on the door of his office.

"Simon, this is the draft sponsorship contract that I initially negotiated with Mars, AT&T and other companies. There are five companies in total. In the first season of "Who Will Be a Millionaire", we can get a total of 5600 million US dollars in advertising placement fees Also, this is the loan plan provided by several financing institutions such as Wells Fargo and Citibank. I think Citigroup's plan is the best. It is a 7-year loan of 2.5 million US dollars. The annual interest rate they give is 4.6%. The annual interest rate given by Wells Fargo is 5%, but the loan period is 5 years. Although Citigroup’s plan will make us pay an additional 2000 million US dollars in interest, it can minimize our annual debt repayment pressure.”

Simon glanced at the nonchalant look on Amy's face, smiled, and opened up the loan plans provided by several banks for Daenerys Pictures' acquisition of New World Entertainment.

Although he has always resisted borrowing in his heart, Simon still had to take a loan to obtain funds for the acquisition of New World Entertainment.

A quick look at the two proposals from Wells Fargo and Citibank, Wells Fargo's 5-year loan contract, Daenerys Pictures will pay a total of 6000 million US dollars in interest, and Citibank's 7-year contract, the total interest is 8000 Ten thousand U.S. dollars.

The interest in the two plans is more than 20% of the principal, so it is not difficult to see why companies with high debts such as New World Entertainment are very easy to fall into crisis.Once the operating conditions are not good, such a company may not even be able to pay the loan interest every year.

In the transaction of Daenerys Films' acquisition of New World Entertainment, General Electric has voluntarily reduced a large amount of debt interest.

Although the cost of borrowing is high, it is actually the only way for a company to expand rapidly.Moreover, due to its excellent profitability, the financing cost of Daenerys Films is already very low, and more companies often want to seek loans at higher interest rates but cannot.

In fact, Simon also understood Amy's thoughts at this time. After looking through the information in his hand for a while, he took the initiative to say: "I have already talked to Robert Rem, and he will stay."

Amy's eyes flickered, she nodded slightly, and waited for Simon to continue.

Simon didn't pause too much, and continued: "You know, Amy, we had already agreed on the dinner at Robert Iger's house last time. Therefore, Iger will join Daenerys Films next. My plan is that your position will be changed to CEO of the company, mainly responsible for the company’s daily administrative management and film production business. Robert Rehm and Robert Iger will serve as presidents at the same time, Rehm will be in charge of film distribution, and Iger will be in charge of the TV business.”

Amy was finally relieved when she heard what Simon said.

During this period of time, Amy felt more and more that the experience of the past year was a bit incredible.The small company that was established less than two years ago has rapidly grown into a top second-tier film studio in her own hands. This is something she could never have imagined before.

Leaving aside the rest, the current value of the salary contract she asked for from Simon is a bit staggering.

Her contract began in March last year and will run for four years until March 3.