Chapter 495: Between advance and retreat

In another office of Relativity Entertainment, Robert Iger heard what Ronan told him and fell into thinking about the ambitions of his boss. He knew exactly what kind of ambition his boss had.
Many young people also have various ambitions and desires, but in Robert Iger's view, Ronan is completely different from those people.
Ronan has the ability to realize his ambitions, and he will not be driven by ambitions and desires. He has not been too aggressive because of some successes, thus launching a leap-forward development that does not conform to the actual situation of the company, leading to a complete collapse after a short period of glory. .
Robert Iger has always believed that Ronan has a maturity and calmness far beyond his age, and his own ability far exceeds that of Michael Eisner of the same age.
Having said that, Robert Iger would of course not know that Ronan’s experience is extremely special. In fact, he is really not a young man. He already has rich social experience and life experience. After stepping out of school, he has worked hard for nearly two decades. Time can be considered a small achievement.
Ronan's words about Universal Pictures made Robert Iger realize that Ronan had ideas about Universal Pictures.
Robert Iger also wants to become the operating officer or executive officer of the Super Entertainment Group, and then reach the pinnacle of his life, but thinking of the actual situation of Relativity Entertainment and Universal Pictures, as the COO of Relativity Entertainment, he believes that he has a responsibility and needs to be reminded Let's take a look at Ronan, the boss.
But he is not a person like Michael Eisner. He always pays attention to methods and methods in his work and life.
"Is this news true?" Robert Iger asked naturally.
Ronan shook his head: "It's the gossip now. I have asked Robert Lee to check it, but my analysis shows that it is 80% true."
Robert Iger thought for a while, and said: "It's not surprising that Vivendi sold Universal Pictures. This group company that started as a water company is already good at capital operations, rather than carefully operating a company like us."
He slowly said: "In 2000, Vivendi purchased Canada’s Seagram Entertainment Group for US$34 billion, thus obtaining absolute controlling rights in Universal Pictures and Universal Music, and combined with the group’s own entertainment business at the end of the year. A number of companies, including Polygram, formed the current Vivendi Universal Pictures Entertainment Group."
Ronan understands what this means. Just like Walt Disney, Universal Pictures has actually become a comprehensive entertainment company after several changes of ownership.
Robert Iger added: "When Vivendi restructured the Universal Pictures Entertainment Group, it had already split the entertainment business of Segrammer, but they really wanted to sell Universal Pictures and it was impossible to separate the film company separately. That means that the value of other businesses may be greatly discounted. It must be the overall sale of Universal Pictures Entertainment Group. With the usual style of a company like Vivendi, which plays with capital, the sale price must be more than tens of billions of dollars."
He emphasized: "According to my personal estimation, the current value of Universal Pictures Group's sale is between US$10 billion and US$12 billion."
Hearing this, Ronan couldn't help laughing: "Excellent analysis." He paused for a while, and then said: "Bob, are you worried that I blindly initiate the acquisition of Universal Pictures?"
When Robert Iger heard Ronan say this, he couldn't help but feel relieved. Being able to speak in this tone showed that Ronan was not dizzy: "I am really worried."
Ronan waved his hand: "I can't even determine whether the news is true or not."
Robert Iger nodded, but asked directly: "Ronan, if the news is true, do you want to buy Universal Pictures?"
"Of course." Ronan said without hesitation: "Who can be indifferent to one of the six major Hollywood companies in this industry?"
He smiled: "But it's one thing to think, it's another to be able to do it."
Robert Iger said: "This is an almost impossible task for us."
Ronan replied: "I know, but if the news is true, I still want to try. Even if it fails, we don't have much to lose."
Robert Iger heard something else: "Ronan, you mean..."
"Bob, you know that we have several acquisition plans in the future, which are also extremely difficult." Ronan said straightforwardly: "The few people in the company except you have no experience in large acquisitions."
Robert Iger suddenly realized: "I understand, this is an opportunity to accumulate experience." He is an extremely experienced professional manager, and his heart moved: "If the news is confirmed, we can make a plan and establish a special response team. According to the actual operation of the acquisition..."
Ronan slowly tapped his finger: "Advance can attack, retreat can defend."
"It's true." Robert Iger also said in his heart: "I also hope that we have the opportunity to get involved in Universal Pictures."
Ronan smiled: "Very slim."
Robert Iger can imagine, but as an operating officer of a company, he must stay awake: "It's harder than swallowing an elephant."
As if to remind Ronan, he also seemed to remind himself not to be confused. He said: "In the style of the Vivendi Group in the past, acquisitions are nothing more than two ways. The first is a cash acquisition. At present, the entire group company has 400 million yuan. U.S. dollar reserves, this figure can increase to 500 million U.S. dollars by the end of the year, which is far from enough. We must raise funds."
Robert Iger told the truth: "With the current strength of Relativity Entertainment, I have confidence in financing or loaning US$1 billion to US$1.5 billion. However, it will be very difficult and it cannot be done in the short term. This huge funding gap It’s something we can’t solve at all.

Compared with most companies in Hollywood, Relativity Entertainment has developed very fast and very stable, but in the face of such huge funds, it is still not enough.
In particular, when the acquisition is completed, the normal operation of the existing business must not be affected, otherwise it will lose all meaning, and the interest generated by the high loan cannot be ignored.
Robert Iger continued: "The second way is to exchange shares with Vivendi. Ronan, Relativity Entertainment is not listed, even if it is valued, it is far from Universal Pictures. Even if we use share exchange and cash I’m afraid Relativity Entertainment will have to change its owner."
This is something Ronan can't accept anyway. Once other voices can affect the company's decision, Relativity Entertainment will definitely not be able to develop as fast as it is now in the general direction he set.
Ronan knows very well that even with his good relationship with Bank of America, it is impossible for the other party to lend a loan that exceeds the value of relativistic entertainment.
"I thought we were developing very fast." Ronan smiled: "Our scale is still too small."
Robert Iger said: "The rise of relativity entertainment has been unprecedented in Hollywood for decades. It is not an exaggeration to say that rockets generally rise. We will have a weak foundation, and internal instability will have problems. , Even if it develops quickly, it will collapse."
He added: "If there is a real chance, we can try, but it cannot affect the normal operation of existing businesses."
In the end, if the rabbit can't eat it, and can't get up after falling down, then the gain is not worth the loss.
Ronan thought for a while and slowly said, "Even if there is no chance, we can create opportunities and see if we can get some benefits from it."
Once Vivendi sells Universal Pictures, no matter who the transaction is, internal turmoil will inevitably occur, and it may be able to take advantage of the chaos to find an opportunity to win the copyright of the Hulk's film and television adaptation.
Ronan will not completely give up the opportunities that may exist. On the basis of keeping a clear head, he will make preparations. What if Vivendi cannot find a buyer?
Hope will always exist, but as a party, you should not have too much illusion about hope, otherwise it will affect your judgment.
Ronan discussed with Robert Iger for an entire afternoon, discussing the risks and various possibilities. Robert Lee can confirm the news and Robert Iger will lead a special team to form.
During the period, Ronan called Ron Meyer, who had had several contacts, and Ron Meyer directly told him that he was not quite clear.
Obviously, both Vivendi and Universal Pictures are controlling the news.
The next day, Connie gave Ronan and Robert Iger a lot of detailed information about Vivendi and Universal Pictures.
After reading the information, Ronan discovered that Vivendi was originally the parent company of Blizzard.
Vivendi was the first tax company established by Napoleon III himself. It began to transform in the 1970s and developed into a giant company involving many businesses such as water affairs, architecture, film, music, and publishing. It has always been among the top 500 companies in the world. 100 people.
In the past few years, just before Ronan dug into the distribution channel of Polaroid Pictures, Universal Pictures was turbulent one after another. After Seagram bought Universal from Panasonic, he was full of ambitions and wanted to build a media empire. Li Jin and several other entertainment companies, but Seagram, who is not familiar with the entertainment industry, quickly paid the price for blind expansion.
Subsequently, Vivendi, a water company from France, became the owner of Seagram~EbookFREE.me~ Vivendi obviously attached great importance to Universal, because the new company name after the merger was Vivendi Universal Pictures Entertainment Group.
Last year, in 2002, due to continuous loan acquisitions, Vivendi led to a sharp increase in debt, and high interest rates brought huge operating pressure. The group's annual loss was as high as 23.3 billion euros, which directly caused the CEO to leave.
Vivendi’s liabilities that can be counted by the outside world are as high as 35 billion euros...
This also reminded Ronan that this kind of crazy rapid financing expansion may not necessarily bring good results.
Vivendi has reached a situation where some assets must be sold to revitalize funds.
Combined with the situation in his memory, Ronan judged that Vivendi must sell Universal Pictures Group.
The shrimp can't swallow the whale, but the collision of the two whales may not prevent the shrimp from encountering other opportunities.
In addition to the situation of Universal Pictures, Ronan received good news. Scott accompanied a South African delegation to Los Angeles.