Simon was chatting with Bryce Levison in a low voice when a slightly hoarse old greeting came from his ear: "Hey, Simon." ”

Turning his head, it turned out to be Warren Buffett.

Being at the top of this social pyramid, Simon is not the first time he has been in contact with Buffett, and he has met in some social situations before, but he is not familiar with it.

Tonight's meeting was not deliberately arranged.

Simon knew that Warren Buffett would attend and planned to have a chance meeting, but in fact, both parties knew each other's purposes, otherwise Buffett, a 65-year-old man, would not ask for an invitation to participate in such a fashionable party.

In the past, the reason why Buffett agreed to sell the Metropolitan ABC Group to Disney in 1995 was also to see that the impact of cable TV and the Internet on traditional public television networks was becoming more and more obvious, so he chose to cash out at a high level. Facts have basically proved the correctness of Buffett's decision.

After the new century, counting FOX, the four major public television networks in the United States have basically been in decline, and the television programs that often had 20 or 30 million viewers in the early days of the television network have become more and more rare after the millennium.

Warren Buffett's cash-out time seems to be slightly early, but it is in line with the investment principle of this veteran investor who does not seek to earn the last dollar, and it is this steady investment strategy that allowed Buffett in the original time and space to empty two stocks before the subprime mortgage crisis early, avoiding the shock of Berkshire Hathaway.

Smiled and got up and shook Buffett's hand, and casually introduced Bryce beside him, after greeting, Simon whispered in the woman's ear, and when Bryce turned away with a little reluctance, he sat down with Buffett.

Warren Buffett watched Bryce walk away like a mermaid and joked with Simon: "I really envy you young people." ”

Simon also smiled: "Warren, you're not old at all. ”

Speaking of which, Warren Buffett is actually in a state of 'one house and two wives'.

The investment tycoon had separated from his original wife in the seventies, but the two never divorced, and have been in and out of various public places together as husband and wife over the years. At the same time, Buffett has already cohabited with another partner, which can be regarded as husband and wife.

It is rumored that the relationship between the trio is still very good, and Buffett now sends holiday cards to relatives and friends, and even the signatures are all three of them. Over the years, many media have ridiculed Warren Buffett for having two wives out of various ideas.

In fact, Warren Buffett's house and two wives are not worth mentioning in the rich circle at all.

When one has access to the topmost of the pyramid, one will inevitably find that many things go far beyond the most daring fantasies.

In addition to having a Grand-style slamming of money, Buffett is no different from ordinary super-rich people in other ways, one of which is that he often attends various top social gatherings.

Except, of course, for charity parties where money is required.

Politely complimented the party again, but Buffett's topic turned to Igret, and asked Simon all kinds of questions about this company, although the billionaire is 65 years old, he is still quite sharp and agile in both memory and thinking, and a lot of information and data related to Igrete seem to be imprinted in his mind.

And, obviously, Buffett is confused and questionable about Igrett's meteoric financial figures.

In the past, no matter how turbulent the Internet wave, Buffett resolutely did not involve the new technology industry that he was not familiar with, which even led to a Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting Buffett was thrown eggs by shareholders on the spot, accusing him of missing the best investment opportunity.

Now, the old-fashioned conservative Buffett obviously still can't understand the Internet: "In this way, Amazon's online store is indeed the most loss-making part of the business, Simon, have you ever thought about spinning off this part of the business, or, reducing investment in this area, it can develop more steadily, so that the stock price growth potential after Igret's listing will definitely be greater." ”

Simon realized that Buffett was interested in Igret's IPO.

This is not surprising at all.

Warren Buffett's favorite is a company with a 'moat', and now Egret, whether it is advertising or software and other businesses, can be described as 'high and deep', and there is no other company in the same industry that can compete.

However, for the profit-oriented investor, Igret's flaws are also obvious, the most important being that he was too aggressive in his investments, which resulted in huge losses that seemed completely unnecessary to him. If these burdens are cut or freed, Egrett will immediately become Buffett's most desirable investment target, with high growth rates, high profit margins, and a corporate moat that is difficult for peer companies to cross.

Simon, of course, would not do this in order to cater to Buffett's willingness to invest, shook his head and said: "Warren, e-commerce is an indispensable part of Egret's business system, this business seems to be loss-making, but it can greatly increase the variety of services in the Internet industry, and then improve the user's adhesion to the Internet, in short, this is a kind of market cultivation." This is true of all the businesses that Igrete is doing now, as long as the public is aware that there are enough services on the Internet, they will gradually consume directly or indirectly in this area. ”

Buffett nodded, shook his head again, and said: "But, Simon, now there is no shortage of capital to develop any business in the Internet field, I think, Igrete can be more focused, you know, a company pays too much attention to diversification, the results are often not too good." ”

Simon said: "Of course I understand that Eaglet is actually already making relevant layouts, and I will also streamline this company at the right time, but not now." ”

The right opportunity Simon spoke of was after the dot-com bubble burst.

The Westeros system's early development of new scientific and technological fields cannot stop the normal economic laws of the capitalist society, and the day when the bubble bursts will come sooner or later.

When the time comes, it's not just the business that will be streamlined, but Simon will also be streamlining the huge staff team that Igrete was rapidly bloating. In recent years, in pursuit of rapid expansion, Eaglet has accumulated various problems internally, and Simon will solve them as much as possible by streamlining and simplifying after the bursting of the Internet bubble, so as to achieve a nirvana for this company.

Buffett obviously couldn't know Simon's thoughts, and thought that this was an excuse from the young man in front of him, so he could only shake his head slightly, change the subject, and said: "Simon, I found out that you are planning to buy ABC, right?"

In this matter, Simon has actually revealed a lot of flaws.

For example, the ESPN stake from the Hearst family.

For example, last year's large-scale IPO financing.

and in the past few years, he has deliberately handed over several popular TV shows such as "Friends" and "ER" to two other television networks, Simon's intention to arrange this arrangement is similar to Hollywood's foreign cooperation projects, parasitic infiltration. However, in Buffett's view, this is clearly a deliberate attempt to inhibit ABC's development in order to lower the offer when the acquisition is initiated, which is actually another part of the fact.

In this case, Simon simply didn't beat around the bush and nodded: "Yes, after the ban on media integration is lifted, further integration in this field to adapt to global competition is an inevitable trend. Metropolis ABC is my top priority, and of course, not the only option. Warren, if you will, we can talk about the offer now. ”

Berkshire Hathaway owns 25% of the Met-sized ABC Group, and Buffett actually has more say in the company than Chairman and CEO Tom Murphy, as long as he agrees, the matter can basically be finalized.

Buffett did not respond immediately, but complained with some complaints: "Simon, Daenerys's stock price is too high now. ”

Simon just smiled and shrugged.

I remember Disney's acquisition of Met's ABC, a half-equity, half-cash hybrid deal. Obviously, this time, Buffett is also thinking about it, but Daenerys Entertainment's stock price is now very high, and the investment tycoon does not want to get an all-cash acquisition, and is worried that Metropolitan ABC will suffer in it after a share swap or a partial share swap.

Because he has been silently paying attention, Simon knows that the current market value of Metropolitan ABC Group is about $16 billion, and because the Westeros system has driven the recovery of the entire North American stock market in advance, the current market value of Metropolis ABC must be beyond the original timeline, counting the company's debt of about $3 billion, and the acquisition has not yet been opened, and the overall $19 billion is exactly the same as the total amount of Disney's acquisition of Metropolitan ABC in the original time and space.

This time, Daenerys wants to buy the company, and the total amount of assets plus liabilities must be more than $20 billion.

Simon doesn't feel at a loss or pressure, because Daenerys' market capitalization is actually higher, currently exceeding $130 billion, and according to Daenerys Entertainment's financial report for the first quarter of fiscal 1995 released in February, the price-to-earnings ratio has reached more than 120 times that Buffett absolutely unacceptable.

In comparison, Metropolis ABC Group has a price-to-earnings ratio of only 37 times.

Seeing Simon smiling and not answering, Buffett frowned slightly in distress, and then asked, "Simon, do you think Daenerys's stock price still has room to rise?"

Simon shook his head: "Warren, who can say for sure this kind of thing." However, I have enough confidence in Daenerys, many people say that the company's growth has hit the ceiling, however, as long as they pay a little attention to the financial results, it is not difficult to find that Daenerys announced the quarterly earnings report in February, the year-on-year growth rate is still 39%, and I believe that this growth will continue for a long time. ”

Buffett frowned and thought for a moment, seemed to have made up his mind, and said: "Simon, I can sell you Metropolitan ABC, but I think my shareholders also need to be adequately protected, so I want to get a cash plus convertible bond payment, half cash, half convertible bond based on the current stock price, 10 years, 8% per annum." ”

Every investor has their own specific investment style.

The cash-plus-stock or bond trading method is a common tactic used by Warren Buffett in acquisition transactions. Cash can be secured, stocks or bonds, which can save a small amount of capital gains tax in the short term and maximize benefits in the coming period, and Buffett often asks for risk-free maximization.

Simon did not hesitate to refuse: "Warren, if you insist on this, we don't need to talk about it. ”

Daenerys Entertainment's IPO last year was in preparation for this acquisition of the public television network, and the entire Daenerys Entertainment Group now has cash reserves of a staggering $17 billion, including the financing during the IPO and some subsequent profits from Daenerys. As long as cash is not spent, it will inevitably bear the cost of inflation, and the larger the cash, the more so.

Therefore, for Daenerys Entertainment, even if its stock price is very high, an all-cash acquisition is the most preferred option.

Warren Buffett now wants both cash and a stable high-interest bond, and also requires this part of the bond to be converted into future shares of Daenerys Entertainment at any time at the right time in the future at the agreed stock price.

Things are going well for Daenerys Entertainment, and it would be strange if Simon agreed to such apparently unequal terms of the deal and not be pointed at by other shareholders.

Even so, Simon didn't want the deal to be lost, so he softened his tone a little and said: "Warren, I definitely won't accept this kind of transaction model with unequal riders, you have to be responsible for your own shareholders, and I do the same." So, it's either all cash or all stock, or cash plus stock, the kind with no extra clauses attached, or I'm going to have to try to work with the other two networks. And, frankly speaking, now Hollywood, has enough strength to acquire the three major TV networks only Daenerys Entertainment, with the development of cable TV and the Internet, the decline trend of public television networks is very obvious, the later you choose to sell, or sell to other companies in the future, it is impossible to get too high a price, if you keep it in your hands, unfortunately, the value of this TV network will shrink faster, just like the current paper media industry. ”

When Buffett heard Simon's words, his expression remained unchanged and he said, "Simon, since you think so, why do you want to buy a TV network?"

"It's hard to grow a TV network alone, but it's an essential part of a large media conglomerate that can provide marketing and sales channels for Daenerys' other businesses," Simon said. I don't think you don't get it. ”

Buffett shook his head slightly, not refuting Simon's argument, but once again said in fragments: "Daenerys's stock price is too high." ”

The old man still wants stocks, but obviously can't accept Daenerys's ultra-high price-to-earnings ratio of 120 times.

Simon smiled: "Then choose all cash, Warren, you should have heard the news, the capital gains tax will be adjusted soon, and at that time, the 15% capital gains tax rate is nothing to the income you have invested in Metropolis ABC over the years." ”

Even if the deal is negotiated now, involving a huge $20 billion merger and acquisition, it will take at least three to five months to actually complete the deal.

According to Simon, it is not surprising that the capital gains tax reform bill will be passed in May, and Berkshire Hathaway, which has owned a stake in Metropolitan ABC Group for many years, will be able to enjoy the most favorable capital gains tax rate.

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