Son Zhengyi is very upright, he said: SoftBank doesn't want cash, and the $100 million equity SoftBank can be fully covered.

Therefore, for shareholders other than SoftBank, the transaction can be considered "$2.8 billion in cash".

Zhang Yida holds 26.88% of the shares and can get $752.64 million in cash.

Of course, a multi-billion dollar deal doesn't come about that quickly, and involves all kinds of due diligence and handovers.

After Zhang Yida handed over the aftermath to Howard and Huang Xiaofeng, he started a second round of negotiations with the three major record companies.

"Mr. Zhang, after discussions, we, Universal, Sony and Warner agreed to take a stake in the music streaming platform Resso.

Each of the three parties invested $100 million, and licensed Resso for three years to use music rights outside of Chinese mainland, which was valued at $50 million.

This is equivalent to $150 million in cash and resources invested in each of our companies, accounting for 15% of the shares;

Zhonghe Group invested $550 million in cash, accounting for 55% of the shares. ”

Grange, CEO of Universal Music, said while observing Zhang Yida's reaction.

Seeing that Zhang Yida had no special reaction, he was calm, and he continued: "Let's talk about the licensing, 300 million US dollars of Zhonghe Group's equity, 3 years of global music copyright authorization except for Chinese mainland.

This is the biggest compromise we have ever made. No matter how much we give in, we will not be able to account for the shareholders. ”

Zhang Yida said with a smile: "As a streaming company that has not officially launched a product, Resso's music copyright fee of $17 million a year is too high, right?"

"It's not high at all, we are very confident in Mr. Zhang, and if you give you three years, Resso will definitely become one of the top five music streaming platforms in the world. ”

Kazuo Hirai, chairman of Sony, smiled, "Penguin Music Group currently has 15 million paying subscribers, and its payment scale is among the top five in the world, and the annual copyright fee paid to the three of us is more than 100 million US dollars.

Seriously calculated, the conditions offered by our three major records to Resso are a bit of a loss.

But it doesn't matter, we believe that Mr. Zhang will definitely help us earn back the loss of royalties through equity appreciation. ”

Compared with penguins, the copyright licensing fee is indeed not high, and even very cheap.

It mainly depends on whether Resso can develop, if it can develop and has one or two million paying users, this copyright licensing fee is not a loss.

Of course, the three major records are not at a loss. Music streaming by 20 million paying subscribers must be valued at least $4 or 5 billion.

15% of the equity is also worth six or seven billion dollars.

What's more, the three major records have one more rent-collecting object, so why not.

These old men are worthy of being professional managers who have worked for thirty or forty years, and they are indeed treacherous and treacherous, and they are very good at abacus.

Zhang Yida also didn't argue too much about Resso, mainly negotiating with the three major records around the licensing fee.

"We pay $300 million a year for the three major records alone, and we pay more than $400 million a year for music rights alone.

This is unacceptable!"

Zhang Yida paused, "In this way, you will reduce the three-year copyright fee to $100 million, and give Resso free diversion."

Three gentlemen, we should take a long-term view, Resso is the company that really makes a lot of money.

If we go beyond the sky and value more than $20 billion, your 15% stake will be worth more than $3 billion.

Music streaming is not inferior to long-form video, think about how much YouTube is valued? $150 billion!

If Resso reaches the status of YouTube in the future, what will be the value of your shares?"

Warner Music's CEO Cooper pondered for a long time and said: "But Resso has to raise money halfway, and our equity will also be diluted, and when Resso is valued at tens of billions or even hundreds of billions, there will be no more equity left in our hands." ”

Zhang Yida shook his head, "Mr. Cooper, you are wrong, where do the two biggest costs of music streaming come from?"

From copyright procurement and traffic promotion, there are now three major records to provide copyright to Resso, and the cost of this piece is controllable;

As a music short video platform, hundreds of millions of active users can also save a lot of costs for the promotion of Resso.

Resso doesn't need a steady stream of funding like other internet companies.

The $850 million in cash on the books is enough for Resso to balance revenue. ”

The three of them were finally a little tempted, and Grange asked, "How long can the free promotion last?" Can you sign an agreement?"

Zhang Yida said with a smile: "Signing the agreement is not a problem, and the time is also three years!"

Three years is enough time for Resso to grow!"

Grange thought about it seriously, as if weighing the gains and losses.

The other two are the same, thinking about "whether it's worth spending $600 million for three years of free promotions".

And they only hold 45% of the shares of this Resso company, and the majority is still on the side of Zhonghe Group.

Of course, their offer of $300 million is also asking for a sky-high price, and the bottom line is almost between $100 million ~ $150 million.

"Okay, $100 million is $100 million, sign the agreement!"

With Grange being the first to take the lead, the other two quickly agreed.

Zhang Yida breathed a sigh of relief, it was really not easy to finally get rid of these vampires.

But it's all worth it, and if you want to stream music, you have to tie three major records to the chariot, and these three companies can't get around it anyway.

When Zhonghe Group is a little stronger, Zhang Yida also wants to invest in the three major records to achieve a situation of mutual shareholding.

Zhang Yida's heart moved, and he said again: "100 million US dollars is converted into the equity of Zhonghe Group, which is only 0.157%, which is less than two thousandths, which is too little." ”

Kazuo Hirai nodded, "Indeed, at least 1% of the equity, Mr. Zhang, do you still accept investment?"

Zhang Yida smiled and said: "Of course I accept it, what's the matter, Sony is interested in investing?"

Kazuo Hirai said with a smile: "Zhonghe Group also has games, film and other sectors, and it is completely possible to strengthen cooperation with Sony in this regard." ”

Zhang Yida smiled and nodded, there are a lot of industries under Sony, which can be summarized as electronics, games, entertainment, and finance.

This veteran group is very strong, and investing hundreds of millions of dollars in Zhonghe Group is a drizzle.

Zhang Yida looked at Cooper and Grange again, and both waved their hands, indicating that they were not interested.

For this result, Zhang Yida is not too surprised.

The Vivendi Group behind Universal is purely profit-seeking, and a lot of game companies have been squeezed dry, and there is little interest in investing in Internet companies.

Even Universal Music and Universal Pictures have been sold from time to time, a company that has always been only in and out.

Warner Music is in the hands of the Russian-American oil giant Leonard, and the Hollywood Big Six Time Warners parted ways many years ago.

Zhang Yida originally wanted to connect with Time Warner through Warner Music, but after understanding the relationship clearly, he could only find another way.

Zhang Yida had a separate chat with Kazuo Hirai, who said that he could invest $600 million in cash, plus three years of music copyright authorization, to obtain a 1.09% stake in Zhonghe Group.

Zhang Yida immediately agreed, and also reached a copyright cooperation with Sony Columbia Pictures on behalf of Zhonghe Group, and Rocket Video will purchase their film rights in the future.