Walking into the lobby of the bank office building, Henry came to the coffee machine, took a cup of coffee with a coin, looked at the hand, and came to the corner of the lobby resting area, drinking coffee while paying attention to the movement in the elevator room.

I just heard that Judith accompanied an important client upstairs to go through the application procedures.

Looking at the time, unhurriedly sipping coffee, a cup of coffee was about to be drunk, and two people, a man and a woman, came out of the elevator room.

The blonde is Judith, and the one next to her is Ronan Anderson, a big customer at the Los Angeles branch.

The two men walked straight to the door of the hall, shook hands and said a few goodbyes, before Ronan Anderson left.

Judith walked towards the office, and Henry glanced at the bag of papers she held in her hand, which was reserved for loan applications.

It seems that he got the right information, Relativity Entertainment Group is applying for a large loan from Bank of America.

The specific amount of the loan is a bank trade secret, and he can't inquire about it at all with his ability, unless he asks Judith directly.

But that's not worth it.

Henry put down his coffee cup, took out his phone, dialed a number, and spoke in a low voice.

Universal Studios, a new contact between NBC's Bernarte and Vivendi's Jean-Pearce, is once again at an impasse.

Bernarte looked serious: "Your asking price is seriously not in line with the actual value of Universal Pictures, and it is very different from our assessment!"

Jean-Pierce said: "Is it possible that you bought Universal Pictures for $11 billion? You have been planning to buy Universal Pictures since the mid-90s, and you should know very well what this company is actually worth. ”

Remembering Vivendi's difficult situation, Bernarte said: "Since you are not sincere, there is no need for us to talk about it again. ”

Jean-Pierce was neither humble nor arrogant, and said with a calm smile: "There is no shortage of high-quality assets like Universal Pictures Entertainment Group. ”

Hearing this, a name immediately flashed through Benalte's mind - Relativity Entertainment Group!

The preliminary negotiations between the two sides broke up again, and after getting into the business car and leaving Universal Studios, Benalt's assistant answered the phone and said to Benalt after hanging up: "President, I just got feedback from the Los Angeles branch of Bank of America that Ronan Anderson of Relativity Entertainment Group has applied for a large loan from Bank of America, and the specific amount is unknown. ”

Bernart's already serious face became even more serious: "I know. ”

With the ability of relativistic entertainment, it is not easy to apply for a super-large amount of loans, and the success rate is not high, but what if it succeeds?

After all, he and Relativity Entertainment are both first-class customers of Bank of America.

Bernarte quickly made a decision: "Go back to the hotel and immediately call a conference call." ”

The assistant hurriedly took out his mobile phone: "I'll notify you." ”

In the president's office of Burbank Relativity Entertainment, Robert Iger said to Ronan: "Vivendi didn't directly refuse, and there was an idea to talk about watching it, but he had great doubts about the number of films. ”

Ronan got a general idea of the situation and said, "Talk to them, our goals are Jurassic Park, Hulk and Fast and Furious, and the rest can be abandoned." ”

Robert Iger said directly: "The "Hulk" movie failed miserably, "Fast and Furious" is a medium-to-low scale film, these problems are not big, and in the library of thousands of copyrights, it is estimated that the transaction party will not care if there are two such films." But "Jurassic Park" is very difficult, and the series has too much impact. ”

Ronan knows the difficulty and says: "The third part has already made this series bad, and it has also been shelved by Universal Pictures indefinitely, and on the basis of ensuring "Hulk" and "Fast and Furious", I will try my best to fight for it. ”

Robert Iger continued: "I won't let go of any chance. ”

Ronan didn't say anything more, except for cooperating with the momentum, and the specific work was all handed over to Robert Iger.

The next day, Robert Iger came to Universal Pictures again to negotiate a rights deal with Jean Pierce of Vivendi.

On the plus side, Vivendi is interested in selling off a handful of unremarkable film rights in exchange for hundreds of millions of dollars.

The downside is that they have certain doubts about the number of films proposed by Relativity Entertainment.

After half a day of negotiations, Jean-Pierce, although he did not really relent, obviously loosened his attitude towards Universal Pictures' transfer of the rights to the two series "Hulk" and "Fast and Furious".

The disagreement between the two sides is over the price and the rights to Jurassic Park.

After all, "Jurassic Park 3" is relatively unsuccessful, and it also has a global box office of more than $368 million.

Vivendi naturally knows the actual value of this series, and it is not impossible to sell it to Relativity Entertainment, please pay 1.5 billion dollars.

Of Robert Iger's $200 million offer, $150 million is actually for the Jurassic Park franchise.

There is too much difference in the price of the two sides.

The rights of the other two films were negotiated relatively smoothly, but Vivendi's asking price was also very high, and the Hulk's film failed, but it still asked for $20 million.

and the two consecutive "Fast and Furious" series with a North American box office of over 100 million, Vivendi even offered a sky-high price of 100 million US dollars.

After all, although the peripheral income of this series is average, the box office and DVD profits are good.

It's not hard to buy the rights to Hulk at a low price, but Vivendi has also been involved in the entertainment industry for many years, and he is very clear about the value of "Fast and Furious", which can be considered a medium hit.

After several days of tug-of-war, Robert Iger and Jean Pierce finally agreed on a $100 million full rights transfer for "The Incredible Hulk" and "Fast and Furious".

On the same night that the two sides agreed, Robert Iger received a visitor at Tom Cruise's Aquatic Club in Malibu.

Bernat again offered to meet Robert Iger.

"Bob, I wonder how you talked to Mr. Anderson?" Bernat asked directly.

Robert Iger said, "Relativity Entertainment has done a lot of upfront work, and it's impossible to just give up. ”

NBC's comprehensive assessment of Universal Pictures has begun to wrap up, and Bernat doesn't want to linger on other competitors, saying, "I'm interested in how I can convince your boss." ”

Robert Iger has been prepared for this, the conditions are too high, NBC definitely disagrees, of course, it can't be too low, and said calmly: "In order to deal with this acquisition, Relativity Entertainment has raised high-interest rates from overseas and banks through various channels, and if we choose to give up, we will lose a lot of interest in financing, and after I talked about it last time, Mr. Anderson is full of doubts about the result of not achieving the goal but paying high interest." ”

Bernat was silent, the question of interest can't be passed on to NBC, right? he asked, "What are your plans for this?"

Robert Iger said: "Mr. Anderson has no plan, and the way to avoid paying high interest for nothing is to complete the existing plan. ”

Financing from multiple overseas sources, without applying for loans from U.S. banks, and supposedly pledging his shares in Relativity Entertainment, this young producer is as daring to gamble as he did when he chose to invest heavily in making pirate movies.

Thinking of this, Bernat feels that Ronan Anderson's gambling is very heavy, after all, since "Cut Throat Island", let alone investing $140 million to make pirate films, who would dare to invest more than $10 million to shoot pirate films?

Ronan Anderson not only gambled on Pirates of the Caribbean, but also succeeded!

Dare to bet, and have the ability to bet successfully!

Elephant in the room!

Bernat asked, "You should have a record of the loan and interest for the failure of the acquisition, right?"

Robert Iger said with a smile: "Raise funds from other places to make up for the loss of interest, but we haven't found a specific channel yet, so we can only take one step at a time." As long as the acquisition is successful, a portion of Universal Pictures Entertainment Group's business will be split and sold, and none of this will be a problem. ”

He changed his voice: "To tell you the truth, there is also a failure plan, Mr. Anderson personally has some funds and stocks, and he can provide a five-year interest-free loan of 200 million US dollars to the group company." ”

Hearing this, Bernat immediately understood what Robert Iger meant, although he was asking for conditions, but the words came out of Robert Egger's mouth, tactfully but not very offensive.

"NBC can take care of this interest-free loan. Bernat was quick to answer: "$50 million." ”

Robert Iger thought for a moment and said, "$100 million minimum." ”

Bernat muttered that the $100 million interest-free loan, although there is a certain loss in interest and depreciation, can be returned to NBC in five years, strictly speaking, there is not much loss, but Relativity Entertainment continues to participate in the bidding, and NBC may have to pay far more than the psychological reserve price of $13 billion.

Relativity Entertainment is one of the most high-performing companies in Hollywood's second-tier companies, and the members of Hollywood's Big Six are extremely attractive to them.

And unlike those groups outside the circle, they have the actual ability to operate.

It wasn't hard to calculate, and Bernat was quick to say, "You can submit a loan application, a $100 million five-year, interest-free loan." ”

Robert Iger does the full play: "I'll go to Mr. Anderson right away. Before leaving, he added: "I hope you can keep it confidential for the time being, and if Mr. Anderson agrees to withdraw, I hope we can sign a confidentiality agreement." ”

Bernat looked at it with a little puzzlement, and Robert Iger explained simply: "Once the news spreads, knowing that we have abandoned the acquisition of Universal Pictures, there will be a lot of trouble on the investor's side, which may seriously affect the cash flow of Relativity Entertainment." ”

"That's what I think, too. "We have to sign the agreement," Bernat said. ”

Robert Iger smiled, "If I can convince Mr. Anderson, it doesn't matter what Relativity Entertainment's stance is on the outside world, because you know very well that we've given up. This can also help to create the illusion that you will always have competitors and may not actively contact new buyers. ”

Bernat said directly: "We are all American companies, and we should be in unison. ”