In another office of Relativity Entertainment, Robert Iger listened to Ronan's story and was lost in thinking about 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 achieve his ambitions, and he is not carried away by ambition and desire, and he does not become too aggressive because of some success, so as to launch a leap forward that does not fit the reality of the company, leading to a total collapse after a short period of glory.

Robert Iger has always believed that Ronan has maturity and calmness far beyond his years, and his own abilities are far superior to Michael Eisner of his age.

Having said that, of course, Robert Iger doesn't know that Ronan's experience is extremely special, in fact, he is really not a young man, he has rich social experience and life experience, and he has worked hard for nearly 20 years after stepping out of school, which can be regarded as 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 go to the top of his life, but thinking of the actual situation of Relativity Entertainment and Universal Pictures, as the COO of Relativity Entertainment, he thinks he has a duty to remind Ronan of this boss.

But he is not a person like Michael Eisner, who has always been methodical in his work and in his conduct of life.

"Is this news true?" asked Robert Iger naturally.

Ronan shook his head: "Now it's grapevine, I've asked Robert Lee to verify, but I analyze, eighty percent of it is true." ”

Robert Iger thought for a moment and said, "It's not surprising that Vivendi sold Universal Pictures, a group company that started with water business, is good at capital operation, rather than running a company as carefully as we do. ”

He said slowly: "In 2000, Vivendi acquired Canada's Seagram Entertainment Group for $34 billion, thus obtaining an absolute controlling stake in Universal Pictures and Universal Music, and at the end of that year, combining the group's own entertainment business and PolyGram and other companies to form the current Vivendi Universal Pictures Entertainment Group. ”

Ronan understood what this meant, and just like Walt Disney, Universal Pictures actually became a comprehensive entertainment company after several changes of ownership.

Robert Iger added: "When Vivendi reorganized Universal Pictures Entertainment Group, they had already split up Sigramu's entertainment business, but they really wanted to sell Universal Pictures, and it was impossible to separate the studio, which would mean that the value of other businesses might be greatly reduced, and it would have to be a wholesale sale of Universal Pictures Entertainment Group, which would inevitably cost more than $10 billion in the usual style of a company like Vivendi that plays with capital." ”

"In my personal estimation, the current value of Universal Pictures Group's sale is between $10 billion and $12 billion. ”

Hearing this, Ronan couldn't help but smile: "Very good analysis. He paused for a moment and then said, "Bob, are you worried that I will blindly initiate the acquisition of Universal Pictures?"

When Robert Iger heard Ronan say this, he couldn't help but feel relieved, and being able to speak in this tone showed that Ronan was not carried away: "It's really a little 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?"

"Absolutely. Ronan said without hesitation: "Who in this industry can not be tempted by one of the six major Hollywood companies?"

He smiled: "But it's one thing to think about it, and it's another thing to be able to do it." ”

Robert Iger said: "It's almost impossible for us. ”

Ronan replied, "I know, but if the news is true, I still want to try, and even if it fails, we don't have much to lose." ”

Robert Iger heard something else: "Ronan, you mean ......"

"Bob, you know we have a couple of acquisitions in the future, and it's going to be extremely difficult. Ronan said bluntly: "There are a few people in the company who have no experience with large acquisitions, except for you. ”

Robert Iger suddenly realized: "I see, this is an opportunity to gain experience. He is an extremely experienced professional manager, and his heart is moved: "If the news is confirmed, we can develop a plan and set up a dedicated response team to follow the actual way the acquisition works......"

Ronan slowly tapped his fingers: "You can attack, you can defend when you retreat." ”

"That's true. Robert Iger also said something from his heart: "I also hope that we have a chance to get involved in Universal Pictures." ”

Ronan smiled, "It's very slim. ”

Robert Iger can fantasize, but as a company's operating officer, he must remain sober: "It's harder than a snake swallowing an elephant." ”

As if to remind Ronan, and as if to remind himself not to be confused, he said: "In the past style of the Vivendi Group, acquisitions are nothing more than two ways, the first is a cash acquisition. At present, the entire group has reserves of $400 million, and by the end of the year that this figure will increase to $500 million, which is not enough, and we have to raise funds. ”

Robert Iger told the truth: "With the current strength of Relativity Entertainment, I am confident that I can raise or borrow $1 billion to $1.5 billion, but any more will be very difficult, and it will not be possible to do it in the short term, and this huge funding gap is something we simply cannot solve at the moment." ”

Compared with most Hollywood companies, Relativity Entertainment is developing very fast and very steady, but in the face of such a huge amount of money, it is still not enough.

In particular, the completion of the acquisition must not affect the normal operation of the existing business, otherwise it will lose all its meaning, and the interest generated by the high loan cannot be ignored.

Robert Iger continued: "The second way is to acquire Vivendi for shares. Ronan, Relativity Entertainment is not listed, and even if it is valued, it is far from Universal Pictures Group. Even if we use the method of stock swap and cash, I am afraid that Relativity Entertainment will also have to change owners. ”

This is something that Ronan can't accept in any way, once other voices can influence the company's decision, Relativity Entertainment will definitely not be able to develop as quickly as he does now.

Ronan knew that even with his good relationship with Bank of America, it was unlikely that the other party would be able to lend a loan that seriously exceeded the relativistic entertainment value.

"I thought we were growing very fast. Ronan smiled, "We're still too small. ”

Robert Iger said: "The rise of relativity entertainment is unprecedented in Hollywood in recent decades, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is rocket-like, no matter how fast we are, we will have a weak foundation, internal instability and problems, even if it develops quickly, it will collapse." ”

He added: "If there is a real opportunity, we can try it, but it must not affect the normal operation of the existing business. ”

In the end, the rabbit can't eat it, and it can't get up if it falls, so the gain outweighs the loss.

Ronan thought for a moment and said slowly, "Even if there is no chance, we can create opportunities and see if we can get some benefits from them." ”

Once Vivendi sells Universal Pictures Group, no matter who the transaction partner is, there will inevitably be internal turmoil, and he may be able to take advantage of the chaos to find an opportunity to win the rights to the Hulk's film and television adaptation.

Ronan is not going to completely give up the opportunities that may exist, and on the basis of keeping a clear head, to make preparations, what if Vivendi can't find a buyer?

Hope will always exist, but as a person, you can't have too many illusions about hope, otherwise it will affect your judgment.

Ronan consulted with Robert Iger for a whole afternoon, discussing the risks and possibilities, and Robert Lee was able to confirm that a special group would be led by Robert Egger.

During this time, Ronan called Ron Meyer, who had been in contact several times, and Ron Meyer directly told him that he didn't know.

It is clear that both Vivendi and Universal Pictures are in control of the news.

The next day, Connie gave Ronan and Robert Iger a lot of detailed information about Vivendi and Universal Pictures.

Ronan looked at the information and found out that Vivendi was still Blizzard's parent company.

Vivendi was originally a tax company founded by Napoleon III himself, and began to transform in the seventies of the last century, developing into a giant company involved in water, construction, film, music, publishing and many other businesses, ranking in the top 100 of the world's top 500 companies for many years.

A few years ago, just before Ronan dug into the distribution channel of Polygram Pictures, Universal Pictures was in turmoil, and after Seagram bought Universal from Panasonic, it was full of ambition to build a media empire, and acquired Polygram and several other entertainment companies, but Seagram, who was not familiar with the entertainment industry, soon paid the price for blind expansion.

Subsequently, Vivendi, a water conglomerate from France, became the owner of Seagram, and Vivendi clearly attached great importance to Universal, as the new name of the merged company was Vivendi Universal Pictures Entertainment Group.

Last year, in 2002, Vivendi suffered an annual loss of 23.3 billion euros due to a sharp increase in debt due to successive loan acquisitions, high interest and huge operating pressure, which directly led to the departure of the CEO.

Vivendi's liabilities have been as high as 35 billion euros......

This also reminded Ronan that this kind of rapid expansion of financing that is almost crazy may not bring good results.

Vivendi has reached the point where he has to sell some of his assets in order to revitalize his funds.

Combined with the situation in his memory, Ronan judged that Vivendi was bound to sell Universal Pictures Group.

The shrimp has never been able to swallow the whale, but the collision of the two whales may not let the shrimp encounter some other opportunities.

In addition to the situation at Universal Pictures, Ronan received good news that Scott had accompanied a South African delegation to Los Angeles.