Chapter 699: Acquisition of MGM

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"Mr. Guo!"

"Mr. Bass!"

After a brief handshake and eye contact, Carl Bass turned around and took a folded document from his pocket and handed it to Gary Barber.

"Gary, this is the latest resolution of the Board of Directors, given that you have been unable to lead the company to profitability in five years as CEO, and that the losses have become worse in the last three years. The Board of Directors has decided to remove you from your position as CEO of MGM Pictures and Executive Director of the Board of Directors. You can get three months' salary compensation and pack up and leave. The MGM Board of Directors and I would like to congratulate you on finding a new and more suitable job for you. ”

Looking at the letter of dismissal handed to him by Carl Bass, Gary Barber froze. He thought about countless ways for Guo Shouyun to buy MGM, but he didn't expect that he would have a 'salary draw from the bottom of the kettle' in his backyard.

"You can't do that, Gary has done so much to the company in the last five years. Jim Chanos roared.

Compared to him, Donato Essi and Jason Parsons, two die-hard supporters of Gary Barber within MGM, although their faces are just as ugly, are relatively calmer.

"It's you, you're the one who caused all this?"

Facing Gary Barber's questioning, Guo Shouyun smiled and shook his head.

"This is a resolution of the MGM Board of Directors, and it has nothing to do with me!"

He is not a fool, and he will not do this kind of stupid thing when so many people admit that he is involved with Carl Bass, and he will not admit that the Matrix's acquisition of MGM is insider trading?

Gary Barber took a deep breath, knowing that he couldn't get any useful information from the cunning Bruce Guo.

"Carl, I hold 580,000 shares of MGM common stock, and I request that the board of directors be reopened...!"

Carl Bass interrupted, "I'm sorry, but you're no longer a member of the board. Moreover, your shareholding is less than 1% of MGM's total share capital, and you do not have the right to derive litigation. Investigations by the Board of Directors and the Supervisory Board cannot be initiated. ”

After a pause, Karl Bass said with a hint of complexity in his tone: "Gary, thank you very much for your contribution to MGM. Now you can go and pack up your things and go through the formalities of leaving. Al is already waiting for you. ”

Al Barton, MGM's Chief Financial Officer.

"Mr. Bass, since MGM has to deal with internal affairs, I don't have much to do as an outsider. After the new MGM CEO takes office, we will talk about mergers and acquisitions in detail. ”

"Okay, Mr. Guo, please go slowly!"

"Goodbye!"

Guo Shouyun nodded, looked at the pale Gary Barber and walked towards the door.

"Wait a minute, please. As... What if I agree to your terms of acquisition?"

Stopped, and looked at the hope in Gary Barber's eyes. Guo Shouyun shook his head slowly, "I'm only the chairman of the Matrix Company now, and I can't influence the decisions of the MGM Board of Directors. ”

The words fell, and Gary Barber didn't care, pushed the door and walked out. Wang Jue and Matthew hurriedly followed, and the group quickly left.

Coming outside and looking at MGM's golden lion logo, Guo Shouyun breathed a sigh of relief. If nothing else, the acquisition of MGM will not change again.

In fact, as he expected, without Gary Barber's obstruction, the new CEO would have been bought by him with money, so Matrix acquired MGM Pictures as a whole for $2.4 billion in actual capital and $1.8 billion in debt, for a total price of $4.2 billion.

That's a price that's lower than the $15 he had previously offered by MGM's board of directors in order to thwart Sony Pictures' leveraged buyout. But it's also more expensive than Disney and Time Warner. Without the leveraged buyout by the Sony and Constance Carter consortiums, the Matrix's $4.2 billion offer is already the highest among MGM Pictures' many potential acquirers.

It wasn't until the dust settled on the deal that the matrix actually held a press conference to officially reveal the deal to the outside world.

With "the end of a glorious century", "the disappearance of the last independent film giant", "the acquisition of MGM Pictures by the matrix, the tide of Hollywood consolidation intensifies", and other different headlines of various media outlets, as well as almost similar content, the acquisition of MGM by the matrix became one of the most sensational events in the business world in July 2004.

Just when the outside world was talking about the acquisition of MGM by Matrix, Guo Shouyun, who stayed in Los Angeles, held a manager-level meeting of Matrix.

The content of the meeting was not complicated, and after a brief discussion of the development of Matrix Company, Guo Shouyun officially announced that he would integrate Matrix Pictures, Universal Pictures and MGM Pictures into a unified film company - Matrix Pictures. The company has 11 departments, including the production department, the publicity and distribution department, the logistics department, and the post-production department, with the CEO of Kevin Yang, the CEO of the original Matrix Pictures, and Kevin Feige, the president. Ron Meyer, the former CEO of Universal Pictures, was promoted to chief operating officer of the head office. Universal Pictures and MGM Pictures are not independent studios, but rather brands that are managed and used as publicity and distribution departments.

As a result of this integration, the 10 subsidiaries of Matrix were reduced to nine, improving efficiency. At the same time, Vivendi's 20% stake in Universal Pictures has also been reduced to only 8%.

Finally, after exchanging the film shooting plans of Matrix Pictures this year and next year, Guo Shouyun ended the meeting.

"Whoa...!"

With the surging waves, Guo Shouyun walked out of the pool.

"Bruce, your figure is truly enviable!"

After taking the bath towel handed over by Wang Jue, wiping his muscular body, he sat down on the recliner under the parasol next to him.

"If you are willing to take your sister's time out to exercise, I think you will have a body like mine!"

"There are so many beautiful women waiting for me to pamper them, and if I refuse, won't it hurt their hearts? I am a person who pities the fragrance and cherishes the jade! Besides, if I don't take advantage of my youth to communicate with the beauties more, will I have to wait for my old age, and I can only watch and not have fun?"

George Roosevelt's remarks were not surprising to Guo Shouyun. That's what he's always done, and that's what he said. Moreover, George Economics has gathered too many beautiful women who are eager to make a name for themselves in Hollywood, and in such an environment, even if he wants to control it, there will be a steady stream of women climbing into his bed.

"Whatever you want, be careful not to die on a woman's belly!"

"Phew, can't you say something nice to me?"

Guo Shouyun shrugged his shoulders and lay down, "You didn't deal with your woman, what did you do with me?"

"Of course, I'm here to say hello to you. With the acquisition of MGM, the strength of the matrix has become stronger. According to your current development momentum, in a few years, it is a high probability event to surpass Disney and Time Warner to become the world's largest media company!"

"Really just congratulations?" Guo Shouyun rolled his eyes coldly and glanced at him. has known each other for more than two years, and he has long understood the temperament of this American brother-in-law.

"Hehe, I know I can't hide anything from you. George Roosevelt did it, his expression enthusiastic and earnest, "I heard that you plan to shoot the 21st "007"?"

"You're very well-informed, Matrix Pictures just passed the resolution to prepare for the filming of "007" at the meeting, and the company's website has not yet been announced, so you know it here. ”

"If you want to be famous in Hollywood, of course, this news channel needs to be well-informed. After a pause, "Bruce, I don't want to be the male protagonist of "007", how about the role of Bond Girl left for me?"

"Didn't I already give you the heroine role of Van Helsing?"

"Of course, the more things like this, the better. And the heroine of "Van Helsing" has higher requirements for the acting skills of the role. "007" is enough as long as it is beautiful, and this is just right for me. George Roosevelt paused, and his tone suddenly became ambiguous, "You're not going to leave her to your little lover named Eva Green, are you?"

Guo Shouyun didn't care about the ridicule in this guy's mouth, "Since you want it, give it to you." But if the person you recommend can't pass the review of the director team, don't say I didn't help you when the time comes!"

"Don't worry, I still know the rules!" George Roosevelt assured, patting his chest.

Favors are favors, Guo Shouyun will not ruin his career because of favors.

"It's getting dark. How about a dinner together?

"Next time. I've got some entertainment tonight!"

"Alright!" George Roosevelt shrugged, "then I'll go first." ”

In the ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Los Angeles, George W. Bush held a dinner here today to raise funds for his campaign. As his die-hard supporter, Guo Shouyun was also invited.

Today's Guo Shouyun is no longer a small person who has just entered the business world for 2,000 years. Now under his umbrella, there are the sixth largest bank in the United States "Phoenix Bank", the fourth largest oil company "Unocal", the world's largest power and gas company "Pacific Energy", the world's third largest media company "Matrix", Ruby, Apple, Kwok Business Group, Google, have also become important companies in their respective fields.

This series of achievements made this young man, who was just 25 years old, the moment he stepped out of the car, become the focus of attention.

It's just that Guo Shouyun lives in a simple place on weekdays, and rarely participates in upper-class dinners and dances, so there are not many people who know him here, and no one rushes up to say hello.

Of course, when he arrived at the crowded banquet hall, there were many more familiar people.

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