Chapter 695: Net Neutrality

……

"Mr. Guo, it is a great honor to visit Matrix Company!"

Seeing the young man standing in front of the door to greet him, although it was the first time he had seen him, but he was very familiar with it through the newspaper media, Carl Corey hurriedly took two steps forward and stretched out his right hand in front of the other party.

"Mr. Corey is gracious, Kongscart is our partner. ”

The telecommunications service provider of Matrix Company is Kongscart Company, but the most critical cable service provider is indeed Time Warner Cable, which was an additional condition of the other party when it acquired CW TV and Warner Records.

Carl Corey understood the meaning of Guo Shouyun's words, but after his mind turned around, he smiled: "In my opinion, Kongscat should have more cooperation with Matrix Company, we are complementary enterprises, and we can create greater value for each other." ”

"I think so too!" Guo Shouyun smiled faintly, and half-turned around to make a gesture of please.

The two walked into the office building of the matrix company together. Soon Carl Corey was drawn to the attention of the movie posters hanging in the halls and corridors.

Jaws, Jurassic Park, Tomb Raiders, Harry Potter, National Treasure, Pirates of the Caribbean, Hulk, Batman, Finding Nemo and many more, large posters of Matrix Pictures, including Universal and Pixar's iconic films, are hung in the most prominent positions in the lobby and corridors, highlighting the company's glory and attracting the envy of visitors.

"Mr. Guo, under your leadership, Matrix Company has achieved amazing results, which is really enviable. ”

"Kongscart's big expansion in the telecommunications market in recent years, especially the $47.5 billion acquisition of AT&T's broadband business is even more thrilling, compared to our matrix's actions are much smaller. ”

"In the past two years, Matrix has concentrated on running its core business, and the annual growth of film and television entertainment, games and theme parks is close to 20%, accumulating a huge cash flow for Matrix. If Mr. Guo is willing, it will be easy for the matrix to carry out mergers and acquisitions. Carl Corey complimented.

While talking, the two came to the reception room prepared in advance.

"You may be seated!"

"Thank you!"

"Matrix has been consolidating its main business for the past two years, integrating Universal Pictures and the purchased Warner assets, and the only external merger and acquisition is MGM Pictures, but the result is that Kongscart has taken the lead. ”

"If Mr. Guo agrees to license the TV rights of MGM Films, as well as the TV rights of the films to be released by Matrix in the future, to Kongscart, and sign an exclusive agreement, we are willing to negotiate with Matrix about withdrawing from MGM Pictures' merger. ”

Guo Shouyun smiled, "Kongscat is really a good idea. You haven't paid for anything, so you want me to give you the exclusive license to the MGM library and the TV rights of the new movies released by Matrix?"

"Mr. Guo, we now have a head start in the acquisition of MGM Films. Mr. Guo wants us to give up, of course, we have to pay certain conditions. ”

"Did you get a head start on the MGM acquisition?" Mr. Corey, did you sign an agreement with Gary Barber?"

"This... Of course not!" Karl Corey frowned slightly.

"In that case, where does Mr. Corey's confidence come from?" after a pause, "or do you think you are perfectly capable of surpassing my offer of $15 per share?!"

At the same time as Carl Corey was about to speak, he was interrupted by Guo Shouyun: "Oh, I almost forgot." With Kongscutter's revenue capacity and your $66 billion purchase of Disney, you can indeed come up with a higher purchase price, but what about Sony Pictures, Providence Equity Partners, Texas Pacific Capital Fund, DLJ Mercantile Bank Partners, and the Quad Group, which are Wall Street capitals?"

“… Perhaps Sony will continue to bet in order to promote its own DVD standard. But Wall Street guys are more sensitive to risk than Sony and Kongscat, and they only focus on whether the investment will get enough returns, not like Sony and Kongscat, and there is an invisible need to promote DVD standards and enrich channel content. … So, how likely do you think they are to follow Constat in raising the offer?"

"By the way, one more thing. I've written to Sony headquarters that if they abandon the MGM acquisition, then all of our matrix's library movies will be produced on Blu-ray HD DVDs. Judging by Nobuyuki Idei's tone, there is a high probability that they will agree to my request. Therefore, if MGM's merger and acquisition is not unexpected, it is the competition between Kongscart and the matrix. ”

Looking at the smiling and confident young man in front of him, Carl Corey had a look of surprise on his face. Although there is no way to verify the truth of what was just said. But if Matrix really intends to support Sony's DVD standard, then in exchange, they will most likely abandon the acquisition of MGM.

If Sony, which is the organizer of this acquisition, withdraws, most of the entire acquisition consortium, except for Providence Equity Partnership, which has always been interested in the media, entertainment, communications and information industries, Texas Pacific Capital Fund, DLJ Commodity Bank Partners, and Sifang Group.

In the end, MGM's acquisition is really likely to be the battle between Kongscat and the matrix.

And can Kongscart win the Matrix? Carl Corey really didn't know the bottom of his heart. Not only because Matrix is currently the media giant on Wall Street after Time Warner and Disney, but it has become Hollywood's highest-grossing studio for three consecutive years, with abundant cash flow and huge profits. What's more, behind it stands a Bruce Guo who can cause a financial earthquake by stomping his feet.

The Bruce Foundation, the Kwok Family Charitable Foundation, plus the more powerful Phoenix Bank. It is a financial giant with $800 billion in assets. Although the assets of Citigroup, Seymour, Merrill Lynch and other institutions will be more than those of this consortium, or even double. But they can't have the cash flow that Bruce Kwok has.

Although the Bruce Foundation is a private institution, it is unclear how much money it has. However, the Kwok Family Charity Fund, because it is charitable, its annual finances need to be disclosed to the public, so everyone knows very well that it... is a powerful institution with assets of nearly $60 billion. As long as Guo Shouyun is willing, he can easily take out the money and use it for his own acquisition. Just a few workarounds are needed in between. For example, buying bonds or original shares issued by Matrix Companies, etc. These are all legally permissible ways to invest.

And, even if Kongscat can get enough money. Carl Corey also suspects that the board of directors may not be homogeneous with the MGM acquisition.

After all, MGM is not Disney, let alone Matrix, News Corp., and Time Warner. This century-old film giant is already a real broken house.

Although the "007" series is tempting, no matter how attractive the copyright is, it is useless if it cannot be made into a high-grossing movie. Kongscat is different from Matrix, which has produced more than 80 films in five years, each without losing money, proving to the world what they are capable of in the field of filmmaking. As a layman in the film and television industry, Kongscat, who does not have the ability to distribute globally, does not have such confidence.

After thinking about all the possibilities in his heart, Carl Corey predicted that the company's coveting of MGM would most likely fail.

"Mr. Guo, if we give up the acquisition of MGM as a price, can we authorize the exclusive TV broadcast rights of MGM Film Library and the copyright of the new film and television programs filmed by Matrix Company to us?"

Knowing that Matrix owned Hulu, he wisely did not ask for the right to broadcast online.

"Yes. As long as Kongscat agrees to give up MGM, then your condition matrix can say yes. ”

When we first cooperated with Time Warner Cable, it was only the film library of Matrix and Universal, which did not include newly released movies, TV, music videos and variety shows.

Carl Corey nodded. For Kongscat, this kind of cooperation is probably the best condition that can be obtained.

"What do you think about the principle of 'net neutrality'?" said Carl Corey after a moment's silence.

"Net neutrality?"

Guo Shouyun smiled.

The concept of 'net neutrality' can be traced back to the telecommunications laws of the United States in the 30s of the last century. At that time, the law prohibits any telephone company from obstructing the connection of non-company subscribers. After the rise of the Internet, the concept of "net neutrality" has been automatically extended, and operators are not allowed to impose restrictions on data from non-company users, such as email, video, etc.

The Internet is designed to be open to everyone, and users can easily send and receive online content through simple and reasonable pricing and charging standards, without worrying about the network traffic level of these contents being reduced.

As the Internet grows in popularity, treating all traffic equally is one of the reasons why the Internet is attractive: individuals, start-ups, and industry giants are equal to each other. Let's say people build a highway and then require all vehicles to follow certain traffic rules, whether it's a Mercedes or a Santana, they can drive on this highway.

'Net neutrality' is about ensuring that all website content or videos load at the same speed. 'Net neutrality' will allow small internet companies to compete on a level playing field with the big nets. In the U.S., high-speed network operators, including AT&T, Kongscat, and Verizon, are looking for a legal basis for two-tier network services.