Chapter 698: Drawing wages from the bottom of the kettle

……

Jim Chanos, dressed in a black suit, pushed the door open angrily and walked in.

"Gary, I still can't contact Howard Stringer, that damn bitch~ said he went on a business trip to Japan. In this case, a fool would believe that at such a critical moment as the acquisition of MGM, he would actually go on a business trip to Japan?"

The swearing Jim Chanos sat down on the couch next to him, his stout and fat body, and his huge weight made the whole couch shake. In normal times, Gary Barber would have teased this old fellow, but now the strange external situation has made him have no intention of opening up.

Carl Corey replied that there is a lot of controversy within Kongscat about the increase in leveraged buyouts, and there are no accurate results yet, so let's be calm. Donato Essidao.

"Providence Equity Partners, Texas Pacific Capital Fund, DLJ Commodity Bank Partners, and Sifang Group are also ambiguous, saying that they will wait for the results of Kongscart and Sony Pictures to come out before considering whether to continue with our leveraged buyouts. Jason Parsons said.

Looking at Gary Barber with a gloomy look next to him, Donato Essi couldn't help but say, "Gary, it's been a week, do we have to continue to wait?"

"Gary, something must have happened in between. Otherwise, Sonny and Kongscart's attitude wouldn't have changed so quickly!" Jason Parsons said with a serious expression.

"Of course I know something must have gone wrong, but what's the problem?"

Gary Barber said in an irritated tone.

"Maybe it has something to do with the Matrix...!"

Jim Chanos's words managed to attract the attention of the three men, but before he could finish, there was a knock on the office door.

"Come in!"

"Boss, Mr. Bruce Guo, the chairman of the Matrix Company, is waiting for you in the reception room!" Kari pushed the door open and entered, dressed in a neat lady's business attire.

"Who are you talking about? Bruce Kwok?"

Gary Barber's violent reaction startled Carrie, who had just become his assistant. At that moment, he nodded hurriedly.

"Sure enough, it's him!"

Gary Barber said in a complicated tone.

"Gary, shall we see him?" said Donato Essi.

"Do you think we're still going to be able to avoid it now?"

Donato Essi hesitated for a moment, then shook his head dejectedly. The original most promising joint consortium of Sony and Kongscart is now ambiguous. Then among all the institutions in Hollywood that are interested in MGM Pictures, the highest bidder is the matrix.

"If we accept the Matrix's offer, then all our previous efforts will be in vain!" said Jim Chanos, with a hint of reluctance on his face.

Compared to the matrix, Sony's leveraged buyout gives them nearly ten times as much as it does.

"Everything can be discussed, and since the matrix is interested in MGM, then we can fight for the best deal for us!" said Jason Parsons.

Hearing this, the faces of the four of them improved a lot. However, Gary Barber, who has the most contact with Guo Shouyun, is not easy in his heart. He was well aware of the young man's difficulty, and if he wasn't absolutely sure, he wouldn't have come to his door to negotiate with him personally.

But no matter what, since the people have come, they naturally can't be absent without much choice.

In the best reception room of MGM Pictures, Guo Shouyun looked at Monet's oil paintings hanging on the wall and the extravagant decorations around him, and sighed secretly in his heart: "What a luxury!"

Unlike him, the first generation of entrepreneurs, MGM has long since lost the ambition to lead the company after more than 100 years of inheritance. They just want to commute from 9 to 5 every day, have two days off a week, receive a high salary, spend a pleasant weekend in a private jet purchased by the company to a villa in the suburbs, or drive a luxury car also purchased with the company's public money, attend extravagant banquets at the country club, and various golf and tennis tournaments.

When the company can't afford to live in luxury, they can choose to leave with a generous pension and leave the mess to their successors. It's even better if it comes to an acquisition, and their bonuses will be even bigger. There are too many such professional managers in many large companies in the United States.

Gary Barber is just one of them.

Guo Shouyun shook his head, if his professional managers dared to spend their precious working capital on luxury cars, private jets, and premium membership cards at the country club, and for personal enjoyment, he would have let the other party roll up and get rid of it.

Hearing the sound of chaotic footsteps from far and near outside, Guo Shouyun turned to look at the door. Soon, Gary Barber walked in with a group of MGM executives.

"Hello, Mr. Guo, it is a great honor to meet you. ”

After shaking Gary Barber's hand, he said, "Mr. Barber, I don't invite nature, I hope it doesn't disturb your work. ”

"Of course not, Mr. Guo is a distinguished guest that we can't usually invite. ”

"It's over!"

"You may be seated!"

Guo Shouyun nodded and sat down on the sofa in the reception area next to him.

"Mr. Guo, I came to the door in person this time, I don't know if it is...?"

After putting down the teaglass, "I came here for the purpose of thinking that Mr. Bobble should have guessed." ”

"Buying MGM?"

"Not bad!" Guo Shouyun nodded affirmatively.

"Mr. Guo, I'm sorry, but we have already agreed to the joint acquisition of Sony, Kongscart, Providence Equity Partnership, Texas Pacific Capital Fund, DLJ Commodity Bank Partnership, and Sifang Group, and I am afraid we can't agree to you anymore. Gary Barber shook his head.

"Really?" Guo Shouyun smiled faintly, raised his hand and gestured, Wang Jue, who was sitting next to him, hurriedly took out copies of two documents and handed them to him.

"I've got something here, Mr. Bobble will see it when he looks at it. ”

Looking at the two documents handed to him, Gary Barber felt a 'chuckle' in his heart, and inexplicably had a hint of ominous premonition. And when he saw the contents of the document, his face suddenly became ugly.

"After I replied that the library of the application matrix would support Sony's DVD standard, they made it clear that they were abandoning the acquisition of MGM. As for Kongscart, after I successfully acquired MGM and granted them the exclusive TV broadcast rights of the film library, Kongscat also gave up the acquisition of MGM, leaving a Provesten interested in the entertainment industry to support the overall situation, as for Texas Pacific Capital Fund, DLJ Commodity Bank Partnerships, and Sifang Group, without the leadership of Sony, MGM, which lost money, is not worth the 40% premium in their eyes. After a pause, Guo Shouyun smiled, "So, I'm the only one who can talk to Mr. Barber about mergers and acquisitions now!"

Putting down the information, Gary Barber stared at the smiling man opposite him with anger in his eyes.

"Mr. Guo is really a good trick, and he broke up the alliance between Sony and Kongscart in a week. ”

"A week is a long time. ”

After a moment of silence, Gary Barber spoke: "I know how to accept reality, since Mr. Guo has prepared everything, what kind of conditions do you plan to give us?"

"Didn't Mr. Bobble make a verbal agreement with us before?" Guo Shouyun said with a smile.

"Don't Mr. Guo think this agreement is too stingy?" said Gary Barber in a slightly angry tone.

At the beginning, he agreed with Matrix CEO Buddy Morris that Matrix would invest $2.4 billion and assume MGM's $1.8 billion debt to buy MGM as a whole for $4.2 billion. As MGM's management, Gary Barber will receive three months, a salary of $3 million, and a retirement compensation of $5 million, for a total of $8 million. This treatment is generous enough for a normal acquisition. But compared to the $50 million promised by Sony in the leveraged buyout, it is too far behind.

It is easy to go from thrift to luxury, and it is difficult to go from luxury to thrift. With $50 million in front of him, he was reluctant to get Gary Barber to accept $8 million. What's more, the possibility that he got $50 million was ruined by the person opposite, which added to the resentment in his heart.

Even compared to the mergers and acquisitions of loss-making companies by other companies in the United States, the conditions given by our matrix to MGM's management are superior enough. ”

Gary Barber certainly knew that the $8 million compensation was good enough, but now he was thinking more about $50 million. Even if Guo Shouyun and the matrix won't give them so much in the end, they should add it up by one or two times.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Guo, but I don't think the $8 million condition is enough for us to agree to the merger of the matrix. ”

"Mr. Barber won't think about it anymore?" Guo Shouyun narrowed his eyes slightly.

"No need, Mr. Guo, please go back!"

Gary Barber shook his head resolutely.

In the face of refusal, Guo Shouyun bent down and took the information on the table and handed it to Wang Jue.

"Mr. Barber, I came initially with a cooperative attitude and hoped to reach an outcome that would be satisfactory to both parties. Since Your Excellency does not agree, then I have no choice but to 'meet each other in arms', and I hope that Mr. Barber will not regret it afterwards!"

Seeing Wang Jue who was on the phone, and Guo Shouyun who showed confidence in his tone and demeanor, Gary Barber once again had a bad premonition in his heart.

As if to confirm his suspicions, it didn't take long for the closed door to be pushed open from the outside.

"Carl?"

Looking at Carl Bass, the chairman of MGM's board of directors, Gary Barber stood up in surprise.

Karl Bass glanced at him, but did not respond. Instead, he turned around and walked to Guo Shouyun's side and stretched out his right hand.

…………………………………………………………