Vivendi's share price continued to fall, and by the end of July, the media giant, which had a market value of 100 billion euros, had only 10.1 billion euros left in its market value!

Of course, such a company with huge assets cannot be measured by market capitalization.

But for Vivendi, the most important thing is the rating of Moody's Credit Company!

A low rating means that Vivendi's bonds, stocks, and loans are in a very serious crisis.

If the bonds are declining again, the major investment banks and securities companies will demand that Vivendi repay its debts, which will force Vivendi to go bankrupt.

In order to re-upgrade Moody's to BAA, Vivendi's current liabilities cannot exceed 10 billion euros.

In other words, Vivendi has to find a way to eliminate the debt of around 20 billion euros!

The board of directors of Vivendi immediately approved the purchase of Don Pictures, and the two sides began negotiations on the assets of Vivendi's entertainment division.

However, the specific details, Vivendi's board of directors is relatively conservative, they are only responsible for strategic decisions, and specific operations need to wait for the new CEO to take office before negotiating.

By the beginning of August, "Pirate League: The Curse of the Black Pearl" had been released for almost 1 month.

In North America, it received a total of $250 million at the box office, and overseas regions were released late, also getting $190 million at the box office.

Comparing "Pirate League" with "Spider-Man 2", which has already grossed more than $1.1 billion, is obviously unrealistic.

After all, this is the first part of an original theme.

However, under the helm of great director Tim Burton, the series has made a good start.

According to box office trends, the North American box office of "Pirate League: The Curse of the Black Pearl" will exceed $300 million, and the overseas box office should be around $400 million.

Without a doubt, this will be the highest-grossing film ever directed by Tim Burton!

On August 2, another blockbuster film from Down Pictures was released, "Tianzhao" directed by Knight Shyamalan and starring Mel Gibson, officially landed in the North American market.

On the same day, Vivendi's board of directors also announced a bombshell news - the appointment of 47-year-old Jean-Bernard Levy as Vivendi's new CEO.

After Jean Levy came to power, his first task was to negotiate with Donn Pictures to solve the problem of high debts and bring Vivendi back to life!

Donn flew to Paris again to congratulate Jean Levy on his appointment as CEO of Vivendi and to have a brief conversation with him on the issue of asset acquisition.

The meeting was at the home of Jean-Bernard Levy, where his wife cooked a dinner herself.

"Vivendi has a lot of difficulties now, Mr. Levi, is there any good way?" Don took a bite of caviar, and the taste was very average.

Jean Levy's English was very standard, and he shook his head, "There is no good way to reopen the accounts and control the costs and reduce the expenses little by little." ”

"At least Don Pictures can help you through the current crisis, right?" Donn smiled, and then Mrs. Levy brought another bowl of soup, "Thank you, Mrs. Levi, today's dinner is so rich, I deeply feel the enthusiasm of France." ”

Jean Levy paused for a moment and said slowly: "The decision of the board of directors is to withdraw from the film and television entertainment industry, especially related assets in the United States. I agree with that. ”

"Oh?" Don vaguely felt that there was something in the other party's words.

Jean Lévy: "Vivendi now has more than 2,600 subsidiaries under its umbrella, and the internal structure of these companies is so different that it is almost impossible to integrate them into a single development strategy. ”

Don immediately understood what the other party meant.

Vivendi has a global portfolio of companies, but the three largest companies with the largest number of branches: Universal Pictures, Universal Music and Mifflin Publishing.

These three companies, with almost two or three branches in each country, have a total of more than 1,100 branches all over the world, with a total of more than 30,000 employees, accounting for 70% of Vivendi's total workforce.

Jean Levy wanted to cut back on his expenses, and he would definitely have to divest and sell this part of the asset.

Tang En said lightly: "I am more interested in Blizzard and Xuele Mountain, these two game studios, are the memories of our generation of American youth." It's just that Universal Music Group and Mifflin Publishing Group, with all due respect, music and publishing, are already sunset industries. ”

Jean Levy laughed, "Mr. Walker, the whole world knows that you desperately need Universal Pictures!"

Don looked at him with a cold face, "So you're sure to eat me?"

Jean Levy was very indifferent, "This is a normal business dealing. ”

Don shrugged his shoulders and drank a spoonful of soup, almost throwing it out, but his face didn't change, "If my acquisition of Universal Pictures fails, I will terminate all correspondence between Don Pictures and Universal Pictures." If you know anything about Hollywood, I'm sure you're aware that Down Pictures is doing a series of business dealings with Disney. ”

This is not alarmist.

Don had already made a two-handed arrangement.

If Vivendi dares to speak up on the matter of Universal Pictures, then Don will definitely not bow his head and will directly reach into Disney.

With the potential of Down Pictures, Disney's shareholders will certainly be happy to see this merger deal come to fruition.

Although the merger of Down Pictures and Disney will greatly dilute Don's shares, at least about 25% of the new company's shares can be retained, right?

That's enough for him to take the reins of the company.

Jean Levy was taken aback by Donn's words.

Fortunately, before he took office, he knew that his first task after taking office was to deal with Don En, and he had already checked a lot of information about Don En, and knew that this kid's business methods were violent and manic!

Absolutely not persecuted.

Jean Levy smiled: "Negotiating, we both have a lot of room to negotiate. You're interested in buying Universal Pictures, and we do have plans to sell it. ”

Don shook his head and said, "It's easy to talk about Universal Pictures, I want to talk about Blizzard." ”

Jean Levy was embarrassed, "Blizzard...... As you know, Blizzard's new game Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne will be released next year, and Blizzard has already started the design and production of an online game. We can't sell Blizzard at this stage. ”

Donn disagreed, "Nothing is impossible! Mr. Levy, you don't just want me to take over the bad assets of music and publishing, and then firmly control a high-quality company like Blizzard? ”

Jean Levy's eyes narrowed into a line.

Don continued: "Back then, Sony and Panasonic both wanted to enter Hollywood, but they both suffered serious losses. I can't play in Hollywood, and neither can the French. ”

Jean Levy laughed and said: "Universal Pictures' performance has been quite impressive in recent years. ”

Don was funny and angry, "That's because Don Pictures is a partner of Universal Pictures! Just the two films "Spider-Man" and "Unsinkable" made Universal net $100 million!"

Jean Levy said: "I have no problem selling Universal Pictures to you, and the board of directors readily agrees! Now the key is that I want to sell Universal Music and Mifflin Press, but you have a fancy for Blizzard Studios, which I don't want to sell." ”

Don put down his knife and fork and waved his hand, "Don't talk about Blizzard, don't talk about Mifflin, let's talk about TV networks." Vivendi now has two major television networks, Canal+ in France and USA in the United States. I don't know if you've ever worked in a TV station, but as soon as I say it, you know that the best way for a network to attract users is to broadcast rich and engaging TV content. ”

Jean Lévi was silent.

Tang En said: "Canal+ TV network is very good, you also have the support of Gaumont Pictures, the largest film company in France. But what about USA Television? Last year, Vivendi bought USA Television at a premium of nearly 200 percent, what do you want to do?"

Jean Levy said bluntly: "The USA television network must be packaged with Universal Pictures. ”

Donn's eyes froze as he stared at the other party, "Mr. Levi, don't you think your request is excessive? I want to buy Universal Pictures, but you want to bundle up USA Television Network, Universal Records, and Mifflin Press through Universal Pictures! ”

"I can compromise on price. ”

"But I prefer to have Blizzard!"

Jean Levy smiled wryly, "Mr. Walker, you must know that my job is very difficult now, and I have countless problems to solve. It doesn't hurt to tell you, I need to settle at least 20 billion euros of debt in the next two years, and I have to sell those entertainment assets in the United States. ”

Don smiled: "That's right, isn't Blizzard an American company? Isn't Blizzard an entertainment asset?"

Jean Levy choked up for a moment.

Don groaned slightly, lowering his voice, "Mr. Levi, you must have investigated my information in detail before I came. You should know me, if it is a pleasant cooperation, I will never let the partner suffer. ”

"Oh?"

"If the cooperation is pleasant......" Don pulled a long voice and looked at him deeply, "I will solve most of the debt pressure on you!"

Jean Levy's eyes lit up and he showed a somewhat incredulous expression.

Most of the debt?

The debt he urgently needs to repay is 20 billion euros, and Don wants to help solve most of it, at least 15 billion euros, right?

However, the current value of Universal Pictures is about 6 billion to 7 billion euros.

Jean Levy was also a wise and intelligent man.

I instantly understood what Don meant.

I couldn't help but gasp.

This young man, with great ambition and great appetite, is no less than Jean Messier, the former CEO of Vivendi, who has resigned!

Looking at Donne, who was sitting across from him and enjoying dinner calmly, Jean Levy had a very complicated heart.

Vivendi also has a number of Internet properties, including the eMusic website and the Intel website, a joint venture with Sony that sells records. Jean Levy said suddenly.

Donn laughed, "Simple, isn't Sony building the world's largest music group? They are interested in music, and these assets can be sold to them." They can't buy Universal Music because of the anti-monopoly law, but these music sites have no restrictions. ”

Jean Levy nodded slightly, silent.

After a long time, I changed the topic and stopped talking about business cooperation, but talked about the customs of France.

Don's heart was bright.

It's so much easier now!

Jean Lévi was not even a shareholder of Vivendi, but an external CEO of the board of directors. What he cares about most at the moment is to solve the debt crisis and secure the position of CEO.

With Donn's help, why not?

Please remember that the first domain name of this book is:. Nine Heavenly God Emperor mobile version reading website: