Paris, Vivendi Headquarters Building, CEO's Office.

Behind the desk, in addition to Jean Bernard Levy, there is another young face - Donn Walker.

On the desk, there were two thick stacks of documents, each with seven or eight copies.

At the desk, there were two Vivendi staff, one fiddling with the camera, the other fiddling with the camera, looking very eager.

This simple scene will be the signing ceremony of a blockbuster deal!

On behalf of Don Pictures, Donn will merge Universal Pictures, Universal Music, Blizzard, USA Television Network, Houghton Mifflin and other related assets under the Vivendi Group!

Without a doubt, this is likely to be the biggest deal in the history of both companies!

But for Vivendi, it's not glamorous.

These assets to be sold are sunrise properties that Vivendi's former CEO, Jean Messier, spent a lot of money to buy.

But the result?

It didn't last for two years, and then it had to be resold to Americans at a low price.

Between buying and selling, Vivendi lost at least $10 billion!

There is no way, the situation is forced.

It was the era of the dot-com bubble, and Vivendi's stock price was staggering, with a market capitalization of $100 billion. In that case, Messier can of course buy at a premium and make big moves.

But now it's different, the dot-com bubble bursts, Vivendi is in debt crisis again, and its market value is only 10.1 billion euros, which simply can't afford to support such a huge media empire.

If Vivendi wants to survive, he can only sell his assets!

"Donn, I have a hunch. With Universal and Blizzard, you can reach unprecedented heights in Hollywood!" Jean Levy sighed, both self-deprecating helplessness and anticipation of Donn.

The reason why the deal was successfully completed was that at the last moment, Don took the initiative to take a step back.

This made Levy grateful and deeply in awe of Donn's persistence and determination.

Don said humbly: "Mr. Levy, I am honored to receive such a high evaluation from you. I wish us a healthy, stable and high-speed development in a new era of health, stability and rapid development after we complete this transaction. ”

"I hope so!"

Jean Levy sighed softly.

Compared to the vigorous Don Pictures, Vivendi's situation is too complicated.

Completing this large deal will not allow Vivendi to get out of bankruptcy. It will take many years of business and fiscal contraction before we can completely ease the situation.

At this time, the cameraman finally adjusted the equipment and said, "It's okay!"

Jean Levy nodded and gave Donn a deep look, "Then we ...... Just sign it. ”

Don smiled happily.

Under the camera, Jean Levy and Donne Walker shook hands intimately.

The deal was not glorious for Vivendi, so instead of holding a public and grand signing meeting, it adopted this secretive and low-key approach.

Don didn't care, he quickly signed his name in every contract.

Either way, you're done!

……

On August 28, a photo of Donne Walker and Jean Bernard Levy shaking hands at the signing table appeared on the front page of MSN.com!

At the same time, the MSN client also pushed related news - "A deal! Donn Walker, take the world home!"

A month ago, Donn went to Microsoft's headquarters and had a long conversation with Bill Gates, which not only solved the threat of QQ being hit by Microsoft's monopoly, but also promoted the cooperation between Donn Pictures and MSN.

Down Pictures will be the first to provide first-hand information to MSN, and MSN will increase its news coverage of Down Pictures.

The deal between Down Pictures and Vivendi has attracted great attention from the business and entertainment circles of the United States and France.

MSN was arguably the first media outlet to get the inside scoop.

However, MSN did not disclose the specific details of the acquisition.

Half an hour later, CNN TV suddenly interjected a bombshell news: "The latest news, Don Pictures and the French Vivendi Group reached an agreement to spend $16.1 billion to acquire Universal Pictures, Universal Music, USA Television Network, Horton Mifflin Publishing Company and other assets." This negotiation, which lasted for more than one month, has finally come to an end!"

Soon, Fox News also followed up with the news: "Down Pictures acquired Universal Pictures, Universal Music, USA Television Network, Blizzard Studios and other assets under Vivendi's entertainment division for $6 billion, all cash, and assumed $10.3 billion in debt, with a total transaction amount of up to $16.3 billion!"

NBC News also gave a similar statement, saying that Don Walker went to France to complete the "spectacular" merger deal. Towne Pictures wanted to keep the price below $16 billion, but in case of long nights, Towne and Vivendi's chairman of the board, Jean Furtu, backed down after a phone call. It is reported that the total transaction value of this merger may reach 16.2 billion US dollars!

The statements given by several major current affairs news stations are similar, but there are slight differences in the specific acquisition amount.

At 10:30 a.m. that day, Vivendi held a grand press conference, which was attended by almost all the major French media, and even well-known media such as CNN, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal in the United States.

At the press conference, Vivendi made the most authoritative statement: In this transaction, Towne Pictures will pay a total of $5.9 billion in cash, and assume the entire $10.3 billion debt of the entertainment division.

In other words, through this transaction, Vivendi successfully transferred the debts of Canal+ and Gaomeng Pictures to Tangen Pictures.

This way of operation has an advantage: the less cash you trade, the less tax you pay.

The acquisition by increasing debt and reducing cash will benefit Vivendi's finances.

It didn't hurt Downe Pictures either.

However, according to the Los Angeles Times, "Donn believes that $10.3 billion in debt is too high, and that he will have to pay $600 million to $700 million a year in interest alone." Although Towne Pictures gave Vivendi $5.9 billion in cash, its cash flow is still sufficient. Don will give another $2.3 billion to the banks to bring the debt down to less than $8 billion. ”

However, for this high-profile big deal, Down Pictures was unusually calm, and only announced a specious news: "Down Pictures will move to a new headquarters park within a week." On September 5th, a press conference will be held in the press conference center of the new headquarters park!"

Either way, Donn succeeded!

Houghton Mifflin Publishing, Universal Pictures, Universal Music, Blizzard Studios, USA Television Network, ...... These American assets have finally returned to the bosom of the United States!

The whole country celebrates!

……

After a busy summer, the deal was finally struck.

$16.2 billion!

It's a little more than Donn's psychological expectation of $15.6 billion, but it doesn't matter.

As long as you take over assets such as Universal Pictures, Blizzard, and Universal Music.

He has yet to explain the deal to the public, mainly because the deal is not yet complete.

Now, it's just two companies, Don Pictures and Vivendi, that have reached an agreement.

It is also necessary for the judicial authorities and securities regulatory authorities in France and the United States to review the transaction and investigate whether there are non-compliant operations such as related party transactions, insider trading, and monopoly transactions.

All in all, it's not a big problem!

The French government is desperate for Vivendi to resolve the crisis, and the U.S. government is desperate for the return of century-old labels such as "Universal" and "Houghton Mifflin".

It is initially expected that within this week, the transaction will be officially approved.

"Don, we're going to be under a lot of pressure to keep our debt below $8 billion. "Bill McNick has a bitter melon face.

Before the acquisition of Universal, the cash flow of Down Pictures was comparable to that of a bank!

This made Bill McNick's life very laid-back.

Counting the $7 billion injected by Don last year, last year's net profit of $1 billion, and the profit of $1.6 billion in the first three quarters of this year, the cash flow of Down Pictures exceeded $9.6 billion!

This is still on the premise that Donn has successively acquired Dolby Laboratories, IMAX, and Pixar, as well as invested in film and television works such as "Ant-Man" and "Harry Potter 2".

But now it's over, $5.9 billion was paid to Vivendi, and another $200 million will be given to Michael Ovitz and three investment banks, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Lehman Brothers, as advisory fees for mergers and acquisitions.

Now, Donn has $2.3 billion to pay off his debt, bringing it below $8 billion.

In other words, there will only be $1.3 billion in cash flow left on the accounts of Down Pictures.

Tang En said lightly: "The annual interest must be kept down to 500 million US dollars, and I don't want to hand over all my hard-earned money to the bank." ”

Bill McNick was embarrassed: "But "Ghost Rider", "The Day After Tomorrow", "Mad Max 4", and "The Walking Dead" all have to start filming, and at least $500 million is needed. In addition to some reality shows and TV series, 100 million US dollars need to be set aside. And after the merger is completed, the company will definitely have to be restructured on a large scale, and this restructuring cost ...... No less than $200 million. ”

Don smiled disapprovingly, "Isn't there still $550 million on Universal Pictures' books? USA has $170 million on its books and Universal Music has $88 million on its books." Blizzard and Mifflin Press have relatively little cash flow, but these two companies do not need to be restructured. ”

The negotiations were friendly, so Vivendi didn't leave Donn with a mess.

Normally, in order to avoid taxes, Vivendi will withdraw the book funds of these subsidiaries and then complete a cash transaction with Down Pictures at a lower price.

This is in Vivendi's interest.

However, the cash flow of subsidiaries can lead to temporary financial difficulties and even panic in these companies.

Don didn't want that.

That's why Don spent more money than expected on this deal.

It was to make up for Vivendi's losses in terms of taxes.

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