Three days after Catherine sent the email, she made a plan to buy "West Hollywood Media". Then she rushed over to report to Link in person.

Link was fine to see Morris coming with her, but he was a little surprised to see Snapton coming with him.

He led the person to the study, sat down and said with a smile, "Teresa has joined the program too?"

He remembered that she had been promoting wine in East Asia the other day.

Snapton said seriously, "Yes." I thought this would be a good opportunity to show you what I'm capable of in M&A operations. ”

Catherine pulled out a report and said, "Link, this is the M&A plan we did together. In fact, Teresa gave a lot of good advice on this matter. I think her participation in this project will play a very important role. ”

Link wasn't saying he didn't want them to work together.

He took the file and looked at it. A lot of it was the same as the last time he read the report, and he focused on the amount of the merger and acquisition plan they made.

In the plan, he also saw the disposal of the company's assets and the arrangement of personnel after the completion of the acquisition. It can be seen that the plan they have made is quite thoughtful.

He saw one of the questions, looked up and said, "In the investigative report you gave me earlier, I didn't mention that News Corp. was interested in them as well. ”

Catherine nodded and said, "So, that's what Teresa does." We hadn't looked into it before, and Teresa found out about it from some clues. And reminded me. ”

Link glanced at them and continued. He saw the bottom line on the price of the acquisition.

After reading it, he pondered for a while, then looked up again and said, "Will it be too expensive to use $150 million to acquire such a company?"

Catherine didn't answer, but looked at Snapton.

Snapton crossed Jiro's legs, seemingly confident. "Boss, the price we have to pay is only about $40 million," she said. The other 110 million is the company's liabilities. Your goal is to acquire the company wholly owned, so we have to take on the company's debts. ”

The tone of her words was not as arrogant as before: "And their debts due next year are only 20 million, and those due in three years are only 50 million." Everything else expires in the period of three to eight years. If we complete the acquisition, there will be sufficient time to turn around the company's bottom line and meet those debts. ”

"We can only compete with News Corp at a high price?" Link said with a frown. "If that's the case, we're going to lose tens of millions of dollars after the acquisition. What's the point of such an acquisition?"

"What's the point? This question needs to be considered from the purpose of the boss's acquisition of the media company. "Snapton seems to have seen through Link's purpose. "Boss, you should see the media as an integral part of your business landscape. Isn't it normal to pay a higher price?"

There aren't many opportunities to have a suitable acquisition target, and Link doesn't want to start from scratch in the media industry, so he has to pay a little more than others.

Link pursed his lips in consideration. Snapton continued: "Actually, compared to News Corp., our terms are more acceptable to the company. Because our plan will be a wholly-owned acquisition of the company. And News Corp only needs their news business. ”

That's why Link hesitated. In fact, the company's news business has been able to break even, while the loss has come in their cinema chain. In other words, their cinema chain does not lose much money, but the main debt is because of the long-term accumulation of this cinema chain.

If Link wants to buy the theater, he will have to bear this part of the debt. But he felt that buying the company at such a price was a bit of a loss: "Their company is worth less than $70 million!"

He put down the document and said, "If we buy it at the price you set, it means that we will lose 80 million before we start." ”

Snapton said, "But Link, market capitalization is just market capitalization, not its true value." Market capitalization is simply how much the market values it, and if you're going to buy it, consider its potential. Also, there's the point that you get it, which can't be measured entirely in terms of money. And that's just the highest price we recommend. It's not that we have to pay such a high price. You should trust our negotiating power. ”

Link hesitated for a moment and asked, "I know this is the bottom line you have drawn up, but what do you think is the lowest price you can pay for all their shares?"

He also knew that if he bought a company that was not yet cornered, he had to give the original owner a certain amount of sweetness. Therefore, usually the acquisition of a company requires a premium acquisition.

He just didn't want the premium to be too much.

"If all goes well, we hope to take it within 120 million, but that's less likely. Snapton told the truth. "Unless you don't want their theaters. But we have to compete with the news media under the same conditions, and the price we pay will be greater. Because News Corp.'s M&A conditions are attractive. ”

"But buying the cinema chain is the only advantage we have in the competition. If we don't want theaters, are you sure you can bear it?"

If the price is too great, it doesn't matter if he doesn't want a theater for the time being.

Catherine then said, "It's not very likely. The information we got was that News Corp. was only going to take a controlling stake, not a wholly owned acquisition like we did. ”

When he heard that News Corp. was only planning to take a controlling stake, he knew that unless he didn't plan to buy it, it would be impossible to complete the deal at a lower price.

He thought about it for a while, and finally said, "Okay, I agree to your plan!" But I hope you can complete this acquisition at the lowest possible price. ”

With all the business in mind after the acquisition, maybe he should have more confidence in them.

That's when Morris said, "Boss, you can rest assured, that's my job." I'll keep costs under control with Catherine. ”

After Link sent them away, he had to think about preparing some money for a potentially successful acquisition.

Although he agreed to their plan, they still need to contact the other party first, and wait until the other party is really willing to sell the company before they can actually enter the negotiation stage. Link didn't hear anything new about it for the next two days, and he didn't put too much pressure on them.

As we enter December, the winemaking work at Ozette Farms is also under pressure. Because it's getting colder.

And where Ozette is located, it can rain all year round. Once it rains, it can be half a day or even a whole day. The ground is warmer in winter than in many inland areas at the same latitude. But the temperature in the sky is also below zero. If the temperature continues to drop, snow will fall as soon as there is precipitation.

Albert had been working at Ozette for more than two weeks, and the wine he had planned to brew was finally complete. After finishing his work at Ozette, he was about to leave to attend the ISC's annual reception in London in a few days.

Link will go then, too.

In December, the ISC will host its annual cocktail reception in London. Previous wine competitions were also held at this time. However, wine competitions are now taking place in selected cities in September, while spirits competitions are still being held in London.

However, at the final gala, there will be a very important award to be awarded: the Winemaker of the Year Award. That's the biggest compliment for a winemaker.

As the owner of the most dazzling Blue Lagoon wines in this year's wine competition, Link was also invited. Link also intends to accept the invitation.

Albert wanted to go back to Italy for two days of rest, and Link arranged for his private jet to send him back.

After sending him away, Link was a little uneasy about the winemaking work, after all, Albert's Farm was only a little more than half of the grapes made, and now the only winemaker left. Will anyone else be able to make satisfying wine without his guidance? That's what worries him.

Now in charge of the winemaking is Robert Baggio. He had been on two other farms to put the finishing touches on the winemaking and had not arrived in Ozette until three days earlier.

Link arrives at the brewery. Seeing that the workshop was in order, he was also a little relieved. It seems that after the brewing of those two farms, Robert also has enough experience.

He found Robert busy near a press plant. He also has a winemaking program in Ozette. It was here that his dreams were brewed. This year he intends to brew more dreams.

"Boss!" Seeing Link, he explained a few words to his temporary assistant before walking towards Link. "What do you command?"

Link asked him, "Now that you're brewing, are you sure you're making the wine you've brewed before?"

Rob nodded: "Boss, you can rest assured that we now have a deeper understanding of winemaking. And knowing that Albert was leaving, we all communicated our winemaking ideas to Albert. Ask him to give us a review. And, we all have last year's winemaking notes. If there are no surprises, this year's wine will only be a little better than last year's same wine. ”

I heard that they had already received Albert's guidance in advance. Link let go of his heart and said, "That's good." I hope you all make even better wines than last year. You know, you have to make continuous progress to convince people of the quality of Blue Lagoon wines. ”

"We all get it. "Of course Robert understands. Most importantly, Link wanted them young winemakers to promise that they would have the power to name the wines they made with their own hands, and that they would put the winemaker's name on the label.

That's a great honor for those winemakers who have just come out of the academy. None of them wanted their name to be printed on a bad quality wine. So everyone is very motivated to make the perfect wine in their hearts.

In addition, the production of expensive wine is also related to their income. Link promises that they will get 0.6% of the sales of the wines they make. There is a large number of wines here, and if they can make hot wines, they will have a high income.

In fact, Link also wanted to motivate them in that way.

On his farm, a large number of winemakers are needed. That's the only way to give everyone the opportunity to be famous and earn a higher income. That allows them to be creative and makes it easier to retain these people.

He believes that growing together with talents is the best talent strategy.

If he wants to retain talent, he can see talent as his subordinates, but he has to make those subordinates feel that they have room to play. Otherwise, those who have been staying are people who do not have enough ability, and they are all mixed meals.

This is true not only for these winemakers, but also for everyone else.