"I've seen some of your Netflix stuff before. Sid spoke again, "In short, Netflix's current main business is to provide DVD rental business to domestic subscribers through website browsing and express mailing. ”

"Yes, that's it. Reed Hastings nodded.

Sid touched his chin, "So, I have some questions I want to ask first." ”

Reed Hastings immediately made a gesture of please, and then Sid nodded and said, "The first thing I want to ask is, as a DVD rental website, the most important thing is the source of the film. How many movies does Netflix have available to users right now?"

"More than 60,000 copies. ”

"OK, I see. Sid nodded calmly, not reacting to Reed Hastings' answer, which made him a little uneasy.

Sid then asked, "Secondly, how many Netflix subscribers do you have right now?"

"127,000 people. ”

Sid: "As far as I know, although the sales of movie DVDs have grown rapidly in the past two years, flix belongs to the downstream merchants of DVD hardware and software, so is Netflix profitable now?"

It's a lethal question, because profitability determines a start-up's situation so much, and while it's a bit hard to talk about, Reed Hastings says, "Here's the thing. ”

Netflix was founded in 1998, and the reason for the company's creation was indeed that the founder, Reed Hastings, was angry at Blockbuster's sky-high fines and created Netflix.

But first of all, it needs to be clear that DVD is a disc specification that was first proposed in 1994, and it was specifically designed as a successor to CD and VCD. And in early 1996, the first DVD prototype appeared.

Therefore, when Netflix was founded, DVDs and their players had only been born for two years, and even today in 01, DVDs, which have just been born for five years, are not high in popularity, whether it is a player or a DVD disc.

What's more, the price of DVD players is also very expensive, and at this time, the computer configuration is still dominated by CD-ROM drives, and the configuration of DVD drives has not become widely popular.

In this way, the audience of DVDs becomes quite narrow.

It is precisely because of the influence of various negative factors that Netflix's performance has been showing negative growth since the end of last year. Coupled with the Nasdaq Internet bubble that burst in March last year, Netflix was inevitably greatly impacted.

By the beginning of this year, Netflix had its first three-month loss.

It was in this context that Sid approached Reed, the founder of Netflix, to propose an acquisition.

Overall, Reed was not averse to the acquisition proposed by Sid.

On the contrary, when small and medium-sized enterprises in Silicon Valley are struggling to survive under the cold wind of the bursting of the dot-com bubble, investors like Fire Lion with abundant funds and library resources are definitely welcomed by him.

"So, how serious is Netflix's loss?" Sid continued, and the next question was not new, but more about the situation at Netflix.

After asking these regular questions, Sid added, "I remember, you wanted to propose a merger to Blockbuster last year, right?"

"Yes. Reed nodded, he didn't shy away from that.

Although Reed first founded Netflix because he was dissatisfied with Blockbuster's lease fines, when he entered the real commercial market, his first thought was to cooperate with Blockbuster, the giant of the current brick-and-mortar rental industry.

So he made an offer to Blockbuster to sell 49% of his original shares for $50 million, but Netflix, which had no influence at this time, was directly ridiculed by Blockbuster and ignored it.

"It seems that Somer Lei Shidong is really an old guy who is about to become a fossil. Sid said in a faintly mocking tone.

The Blockbuster chain is owned by Summer's Viacom, one of the most important assets at this stage.

"Hehe......" Sid dared to say this, but Reed didn't dare to answer it.

Reed wanted to cooperate with Blockbuster at that time, partly because of Blockbuster's undisputed supremacy in the video rental industry, and partly because the Viacom Group behind Blockbuster, as one of the seven largest Hollywood companies, certainly has a large number of film libraries and programs.

If Netflix could join Viacom, it would save a lot of money on the purchase of the copyright library. Even after the success of Netflix "historically", its profitability has not been high, hovering around tens of millions of dollars for a long time, which is inconsistent with their influence in the global online film and television industry.

One of the most important reasons is that a large amount of revenue has been eaten up by the fast-growing cost of library rights purchases, and even the cost of rights purchases has increased for several years, outpacing the growth rate of subscribers, leaving Neflix with negative profits.

"And what is your offer now?" After nearly two hours of talking, Sid finally asked the most important question.

"$45 million, selling 49% of Netflix's original shares. Reed Hastings made his latest offer, and his palms were sweating.

The offer was $5 million lower than his offer to Blockbuster last year, which is related to the company's unfavorable situation in recent months.

"No problem at the price. Sid quickly nodded and said that such an acquisition of less than $50 million is really not a problem for the Fire Lion Group.

Sid's answer couldn't help but make Reid Hastings secretly clench his fist, and Netflix's losses for several months have already made many joint shareholders dissatisfied.

The fire lion's shareholding at this time can be described as timely rain.

And whether it is the massive resources of more than 6,000 "junk movies" just acquired by Fire Lion Pictures, or a series of popular reality shows, movies, and American dramas under Fire Lion itself, they can be regarded as Hollywood's high-quality resources with both quantity and quality.

Although of course, it is necessary to pay the copyright fees of films, dramas, and programs to different sub-departments according to the price in the industry, but it is still quite surprising that Reed Hastings can get such a large amount of resources at once.

This is one of the real reasons why he wanted to join Blockbuster last year.

"Thank you. Reed Hastings immediately thanked.

"Nothing, then, from today onwards, Netflix is also part of the Fire Lion. Sid said with a smile.

"Also, regarding the formal acquisition...... Sid said, looking at Shirley.

Shirley nodded and said, "We can complete the relevant formalities and contracts in about a week." ”

"Good. Sid nodded, then turned to look at Reed Hastings and held out his hand: "Then I'm looking forward to Netflix joining the Fire Lion." ”

"Me too, thank you so much for investing in Netflix. Reed Hastings took Sid's hand and said solemnly.