"Ron, I'm a professional manager, not a capital player," Avi Arad pointed to the old office supplies in the conference room, and said: "Look at what you've done all these years, you just know how to squeeze any trace of residual value from Marvel without restraint, many people have left in the past few years, the company has no life, and it is still burdened with huge debts, if it continues, Marvel will definitely die, I'm just saving this company, isn't it?"

Ron Perelman's face was a little scornful, but he immediately retorted angrily: "But you should not betray me, if you have any opinions, you can consult with me." ”

Avi Arad almost burst out laughing when he heard Ron Perelman's words: "Ron, can't you really remember how many times I've 'consulted' with you almost as supplicantly?"

I don't know whether it was shame or embarrassment, Ron Perelman was angry and angry, and he emphasized again almost incoherently: "You...... Don't forget, I'm the owner of this company. ”

"Not right away," Avi Arad suddenly lost interest in talking to Ron Perelman, coldly dropping the sentence and walking out of the conference room as well.

More than half an hour later, Katzenberg, Avi Arad, Ron Perelman, and their respective lawyers gathered in another Marvel conference room.

As if he hadn't noticed Ron Perelman, who had become scrappy again after collecting his emotions, Katzenberg flipped through the thick stack of papers that he had improvised last night and said straight to the point: "Ron, now you have two choices. First. Settle privately. Andrews Holdings contributed a sum of money. Buying all the outstanding Marvel shares in the market at the current stock price, and then implementing a 100% debt-to-equity swap strategy and handing over Marvel to us, I personally think this is the best way to solve the current situation. ”

Hearing Ron Perelman's cold snort, Katzenberg didn't mind, and continued to say in a cold, formulaic tone: "So, second. We will apply to the SEC to investigate Andrews Holdings' embezzlement of Marvel's debt financing, and although this investigation and subsequent litigation will be protracted, no matter how long it drags on, if all the evidence is conclusive, you will still have to return all the debt financing that embezzled Marvel, in addition to facing a huge fine from the SEC, I assure you, without $1 billion, you don't want to know about this lawsuit and spend that $1 billion. I don't think you're far from bankruptcy. ”

A middle-aged man sitting next to Ron Perelman said, "Mr. Katzenberg, can I see that you are intimidating my client?"

Katzenberg glanced at Ron Perelman's lawyer. said with a smile: "You should know that I make movies, so don't use the common lines in movies to talk nonsense on this occasion, it will appear that you are very unprofessional." ”

The middle-aged man, who clearly had the basic cheekiness of a lawyer, did not mind Katzenberg's sarcasm, and insisted, "Mr. Katzenberg, you did not answer my question. ”

Katzenberg shrugged, "I'm not intimidating your client, I'm just stating a basic truth, and some determination on the part of the Firefly Syndicate. ”

Ron Perelman stopped the private lawyer who wanted to continue to say something, and said to Katzenberg: "Jeffrey, I won't choose either of these conditions, don't forget, Marvel's bankruptcy protection period is one month, as long as I can come up with a reasonable solution to the current matter within a month, Marvel is still mine, and no one wants to snatch it away." ”

"That's right, it's a month, but it's ......" Katzenberg said in a contemptuous tone: "You can't come up with any way to bring Marvel back to life, because the current Marvel is completely just an empty shell, except for the toy department that can barely operate, Marvel movies, empty shells, Marvel TV, empty shells, music departments, empty shells, and even the root of Marvel, the comic book department, was in charge of "X-Men" and "Fantastic Four" two years ago The seven main writers of the main popular comics have all left, and now they are no different from empty shells, Mr. Ron Perelman, tell me, how do you plan to bring Marvel back to life?"

Ron Perelman yelled at Katzenberg without hesitation: "Don't think I don't know, the Firefly Group doesn't care about what you say at all, what you really want is just Marvel's superhero copyright, I tell you, you will never succeed, I would rather sell Marvel to any third party for a dollar than give it to Firefly." ”

Katzenberg, who was already very hot-tempered, also raised his voice: "But you don't have the authority to sell Marvel dollars to a third party now, because the federal court will not allow you to do this kind of behavior that damages the interests of creditors, and even if you want to sell, you can only sell to Fireflies." ”

"Don't even think about it, I'm always the only one who snatches things from others, and no one can snatch things that belong to me. ”

"Do you think it's still the eighties, let's go to the lower city to take a look, Dechong Securities has long ceased to exist, no-exist-in-!"

“……”

“……”

The already very unfriendly meeting quickly erupted into a heated quarrel, and when the two sides were almost fist-to-fist, Avi Arad and the others who were onlookers came to their senses and hurriedly pulled Katzenberg and Ron Perelman apart.

Frantically dropping an entire office item, Ron Perelman finally calmed down and left Marvel headquarters with his lawyer and assistant without saying hello.

Eric, who was in Los Angeles, immediately learned the news of the conflict between the two from the phone call of Avi Arad, who was worried that things would change again because of this quarrel, but he was not too worried, if he wanted to take down Marvel by gentle means, Eric could have sent Frank Wells to take charge of this matter, but doing so would only make Ron Perelman an inch. Katzenberg's strong, irascible personality is just the right thing to restrain Ron Perelman's insatiable greed.

After the first negotiation broke up, Ron Perelman did not continue to contact with Firefly, but immediately flew to Los Angeles, trying to transfer the burden of Marvel to several major Hollywood studios again, but all eyes on Disney's animation department Hollywood still no one paid attention to Ron Perelman. Even Michael Eisner, who realized that it was impossible to get Panasonic's support to buy the animation division, did not mean to make a move, because he was also very sorry to realize that the Japanese would not support Universal because of the conflict between Marvel and Firefly.

Subsequently, Ron Perelman was still determined to test some companies interested in the entertainment industry. But most of the weaker companies don't want to provoke the capital represented by the first and second richest people in the United States at the same time. Companies with sufficient strength also realize that they need to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to solve Marvel's dilemma, but even if they grab Marvel and want to develop Marvel's movie rights, they still can't do without the support of Hollywood. And as Hollywood's biggest snake, Fireflies will definitely not let outsiders who have robbed their 'prey' have a good life, and in the end the gains outweigh the losses.

In desperation, Ron Perelman even came up with the idea of the Firefly long-term bond in his hand.

But in the end, it still didn't work, not to mention that Andrews Holdings' bond was only worth $400 million, which couldn't make up for Marvel's deficit at all, and realizing Ron Perelman's recent embarrassment, those investment companies interested in taking over the bond offered lower than one another, and the highest bid was also discounted, and it was a loss of $40 million in a few months, which was also difficult for Ron Perelman to accept.

More than a week went on, and the fireflies didn't seem to be urging at all, but Ron Perelman found himself at the end of his rope.

If the stalemate continues, and the bankruptcy protection period of one month still does not come up with any feasible corporate restructuring measures, Marvel will face forced bankruptcy liquidation.

Early in the morning of August 21, Avi Arad had just sat down in his office when he received a call from Ron Perelman, whose hoarse voice barely held on to the last bit of strength: "I don't want to see Jeffrey Katzenberg again, I want Eric Williams to talk to me in person." ”

……

*(To be continued.) )