After returning from Globe, Ron Perelman had another closed door at Warner, because Warner CEO Terry Semel was already in trouble and simply didn't have time to deal with Ron Perelman.

With the successive box office explosions of many big-budget films, the total box office of the 14-week summer season in North America in 1994 is expected to exceed the $2 billion mark for the first time. In addition to the incomparably dazzling Firefly Pictures, Universal, Paramount and even MGM, which has been silent for many years, have all obtained a good 'harvest' in this summer file, but Warner, which was still firmly in the first position in the market share a few years ago, can only be described as dismal.

Although the western film "Gambler Ma Huali", which opened the summer season on May 20, has a good reputation, it was squeezed by blockbusters such as "The Mummy", "Saving Private Ryan" and "True Lies" in the later period, and the original box office expectation of 100 million US dollars was finally less than 60 million US dollars. Immediately after that, another hugely expensive western film "Law Enforcement Warrior" ended dismally with a total box office of $25 million, although the box office of "The Ultimate Witness" released at the end of July is expected to exceed the $100 million mark, but the cumulative box office of Time Warner is less than $200 million in the entire summer season, and the market share will fall below 10% for the first time in the past five years, and even the market share of the summer file will fall below 20% for the first time in the past five years.

In the face of such a serious performance decline, Terry Semeil, who had just sat on the CEO throne of Time Warner, instantly faced joint criticism from shareholders and the board of directors, and the competitors who lost the battle for the position of CEO of Time Warner also began to move. In this case, although Time Warner has enough strength to snatch Marvel from the Firefly, Terry Semele, who has become very cautious in order to keep his position, does not dare to mix with Marvel, a mess that requires hundreds of millions of dollars of real money to settle down.

Subsequently. Ron Perelman's request to meet with Paramount CEO Shirley Lansing also went unanswered. Three days passed quickly. While Ron Perelman was anxiously thinking about whether to return to his New York base camp to find support, or to test whether several major film companies with close ties to Firefly were interested in cooperating, a phone call from Viacom CEO Sommer Leishidong once again gave Ron Perelman hope.

Paramount headquarters on Melrose Boulevard, Hollywood.

Ron Perelman met with both Sommer Rayshidong and Paramount CEO Shirley Lansing in an office.

After the pleasantries, sitting down on the sofa in the reception area, Ron Perelman did not have time to make his prepared statement, and Sommer Leishidong said bluntly: "Ron, I have learned about the recent events in detail, and you want to get the position of director of the Firefly Group as a creditor." But it got into trouble because of Marvel's debt problems. Paramount can help you solve this problem, everyone takes what they need, what do you think?"

Ron Perelman, who was still a little ambitious, suddenly had a bad feeling in his heart, after the Firefly expressed his interest in Marvel, Ron Perelman had changed his original plan, wanting to rely on the two chips of creditors and Marvel owners, and at the same time obtain the dual identity of the director and shareholder of the Firefly Group.

But for now, it seems that these powerful potential 'collaborators' are only willing to give him a choice.

Sure enough, Summer's Reiston didn't wait for Ron Perelman to answer, and said again: "Paramount can buy Marvel." And take on all the debts of Marvel, and then you can go for what you want without any burden. What do you think?"

After two successive encounters, Ron Perelman has gradually come to terms with some facts.

Since he was able to build a billion-dollar net worth from scratch on Wall Street, Ron Perelman certainly does not lack the decisive side of successful people, and quickly weighed it, Ron Perelman found that giving up the burden of Marvel gave up the Firefly no bargaining chips to blackmail him, and with the support of the Firefly Creditors Alliance and Disney Animation Department, he still has a good chance of getting the position of Firefly director.

The board of directors of the No. 1 media group in North America and even the world and the major shareholder of a comic company on the verge of bankruptcy can be seen by almost a fool.

Ron Perelman quickly made a decision, saying, "Mr. Lei Shidong, I wonder how much Paramount intends to bid?"

Summer: "$100 million." ”

Ron Perelman almost jumped on the occasion of the offer.

A hundred million dollars, are you kidding?

When Ron Perelman bought Marvel six years ago, he spent 80 million, and in the past few years, in order to give investors the illusion of Marvel's rapid expansion in order to issue bonds, Marvel has successively acquired several animation companies and toy companies, and these expenses add up to far more than $100 million.

Although Marvel is now facing the dilemma of a continuous decline in stock prices and a debt crisis, the actual net asset value is still more than $100 million.

The price offered by Somer Leishidong was almost the same as a robbery.

Forcibly suppressing the urge to slam the door, Ron Perelman said in a trembling tone: "Mr. Lei Shidong, don't you think this price seems too insincere?"

Lei Shidong didn't seem to notice the change in Ron Perelman's expression, and still said with a strong attitude: "This price is very reasonable, although Marvel's current par value is indeed higher than this, but after Viacom bought Marvel, once Marvel does not show its due value, Viacom will have to bear more than $500 million in additional debt, which is a very risky deal." ”

Ron Perelman retorted: "Eric Williams has spent nearly $500 million in cash to get Marvel, doesn't that show the value of Marvel?"

Lei Shidong sneered: "I only know that once Firefly controls Marvel, then the debt financing you swallowed from Marvel will have to be spit out obediently, and you will also face an investigation by the SEC (Federal Securities and Exchange Commission)." Selling Marvel to Viacom, I can promise not to pursue this matter. ”

Ron Perelman fell silent, his worst concern was the incident. The SEC has the same 'bad problem' as the IRS. Once a company has been identified as having problems in a transaction. They will investigate all of the company's previous similar dealings. Since Andrews Holdings was able to use Marvel's methods to skillfully extract hundreds of millions of dollars, the inside story of those past transactions can be imagined. After all, without using these shady sideshows, Ron Perelman would not have been able to achieve his current rich net worth.

A few minutes later, Ron Perelman said, "I need to think about it. ”

Lei Shidong nodded and said, "Of course it's no problem, Viacom has enough patience, but your opponents are big companies like Firefly Group, Berkshire Hathaway, and State Street Global Funds." They won't give you much time. ”

Ron Perelman replied coldly: "I don't need to be reminded by Mr. Lei Shidong. ”

Leaving Paramount's office building, Ron Perelman felt a slight chill around him as he stood in the bright sunshine of Los Angeles on an August morning. He suddenly missed Wall Street in the 80s, when Dechong Securities was still in full swing, and hostile mergers and acquisitions were in full swing, and he could get inexhaustible funds to conquer the city by issuing junk bonds. But it all came to an abrupt end in the late '80s with a stock market crash, the collapse of Dechong Securities, the shrinkage of the junk bond market, and the abrupt end of his rapidly expanding career, even by the heads of the mega-corporations. Hearing his name has to be scrupulous, but now he has to be ignored or ridiculed by these hateful Hollywood landlords.

Reminiscing about the golden age of the past. Ron Perelman soon decided to return to New York and return to Wall Street. Maybe Wall Street is more greedy than these Hollywood landlords, but at least, it's his turf, his stage, and he can use the rules more skillfully.

Standing by the floor-to-ceiling windows of Paramount's office building and watching Ron Perelman leave in a hurry, Shirley Lansing couldn't help but ask Lei Shidong next to him: "Do you think he will sell Marvel to us?"

Lei Shidong looked at the luxury car downstairs and said, "It's hard to say, but if it can be taken down, it will play a very important role in Viacom's next development." ”

Shirley Lansing nodded slightly, Viacom had a meeting inside Marvel about Marvel.

Marvel's current structure is like a mini Disney, although it is very small, but the system includes all kinds of departments such as film, television, music, comics and toys that a comprehensive entertainment company needs. Of course, Viacom can't look down on Marvel Entertainment's completely unconventional film and television departments, what they need is still the superhero copyright in the hands of Marvel, but at the same time, there are toy companies in the hands of Marvel. Fireflies' Disney merchandise stores bring hundreds of millions of dollars in stable profits every year, which is very coveted by almost any Hollywood studio. Several other major studios have never stopped trying to enter the business, and Viacom is no exception, and since the acquisition of the Passcard video cassette chain, Viacom's top management has come up with the idea of using Blockbuster's retail distribution system to develop Paramount Pictures' movie merchandise.

But with the hardware conditions in place, Viacom found that Paramount didn't have many high-quality movies in his hands that could be used to develop peripherals, such as "Jurassic Park" and "Toy Story", which have made Fireflies a lot of money in recent years, and there are not any films that can be developed with a lot of peripherals.

So, when Marvel Entertainment was recently brought into Hollywood's sights with a series of topics surrounding Fireflies, Viacom's executives immediately saw the potential of Marvel. Marvel's popular comic book characters and toy companies can provide a wealth of content for Viacom's merchandise program, and if Marvel's superheroes can be used to develop several movie franchises that rival Warner's "Batman," then Viacom can easily connect the entire chain from movies to toy merchandise.

Lei Shidong stood silent for a while, and asked very suddenly, "Shirley, have you seen what that little guy has been doing lately?"

Shirley Lansing shook her head: "If it were me, I would definitely try to stabilize Disney's animation department and then deal with the pressure from creditors." Firefly has just merged with ABC and is still able to maintain a net profit of $657 million in the first half of the year. Looking at the next, most of the summer files, autumn TV drama schedules and movie New Year files are concentrated in the second half of the year, and the popular films in the summer files will also bring explosive revenue in the videotape and surrounding markets at the end of the year, and the profits of Firefly Group will be more lucrative in the second half of the year. With such confidence, Firefly now has no need to worry about the pressure of creditors as long as it stabilizes the Disney animation department, but Eric Williams doesn't do that at all, and it feels like ......"

Lei Shidong followed up with Shirley Lansing's words, "It's like he doesn't care about Disney's animation department at all, right?"

Shirley Lansing nodded: "Although we all know that Firefly originally planned to make Disney Animation switch to 3D animation production, after "The Lion King", I believe that as long as there is a little sanity, people will not continue to stick to the original strategy. ”

Lei Shidong said: "If only that little guy really didn't care, we could snatch the Disney animation department." ”

"I've had Peter try it, and I'm sure several others have tried poaching as well," Shirley Lansing replied, "but the guys in Disney's animation department don't seem to be jumping ship, and it's clear that Disney's platform is a better fit for them." ”

"And now, that little guy has suddenly pointed the finger at Marvel," Lei Shidong narrowed his eyes, and a thought suddenly occurred in his heart: "Shirley, why don't we make the boldest hypothesis ......"

Shirley Lansing looked at the old man beside her suspiciously.

Lei Shidong hesitated for a moment, then continued: "Assuming that little guy still doesn't care about the Disney animation department, what do you think he will do next?"

"It's a very unreasonable assumption, and no one in Hollywood doesn't care about an animation division that can produce a billion-dollar movie. Shirley Lansing subconsciously retorted, but then said: "If this is really the case, Firefly will probably give up on the transformation of Disney's animation department and directly cut the entire department." ”

Lei Shidong's narrowed eyes opened and said, "Shirley, contact the group's finance immediately, I want to know how much cash flow Viacom has available now." ”

Shirley Lansing instantly understood Lei Shidong's intentions, if that very unreasonable assumption just now came true, no matter what reason Firefly had to cut Disney's animation department, Viacom would have enough reasons to win it over at all costs, and a mature animation department would definitely play a far greater role in Viacom's peripheral plans than Marvel, a mess that has not yet shown any potential. (To be continued.) )