The TV turned on, and Viacom's sudden press conference at its headquarters in New York was over. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Elizabeth switched channels several times in a row before she found a picture on CNN of Viacom co-president Tom Foreston squeezing away frantically questioning reporters and hurriedly fleeing the press conference.

Despite this, through the subsequent introduction of the CNN anchor, Eric quickly figured out the ins and outs of the matter

Just now, Tom Foreston announced that in order to further optimize the company's asset structure and avoid operational risks, Viacom plans to spin off the Blockbuster chain stores, whose operation cannot keep up with the company's overall development pace, from the group's business and establish a separate operating holding company. After the split, the shares of the Blockbuster chain will be listed and traded separately and will no longer intersect with Viacom.

Elizabeth sat on the head of the bed and listened with great interest to the debate between the two CNN anchors on this topic for a while, before she said to Eric beside her, "What do you do now?"

Theoretically, Viacom spun off Blockbuster, and the Firefly system's ban on Blockbuster no longer seems to have an impact on the entire Viacom Group.

But in reality, it is clear that this can only be wishful thinking on the part of some.

Eric grabbed Elizabeth's waist and said, "Breaking the tail to survive, it's a smart decision." It's just that Viacom seems to have made a mistake, they are not lizards that are preyed, and the fireflies are not the snakes chasing after them. So, this matter has nothing to do with nature's survival instinct. ”

Elizabeth leaned on him according to Eric's strength, fiddled with the remote control in her hand, and said: "But it works, Viacom Group is completely a publicly-owned company, except for the Lei Shidong family, there is basically no other major shareholder with a shareholding ratio of more than 5%, most of these investors will only make their own judgments based on the news of the open market, maybe Viacom's stock price will rebound next week." ”

"It's not that simple," Eric said, "Although Blockbuster is not doing well, as a large retail chain, its biggest advantage is that it can provide a large amount of cash flow for the parent company Viacom Group, which is also the main purpose of Lei Shidong's acquisition of Blockbuster." But it also meant that in order to successfully complete the split, Viacom would first have to sort out the complex financial relationship between the Blockbuster chain and other businesses, which alone would be enough for Viacom to keep busy for a month or two. ”

When Lei Shidong first launched the acquisition of Paramount, due to the lack of sufficient funds, he adopted a roundabout tactic, first annexing the Blockbuster chain, and then raising a large amount of money through the cash flow support and asset pledge of the Blockbuster chain, and finally completed the acquisition of Paramount.

Now, in order to split BesTV, Viacom must return the cash that has been continuously withdrawn from BesTV over the years and sort out the accounts, which is relatively easy to handle. After all, even after the split, whether it is Viacom or Blockbuster, the shareholders are basically the same, not to mention that the control of Viacom has always been in the hands of Lei Shidong.

However, once the split is completed, Viacom will no longer be able to enjoy the convenience of cash flow from the Blockbuster chain in the future.

But another problem is a little trickier.

That's the debt problem of the Blockbuster chain.

Lei Shidong mortgaged the assets of the Blockbuster chain in order to buy Paramount, and Viacom has been expanding rapidly over the years, and there is simply not enough money to pay off the debts left behind.

According to the financial data of Viacom Group that Eric saw some time ago, the current debt of the Blockbuster chain is still $2.6 billion, which is certainly not an exaggeration compared to the market value of the Blockbuster chain of more than $8 billion a few years ago. Even now, if diluted over the entire Viacom Group, the $2.6 billion debt is still not worth mentioning.

But if it were to be broken up, with Blockbuster now down to a valuation of less than $3 billion, $2.6 billion in debt almost gives the company a debt ratio of almost 100%.

And so the question arises.

How to solve the $2.6 billion debt.

All left to Blockbuster, Viacom Group will definitely agree in every possible way, but the debtor will definitely blow upside down, with the current operating situation of Blockbuster, who knows if this chain has the ability to repay the loan, in case of further mismanagement and bankruptcy, who will pay back the money?

But if it is all borne by Viacom Group, neither Lei Shidong nor other shareholders will be happy.

The final result can only be apportionment, but how to apportionment is destined to cause a stalemate tug-of-war.

Eric and Elizabeth were discussing this when their cell phone rang on the bedside table.

Seeing that it was Katzenberg calling, Eric answered casually.

After a brief conversation, Eric hung up.

Leaning over to eavesdrop on Eric's chest, Elizabeth waited for him to hang up the phone, and immediately said, "Carl Icahn?"

Eric nodded and said, "The other party wants to invite me to dinner at noon, go together?"

Elizabeth nodded, and said, "He wants to do something to Viacom?"

"It's obvious. ”

Among the famous corporate snipers on Wall Street, Carl Icahn is undoubtedly much more famous than Ron Perelman.

Ron Perelman's hostile takeovers are often only targets companies with a market value of less than $1 billion such as Revlon and Marvel, but Carl Icahn's hunting targets are often world-class corporate giants such as Global Airlines and Motorola, and the gap between the two sides is clear.

After the new millennium, the trend of mergers and acquisitions gradually cooled, and a number of famous corporate snipers on Wall Street, including Ron Perelman, gradually fell silent. But Carl Icahn has been very active, and Eric vaguely remembers that Carl Icahn later launched the acquisition of Lionsgate.

……

Soon after Viacom announced the news of the split of Blockbuster, without Eric's instructions, Yahoo Portal quickly put up a headline article, analyzing a series of thorny problems that Viacom faced in splitting Blockbuster, and pointed out that Viacom did this only to divert the attention of investors, and the split plan could not be implemented in the short term.

The media, which was not a big deal to see the excitement, also followed suit and joined in the heated discussion, with a generally bearish attitude towards Viacom's split.

Those who are familiar with the inside story know that the target of the Firefly system is the entire Viacom Group, and it is impossible to give up because of Lei Shidong's broken tail.

In addition, the creditors of the Blockbuster chain also quickly issued a statement saying that they would closely monitor the split plan of Viacom. Some vigilant creditors have even issued outspoken warnings, asking Viacom to take into account the interests of creditors and not to make unwise decisions.

New York.

Viacom Group headquarters at Rockefeller Center, Manhattan.

It's already afternoon on the East Coast.

Although it was Saturday, there were still a large number of employees at Viacom's headquarters.

Since last Monday, the entire Viacom Group has been in a restless atmosphere in the face of the sudden attack of the Firefly system.

Although it is impossible to get a glimpse of the ins and outs of the whole thing, most employees in the media industry can guess why Viacom is facing this dilemma.

Considering the last online gossip incident, Eric Williams's completely unsparing tough stance, and the subsequent silence of the entire Internet media circle, the complete shutdown of the 'Hollywood Gossip' website, and the forced departure of an important partner of Sequoia Capital, most Viacom employees expressed concern about the company's future.

Although they know that Viacom Group will definitely not collapse like the 'Hollywood Gossip' website, looking at the current chaos within the group, some people are even thinking about changing jobs. After all, if Eric Williams doesn't give up, even if he can't bring down Viacom, the company will definitely be devastated.

In fact, the Blockbuster chain is now broken.

Approaching the summer vacation, the peak season for videotape DVD sales, the industry's No. 1 home entertainment video chain has suddenly lost more than half of Hollywood's big movie company content support, and a series of popular films that should have been released on videotape DVD in the near future, such as "The Day After Tomorrow", "Breaking Bad 3", "Midnight Bell", "Mission Impossible 3", "Teddy Bear" and so on, will not appear on the shelves of the Blockbuster chain.

It is conceivable that Blockbuster's business situation in the next few months will definitely be very bleak.

And, despite abandoning the Blockbuster chain, the largest retail chain, the Firefly system doesn't actually lose much.

After all, whether it is a movie gallery, Hollywood video and other videotape DVD retail companies of the same type, or large supermarket chains such as Wal-Mart, they can provide sufficient terminal sales channels for the films of the Firefly system, and movie fans will basically not be troubled by the shortage of Blockbuster.

Even customers who are accustomed to renting and selling videotape DVDs at Blockbuster can easily buy the movies they want by going to other stores. On the contrary, the loss of this part of loyal customers will be a disaster for BesTV.

Within Viacom, after his public appearance on Monday, the hard-line Lei Shidong strictly forbade any senior management of the company to try to contact the Firefly system, and a posture of confrontation to the end.

However, looking at the continuous decline in the stock price for a week, as well as the continuous bearish feedback from various media after the morning press conference, the mood of Viacom's senior management gradually became more and more depressed. Then, when the news of Eric Williams' meeting with Wall Street corporate sniper Carl Icahn came from Los Angeles, several of Viacom's core executives could no longer sit still.

After some discussion, Tom Fraston, co-president of Viacom Group, who personally presided over the press conference in the morning, knocked on the door of Lei Shidong's office.

Although it was a weekend, Lei Shidong also did not rest.

After getting permission, Tom Foreston pushed the door open and entered, and saw Lei Shidong talking to the group's legal counsel, so he stood by and waited patiently for a while until the legal counsel left.

"Tom, sit down," Lei Shidong pointed to the sofa across from his desk, "I've heard the news." ”

Tom Fromton didn't know if Lei Shidong was talking about the meeting between Eric Williams and Carl Icahn, so he sat down on the sofa and said, "Somer, Williams is in contact with Carl Icahn, and it is likely that he will launch a hostile takeover of Viacom." ”

"I just discussed it with Fisher," Lei Shidong said with an equally heavy expression, "If Williams and Carl Icahn really join forces to do this, we can just file a complaint with the SEC to investigate the Firefly Group's malicious manipulation of Viacom's stock price." ”

"Williams won't let us get the evidence, and it doesn't mean much that he had a meal with Carl Icahn," Tom Foreston shook his head, hesitated, and said, "Summer, we can't go on like this, the company should settle with Williams as soon as possible." ”

Lei Shidong immediately sank his face: "You mean, let me, an old man, go and apologize to that little guy?"

"You are completely unaware of the last incident, Summer," Tom Fromton said, "and we'll take care of it as long as you agree." ”

"I'm not going to use the clumsy excuse of 'not knowing' to prevaricate people because it would make me look like a hypocritical politician. ”

"I understand, but we still have to face the situation," Tom Fromton said, "Now that Carl Icahn has been in contact with Williams, he must have entered the game by now, and as long as Carl Icahn gets more than 5% of Viacom's shares, he can call an extraordinary general meeting." Somer, you see, it's going to change the ownership structure of the company, and we don't have any strong resistance right now. Even if the SEC launches an investigation into Carl Icahn and Williams in the future, none of this will have anything to do with us. According to Carl Icahn's character, if he gets Viacom, he will definitely tear up your life's work. ”

Lei Shidong finally fell silent.

After a while, he spoke again: "Do you think that little guy will be willing to reconcile with us? Look at his methods against the 'Hollywood gossip' site, where all the employees of that company have been banned by him, and it is completely unsparing." ”

Tom Fromton clearly shared that concern, but he was quick to say, "But if we do nothing, it's only going to get worse." ”

Lei Shidong fell silent again, he was strong and aggressive, and he didn't mind the confrontation with the firefly system, even if he lost both.

But Eric's contact with Carl Icahn really made Lei Shidong worried.

Lei Shidong has always been very afraid of losing control of the Viacom Group, so although he is 76 years old this year, as long as someone intends to take away the power in his hands, even if it is his children, Lei Shidong will not hesitate to kick them away.

Because of these, in recent years, Lei Shidong has had a very tense relationship with almost all of his children.

After hesitating for a long time, Lei Shidong said: "Then, you call Los Angeles and let Shirley contact that side first." ”

Tom Frasden said: "I think it would be more sincere for me to fly over myself." ”

Lei Shidong frowned, and finally nodded in agreement.

……

A restaurant in Venice Beach had just dropped off Carl Icahn and got into the car with Eric, and Elizabeth couldn't wait to say, "MTV and Showtime, Carl Icahn is so generous and has completely captured your heart." ”

During lunch, Carl Icahn suggested that as long as Eric could continue to put pressure on Viacom, hit the company's stock price, and gain control of Viacom, he could split and sell the two major cable television stations owned by the Viacom Group to Firefly.

Obviously, the other party is very keenly aware that Eric has been focusing on expanding the cable TV business of the entire Firefly system in recent years, and the development momentum of the entire cable TV industry is also quite rapid, which will put forward such attractive conditions.

The four major film companies already owned by the Firefly system had a box office share of more than 70% in Hollywood last year, and the scale of profits was incomparable to the other three major film companies, so Eric's intention to continue to annex Paramount was not strong. As long as the four major film companies in their hands are well run, seize more box office and profits, and continue to squeeze the living space of other film companies, the Firefly system is destined to become the overlord of Hollywood, which is much stronger than swallowing the whole of Hollywood regardless of the good and the bad.

Therefore, for Viacom, the most exciting thing for Eric happens to be the cable TV assets such as MTV and Showtime.

Thinking so, Eric smiled and said, "If he doesn't hand over what I want most, how can he let the entire Firefly system help him build momentum, there are not a few stupid people on Wall Street, let alone Carl Icahn." ”

Elizabeth leaned over and put her arms around Eric affectionately, "So, what are you going to do? You know, if we really cooperate with Carl Icahn to snipe Viacom, we will definitely have a lawsuit in the future?"