The nineties are the best period of opportunity for any company aspiring to the world market.

As the world's most important market, most European economies have been in a period of transition since the 80s, with the exception of a few countries such as Germany, which are particularly typical of the United Kingdom.

The once invincible empire of the sun never set had a brief recovery after the war, but when it came to the Iron Lady, it fell to a low point, not only did the huge colony that had been painstakingly built for hundreds of years completely fall apart, but the once invincible Royal Navy was stripped of its last layer of glory in the battle for the Falklands with Argentina, the small overlord of South America, just like the British economy.

And in the past 92 years, this country has also been sniped by international fast money, which has caused the British national economy to suffer another heavy blow, and now is the best time to buy the bottom.

learned from Ye Weixin that Polygram finally nodded, all of its UCT cinema chains are no longer for sale, but have become commodities on the table that can be offered by anyone, where can Lin Xiaozhi hold back, and the next day he gave the crew a three-day vacation, and he flew straight to the UK with Ye Weixin, ready to talk to Polygram about the acquisition of UCT.

In the past few years, Media Asia's films released in the UK have brought an average of nearly $15 to 6 million a year to Odeon, which is not a small amount, almost more than one-third of the annual net profit before Odeon cooperated with Media Asia.

Although Lin Xiaozhi chose to make a profit in order to get a ticket to enter the European theater, but now that Media Asia has a lot of popularity in Europe and the United States, he is a little reluctant to continue to give away the profits to others.

The key is that Odeon is stuck in Media Asia's UK release channel, and whenever the two sides negotiate for the release of a new movie, Media Asia has to give up some of the profits in order to get more resources, otherwise people obviously have American blockbusters waiting to be released, but Media Asia is not the only choice.

Lin Xiaozhi himself is operating cinema chains in Hong Kong, mainland China and Japan, so he naturally knows the importance of channels in hand. So since a long time ago, he has been planning to buy a cinema chain belonging to Media Asia in Europe and the United States.

The current president of PolyGram is Anderson Maersk, who is said to be a Swede in his fifties. Obviously, although there is already a plan to choose a high price to sell its UCT cinema line, but the consistent arrogance of white people makes it obvious that the Swede does not put Media Asia and Polygram in the same position, Lin Xiaozhi went to London to negotiate with Polygram about the acquisition of UCT, but the other party only sent a vice president to meet with him.

On February 25, at an inconspicuous four-star hotel in London's West End, Lin Xiaozhi arrived at the agreed place five minutes earlier than the agreed meeting time, only to find that he was still a little late. When he and his group arrived at the destination, Anthony, the vice president of Polygram, who had made an appointment to meet them, arrived at the destination early, and seeing the half-empty black teapot in front of him, it was obvious that they had been arriving for a while.

"Mr. Anthony, keep you waiting!"

Although he was a little dissatisfied with Polygram's arrogance, Lin Xiaozhi didn't show it. He admits that PolyGram does have arrogant qualifications, and more than one-third of the world's top musicians, orchestras and groups are included in the largest record label in Europe and even in the world. Compared with only his Media Asia Film Group, the two sides are indeed one level apart.

"Mr. Lin, please take a seat, I just came a little earlier!" Anthony suddenly came out with a stiff Cantonese, which made Lin Xiaozhi and the others stunned.

Seeing this, he smiled proudly, "Hong Kong is a beautiful place, Mr. Lin must not know that I was the first general manager of PolyGram's Hong Kong branch!" ”

Lin Xiaozhi suddenly realized that he was a little annoyed when he learned that Maersk had only sent a vice president to negotiate with him, and he forgot to ask people to inquire about the opponent who was about to meet him. Now it seems that the Swede is arrogant and arrogant, but at least he did not mean to fool Lenya.

Although he showed a little humor at first, as an Englishman, Lin Xiaozhi's idea of being ready to make a little small talk to bring them closer to each other quickly fell through.

After asking the guy who didn't know whether it was a deputy or a secretary to pour a cup of black tea for himself and the others, Anthony quickly went straight to the topic, only to see that he restrained the smile on his face, stared at Lin Xiaozhi seriously and asked, "Please forgive me, Mr. Lin." Your sudden offer to PolyGram to acquire our subsidiary, UCT Cinemas Holdings Limited, is not for sale to PolyGram, but it is also an important part of PolyGram's diversification, please give me a reason to sell, otherwise I will not be able to convince the board of directors! ”

Lin Xiaozhi almost didn't laugh out loud, he suddenly remembered the British people's evaluation of Polygram that he had read in a newspaper two years ago when the British were discussing the release of a new film - 'dressed in the garb of a British company, but there are only two people sitting on the board of directors of their (referring to Polygram), one is the German Junkers and the other is the Dutch coachman'!

Although Siemens has sold most of its shares in PolyGram to Philips in the past few years, and even in recent years, in the process of acquiring some record companies, PolyGram has resold some shares to its original holders, it is still its two major shareholders - Philips and Siemens - that can determine PolyGram's will. So his excuse to convince the board was nothing more than a joke.

Fortunately, although Lin Xiaozhi knew this, he would not poke it out and make people unhappy, he looked at Anthony aggressively, until he looked a little unhappy at this Englishman, and then said pointedly: "In recent years, hasn't your company confirmed that your diversification is not working?" In that case, why not focus on your main business? As far as I know, whether it is Bertelsmann, Sony Columbia, or Universal Music (this Universal is not Universal, but Universal Pictures' record company) have been poaching PolyGram frequently in the past two years! ”

Anthony's face suddenly sank, and the iron was extremely ugly.

Lin Xiaozhi couldn't help but smile in his heart, motioned to his assistant to ask for some milk, poured it into a black teacup and stirred it gently.

The reason why he thinks that he can snatch food from the claws of the record giant - PolyGram and successfully acquire UCT Cinemas is entirely because he is reborn and understands the hidden dangers of Polygram now. Like most Chinese companies in the future, Polygram Records today has fallen into the trap of blind expansion and diversification.

After the economic crisis that swept the world in the mid-80s, the global record market began to decline, and PolyGram's record profits not only stopped growing, but even declined. In stark contrast, the film industry's annual contribution to profits is gradually rising, and American blockbusters are plundering Europe, plundering billions of dollars from Europe every year.

The Americans are happy, the Europeans are not. During this period, many countries, including Britain, France, Germany and other countries, began to encourage and support their own films, although due to the loss of a large number of outstanding artists and directors in Europe over the years, the effect has not yet been revealed.

Around 1990, PolyGram's top management also proposed a new business strategy that would hurt PolyGram a few years later, first establishing PolyGram International Film Company, and then planning to invest in it within five years.4 A huge amount of 2.7 billion pounds was spent on making films, and it entered the film market in a big way.

This cross-industry business strategy has made many analysts in later generations think that the heads of Polygram Records' top management at that time can only be described as being caught by the door, not to mention that interlacing is like crossing the sea, and Polygram has no experience in filming at all. If it is more stable, invest less money to make a few small costs and slowly accumulate some experience, relying on Polygram's strong strength and influence, it may not be able to carry the banner of supporting European local films.

No matter how bad it is, or simply directly investing in the acquisition of a relatively mature American film company to intervene in this industry, it is categorically impossible to create a tragic legend in history of losing at least 200 million yuan a year.

"I don't blame Polygram for being too ambitious, I can only blame European movies for being too clumsy!"

Lin Xiaozhi actually knows very well that behind this, Polygram can't be blamed for being too ambitious. Although PolyGram's business strategy is too much to achieve, the current European film literary atmosphere is too heavy, and the commercial elements are seriously insufficient, especially some British, German, and French directors who are focused on investment by Polygram Records, so that they are first-class masters in shooting literary films, and making commercial films is simply like the five generations of directors in the later republic, who can only entertain themselves or say that no one can understand in a few years. In the end, even the domestic audience who bought tickets to watch the movie in the spirit of supporting domestic movies had to scold themselves for how stupid they were, so they repeatedly supported these jokes.

Moreover, the European box office is the most favored overseas market for American blockbusters, and if the local film industry wants to rise, it must also see whether the old American film giants are willing to do so. You make a nondescript commercial film ready to be released, okay, let's put out a few wonderful big cast movies on the same schedule to see who the audience chooses!

The failure of diversification into the film industry led to PolyGram's annual losses in its final years. Coupled with the fact that the record industry began to decline with the birth of digital products, look at the fate of PolyGram, which dominated the world record market for more than two decades since its inception, and was finally sold by Philips to the Canadian Seagram Group in 1998, merging with Universal Pictures' Universal Records to form a tragic history.

According to the news obtained by Lin Xiaozhi, Polygram International Film Company has invested in a number of films in Europe in recent years, among which the most famous one is "The Biography of Columbus", which was co-produced with American film companies. The total investment of this film is more than 70 million US dollars, and it is another expense if you count the publicity expenses, but the total box office is a joke, and PolyGram International Film Company has lost to her grandmother's family for it, and she has not been ridiculed by the media.

Lin Xiaozhi's 'kind' reminder pointed directly at PolyGram's scar, so that Anthony's face changed gloomily for a while before he could barely suppress the unhappiness in his heart, and replied arrogantly: "Polygram is strong, even if it suffers a short-term setback, it will not affect our business strategy." Your Excellency, although your Media Asia Film Group has made achievements in Europe and the United States in recent years, it has to face the competition between American films and European local films, and life is not easy! ”

This is a standard dead duck with a hard mouth, Lin Xiaozhi can naturally hear it, but he didn't refute it when he smiled, he was just about to make an offer, but he didn't want Anthony to pause for a moment and then speak again, and a mouth startled him.

"UCT is something we won't sell easily, but that doesn't affect the cooperation between the two of us. Mr. Lin may not know that when the board of directors approved my contact with you, it also asked me to bring a sentence, we Polygram is interested in acquiring your Media Asia, what does Mr. Lin think? ”

Yes, I have been thinking about the meat in other people's pockets, but I didn't expect to be remembered by others.

Lin Xiaozhi was taken aback at first when he heard this, but he quickly calmed down when he thought about it.

Polygram has the strength to acquire his Media Asia Film Group, which Lin Xiaozhi never doubts, but his Media Asia is not a soft persimmon, whoever wants to eat it can eat it.

It is actually very easy to count the situation of Media Asia, because Media Asia is a listed company, even if it is far away in Hong Kong, most of its data is also published, and those who are interested can get it with just a little inquiry.

After more than two years of development since its listing, Media Asia Film Group is far from being comparable at the beginning of its listing, and has become a giant in the Hong Kong stock market.

Last year, with the help of "League of Assassins", it swept the world by nearly 3. With a box office of US$700 million, the share price of Media Asia has continued to rise for many days, coupled with the fact that some buildings of Shenzhen Cinema have been completed and can be put into use, the location shooting of many film and television companies such as Media Asia, ATV, and Yongsheng has begun to turn to shooting in Shenzhen Cinema, and the emergence of Media Asia SVCD has made the film more SVCD disc, a new profit channel, and the overall market value of Media Asia Group has risen to more than 30 billion Hong Kong dollars. Even though the market value of the British government in Hong Kong fell below 30 billion again after the signing of the agreement with the United States at the beginning of this year, the market value has been fluctuating back and forth between 28 billion and 30 billion now.

Just from the books, it is clear that PolyGram wants to bypass him, the major shareholder, to absorb shares from the stock market to complete the acquisition of Media Asia Film Group, and must invest at least $1.5 billion, which is still the data he does not give to mess with.

Of course, the stock price still has some moisture, and the reason why the stock price has been able to soar again and again in the past few years since the listing of Media Asia is because the twenty or thirty films shot by the group every year can bring more than one billion Hong Kong dollars in profits to the group almost every year, so it can be sought after by Hong Kong shares and some investment institutions.

However, although the true value of Media Asia is not as good as that of Columbia Films, which was acquired by the tycoon Sony for a sky-high price of $6 billion a few years ago, the mainstream appraisal agencies in Hong Kong have set valuations ranging from $3 billion to $3.5 billion for it, considering the abundant liquidity of nearly $400 million held by Media Asia, and because it rarely co-produces films with other companies, and the profits are all taken by itself.

Is Polygram willing to pay such a large sum of money?

Lin Xiaozhi thinks that it is unlikely, looking at the past Polygram acquisition cases, two or three acquisitions of more than 100 million US dollars, PolyGram's board of directors are reluctant to use cash to acquire, although they also paid most of the cash, but there is still a part of it is converted into Polygram shares, which shows that although people have a big business, they will never be easy to do that wrong.

The emergence of PolyGram International Film Company is an example, as the hegemon of the world record industry, although PolyGram's strength is far from being comparable with Sony, which has already shown the atmosphere of a consortium, but if it really wants to diversify its business and start to get involved in making movies, it may not be impossible to win an American film giant company. But it was reluctant to pay that money, so it tossed and tossed and tossed a lot of money, not to mention that it had not seen a profit in any year!

After analyzing it in his heart, Lin Xiaozhi suddenly had a score, and regardless of the red and white changes on the faces of the few Media Asia personnel who came over with him, he still looked at Anthony with a smile and shrugged his shoulders freehand: "I admit that Polygram has the strength to acquire Media Asia, but with the current profitability and market value of Media Asia, your senior management will definitely not be able to offer a price that satisfies me." ”

Anthony's eyes flickered, obviously he had studied Media, but after hearing this, he was still aggressive: "Eight hundred million dollars, buy the shares in your hands and your family?" ”

Lin Xiaozhi smiled, although he has released a lot of Media Asia shares after the listing, but so far he, his two wives and the Lin family's family investment fund still hold more than 40% of the shares of Media Asia, which is enough to ensure that anyone who wants to absorb a large amount of money from the stock market will not be able to complete the purpose of acquiring Media Asia, because as long as there is a little wind and grass, he will definitely hold more than 51% of the shares faster than the other party.

Whether Anthony's words are true or not, it is clear that in the eyes of PolyGram's top management, the true value of Media Asia is at most $2 billion, which is much lower than its current market value. Although there may be no lack of intention to negotiate with the price, Lin Xiaozhi has no intention of continuing to rub on this topic with him.

At that moment, he shook his head, "If the offer is less than three billion dollars, you don't need to talk to me about the acquisition again, remember, I will only accept cash and never want Polygram shares!" Media Asia is a cinematic empire that I have built single-handedly, and although it is not priceless in my heart, it is by no means less valuable than Colombia. So unless Philips makes a move, there is nothing to talk about this acquisition. Well, now that PolyGram has already quoted the price, why not also listen to our quote for UTC! ”

Listen to him for three billion dollars with a mouth, and it's still cash. Anthony immediately understood that there was really no need to talk about this topic anymore, and Lin Xiaozhi's attitude was very resolute, as he said, he regarded Media Asia as no less than Colombia. Although Anthony inquired and knew that Media Asia had been in the limelight in the past few years, and there was a faint momentum of the largest film company outside the Big Five in the United States, the white man's consistent sense of superiority over the yellow race still made him scoff at it.

The successive failures of PolyGram International Film Company in the past two years have indeed made the top management of the record company, especially the board of directors, quite dissatisfied, and they do have the intention of acquiring a more dynamic and powerful mature film company.

Two years ago, Sony spent $6 billion to acquire Colombia, which shook the world, making the American people dissatisfied and raising the value of the American Big Five. They had previously approached MGM, which was the most likely to be sold, and they offered $7 billion in a single price, simply trying to kill them as the second wronged boss after Sony. However, this is the only one of the big five that has the intention of selling, and other small and medium-sized film companies in the United States are not eye-catching.

It was at MGM's place that PolyGram's top brass took notice of what is now the most successful non-American film company in the world when Media Asia offered to buy UTC. Unfortunately, although PolyGram has the intention to buy Media Asia, it is generally believed that its market value is too high, and the estimated price given is not even as good as its current share price. Although he felt that this matter was probably not to be talked about from the beginning, Anthony did his best, at least now he knows Lin Xiaozhi's attitude.

At that moment, he picked up the black teacup in front of him, which was already a little cold, and took a sip lightly, but his gaze never took away from Lin Xiaozhi's body.

Seeing this, Lin Xiaozhi knew that he was waiting for his offer to UTC.

He stretched out three fingers and said loudly: "Cash, 300 million pounds, wholly acquired all of UTC's cinema chains in the UK, as well as its 11 cinema shares in Spain and France!" ”

Anthony's eyes suddenly flickered even more! Two billion dollars, well below its current market capitalization. Although there may be no lack of intention to negotiate with the price, Lin Xiaozhi has no intention of continuing to rub on this topic with him.

At that moment, he shook his head, "If the offer is less than three billion dollars, you don't need to talk to me about the acquisition again, remember, I will only accept cash and never want Polygram shares!" Media Asia is a cinematic empire that I have built single-handedly, and although it is not priceless in my heart, it is by no means less valuable than Colombia. So unless Philips makes a move, there is nothing to talk about this acquisition. Well, now that PolyGram has already quoted the price, why not also listen to our quote for UTC! ”

Listen to him for three billion dollars with a mouth, and it's still cash. Anthony immediately understood that there was really no need to talk about this topic anymore, and Lin Xiaozhi's attitude was very resolute, as he said, he regarded Media Asia as no less than Colombia. Although Anthony inquired and knew that Media Asia had been in the limelight in the past few years, and there was a faint momentum of the largest film company outside the Big Five in the United States, the white man's consistent sense of superiority over the yellow race still made him scoff at it.

The successive failures of PolyGram International Film Company in the past two years have indeed made the top management of the record company, especially the board of directors, quite dissatisfied, and they do have the intention of acquiring a more dynamic and powerful mature film company.

Two years ago, Sony spent $6 billion to acquire Colombia, which shook the world, making the American people dissatisfied and raising the value of the American Big Five. They had previously approached MGM, which was the most likely to be sold, and they offered $7 billion in a single price, simply trying to kill them as the second wronged boss after Sony. However, this is the only one of the big five that has the intention of selling, and other small and medium-sized film companies in the United States are not eye-catching.

It was at MGM's place that PolyGram's top brass took notice of what is now the most successful non-American film company in the world when Media Asia offered to buy UTC. Unfortunately, although PolyGram has the intention to buy Media Asia, it is generally believed that its market value is too high, and the estimated price given is not even as good as its current share price. Although he felt that this matter was probably not to be talked about from the beginning, Anthony did his best, at least now he knows Lin Xiaozhi's attitude.

At that moment, he picked up the black teacup in front of him, which was already a little cold, and took a sip lightly, but his gaze never took away from Lin Xiaozhi's body.

Seeing this, Lin Xiaozhi knew that he was waiting for his offer to UTC.

He stretched out three fingers and said loudly: "Cash, 300 million pounds, wholly acquired all of UTC's cinema chains in the UK, as well as its 11 cinema shares in Spain and France!" ”

Anthony's eyes suddenly flickered even more!