"On July 4, 2002, the French media giant Vivendi Global Group was accused of false accounting, with a loss of up to 13.6 billion euros in one year, and the international rating agency Moody's downgraded Vivendi's credit rating and the French newspaper "Le Monde" published at noon on the 2nd published a report on the front page entitled "Vivendi Accounting Insider", the company's stock price fell by nearly 30%, and there is a trend of continuing to decline.

According to Le Monde, the Vivendi group tried to "increase" the 1.5 billion euros of shares already sold in the company's accounts in 2001, but had to abandon the conspiracy of "making false accounts" after this trick was "unfortunately" discovered by the relevant French financial management agency and ordered to stop it. According to the financial statements released by Vivendi, the company lost 13.6 billion euros in 2001. If the above reports are true, Vivendi Global Group will be the first major European company to be charged with "false accounting like Enron". ”

"Messier, the chairman of the board of directors of Vivendi, who was once all the rage, was forced to resign on the evening of July 1 due to the lack of a way to turn around the loss......

The sun is shining outside, the weather is hot, and the dazzling light shines into the luxurious office through the gauze curtain, Wang Xiaoxue raised her head and looked forward to it, but saw that her beloved man was wearing a breathable and light white shirt, with a pair of gray checked suit pants, holding a newspaper in both hands, and her delicate facial features were reading the newspaper motionlessly, and her facial features under the light were angular, but she didn't know why her eyebrows were tightened.

Song Chen looked at his watch, then took out his mobile phone and dialed the transatlantic phone, and after waiting for long, he said, "Ah Xue, how did you do with the information I asked you to collect?" ”

At this time, Peking time was more than 9 o'clock in the morning, and San Francisco time was 16 hours late, so it was still five o'clock in the evening, and Fan Xue had already gone home from work. Now she was having dinner with other sisters, and when she received a call from Song Chen, including Zhai Yan, they all looked at her with strange eyes.

However, Fan Xue didn't care about being happy now, she generally got up and walked towards her room, and said, "It's almost, do you want it?" I'll have someone sort it out and send it to you electronically tomorrow! ”

Song Chen asked: "After the former chairman of Vivendi Global Group, Messier stepped down, who will be the successor?" ”

"Is it Vice Chairman? Leonard! Song Chen has long been concerned about Vivendi Global Group, and has designated her to be responsible for collecting business information, so Fan Xue can answer without thinking even if she has no information in her hand.

"What about the CEO? Who's going to clean up that mess at Vivendi Global? Song Chen asked by rubbing his forehead with his index finger.

"If there is no accident, it should be a call Jean? Bernard? Levi. It is recognized as a 'cost killer' in the industry! It may be that Fan Xue trotted to her room, so her tone was a little coquettish, and it sounded very tempting.

However, at this moment, Song Chen had no intention of hunting for beauty, and he finally heard a good news from Fan Xue's mouth: "Cost killer? It looks like Vivendi Group is ready to cut costs and put on the brakes! So, did Chenxing Culture Group receive their acquisition invitation qualifications? ”

"Nope!" Fan Xue hesitated for a moment, "But I heard that Vivendi Global Group has different opinions on whether to sell the TV station CANAL+, and Vivendi Universal's game department. Levy is not yet officially at the helm of Vivendi Global, so his attitude towards him is unknown at the moment! ”

Song Chen was silent.

Although Vivendi Global has been hit hard by fake accounts and high debt, judging from the news currently circulating in the market, Warcraft 3 is about to be released. This is another highly successful stand-alone game, and since then, the reputation of "produced by Blizzard must be a high-quality product" has resounded all over the world, and it is Blizzard's masterpiece on the stage.

Once Blizzard Entertainment was a huge success. Originally, the decision of the senior management of Vivendi Global Group to spin off and sell the game division would have become very delicate, and judging from Song Chen's experience in his previous life, Vivendi Global obviously did not give up on this part.

If you want to acquire Blizzard Entertainment. This is the best window period in the next ten years, and once the new chairman or CEO of Vivendi Global Group sees the game industry as one of its core businesses, then Song Chen may not have a better opportunity to swallow Blizzard Entertainment, a hen that can lay golden eggs!

What's more, Xueleshan Entertainment, a subsidiary of Vivendi Universal Games, has a very good game distribution channel, which is also the most needed asset of Chenxing Culture Group, which has an unstable foundation, and Song Chen certainly can't ignore it.

But the reason why Song Chen is hesitant is because he wants to swallow another important asset: Pixar Animation, this animation production base that Song Chen dreams of, can also fill the gap in the animation industry of Chenxing Culture Group! With Pixar Animation, coupled with the fact that Chenxing Culture Group holds Marvel Comics, DC Comics and China's original content system, it will be very powerful!

On the other hand, although Blizzard Entertainment is important, it is only because this company can bring more profits to Song Chen, and its strategic help to Song Chen is far less important than Pixar Animation!

In a nutshell, the acquisition of Blizzard Entertainment is just the icing on the cake for Chenxing Culture Group, which already has strong game development capabilities, while the acquisition of Pixar Animation is a tiger with wings for Chenxing Culture Group, and the two are not the same.

This is how helpful Song Chen is to evaluate the help of these two acquisitions to the company from the perspective of his previous life, and it has not yet reached the point of either/or, so Song Chen thought about it for a long time and said: "When the personnel change of Vivendi Global Group is over, you will go to France and talk to the new CEO!" I'm going to buy Vivendi Universal Games, and at the very least, Blizzard Entertainment! ”

Fan Xue hesitated for a moment and said: "Judging from the news circulating in the industry, the scale of the acquisition may reach about two billion US dollars!" ”

Song Chen raised his eyebrows and said, "So expensive? Is the message accurate? ”

"Yes, this is the offer made by Messier, the former chairman of Vivendi Global, to Electronic Arts (EA) and Ubisoft, and this expensive price scared off many potential acquirers! Ubisoft France simply gave up the opportunity to negotiate further with Vivendi! ”

Song Chen rubbed his forehead again and sighed, "Although this price is expensive, it is acceptable!" But when there is news from France, you can go to France on my behalf! If you don't know what to expect, you can hire an investment bank as your acquisition advisor! Either way, give it a try! ”

Fan Xuejiao laughed: "It turns out that you are not reluctant to invite an investment bank!" ”

Because Song Chen has always been arbitrary before making a merger choice, and has a penchant for cash transactions, Wall Street gentlemen are usually left out. They complain about it!

BUT IN FACT, SONG CHEN CLEARLY KNOWS THE TRUE VALUE OF THE MERGER AND ACQUISITION TARGET DUE TO THE ADVANTAGE OF CROSSING, FAR LIKE GOOGLE, WHICH HAS THE IDEA OF NIPPING COMPETITORS IN THE BUD; Recently, he has set foot in China's semiconductor market, because Song Chen knows that the semiconductor industry will be on the eve of the industrial explosion with the popularization of personal computers around the world, so even if it implies a favor deal, he did not think about it for long.

Whether to trade or not, transaction evaluation and final price formation are all decided by Song Chen and Zhai Yan, and have nothing to do with investment banks.

And from a longitudinal perspective of history, the war between Silicon Valley's upstarts and Wall Street has actually just begun. Song Chen is not like Larry though? Paige and Sergey? Brin is so unconventional that he wants to confront Wall Street, but he has no intention of leaving his core strategy at the mercy of greedy managers.

Glancing sideways at Wang Xiaoxue, who was concentrating on the office, Song Chen smiled and said: "I believe that this acquisition will benefit Chenxing Culture Group a lot, and it can also make up for the group's weakness in the stand-alone game, as for the role of investment banking, it is not as big as you and I imagined!" ”

"Alright! Are you planning to visit the U.S. at the end of the year? ”

"It's hard to say yet!" Song Chen groaned for a moment and gave a mock answer, "But I may go to Europe again." By the way, by the way, you can knock this deal down! ”

Fan Xue's eyes lit up, and she said happily: "Really? ”

"Hmm!" After a few more words, Song Chen hung up the phone. After folding the newspaper and throwing it on the sofa on the side, Song Chen asked Wang Xiaoxue: "What did your father say about the European City?" ”

"It's a joy to see it happen!" Wang Xiaoxue leaned on the sofa, and her lazy posture looked charming. "However, because the shops in the commercial street have already been sold, it is unrealistic and easy to offend these owners by buying them back in a hurry, relatively speaking. The difficulty of taking out the central building will be relatively simple, and the number of owners who need to be persuaded will not be much! ”

Song Chen nodded and said, "In that case, find an empty appointment with those shareholders to come out for dinner together, and by the way, this matter will also be finalized!" ”

Wang Xiaoxue said angrily: "Why are you in such a hurry? Looking for exotic mistresses in Europe? ”

Song Chen rolled his eyes and said, "Although you man and I are lower body animals, we haven't traveled thousands of miles to find the mood and leisure of beautiful women, in addition to the matter of Vivendi Global, there is also a matter that involves our family's lifelong affairs to deal with!" ”

Wang Xiaoxue's beautiful eyes lit up, and she originally planned to make fun of him for a few words, but when she heard the matter of "lifelong events", she smiled like a flower and said angrily: "Okay, count your reasons for it!" ”

Song Chen smiled slightly, but in fact he seemed absent-minded, he was already planning whether to let the fourth Chenxing company go public in the United States, so as to fill the gradually drying cash pool.

Is it a worry-free future that has been delayed for three years? Alibaba's e-commerce company, which has been experiencing merger pains since the snake swallowed the elephant? OR IS IT A GOOGLE THAT IS GETTING MORE AND MORE IMPRESSIVE?

……

Blizzard in 1998 was lucky, as StarCraft development was completed before the previous owner, Cendant, was in trouble, and the following year it found a buyer with deep pockets at the time, Vivendi Global Group.

Although Blizzard in 2002 also completed the development of Warcraft 3 before the accident of the owner, Vivendi Global Group, this time the financial difficulties of the parent company will directly affect its fate.

The new CEO Jean? Bernard? Under Levy's butcher's knife, the members of all the subsidiaries of the Vivendi Global Group are conscientious, for fear that the next moment they will be listed by their superiors as targets for layoffs and salary cuts.

Just when Levy was about to lick his wounds for a few years to recover, he suddenly received a call from North America, on the other end of the phone was a young woman with a sweet voice, and just when Levi was wondering, the woman gave her name.

The name from China obviously didn't move Levi, but the title behind the name made him stand in awe: Did even the young beast of Chenxing Culture Group smell the blood stains on Vivendi Global Group?

"Mr. Bernard, I heard that the Vivendi Universal Games Department is sending out a targeted invitation, I wonder if Chenxing Culture Group is qualified to be the target of this invitation?"

Levy's fluent American English made Levi frown slightly, and then his forehead gradually soothed with the other party's content: Since the other party is a buyer with an intention to acquire, then the matter is simple.

"Of course, but we doubt your sincerity, Miss Fan! Because your Chenxing Culture Group has multiple studios, and has its own distribution company in China and the United States, and the results are quite good! ”

"If I'm in Paris right now, is that our sincerity?"

Levy raised his head slightly, glanced at the clock on the wall, and said in a sly and slow tone: "I'm sorry, my schedule is full this week, maybe we can ask the secretary to make an appointment!" ”

Facing the other party's temptation, Fan Xue smiled slightly, and also hid a needle in her face: "Of course!" Thank you for giving me this opportunity to spend a few more days in this romantic Paris, but Mr. Bernard would do well to understand that I won't be in Paris for long! ”

“…… I'll have my secretary contact you! ”

……

On July 13, 2002, the roads around Dongou Hotel were full of imported luxury cars, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi are the mainstream here, Maybach, Porsche, Ferrari, Rolls-Royce are not uncommon, especially the limited edition Porsche given to Yang De by Song Chen, it is even more dazzling, plus the tariff price is more than 20 million.

For this, Yang De still has a headache and doesn't know how to return the gift!

The screen on the door of the hotel was flowing with the words "Congratulations to Song Hua on his fiftieth birthday", Li Wan, who was wearing sunglasses, raised her head and took a look, and said to Zhang Ruoxi and Wang Xiaoxue who were standing around her: "In two years, when I am fifty years old, I would rather buy a table at home for myself than here, it's too troublesome!" ”

Zhang Ruoxi smiled and said nothing, Wang Xiaoxue had a sweet mouth, and said with a smile: "If you don't do wine, we have no opinion, I'm afraid that your relatives will say that you are stingy!" Right? ”

"Haha, that's what you'll say!" (To be continued......)