Hongkong Land is not only facing the long-term scrutiny, but also has a greater calamity than in its previous life.

The debt is as high as 20 billion, which is 10% higher than the previous life, and the market value and net assets are 20% higher than the bottom of the previous life.

Under these circumstances, a huge loss of more than $1.6 billion could be incurred in 1983.

As a result, HSBC has also been urging Hongkong Land to repay its debts.

Cheung Kong soon took Hongkong Land to court, seeking huge damages for the Miramar project. The market value of Miramar Hotel was 2.8 billion Hong Kong dollars at its peak, and now it has depreciated by nearly half, so the appeal of Cheung Kong Group is to order 900 million yuan without refund, Hongkong Land will compensate 500 million yuan in compensation, and the old wing of Miramar Hotel will be returned to Cheung Kong Group.

For a time, Hongkong Land made matters worse, and its stock price continued to fall; There is only about 5 billion Hong Kong dollars left in the market capitalization, which has shrunk by two-thirds from the peak.

However, at this time, it was rumored in the market that Cheung Kong Group was acquiring Hongkong Land, which quickly rebounded its market value to about HK$6 billion.

Simon Keswick knew that Lin Zhichao was not threatening, but really eyeing Hongkong Land, after all, a company with tens of billions of cash flow, it is not difficult to privatize Hongkong Land at this time.

Therefore, he hurriedly contacted Cheung Kong and expressed his willingness to negotiate on 'Exchange Square' and 'Hong Kong Electric Company'.

In this way, Cheung Kong Asset Group absorbed Hongkong Land shares on the one hand, and Cheung Kong and Hutchison negotiated with Hongkong Land on the other.

In fact, Lin Zhichao did not have to buy Hongkong Land, after all, he was also worried about causing too much political repercussions - causing British capital in Hong Kong to fall into fear; This is detrimental to the development of Hong Kong, which must be a cosmopolitan metropolis and not an 'xenophobic' city. Although he was not the Governor, he stood at the same height.

So, since he wants to get Exchange Square and Hong Kong Electric Company, why didn't he just take it in the first place?

The only reason is that the price is too high, and it is better to take it from Hongkong Land at a discount now.

For example, if a takeover war broke out at that time, the cost would be many times higher!

Lin Zhichao's request to the negotiators is that the Hong Kong Electric Company cannot offer more than 3 billion Hong Kong dollars, and the Exchange Square cannot offer more than 6 billion Hong Kong dollars (Hongkong Land has invested 1 billion in construction costs).

The discount of both assets is in the range of 10~20%.

At the same time as the negotiations, Cheung Kong Group was still 'secretly buying' Hongkong Land shares in the market, which put tremendous pressure on Simon Keswick.

At the same time, I don't know whether it was intentional or not, HSBC also 'cooperated' with Cheung Kong Group to strengthen debt collection for Hongkong Land and Jardine Matheson.

At this time, Lin Zhichao had actually formed a competitive relationship with HSBC, so HSBC's move was just a rush to let Hongkong Land dispose of its assets as soon as possible and repay its debts.

In fact, HSBC has been forcing Hongkong Land to pay back!

Early November.

Lin Zhichao came to Golden Harvest Building in Kowloon, which is a building purchased by Golden Harvest Pictures at the beginning of this year, and now serves as the administrative headquarters of Golden Harvest Pictures, and the remaining office buildings are used for rent.

At this time, Golden Harvest Pictures, its owners of lucrative properties, especially in Southeast Asia, purchased a lot of their own properties. At its peak, Golden Harvest Pictures had a market value of more than 1.5 billion Hong Kong dollars and an annual profit of more than 100 million Hong Kong dollars.

But in the past two years, with the decline of the stock market environment and the rise of New Art City, the market value of Golden Harvest Pictures has been less than half.

Golden Harvest Film's production profit this year (1983) is expected to be only 20 or 30 million profits; But fortunately, there are also theater income, as well as rental income, so the total profit adds up to 60 or 70 million Hong Kong dollars.

But it's clear that Golden Harvest Movies is going downhill!

Conference room.

Lin Zhichao, Lin Ruikai and the management of Golden Harvest held a meeting, this kind of meeting is rare, after all, Lin Zhichao generally does not care about the affairs of Golden Harvest Pictures, but is handed over to Zou Wenhuai, Qiao Shan, He Guanchang and others.

"The media group intends to privatize Golden Harvest Pictures, and the shares in your hands can continue to be retained, and the profits will be shared according to the shareholdings in the later stage; Other than that, everyone's pay remains the same. So the only difference in this privatization is that the retail holdings will be withdrawn. If you have any questions, you can ask them now! ”

Lin Zhichao's first sentence surprised everyone, but they quickly calculated their own interests.

Zou Wenhuai was the first to stand up in support: "Golden Harvest Pictures has developed to this day, and it really does not need a listing status, especially now that the market value is undervalued. I support the group's decision! ”

Of course, he had to support, at the peak of 1981, the boss asked him to reduce his holdings, and he did so, reducing his holdings by 3%, making a profit of about 45 million Hong Kong dollars; This year, the boss allowed him to increase his stake a little, and he repurchased 2%, spending only more than 10 million Hong Kong dollars.

He still holds 6% of the shares, and more importantly, he also has an annual salary of 2 million Hong Kong dollars.

Subsequently, He Guanchang, Qiao Shan, Liang Feng and others also quickly expressed their positions. Among them, Qiao Shan is Lin Zhichao's old minister, and he also holds 1% of the shares, which is similar to He Guanchang's shares. The rest of the people basically only hold a small amount of equity.

These executives currently hold about 10% of the total shares.

Lin Zhichao nodded and said: "Okay, let's keep it secret for the time being, the media group will issue a privatization procedure as soon as possible, and you don't need to worry about the future and treatment, our cooperation will continue to cooperate amicably." ”

Zou Wenhuai said with a smile: "Lin Sheng has always been kind to everyone, whether it is to our management, or to our directors, screenwriters, and actors, they all have money together, so everyone's sense of belonging to Golden Harvest Pictures is very strong." ”

Golden Harvest Pictures has developed to the present, and the property income has accounted for one-third, and the production and cinema chain each account for one-third, and the distribution is negligible, even if it is distributed for other film companies, it will not make a few silvers.

The property and cinema chain are almost all the credit of the media group, which is the grand strategy formulated by Lin Zhichao.

Therefore, the management team dominated by Zou Wenhuai also understands this!

And this time Lin Zhichao proposed privatization, which is naturally due to interests, and the market value of Golden Harvest Film is currently only 620 million Hong Kong dollars, even if the premium is 30%, it is only a little more than 800 million.

Even so, the price-to-earnings ratio is only 10 times. Moreover, Golden Harvest Pictures' profits will soon exceed hundreds of millions again, so it is very cost-effective.

After the privatization of Golden Harvest, the next step was to strengthen the media group's control over its four major businesses, and eventually form a huge kingdom.

As for whether the media group will be listed in the future, there is a high probability that it will not be needed, after all, there is no shortage of money.

Take this year as an example: the profit of the publishing business (comics) will exceed 100 million, the newspaper industry will also have more than 60 million, Golden Harvest will also have less than 80 million, and ATV is expected to lose 50 million (the ratings have increased, but the cost of overhead has risen sharply, so it has lost more than 50 million for three consecutive years, but it is expected to make a small profit in 1984).

After the meeting.

Lin Zhichao and Zou Wenhuai came to the office, and after a while, Xu Ke and Wu Yusen walked in.

"Lin Sheng, Zou Sheng"

"Two to sit"

Afterwards, the four of them sat down on the couch.

Lin Zhichao looked at John Woo, since last year, he personally intervened, let John Woo decide the subject matter for himself, and shot a shootout film at the suggestion of Golden Harvest.

Now, it is also beginning to take shape.

"Golden Harvest Films wants to make a film full of violent aesthetics, this is the outline of this movie, you two can watch it. What we mean by this is that this film will be shot by Yu Sen, and you will be the producer and director. Zou Wenhuai introduced a document and said.

This is the outline of "The True Colors of Heroes" written by Lin Zhichao, and there are even some classic descriptions in it. As the head of a media group, he has no problem knowing a little, not to mention that I rarely participate in the films of Golden Harvest Films, and I currently do not exceed one palm.

Of course, he also participates in some instructive nature, which is more, such as suggesting that Jack become a witty martial arts film or something.

Soon Xu Ke finished watching it and said: "This movie is very good, no wonder Lin Sheng values it so much, and he even talked to us in person!" ”

Lin Zhichao said with a smile: "In the past two years, Xinyi City has been very powerful, and I am also worried about losing money, so I have to take a look!" Ha ha! ”

Everyone knows that Lin Zhichao is completely joking, not to mention that Golden Harvest has three or four films on the top ten every year, and it is also on par with Xinyicheng, that is, Golden Harvest's cinema chain and property income are not afraid of the decline in production profits. What's more, this boss has many industries, and Golden Harvest is just a medium-sized company in his hands.

Xu Ke also said with a smile: "This year, I let Golden Harvest Movie accompany the money, and I have to do a good job in this movie!" ”

Lin Zhichao waved his hand, not caring!

He knew that "The Swordsman of Xinshu Mountain" was going to lose money, but he did not stop Golden Harvest Film from investing a huge amount of 20 million Hong Kong dollars, and as a result, the box office of 16 million in Hong Kong and more than 6 million in Taiwan Island is a serious loss-making film (less than 8 million losses).

Because this is a thousand dollars to buy horse bones, and he does not support Xu Ke's shooting, it means that he may jump to Xinyicheng.

Next, the four of them communicated with the script of "The True Color of Heroes", and soon everyone found that Lin Zhichao's screenwriting ability is amazing, and he has a lot of details of this movie. The first two laughing proud rivers and lakes, the boss personally participated in some, at that time everyone thought that Lin Zhichao was also a fan of martial arts, and now it seems that other people's business ability is also very good.

It's no wonder that ATV is now also rising strongly (and wireless), it seems that this boss is really all-powerful!

At this time, Lin Zhichao was very interested in discussing "The True Colors of Heroes", and I waited for three years, just to wait for an opportunity, I want to fight for a breath, not to prove that I am amazing; I'm here to tell people that I have to get back what I lost! This kind of classic lines, plus subtle plots such as Brother Pony holding a toothpick, are all taken out.

For a long time, everyone was very satisfied with this movie.

Wu Yusen asked: "Who is the protagonist of this movie?" ”

Lin Zhichao said: "Of course it's Brother Xiaoma!" We have signed a contract with Chow Yun-fat, so he is the one who plays Little Brother Ma in this movie. In addition, Dillon and Leslie Cheung are the other two leading actors. ”

Golden Harvest Film directly signed seven films with Chow Yun-fat, with a total value of 2.8 million. Although Chow Yun-fat is the leading actor on TV at this time, he has always performed mediocre in movies, so his value is not high. If you don't consider that the seven dramas are too long, one can be signed for 300,000 Hong Kong dollars.

Xu Ke and Wu Yusen didn't say more, they knew that this was Lin Zhichao and Zou Wenhuai's decision, and it was not something they could interfere with. At this time, both of them were in a downturn, Xu Ke had just made Golden Harvest lose 8 million, and John Woo was still an untalented director.

After the two left.

Zou Wenhuai said: "Boss, if Chow Yun-fat can really rise this time, you, the Bole of Hong Kong film history, will add another record!" ”

Lin Zhichao smiled: "Wait and see!" ”

This is a secret between the two, because from Bruce Lee, Xu Guanwen, Sammo Hung, Cheng Long, they all have Lin Zhichao's appreciation, and they are popular all over Asia.

Now that Chow Yun-fat has been signed for seven dramas, Zou Wenhuai knows that the boss wants to create a new 'box office king'.

And Lin Zhichao snatched Chow Yun-fat over, also thinking about killing the prestige of Xinyi City.

Next, Lin Zhichao took out another script outline and handed it to Zou Wenhuai.

He said: "This script outline is called "League of Thieves", and I want to shoot it and fight the "Best Partner" series, and let Xu Ke try it!" "Best Partner" isn't a two-person team, this time we'll have a five-person team of thieves."

Zou Wenhuai picked up the outline of the script in surprise and looked at it, and after a long time, he said: "This is a blockbuster, according to the description above, the stunts are very big, and there are many dangerous actions."

Lin Zhichao said: "Then prepare for the filming slowly!" "Best Partner" has become the signature of New Art City, and now we have taken out "League of Thieves" in addition to "True Colors of Heroes", and we want to completely overwhelm the prestige of New Art City. ”

Of course, Golden Harvest is still supported by Jack Cheng and Hong Fatzi, unlike Shaw Brothers movies, which are difficult to enter the top ten even one or two films a year.

"Okay, I see what the boss meant!"

At this time, Zou Wenhuai had already completely impressed Lin Zhichao's level and Bole in the movie, which was one of the reasons why he did not dare to leave Jiahe to become independent. After all, in the face of such an opponent, his profession may not be able to win.

Lin Zhichao left Golden Harvest Building satisfied, if Golden Harvest movies were overshadowed by the prestige of the 80s by the New Art City, it would simply slap Lin Zhichao's face swollen, and he still has classic movie memories.

At present, he has snatched the two-part "Smiling Proud Jianghu" in Xinyi City, and the third part will not be filmed; and then won the "True Colors of Heroes" in Xinyi City, and took out South Korea's "League of Thieves" to shoot.

He didn't believe it, Jiahe couldn't overshadow Xinyi City, not to mention that Lin Zhichao might think of something later, and then interfere.

After leaving Golden Harvest, Lin Zhichao came to the ATV building on Broadcasting Road in Kowloon.

He first listened to Zhou Liang Shuyi's work report, with the blessing of dramas and mythological dramas such as "Bao Qingtian" and "The Legend of the New White Lady", ATV has surpassed wireless in dramas. and variety shows also have "Prize Door Man" and "Laughing Star Saves the Earth" (both hosted by Zeng Zhiwei) to benchmark the broken version of "Happy Tonight" (some major artists were poached); In terms of music, ATV has also created programs such as "Music Bank" to train its own singers.

In short, there is no problem with the ratings!

"At present, there is a lot of advertisers, the cost has begun to fall, and the copyright income has also increased, so it will definitely be profitable next year!" Finally, Zhou Liang Shuyi said affirmatively.

"Bao Qingtian" has been purchased from Taiwan Island and the mainland, and it can be regarded as copyright income.

"Well, continue to innovate and strive to stabilize the results we have achieved!"

"Okay"

At this time, Lin Zhichao did not immediately contribute to the Hong Kong stream variety show, Hong Kong stream TV series, Hong Kong stream music and other ideas, he needs ATV to be stable and wireless first.

It is expected that from the mid-80s, Lin Zhichao will comprehensively create the 'Hong Kong culture' created by him!

(End of chapter)