Chapter 506 USA Television Network

Last summer was the happiest moment in Jean Messier's life. He received France's highest honor medal, the Napoleon Inauguration Medal, at the Bloomberg Center.

On that elegant occasion, Messier, dressed in a neat blue suit, stepped onto the stage with a bright smile on his successful career.

When the medal was pinned to the lapel of his suit, he started his speech in a tone that people are accustomed to: "I am very happy, thank all my friends and loyal partners, look at today's Vivendi Universal, we can reasonably say..."

The past is empty.

On July 3, 2002, Vivendi officially announced that Messier's resignation application was approved by the board of directors.

Vivendi, the dynasty is about to change.

Michael Ovitz has been connecting Vivendi and Twain, so Twain can get first-hand news.

Vivendi now needs to quickly select an experienced and prudent CEO to lead the company out of the predicament.

But how simple is this?

Vivendi's current debt exceeds 34 billion euros. To ease the financial pressure of huge liabilities, at least 12 billion euros of assets must be sold; to raise Moody's credit rating, at least 20 billion euros of assets must be sold.

What's more difficult is that asset sales are a long process. Vivendi can't even pay the debt interest now, and urgently needs a short-term loan of 2 billion to 3 billion euros to maintain operations.

This is of course good news for Tang En.

The more money Vivendi needs, the more he needs Twain!

At this time, in the whole world, it is estimated that only Tang En can come up with a huge amount of cash in a short period of time to help Vivendi, a bankrupt company with a good reputation, tide over the difficulties.

There is another piece of good news. Tang En's luxury yacht finally made a big circle from the German shipyard and arrived in Los Angeles!

This is currently the largest private yacht in the world!

Not counting the bilge, there are 4 floors and as high as three floors. The classic and atmospheric design has a kind of aristocratic and graceful style.

Once the "NAT" logo appeared, it caused a strong shock in Los Angeles.

That night, Tang En invited famous people in Hollywood, including directors, stars, and company management, to hold a grand reception on the yacht.

The name is to celebrate the success of the premiere of "Pirate Alliance: The Curse of the Black Pearl", which has received rave reviews. Those who know the inside story actually understand that Twain is celebrating the resignation of Vivendi's CEO Messier.

The "NAT" yacht has four floors. The top floor is the master bedroom, promenade and viewing platform; the third floor is the guest room, restaurant and bar; the second floor is the current reception center, and there are several venues in the next room.

The yacht has sailed to the high seas, and everyone can go there to play a few hands.

Of course, most of the participants are celebrities, actors and some dancers and models hired to liven up the atmosphere.

No one with real status would show off on such a grand occasion.

Michael Eisner walked over with a glass of red wine, "It looks like you've already achieved half the battle!"

Tang En glanced at him with a smile, and whispered to the girl beside him, Jennifer Connelly: "You can go to the first floor for a walk, there is a swimming pool over there, and Nicole and Kate are over there."

Then he raised his glass with Michael Eisner and took a sip, "It's still early!"

Michael Eisner disagrees, "Comcast has been entangled with me, Vivendi is in such a bad situation and needs a lot of money urgently, and Universal Pictures... It seems to be returning to Hollywood."

Tang En said lightly: "Of course! The Hollywood industry, only Hollywood can manage it better!"

A complex look suddenly appeared on Michael Eisner's face, "I heard... the movie "Pirate Alliance" is about a group of pirates in the Caribbean Sea?"

Tang En's heart skipped a beat, and he said calmly, "Yes."

Michael Eisner said: "You know, Disney Adventure Park in California, just happens to have a Pirates of the Caribbean land, if possible..."

"etc!"

Tang En immediately waved his hand and interrupted him, "Michael, don't forget, Disney has amusement parks, and so does Universal!"

Michael Eisner wants to be authorized to update and transform Disney Adventure Park and add elements of "Pirate League", which is absolutely impossible.

Amusement parks are an inevitable choice after the film and television industry develops to a certain scale, and they are a major source of brand value and peripheral income.

Today, the most famous amusement park in the world is without a doubt Disneyland.

However, the fame of Universal Studios is not small!

After Twain entered Universal, the first step was to change the strategic direction of Universal Studios, expand the park, strengthen its influence, and challenge Disneyland.

With "Marvel", "Harper Little", "Pirates", and later "Transformers" and many elements of Pixar animation, Universal Pictures will definitely shake the status of Disneyland.

After finding any reason, Dunn said goodbye to Michael Eisner, and walked towards Lon Meyer with a low voice, "How is it? Do you have any inside information?"

Ron Meyer shook his head, "Not yet, but it has been basically confirmed that Vivendi headquarters intends to sell entertainment assets."

"Oh?" Tang En was very excited, "How do you say it?"

Ron Meyer said: "Yesterday, financial personnel from France came to check the assets. Not only Universal Pictures, but also Universal Music. USA TV Network, Blizzard Games, Houghton Mifflin Publishing House and other companies."

Tang En pondered for a long time, thoughtful.

Ron Mayer glanced at him. "What do you think of USA Network?"

Tang En couldn't help laughing, "What do you think?"

USA TV Network is a basic cable TV network in the United States, including Chiller Channel, Cloo Channel, E! Channel, USA TV Station, HD Channel, American Wonderful TV Station, Esquire TV Network and more than 20 TV stations, covering more than 60 million TV stations across the United States home users.

In 2001, the net profit was 530 million U.S. dollars and the market value was 4.7 billion U.S. dollars, ranking 15th in the United States!

In December last year, Vivendi spent 10.3 billion US dollars to acquire the USA TV network, with a premium of nearly 200%, which shows the madness of Messier.

Ron Meyer shook his head and said calmly: "In the past six months, USA TV Network has channels and Universal Pictures has content, and the turnover has increased by 40%. This is a very good combination."

Tang En's eyes narrowed into a line.

He was no longer a business novice, and he understood Lang Meyer's thoughts almost instantly.

Tang En Pictures' acquisition of Universal Pictures is almost an irreversible transaction.

In this case, Long Mayer must think about the situation after the merger of the two companies.

He is the chairman of Universal Pictures, and Bill McNick is the president of Dunn Pictures, both of which are Hollywood's top managers.

After the company merges, who will take the lead?

In other words, even if Bill McNick is the main player, how much power can Long Meyer gain?

The complementary role of Universal Pictures and USA Television Network is the greatest confidence of Long Meyer.

The rate of return and profit margin of Universal Pictures is far lower than that of Tang En Pictures. But Universal Pictures has a film library beyond the reach of Tang En Pictures-as many as 3,600 films (1,800 are exclusive, 1,800 are shared) and 100,000 hours of TV programs.

If Tang En Pictures wins the USA Television Network, then Lon Meyer's role will be even greater.

Tang En pondered for a while, "But I'm not optimistic about the future of TV networks."

Ron Meyer raised his eyebrows, "STA Network?"

Tang En shook his head and said, "That's different. STA is a professional cable company, and it provides high-quality content."

Lon Meyer was a little confused about Tang En's train of thought, so he just followed him and said, "But if the STA TV network wants to develop, it must use huge TV network resources to promote its influence when the operator is not strong enough. "

"oh?"

"There are so many sports stations in the United States, but why has ESPN become the largest sports station in the United States in just over ten years? It is because of the powerful resources of the ABC TV network behind it. Now, ESPN has become an indispensable part of the American people. channels, which in turn can feed back Disney’s TV networks.”

Lon Meyer saw that Tang En was silent, and continued: "I know that the situation of the STA TV network is not very good. The number of users is constantly decreasing, while the number of users of competitors HBO and SHO is constantly increasing. Except for STA In addition to the high subscription fees and negative operators, it is because behind HBO and SHO, there are powerful TV network resources to promote it!"

Tang En looked at him with a half-smile, "So...USA TV Network, is it determined to win?"

Ron Meyer remained calm, "USA Television Network and Universal Pictures are two companies that work closely together in the Vivendi Entertainment Department. Once they are cut off, the value of both parties will decline, and Vivendi will not allow this to happen. .”

Tang En frowned, "You mean... Universal Pictures will sell it as a package with USA Television Network?"

Long Mayer said solemnly: "Very likely!"

"I see."

Tang En nodded. The problem of the TV media has always troubled him.

The next ten years will be a golden period of development for the cable TV industry.

But ten years later, with the advent of streaming media, the TV industry will gradually be looked down upon and become a sunset industry. Moreover, the market competition in the cable TV industry is too fierce, and it will face the competition of giant companies such as Disney, Comcast, Viacom, and News Corporation.

So Tang En was very careful about getting involved in the TV industry, and only bought a professional cable TV station.

Because only a TV station like HBO that can provide unique content services can survive the wave of streaming media.

But if, as Lon Meyer said, Vivendi would insist on selling Universal Pictures and the USA Television Network in a package, then he would have to accept it.

"Forget it, even if it is a sunset industry, the TV network will not fall into the situation of losing money. It's just that the stock price reflects slightly poorly, and the price-earnings ratio is not high. As long as the profit is large and the profit is large, the price-earnings ratio is low! Apple is the price-earnings ratio. Less than 20, isn’t it also the world’s largest company later?”

Tang En shook his head and threw out his distracting thoughts.

There must be a road before the car reaches the mountain.

Anyway, he has the foresight, so he can be one step ahead of others and make preparations early.

Even if you buy it at a low price and sell it at a high price in a few years, it is still a good deal.