Chapter 1167 Cancellation of Dividends

The genius remembers the website URL in 3 seconds [Bi Mi Ge] ♂!

Eric only stayed at Ventura Airport for a short time and completed the handover with Steve Ballmer. The Boeing 747 took off again and rushed to Australia.

During the 16-hour trip from the east coast of the United States to Australia, Eric spent most of the time reading the img information that Cindy gave him last night. With the deepening of understanding, Eric became more and more interested in this comprehensive agency company.

It can be said that the entire img group is a complete agency brokerage industry chain from the cultivation of bottom-level talents to the distribution of final products.

img Group first made its fortune in the agency of sports stars.

In the 1960s, img founder Mark McCormack, who was still a lawyer at the time, got acquainted with some well-known golfers in the industry because he liked golf. By chance, the idea of ​​setting up a professional brokerage company to help these golfers with their business operations came up, so img was created.

In the following thirty years, img has grown step by step.

Although it is impossible to get involved in the star agency of mainstream sports such as rugby, basketball, and football, img manages a group of the most successful sports stars in the world in relatively small golf, tennis, etc. Even if he is not interested in golf, tennis and other sports, Eric can recognize Tiger Woods, Andre Agassi, Anna Kornikova and other sports stars from img's agent list.

Moreover, img has also established a comprehensive sports academy with an area of ​​more than 500 acres in Florida. While recruiting students to the society with its own brand to realize profits, the company also taps potential talents through the global sports scout network and personally trains them .

Russian tennis star Anna Kournikova is the most typical operation case of img.

The Russian girl born in 1981 was discovered by sports scouts under IMG at the age of ten, and then trained at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy under IMG Sports Academy.

Under the careful packaging of the img group, Anna Kournikova, who just turned 18 this year, is not the most powerful tennis player, but with her beautiful appearance and the operation of img, she has become the tennis player with the highest commercial value One of the stars, earning over $10 million a year.

Although it started late, in terms of fashion agency, img Models still performed strongly.

Take the supermodel income rankings that Forbes has launched in recent years. Although members of the Victoria’s Secret Legion have completely occupied the top ten positions on the list, in terms of behind-the-scenes brokerage companies, compared to the large number of elites, The img model agency, which has only about 300 agents, has the same number of people in the supermodel annual income list as elite.

Moreover, unlike the statutory 10% commission of Hollywood agencies, the commission rate for stars and models can reach up to 30%, which undoubtedly greatly increases the income level of img.

The reason why img's talent agency business can be so strong is mainly because img university (img-college) has the right to host sports events and fashion events. Unlike img Sports Academy, img University has nothing to do with education, but a subsidiary that represents hundreds of sports and fashion events worldwide.

In addition to countless university league championships, img Group is closely involved in world-renowned fashion sports events such as Wimbledon Tennis Championships, World Golf Championships, Miss Universe, and Miss America.

Through these hundreds of various events and events all over the world every year, the img group can not only directly obtain rich hosting income, but also rely on these platforms to easily promote its sports fashion and even music stars, and rely on its own brand advantages from The sponsors of major events strive for more endorsement contracts for their stars.

In addition, img media company also produces a large number of documentaries of sports and fashion events,

Further tap the commercial potential of related events and fully maximize the interests of the img group.

Whether it is Hollywood or the Internet, Eric is pursuing a concept of a whole industry chain layout, which can be said to be his personal investment philosophy formed over the years. The img group is exactly in line with Eric's pursuit of the ultimate model of an enterprise.

Therefore, while still on the plane, Eric contacted Cindy in New York again to discuss whether it was possible to buy the entire img group in addition to the shareholding of the McCormack family.

There is a 14-hour time difference between the east coast of Australia and the east coast of the United States. Eric took off from Long Island Airport on the morning of August 7th. Sixteen hours later, the private plane landed at Canberra International Airport. The local time is already August 8th. No. Four o'clock in the afternoon.

The women and children have been living in the Kenzest district in the north of Heaney for more than two months. However, on the plane, Eric learned that everyone had rushed to the Perisher ski resort in the south of Canberra in advance, so Then temporarily changed the itinerary, diverted and chose to land in Canberra.

August is the best season for skiing in Australia. This time, the executive gathering of Firefly System was held at a private resort near Perisher. Unlike the previous few times, this time the senior executives of each company took their families with them. Come here, it's a party and a vacation at the same time.

Perisher Ski Resort is only over a hundred kilometers away from Canberra. However, due to the winding mountain roads everywhere, it was already dark when Eric and his party arrived at their destination.

The official activities of the party will start tomorrow, and most people have already arrived early. The private resort across the hill from Perisher Ski Resort was also covered by the firefly system.

When Eric and his party arrived, everyone had already prepared a barbecue party in the resort in advance.

After being forced to kiss and kiss by the first girl who ran over to greet him, Eric picked up his timid son and greeted everyone.

Firefly Group, Yahoo, Nokia, Cisco, Qualcomm and all the core executives of the Firefly system, counting their family members, this time hundreds of people came here.

It took more than ten minutes just to exchange pleasantries.

After a simple settlement, everyone gathered in the open space in the center of the resort to have a barbecue together.

Although it is winter, the resort is surrounded by hills on three sides, and more than a hundred people are lively around several bonfires, so they don't feel too cold.

"Follow the cable car to the north and go to the ski resort on the other side of the mountain. Everyone has already gone there. Eric, guess who among us is the best skier?"

Eric, Katzenberg, Ian Grenier and others were sitting around a bonfire, still holding Kevin on his lap, and holding a tray with barbecue in the other hand to look after the little boy. The guy was eating, and after hearing what Katzenberg said, he said without hesitation, "It must be Frank, right?"

Although he is over 60 years old, Frank Wells is a person who likes adventure sports very much. If Eric, the 'butterfly', did not appear, Frank Wells should have been on a ski trip a few years ago Died in a helicopter crash.

"That's right, I suddenly discovered that we young people are not as good as an old man. Everyone has been frustrated these two days," Katzenberg said with a smile, looked at the little guy in Eric's arms, and laughed again : "Kevin, you're a little man now, it's not good to always be by Dad's side."

When he just came over, Eric noticed that Virginia took the initiative to push Kevin to his side, understanding the woman's mind, so he has been holding his son himself until now.

Between Kevin and Hawaii, because of Joanna, many Jewish high-level executives in Hollywood have always shown a certain sense of identification with Hawaii. This habit of actively forming groups among Western groups is very common, especially among Jews. Eric couldn't change anything.

Moreover, due to its superior IQ, Hawaii has unknowingly won the favor of Jeff Bezos, Steve Mitnick, and even Chris and his wife.

It is conceivable that according to this way of thinking, as the heir of the Williams family, Kevin will hardly have any competitiveness in front of Hawaii in the future, except for a little gender advantage, but Westerners just don't value the gender of the heir so much .

Now that Cindy is about to bring another little guy to the Williams family, Virginia's insecurities can be imagined.

Looking at Hawaii not far away who was seriously discussing something with Jeff Bezos, and Emma who was playing with a few girls of the same age, Eric smiled and followed Kasenberg on his lap. Ge Ruo looked at his son with an uneasy expression, put it down, patted the little guy's head and said, "Go and find Mom. Dad will accompany you to go skiing after work in a few days."

Looking at the little figure who politely bid farewell to everyone without Eric's reminder and then walked away obediently, Ian Grenier smiled and said: "A very sensible child, but he is too shy."

Eric picked up a skewer of barbecued meat on the tray and said, "It would be nice to grow up a bit more, as I did when I was young."

Everyone chatted casually for a while, Eric finished the barbecue on the plate, got up and walked to the grill, Katzenberg also took the opportunity to follow, and said: "Eric, I saw that you asked Caroline to draw up It’s about the profit distribution plan. I think we can completely cancel the dividend, and this money can just support the group’s next expansion plan.”

The Caroline Katzenberg was referring to was Caroline Elliott, Firefly Group's chief financial officer.

Eric took some food and put it on the grill, fiddled with it himself, and said, "Actually, I'm a little hesitant now, and everyone just discusses it in the past few days."

According to the established plan, the next major expansion target of the Firefly system is the operator system, mainly including telecom operators and cable TV operators, in order to make up for the platform shortcomings of the Firefly system in the Internet, mobile communications, and cable TV.

However, with the development of the firefly system to the present, it is simply impossible to pick up leaks with a small amount of knowledge.

No matter which of the two major operator systems in the plan requires an investment of tens of billions of dollars. Adding the two together, if the equity acquisition is not considered, the capital scale that the Firefly system needs to use will reach hundreds of billions of dollars.

From this perspective, the tens of billions of dollars of capital that the Clover Fund has just cashed out from the new technology market is completely insufficient. After all, in the next few years, in order to continue to consolidate its foundation in the Internet industry, the Firefly system also needs to continue to inject large sums of money into various new technology companies.

Moreover, Eric also began to have another worry.

The scale of the Firefly system is already very large. In addition, the layout of the Firefly system in the Internet industry has not yet been completely stabilized. At this time, it will continue to expand without limit. Involved, even into chaos.

Therefore, recently, Eric has been thinking about which move the firefly system should make first to be more secure.

Katzenberg also picked out a few skewers and put them on the grill, saying: "I heard some news recently that AT-T has planned to sell Telecom off, and Comcast just happened to show it again. Intent to scale itself. If we don't do it, AT-T will probably sell Telecom to Comcast."

Comcast and Telecom can be said to be the two largest cable TV operators in North America at present. Eric only has some impressions about Comcast in his memory, and basically has no understanding of Telecom. Hearing what Katzenberg said, it is generally understood that in the past, long-distance communication was probably annexed by Comcast.

The flipping action paused for a moment, and Eric asked, "Did at-t make a quotation?"

"There is no formal offer yet," Katzenberg said, shaking his head, "However, the industry estimates that it will be between 40 billion and 50 billion US dollars. If we participate in the bidding, the price is likely to exceed 50 billion US dollars. "

Eric remembers that Comcast's market value was only about 30 billion US dollars a year ago, and it was only more than 60 billion US dollars at its peak in the previous period. The scale of telematics is smaller than that of Comcast, but its current valuation exceeds 40 billion U.S. dollars, which is obviously affected by the new technology bubble that has not yet completely dissipated.

If you can wait another one to two years, the Nasdaq index will fall to the bottom, Comcast plus Telecom, the total market value of the two companies may only be 60 billion US dollars.

However, once the two companies are merged, if the Firefly Group wants to initiate an acquisition, the difficulty will definitely increase significantly, both at the capital level and at the anti-monopoly level.

After thinking about it for a moment, Eric said, "Let's follow up secretly, and don't make any moves for now."

Katzenberg nodded, and said again: "Then do you want to continue to pay dividends?"

If Comcast really wants to initiate the acquisition of Telecom, Firefly Group can only enter the game in advance.

After all, the entire Firefly system, ae TV network, ffm TV, espn TV, TV station, Braov TV, e! Entertainment TV and even Fox Group's several cable TV stations, such a huge cable TV industry layout, if there is no operator platform Relying on it, the future development will definitely be more and more constrained.

In comparison, the layout of the Firefly system for telecom operators is not so urgent.

Of course, this is only relative.

Eric's favorite target is the sprint group, which is also the easiest target for the Firefly system to acquire.

The next few years will happen to be a critical period for the transition from 2G communication network to 3G network.

If you can't hold sprint in your hands and fully invest in the layout of the 3g network, sprint is likely to be thrown off by the more powerful at-t and verizon operators. Once it is thrown off by other competitors in this key communication network upgrading process, sprint will fall into an endless loop of falling behind step by step, and it will be even more difficult to catch up with competitors.

In the final analysis, Eric wants to expand the firefly system for the camp step by step, but in this era of technological explosion, he does not have that much time.

"Cancel the dividend plan." Without too much hesitation, Eric made another decision, and then said to Katzenberg with a smile: "However, the job of informing shareholders of this decision is left to you."

Although detailed financial information has not yet been announced, news that the Clover Fund has successfully cashed out large sums of money has already spread.

Among the small shareholders of Firefly Group, whether it is Berkshire Hathaway, which is accustomed to drawing dividends from the companies it invests in, or State Street Global Fund, which has suffered heavy losses in this stock market crash and urgently needs to replenish funds, they all look forward to the success of Firefly Group. Execute dividends.

Now, if the dividend plan is suddenly canceled, these shareholders will inevitably make a fuss.

Katzenberg, who has a strong personality, is obviously the most suitable for rejecting others.

"No problem," Katzenberg grinned and nodded with a somewhat wan tooth, and quickly put away his expression, and said seriously: "Eric, there is another thing, my bonus this year is also Keep everything in the Clover Fund, and in the next acquisition process, I hope to be able to exchange for the company's stock."

Katzenberg's salary contract is a fixed annual salary of 750,000 US dollars plus a 2% annual net profit dividend from Firefly Group.

According to this contract, he will be able to get a huge dividend of 800 million US dollars from the total profit of Firefly Group of 40 billion US dollars this year, which is enough to once again create a peak salary for professional managers.

Now, Katzenberg voluntarily gave up this salary and chose to replace it with the shares of Firefly Group in the future, which is tantamount to completely bundling his own interests with Firefly Group.

After all, Firefly Group is not a listed company. Once Katzenberg chooses to buy shares, it will be very difficult for Katzenberg to cash out. If the company's performance declines, this share will also depreciate significantly. Moreover, Katzenberg's own shareholding ratio is unlikely to affect Eric's absolute control over the entire Firefly Group in any case.

It can be said that this already has the meaning of a nomination certificate.

Taking a deep look at Katzenberg, Eric said, "So, have you really decided?"

"Of course," Katzenberg smiled and nodded, "unless there is something wrong with you."

"I would love to."

Eric said, clenched his left hand and lifted it to the side. Katzenberg clenched his fist tacitly and touched Eric lightly.

Putting some burnt meat skewers in front of him on the dinner plate, Eric said: "Actually, I have another very important matter to discuss with you this time. I plan to set up the Williams Trust Fund recently. Although too many assets will not be injected into the foundation for the time being, the members of the board of directors of the foundation must be determined in advance, Jeffrey, I hope you can join in."

Katzenberg was a little surprised, and even lowered his voice: "Eric, is it necessary, you are not yet thirty?"

Although there are many kinds of living trusts in the West, Katzenberg understands that the trust fund that Eric will establish must be a legacy trust. In other words, once something unexpected happens to Eric, his personal assets will be directly transferred to this trust fund.

When it comes to the inheritance of huge wealth, many rich people often make a will, and there will still be various unexpected situations such as children competing for property or even wealth being divided by outsiders. The pre-living trust model can minimize the possibility of changes in the asset inheritance of the settlor.

However, under normal circumstances, only old rich men like Redstone and Murdoch who are over sixty years old will start to set up family trusts.

Feeling Katzenberg's concerned tone, Eric was very calm, and said: "Jeffrey, you should understand that the wealth I have now is completely an anomaly in this world. If no one responds It is completely impossible to covet. Therefore, I hope that even if something unexpected happens, the entire Firefly system will not collapse. So, Jeffrey, are you willing to join the council?"

Katzenberg completely forgot about the charred skewers in front of him, nodded solemnly, and said, "Eric, I assure you."