Hollywood Hunter

In a living room downstairs of the villa, Janet and Sophia Fessi discussed the business adjustments of Chateau Latour during this period, and chatted about other topics at random. Janet inadvertently raised her wrist and looked at her watch. The meeting between Simon and Raymond Smith had lasted for one hour and forty minutes, far exceeding the first hour's appointment.

Sophia also looked at her watch and stood up and said: "It's already noon, I should go back."

Janet sent Sophia to the door of the villa and noticed her inadvertently looking in the direction of the stairs. She smiled and said, "There have been many things recently. Simon will fly back to Los Angeles this afternoon. You may not see him this time."

Sophia gave Janet a blank look: "Who said I want to see him?"

"Yeah, who said that?" Janet grabbed the bug in Sophia's sentence and joked: "I didn't say you want to see him."

Sophia blushed suddenly.

Although Simon warned her unkindly that day not to think about things that shouldn't be, but since she had a skin close, her attitude towards the little man has unknowingly changed.

At least, the joy of fish and water that afternoon really made her unforgettable.

After placing the children here, I originally made up my mind to come and see them as long as the weekend is not too busy. However, I just arrived this morning, and I heard that Simon happened to be here. After a little settling, I couldn't help but ran over under the pretext of discussing the management of Chateau Latour with Janet.

Before I came, I couldn't help changing the OL suit that the little man liked very much, and put on makeup carefully.

Then Simon didn't see it, but Janet saw the flaw.

In Janet’s playful gaze, she almost ran away. Sophia drove away from the manor, raised a hand and gently stroked her hot cheek, inexplicably lingering in her mind that he rudely left her on her that day. The situation with red marks.

Oh my God, I'm really hopeless.

Janet waited for Sophia to leave, did not go upstairs, and called the four ABCD girls to start preparing lunch. Raymond Smith was obviously going to stay at noon today.

Inside the villa study.

Raymond Smith has notified his assistant to temporarily cancel this European trip, and he did not avoid Simon when he called.

When Simon first heard that Westeros had a 4.9% stake in Bell Atlantic and hoped to buy the company in its entirety, Raymond Smith even thought the young man was joking.

The news that Daenerys Entertainment is about to bid for MCA with Panasonic is almost well known.

After confirming that Simon was not joking, Raymond Smith subconsciously asked if he planned to give up MCA.

The answer surprised Smith even more.

Simon Westero intends to initiate two acquisitions with a total value of more than $10 billion at the same time.

Raymond Smith subconsciously regarded Simon's offer as a traditional leveraged buyout, and he almost rejected it. He didn't want Bell Atlantic to fall into a situation like Reynolds Nabisco or Time Warner after being acquired.

It was not until Simon roughly explained his acquisition intentions that Raymond Smith dispelled his immediate refusal and began to inquire about more specific acquisitions.

Because they had made sufficient preparations in advance, the discussion between the two became deeper and deeper under the guidance of Simon’s topic. The topic involved the transformation of Bell Atlantic’s business strategy after the completion of the acquisition, the debt repayment model, and the company’s future. One-step expansion, the federal government's policy toward the telecommunications industry, and so on.

When the noon sun fell on the coffee table that was covered with various documents between the two, Raymond Smith realized that it was close to 12 o'clock.

Simon did not pay attention to the time issue, and still said: “Listed companies often have to abandon many long-term plans in order to cope with the short-term gains that shareholders value. These constraints will disappear when Bell Atlantic is privatized, and we can be very calm. In the future development potential of mobile communications and Internet business areas to pressure a greater bet. As long as sufficient advantages have been accumulated in advance, once the federal merger control over the telecommunications industry is re-opened, Bell Atlantic can immediately expand on a larger scale. ."

Raymond Smith was brought back into the subject by Simon’s words, saying: “Simon, the future of mobile communication is still very clear, but how can you confirm that you have not made the wrong bet on the Internet? You know, according to your ideas, We only need to invest in the upgrade of basic lines to reach the level of 1 billion US dollars. Once the development of the Internet industry does not meet expectations, the company needs to face not only financial losses, but even life and death issues."

"Lei, I have compiled a memo about various ideas in the Internet industry before. If you are interested, you can take it back and take a look. I think an industry never exists in the first place. It requires us to develop and create ourselves. The world’s electronic information network has been sprouting since the 1960s and has been brewing for more than 20 years. It has been widely used in military, commercial, scientific research, and government offices. This is sufficient to prove the development of the Internet industry. Potential. Since the Internet can be used in so many professional fields, there is no reason why it cannot be promoted in the mass market with broader market potential."

Simon said here, paused for a while, and quickly said: "You imagine, Lei, if one day, in addition to the news, forums, personal homepages, and e-mail applications that the Eaglet portal already provides, people can still Through the Internet to obtain movies, music, games, making friends, shopping and so on, you can now or can not think of countless online services, what is the development potential of this industry?"

Raymond Smith also browsed and tried the online services provided by the Igreat portal, thought for a moment, pointed to a bunch of materials on the coffee table, and asked: "Simon, if you tell me these ideas, you are not afraid of me. Do you do it yourself? My control of Bell Atlantic is not as bad as you think."

Simon shook his head and smiled: "That's because you haven't done enough actions against the will of shareholders. A company like Bell Atlantic, even if you have a lot of power, can't do whatever you want. I believe in Bell Atlantic. There must be many executives who want to replace you. As a public company, as long as you encounter setbacks in promoting these strategies, even if it is only a moment, your so-called "control" of Bell Atlantic will quickly fade. Come up, as long as we can agree on the fundamental development direction of the company, I can tolerate management's long-term losses in a certain business even for more than five years."

Raymond Smith fell silent for a moment.

The two had been discussing for more than an hour, and Raymond Smith knew that if he hadn't been moved, he would never discuss with Simon for so long, and even canceled his original schedule.

However, accepting Westeros' takeover offer has pros and cons after all.

On the positive side, as this young man said, free from the strict supervision of listed companies, he can be bolder in adopting some aggressive business strategies, and the company does not need to rack his brains on financial reports every quarter.

However, on the downside, as the chairman and CEO of Bell Atlantic, he does now have a lot of power. As long as he doesn't carry out too risky reforms on the company, he can stay in this high-paying position very safely until retirement.

Conversely, once the company is acquired, he originally had the power to find himself a boss. The future development of the enterprise meets the expectations of this young man. It is good to say that if he fails to meet the expectations, he may be kicked out at any time. Even if he can get a huge contract termination fee through the advance golden parachute contract, his business is basically ruined.

After weighing it for two or three minutes, Raymond Smith looked up again and said, "Simon, I need you to give more promises and guarantees."

"Ray, you must know that Amy Pascal, as the CEO of Daenerys Entertainment, will receive more than $100 million in salary this year. I believe this should be the highest salary ever for a female executive. West Many people in the Los Angeles system will also receive very generous remuneration this year, so you don’t need to worry about getting paid for your efforts.”

When Simon said this, the conversation turned, and then he said: "However, Ray, I also understand your other meaning. You need to have enough power after I complete the acquisition of Bell Atlantic. Frankly speaking, I I can’t promise you anything. I’ve seen your resume and I’m very sure that you have the ability to run this company well, but I will never let it go. If you follow Hollywood, you will know the two senior executives hired by Sony after the acquisition of Columbia No matter how ridiculous it is now, they are completely squandering this big studio. Before they were hired, both of them were actually very good producers. The reason for this situation is largely because Because their power lacks restraint. Such a case is before, and I will never make the same mistake."

Raymond Smith's expression was still hesitant.

Simon waited for a moment, and then said: "Ray, I remember an anecdote about Apple circulating in Silicon Valley. Steve Jobs asked Apple’s current CEO John Sculley, who was still working at Coca-Cola, to join Apple. Do you want to sell sugar water for a lifetime, or seize the opportunity to change the world? In fact, I also want to say, Ray, you want to stay at the helm of Bell Atlantic until retirement, and then quickly after a lively retirement party To be forgotten, or to work with Simon Westeros to create a business miracle that is remembered by the world?"

When Raymond Smith heard Simon's words, he remembered the shining light of the youth in just a few years, and a long-lost blood gradually grew in his heart. After a short period of hesitation, he finally reached out: "Simon, I promise you. "

Simon and Raymond Smith shook their hands tightly, finally letting out a sigh of relief.

With Raymond Smith done, there is no longer a big obstacle to the Bell Atlantic board.

After everyone had lunch together, Raymond Smith hurried back to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, just over a hundred kilometers from New York, where Bell Atlantic's headquarters is located. Smith also took away a draft of Westero's intention to acquire Bell Atlantic, which mainly included some informal acquisition offers and exit fees.

Simon initially gave an unofficial offer totaling $6.3 billion, which represents a premium of 10% compared to Bell Atlantic's average share price in the previous three months. ‘

In terms of exit costs, Simon's promised price this time is 2% of the final transaction price.

Although he agreed to Simon’s offer, Raymond Smith quickly returned to his role during lunch, bluntly saying that Bell Atlantic’s recent share price was severely undervalued by market conditions, so Simon must make a sincere offer. In order to impress many shareholders of Bell Atlantic.

However, because of Raymond Smith’s cooperation, this acquisition has been determined to be a bona fide acquisition, and the possibility of a competitor is very low. Coupled with the continuous downturn in Bell Atlantic’s stock price in recent months, the original US$8 billion The budget is definitely more than enough.

You know, the usual good faith acquisition, the stock premium will basically be within 20%.

Even considering the factors that led to the undervaluation of Bell Atlantic's stock due to the market downturn, Westeros’ acquisition price would not exceed $7.5 billion based on Simon’s initial estimate of a 30% premium. In fact, it is more likely to be around $7 billion.

However, Simon also promised in the plan of intent that in the future, instead of drawing cash from Bell Atlantic to repay debts, he would continue to inject at least $1 billion in funds for corporate development.

Therefore, the overall budget for Bell Atlantic is still US$8 billion.

Sending away Raymond Smith, Simon also hurried back to Los Angeles.

After two days of final preparations on Sunday and Monday, on October 31st and Tuesday, Daenerys Entertainment officially made a public offer to MCA.

7 billion dollars.

complete in one step.

Panasonic has already given an acquisition offer of US$6.6 billion. Daenerys Entertainment will only appear very insincere if it increases by US$120 million, so Simon simply gave his own upper limit.

Countless people waited for a long time, and finally saw it.

When the North American media reported on Daenerys Entertainment's move, MCA's stock price rose again. As of the close on Tuesday afternoon, the market value of MCA has approached Daenerys Entertainment's $7 billion overall offer.

Panasonic has accumulated more than US$12 billion in cash reserves overseas over the years, and Simon Westero’s personal cash assets have reached US$8 billion, both of which are strong.

Therefore, many people have begun to look forward to the arrival of a bidding war.

On the other side, after several consecutive intensive discussions by the board of directors, Bell Atlantic responded to Simon’s takeover offer on November 1, agreeing to start formal takeover negotiations with Westeros.

James Rebold personally led the team to start consultations with Bell Atlantic management.

Because the early preparations have been very sufficient, all the Westeros acquisition team needs to do is to reconfirm the operations and assets and liabilities of Bell Atlantic, and then quickly focus the negotiation on the specific Details of the acquisition.

At the same time, the acquisition team also began to secretly approach the shareholders who lobby Bell Atlantic.

As a listed company with a long history before the split, after the split in 1984, Bell Atlantic's equity is still very dispersed, most of the shares are in the hands of many retirement funds and insurance funds across North America, and there are few shareholders. The shareholding ratio exceeds 5%, which greatly increases the difficulty for Westeros to acquire Bell Atlantic.