Hollywood Hunter

Remember in one second [End of the God Station] Mobile phone user input address: m.xinwanben.com

Across from Simon's desk, a girl in an ol suit handed over several documents and said, "Boss, this is the latest meeting memorandum on the Christie's acquisition negotiation in Europe, as well as the collection and auction industry documents you ordered to collect. Also, here's the work schedule for tomorrow in San Francisco."

Simon turned off the computer on his desk, just picked up a memo of the Christie's acquisition, and said, "Let's go back, and the rest of the information can be viewed at home."

Alison hurriedly put away the remaining documents and left the office with Simon in his arms.

Walking into the elevator, Simon opened the memo and directly found the part that he cared about most.

After agreeing to Sofia's proposal to buy the auction house, the female executive began negotiations with Christie's shareholders who wanted to sell their shares.

Founded more than 200 years ago, Christie's has long been a listed company like its arch-rival Sotheby's.

With the auction industry in the doldrums with the global recession, Christie's was recently valued at just 430 million pounds, or about $670 million, or 13 times its earnings in the previous fiscal year. The stock price of a listed company is often more inclined to reflect its long-term business performance. The 13 times price-earnings ratio undoubtedly represents that the capital market market is not optimistic about the prospect of this auction company.

After the acquisition plan was finalized, Melisandre's company, on the one hand, had secret contacts with Christie's shareholders and management, and on the other hand began to privately absorb the company's stock. In this way, even if the acquisition cannot be completed in the end, Melisandre can make a small profit by buying low and selling high.

The reason for this is mainly that Simon is not determined to win this long-established auction industry giant.

During the initial contact process, Christie's board of directors directly proposed a purchase price of 20 times the price-earnings ratio, with a total value of up to 1 billion US dollars, equivalent to a 50% premium.

If it is a hostile takeover, such a transaction price is actually not high. However, Christie's is different.

Mainly because of the limitations of the auction industry itself.

With an investment of $1 billion, if Simon invests in the Internet, he may be able to obtain hundreds of times the return in the future. If he invests in the fashion field and operates properly, he can also obtain ten times the return in the future. However, because the auction industry is mainly targeted at the population and the annual market capacity cannot show a stable upward curve, even if it can be determined that this auction house can bring very stable income due to the continuous economic prosperity in the next ten or twenty years, But Christie's itself won't go up much in value. Ten years later, the market value can be doubled or tripled, which is already the limit.

Therefore, Simon's plan will give Christie's a 30% premium on the basis of the recent market value of 670 million US dollars at most, which is about 870 million US dollars.

Simon will resolutely abandon the acquisition if it cannot be negotiated within the 30% premium range.

At that time, selling the stocks that were absorbed in advance and taking advantage of the stock price at the high stage after the news leaked to earn a little price difference would not be considered a violation.

Not only that, but Simon did not plan to have all the planned $870 million paid by Melisandre, Cersei Capital's Black Rock Asset Management has agreed to enter the market with $100 million, and Sophia is still looking for other partner investors in the near future. , Simon's goal is to achieve Melisandre's absolute control of Christie's.

It's just that Simon thinks so, and others obviously don't think so.

In recent years, the areas that the Westeros system is optimistic about have basically shown a very strong growth momentum.

Perhaps, when Melisandre's company made a takeover offer to Christie's, many of Christie's shareholders and management had already changed their initial negative attitude towards the development of this auction house.

This is a company that Simon Westeros is interested in.

Therefore, Christie's either wants to take advantage of the rich Simon, or has given birth to the idea of ​​not planning to sell.

The U.S. economy has not yet recovered, and Europe has just experienced a financial catastrophe. At this time, the possibility of a competitor bidding for this auction house with Simon is very low. If the two sides cannot negotiate, Simon will definitely not publicly launch malicious intentions In the mind of the acquisition, Christie's is not worth a hostile takeover at all, this is something that all parties are well aware of.

In short, the prospects for this acquisition are very uncertain.

The memo in Simon's hands also shows this.

In the past two weeks, in two contacts, Christie's board of directors has not given any intention to back down.

Moreover, Christie's share price has also risen to a certain extent. Compared with two weeks ago, the share price has risen by 11%. The news has apparently leaked out quietly.

Melisandre's shareholding in Christie's has now reached 3%, valued at more than $20 million.

The journey from Malibu Daenerys Studios back to Dumay Cape Manor was very short. Lady A sat quietly beside Simon and found that when she was about to arrive home, the man was still reading the documents in his hand carefully, thinking for a while, and said, "Boss, I don’t think buying Christie’s is a very good deal.”

Simon looked up, looked at the girl beside him, and asked, "Why?"

The girl a has obviously done a lot of preparation, saying: "The development potential of the auction industry itself is very small, and the performance uncertainty is very large. Even if the boss thinks that the world economy will improve rapidly in the next few years, but the $800 million in cash investment, It’s still not worth it, and the money invested in other areas will definitely get more returns.”

Simon nodded with a smile: "You are right, but buying Christie's is not just a matter of

Buying an auction house is as simple as that. "

With such a click, Simon didn't go any further.

In the top auction industry, the people involved in it are basically the top group of people in the world's pyramid. If you can own Christie's, you will directly have a pass to build a huge network of contacts.

Simon's wealth at this time has reached a peak that is unattainable for ordinary people, and his power in Hollywood is also unparalleled. However, even if he has reached the current height, Simon does not think that connections are irrelevant to him. On the contrary, for him now, connections are becoming more and more important.

On the other hand, the top social circles are only the 'above the water' part of the auction industry.

This industry is actually more exciting below the surface.

Money laundering, tax avoidance, benefit transfer, etc.

If possible, Simon would of course hope that all operations for the Westeros system can be done with integrity.

However, this is just a fantasy after all.

Simon has been discussing one thing with some of the core high-level officials of the Westeros system these days, greatly increasing the "investment" of the Westeros system in the political field.

According to the preliminary plan, it is only this year that the Westeros system is not only Schlapp Consulting, which is directly controlled by Westeros, but also includes Daenerys Entertainment, Cisco, America Online, and Verizon. It is estimated that in 1993, the total amount of funds planned for political donations and lobbying will reach 100 million US dollars.

In this era, with $3.5 billion, it is enough to squeeze into Forbes' list of the 400 richest Americans.

The Westeros system plans to invest $100 million a year in the political field. However, this money must be spent, even if a large part of it may be lost, but this money will not be decrease, and will continue to increase every year in the future.

It's just that this part of the investment is impossible to operate on the bright side, and the registration in accordance with the US Lobbying Law may be less than one-fifth of the US$100 million.

But that's still not enough.

If you have an auction house like Christie's, you can also do a lot in the future.

People outside the U.S. always feel that this country is so, so good, and if they live in it and experience a lot, they can probably understand that the system may be different, but many things are actually similar.

Because human nature is the same.

Girl a's mind is quite smart, Simon just woke up, she immediately understood, and wisely did not express any opinion on it.

The next day is Thursday, February 25th.

Simon flew to San Francisco early in the morning.

The 1992 financial report of Igreit has also been released recently.

Compared with Daenerys Entertainment's "normal" annual growth rate, the year that Melisandre has just passed can be described as savage growth.

Therefore, when the financial report for the new year came out, the whole Igret was excited and a little uneasy.

If this financial report was announced to the public, it would be too eye-catching.

In 1991, the company's annual revenue was 491 million US dollars, and the loss amounted to 381 million US dollars, which was almost a loss of a wealthy person who was ranked at the bottom of the "Forbes" 400 richest people in the United States.

Whether it was a revenue of $491 million in a brand-new industry field or a loss of $381 million that was eye-popping, they all aroused intense media discussion at the beginning of last year.

However, this year's data, if released to the public, will definitely attract more attention.

In 1992, the Amazon online mall opened at the beginning of last year, relying on the super-traffic import of the unique interface of the World Wide Web by Igreit, and in the first year of operation, it achieved an annual turnover of 623 million US dollars.

Although it is well known that sales in the retail industry are often easier to achieve, and profit margins are often very low, the annual sales of Amazon's online store of only $623 million still easily surpassed that of Igret for 1991. 's revenue.

In addition, relying on the near-exponential growth of World Wide Web sites in the past year, Ygrit's yws department relies on application software sales, server space leasing, solution services and even corporate e-mail, etc. The revenue of 437 million US dollars, of which the most basic web design software was sold at 283 million US dollars, surpassed the 233 million US dollars of ie browser software in one fell swoop.

Simon's most important network business, compared to the 83 million US dollars in revenue in 1991, in 1992, because the traditional Coca-Cola, cleaning and other large advertising companies also began to advertise on the Internet platform, coupled with the original ibm, Compaq, In 1992, advertisers such as Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Intel and other technology advertisers, Igreit's advertising revenue also increased significantly to 278 million US dollars, an increase of more than 330%.

Finally, app stores and online payment tools such as ystore, ypay and other fragmented revenue also achieved $366 million in revenue throughout the year.

After all calculations, in 1992, the total revenue of Igreat reached 1.937 billion US dollars in one fell swoop. Compared with 1991, the revenue growth rate reached 394%.

Even after accounting, Igreit's annual loss in 1992 still reached 139 million US dollars. However, in the face of such a crazy annual growth rate, let alone a loss of 1.39 per year

Millions of dollars, even if it doubled several times, is totally worth investing in.

If the financial data in 1991 only made the outside world realize the huge growth potential of the Internet industry, then the revenue performance of Igret in 1992 was completely enviable.

The global economic downturn does not mean that there is a lack of funds in the hands of capital. On the contrary, it is more accurate to say that many funds cannot find a suitable investment direction.

Once the 1992 financial report of Igreit was announced, it was as if a beacon was suddenly lit in the dark night.

One or two moths rushing over may only be burned to death by the flame of the lamp. When countless moths swarm, the lamp may be in danger of being extinguished.

The light of the Igreit Company happens to have an obvious Achilles heel.

monopoly.

In the original timeline, the Internet industry began to rise in 1995, and it was basically in a state of blooming. Netscape and Microsoft owned browser software, Yahoo provided portal services, and companies such as Amazon and eBay operated e-commerce. At that time, the Internet cloud The service has not yet appeared, and the basic software and services such as website design software and server leasing business are also shared by many companies.

Now, because Igreit has built up the patent barrier of the World Wide Web technology in advance, it basically represents the World Wide Web platform of the entire Internet industry, from the bottom-level tool software to server rental, to the graphical interface browser, and even the original timeline The online businesses such as portal websites, online shopping malls, etc. that have proved successful are all owned by Ygrit.

So, when the Internet industry began to explode, Igreit was immediately supported.

The annual growth rate of performance is close to 400%. It does not need to persist for a long time. Even if it lasts for another two or three years, Igret will grow into an industrial giant with a revenue volume of tens of billions.

Other industries are affected by the environment and continue to be in the doldrums. Everyone is carefully looking for prey, but Igreit is alone in a pasture full of fat cattle and sheep.

Capital came into the world, from head to toe, blood and filth dripped from every pore.

If there is a 10% profit, the capital is guaranteed to be used everywhere; if there is a 20% profit, the capital will become active; if there is a 50% profit, the capital will take desperate risks; for the 100% profit, the capital will dare to trample all human laws; 300 % of the profits, the capital would dare to commit any crime, even risk hanging its head.

Marx, says Das Kapital.

Now, the Internet industry that Igretech is involved in clearly represents more than 1000% of the interests.

Support (end this site) and share this site with those who need it! Can't find the book, please leave a message!