Chapter 908: Strong entry into Hollywood
The good news is that Goldman Sachs has officially settled the difficult American gambling magnate Kirk Kerkorian, and will separate MGM Studios from MGM Hotel Group and complete the acquisition.
I don't know where the news leaked, but media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times and New York Times scrambled to report the news and analyse how much of an impact the formal involvement of Goldman Sachs in Hollywood will have on the American film industry.
The major forces on Wall Street and in Hollywood were alarmed.
Although Goldman Sachs is a Wall Street capital giant, it is also a core force in the Jewish community. Overall, the power and influence of the Jewish community in Hollywood will once again expand!
With the powerful backing of Goldman Sachs, does this mean that the 'lion' MGM will rise again?
Will the 'lion' once again reach the top of Hollywood and dominate the film industry?
The major media rushed to the headquarters of Goldman Sachs to try to get the most accurate news.
However, the senior executives of Goldman Sachs who knew the news kept it to themselves, and the uninformed employees could not find out anything no matter how hard they asked.
While everyone was talking about it, the head of the Goldman Sachs acquisition project arrived at Polaris Capital in a low-key manner to officially hand over the MGM movie studio shares and complete the second half of the deal that had been agreed upon at the beginning.
Polaris Capital spent a total of 184 million US dollars to buy MGM Studios in its entirety, and Goldman Sachs also made tens of millions of dollars from this.
With MGM Studios in hand, Xia Yu has officially established a foothold in Hollywood.
Although MGM is now at the bottom of Hollywood, it is still a giant after all!
Although 184 million US dollars may seem like a bargain, it was acquired at a premium to net assets.
Most of a film company's assets are actually intangible, as the value of its huge film library is incalculable and changes from period to period.
If it were in the internet era, its value would really be discovered, and even if you bought the film library, you would need to add another zero to the 184 million US dollars!
Now, even after deducting the debt, it still costs this price, which shows that MGM is not a small company.
Let's take a look at Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., which is also one of the eight major Hollywood giants. It has not been delisted like MGM, and its market value is only just over 2.8 billion US dollars!
Of course, because Columbia Pictures Industries is already listed, and because the stock price is prone to fluctuations, it will be much more difficult to acquire. If it were acquired in its entirety, it would definitely far exceed the market value of over 2.8 billion US dollars.
This is one of the benefits of going public!
After Polaris Capital took over MGM Studios, Peter Lynch immediately sent someone to take over MGM Studios.
There were already many reporters waiting outside the gates of MGM Studios, and the news spread immediately after the Polaris Capital personnel entered.
While the news of Goldman Sachs' acquisition of MGM Studios was still making headlines, even more explosive news immediately broke.
MGM Pictures was once again on the front pages of newspapers and television!
Only this time, there was a new third party – Polaris Capital!
Goldman Sachs and Polaris Capital join forces to hunt the Lion – The New York Times
Polaris Capital – a financial giant that is not inferior to Goldman Sachs – The Wall Street Journal
The Lion has changed hands again. Can Polaris Capital make the Lion King dominate once more? – The Hollywood Reporter
Can North Star Capital's strong pursuit of the 'lion' lead to an explosion in the film industry? – Washington Post
...
Such a reversal not only made the onlookers shout 'oh my god', but also shocked the major forces on Wall Street and in Hollywood.
North Star Capital seemed to be interested in making headlines.
Just four days after MGM Pictures was acquired.
On January 4, 1981, another piece of news shocked Hollywood!
United Artists, one of the eight giants of Hollywood, was acquired by Polaris Capital for 60 million US dollars!
And on the day of the acquisition, Polaris Capital announced that United Artists would be merged into MGM Studios in the future!
This means that the eight giants of Hollywood will become seven!
This will have a profound impact on the power structure of Hollywood.
MGM Studios and United Artists alone are the bottom of the eight giants of Hollywood.
But now that the two have merged, the most obvious thing is that MGM's film library will become the number one in Hollywood!
Moreover, with the merger of the two giants, MGM's influence and competitiveness will rise significantly, and it will once again have the qualifications to compete with other giants.
With the backing of the aggressive capital giant Polaris Capital, no one can predict how much change MGM will undergo.
The other six Hollywood giants are on high alert and wary of MGM.
The circle of independent producers who rely heavily on MGM and United Artists is in a state of chaos, and all stakeholders want to know MGM's attitude towards them.
But none of this is relevant to Xia Yu for the time being, and he has no interest in the feelings of these people.
He was currently racking his brains trying to find the right 'Lion Knight'.
MGM had been spun off from the MGM Hotel Group and was now without a leader. If it weren't for Polaris Capital, which had already taken control to stabilise the situation, it would have been a complete mess.
Moreover, United Artists was also to be merged into MGM. In order to maximise the use of resources, Xia Yu urgently needed a capable talent with in-depth knowledge of Hollywood to take charge of MGM.
Right now, I don't know how many pairs of eyes in the United States are staring at Polaris Capital and MGM Pictures, and I don't know how many people are looking forward to seeing a joke.
The resistance methods of the major Hollywood powers, especially the six giants, have not yet been used. If you collapse first, Polaris Capital will become a laughing stock in the United States and a disgrace to the financial industry!
Coming here with a lot of momentum, leaving a mess, is enough to make Polaris Capital be recorded in Hollywood history and become a laughing stock for all eternity.
Xia Yu could not afford to lose face!
So he immediately mobilised the full resources of the Kuang-Chi Group to screen for suitable candidates.
He himself also combined the memories of the future, searching among the powerful Hollywood tycoons for the 'Lion Knight'!
Xia Yu's first target was the Bismarck-like leader Mike Eisner, who now heads Paramount Pictures.
This Hollywood tyrant has already played the role of saviour twice. In the early 1970s, he turned around the almost defunct American Broadcasting Company and breathed new life into it.
Now in charge of Paramount Pictures, in just four years he has brought the lowly Paramount Pictures back to the top three, and the upward momentum is still fierce.
If history does not change, he will be poached by Disney in 1984. Through a series of drastic reforms, including the crazy development of brand-driven product sales, upgrading Disneyland, and opening a film and television department that produces non-G-rated movies, effective measures such as these have made Disney the industry leader within a few years, with The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, and Pocahontas selling all over the world.
And through careful acquisitions, Disney has expanded into the television and publishing industries, becoming a giant cross-media group.
Although 'tyrant' Mike Eisner has mixed reviews, his abilities are undeniable.
Unfortunately, the embarrassing thing is that, in the face of poaching by KKR, Mike Eisner simply refused.
Korn Ferry decisively changed its target and set its sights on Warner Bros. President Terry Semel and General Manager and Vice President Robert Daly.
These two worked together to make Warner Bros. the world's largest and most creative media and entertainment company in the future.
Not only that, Terry Semel later became president of Yahoo! If MGM Pictures were to recruit him, he would be able to keep him until the beginning of the 21st century, and Xia Yu would not need to replace him!
But unfortunately, both of them did not hesitate to refuse. Both of them had only worked at Warner Bros. for three years, and had already put Warner Bros. on the fast track to rise. Now they were enjoying the thrill of the rise, so how could they possibly be willing to take charge of MGM Pictures, which was at the bottom?
After a few days, Korn Ferry's successive failures to poach people were revealed, and some media began to ridicule MGM Pictures in public.