Cai Zhiliang came to New Jersey again and accompanied Zhao Baoxiu, staying at the rehabilitation center and at home for half a month, until George Smith suddenly received news that the Alaska casino tycoon Kirk Kerkorian was preparing to sell again.

MGM.

As early as four years ago, Kerkorian sold MGM Pictures to N's major shareholder Ted Turner for US$1.45 billion. When he encountered financial crisis, he sold MGM Pictures to N for US$780 million.

Price was sold back to Kerkorian, but MGM's film library was retained to flesh out television programming.

I don’t know if this acquisition and recycling was already discussed between Kerkorian and Ted Turner. Such a big cycle has only caused misfortune to MGM Pictures and lost the most important thing.

film library, half a century of accumulation.

Speaking of the history of MGM, it has a glorious past. However, since its acquisition by Kerkorian in 1969, MGM has gradually been involved in real estate, hotels, and casinos. With the rapid development of the U.S. economy, MGM has made a lot of money.

, the once-splendid MGM Pictures has become a dispensable sideline.

Since the beginning of the year, we have to mention the trough of real estate in the United States. Kerkorian is also a big real estate developer, so life is naturally more difficult. After thinking about it, he decided to sell MGM Pictures again. After all, it is just a side business and there is nothing wrong with it.

What a pity.

Instead of staying in a rehabilitation center in New Jersey, Tsai went to New York, where he met with George Smith to discuss the possibility of acquiring MGM Studios.

Qi Heng also knew about Kerkorian's sale of MGM Pictures, but what he talked about was another matter, or another explanation.

"Korkorian is shifting his investment direction to the automobile industry, and will begin to acquire Chrysler shares later this year. He has acquired about 8 million shares so far. He probably plans to sell MGM Pictures because he is short of money."

George Smith said: "I thought it was because the real estate prices plummeted and Kerkorian was in serious debt and couldn't turn around his funds."

"It seems that both aspects work together. Kerkorian hasn't raised his name yet. I don't know if it's just an investment or preparation for the acquisition of Chrysler."

Qi Heng said: "But this is a good thing for Sol's investment. Lamborghini will soon have results."

"Is there a connection between the two?"

"Different from Buffett's value investments and long-term holdings, Kerkorian, although he is also an investment guru, prefers short-term and fast investments. Chrysler's management has the same concerns and intends to stabilize other shareholders and avoid the board of directors being criticized in the future.

Kerkorian controls, will overcome

MGM is a realistic example of Chrysler's departure after all the troubles. So Chrysler's management no longer refused to sell Lamborghini, and planned to refocus on the North American market. As the U.S. economy gradually improves, it will regain

former market share.”

"So, I should thank him." Cai Zhiliang shook his head and laughed, and asked: "George, how much money is needed to acquire MGM?"

"Korkorian originally bought back MGM Pictures from the group for US$780 million. However, except for "Rain Man", MGM has not had any outstanding films in the past two years, and last year's box office revenue was not as good as Blue Bird

Film industry, with the current assets of MGM Pictures

And the debt situation is between 800 million and 900 million." George did not say anything, saying: "After all, MGM Pictures and United Artists were once the eight major film companies in Hollywood, and they will inevitably cause market shock.

If it is popular, the price will naturally go up."

The difference in price between Kerkorian's sale and repurchase of MGM Pictures illustrates the value of MGM's film library and what is left today.

"Speaking of the eight major Hollywood film companies, last year Sony acquired Columbia for US$5 billion. Now Panasonic is acquiring Universal Pictures, including MCA Music Group, and the offer has reached US$6 billion." Qi Heng laughed: "The Japanese are invisibly pushing

The value of the film company has increased, and it is estimated that the final transaction price of MGM Pictures will not be too low, and it is possible to go up to 50%."

"George, if MGM Pictures doesn't have its film library, what's left?" For a film company, especially an old film company like MGM with a glorious history, its film library is the most important resource. Every year,

With copyright, revenue through leasing and licensing can reach nearly tens of millions of dollars.

"Although MGM Pictures has lost its film library, it is still one of the largest film companies in Hollywood, with a complete upstream and downstream industry chain and distribution system. For example, "Pretty Woman" is currently being released around the world, and is produced by MGM

If it is released by May, it will definitely generate tens of millions more dollars in revenue." George Smith said: "In addition to MGM and United Artists, the 007 movie is one of the most successful series of movies in Hollywood history."

"One billion US dollars just to buy MGM's distribution system is too extravagant." Cai Zhiliang shook his head and said: "The 007 series of movies is indeed successful, but just relying on such a movie cannot save MGM.

, otherwise, Kerkorian would not have sold MGM.”

This is obvious. MGM has been suffering from losses since the 1960s. In the 1980s, even after acquiring United Artists Pictures, it was still the case.

"MGM is a member of the American Motion Picture Association, which directly determines the audience for every Hollywood movie. It is crucial to the future development of MGM and Bluebird Pictures." George Smith gave an example: "For example, right now it has

"Human Purge", which is in post-production, will most likely be rated R by the judges. It is recommended for viewers over 17 years old to watch, but it will be rated upwards as pg-13, or directly downwards as NC-13, which are all MPAA sentences.

thing, but the final box office difference is huge."

The Motion Picture Association of America, or MPAA for short, aims to evaluate the movie based on the movie's themes, language, level of violence, nudity, sex scenes and drug use scenes, etc., and represents the opinions that most parents may give. Its purpose is to evaluate the movie in advance

Provide parents with information about movies to help them decide which movies are suitable for children of a specific age. Ratings are not related to the quality of movie content.

The above are all external explanations, but in essence they are an important tool for the seven major Hollywood film companies to suppress independent production companies. They can downgrade the film to a higher level, minimize the audience of the film, and thus protect their own status from threats.

.

American film classification is not a mandatory system. It is the independent choice of film producers to decide whether a film should be classified. However, basically all film producers choose to submit film classifications because theaters are also afraid of taking responsibility. This is undoubtedly

Gives the Film Association huge powers.

Is a global distribution system and a quota on the MPAA committee worth so much? Perhaps to put it another way, if Bluebird Pictures wants to develop and grow and is not choked by the seven major Hollywood film companies, 1 billion US dollars

, it is indeed worth the money, not to mention that there is still room for profitable operation in the 007 series.

It is the aspiration of every independent production company to become the top production company in Hollywood and gain the status of the seven major Hollywood film companies. However, in decades, no independent production company has emerged that can challenge the seven major Hollywood film companies. Rights

It's better to have it all to yourself, since seven of them are already very crowded.

, so the seven major Hollywood film companies are also fighting openly and secretly. It is best to suppress one or two. However, once an independent production company intends to enter this field, the seven major Hollywood film companies will work together to suppress this production company first.

Companies either coerce or acquire them, and then continue fighting among themselves.

In the future, DreamWorks will illustrate such a thing with its own tragic fate. It was jointly suppressed by several major Hollywood film companies. From production to distribution, DreamWorks' profit margins were greatly reduced. Even though Spielberg was unfaithful because of

He has great directing ability and has good relations with major film companies. Once his own interests are involved, capital is ruthless. So what does DreamWorks lack?

There are two things, one is the global distribution system, and the other is the quota of the MPAA committee. Around 2000, DreamWorks' size and box office have surpassed the last film companies such as MGM and Paramount, but the profits are always distributed first.

The company was exploited once and suppressed by MPAA again. It has been able to only shrink to the second line. The three giants of DreamWorks eventually fell apart.

"Then let's get in touch with this hotel tycoon first."
Chapter completed!