New York 2006

Chapter 263 News of the acquisition of Marvel broke out

A week later, at the Marvel Studios headquarters in New York, Chairman Isaac Perlmutter was a little tired after a busy morning, but now he was in a good mood, because in the past three days, Marvel's half-dead stock price had finally improved. , now up 8%.

At this moment, CEO Avi Arad knocked on the door and walked in: "Perlmutter, Logic just submitted documents to our company and the Securities Regulatory Commission. He acquired 14.9% of our shares in the market."

Perlmutter immediately beamed with joy: "So, the rise in the stock price in the past few days is because of his investment?"

"Probably." CEO Arad also laughed: "He is Logic. Do you think we should admit him to the board of directors? This should give the market a lot of confidence."

"Let's wait and see how the market responds."

Perlmutter pondered for a moment and continued: "Besides, don't you think that he acquired 14.9% of the shares? This ratio is somewhat coincidental?"

…………

Bloomberg also released the news to investors as soon as it received the news.

"When the stock market closed at noon today, Logic submitted a document to the Securities Regulatory Commission, stating that he now owns 14.9% of Marvel's shares, with a total purchase price of US$2.51 million, making him the second largest shareholder of Marvel. .”

As a financial newspaper, Bloomberg only publishes news objectively.But some investment forums have begun to discuss the significance of this matter.One of the posts is very popular.

"Logic is a frequent investor in the stock market. According to his previous media statements, he has many investments in the stock market, including Apple, Google, Amazon, and Booking Holdings. It is unclear whether these investments are true or not, and may be due to excessive market value. High, his shareholding ratio does not exceed 5% and has not been announced."

"However, his other two investments have been made public. One of them is that he and Mr. Buffett invested in BYD. Logic's original investment of 70 million US dollars has now appreciated by 1.7% and has become [-] million US dollars. "

"Another investment is Netflix. Logic made two investments totaling US$1.4 million, absorbing 10% of Netflix's stock."

"As the number of Netflix users increased by 45% last year, its performance increased significantly. Except for the initial impact of the financial crisis, Netflix has been rising throughout the entire process. It was one of the few stocks last year that bucked the trend and rose during the financial crisis. company of."

"Now, Logic's $1.4 million investment in Netflix has turned into $2.9 million."

“Leaving aside Logic’s short-selling record during the financial crisis, Logic is indeed practicing his value investment philosophy. He became a shareholder of Netflix in September 2007. It has been a year and a half now, and he has not done anything. There are signs of selling. In short, Logic’s investment in Marvel today shows that he should be optimistic about Marvel in the long term, which is bullish news.”

…………

As one of Logic's former followers, Director Francis lost a lot of money on Apple stocks and almost went bankrupt.It was Logic's acquisition of his MV studio that saved him.

Later, he learned a lot and invested part of the money in Logic's private equity fund. Part of the money made up for Apple's shortfall. The rest of the money he followed Logic to diversify investments in the stock market.

Now, except for Apple stocks, the financial crisis has not passed yet, and other investments have begun to make profits.

This also made him more determined to become a follower of Logic. After he received the news that Logic had invested in Marvel, he immediately picked up his mobile phone and called Logic.

"Hi, Logic. I just saw you took a stake in Marvel?"

"Yes."

"I plan to follow you and buy some Marvel stocks. What do you think?"

It was quite sensitive now, and Luo Ji didn't want to give others any clues about insider trading. He thought for a moment to formulate his words: "Just do what you think."

Francis said with some confusion: "What's wrong? Is there any problem? You used to suggest that I can buy it or not buy it?"

"I have something going on here right now, so it's not convenient for me to say more." Luo Ji continued to hint, "Remember, just do what you think."

"Uh... well."

Francis hung up the phone in confusion, somewhat baffled by Luo Ji's anomaly.But I still opened my stock account and prepared to buy some.

Trading on the stock market resumed in the afternoon, and as soon as the market opened, the stock instantly rose by 15.6%.Francis didn't hesitate at all and directly bought some shares.

After that, Marvel's stock price rose rapidly, with the highest point even close to 30%, and then fell back. By the time the market closed in the afternoon, the increase today had dropped to 23%, and the market value reached 21 billion US dollars.

…………

Roger's home in Burbank, Hollywood, was full of people today.

Luo Ji, Thomas Tull, Musk, Bill Lee, Li Zekai, Cheng Zhengchang, the founder of Panda Express Group, and Jerry Yang of Yahoo, all sat in the living room and watched the stock numbers beating on the computer.

These people can be regarded as the core allies of this acquisition of Marvel, and they are also the people who will act in concert in the subsequent acquisition.

Jerry Yang said: "A 23% increase, Logic, it seems that this is the increase that the market recognizes as your investment genius."

Luo Ji said, "It's already pretty good. I remember when I first announced my investment in Netflix, the market was not optimistic about it, and the stock price dropped slightly."

"Hahahaha." Everyone burst into laughter.

The liaison officer sent by Goldman Sachs to Los Angeles suddenly walked into the crowd with a notebook: "Logic, look, Marvel Chairman Perlmutter seems to be shouting to you from a distance."

Everyone’s eyes turned to the CNBC news on their computers.

"This reporter urgently contacted Mr. Perlmutter, chairman of Marvel's board of directors, hoping that he would express his views on Logic's investment in Marvel."

"He expressed that he was very happy to see an outstanding young man like Logic who was optimistic about Marvel. If possible, he also hoped to invite Logic to join the board of directors and run Marvel together."

"Not contacting you directly, but shouting to you from a distance to show your kindness." Thomas Tull frowned and continued: "Logic, it seems that he has discovered your intention."

"It doesn't matter if you find out or not, the showdown is going to be today anyway."

…………

At the Marvel headquarters in Manhattan, New York, Chairman Perlmutter was sitting in his office, using his computer to search for news about Logic on the market.

"Logic has been filming music videos at Warner Bros. studio recently. He told the audience that the remaining music videos for his second album will be available to everyone next month."

"Logic held private parties at his Burbank mansion for several nights in a row, and all the celebrities came. Including..."

Perlmutter looked through the news boredly. He didn't care much about the news. He wanted to find news about Logic's finances.

"It has been revealed that Logic is raising funds from his various companies, and the purpose is not yet clear."

"Logic announced to the media this morning that he recently hired a specialized team to value Logic Pictures, and they gave a valuation of at least 12 billion US dollars."

"We consulted relevant financial experts and they believed that the offer was very reasonable. Putting aside Logic Pictures' other projects, his "Twilight" has become a gold mine. According to Logic Pictures Zhu Haowei, " "The Twilight Saga" will have at least three more movies released. If each movie is calculated based on the results of the first movie, the next three movies will have a combined global box office of at least 14.4 billion. This is only a conservative estimate. As we all know, sequels The box office of a movie is generally higher than the first one, so the valuation of $12 billion for Logic Pictures is very reasonable."

Seeing this news, Perlmutter's mood hit rock bottom. His back instantly bent, and he said to himself a little tiredly: "M-Fxxk, can't you just let me run the company with peace of mind?"

At this moment, her female assistant called: "Boss, John Waldron, a partner at Goldman Sachs, suddenly came to the company and asked to see you without an appointment."

Perlmutter understood instantly. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then he straightened his chest, returned to his best state, and said calmly: "Bring him here."

After a while, the female assistant came in with someone.He and John had met several times, but they had never spoken.

John smiled and took the initiative to step forward and extend his hand: "Mr. Perlmutter, I am John Waldron from Goldman Sachs. You can call me John."

Perlmutter didn't get up at all, sitting on the desk and casually holding John's fingertips.Then he got straight to the point: "You're here for that guy Logic, right?"

John sat opposite him: "Yes." Perlmutter said coldly: "What exactly is Logic's plan?"

"He wants to buy Marvel and take the company private."

"Hmph." Perlmutter said unhappily: "He has only been running a business for a few years, and yet he dares to take advantage of my company."

John said calmly: "Won't you listen to our offer?"

"You don't want to hear it, you're not interested. You can leave now." Perlmutter made a gesture of invitation.

John immediately said: "How about giving me face and listening to my story?"

"If you come to visit normally, of course I welcome you." Perlmutter continued: "But you are here to rob my career on behalf of the robbers. For the sake of Goldman Sachs, it is already very good for me to receive you. Now you can gone."

John also wanted to say a few more words: "I..."

Perlmutter interrupted directly: "Or are you planning to ask me to invite security? I hope something so disgraceful won't happen."

"Okay." John was not angry at all. He stood up and said with a smile: "Although our conversation was unpleasant, you can still receive our offer. I hope you can seriously discuss it on the board of directors."

…………

John came outside and sat in the car. He took his mobile phone and dialed Luo Ji's number: "The discussion I just had with Perlmutter was very unpleasant. He directly issued an eviction order to me."

"So he doesn't want to sell Marvel?"

John said with a relaxed face: "That's a normal negotiation method. You don't need to worry too much. We just follow our own plan and don't let him lead us by the nose."

"Ok."

John then warned: "Logic, you must hold back during this period and don't say nonsense in the media. Just leave everything to our professional team."

"I will do what I promise you, don't worry." Luo Ji said seriously.

…………

The next day was Saturday, which was supposed to be a day off, but Perlmutter came to the company anyway. Not long after he sat down in the office, CEO Avi Arad walked in with a large stack of documents.

“Goldman Sachs just provided us with Logic’s acquisition plan.”

Perlmutter had a headache. He couldn't sleep well last night due to insomnia. He took the document and took a look at it. After seeing the most important quotation information, he rubbed his temples and said tiredly: "Logic this time is Are you serious?"

"Yes."

"Where did he get so much money?"

CEO Avi Arad explained: "He put together an acquisition team that included..."

After hearing this, Perlmutter sighed: "I didn't expect that boy to have such a wide network of contacts."

"It is indeed a bit unexpected." Avi Arad continued: "Goldman Sachs gave us half a day to prepare, and after half a day he will submit the documents to the Securities Regulatory Commission."

"Yeah." Perlmutter nodded casually.

"Then how do we reply to them?"

"No need to reply!" Perlmutter said with firm eyes: "When the media news comes out as soon as possible, you can tell the media directly..."

…………

"Breaking news, Logic suddenly submitted a document to the Securities Regulatory Commission today, expressing its willingness to fully acquire Marvel from its market value of US$17.82 billion before yesterday's announcement of his investment in Marvel. A premium of approximately 58% to US$28 billion."

On CNBC Financial News Channel, the host and two financial experts, a man and a woman, were sitting in the studio having a heated discussion.

The host asked: "What do you think of Logic's offer to acquire Marvel?"

A female financial expert said: "$28 billion is the highest market value in the history of Marvel. Marvel has never reached such a market value in the past ten years. I feel that Logic is still very sincere."

The male financial expert said: "This is not the key. The key is where did Logic get so much money? This is 28 billion US dollars, can he come up with it?"

The host picked up the document and explained: "We have obtained detailed documents from the China Securities Regulatory Commission. This acquisition was not initiated by Logic alone, but by multiple people acting in concert."

"Logic personally invested US$5 million, and Logic Pictures invested US$5 million. He occupies a total of 62.5% of the shares and has absolute control. Other investors include Thomas Tull of Legendary Pictures, Li Zekai of IDG Capital, Musk from Tesla, Bill Lee from venture capital, Cheng Zhengchang, founder of Panda Fast Food Group, and Jerry Yang from Yahoo. These people jointly invested $6 million."

"They have a total of 16 billion in cash, plus Goldman Sachs will provide them with a leveraged buyout loan of 12 billion. So they can indeed come up with 28 billion."

"Okay." The male financial expert continued: "Even so, Logic alone has to invest 10 billion dollars in cash. Where did he get so much money?"

The female financial expert said: "Have you forgotten? Last year, he earned US$7 million in cash alone. There were news reports yesterday that he had taken out a mortgage on the film company."

"I really forgot about this." The male financial expert said with a smile.

This is obviously a good script, and several people performed in tacit understanding on the stage.The next few people analyzed Marvel's strengths and weaknesses.

"Superhero movies adapted from comic books are a craze in Hollywood right now. Marvel really has great potential. It has a library of more than 5000 characters."

"But comic-book movies don't necessarily make money. Have you forgotten? "Fantastic Four" and "The Incredible Hulk" produced by Marvel last year suffered huge losses. And the copyright of their most popular Spider-Man movie belongs to Sony, X Men belongs to [-]th Century Fox.”

"Marvel is still in debt of US$4 million. Marvel's cash flow is somewhat unsatisfactory, and their movie universe strategy has been delayed due to funding issues."

……

Everyone analyzed and discussed this for a long time, and 10 minutes passed before they knew it.The host saw that the time was almost up and was ready to make the final statement.

"So what do you think Marvel's stock price will do next week?"

The male financial expert said: "It's hard to say. The acquisition document submitted by Logic to the Securities Regulatory Commission stated that the price of US$28 billion was a fixed price. If the acquisition fails, he will reconsider his shares."

The host was surprised and said: "You mean if the acquisition fails, Logic will sell off 14.9% of its shares and suppress the stock price."

"Yes, that's obviously what he meant."

The female financial expert said: "If I were a small shareholder, I would definitely agree to sell the company, so that the value of my stocks would increase by 58% because of Logic. Why not do this?"

"Hahaha, I think so too. However, whether Marvel will be sold or not is decided by the Marvel board of directors, not the small shareholders." The female host continued with a smile: "Then what do you think of Marvel's stock price next week? How will we go?"

"Things are still unclear and we will not give investment advice."

"Okay." The host began to finish: "Then today's discussion..."

Suddenly, the assistant handed a small note to him. The host took one look at it and hurriedly said seriously to the camera: "Breaking news, Marvel CEO Avi Arad suddenly stated in the media that if Logic holds Marvel If the stock price exceeds 15%, they will immediately launch a poison pill plan."

(End of this chapter)