In the next few days, Eric was mainly busy with the establishment of Williams Trust and the charitable fund that was managed by two women.

Although I have already learned in detail in advance, the specific implementation still requires the help of Chris and some professional consulting agencies in New York.

In addition, the last time Cindy mentioned about the acquisition of IMG Group was also highlighted. It happened to be the time of the US Open. Mark McCormack, the founder and controlling shareholder of IMG Group, personally called Eric to visit the football on Saturday and discuss the acquisition.

Time always passes fast.

It was Saturday in a blink of an eye. At noon, Eric did not rush to the New York National Tennis Center in Queens, but met with Elite President John Casablanca again at a restaurant in Manhattan.

After the last incident, Eric originally wanted Alexander Ambrose to transfer the contract from Elite to IMG, but John Casablanca did not release anyone afterwards. He also told Eric through Alexander that he hoped to have a conversation in person.

"Eric, all four executives involved in that documentary last time have left," after a brief greeting, ordering lunch, and when the waiter leaves, John Casablanca went straight to the topic: "So, I think Miss Ambroshe can stay in Elite."

Eric had already learned these things from Alexander in advance, and even guessed John Casablanca's intention to make an appointment this time. He smiled and said, "So, are you just treating me to a meal today?"

John Casablanca also smiled and said, "You must have guessed it, Eric. Since you are interested in modeling agency, Elite is obviously a better choice than WM, isn't it?"

John Casablanca obviously didn't know that Eric was about to acquire IMG Group. He only invested in WM to give Carmen Cass a small training platform.

However, Eric was still very interested in Elite, so he asked bluntly: "How many shares can you transfer to me?"

John Casablanca said: "15%, Eric, and the price is fair. If you become an Elite shareholder, you can join the company's board of directors immediately."

According to Eric's prior knowledge, although it was listed a few days ago, Elite's public offering shares were only 25%, and the other 75% of the shares were still in private hands. As the founder, John Casablanca's shareholding ratio in Elite is less than 5%. However, a Canadian businessman named Nicholas Farre bought most of Elite's shares in 1990, and is still Elite's largest shareholder with a shareholding ratio of 37%.

"John, if you want me to invest in Elite, it is definitely impossible to have a 15% stake." Shaking his head, Eric said: "Elite is just a very small company to me, and the last time the matter was obviously the tip of your internal problems. I will not let myself get into a possible trouble for the sake of 15% of the shares."

John Casablanca said: "Eric, I have started to rectify the company during this period. Moreover, after investing in the shares, you can join the board of directors and supervise the company's management at any time."

"Even if I buy Elite in full, I won't join the company's board. I'm more accustomed to standing behind the scenes." Eric shook his head again and said, "And, John, I think you should know Elite's problems better than me, over-expansion, management chaos, bottom-profit margins, and the content in the BBC documentary is also very common within Elite. I'm sure that if these problems are not completely rectified, Elite's current apparent prosperity will not last more than five years. I think you want me to join, and use the resources of the firefly system to digest the problems in Elite and allow the company to further develop, right?"

John Casablanca had realized at this time that Eric was definitely not ordinary interested in Elite. Although he had discussed with the board of directors that the upper limit of the transfer of shares was more than 15%, he thought about it and asked bluntly: "Eric, since that's the case, how many shares do you think do you think are appropriate for us to transfer?"

"I just said that Elite is just a small company to me, but it has great risks, so I need absolute control." Eric said, then opened his trump card and said, "I have seen Elite's recent stock price situation. You can tell your company's board of directors that based on the current stock price, I will offer a 30% premium and acquire Elite in full for US$1.3 billion."

Due to the overall market decline and Elite's profitability in recent years is indeed unsatisfactory, the current overall market value of Elite is only about 950 million US dollars.

However, when John Casablanca's expression changed a little when he heard Eric speak out and wanted to buy Elite in full.

As the founder of Elite, the main reason why he has been able to hold the company's power over the years is that the company's equity is relatively scattered, and shareholders cannot find another more suitable manager to control the company.

But if Elite is completely acquired by Eric, then this powerful super rich man will likely kick him out of the company at any time.

Eric waited patiently for John Casablanca to weigh the trade-offs for a while before relaxing his tone, saying, "John, if you have paid attention to the company of the Firefly system, you should know that I am a boss who is willing to fully delegate power to professional managers. You created Elite more than 20 years ago and developed to the world's largest scale now. There is no doubt about your ability. So, at that time I am happy to continue to let you manage this company and you can still retain your own shares. Of course, Elite needs a thorough rectification, just like the phoenix Nirvana, otherwise, it will only prosper and decline. So, if I acquire this company, I will strengthen control over it at that time to ensure that it brings enough returns to my investment, but at the same time there will be no trouble like the last BBC documentary."

John Casablanca hesitated for a moment and said, "Eric, this is the modeling industry. If you can't default to some of these unspoken rules, then resources will only flow to other companies that allow these rules to survive."

"But everything should be limited, unless you are willing to see the industry completely rotten. In fact, why has IMG's model subsidiary developed so smoothly over the years? Just because it is a latecomer, this company does not have the chronic diseases of traditional model companies. It also adheres to the foundation of a commercial company to maximize the commercial interests of models. If a company only pays attention to its own scale and ignores the nature of profitability of commercial companies, it is destined to be difficult to last."

This time, until the waiter brought lunch to the two, John Casablanca nodded and said, "Well, Eric, I will tell the board what you mean."

Eric sent a beautiful waitress who was blinking at her and brought her a bottle of water, then handed John Casablanca a business card and said, "John, the $1.3 billion just now is my final offer. I won't waste too much time on Elite. If you decide to come down, call me. If you don't accept the acquisition, you don't have to contact me."

After lunch with John Casablanca, Eric hurried to Queens.

Today is a game in the fourth round of the US Open. Eric doesn't know much about tennis. He only knows that this game is Anna Kurnikova against another famous tennis player Davenport. Perhaps it was Mark McCormack who deliberately arranged that these two tennis players are both signed sports stars under IMG.

Near two o'clock, Eric rushed to the outside of the National Tennis Center in New York, and the game was about to begin.

Eric's car had just stopped in a parking lot when a tall girl in a women's shirt and black trousers came over, but it was the living assistant named Catherine Neumann, whom Cindy had just hired some time ago.

It is not convenient for Cindy to appear publicly now, because both Cindy and Linda have to participate in the acquisition of IMG. Eric originally asked Linda to come and participate in the meeting together, but unexpectedly, the German girl in front of him came.

Although there are not many opportunities to get along, Eric is not very comfortable with the style of the girl in front of him.

Katherine Neuman has a taciturn temperament similar to twins, but the two give people a completely different feeling. The quietness of twins makes people feel comfortable, but Katherine Neuman has the presence that still makes people unable to help but look over, and her whole body exudes an aggressiveness that seems to be conspiring to something.

As he approached, the girl just greeted him lightly: "Mr. Williams."

Eric looked up and down at the girl's outfit, tied her hair bun, light makeup, meticulous shirt and trousers, black short and high heels. Although her beautiful face and delicate figure were quite pleasing to the eye, they also obviously had an ascetic temperament. Even when Eric looked at her unconcealedly, the girl's only reaction was just a little blinking, but the blinking was obviously nothing to do with Eric's scrutiny.

After a few seconds of confrontation, Eric finally remembered something, turned around and whispered a few instructions to a bodyguard behind him, and then said to Catherine Neumann: "Let's go."

Eric did not lower his voice when he spoke to the bodyguard, but Katherine Neumann did not react at all. He quietly followed Eric out of the parking lot.

As soon as I walked out of the parking lot, IMG Group CEO Payne Fosterman came over and said hello. Eric and Payne Fosterman entered the stadium through the internal passage and came straight to a seat outside the stadium.

Although the attendance rate of the stadium has exceeded 80%, there are no one else in the empty seats condescending on the outside.

Mark McCormack is a burly old man with silver hair and a crutch in one hand, and is in good spirits.

After greeting each other, everyone sat down in the seat.

However, after sitting down, he noticed the live broadcast cameras everywhere in the venue. Eric looked around and said directly to Katherine Neumann beside him: "Go and see which TV station is broadcasting live, so that their cameras should not be scanned."

Katherine Neuman nodded and stood up and left.

Mark McCormack listened to Eric's words and said, "Eric, it's not good to be too low-key."

Eric smiled, “I’m just not used to the totally unnecessary public attention.”

Mark McCormack smiled and nodded, signaled to the two athletes who had already started warming up in the center of the court, and said, "What do you think of them?"

Eric said: "I don't know much about tennis, but according to the information I have seen, Anna's record from the official professional competition in 1996 to now can only be said to be mediocre. She had the best record last year, and she only stopped in the fourth round of the four major tennis Opens, and was still far from the championship. I don't know much about Davenport."

Mark McCormack showed a shrewd smile on his face and said, "Davenport has won two Grand Slams. You don't know much about her, but you happen to know Anna's record. Eric, do you know, this just reflects the value of IMG."

Eric retorted: "But tennis matches depend on strength after all."

"Of course," Mark McCormack agreed: "In fact, the top tennis players, Williams, Davenport, Graff, and others, are all signed stars under IMG. However, strength is not the ultimate factor that determines everything. Just like Anna, she is indeed mediocre, arrogant, and not hard enough in training, but IMG can make her the most profitable actress in the tennis world. But last year, Anna received $12 million in endorsement fees from brands such as Adidas and Rolex. As long as her performance can rise a little further, the number will increase in the next few years. However, 30% of her income belongs to IMG. Compared with Davenport, who played against her at this time, her annual income is less than one-third of Anna, and we can only get a 10% commission from her contract."

If I hadn't been interested in IMG Group's mature business operation system, Eric would not have been so interested in this company. It is said that IMG's business operation methods have even been included in the Harvard Business School case textbook, which is enough to prove the company's successful spending.

After hearing Mark McCormack say this, Eric also showed an admiration and said, "So, I'm just sitting here now. IMG is indeed a very outstanding company."

Mark McCormack heard Eric's compliment and showed a little smugness on his face, but shook his head sadly, saying, "If it weren't for my children being too unsuccessful, I would never be willing to sell this company."

The old man began to feel life, but Eric didn't know how to answer, so he could only calm down.

Mark McCormack just sighed for a moment and quickly recovered, saying, "I heard that you are interested in the entire IMG Group. I can help you lobby for other shareholders to sell their shares, but how much do you plan to offer?"

"$1.5 billion," Eric replied, "You can get an additional $75 million compared to the last offer. If it is just a 55% stake in the McCormack family, my offer is still $750 million."

"$1.5 billion, IMG is definitely worth the price," Mark McCormack nodded, saying, "I will get it for you."

When Eric heard Mark McCormack say this, his face was a little surprised. He originally thought that the other party was planning to bargain with him for this meeting.
Chapter completed!