During this long air journey, Simon's Boeing 767 car is equivalent to his air office.

When the private jet set off from Melbourne and was about to arrive in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, Simon was still having a video conference with Danny Morris, the head of New World Films in Los Angeles. The topic was once again surprisingly popular "Anti-Wissing Stars 3".

With the film's popularity, some Hollywood media also revealed Simon's serious "mistakes" in the payment negotiations of "Anti-Witness 3".

According to the share contract signed with the three main creators, based on the initial basic salary, based on the final local box office of the film of 200 million US dollars, Daenerys Entertainment will pay the three main creators an omni-channel share dividend of up to US$50 million, which has exceeded the production cost of the film of US$40 million.

In comparison, Mike Meiers' initial offer was only $15 million in Hollywood's maximum salary and 10% of box office net profit share, and the other two creators only required about half of Mels' fixed salary. With current box office results, including dividends, the total expenditure will not exceed $35 million.

Now, taking into account the basic salary, Daenerys Entertainment paid nearly $70 million to the three main creators.

Doubled.

Mike Meiers expects to receive a total salary of $33 million.

Obviously a mistake.

Simon certainly would not be affected by this argument.

The 30% omni-channel net profit of the three main creators was US$50 million, which actually means that Daenerys Entertainment can obtain more than US$160 million in net profit from this project.

Still big.

This is a profit distribution model that Simon is very acceptable, which is much better than Warner working for Mel Gibson and others in the "Deadly Weapon" series.

What's more, compared to the nearly $500 million in total revenue brought to Daenerys Entertainment by the trilogy of "Anti-Stars" to Daenerys Entertainment, the $70 million in main creators this time is nothing. Just treat it as a big red envelope for Simon to give the three of them. Simon is far less obedient to stars than other studios, or very harsh. No matter how big a star is, he can no longer be as arrogant as before in front of Daenerys Entertainment, and he can start the price.

However, harshness is not stingy, and Simon has never been a boss who wants to run away without giving it to the horse.

When Simon finalized this plan, he had corresponding considerations.

First of all, 30% is the highest share ratio that Simon has always been able to accept, whether it is box office share, omni-channel share or other messy share models.

Secondly, adopting a share model can also stimulate the enthusiasm of the main creators.

This is the most important point.

In the former "Transformers" series, why did Michael Bay completely play the game? It was not because of this big commercial director Jiang Lang's talent, but more because Paramount's obedience, and the explosion Bet would not have to take any risks for this series to get a huge salary.

Anyway, I can make a lot of money no matter how I play it. I am really tired of doing five consecutive games, so just do whatever I want.

The result was that Paramount was ambitious to create the Transformers universe, because the Explosion Bay messed up "Transformers 5", and the entire plan was basically over. The second year's "Bumblebee" was not too lukewarm in the haze of "Transformers 5".

Mike Meiers was very surprised that "Anti-Wisdom Star" was able to make "Ace Big Spy" the trend of "Ace Big Spy" in Simon's memory.

However, Simon no longer hesitated to refuse the fourth plan proposed by Danny Morris.

It is also the reason for risk and cost.

The third part has an estimated local box office of 200 million and a net profit of 160 million US dollars, which is actually a full 30 million lower than the second part, while the second part has a local box office of only 140 million US dollars.

The key is the increase in costs and the dividends of the creators.

If the fourth part continues to start, Simon will add a production budget of $10 million according to the rules of the first three parts, which will definitely not work. If anyone has a surge in publicity and distribution expenses, the three main creators will no longer accept the salary and share standards of the third part. Therefore, even if the fourth part still maintains the box office level of the third part, the benefits Daenerys Entertainment can obtain will be significantly reduced again.

As for surpassing the third part, Simon has no extravagance.

All kinds of films have their own ceilings. As a phenomenal level as "The Hangover", there will only be one film released in decades.

If Daenerys Entertainment hadn't emerged, Jim Carrey would have received the first fixed pay of $20 million in Hollywood history this year, and the more exaggerated 20/20 model will soon appear in the future, with a global box office dividend of $20 million plus 20% of the global box office dividend.

Now, Simon has successfully locked the maximum salary of Hollywood actors at $15 million.

Although there is no 15% upper limit for dividends, Simon's requirement is that the actors must share the risks with Daenerys Entertainment, and they must not get a maximum salary and share a high amount of money.

Simon had no room for negotiation in his tone, and Danny Morris had to give up.

Then he talked about it again. Mike Meiers already had a new script idea. This is a spoof about the 007 series. Simon knew it was "Ace Spy".

However, because the cooperation between the two sides was not too pleasant in the "Anti-Wiss Stars" series, Meers was indifferent to the contact with New World Pictures. Moreover, Meers planned to personally serve as the producer of the project, and the starring and screenwriter, this time he directly offered a quotation of $15 million in basic salary plus 15% of global box office dividends.

This time, the 15% is no longer the omni-channel net profit sharing.

If we follow the box office results of "Anti-Wisdom Stars 3", of course, we will get more net profits through omnichannel. However, box office dividends mean that Mike Meiers will earn a guaranteed income because this is a direct cut from the global box office without regard to the cost of the studio. Although it is not a literal way to cut the cake from the total global box office, it is a 15% of the box office share, but the studio still does not need to bear all risks, and the share will be obtained in a relatively short period of time, which is far from being as protracted as the omnichannel share.

With the box office results of the "Anti-Withful Stars" trilogy, Mike Meiers is indeed confident to shout such a offer.

Simon won't accept it.

The main creator's basic salary is 15 million US dollars, which means that the production cost of "Ace Spy" is just the first one, and even if the series is still better than the box office as Simon remembers, the studio's profit margin will be very small.

So skip it directly.

New World Pictures is not short of such a project now.

After Jim Carrey obtained Simon's understanding, both parties were already preparing for "Detective's Head 2", which is just the third of the five films of Jim Carrey and Daenerys Entertainment. Also, after "Red Agent" was released in February, Simon threw out his creativity to let the New World Film team complete Jack into the "Pulse Hour" series. In addition, the huge soul-summoning movie universe series has been successfully launched.

But these main features are enough for New World Pictures to develop until after 2000.

Moreover, both cost and risk are much better than the "Ace Spy" series, which Mike Meiers had to pay the maximum salary and share at the beginning.

Ended the video conference with Danny Morris, and the Boeing 767 is also approaching its destination.

Girl A knocked on the door and entered the study, reminding Simon to land for another ten minutes, and also brought another document.

The small team led by Chen Qing just reached an acquisition agreement with Scooper.

On the day Simon left New York, Chen Qing, who had worked overtime all night, handed over a complete acquisition plan to Simon. Since Simon believed that betting on the VCD industry could only make a "quick money", Chen Qing also changed her original idea of ​​a full-owned acquisition of Scooper, a video decoding chip maker, and planned to only achieve controlling stakes and maintain the company's listing status, so that it can be convenient for a few years to cash out and launch it calmly.

Moreover, even if you do not absolutely control Scooper, as long as you fully control the operating power of this company, the Westeros system can maximize its own interests by controlling China's VCD industry.

Partial acquisitions can also minimize costs.

In fact, no one is a fool. As the only supplier of VCD video decoding chips at this stage, Scooper can best realize that in the past first quarter, the Chinese VCD market soared from less than 20,000 units in 1994 to a market growth rate of more than 100,000 units in a single quarter.

Therefore, the company's original price-to-earnings ratio is very high, and the stock price has continued to rise with the wave of new technology.

Such a company is simply impossible for Wall Street to acquire.

Of course it is not the literal meaning of "impossible".

Instead, if you want to do this, the cost will be much higher than you think.

In early April, Scooper's market value reached US$120 million. Simon thought it could be won by US$200 million. After all, this means a 76-fold price-to-earnings ratio. Traditional enterprise mergers and acquisitions, and a price-to-earnings ratio of more than 50 times is already outrageous. However, due to the favorable Chinese market, even if the VCD market is still small, based on the current sought after technology industry and the growth rate of China's VCD market, Chen Qing's team judged that if a malicious acquisition is acquired, it may take more than US$300 million to win the company.

$300 million, this is already a bit more worthwhile.

Because of such a sum of money, the Westeros system can fully cooperate with other electronic manufacturers, such as Sony in Japan, Philips in the Netherlands, etc. At that time, the cost of cooperative R&D may only be one tenth of US$300 million, and at most it will only take one year.

By then, China's VCD industry will explode.

However, if you do this, it will be difficult for the Westeros system to make further arrangements and thus control China's VCD industry to the greatest extent.

After the proposed new plan was approved by Simon, Chen Qing took her small team to take action immediately.

Scooper's plate was not big after all. In just one week, Chen Qing absorbed 5% of Scooper's stock and acquired it completely in the name of an offshore fund that was apparently unrelated to the Westeros system. Therefore, when the fund broke through 5% of its holdings, it reported to the SEC, neither Wall Street nor Scooper paid too much attention.

Until the next two weeks.

Chen Qing's team is simply fiercely constantly absorbing SGB stocks in the secondary market.

In two weeks, Scooper's stock price soared by 69%, and its market value exceeded the $200 million mark from $120 million at the beginning of the month. When everyone reacted, Chen Qing had already absorbed more than 21% of Scooper's stock in the open market, spending $31 million.

Then, showdown.

And it was a pretty strong showdown.

The small team divided into several groups, contacted several shareholders of Scooper, and initiated an offer to acquire some of the other party's shares.

In fact, it is mainly Sequoia Capital in Silicon Valley and Texas Instruments in Texas.

Scooper was originally a peripheral company incubated by semiconductor giant Texas Instruments. Subsequently, Sequoia Capital participated in multiple rounds of financing before the IPO, and its investment exceeded US$20 million.

In the IPO in March last year, Scooper's publicly listed shares were about 23%. However, with the continuous reduction of holdings by various shareholders after the end of the half-year restricted period, the circulating shares in the secondary market have exceeded 30%. In the face of Chen Qing's team's strong absorption recently, some people cannot resist the temptation to cash out a lot.

As of the showdown, Scooper's equity distribution was roughly 33% of Sequoia Capital and 19% of Texas Instruments. Chen Qing's team has 21% of its control and is already the second largest shareholder. The remaining 27%, and 11% have another venture capitalist similar to Sequoia Capital. The last 16% are the shares held by the circulation market and management.

The showdown content is also quite straightforward.

Chen Qing's team did not hide the capital background of its Westeros system and its optimism for China's VCD industry at all, and directly presented a business plan to several major shareholders.

Or, Sequoia, Germany negotiated with another 11% venture capital investor, which sells half of its shares to this side at the current share price, and gives up control of Scooper. Then, the Westeros system is personally responsible for opening up China's VCD market, and everyone controls this market together.

Either the Westeros system will turn to cooperation with manufacturers such as Sony or Philips, and both parties will become the most direct competitors. Scooper may have an advantage, but in front of manufacturers such as Sony and others who have mastered the DVD standards, the advantages are not obvious at all, and the almost insurmountable gap between VCD and DVD is also obvious.

The two sides bargained for three days.

In the end, the original shareholders of Scope made a concession. Based on the closing price on the date of the transaction, the three major shareholders sold a total of 32% of Chen Qing's shares to Chen Qing's team for US$63 million. At the same time, Chen Qing's team also needed to provide an additional US$20 million in low-interest loan to Scopepe as the execution of the subsequent plan.

In addition, while achieving 53% absolute holding, Sequoia Capital founder Don Valentine also gave up the position of chairman of Scooper whom he had personally served, and planned to hand over the responsibility of Emmanuel Brandt, recommended by Chen Qing.

In the last ten minutes before the plane landed, Simon fastened his seat belt in his seat and quickly browsed the final plan coming from San Francisco.

It's past six o'clock in the evening in Kiev.

According to the time difference, it is early in the morning on the west coast of the United States.

I understood what Chen Qing was waiting for. After leaving the airport and getting on the bus, Simon directly asked the A-satisfied girl sitting next to her to notify the San Francisco by phone, and the plan was passed.
Chapter completed!