Hollywood Director 1992

After arriving at the office, Link read the newspaper for a while, then called a meeting with several executives: Michael Rison, Joe Feller, Jon Gordon, and Liu Xiaoli.

Given the current rumors in the industry, Link wanted them to focus on the morale of the company's employees, regardless of whether the Big Seven studios were trying to suppress Guess Pictures, or whether the company's second round of financing would be successful.

What everyone should do is to concentrate on handling the company's work, including the publicity and distribution of new movies, the work arrangements for the coming year, and "The Butterfly Effect's" participation in the Berlin International Film Festival early next year, to avoid any mistakes in these important matters.

He would take care of everything else.

Michael Rison and the others indicated they understood.

During the meeting, Link received a call from Gregg Davis, the chief investment officer of Navigator Capital.

Gregg Davis told him that after research by Navigator Capital's investment department, they did not plan to participate in the next round of financing because his asking price was too high.

However, if he was willing to lower the price and reduce Guess Pictures' market value to below $800 million, while offering more than 50% of the shares for financing,

he was confident he could persuade Navigator Capital's investment department to continue participating in the second round of financing.

Not long after Gregg's call, Paul Hankinson of Morgan Investments also called to say that Morgan was abandoning this round of investment, for reasons similar to those of Navigator Capital.

Paul Hankinson said that the number of shares he was offering was too small, which prevented many large investment companies from participating, leading to problems such as uneven distribution.

Investment companies that did not get a good deal would suppress Guess Pictures through the Big Seven studios.

This would inevitably affect the development of Guess Pictures.

Paul Hankinson suggested that he offer more shares for financing, so that more capital parties could participate, everyone could benefit, and other investment companies would no longer target Guess Pictures.

Link understood what they meant.

Too many wolves and not enough meat to go around.

They wanted him to be the sucker.

Link told them that $1.6 billion was the lowest price and would not be lowered, and 30% of the shares for the second round of financing was the limit.

These two bottom lines would never change.

If they were unwilling to continue financing, it didn't matter, Guess Pictures was in good operating condition, developing extremely fast, and did not lack investors.

"Link, think about it again."

Gregg Davis was unwilling to give up and began to persuade him, "Guess Pictures has made too much money in the past two years, and before Guess Pictures, this money originally belonged to the Big Seven studios, to the shareholders of the Big Seven groups.

If you don't accept their investment, you will anger them, and they will impose sanctions on Guess Pictures through the Big Seven studios.

As one of the company's investors, Navigator Capital is also unwilling to see this happen, but those capital forces are too strong, and Navigator Capital cannot resist them. The development of Guess Pictures will inevitably encounter more resistance, and the profits will also decline.

On the contrary, accepting financing from more capital will allow Guess Pictures to obtain support in terms of funds and channels, and the speed of development will accelerate.

In the long run, lowering the asking price and increasing the financing amount is actually more beneficial to you and Guess Pictures."

"I'm offering 30% for financing, that's not a small share,"

Link said.

"But the price is too high, no one will accept this offer."

"Gregg, I really don't understand your thinking. A company that is regarded as a mortal enemy by the Big Seven studios and needs to be dealt with jointly, a company that is favored by all investment companies on Wall Street and is scrambling for financing, how is a market value of $1.6 billion high? In fact, the $1.6 billion market value was pushed up by the Big Seven studios. If they didn't value Guess Pictures so much, I wouldn't even know it was worth so much."

"Uh～"

Gregg Davis wanted to refute, but found that what Link said made sense.

Guess Pictures being targeted by the Hollywood Big Seven and being搶 by Wall Street investment companies also happened to illustrate its value.

At this time, even someone who doesn't understand the market would raise the price.

"Link, although what you said is correct, have you thought about the consequences of going to war with the Big Seven studios? The consequence is that Guess Pictures will go bankrupt and close down under the suppression of the Big Seven studios."

"Is this consequence serious? I have the ability to create Guess Pictures, which ranked first in annual total box office within three years, and I have the ability to create another one, do you believe it?"

Link said confidently.

Gregg Davis twitched his lips. This was a fact, and he couldn't help but believe it. The growth of Guess Pictures largely depended on Link's personal financial resources and abilities. Link was the absolute core of the company. As long as he was there, it wouldn't be a big problem even if Guess Pictures went bankrupt.

"Link, you're right, but I still hope you can lower the asking price. How about $1.2 billion? If you're willing to lower it to $1.2 billion, I'm 80% sure I can persuade investors."

"My initial asking price was $1.8 billion to $2 billion. Out of sincerity, I lowered the asking price to $1.6 billion. $1.6 billion is the bottom line, and I will never back down."

Link said firmly, then slowly said, "In addition, given the current complex situation, the company needs to prepare for the suppression of the Big Seven studios and needs more funds. To be on the safe side, we will not distribute dividends this year, and we will keep sufficient funds to make movies, do movie publicity and distribution. At the same time, in order to improve the company's competitiveness, we plan to acquire several more film production and distribution companies."

"Ah, this, Link, you can't do this. The company earned more than $1 billion this year, and leaving $400 million for production and distribution costs is enough. The remaining part can be distributed as dividends."

Gregg Davis said quickly.

"You're right, but considering the current complex situation in Hollywood, Guess Pictures is at risk of bankruptcy at any time in the face of the suppression of the Big Seven studios. We must keep sufficient funds to guard against the suppression of the Big Seven studios.

Gregg, you are an elite from a Wall Street investment bank and are proficient in business, you should understand my approach."

"I, I..."

F*ck!!

Greg Davis covered the phone and cursed loudly, using particularly nasty language.

A dividend is a portion of a company's profits that is paid annually to investors in proportion to their shareholding.

According to normal dividend distribution procedures, after the year-end box office revenue is collected, the company will distribute dividends to shareholders in proportion to their shareholding within the next few months.

Last year, Guessing Game Pictures' profit was approximately $1 billion. After setting aside $400 million for costs, $600 million was distributed as dividends. With a 12% shareholding, Leading Capital received over $60 million.

When they acquired the shares of Guessing Game Pictures last year, they only spent $60 million, which meant they recouped their investment in just one year.

This was an extremely worthwhile investment and the most brilliant deal he had made during his tenure as Chief Investment Officer of Leading Capital. It is now being studied by many companies as a classic investment case.

But now, Link was saying that there would be no dividend this year and that the $1 billion reserve fund would be used to deal with the Big Seven studios.

A $1 billion fund is an exaggerated figure. Even Fortune 500 companies don't have such terrifying cash reserves.

Yet Link wanted to use this money to compete head-on with the Big Seven.

Greg Davis was so angry that he gritted his teeth. Leading Capital was not only a shareholder in Guessing Game Pictures but also held substantial shares in companies like Disney, Time Warner, and 20th Century Fox, ranking among the top five on the boards of directors.

For Link to use $1 billion to fight the Big Seven was, for Leading Capital, like the left hand fighting the right.

No matter who won, Leading Capital would be the loser.

Greg Davis was very annoyed by this and wanted to berate Link and tell him to distribute the dividends quickly.

However, Link was the founder and major shareholder of Guessing Game Pictures and had the power to make unilateral decisions on the board of directors.

He decided when the company would distribute dividends, and if he said he wouldn't distribute them for the time being, the other shareholders' objections were invalid.

If Link delayed the dividend distribution and then manipulated the accounts, making it difficult for them to investigate, they wouldn't be able to figure it out easily.

Sometimes, in order to accommodate Link's mood, they even had to watch his face.

This was precisely why they were so eager to take control of the board of directors of Guessing Game Pictures.

If an investment company controlled the board of directors of Guessing Game Pictures, they could arrange for professional managers to manage the company. The investment company could participate in the supervision of the company's finances, film project costs, and annual dividends.

This would maximize the interests of the investment company.

If Link continued to run Guessing Game Pictures, he could not only hold the shareholders hostage with dividends but also take the opportunity to eat away at those dividends by making movies. For example, he could take advantage of directing company films to demand extremely high salaries and box office shares, or give his women extremely high salaries.

The investment company had no way to interfere in this kind of thing.

Now that Link heard that Leading Capital was not participating in the financing, he was using this method to counter Leading Capital, and Greg Davis was amused by his anger.

Link, that bastard, was playing with fire.

If Leading Capital's investors were angered by this matter and supported the Big Seven in suppressing Guessing Game, or sold their shares in Guessing Game Pictures, then Guessing Game Pictures would definitely be removed from Hollywood.

Greg wanted to use this matter to threaten Link, but when he opened his mouth, he thought of what Link had said: Link said he was not afraid of competition, even if Guessing Game Pictures went bankrupt in the competition with the Big Seven, it didn't matter.

This sounded like a fit of pique.

But it was also the truth.

Link was not an ordinary person. He was a billionaire with a net worth of several billion dollars, and the films he made were all blockbusters. If Guessing Game Pictures went bankrupt, he could indeed start another one.

In the end, Link would lose hundreds of millions, while they would lose tens of millions.

Link was losing his own money, which wouldn't have much of an impact.

They were losing their clients' money, which would have serious consequences.

Thinking of this, Greg Davis suppressed his almost explosive temper and calmly persuaded Link, saying that he would continue to lobby the company's senior management to persuade them to continue supporting Guessing Game Pictures.

"Okay, Greg, that's settled then. Once Guessing Game Pictures overcomes this difficulty, we will definitely reward the shareholders' support with generous dividends."

After hanging up the phone, Link smiled coldly. These bastards were getting the benefits but didn't want to contribute, and they wanted even more benefits. There was no such cheap thing in the world. He would dilute their shares in the next round of financing.

Soon after, he received a call from Paul Hankinson of Morgan Investments.

Morgan Investments is one of the top five largest investment companies on Wall Street and also has shares in the groups behind the Big Seven studios.

Paul Hankinson's attitude was similar to Greg Davis's, demanding that he lower the price and offer more shares for financing.

Link's answer was the same. He also said that there would be no dividends this year to deal with the suppression from the Big Seven studios.

Paul Hankinson also restrained his resentment and said that he would continue to lobby within the company to persuade them to support Guessing Game Pictures.

Link also expressed his gratitude.

After hanging up the phone, Link continued the meeting and asked Joe Feller, the vice president in charge of the company's development planning, to investigate other film companies. If they encountered suitable targets, they could consider acquiring them in order to improve the company's production and distribution capabilities.

At the same time, he arranged for someone to contact Pixar Animation Studios and Blue Sky Studios to ask if they had any plans to sell.

This year, Disney's animated film 'The Lion King' sold $700-800 million at the global box office, showing the commercial potential of animated films.

If the two companies were willing to cooperate, Guessing Game Pictures could also take the opportunity to enter the field of animation production.