Top of the big era

Zhou Buqi took seven or eight senior executives from Ziweixing Global and took the initiative to walk out of the building to greet Boss Wang and his party, giving him enough face.

In fact, both parties are old acquaintances.

There have been many collaborations.

For example, Ziweixing cooperated with Wanda and built a farm together in their hometown in Northeast China. They grew rice, raised ducks, chickens, and pigs, and grew vegetables and built greenhouses...

The farmer is Zhou Buqi's father-in-law of the Wu family and Wu Yu's father.

The output is mainly supplied to the capital and provided to the headquarters canteens of Ziweixing and Wanda. Not only that, Yuanwei mineral water is also the designated drinking water of Wanda Group.

In fact, there is another business that makes Zhou Buqi feel very sorry.

He once wanted to benefit his hometown and build a movie city similar to Hengdian in his hometown. The main investors were Jieyu Media and Wanda. It turned out to be a mess, and I was so overwhelmed by all the messy interests that I gave up decisively. This business cost Wanda 50 million yuan.

Although Lao Wang was very angry and said, "It's only 50 million, it's okay! It's okay!", "Investment, how can it be successful?", "If there is an opportunity in the future, continue to cooperate."

But Zhou Buqi felt sorry.

Take this opportunity to return the favor.

Zhou Buqi's warm reception made Boss Wang's face glow, he shook hands vigorously, and then walked into the company together. First, we briefly visited and experienced the heavy history of MGM, the legendary Hollywood film company.

While walking, Zhou Buqi introduced Mr. Wang like a commentator, and said with a smile: "The current Ziweixing Global Headquarters is still under construction. It is not far from here, just a few hundred meters away. This area is all It belongs to MGM. Originally, several of the studios over there were MGM studios. The facilities were old and so they were bulldozed. This building is called the Salberg Building, and it has been used as a studio for nearly a hundred years. It’s the administrative headquarters of MGM.”

Boss Wang pointed to the historical posters and classic stills on the wall, "Are these all MGM movies?"

"Yes, look at that..." Zhou Buqi pointed to the largest poster in front, "That's the most classic one, "Gone with the Wind." If the exchange rate and depreciation of the U.S. dollar are taken into account, the box office of "Gone with the Wind" In fact, it is higher than "Avatar" and is an immortal classic."

Boss Wang is a film amateur and rarely watches movies. However, he is still familiar with the row of gorgeous posters next to him, "This is "007", right? The "007" series is also yours?"

Zhou Buqi said with a smile: "'007' is a British film, a series co-produced by MGM and a British film production company. So the directors and actors are mainly British. But MGM has a bigger copyright and all distribution rights."

"The profit should be considerable."

"Not even close!"

Zhou Buqi shook his head.

"Um?"

Boss Wang was a little curious and turned to look at him.

Zhou Buqi spoke in Chinese, which the foreigners around him couldn't understand, so he didn't hesitate and whispered: "In the past two years, MGM went bankrupt and asked me to buy it. MGM's The movies were so bad that I stopped most of their projects. After a few years, some of the old people at MGM will be cleaned up, and the new people will have a new look, and then let MGM choose some on its own. Movie project. Now let’s film the TV series first, and then just finish filming the movie “007”.”

"No wonder the administrative headquarters was chosen here."

Boss Wang understood it as soon as he heard it.

The headquarters is temporarily located next to MGM's headquarters, which can suppress MGM's old forces.

"However," Boss Wang looked at him deeply, "Isn't this efficiency too slow? It's been two years and you still haven't completed an MGM project?"

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "It's almost done. We'll move before it goes public."

Boss Wang's eyes lit up, "Is ZiMSI Global about to go public?"

Zhou Buqi smiled and said: "Yes, it is expected to be in December. We will move to the new headquarters in September, and then the company will be officially under normal management."

"That's good!" Boss Wang nodded, thought for a moment, and said slowly: "In the past few years, AMC Cinemas has tried to go public twice, but both times failed."

Zhou Buqi said: "The performance is not good, right?"

Boss Wang said: "The first time was because the subprime mortgage crisis just broke out and the financing capacity of the capital market was too poor, so we withdrew; the second time I went public was last year, and it was indeed poor performance. In 2011, the box office revenue in the United States was 102 billion, a decrease of 3% from 2010, and AMC Cinemas’ debt was too high, and relevant agencies believed that listing would harm the interests of retail investors, which was also rejected.”

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "That's a good thing! If we win the AMC theater chain and then promote the listing, we can earn back all the initial investment in one operation."

Boss Wang hesitated for a moment and then said thoughtfully: "This is the idea, but I'm afraid it won't be that easy. If the opportunity is so good, it probably won't fall on me."

Zhou Buqi laughed.

Boss Wang smiled and said: "You are an expert, please give me some advice."

"Let's go! Go to the office!"

Zhou Buqi took him and planned to chat alone for a while, while the accompanying executives would meet separately to exchange their understanding of each other's markets. Americans want to understand the current situation of the domestic film market, while Wanda executives first experience and learn the operating model of Hollywood.

Boss Wang wants to acquire AMC theaters because he has a very important strategic goal, which is management.

Wanda used to be in the real estate business. When transitioning from real estate business to cinema business, one of the most critical issues that needs to be overcome is that different industries have different management models.

Wanda Cinema was fine when it was small.

But now it has become the largest theater chain in Asia, and it is a multinational theater chain, so management is very complicated. Wanda lacks management experience in this area, so it will inevitably encounter a lot of cost waste and low efficiency in management.

AMC Theaters is a world-class theater chain.

By acquiring AMC Cinemas, we can copy AMC Cinemas' advanced management experience, mature management models, management tools, and management concepts to the entire Wanda Cinemas.

When I got to the office, I felt more relaxed.

Zhou Buqi asked Ning Lu to make tea and asked Yang Mi to help. He also smiled and said, "You know Yang Mi, right? She has acted in many TV series."

"Oh, you're an actor, right?" Boss Wang didn't know why, but he still said with a polite smile, "Hello! Hello!"

Zhou Buqi explained half-truthfully: "I cooperated with her to build a luxury e-commerce company called Farfetch. The parent company is British. We just came from the UK and went to Farfetch's headquarters. She heard that Wanda was interested in acquiring AMC theaters, and she was very interested and came to learn more."

"Oh, okay! Okay!" Boss Wang was still a little confused. He didn't know what Comrade Zhou meant, so he could only ask accordingly: "Is Miss Yang still making movies?"

Yang Mi pursed her lips, "I'm filming, Mr. Wang."

Boss Wang nodded, "Wanda Film and Television also has many film and television projects, including movies and TV series. If Miss Yang is interested, she can come... The heroine is no problem, I can decide with just one sentence."

Yang Mi was very happy, "Thank you, Mr. Wang."

Zhou Buqi laughed and said, "She can't make a movie with her acting skills."

Boss Wang almost understood, and said with a smile: "It doesn't matter, TV series will do too! I'll leave you a phone number, if you need anything, just call me!"

Yang Mi said sweetly: "Thank you, Mr. Wang."

After making tea, we got down to business.

AMC theaters are such a mess.

Boss Wang took out a prepared document and handed it over, "The debt is too high and it's really hard to handle."

Zhou Buqi took the materials.

It's actually just a piece of A4 paper.

For a big boss of this level, there is no need to look at too many trivial data, just list the most critical ones.

For example, AMC Theaters lost $123 million last year.

For example, the debt ratio is as high as 77.6%.

Among them, AMC Cinemas’ existing assets are US$2.45 billion and liabilities have reached US$1.91 billion.

Such data is not hard to find.

AMC Cinemas planned to go public last year and has disclosed a lot of company information, so there is no mystery at all.

Zhou Buqi took a brief look, put the materials on the table, and said with a smile: "It's a bit of a mess, but it's a good thing."

"Good thing?"

"If it hadn't been a mess, would it have been your turn?"

"Too."

Boss Wang laughed a few times.

Zhou Buqi said very matter-of-factly: "After AMC Cinemas failed to go public last year, someone in the company suggested whether to launch an acquisition. I think it is possible. This is a rare opportunity to buy the bottom. However, after discussion, we gave up. Got this plan.”

"Do you have inside information?"

Boss Wang looked serious, thinking that Comrade Xiao Zhou was in Hollywood and had mastered some ulterior secrets within the AMC theater chain.

Zhou Buqi said with a smile: "Where is there any inside information? There are two main reasons for giving up. On the one hand, it is supervision. Ziweixing Global is too big, and merging AMC Cinemas may be suspected of monopoly; the other is supervision. On the one hand, it is due to capital reasons. The capital market is not very optimistic about AMC Cinemas. However, Ziweixing Global is preparing to go public again. Once it acquires AMC Cinemas, the issue price may be suppressed very low."

"What about AMC theaters? What do you think?"

This is the issue that Boss Wang is most concerned about.

If Zhou Buqi approves, then the plan to acquire AMC theaters will have a very reliable basis.

Zhou Buqi gave his opinion clearly and concisely: "Very good! You should buy it, buy it as soon as possible! Take advantage of the chaos in the AMC theater chain now, buy it quickly! You can definitely make a lot of money!"

"How about calling them all over? They have more detailed information."

Boss Wang was a little confused.

Now I can see the style of this super rich man who has appeared like a rocket taking off in just a few years.

Is this how he makes money?

"What materials are you looking at?" Zhou Buqi smiled, "How can such a big business be determined by just that little material? Just one thing, the movie market will recover, and it will recover quickly. In other words, the troubles of AMC theaters Things will get better soon, and we can turn a profit this year! If it’s too late, it’ll be too late!”