The richest person in Chinese entertainment

Chapter 217: Boss Qiao on the Chopping Block

On June 6, exactly four months after the incident that spread throughout the world, the World Health Organization finally removed the capital from the list of transmission areas.

It was also on this day that Zhang Chen's home welcomed a person who had been eager to meet him.

"Steve, why are you here this time?"

Zhang Chen invited Boss Qiao to sit in the viewing pavilion in his garden. After making him a cup of tea, he asked him why he came.

In fact, the signs of this meeting had already appeared at the beginning of the year, but because of what happened in the past few months, it was inconvenient for everyone to go out, so it was postponed to today.

Zhang Chen was not in a hurry at all, but as the head of Apple, Steve Jobs could not sit still at all.

It has been almost two years since the Internet bubble was over, and Apple’s stock price has not improved at all. More importantly, its core business cannot find new profit points.

This made the board of directors dissatisfied with the current situation after they brought him back to lead the company.

"Leon, are you interested in selling some of the shares of 'Morning Light Music (Beautiful Country)'?"

Jobs simply took a sip of tea and then directly explained his purpose.

They had already thought of Apple's profit-making methods last year, and the most critical part was the music part.

But when they contacted major record companies, they found that the digital copyrights of major record companies had already fallen into Zhang Chen's hands, and were exclusive.

This has once again put Apple executives, who have seen hope for a recovery in the company's stock price, in an awkward position.

At first, they also considered acquiring Zhang Chen's Morning Glory Music subsidiary in North America, but were rejected outright by the other party.

But now they are powerless to collect enough even if they want to.

After three quarters of development, Morning Glory Music (Beautiful Country) has formed an unstoppable trend among Internet companies.

In less than a year, it has gained more than 5000 million member users in North America, with monthly membership fees alone exceeding US$4.5 million and monthly net profit exceeding US$9000 million. If paid download revenue is included, the monthly net profit will exceed US$1 million.

Because the net profit has basically shown an upward trend.

那么如果按照互联网公司的估值计算，也就是每个用户未来五年的消费金额进行估算：5000万*12（月）*$8.99*5=270亿美元！
Even if there is some water in this, no matter how low the estimate is, the valuation of Morning Glory Music (U.S.) cannot be less than 100 billion U.S. dollars.

What is the market value of Apple, which has not yet found a profit point?

Based on the current stock price, it is only 40 billion US dollars.

Moreover, Apple’s cash flow is seriously insufficient at present, but the other party’s cash flow is extremely abundant. It is possible that M&G Music (in the United States) may counter-acquire it.

"Steve, I don't have much shares in this company."

Zhang Chen spread his hands to show that he was powerless.

He was not wrong. The current shareholding ratio of Morning Music (USA) is: Morning Music (China) 40%, CGT 30%, Warner Music Group 10%, Universal Music Group 8%, Sony Music Group 5%, and Zhang Chen's personal shareholding 7%
Several major record companies in the world own shares in Morning Glory Music (U.S.), which is also the main reason why this company can expand rapidly in North America.

Zhang Chen took the initiative to give them the cake. As long as it did not affect the sales of their physical albums, they were happy to help Morning Light Music (Beautiful Country) expand in North America.

In terms of proportion, Chenguang Music (China) is 80% owned by his wholly-owned company, Penguin is 20% owned by him, and Penguin is 45% owned by him; CGT is also 99% owned by his wholly-owned company.
To use an inappropriate analogy, that is, Chenguang Music (Beautiful Country), Zhang Chen actually holds more than 72% of the shares
However, since several of these companies are not listed, no one will know Zhang Chen’s specific shareholding ratio.

Even if it is listed, the specific details of Zhang Chen’s shareholding will not be found because there is a holding company similar to the Virgin Islands in the middle.

Even though it is guessed that Zhang Chen’s shareholding ratio is not small, few people can find out the exact size.

“Then can we license the online digital copyright to Apple?”

The copyright was originally in the hands of Zhang Chen, and Boss Qiao also guessed that Zhang Chen was the largest shareholder of Morning Glory Music in China, so he made this request to Zhang Chen. He felt that he had made the right choice, otherwise he would not have taken a flight for more than 10 hours to rush to the other side of the earth.

"Sure." Before Boss Qiao could show his joy, Zhang Chen said, "But I want Apple's shares."

"This is impossible!"

As if he had touched Boss Qiao's sensitive nerves, he immediately spoke out to refute.

After saying this, Boss Qiao realized that it was a bit rude to refuse so directly.

In order to hide his inner embarrassment, he picked up the teacup, took a sip of tea, and began to think carefully.

In fact, he rejected Zhang Chen’s request immediately because he had been feeling resentful about the fact that he, the founder, was kicked out more than ten years ago.

He also couldn't guarantee whether other shareholders would sell their shares to Zhang Chen, nor could he guarantee whether Zhang Chen would stand on his side after getting these shares.

If Apple were to introduce a shareholder who was against it, wouldn't that be shooting itself in the foot?

"Steve, I have two plans. Oh no, maybe three. Would you like to hear them?"

Zhang Chen had long anticipated the arrival of Boss Qiao, or rather, he had been waiting for Boss Qiao's visit for a whole year.

When he secretly bought enough Apple shares in the secondary market, he had already put cooperation with Apple on the agenda. If Apple went bankrupt, wouldn't the $6.5 million he spent on buying shares be wasted?
"Appreciate further details."

Steve himself couldn't find a suitable condition to discuss with Zhang Chen, so he came here today just to see what Zhang Chen's conditions were.

So he is now completely passive.

If he knew that Zhang Chen owned more than 13% of Apple's shares, he might not have acted like this and would have firmly believed that Zhang Chen would find ways to help Apple.

Unfortunately, the cunning Zhang Chen used more than a dozen different companies to hold these 13% of the shares, so Boss Joe had no idea that the person in front of him was still a shareholder of Apple.

"First, I can accept the Apple shares I mentioned."

Stock swap is actually a form of acquisition, in which the acquirer uses the shares of its own or related companies as the acquisition consideration to pay the shareholders of the target company.

However, the strength of the two companies is completely unequal at present, and it is hard to say who will win over whom. Therefore, the stock swap proposed by Zhang Chen is just a way for the two companies to carry out in-depth cooperation. After each company holds shares of the other company, there will be less suspicion in the subsequent cooperation.

Moreover, for Zhang Chen, although the current valuation of Morning Glory Music (USA) may be much higher than that of Apple, the development potential of Internet music is limited after all. Compared with Apple, which already has a physical industry and is the future leader in mobile Internet, the gap is too big.

Boss Steve Jobs may not understand it now, but when he starts tinkering with the iPhone 07 in 3, he will understand the hidden purpose of Zhang Chen's request.

So, when Zhang Chen proposed this, Boss Qiao began to seriously consider the feasibility of this idea.

Judging from the current profitability of the two companies, this is indeed a sure-win deal for Apple.

“Second, I want Pixar animation.”

At present, the conflict between Pixar and Disney has intensified and is almost reaching an irreconcilable point.

In Zhang Chen's impression, the situation would not improve until January 05, when the new Disney president took office.

The gap between the two is the best time for Zhang Chen to enter the game.

In 06, Disney spent more than $70 billion worth of stock to acquire Pixar Animation, and the deal cost Disney 13% of the stock.

Owning Pixar means holding Disney shares in the future.

And the 50.1% of Pixar shares held by Jobs was Zhang Chen's target.

“Pixar has nothing to do with Apple.”

Jobs shook his head.

If Apple is his hard work and he can't bear to abandon it, then Pixar Animation is his cash cow.

Although he is a shareholder of both companies, he cannot confuse the two when discussing business.

Apple is Apple, and Pixar is Pixar.

After all, he lost Pixar, and it was not only him, the founder of Apple, who benefited, but also a large number of other shareholders of Apple.

He doesn't want to be the one being wronged.

"Steve, you know I'm now entering the film and television industry and I need a company that I can show off."

"Leon, today we are talking about Apple."

"So you want to watch Apple being buried like this? I believe you have found a way to revive it, and I just happen to be standing in the way, right?"

"Lyon."

"Steve, I believe you have seen enough hope in the rise of Morning Light Music to make digital music a new profit point for Apple, right?"

Zhang Chen's words directly exposed Boss Qiao's true colors.

The company is almost unable to operate, and now only the copyrights in Zhang Chen's hands can save him.

Since Zhang Chen had already fully understood the matter, it was tantamount to putting Boss Qiao on the chopping block.

Although he would not allow himself to be slaughtered by Zhang Chen, if he still wanted Apple, he would have to accept some of Zhang Chen's unreasonable demands.

This is the negotiation disadvantage caused by asymmetric intelligence.

"Isn't there a third rule? Why don't we talk about the third rule first?"

Jobs was conflicted, very conflicted.

On one side is his hard work, and on the other side is his cash cow, and he doesn't want to give up either of them.

Zhang Chen knew all of this. He was already in the grasp of the enemy and could only hope for the third option.

　Chapter 2 is here. After laying the groundwork for a long time, it’s time to wrap it up.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)