Rebirth Tokyo 1986

Chapter 433 Launching an Operation Against Bandai

Masato Takeshita stayed in China until mid-September, carefully checking that the donations had been implemented before returning to Tokyo.

Then, as soon as he returned, Kalinsky, the president of Starsea Entertainment, came to him.

"President, I plan to go to Bandai tomorrow to discuss the acquisition."

“Okay, I support you. The company’s bottom line is $20 billion.”

The global toy industry was in a stalemate in the 1990s, and Bandai was no exception.

$20 billion is already a high premium paid by Masato Takeshita.

If it were any other company, they wouldn't be willing to pay a premium, let alone the original price.

The only way to maintain the original stock price is to partner with a company that is also in trouble.

When the young man thought of collaborating, he suddenly thought of Sega.

"We need to be quick; Sega also wants to take down Bandai."

After more than half a year of fierce competition, Sega has felt the deadly threat posed by Sony's PS game console.

Sega, a veteran game developer with global brand recognition second only to Nintendo, surprisingly rivals Sony, a newcomer to the game industry, in sales.

This is very abnormal and already foreshadows an unfavorable outcome.

Perhaps one day, when Sony's game library reaches a certain number, Sega's new game console will collapse.

Faced with this predicament, Sega came up with a brilliant idea.

Bandai has a large number of popular IPs that it can use. If the two companies merge, Sega can turn all of these popular IPs into games.

After gamification, at least the Japanese market can be preserved.

After all, what matters most to players is always the game content, not the game console itself.

"Sega is also interested in Bandai?"

"Yes, both sides have expressed their intention to cooperate."

To be honest, the benefits of Bandai's collaboration with Sega far outweighed those of Bandai's later merger with Namco.

But your perspective is determined by your position.
With Bandai partnering with Sega, Sega will definitely be in charge, and Bandai's shareholder equity will be significantly reduced.

Conversely, if Bandai collaborates with Namco, Bandai will be in charge, and Bandai's major shareholders will naturally prefer this model.

So even though Sega persuaded President Makoto Yamashina in the previous life, the merger plan was ultimately ruined by the previous president, Naoharu Yamashina, as well as the shareholders and management.

"Understood. I will persuade Chairman Makoto Yamashina and Bandai founder Naoharu Yamashina as soon as possible."

"Yes, I'm very relieved to leave this to you."

The most important reason why Sega failed in its previous life was that Sega was heavily indebted.

This is something that Xinghai Group simply doesn't have.

At the same time, there is little overlap in business between the two parties, so there will be no issues with employee layoffs or demotions.

In this way, as long as Yamashina Naoji can be persuaded, the matter is basically settled.

After all, for management and employees, the benefits of joining Xinghai Group far outweigh those of Bandai operating independently.

……

"Chairman, Mr. Kalinsky, the president of Xinghai Entertainment, would like to meet with you."

"Xinghai Entertainment, no problem. Did they mention a time?"

Xinghai Entertainment is a major client of Bandai, so Makoto Yamashina naturally wouldn't neglect it.

Even though he is currently feeling listless, he needs to grit his teeth and persevere.

"They hope you can set a time, President Kalinsky. He is available at any time."

"Okay, then you can call and tell them it's 3 PM tomorrow."

"Yes, President!"

A day passed in the blink of an eye, and the next afternoon, Kalinsky arrived at Bandai's headquarters in a low-key manner.

As soon as he got out of the car, Yamashino, who had been waiting downstairs in the office building, immediately walked up to him sincerely.

"Welcome, welcome, President Kalinsky, to our company. I am President Makoto Yamashina of Bandai."

"Hello, President Yamashina, I am Kalinsky, President of Hoshino Entertainment. I apologize for this unexpected visit."

"No trouble at all, no trouble at all. It is my honor that you, esteemed guest, have graced our establishment with your presence."

Kalinsky adopted a humble attitude during his self-introduction because he wanted to leave a good impression on Bandai, which would facilitate the subsequent acquisition.

Shankecheng adopted a more humble stance because the two companies are not on the same level.

Although Starsea Games, a subsidiary of Starsea Entertainment, is not as large as Bandai, its profitability far exceeds that of Bandai.

Therefore, both parties left a good impression on each other during their first meeting.

Soon, after a brief introduction of their respective people, both parties, led by Shancheng Ke, the owner of Bandai, arrived at the company's most luxurious small conference room.

This is where Bandai's top leaders hold meetings, deciding Bandai's future.

After they sat down, Kalinsky didn't get straight to the point. Instead, he tried to build rapport by talking about business.

Then, in a seemingly casual remark, he said...

"It is an honor for Xinghai Entertainment to cooperate with Bandai."

"It is precisely because of Bandai that we are able to sell so many merchandise items."

At this time, the collaboration between Xinghai Entertainment and Bandai mainly involved turning the fame generated by the animation and games into merchandise for sale.

For example, the Starsea Group earned tens of millions of dollars in profit from the EVA anime through Bandai's bundled licensing agreement.

As for monetizing well-known IPs through game development, this is not currently the mainstream approach in the industry.

The reason is simple: the competition in the game industry is not that fierce right now. As long as the product is decent, there will be no shortage of buyers.

Given this situation, people naturally prefer creating original games to developing existing ones. After all, IP games require paying for licenses or sharing revenue with the IP provider. Only when competition becomes fierce, and most games lose money upon release, will people be willing to develop IP games.

Because IP games already have brand recognition, there's a guaranteed minimum return on investment.

"Not at all, President Kalinsky, you're too kind. At Bandai, we've always pursued win-win cooperation."

When Kalinsky talked about EVA, Makoto Yamashina was extremely envious.

Because their mainstay, Gundam, can't compare to EVA in terms of making money.

Yes, although Gundam appeared very early and has a very large influence in Japan.

But the sudden emergence of EVA completely crushed Gundam.

However, there is one thing that EVA cannot match Gundam in: durability.

Gundam can release an anime every year, continuously increasing its influence.

EVA requires the genius of Hideaki Anno to perform, and its influence will not be as continuous as that of Gundam.

Especially in overseas markets, Gundam will crush EVA.

Of course, only Masato Takeshita knew these things; Makoto Yamashina, trapped by his era, could hardly comprehend the power of Gundam.

So he was very envious, envious of EVA's popularity in Japan.

Kalinsky deliberately talked for more than half an hour about mutually beneficial cooperation, and only when he felt the time was right did he get down to business.

"President Yamashina, since our cooperation has been so pleasant, would you be willing to cooperate with us even more pleasantly?"

"A more pleasant collaboration, President Kalinsky means..."

Yamashina Makoto was a little confused, yet he also vaguely sensed something.

His intuition told him that the president of Starsea Entertainment seemed to be particularly interested in Bandai.

"Join us and let's grow in the direction of Sony Entertainment and build an entertainment giant that can rival Sony."

Having said all that, Kalinsky stopped beating around the bush and bluntly made the acquisition request.

Starsea Entertainment is very interested in Bandai's products and hopes the two companies can merge.

"I'm sorry, our company currently has no plans to sell."

Yamashina Makoto felt a fleeting glimmer of interest, but he quickly dismissed it. He couldn't possibly reveal his true intentions in their very first encounter with Xinghai Entertainment.

You have to ask three times and say no three times before reluctantly agreeing to the request.

"Oh, that's a real shame."

Kalinsky knew that things couldn't be accomplished in one go, so while he expressed his regret, he felt nothing in his heart.

After that, neither of them had any interest in chatting. After exchanging some more meaningless remarks, they simply ended the meeting.

Although both sides were somewhat nonchalant about the acquisition, the dinner was still to be held as scheduled.

Everyone seemed to have forgotten about the acquisition and continued to enjoy their meal and drinks happily.

It's fair to say that both sides have a serious issue with managing their facial expressions.

After the dinner, Makoto Yamashina went straight to his father's old house. He needed to tell his father about this important matter in person.

Even though Yamashina Naoharu already knew through the company's management, his son still had to recount the story again.

“Father, Xinghai Entertainment is interested in acquiring our company, and I want to agree.”

"Why? Don't you really want to work in the toy industry?"

Naoharu Yamashina was very disappointed and extremely frustrated.

His only heir didn't like the business he had started.

"That's partly true, but the biggest factor is the limitations of the toy industry. The toy industry has reached its ceiling, and to grow, it must expand into related industries."

"But our several attempts all ended in failure."

"I think it would be difficult for us to survive and develop on our own."

The stagnation of the global toy industry has filled major toy giants with a sense of crisis.

Not only Bandai, but also toy giants such as Lego are exploring diversified fields.

Among them, Mattel and Hasbro have done quite well, becoming the top two giants in the toy industry.

Bandai and Lego, on the other hand, are not doing so well; they've become somewhat out of their minds.

Makoto Yamashina was very worried that Bandai would be ruined in his hands, and then he would be a sinner.

"Alas, if we do this, our family will lose control of Bandai."

Naoharu Yamashina is well aware of the current crisis in the toy industry, and therefore supports the company's expansion into the gaming sector. However, unlike Makoto Yamashina, he also values ​​his family's influence within Bandai.

He didn't want the company he founded to end up in someone else's possession.

“Father, I don’t think so. Isn’t Nichia Chemical in Tokushima Prefecture still led by the Ogawa family?”

Shan Kecheng understands Xinghai Group and knows that it is a large group that will not clean up the founder's family.

He didn't think that a Bandai could make Takeshita Masato make an exception.

"Alas, I am old now, and you are the company president now."

Naoji Yamashina did not directly say he agreed, but his words implied it.

The main issue was the game consoles that Bandai and Apple co-produced, which really hurt him.

With an expenditure of tens of billions of yen, the result was only a pittance in sales. Bandai really needs to change.

Of course, the most important reason why Yamashina Naoharu agreed was that the Hoshikai Group was wealthy and the Yamashina family could still maintain their position in Bandai.

Without these two conditions, he would rather remove his son from the position of company president.

(End of this chapter)