Hollywood Director 1992.

Chapter 417 Pixar Animation Studios Goes Public, Guess What? The Film Company's Market Value Doubles

In its third week of release, Toy Story grossed $2503 million in North America, bringing its total box office to $1.03 million. This marks the fourth Toy Story film to surpass $100 million at the North American box office this year.

"Guess what? The movies from the film industry are going to be incredibly competitive in the second half of the year."

Michael Ovitz exclaimed.

Before September, many media outlets joked that Guess Guess Studios was on the decline and would lose its title as the highest-grossing film of the year. Now it seems that everyone underestimated Guess Guess Studios and Link.

Michael Eisner, puffing on a cigarette, pointed to a headline in the Wall Street Journal: "Pixar Animation Studios is going public. What are your thoughts?"

“When I called Link last time, he told me that if Disney was optimistic about Pixar’s development, it could buy some of Pixar’s shares by the end of the year. I originally thought he was going to use Pixar to raise funds, but now it seems that he is more aggressive than expected and is pushing for Pixar to go public directly. This approach is bold, but also very wise.”

Looking at Link's photo in the newspaper, Ovitz said that the paper had a headline that read, "Hollywood King Link's New Move: Pixar Animation Studios Plans to Go Public on December 20."

Eisner nodded, agreeing with Ovitz's view.

The reason Link is considered bold is that Pixar is currently just an animation film production company, having only produced one film. Although the film did well at the box office, its performance in the stock market may not meet expectations.

If it fails, the parent company, Guess What Pictures, will also be affected.

The reason this approach is considered wise is that after the release of "Toy Story," Guess.com's market value soared, and its profits increased by hundreds of millions. Many people in the investment circle were envious of Guess.com's profits and began to get restless, wanting to get a share of the profits.

Therefore, after the rumors about Link and Diana broke out some time ago, many media outlets took the opportunity to smear Link and damage his reputation.

These investors used public opinion to create trouble, forcing GuessGar Pictures to accelerate its financing and listing process.

But no one expected that Link would not let Guess Movie go public, but instead let his subsidiary Pixar Animation go public first.

This is like throwing a bone to a pack of hungry wolves.

This will not only reduce the external pressure faced by Guessing Movies in its development, but also allow it to reap the benefits while the pack of wolves is fighting.

This move is absolutely brilliant.

"This bastard is clearly a director, but instead of focusing on making movies and winning Oscars, he thinks about how to make money and how to make the company bigger and stronger. He's really neglecting his duties."

Ovitz said, clearly annoyed.

"This was probably Jobs' plan. Originally, Jobs intended to take Pixar public to attract more funds to research computer animation technology. He didn't expect that Link would agree to Jobs' approach after acquiring Pixar."

“Jobs was a tough guy to deal with too. With his help, Link will be even harder to handle.” Ovitz cursed again. “Mike, Pixar is going public. Should we buy some Pixar stock?”

"Let's see what happens."

Eisner narrowed his eyes and continued reading the newspaper in his hand.

The news that Pixar Animation Studios was about to go public was also widely reported by media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, Business Daily, and ABC.

Almost everyone in the financial and entertainment industries knows about this news, and the reaction has been very enthusiastic.

Toy Story had a production cost of $30 million and grossed over $100 million in North America in three weeks. Although it wasn't the fastest to gross over $100 million among all the films released this year, it was the one with the lowest production cost.

This demonstrates the immense potential of computer-animated films. Pixar Animation Studios, the company that produced this film, is also a highly promising enterprise, a golden goose. Furthermore, with Pixar backed by Guess Movies, one of Hollywood's most profitable companies, the future potential of Pixar animation is even greater.

The financial sector is generally optimistic about the development prospects of Pixar Animation and is preparing to buy some shares when Pixar goes public.

On the other hand, in Hollywood, many people expect Pixar's IPO to fail, with no one buying the shares and the company ultimately being delisted in a sorry state.

The reason is that Guess Movies is already very powerful. If its subsidiary Guess Movies goes public, it will have both capital and technology, and its performance in the film industry will be even stronger, making it difficult for its competitors.

Whether Pixar Animation Studios' IPO will be successful or not remains to be seen.
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On the eve of Pixar's IPO, the North American film market entered the Christmas season, making box office competition even more intense.

Guessing Pictures didn't release any new movies this week, but one of their productions, "Jerry Maguire," starring Tom Cruise and Renée Zellweger, was released. The film was promoted and distributed by Columbia Pictures.

"Jerry Maguire" is of good quality, and Tom Cruise and Renée Lauder have good box office appeal.

The film grossed $3316 million in its opening week across 2531 theaters, becoming the top-grossing film of the week.

Second place went to Paramount Pictures' animated film "Bento and Egg," which grossed $2011 million in its opening week.

Toy Story dropped to third place, earning $1844 million, bringing its total to $1.21 million, which is still a good performance.

Scream earned $509 million this week, bringing its North American box office total to $9835 million. It is expected to surpass $1 million next week.

"Dangerous Games," which premiered in April, earned $305,000 this week, bringing its North American box office total to $9616 million, and it has a good chance of breaking $100 million.

Including the upcoming release of "The English Patient," guess what? The film industry's total box office this year won't be less than last year's.

However, the biggest news in Hollywood this week was not Jerry Maguire's box office victory, but Pixar Animation Studios' IPO.

On December 15, a week before Christmas, under the management of Guess Movie executives and Steve Jobs, Guess Movie subsidiary Pixar Animation Studios was listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol PIXR1.

The original plan was to offer shares at $14 each, valuing the company at $10 billion.

However, Steve Jobs believed that Toy Story's box office performance was good and that the investment community was generally optimistic about Pixar's development. He suggested that they be bold in pricing the film and raise the issue price to $22.

After receiving the news, Link agreed with Jobs' proposal.

As it turned out, Jobs' prediction was accurate, and the financial community and ordinary shareholders were very enthusiastic about Pixar's IPO.

Within half an hour of the market opening, investment firms such as Vanguard Capital, Morgan Capital, Goldman Sachs, and Flash Capital made large purchases of Pixar Animation shares.

Pixar's stock price quickly surged from $22 to $45.

Its market value also grew rapidly to $32 billion, like a bubble.

Due to the large number of buyers entering the market at the same time, many transactions had to be delayed. The stock price continued to rise to $52 that afternoon, finally closing at $43.

Pixar Animation Studios' market value has more than increased eightfold compared to last year, reaching an astonishing $31 billion.

After Pixar Animation Studios went public, Guess what? Pictures retained 46.3% of the shares, Steve Jobs retained 1.2%, Disney bought 12.17%, and the remaining shares were bought by Wall Street investment firms and individual investors.

Guess what? The film company made $15 billion from this deal, with Link personally receiving over $7 million, Jobs and the main executives of Pixar receiving approximately $2 million, and other shareholders and management receiving tens or hundreds of millions of dollars.

Guess the Movies' market value has increased again due to its 46.3% stake in Pixar. Wall Street investment advisory firms have estimated it at $65 billion to $70 billion, making it the fourth largest film company in the industry, after Disney, Warner Bros., and Paramount.

"31 billion? How could a small Pixar studio be worth 31 billion?! Those shareholders have gone crazy!"

Michael Ovitz stared in shock at the numbers in the newspaper, his head spinning and his vision blurring, as if he had been hit hard on the back of the head.

The last time he called Link, he proposed to acquire Pixar Animation Studios.

Link offered $20 billion.

He immediately felt that Link was making wildly inflated prices without any sincerity, so he countered with a offer of $10 billion.

Link refused, saying that 20 billion was the lowest price.

Seeing that Link had no intention of selling Pixar, Ovitz stopped pressing the issue.

To his surprise, Pixar's market value surged to $31 billion after its IPO, far exceeding $20 billion. Moreover, when Pixar went public, its stock price rose to $52, and its market value once reached $36 billion, almost double that of $20 billion.

If he had accepted Link's offer and invested $20 billion to acquire Pixar, he could have made over a billion dollars in profit in a single transaction.

More than a billion!

He worked in Hollywood for over thirty years and never earned that much money.

Ovitz was heartbroken. If he could turn back time by a month, back to the day Link offered $20 billion, he would have agreed without hesitation, then pushed Pixar to go public and made over a billion dollars.

Link will be the one who regrets it so much he'll vomit blood.

haha~

Unfortunately, time cannot be turned back.

Ovitz smiled bitterly.

"Mike, don't regret the acquisition of Pixar."

Eisner said that after Ovitz spoke with Link, he also told him about the negotiations and that he did not agree to acquire Pixar for $20 billion.

"The reason why Pixar was so sought after by Wall Street investment firms after its IPO and its market value soared was partly due to the great potential of computer animation technology, making Pixar's stock a worthwhile investment, and partly due to its connection with Guess the Movies franchise."

Guess What Films has a very high success rate, and investors buy Pixar stock because they have confidence in Guess What Films' production capabilities. "If we were in charge, Pixar might not have reached over $30 billion."

Ovitz nodded reluctantly. Although it might not reach $30 billion, Pixar's successful IPO undoubtedly demonstrated the company's immense potential, making the $20 billion acquisition a great value.

Unfortunately, neither he nor Eisner had the courage at the time.

"Link, that bastard, has made a killing this time."

Ovitz was filled with envy, jealousy, and resentment.

Link's net worth was originally six or seven billion US dollars, but with this move, it has steadily exceeded 100 billion. With other investments, this bastard's current net worth is no less than 140 billion US dollars, and he is only a few billion dollars away from becoming the world's richest man.

Back then at the Oscars party, Link, a nobody, didn't even have the right to see him. Now, four years later, Link has become someone Link looks up to.

Damn!

Eisner waved his hand, cigarette between his fingers, "Don't think too much about it, it's no use thinking about it. Link is a formidable guy, just be careful when doing business with him in the future."

Furthermore, with Pixar's IPO, Guess What Films is even stronger, and its box office share will continue to grow, further squeezing the survival space of other film companies. Our current concern is how to ensure the company continues to be profitable in the face of competition from Guess What Films, and how to avoid being left behind by other film companies.

"I understand. What suggestions do you have regarding this?"

"Guess What Films is developing too fast. Even our seven-member alliance couldn't suppress it. Now we can only continue to cooperate with Guess What Films, and this cooperation mainly focuses on the field of animated films."

Pixar has the technology, and we have countless animation IPs and technical talent. Deep collaboration between the two companies can guarantee Disney's advantage in the animated film field. Moreover, this collaboration would also benefit Guess the Movies, and I believe Link wouldn't object.

"Eisner said slowly."

Ovitz nodded. This was indeed a good idea. Disney had been making animation since the 20s, and its film library contained countless classic animation IPs. In addition, Disney had a greater advantage in the distribution of animated films.

Pixar Animation has numerous technology patents and the financial backing of Guess the Movies.

Deepening cooperation between the two companies is indeed a win-win situation.

The only thing that bothered him was that after the two companies collaborated, Guess the Movies would obviously benefit more, and Link's power in the film industry would further increase, to the point that no one could threaten his position.

However, they cannot avoid collaborating with Guessing Pictures. Disney's foundation in the film industry is animation. If they cannot reach a cooperation agreement with Guessing Pictures, their foundation will definitely be shaken, and it may even affect the company's survival.

Therefore, collaborating with Guessing Pictures is not a matter of whether we want to or not, but rather a necessity.

Thinking about this, Ovitz became even more annoyed. If he had known that Link was such a big threat to the company, he should have taken drastic measures back in 93 when Link was still an unknown nobody, and used the most powerful means to suppress him, make him get out of Hollywood or simply disappear.

Unfortunately, it's too late.

The only thing that comforted Ovitz was that Link had not yet discovered the 'poison pill plan,' and he hoped that the plan would give Link a big fall and allow him to vent his anger.

(End of this chapter)