Hollywood starts with an agent

Chapter 506 The Tycoon's Curtain Falls
After Leon Cooperman left the hotel, Aaron poured himself a glass of wine. Since the other party had come to Hong Kong, Omega Consultants must have invested a lot.
Now that Aaron has sold his shares in Omega Advisors, he obviously doesn't care at all about Omega's fate.

Omega Advisors also holds a batch of Russian government bonds, which are destined to incur losses!

That evening, Yang Gongru came to Aaron's hotel from the ATV film set, and Aaron asked her about ATV.

"ATV has also been affected by the financial crisis; its parent company, Lai Sun Development, is currently heavily indebted."

"Looking for a buyer, selling ATV!"

Although Yang Gongru has had a decent year at ATV, ATV is weak and its future development will definitely be worse.

“With the film and television industry in a slump, it seems that ATV is indeed having a tough time,” Aaron shook his head. After all, since coming to Hong Kong, Aaron had also learned about the current dire situation of Golden Harvest Film Company.

Golden Harvest Entertainment is a publicly traded company, and its first-quarter losses exceeded $400 million, causing its Southeast Asian cinema expansion projects to be shelved.

Moreover, the Hong Kong government is currently auctioning off land in Tseung Kwan O for the construction of a film and television base.

Golden Harvest, Shaw Brothers, China Star and other buyers were competing, but ATV did not participate!
Yang Gongru leaned into Aaron's arms, kissed the man on the cheek, and asked, "Why did you suddenly start paying attention to ATV?"

"I plan to leave ATV next year and will be developing my career in mainland China!"

Aaron has known Yang Gongru for several years and knows that she has never been very career-driven, but with Aaron backing her up, she is not short of money.

“Someone suggested I acquire ATV,” Aaron smiled, “but I’m not very interested.”

"If you leave ATV, you'll focus on Media Asia Films, right?"

Anyway, Wang Zhuxian, having acted for many years, no longer wanted to act and instead focused on cultivating Yang Gongru. Media Asia Films has performed quite well in recent years.

"Yes, more or less. Besides, Media Asia is also expanding into the mainland market, and there have always been film and television reform plans in mainland China."

"I believe that it won't be long before the monopoly of state-owned film studios in film production is gradually broken!"

Aaron nodded. He knew that there were no regulations in mainland China that allowed private companies to produce films and television programs, and that they all had to be affiliated with state-owned or provincial film companies.

“Take it slow. The mainland market is huge. It’s good for you to develop it ahead of time,” Aaron said as he kissed the woman and reached into her pajamas to feel her softness.

Anyway, Wang Zhuxian is now managing Huanya. Due to the financial crisis, Huanya's other shareholders have suffered considerable losses.
This time, Aaron will also have Wang Zhuxian directly acquire the shares held by other shareholders, at which point Huanya can make a major northward expansion.

"Mmm," Yang Gongru responded passionately to the man's kiss, her pajamas slipping down, revealing her sexy and alluring figure...

Aaron, who was in Hong Kong, soon received an invitation to visit from Raymond Chow of Golden Harvest Film Company.
Raymond Chow wants to sell Golden Harvest's cinema rights in Southeast Asia and other regions to weather the crisis.

With the decline of the Hong Kong film market, Golden Harvest's profits have been decreasing. At the beginning of last year, his long-time partner Raymond Chow passed away, and Jack Cheng subsequently resigned from Golden Harvest's board of directors!

"Oh, I seem to remember that the Golden Harvest Cinemas in Southeast Asia was a collaboration between you and Village Roadshow Entertainment in Australia, right?" In a villa on the hillside in Hong Kong, Aaron and Raymond Chow sat on the sofa.

Raymond Chow took a sip of his drink. "That's right, it's a collaboration between Golden Harvest and Village Roadshow Australia."

"This financial crisis has caused significant losses to my real estate investments, and Golden Harvest is about to relocate its film and television base from Diamond Hill in Busan."

“Now we need new land to build a film and television base. We have to compete for the land in Tseung Kwan O that the government owns, and we need funding.”

Raymond Chow was also helpless, as Golden Harvest and Shaw Brothers had always had a very bad relationship, especially with Run Run Shaw.
This time, Run Run Shaw joined forces with other film companies to bid, putting immense pressure on Golden Harvest.

"Aaron, the Golden Harvest Cinemas in Southeast Asia are controlled by Golden Harvest. Although Village Roadshow Entertainment holds shares, it is operated by us."

"Dawn has its own chain cinemas in North America and Europe, and I believe you won't give up on the Asian market!"

Aaron nodded. As for why Golden Harvest didn't sell to Australia's Village Roadshow Entertainment, it must be because they weren't satisfied with the price.

"That's a good suggestion; we at Dawn are definitely interested!"

Dawn now owns a stake in a landmark North American cinema chain, an art-house cinema chain, while Angel Theatres is a large multiplex cinema chain.

Dawn Global International's stake in EuroCinemas is located in the European market. The UK-based Electric Cinema chain is not large, and it has not yet expanded in Asia.

Acquiring Golden Harvest's cinema stake in Southeast Asia is indeed an opportunity!

As a result, Aaron plans to establish Dawn International Cinema Company, bringing Oudian Cinema Line, Electric Cinema Line, and the Golden Harvest Cinema that he is about to acquire into its management system.

At that time, Electric Cinema and Golden Harvest Cinema will all be renamed Dawn Cinema, and Dawn Cinema can focus on the Chinese mainland market in the future.

However, it will be at least 10 years before the Chinese mainland market can loosen its regulations on cinemas, and as for distribution regulations, don't even think about it.

Aaron remembers that if foreign companies wanted to enter the Chinese cinema market in the future, it would be in 2007, and they would have to form a joint venture with local companies, with foreign companies holding up to 49% of the shares!

However, that was the period of explosive growth in China's real estate market and the box office market.

Even disregarding the operational profits, building a chain of cinemas would be enough to make Shuguang International incredibly wealthy, just considering the appreciation in real estate value!
Aaron was also somewhat saddened to see Raymond Chow leave. Golden Harvest was also coming to an end. Raymond Chow's contributions to Hong Kong cinema are certainly indelible.
However, Aaron did not believe that Golden Harvest's film studio shares in Southeast Asia were enough to help the company overcome this crisis.

What is the most valuable thing about a film company?
Of course, it's the film library! Golden Harvest has the copyrights to over a hundred films, which is Golden Harvest's greatest asset!

Given the current situation in Hong Kong, which film company will make a move? Aaron has already reserved these copyrights;
In its previous life, Golden Harvest sold the rights to these hundred-plus films to Warner Bros. Now, it must be Dawn that has taken over.

"The era of a Hong Kong film mogul has come to an end!"

Aaron was certainly not confident about Golden Harvest's bid for land in Tseung Kwan O to build a new film production base. After all, how much assets did Raymond Chow have?
How much is Run Run Shaw's net worth? He's an entertainment tycoon with hundreds of billions of Hong Kong dollars. How can Raymond Chow compete with Shaw Brothers' TVB?
(End of this chapter)