Reborn Action Star: Starting in Hollywood

Chapter 300 Young man, consider sacrificing yourself?
In response to Lin Yuan's reply, Director Cohen nodded.

His role was to help Lin Yuan identify and fill in the gaps. Since Lin Yuan had already thought about these problems, he didn't have to worry anymore.

"I have no problem. I am just a director. I can't offer much advice outside of my field," said Director Cohen.

"Then let me ask you, when is the right time to target the stock price? This is related to the allocation of our funds." Mr. Eisen asked.

"Five months later, in October."

"reason?"

"First, we need to have enough time to slowly short sell and borrow stocks so as not to alert the other party."

"Secondly, in October, MGM's most anticipated film of the year, 'The Last War,' will be released. This film cost a whopping $1 million to produce, but it's a terrible film. Our 'Pirates of the Caribbean 2' happens to be released at the same time, and with the huge negative impact of its box office failure, our short selling will be more effective."

"Finally, as it was nearing the end of the year, both companies would have almost exhausted their cash flow and would not have had enough funds to support their stock prices."

Lin Yuan stated his reasons.

In response, Mr. Eisen said: "There is a fatal loophole that you have not considered."

"Please say."

"We'll talk about this later because it involves other issues. Let me first ask you about the third step. Who is the external acquirer you plan to attract? This is very, very important! If you don't choose the right target, your entire plan will be meaningless." Mr. Eisen asked.

Lin Yuan certainly understood this.

Hollywood is an important part of the United States' soft power. Although the total revenue of the film market is not as high as that of other industries from the perspective of box office, it is an important ideological and ideological position after all.

Not every company is eligible to come to the table, otherwise the merger and acquisition case will not pass the Congress.

Historically, it was Amazon that acquired MGM Studios.

It was Sony that acquired Columbia Pictures.

This proves several things: they have the interest and financial resources to complete the acquisition, and the acquisition is not subject to procedural obstacles.

Let’s not talk about Amazon, after all, it is a well-established North American company and has long shown interest in Hollywood.

That is why they invested in IMDB. Mr. Lin Yuan and Mr. Eisen are both major shareholders of IMDB and have long established a good relationship with Amazon.

(See Chapter 41 for details)
Other Hollywood companies are blocking Amazon's way, not wanting it to get a piece of the pie, but for Lin Yuan, there is no psychological burden at all.

For Lin Yuan, this is not about inviting a wolf into the house, but rather about bringing in a strategic ally.

So there's no need to say much about Amazon, but Sony is worth pondering.

On the surface, this seems to be a Japanese company, and upon closer inspection, it does seem to be true, as almost all of Sony's executives are Japanese.

But how could Sony successfully acquire Columbia Pictures?

In the previous life, Sony almost succeeded in acquiring Apple, even before Apple's rise.

If the acquisition is successful, it will be another investment myth.

So Lin Yuan tried to understand Sony's equity structure, but found it completely confusing and he had no idea what it was.

Because Sony's shareholder structure is too complicated.

On the surface, the largest shareholder is the Mitsui Group, but as the largest controlling shareholder, a large portion of the shares of the Mitsui Group are held by American consortiums, which makes the portion actually controlled by Japanese capital relatively small.

Moreover, the Mitsui Group only holds less than 15% of the shares.

If all local corporate shareholders in Japan (excluding retail investors) are included, the total number of Sony shares held is only 28.5%.

Who holds the remaining 70% or so shares? When Lin Yuan went to look through the shareholder lists, he was really overwhelmed. Fortunately, he saw a familiar name: Samsung Group, which holds 2.5%.

So Lin Yuan contacted Lee Boo-jin by phone to ask.

I didn't expect that as soon as the call was connected, I was bombarded with complaints.

Lee Boo-jin strongly despised Lin Yuan's behavior of ungratefulness and never taking the initiative to contact her by phone after leaving South Korea.

However, after obtaining Lin Yuan's promise to contact her frequently, Lee Boo-jin patiently explained Sony's true equity structure to Lin Yuan.

If you don’t tell me, you won’t know. When I told you, Lin Yuan was really shocked.

Unexpectedly, under this complicated equity disguise, Sony's real shareholders are actually only one type of group: major US financial institutions:

Major investment banks represented by Wall Street, such as Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and others, all hold a large amount of Sony shares through various means.

Third-party investment institutions represented by trust companies and pension funds.

Only some leftover scraps will be owned by strategic investors like Samsung Group.

It turns out that Sony is essentially an American company?
Most of the money it earns is used to support the big men in North America, rather than giving back to the Japanese people.

No wonder Sony was able to successfully acquire Columbia Pictures in the previous life and even almost succeeded in acquiring Apple.

At this point, Lin Yuan completely confirmed that Amazon and Sony could both be targets of cooperation in swallowing up the enemy.

So he gave Mr. Eisen his answer: "Amazon and Sony."

Mr. Eisen immediately laughed at this answer. "It seems you've been prepared. These two companies weren't chosen casually."

Lin Yuan replied, "I feel relieved if you agree."

"I will be responsible for communicating and handling things with Amazon. I will ask them to intervene and short MGM's stock price. After all, if you want to make a living, you have to do some work. But as for Sony, you have to handle it yourself," said Mr. Eisen.

Considering that Sony's headquarters is located in Japan and the current chairman and CEO is Japanese Nobuyuki Idei, Lin Yuan also feels that he seems to be more suitable to communicate.

He suddenly thought of a question: "Just now you said there was a fatal loophole, what is it?"

Mr. Eisen shook his head and said, "You forgot to consider external variables."

"what?"

"MGM and Columbia don't just represent their own interests. You also have to consider whether the investors behind them will intervene at a critical moment.

For example, Morgan Stanley holds a lot of shares in MGM. You want to short it, but you didn’t expect Morgan Stanley to disagree?
Do you have the confidence to compete with Morgan Stanley? "Mr. Eisen asked.

"Ah? Doesn't that mean the road is blocked?" Lin Yuan said.

Morgan Stanley, also known as JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase & Co., are almost becoming symbols of Wall Street and are also flagship companies of the United States' global financial capital.

Lin Yuan doesn't think he has the ability to compete with such a financial giant.

"Believe in yourself, you can do it!" Mr. Eisen encouraged.

"We must be scientific and not arrogant," Lin Yuan replied.

"As long as you sacrifice yourself and sell a little bit of your body, this matter will turn around."

"what?"

(End of this chapter)