Chapter 14 14. I want to borrow 2 billion

Cooper's home in Beverly Hills.

It was 4 o'clock in the morning. The father and son had talked for a long time and reached an agreement.

Charlie Cooper was finally persuaded. His ambition was burning in his chest. It was just a big gamble.

His son was able to win 1.1 billion from the World Cup. He believed that with the combination of father and son, plus his internal intelligence, there was still a chance of successfully acquiring MGM.

Through the conversation with his father, Eric also understood the current situation of MGM, which can be said to be precarious.

Last year, although it made a lot of money with "Legally Blonde" and "Hannibal", "Original Sin", "Heart-stealing Mother and Daughter" and "Thief Meets Thief" released in the same year all suffered losses.

"Original Sin" invited Angelina Jolie and had a total investment of 50 million US dollars, but the global box office was only 35 million US dollars, with a loss of 30 million US dollars.

The total investment of "Mother and Daughter" was 40 million US dollars, the global box office was 57 million US dollars, and the loss exceeded 10 million.

The total investment of "Butterfly Meets Thief" was close to 80 million US dollars, but the global box office was only a pitiful 38 million US dollars, which was a huge loss.

So MGM didn't make much money in 2001. So far in 2002, MGM has released films such as "Fast and Furious", "Hart's War", "Killing Your Tenderness" and "Windtalkers".

The total investment of "Rush" was US$100 million, and the global box office was US$25 million, a huge loss.

"Hart's War" was starred by Bruce Willis, with a total investment of 110 million US dollars and a global box office of 32 million US dollars, which was another huge loss.

The director of "Kill Your Tenderness" is Chen Kaige, so I won’t say more.

Coupled with the sudden failure of "Windtalkers", MGM has been in a loss-making state for half a year.

However, the movies that will be released in the second half of the year include "Red Dragon" and "Barbershop", one is scheduled to be released in October and the other in November.

From memory, both of these movies made a ton of money. If MGM had been allowed to wait until then, the difficulty of acquisition would have increased significantly, so now is the best time to acquire them.

"Dad, if I remember correctly, Kirk Kerkorian and his close family members hold more than 80% of MGM's shares."

Charlie Cooper shook his head: "More than 80%, to be exact, 92% is directly or indirectly controlled by him. MGM is equivalent to his sole investment."

"That is to say, as long as we can deal with Kerkorian, there will be no obstacles to the acquisition, right?"

"You can say that. And there is another piece of good news that is very useful to us. Kerkorian's hotel business has not been doing well recently. Coupled with MGM's losses, he intends to sell MGM again."

Eric frowned slightly: "What does this word 'again' mean?"

Charlie Cooper immediately told the history of MGM. It turned out that MGM was acquired by Kerkorian as early as 1970 due to its financial situation.

But this guy has no interest in movies, his focus is always on casino and hotel business.

The reason for buying MGM was, on the one hand, that they coveted the land owned by MGM, which they could directly use to build hotels, saving a lot of trouble.

On the other hand, it is naturally used for money laundering. Since the birth of film, it has been one of the best money laundering tools.

As a gambling tycoon, Kerkorian naturally needed such a professional money laundering tool.

In the following years, Kerkorian sold and bought back MGM several times. After decades of tossing around, it would be strange if the company could develop.

Affected by 9/11 and other events, the hotel and entertainment business in the entire United States has declined recently. In order to recover the blood of his own hotel, Kerkorian naturally considered selling MGM.

After a moment's silence, Eric had an evil idea: "Dad, is there any way to get inside information about the MGM Hotel?"

Charlie Cooper said without thinking, "Impossible. Although there are many people arranged by Kerkorian in MGM, these guys don't know. I am not familiar with the hotel business and don't have many connections in this industry."

"In fact, instead of trying so hard to get inside information, it's better to confront Kerkorian directly. After all, I have worked for him for more than ten years. I believe he will give me some face."

It was already noon when I woke up. Today was the weekend, and Charlie Cooper was too lazy to go to the company.

At the dinner table, Emily looked at the two suspiciously: "What are you whispering about? Are you hiding something from me?"

"There's no mom, we're just talking about work. I think going into the entertainment industry is a good choice."

My mother never worries about her son's work. In her opinion, with her son's outstanding qualities, he will be successful in any industry.

After lunch, Eric drove his father directly to Citibank, where he had a deposit of 330 million US dollars.

Since we had called in advance, the Citibank manager came over even though it was a weekend.

As soon as I entered the door, I was taken into the VIP room. A capable middle-aged man in a suit and tie immediately stood up and greeted me.

At the same time, when he saw Charlie Cooper, he was stunned: "Mr. Cooper, you guys?"

Charlie Cooper shook the man's hand: "Eric is my son."

The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!

The manager looked at the two of them for a while, then sat down in surprise: "I didn't expect that our mysterious big customer turned out to be your son. Your tutor is really excellent."

Obviously, in the manager's view, the deposit of 330 million US dollars was naturally the work of Charlie Cooper.

After all, such a large sum of money is barely reasonable for a CEO. But if the target is a college graduate, the manager may call the police.

The female employee with black stockings and glasses put down her coffee and stood by with a smile on her face.

Studies have shown that the closing rate is always several percentage points higher in front of beautiful women.

"Mr. Cooper, what kind of business do you want to do? I have a few products here."

Before the manager finished speaking, Charlie Cooper decisively interrupted him: "Loan, I want a loan."

Hearing this, the manager hesitated and said, "Mr. Cooper, given MGM's current situation, Citibank is afraid..."

Charlie Cooper interrupted him again: "No, I want the loan myself."

The manager and the female employee in black stockings were both stunned for a moment, thinking that they were so rich and still wanted to borrow money? "Mr. Cooper, how much do you want to borrow?"

"The more the better. If Citibank can lend me 2 billion, that would be the best."

Fortunately, I didn't drink coffee, otherwise I would have sprayed it out, but the manager still maintained a good professional ethics, especially when dealing with such a big customer.

The manager did not refuse directly, but asked tentatively: "Mr. Cooper, can you tell me what the purpose of your loan is? We also need a risk assessment."

Charlie Cooper briefly described the acquisition plan and told a little lie: "This is indeed a bold plan, but I have raised $1.1 billion, and Morgan and Goldman Sachs have decided to lend me money. Now it depends on the sincerity of Citibank."

In a flash, the attack and defense were in different positions.

The manager swallowed hard and said, "Mr. Cooper, I don't have such high authority. I need to consult the headquarters."

(End of this chapter)