Chapter 309 Annual Box Office Ranking, New Forbes Rich List (5K)
After leaving Jennifer's apartment, Link received calls from Vanguard Capital and Morgan Investments.
Greg Davis and Paul Hankerson mentioned the news in the newspaper, saying that he spared no expense and spent more than 10 million on public relations for the Academy Awards. The two were very dissatisfied with this practice, saying that he was wasting shareholders' money and this behavior must be stopped.
Link said that the PR Oscars are for promoting movies, not for private matters, and they have no right to interfere.
In addition, Guess What Movies’ largest shareholder is himself. Even if money is spent, it is his own money. Shareholders have no right to comment on this matter.
The two men were so angry that they slammed the table and said that they also had a share of the money.
Link told the two that if they were optimistic about the development of Guess the Picture, they should not interfere in the company's affairs, and if they were not optimistic, they could withdraw their shares.
Guess what? Pictures is willing to use a market value of 600 million to redeem the original shares from the two companies.
The two companies invested in Guess the Movie for less than a year and earned more than 10 million, which was also a profitable investment.
The two did not agree to withdraw their shares.
Greg Davis said that if he wanted to withdraw his shares, he would do so according to the market value of 1.5 billion he had set, not 600 million.
Link agreed.
As long as they withdraw their shares, they can withdraw at 1.5 billion. 10% of the shares is 150 million. Guess what, the film company can afford this money. He is also willing to spend this money to kick out two partners who are unwilling to cooperate and find more suitable investors.
Greg Davis was silent for a while and said that Vanguard Capital would not withdraw its shares.
Paul Hankerson also said he would not withdraw his shares.
The first call ended unpleasantly.
A few days later, driven by the Academy Awards, the box office of "Se7en" increased again, slowly increasing from the original 350 million to 360 million. The box office of "Speed" and "Good Will Hunting" also increased by tens of millions.
The media has begun to promote that Guess What Pictures' investment in the Oscars is a good deal and a bold investment.
Greg Davis and Paul Hankerson called again to congratulate Link on the box office growth of several of his films, while reminding him that the deadline for Guess Pictures' second round of financing was approaching and asking him what his plans were.
Link said he had no plans.
The two said that without a plan, the second round of financing would fail.
Link said that it would not fail, and even if it failed, it would have no impact on the company. The company has sufficient ammunition and does not need financing.
On the other end of the phone, Greg Davis took a few deep breaths and said through gritted teeth,
"Link, it's irrational for you to think this way. If a company wants to develop, the most direct way is to obtain funds through financing and then expand the scale of the company.
Now Guess the Movies has reached a critical stage in its development. Completing the second round of financing will make Guess the Movies even stronger, and Leading Capital is willing to help you expand Guess the Movies.”
"Oh, what do you guys suggest?"
"One billion market value. This is the latest valuation of Guess What? Films by Vanguard Capital. If you agree, Vanguard Capital will help you complete the second round of financing."
"Gray, I have said many times that 1.5 billion is the bottom line and I will not give in."
Link insisted.
Bang, bang, bang~ the sound of slapping the table came from the microphone again.
“Link, you should be more flexible and recognize the current situation. Currently, the seven major film studios and seven major media groups are working together to suppress Guess the Movie and squeeze the market of Guess the Movie. The situation of Guess the Movie will be even worse in the future.
Secondly, the box office performance of the two films released by Guess What Pictures at the beginning of the year was not outstanding, and was even worse than last year. I think 1 billion is a very appropriate price. "
Greg Davis said, holding his breath.
Link laughed and said, “At the beginning of the year, the seven major media groups joined forces to suppress me and hype up negative news about me, hoping to defeat me in this way, but they failed and will not succeed in the future.
The box office revenue of "This Man From Earth" is more than 100 times that of "Rumble in the Bronx", and the box office revenue of "Rumble in the Bronx" in North America alone is as high as 4 times that of "Rumble in the Bronx".
This kind of movie is worth popping champagne and celebrating at the Big Seven studios, but you tell me these two movies are not outstanding?
I know that Vanguard Capital is also a shareholder of the Seven Major Film Studios. Among the films released by the Seven Major Film Studios at the beginning of the year, how many films have box office revenue comparable to these two?"
Greg Davis has nothing to say, both films had very low investment costs, and even though a lot of money was spent on publicity, overall Guess the Pictures made several times the cost.
The Big Seven studios adopt a large factory-style film production model with extremely high film production costs. In terms of revenue ratio, no film this year can compare to "Rumble in the Bronx", let alone "The Man from Earth".
"Okay Link, you make a good point, but I want you to reconsider this."
"Don't think about it. 1.5 billion is a very suitable price. If you don't enter the market when the stock price is low, I guarantee that after a while, when the company develops, they will not have the opportunity to enter the market."
Link hung up the phone.
Two days later, Greg Davis called him again and told him in an excited tone that after his repeated lobbying, Vanguard Capital Investment Department agreed to participate in the second round of financing of Guess What Pictures with a market value of 1.2 billion, and asked him whether he would accept it.
Link said he would not accept it, guess what, the film industry has increased the price, and now 1.6 billion is the bottom line.
"Why?! Why did it increase by 100 million?"
Greg Davis yelled testily.
He tried his best to use psychological tactics and investment strategies to test Link's bottom line little by little. He thought he was about to test it, but when he took a step forward, Link took a big step back.
This made all his previous efforts a joke.
"You can look at today's newspapers and you should be able to find the answer there. There is another reason. Last year, I said that in the second round of financing, we would give priority to investment companies that can help the company develop more. Unfortunately, Pilot Capital is not among them."
"Last year, the seven major film studios joined forces to suppress Guess What? Films, and we also contributed."
"Yes, but it's a pity that I couldn't stick with it."
Link said.
Greg Davis gritted his teeth and hung up the phone unhappily.
Ask the assistant to bring all the newspapers and magazines related to Link and Guess What Pictures today.
The top newspaper is The Hollywood Reporter.
It includes the 1994 Hollywood movie box office rankings, the list and information of the top 20 movies, as well as the box office revenue of all Hollywood film companies last year and company profit comparisons.
Last year, the top-ranked movie in North America was "Se7en," which grossed $363 million in North America and $836 million worldwide.
The second place is "Forrest Gump", with a North American box office of 320 million and a global box office of 657 million.
The third place is "The Lion King", with a North American box office of 306 million US dollars and a global box office of 852 million US dollars.
Fourth place: "True Lies", with a North American box office of 146 million and a global box office of 368 million.
Fifth place: "Good Will Hunting", with 138 million in North America and 225 million worldwide.
Sixth place: "The Flintstones", $130 million, $340 million worldwide.
Seventh place: "Speed", $125 million, $360 million worldwide.
Eighth place: "Dumb and Dumber", 122 million, 247 million worldwide.
Ninth place: "The Pursuit", with 122 million in North America and 215 million worldwide.
Tenth place: "The Mask", with 119 million in North America and 357 million worldwide.
Eleventh place: "Pulp Fiction", with 109 million in North America and 213 million worldwide.
No. 12: "Interview with the Vampire", with $102 million in North America and $216 million worldwide.
According to data released by The Hollywood Reporter.
Among the top twelve, five and a half movies belong to Guess What Pictures.
Including movies ranked first, fifth, seventh, eighth, and tenth.
The remaining half is Pulp Fiction, which ranks 11th.
Among the top twelve, movies from Guess Pictures occupy almost half.
Even the seven major film studios combined are not as good as Guess What?
When reporting, The Hollywood Reporter directly used a mathematical formula to express the shock, namely Warner Bros. + Universal + Disney + Paramount < Guess What Pictures.
On another page, the newspaper published the profit figures of all major Hollywood film companies in 1994.
Guess What Pictures released nine films last year, earning a total of $924 million in North America.
The global box office has now accumulated 2.07 billion US dollars.
Several films are still being screened in overseas territories and the total box office is expected to be even higher.
In second place is Paramount Pictures, which released 18 films last year, with a total box office of US$787 million in North America and US$1.76 billion worldwide.
In third place is Disney, which released 21 films last year, with a North American box office of 682 million US dollars and a global box office of 1.83 billion US dollars.
Ranked fourth to eighth are 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., Columbia Pictures, Universal Pictures, and MGM Pictures.
Last year, a total of 26.1 billion films were released in theaters in North America, with a total box office of $5.16 billion, an increase of 6.7% over 1994.
Guess What Pictures ranks first in the industry with an 18.3% market share of North American box office, and its total box office performance is equal to the sum of Columbia, Universal and MGM.
"The Hollywood Reporter" said that Guess Pictures is the new overlord of the Hollywood film industry. The seven major studios are seven giants. The current pattern of the Hollywood film industry presents a pattern of 1 overlord + 7 giants, which has elevated Guess Pictures to an extremely high position.
Seeing this, Greg Davidson couldn't help but smack his lips.
Even though one hates Link's money-hungry style, one has to admit that under Link's leadership, Guess What Pictures has created a remarkable achievement and has become a glittering gold mountain with infinite gold-making capacity.
This is probably also the reason why Link dared to raise the company's price to 1.6 billion despite the siege of the seven major film studios.
Greg Davis stroked his chin and moved on to the next magazine.
The new issue of "Forbes Rich List" is out.
Link's net worth has changed greatly this year.
In the latest issue of Forbes' , Link ranked 102nd with total assets of US$3 billion, US$1.55 billion more than last year, and his ranking on the list moved up by more than 300 places.
According to Forbes, his assets mainly consist of three parts.
Flash Gold Capital Management and Guess What Pictures, personal income.
FlashGold Capital is a large investment company that has suddenly emerged on Wall Street in the past two years.
The shares it manages include 4.38% of Microsoft shares, 2.42% of Cisco shares, 3.2% of Disney shares, 0.32% of Apple shares, and 1.21% of Berkshire Hathaway shares.
There are also shares in more than a dozen unlisted companies, including 15% of Netscape, 95% of Marvel Entertainment, 20% of Guess the Movie Pictures, 15% of UTA Agency, 18% of LTD Clothing Company (Victoria's Secret parent company), etc.
Forbes values FlashGold Capital at $2.8 billion, and Link owns 96.3% of the shares.
Among them, Microsoft shares are worth about 1.7 billion US dollars. At the end of last year, the Wall Street Journal announced that Microsoft will release a new generation of operating system Windows 95 this year. In the following two months, Microsoft's market value has rapidly increased from 33 billion US dollars to 36 billion.
The 4.38% stake is worth US$1.57 billion.
However, when Forbes calculated the assets of the rich, it used Microsoft's market value at the end of last year.
After Microsoft released the operating system Windows 95 in March, its market value soared to 45 billion within half a month. According to the current trend, Microsoft's market value will continue to grow to 50 billion or even more.
The value of Microsoft shares under FlashGold Capital will be higher, and Link's net worth will also be higher.
Ranked second is Cisco. Affected by the rapid development of the Internet industry, Cisco, which produces Internet equipment, has also seen a sharp increase in its market value this year, with its market value growing to US$18 billion at the end of last year.
2.42% of the shares are worth approximately US$430 million.
The third most valuable stake is Disney's 3.24%.
Last year, due to internal changes in the company, Disney's market value fell from a peak of more than 18 billion to 12 billion US dollars, and is still falling. Despite this, the 3.2% Disney shares held by Flash Capital are as high as 380 million US dollars.
Shares of other companies are mostly worth around $100 million.
The second part of the assets is Guess What Pictures.
Forbes values Guess What Pictures at $800 million, with a 53% stake worth approximately $420 million.
In the third part, Link earned about 180 million US dollars last year in movie pay, box office revenue, book copyright revenue, etc.
The three parts of assets add up to approximately US$3 billion.
However, Forbes magazine made a note at the end of the 'Link' article.
In the past few years, Link has bought many properties around the world, including a mansion in Beverly Hills, a vacation estate on the Hawaiian Island, a mansion in Mid-Levels, Hong Kong Island, a castle in France, a mansion in Manhattan, New York, as well as yachts, private jets, jewelry, large deposits, etc.
Link's real net worth is far more than $3 billion.
On the list of "The 400 Richest Americans", Link ranks 43rd.
On the "Chinese Rich List", Link's net worth is second only to Li Ka-shing's US$8.5 billion, Li Shau-kee's US$6.5 billion, and Cheng Yu-tung's US$4.2 billion, ranking fourth.
On the Forbes Celebrity Income List, Link ranked first with an income of 180 million, surpassing all athletes, actors, singers, etc.
“3 billion dollars!”
Greg Davis bit his back teeth and rubbed them hard a few times, feeling not only envy but also shock.
Link is worth more than 3 billion, ranking among the top 50 richest people in the United States and a giant in the industry.
It's just that Link didn't put on much airs when he spoke, so he often forgot this and just treated Link as the boss of Guess What Pictures. He even dared to lose his temper with him when he called.
Now he felt it necessary to change his attitude towards Link.
As for Guess What Pictures, it ranked first in annual box office and total revenue, and its ability to make money is greater than that of the seven major film studios with a market value of over 10 billion.
Under such circumstances, investors are more enthusiastic about investing in Guess the Movies.
Wall Street investment companies will also have a better evaluation of Guess What Pictures, and its market value will probably be estimated to be more than $1 billion.
But Link wanted $1.6 billion.
Greg Davis thought about it and decided to find the company's board of directors to discuss whether to acquire shares of Guess the Movie at a premium.
After the new annual box office rankings and Forbes rich list came out, Link received congratulations from many people, including colleagues, friends, entertainment stars, politicians, Wall Street investment consultants, etc.
Especially in the political circle, after he first appeared on the Forbes rich list, many people from different parties contacted him, hoping to get his funding.
Initially, Link didn't want to get involved in politics and only funded a few officials from the Ministry of Justice. Now that he is famous and has strong capital, even the White House has sent people to contact him.
On the advice of FlashGold Capital's advisory team, he made moderate investments in several congressmen and politicians, including Schwarzenegger, who was preparing to enter politics, and Texas Governor Bush.
In America, when assets reach a certain level, personal careers are inevitably involved in politics.
By seeking political support, the company can improve its own business interests and take advantage of political policy trends to obtain a policy environment that is conducive to the company's development.
On the other hand, it can also improve and consolidate one's position within the industry, expand one's social circle, obtain more resources, and political protection.
The entertainment industry is more closely tied to politics than any other industry.
All of Hollywood's most powerful people have spoken for the president.
Including the earliest King of Hollywood Louis Mayer, the former Universal Pictures boss Lew Wasserman, the No. 1 in Hollywood's power list in the 1970s and 1980s, Michael Ovitz, the No. 1 in Hollywood in the early 1990s, and the future King of Hollywood Harvey Weinstein.
Since last year, Link has been rated as the most powerful person in Hollywood by many media outlets.
After obtaining this title, he could not isolate himself from politics, and getting involved in politics became an inevitable choice for him.
But politics is poison.
Louis B. Mayer, the first king of Hollywood, was the founder of MGM Studios and the initiator of the Academy Awards. He rose to power in the 1920s and 1930s because of his support for Herbert Hoover, but later lost power when Roosevelt came to power. He died of illness at home in poverty in the mid-1950s, and no one cared about him.
The rise and fall of people like Michael Ovitz and Harvey are also closely related to political factors.
Given the fate of these people, although Link will get involved in politics, he will not get involved too deeply. His main goal in Hollywood is to make movies, and make more movies.
"Hey, Monopoly, congratulations on being on Forbes, when are you going to have a party to celebrate? Let us help you spend some money."
Quentin called and said.
"I don't have time for now. I'll treat everyone to a drink when I get back from filming."
"That's more like it. Tsk, tsk, I really don't understand how you can make so much money. 3 billion US dollars, can you spend it all?"
"They are all stocks. There is not much if converted into cash. Last year, I remember you said you wanted to invest in stocks. The market is good now. How much have you earned?"
"I didn't invest. I was planning to invest, but I didn't have much money, so I had no money left to invest in stocks."
Link and Quentin chatted a little about the movie.
Just after hanging up the phone, he received another call from Chen Long, who called him God of Wealth, congratulated Guess What Pictures on becoming the industry's number one, and also talked about the box office performance of "Rumble in the Bronx".
The current North American box office is 35.53 million US dollars, and the overseas region is about 16.03 million US dollars. The total box office has exceeded 50 million US dollars, with a box office revenue ratio of seven to one.
The box office results were very good.
Chen Long was planning to hold a celebration party in the villa and asked him if he had time to attend, and he said it was up to him.
Link said Batman will wrap in about three weeks.
Chen Long said that we could wait for him, and also mentioned the second round of financing for Guess Pictures.
An investor from Hong Kong asked him to pass on a message, saying that he wanted to participate in the financing of Guess the Movie and asked him if there was any chance.
Link thought about it and said they could talk.
In fact, in addition to obtaining more funds, the company's main purpose of absorbing financing is to obtain the support of the investment company's affiliated forces.
The capital from Hong Kong Island does not have much roots in Hollywood, so introducing it into the company's board of directors will have little effect.
However, if the capital from Hong Kong can afford a high price, he doesn't mind introducing a Chinese shareholder to the board of directors of Guess What Pictures.
Just after hanging up the phone, Link received another call from Sophie Marceau in Paris.
Sophie said she missed him and asked him if he would come to France to attend the Cannes Film Festival in May?
Link said he was filming and was not sure whether he could go. If he didn't have time to go, Sophie Marceau could come over. The movie "Brave Heart" starring her and Mel Gibson will be released in May, and she will come to Los Angeles to promote it.
Sophie Marceau agreed gently.
(End of this chapter)
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