Chapter 517: Follow the Lakers' path and leave Lucas speechless
Over the years, Wang Yuanchao not only acquired Hutchison Whampoa, but also acquired many listed companies.

However, he retained the most basic shell business of the listed company to ensure that the shell could be maintained, instead of directly privatizing the acquired listed company and then merging it.

Look, the shell business is finally about to open!
But there is no need for him to show up in person for this matter, otherwise wouldn’t it be too cheap?
He just gave instructions to the holding company, and asked the managers below to follow up the whole process and report to him in real time. As this is the first shell selling business, he will pay more attention to it.

The most we can do is to show up and lend a hand when signing the contract, which is considered the greatest support for the first business deal.

Then he flew to the United States.

As usual, I look at my sons, women, friends, and partners first.

However, the main reason he came here this time was to get the notice that Jerry West, the head coach of the Lakers, whom he had always been thinking about, had retired from the position of head coach of the Lakers because of the arrival of the new boss and became a scout for the team.

Business magnate, Jerry Buss, purchased the Los Angeles Lakers, the Los Angeles Kings (ice hockey team), and the Los Angeles Forum (the Lakers' former home arena) for $6750 million.

Of the $6750 million, $1800 million was spent on the Los Angeles Lakers NBA team.

Although the price of the team is much more expensive than when Wang Yuanchao acquired the Buffalo Braves, this is the Lakers!
Even though Jerry West's record in the past three years did not satisfy the new boss, his record in three seasons was 145 wins and 101 losses, and he did not miss the playoffs in three years, which was not much worse than Wang Yuanchao's Los Angeles Lions.

In the past three years, the best record of the Los Angeles Lions was reaching the Western Conference semifinals. They never made it to the Western Conference Finals, let alone the national finals.

Although the record was much better than that of its predecessor, the Buffalo Braves, Wang Yuanchao also invested a lot of money and still lost money!

You know, Wang Yuanchao, as a big shot in the entertainment industry, even often goes to watch games in person.

Sometimes he would bring girlfriends to watch a game, and sometimes he would invite his director friends to watch a game. The types of people he would go to watch a game were all kinds of people.

How many big and small stars were attracted by this move to watch the game?

They may not be interested in the competition, but they are really willing to show off their skills to the big boss Adam Wang. This is a rare opportunity to meet with the big boss calmly, isn't it?
These stars, in turn, have attracted more people to watch the Lions’ games.

In addition, Wang Yuanchao is also the owner of Catalina Clothing, which owns the "Miss Universe" beauty pageant and the "Miss America" ​​beauty pageant.

There are so many beautiful girls, but not everyone can get a good ranking and stand out. Many girls become members of the Lions cheerleading team, and can receive a good salary. If they are lucky, they can have a boyfriend who is a basketball star, or even be noticed by high-rollers...

This is one of the reasons why many men like to watch Lions games. The cheerleaders are pleasing to the eye and remain fresh and beautiful all year round.

To a certain extent, although the Lions and the Lakers are similar and both are regulars in the playoffs, the Lions are still slightly stronger.

Therefore, compared with the Lakers, the Lions are better in all aspects. The Lakers have been suppressed by the Lions in recent years, which is also very uncomfortable.

But if the lion wants to go further, there is always that little bit missing.

strength!

No matter how good the results are, it all comes down to your strength!
So upon hearing the news about Jerry West, Wang Yuanchao once again personally visited him. This talent who created the Lakers dynasty, like Sir Alex Ferguson, deserves his serious attention.

This is not the first time Wang Yuanchao has invited West. He invited him once three years ago, but at that time, West got the head coaching position of his old club and would definitely continue working for the Lakers.

From 60 to 74, West played for the Lakers for 14 seasons! He then coached the Lakers for three years. It can be said that the Lakers' imprint is too deep.

But it just happened that West was dismissed as head coach, and Wang Yuanchao's ability to persuade people and sincerity have always been first-class.

West finally agreed to join the Los Angeles Lions and become the general manager of the Lions.

Historically, the Lakers held the 1979 first-round draft pick from a trade with the Jazz, but the Jazz had the worst record in the league that season, and the first-round pick became the No. pick.

But now, the Lions have come in, and the situation and history are different. It's no longer the Jazz who are at the bottom.

But in 79, one of the pillars of the Lakers' rise in history, the legendary point guard, Magic Johnson, was about to come out.

The Lions need to snatch this point guard.

After discussing with the team's general manager West and head coach Ramsey, Wang Yuanchao wanted to exchange the draft pick with the team that had the No. 1 pick, and could even trade it for McAdoo.

Although McAdoo's performance is not as good as Moses Malone, he is still one of the main centers of the Lions and is in his prime, so he is still attractive.

But Wang Yuanchao, West and Ramsey all agreed that the team's point guard position needs to be strengthened.

After all, the appeal of a mature and powerful center is more tempting than a No. 1 pick with an uncertain future.

A recent example is Kent Benson, the No. 77 pick in 7.7. Before entering the league, Benson was also a big name in Indiana. He led Indiana University to win the championship that year! However, after entering the league, Benson failed to perform as he should have. In his rookie season, Benson averaged 4.3 points, 1.4 rebounds and assists per game. He is currently struggling in the Bucks. Historically, he will soon be traded to the Pistons.

So the Lions got Johnson as they wished.

After the team was settled, Wang Yuanchao also had to spend a lot of time and effort on the movie.

"Alien", needless to say, cost more than 5 million US dollars. It was released at the end of May. When Wang Yuanchao first arrived, the theaters had not yet taken the movie off the screen.

The box office quickly exceeded 100 million! It was a huge success.

With the successive successes, MGM's stock price also rose steadily. Obviously, Wang Yuanchao didn't need to worry about this. What he needed to worry about was Lucas' two films.

Lucas's "Star Wars" was a huge success, and its sensational effect made Lucas and Wang Yuanchao's company earn a lot of money. MGM's stock price even doubled! MGM's second largest shareholder, Kerkorian, who opened a casino in Las Vegas, was very satisfied.

Professionals do professional things, a suitable deal.

The framework agreement was reached last year, but Lucas began to feel dissatisfied. Although the sequel was shared by Lucasfilm, Orange Films, and MGM Pictures, he needed to get a bigger piece of the pie. He also had money on hand, so naturally he didn't want to make wedding dresses for others. He also wanted to strive for more investment shares for Lucasfilm!

Otherwise, the second part might be difficult to produce.

No matter how they negotiated with Orange and MGM, it was difficult to settle the matter, and the big boss Wang Yuanchao had to step in.

After all, he was the one who firmly supported Lucas at the beginning, and only he could make Lucas save face.

The people below were almost done with the grinding, so Wang Yuanchao said directly to Lucas:
"George, how much do you want? Just tell me the number."

Doesn't Wang Yuanchao know Lucas's appetite? The two CEOs under him have been talking about it for so long, so of course he knows.

When he asked this, it was obvious that he did not agree with the number.

Now, he asked this because he hoped Lucas would give a reasonable share that both parties could accept.

In Lucas's view, Orange and MGM are on the same side.

How to divide it is Adam Wang's business.

Lucas also knew that Adam's appearance meant that he couldn't go too far.

First of all, there is a friendship between the two of them, and Adam has never done anything wrong to him.

Secondly, Adam has always been easy to talk to, but if he really is not easy to talk to, how did he build such a big family business? Is it all about talking to people? He has no doubt that the other party can hold the copyright in his hands and press it to death.

He only has this "Star Wars", but Adam has a lot of good things on hand.

Oh, he has not only "Star Wars", but also "Indiana Jones", but that one has not been verified by the market and has limited weight.

Lucas smiled:
"Hey, I've been busy writing two movies lately, and my special effects company Industrial Light & Magic, and I found that I had a lot of money left over, but I didn't know where to invest it. You know, Adam, let the money just sit there and do nothing..."

Seeing Adam Wang's burning gaze, Lucas smiled awkwardly and said:

"I still have $300 million in funds..."

In the Star Wars series, Lucas, in various capacities, owns a cumulative 18.72% share. Due to Wang Yuanchao's generous support, Lucas' ownership is at least 20% less than in history.

If it is 300 million US dollars, the investment budget of this movie is 1850 million US dollars. 300 million accounts for 16.22%. If all of it is given, Lucas' share will reach 34.94%!

Wang Yuanchao did not refuse outright, but just said:
"George, you know that the budget for a movie is never accurate. Various accidents cannot be predicted by our human power. With the continuous additional investment, do you need me to lend you some when the time comes?"

In fact, no matter how much additional money was required, even if Lucas could not pay it out himself, he could still borrow money in a few minutes. He would not allow subsequent additional investment to dilute his investment share.

He, Lucas, is the golden signboard.

But there was some implication in Adam's words, as if he suspected that they had lowered the budget so that he, Lucas, could take up more of the quota!

In fact, he has already made a concession. Originally, when he talked with Adam's subordinates, his target was nearly 22%, and he wanted to reach 40%.

Although Adam spoke softly, Lucas did not yet have that kind of momentum.

So he said:
“15% investment amount.

Adam, you know, as a promoter, a founder, I can’t stand the idea of ​​owning less than a third of the company.”

Wang Yuanchao looked at George Lucas and the "Star Wars" series. How should I put it? He had heard of the name for a long time, and the series' name was well-known to him, but unfortunately, he couldn't get into it!

He tried several times, but couldn't get through it at all!
So I have a general idea of ​​the plot, but it is a bit difficult to completely write it out.

For a movie with a box office of over 0.1 million, even percentage point would mean tens of thousands of dollars in revenue, not to mention a series, and it would become a national film and spiritual totem of the United States.

He copied...but couldn't "create", or was worried that if the original creators were replaced, the work would go awry and the result would be counterproductive.

“George, you know, what I love most is to help my friends and let their talents shine.

But I also like to follow the contract.

I don't want there to be a next Star Wars.

I sincerely hope that we can continue to shoot Star Wars for the rest of our lives and let it serve as a testimony to our friendship!"

(End of this chapter)