Chapter 254 - Don't Want to be Rivals, So Be Friends
In the foggy bath, Lin Mingyang hit the nail on the head when he pointed out the biggest hidden worry in Lei Shi Dong's heart.
"Viacom is drinking hemlock by doing this!"
To Lin Mingyang's surprise, the old man sitting across from him just nodded calmly.
"I know."
A plain sentence, to Lin Ming Yang's ears but is no less than a thunderbolt, knowing that it is not possible to do, this old man who looks like the end of his days, how much courage and ambition is needed in his heart in order to support this arrogant and almost arrogant paranoia. A year to this point, even Lin Mingyang also had to the old man in front of a trace of fear.
Hefner is the desire to fill the gulch, Lei Shidong is ambitious, Lin Mingyang had to sigh in admiration of these old guys on their own are all demonic level characters, which one is not bad to deal with.
Lei Shidong clapped his hands, and soon a waiter came in with two cups of red wine, put it down and then retreated silently. The red wine was placed on the side of the bathtub, and the two were able to reach out and get it.
Lei Shidong picked up the wine glass and gently smacked a small mouthful, while Lin Mingyang was still sitting there with his hands clasped, a thoughtful expression on his face.
"I've explained everything that should be explained, can we get to the point below?"
Lei Shidong's reminder made Lin Mingyang suddenly come back to his senses, the old man raised his glass of wine and nodded slightly towards him, Lin Mingyang frowned but did not reach out to touch the glass of wine.
"I'm curious to know, what do you mean by the kind of further cooperation you just mentioned?"
"Equity swap." Lei Shidong knew to the fact that Lin Mingyang had asked such a question, and he had already prepared an answer.
In business, equity swap was usually used to introduce strategic investors or partners. The essence of equity swap does not involve the change of controlling interest, but the result of equity swap is: to realize the cross-shareholding between the company's controlling shareholders and strategic partners, in order to establish a link of interests.
Lin Mingyang is now in absolute control of MGM Studios, even after the merger and acquisition of the Playboy Group, the number of shareholders increased, but the basic shareholding structure has not changed significantly, Lin Mingyang can still be the only one who has the final say.
Lei Shi Dong's purpose is to use Viacom's equity to replace part of the equity of MGM Studios, double hair to realize the cross-shareholding, forming a strategic alliance of you have me, I have you. The idea of a complete merger and acquisition of MGM seems to be impractical now, so Lei Shidong chose a second best means, to some extent, this is also the concession he had to make when facing Lin Mingyang.
It can be seen that Lei Shidong has taken out his greatest sincerity, but in the eyes of Lin Mingyang, this "concession" is very little. If the equity replacement, Lei Shidong will not be satisfied with just a director's qualification without the right to speak, can not get the controlling right, at least to the company's senior decision-making to have a certain impact.
From the company's long-term development to open, equity diversification is the inevitable result, Lin Mingyang does not mind the company's board of directors more than one "dissident" guy, but compared to Lei Shidong from MGM to get the equity, Lin Mingyang can get from the hands of the Viacom on the hand appears to be very insignificant.
The key problem is that the total assets of the two companies are very different, equal cross-shareholding results in the share of equity obtained by Lin Mingyang in Viacom's internal voice. There is no loss in the books, but in the level of equity control Lin Mingyang suffered a lot of losses, such a result at that time is Lin Mingyang can not accept.
"I can get the Viacom executives to give up an important position, which will then be filled by you!" In the face of Lin Ming Yang's silence, Lei Shi Dong began to increase his bargaining chips.
Lin Ming Yang heart a cold smile, no equity support, and then the high position is still not at the mercy of others, not to mention Lin Ming Yang for management things have always lacked sufficient interest, Lei Shidong threw out this top of the flamboyant hat to him simply has no temptation to speak of.
Eyebrows raised, Lin Ming Yang said with a slight dissatisfaction: "If you hope to get rid of your own predicament through the cooperation with MGM Studios, then I hope to see more of your sincerity in this cooperation!"
"Young man, do you think the chips I'm offering now aren't high enough?" Lei Shi Dong's eyes were wide open in anger, his whiskers were standing on end, he was really angry at this moment, but he quickly controlled this emotion, he was now suddenly very much like to know what kind of conditions this arrogant kid in front of him would offer.
Lin Mingyang didn't pay any attention to Lei Shidong's emotional changes, and took over his words and began to talk in a polite manner: ''I agree with the equity replacement program, but the percentage of replacement shouldn't be measured by the total amount of assets that both of us have at the moment... The idea of preaching in front of you is obviously a bit naïve, but I still have to remind you that this cooperation may be a 'quid pro quo exchange' for me, but I still have to remind you that this cooperation may be a 'quid pro quo exchange' for me. For me, this cooperation may be a 'quid pro quo', but for you and the entire Viacom Group, it's an investment with a strategic intent, and your focus should be on the future!"
"You directly open the conditions!" Lei Shi Dong admitted that Lin Ming Yang had a point, but he didn't like being lectured to his face like this.
Lin Mingyang said decisively, "Whatever percentage of shares Viacom wants in MGM, they have to take out a corresponding percentage of shares to exchange with me!"
Lin Mingyang's "appetite" startled Lei Shidong, who snorted coldly through his nostrils and smiled back in anger.
"Young man, are you sure you're not joking with me?"
Lin Ming Yang shrugged his shoulders, "From the current comparison of the strength of our two companies, this idea of mine is indeed a bit whimsical, but as I said, this cooperation for Viacom is an investment for the future...it's hard to say if Viacom can maintain this asset size in the future, but after 5 years, I'm completely confident that the MGM Studios' asset size surpass Viacom!"
After putting down these grandiose words, Lin Ming Yang stood up from the bath and wiped the water droplets on his body with a towel before smiling apologetically at Lei Shi Dong, "I hope that you'll consider my suggestion, but right now, I'm a bit sleepy...when we arrive at our destination, please ask someone to call out to me!"
After saying this, he walked straight out alone, draped in his bathrobe. Lei Shi Dong was left alone in the bath, sitting there with his head half lowered.
Through the slowly rising mist, Lei Shi Dong's face at this moment clearly had a confused expression after the shock, but the hint of a playful smile at the corner of his mouth was exceptionally clear at this time.
Holding his hand up to the wine glass and thinking for half a day, the smile at the corner of Lei Shidong's mouth became more and more intense.
"It's an interesting fellow!"
----
After Lin Mingyang left, Lei Shi Dong also had no desire to continue soaking in the pool, after getting up he draped himself in a bathrobe and went straight to the conference room with a large screen on the airplane. There, he had an over-the-air teleconference with his ever-so-trusted assistant, Gray.
After listening to the results of the entire negotiation between Lei Shi Dong and Lin Ming Yang, Gray on the big screen was silent for a moment, "Sir, I would like to say..."
From his expression and demeanor, Lei Shi Dong had already guessed what he wanted to say.
"You mean that Viacom should accept the cooperation conditions offered by Felix Lin?"
"I'm just suggesting... "Gray had followed Lei Shi Dong for so many years, and naturally knew the old man's temper very well, he knew that Lei Shi Dong was afraid that it would be difficult for him to accept this result for a while, so the words that followed became a bit stuttered.
"Felix Lin is obviously asking for a lot of money, but some of the things he said to you I personally think are still very reasonable... According to MGM Studios' current rate of development and expansion, within 5 years its total asset size should exceed that of the Viacom Group."
"Are you sure?"
Lei Shi Dong's expression became grim, Lin Ming Yang himself said this and there was still the suspicion of self-aggrandizement, but now that Gray also thought so, this was not good news for him.
"As a matter of fact the current MGM Studios is made up of three relatively independent subsidiaries, MGM Studios itself is responsible for the production and distribution of movies, and the Playboy Group which has just recently been pocketed by Felix Lin is involved in a wide range of businesses, but mainly focuses on the publishing and entertainment media piece, these are all relatively maturely developed industries, in terms of strategic development. Even if Felix Lin has another idea, putting it into practice also needs a process, so it is unlikely that these two companies will expand rapidly in the future."
Gray paused for a moment, "The real leapfrog development may be YouTube, this video sharing website although started later than Facebook, but the momentum of development is not inferior to Facebook, and because Felix Lin used to be the founder of Facebook, these two most commercially valuable network companies have been maintained tacit cooperation...the network will be the most competitive mode of communication in the future, and in terms of the possession of communication channels, Felix Lin has now left his major competitors far behind!"
"Let me think about it!"
This decision was real hard to make, Lei Shi Dong rubbed his inflamed temples, after a change in thinking, he needed to reconsider his overall plan.
The luxury airliner soared above the miles of blue sky, the host was frowning in the conference room, but Lin Mingyang, as a guest, was huffing and puffing in his stateroom, until there were still ten minutes before the plane landed, when the flight attendant lady woke him up.
During this time Lei Shidong did not show up again, until Lin Mingyang got off the plane and was ready to leave by car, Lei Shidong's assistant then hurriedly ran over.
"Mr. Felix, Mr. Chairman asked me to tell you that Viacom doesn't want to be your opponent, so it had to choose to be your partner!"
Lin Mingyang smiled as he looked at the private jet that was switching runways in the distance and asked, "Mr. Lei Shi Dong isn't going to stay in Los Angeles for a little longer?"
"I guess so..."
That assistant's expression looked a bit bewildered as he answered this question, as the original plan was not like this, and he did not know why Lei Shidong had changed his mind temporarily.
Lin Mingyang nodded, and before getting into the car he looked back.
"Please tell Mr. Lei Shi Dong that I look forward to meeting him again!"