Chapter 460 Funding Gap
At this moment, Du Caige was sitting in the office worrying.
Worrying about money.
Dreaming and Entertainment is now facing a large funding gap.
Because Dreamland Entertainment has carefully dispatched a large number of investigators, many problems hidden by Starlight Studios were discovered in time.
Of course, it cannot be said that the other party is dishonest and deliberately buried the pit.
Because the valuation provided by the other party is not fraudulent, and the equipment is not fraudulent. Of course, the finances are not fraudulent, and the debt of 120 million is not fraudulent.
The key problem is that the management of Starlight Studios is already rotten. In the past few years, they have used their hands to hide from the sky and the sea. In terms of selling peanuts, peripherals, etc., the company loses at least 100 million yuan every year, which makes the two major shareholders suffer. Less dumb.
And the contracts of these managements are very pitiful, and it will cost a lot of money to dismiss them.
It is not easy to buy the scattered shares in their hands. They must take advantage of the fire, and the lions open their mouths.
Another problem that cannot be ignored is that the real estate leases of Starlight Studios in many cities are flawed.
Of course, this can be solved, but it also requires a lot of human and material resources and a lot of cost.
Originally, Tianyi Entertainment and Oriental Culture Company were willing to sell 61% of their shares at a price of 400 million yuan, and they would also undertake a debt of 120 million yuan by Dream Entertainment.
This price is actually quite favorable.
During the previous internal discussions, the executives of Dream-Zhu Entertainment even felt that it was quite worthwhile to spend no more than 600 million to buy the 61% of the shares.
But now it seems that if the hidden costs are counted, 400 million to buy shares and 120 million debts, the hidden cost of solving the lease problem is at least 100 million.
Then, a total of about 14% of the shares must be recovered from the management. Together with the severance payment, the other party's lion's mouth is about 270 million.
In this way, to get 75% of the shares of Starlight Studios, you need to spend 890 million.
It is also necessary to gradually recover all the shares in the future.
In addition, all the theaters will be updated and upgraded. If you want to put all the IMAX screens in one step, half of them will be replaced with 3D IMAX, plus the supporting playback equipment and audio, and then the seats will be updated.
There are a total of 76 theaters nationwide,
310 million is needed.
So in terms of Starlight Studios, it is necessary to come in with nearly 1.4 billion in cash.
But, this investment is really worth it.
Wait until the renovation and upgrade are completed? Put on a good management? The annual income of this theater chain will be quite high.
Even if the equipment maintenance and depreciation are deducted, the net profit brought by operation and management costs, labor costs and real estate rental costs, is estimated to reach 220 million to 280 million.
Pure profit! 220 million!
Compared to what Chasing Mutual Entertainment paid? This return is already quite amazing.
It only takes 6 or 7 years to pay back. The rest is pure profit.
With an annual rate of return of more than 15%, this is really an investment project that will be smashed and scrambled.
What's more? It can also let the company have a theater chain in its hands? It won't be stuck in the neck because of the theater chain.
Why don't you do this business!
However, the current funds on the books of Dream Dream Interactive Entertainment are: 530 million.
Then there are several film and television projects to be invested in.
The company's executives also hope to increase their stake in the "Knife, Light, Sword and Shadow" special effects company.
In addition, Du Caige's proposal to acquire an animation company has not been passed yet? But Du Caige is confident to push it through.
And his target animation company... Even if it only acquires 51% of the shares? If there is no 500-800 million, that is not even thinking about it.
So of course we can't spend 1.4 billion at a time to acquire Starlight Studios!
No money, it's that simple.
But that's okay.
No matter it is the investment of Rouzhi, Dahua Zitian, Donglai Entertainment or Jiutian Media, they are all willing to continue to invest more.
Just exchange shares.
But Duan Xiaochen and Du Caige did not agree to continue to dilute their shares.
So the current situation? It made Du Caige and Duan Xiaochen a little troubled.
Now is a great time for the company to expand rapidly.
And Du Caige is also confident that through the films he made, the scripts he provided to the company, and the high-quality songs he provided to the company, the company would blossom in both film, television and music, and make many profitable works.
And not only make money from works? Can you also create famous artists one after another at the same time? Make money through these artists.
Don't talk about anything else? Let's talk about the "Love Apartment" that is being prepared for filming. As long as Du Caige keeps an eye on it and ensures the quality of production, how many artists can become popular!
Du Caige actually thought about writing the script of "Wulin Biography" at that time.
But when I actually wrote it, I found that many stalks were inconvenient to replace, such as those famous characters, the names of those martial arts, and the names of magical weapons.
Here at Azure Star, you talked about the "Sword God Ximen Chuixue" who was dressed in white. He was not blowing snow, but blood; when talking about "the decisive battle at the top of the Forbidden City", Lu Xiaofeng with four eyebrows.
When it comes to how high the force value of Sweeping Monk is, who is stronger between him and Dongfang Invincible...
People here don't understand.
Therefore, for the time being, he did not carry the script of "Wulin Biography".
Anyway, he remembered a lot of excellent scripts.
When the time comes to move, there are many options for each theme.
The military theme can learn from "Bright Sword", "My Commander, My Regiment", and "Soldier Assault". Although the history of Azure Star and Earth is different, it is always possible to learn from it.
For medical themes, Liuliu's "Mind Art" is also very good. You can also remake a few medical films from Japan and the United States, such as "Benevolent Doctor", "The White Tower", "The Story of the Emergency Room" and "Grey's Anatomy". "Doctor House", it is not difficult to adapt them to Chinese culture, these are enough to entertain each other for many years.
There is more to life emotion.
For example, now, the house price of Azure Star has also become a pain point for many people. The "Dwelling" written by the author of "Mind Art" is a good time to come out. Is it OK to make a "Dwelling"?
There are also many spy war dramas, costume dramas, palace fighting dramas, and martial arts fairy tales. Du Caige was a very hard student back then, and he has seen all those hit dramas.
Excellent American dramas and British dramas, such as the top 50 American dramas on Renren TV, the top 20 British dramas, Japanese dramas, Korean dramas... Those excellent works that have been crossed over countless times, sorry, he has seen them all, and he also Can copy.
There are no less than 700 movies from the three places on the Taiwan Strait, South Korea, Japan, India, and Europe and the United States, some of which have been carefully watched repeatedly.
He doesn't even have time to accompany his girlfriend/wife, and he doesn't play games much. Besides reading books every day, he watches movies and plays dramas. Others find it boring, but he enjoys himself.
The dedication at that time not only allowed him to successfully become an excellent young director, but also provided him with sufficient ammunition now.
"Latent", "Langya List", "Strategy of Yanxi Palace", "Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace", "Three Lives and Three Worlds"... In short, Du Cai's singers are not worried about script resources at all.
Needless to say, from now to 20 years from now, it is absolutely fine to provide 5 high-quality TV drama scripts and 5 excellent movie scripts to Dream Dream Interactive Entertainment every year.
Although he doesn't shoot the scripts he transferred, nor is he interested in filming TV dramas, he is enough to use these high-quality scripts to make Dream Chasing Interactive Entertainment a top entertainment company in the industry that "Dream Chasing produced, must be a high-quality product" in the hearts of Blue Star people. Standing and earning money.
But that's all in the future.
You said, in the past 20 years, I have made 5 high-quality TV series every year, and I can earn 300 million yuan every year.
But I can't make 100 high-quality TV series in one year and earn 6 billion, right?
Eat one bite at a time.
Do you want to eat meals for a year at a time?
Pull down.
Therefore, the future prospect of Dreams and Mutual Entertainment is very good. Outsiders are optimistic about it, and Du Caige is naturally more confident.
But none of these can be realized.
It would be great if someone said "I, Hemingway, make money" and someone borrowed one billion, two billion to the company.
There is no way, the money is not enough, and things have to be done, so we can only plan carefully.
After several meetings and discussions, the current decision is as follows.
According to the priority of the event, Starlight Studios is to be acquired first.
First buy 61% of the shares from Tianyi and Dongfang in full, and then repay the principal and interest on a monthly basis with a debt of 120 million.
The severance pay of the original management was paid immediately, and then the 14% stake in their hands was acquired, and a bank loan was required.
With the current size and assets of Chasing Dream Interactive Entertainment, it is not possible to borrow too much.
CFO Gong Liuru found several banks and finally determined to be able to borrow 240 million yuan.
Acquired 61% of the shares of Starlight Studios, and the final negotiated price was 375 million.
The severance package, plus the acquisition of the 14% stake, will cost a total of $268 million.
The "Crazy Stone" company that is about to start shooting will invest 4 million, and the "Chinatown Detective 1" company will invest 12 million, of which more than 6 million must be paid in the initial stage.
These two films are small heads, even negligible.
Then for those TV series, "Love Apartment" and "Zhu Xian", the total budget was 140 million, and the money had to be set aside.
The highlight is Shu Yihuan's "Wudang". This movie has already promised Shu Yihuan and even signed a contract. It needs to invest 150 million, and at least 100 million will be paid in advance to set up scenes, make props, and pay for actors' salaries.
What's more, if you want to meet Shu Yihuan's requirements and build a palace group of Wudang School, you can't take it for four or five hundred million yuan.
Let's take the number "100 million" first.
Then the company has to keep about 20 million in cash on its books to pay wages.
Calculated like this: the company's cash of 530 million plus the loan of 240 million is 770 million.
Minus 645 million related expenses for Starlight Studios, minus 100 million for the initial investment of "Wudang", minus 150 million for the budget of several TV series and movies...
Not to mention retaining 20 million cash flow, this is a negative number!
There is still a gap of more than one billion!
Also, even if the 300 million yuan to upgrade the theater can wait until next year or even the year after, to solve the lease problem, another 100 million yuan must be invested immediately!
In fact, if the company does a round of capital increase, and the capital increase is based on the shareholding ratio, Du Caige still has some money to invest. After all, in recent months, his various incomes have been quite high.
Fiction, music, that is a steady stream of copyright income.
He can still afford tens of millions.
The problem is that Duan Xiaochen really has no money.
Just thinking about it gives me a headache.
In fact, if he was cheeky and went to Yan Yingzhen to borrow money, or not to Yan Yingzhen but to Caiwei to borrow money, he could borrow money... Zhizhen Culture has money.
But, you can't be too thick-skinned.
So, where to go to make money?
He thought of the previous visit of Su Manqian, and said that he wanted to spend 100 million yuan to acquire a part of the equity of Zhumeng Interactive Entertainment; then she pulled a few famous artists to build a studio together, and the studio was attached to Zhumeng Interactive Entertainment. Carry out a certain percentage of equity exchange with Dream Dream Entertainment.
Du Caige rejected the previous proposal on the spot, but expressed that he would consider the latter proposal.