Domination in America, Starting from being a Boxing Champion-Chapter 705 - 511: The Seventh Giant of Hollywood

When discussing the shares of Lionsgate, Link initially thought of splitting off the 11.37% stake in Netflix for separate calculation.

The current market value of Netflix is US$3.8 billion, yes, last year when he acquired Netflix, its market value dropped from over US$12 billion to US$3.2 billion.

At the beginning of the year, Netflix's stock price had recovered to US$4.5 billion, but due to the impact of the stock market and competition from other video streaming sites, by August or September, Netflix's stock price had fallen below US$4 billion again.

Considering that Netflix's market value was temporarily not high and having a large amount of capital on hand, if he wanted to invest in Netflix, he could buy an additional portion of the stock, increasing the original stake of Jin Beike Investments from controlling 5.3% of Netflix's shares to 10%.

There was no need to separate out the Netflix owned by Lionsgate Films to avoid affecting the company's layout.

This point was different from Spotify.

Spotify's market value had grown quickly and currently exceeded Pandora Media, reaching US$5 billion.

The price of the 16.8% stake controlled by Link Music had reached US$840 million, and its future value would be even higher, making it more cost-effective to manage separately.

After several rounds of negotiations with Universal Music Group, Link Music agreed to a valuation of US$1.5 billion and accepted an investment of US$500 million for a 33.5% stake from Universal Music.

After Universal Music's investment, Link Music's board underwent significant changes, but Link still maintained the position as the largest shareholder with 45.8% of shares, followed by Universal Music with 33.5%, and Ivanka as the third largest with 13.7%.

SB project Entertainment owned 3.2%, while the remaining 3.8% was held by several executives from Link Music, as well as singers like Lana Del Rey and Mars.

Because of Universal Music's involvement, Link Music's market value slightly increased, being overvalued at US$1.8 billion.

Link and Ivanka also became shareholders of Universal Music Group, jointly holding 2.2% of its shares.

——

After finalizing the acquisition price, and after several rounds of negotiations, Summit Entertainment finally agreed to merge with Lionsgate Films for a price of 10% Lionsgate stock plus US$270 million in cash.

Although Harvey intervened several times in the negotiations, expressing his willingness to increase the purchase price, initially quoting US$430 million and later increasing to US$500 million, hoping Summit Entertainment would change its mind and collaborate with them.

However, after seeing the olive branch extended by Lionsgate Films, Summit Entertainment no longer entertained dealings with the Weinstein Company.

This also led to very smooth negotiations between Lionsgate Films and Summit Entertainment.

According to the agreement, after the merger, both companies would still produce and release films under two different labels, maintaining the independence of Summit Entertainment.

Lionsgate Films would still be managed by Lionsgate's senior management, while Summit Entertainment's production and distribution departments would remain unchanged for the time being, with Lionsgate taking over Summit's finance, marketing, and legal departments. freёnovelkiss.com

Furthermore, there was a change in the board of directors of Lionsgate Films.

Chairman of Summit Entertainment, Robert Blademan, joined the board as vice-chairman.

Ivanka remained the chairwoman of Lionsgate Films, owning 5% of Lionsgate shares.

Lionsgate's former chairman Jon Feltheimer, seeing that Lionsgate would not go bankrupt for the time being, invested US$75 million to buy back 5% of Lionsgate shares and also joined the board.

Moreover, executives like Steven Bicks, Michael Burns, and Brian Goldsmith, who had not sold their shares when Lionsgate went private, held about 4.7% of Lionsgate's shares.

The remaining 75.3% was owned by Link, who also served as the chairman of the board for Lionsgate Films.

"Haha, Robert, welcome to Lionsgate Films."

After signing the contract, Link shook hands with Robert Blademan, the chairman of Summit Entertainment.

"Thank you! Mr. Baker, I am thrilled to work under your leadership,"

Blademan said with a smile as he shook his hand.

"Haha, Robert, you are too kind. In the film industry, you are the veteran. I hope for your guidance in the future,"

Link laughed.

Blademan, now in his sixties, founded Summit Entertainment in '97, producing and distributing films like the Twilight series, the Step Up series, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Vanilla Sky, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and The Hurt Locker, establishing himself as a competent figure in the film industry.

The reason he chose to sell Summit Entertainment was partly because the competition in the film industry had become much fiercer in recent years.

Before the 1990s, the eight major studios coexisted with many independent production companies, which could combine to compete with the big eight, creating a flourishing film industry.

After 2000, with United Artists being acquired by Paramount, MGM going bankrupt and being split apart, Columbia Pictures being acquired by Sony Pictures, New Line Cinema being merged into Warner Brothers, Miramax being swallowed by Disney, Focus Features being acquired by Universal, and DreamWorks being acquired by Paramount, among others.

The film industry was left with only six major studios and independent production companies controlled by these majors. Independent companies, including Lionsgate Films, Relativity Media, Summit Entertainment, and Weinstein Company, often had annual box office totals that hardly compared to one of the majors'.

Increased competition made it tough for independent companies to survive and significantly reduced their profitability, another major reason why Summit Entertainment was willing to partner with Lionsgate Films.

The second reason was that Robert Blademan was getting older and wanted to find a good successor for Summit Entertainment before retiring.

The main reason he chose Lionsgate Films, Relativity, or even Weinstein Company over the six majors was the company's "independence."

In the eighties and nineties, companies such as New Line Cinema, Castle Rock Entertainment, DreamWorks, TriStar Pictures, Miramax Films, Focus Features, Silver Screen Partners, Hollywood Pictures, and Rogue Pictures were all independent production companies.