Global Monopoly of Technology

At the same time on the other side, the person in charge of Merrill Lynch in the reception room introduced to Zhang Bowen: "The current head of Marvel Comics is Avi Arad, who took over the company as chairman and CEO in 1997. , and founded Marvel Studios, who started his career at Marvel Comics in the 1990s. And in 1998, Stan Lee left the company, where he created 80's of well-known comic book characters, and was the creator of Marvel Comics. Marvel is also known as the leader of the North American comics industry."

There's a reason why Merrill Lynch is suddenly here when Bluestar wants to buy Marvel, and it's because they have a huge relationship with Marvel.

Things have to start in 2005, when Marvel Comics decided to break the bank and make a desperate attempt to raise money to shoot Marvel movies, using the copyrights of several famous characters such as Captain America and Thor as collateral, and signed with Merrill Lynch on Wall Street. Deal: Merrill Lynch will own the characters immediately if the film doesn't turn a profit

In the end, the two parties reached an agreement, and Marvel Comics finally raised enough money for almost its worth, and decided to start with "Iron Man" as the first independent production project.

The film "Iron Man" has now been set and will be released in early May, which is less than a month away.

At this moment, Zhang Bowen chatted with the people from Merrill Lynch for a while, and without waiting too long, the head of Marvel Comics came to the reception room to meet them.

The two sides exchanged a few words of courtesy, and after being invited to a seat by the other party, Zhang Bowen immediately looked at the head of Marvel Comics and said with a smile: "Mr. Bluestar Technology Group has taken a fancy to Marvel and wants to merge this North American comics giant into its own."

Arad, who just sat down and did not warm his buttocks, was stunned. He looked at Zhang Bowen's smiling face in amazement, and couldn't speak for a while.

It's pretty straight forward, without any bells and whistles.

At this time, someone from Merrill Lynch said: "I want to tell you a message, Mr. Arad, Marvel Comics has mortgaged several characters such as Captain America to Merrill Lynch. We signed a new agreement with Bluestar Technology yesterday. The agreement was transferred to Bluestar Technology, simply saying that Bluestar Technology is now your creditor."

Arad looked at both sides again in amazement: "This..."

The news was so abrupt that Marvel Comics didn't hear anything.

It is normal to not receive it, because this transaction is between Bluestar Technology and Merrill Lynch, and there is no special agreement on the right to know between Merrill Lynch and Marvel Comics, so there is no need to notify anyone who wants to transfer this creditor’s right to anyone. Marvel Comics, let alone Marvel Comics' consent.

Zhang Bowen went to Wall Street before coming here, just for this purpose, because he learned that the agreement between Marvel and Merrill Lynch was not kept secret.

Arad recovered from his astonishment, did not speak immediately, but thought about this matter in his heart.

The No. 2 person of Bluestar Technology visited in person. Merrill Lynch had already transferred its creditor's rights to Bluestar Technology. Obviously, the other party really intends to acquire Marvel Comics.

And for Marvel itself,

Frankly, Arad was moved.

Without him, Marvel Comics is currently facing a near-death situation, and the final box office performance of the upcoming "Iron Man" is still unknown. In fact, the whole company is very uneasy.

Once the box office fails, Marvel Comics will face an unprecedented dilemma. This company has been living a difficult life, otherwise it would not have sold the film and television rights of its well-known comic characters to the public, and put "Spider-Man" and its related characters. It was packaged and sold to Sony, and the X-Men series was packaged and sold to Twentieth Century Fox.

Basically, Marvel Comics has sold all the ips of its first-line characters that can be sold, and they are also very heartbroken, especially seeing the great success of "Spider-Man". You won't be able to open the pot if you don't sell it.

So this time, the first independent production of Marvel Studios used a second-tier comic character "Iron Man", which actually made them even more uncertain, and they were all worried that the film would lose blood, which was simply the darkest moment for Marvel.

No, now is the darkest hour of wonder.

Arad finished thinking, and immediately stared at Zhang Bowen and asked, "What price is your company going to offer?"

Bluestar Technology came straight to the point, and also brought Merrill Lynch Securities, so there is no need to hide it, and the current bad situation of Marvel Comics can't hide these big groups.

This comic giant is really miserable now, especially compared to the DC next door, it is sad for those who hear it, and tears for those who see it.

How miserable is it?

Even if he wanted to sell himself, no one came to care, and this time Bluestar Technology Group was an exception.

Because in the eyes of the industry and capital, Marvel Comics has no value, the "Spider-Man" IP is gone, the "X-Men" IP is gone, and the "Fantastic Four" IP is gone.

Surprise what else can you do?

Basically gone!

"We have estimated the value of Marvel Comics based on the information provided by Merrill Lynch and the audit of a third-party agency..." Zhang Bowen said and looked at Avi Arad, and added after a moment: "Our audit results It's Marvel's $22.5 billion, $1.5 billion acquisition of 67's stake."

"What? A $1.5 billion acquisition?" Arad's eyes widened, and he immediately said indignantly: "nonono, Marvel has thousands of well-known character ips under its umbrella. There must be something wrong with your audit, which seriously underestimates the value of surprise."

Zhang Bowen spread his hands and said: "I don't want to belittle it intentionally, but with all due respect, Mr. Allard, the commercial value of your company's thousands of characters combined is not as good as a single "Spider-Man", you know what I mean by the entire Marvel Comics company. The value is not as good as a "Spider-Man", and it is now owned by Sony Columbia Pictures, and other well-known first-line characters have also been sold by you. Basically, you have sold everything that can be sold. Please tell me, I am surprised What else can I do now?"

This remark made Avi Allard speechless for a while. It can be said that the company's psychology has been bleeding recently when "Spider-Man" and its related IP characters were packaged and sold.

Zhang Bowen is right, the IP value of a "Spider-Man" is worth the entire surprise company multiplied by 2, or even 3 is not an exaggeration.

The first "Spider-Man" was released in 2002. In that era, it grossed $82.2 billion at the global box office and opened the curtain of superhero movies.

Immediately following the release of "Spider-Man 2" in 2003, the global box office earned $78.4 billion. By the release of "Spider-Man 3" in 2007 last year, the global box office hit $89.1 billion, the highest in the series.

The box office of the trilogy alone has reached 249.7 billion US dollars. According to the unscrupulous box office split, the producer split the account with 33 box office. Sony Columbia Pictures recorded a box office revenue of 82.4 billion US dollars. It is a dream. To wake up laughing.

The box office share is only a part. A large part of the ip revenue of "Spider-Man" comes from the sales of peripheral goods, and the other part is the income from the movie box office. Marvel currently only has the comic copyright of "Spider-Man", how can it be compared with the movie copyright value compared to?

According to the situation of Luo Sheng's last life, the IP value of "Spider-Man" has reached a height of 23.4 billion US dollars, and the entire Marvel Universe, which was a great success, was only more than 23 billion US dollars.

It's really a little spider hanging the entire Marvel universe.

It can be said that Sony is laughing in dreams, and crying in surprise dreams.

In the end, Allard struggled with a slightly less confident expectation: "It is true, you are right, but as long as Sony does not release a follow-up movie within five years, the IP copyright of "Spider-Man" will automatically return. In the hands of Marvel."

Zhang Bowen smiled and said indifferently: "In my opinion, even if Sony makes a bad movie every five years, they have to hold this IP tightly in their hands, you think he will give up the series comparable to "Pirates of the Caribbean" , "Harry Potter" series, "Lord of the Rings" series, these are the cash cows that IP value can stand side by side with?"

Allard was speechless again.

That's right, the little spider is now the platoon of Sony Columbia Pictures. It is a proper cash cow. If you don't have a brain, you will definitely not let go of this ip, and will continue to operate meticulously as a long-term company. Cash cow.

Avi Arad was unable to refute for a while.

Some just regret it, but it's too late to regret it.

The head of Marvel, who had no words for a while, suddenly looked at Zhang Bowen, still wanting to sell a good price for his company, but he was too expensive, and asked, "Why are you buying us, even though Marvel comics are worthless in your company's eyes? ?"

Zhang Bowen smiled and said the other side's heart-wrenching words: "It's still a bit valuable, but that's all, the core business of Bluestar Technology is the IT sector, but in the eb20 era of the Internet, content is king. There are bv video sites, and the streaming video business needs some content support. I wonder if Mr. Allard understands the $5.2 billion digital movie licensing agreement signed by our company with six Hollywood movie giants and more than a dozen independent studios some time ago. ?"

Allard nodded: "I know this, your company's handwriting is quite scary."

To tell the truth, Marvel Comics had such an idea that it wanted to sell itself immediately, and quickly called Bluestar Technology Group "Dad", and reported the thigh of such a gold owner father, why should the Marvel company rely on selling "son" "Spend the day?

Allard realized that if Marvel Studios, a subsidiary of Marvel, wanted to make a breakthrough in the film industry, it must rely on a large group, especially in the current bad situation.

Even those traditional Hollywood movie giants are backed by big groups, and Sony Columbia Pictures is backed by Sony Group. Although Sony's market value is not high, its assets are hundreds of billions of dollars, and it has been even more powerful in the last century. The super giant, the pride of the Japanese;

Disney Pictures is backed by Walt Disney, Paramount Pictures is backed by media giant Viacom, and Warner Bros. is backed by Time Group.

Only when there is a "father" as a backer can they get along like a duck to water, and they can come out and pull a hand at critical moments. Like those independent film companies, without the support of large groups, this year may be good, but you may not see it next year. He is, because of bankruptcy, only studios backed by large groups can stand in the industry for a long time.

Marvel Studios is backed by Marvel Comics... Whoever depends on whoever is the other way around, my father is too much, I almost run out of food, and I can only find a way out by recognizing my godfather.

Right now, there is a big group that has come to claim his son, maybe it is the only one. Although the Bluestar Technology Group has an average attitude towards Marvel comics, it is at least willing to claim it, and others are not willing.

It's heartbreaking, but that's the state of surprise.

To be honest, Arad himself knows that Marvel doesn't have much bargaining chips. If you miss this opportunity, there may be no second time for Marvel.

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