Chapter 298 Double Happiness, Acquisition Completed

Liu Zhou's call was from Jordan Poole.

Liu Zhou answered the phone and his somewhat excited voice came from the microphone:

"Mr. Liu, we have reached an agreement with Chris Cohen."

"how much is it?"

"2.1 million. Fortunately, I have accomplished my mission and it is not more than the reserve price you gave me."

"Very good. Since Mr. Poole has done such an excellent job, I will not break my promise. The ten million dollars is an extra bonus for your team."

Jordan Poole's smile brightened when he heard Liu Zhou's words. He was not modest at all, but directly accepted the bonus.

"Thank you, Mr. Liu. Don't worry, we will help you with all the follow-up work of the acquisition."

“When can we sign the contract?”

"anytime."

"Then let's do it in three days. I have some things to do in New York now. I will go to San Francisco in three days. You guys should prepare the contract first."

"no problem."

After hanging up the phone, Liu Zhou still felt quite happy.

If we defeat the Golden State Warriors, the future Warriors dynasty will be born in our hands.

In the future, the Golden State Warriors will be the NBA team with the fastest expanding influence, and the team's market value will soar from the current 200 million to nearly 5 billion in ten years.

Whether it is for investment or to enhance personal influence, the Golden State Warriors is a very good choice.

Of course, the prerequisite is that you can build a championship team like in history.

But there are answers there that you can copy, so how can you not understand them after copying them?
However, although Liu Zhou was happy to win the Golden State Warriors, the most important thing for him now was the acquisition of Summit Entertainment.

As soon as Liu Zhou hung up the phone, Anthony Edwards came over with a happy face.

"Liu, I just received a call from Patrick Waburg. They relented and agreed to our offer of $200 million."

"Okay! Then you and Goldman Sachs should sign the acquisition agreement with them as soon as possible and finalize this matter."

The good news about the two acquisitions came one after another, which was a double happiness. Liu Zhou could no longer control his smile.

"Ok!"

"By the way, Anthony, when you go to take over Summit Entertainment, you must check it carefully to make sure they don't do anything to transfer some of the assets away."

"Liu, don't worry, I will never let this happen."

Because the acquisition contract for Summit Entertainment required a certain amount of preparation time, Liu Zhou flew to San Francisco the next day and then went to Oakland.

He plans to finalize the acquisition of the Golden State Warriors first.

Two days later, Liu Zhou also met the Warriors' current owner, Chris Cohen, a typical Anglo-American with brown hair, a big trough nose, and thick lips.

However, perhaps due to the financial crisis, the old white man was a little overwhelmed, so he had a gloomy face throughout the signing of the contract.

The moment the two put down their pens, Chris Cohen's face finally showed a different expression.

He took a deep breath and then sighed:

"Liu, the Golden State Warriors are yours now. I hope you can bring the Warriors back to the top."

Although Chris Cohen is not a fan of the Golden State Warriors, he acquired the team in order to increase his social influence.

In the United States, many people will acquire a team from one of the four major sports leagues in order to increase their influence.

For example, the current president of the United States was the owner and president of the Texas Rangers in the baseball league before he entered politics.

Another typical example is the polar bear tycoon Abramovich, who spent a huge amount of money to acquire Chelsea in the Premier League in order to enhance his international influence.

Abramovich's goal has definitely been achieved. It was because of his acquisition of Chelsea that more people got to know this polar bear tycoon.

However, no one expected that after a fight between Da Mao and Er Mao, the Premier League would directly confiscate all of his shares in Chelsea.

Just rob them directly!
The idea that private property is sacred and inviolable is just bullshit.

Let's get back to the topic. After all, Chris Cohen has been in charge of the Golden State Warriors for more than ten years, so he must have some feelings for the team.

He also wanted to run the team well, but he didn't understand basketball and the people he hired were unreliable, so the team's performance was always poor.

To this end, he invited the famous NBA coach Don Nelson, and under his leadership, the team entered the playoffs again after twelve years and completed the black eight miracle.

Chris Cohen wanted to increase his investment, but he did not expect a financial crisis to come suddenly.

He was forced to sell the Golden State Warriors in exchange for funds, so he still feels a little reluctant to leave the team at this moment.

"Mr. Cohen, don't worry, I will definitely help the team win the championship again. You can come and watch the game often in the future."

The two didn't talk much. It was obvious that Chris Cohen was busy, so he left after signing the contract.

However, the signing of the acquisition agreement with Chris Cohen regarding the Warriors does not mean that the team belongs to Liu Zhou. In order to truly become the owner of the Warriors, he must first obtain the consent of more than half of the shareholders of the NBA company.

The shareholders of NBA Corporation, that is, the owners of 30 NBA teams and the league president David Stern.

But the most important thing is to look at David Stern.

This kind-looking old man has been in charge of the NBA since 1984. He has turned the NBA, which was once full of pornography, gambling, drugs and violence, into the third largest sports league in the United States.

Moreover, its influence extends far overseas, especially to the mainland. The NBA can be said to be the most familiar overseas league.

David Stern also attaches great importance to the mainland market. He once waited for three days in front of the CCTV gate.

It was also due to his strenuous efforts that Yao Ming entered the NBA.

So David Stern should be happy to see that a Chinese boss like himself has acquired an NBA team.

Then the only step left is to get the relevant departments of the United States to agree to the acquisition, which requires Goldman Sachs to smooth the relationship.

NBA teams are not sensitive companies. If nothing unexpected happens, the U.S. authorities will not deliberately make things difficult for them. They are actually looking forward to the influx of overseas funds.

After signing the contract, Liu Zhou stayed in Auckland for another three days to deal with some follow-up matters.

Because it is the off-season and all the players are away, Liu Zhou also had a brief meeting with the team management and head coach Don Nelson.

This can be considered as a way for each other to get to know each other. After all, nothing has been settled yet, and he is not yet the real team owner.

Afterwards, Liu Zhou returned to New York again and signed an equity acquisition agreement with Patrick Warburg and three other Summit Entertainment shareholders.

Liu Zhou first paid them the first installment of 50 million US dollars for the acquisition, and once he was sure that there was no problem with Summit Entertainment, he would pay the second installment of 100 million US dollars.

Once the relevant departments of the United States approve the transaction, Liu Zhou will pay the remaining 50 million US dollars to them.

Therefore, if the three of them want to get the funds as soon as possible, then the three of them must also work hard to finalize this deal.

The deal with Chris Cohen was similar, with the funds also being given in batches.

Liu Zhou was not worried that the other party would run away with the funds he paid in advance, as all the money would be deposited into an account supervised by Goldman Sachs.

The other party cannot use the money for the time being. Only when the transaction is formally reached will the money truly belong to them.

However, although the money cannot be used for the time being, the account still belongs to the other party.

An account with tens of millions of dollars can also solve a lot of problems for them.

Of these two acquisitions, the one for the NBA Warriors was made with the funds Liu Zhou cashed out from Penguin shares, totaling $400 million.

The $2.2 million paid to Chris Cohen, and the service fees from Goldman Sachs plus some taxes totaled nearly $2.3 million.

Liu Zhou only has US$1.7 million left to use.

Then there was the $2 million to acquire Summit Entertainment, which was paid by Golden Harvest Group.

For this acquisition, Jiahe Group took out all of its profits from the previous two years. In addition to the funds set aside to maintain the company's operations and investment in some projects, a total of one billion yuan was raised.

In order to raise this money, Golden Harvest Group's original plan to continue expanding the Golden Harvest Cinema Chain was completely halted, and the number of new projects launched this year was much less than in previous years.

However, 1 billion RMB was obviously not enough, so Liu Zhou lent 100 million US dollars to Jiahe in the name of Zhoushan Capital.

The holder of Penguin shares is Zhoushan Capital, so the funds after cashing out also belong to Zhoushan Capital, and the owner of the acquired team is also Zhoushan Capital.

This will not have any impact on Liu Zhou because Zhoushan Capital is solely owned by him.

This is also done to reduce unnecessary taxes caused by changes in funds.

One billion RMB is equivalent to more than 110 million US dollars, plus the 100 million US dollars borrowed from Zhoushan Capital, a total of more than 200 million US dollars is enough to pay for the acquisition and other various expenses.

It is now July 10th, less than a month away from the opening of the Beijing Olympic Games, and Liu Zhou has been in the United States for more than a month.

Now, the only thing left for these two acquisitions is the final review and approval by the relevant U.S. authorities. There is no point for Liu Zhou to stay here.

So Liu Zhou directly arranged for Zhong Lifang to follow up on the follow-up matters of these two acquisitions, and she was no stranger to this.

Liu Zhou stayed in the United States for another two days. After handing over the work with Zhong Lifang, he went to Toronto first.

After spending a week with Zhang Tong and the child, Liu Zhou returned to the capital on July 18th.

At this time, the capital city was full of flowers, and there were obviously a lot more foreigners.

There used to be quite a few foreigners in Beijing, but now you can really see them everywhere when you walk on the street.

Most of the pedestrians on the street had smiles on their faces. Liu Zhou was also very moved by the festive scene.

Maybe for Western countries, the Olympics is just the Olympics, a sports event, and they may even not like the Olympics because it will cause losses.

But for China, this is not only a sporting event, but also a window for the world to get to know China again.

This grand event also brings together the good expectations of all Chinese people.

(End of this chapter)