Chapter 452: Sensational Response and Finale

The current Nasdaq still has a strong filter for domestic companies. In the future, Ali will delist the B2B business listed in Hong Kong and then the entire group will go to Nasdaq.

Therefore, for a film and television company to be able to operate and be listed on NASDAQ has also made Bona a big star in the industry.

However, many people are confused by the name of Nasdaq, and have never thought that the film and television industry and the cinema industry are sunset industries in the United States and are not popular among investors, let alone a Chinese film and television company.

This is also why Wanda was able to so easily acquire AMC, the second largest cinema chain in North America, in the future.

The North American film and television industry has been developing for nearly a hundred years, and it has been more than two or three decades since theater companies like those in Hong Kong and the mainland firmly occupied the upper reaches of the industry.

The cinema industry is definitely a sunset industry, and most major cinema companies in the United States are currently operating at a loss.

Except for the cinema companies backed by the seven major Hollywood companies, everyone else is having a hard time.

When Wanda acquired AMC Cinemas in 2012, the company already had $ billion in debt.

So although Wanda claimed that it spent US$3.1 billion on the acquisition, it actually also included the US$1.9 billion in debt.

Even the remaining $1.2 billion was not paid in full by Wanda, because the $500 million that Wanda promised for equipment transformation was not delivered later.

Therefore, Wanda's actual investment in acquiring AMC Cinemas was only US$700 million.

Later in 2020, due to the mask incident, the financial report released by AMC Cinemas showed that the company's net loss reached US$45.89 billion, approximately RMB 298 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 2977.87%, and news of bankruptcy continued.

Many media outlets said that Wanda’s acquisition of AMC Cinemas cost 3.1 billion yuan and went down the drain.

But in fact, Wanda had already left the scene.

I have to say that I don’t know whether Wanda was lucky or really had some skills, but it turned a profit in the second year after acquiring AMC Cinemas, and then repackaged the company and listed it.

Subsequently, AMC also completed the acquisition of Carmike Cinemas in the United States, and in 2016 successfully acquired Europe's largest cinema chain Odeon & UCI for 9.21 million pounds, and also acquired Australia's second largest cinema chain HOYTS, creating a major business miracle.

At that time, Wanda Cinemas was in its heyday and had initially completed the layout of cinemas in mainland China, North America, Oceania, and Europe, truly creating a "world line."

During these few years, Wanda received dividends of $3.26 million from AMC Theaters and recovered $5 million through share transfer with Silver Lake.

That is to say, Wanda has recovered the $7 million it invested in AMC, and still has a surplus of more than $1 million. The $ billion in debt is still borne by AMC.

At that time, AMC's total market value was 63.20 billion US dollars, and Wanda still held 9.8% of the shares, so Wanda actually earned more than 40 billion yuan. And it also controlled a large cinema chain throughout North America and Europe.

If Wanda had not encountered problems in China later and had been forced to sell all the industries it had acquired overseas in the past few years, domestic films would really have to rely on Wanda if they wanted to enter overseas markets.

However, things are unpredictable. Who could have predicted that the huge Wanda Group would encounter a black swan?

But Big Wang has been selling off his overseas assets and even most of his domestic assets, including Wanda Films and Wanda Cinemas, to save the market instead of running away. This makes him much better than some people.

To get back to the point, Yu Dong, who was too ambitious to list Bona on NASDAQ without conducting any detailed market analysis, was doomed to fail.

In fact, before Huayi went public, there was not much difference between Bona and Huayi.

However, after going public, Huayi's market value once reached 100 billion yuan, while Bona's market value hardly increased, hovering around 500 million to 600 million US dollars, equivalent to more than 4 billion yuan in RMB.

The market value of the two companies differs so much. Is it because Bona’s performance is poor?

Actually, it is not. In China, Bona has always been ranked among the top three in film performance, but the company's market value is seriously underestimated.

After going public, Bona was unable to raise funds effectively from Nasdaq due to its low market value, and the company had almost no effective development.

However, Huayi, which is listed in China, has achieved sufficient development and become a company that Bona needs to look up to. Even the former second-tier companies such as Guangxian have left Bona behind.

"Boss Liu, why are you sitting here alone?"

"I've been busy all day today and I'm a little tired. Thank you Mr. Yu for coming here. I'm sorry that I failed to entertain you well."

"No, I also want to thank Mr. Liu for building a platform for us to communicate with Hollywood companies. We benefited a lot from it just now."

The two exchanged pleasantries for a while, and then inevitably talked about Bona's listing.

Seeing Yu Dong's slightly smug expression, Liu Zhou felt that it was a pity that Bona had wasted several years, and couldn't help but say:
“Mr. Yu, I really suggest that you don’t list on NASDAQ. In the United States, the film industry is a sunset industry, and the stock prices of film companies cannot go up.

If the stock price doesn’t go up, it will be difficult for you to raise more funds, and you won’t have enough money to make movies and build cinemas. Then you may miss the golden age of the rapid development of Chinese films! ”

Yu Dong stared at Liu Zhou for several seconds, but couldn't see through Liu Zhou's intention. However, he didn't have any mean thoughts. He thought that Liu Zhou was worried that Bona would surpass Golden Harvest after listing on NASDAQ. This was impossible even if it was listed in North America.

But Yu Dong would definitely not be shaken by Liu Zhou's words, and said slowly:

"The domestic stock market has many problems. The US is more formal and has adequate supervision. Besides, as long as Bona performs well, its stock price will surely go up. The US is the center of global capital operations, so it is definitely easier to raise funds than in China!"

Liu Zhou patiently explained:
“Mr. Yu, you should have heard of Netflix, which is currently very popular in North America. Netflix has been making money in the past two years, but its stock price just won’t go up.

It was not until the last two years when it transformed into streaming media and became completely internet-based that its stock price began to soar, because DVD is a sunset industry and the Internet is the future!
The same is true for movies. Not many people in North America are optimistic about Bona. Now the box office of American movies itself does not make money, but the derivatives make money. Bona obviously does not have this ability, so the stock price will definitely not go up! "

Yu Dong certainly didn't believe it. He thought that with Sequoia Capital as a matchmaker, there would be no problem. He chuckled and said:

"It has been my dream for many years to go public in the U.S., and Bona wants to be as international as Golden Harvest, so going public in the U.S. will be better for its future development."

Liu Zhou couldn't say anything more, and was too lazy to say anything more. People have said that listing in the United States is a dream and have also compared it to Golden Harvest. What else can he say?

Good words cannot persuade a damned ghost, just don't regret it when the time comes. Liu Zhou raised his glass and said:

“I hope Bona’s listing in the U.S. goes smoothly!”

……

The next day, reports about the launch ceremony of the Golden Harvest Film and Television Industrial Park were scattered like snowflakes in newsstands across the country, sparking heated discussions among the public.

"Beijing Daily": Golden Harvest Group is investing tens of billions to build the world's largest movie dream factory!

"Beijing News": Cruise and Leo DiCaprio earn 200 million US dollars a day for their appearances, and the world's number one movie capital has taken the lead!

"West China Metropolis Daily": Why do Hollywood stars come to Golden Harvest Movie Metropolis?

Yangcheng Evening News: Jiahe Group invested heavily in building Hangzhou Jiahe Film City, a world-class film industry park supports international cooperation! Hangzhou Daily: Building a world-class film industry park, Liu Zhou plays a chess game in the cultural industry!

"Southern Weekend": The grand launching ceremony of Jiahe Industrial Park caused a global sensation!

"Southern Metropolis Daily": By spending huge amounts of money to build a film and television industrial park, Golden Harvest Group may make up for its last shortcoming!
Not only the media, but also netizens on the Internet are also discussing it.

After all, there are so many things to discuss. The star lineup, investment scale, grand ceremony and even the impact on the industry are all the focus of discussion.

Regarding the hot searches related to the launching ceremony of Jiahe Film and Television Industrial Park, six out of the top ten were about this.

Not only domestic but also overseas media have reported extensively on this event.

However, unlike the domestic media's enthusiasm, there are many voices that are pessimistic.

The Los Angeles Times said:
"Currently, many regions around the world are vying for the favor of Hollywood producers. To attract film shooting and production, countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada have offered more favorable subsidy policies than Hollywood.

It is very difficult for the Golden Harvest Group to attract Hollywood producers just by relying on its film and television base. Without relevant tax incentives, it will be difficult to attract them even if the shooting hardware is advanced. "

The Hollywood Journal questioned Golden Harvest's investment:

“The cultural industry has a very slow payback period; even a Disney theme park takes seven years to recoup its investment.

The entire Golden Harvest Film City project is said to have an investment of 10 billion yuan, which is definitely a bit of exaggeration, but it should be several billion yuan. How can Golden Harvest guarantee the return on investment?"

The vast majority of domestic netizens are certainly unaware of the pessimistic sentiments from overseas media, so they are still discussing it enthusiastically.

However, there are also some people in the mainland who are more clear-headed and have a better understanding of overseas affairs and who question whether the Golden Harvest Film and Television Industrial Park will be able to attract Hollywood crews after it is completed.

Their analysis was similar to that of the Los Angeles Times, which attracted a lot of attention.

However, Liu Zhou is very confident about this. Not to mention Summit Entertainment, there is also Lionsgate Entertainment, which has a close cooperation with Liu Zhou. The number of films produced by these two companies each year combined now exceeds ten.

In addition, the fees at Jiahe Film and Television Industrial Park are cheaper, the facilities are more complete, and the labor costs are cheaper, so it will definitely be able to attract some film crews to come.

So in the face of these doubts, Jiahe Group also responded directly on its official Weibo and announced:
After the completion of the first phase of the Golden Harvest Film and Television Industrial Park, more than ten Hollywood films will be shot at the base every year.

This immediately caused heated discussions online, as many netizens expressed their concern. With so many Hollywood crews coming to film, does this mean that Hollywood stars will often be seen in Hangzhou in the future?
However, Liu Zhou didn't care about the chaos on the Internet.

After the launching ceremony, Liu Zhou stayed in Hangzhou for another two days. After finishing some follow-up work, he returned to the capital. The subsequent finishing work was handed over to Zhang Zhao.

As soon as he returned to Beijing, Liu Zhou started filming the movie.

However, when work was almost over in the evening, Qin Hao came to visit Liu Zhou with nothing to do. When he saw Liu Zhou, he smiled and said:

"Tyrant, let's be friends!"

"roll!"

"Hahaha……"

Liu Zhou was speechless at Qin Hao's teasing.

A popular topic of discussion online recently is how rich Liu Zhou is and how much his assets are.

Liu Zhou also didn’t know why Golden Harvest invested heavily in building a film and television base, and why netizens were suddenly so keen on discussing his assets.

Although Forbes has never kept statistics, netizens have turned into Sherlock Holmes and counted his scattered assets, and they are having a lot of fun.

Then a netizen named "姐最美女" was very excited and left a message on Liu Zhou's Weibo:

"Let's be friends, rich man."

The idea of ​​being the most beautiful sister was originally a joke, but she didn't expect that after she left the message, many netizens lined up and left messages on Liu Zhou's Weibo saying "Rich man, let's be friends."

In less than a few hours, there were tens of thousands of comments, making "Rich guy, let's be friends" a hot search on Weibo.

"You can say I'm rich, but please don't call me a nouveau riche!" Liu Zhou said angrily.

"I see that Hong Ying often says on the Internet that you are unsophisticated and don't understand fashion." Qin Hao said with a smile.

"With her 1980s aesthetic, she still has the nerve to call others unsophisticated? I don't even bother to pay attention to her, otherwise she would be even more excited. If she wants to make trouble, she should go find poet Chen."

In the evening, Liu Zhou and Qin Hao had dinner together.

He originally thought that Qin Hao also wanted to work alone like Huang Xiaoming, but Qin Hao didn't seem to have that intention and never talked about this topic.

The two were so familiar with each other that Liu Zhou took the initiative to ask him what he thought.

However, Qin Hao flatly refused, saying that he was very comfortable in his current state. He would act when there were plays to do and rest when there were no plays to do. Being a boss was too tiring and he did not want to leave Jiahe.

It seems that Qin Hao is still the Qin Hao who is obsessed with acting, and Liu Zhou is of course happy to see this.

Although Liu Zhou is mainly targeting artist management in the era of traffic, Golden Harvest Entertainment will look better if there is a superstar like Qin Hao in charge.

In Liu Zhou's opinion, among his artists, only Qin Hao, Zhang Yi and Liu Yifei are likely to stay.

The first two are people who are more focused on acting, especially Zhang Yi, who doesn't even participate in variety shows. With Golden Harvest handling matters other than acting for them, they should feel more relaxed.

As for Liu Yifei, although she is not as devoted to acting as Qin Hao and Zhang Yi, she does not have such big ambitions as other popular actresses.

She may be the only popular female artist who did not set up a company as her own boss. She set up a studio just to serve herself, and also signed an agency contract with CAA.

Therefore, if Liu Yifei can act with peace of mind with Golden Harvest as her backing, she probably won't leave unless she is unhappy there.

Afterwards, Liu Zhou also declined all visits to the set. This is the bad thing about filming in Beijing, as many acquaintances would come to visit and would often interrupt the filming.

After Liu Zhou devoted himself to the filming of the movie, the last shot of "Aftershock" was completed in mid-June!
As Liu Zhou said "passed", everyone started applauding. After nearly three and a half months of hard shooting, the movie was finally completed.

Liu Zhou finally breathed a sigh of relief. All that was left was post-production, which should ensure that there would be no problem in releasing the film next year.

(End of this chapter)