Chương 94: Book 3 - Chapter 17 A

Wednesday, July 15th I met with Jennifer and Thomas across the street at her big office at OneOk. They both were excited with important news.

"Warner Communications is interested in a deal with American Wireless," Thomas explained.

"Acquisition, merger, cable channel negotiations?" I asked.

"I don't know, but they want to talk to you," he said.

"Okay, I'll call them." Matt gave them a call and arranged for me to go to New York for a sit down with their board. I took Thomas with me. I arrived at a big conference room full of smiling people. Everyone seemed happy to see me. As the meeting got started they explained why.

"Dr Cook," began CEO Steve Ross, "we have examined your interesting track record, and your ability to match up companies for a synergistic merger allowing growth and dominance. What we would like to do is bring American Wireless, Warner Communications and other partners into a new larger company."

"Why don't I just buy you? I can put you with American Wireless, bring in some other things I own and rearrange the divisions to better manage the new pieces," I asked.

"Would you take us private, or just acquire controlling ownership by purchasing us and the pieces you mentioned?" Herb Siegel asked.

"It depends on what your current valuation is," I told them. They looked at each other, then Herb said, "Ten to twelve billion."

"Thomas, how much is American Wireless worth today?" I asked.

"Twenty billion, but next year it'll be thirty as the nationwide rollout continues," he replied immediately.

"How quickly do you project its value to grow?" Herb asked Thomas as the rest of the group frowned at his valuation.

"It'll increase about ten billion a year for the next five or six years," Thomas answered swiftly. I could see the shock in their eyes at the valuation of my wireless cable network.

"So I could do a stock swap deal to purchase you outright," I offered.

"I'd still have full control, but you would own a piece of the new company. Alternatively, I could find a couple other companies of similar value and we merge them like I've done before. The name Warner might disappear, but I do like keeping the names of the divisions. I did that for Axis Productions and Euro Motors."

"How do you justify that number?" I was asked.

"That's easy. Motorola has tripled their receiver production, and we have a massive wait-list. We just raised balloons on both major Texas metro areas, and have 6 million households there with a four month wait-list that grows every day. We currently have over 4 million customers, and that grows by 250, 000 a month.

"Best of all there is zero customer acquisition cost. The moment we open orders, the wait list fills." We discussed options and they provided me a list of assets and liabilities. They thanked me for my time and I went back to my hotel. Room service provided a quick meal and then I headed back to the limo. It was just a short drive from the Edison Hotel in NYC to the Gulf Western building. I got to the lobby and asked if Martin Davis was available. It took a few minutes, but I was invited up.

I was warily greeted, but my conversation soon had him relaxed. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"I'm interested in acquiring some of the shows you own for my new cable channel SyFy," I explained.

"Like Star Trek?" Martin asked.

"Yes, I'm excited about the new show," I said.

"It will premiere in September. Would you be interested in being a guest star?" Martin suggested.

"Oh, that would be fun. But I want to talk to you about broadcast rights. I want to air the new show every Star Trek night on SyFy."

"We are selling the show as a first run syndication," Martin said as if asking a question.

"That's fine, I want to re-air the episode the following week on my channel."

"That's interesting," he said, tilting his head to the side to think.

"If people miss an episode, I want them to have a place to pick it back up. What day will it air?"

"We release the episode on Monday, but most stations are scheduling it for Saturday or Sunday."

"Okay, on the following week I'll put the re-air on Trek Night, which is Tuesday."

"We can do that. Will you do re-airs more than once?" he asked, trying to calculate what it meant for Star Trek the Next Generation to be on the preeminent Sci-Fi TV station.

"I was thinking that once a month we can do an all-weekend Next Generation marathon."

"Okay, I'll figure out pricing for the show. It might be a little different not premiering the episodes," he agreed easily.

"Great, there is a lot in your library that is a good fit for the channel. I'd like to buy broadcast rights for all of it."

"Exclusively?" he asked with some concern.

"Not exclusively, just complete authorization. I'd like to make it permanent nonexclusive broadcast rights, I'm going to be starting a few new channels so what I don't use on SyFy I can use elsewhere."

"We can arrange that, but it'll be expensive," he warned.

"I've got money," I shrugged.

"Don't try to milk me, but give me a reasonable price and I'll pay it." He looked me over a bit more seriously, then shifted topics, not really knowing how to deal with an uninvited eleven year old billionaire.

"Will you be writing any more books?"

"Eventually? Why?" I asked.

"Simon & Schuster is one of our imprints. We very much want to publish all your books."

"I think Paul Benz is planning a third Magic Eye book. My name will be on it, but he's doing most of the work. I'll just help with generating the final images."

"Great, those have been very popular," he said with a smile. Having negotiated the minor things, I brought up the real reason I was there.

"Mr Davis, you're doing a very good job slimming down Gulf Western. You're turning it into a nimble modern media company. I wonder, what would you think of being a part of a multi-company merger like I arranged in Europe? Media, broadcast, studios and distribution all combined to make a larger more media-diverse and powerful company."

"I think that is a very interesting idea. What do you have in mind?" he asked.

"My American Wireless can move into new markets very cheaply. We can dominate a huge geographic area with each new balloon tower. That company, plus your Gulf Western and its studios and properties, plus maybe two others I'm thinking of.

"We would combine companies with theme parks, cable companies, studios and media outlets. The combination would let us customize theme parks for specific media properties. Imagine how popular a Star Trek or Star Wars theme park would be. If they could be close enough that people would go to both, but different enough to generate rivalry as a marketing ploy, I think they could be very successful."

"That is a very interesting idea. I can think of several companies that would fit that bill. Where would I come into this new company?"

"I see you as President of one of the divisions, would you have a favorite? Studio productions, cable and broadcast, acquisitions?"

"Studio productions is where I started. I'm happy to take credit for the new Star Trek, it's going to be really great. But media acquisitions is really where I see growth."

"Media is King," I agreed.

"The distribution channels change over time, but media does not." I took a breath, "So, President of a division that handles divestitures and acquisitions would be a job you would enjoy?"

"Very much. Have you considered just purchasing us? I'm turning Gulf Western into a media-only company called Paramount. Some of the board are nervous about the divestitures I've been making. A buyout bid would be seriously considered."

"Really? What would you say a good price for Paramount would be?"

"Twelve billion. But there are a lot of assets that don't mesh with the corporation you're envisioning, you could easily recoup half of that or more in selloffs. That's what I'm planning regardless."

"Okay, let me work some numbers, and get back to you." I got back into the limo and went out dinner. Thomas had a place that he said I had to try.