Chapter 14 14 I Want to Borrow 2 Billion

Chapter 14 I want to borrow 2 billion

Beverly Hills, Cooper's house.

It was 4 o'clock in the morning. The father and son had talked for a long time and reached an agreement.

Charlie Cooper was finally persuaded. His ambition was burning in his chest. It was just a gamble.

His son could win 1.1 billion from the World Cup. He believed that the father and son could join hands, plus his internal intelligence, and there was still a chance of successfully acquiring MGM.

And through the conversation with his father, Eric also understood the current situation of MGM, which can be said to be precarious.

Last year, although it made a lot of money with "Legally Blonde" and "Hannibal", "Original Sin", "Heart-stealing Mother and Daughter", and "Thief Meets Thief" released in the same year all suffered losses.

"Original Sin" invited Angelina Jolie, with a total investment of 50 million US dollars, but the global box office was only 35 million US dollars, a loss of 30 million US dollars.

The total investment of "The Thief" was 40 million US dollars, and the global box office was 57 million US dollars, with a loss of more than 10 million.

The total investment of "A Thief Meets a Thief" was close to 80 million US dollars, and the global box office was only a pitiful 38 million US dollars, which was a huge loss.

So MGM didn't make much money in 2001. So far in 2002, MGM has released "Full Throttle", "Hart's War", "Kill Your Tenderness" and "Windtalkers".

"Full Throttle" had a total investment of 100 million US dollars and a global box office of 25 million US dollars, a huge loss.

"Hart's War" was starred by Bruce Willis, with a total investment of 100 million US dollars and a global box office of 32 million US dollars, which was another huge loss.

"Kill Your Tenderness" was directed by Chen Kaige, so forget it.

In addition to the sudden death of "Windtalkers", MGM has been in a loss state for half a year.

However, the movies to be released in the second half of the year include "Red Dragon" and "Barbershop", one is scheduled to be released in October and the other in November.

According to memory, both movies made a lot of money. If MGM was allowed to survive until then, the difficulty of acquisition would be greatly increased, so now is the best time to acquire.

"Dad, if I remember correctly, Kirk Kerkorian and his close family hold more than 80% of MGM's shares."

Charlie Cooper shook his head: "More than 80%, to be precise, 92%. MGM is equivalent to his sole proprietorship."

"In other words, as long as Kerkorian is dealt with, the acquisition will be unimpeded, right?"

"You can say that, and there is also good news that is very useful to us. Kerkorian's hotel business has not been very prosperous recently. Coupled with MGM's losses, he intends to sell MGM again."

Eric frowned slightly: "What does this word 'again' mean?"

Charlie Cooper immediately told the history of MGM. It turned out that MGM was acquired by Kerkorian as early as 1970 due to its financial situation.

But this guy has no interest in movies. His focus has always been on casinos and hotel businesses.

The reason for buying MGM was, on the one hand, coveting the land owned by MGM, which could be used directly to build hotels, saving a lot of trouble.

On the other hand, it was naturally used for money laundering. Since the birth of movies, it has been one of the best money laundering tools.

As a gambling tycoon, Kerkorian naturally needed such a professional money laundering tool.

Later, Kerkorian sold and bought back MGM several times. After being tossed around for decades, it would be strange if the company could develop.

Affected by 911 and other events, the hotel and entertainment business in the United States has declined recently. In order to recover the blood of his own hotel, Kerkorian naturally thought of selling MGM again.

After a moment of silence, Eric had a crooked idea: "Dad, is there any way to get inside information about MGM Hotel?"

Charlie Cooper said without thinking: "Impossible, although there are many people arranged by Kerkorian in MGM, these guys don't know, and I am not familiar with the hotel business, and I don't have many connections in this industry."

"In fact, instead of trying hard to get inside information, it is better to confront Kerkorian directly. After all, I have worked for him for more than ten years, and I believe he will give me face."

It was noon when he woke up. Today is the weekend, and Charlie Cooper was too lazy to go to the company.

At the dinner table, Emily looked at the two of them suspiciously: "What are you whispering about? Are you hiding something from me?"

"No, mom, just talking about work. I think it is also a good choice to develop in the entertainment industry."

Mom never worried about work. In her opinion, with her son's outstanding qualities, he can be successful no matter which industry he goes to.

After lunch, Eric drove his father directly to Citibank, where he has a deposit of 300 million US dollars.

Since we had called in advance, the manager of Citibank came over even though it was a weekend.

As soon as we entered the door, we were taken to the VIP room. A capable middle-aged man in a suit and tie immediately stood up to greet us.

At the same time, when he saw Charlie Cooper, he was stunned: "Mr. Cooper, how are you?"

Charlie Cooper shook hands with the other party: "Eric is my son."

The manager looked at the two of them for a while, and then sat down in surprise: "I didn't expect that our mysterious big customer turned out to be your son. Your family education is really excellent."

Obviously, in the manager's view, the 300 million US dollars deposit was naturally the work of Charlie Cooper.

After all, such a large sum of money is barely reasonable for a CEO. But if the target is a college student who has just graduated, the manager may have to call the police.

The female employee with black silk glasses put down the coffee and stood beside with a smile on her face.

Studies have shown that the transaction rate is always several percentage points higher in front of beautiful women.

"Mr. Cooper, what business do you want to do? I have several products here."

Before the manager finished speaking, Xiali Cooper decisively interrupted him: "Loan, I want a loan."

Hearing this, the manager hesitated and said: "Mr. Cooper, given the current situation of MGM, Citibank is afraid..."

Xiali Cooper interrupted him again: "No, I want a loan myself."

The manager and the female employee with black silk were stunned at the same time, thinking that they are so rich and still want to borrow money?

"Mr. Cooper, how much do you want to borrow?"

"The more the better, if Citibank can lend me 2 billion, I think it would be the best."

Fortunately, he didn't drink coffee, otherwise he would definitely spray it out, but the manager's professional ethics are still very good, especially when dealing with such big customers.

The manager did not refuse directly, but asked tentatively: "Mr. Cooper, can you tell me what the purpose of your loan is? We also need risk assessment."

Charlie Cooper briefly described the acquisition plan and lied: "This is indeed a bold plan, but I have raised $1.1 billion, and Morgan and Goldman Sachs have decided to lend me money. Now it depends on Citibank's sincerity."

In a flash, the offense and defense changed positions.

The manager swallowed hard: "Mr. Cooper, I don't have such a high authority, I need to ask the headquarters."