Domination in America, Starting from being a Boxing Champion Chapter 705 - 511: The Seventh Giant of Hollywood

When discussing the shares of Lionsgate, Link initially thought of splitting off the 11.37% stake in Netflix for separate calculation.

The current market value of Netflix is US$3.8 billion, yes, last year when he acquired Netflix, its market value dropped from over US$12 billion to US$3.2 billion.

At the beginning of the year, Netflix's stock price had recovered to US$4.5 billion, but due to the impact of the stock market and competition from other video streaming sites, by August or September, Netflix's stock price had fallen below US$4 billion again.

Considering that Netflix's market value was temporarily not high and having a large amount of capital on hand, if he wanted to invest in Netflix, he could buy an additional portion of the stock, increasing the original stake of Jin Beike Investnts from controlling 5.3% of Netflix's shares to 10%.

There was no need to separate out the Netflix owned by Lionsgate Films to avoid affecting the company's layout.

This point was different from Spotify.

Spotify's market value had grown quickly and currently exceeded Pandora dia, reaching US$5 billion.

The price of the 16.8% stake controlled by Link Music had reached US$840 million, and its future value would be even higher, making it more cost-effective to manage separately.

After several rounds of negotiations with Universal Music Group, Link Music agreed to a valuation of US$1.5 billion and accepted an investnt of US$500 million for a 33.5% stake from Universal Music.

After Universal Music's investnt, Link Music's board underwent significant changes, but Link still maintained the position as the largest shareholder with 45.8% of shares, followed by Universal Music with 33.5%, and Ivanka as the third largest with 13.7%.

SB project Entertainnt owned 3.2%, while the remaining 3.8% was held by several executives from Link Music, as well as singers like Lana Del Rey and Mars.

Because of Universal Music's involvent, Link Music's market value slightly increased, being overvalued at US$1.8 billion.

Link and Ivanka also beca shareholders of Universal Music Group, jointly holding 2.2% of its shares.

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After finalizing the acquisition price, and after several rounds of negotiations, Summit Entertainnt finally agreed to rge with Lionsgate Films for a price of 10% Lionsgate stock plus US$270 million in cash.

Although Harvey intervened several tis in the negotiations, expressing his willingness to increase the purchase price, initially quoting US$430 million and later increasing to US$500 million, hoping Summit Entertainnt would change its mind and collaborate with them.

However, after seeing the olive branch extended by Lionsgate Films, Summit Entertainnt no longer entertained dealings with the Weinstein Company.

This also led to very smooth negotiations between Lionsgate Films and Summit Entertainnt.

According to the agreent, after the rger, both companies would still produce and release films under two different labels, maintaining the independence of Summit Entertainnt.

Lionsgate Films would still be managed by Lionsgate's senior managent, while Summit Entertainnt's production and distribution departnts would remain unchanged for the ti being, with Lionsgate taking over Summit's finance, marketing, and legal departnts.

Furthermore, there was a change in the board of directors of Lionsgate Films.

Chairman of Summit Entertainnt, Robert Blademan, joined the board as vice-chairman.

Ivanka remained the chairwoman of Lionsgate Films, owning 5% of Lionsgate shares.

Lionsgate's forr chairman Jon Feltheir, seeing that Lionsgate would not go bankrupt for the ti being, invested US$75 million to buy back 5% of Lionsgate shares and also joined the board.

Moreover, executives like Steven Bicks, Michael Burns, and Brian Goldsmith, who had not sold their shares when Lionsgate went private, held about 4.7% of Lionsgate's shares.

The remaining 75.3% was owned by Link, who also served as the chairman of the board for Lionsgate Films.

"Haha, Robert, welco to Lionsgate Films."

After signing the contract, Link shook hands with Robert Blademan, the chairman of Summit Entertainnt.

"Thank you! Mr. Baker, I am thrilled to work under your leadership,"

Blademan said with a smile as he shook his hand.

"Haha, Robert, you are too kind. In the film industry, you are the veteran. I hope for your guidance in the future,"

Link laughed.

Blademan, now in his sixties, founded Summit Entertainnt in '97, producing and distributing films like the Twilight series, the Step Up series, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Vanilla Sky, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and The Hurt Locker, establishing himself as a competent figure in the film industry.

The reason he chose to sell Summit Entertainnt was partly because the competition in the film industry had beco much fiercer in recent years.

Before the 1990s, the eight major studios coexisted with many independent production companies, which could combine to compete with the big eight, creating a flourishing film industry.

After 2000, with United Artists being acquired by Paramount, MGM going bankrupt and being split apart, Columbia Pictures being acquired by Sony Pictures, New Line Cinema being rged into Warner Brothers, Miramax being swallowed by Disney, Focus Features being acquired by Universal, and DreamWorks being acquired by Paramount, among others.

The film industry was left with only six major studios and independent production companies controlled by these majors. Independent companies, including Lionsgate Films, Relativity dia, Summit Entertainnt, and Weinstein Company, often had annual box office totals that hardly compared to one of the majors'.

Increased competition made it tough for independent companies to survive and significantly reduced their profitability, another major reason why Summit Entertainnt was willing to partner with Lionsgate Films.

The second reason was that Robert Blademan was getting older and wanted to find a good successor for Summit Entertainnt before retiring.

The main reason he chose Lionsgate Films, Relativity, or even Weinstein Company over the six majors was the company's "independence."

In the eighties and nineties, companies such as New Line Cinema, Castle Rock Entertainnt, DreamWorks, TriStar Pictures, Miramax Films, Focus Features, Silver Screen Partners, Hollywood Pictures, and Rogue Pictures were all independent production companies.