Upon hearing the other party's cheerful admission, Errol found himself unsure how to respond, as he had no idea if the companies on the list were actually for sale.
While Errol was indeed the president of Vivendi, he had a chairman above him, and Vivendi's board of directors was extremely complex, with considerable government funding involved.
The list Errol had provided earlier actually consisted of companies Vivendi had acquired for asset stripping. These companies did not involve Vivendi's core business, and currently, they all appeared to be in a state of semi-dormancy. Therefore, Errol could independently decide to sell these companies.
However, the companies on Liu Xiangjiang's list were different. They were essentially the core businesses of Vivendi, comprising almost all of the operations within Vivendi's media sector, one of its four major pillars. If these companies were sold, Vivendi would be left with only three pillars, which was not a decision Errol could make.
Helpless, Errol explained his predicament to Liu Xiangjiang. Liu Xiangjiang, having anticipated this situation, immediately stated that Vivendi could take more time to consider before making a decision. He also mentioned that they had to negotiate with other companies the following day and would be in Europe for the next two to three months, available to continue negotiations at any time.
"Mr. Liu, are you not here specifically to negotiate with us this time?" Errol immediately asked, catching the key point in Liu Xiangjiang's words.
"Of course, I am here specifically to negotiate with your company!" Liu Xiangjiang laughed heartily. "However, we will also be negotiating with some other companies along the way."
"Also in the media sector?" Errol inquired.
"Pretty much!" Liu Xiangjiang nodded. "As I mentioned earlier, the company intends to establish a complete media group and then integrate it with the company's cultural industries to form an entire cultural conglomerate. Therefore, the company plans to acquire more enterprises this time, so that we can weather the storm together, which will be easier!"
"You plan to acquire our entire media sector, and you still think it's not enough?" Errol was even more astonished.
"Ah, we have a saying in China: the more the merrier. And to be honest, Vivendi's media presence is still not sufficient; it accounts for less than 6% of the entire European market, which is far from meeting our needs. According to our chairman's instructions, we intend to acquire about 20% of the media across Europe to barely form a media group!" Liu Xiangjiang said with a smile.
"20%!" Errol gasped. "Are you planning to control the entire European public opinion?"
"You misunderstand. 20% of the media cannot control the entire European public opinion; we merely want to promote our own cultural products. Additionally, there are many rumors circulating about our Jiangnan Group, which we would like to clarify through this opportunity. These rumors have made our recent days very difficult!" Liu Xiangjiang stated calmly. Errol nodded, truly unable to fathom Jiangnan Group's intentions.
He felt that Jiangnan Group might want to control the entire European public opinion, but as Liu Xiangjiang said, 20% of the media seemed insufficient to sway public opinion.
At the same time, under the impact of online media, the entire traditional media industry was generally in a state of decline. Jiangnan Group's entry into the market at this time seemed like joining the Nationalist Army in 1949.
"May I ask out of curiosity, if we are willing to sell these companies, how much capital would your company be willing to offer for the acquisition?" Errol asked, adding, "We are very eager to know the answer to this question, as only with room for negotiation on the price can I persuade the board to agree to sell these companies."
"10 billion euros!" Liu Xiangjiang replied without hesitation. "To make it a round number, sell all the companies on this list to us for 10 billion euros."
"How is that possible?" Errol blurted out instinctively. "Let alone anything else, Universal Pictures alone on this list is worth no less than 10 billion euros. And you want to buy all the media companies for 10 billion euros? How is that possible?"
"Firstly, this is our offer. The final transaction price can still be negotiated!" Liu Xiangjiang said with a smile. "Also, my dear Mr. Errol, this is no longer Universal Pictures' peak. It's the subprime crisis. I heard that Universal Pictures' cash flow has long been broken, and they have to rely on selling the distribution rights of several already filmed movies to obtain funds."
"Moreover, making movies is never a foolproof business. 70% of films worldwide lose money, so Universal Pictures is really nothing special."
"If we acquire such a company, apart from the copyrights of some old movies, we will have almost no other returns. If we were to buy Universal Pictures alone, we would be willing to offer a maximum of 3 billion euros."
"..." Errol was either furious or rendered speechless by the retort, and he remained silent.
Ultimately, the two parties concluded their negotiations in a relatively friendly manner. Liu Xiangjiang left immediately to negotiate with other targets, while Errol naturally reported the entire negotiation process to the board of directors, who were also closely following the negotiations.
The entire Vivendi board began to engage in heated debate surrounding the other party's acquisition list.
The primary focus of the debate was whether the entire media sector business should be sold. Some shareholders firmly believed that the news and media business was Vivendi's mouthpiece and the very foundation of its existence, and therefore, it was absolutely not a business to be sold.
However, this view was immediately refuted by another group of shareholders. They argued that everyone knew Vivendi originated from water services, and collecting water fees in France was Vivendi's core business. The media sector was merely a collection of businesses acquired incrementally by Vivendi over time, never its fundamental basis. It was only called Vivendi's four major pillars because of its substantial size.
This argument was quickly countered with the point that regardless of whether it was their foundational business or not, Vivendi would cease to be Vivendi without its media business.
Then, it was immediately refuted again: as long as Vivendi existed, it was still Vivendi. But if Vivendi collapsed due to a broken cash flow, it would no longer be Vivendi.
Furthermore, everyone should not forget that their company still had billions of euros in loans trapped in the subprime crisis. If they did not quickly find ways to raise a large amount of funds, Vivendi would face not the question of whether to sell, but which part would be seized by the banks and auctioned off for cash.
This faction was left speechless and could only reluctantly state that they were not disagreeing, but rather that the price offered by Jiangnan Group was too outrageous.
Eighty-six media companies, including Universal Pictures, The Times, and a cable television network spanning all of Europe. For so many businesses, they only intended to pay 10 billion euros for the acquisition. This price was too low; it should have been at least 20 billion euros.
Indeed, the shift in the topic of debate indicated that Vivendi was likely to sell these assets.
Especially a few days later, news from various channels reported that representatives from Jiangnan Group had split into eight teams the very next day and headed to different European countries to begin a frenzied acquisition spree.
It was said that within a single day, over 20 media outlets and newspapers in France, suffering from broken cash flows or on the verge of bankruptcy, were acquired at very low prices, totaling less than 10 million euros. Compared to normal prices, this was at least a 20 million euro discount, essentially picking them up for free.
In the following days, a similar wave of acquisitions appeared in various European countries. Jiangnan Group seemed to possess inexhaustible funds, lavishly acquiring media companies that could no longer sustain themselves. Soon, over a hundred media companies were successively acquired, and this number continued to increase.
Greece was particularly active in acquisitions. Due to exorbitant welfare spending and the outbreak of the subprime crisis, the country had practically entered the brink of national bankruptcy. Over 40% of its enterprises had collapsed, especially those in the news media sector. At that time, no company had the money to advertise, and without advertising revenue, these media outlets naturally could not survive.
Finally, Vivendi even heard an utterly absurd piece of news: after friendly negotiations, the Greek government announced its intention to sell the Greek National Television to Jiangnan Group in exchange for 30 million euros.
While this news was soon denied by relevant parties, with claims that Greece would never sell its national television, Vivendi learned through its channels that although the national television itself was not sold, its assets were transferred to another media group, which was then quietly sold to Jiangnan Group. Thus, Jiangnan Group ultimately acquired almost all media outlets in Greece.
All these reports made the entire Vivendi organization gasp in amazement. Simultaneously, they sent a dangerous signal to Vivendi: Jiangnan Group seemed to be on the verge of acquiring over 20% of the media in Europe, reaching their expected target. This suggested they might no longer need to acquire Vivendi.
Upon realizing this, the Vivendi board of directors could no longer afford to hold internal discussions. They immediately instructed Errol to contact Liu Xiangjiang, hoping to continue negotiations on related matters.
As a result, Liu Xiangjiang expressed his apologies over the phone, stating that he was currently in Greece handling urgent business and would likely be unable to attend further negotiations himself.
If Vivendi didn't mind, they could wait for over a month until he returned to France.
Alternatively, they could accept negotiations led by one of his senior assistants.