So, neither of these options was what Vivendi wanted, but they had no leverage. Furthermore, Vivendi's cash flow did not allow them to wait any longer. Thus, Vivendi eventually had to agree to the second plan, which was for a senior assistant from Jiangnan Group to lead the negotiations with Vivendi.
Of course, Vivendi would not be at a disadvantage. Since Jiangnan Group sent a senior assistant, Vivendi also assigned their senior presidential secretary to lead the negotiation, ensuring at least an equal level of authority.
However, this senior presidential secretary was merely a figurehead. In reality, the entire negotiation process was monitored by cameras and transmitted in real-time to Errol. Errol then issued instructions to his senior secretary via a Bluetooth headset, directing the entire negotiation from behind the scenes.
From the outset of the negotiations, both sides presented enormous demands.
Jiangnan Group's terms were simple: a purchase of 86 companies on the list for 10 billion euros.
Vivendi's initial conditions, however, were extremely harsh. Firstly, Universal Pictures, Grand River Television, and The Times newspaper, the three most important companies on the list, were not included and would not be sold.
Even after removing these three companies, the remaining companies on the list were still valued at 15 billion euros.
"With all due respect!" the senior assistant from Jiangnan Group said decisively after reviewing Vivendi's conditions. "There is no need for us to begin negotiations. Even at their peak stock prices, the remaining 83 companies never reached a valuation of 15 billion euros, let alone now."
"Therefore, if this is their sincerity, we should end this negotiation immediately!" The Jiangnan Group representative's words were firm. However, this attitude was within Vivendi's expectations, as they themselves knew their proposed price was exorbitant.
Thus, under Errol's direction, the presidential secretary smiled and said, "Sir, you say our terms are outrageous, but are your company's terms not outrageous?"
"Also, you require full control of these enterprises. For many of these companies, our company only holds partial control. We would also need to help you persuade other shareholders to relinquish their shares, and this work is very demanding."
"As for the three companies we removed, it is mainly because the transactions are too complicated. Universal Pictures has investments from many US investors. We are only the largest shareholder, but our shares do not exceed 50%, meaning we do not have absolute control, and related negotiations are very difficult to execute."
"Regarding The Times newspaper, although our company holds a significant portion of shares, the British government also holds shares, as do some British aristocrats. These are also very difficult to sell."
"The only easily negotiable one is Grand River Television. However, as a cable television station that can broadcast across all of Europe, we believe its price should be at least 7 billion euros. If your company is willing to accept a total price of 20 billion euros, we can then include Grand River Television in the list."
It must be said that as a company that had mastered the art of acquisition, Vivendi's methods and skills in acquisition-related negotiations were indeed outstanding.
At the very least, the above explanations were very complete, making it difficult to find any loopholes even if Mr. Huang himself were present.
However, fortunately, the negotiator sent this time was a senior assistant. The assistant, with an expressionless face, said, "My boss's orders are that these three companies must all be on the acquisition list. Otherwise, there is no point in continuing the negotiation!"
After this, no matter how eloquently Vivendi's presidential secretary spoke, it was of no use to the senior assistant from Jiangnan Group. The assistant simply stuck to the line of headquarters' orders and refused to budge.
Out of options, the presidential secretary requested that the senior assistant contact the senior management of Jiangnan Group for inquiries. The senior assistant, with a continued expressionless face, refused, "Having all 86 companies on the list is our bottom line. If I don't see this bottom line, there is no point in any communication. I am very certain that my boss would never agree to these terms!"
And so, the first day of negotiations ended without any progress.
In fact, the negotiations over the next few days were essentially the same. Both sides seemed to be holding firm to their bottom lines, unwilling to yield, as everyone knew that whoever yielded first at this point would be at a disadvantage in the entire negotiation.
Vivendi's approach was very clear, but they were constantly disturbed by various external news. Today, it was that Jiangnan Group had completed the acquisition of certain companies. Tomorrow, it was that Jiangnan Group's senior delegation had received a warm welcome from a certain country's government. The day after, they were even signing contracts.
In just two weeks, Jiangnan Group had completely transformed into a "money-flinging" entity, spending over 10 billion euros in Europe to acquire a large number of media companies.
This included "The Guardian," a European media outlet as renowned as The Times.
Then there was the largest professional academic multimedia publishing group in Europe, or even globally. This group owned internationally famous professional academic journals such as "The Lancet," "Tetrahedron," and "Cell."
Every year, countless domestic academic experts racked their brains to publish a paper in these prestigious international journals.
The most sensational news was that Jiangnan Group had actually acquired Italian Broadcasting Television, which was the second-largest pay-cable television station in Europe, second only to Vivendi's Canal+.
Upon hearing this news, everyone at Vivendi was stunned, as "The Guardian" and "Italian Broadcasting Television" were clearly substitutes for two of Vivendi's aces.
Now that Jiangnan Group had acquired these two companies, their demand for The Times and Canal+ was naturally not as great.
As expected, after the news broke, Vivendi found that the Jiangnan Group delegation, which used to arrive punctually every day, had not shown up today.
Vivendi did not call directly to inquire but cunningly called the hotel where the delegation was staying to ask about their situation.
They were informed that the delegation had commissioned the hotel to book their flight tickets the previous day, intending to fly to Italy collectively.
Vivendi was greatly alarmed and immediately called the delegation to ask why they hadn't come for negotiations today. The delegation replied that they were very tired after many days of negotiation and intended to rest for a few days before resuming.
Good heavens, if Vivendi hadn't called the hotel in advance to inquire about the situation, they would have been deceived by these cunning Chinese people.
Errol then pointed out on the phone that they were lying, mentioning that even tickets to Italy had been booked.
Having been exposed, the Jiangnan Group delegation no longer pretended. They frankly stated that the group's acquisition work was almost complete, and Vivendi had consistently refused to yield on even the most basic bottom line. Moreover, the company had acquired other alternative media outlets, so they were no longer as dependent on Vivendi's media.
Since consensus could not be reached, there was no point in continuing to seek it. They would each go their separate ways. With that, the Jiangnan delegation hung up the phone.
Upon hearing this news, Errol, without even waiting to discuss with the board, immediately summoned all his personnel and rushed to the hotel, intercepting the Jiangnan Group delegation who were preparing to depart. The negotiations then took place on the spot in the hotel lobby.
Vivendi's terms were completely relaxed this time. Errol stated resolutely that they could sell the companies on Jiangnan Group's list, but the price of 10 billion euros was too low; it had to be 25 billion euros.
This was not Errol acting on his own initiative. In fact, the board had long provided Errol with a bottom line: the companies on the list could be sold. Errol's previous refusal to yield was merely to demonstrate his firmness.
However, after the Jiangnan Group delegation was about to leave, Errol understood that this opportunity would not come again.
Upon hearing Errol's terms, the senior assistant shook his head and said, "Mr. President, let me reveal the accurate figures. The Guardian and Italian Broadcasting Television together only cost 4 billion euros. Your 25 billion euros is a complete fantasy, and we cannot accept it!"
"If you are truly willing to cooperate with us, we can show our sincerity. We are willing to reach this transaction at a total price of 11 billion euros!"
When negotiation parties begin to discuss prices, half the negotiation is successful. Finally, under the increasingly worsening impact of the subprime mortgage crisis, Vivendi sold all the companies on the list to Jiangnan Group for 14.8 billion euros. Vivendi thus obtained a large sum of funds, helping the company successfully avoid the crisis.
It is worth mentioning that after successfully obtaining the funds, Vivendi's first action was to rush to the market to buy shares of 00 Network. After all, at this time, all stocks were falling, except for 00 Network, which was soaring.
Especially after the second round of sales of 1 million tablets sold out even faster than the first batch, with all units sold within four hours, 00 Network officially became the world's first company with a market capitalization of 900 billion, and was only one step away from becoming the world's first trillion-dollar enterprise.