At the same time, the head of Merrill Lynch Securities in the reception room introduced to Zhang Bowen: "The current leader of Marvel Comics is Avi Arad. He took over the company as chairman and CEO in 1997 and founded Marvel Studios. He began to join Marvel Comics in the 1990s. In 1998, Stan Lee left the company and created 80% of the well-known comic characters, which was a miracle for creating Marvel Comics. He is therefore known as the leader of the North American comics industry."

Bluestar Technology is going to acquire Marvel Comics, and Merrill Lynch suddenly appears here for a reason, because they have a huge relationship with Marvel Comics.

Things will start in 2005. That year, Marvel Comics decided to go all out and gamble to raise money to shoot Marvel movies. It used the copyrights of several famous characters such as Captain America and Thor as collateral to sign an agreement with Merrill Lynch on Wall Street: If the film is not profitable, Merrill Lynch will immediately own these characters.

In the end, the two parties reached the agreement, and Marvel Comics finally raised enough money almost as much as possible, and decided to start the project with "Iron Man" as the first independent production.

The film "Iron Man" has now been scheduled to be released in early May, less than a month.

At this moment, Zhang Bowen chatted with the people from Merrill Lynch for a while, but did not wait too long. The head of Marvel Comics came to the reception room to meet them.

The two sides exchanged polite greetings. After being invited by the other party, Zhang Bowen immediately looked at the head of the Marvel Comics Company and smiled: "Mr. Arad, I told you straight to the point without invitation this time. Blue Star Technology Group took a fancy to Marvel Company and wanted to incorporate this North American comic giant into its own."

Arad, who had just sat down and didn't even feel warm, was stunned and looked at Zhang Bowen's face with a strong smile, and couldn't talk for a while.

It's really straightforward, without any roundabout way.

At this time, the Merrill Lynch Securities spoke: "I want to tell you a message Mr. Arad, Marvel Comics has mortgaged Captain America and other characters to Merrill Lynch. We have signed a new agreement with Blue Star Technology yesterday and transferred it to Blue Star Technology. Simply put, Blue Star Technology is now your creditor."

Arad looked at both sides in shock again: "This..."

The news was so abrupt that Marvel Comics had not received any news.

It is normal not to receive it, because this transaction is between Blue Star Technology and Merrill Lynch, and there is no relevant special agreement on the right to know between Merrill Lynch and Marvel Comics. Therefore, if you want to transfer this debt to anyone, you don’t need to notify Marvel Comics, and you don’t need the consent of Marvel Comics.

Before coming here, Zhang Bowen went to Wall Street for this purpose. Because he learned about the agreement between Marvel Comics and Merrill Lynch, this was not kept confidential. The news that Marvel Comics had been in full swing for a few years.

Arad came back to his senses from his surprise and did not speak immediately, but thought about this matter deep in his heart.

The second-person of Blue Star Technology came to visit in person. Merrill Lynch has transferred the debt to Blue Star Technology. Obviously, the other party is really interested in acquiring Marvel Comics.

As for Marvel itself, frankly speaking, Arad was moved.

No, Marvel Comics is currently facing a life-and-death situation. The final box office results of the upcoming "Iron Man" are still unknown. In fact, the whole company is very nervous.

Once the box office fails, Marvel Comics will face an unprecedented dilemma. The company's life has been difficult, otherwise it would not have been a big deal to sell the film and television rights of its well-known comic characters, and sold "Spider-Man" and its related characters to Sony, and the "X-Men" series to 20th Century Fox Film Company.

Basically, Marvel Comics has sold all its first-line characters IPs, and they are also heartbroken, especially when they see the great success of "Spider-Man", they feel heartbroken and regretful. But there is nothing they can do. If you don't sell it, you can't get rid of the blame.

So this time, Marvel Studios' first independent production step was to use the second-tier comic character "Iron Man", which actually made them even more unsure. They were worried that the film would suffer a lot. That was simply the darkest moment for the company.

No, now is the darkest moment of surprise.

Arad finished thinking and immediately looked at Zhang Bowen and asked, "What price code is your company planning to open?" : :

Bluestar Technology came out of the way and brought Merrill Lynch, so there was no need to hide it. Marvel Comics’s current bad situation could not be hidden from these large groups.

This comic giant is really miserable now, especially compared to the DC next door, which means that those who hear it are sad and those who see it cry.

How miserable is it?

Even if I want to sell myself, no one comes to care about it. This time, Bluestar Technology Group is an exception.

Because in the eyes of the industry and capital, Marvel Comics has no value anymore, "Spider-Man" IP is gone, "X-Men" IP is gone, and "Fantasy Four" IP is gone.

What else can you do with surprise?

Basically gone!

"We have estimated the value of Marvel Comics based on the information provided by Merrill Lynch and third-party audits..." Zhang Bowen said as he looked at Avi Arard, and paused for a moment and added: "Our audit result is that Marvel Comics is worth US$2.25 billion and US$1.5 billion to acquire 67% of its equity."

"What? A $1.5 billion acquisition?" Arad's eyes widened and immediately said indignantly: "Nonono, Marvel Comics has thousands of well-known IPs. Your audit must be problematic, which seriously underestimates the value of Marvel."

Zhang Bowen spread his hands and said, "I don't want to belittle it intentionally, but I am bluntly saying that Mr. Arad, the combined commercial value of the thousands of characters under your company is not as good as that of Spider-Man. You know what I mean is that the entire Marvel Comics company is not as valuable as that of Spider-Man. It is now from Sony Columbia Pictures. Other famous first-line characters have been sold out by you. Basically, all the ones that can be sold out by you. Please tell me, what else can Marvel be used for now?"

This sentence made Avi Arad speechless for a while. It can be said that the company's psychology has been bleeding so far so far.

Zhang Bowen is right. The IP value of a Spider-Man is worth as high as the entire Marvel Company multiplied by 2 or even 3.

The first "Spider-Man" was released in 2002. In that era, it won a horrific box office of $822 million worldwide and opened the curtain of superhero movies.

Immediately afterwards, "Spider-Man 2" was released in 2003, with a global box office of US$784 million. In 2007, "Spider-Man 3" was released in 2007, with a global box office of US$891 million, the highest in the series.

The box office results of the trilogy alone reached US$2.497 billion. According to the unrigorous box office sharing, the producers divided the box office with 33%, and Sony Columbia Pictures achieved a revenue of US$824 million in box office revenue, which was almost a dream of laughter.

The box office share is only part of it. Most of the IP income of "Spider-Man" comes from the sales of peripheral products, and the other part is the income from the box office share of the movie. Marvel comics currently only has the copyright of "Spider-Man", so how can it compare with the value of the movie copyright?

If we look at Luo Sheng’s previous life, the IP value of "Spider-Man" has reached a height of US$23.4 billion, and the entire Marvel Universe, which was later successful, was only more than US$23 billion.

It's really a little spider that beats the entire Marvel Universe.

It can be said that Sony laughs all the time in his dreams and crys all the time in his dreams.

At the end, Arad tried to use his expectation of lack of confidence and struggle: "Authentic, you are right, but as long as Sony does not have subsequent movies released within five years, the IP copyright of "Spider-Man" will automatically return to the hands of Marvel."

Zhang Bowen smiled and said lightly: "In my opinion, even if Sony makes a bad movie every five years, he will hold this IP tightly in his hands. Do you think he will give up the money tree that is comparable to the Pirates of the Caribbean series, the Harry Potter series, and the Lord of the Rings series, and the IP value can be side by side with it?"

Arad was speechless again.

That's right, Spider is now the leader of Sony Columbia Pictures. He is definitely like a money tree. If he doesn't have a brain, he will definitely not let go of this IP, and will also carefully operate it as a long-term money tree.

Avi Arad had no way to refute it for a moment.

All I have is regretting it, but it’s too late to regret everything. Mobile::

The head of Jingqi, who was short of words, suddenly looked at Zhang Bowen, still wanted to sell his company at a good price and was too high. He asked: "The Marvel Comics is actually worthless in your company's eyes. Why did it come to acquire us?"

Zhang Bowen smiled and said the other party was heartbroken when he heard it: "It's still a bit valuable, but that's all. Bluestar Technology's core business is the IT industry, but the content in the Internet's web2.0 era is king. Our group company has a BV video website, and the streaming video business needs some content support. I wonder if Mr. Arad knows whether our company signed a US$5.2 billion digital film licensing agreement with the six Hollywood movie giants and more than a dozen independent studios some time ago?"

Arad nodded: "I know this, your company's work is quite scary."

To be honest, Jingqi Comics had such an idea that she wanted to sell herself immediately, so she quickly called Blue Star Technology Group "Dad" and reported the thighs of such a financial backer. Why did Jingqi Company rely on selling her "son" to make a living?

Arard realized that Marvel Studios, a subsidiary of Marvel, must rely on big groups to make a name for themselves if they want to make a fortune in the film industry, especially the current bad situation is even more necessary.

Even those traditional Hollywood film giants are backed by large groups, and Sony Columbia Pictures is backed by Sony Group. Although Sony's market value is not high, its assets reach hundreds of billions of dollars. In the last century, it was a super giant that called the wind and rain, and the pride of the Japanese;

Disney Pictures is backed by Walt Disney, Paramount Pictures is backed by media tycoon Viacom, and Warner Bros. is backed by Times Group.

Only those who have "dads" as their backers can survive as if they are in a fishy way of water. They can come out and play at critical moments. For example, those independent film companies, without the support of large groups, may do well this year, but you may not see them next year. Because they go bankrupt, only studios with large groups can stand firm in the industry for a long time.

Marvel Studios is backed by Marvel Comics... It's a big deal to rely on whoever is. My dad is so good that he almost has no food to eat. He can only recognize his godfather and have a way out.

Now there is a big group that has come to recognize his godson, and it may be the only one. Although Bluestar Technology Group has an average attitude towards Marvel Comics, it is at least willing to claim it, and no one else wants it.

Although it is heartbreaking, this is the current situation of surprise.

To be honest, Arad himself also knows that Marvel does not have much bargaining chips. If Marvel misses this opportunity, it may not be the second time.
Chapter completed!