Chapter 397: negotiate

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Monday morning.

In the conference room of Orion Films, Ryan saw Reed Hastings and Mark Randolph again.

Almost all of Netflix's shares are owned by Reed Hastings and Mark Randolph.

This is the work of Reed-Hastings and the dot-com crisis.

As early as 1991, Reed-Hastings founded an Internet company, and in 1997, the Internet company was acquired.

As a result, he got a huge sum of money and invested millions of dollars to start Netflix the next year.

So in the early days of Netflix, there was no shortage of funds.

It wasn't until Netflix kept burning money and its losses were getting bigger and bigger that Reed-Hastings gradually couldn't bear it, so he turned his attention to venture capital companies.

But at this time encountered an Internet crisis.

"Hello, Mr. Reed." Ryan took the initiative to say hello.

However, from the corner of his eye, he looked at another person, Mark Randolph, another Netflix founder.

Reed-Hastings is the founder of Netflix, and invested a lot of money.

But in the early days of Netflix, he was only in charge of funds and did not participate in the operation of Netflix. It was not until 1999 that he got involved in the management of Netflix.

Previously, Netflix was managed by Mark Randolph. He was the biggest contributor to Netflix. He formed the Netflix entrepreneurial team and single-handedly built Netflix's earliest disc rental business.

What Ryan values ​​most is that Mark Randolph, who has little interest in power, handed over the CEO job to Reed Hastings last year.

"Hello, Mr. Gosling!"

Reed-Hastings pointed to Mark Randolph and introduced: "This is Mark Randolph, my friend and co-founder of Netflix."

Looking at Mark Randolph in front of him, Ryan showed a smile, "Hello, Mr. Mark, I heard Jeff mention you, a very good operation manager."

Not only did Jeff Bezos know Mark Randolph very well, he even invited him to join Amazon.

To some extent, the current Netflix is ​​very similar to the early Amazon.

The only difference is that Netflix focuses on the online disc rental business, while Amazon focuses on online retail.

"Mr. Ryan is overrated." Mark Randolph said very modestly: "Jeff, he is the real genius."

Netflix is ​​far behind Amazon.

They greeted each other and sat down.

Ryan went straight to the topic and said: "Based on Netflix's current revenue and user registrations, it's not worth the $50 million quotation."

This is not the peak time for investment in the Internet industry, but the cold winter of the Internet bubble.

The price of 50 million US dollars.

For the current Netflix, it is a very high price.

In the eyes of many Wall Street investment institutions, Netflix is ​​almost worthless.

Reed-Hastings and Mark-Randolph looked at each other without any surprise.

Ryan's reaction had long been within their expectations.

"Mr. Gosling!"

"If Orion Pictures finds the price of 50 million US dollars unacceptable." Mark Randolph said first: "We can consider another way of cooperation."

"Like investing in Netflix."

Before coming here, he had discussed with Reed-Hastings that if Orion Films did not accept the $50 million offer, they could obtain funds in another way.

Even Mark Randolph's personal idea is that he hopes to get investment from Orion Films rather than selling Netflix.

Backed by a Hollywood film company, Netflix can not only get much-needed funds and a lot of film copyrights, but also continue to dominate the development of Netflix.

After all, no one wants to leave the company he founded.

Of course, if Orion Pictures accepts the $50 million offer, he will not refuse Reed-Hastings to sell Netflix.

As a good friend, he knows the situation of Reed-Hastings, and he is anxious to get rid of Netflix, which is constantly burning money, and stop the loss in time.

Nancy Utley said unceremoniously: "Orion Films cannot accept investment for cooperation. What we need is to use Netflix's online sales channel to further improve the distribution channel, not to invest in an Internet company. company."

"With all due respect, no studio in Hollywood other than Orion will buy Netflix."

Although Nancy Utley is not in favor of the decision to buy Netflix.

However, Netflix's online rental channel can indeed improve the distribution channel of Orion Pictures.

"Miss Nancy, like Amazon, Netflix belongs to the future. As long as you get enough funds and film copyright authorization, you will soon see the miracle brought about by Netflix's business model." Mark Randolph couldn't help but defend Said.

He couldn't bear to see the company he created with one hand turned into one of the distribution channels of a film company in the end.

In Mark Randolph's plan, Netflix would become the Amazon of the disc rental market.

The disc rental market in North America is very large. In the three months from June to September this year, the sales of disc rentals reached more than 1.8 billion US dollars, and the annual sales exceeded 20 billion US dollars.

This is not a small market, otherwise there would not be a giant like Blockbuster.

"No one can predict what the future will hold."

Nancy Utley subconsciously glanced at Ryan and said, "At least Netflix has no choice right now."

Mark Randolph opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say. Like Nancy Utley said, Netflix had no choice.

"What is the price that Orion Pictures can bear!" Reed-Hastings doesn't care about investment. He just wants to sell Netflix quickly and get out of the predicament.

Otherwise, with Netflix's current business situation, it can last until the beginning of next year at most, and then it has to face bankruptcy and liquidation.

At that time, he will lose tens of millions of dollars, become penniless, or even bankrupt.

"$35 million."

"This is an acceptable price for Orion Films." Nancy Utley directly cut off 20 million US dollars.

From its establishment in 1997 to 2000, in less than four years, Netflix’s loss figure has increased year by year. Under the cold winter of the Internet industry, the market as a whole is looking down on it. The price of 35 million US dollars belongs to a normal price range.

$35 million!

"impossible!"

"It is absolutely impossible for me to accept the price of 35 million US dollars." Reed-Hastings' face changed, and the price of 35 million US dollars was far from his bottom line.

Reed-Hastings' bottom line is between $50 million and $45 million, not just $35 million.

"The value of Netflix is ​​by no means more than 35 million US dollars." Mark Randolph also could not accept the price of 35 million US dollars.

You know, before March, Netflix almost got 130 million US dollars in financing, and the valuation was even more than hundreds of millions of dollars.

"Before the Internet bubble, I very much agree with your point of view. The value of Netflix is ​​definitely more than 35 million US dollars."

Nancy-Utley said lightly: "But not now, with the current situation of Netflix, 35 million US dollars is a very reasonable price."

This is not a random price, but calculated by a third-party evaluation agency.

"Mr. Gosling!"

Reed-Hastings' eyes fell on Ryan, "The $50 million offer is our bottom line."

"You know, more than $70 million has been invested in Netflix."

Before Ryan could speak, Nancy Utley said again: "This doesn't mean anything."

"According to the data we have investigated, just this year alone, Netflix has lost more than 50 million U.S. dollars, and..."

She paused, "Netflix's order cost is too high. The price of postage alone is unacceptable to most users, and it will be difficult to make profits in the future."

"There's no way Orion Pictures is paying $50 million for a company that doesn't have any prospect of profitability."

On this point, no one can justify.

If Netflix wants to break even, it needs to rent out at least 100,000 video discs every day. What about Netflix’s user registrations?

Only a few hundred thousand is pitifully small.

Compared to renting out 100,000 video discs every day, it is simply an impossible number.

"All right."

Ryan stopped Nancy-Utley from continuing, "$45 million, and Orion Pictures assumes all Netflix debts."

"If possible, I hope to sign the transfer contract as soon as possible."

He doesn't want to waste too much time, Orion Pictures needs to get Netflix as soon as possible.

In fact, despite the poor situation of Netflix, it does not have much debt itself.

Most of Netflix's losses came from Reed Hastings and Mark Randolph.

Otherwise, Ryan would rather directly set up an online disc rental website than spend $45 million to buy Netflix.

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