Traveling Through the Tokyo Bubble Era

Chapter 1065 Super Deal
The meeting at the bar on the 17th proved to be very beneficial for Hideki Hanyu.

Since Japan only provided financial aid and did not directly participate in the Gulf War, it was difficult for StarMap Logistics to rely on its connections with Japan to become a partner on the front lines.

Of course, even if Japan directly participates, Star Map Logistics, due to its short establishment time and limited experience in Japan, will find it difficult to win against established Japanese logistics companies.

But in the current situation, it can be said that when one side is down, another side is up.

Things I hadn't even considered before, I ended up accomplishing thanks to someone else's help.

Of course, Hideki Yuzuru was well aware that the reason these people chose his Star Map Logistics was simply because of those two reasons.

First, they do not have suitable logistics companies among themselves, or their scale is not large enough to meet the requirements of the military's logistics department.

Secondly, Xingtu Logistics went public.

Hideki Hanyu didn't think these guys were some kind of saintly good Samaritans who did good deeds without expecting anything in return.

First, help Xingtu Logistics, and then cooperate with Hideki Hanyu, the "big player," and that will be enough for them to make a fortune in the stock market.

Regardless of what these people were after, Hideki Hanyu didn't care.

What he cares about is deepening the cooperation.

And the opportunities that this opportunity brings to Xingtu Logistics.

Therefore, after the meeting at the bar on the 17th, Hideki Hanyu went home and immediately remotely instructed Masato Oki to fully cooperate with the needs of the Middle East front and take the opportunity to obtain some documents that he could not obtain in the past.

In addition, the information must be kept confidential for the time being.

Although making money wasn't his primary goal, it was everyone else's goal, so Hideki Yuzuru had to cooperate.

While those people were making money, he actually made even more.

Do you think this involves insider trading?

Without a doubt, yes.

The problem is, even if he tells the Japanese financial regulators about the process, just ask yourself, would the Japanese regulators dare to intervene?

From the White House to the Department of Defense, from the front lines to the logistics department, plus a bunch of powerful capitalists with deep connections, they are all America's big daddies, especially since they are involved in the Gulf conflict.

Those regulatory departments would probably want to cover their ears after hearing just the beginning.

Therefore, we must take advantage of the situation where the fox borrows the tiger's power.

Not only overseas, but also in Japan, this period presents an excellent development opportunity for StarMap Logistics.

For example, if StarMap Logistics wants to lease a Japanese port in Kansai and turn it into its own port base, the long-delayed procedures are expected to be completed soon.

In one phone call, Hideki Hanyu and Asato Oki talked for more than six hours.

After he finished explaining and arranging everything, Monica Bellucci, who was waiting for him to rest, fell asleep first.

However, this is only one thing, since Hideki Hanyu did not come to America for a vacation on the West Coast.

There's also Israel's latest development fund to come, and his fund investment manager needs to be assigned to handle that as soon as possible.

Then, with the arrival of news, Hideki Hanyu, unable to spend time with his "friends" watching America's overwhelming war progress, made a last-minute decision to travel to San Jose on the 19th.

As for what major news could be so significant that it would make Hideki Hanyu abandon such an important matter?

All Hideki Hanyu can say is that this is a big deal and very valuable.

After nearly a year of protracted negotiations, Elf Entertainment has finally agreed to sell Blockbuster, the world’s largest home entertainment chain rental provider with more than 7,500 stores worldwide.

There have always been two buyers competing for Blockbuster.

One of them was Hideki Hanyu and Karl Map, who rallied a group of powerful and wealthy Americans, especially those whom Hanyu believed had future potential, to establish the America Entertainment Investment Company.

The company's purpose in acquiring Blockbuster was not to actually operate Blockbuster itself, but simply to make money through capital operations.

To put it bluntly, Hideki Hanyu was essentially trading between his own hands, cashing out Blockbuster at its peak while simultaneously using one deal after another, generating enormous profits, to tightly bind them together into a powerful interest group.

In essence, this is similar to what Hideki Hanyu did in Japan.

As their interests become increasingly intertwined, Hideki Hanyu won't need to do anything; these people will proactively protect their own interests.

Besides America Entertainment Investments, another buyer was Sumner Redstone's Viacom Group.

As explained before, Redstone wanted to buy Blockbuster simply because he was attracted by Blockbuster's huge cash flow and wanted to use Blockbuster's funds to complete his other acquisition objectives.

For example, Paramount Pictures, which I've been longing for.

However, the biggest difference between the two companies in terms of acquisition is that America Entertainment Investment Company, with the support of Hideki Hanyu, adopted the most direct cash acquisition method.

Viacom didn't even have the money to buy Paramount Pictures, let alone Blockbuster.

Therefore, the negotiation team sent by Redstone was always looking to discuss mergers and acquisitions.

If Elf Entertainment agrees to Viacom's acquisition of Blockbuster, it will become Viacom's largest shareholder.

Therefore, we need to look at this from the perspective of Elf Entertainment.

First, why did Elf Entertainment sell Blockbuster?

When Elf Entertainment initially acquired Blockbuster, besides Hideki Hanyu knowing that the investment could be profitable, the second purpose was actually to fill Elf Entertainment's sales channels and add an extra game cartridge rental market.

However, as Elf Entertainment's sales network matures and its self-operated stores "Elf Show" expand, Blockbuster's sales contribution has become dispensable.

Furthermore, with the release of the PS2 console, although Elf Entertainment has not completely stopped producing game cartridges yet, it has completely shifted its focus to game discs for game storage.

Although EMD-specific game discs developed by Elf Entertainment are more durable than ordinary discs, the characteristics of the product still further shrink the size of the rental market.

In this situation, Blockbuster's use of Elf Entertainment becomes increasingly redundant.

And that's why Elf Entertainment was sold.

Let's talk about how Elf Entertainment wants to sell it.

First and foremost, the highest bidder wins.

Secondly, Elf Entertainment, as a game company, has absolutely no interest in becoming a major shareholder of Viacom.

Of course, this is also because Hideki Hanyu, the owner, did not want Elf Entertainment to hold shares in Viacom.

For him, cashing out at the peak is the most important thing.

Even if it's just a matter of the left hand transferring to the right hand with his support, it's still possible.

Now it's quite simple how Elf Entertainment sells Blockbuster products.

ask for money.

But this is precisely what Viacom cannot provide.

In this situation, Hideki Hanyu still allowed his negotiating team to keep Viacom hanging, his purpose being nothing more than to use Viacom to drive up the price.

Even if it's just transferring money from one hand to the other, the more expensive the better, because that makes subsequent operations easier for him.

Initially, Elf Entertainment valued Blockbuster at $8.2 billion.

This is an absolutely terrifying number.

However, as negotiations continued, this number not only failed to decrease but instead showed an upward trend. The reason is simple: besides Viacom driving up the price, Blockbuster itself was also experiencing rapid growth.

At the time of the initial negotiations, Blockbuster had only over six thousand stores worldwide.

However, with Blockbuster's terrifying expansion speed, it now has more than 7,500 stores worldwide, covering more than 70% of North America and holding more than 85% of the market share, making it an undisputed monopoly giant in the market.

So the initial offer of $8.2 billion has now been negotiated to reach $8.9 billion.

This growth rate, of course, cannot keep up with the growth rate of Blockbuster's store count.

However, in many cases, accounts are not necessarily calculated proportionally.

In conclusion, barring any unforeseen circumstances, Elf Entertainment accepted America Entertainment Investment Company's offer.

The final transaction price was not 8.9 billion, but 8.7 billion US dollars.

If the news breaks, this mega-deal will definitely shock North America and attract global media attention.

Neither Elf Entertainment nor America Entertainment Investment Company are publicly listed companies and are not obligated to disclose detailed transaction information.

Of course, this was also what Hideki Hanyu requested.

Because one transaction is not the end, he tried to cash out at the high point and transfer money from one hand to the other, but he didn't expect Blockbuster to actually hit his right hand.

After all, as a time traveler, he knew very well that Blockbuster's glory days wouldn't last long.

Although he knew very well how to help Blockbuster transform to adapt to future development.

However, compared to the painstaking efforts to transform Blockbuster, he felt that investing directly in Netflix would be more cost-effective and simpler.

As for what to do after the transaction is completed.

Hideki Hanyu said he wasn't in a hurry; he wanted to complete the transaction first and help the shareholders of America Entertainment Investment Company, including himself, make money for a few years before making any further decisions.

After all, although Blockbuster has developed very well, it has not yet reached its peak.

After arriving in San Jose on January 19, Hideki Hanyu rested for one night at Moon Lake Estate, and the next morning he went to the North American headquarters of Elf Entertainment, which was like a fairy tale world.

Today marks the day when Elf Entertainment and America Entertainment Investment Company officially signed the Blockbuster deal.

There are three key parties involved in this transaction.

First, there was the seller, the host company Elf Entertainment, whose representatives were headquarters president Satoru Iwata and North American president Michael Katz.

Then came the buyer, led by Joseph Stern, the current president of America Entertainment Investments.

Finally, the main party to the transaction, Blockbuster, was represented by its CEO, Hirokichi Ichihara, who led several senior executives to participate in the signing of the transaction.

After the three parties have finished speaking, what about Hideki Hanyu, who came all the way here?

As the mastermind behind the entire transaction, the super boss who was hiding behind the scenes, Hideki Hanyu naturally played the role of an observer, participating and witnessing history.

Hideki Hanyu, who had made a special trip to Elf Entertainment's North American headquarters, first met alone with Michael Katz and Satoshi Iwata, who had come all the way from Tokyo.

These two are now considered the two giants under Hideki Hanyu, controlling the Eastern and Western hemispheres of Elf Entertainment, and are the top figures in the Elf industry chain.

The two rarely met, and Hideki Yuzuru happened to be there, so they naturally had to have a good discussion.

The most important of these is, of course, Elf Entertainment's development plan for this year.

Elf Entertainment now has a wide range of businesses. Although a large part of its peripheral merchandise business has been transferred to Elf Communication Management, there are still many things that they need to handle.

Of course, Elf Entertainment's core business and foundation still revolve around the game business of the three major platforms, as well as the electronic pet series, whose earning power is in no way inferior to that of the three major platforms.

As for the others, they are all derived from the core business.

However, explaining these matters in detail would take a lot of time, so Hideki Yuzuru stopped him immediately after Iwata Satoshi had just begun to speak.

"There are too many things to say, but we're about to sign the contract, so there's obviously not enough time. Why don't we take advantage of the fact that all the senior executives are gathered at the North American headquarters and hold a special meeting tomorrow to discuss this in detail? You two can prepare for the meeting in advance."

"Ok."

Satoru Iwata and Michael Katz both agreed.

Just then, a staff member came to report to Hideki Hanyu, "Mr. Hanyu, the Blockbuster team has arrived. Mr. Hirokichi Ichihara knows you are here and hopes to visit you."

Upon hearing this, Hideki Hanyu bid farewell to Satoshi Iwata and Michael Katz, saying, "I'm going to see Hirokichi Ichihara."

After leaving the office where the two were, Hideki Hanyu met Hirokichi Ichihara in a reception room, led by a staff member.

This Blockbuster executive, personally brought to North America by Hideki Hanyu, has made invaluable contributions to Blockbuster's development over the years.

Even after making such a great contribution, Hirokichi Ichihara still bowed respectfully to Hideki Hanyu upon meeting him, maintaining the humble demeanor of a high-ranking Japanese executive.

After accepting the offer, Hideki Hanyu sat down with Hiroki Ichihara.

"Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Ichihara."

Hideki Hanyu greeted him first, then asked, "The contract is about to be signed. How has Mr. Ichihara considered my suggestion from the phone call last time?"

As one of his own people, Hirokichi Ichihara was naturally aware of the inside story of Blockbuster's sale.

Knowing that Hideki Hanyu would still be the owner of Blockbuster after the transaction, the transaction would not affect his rights in Blockbuster, so Hiroki Ichihara could continue to manage Blockbuster.

However, not long ago, Hideki Hanyu gave Hirokichi Ichihara another option.

During that phone call, Hideki Hanyu stated that Blockbuster's development was on track and that there would be no further breakthroughs in its business model, so Hiroki Ichihara could completely hand over the management work to others.

Hideki Hanyu planned to transfer Hirokichi Ichihara to America Entertainment Investment Company after Blockbuster was acquired by America Entertainment Investment Company.

However, this transfer was not to put Hirokichi Ichihara in a position at America Entertainment Investment Company, but rather to put him in charge of America Entertainment Investment Company's next acquisition after acquiring Blockbuster.

As for what kind of acquisition it is, Hideki Hanyu needs to keep it a secret for the time being, but he assures that it is definitely an industry that Hiroki Ichihara is familiar with.

One option is to stay and live comfortably in the mature environment you've created yourself.

One is indeed going to embrace new and unknown challenges.

This was indeed a difficult choice for Hirokichi Ichihara.

But after so much deliberation, Hirokichi Ichihara finally gave an answer today in response to Hideki Hanyu's question.

"President Yuzuru, I am willing to accept your arrangement."

“Very good, Mr. Ichihara will definitely not regret his choice today.”

Hideki Hanyu wore an expression of admiration.

In Hideki Hanyu's view, Hirokichi Ichihara undoubtedly made a wise choice.

Despite Blockbuster's rapid growth and remarkable achievements, to Hideki Hanyu, Blockbuster is nothing more than a brilliant but fleeting shooting star, something he will discard after squeezing out all his profits.

If Hirokichi Ichihara chooses to stay at Blockbuster, he may have a comfortable life for a short time, but his future prospects will definitely not be good.

However, America Entertainment Investments' next acquisition will be another long-term investment project besides Universal Pictures.

Moreover, it is a massive project spanning North America, Japan, and Europe, with numerous powerful partners.

(End of this chapter)