naruto-story Chapter 123 Marvel
Chapter 123 Marvel
Chapter 123 Marvel
ToyBiz's potential acquisition of bankrupt Marvel raises the question: can the American comic book giant regain its former glory?
Ernst's gaze fell on the word "Marvel," and a ripple of emotion surged within him.
Marvel, the giant that started with QS magazine and once dominated the American comic book industry, is now mired in bankruptcy protection.
This was a company that Ernst was determined to acquire and bring under Morgan Stanley's control.
I never expected that a competitor would appear before I could even make a move.
Ernst took out his phone, thought for a moment, and dialed Massim's number.
"What's the matter?"
The two had just spoken on the phone yesterday, and Massim's tone was slightly surprised, not expecting Ernst to contact him so quickly.
"Do me a favor and investigate Marvel."
In New York, Ernst's connections were ridiculously weak.
The most suitable candidate would actually be someone from Wall Street, but Ernst didn't want to cause any unnecessary trouble.
Because he knows those people's style of doing things all too well, once they find out that they've got their eye on Marvel, they might interfere, and things will only become more complicated.
"That comic book company that's under bankruptcy protection? Wait for my news." Massim didn't ask any further questions and readily agreed.
After hanging up the phone, Ernst temporarily put the Marvel acquisition aside and began to enjoy his breakfast.
Massim was very efficient; Ernst's phone rang just halfway through breakfast.
The caller ID showed an unknown number. He pressed the answer button, and a strange man's voice came from the other end of the line.
"Excuse me, Mr. Ernst? We've compiled some Marvel information and would like to send it to you by fax. Do you have a fax machine?"
Ernst handed his phone to Muller beside him and instructed, "Go and make contact."
He then got up and went back to his bedroom.
At this moment, the master bedroom bed was empty, and the sound of running water could be heard from the bathroom.
Normally, Enns, having eaten and drunk his fill, would have joined the bathing party without hesitation, but at this moment, his mind was entirely on Marvel.
Inside the bathroom, Monica Bellucci, who had just turned off the shower, was startled when the bathroom door suddenly opened, revealing her enormous breasts bouncing dramatically.
"Don't be nervous, I just wanted to let you know that I'm leaving now."
Monica Bellucci nodded mechanically, and visibly relaxed when the door closed again.
When Ernst, dressed impeccably, got into his car, Muller had already neatly placed the documents he had just received on the seat.
The information is very detailed; Ernst never imagined that Marvel's development history was so tortuous.
Marvel's founding was essentially a copy of DC. Seeing the huge success of DC's Superman comics, they sold over 900,000 copies in one go.
This astonishing sales figure made many people envious, including Marvel founder Goodwin, who was then producing an adult magazine.
Goodwin saw how much money DC was making from Superman comics and got the idea. He felt this was a golden business opportunity that he couldn't let slip away.
So Marvel struck while the iron was hot and released the first issue of the comic, featuring Namor the Aquaman and the original Human Torch.
After the comic was published, it received a good market response, selling 80,000 copies in the first month.
Marvel founder Goodwin saw that this was a promising sector and knew he had to capitalize on the opportunity; how could he let money slip by?
However, the character that truly made Marvel Comics a huge success, and could rival or even surpass DC, was Captain America.
In 1941, Marvel introduced the character of Captain America. At that time, World War II was raging, and although the United States had not yet entered the war, anti-fascist sentiment within the country had already reached its peak.
Marvel keenly captured this market sentiment, and on the comic book cover, Captain America's fist slammed directly into the mustache's face.
This highly impactful image instantly ignited public enthusiasm, leading to Marvel's explosive growth and making it one of the most popular comic book companies at the time.
However, what brought them success also brought them failure. Marvel, which became a source of spiritual sustenance for people during the war, was quickly relegated to obscurity after the war ended, as readers did not want to be plunged into painful memories through comics.
Especially in the 1950s, the juvenile crime rate in the United States was rising steadily. The famous psychiatrist Wickham believed through his investigation that this result was due to the glorification of violence and crime in comics.
The wave of public opinion and the panic among parents eventually led to restrictions on the industry.
The entire comic book industry's circulation also plummeted from 1650 million copies per month to 460 copies per month, and Marvel was on the verge of collapse.
But at that very moment, DC launched the Justice League, which blew the market away.
Goodwin exclaimed, "My eyes lit up! I can't miss this opportunity!" and quickly got Stan Lee to follow up.
However, the talented Stan Lee did not simply copy others. Instead, he creatively made superheroes more relatable, giving them love, hate, and superpowers. They also experienced worries about unemployment and frustration from heartbreak.
In an era of shoddy comic book production, Marvel's reforms, led by Stan Lee, brought it back to prominence, establishing a two-way competition with DC.
However, the good days didn't last long. After television became widespread in the 1960s, the comic book industry declined rapidly, and the twists and turns of Marvel's sovereignty began.
In 1968, Cadence Corporation acquired Marvel from Martin Goodman for $1500 million. Marvel founder Martin Goodman retired, and Stan Lee stepped down as editor-in-chief, becoming Marvel's publisher and chairman.
In 1986, Marvel successfully went public and was sold to New World Entertainment, with Cadence Group cashing out and exiting the deal.
However, New World Entertainment could not save Marvel either, and in 1989, it was sold to Ronald Perelman, chairman of Revlon, for $8250 million.
They also announced that Marvel would be delisted from the public market and become a private company.
Who is Ronald Perelman? He's the infamous "Barbarians at the Gate" on Wall Street, a master of leveraged buyouts.
He doesn't care about creative work or Marvel; he just wants to make a lot of money from Marvel.
Under Ronald Perelman's direction, Marvel went public again in 1991.
He rapidly boosted Marvel's stock price through a series of mergers and acquisitions, including toy companies, sticker companies, card companies, stationery companies, and even snack companies.
At its peak, Marvel's stock price rose from $16.5 at the time of its IPO to $35, and Ronald Perelman's stock holdings reached a paper wealth of $27 billion, with Marvel's market value approaching that of MGM.
However, a scheme is a scheme, and insider trading is bound to be exposed sooner or later. By 1995, Marvel's revenue had reached 8.29 billion euros.
The company had $100 million in revenue, but suffered a net loss of $48 million.
Then the stock price plummeted, the company became insolvent, and bankruptcy protection was initiated.
Ernst felt a pang of bitterness upon seeing this.
He never expected that, despite his best efforts to avoid getting involved with Wall Street, the acquisition of Marvel would be inextricably linked to Wall Street.
Marvel's $600 million debt was all borrowed from Wall Street.
In other words, the decision of who Marvel will be sold to is no longer made by Ronald Perelman, but by those greedy Wall Street vampires.
Whoever can take on this $600 million debt will be the one to take Marvel away from Wall Street.
"This is going to be tough. I'm afraid I'm going to be ripped off again," Ernst muttered to himself, putting down the documents in his hand.
Without ToyBiz as a competitor, he might have been able to negotiate a better price with Wall Street, or even run the business through a shell company while remaining behind the scenes.
However, ToyBiz is now also eyeing Marvel, and not only can they not lower the price, but the competition between the two companies will continue to drive up the acquisition price.
More importantly, relying solely on a shell company, he simply cannot compete with ToyBiz unless the price is high enough.
After all, ToyBiz has close business ties with Wall Street, and given similar prices, Wall Street would definitely choose the other party.
In this way, he would have to come forward personally, and only then would Wall Street abandon ToyBiz because of him.
However, a new problem arose, namely MGM.
Wall Street will definitely use Marvel to take the opportunity to buy back more of MGM's shares.
Why not acquire it without MGM? If Ernst dared to do that, and waited for Marvel to develop using MGM's resources before acquiring it, it would be tantamount to taking away the profits of all other MGM shareholders.
In America, it's unacceptable to try to have your cake and eat it too; connections are always more important than money.
Ernst fell into deep thought, pondering whether he could come up with a solution that would satisfy both sides.
He was completely clueless until the car stopped downstairs at Ernst Asset Management Company.