股東戰(zhàn)略分歧致東方夢工廠前途存疑

Universal Pictures, the movie studio owned by Comcast’s NBCUniversal, is on course to offload its stake in Oriental DreamWorks, the animation group, following disagreements over strategy with one of the company’s other main backers, Li Ruigang’s China Media Capital.

康卡斯特(Comcast)旗下NBC環(huán)球集團(NBC Universal)擁有的電影公司環(huán)球影業(yè)(Universal Pictures)，正尋求出售其在動畫公司東方夢工廠(Oriental DreamWorks)中所持的股份。此前，環(huán)球影業(yè)與東方夢工廠的另一個主要股東——黎瑞剛的華人文化產(chǎn)業(yè)投資基金(CMC)——產(chǎn)生了戰(zhàn)略上的分歧。

CMC has had preliminary talks with Warner Brothers, the Time Warner-owned studio, about replacing Universal in Oriental DreamWorks, according to two people briefed on the discussions.

兩名知情人士透露，華人文化產(chǎn)業(yè)投資基金與時代華納(Time Warner)旗下電影公司華納兄弟(Warner Brothers)已進行過初步談判。

Universal and Warner declined to comment although a person with knowledge of the talks that Warner has had with CMC said it was unclear how serious Warner was in pursuing a deal.

環(huán)球影業(yè)與華納兄弟拒絕置評，盡管一名了解上述談判的人士稱，華納兄弟對達成交易的態(tài)度有多么認真還是個未知數(shù)。

Universal inherited its 45 per cent stake in Oriental DreamWorks, widely regarded as the flagship joint venture between Hollywood and China, when it acquired Jeffrey Katzenberg’s DreamWorks — the studio behind the Shrek and King Fu Panda films — in 2016 for $3.8bn. However, it quickly became clear that it had a different vision to Mr Li.

2016年以38億美元收購《怪物史萊克》(Shrek)和《功夫熊貓》(King Fu Panda)系列影片的制作方——杰弗里•卡岑貝格(Jeffrey Katzenberg)的夢工廠(DreamWorks)——之后，環(huán)球影業(yè)繼承了后者所持的東方夢工廠45%的股份。東方夢工廠被廣泛認為是好萊塢與中國之間的旗艦合資企業(yè)。不過，有一件事很快明朗起來：環(huán)球影業(yè)與黎瑞剛的愿景不同。

“We talked about changing the strategy of Oriental DreamWorks and decreasing the size of the company in order to focus more on the creative side,” Mr Li told the Financial Times.

“我們探討了改變東方夢工廠的戰(zhàn)略，以及縮小該公司的規(guī)模，以便更多地聚焦創(chuàng)意業(yè)務，”黎瑞剛告訴英國《金融時報》。

“Also, I am focused more on China and less globally while they want to make films in China for the world. Today, the priority of Universal is a theme park in Beijing.”

“而且，我更多地關注中國，不那么關注全球，可他們想在中國為全世界制作電影。如今，環(huán)球影業(yè)的優(yōu)先任務是北京的一個主題公園。”

Mr Li already has a relationship with Warner, having formed Flagship Entertainment, a Chinese film venture, with the media company in 2015. But if a deal cannot be struck with Warner to take on Universal’s Oriental DreamWorks stake, the future of the animation group is unclear.

黎瑞剛已與華納兄弟建立了合作關系，他于2015年與這家媒體公司在華組建了合資公司旗艦影業(yè)(Flagship Entertainment)。但是，如果無法與華納兄弟達成讓其接手環(huán)球影業(yè)所持東方夢工廠股份的交易，這家動畫公司的未來會是個未知數(shù)。

“The only way this will be resolved is if someone buys Universal’s share or someone buys CMC’s share,” said one former employee. “If nothing happens [Oriental DreamWorks] will just die.”

“唯一的解決辦法是，有人收購環(huán)球影業(yè)所持股份，或者有人收購華人文化產(chǎn)業(yè)投資基金所持股份，”一名前員工說，“如果這兩種情形都未發(fā)生，(東方夢工廠)就只有死路一條。”

Owning the Oriental DreamWorks stake is less essential for Universal because it has other film distribution and consumer products operations in China.

持有東方夢工廠的股份對于環(huán)球影業(yè)而言并不特別重要，因為該公司在中國還有其他影片發(fā)行業(yè)務和消費產(chǎn)品業(yè)務。

Mr Li recently raised $600m for his second US dollar fund for offshore investments, though many Chinese investors believe he could have raised far more.

不久前，黎瑞剛為他的第二支美元離岸投資基金籌集了6億美元，盡管許多中國投資者相信他可以籌到比這多得多的資金。

“The system trusts him and he is commercial enough so that investors trust him as well,” said the head of a private equity firm that has many of the same investors as Mr Li, adding that media is the most sensitive area in China, making government connections particularly valuable. “For entertainment he is the only game in town.”

“體制信任他，而且他也是商場老手，所以投資者也信任他，”一家私人股本公司的負責人說。該公司擁有不少像黎瑞剛這樣的投資者。這名負責人接著說，傳媒是中國最敏感的領域，因此政府的人脈格外有價值。“在娛樂領域，他是最佳選擇。”

With talks between Oriental DreamWorks investors continuing, the company has been losing staff because of budget cuts, with many top executives poached, said one former employee who now works for a competing company.

一名曾供職東方夢工廠、現(xiàn)供職其競爭對手的人士說，東方夢工廠股東之間的談判仍在繼續(xù)進行之際，該公司已因預算削減而不斷減員，許多高管被挖了墻腳。

The last movie the company released was last year’s Kung Fu Panda 3

東方夢工廠出品的最后一部電影是去年的《功夫熊貓3》(Kung Fu Panda 3)， which earned $154m at the box office, making it one of the most lucrative animation movies ever released in mainland China. Everest, the next Oriental DreamWorks movie scheduled for release, is not expected to be shown before 2019.

該片票房達1.54億美元，成為中國內(nèi)地最賺錢的動畫片之一。東方夢工廠計劃出品的下一部電影《珠穆朗瑪》(Everest)，預計不會在2019年之前上映。