[Chapter 154: A Big Deal Worth Over $30 Billion]
Daniel said in surprise, "No wonder so many billionaires set up charitable foundations."
He remembered that Bill Gates had announced he would donate all his assets to charity after his death.
Damn, so that's how they do charity.
Frank smiled. "Now you understand. Besides that, there are plenty of other methods. I don't have time to go into them now, but if you're interested, I can connect you with some experts to explain."
Daniel nodded. "Sounds good. I'll learn about it when I have time."
Frank advised, "You'll want to find a professional CPA -- they're absolute experts in this."
"I appreciate the advice, I will."
"If you need one, I can introduce you to a few. They're reliable; otherwise, they wouldn't last in this business."
"I'll come to you when I need one."
As the three stood to leave, Daniel's phone buzzed with a text message from his bank -- the money had arrived.
...
That evening, Daniel hosted a dinner for Frank Douglas and his daughter at what was billed as the most expensive French restaurant in Los Angeles, The French Laundry.
This restaurant claimed to serve only 17 tables a day, with nine-course meals per table, booking two months in advance.
In reality, that was mostly marketing. They usually kept extra ingredients on hand and, if you paid enough, would set up an extra table for you.
The meal was certainly expensive.
The biggest cost wasn't the food but the bottle of wine.
Daniel's dinner tab came to over $93,000.
It was terrifyingly pricey.
But compared to Daniel's income now, it was nothing.
Back home that night, a smile lingered at the corners of his mouth.
At this pace of earning, he felt he probably didn't need to keep investing in Marvel.
He could just sell Elixirs.
Only, he didn't have many Marrow Cleansing Pills left -- he was saving them for other uses and couldn't just sell them all. Although his other Elixirs were equally miraculous, they weren't very useful for ordinary people.
He had also run out of the medicinal herbs needed to refine them.
Daniel contacted Marcus Hale to ask about the medicinal herbs.
Marcus replied on the forum: [Mr. Cross, the herbs you need are extremely rare and precious. I've sent you all the herbs I could find. We're still searching everywhere for the rest."]
Daniel asked, [Do you have any of the herbs on this list?]
He sent over the list of ingredients for the Marrow Cleansing Pill.
He wasn't worried about leaking the formula. For one, Marcus didn't know the dosages. For another, he lacked knowledge of the Sacred Alchemical Transmutation -- so even with the formula, he couldn't refine it.
Marcus replied, [Those herbs are incredibly hard to find; I don't have any right now. We can only wait and see.]
Daniel felt disappointed.
It seemed the hope of relaxing and making money by selling Elixirs wasn't very realistic.
In that case, he couldn't miss this investment opportunity with Marvel.
It was 2004, and Marvel hadn't yet formed its own film production company.
Its headquarters were still in Manhattan, New York.
...
Three days later, Daniel landed in New York and took a taxi to Marvel headquarters.
Marvel had once been glorious, which was why it was located in Manhattan -- where every square foot cost a fortune.
But the current situation was a bit bleak.
On the floor where Marvel was located, comic book characters were everywhere.
The most prominent were movie posters of Spider-Man and X-Men.
Although X-Men series had decent box office success, and the Spider-Man trilogy was a huge hit, Marvel didn't actually make much money from them.
They had long since sold the rights to these franchises.
Spider-Man belonged to Sony.
X-Men belonged to 20th Century Fox.
Seeing how well those series were doing was what sparked Marvel's desire to invest in film production themselves.
And for the rest of the Marvel movies, The Punisher had flopped badly, Daredevil got some decent results. Hulk which has the same budget as Spider-Man, flopped so bad that the director Ang Lee almost got blacklisted by Hollywood. And the movies to be released like Elektra and Man-Thing also flopped badly.
...
"Hello, Mr. Cross. I didn't expect you to be so young."
In the conference room, Daniel met with the CEO, Avi Arad, and the largest current shareholder, Isaac Perlmutter.
Avi Arad held just over 10% of the shares.
Isaac Perlmutter owned 37%.
Together, these two were in control of Marvel.
Daniel had already spoken to them on the phone before coming, so now they were somewhat acquainted.
After a few pleasantries, Daniel got straight to the point.
"Gentlemen, I know you want to make films featuring Marvel's heroes yourselves and turn them as famous as Spider-Man and X-Men. I've brought the capital you need most. Now it's time to show your sincerity."
"State your terms, Mr. Cross," Avi Arad said.
Daniel said, "I want direct control of Marvel -- I want to be the largest shareholder."
"That's impossible," Isaac Perlmutter spoke. As the current largest shareholder, he was naturally unwilling to give that up.
Daniel nodded. "Alright, then I have two other plans."
"Go ahead," Isaac Perlmutter said warily.
Daniel explained, "First, I will select certain heroes from your Hero library and purchase their copyrights directly."
Avi Arad and Isaac Perlmutter exchanged a glance. This time, they weren't as resistant.
Marvel had a vast library of heroes. Selling some selectively to raise capital wasn't a bad idea.
Avi Arad asked, "What's your second plan?"
Daniel said, "Become Marvel's second-largest shareholder and then buy the copyrights to some heroes."
Avi Arad asked, "May I ask which heroes you want to buy?"
Daniel listed, "Too many to name, really. Marvel has so many outstanding heroes. Let me think... Captain America, Iron Man, Loki, Thor, Ant-Man, Black Widow, Hulk, Hawkeye, Black Panther, Vision, Guardians of the Galaxy..."
He rattled off a long list.
He included all the core Avengers characters, plus a bunch of others.
Surprisingly, Avi Arad and Isaac Perlmutter didn't object strongly.
Though heroes like Captain America, Thor, and Hulk were top-tier characters, who'd buy hero rights without going after the biggest names?
What they didn't know then was how massive The Avengers franchise would become.
Avi Arad asked again, "So, for your second plan, which heroes are you prepared to purchase?"
Daniel straightforwardly repeated the Avengers roster.
After sharing a glance, Avi Arad said, "Mr. Cross, please give us some time to consider."
Daniel replied, "Sure, but don't take too long -- I'm on a tight schedule."
Avi Arad promised, "We'll have an answer for you within three days."
Daniel smiled. "Alright, I'll just treat this as a vacation for myself."
Avi Arad and Isaac Perlmutter personally saw Daniel out.
...
Once inside the elevator, a smile spread across Daniel's face.
Their lack of strong objections to the last two plans meant his chances of success were high.
The thought of gaining control of what would become the wildly popular Avengers franchise excited him.
Between The Avengers series and the individual hero movies, they had generated over $30 billion at the box office.
Beyond ticket sales, there were all kinds of offline products and merchandise.
In fact, the profits from merchandise often exceeded box office revenue.
This was truly a golden goose that laid golden eggs.
*****
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