"Huh!? What? An acquisition? What's going on here?"
"This is way too sudden! He wants to buy Marvel?"
…
Nearly everyone present was stunned by Mavi's shocking statement. They had initially assumed this was just a negotiation over licensing rights. No one expected Mavi to have such a massive appetite—to the point of wanting to buy the entire company!
Sony Pictures Vice President Taro Ueno stared at Mavi in disbelief. Suddenly, he realized why Mavi had dismissed the idea of purchasing "Spider-Man" or "X-Men." The real reason was that from the very beginning, he had planned to buy all of Marvel! So naturally, he had no interest in just acquiring a single character like Spidey.
"Mavi, are you joking? How much are you willing to pay to acquire Marvel?" After his initial shock, Chairman Perelman spoke in a serious tone. He had considered selling the company before, but Marvel didn't have much to offer beyond its superheroes.
The comic division had been losing money for years, and the stock price kept dropping. As a result, other companies were only interested in purchasing individual superhero rights, rather than taking on the whole mess. After all, reviving Marvel was no sure thing—if anything, it could get even worse under new ownership.
Hearing Perelman's question, Mavi smirked and replied, "Rather than asking how much I'm willing to pay, you should be asking yourself—how much are you willing to sell your shares for?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Perelman remained silent, staring at Mavi, trying to figure out what he was really up to.
Mavi, however, was unfazed by Perelman's scrutiny and said nothing more.
In reality, three weeks prior, he had already met with several major Marvel shareholders and signed secret agreements to pre-acquire their shares. Combined with publicly traded stocks, he was set to secure 52.8% ownership.
Although these agreements had not yet been executed, they included confidentiality clauses and penalties for breaches, meaning that Perelman remained unaware, and the shareholders couldn't back out.
Ever since Marvel Comics' financial troubles worsened, many shareholders had become disillusioned with Perelman. Otherwise, the company wouldn't have fallen into such chaos and been forced to sell off character rights. Perelman's greed and shady tactics only further alienated them.
At this point, Perelman was like a fish in a barrel—no matter what tricks he pulled, Mavi had a way to buy him out. As long as Perelman refused to sell, Mavi would block any attempts to offload Marvel's superheroes at bargain prices.
Even if key executives resigned and morale crumbled, as long as Mavi controlled Marvel's film rights, he had the leverage to turn things around. Otherwise, any deal would be a loss.
…
Five days later, Mavi executed the agreements and paid $32.58 million to acquire publicly traded shares and the 52.8% held by Marvel's major shareholders.
Due to this shift in ownership, Perelman, who had been debating whether to sell his shares, was caught completely off guard in his office. He had been plotting ways to negotiate a higher price from Mavi.
But he hadn't expected Mavi to move so aggressively, securing a majority stake before he even had a chance to bargain. Now, his 23% ownership carried little influence.
"This damn Russian is playing hardball? Fine, let's play then!" Perelman muttered to himself, angrily puffing on his cigar.
He decided not to sell and instead chose to go head-to-head with Mavi. If Marvel's struggling comics division made a comeback, his 23% stake could skyrocket in value.
However, Mavi had anticipated this move. After all, people's personalities don't change overnight—what Perelman did in a past life, he would likely do again in this one.
So over the next two weeks, Mavi neither held board meetings nor showed up at the company. He controlled everything remotely and outright rejected the two film studios Perelman had been negotiating with for superhero rights.
This drove Perelman mad. He could only watch helplessly as Marvel's stock price plummeted even further.
Mavi's strategy was like the "Seven Wounds Fist" from martial arts—a move that harms both the opponent and oneself, but the winner is the one who can endure longer. With his deep financial reserves, Mavi could afford to wait. Stock prices fluctuate, but good news can send them soaring again. A temporary dip didn't matter.
Perelman, a man who loved money and hated losses, couldn't comprehend Mavi's strategy. Why would someone spend $32 million just to destroy Marvel? What kind of grudge could justify this level of vengeance?
In reality, Mavi hadn't wanted to use such drastic measures. But Perelman's deceitful tactics had left him no choice. Even in a simple licensing negotiation, Perelman played mind games like raising venomous insects against each other. If Mavi had directly asked to buy his shares, Perelman would have bled him dry like a fattened lamb—then smugly laughed at him behind his back.
Mavi didn't mind spending extra to acquire Marvel, but he refused to be anyone's fool.
After weeks of back-and-forth, Perelman finally couldn't stand watching his assets shrink any further. He sold his 23% stake at market value to a Middle Eastern billionaire.
"Thanks for the help this time." After the deal, Mavi met up with the billionaire.
The two had a great conversation and got along well.
"There's no need to thank me! Helping a friend is the right thing to do. If anything, I should be thanking you for that radar system you sent me!" the billionaire replied with a laugh.
That's right—this Middle Eastern tycoon was Mavi's good friend, Amur. And the $13.42 million used for the acquisition? Mavi had provided it himself.
In other words, Mavi orchestrated the whole thing. Amur pretended to be the buyer, acquired the 23% stake from Perelman, and then transferred it to Mavi.
Of course, Mavi didn't expect his friend to do this for free. Amur had previously ordered a Grisha-class frigate from a shipyard in the North Sea. As a favor, Mavi upgraded it with a state-of-the-art radar system—and even promised that if any cutting-edge modifications came out in the future, Amur would be the first to know.
With this maneuver, Mavi successfully acquired 75.8% of Marvel for $46 million, making him the absolute controlling shareholder! (The remaining 24.2% consisted of publicly traded shares.)
(End of Chapter)