"Civic" contributed this article to NextInsight, after mulling over news of Singapore-listed YuuZoo's proposed acquisition of a third of Hollywood studio Relativity Media for US$50 million.
It seems that the initial focus analysts and investors had was on the deliver-ability of the YuuZoo platform and how they will fund the acquisition through GEMs Fund (which brokered the Relativity-YuuZoo marriage).  Thomas Zilliacus, executive chairman of YuuZoo, explaining the Relativity deal to analysts and fund managers in Singapore on Monday. Photo by Sim KihThe immediate comparison some had was with Netflix and the other streaming companies like Hulu and Amazon Premium. US analysts, who love to see technology and media BEAT market expectations, are now trying to figure out the expectations of YuuZoo but they are not getting much clarity from recent announcements yet. Netflix singlehandedly destroyed the Blockbuster chain of video stores in a game changing move to DVD by mail. When they moved to streaming, it totally stunned the cable channels. So what is YuuZoo's deliverable aside from content from Relativity? Would Relativity be the only content available to YuuZoo? You have to remember that only 5% of the media content developed worldwide gets any publicity at all. 95% is being managed and distributed by many small players like 108 Media, and a whole host of them that gather every year at MIPCOM, the annual trade show held in the French town of Cannes for the world's TV industry players and broadcasters. Netflix now develops its own content with "House of Cards", "Orange is the New Black" and a few others. Their documentaries are also award-winning but they buy from independent producers. Disney, Discovery and Nat Geo have their sights for the longest time on Netflix and the recent Time Warner deal valued at US$84 billion is all about scale, content and deliver-ability.  Ryan Kavanaugh, CEO and co-founder of Relativity Media. Photo: www.thewrap.comA lot now depends on Kavanaugh (CEO of Relativity) and his connections with Hollywood and other studios who have all drooled over his demise with Relativity. If he does a Lionsgate, which recovered from a major setback by betting big on The Hunger Games film series, then this deal is potentially going to turn YuuZoo into a multi-bagger stock. If he links up with Wanda or Hony Capital, then it will be super rocket boosters for YuuZoo shares. The key now is to connect the dots forward and hope Kavanaugh can deliver as succesfully as Hastings did at Netflix, turning it into one of the greatest underdog success stories. |
See also: YUUZOO: 6 things about its investment in Hollywood studio Relativity