On February 15, William got up early, put on the formal suit he had made at a private tailor on Oxford Street a few days ago, and tied his tie with the help of his mother Lina. Hilton Hotel staff had already driven to pick him up.
The whole of England is paying attention to the game auction today. How could Hilton Hotel give up on such a high-profile event? In addition, the last recording leaked at their hotel, in order to allow William to continue to hold meetings at their hotel, Hilton Hotel will not charge Eric a single pound today, and will send a car and bodyguard to pick him up for free. After the auction, there will also be a free cocktail party, and William will be given a platinum card with a 40% discount on accommodation at Hilton Hotels around the world.
Since Hilton is so sincere, there is no need to bother looking for another venue. There is nothing to keep secret about today's auction.
Fortunately, there were bodyguards, otherwise it would have been difficult for William to leave home and go to the Hilton Hotel. When he left, more than a dozen bodyguards almost failed to protect William. Today's reporters were very irritable, and everyone wanted to get the first-hand news from William.
After arriving at the Hilton Hotel, Anthony's law firm had already helped William contact the auctioneer, and the hotel staff were making final preparations. William didn't need to go on stage and say anything today. After the media bombardment in the past few days, today's auction had become known to everyone.
Companies that are interested in the game will definitely send people. Now everything depends on strength to determine the fate of the game copyright. Even if William says he doesn't want to sell it, it won't work.
He signed a contract with the law firm, and the companies coming to the auction today had also signed contracts with the law firm. Unless no one bids 100 million pounds today, the game will fail to sell, but that is impossible. The number of companies coming today is more than ten times that of the previous few days. According to what William learned from Anthony, many medium-sized companies have joined together and are ready to divide the agency rights according to each continent after the auction.
William met a lot of people at the hotel venue, and everyone was very optimistic about William. After all, this young man was worth dozens of elites.
After 9 a.m., the auction officially began after the auctioneer came on stage to greet today's bidders.
"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I am Christie's Gold Gloves. I will be serving you today. I am very happy to host this auction. Okay, ladies and gentlemen, the auction is officially underway."
After saying that, the auctioneer picked up a document bag, waved it to the crowd and said jokingly: "This is a bag of paper worth more than 100 million pounds. Each piece of paper in it is worth 3 million pounds. I really hope that everyone here will not feel at a disadvantage after getting it."
"Hahaha..." Everyone in the venue laughed knowingly. They knew that the bag contained copyrighted books, but they were indeed a bag of paper.
"Okay, just kidding, gentlemen. The documents in my hand include a joint letter of commitment from three major London law firms, guaranteeing that the full copyright of the Plants vs. Zombies game is in the hands of Mr. William Devonshire, and there are no copyright disputes. It is completely in the hands of everyone. Moreover, this transaction will be underwritten by England's largest insurance company, ensuring that the buyer pays the full amount within 7 days of the auction. In the event of default, the insurance company will claim twice the auction amount. Gentlemen, do you have any questions?"
The auctioneer waited for a minute, then, seeing no one objected, picked up the hammer and announced loudly to everyone in the venue, "Ladies and gentlemen, the most exciting moment has arrived. The starting price for the full rights to Plants vs. Zombies is £100 million. The bidding is now open."
"Ladies and gentlemen, the starting price is £100 million. Please place your bid."
As soon as the auctioneer finished speaking, someone raised his hand and said, "One hundred million."
The auctioneer looked at the person holding the sign and said loudly, "Mr. 19 bids 100 million pounds. Are there any other bids?"
"One hundred and five million"
"One hundred and ten million"
The price was 110 million before it was even announced a few rounds. William, sitting in the lower seat, praised his own cleverness. This was all thanks to what he said to reporters the day before yesterday.
"One hundred and twenty million." William saw that the people from Best Buy had quoted another price.
The Disney guys offered "125 million"
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At this price, the buyers hesitated to bid. William watched as the head of Jiarefu didn't even bid, as if he was just there to watch the fun. Just now at the meeting, he had vowed to William that the board of directors had authorized him and that Jiarefu would fight for ownership of the game with all their might. Did he mean to fight with all his might? He hadn't even thought about putting on a show. Was he scared by this little amount of money?
"One hundred and thirty million!" The representative of Blockbuster looked at the people from Disney with gritted teeth.
This time, the person holding the sign at Disney stopped for quite some time. His assistant was on the phone the whole time, and it seemed he was still reporting to the headquarters.
"Anyone still bidding? First bid, second bid"
Before the final bid of "One Hundred and Thirty Three Million", Disney finally raised the price.
Everyone in the audience could see that the people from Blockbuster now looked at the people from Disney as if they were enemies. The appearance of Disney made them spend a lot more money.
Blockbuster gritted his teeth and said "135 million"
This time, despite repeated hints from the auctioneer, Disney still did not bid again. Disney was not sure about winning the case.
The auctioneer shouted "Third bid, deal" and hammered down with a "bang", and the auction was considered a success.
"Thank you ladies and gentlemen. This auction is officially over. Thank you." The auctioneer thanked everyone and left the podium.
William happily shook hands with the person in charge of Bestar and took photos with them. The people from Bestar seemed very happy.
Led by the lawyer, both parties sat down at the signing table. William signed the contract under the lawyer's guidance. Then Eric and Bestada signed an insurance contract and a fund transaction contract with the insurance company and the bank respectively.
The money from Blockbuster will be divided into two parts, 40% will be transferred to William's account in England, and the remaining 60% will be directly transferred to the offshore company account in the British Virgin Islands.
This time the insurance and bank guarantee would cost Eric 4 million plus the law firm's 1 million, totaling to 6.75 million pounds. William felt that this was still acceptable. Spending a few million could guarantee that the money would be received within 7 days. If it was delayed until after March, there would be too many variables.
If the money from Best Buy does not reach William's account within the specified time, the insurance company and the bank will have to compensate him directly, and the money owed by Best Buy will be recovered by the insurance company and the bank.
After signing the contract, everyone took a group photo and then held a cocktail party at the Hilton Hotel.
After William dealt with some charities and some beautiful women who he didn't know how they got in, he wanted to communicate with the beautiful women, but there was no type he liked at the scene.
William was choosing food alone at the buffet table. He hadn't eaten since he got up in the morning and was really hungry. While he was eating happily, William heard a voice behind him.
"Hello, William."
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