Pathe is a French movie company. This company was founded as Societe Pathe Freres in Paris in 1886, by four brothers: Charles, Emile, Theophile and Jacques Pathe. First, thanks to Charles Pathe, the company became a major producer of phonograph records. Then he decided to extend his company to the fabrication of movie equipment. In 1897 the company entered into the Stock Exchange.
In 1902, Charles Pathe bought the Lumiere brothers patent and started to make studio video camera recorders in order to make the companies own movies. Thanks to the technology of the equipment, Pathe could capture a huge international market share. In 1902, London was the first city where a movie theater was set up. Then in 1909, Pathe built more than 200 movie theaters in France and in Belgium, and in the following year it had facilities in Madrid, Moscow, Rome, New-York City and also in Australia and in Japan. It has been estimated that before the World War, 60% of all movies were shot with Pathe equipment.
In 1908, Pathe invented the newsreel that is shown before the beginning of the movie. The Pathe logo appeared, it is a crowing rooster, the rooster is the symbol of France. In 1918, the success was so important that the company needed to be divided into two groups. The first division, Pathe records, was headed by Emile Pathe as chief executive, it dealt exclusively with phonographs and recordings. The second division, Pathe Cinema headed by Charles Pathe, was responsible for production, distribution and exhibition. In 1922, Pathe created Pathe baby, a new home film system which became popular over the next few decades, and in 1923, it created the video camera Pathe Baby. The company decided to sell its American motion picture production which a few years later came under the control of Joseph P. Kennedy. In 1927, Pathe launched Pathe Rural a new film in order to compete with Kodak, but in 1942, France was under the control of German authorities who canceled the use of this film.
In 1927, the company sold its British studios to Eastman Kodac while maintaining the theater and the distribution of films.
In 1929, Charles Pathe decided to sell the company; he accepted an offer from an investor, Bernard Nathan, who gave a new name for the company Pathe-Nathan. The company was poorly run and declined really quickly. It is said that the company declined because of doubtful finances, which ended up with Bernard Nathan's arrest. Police said that "he set up dummy corporations, paid for non-existant inventions, and defrauded stockholders of millions of francs." Some said that the company went bankrupt because he was Jewish and had passed away in the Auschwitz' camp. The company had to restructure and was acquired by Adrien Ramauge. Over the years the business had various changes such as diversification into producing programs for the burgeoning television industry. In the 1970s, operating theaters took over movies production as primary sources of revenue. When the business came under the control of Giancarlo Paretti, owner of Cannon American studios, he called it Pathe Communications Corporation (PCC) even if there were no links between both companies. Thanks to PCC he bought Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, all paid by Le Credit Lyonnais de Rotterdam (CLBN).
[...] SWOT ANALYSIS Strengths Weaknesses A strong name : Already successful French brand, unknown in India in Europe Unadapted logo regarding to the Existing since 1896 country (chicken is a sign of bad Profitable business luck) Strong partnerships : a word hard to pronounce for Indians Opportunities Threats The Indian market is anchored in Strong cultural habits, different the cinema business (Bollywood) from French ones Cinemas but not complexes in India Low purchasing power and low level (with food, entertainment) of life in general Available places to build the Indians stick to their national complexes brands and theatres Economic growth potential Hard to find diverse entertainments Demographic potential : emergence in India apart from cricket of a well educated middle class and elite, very interested in the western culture As we have seen it before in the analysis of the company, Pathe was created in 1896. [...]
[...] This company sells various types of games that we could include in our entertainment area and that would be adapted for families with children or groups of young people going to the cinema. We will start with classical machines like foosball, air-hockey, slot machines and pinball. Counting, according to the market prices, a average price of nearly 1500 USD per machine (provided by a wholesaler then with cheaper prices), with 7 machines for a Pathe and 15 for a Royal Pathe, the investment will approach 100,000 USD for the machines and the decoration of the four areas. [...]
[...] The outskirts of New Delhi are full of Western shops, people there like what is American, they also have movie theatres, western restaurants, bars and American magazines in the richest districts because they speak English. We chose New Delhi because it is the capital of India and there are rich districts where we can set up our theater. Like it is a sprawling city we will not have problems in the future to launch other movie theaters. We chose to establish our first theatre in New Delhi in the richest district of the capital which is Chanakyapuri where the famous India Door and the President Palace is. [...]
[...] As an example of this desire of the company to open itself to the western countries, Chor Bizarre owns a franchise in London, which for us represents an open door for our negotiations, a link emphasized by the fact that Pathe is a co-production between France and England. Chor Bazaar means “thieves market”; indeed, the concept of the restaurant is that there are all kinds of objects (from jewels to periodicals and carpets), with the idea of capturing the spirit of India with a lot of traditional objects. [...]
[...] Analysis of the balance sheet - Assets -Plants, property, and equipment had decreased by in 2004. -The long-term loans have been multiplied by and the investments have also increased. -The total assets for 2004 was less higher than in 2003. This means that the company was losing assets especially concerning plants, property and equipment. Vivendi Shares didn't exist anymore; they were sold. - Liabilities -The net income was multiplied by 5 in one year. -The long and medium term debt has lightly decreased, which is good for the company. [...]
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