The Birth of Shanghai's First Conglomerate

Chapter 137 October CEO Class

I bought the courtyard house.

Chen Pingsheng planned to decorate this as his own nursing home in Beijing.

When I get old, I'll raise dogs and walk cats in this courtyard.

Life is so wonderful.

However, there is still a prerequisite.

First, we need to hire someone to redesign and renovate this place.

There are many courtyard houses in Beijing that are designed specifically for traditional courtyards, and the exteriors can generally still use retro designs.

Its main selling point is its grandeur.

The interior is very elaborate; in fact, a modern style is the most comfortable to live in.

Therefore, in addition to the antique courtyard, the interior of the rooms should be decorated in a modern style, but the design should also maintain a certain retro style.

This is a bit too complicated, and he certainly can't come up with any good solutions himself.

It's better to leave it to a professional design team.

Designing the renovation of this courtyard house alone will take at least a month, as every part of it needs to be measured accurately first.

Chen Pingsheng was increasingly satisfied with what he saw.

Only by owning a large courtyard house of 780 square meters in Beijing can one truly experience the joy of old Beijing life.

The entire courtyard house takes about a year from design to completion.

It's alright, he can wait anyway.

He only found out the exact cost of the renovation after the design drawings were completed and he was satisfied with them.

It will definitely not be less than 30 million.

After spending all the money he had on the house, he would only have about 1.5 million yuan left.

He also gave his wife, Song Yanxi, 100 million yuan to help her expand the Shuiyunjian Club by ten more locations.

The remaining money is basically unusable.

All of it will be left to Tencent Entertainment as investment funds.

Chen Pingsheng had a clear plan, and his family spent almost all of the seven days of the National Day holiday busy with the affairs of this large courtyard house.

Without a doubt, the whole family will move in once the renovations are finished.

It would be such a waste to leave a house worth hundreds of millions unused.

After the National Day holiday, Chen An'an, the little rascal, went back to school.

Song Yanxi still granted her small request for a drink and drove her to school in a convertible Phantom.

As for Chen Pingsheng himself, his monthly three-day CEO training course also started on October 8th.

The twenty-odd classmates from their CEO program gathered together once again.

Some people were beaming with joy, while others were beaming with pride.

Some people even snorted when they saw him. "That son of a bitch Wang Yanfeng, after changing his new girlfriend to his ex-girlfriend's best friend, he changed her to his best friend's older sister in less than half a month."

He's really mastered the "rabbit eats the grass near its burrow" mentality; who knows, he might end up going from his girlfriend's older sister to her mother.

"Brother Chen."

He Bijun came over and sat next to him, smiling as he said, "Brother Chen, you must have been the most successful person in the class last month. You even sold 'The Legend of Hua Qiangu' for a record-breaking 500 million. So TV dramas can be so profitable."

The TV series doesn't make money; it's him who does.

Chen Pingsheng surpassed Feiying's efforts of several years with just this one drama. No wonder Wang Yanfeng is unhappy to see him.

"It's just so-so. I'm planning to officially invest in movies starting this month."

“Alright, Brother Chen, you’ve always been the most reliable money-maker in the class, so investing in movies shouldn’t be too bad either.”

He Bijun liked chatting with him the most, mainly because the two could talk about things in a way.

"You need to have the vision to invest in movies and TV series."

Tong Zhelan also came over; this woman always exuded the aura of a career elite.

Her attire was also quite capable.

Light blue skinny jeans paired with a white shirt that's shorter in the front and longer in the back, barely covering her buttocks.

Very fashionable.

Tong Zhelan said, "You've figured out how to invest in TV series. If you have the same vision for movies, then a valuation of 3 billion for Tencent Films isn't out of the question."

"Hehe." Chen Pingsheng waved his hand: "Ze Lan, 3 billion was the valuation in September. In October, Tengying Entertainment officially announced a valuation of 5 billion."

Tong Zhelan's face darkened.

What do you mean? I finally came to praise you, and you're already acting like you're on a pedestal?

Why?
An entertainment company valued at 5 billion is definitely one of the top companies in the industry.

Of course, it can't compare to those listed film companies yet, but in the TV drama industry, it's already at the top tier.

Tong Zhelan plopped down on his desk, saying in a very unladylike manner, "Chen Pingsheng, you've gone too far. Although your investment in Hua Qiangu has indeed made Tengying famous, a valuation of 3 billion is already astronomical. Now you've suddenly raised it to 5 billion. Don't be so greedy and you might end up losing all your shares."

"Who gave you the courage?"

Of course, it's the Golden Finger Grandpa!

He can now analyze the return on investment of movies; 3 billion is definitely too low.

The 5 billion yuan figure was also based on the fact that Tong Zhelan could help him go public.

Chen Pingsheng said calmly, "Let's not beat around the bush. There's a reason I can raise Tengying's valuation to this level. You all think 5 billion is too high, but a year from now, even if I offer 10 billion, I'm afraid there will be people scrambling to buy it." "You're that confident?"

Tong Zhelan frowned, wondering which young lady he had gone to get revenge on this time.

That's what made him so overconfident.

In any case, the valuation of 5 billion far exceeded her expectations.

If we can't reach an agreement, then we won't talk.

Let's continue talking about Boiling Sheep. Tong Zhelan personally invested 50 million yuan in him, taking a 10% stake.

The other students contributed another 100 million yuan, and after a month, they also wanted to know the specific progress.

The situation is now quite clear: they're planning to spend all 100 million yuan in Beijing.

We will open another fifty Fei Yang Yang Hot Pot restaurants.

Gao Hu took 50 million yuan to Shacheng in the southern province, with a plan to open 50 stores in three months.

Tong Zhelan nodded: "Hua Qian Gu is also broadcast on Hunan TV in the South Province. Your choice to go there to develop your first market outside the province is indeed the safest option."

"I originally planned to organize your Series C funding round in six months, but now it seems it won't take that long. Once 'The Legend of Hua Qian Gu' airs and becomes a huge hit, we can immediately strike while the iron is hot and complete the Series C funding round with a valuation of 1.5 billion."

After Series C funding, if they complete Series D and E funding rounds, they can consider acquiring a shell company and listing in Hong Kong.

Applying step by step on your own is far less efficient than simply buying a shell company and then issuing shares through several major securities firms to list Boiling Sheep directly.

Tong Zhelan predicts that if Boiling Sheep goes smoothly, the company will definitely be able to complete its listing plan within two years.

In the end, her investment of 50 million will be considered quite successful.

Earning back a few small goals is definitely a must.

The exact number depends on how well the business of Boiling Sheep is managed in the later stages.

"Excuse me, gentlemen."

Hu Ding, the toy king of the class, walked over. He was quite famous in the toy market throughout Guangdong.

He's doing quite well at the company, and he's in his early forties.

"Brother Chen, first of all, congratulations! You're one of the few in our class to earn so much money from a TV series. But I heard that your series is a fantasy drama, right?"

"That's right, it's a fantasy drama."

"Fantasy dramas are great!"

Hu Ding was particularly good at finding opportunities. He said, "The target audience for this kind of drama is young people. Young people these days still like to consume. To be honest, Brother Chen, I want to talk business with you."

"What business?"

Toy sellers also came to him, and Chen Pingsheng was quite interested.

Hu Dingze said, "Naturally, it's the toy business that involves the copyright of Hua Qiangu's products."

"Oh..." He was still worried about how to develop the derivative market of "Flower Through the Ages".

And then the opportunity came.

According to Hu Ding, he wanted to buy out the entire company directly.

Chen Pingsheng disagreed with the plan; he wanted a share of the profits.

This means that for every single product related to Hua Qiangu sold, he would take half of the revenue.

"I think you two shouldn't talk alone."

Tong Zhelan chimed in, "Let's just do it this way: Old Chen can publish the rights and have Zhao Liying, the lead actress, endorse and promote it. Hu Ding, you can be in charge of production, and I'll be in charge of building an online sales team and promoting it in advance. Let's split it into 442."

She is number two, while Chen Pingsheng and Hu Ding are both number four.

That's fair. Chen Pingsheng doesn't know how to produce toys, so blindly looking for contract manufacturers is probably not appropriate.

With Hu Ding, the toy king, around, this problem is perfectly solved.

Hu Ding was also in charge of offline sales.

He himself has an extremely powerful toy distribution market.

You can trust Tong Zhelan with your online business. She has been investing in the internet sector for the past few years and is a true expert in this field.

The number of internet talents they have is exceptionally strong.

It would be best to have her in charge of online promotion and sales.

To make money in this kind of business, you have to start early.

Everyone knows the situation in China. If we wait a little longer until Hua Qiangu becomes popular before we start making it, the market will already be full of knockoffs.

They've come early to have fun, and they've even assembled their legal team along the way.

They would attack anyone who showed up in the mountain stronghold.

This can at least suppress the market for a while, giving them enough time to sell out all of Hua Qiangu's derivative products.

Tong Zhelan originally just wanted to make a small amount of money, around tens of millions.

It's a tiny amount of money, and it doesn't require much effort.

We'll pick up whatever we can.

How much money can be made depends on how popular Hua Qiangu becomes.

If it really becomes the top drama of the year, then the income will be very considerable.

Chen Pingsheng agreed, saying that good cooperation leads to a win-win situation.

The three parties joined forces to make another profit in the derivative market beyond Huaqiangu's copyright.

(End of this chapter)