The Birth of Shanghai's First Conglomerate

Chapter 199 Market Expectations
"The main attackers are another celebrity-owned influencer brand."

Chen Pingsheng took the investigation materials given to him by Tong Zhelan and read them carefully.

Yang Mi had told him before that Yang Baobei had established her own milk tea brand in Shanghai.

She thought it might affect the bubble tea business, so she reminded them once.

He just didn't pay attention.

Unlike Bobo Milk Tea's low-price strategy, a cup of milk tea at Yang Baobei costs at least tens of yuan.

Besides her own fans, countless people are complaining about her online.

It's expensive and tastes awful.

They kept comparing it to Bobo milk tea.

Both are founded and endorsed by top celebrities, but one is economical and popular among young people.

One store is ridiculously expensive, essentially ripping off its customers.

Over time, this led to a lot of resentment towards Bobo Milk Tea on the other side.

After a long period of private investigation, the franchisees blocked the door on the first day of the IPO.

Tong Zhelan said, "It's not just about milk tea. I think the deeper reason is your Tencent Entertainment. It has affected the Huayi Brothers Group. Both are entertainment groups, but Tencent Entertainment's rise has been too fast. It's understandable that others want to kick you while you're down at a crucial moment."

Yang Baobei herself is nothing special; it's Huayi Brothers, the company behind her, that's the real big capital.

Otherwise, why would a top-tier celebrity like her dare to go against Bobo Milk Tea, which is backed by Tencent Entertainment?
Isn't this just asking for trouble?

No matter what, Tencent Entertainment is an entertainment group valued at tens of billions, and no celebrity in the entertainment industry would dare to stand up and say anything bad about Bobo Milk Tea.

Yang Baobei is different; she relies on Huayi Brothers.

Huayi Brothers and Tencent Pictures are natural adversaries. The faster Tencent Pictures rises, the more disadvantageous it is for the established giant Huayi Brothers.

Chen Pingsheng had long known that Bobo Milk Tea's rapid development would inevitably affect the interests of some people, but he never expected that another celebrity brand would be the first to jump out.

There have been many examples of celebrities starting their own businesses in the past two years, including restaurants, milk tea shops, and even barbershops.

What's different about the industry is that they all set extremely high prices.

It's as if they can't make money without exploiting their fans.

It's like a celebrity-owned noodle shop where a simple bowl of noodles costs forty or fifty yuan.

At first, they can become popular for a while by relying on the star's fan base, but after a while, they become nothing.

Basically, all the companies that were supposed to go bankrupt went bankrupt.

"Sometimes I don't know whether I should step in and strike back at her."

After putting down the investigation report, Chen Pingsheng said:

"If I don't do anything on her end, this milk tea shop probably won't last long."

“Indeed,” Tong Zhelan said. “The prices are too high and unrealistic. But since they dare to target us like this, if we do nothing, won’t we be easy targets to be manipulated?”

Chen Pingsheng nodded, agreeing with her statement, but ultimately, even a top celebrity in the entertainment industry relies on a powerful figure.

He wouldn't bother with a blow that was neither painful nor effective.

"Leave this to me. I'll make sure she pays the price."

Chen Pingsheng said, "In the current situation, although I used 400 million to stabilize the stock price, the key is to restore Hong Kong shareholders' confidence in Bobo Milk Tea. Otherwise, if I withdraw this money, the stock price will collapse again, and none of you will be able to withdraw your shares smoothly in six months."

He himself still owns 13% of the shares, excluding those acquired through stock market acquisitions.

We absolutely cannot let ourselves continue to be so addicted to bubble tea.

Tong Zhelan was well aware of this, and the current situation was that he had secured 400 million to temporarily stabilize the situation.

The key to driving up the stock price is for Bobo Milk Tea to produce a strong financial statement.

Or it could be to prove to the market that they have the drive for sustainable development.

A short-term recovery in financial reports is not difficult.

Chen Pingsheng had his own solutions.

Charlotte is about to be released, and he clearly remembers that it was going to be a blockbuster movie.

It was also the first film that Tencent Pictures fully funded.

With an investment of 50 million, Tengying owns 100% of the profits.

He transferred 25% of his investment to Bobo Milk Tea for 1500 million yuan.

Based on this 25% investment return.

This will immediately offset the large-scale losses that Bobo Milk Tea incurred due to compensation from franchisees.

However, he owns 90% of Tencent Pictures, but only 13% of Bobo Milk Tea.

Even after the stock market swept back 30% of the stocks, the total is still only 43%.

He personally lost out.

Considering that the 13% I have can be used for random increases, this small loss is completely acceptable.

The important thing is to quickly recover the losses from Bobo Milk Tea.

Tong Zhelan was unaware that Charlotte was making such high profits and always felt that his method was rather risky.

If Charlotte's box office performance falls short of expectations after its release, and Bobo Milk Tea invests over ten million yuan in it at this time, it will only make people think that they are not doing their job properly.

Considering that Tencent Video had never invested in a single unprofitable drama, she didn't say anything.

She didn't just come to discuss the Bobo milk tea with Chen Pingsheng this time; the key reason was that the sales of Hua Qiangu's merchandise had completely ended.

Hua Qiangu was a sensation for an entire summer, and the "primordial power" is still going strong everywhere.

However, after the show ended, their sales slowed down considerably.

We simply stopped.

Tong Zhelan showed him a set of financial data, showing that Hua Qiangu's merchandise had been on sale since June and had not ended until the end of August.

Three months.

As it turned out, the investment was very successful.

"Total sales reached 21 billion, product costs were 4.3 million, and after deducting other labor costs, net profit reached 15 billion."

With a hit TV series like "Eternal Love" on the market, the biggest expense for the product—marketing—is completely saved.

It's perfectly normal for profits to be so high.

As previously agreed, he holds 40% of the shares.

Tong Zhelan, who is in charge of online sales, has a 20% stake.

Hu Ding, who is in charge of offline channels and production, also holds a 40% stake.

Chen Pingsheng took 600 million without lifting a finger, Tong Zhelan took 300 million, and Hu Ding took the remaining 600 million.

Everyone made a fortune together.

It was another very successful investment, and Tong Zhelan was very pleased.

of course.

She didn't get to share the money alone; it was the same as what Chen Pingsheng did.

He also wanted to give Zhao Liying 1.5 million yuan, which had been agreed upon beforehand.

She was given a 10% share, which she deserved.

Without her as the official author of the Hua Qiangu novel, no one could earn so much.

The main reason Tong Zhelan distributed the money ahead of schedule was because Chen Pingsheng had come up with too much money at once.

I'm worried that he might have a financial burden.

After all, people may have money, but cash is a completely different thing.

Many of them are in assets.

Chen Pingsheng informed Zhao Liying to come to Shanghai. Including the shares she cashed out from Bobo Milk Tea earlier, she has already earned about 300 million yuan in this business market this year.

Far surpassing all top-tier celebrities.

Although celebrities earn a lot of money, there are still standards to follow.

Those who can earn over 100 million a year are already considered top-tier.

Only a very small percentage can achieve this.

Not to mention someone like her who earns two or three hundred million without relying on acting or endorsements.

The only one who can rival her this year is Yang Mi, who cashed out over 200 million yuan from Bobo Milk Tea.

Both are artists under Tencent Entertainment.

Zhao Liying arrived quite quickly when she heard about the money to be shared.

Chen Pingsheng transferred the money directly to her account.

……

As night falls, the lights are on.

The Huangpu River along the Bund exudes a captivating charm.

Chen Pingsheng picked up Zhao Liying and the others for dinner at his small home on the Bund. She brought Bai Lu, Jiang Peiyao, and others with her.

Also.

Chu Qiuyan and the other two were also with him.

We all knew each other, so there was no generation gap when we chatted.

The celebrity status only applies to ordinary people; to him, even the biggest star is just an ordinary person.

If we get along well, we'll chat a bit more; if we don't, we won't meet a second time.

"Brother Chen, your house is quite cozy."

Chen Pingsheng cooked a few dishes himself, as the local cuisine in Shanghai didn't quite suit his taste.

Zhao Liying helped out from the side, just like before.

"I'm here alone on a business trip, so there's no need for a huge house. This house is just right. If you want to drink tea, please make it yourselves. I don't have time to serve you right now."

"It's fine. I don't like living in a big house by myself."

Chen Pingsheng cooks quite quickly. With a room full of beautiful women and him being the only married man, there's nothing awkward about it.

A dish of steamed fish head with chopped chili peppers, along with a few simple side dishes, can be prepared quickly.

We haven't eaten yet, so a few bites won't hurt.

Once you have money, you can eat at any high-end hotel. But after eating all that, you'll find that home-cooked dishes are the ones you can never get tired of.

"Brother-in-law, will the bubble tea be alright?" Jiang Peiyao is already twenty, but she is still beautiful. To Chen Pingsheng, she may always be a little girl.

"What could possibly happen? It's just a normal part of the company's development process."

Chen Pingsheng picked up a small fish head for her: "But you, have you been acting properly? Your brother-in-law is counting on you to become a big star in the future."

"Yes, the show I'm in is about to air. Brother-in-law, will you be watching it?"

Jiang Peiyao looked expectant, and Chen Pingsheng nodded: "I will definitely watch it."

"Brother Chen, let me release a few news endorsements tomorrow and see if they can help Bobo Milk Tea."

Zhao Liying suggested it, and Chen Pingsheng didn't object:

"You have a huge fan base now, so your endorsements will definitely have an effect. However, celebrity endorsements are more targeted at offline consumers and may not help the stock market much."

"What should I do?"

Zhao Liying really wants to do her part, but it seems she can't think of any good ways besides endorsements.

"Don't worry."

Chen Pingsheng said, "After this incident, I have thoroughly reflected on my actions. I think that opening a milk tea shop through franchising should be a mutually beneficial partnership. We should not focus on making money by charging franchise fees, but rather on helping franchisees make money before earning our own share."

I don’t quite understand.

Chu Qiuyan further explained: "What Uncle Chen means is that Bobo Milk Tea will no longer charge franchise fees. Instead, after a franchise store makes money, profits under 10,000 yuan will not be split, and profits over 10,000 yuan will be split 30/70."

"With three franchisees and seven franchisees, we not only lower the investment threshold for Bobo Milk Tea, but the franchisees are also more willing to accept it."

Don't be fooled by the seemingly low profit-sharing percentage; if you have a lot of stores, it can be very profitable.

Bai Lu, standing to the side, didn't dare to interrupt and listened quietly.

Of these few, she seems to be the least experienced.

She's barely a third-tier celebrity now, and she thought Chen Pingsheng wouldn't pay attention to her, but unexpectedly he still asked:

"Bai Lu, I watched the movie you made about Zhao Yao. You acted really well. By the way, where do you live now?"

"I plan to buy a house in Shanghai in installments."

Feeling flattered and overwhelmed by the sudden conversation with the big boss, Bai Lu felt that his answer was rather silly.

Why are you so honest? Can't you be a little more humorous?

Chen Pingsheng put down his chopsticks: "Let's not do installments anymore. There's another apartment downstairs that's similar to this one, and it's also fully furnished. Qiuyan, arrange for someone to buy it tomorrow and transfer the ownership to Bai Lu's name."

Forehead?
It's similar to this, so it must be at least 200 square meters, and it's fully furnished.

In this location, you couldn't get it for less than 20 or 30 million.

"Uncle, I didn't contribute anything!"

Bai Lu is really honest.

Chen Pingsheng smiled and said, "You earned 30 million from that TV series, so consider this house a reward for you. Don't worry, tens of millions is nothing to me. Just focus on acting. If you are bullied or anyone dares to sexually harass you, just tell me. Tengying has never allowed its artists to be bullied."

Suddenly I felt a sense of being protected.

Bai Lu felt that signing with Tencent Pictures was the best decision she had ever made in her life.

The boss is really good, and he doesn't want anything from them at all.

Those who manage to stand out from the talent show class must have some talent.

Chen Pingsheng has thus settled down ahead of schedule.

As for his younger cousin, Chen Pingsheng also asked her where she wanted to stay.

Jiang Peiyao wanted to live next to them, or perhaps in the capital.

Chen Pingsheng didn't say anything, but took out a set of keys and handed them to her, leaving his convertible Phantom here for her to drive.

At his age, the top-of-the-line four-star Phantom is more suitable.

The phantom meant nothing to him.

You can buy things casually, and give things away casually.

Without even looking at Hua Qiangu's surrounding businesses and Vanke's stock, he made another seven or eight hundred million yuan, albeit with tears in his eyes.

The money is almost all spent; what's left is to realize my dreams.

Neither of them expected to receive such a generous gift after making this trip.

Everyone is a little confused.

As for Zhao Liying, she no longer needs any reward from me.

The income is already extremely high.

……

At night.

Chu Qiuyan and the others all have homes in Shanghai, so they went back after dinner.

As for Zhao Liying, she talked a little later, but still left at eight o'clock.

Bai Lujiang and Pei Yao, who didn't own a house, slept at his place. Anyway, it was a three-bedroom, two-living room apartment with an actual area of ​​180 square meters, which was quite convenient.

Arrived the next day.

Chen Pingsheng went to work at the Bobo Milk Tea headquarters early in the morning.

This operational adjustment is very significant.

The entire marketing department and franchise business department need to make significant adjustments.

For example, in the past, the marketing department would receive a commission for finding a franchise store.

This is also the root cause of problems in franchise stores. Sometimes, in order to earn commissions, employees are willing to break certain rules.

Now that everything has been changed, each business unit will make helping franchisees earn profits their primary source of income.

This has become the main source of revenue for Bobo Milk Tea going forward.

When the overall business strategy changes, the market trend changes accordingly.

Although they suffered man-made damage this time, resulting in their stock price still only being 70% of the issue price.

But as long as you firmly believe that the direction is right, it will eventually recover.

Besides, they only fell below the issue price; they didn't lose their consumer base.

After this round of compensation, Bobo Milk Tea's online reputation has undoubtedly improved a lot.

However, the stock market doesn't seem to approve of their adjustment.

I especially disapprove of investing over ten million in a film at a time like this.

Isn't this just nonsense?

They can't even manage their main job properly, yet they're trying to get into the film industry as a side business.

idiot~

Hong Kong media outlets remain largely pessimistic about Bobo Milk Tea.

Chen Pingsheng also took a detailed look at Bobo Milk Tea's financial statements. Currently, Bobo Milk Tea has approximately 900 directly operated stores.

The average monthly profit of a single store remains around 20,000.

That adds up to roughly 18 million in income per month.

If we add more than 2,000 franchise stores, the annual profit can still be maintained at 300 to 500 million.

With such strong financial results, Bobo Milk Tea should at least reach a market value of five to six billion to be reasonable.

Chen Pingsheng was very confident, and it can only be said that this crisis gave him a good opportunity to buy Bobo Milk Tea at rock-bottom prices.

Once the first quarter is over and the quarterly financial report is released, the stock price will inevitably experience a significant upward trend.

At that time, he should have no problem making two or three times his initial investment in these stocks, which he bought at a bargain price of 3.5 yuan.

However, although the business of Bobo milk tea is still very good, the milk tea market is obviously becoming more and more crowded.

Many people have entered this industry, both rich and poor.

To maintain a sustained rise in stock price, it is essential to create a unique core advantage for Bobo Milk Tea.

When it comes to milk tea, competition will inevitably lead to homogenization in the end.

Homogenization means that everyone is selling similar products.

At this point, it all comes down to marketing and service.

Marketing has always been a core strength of Bobo Milk Tea.

They can easily pull out a large group of celebrities to endorse them.

As for service, there are no standards in the entire industry yet.

He can first set the standards, and then implement them through unified training.

When market competition becomes increasingly fierce, businesses must consider taking one or two more steps forward.

By taking just one more step than others, you can leave 90% of your peers far behind.

The remaining 10% are the high-quality competitors that need to be compared in all aspects.

Chu Qiuyan also gave him a suggestion: broaden the market by combining milk tea with ice cream.

In other words, it's not just about selling milk tea; the stores can also sell homemade ice cream along with milk tea, just like some shops in Taiwan.

For example, chocolate sundae, strawberry sundae, etc.

These two are not in conflict and can be perfectly combined in the store.

It's also very easy to make, and doesn't require much training.

Chen Pingsheng thought her idea was good, but ice cream was something that was mostly eaten in the summer.

By the time they've all made preparations, winter will be just around the corner.

The market may need quite a long time to adapt.

However, once they can combine ice cream and milk tea, they will have carved out a unique path in this market.

In the future, we may no longer have to fear the crazy infighting in the milk tea industry.

Chen Pingsheng told her to feel free to try it out, and that she could go to Guangdong first and start a pilot operation with a self-operated store there.

Guangdong is a place with summer all year round and a large number of migrant workers, making it a perfect testing ground for this wave of experimentation.

Once successful, then begin large-scale nationwide promotion.

Chu Qiuyan led her people directly to Guangdong.

(End of this chapter)