The Birth of Shanghai's First Conglomerate

Chen Pingsheng thought about it for a long time before coming up with this training plan.

For someone like Erpiya, it would take the family going bankrupt to teach her to endure hardship.

Otherwise, other methods are unlikely to be effective.

By the time they started to conduct military training in a proper manner, it was already late June.

This is a good opportunity to let them suffer a little.

Chen Pingsheng went to visit Zhao Liying on the other side of the set, where she was filming a fantasy drama. Her younger cousin was also filming a fantasy drama next door.

Hengdian Industrial Park receives countless tourists and film crews every year.

There used to be a saying about the "Four Great Flowers" and "Eighty-Five Flowers," but after a long time, only Yang Mi and Zhao Liying are still considered top-tier actresses.

As for Liu Yifei, her childhood memories are incredibly strong; there are very few celebrities in the entertainment industry who can maintain their fame even after ten years of struggling careers.

Most of them would have disappeared long ago, but if they return, they will still be at the top.

Zhao Liying got married a long time ago and also had a baby boy. Celebrities usually make a quick comeback after giving birth.

Her dramas are still very strong.

"Brother Chen, what brings you here to see me?"

“My daughter is away for military training, so I just come to watch you filming since I have nothing else to do.”

"You're so good to An'an!" Zhao Liying said with a smile.

Chen Pingsheng said, "How can you not be nice to your own daughter? You should rest for a while longer. It's too hasty to come back to work so soon."

"The entertainment industry changes quickly. If I don't come out soon, I'm afraid I'll be forgotten by everyone."

"You're quite diligent, but what about my little cousin?"

“Her?” Zhao Liying said, “Pei Yao doesn’t even film many dramas a year, but she’s still very dedicated.”

"Hmm." Chen Pingsheng didn't chat with her for too long. Zhao Liying had to go to film a movie, and the others greeted him first when they saw him.

Chen Pingsheng waited until An'an and the others had completely settled in before leaving, as he couldn't leave the company for several months at the moment.

As for An'an and Erpiya, there's nothing to worry about; their biological mother is still alive and well.

With so many relatives here, how could anything happen?

Chen Pingsheng rushed back to Shanghai because Chang Fu called him.

Tengying Entertainment has encountered some unexpected events and has suddenly received a large number of complaints from within the industry.

The criticism was all directed at their live-streaming rooms, the gist of which was that someone didn't want a large number of celebrities to enter the influencer e-commerce industry.

They were afraid of disrupting the industry's ecosystem.

Actually, it makes sense when you think about it. There's a world of difference between celebrities and ordinary internet celebrities.

If a giant company like them were to bring all its celebrities into the live-streaming e-commerce industry...

One foreseeable situation will soon occur: celebrities will significantly encroach on the living space of ordinary people.

Although this has not happened yet, it is because the industry is still in a period of rapid development.

Once this rapid growth stops, celebrities will undoubtedly seize a large share of the market space from ordinary people.

Many industry insiders are already calling for celebrities to leave the live-streaming e-commerce industry.

Chang Fu hadn't taken it seriously before; he thought others should report it, and they would broadcast it as they pleased.

This time, however, the situation is different. Perhaps the other party has realized that simply reporting it will not change Tencent Entertainment's attitude.

They might as well turn their guns around and use the power of public opinion to generate widespread discussion and even backfire on Tencent Entertainment's traffic.

That was indeed a good move.

Numerous online posts have already discussed this issue, and undoubtedly, the majority of the comments are negative.

For celebrities to get involved in live-streaming e-commerce is a game-changer.

Just like Walmart opening a small store next to you.

Chen Pingsheng had been worried about this for a while. As Tengying Group grew, he indeed rarely ventured into the entrepreneurial fields of ordinary people. He had been intentionally controlling this all along.

After Chang Fu explained the situation to him, he instructed his secretary, Lin Qiunan, to initiate an external public opinion poll.

Regardless of who is targeting this issue, it is still very necessary to see how the outside world is evaluating it.

Just like those internet giants who were heavily criticized when they tried to sell vegetables, he doesn't want to end up like that himself.

The public opinion survey that Lin Qiunan was in charge of was actually information collection, a comprehensive collection of opinions from the public.

Although Tencent Entertainment has a market value of over 100 billion yuan, the introduction of celebrity live-streaming e-commerce has greatly improved its internal finances.

If he were to truly provoke resentment among ordinary people, it would lead to him receiving excessive and undue attention.

This kind of attention is by no means a good thing.

Lin Qiunan conducted a three-day investigation and found that neither ordinary people nor industry insiders liked celebrities promoting products.

More than 80% of people believe that celebrities should not promote products.

Another group has an indifferent attitude, since they won't buy anything in the live stream anyway.

After learning about the situation, Chen Pingsheng unusually refrained from investigating the company that had organized this public opinion campaign.

Instead, they approached Chang Fu and requested a temporary halt to the celebrity-driven sales segment.

In fact, a large portion of the complainants are parents.

Celebrities bring their own fans, and these fans often buy a lot of unnecessary things to support their favorite idols.

In this situation, how could parents not file a complaint?

Chang Fu didn't quite understand. "Old Chen, when we encountered this kind of thing before, didn't we just bankrupt our competitors?"
"How come we've already given up before the fight even started?"

Chen Pingsheng sat on the sofa, holding an investigation document in his hand. He said, "The situation is different. We can easily defeat those who are targeting us, but there is also a high possibility that it will attract the attention of higher-ups."

"Isn't that unlikely?"

"very possible."

Chen Pingsheng said, "As you know, the employment situation has not been very good in recent years. Short videos have flexibly provided employment for hundreds of millions of people. Their living conditions are related to social stability. If we are too assertive, it will only cause widespread resentment among this group, and it will also easily give people the impression that we are invincible."

Chang Fu was somewhat surprised, not expecting that they would take a step back for this reason.

That's how the business world is; there are no eternal victors. If Chen Pingsheng doesn't back down now...

That would very likely have the same outcome as a major internet company selling vegetables.

You can tell by looking at the online comments about this.

It's a company with a market value of hundreds of billions of US dollars, yet it's competing with vegetable vendors for business.

What do you expect ordinary people to think? And what do you expect those in power to think?

When large corporations lack a sense of social responsibility, it is a disaster for many people.

Chen Pingsheng would not risk his life for such a small amount of money.

Moreover, he owns two of the largest short video groups himself. In the short term, this is a loss, but in the long term, it is entirely uncertain.

The ban on celebrities entering the live-streaming e-commerce industry is beneficial to Tencent Media and its live-streaming platform, QinTeng.

They don't mention it simply because Tencent Entertainment is also his.

Now that others have brought it up, he might as well take the opportunity to back down.

It satisfies the expectations of ordinary people and also garners goodwill for Tencent Pictures.

why not?

This was a bit of a challenge for Changfu, since the biggest part of his job at Tencent Entertainment was live streaming.

If all the live streams are shut down, then all his previous efforts will have been for nothing.

Moreover, what do those people inside think of him, this decisive and ruthless CEO?

(End of this chapter)