In Hong Kong, we build a global business empire

At this time, the Rolls-Royce just arrived downstairs of Wanqing Building.

"Park the car in the parking space outside the building first. I'll go in and make a phone call." Lin Haoran instructed Li Weidong.

"Okay, boss!" Li Weidong replied, and then parked the car steadily in the company's special parking space outside Wanqing Building.

He did not choose to go directly to the office, but instead walked into the lobby on the first floor and came to the lobby front desk.

The moment he stepped into the lobby, the receptionist's eyes revealed nervousness, respect, and admiration.

Lin Haoran smiled and nodded to her, then said, "Let me use the phone," and walked straight to the front desk phone and dialed the number back.

The call was quickly connected, and the voice coming from the other end was Run Run Shaw, a giant in the Hong Kong entertainment industry.

"Mr. Shao, what do you want to talk to me about?" Lin Haoran asked straight to the point.

This time, among the business leaders summoned by Governor MacLehose, there was no Run Run Shaw.

Although Run Run Shaw is well-known in Hong Kong, his influence in the business world cannot be underestimated.

But if we judge strength by asset size, in this era, Run Run Shaw is still hard to rank among the top ten richest Chinese in Hong Kong, not to mention the foreign super-rich living in Hong Kong.

Moreover, the main purpose of the British government's invitation to Hong Kong's business leaders to visit and inspect is actually to hope that they will invest in the UK.

Run Run Shaw's business focus is on the film industry, but the UK's investment demand for the film industry is not high.

What they really want is for Hong Kong's business community to invest in multiple fields including manufacturing, trade, finance, and technology.

"Mr. Lin, are you free now? If it is convenient, can you come to the TVB building on Broadcast Avenue? After all, you are our vice chairman. I would like to talk to you face to face about some work matters. I hope to get some useful advice from you!" Run Run Shaw replied.

"Okay, Mr. Shao, I just finished my work. Give me thirty or forty minutes and I'll be there right away!" Lin Haoran answered without hesitation.

After all, he is now the vice chairman of TVB and the largest shareholder of TVB. Now that the other party has spoken out, it would not be appropriate for him not to go over.

After finishing the call, Lin Haoran returned to the car again.

"Weidong, let's go to the TVB headquarters in Kowloon Tong." After Lin Haoran sat down, he said to Li Weidong who had just sat in the driver's seat.

"Good boss!"

At this moment, it is not rush hour, so there is no traffic jam on the way there.

In just about half an hour, we arrived at the TVB building.

The guard at the security booth recognized the boss at a glance and quickly and proactively let the car pass, allowing it directly into the parking lot inside the building.

This was only Lin Haoran's second visit here, but all the staff in the building knew him.

Therefore, the staff they met along the way greeted the new boss enthusiastically.

Soon, Lin Haoran arrived at the chairman's office.

After knocking on the door, Lin Haoran gently turned the doorknob and found Shao Yifu in the office.

"Mr. Lin, please come and sit down." Run Run Shaw greeted him warmly.

Lin Haoran walked over, pulled a chair over and sat down, smiling and said, "Mr. Shao, you can call me Haoran from now on. We are business partners now, there is no need to be so formal."

"Okay, then I will call you Haoran. I am several decades older than you, so you can just call me Sixth Uncle. Many people call me that." Shao Yifu responded readily.

Although Lin Haoran might be richer than Shao Yifu, the other party was, after all, a man in his seventies, and it was obviously inappropriate to address him as an equal.

"Sixth Uncle, I wonder why you called me here this time?" Lin Haoran asked directly.

Sixth Uncle, that sounds pretty easy to call him.

"Haoran, our TVB's performance in recent months has been very average. Since I took over the management of TVB at the beginning of last month, I have deeply realized how difficult it was for Brother Xiaohe to manage Wireless Television.

Television ratings can indeed be improved by creating high-quality programs. Based on my many years of experience in the film industry, I am confident that TVB will be able to launch more programs that are loved by the audience in the future.

However, I noticed that even though our ratings remained excellent for a period of time, advertising revenue remained limited.

Almost 95% of the company's revenue comes from advertising, and the rest is negligible.

For example, throughout last year, our ratings were comparable to those of ATV, but after deducting all expenses, the net profit was only nearly HK$6 million. This figure is truly disappointing for a company as large as TVB.

Therefore, we must find ways to increase the company's profits and return them to us as shareholders.

In addition, I plan to push TVB to go public in the next few years. If the profit is low, it will undoubtedly be a disadvantage for the listing. One of the main strategies I am considering is to increase revenue and reduce expenditure.

Currently, TVB's main expenses are concentrated on employee salaries. During the management by Brother Xiaohe, I rarely asked about the accounts, but after taking over, I found that the company had a lot of unnecessary expenses, the cost of filming was too high, and even many employees enjoyed high salaries despite limited contributions.

Once these problems are rectified, the company will be able to save at least HK$5 million to HK$8 million in expenses each year. However, even so, TVB's annual profit will be at most just over HK$10 million.

Although my Shaw Brothers Film Company cannot be compared with a real estate company, we can often shoot high-grossing movies at a low cost and make a lot of profit, earning tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars a year. I think the future potential of the television industry must be higher than that of the film industry, but after studying for a long time, I still can't find other ways to increase the company's income.

Haoran, the wealth you have accumulated in just two years is beyond my reach in my lifetime. You must have unique insights and methods, so do you have any good suggestions or strategies? "Shao Yifu told Lin Haoran the purpose of inviting him here in one breath.

It is really sad that a company of this size had a profit of less than HK$6 million last year.

It is no wonder that the Li family shareholders lost interest in TVB.

Based on the 6% equity held by each of the Li brothers, even if the full HK$ million was distributed as dividends, each would receive less than HK$. Moreover, the company also needs to reserve part of the funds for development, so it is impossible to distribute the full amount as dividends.

Lin Haoran currently holds a 24% stake. Even if the dividend is distributed at HK$ million, he can only get less than HK$ million.

Such income is indeed not high for Lin Haoran, it can even be said to be insignificant, so low that he even looks down on it.

Even if the company's profits were increased through the strategy of increasing revenue and reducing costs proposed by Run Run Shaw, after doubling the profits, it would only be able to distribute about HK$3 million a year.

For Lin Haoran, this number is still not worth his attention.

Of course, the HK$24 million he spent to acquire this % stake was not too much.

Based on the annual dividend of HK$3 million, the investment can be recovered in 20 years. Such an investment is not actually a loss, but the profit is not high.

In addition, Lin Haoran's real intention of purchasing TVB shares was not simply to seek economic benefits, but to value TVB's huge influence in the media industry as one of the two major TV stations in Hong Kong.

Lam Ho-ran has already experienced the advantages of controlling a mainstream media through Oriental Daily News. If TVB is added to the mix, he will not be afraid of any challenges from public opinion in Hong Kong.

Of course, if TVB can bring him extra profits, that would be icing on the cake.

Even though he is now worth tens of billions of Hong Kong dollars, he would never think that the money is too much. When it comes to money, the more the better.

Lin Haoran did not find it strange about the strategy of increasing revenue and reducing expenditure proposed by Shao Yifu.

In his previous life, he knew that Shao Yifu was an extremely "stingy" and almost harsh boss.

At the beginning of the business, the company's production manager applied for HK$20 to buy 100 steamed buns as breakfast for the location shooting staff. However, Run Run Shaw refused on the grounds that the steamed buns in the company cafeteria only cost ten cents each, which led to intensified conflicts within the crew.

Eventually, the location workers went on strike over lack of breakfast, and the company suffered losses of more than 10,000 yuan.

Logically, people should learn from their lessons, but after suffering this loss, Run Run Shaw remained unchanged and insisted on his uncompromising style, which also laid the groundwork for many controversies in the future.

Ten years ago, Zou Wenhuai, who made an indelible contribution to the development of Shaw Brothers Films, asked the company to participate in stock dividends, but was flatly rejected by Run Run Shaw.

Not long after, Zou Wenhuai resigned in anger and started his own business. The company he founded later became Shaw Brothers' number one competitor - Golden Harvest Films.

In the same year, Run Run Shaw again missed Bruce Lee, who had just returned to Hong Kong from the United States, due to financial problems.

Bruce Lee asked Run Run Shaw for a salary of $1, but Run Run Shaw thought the price was too high and they failed to reach an agreement.

As a result, Golden Harvest successfully signed Bruce Lee with a higher salary.

After that, due to similar financial considerations, Shaw Brothers lost a number of outstanding directors and actors such as Xu Guanjie, Chen Long, and Xu Ke. They all chose to leave, and the glory of Shaw Brothers Films gradually faded and went into decline.

This is also the biggest reason why Run Run Shaw set his sights on taking control of TVB after Li Ka-shing's death.

Not surprisingly, the same story is happening again on TVB, because Run Run Shaw has now taken over TVB.

In Lin Haoran's previous life, TVB employees were known for doing the most work and getting the least pay.

Its competitor ATV followed the example of Golden Harvest and made a fuss about this, poaching stars including Shen Dianxia, ​​Zeng Zhiwei, Huang Rihua, Zheng Shaoqiu and others with salaries three times higher, which seriously damaged TVB's vitality.

Since then, with the changes in the overall environment of the entertainment industry, the once prosperous TVB has gradually entered a predicament of slow growth.

By 2011, when Run Run Shaw sold his shares in TVB, TVB's business had declined sharply.

Faced with these events, Run Run Shaw believes that he is "just a businessman" and must act in accordance with business rules.

He always adheres to this business philosophy, strictly controls costs, and never easily invests large sums in celebrities.

It is difficult for the outside world to make a simple judgment on the success or failure of his business philosophy, or even to fully understand it.

Because this man, who is often described as a "penny-pinching" businessman in media reports and the "most stingy boss" in the eyes of his employees, founded the Shaw Foundation in Hong Kong in 1975 and began to systematically make large donations to education, medical care and other welfare projects around the world.

Especially in the mainland, the Run Run Shaw Teaching Building, Run Run Shaw Primary School, Run Run Shaw Secondary School, Run Run Shaw Hospital, etc. that can be seen everywhere are enough to prove how much Run Run Shaw has contributed to charity.

Lin Haoran once learned that according to public data, Run Run Shaw's donations to social welfare and charity over the years have exceeded HK$100 billion.

100 billion Hong Kong dollars! This definitely accounts for a large part of his total assets. He is not like Li Ka-shing, whose net worth is easily hundreds of billions of Hong Kong dollars. The film and television industry that Run Run Shaw works in has destined him to not be able to earn as much as Li Ka-shing, Li Zhaoji and other real estate industry tycoons.

Therefore, even though he is a “stingy” person in business, Lin Haoran still thinks Mr. Shao is very worthy of respect. (End of this chapter)