Debuted right after graduating from high school

It was September when I left the port city, and now it's already November.

The weather in Rome was a bit cold, with daytime temperatures only around 10°C. The sky outside the hotel window was covered with dark clouds, as if raindrops could fall at any moment.

The guest room was heated, and Fan Wumian, having eaten and drunk his fill, had all his desires vanish with the arrival of Miss Zuo.

For the past 50 days, he has not needed to drive the boat, cook or clean, and has had electricity, internet and a comfortable bed, so it has not been hard work at all.

A lot of new things have happened in the past two months.

For example, just last month, Chang'e 1 made its maiden flight, and soon after, tickets for the Beijing Olympics went on sale for the second time. They were snapped up in no time. Fan Wumian naturally didn't need to worry about tickets; the organizers gave him 30 package tickets, all with excellent seats.

At the 40th anniversary celebration of TBV a few days ago, the CEO of the TV station also publicly announced that Uncle Six had transferred all of his shares to a Taiwanese company, and that the new boss would lead everyone to "a brand new glory".

An era has come to an end. Uncle Six sold his TBV shares, cashing out a total of HK$93 billion. When Fan Wumian saw the news, he could only mourn for that Taiwanese businessman.

If you hold shares in TBV television station for the long term, you will eventually lose everything in the market. With the development of technology and the acceleration of the Internet, traditional television stations, which were not so affected before, will also be wiped out by the Internet, just like many other industries.

Countless unfortunate stock market investors were also wiped out.

Not long after Fan Wumian departed from the port city, news spread that Northern Rock Bank in the UK was experiencing a run on its banks and was planning to split up and sell off its assets.

After entering the red ocean, Merrill Lynch released its third-quarter financial report, stating that the company suffered a loss of more than $26 billion in the quarter due to the impact of the subprime crisis.

Just days after the market fell in response, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 0.25 percentage points and the Bank of England cut rates by 25 basis points, bringing good news again. Many investors who had just cut their losses realized they had sold too early and, forgetting their mistakes, went back to chase the highs.

After several adjustments to his portfolio, Fan Wumian's personal financial account has generated a paper profit of approximately $13.3 billion. This means that even though he neglected many of the company's affairs over the past two months, the capital has still earned him about $5 million through his own efforts.

Meanwhile, influenced by the positive news that the international version of Tencent Weibo had become very popular and that the number of active users had surged by more than 200 million in the third quarter, Tencent's stock price also soared from more than HK$750 billion to more than HK$900 billion, attracting many international institutions and investors to enter the market.

Privately, Facebook and Microsoft also extended olive branches, attempting to acquire the international version of Tencent Weibo, with offers exceeding $12 billion each.

Microsoft wanted to acquire the company entirely with cash, while Facebook offered a "cash + stock" deal, hoping to nip Tencent Weibo in the bud with $4.5 million in cash plus 5% of Facebook shares.

The Penguin Group management team, led by Pony Ma, was very interested, but Fan Wumian was not. Rather than making a little money, he thought it was better to take a gamble and bet that with the introduction of strategic partners such as Goldman Sachs, BlackRock, and Vanguard, Facebook, which was not yet that big, could not defeat the international version of Penguin Weibo.

As for Microsoft, which wants to get involved in everything and is involved in operating systems, browsers, instant messaging, online games, office software and other fields, it is actually like a big tiger locked in an "anti-monopoly" cage. Its threat to the international version of Tencent Weibo is not even as great as that of Facebook, whose style of doing things is becoming more and more "squid".

Considering that many Wall Street and venture capital firms have not chosen to bet everything on Facebook, but have started to regard the international version of Tencent Weibo as another high-quality option, Fan Wumian felt that it was worth taking a gamble.

Even if they are ultimately forced to transfer the international version of Tencent Weibo project, they should wait until they can no longer sustain it before letting go and taking the opportunity to raise more cash.

The international version of Tencent Weibo has mature monetization channels, including paid membership top-ups, online advertising, and virtual goods transactions. In terms of performance and development potential, it surpasses even YouTube, which was acquired by Google. The prices offered by Microsoft and Facebook were indeed not that attractive. There are also a whole host of other miscellaneous matters, such as the Hengqin Automobile production base, which has finally been finalized. A large plot of commercial office and residential land will also be transferred to Fan Wumian at a low price to solve the company's office and employee accommodation problems.

There are loopholes in the CEPA zero-tariff agreement that Australian companies can exploit, successfully circumventing the restriction that joint venture vehicles must have at least 50% of their parts sold in mainland China. This means that Australian companies can manufacture cars in Hengqin but enter the mainland market with zero tariffs.

The mainland also benefits, gaining production lines for two luxury brands, Jaguar and Land Rover, along with substantial value-added tax, investment funds, and job opportunities. Furthermore, it can revitalize the long-dormant Hengqin Special Economic Zone and attract other enterprises to set up operations there.

This is clearly a win-win situation for Fan Wumian, the mainland, and Macau. Only the British car manufacturing industry has lost the opportunity to create new glory. However, for certain balancing considerations, high-end luxury models such as Aston Martin, Range Rover, and Defender will still be produced in the UK, and all of them except for the in-vehicle system will be directly purchased.

Core components such as engines and transmissions are things that will gradually be phased out. Considering the costs of research and development and factory construction, purchasing them directly will not be much more expensive than producing them ourselves.

In his view, if it can be purchased, it is not worth spending time and a lot of money on independent research and development. He can also rely on purchase orders to avoid being held hostage by other car companies. After all, there are so many parts suppliers, and someone will always be vying to make money.

The British animation company that produced "Peppa Pig" stopped contacting Fan Wumian at the end of last month. After asking around to see if they had found any other suitable buyers, they simply cut their price down to £2800 million and did not continue to insist on the £3000 million offer.

The person in charge of the IP operation project led a team to London to communicate with the other party, and finally reached a deal for £2480 million.

Zuo Ziyan occasionally spoke with Fan Wumian on the phone and knew about this matter. She recounted it now as an amusing anecdote:
"After the major shareholder of Astley Baker Davies, the company that produces Peppa Pig, sold the company, he immediately bought a manor in Cambridgeshire. A London media outlet even said that he bought it for too much. In 2003, the company almost sold itself for £450 million due to a shortage of funds, but the potential buyer thought it was too expensive and the deal ultimately fell through."

Fan Wumian was lying on her long legs, lost in thought, and explained:
“Peppa Pig is currently producing a new series. Theoretically, once the animated series ends, the company’s revenue will plummet. After losing revenue from the television station, it can only make money from DVDs, comic books, and other channels. The profit channels are not very stable and cannot support a valuation of £2400 million.”

"My idea is that the animation business can be self-sufficient, and we can promote it through various channels and then make money by selling dolls, comics, toys, clothing and stationery."

"If we can turn it into a blockbuster, the net profit will be very substantial, so there's no need to wait until the animated series completely ends and the company's value declines before making a move."

Zuo Ziyan ruffled his hair with her hands and said:
“You should get a haircut. I hadn’t watched Peppa Pig before, but after you bought it, I watched a few episodes and found it quite relaxing. Little babies should especially like it. When it comes to marketing, the previous boss of Astley Baker Davis was far inferior to you. At least you have a great influence in Asia, and countless people will know about it.”

Fan Wumian smiled and said:
"I have already contacted senior executives at CCTV. Once the Chinese dubbing is completed, it will be released on the children's channel and Tudou.com."

"We have sold a lot of TV dramas and variety shows to TV stations recently, and the sales of overseas copyrights are also not bad. Many of our artists have been able to get overseas endorsements and commercial performances, but the market size is too small and we are basically nearing the end of our development."

"Did you know that China National Petroleum Corporation transferred 400 billion RMB to my company's account? I'm helping them buy shares in Apple, Google, Amazon, Nvidia, and Facebook."

Zuo Ziyan was still unsure of the value of this investment portfolio, and casually remarked:

"Congratulations! I also heard that Paramount Pictures wants to make a biopic about you?"

Fan Wumian chuckled and said:

"That's true, but I didn't authorize them to have others act in my story. It feels very strange, so let's wait and see." (End of Chapter)