Debuted right after graduating from high school

Such a large-scale cooperation plan involves huge gains and losses, so it cannot be finalized in just a few words. It needs to be studied and discussed by senior executives before being submitted to the board of directors for final decision.

From the valuation of digital copyrights to the calculation of equity shares, the setting of exit mechanisms, and who holds the power of decision-making, any problem in any link could lead to the failure of the cooperation.

Fan Wumian had prepared for a long time, taking all aspects into consideration and producing a proposal.

The proposal was distributed to everyone, giving them some time to review it until the appetizers were served. Only then did they put down their documents and begin to enjoy their dinner.

The top executives of several Hollywood film giants around him were still most concerned about "how much equity they could acquire." Paramount CEO Brad Gray, who was busy producing results to impress the board, sipped caviar and asked:

“We at Paramount own a large number of classic works, including the rights to Indiana Jones, The Godfather, Forrest Gump, and Mission: Impossible. If we were to use these film resources as equity investment, what percentage of the shares could we acquire?”

Fan Wumian smiled and shook his head, saying:
"It's not clear yet. If it's just a movie, the shareholding percentage might be relatively low. But if the cooperation is carried out in the name of the parent company Viacom Group, and they also license the digital rights of the TV dramas on their TV stations to us, then we can hold more than 10% of the shares. In the future, we will also receive additional revenue by providing digital resources for new TV dramas."

"Based on my experience running Tudou.com, people shouldn't overestimate the customer acquisition and monetization capabilities of outdated copyrights. In fact, producing and exclusively distributing new dramas is the most important thing. Most of the funds I invest will be used to create multiple new TV series."

"TV dramas and variety shows are slightly more valuable than movies, especially classic American sitcoms like 'Friends,' which people enjoy using to pass the time online. Even after they've ended, they still have the potential to generate good revenue."

The reason these Hollywood giants hold such a prestigious position is largely due to their control over film libraries accumulated over many years, which generates relatively stable revenue and continuously enriches their cash flow.

Even though Paramount has only produced and distributed a small number of films in recent years, its revenue is still higher than that of many second-tier film companies, and it is living comfortably on its past successes.

Finding a new channel to monetize their film library resources is a major highlight that everyone is very concerned about.

Now there's an opportunity to directly convert digital copyrights, which aren't as important as they are now, into shares in a video website. Paramount CEO Brad Gray was very interested after hearing this, adding:
"I'll discuss it with the parent company; I find this cooperation proposal quite interesting."

Given the partnership between Fan Wumian and Paramount, it's inevitable that some people will think that the two have reached some other tacit understanding in private and are putting on a show for everyone.

Disney CEO Robert Iger has a vast portfolio of cartoon and animation copyrights under his command, and his businesses, including Disney parks, broadcasting and television networks, and merchandise, contribute substantial profits. He has both money and resources, giving him ample confidence to say this:

"I probably won't get involved in your collaboration. Actually, Disney has been considering developing a streaming business, but it hasn't been officially launched yet."

"Several companies have entrusted him with managing their film libraries. Doesn't that constitute a monopoly?"

"Excuse me, you two continue your discussion, I'll be leaving now."

After saying that, Robert Iger stood up, shook hands with Fan Wumian, and left without hesitation.

Seeing this, Fan Wumian was a little annoyed, but he never thought he could take down all the Hollywood giants, so he didn't take it too seriously.

Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons said in a sour tone:
"It's just that he spent $74 billion to acquire Pixar Animation Studios. He seems to think that Disney has surpassed all of us and is not worthy of discussing cooperation with him. I hate his arrogant and conceited attitude the most."

Paramount CEO Brad Gray nodded repeatedly after listening:
“I feel the same way. He was just lucky to take over a high-performing company, unlike us who face all sorts of problems and are hesitant to do things.”

Time Warner made a series of poor decisions in recent years. Just after merging with the famous internet company AOL, creating a sensational multi-billion dollar merger, it was hit by the bursting of the Nasdaq bubble at the beginning of this century, which dealt it a severe blow.

Richard Parsons was appointed chairman of the troubled AOL Time Warner group in a time of crisis. After finally getting the company's business back on track, he naturally envied the Disney CEO, whose career was going smoothly.

Howard Stringer, president of Sony Pictures America, continued to eat his dinner leisurely. He was just a high-level employee. Above him were the heads of Sony Pictures headquarters, and above them were senior executives of the Sony Group. It was not Howard Stringer's place to worry about whether or not to cooperate with Fan Wumian.

Currently, Sony Pictures owns Columbia Pictures and MGM Studios. While not as powerful as Disney, its parent company, the Sony Group, is a large and powerful conglomerate. Howard Stringer began by saying:
"How many children still enjoy watching Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck? I really don't know why Disneyland can attract so many tourists. I've always thought that Tom and Jerry is the classic, and every episode is very interesting."

"Mr. Fan, it seems you've recently been collaborating with Illumination Entertainment Animation Company? Is this a move to expand into the animation market?"

"If the opportunity arises, perhaps we can cooperate."

The fact that Disney's representative left directly did not affect the fact that the CEOs of companies such as Paramount and Time Warner were very interested in the plan proposed by Fan Wumian.

We chatted about all sorts of random topics at the dinner table, from golf to deep-sea fishing, and then to Hollywood gossip, such as Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt encountering a madman and almost being shot dead in front of their house.

They tacitly avoided discussing cooperation, as if afraid that Fan Wumian would see through their true intentions.

During the discussion, someone mentioned Michael Bay, the director of "Transformers." This "explosives maniac" recently caused some controversy by arranging a special audition for Megan Fox, in which she was asked to clean his Ferrari and the footage was recorded.

With a wild beauty like Megan Fox standing in front of you, it's hard not to wonder if director Michael Bay had her do something else besides washing cars.

Fan Wumian declined to comment on this.

It just seems that Megan Fox has been in the spotlight far too frequently since she became famous a few months ago because of "Transformers". She's starting to resemble internet celebrities like Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian. She can't handle her fame, and sooner or later she'll cause some trouble.

He dated Megan Fox a few times, but it was purely for mutual amusement; one was lusting after the other's body, and the other was lusting after the other's money and resources. They almost never contacted each other on a regular basis.

Before that girl's frequent exposure and subsequent backlash could ruin her future, Fan Wumian thought that the film "Rich Second Generation," tailor-made for Megan Fox, needed to be released as soon as possible. He wanted to take advantage of Megan Fox's high popularity and make more money off her.

As for trying to pull him back out of old friendships, even if Fan Wumian were willing to waste his breath, Megan Fox, blinded by the fame and fortune of the entertainment industry, might not be willing to listen to him again.
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After dinner, Fan Wumian went upstairs to his suite. There, under D'Addario's robe, was a black bodysuit, seemingly covering something, but in reality, it covered nothing. It shimmered in the dim light, making it hard to look away.

D'Addario, of course, knew how alluring his outfit was. As he helped Fan Wumian remove his jacket and tie, he asked curiously:

"How did your talks with those people go? How many companies agreed to cooperate with you?"

Fan Wumian was delighted with it and replied:
"Today was just a brief exchange; we'll need to send someone to discuss the specifics in more detail later. It's not that easy to get a result."

"Anyway, their attitude seemed quite good. Only the CEO of Disney explicitly refused, took a few bites of the appetizer, and left early."

“It’s not a big deal. On the bright side, it could even be a good thing, meaning I can retain more of my original shares.”

"I've made it clear that I want to cooperate with them. If they don't agree on their own, they can't blame me for breaking the rules and taking away their interests. That would remove their reason to join forces against me. Looks like I'll need to stay in Hollywood for a few more days. When are you leaving?"

Daddario said regretfully:
"I'm leaving tomorrow. The company has already booked my plane ticket. The Star Trek crew will be filming some scenes in Germany first, and they probably won't be back until Christmas."

Besides Daddario, one of Fan Wumian's own people who were assigned to the crew was Zhuang Muxi, who had just finished filming "A Quiet Place Part III" and was resting in Hong Kong.

It's been more than two months since I last saw Zhuang Muxi, and I miss her a little. Unfortunately, we're both quite busy, and it's not easy to coordinate our schedules.

Fan Wumian comforted her, saying:
"Keep it up! Once these movies you've been filming are released, you'll become a real superstar."

After a full meal, it's time to get some exercise.

After taking some time to finish his business, Fan Wumian took a shower and then threw the tattered mesh clothes on the bed into a trash bag, telling Daddario to find a chance to throw them away when he left the house.

These private items that might be found by paparazzi certainly can't be thrown away in the hotel trash can. Who knows, some reporters might bribe hotel staff to pull some dirty tricks in order to get a big story.

Better safe than sorry. Many celebrities have ruined their reputations because they were not careful enough.

Feeling refreshed and invigorated.

Fan Wumian sat down at his desk again and opened his laptop.

I saw news online that Tencent's total market capitalization has exceeded HK$900 billion for the first time today. Benefiting from multiple positive news, it has not been greatly impacted by the subprime mortgage crisis recently, and its stock price has been steadily rising.

In contrast, the Shanghai Composite Index has been declining steadily for the past two or three months, falling from over 5000 points to 4070 points.

It was only a matter of time before the market fell below 4000 points, but many investors refused to believe it, thinking that the A-share market had returned to a reasonable range, once again presenting an opportunity to buy on the dip and wait for a rebound.

There are all sorts of birds in a big forest, and there's too much nonsense on the internet. Fan Wumian thinks that the current situation is just a minor correction, and the real big drop in A-shares has not yet begun. Even if the Shanghai Composite Index falls below 2000 points next year, it won't surprise him too much.

There are a lot of news stories related to Fan Wumian.

For example, Tencent released concept images of its super headquarters, planning to build a three-tower complex next to Shenzhen Bay, with the tallest building exceeding 388 meters.

The desertification control project he took over had just introduced its first batch of 2.5 black piglets. Purchasing adult pigs directly would save time, but the cost would be several times higher than that of piglets. Anyway, the desert won't grow legs and be abandoned, so there's no rush.

There's also the Prince Fu's Mansion in Yanjing, which is currently undergoing demolition and renovation, with plans to officially rebuild and repair it starting next year.

Because it was listed as a national key cultural relics protection unit in 2001, many of the main buildings cannot be directly demolished and rebuilt. It is estimated that it will cost 3 million RMB to build the Wangfu Clubhouse.

The cultural tourism resort developed in cooperation with Benshan Media has attracted widespread attention because it plans to build a ski resort and the most luxurious bathroom in the country. The horse farm developed in cooperation with Master Qian has also been widely reported by many media outlets.

Meanwhile, Huashi Petroleum, whose market value has been declining, has lost 30% of its peak value. The 400 billion RMB of idle funds that Fan Wumian managed for it are clearly insufficient to support the company's enormous size.

After reading a lot of news, including the premiere of the variety show "A Bite of China" which broke the ratings record for variety shows in the same time slot, and the annual comedy competition which also performed well, winning the hearts of countless young viewers with its novel comedy variety show content.

Huashen Coal Industry, which Fan Wumian bought casually earlier, has recently benefited from the positive news of the government's large-scale closure of small coal mines, control of overloading, winter heating, and economic growth, and its value has increased significantly as coal prices have soared.

While checking his email, he discovered that an A-share listed coal mining group had offered 11 billion RMB to buy out the remaining mining rights for the coal mine for the next ten years or so. Fan Wumian had only spent a little over 7 million RMB to buy the coal mine, with his actual investment being less than 1 million RMB.

Selling the Huashen Coal Mine now would yield a pre-tax return of around 3.8 million RMB. Feeling that keeping such an asset wouldn't be of much use, Fan Wumian readily agreed to the acquisition.

An executive from Shanzhaiwang Media even sent an email to inquire when filming for the movie "Your Name" would begin, mentioning that they were preparing to start auditions for actors.

The reason why filming has been delayed is that Dilraba Dilmurat had gotten a bit tanned before. Fan Wumian remembered that the female lead she played had a younger sister character in the script, which unexpectedly reminded him of another actress, Hanikezi, who also came from Northwest China.

Compared to Dilraba Dilmurat, Gulnazar, and others, Hanikezi has little presence. In his previous life, he had interacted with this girl on set and thought she was beautiful, had an interesting personality, and was quite likable.

The problem is that even if you know such a person exists, it's quite troublesome to find her. Since you're neither related to her nor have any connection with her, there's no excuse to make a big fuss about finding Hanikezi.

Fan Wumian replied to the email, only telling them to start preparing and that he would make a decision after returning to China to check on Dilraba's condition. (End of this chapter)