Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 608 Abacus
The national film and television market has not been doing well in the past year. After the Spring Festival, only one domestic film, "The Lost Tomb," broke the 10 billion yuan box office mark, and that was achieved through improper means. Throughout the year, only "The Lost Tomb" achieved its guaranteed minimum revenue, but the distributor still lost money.

The summer movie season saw stagnant growth compared to the same period last year, and the Lunar New Year movie season is currently a complete failure.

Film and television stocks generally fluctuated and declined, with Wanda suffering the most. Affected by market conditions, coupled with the failure of Wanda Cinema's acquisition of Wanda Film and Television, Wanda became the worst-performing domestic film and television stock in the past year, with a decline of 55%.

Among the other companies, Huayi fell by 47%, and Guangxian fell by 35%.

This refers to the stock price, not the company's revenue and profit.

Autumn Pictures was certainly not immune to the situation. Last year, Autumn Pictures had a string of blockbuster hits and was in a very good position. The bubble inflated Autumn Pictures' market value to a peak of more than 900 billion yuan.

However, the industry has entered a period of decline this year, and the stock price has also begun to deflate in the fall. In addition, there has indeed been a lack of blockbuster works this year, so a decline is inevitable.

In fact, the box office performance of a single film has a very small impact on the company's stock price. Even when "Warcraft" broke 10 billion, Huayi's stock price didn't rise.

Of course, this is the general case. If it is a blockbuster film that breaks film history records, it will still have a certain impact on the stock price.

Over the past year, Fall Films' stock price has also fallen by more than 30%.

On the 29th, the initial public offering (IPO) shares of Autumn Pictures will be released from lock-up.

Many investors who bought shares in the early 2016 financial crisis began to cash out.

This is a perfectly normal investment behavior, and Autumn Pictures has no reason not to allow shareholders to cash out.

But what's annoying about financial reporters is that even when it's a normal cash-out behavior, they still ask how they view the large number of shareholders cashing out on the first day after the lock-up period expires.

Shareholders holding less than 5% of shares do not need to issue announcements when reducing their holdings. How did they find out that a large number of shareholders were cashing out?

Huang Xiaoming said he would not cash out his shares in Autumn Pictures in the short term, and that he would take advantage of the current low price to buy some more: "I remain optimistic about the development of Autumn Pictures."

Most of the celebrity shareholders interviewed either said they would not cash out, or said they did not understand these matters and were not considering cashing out. The latter can be seen as wanting to cash out but not wanting to say it outright.

杨蜜持有230万股秋天影业股票，年中秋天实施了一次10送1派1元的分红，所以杨蜜现在持有253万股，还提前落袋了23万元现金分红。

Yang Mi herself does not want to cash out; she does not need a large sum of money for the time being and remains optimistic about the future development of Qiu Tian.

But her partner, Zeng Jia, had his eye on her money.

She hoped Yang Mi would extract the money and then, whether as a loan or to increase her shareholding, give it to Jiaxing.

The reason given was that the company's performance had been poor over the past two years, and they hoped to use her money to seek further development.

Next year is the last year of the bet. If we don't meet the target, we'll lose 3 million yuan with a 15% annual interest rate. We'll have to work for others to pay off the debt.

Yang Mi also knows that the company's business is not doing particularly well. She has worked her hardest for the past two years, but there is still a high chance that the 3.1 million yuan performance target will not be achieved.

Zeng Jia spoke lightly, with very good reasoning, but Yang Mi was not a naive and easily swayed person.

The company is the company, and the individual is the individual. She receives her salary at market rates for filming company productions. Now, people are trying to use loans and increased shareholdings to get her personal money. Yang Mi isn't that easy to fool.

But the risks of the bet were very real, and Zeng Jia's words weren't without merit. However, Yang Mi was still reluctant to invest tens of millions of yuan in the company, so she said, "Why don't we wait a little longer? 'Eternal Love' will be broadcast next month, let's see how it goes."

"Hey, you're talking about increasing my shareholding, but I still don't know how many shares I own in the company. How many shares does the company plan to give me if I increase my shareholding?"

Ironically, since the founding of Jaywalk Studio, everyone knows that Yang Mi is the founder and the boss, but Yang Mi herself doesn't even know how many shares she owns in the company. She is more like the elder sister of all the artists in the company than the boss of the artists. She doesn't participate much in the management of the company's business and the artists—she is so busy all year round that she doesn't have time to participate in management.

When Yang Mi mentioned shares, Zeng Jia changed the subject, saying that she planned to talk to Yang Mi about becoming a regular on a variety show next year: "Filming variety shows is easier and makes money faster."

Yang Mi is currently filming the second part of "The Interpreter," titled "The Negotiator," and Zeng Jia has instructed her to follow up on Lu Yang's storyline.

“Lu Yang is highly valued by Autumn Pictures, so you should contact him more often. Didn’t he show you a novel before, saying he wanted to adapt it into a movie? You need to keep up with him.”

Zeng Jia was referring to "A Writer's Odyssey," which Lu Yang decided to adapt when filming "Brotherhood of Blades II." The first actors cast were Lei Jiayin and Yang Mi, who were also in the same production.

But Yang Mi said, "It's hard to say whether this movie can be made or not. Even if it can be made, it will take three to five years. What's the use of me following up now?"

"Oh, this is to show our sincerity, so that we can cooperate better in the future. Li Bingbing spent two years working on 'Mirage' before finally getting it done, and now, in the fall, we've given her a co-production like 'The Meg.' If we stay in touch and build good relationships, people will think of us when it matters. Do I really need to explain such a simple principle to them?"

"Okay, okay, I know. Even my mom isn't as nagging as you," Yang Mi said.

Zeng Jia coaxed her, "You'll only have to work hard for next year. Once we achieve our targets, we'll officially be at the table. Then you'll be the real Boss Yang. Just think, by then, our company's valuation will be at least 10 billion, and you'll be the head of a 10 billion company. There's never been such a young female boss in the entertainment industry before; you'll be the first!"

Zeng Jia continued to paint a rosy picture for Yang Mi, saying that if they achieved the performance target next year, they would spend another 3-5 years moving from the New Third Board to the main board: "That's the real stage for capital."

"At that time, all the translators and negotiators will be working for us."

These words completely charmed Yang Mi, and even over the phone, one could imagine her delighted expression.

Zeng Jia still wanted the shares of Qiutian Film Industry held by Yang Mi, but she knew she couldn't rush things. She figured she'd wait two months.

That same evening, Yang Ying saw the news that Huang Xiaoming and Qin Lan had made a fortune from the initial public offering (IPO) shares of Autumn Pictures.

The report states that the couple purchased a total of 14 million shares. In the fall, they will receive a bonus of 1 yuan for every 10 shares held. They currently hold a total of 154 million shares, plus a dividend of 140,000 yuan.

The dividends aren't much, but the 154 million original shares are very valuable, worth over 3000 million.

Compared to the purchase price for the two individuals, it was an extremely profitable venture.

Yang Ying has a high commercial value, and she can afford to make 3000 million, but seeing the two of them lying on the big tree in autumn and making a net profit of 3000 million without doing anything makes her furious.

She's never made this much money from investing before!
Adding to her frustration was the fact that "The Ferryman" received poor reviews and her expected rise to fame did not materialize.

It can be said that we have lost three things: people, money, and works.

So, around 2 a.m., she grabbed her car keys and prepared to test drive her newly bought sports car and relax a bit.

…………

(End of this chapter)