Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 739 Remediation
As for the bloated staff in the company, this is a bigger issue and cannot be cut like production investment, which Li Qiutang can just cut at will. It needs to be optimized gradually.

According to Li Qiutang's understanding, Guangxian has no more than 600 employees, Huayi and Bona have around 1,000 employees, and Wanta Films (non-cinema) has never had more than 200 employees.

Even though Autumn Pictures is an industry leader and larger in scale, 1700 people is still far too many.

"Our building can't even fit all these people."

"I'll give you three months, at the latest by next Chinese New Year. You can gradually push this work forward." When it really comes to layoffs, capitalist Li will definitely not hold back. "Don't cause any trouble."

Afterwards, Li Qiutang personally pushed forward a departmental restructuring project.

The company's original strategic investment department was split up, and some employees were taken away to establish a brand new investment subsidiary, focusing on cross-industry investment, headed by Li Qiutang. The original strategic investment department was retained within the company, focusing on innovative investment in the film and television industry.

This is a common practice among many companies. However, listed companies making cross-industry investments can raise market suspicions – investors may perceive it as a deviation from the company's core business. Establishing a dedicated investment fund or company can significantly alleviate external scrutiny.

However, some members of the management team see this move as Li Qiutang's attempt to strengthen his control over the company.

No one objected. He was the chairman, so he had the authority. Moreover, establishing a professional investment company to manage the company's finances would allow the company to focus more on its core film and television business.

As the richest film company, these funds need an outlet; keeping them idle is a big problem.

Li Qiutang did have a selfish motive to strengthen control, but he also said: "The external environment is deteriorating rapidly now, and the hot money in the film and television industry is receding. Rather than hoping to bring money in from outside, we might as well earn it ourselves."

One of the key reasons this work was able to proceed smoothly was that many people in the company knew that Li Qiutang had long ago made astute investments in companies like Apple, Amazon, and Netflix.

Li Qiutang said that these investments were made before he established the company. The company knew that he had made the purchases, but no one knew exactly how much he had bought or how much he had earned.

However, some busybodies have estimated that Chairman Li has at least $10 billion floating overseas.

After the company went public, many of Li Qiutang's personal investment activities were suspended—the chairman's personal cross-industry investments also affect the listed company.

Now that a professional investment company has been established, Li Qiutang will definitely contribute her investment opportunities to the company, which is not a bad thing.

To be honest, Li Qiutang herself didn't know how much money she had overseas.

However, after this incident, Li Qiutang really started to consider taking all the money back to help the company weather the upcoming industry downturn.

That's a story for another time.

Now, Li Qiutang established a new investment company, and the first investment he asked the new company to make was CATL, which had just gone public a few months earlier.

People in the film and television industry are too lazy to even bother with him.

But that's alright. We can make large-scale transactions or negotiated transfers, or even break down large orders into smaller ones in the secondary market and buy slowly. Li Qiutang has prepared 2 million yuan for this investment. Anyway, the next year or two will be a good opportunity to buy CATL, so there's no worry about not being able to build a position or make money.

Li Qiutang was so busy at the company that he didn't even have time to go home and eat with his wife every day. Liu Yifei would come to the company every few days to eat in the cafeteria and with him.

Today, they even brought two lunchboxes to his office to deliver food.

"They still deliver meals?" Li Qiutang hadn't seen meal deliveries in a long time. "The last time I had a meal delivered like this was the last time."

Liu Yifei paused for half a second before reacting, then laughed and said, "What nonsense are you talking about?"

After setting out his food, I said, "No matter how well the cafeteria or takeout is prepared, it can't compare to the taste of home-cooked meals."

"Hard to say, we had a deluxe takeout meal yesterday that cost 300 yuan per person." Li Qiutang was determined to annoy his wife today.

Liu Yifei said, "No matter how luxurious the takeout is, can it taste as good as what my wife makes herself? Come on."

Li Qiutang sat down: "You made this yourself? Then it's even more inedible. With your cooking skills, it's half-cooked. You're just trying to poison me so you can remarry."

"You can't expect anything good to come out of a dog's mouth. My cooking skills have improved a lot, eat up." As Li Qiutang ate, Liu Yifei looked around the office and said, "You only come to the company a few times a year, yet you occupy such a big office. Isn't that a bit of a waste?"

"I initially said no, because I don't really use it much, but the company insisted on reserving a room for me. Wow, your skills have really improved."

"What do you think I do all day at home?" Liu Yifei said casually, sitting in her office chair. "Luo Jin and Tang Yan are getting married next week. Are you going?"

"Go ahead, why not? In Vienna, right?"

"Ah."

"I've just finished my work. Let's stay in Austria for a couple more days and have some fun."

"Okay." The two had been saying they wanted to go out for some time alone, but they hadn't been able to find the time. "Then I'll bring a couple more pretty outfits with me."

"Two sets?" Li Qiutang would be a fool to believe her.

"Don't worry about it. Just bring my new camera with me and take lots of pictures."

"Sister, we've lost three cameras in Europe. Can't we just use our phones to take pictures?"

"My phone can't capture my stunning good looks." How arrogant!

Li Qiutang rolled her eyes, ignored her, and continued eating. Then she suddenly asked her again:

"Hey, did Tang Yan invite Yang Mi to her wedding?" Li Qiutang always knows how to bring up the most awkward topics.

"How can I ask that?"

"Are they really going to never speak to each other again?"

"How can we get back together? Things turned out the way they were back then, and as time went by, the relationship couldn't be repaired."

“You’re quite something. Your group of girlfriends have been together for over ten years.” Li Qiutang continued, mainly referring to Shu Chang and Zhang Liangying. Before Liu Yifei could speak, she added, “It’s mainly because you don’t have any competing interests. You just eat, drink, play, and have fun together. There are no conflicts.”

"That's where my cleverness lies," Liu Yifei said proudly, adding that she has several close girlfriends she's known for over a decade. "I don't make any financial connections with my best friends." This might just be another form of cold-heartedness. "Learn from me."

Li Qiutang doesn't have a friend in the entertainment industry like Shu Chang does with Liu Yifei. His best friend is outside the industry and now runs a car repair shop and a barbecue restaurant in his hometown in Northeast China.

However, this is also a lesson Liu Yifei learned from her former best friend Jiang Yiyan.

As the couple were talking, Chen Zhixi knocked on the door and came in.

"Oh, Yifei's here too." Seeing that Li Qiutang was still eating, she added, "How thoughtful of you to bring food."

"See, I told you so," Liu Yifei said, getting excited. "He even thought I was old-fashioned, saying that it's from this day and I'm still delivering food."

“No matter the era, sending meals is a wife’s way of showing her love,” Chen Zhixi said with a smile, then took out a document for Li Qiutang to sign.

"Chinese or English?"

"English."

Li Qiutang glanced at the contract briefly; it was an investment contract for Lantern Entertainment's "The Speed ​​King," with Autumn Pictures contributing $2000 million to participate in global revenue sharing.

"I was just saying I wanted to save money, and now another hundred million is gone." Li Qiutang said, but still signed the document.

After receiving the contract, Chen Zhixi smiled and said, "I won't disturb you two flirting anymore."

(End of this chapter)