Chinese Entertainment Intelligence King

Chapter 323 Punching Orange Sky, Kicking Sina, a Lively August

The turmoil at Orange Sky Entertainment was quickly suppressed; even the most incompetent company wouldn't sit idly by while its artists publicly insulted each other.

However, this suppression did not solve the actual problem; on the contrary, the internal undercurrents became increasingly turbulent due to the outbreak of contradictions.

Yan Li didn't need to trigger the system's intelligence or make any special inquiries; Qin Lan and Dong Xuan simply kept sending him messages.

Qin Lan's Teddy Sisters group, including Ma Yili and Li Xiaolu, are all at Orange Sky Entertainment, as is Wen Zhang, so they are well-informed.

Dong Xuan's best friend Guan Yue's husband, Tong Dawei, is the top male star at Orange Sky Entertainment. Although Yang Xue, who is also on good terms with Dong Xuan, has signed with Yi An Entertainment, she has been with Orange Sky Entertainment for a long time and has her own network of connections.

Not to mention Wang Jinghua, even if her loyal followers don't consider working for her, their long-standing friendship means that passing on a message is nothing.

Seriously, you don't know until you calculate it, and you'll be shocked when you do.

Previously, Yan Li thought that Huayi Brothers had been quite well infiltrated by him, but in reality, Li Bingbing and her sister, as well as Huo Siyan, were all well-known, and the Wang brothers were aware of this and took some precautions.

Now, Orange Sky has been completely infiltrated, riddled with "traitors," and Mr. Wu can't cover it up no matter what he tries.

This not only shows that Orange Sky has internal management problems, but also that Orange Sky has not managed to win over these artists, and their loyalty and trust in the company are very limited.

Let alone Yi'an, which is intentionally strict in this regard, even Huayi Brothers is much better than Orange Sky.

The incident involving Li Bingbing and her sister, as well as Huo Siyan, had its reasons. Most of Huayi Brothers' artists are loyal to the company and at least wouldn't easily talk about company matters to outsiders.

However, it's understandable when you think about it. Orange Sky Artist Management was previously managed by Wong Jing-hua, and now that they've fallen out, her close associates are bound to have designs on Orange Sky.

Many of Orange Sky's core members have only been signed for a short period, mostly within one or two years, so their emotional connection with the company is limited.

More importantly, apart from promoting a group of people with "Red Cliff", Orange Sky itself has limited film and television resources, and its artists mainly take on roles outside of film and television.

Without substantial resource support, and unable to produce films or television shows produced by their own company, expecting artists to be loyal to the company is simply absurd.

According to Yan Li's information, the atmosphere among artists within Orange Sky Entertainment is extremely tense, and they have begun to form cliques and factions.

For example, Tong Dawei joined forces with his good friend Wen Zhang, as well as Li Xiaolu and Ma Yili, who had worked together on "Struggle". Hu Jun and Xia Yu gathered several of Wang Jinghua's protégés.

Yuan Li, Hao Lei, Mei Ting and others also have their own factions and cliques. Rumor has it that Yuan and Mei had another fight, which seems to involve the competition for the top spot after Chen and Hao.

Currently, Yuan and Mei are considered the top contenders for Orange Sky's leading lady position. Both are considered Orange Sky's core members, with Mei having more seniority and Yuan being a key figure brought in by Orange Sky. Their relationship is somewhat similar to that of Li Bingbing and Zhou Xun at Huayi Brothers.

When vying for the top spot, conflicts are inevitable.

Judging from this, it seems that Yuan Li suffered a loss and had been holding back her anger. She took this opportunity to vent it, revealing a lot of shocking information about Mei. Mei Ting's temper is actually quite good, but she still managed to provoke him, causing a huge scene. Even when Boss Wu stepped in, he couldn't stop it.

Goodness, Yan Li is truly impressed. This Yuan Li is even more of a spy than an undercover agent.

Despite having many "undercover agents," aside from Li Xiaolu, who is a bit of a madman and dares to secretly cause trouble, people like Tong Dawei and Ma Yili at most just pass on a message.

Unlike Yuan Li, who engages in public feuds and internal power struggles, she deserves undeniable credit for Orange Sky's current chaotic state.

This also served as a reminder to Yan Li to be more careful about the personality of the artists he signs in the future.

Bringing in these crazy and eccentric people is like planting landmines in our own backyard.

Yan Li wouldn't just stand by and watch the undercurrents simmering in the Orange Sky; he would fan the flames and ignite the fire where necessary.

There might be some internal work to be done at Orange Sky, but externally, there are countless analytical posts about Orange Sky on the internet and in the media.

Boss Wu was right about one thing: Yan Li is indeed good at propaganda warfare, not to mention he now has a powerful weapon in his hands: Weibo.

A lie repeated a thousand times becomes the truth, and so does a rumor.

Many people go online without thinking, lacking clear subjective judgment about online information. They readily accept whatever is said and are easily swayed by others' opinions.

Even more than a decade later, many people still think this way, let alone in 2008.

There are still a lot of people who believe outrageous rumors such as Zhou Jielun sneaking into disaster areas to eat instant noodles and Liu Tianxian being a transgender person.

Not to mention the posts about Orange Sky now, which Yan Li personally pointed out, glossing over the good and writing extensively about the bad, combining truth and falsehood, all of which appear to be well-founded.

If this approach were applied to the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, the system would collapse immediately, let alone a single company.

So the effect was quite obvious. Many people know that Wong Jing stole the show, "Red Cliff" lost money, and the acquisition of Golden Harvest was a "dead move" that was like drinking poison to quench thirst, blah blah blah.

In short, Orange Sky suffered a huge loss and is doomed to fail sooner or later.

Under Yan Li's media offensive, it wasn't just the artists at Orange Sky Entertainment that were in turmoil; other departments within the company were also feeling uneasy and agitated.

At this point, Huayi Brothers also seized the opportunity to make its move.

Not only did they thwart two of Orange Sky's projects, but they also managed to sabotage Lu Chuan's new film, "Jinling, Jinling".

Orange Sky Entertainment also invested in this film and used some of their artists, such as Hao Lei and Jiang Yiyan.

Lu was originally with Huayi Brothers, but later left and is now entangled with the enemy. The Wang brothers couldn't stand it and took the opportunity to deal with him.

Lu Chuan was also extremely unlucky.

From the very beginning of its development, "Jinling, Jinling" has been plagued by problems. Funding has been cut off several times, and the production team has been begging and pleading with various parties. They even got involved with Xingmei Media and provided various endorsements and roles to Orange Sky Entertainment in order to secure some funding from them.

Even so, the production was fraught with difficulties. Before filming wrapped up in June, the crew was surrounded by the construction company for eight days due to unpaid wages or other reasons, and was eventually rescued by the police.

As the project was in post-production, Huayi Brothers intervened and halted it.

The reasons for halting the filming vary, but the most direct one is the withholding of the film's official seal, which means the film is not allowed to be shown.

"Jinling, Jinling" had a large investment and was backed by companies like Starlight Media. Huayi Brothers had the ability to cause trouble, but they weren't powerful enough to directly ban the film. Otherwise, what would other companies do?

Therefore, Orange Sky's other projects are simply being delayed or forced to cut their losses and exit, wasting Orange Sky's human and material resources and affecting its cash flow.

As for Lu Chuan's project, he himself was more to blame, and Yan Li was also partly to blame.

This brings us to last year's Lunar New Year film "Assembly" and even earlier, "Lust, Caution." The relevant departments learned a lesson from this and have become much stricter in their review of related topics, even to the point of "better to make a mistake than let it go."

After all, they made a mistake, and it's not them who have to pay the compensation. Once this storm passes, it's not like we can't discuss it.

But if something goes wrong during the release, and the film's tone shifts so quickly, especially since next year is the 60th anniversary, then things will get really messed up.

Therefore, even without Huayi Brothers' interference, Lu Chuan would probably have had a hard time getting through. With Huayi Brothers' interference, it became even more logical for her to succeed.

Huayi Brothers didn't publicize their move, since such methods are not respectable.

However, Orange Sky is clearly affected, and many people have already noticed that Yi An and Huayi are working together to suppress Orange Sky.

With two industry giants joining forces, the rumors predicting Orange Sky's downfall have now become true.

The most direct feedback is that some projects are no longer considering cooperating with Orange Sky, fearing they will be caught in the crossfire.

Some artists at Orange Sky Entertainment also chose to leave the company because they couldn't handle the pressure.

Zhu Yuchen and Zuo Xiaoqing were the first to take action, both announcing their joining [Shiba Culture], founded by Wang Jinghua.

Both of them were the king's protégés, whom he had personally trained. However, their decision to leave Orange Sky was not solely due to their deep affection for the king.

Among the young male stars of Orange Sky Entertainment, there is Tong Dawei, who is a standout, and Wen Zhang, who is also gaining momentum. Zhou Jie, Xia Yu, and Chen Xiaodong are all ranked ahead of Zhu Yuchen.

Zuo Xiaoqing is the same; she was born in the mid-75s, and Yuan Li, Mei Ting, Ma Yili, Wang Yan, Xiao Songjia, and Hao Lei are all around her age, making the competition extremely fierce.

Since the two of them wouldn't be able to make a name for themselves at Orange Sky Entertainment anytime soon, they might as well choose to work with Wong Jing-hua, their veteran agent, since she's been good to them.

Wang Jinghua did not disappoint them and immediately arranged the relevant resources.

She herself has a good network of connections, and with the compensation arranged for her by Yan Li, she might be a little lacking in attracting a top-tier celebrity like Tong Dawei, but dealing with Zhu and Zuo would be a piece of cake.

The departure of Zhu and Zuo directly and significantly shook the morale within Orange Sky.

More importantly, in addition to Wang Jinghua, several other companies are also contacting her to poach her.

Huayi Brothers was the most ruthless, contacting multiple artists, eager to poach Orange Sky Entertainment and avenge their past grievances.

Another company that didn't hold back was Bona. Yu Jianlin realized that a star strategy was useful for going public, so he also started Bona to establish an artist management business and recruit talent.

Bona already has Huang Yi, Gao Hu, Yuan Quan, Yu Xiaowei, and others, and this time they plan to poach popular and ready-to-fight talents like Hu Jun, Xia Yu, and Yuan Li.

To be honest, Bona Film Group is the happiest of Huayi Brothers and Yi An's collaboration with Orange Sky.

Bona has a big reputation, but its own strength is not strong and its business is relatively singular. The rise of Orange Sky only threatens Yi An and Huayi, but it has a huge impact on Bona, which was originally ranked below the two.

When the eldest and second eldest brothers fight, they don't necessarily want to kill the third eldest, but the one who most wants the third eldest to die is definitely the fourth eldest.

Without Huayi Brothers or Yi An even giving a heads-up, Fatty Yu charged forward on his own, eager to tear Orange Sky down.

Yi An also sent people to make contact. Yan Li wasn't very interested in Orange Sky's artists; the main problem was that they caused trouble and kept Orange Sky from having a good time.

Large companies took the lead, and other smaller companies followed suit.

Orange Sky is a giant after all, and their appeal is much weaker, but we might as well take a chance and maybe we'll get something out of it.

Mr. Wu was extremely troubled by the chaos at Orange Sky.

Both Yi An and Huayi Brothers were ruthless in their actions, but in terms of actual results, Yi An's blow was significantly greater.

This directly threw Orange Sky's artist management business into chaos. Don't underestimate the impact of artist management on Orange Sky.

Orange Sky plans to go public through a backdoor listing next year and needs celebrities to implement a celebrity strategy to boost the stock price.

Now, many of Orange Sky's artists are disloyal and some have even run away or are preparing to run away. What's the point of their celebrity strategy? The market isn't stupid. Orange Sky's chaos will directly impact their IPO plans and stock performance.

Boss Wu wanted to end the war and seek peace, but Huayi and Yi'an ignored him.

If we let them go after fighting to this point, it would be a waste of our time.

This isn't like before when conflicts arose, and neither side wanted to escalate the situation by simply backing down and lowering their heads.

This is a real business competition, with the goal of crippling Orange Sky, or better yet, killing it.

Yan Li, in particular, understood all too well what was going on. Cheng Tian hadn't held back at all in their schemes against Yi Anke, and now they were scared and wanted to back down and call a truce. But such good things don't come easily.

Because there was no open suppression, the approach taken was to weaken and create chaos, and the authorities did not intervene.

Commercial competition is inevitable, but as long as it doesn't go too far, have a negative impact, or involve national or public interests, relevant authorities will not easily get involved.

Even for the official authorities, Orange Sky was just a minor incident; what was more exciting was the "Weibo War" with Sina.

...

In August, with the start of the Olympics, Sina's microblogging platform was launched.

With features strikingly similar to Weibo, coupled with the previous feud over blogs, the two sides quickly clashed, launching a Weibo war. To be fair, Sina's microblogging platform had the upper hand in this war, as it could directly challenge the established Weibo platform.

Initially, Weibo considered whether to avoid merging with Weibo users to prevent giving them traffic.

But after discussion, it was decided that it was unnecessary.

Although Sina lacked the first-mover advantage of Weibo and encountered various major events, it could still quickly enhance the influence of microblogs through its portal website, media resources, and blogs.

To put it bluntly, this Weibo war was bound to happen sooner or later, so we might as well start it sooner and take advantage of Weibo's current strengths to bully the weak and control the situation.

Although it may allow Sina Weibo users to take advantage of the situation, Weibo itself will also gain some traffic.

At the same time, Weibo also prepared alternative plans.

If the microblogging war is too effective for microblogging platforms, then blogs will be dragged into it, or even extended to the entire Sina platform, to divert their traffic.

The so-called Weibo war is actually very simple: grabbing traffic and grabbing users.

It just so happened to coincide with the Olympics, so the two companies were vying for attention and popularity, while also seeing who could attract more new users.

In terms of traffic and popularity, Weibo far surpasses Weibo. Even though Sina has a mature media team, its new mechanism can still rival Weibo.

But there are just too many people on Weibo!

Whether it's Weibo or Weike, they're essentially the same thing. They might have some advantages in certain functions, but they're generally quite similar.

Therefore, even if Yan Li has a cheat code, the technological advantage he gains will not last long before it is imitated.

In this context, the importance of Weibo's first-mover advantage becomes apparent.

Given the same functionality, people naturally prefer platforms with more users and greater popularity. As a result, more and more new users are attracted, making the platform even more popular, thus creating a positive cycle.

Conversely, falling behind at one step leads to falling behind at every step, easily creating a negative cycle that gets worse and worse.

Sina has no choice but to work harder on content, but no matter how good a professional media team is, it can't compare to the many talented people among the general public.

All that hard work in producing the press release was stolen by a few jokes from someone else.

What's most infuriating is that Weibo has a group of people who are copying Sina's articles.

As soon as Sina.com and Weike publish an article or news, it is copied and pasted and appears on Weibo.

Sina's media advantages, ironically, benefited Weibo.

Don't ask if the source is indicated; these were all done by enthusiastic users. I'm not sure about Weibo.

If all else fails, go to court. Sina sues Weibo for over-the-top news release, and Weibo sues Sina for plagiarizing its platform. Let's see who's in the right.

Yan Li has some sense; he knows how Weibo works.

Weibo employees, unaware of the inside story, had long been furious with Sina for copying their content and were constantly cursing Sina and other platforms for being shameless.

The plagiarism of Sina's press release was partly due to competition, but also partly intended to annoy Sina.

Moreover, Sina is not entirely innocent either. They have borrowed a lot of news and trending topics from Weibo, but because of their small user base, the effect is mediocre, and it even attracts many users to Weibo instead.

Indeed, Sina's users, acquired through blogs and Sina.com, experienced the convenience of microblogging.

Many people, dissatisfied with the low activity and small user base of Weibo, went to check it out and found it more fun, so they stayed on Weibo.

They painstakingly acquired new users, and then they even have to give a portion of that money to Weibo.

This also led to Weike's disastrous failure in attracting new users. It was never as good as Weibo to begin with, and now the harder it tries, the stronger Weibo becomes.

Sina is so frustrated it's about to vomit blood!
After the Beijing Olympics concluded, Sina, with the help of various promotional efforts, gained nearly 300 million users in less than a month, far surpassing Weibo's initial success.

After all, Weibo started from scratch and could only rely on basic methods to attract users. It took almost two months for the number of users to exceed 100 million.

However, today's Weibo is not the same as it used to be.

During the entire Olympic Games, Weibo gained approximately 800 million new users, bringing the platform's total user base to over 4000 million, more than ten times that of Sina Weibo.

Yan Li held a special meeting on Weibo to affirm everyone's achievements at the Olympics, while also reiterating that we should not let our guard down.

Weibo had over 100 million users in about two months, and then it surpassed 1000 million in just over a month.

Then, like a snowball rolling downhill, it grew bigger and bigger, and in less than half a year, it was already aiming for the 5000 million mark, and it was expected to achieve its annual target a few months ahead of schedule.

Sina is falling behind step by step, but it is still working hard. If Weibo becomes complacent, it will be overtaken by Sina Weibo.

Therefore, it is precisely at this time that we cannot relax. Instead, we must strike while the iron is hot, and break through Sina's defenses in one fell swoop.

"The company is still financially secure, so we can spend money as needed."

"The Olympics are over, but their influence hasn't faded, especially the Olympic champions, who are still popular with the public. Many of them have joined our Weibo account. Don't let this advantage go to waste, dig deep and explore them thoroughly."

"This Olympics has opened up new possibilities for our Weibo sports section. Sports is a major category, and we can't just let this traffic slip away. We need to have a dedicated team follow up on it, especially the top five European football leagues and the NBA basketball league."

"I've considered the trending topics list as a trump card. The sooner the better. Making Weibo's trending topics a barometer of public opinion will become a major asset for Weibo."

"In addition, it's almost September now, and the first Weibo Night will be held at the end of the year. We need to make preparations. I'll contact them and see if we can find a TV station to broadcast it live."

"..."

Yan Li was a bit long-winded because the financial crisis was coming in September, and he had some things to do, including filming "New Three Kingdoms" later.

Therefore, I can't check Weibo every few days like before, and seize every opportunity to give more instructions.

After the department's senior management meeting ended, he called a small meeting with three core senior executives.

Currently, Yan Li also serves as the CEO of Weibo. After all, Weibo is an emerging platform, and others are feeling their way in the dark about its future development. He, with his flashlight, naturally has to lead the way himself.

However, Yan Li does not intend to remain Weibo's CEO indefinitely.

Once the Weibo war is over and no platform threatens Weibo's position, he will only serve as chairman, responsible for decision-making and direction, while the specific execution will be handed over to the new CEO.

Not only on Weibo, but he is also looking for a "successor" on Yi An's side.

Once Yi'an Film & Television and Yi'an Cinema merge and their listing is stable, it will be time for a new CEO to take office.

They might even arrange it before the IPO, because Yan Li has very little experience in IPOs, so they are considering hiring a CEO who is good at this to fill the gap.

Once the IPO is stable, the interim CEO will leave, and a new CEO with strong management skills will be appointed.

Of course, no matter how the roles change, Yan Li, who will become the chairman, will be the true leader of both companies. The external and internal perceptions and trust in the companies will also come from him. This is the source of Yan Li's confidence in stepping down as CEO and delegating power.

Otherwise, handling the decision-making and execution of two large companies would be too exhausting and leave one with no time to spare.

Don't forget, he also has his eye on Tudou.com, and he also owns an investment company.

Yan Li is a bit of a workaholic, but he has never thought of giving up enjoying life for work.

They're busy like slaves every day, struggling even with their personal lives. What's the point of making so much money?

...

At the end of August, Yan Li visited the set of "The Message" and then headed to Hong Kong.

His visit to Hong Kong was to arrange for his team to make some advance preparations for the financial crisis.

It's one thing to buy up some things domestically at rock-bottom prices, but to stir up trouble in the market is going too far and will easily attract attention and lead to a reckoning later.

So he planned to use Hong Kong to make money overseas.

Yan Li did not explicitly address the team, only stating that he believed the market had changed.

The financial crisis was triggered by the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, but there were actually many signs long before that bankruptcy.

Some insightful people have expressed their views on this matter, but due to various reasons, most of them expected some fluctuations, but did not expect it to be this serious.

Yan Li's business acumen and market insight have been proven through his companies and previous stock market performance. His team are all his devoted fans and have no other intentions.

Boss Yan is awesome, just follow his lead.

At the Peninsula Hotel, Yan Li had barely settled in when he received a call from Raymond Wong's son, Little Wong.

"Mr. Yan, you came to Hong Kong without even saying hello?"

Yan Li found it strange; his visit to Hong Kong hadn't caused much of a stir, so how did Little Huang know?

"Mr. Yan, you underestimate the paparazzi in Hong Kong, and you also underestimate your fame in Hong Kong. The moment you show up at the Peninsula Hotel, half of Hong Kong will know that you, Mr. Yan, have graced us with your presence."

These words were somewhat exaggerated and carried a hint of flattery, but Yan Li understood what was going on.

The Peninsula Hotel is very famous in Hong Kong and is frequented by celebrities and socialites, making it a prime target for paparazzi.

These Hong Kong paparazzi love gossip about the wealthy, rich kids, and celebrities. They mainly target Hong Kong, but they also don't overlook those from mainland China and Taiwan.

Yan Li, a mainland entertainment tycoon, is handsome, young, rich, and a notorious playboy, making him quite a prominent figure in Hong Kong.

Mr. Huang, considering himself the host, enthusiastically offered to welcome Yan Li. Just as Yan Li was about to agree, another phone call came in. He greeted them, chatted for a few minutes, and then said to Mr. Huang with some helplessness.

"Boss Yang from Yinghuang invited me to dinner. Everything is arranged, so it's really hard to refuse. Why don't you come too?"

When it comes to hosting a dinner party, besides the order of arrival, it also depends on the status of the guests. Even if it's not just Little Huang, but his father, he would have to give way to Yinghuang Yang.

Mr. Huang was quite straightforward: "You go ahead with your work, I'll arrange some late-night snacks, I'll wait for you no matter how long it takes."

Two years ago, Yan Li came to Hong Kong, and Yi An was just starting out in the film industry. Her collaboration with the Huang family's Oriental Film Company was merely that of a partner.

At that time, although Xiao Huang was subtly supporting Yan Li, it was mostly for the sake of the mainland market; the two sides were considered equals.

Two years have passed, and Yi An has grown stronger and more influential in the film industry. Yan Li himself has launched a Weibo account, and his wealth and influence have increased dramatically, making him the most prominent figure of his time.

It's not just the Huang family that wants to collaborate with Yan Li; other Hong Kong entertainment giants like Yinghuang, Media Asia, and Anle are also interested.

At this point, the two companies were no longer on equal footing, and Xiao Huang's attitude was no longer just the flattery he had shown two years ago; it even began to show a hint of fawning.

After hanging up the phone, Yan Li shook his head. If he made a lot of money this time, he would buy a house in Hong Kong. Otherwise, he would be constantly being watched by paparazzi, which was too passive.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

P.S.: The author doesn't understand finance and did some research, but the more I looked, the more confused I became. So I'll write this vaguely, and you can just read it vaguely as well, knowing that the protagonist made money.

　(4000/161000)

　　
　
(End of this chapter)