Chinese Entertainment Intelligence King

Chapter 352 Yan Li's Eagerness to Show Off His Strength and Make an Example
Four days later, Weibo and Yi'an reached an agreement to exchange shares at a ratio of 1:2.4.

Weibo owns 7.44% of Yi'an's shares, and Yi'an owns 3.1% of Weibo's shares.

It's clear that Weibo is significantly more assertive and unwilling to offer too many shares, negotiating almost exactly the 3-5% range that Yan Li requested.

This is quite normal. From any perspective, Weibo's prospects, strength, and value are all higher than Yi An's.

In the strategic cooperation between the two parties, Weibo didn't suffer much loss, but it didn't gain as much benefit as Yi An.

However, there was no other way; Yan Li needed to form alliances with both companies to realize his industrial chain layout, achieve mutual complementarity and connection, and enhance his own power and influence.

To put it more bluntly, the interests of Weibo and Yi An individually are not as important as the interests of Yan Li himself.

The share swap was intentionally planned to create hype, so it wasn't kept secret and the news was quickly announced to the public.

As expected, this has become a boon for both Weibo and Yi'an, especially for Yi'an. Being tied to social media platforms like Weibo is of extraordinary significance. If it were already listed, its stock price would have hit several limit-up days.

Yan Li also paid close attention to the discussions outside, especially those on Weibo.

As a public social and information platform, Weibo's association with a single film and television company may draw some criticism.

But soon, Yan Li discovered that the situation was much better than he had imagined, because from the very beginning, Weibo had been heavily associated with him and Yi An.

During previous negotiations, Yi An said that she deserves great credit for the rise of Weibo.

That's absolutely true. Weibo's early success in attracting users and its subsequent stable presence in the entertainment industry were all thanks to Yan Li and Yi An's arrangements and intimidation.

Yi An endorses Weibo, and Weibo drives traffic to artists and film and television projects affiliated with Yi An. This is an open secret, and everyone thinks the two are one and the same.

A share swap is just a formality; it simply means that interests are more closely intertwined.

Even without a share swap, with Yan Li mediating, could Weibo and Yi An really split up and go their own way?

As for platform fairness?

Haha, if you think it's unfair, go to the half-dead Sina Weibo and see if fairness is more important, or the benefits that Weibo brings.

For most people, whether Weibo and Yi'an are affiliated or not is irrelevant and has little to do with them.

Companies like Huayi Brothers and Orange Sky Entertainment might care, but it's difficult for them to retaliate.

The artists under their management will not easily give up accounts with hundreds of thousands or millions of followers, and they would risk offending Weibo and Yi An, two giants, to cause trouble for the company.

The company is even less likely to ignore Weibo's film and television promotion and marketing capabilities.

At present, Weibo is the primary battlefield for film and television promotion. Giving up Weibo is tantamount to cutting off one's own arm, or even stabbing oneself in the heart. Who dares to do that?

Therefore, we have no choice but to compromise!

At least Weibo, as a platform, won't openly target them; at most, it might take sides, which is still within acceptable limits.

Companies like Huayi Brothers and Orange Sky Entertainment now deeply resent Sina and Tencent.

That's utterly useless!

If these two companies were to put up a fight and manage to compete with Weibo, they would offer their full support.

As a result, both companies were constantly being pressured by Weibo, and they couldn't see any hope at all, which made them hesitant to place bets.

To be honest, the Wang brothers are now somewhat giving up on competing with Yi'an for the top spot.

Yi An's momentum was too fierce, and Yan Li's plans were too numerous and ruthless. After comparing them, Huayi Brothers felt utterly hopeless.

The reason they haven't completely given up is that they're waiting to make a final push after the IPO.

Even if they can't win, as long as they maintain their footing and continue to challenge and threaten Yi An, Huayi Brothers still has hope.

This also shows that the Wang brothers were truly out of options.

Previously, he acted as a senior and leader, cooperating with Yi An to deal with Cheng Tian.

Later, as Yi'an developed rapidly, Huayi Brothers began to regard it as a competitor, but they remained calm.

Then, feeling immense pressure from the rapid rise of Yan Li's various companies, he realized that Yi An would be Huayi's biggest rival. He once considered joining forces with Orange Sky, but after the alliance was thwarted, he prepared for a fierce battle to confront Yi An head-on.

After that, Yi An became increasingly powerful, and Weibo had become a dominant force. Huayi Brothers felt that normal competition was not enough to win, so they prepared to go public and use capital operations to turn the tide and win.

Furthermore, now, seeing Yan Li's series of actions, as well as Yi An's terrifying profits and scale, they feel that even Huayi's IPO might not be able to compete.

The goal has become that a small loss is a win, not to fall too far behind Yi'an, and to keep the hope of catching up.

Business warfare is also a war; momentum and confidence are the most important. Huayi Brothers backed down before the battle even started.

From this moment on, it can be said that Yi'an had already half-sat on the throne of industry leader.

...

Yan Li was oblivious to this, or rather, Yi An had not yet fully become the leader, and whether Huayi was cowardly or not did not stop Yi An from doing it.

In early April, the film "Bodyguards and Assassins" began filming in Shanghai.

Director Teddy Chan, along with stars including Tony Leung Ka-fai, Yuan Li, Zhang Fengyi, Donnie Yen, Deng Chao, Leon Lai, Simon Yam, and Yang Mi, attended the press conference to launch the filming. Producer Chen Kexin and representatives of the investors Yan Li and Yu Pangzi were also present.

On the day filming began, "Bodyguards and Assassins" announced its release date, which is the Lunar New Year holiday season this year.

Chen Kexin's tone is terrifyingly arrogant; she casually mentions guaranteeing 4 million and aiming for 5 million.

When asked for his opinion, Yan Li smiled and said a few words, but in his heart he was cursing Chen Kexin to the core.

You can brag all you want, but can't you at least say hello first?!

Yan Li doesn't reject boasting, as it's a form of publicity, but there's a limit to boasting. There aren't any movies in the market that have grossed over 4 million, yet Chen Kexin is already aiming for 5 million.

"The Warlords" has already been proven wrong once, and now they want to do it again, huh?

The key point is that Yi An is the primary producer and distributor of "House of Flying Daggers". If it gets ridiculed, Yi An won't be able to shirk responsibility.

"Director Chen seems very confident in the film."

Yan Li smiled and looked at Chen Kexin: "Our publicity team gave me a target of 3 million. We still need to learn from Director Chen in terms of boldness."

Chen Kexin sensed Yan Li's displeasure, but remained confident: "Our cast is still great, and we have a chance to reach 5 million."

"If you could make 5 million yuan just by throwing together celebrities, Chinese films would have taken off long ago."

Yan Li also likes to associate himself with celebrities, but he doesn't think that as long as he associates celebrities with celebrities, everything will be fine.

A star-studded cast is merely a stepping stone to attracting some viewers; the quality of the work and successful promotion are the most important factors.

“I don’t care about the production and filming, but when it comes to publicity and distribution, I hope the production team will communicate with Yi An to avoid any situations that put us in a passive position.”

Yan Li's biggest complaint wasn't Chen's boasting, but rather his disregard for Yi An's existence.

To put it bluntly, these famous directors are spoiled. They say whatever they want, cause trouble, and then the distributors have to clean up their messes.

Yan Li, however, did not indulge them. He insisted that each of them should manage their own affairs, eat his food, follow his rules, and at the very least, ensure that Yi An was informed.

If things really go wrong, Yan Li might clean up the mess for the sake of the project, but he'll definitely stuff the toilet paper into the mess's mouth.

Chen Kexin was somewhat dissatisfied, but intimidated by Yan Li's status and power, she obediently nodded.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Yan, I'll be more careful next time."

After chatting for a few minutes, Chen Kexin got busy with her business, and Fatty Yu, who had been silent since arriving, finally spoke up.

"Isn't your reaction a bit excessive? He's a well-known director, after all."

"I did this because he's a famous director, and he speaks without thinking and has a lot of influence. If it were a normal director, I would have taught him properly."

Yan Li looked at Fatty Yu: "There's another reason. You've dealt with him before, so I don't need to say anything."

"Knocking on the mountain to scare the tiger, I knew you were making a mountain out of a molehill."

Yu Pangzi knew that Bona Film Group had also participated in "The Warlords," and Chen was the producer of "An Empress and the Warriors," so he knew a little about him.

"The cook doesn't steal, the grains don't grow, every industry needs some extra money. I've seen a lot of shady dealings on set, but I can have a little bit of extra income, don't take me for a fool."

Many film and television company owners didn't necessarily start out in film and television, and they don't understand the ins and outs of film crews.

For example, Yu Jianhua started his career in distribution, the Wang brothers of Huayi Brothers came from advertising, Wu, the boss of Orange Sky Entertainment, was a senior executive before, and Qin, the boss of Star Media, was also an outsider to the entertainment industry.

Yan Li, however, was different. He worked his way up from a small-time actor to personally organize production teams, serve as a producer on multiple occasions, and lead project development from start to finish.

Yan Li knew exactly how everyone in the production crew made money, and he could get a general idea of ​​which accounts and situations had obvious problems with just a glance.

Yan Li understood that water that is too clear has no fish.

Working on a film crew is tough, especially for the lower-level staff. They're constantly on the go, working themselves to the bone, and the pay isn't much. If you don't give them some perks, why would they work for you?

But there's a limit to how much money you can make. You can't treat your boss like an innocent victim and then think he's an idiot who deserved to be ripped off.

Chen Kexin and Yan Li did not lose a single penny. All the dividends and remuneration they deserved were at market price. If they took advantage of him a little more, Yan Li would turn a blind eye.

But clearly, he wasn't content with this. With filming starting, he began to stir, and Yan Li's actions were a subtle warning. Picking a fight and giving him a few pointers would only cause some embarrassment. If he didn't stop, things would get much more serious.

"I don't want to affect the crew. You know him well, so you can play the good cop and give him a heads-up."

“Yi’an is developing too fast now, and it’s become a bit too arrogant. I’m thinking about whether to flex its muscles. If he’s willing to let me make an example of him, I can go easy on him.”

"Don't."

Fatty Yu waved his hand: "This movie has a large investment, so let's be careful. He's a smart man, he knows what to do."

"Better so."

Yan Li doesn't have a good impression of Chen Kexin right now; we'll see what he does, not what he says.

Instead of chatting with Chen Duo, Yan Li and Fatty Yu talked about the company's IPO.

While Yi'an is making intensive preparations, Bona is also working hard in secret, planning to go public next year or the year after.

There's no other way; if we don't go public soon, we won't even be able to drink Bona Soup.

Yan Li chuckled and joked, "You're really something, buddy, going to ring the bell at Nasdaq."

Fatty Yu sighed: "If possible, I really want to list our company in China."

Don't assume that US stocks are better than A-shares. It depends on the stock. Film companies like Yi An and Bona rely heavily on the domestic market. Their star strategy, which can enhance the company's advantages, is also the most effective in China.

Therefore, both Huayi Brothers and Yi'an plan to list on the A-share market. However, Huayi Brothers will list on the ChiNext board, while Yi'an, being larger, plans to list on the main board.

Bona is inferior to these two companies in every aspect. In order to avoid direct competition and differentiate itself from them, it had no choice but to choose the US stock market, which has a lower entry threshold.

However, US stocks are easy to enter but difficult to survive in, and it's hard to leverage the advantages of the film and television industry. Yu Pangzi doesn't know if his choice was right or wrong.

Yan Li was not in a position to comment on this.

The US stock market is tough, and in the A-share market, it's being suppressed by companies like Yi An and Huayi, so life isn't exactly comfortable either.

The market is only so big. The top player takes a bite, the second-largest player takes a bite, and then everyone else scrambles for a share. Who knows how much Bona will get?

Not only was it forced to list on the US stock market, but Bona's valuation was also not ideal, with the planned issuance only around 20 billion.

This valuation is somewhat unworthy of China's top publishing company from two years ago.

However, there was no way around it. Yi'an's rise had affected Huayi Brothers, Orange Sky Entertainment, Bona Film Group, and Enlight Media to varying degrees. To some extent, Yi'an's high valuation was taken from these companies.

However, Fatty Yu accepted it well. In a market economy, if you're not as skilled as others, then you'll just let them eat the meat while you drink the soup.

Although Bona's valuation is mediocre, that's in comparison to Yian. Within the industry, it's still among the top performers.

Yu Pangzi's shareholding in Bona is not small, about 40% or more, which rounds up to nearly 10 billion yuan, making him a real tycoon.

Sure enough, after the press conference ended, Yuan Li happily came over and acted intimately with Fatty Yu.

Yan Li was not surprised at all. The production team of "Bodyguards and Assassins" wanted to invite Fan Xiaopang to play the female lead, but she didn't like it.

Later, Yi An wanted to promote Wang Ou and Chen Su, but Wang Ou had other roles to play and, after weighing the options, chose to withdraw.

Although Chen Su has Yi An's support, she is relatively unknown now and has made relatively few films. The all-star cast of "Bodyguards and Assassins" is more inclined to include actresses with sufficient influence.

Therefore, Yi An later simply gave up on the female lead and chose the second female lead, promoting Yang Mi to the top.

The female lead has more screen time, but she's somewhat of a decorative figure. The second female lead has less screen time, but she has some highlights and action scenes, and participating in such a big production is a good experience for Yang Mi.

There was some competition for the female lead role, with Bona Film Group vying for it the most. Everyone thought Bona was going to push Huang Yi or Yuan Quan, whom they had signed, but in the end, Yuan Li got the role.

This is quite intriguing, as Yuan Li is an artist under Orange Sky Entertainment.

Why is Yu Jianlin so eager to sign Yuan Li, an artist from Orange Sky Entertainment? Either Yuan Li wants to sign with Bona Film Group, or she and Yu Jianlin are having an affair.

As far as Yan Li knows, there are two sides to it. Yuan Li's contract with Orange Sky is about to expire, and Fatty Yu plans to sign Yuan Li to Bona and make her their number one female star.

Don't underestimate Yuan Li. At this stage, she was quite famous and starred in hit shows such as "The Eloquent Ji Xiaolan" and "Never Close Your Eyes," making her extremely popular.

Back when she was with Orange Sky Entertainment, she was a strong contender for the top spot. She was usually the lead or second lead in her dramas, which meant she could carry projects. Although she mainly acted in TV series, she was still considered a well-known leading lady.

Yuan Li wants to develop her career in the film industry, and Bona Film Group also needs an artist of sufficient stature.

The two sides hit it off.

However, Yuan and Yu admired each other and no longer limited their cooperation to business; they began to emulate Yan Li and Fan Xiaopang.

Well, you can't say that. Yan Li is not married, while Fatty Yu is married and has children. The situations are completely different.

Fan Xiaopang acts like the boss's wife in Yi'an, and no one competes with her. Yuan Li may be domineering in Bona, but she still has a real boss's wife above her.

Yuan Li briefly made her presence known to Yan Li before leaving, and Yan Li patted Fatty Yu on the shoulder.

"Brother Yu, it's fine to have fun, but don't mess around. If you bring your wife out like this, she'll get angry."

Yan Li was able to keep the situation under control, and since she wasn't married yet, she tried her best to keep Wang Ou and the others away from Fan Xiaopang and his friends, and she wouldn't publicly acknowledge their intimate interactions.

Fatty Yu is married and still plays like this; it's like dancing in a minefield—it's really easy for him to get into trouble.

"understood."

Fatty Yu nodded, not really caring, and Yan Li didn't say anything more.

His own private life is a complete mess, so there's not much persuasiveness in discussing this topic.

Before leaving, I called Deng Chao and Yang Mi over and gave them a few instructions: to have less contact with Yuan Li and to try not to provoke her.

"Are you still afraid of General Manager Yu?"

Deng Chao was somewhat surprised. He had personally witnessed Yan Li pointing his finger at Feng Xiaogang and cursing him. The two Wang brothers didn't dare to say anything, so why would they be afraid of Fatty Yu?

"Why should I be afraid of him? You guys don't know, this woman is a bit crazy. Last time Orange Sky caused a lot of trouble. Let's just focus on making money and filming steadily. There's no need to look for trouble."

Yan Li wasn't sure if Fatty Yu was unaware of the situation or simply had a taste for it, but he didn't want to get involved with this crazy woman to avoid getting into trouble.

"What if she picks a fight with us?"

Yang Mi panicked a little and couldn't help but ask, Yan Li looked at her speechlessly: "Then why don't you do it to her?"

"I'm telling you not to mess with her, not to be afraid of her. The company will back you up."

Yan Li's protectiveness isn't blind; if someone were to act recklessly or make a mess of things, he wouldn't care, and might even terminate their contract and fire them to avoid implicating the company.

But if others bully your own family, that's unacceptable. The more justified you are, the more Yan Li will support you.

After giving a few more instructions, Yan Li left the press conference and went directly to Tudou.com to chat with Wang Wei.

As expected, Wang Wei refused!

However, Wang Wei did not reject all offers. He only agreed to a share swap with Weibo in hopes of gaining Weibo's traffic support, but he did not agree to the share swap with Yi An.

Yan Li was so angry he laughed!

It's understandable that Weibo dislikes Yi An, since although Yi An helped Weibo rise to prominence, Weibo's success is mainly due to its platform mechanism advantages, and Weibo's dependence on Yi An is not that high.

However, Tudou.com's ability to stand out back then was inseparable from the content resources provided by Yi An.

Even now, Tudou.com still relies heavily on Yi An's exclusive content. Whenever Yi An chooses to cooperate with Youku or Sohu, Tudou.com immediately suffers a major blow.

Yan Li was very unhappy, feeling that he and Yi An had been too good to Tudou.com, causing Tudou.com to get used to it and even take it for granted.

He supports Tudou.com because he is a major shareholder of Tudou.com, and if Tudou.com does well, he will benefit as well.

But now Tudou.com is disregarding its own interests and treating him like a "business as business," so Yan Li feels that he can also treat others like a "business as business."

"As for Weibo, this is Yan Li. Announce that, effective immediately, all hidden benefits and support for Tudou.com, except as otherwise agreed upon in the cooperation agreement between the two parties, will be cancelled. Tudou.com will receive the same treatment as Youku and Sohu."

"This is Yan Li. Inform Yi An's distribution department, film and television department, artist management department, and advertising department to halt all cooperation with Tudou.com. We'll discuss the specific plan when I get back."

"Regarding all copyrights in cooperation with Tudou.com, we have informed Tudou.com that we will not renew the copyright cooperation agreement once it expires."

"Rumors are circulating that Wang Wei and Yan Li of Tudou.com have fallen out, and Yan Li is suspected of withdrawing his investment from Tudou.com."

"..."

After making a round of calls, Yan Li silently shook his head. Originally, he planned to wait for Tudou.com to experience some changes before involving Weibo and Yi An.

Now I think that was too conservative and too polite.

I'm still too low-key. It's necessary to let Tudou.com know how much he contributed to its development to where it is today.

I was just thinking of finding someone to make an example of.

You don't necessarily have to kill someone else's chicken; you can kill any of your own unruly chickens.

　Will make up for it tomorrow

　　
　
(End of this chapter)