Huayu: From charlatan to great entertainer

Chapter 504 I laugh at Old Ma's lack of strategy and Old Liu's lack of wisdom!

Wenjie's online ticketing service officially launched on January 11th, Singles' Day.

Online, this includes all internet websites related to the question:

Weibo is the largest online forum for public opinion in China; Zhijie Video is the largest video website; Wenjie Mall is the second largest online business website; and Douban and Mtime are related to movies.

Other allies include Shanda's entire website ecosystem, Sina, and Sohu, with whom they have a good relationship due to their preparation for launching a copyright war.

Offline, Focus Media goes without saying, and other cinemas, including Wenjie, China Film Stellar, Wuyue's cinema chains, and Beiping New Film Union, account for about 40% of the total, also have embedded advertisements.

"One ticket to explore the world, enjoy the world to the fullest! Tickets can be purchased online on all websites under the Wenjie umbrella!"

Thus, from this special day before it was officially named "Singles' Day," all netizens, whether they watched movies or not, could not escape this online bombardment.

Putting aside other factors, with less than 5 million internet users nationwide, Weibo has 1.78 million registered users and Wenjie Mall has 1.2 million registered users. Even after removing duplicates and multiple accounts from the user base, the numbers are still staggering.

From the moment it went live in the early hours of the morning, netizens who stayed up all night placed floating ads next to the most prominent trending topics on Weibo:

Tickets go on sale today! Limited-time offer on IMAX screenings of "Under the Hawthorn Tree" and "Let the Bullets Fly".

Clicking the link will take you to the ticket purchase page, which also includes celebrity interaction hashtags such as #LiuYifeiRecommends#.

Zhijie Video embeds a "Buy Tickets Now" button at the bottom of each video's playback page, allowing users to seamlessly jump to the page and receive a "VIP movie ticket with purchase" bonus.

问界商城首页首屏轮播“贺岁片套装”，购买《山楂树之恋》等三部问界电影票+衍生品享8折，采用“捆绑销售”逻辑。

Among them, when a single account purchases tickets for a certain amount, it will receive autographed photos or T-shirts of artists from the Wenjie system and its allied companies, such as Liu Yifei, Fan Bingbing, Jing Tian, ​​Su Chang, and Tang Yan.

This move is indeed very powerful. Apart from the fact that Wenjie Mall just started a similar event and almost made Liu Yifei, who worked for free for two years, cramp up from signing in, fans haven't had a way to get this kind of "hot item" for a long time.

In addition to this wave of promotion, Liu Yifei, a pregnant woman who hadn't been active in the business for a long time, shared a short video of purchasing tickets through Wenjie Online Ticketing.

Then he posted an old photo along with a blog post:

I've been kidnapped and forced to work as a salesman!

Friends can try purchasing tickets online through Wenjie.com. It can redirect to all its affiliated websites, including Weibo and Zhijie Video, and you can log in with your account with one click.

Let's cheer each other on!
With nearly 1700 million Weibo followers, Xiao Liu is undoubtedly a top Weibo influencer.

However, after this Weibo post was published, fans did nothing but admire the post and make jokes, and didn't seem to immediately investigate what was so special about Wenjie's online ticketing.

I'm not sure if this counts as reverse advertising.

"Fei, promise me you'll let Little Fairy inherit your beauty, and then debut and dominate the Chinese entertainment industry, okay? The Chinese entertainment industry can't lose you, just like the West can't lose Jerusalem!"

Liu Yifei, sitting in front of her computer, was informing her close friends to share and support the online ticketing platform, and interacting with netizens with great interest.

[Vitamin Qian] replied: Haha, it's up to her, you can't force her! And her dad might not agree!
A celestial being descended to earth, and netizens instantly flocked to her.

"Holy crap! It really is a girl? That's wonderful!"

"Does it really matter whether the washing machine agrees or not? I just watched 'Let the Bullets Fly,' and that washing machine is now living off his wife and will live off his daughter in the future. He still wants to earn money with dignity? Shameless!"

"The washing machine has no say in this, because we are the ones who buy tickets through Wenjie.com, and we're the ones who earn the money for Little Fairy's milk powder, okay?"

"Get out of here, washing machines, powder, and liquid! I don't need the 300+ yuan I already have in my Damai account. As long as Xiaotianxian debuts, I'll immediately deposit 100,000 yuan into Wenjie's account! Or I'll directly book 10 shows of 'Under the Hawthorn Tree'! I mean what I say!"

This is a rich woman; Xiao Liu has never lacked rich female fans.

"Let me do the math. Born in mid-09, and considering that child stars Shi Xiaolong debuted at age 5 and Hao Shaowen at age 4, we demand to see Little Fairy debut in 2014!"

"I hope to have the opportunity to see the two celestial beauties perform on the same stage, so that my eyes can have a good feast!"

Female fans were overjoyed, while laundry detergent and liquid detergent were devastated, their dream of having a "fully upgraded mini washing machine" shattered.

How could it be a girl?
Who will continue our restless youth?

"With tears in my eyes, I congratulate Washing Machine on the birth of your daughter! Washing Machine, please accept my friend request. I'll send you a secret remedy from an old Chinese medicine doctor. Keep up the good work!"

"Brothers, we're devastated! This feels like grinding the Black Temple for ten months, only to have Illidan drop Babysitter! What happened to the Warglaives of Azzinoth?!"

In 09, the World of Warcraft expansion was The Burning Crusade (TBC). Even when farming Black Temple, the drop rate for the Warglaives of Azzinoth was only about 4%, and you needed to collect both the main and off-hand weapons. As a result, it was common to see players who only got one Warcraft Warlock.

"Does the washing machine only have one daughter? Won't such a large fortune be taken away by someone else? Have another one!"

"No way! Didn't you say you'd have a little berserker? How come it's a female mage instead?"

The Berserker's awakening skill "Soul-Devouring Demon Slash" in DNF has a whirlwind effect that resembles a washing machine drum, undoubtedly a testament to the skill of a seasoned DNF player.

The majority of people talking about laundry detergent are male, and the majority of those talking about gaming are gamers. The jokes they were using were confusing to Liu Yifei, so she could only reply with the only game she had ever played, "The Legend of Sword and Fairy".

[Vitamin Qian] replied: As we all know, the descendants of Nuwa in the Legend of Sword and Fairy series all inherit their lineage through matrilineal succession!
Xiao Liu chuckled as she read the comments from netizens, when she suddenly noticed a strange yet familiar ID popping up and replying to the previous comment from a netizen who wanted "Little Fairy to debut at age 4".

[Lu Kuan VIP] replied: Are you a hater? Isn't this making things difficult for me, Xiao Liu? When the child, she, and her grandmother appear together, it will only further confirm that she is the ugliest one in the family.

"You bastard! You scoundrel!" Liu Yifei was both anxious and angry; this was even more hurtful than "slightly inferior"!
Boss Lu was working at the Wenjie Building when he learned that Yang Siwei had organized a large-scale promotional event involving all her staff and friends. He specifically logged into the Weibo post that was still about their marriage certificate to see how the publicity was going.

He was indifferent to other topics, but he would read every word about the baby carefully, especially when he saw netizens showering the child with compliments about the future, which made him feel happy.

My father has already started working on it ahead of time. In just over two years, he'll be thirty, which is considered late in this day and age.

Ding!
A pop-up window appeared in the lower right corner of Mr. Lu's desktop computer screen:

Your special follower 【Vitamin Qian】 replied with a message: Say it again?
Add another picture:
Boss Lu laughed out loud. Ever since Weibo updated with a convenient plugin to add text to images, this type of static emoticon has been spreading like wildfire.

The number of memes a celebrity has depends on two factors: their popularity and their "tolerance level".

Even in later generations, how many celebrities would be willing to have their images recreated into various funny jokes?

Or rather, any emoji inevitably possesses multiple attributes such as cute, funny, and ugly, which celebrities with a strong sense of image might find unbearable.

Therefore, due to strong demands from some celebrities, Weibo could only block some overly offensive images.

But Liu Yifei is different!

Since her debut as Bai Xiuzhu, the four-part series of "Chinese Paladin", "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils", "Zhu Xian" and "The Return of the Condor Heroes" have directly provided netizens with a huge amount of material.

Purchase a special package for 48.8 RMB to watch all of Xiao Liu's TV series on Zhijie Video. This is a bundled service that is launched from time to time. You can also become a member, but the membership will eventually expire.

Even pirated DVDs cost 4 yuan each back then, so these five shows together would cost about the same price even if they were pirated.

There's a website that allows you to watch all of Xiao Liu's works anytime, anywhere, and it's quite popular.

For meme enthusiasts, they can take screenshots at any time, create their own memes, and even sell them on forums, forming an entire industry chain.

For die-hard fans who want to relive the high-definition version, almost everyone has a subscription, logging in from time to time to revisit it, with the barrage of comments unanimously criticizing the washing machine for being inhuman.

Zhijie Video's revenue from this single business alone is close to 3 million yuan, which to some extent contributed to Zhijie Video's operational expenses before its listing.

Especially since the copyrights to two Jin Yong dramas were bought back early on, the remaining copyrights to "Zhu Xian" and "Chinese Paladin" are also theirs.

In this sense, the comment above that the washing machine is "eating its wife" is not untrue.

So after Liu Yifei "set an example", netizens and other celebrities successively sent Liu's emoji packs to [LuKuan VIP].

[Jingtian VIP]: One ticket to explore the world, enjoy the world. Please support online ticket purchase for The World Movies.

I just wanted to join in the fun and see if any domestic violence was happening, but I'm off!
[Su Chang VIP]: It's time to unleash this picture! Today, I'm taking advantage of the boss's wife's influence to show off a bit! By the way, to watch Boss Lu and his wife's romance, please buy your tickets for "Under the Hawthorn Tree" on any of Wenjie's websites—lots of discounts await!
[Anita Mui VIP]: Friends in Hong Kong, you can also buy tickets through any website, including Twitter! Please support us! By the way, here's a picture of Anita Mui (that's how she says it, right?). Looking forward to "Under the Hawthorn Tree".

[Jay Chou VIP]: I bought a Valentine's Day copy of "Under the Hawthorn Tree" through the online store. I think the performance difficulty of the role of Kuan-zai is the highest in history!

The reason? Those who know, know! Haha!
Just kidding, but buying movie tickets on Wenjie.com is really "wow, it's great!" I highly recommend everyone try it. Next year, all my concerts in China will be sold through Wenjie.com's online ticketing system, so please support me! No need to go through the hassle of queuing offline.

Is everyone sharing Sisi's emojis? I've got an exclusive collection of old photos of her at age 15 on the set of "Whiplash"!
Subsequently, Tang Yan, Zhang Liangying, Zhou Xun, Huang Xiaoming, and others forwarded and promoted the message, all of which received a thank-you message from Liu Yifei herself.

Celebrities promoted "Under the Hawthorn Tree" and Wenjie's online ticketing services together. Given Weibo's still-developing push algorithm, anyone interested in either one could easily find the relevant information.

Moreover, the combined number of fans of all the celebrities is quite impressive.

Even after the roadshow ended at noon and Bingbing returned to her hotel room, she quickly caught up with the promotional activities. With nearly 1500 million followers on Weibo, she is one of the top female stars in the Chinese entertainment industry.

[Fan Bingbing VIP]: Wuyue Culture Media's year-end bonus! All employees and their families can watch the movies "If You Are the One" and "Under the Hawthorn Tree" through the Wenjie ticketing website. It's convenient, fast, and offers many discounts. Welcome to try it!

Also, a big thumbs up to all the netizens! We're all looking forward to the arrival of Sisi's little fairy in this world. The aunties have already bought her little dress and Barbie doll!
Netizens quickly gathered, surprised to see how the red rose and white rose, who had once secretly competed, had come together.
It seems that time is indeed a cure; the parties involved in the Yifei incident three years ago have now resolved their differences.

The washing machine and the fairy finally became a couple, and Bingbing was willing to play the supporting role. However, this happy scene made some netizens think again about whether the hidden story was related to the change of ownership of Huayi.

Xiao Liu quickly followed the notification message he had been following and visited the site.

[Vitamin Qian] replied: Thank you, Auntie. Please also buy some toys for my son, like knives, guns, and sticks. I want to cultivate his masculinity in advance, just in case, haha!
"What? There's another one?"

"What? After finishing one cup, there are three more?"

"What? I have my egg knife?"

The laundry detergent is extremely excited. This is like a ray of sunshine after a dark night. No wonder the fairy's belly was so big in the leaked photos. It turns out she's having twins!
Curious individuals meticulously analyzed the leaked photos of Liu Yifei, with some claiming to be senior obstetricians and gynecologists making judgments based on abnormal fundal height to abdominal circumference ratios and abdominal morphological characteristics, drawing conclusions as follows:
The sixth child's abdomen has a steep curve, resembling a "horizontal oval," which is a typical sign of twins.

Even laundry detergents are now filled with envy and jealousy!
The washing machine, in the first half of his life, indulged in games and romances, building a vast commercial empire and an outstanding artistic reputation.

He is almost thirty years old, and already has a beautiful wife by his side and two children around him.

It's a film that will leave men speechless and women in tears.

Xiao Liu himself was highly active online, stirring up trouble and interacting with twenty or thirty celebrities he was close to, quickly creating several trending topics.

"Liu Yifei claims to be a pair of twins, a dragon and a phoenix, and the future heir of the Wenjie Empire has appeared!"

"In response to the challenge from Damai.cn, Liu Yifei demonstrated her most proactive work ethic since her debut! Fans applauded!"

"A celestial being born into a top-tier wealthy family, with one child producing future business and artistic heirs."

"The ticketing war between Wenjie and Damai.cn is beginning to emerge, and movie fans are enjoying the biggest benefits!"

Amidst countless discussions surrounding online ticketing and twins, a peculiar headline caught my eye.

"Liu Yifei liked and replied to all the celebrities who forwarded and promoted her posts, with only one exception—Yang Mi."

It has to be said that netizens these days are really bored out of their minds; they can pick up on the smallest details.

In addition, Yang Mi is now LeEco Culture's top star. Calling them mortal enemies would be an exaggeration, but they are clearly in competition.

This competitive relationship was previously masked by the appearance of Yang Mi riding on her best friend's popularity, but this time the "three families dividing Jin" shows that the situation is quite naked.

If Yang Mi wants to become a prominent figure in the coal bosses' invasion of the entertainment and film industries and reap the benefits, she must have the ambition to surpass Liu Yifei, even if it's an overestimation of her abilities.

This is her own reasonable demand, as well as the ruthless will of the capital behind her.

Thus, the surface cracks were laid bare before the onlookers today.

Da Mimi still stuck out her tongue as usual, but Liu Yifei had already lost patience with her.

While it's unlikely that she would be attacked or targeted in public, such pretense is unnecessary. They're not on the same wavelength, so why force them together?

Out of sight out of mind.

People flocked to Yang Mi's Weibo to comment and leave sarcastic remarks, which led Yang Mi to give her assistant a severe scolding.

Five minutes later, the Weibo post was deleted.

The internet has no memory, but it does have screenshots. Yang Mi's guilty "evidence" has thus become a local photo collection for her fans.

In the foreseeable future legal battles, it will become a powerful piece of evidence in court.
-
Headquarters of Damai.cn, Donghuan Square, Dongcheng District, Beiping City.

Cao Jie, with a stern expression, reported on the launch of the Wenjie publicity campaign today. This initial move alone was already remarkable.

"Based on the data we have observed so far, more than 60 celebrities from Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong have shared and promoted this content. Almost all of them are top-tier celebrities from various industries."

"Artists from the mainland's Wenjie Group, stars from the Beijing Film Academy, artists from Hua... Wuyue Group, as well as singers from Eagle Entertainment, and Hong Kong artists such as Anita Mui, Hendrik Willem Van Loon, and Andy Lau are all included."

"The website coverage is almost complete, including..."

Damai.cn's general manager glanced at Ma Yun, whose face was grim: "Only Alispace, which is jointly operated by Ali and Myspace, has had its traffic limited; the other websites are very popular."

Wendy Deng's defection was based solely on a deal involving Avatar. Regarding the competition between Wenjie and Damai.cn, the Huntress's attitude naturally leaned towards her ally, Ahri.

Chairman Liu, who had been listening quietly to the report, raised his eyelids slightly, while Li Yanhong smiled and remained calm and composed.

Myspace remains the world's largest personal social networking platform to date. In Asia, it is the only joint venture with SoftBank, while in other places it is the controlling shareholder.

In order to have its own social platform, Ali chose to cooperate with it in 06, but so far the effect has been only so-so.

There's a saying in internet entrepreneurship that "a day's delay is a year's delay." Competitors who entered this field after blogs and microblogs can hardly match the traffic-driving effect brought by the huge celebrity resources controlled by Wenjie.

Having such a channel for public opinion is better than having none, but it is still far from enough.

The lack of internet companies and influence is the Achilles' heel of the Taishan Club, this "pseudo-conglomerate" system. Otherwise, they wouldn't have considered investing in Ali before, and later tried to invest in Wenjie.

Li Yanhong laughed and said, "I have an idea. Why don't we cooperate with Tencent?"

"Currently, all foreign companies that have entered mainland China, including Amazon (which competes with Mr. Ma), Google (which competes with Baidu), and Alispace (which competes with Weibo), have performed poorly."

"It's hard for foreign monks to chant sutras. In the field of internet marketing, we still have to find domestic companies."

Liu Chuanzhi has a profound understanding of issues: "I had a meeting some time ago and talked with Xiao Ma and their CEO."

"This year, Penguin Software has over 4 million active users, and its online game revenue in 08 should have exceeded 30 billion yuan. This year, it may even surpass Shanda, and its momentum is very strong."

"If Damai.cn can benefit from integration with QQ software, its promotional effect will be much stronger than that of Weibo, but will Pony Ma get involved?"

Everyone fell into thinking.

In fact, 2009 was the year that Penguin established its giant status.

In terms of traditional strengths, QQ users exceeded 5.3 million last year, and QQ Zone users exceeded 2 million;
The explosive growth of the online game business is even more astonishing. The annual revenue of online games reached 53.85 billion yuan, a surge of 131.5% year-on-year, accounting for 56.5% of Internet value-added services, surpassing Shanda for the first time to become the industry leader.

Starting from this year, Shanda began to decline due to Chen Tianqiao's strategic misjudgment, until it finally lost its competitiveness completely.

Anyone with eyes to see can see that this will be a tough and fierce battle. What reason would Tencent have to join in and fight a deadly battle that has nothing to do with its own core interests?
Aside from some early competition with Wenjie in the SP (Service Provider) sector, there are no other industry branches in Tencent's core business that are worth competing head-on with.

The only potential competitor, Tencent Video, has not yet emerged.

Ma Yun shook her head: "He is a very good judge of the situation. Lu Kuan has a bad reputation, so he won't get involved in this mess. We don't need to consider him for now."

Cao Jie said in a deep voice, "The current situation is that in terms of publicity, the other side's east wind is about to overwhelm our west wind, but in terms of subsidy, we haven't seen Wenjie make any big moves yet."

“He’s waiting for Wuyue Culture to go public.” Ma Yun said without hesitation, “It’s a huge sum of money, a huge sum of money that has been planned for who knows how long.”

President Liu sighed and said, "That's why I say—you're not worth talking to. Ma Yun, you were implicated by those two boys from the Wang family, it's not your fault."

"If an entrepreneur can't even guarantee the safety of his own company's shares, then his foundation is not solid! How can he talk about being enterprising and innovative?"

He glanced, seemingly casually, at the composed chairman of Wanda Group: "Jianlin, don't you think so?"

"You acted quickly, bringing that Feng Xiaogang and Wu guy under your wing a long time ago. That should be considered a blow to Lu Kuan, right? Haha?"

Old Ma could easily understand the implication in his words, a smile spreading across his alien-like face: "Jianlin, did you foresee this? You should have reminded your brother, otherwise things would have gotten like this..." "What are you saying, gentlemen?" Wang Jianlin exclaimed in surprise, "How could I possibly have such abilities? You two overestimate me!"

"Leaving aside the celebrity shareholders, these are all highly unstable factors that are heavily influenced by capital. Who could have predicted that Wendy Deng would also be loyal to one side while serving another?"

Old Wang wasn't lying.

He and his son had indeed seen through the scheme long ago, but they never imagined that the final executioner would be Wendy Deng, who beheaded the two kings and the old man with a single stroke, causing blood to flow like a river.

From Wang Jianlin's perspective, he wouldn't offer any warnings. What does it matter to me whether Ma Yun's investment in shares goes down the drain?
Wanda Pictures is taking advantage of the chaos to seize Huayi Brothers and bring the most sought-after directors in the entire Chinese film industry chain under its control.

Of course, for him it's a division of spoils, but for Wuyue and Wenjie it's a detoxification process.

Wang Jianlin is known for his straightforward personality, and his position among Damai.cn's shareholders is relatively detached.

He's not a member of the Taishan Club, and Wanda Group owns 100% of the company, so of course he'll say whatever he wants, always acting in his own best interests.

“Mr. Ma, this investor, Wendy Deng, was introduced by Masayoshi Son of SoftBank. If you have any complaints, you should go and hold him accountable.”

Old Wang then turned to Liu Chuanzhi with a smile, his expression softening slightly: "President Liu thinks too highly of me. I do not possess the cunning and methods of Lu Kuan. Our Wanda was built up city by city, territories by tackling the challenges."

"The two of you should have more trust in Wanda and in me, otherwise this cooperation will not be very pleasant."

These words were both polite and blunt, but they were ultimately a true reflection of Wang Jianlin's character and demeanor.

However, Liu Chuanzhi, who holds a high position of power and can be considered the number one political and business figure in China today, felt very uncomfortable upon hearing this.

“Jianlin, I’ve seen Wanda’s data analysis. In the first two months of this year’s Lunar New Year season, you can be said to have benefited from the online ticketing boom in terms of user behavior conversion and incremental market exploration.”

"Total movie attendance increased by 25%, and the occupancy rate during prime time rose from 41% last year to 58%, which also directly reduced your manual ticketing costs by 18%."

"Among so many cinema chains nationwide, this cost of optimizing operations is quite substantial, isn't it? Before everyone continues to invest subsidies, shouldn't you be able to recoup your investment costs by now?"

Liu Chuanzhi has always been good at keeping detailed accounts.

Or perhaps he harbored resentment towards the Wanda chairman, who had always maintained a rather aloof attitude, and had already prepared a pretext for conversation.

In 2008, Wanda had fewer than 90 cinemas nationwide, including those under construction. On average, each cinema had 6 traditional ticketing units. Considering the midnight screenings and the three shifts, the annual labor cost per unit was more than 9 yuan.

This year, the number has been drastically reduced due to online ticketing. With only 70% of ticketing units remaining, more than 2000 million yuan has been saved in labor costs alone.

In addition, the online ticketing service has brought Wanda tangible improvements in film scheduling and boosted the sales of cinema concessions, allowing Wanda's already leading single-screen revenue figures in mainland China to be further enhanced.

Seeing Wang Jianlin remain silent, Chairman Liu spoke in a calm yet heavy tone: "The reason Wanda is able to enjoy the benefits of development is because of Damai.cn's status as a shareholder and the concerted efforts of the four of us."

“We have granted Wanda access to share real-time data, including ticket purchase time preferences and product mix options.”

"The elites from Mr. Ma and Mr. Li's internet companies even developed exclusive functional modules for Wanda—"

The old chairman wasn't very knowledgeable about this, so he turned to Cao Jie and asked, "What's it called again?"

Cao Jie scratched his head somewhat sheepishly: "The dynamic discount algorithm and membership system are interconnected. Damai.cn also sets up a fixed recommendation position for Wanda on its homepage, which will drive users who want to buy tickets to Wanda Cinema."

“That’s right!” Liu Chuanzhi’s glasses gleamed coldly: “Jianlin, don’t say those things again. Don’t hurt our relationship.”

"We're doing business together, not making enemies. There's no need to make things unpleasant, right?"

Wang Jianlin was speechless, choked by the old fox's words. He didn't believe that Liu Chuanzhi, a busy business tycoon, could remember so much data. Wasn't this premeditated?
They must have discovered that Wanda had poached their employees beforehand, figured out Wanda's little scheme, and were just using this opportunity to give them a warning.

However, this statement is not entirely without merit. Wanda did indeed gain substantial benefits through its status as a shareholder of Damai.cn, achieving significant improvements in areas such as structural reduction of labor costs, optimization of the product supply chain, and locking in user habits.

In particular, the last point is that Wanda achieves a customer repurchase rate of 68% through its integrated service of "online ticketing + concession pre-sale + Wanda membership points", while other cinemas have an online user retention rate of only 39%.

A brief silence fell over the office. In an effort to establish his authority, Chairman Liu gave Lao Wang a cold shoulder for the first time since the cooperation began.

He wasn't afraid of Wang Jianlin defecting to the enemy, because Wenjie, which had taken over 4.5% of the original Huayi Cinema Line's market share, had now surpassed Wanda and become the undisputed number one private cinema line.

The success of Wenjie lies in its unification of the entire film industry chain, from upstream to downstream, with each sector aiming to dominate.

However, the downside is that it will always lead to competitors banding together to target it. This is determined by basic business logic. If Wenjie is just a small shop at the entrance of a village, it will naturally not attract strong enemies.

Wang Jianlin felt disgusted by what he heard, pursed his lips, and remained silent.

But if it were Old Wang in 2015, he might have slammed his fist on the table, stood up, and stormed off.

In 2015, Wanda Commercial Properties went public in Hong Kong, setting a record for the world's largest IPO that year.

Wang Jianlin topped the Forbes China rich list with a net worth of US$381 billion, surpassing Li Jiacheng to become the richest man in Asia.

That same year, he uttered the famous saying, "A small goal," implying that money not only emboldens cowards but also heroes!

When Wang Jianlin looked up again, he had a smile on his face: "Chairman Liu is right. Wanda is part of Damai.cn. With a formidable enemy at hand, let's not talk about such trivial matters."

He tapped the table lightly: "Let me state my position first: Wanda's funds are ready. Now it's up to us to see how we spend them."

"Hey! That's more like it! Jianlin." Chairman Liu smiled kindly, full of affirmation for the younger generation: "You are a rising star in our country's real estate industry. I think the older generation like Lao Lu will be swept away by you."

"No, no, who doesn't know about Oceanwide Holdings and the Oceanwide Group?" Wang Jianlin's self-confidence was tempered with just the right amount of humility: "I will always learn from Chairman Liu and you."

Liu Chuanzhi adjusted his glasses and casually brought up another topic: "A fence needs three posts, and a hero needs three helpers. In fact, doing business in China is the same as being a person; you must know how to stick together."

“A person like Lu Kuan, who tries to do everything for himself, will never go far.”

“Jianlin, I actually suggest you come to the Taishan Association. I’m getting old now, and I might as well hand over the chairmanship to you in the future.”

"Please lead all of China's private entrepreneurs to defend our interests, ideals, and beliefs, and make greater contributions to the country and the people!"

Old Wang could hardly suppress his originally indifferent expression.

He was genuinely impressed by the old chairman.

Today's "sincere" negotiations have dragged on for so long, with the previous warning about possibly knowing about Huayi's inside information but not reporting it, and now the temptation of the chairman's position.

It turns out it was all for the sake of "getting out" of Wanda, and wanting Wanda's shares.

Just like he wanted to inquire about the shares in the industry.

As for the temptation he finally offered—

President of the Taishan Association—this is indeed a nominal title.

But as long as Wang Jianlin can command respect in this position, then Liu Chuanzhi's current positions as a business tycoon, a delegate to the National People's Congress, and vice chairman of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce will be his.

The highest positions these private entrepreneurs can achieve within the social and intellectual structure of Dongda University are those where Taishan Club helped them rise to become "leaders."

At its peak, the member companies of the Taishan Club created more than 2 million jobs, controlled total assets of more than 200 trillion yuan, and had total operating revenue of more than 6 trillion yuan, equivalent to 6% of China's GDP.

Representative companies include LinkInfo (6000 billion), Oceanwide Holdings (4000 billion), and Fosun Group (7000 billion).

With such a scale, its infiltration into all levels of politics and business is already quite frightening.

Since it didn't concern them, Lao Ma and Li Yanhong both smiled and drank their tea.

Wang Jianlin's face twitched involuntarily. Despite the heavy pressure from Liu Chuanzhi, he remained resolute: "Wanda has no such idea or plan for the time being. I know the chairman's good intentions, but I'm afraid it will be disappointing."

Now the office is truly freezing cold.

The most terrified was Cao Jie, who was in the lowest position. He kept his eyes down and didn't dare to breathe.

He was astute and could see that while Damai.cn was important to his boss, Chairman Liu, it was not as important as Taishan Club and Lianxiang.

Cao Jie recalled the mainland's richest man who, through a rumored covert operation, caused Huayi to change hands. Wasn't he also using a similar tactic of "borrowing a path to attack Guo" to gradually erode his opponent?

Chairman Liu wanted to teach the "disobedient" younger generation a lesson through Damai.cn, but he also didn't forget to "take advantage of the situation" and expand the power of the Taishan Club, this "pseudo-tycoon," in every possible way.

It's obvious they've had their eyes on Wanda for a long time; they don't intend to let go of either their rivals or their teammates.

The founder of Damai.cn, who resigned from his previous job to travel the world, couldn't help but sigh inwardly:
The business world is like a battlefield; behind the seemingly glamorous competition lies a life-or-death struggle filled with cutthroat competition.

Those well-dressed, respectable people, beneath their civilized facade, are still driven by the most primitive survival-of-the-fittest mentality.

Just like the tragic "Zhou Jun case on December 1220th," there was no mercy, only interests; no bottom line, only victory and defeat.

As for Wang Jianlin, after reaping the benefits of online ticketing and the initial big data boom, he doesn't have many other options left.

Damai.cn cannot be abandoned, but Liu Chuanzhi's ambitions must never be satisfied.

If Lu Kuan's actions were clever, then Chairman Liu's actions were outright robbery!
"Hehe, let's not talk about that for now." In the end, Liu Chuanzhi did not choose an overly harsh attitude, even though he already harbored resentment towards this real estate developer who, like Lu Kuan, had repeatedly rejected his offers.

He glanced at his watch: "You guys keep chatting, I have to have lunch with my boss at noon."

The former president gave some concise instructions: "For Wenjie, just imitate their omnichannel marketing and celebrity endorsements. We currently hold over 90% of the online ticketing market share, which is an advantage..."

He paused for a moment: "The disadvantage lies with the opponent."

"Furthermore!" Liu Chuanzhi's expression turned slightly stern: "Beware of some people's underhanded tactics. Ali, Baidu, Lianxiang, and Wanda are comrades-in-arms and allies."

"Please make sure to maintain internal unity. I don't want to see a ridiculous situation like Huayi's!"

The old president, dressed in a suit and tie, left, but the "wise sayings" hidden behind the door hinges were both laughable and absurd.

Even though he says he doesn't care, doesn't pay attention, and that hoarding things is like cutting himself off from the world, Liu Chuanzhi is clearly very wary of the change of ownership of Huayi and the instigator of the "1220 Zhou Jun case"!

This was the most meticulous and unconventional young man he had ever seen in his sixty-plus years of life; his moves were truly bizarre.

With Chairman Liu gone, Damai.cn was left with ample subsidies, and the remaining three focused their efforts on how to deal with Wenjie's offensive.

Ma Yun laughed and said, "I'll just ask Ma Huateng once, but I guess it's hopeless."

"But I think LeEco Culture can work harder; their LeEco.com's market share is second only to Zhijie Video."

"To put it bluntly, Wenjie is short of money. Despite all the fanfare, it's all bark and no bite. I think we should increase subsidies and officially start the fight!"

Old Ma has experience with subsidy wars in the internet era.

在C2C市场，2003到2005年桃宝就是通过三年免佣金击败了2%费率的易趣，三年时间易趣的市场份额从79%跌至26%。

Decisions about spending money are always much easier to make.

After one platform finished its promotional campaign and another launched its own, Damai.cn stepped up its efforts once again!
On the evening of January 13th, Damai.cn widely announced this through all channels:
Damai.cn has officially launched a tiered discount program, adjusting the original straightforward "instant discount of 10 yuan" to three tiers of 10, 15, and 20 yuan, based on the corresponding movie viewing frequency and ticket purchase rules, resulting in a greater overall discount.

Starting at 2 PM every Friday, Damai.cn offers a "1 Yuan Ticket Grab" promotion, releasing 100,000 tickets per day.

This is a copy of Taobao's "limited-time flash sale".

At the same time, Damai.cn and LeTV, the second-largest online retailer in the industry, officially reached a cooperation agreement.

LeTV set up a "Damai Special Offer Zone" on its homepage. Users who click on it will be directly redirected to the ticket purchase page and given a free LeTV VIP movie ticket.

Meanwhile, Damai.cn has also launched a joint membership program with LeEco. As long as you pre-charge more than 150 yuan in your Damai.cn account, you can automatically get a three-month LeEco video membership.

LeTV in this era is far from being the champion of legitimate content in its previous era, because Jia Yueting's path has already been taken by Zhijie Video. He has nowhere else to go but to become a mixed website of legitimate and pirated content under the "safe harbor" clause.

The so-called "safe harbor" clause means that if a video website claims that infringing content was uploaded by a user, the platform can be exempted from liability simply by deleting it after receiving notification from the copyright holder.

Damai.cn's bundling strategy has been extremely effective. With the combined benefits of first-time user discounts, flash sales, and tiered rewards, a 100 RMB top-up amount means the actual cost of watching a movie is less than 20 RMB per session.

In addition to watching blockbusters in theaters during the Lunar New Year and Spring Festival seasons, viewers could also enjoy a sea of ​​pirated content on LeTV for three months, including the Spring Festival holiday.

You have to pay 48.8 yuan to buy Liu Yifei's five-part series in your Zhijie video, right?
Come to LeTV! Watch pirated content for free! Don't waste your money on washing machines!

There are plenty of wealthy fans among the celestial beings' fans, but none of them would pass up the opportunity to take advantage of a bargain of nearly 50 yuan.

We should believe that the vast majority of people conform to the laws of human nature driven by self-interest.

This ingenious approach resonates more deeply than simple ticket subsidies, because most people don't have the habit of watching movies, but they have a strong habit of watching pirated content.

Damai.cn's combined strategy encompasses both those who enjoy movies (a form of "high-end entertainment") and those who watch pirated content (a form of "low-end entertainment")!

It is clearly visible that traffic to Zhijie Video is declining, with a precipitous drop in the number of purchases for the ¥48.8 package.

The situation is unfavorable for Zhijie Video, which adheres to the principle of copyright protection, and its parent company, Wenjie. With the main funding not yet in place, a decline has already emerged.

January 22, 2009, the day after tomorrow is Lunar New Year's Eve.

It snowed all night last night, and the snow was almost ankle-deep, making it dangerous for cars and pedestrians to drive on the road. As a result, Mr. Lu, a freelancer, simply decided to work from home.

At 10:00 AM, Han Shanping's secretary, Gao Chengsheng, sent an email filled with internal information, detailing domestic film box office data for the past three months since November.

This is practically the highlight of this year's Lunar New Year and Spring Festival film seasons; the New Year is just a week away.

Since 2006, cinemas across the country have gradually been connected to the "National Film Box Office Data Collection System," which reports ticket sales data daily via a dedicated network, including sales details from offline windows and online platforms.

The system was commissioned by the Film Bureau and developed by China Film Digital Base. Technically, it has the ability to monitor ticketing data of various cinema chains in real time.

So Lao Han used his power to act a little capriciously and sent Lu Kuan macro data for his reference.

Whether it's the overall movie box office figures or the box office performance of "Ask the World" movies, the trends are encouraging, so there's nothing to pay attention to.

However, the statistics on online ticketing left the pregnant woman, who was watching the spectacle with her arms around her husband's neck, feeling somewhat disheartened.

Box office data from the New Year period:

从2008年11月初的《画皮2》开启贺岁档开始，到2009年1月22号《人在囧途》下画前三天，国内电影票房总额是30.28亿人民币。

Among these, the online ticketing business, which is still in its infancy, accounts for only 26% of the total market share, or about 8 million yuan, due to a combination of factors such as the lack of mobile technology and a small number of online payment users.

But this only represents the share of online ticketing over two months; the overall numbers are still increasing rapidly.

For Liu Yifei, the most disappointing thing was that Damai.cn accounted for 71% of the 8 million yuan market share, and Wenjie, which came later, failed to catch up.

Admittedly, this is related to the fact that Wenjie's online ticketing service has only been online for a little over ten days, but considering the marketing resources invested and the overwhelming momentum, such a digital divide seems a bit too large.

"It's okay, it's okay, we'll promote it again! We'll spend money! I'll post it on Weibo right now!"

Xiao Liu tried her best to encourage her husband, but he just smiled and closed the email, then casually flipped to his final draft of the storyboard before filming began.

"why are you laughing?"

"Huh? Me?" Lu Kuan looked at his wife in confusion, snapping out of his daze.

Liu Yifei frowned and said, "Yes! I'm cheering you on, and you're laughing. Doesn't that make me look silly?"

"I'm laughing..." Boss Lu suddenly said seriously, "Of course I'm laughing at Old Ma's lack of strategy and Old Liu's lack of wisdom!"

Xiao Liu watched curiously as he picked up the phone and dialed. The call was quickly answered on the other end; it was Zhuang Xu.

His voice was somewhat impatient: "How so? I've been waiting forever!"

Lu Kuan laughed and said, "That's about enough. Let's go with Zhang Chaoyang to 'beat the drum of petition'!"

"Let's file complaints and petitions, then we can have a good New Year!"

(End of this chapter)