Financial freedom starts with smiling at life

Chapter 341 Tremble, Entertainment Industry!
The purpose of Liu Qiangdong organizing this dinner today is to raise funds for JD.com's newly expanded food delivery business and reserve sufficient funds to seize market share.

The investors invited were all old friends, and they naturally understood what Liu Qiangdong was thinking.

The main purpose of JD.com's food delivery service is to attract traffic to the food delivery market and cultivate people's habit of opening the JD.com app.

It's still about driving traffic to its own e-commerce business.

That's why Liu Qiangdong keeps the profit margin on food delivery so low, because he doesn't rely on it to make money at all.

However, this has already given Meituan, which holds a monopoly, a headache.

Jiang Beicheng didn't really see through Liu Qiangdong's true intentions in starting a food delivery business, but Today Capital and Hillhouse Capital expressed strong interest in investing.

His ideas were simple: first, JD.com was worth investing in; second, he wanted to learn from these experienced people and gradually enrich himself.

Shi Yixue knew that the people who were at Liu Qiangdong's dinner table today were no ordinary people. Although Jiang Beicheng's face was unfamiliar, he was impressed when he learned that he was the founder of Lian Capital.

Both Lian Capital and Juyuan Capital, which he founded, are private equity funds. In terms of fund management scale alone, Lian Capital is now more powerful than Juyuan Capital.

President Jiang is certainly qualified to sit at this dinner table tonight.

Unexpectedly, during the conversation, Liu Qiangdong revealed that Jiang Beicheng was the founder of Yizhi Culture Media, which was recently seeking financing.

Not only can Shi Yixue not help his son suppress the rival Yizhi Culture Media, but if Liu Qiangdong, Xu Xin, and Zhang Lei all express their willingness to invest in Yizhi Culture Media at today's dinner, he will also have to give them a token of appreciation.

Now I'm worried about my son Ishikawa, who has encountered such a formidable opponent.

Today's meal alone was far inferior to that in Jiangbei City.

At least Liu Qiangdong and other leaders of major internet companies would not invite Ishikawa to the table.

Before Shi Yixue could react, Xu Xin, a fellow townsman from Jiangbei City, asked with concern, "How did Mr. Jiang's financing go?"

Jiang Beicheng replied truthfully, "It went very smoothly."

At times like these, you absolutely must not complain to these investors.

The entertainment industry is already not very popular with the current capital market. If you complain about the difficulty of financing, people will lose interest in you just to save face.

You need to proactively elevate the company's prestige.

Let them know that Yizhi Culture Media is highly valued by overseas capital markets.

Shi Yixue looked at Jiang Beicheng with a puzzled expression.

He hadn't heard of any well-known domestic investors being interested in Yizhi Culture Media. Perhaps Lian Capital, founded by Jiang Beicheng, would offer some support.

Jiang Beicheng continued, "Both overseas investors and Lian Capital have a strong desire to cooperate, and we should be able to raise 4000 million US dollars."

Shi Yixue's eyes widened instantly as he stared at Jiang Beicheng in shock.

In the current market environment, a startup entertainment company is able to secure 3 million RMB in funding.

It's incredible.

Zhang Lei was also somewhat shocked and curious about the foreign capital Jiang Beicheng had mentioned. "Which two companies are you currently in contact with, Mr. Jiang?"

Jiang Beicheng said, "Singapore's Hezhou Capital and Hong Kong's Zhengxing Development Investment Co., Ltd."

“I know Hezhou Capital.” Zhang Lei now spends most of his time in Singapore and is very familiar with Singapore’s financial market. “Hezhou Capital is a private equity fund that just entered Singapore this year.”

Its background is very mysterious, and we have very little information about it.

However, judging from its recent actions, it is a very powerful private equity fund.

That's one of the advantages of Singapore as a global financial hub: money can come and go freely.

Hezhou Capital is a tool of the Jiangbei Urban Exploitation System Special Investment Fund. How can it not be mysterious?
The Singapore government doesn't care where your money comes from; as long as you invest here and pay taxes according to the law, that's fine.

Jiang Beicheng said modestly, "My father used to be in the mining business and had dealings with a lot of foreign capital. These connections can be considered as assets he left me."

Jiang Tao did indeed sign a performance-based agreement with foreign capital to acquire a titanium mining area in southern Kenya, but a major change occurred and all of the company's shares were pledged to foreign capital.

Lacking the ability to repay its debts, the foreign capital has already been largely liquidated.

However, the main assets, the multi-billion dollar titanium mine and deep-processing industry chain, are still controlled by the new Kenyan government.

Stepmother Chanli has been in contact with the Kenyan government along with her legal team.

Jiangbei City didn't have much hope; they would have to resort to tough measures when the time came.

His explanation made sense of why Yizhi Culture Media was favored by foreign capital.

It's still about personal connections.

This made the people at the table look at him with even more respect.

Xu Xin said, "President Jiang, let's exchange contact information. Could you send me a copy of the financing materials for the cultural media company?"

I've assigned my team to handle this.

Jiang Beicheng and she exchanged contact information.

I also added Zhang Lei and Shi Yixue on WeChat.

I guess several companies will invest a little, hoping to get a piece of the pie.

After finishing the meal, Shi Yixue deliberately waited until the very end, and only after seeing everyone else off did he go to greet Jiang Beicheng.

"Mr. Shi, would you like my driver to take you?" Jiang Beicheng thought his driver hadn't arrived yet.

Shi Yixue shook his head and smiled: "President Jiang, the driver has arrived."

"So, Mr. Jiang, are you familiar with Ishikawa, iQiyi's new Chief Content Officer?"

Jiang Beichen instantly realized: "Ishikawa is your son?"

"Yes, Mr. Jiang." Shi Yixue put on his father's face for his son Shi Chuan. "Mr. Jiang, Shi Chuan just returned from abroad. He's arrogant and ambitious. He wants to work in the entertainment industry, so I spoke to Gong Yu and gave him a chance."

The main motivation was to gain experience and learn.

If Ishikawa has done anything to offend President Jiang, please don't take it to heart.

Jiang Beicheng smiled and replied, "President Shi is overthinking it. Yizhi Culture Media and iQiyi do have a certain competitive relationship."

However, the company's daily management and operations are mainly handled by CEO Liu Tao, and I rarely get involved.

Therefore, the things Mr. Shi mentioned do not exist.

"That's good, that's good." Shi Yixue nodded with a smile.

He gleaned two meanings from the Jiangbei dialect. First, Ishikawa's opponent wasn't him, but Liu Tao.

Secondly, he didn't take Ishikawa seriously.

Both meanings align with President Jiang's status and mindset.

"Mr. Shi, if there's nothing else, I'll be leaving now," Jiang Beicheng said goodbye.

"Okay, Mr. Jiang, take care." Shi Yixue said as he saw him off.

Jiang Beicheng really didn't expect to run into Ishikawa's father at Liu Qiangdong's dinner table.

It's understandable that Ishikawa is arrogant, given that he has such a senior investor father.

However, I don't need to get involved in his affair with Liu Tao.

……

When Shi Yixue returned home, he said to his son Shi Chuan, "Do you know who I ran into today?"

Ishikawa looked puzzled.

"I met Mr. Jiang Beicheng, the founder of Yizhi Culture Media, at a dinner hosted by Liu Qiangdong," Shi Yixue said. "If nothing unexpected happens, Mr. Jiang will be an investor in JD.com."

Ishikawa's puzzled expression suddenly changed.

Shocked.

Does Yizhi Culture Media have such a deep background?

Is this Mr. Jiang very capable?

Liu Tao was already giving him a headache, and now another General Manager Jiang has appeared.

He was still someone who sat on equal footing with his father at the dinner table.

"Who is President Jiang?" Ishikawa asked.

"The founder of Lian Capital," Shi Yixue said directly. "According to him, Yizhi Culture Media is already in contact with overseas capital. If the financing is successful, it will be a financing that will shake the entertainment industry."

No startup entertainment company has ever done that.

Moreover, at dinner tonight, Liu Qiangdong clearly expressed his willingness to invest in Yizhi Culture Media.

Xu Xin and Zhang Lei will probably give a token amount as well.

As someone at the dinner table, I should also contribute something.

Ishikawa was completely dumbfounded.

Now even his own father has sided with his opponent.

My back felt slightly cold.

I feel a little scared afterwards.

Who did we offend?

Shi Yixue instructed, "I sent you to iQiyi mainly to get to know the domestic workplace environment, adapt, and learn."

Stop with your one-man show approach, stop seeking the limelight, and just focus on your job.

"No, I need to make a phone call," Ishikawa said anxiously.

I immediately called the production team of that folk music variety show and asked them to do everything they could to protect Zheng Jiamin, this newcomer.

The original plan was to eliminate her directly in the top five to top three competition.

This can be seen as venting one's anger on Liu Tao.

After all, Zheng Jiamin is an artist signed with Yizhi Culture Media.

Now, after listening to his father's words, he not only dared not do that, but also wanted to do his best to ensure Zheng Jiamin's success in the final round of the competition.

This was done to appease and ease the relationship between himself and Yizhi Culture Media.

The main reason is that I don't dare to offend the General Manager Jiang that my father mentioned.

After making that call, he called his deputy and asked him to go to Yizhi Culture again the next day to discuss cooperation and buy the projects that had been rejected before.

Liu Tao will definitely agree.

As long as there is no exclusive agreement, Yizhi Culture Media can earn more by purchasing from multiple platforms.

……

After Jiang Beicheng personally invested another 200 million yuan in Yizhi Culture Media, the company subsequently completed its financing round.

Lian Capital, Hezhou Capital, and Zhengxing Development Investment led the investment of US$4000 million.

JD.com, Today Capital, Hillhouse Capital, and Juyuan Capital also invested $2000 million.

They directly raised over 400 million yuan, and with Jiang Beicheng's personal investment, the total reached over 600 million yuan.

The news immediately attracted attention in the entertainment industry.

Of all the entertainment giants that have emerged in the past, no startup has been able to achieve this level of success in its early funding rounds.

It can be said to be an unimaginable achievement.

The signal being conveyed is that a large amount of capital is pushing Yizhi Culture Media to become the next entertainment giant.

When the celebrities in the entertainment industry who knew Jiangbei City heard this news, their first reaction was that President Jiang had made his move and was aggressively entering the entertainment industry.

The budget of over 600 million yuan is actually the production cost of a super S-level drama series, which doesn't seem as exaggerated as it appears.

However, relying on the leverage of banks, the snowball effect of more than 600 million yuan in cash rolling in the entertainment industry is terrifying.

And this is just the beginning.

There will be large-scale financing in the future.

That morning, Jiang Beicheng received many congratulatory messages from celebrity friends, many of which were quite flattering.

He replied politely with a couple of sentences.

Da Mimi sent him a WeChat message again, asking if he was in Beijing, saying that it had been a long time since they had gone for a morning run together, and inviting him to go for a morning run at Chaoyang Park.

(End of this chapter)