This director lacks vision.

Chapter 240 Fengxing Media's Business Ecosystem

At 7:30 p.m. local time, Jiang Yifeng's plane landed at Los Angeles International Airport.

In addition to Wen Lingfeng, a group of people from Wanda Cinemas also accompanied her on this trip.

They came to discuss acquiring AMC Cinemas.

Jing Tian was also among them.

So on the way to the hotel, Jiang Yifeng had no choice but to sit in the middle seat.

To his left was Jing Tian, ​​and to his right was Wen Lingfeng.

Seeing Jing Tian's hostile expression, Wen Lingfeng smiled and said, "My relationship with President Jiang is purely professional. I am a non-marriage advocate, so you don't need to be too nervous."

If you were smarter, you should be friends with me; maybe I can help you.

Wen Lingfeng's words did not make Jing Tian lower her guard.

In Jing Tian's view, Wen Lingfeng has a strong family background, is very capable, and works in financial investment, which complements Jiang Yifeng's career.

Even though Wen Lingfeng is older, he is still a formidable opponent.

Jiang Yifeng held Jing Tian's fair hand, squeezed it to reassure her, and then joked, "This is my first time in the United States. You are the annual spokesperson for the American Cherry Association. I met Clinton when I was a child."

"You have to look after me this time I'm in the US."

Hearing this, Jing Tian smiled smugly and said, "Of course, don't worry!"

"Follow me, and I guarantee you'll live the high life!"

After glancing at Wen Lingfeng, Jing Tian asked again, "How many days will it take you to inspect the company? I'll make some arrangements."

Los Angeles has many fun places to visit; we can spend more time there.

In fact, Jing Tian was not familiar with Los Angeles at all. She said that on purpose so as not to lose face in front of Wen Lingfeng.

Wen Lingfeng also realized it, and she shook her head without arguing with Jing Tian.

As a pragmatic woman, Wen Lingfeng never argues about trivial matters.

But she will absolutely fight for core interests.

For example, Jiang Yifeng's energy.

Upon arriving at the hotel, Wen Lingfeng stepped forward proudly and took the lead.

After she finished eating, she let Jiang Yifeng go back to Jing Tian's room.

Since Jiang Yifeng was living with her, Jing Tian didn't make a fuss about it.

Anyway, her husband is full of energy, and she can't handle it alone.

The next morning, Jing Tian, ​​accompanied by her assistant and bodyguard, went to Hollywood ahead of everyone else, saying she wanted to scout out the location and make a plan.

Jiang Yifeng, along with Wen Lingfeng, went to Roku in Silicon Valley.

Upon entering the company, I saw a middle-aged white man in his thirties standing in front of several people.

Wen Lingfeng introduced, "Jiang, this is Wood, the founder of Roku Company."

"Wood, this is Jiang Yifeng, you can call him Jiang. He's the boss of Fengxing Media and also a senior executive at Souhu Group."

After the two got to know each other, Wen Lingfeng said to Jiang Yifeng, "Wood is like you, having his own company and also holding a senior management position in a large company. He is a senior executive at Netflix."

Upon hearing this, Wood laughed and said, "In Silicon Valley, Netflix isn't exactly a big company."

Netflix is ​​the leader in the US DVD rental market, but the market is not very large.

With the development of the internet, the DVD rental business has been greatly impacted.

Starting in 2008, Netflix also began to transform into an online video website, but the process was not smooth.

This year in particular, Netflix significantly raised its movie subscription prices on the website, resulting in the loss of nearly one million users and a sharp drop in its stock price, with its market value hovering around 30 billion US dollars.

It wasn't until 2013, when Netflix produced its original series House of Cards, that it turned its fortunes around and its market value soared to hundreds of billions of US dollars.

This is also a good investment target. Jiang Yifeng had planned it for a long time to invest in some Netflix stocks using his personal account.

He sensed the sarcasm in Wood's words and asked, "It sounds like you're a bit unhappy with Netflix."

Wood said, "At Netflix, I was originally in charge of the development of the 'Netflix Player' project."

However, Netflix felt the project had no future and cancelled it.

I simply moved the "Netflix Player" project to my own company, and that's how RokuPlayer came to be.

Whether it's Netflix Player or RokuPlayer, they both have another name: set-top box.

To be precise, it's a multi-functional set-top box with a built-in application that allows users to watch online videos, watch TV channels, and play some games.

For Jiang Yifeng, after Fengxing Media goes public, it will raise seven or eight billion yuan. He must make good use of these funds to expand and build Fengxing Media's business ecosystem.

Jiang Yifeng directly drew inspiration from LeEco's future path for this ecosystem, namely the strategic development goals proposed by Jia Yueting two years later.

We will build a vertically integrated business system with a four-layer architecture of "platform + content + terminal + application" to achieve sustainable profitability through film and television copyright distribution, advertising revenue, terminal products and paid services.

Jiang Yifeng is now a shareholder of Souhu Video, and Fengxing Media has a platform and is the number one in China in terms of content production.

All that's missing is the terminal and the application.

This terminal application is the set-top box.

Don't underestimate the power of set-top boxes.

Besides being able to make money from it, this thing can also influence the televisions of countless households. It is an easily overlooked yet very important part of the film and television ecosystem.

Take Roku, for example. It has no reputation in China and is relatively low-profile in the United States.

The company made set-top boxes and their built-in applications. Ten years later, it became the number one company in the US market.

Even in 2024, Roku's revenue was not very large, only a little over a billion US dollars.

However, this company's products cover nearly 40% of television sets in American households, making it a key medium for various entertainment content to reach television users.

In the future, even the usually domineering Apple will have to pay "tolls" to Roku.

The company's success is mainly due to a product strategy that emphasizes neutrality and convenience.

Neutrality means not forcibly bundling any software with customers or forcing advertisements on them.

The term "convenient" means that the application is easy to operate and use.

This strategy made Roku popular with Americans.

This is actually a sore point for Chinese audiences.

In the future, people will watch less and less TV, not only because of the impact of smartphones, but also because the apps on set-top boxes are awful.

Not only is it cumbersome to operate, but it also has a lot of advertisements.

Turn on the TV, and if you really want to watch something, it takes forever to find it.

In fact, many families will buy a TV and hang it in their home even if they don't watch TV.

If you have a good set-top box that offers convenience and entertainment, many people will still be willing to turn on the TV and watch videos on the big screen, especially while eating.

Roku's strategy is good, but it means the company will face difficulties in the early stages.

Because there is no income without advertising, you can't make much money just by selling set-top boxes.

So this company is currently facing the same difficulties as Netflix.

Founder Wood intends to sell the company or seek financing.

Fengxing Media's first goal after its IPO was to acquire Roku.

This will not only allow them to quietly establish themselves in the North American market, but also enable them to leverage Roku's hardware and software technology to manufacture set-top boxes under their own brand in China, thus creating a business ecosystem for Fengxing Media.

Jiang Yifeng's trip to the United States for this inspection was made in advance.

After all, acquiring a US company is quite complicated, involving many rounds of negotiations.

This highlights the advantages of listing on Hong Kong Island; acquiring foreign companies is relatively easier.

As Jiang Yifeng toured the company, he casually asked, "Why is the company called Roku? Does it have any meaning?"

Wood explained, “Because this company is the sixth one I have founded, Roku means “6” in Japanese, and it’s also easier to pronounce in English.”

To further elaborate on his image, Wood added, "My last startup was ReplayTV, and everything was going well until the dot-com bubble burst."

Left with no other choice, I sold the company to SonicBlue for 1000 million US dollars.

Regardless, this business venture still made me a lot of money.

"I can see that," Jiang Yifeng said politely. "You have the demeanor of an English gentleman, and your speech carries an elegant aristocratic air, which is completely different from the nouveau riche in the United States."

These two sentences boasted about what Wood was most proud of.

Because Wood was English.

Hierarchical social distinctions are ubiquitous.

The British in the United States particularly enjoy flaunting their so-called culture and history, as well as their aristocratic heritage and gentlemanly spirit, while mocking Americans as nouveau riche.

The same goes for Wood.

“Jiang, you really understand me!” Wood said with a smile. “We will definitely have a very pleasant working relationship.”

Wen Lingfeng glanced at Jiang Yifeng and admired his eloquence. He was really good at persuasion, and he had shortened the distance between them in just a few words.

The two sides had a very pleasant conversation in the following exchange.

In less than an hour, Wood and Jiang Yifeng became sworn brothers and good friends.

"Jiang, when are you going to England? I'd like to show you around my family's manor."

There you'll find the finest wines and magnificent, strong horses.

We can enjoy a wonderful time sipping wine while riding horses.

Jiang Yifeng said with a smile, "My company is going public, so I've been quite busy lately. I'll be going to Europe next year, and we'll keep in touch then."

"Okay, then let me introduce the company's products to you."

Jiang Yifeng focused on learning about Roku's set-top box products and their built-in applications.

To be honest, they are all very good, absolutely world-leading, and have more than a dozen technology patents.

Jiang Yifeng was quite satisfied with the results of the inspection.

Roku is currently a small company with only about forty employees and revenue of around 2000 million US dollars.

The company adhered to a strategy of selling set-top boxes at low prices to seize the market, resulting in very low net profits and genuine financial difficulties. Acquiring them would not be too difficult.

However, the specific details and terms, as well as the acquisition price, still need to be negotiated.

However, this is Wen Lingfeng's job.

She is professional in this area.

At Jiang Yifeng's urging, Wen Lingfeng now also serves as the CFO of Fengxing Media.

(End of this chapter)