A grand feast for the Chinese entertainment industry

Chapter 239 Yet another one!
In the morning newspapers, Wing Lung Bank published an announcement stating that its shares had changed hands, with the new shareholder, Lung Wah Investment, holding 74.1% of the shares after completing two acquisitions, becoming the majority shareholder with absolute control.

As a listed company, Wing Lung Bank should issue an announcement immediately upon any significant changes in its shareholding structure.

However, this kind of big news, which would have caused a stock market tremor and at least generated a long period of discussion in the past, didn't even make a ripple on a day like today.

The battle between the gods overhead has already attracted everyone's attention.

It is no exaggeration to say that this great battle has attracted worldwide attention.

Lin Jianlu didn't understand much. Even with professional explanations, he could only grasp a superficial understanding at most. But it didn't matter; he only needed to look at one thing. The Hong Kong government was still struggling to defend itself.

This indicates that truly large funds have not yet entered the market.

Cai Zhongxin, who had hurriedly caught up on a few hours of sleep in his office after dawn, suddenly pushed open the door to Longhua Investment's conference room again. After watching the live broadcast for a while and looking at the K-line chart on the computer, he sighed, "Boss! I feel like we're in a similar situation to when the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom attacked Shanghai and Hu Xueyan was shorting and hoarding goods!"

Well, since it was outside his area of ​​knowledge, when asked, he gave a brief explanation, and Lin Jianlu suddenly understood, laughing heartily, "Now that you mention it, it's really true! That's pretty much the idea!"

How do you say it?

If the Hong Kong government wins and manages to prevent the Hong Kong dollar from collapsing, or even manages to retaliate and make these aggressive international speculative funds suffer losses, then Lin Jianlu's recent operations in real estate, land, and banking will be considered successful bottom-fishing. As the economy gradually recovers, these assets will easily rise in value and become very valuable, and Lin Jianlu may become an absolute tycoon overnight.

But if the Hong Kong government fails to hold up and collapses, and the Hong Kong dollar falls, it will be just like when the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom attacked Shanghai. If they really broke in, there would be a wave of burning, killing, and looting. All the things you hoarded in your warehouses would just be for others. Moreover, at that time, Hong Kong would be dead, its status as an international financial center would be lost overnight, and everything on the market would suffer a super devaluation in an instant!
So, in Tsai Chung-hsin's view, this was a huge gamble!
He won a yacht with young models, but lost a fishing boat in a sampan.

But Lin Jianlu was full of confidence. At this moment, looking at the battle between the bulls and bears, he felt a kind of boredom, as if he already knew the outcome. Seeing that it was 10:30, he did not urge Cai Zhongxin, the newly appointed chairman of the supervisory board of Wing Lung Bank, to go and perform his duties. Instead, he stood up and said, "This is boring. Let's go, let's go pick up girls!"

Cai Zhongxin and He Zhiqian both looked up at him in surprise, but he just left on his own.

The arrival of the third financial crisis made Lin Jianlu realize that the history he knew had not changed in the slightest because of his small role as a butterfly. As a result, he relaxed completely. The large amount of funds he had stockpiled beforehand, even the credit funds, were now in a position to win. Taking over Hang Seng Bank would be the best outcome. If not, simply talking about using bank bad debts to buy up real estate at rock-bottom prices, with Wing Lung Bank and Wing On Bank, the goal had already been achieved.

enough!

The two banks together have total assets of over HK$200 billion. Although they are now almost worthless, once they get through this period, they will be high-quality assets that would make many wealthy people envious!

First, they went to America to film "The Matrix." After that, Cai Zhongxin and his team should have basically sorted out the mess at the two banks. At that time, he would return to the capital, meet with the leaders, and try to get some favorable policies, such as starting RMB business, obtaining a mainland banking license, etc. He hoped to officially enter the mainland market and open several branches before 2000!

We'll be able to get a piece of the fattest slice of the pot from the 20-year-long frenzy of real estate growth in mainland China!
Yeah, delicious.

…………

clap clap!

"Enter!"

Chen Hong quickly pushed open the door and came in. "Sister Ge is here. Did you ask her to come?"

Lin Jianlu looked up from her computer. "Oh, right, let her in!"

There was no one else at home; everyone was busy. Brigitte Lin was going to ATV to take charge, Rosamund Kwan was going to work at China.com with a heavy heart, and Leung Wing-ki was still traveling around Southeast Asia. On the other hand, Chen Hong hadn't left yet. Although her plans were disrupted by the sudden financial crisis, she was still urging Shi Nansheng to meet with Chow Man-wai.

Although her mainland agency was funded by Lin Jianlu, who held a 40% stake, and she later gave up 30% of her shares to Ge Fuhong in exchange for Ge Fuhong's assistance in setting up the company's framework, the company's profits last year were only 30% of hers. However, Lin Jianlu was a hands-off manager, and Ge Fuhong was only involved in the accounting and wouldn't interfere with how the money was spent. Therefore, with hundreds of millions of RMB in profits in her hands, her ambition was uncontrollable. She wanted to go back to Hong Kong and take over those prestigious film companies—in 98, Hong Kong films had collapsed, so what value did a shabby Hong Kong film company have? But that's only from a later perspective. In today's context, even a small Hong Kong film company is still incredibly prestigious for mainland actors, directors, and other professionals!

Chen Hong is not like Lin Jianlu, who can look at Hong Kong film companies today from the perspective of twenty years of ups and downs. So whether it was investing in Media Asia Films in the past or now intending to acquire Golden Harvest, she is very calm. In fact, Chen Hong is extremely excited and thrilled about this!

That's why she stayed in Hong Kong and didn't want to leave. When Lin Jianlu wasn't home, she went out and wandered around the streets to observe the current state of the Hong Kong film industry. Today, Lin Jianlu was home, so she stayed home to cook some mainland-style dishes for him and also took care of the guests.

Ge Fuhong was quickly brought in by her.

So Lin Jianlu temporarily put down her computer, got up, picked up a stack of handwritten manuscripts from the coffee table, flipped through them, confirmed that the top four were correct, and handed them to Ge Fuhong, "You promised Wang Fei, take these to her! While you're at it, talk to her about the contract for her new album, 10% should be about right, right? I'll make it for her when I have time!"

Upon seeing that it was sheet music, Ge Fuhong's eyes lit up instantly.

But that's not all; Lin Jianlu was also holding a thick stack of other things in her hand at this moment!

"Oh my god! You've finally written another song!"

She took the sheet music with a beaming smile, glanced at it briefly, and said, "Everyone's been waiting for you to write new songs! But since you don't seem to be focused on it, no one dared to rush you! ... Four songs, that's great! Wang Fei will be overjoyed! Her manager, A-Kuan, told me that this album of hers has been a bit difficult to produce. She's collected a lot of songs, but A-Fei has always felt uneasy about it! Now that we have these four songs, her album is finally on track!"

Looking at it a little more closely, the four songs are "Laughing and Forgetting", "Fleeting Time", "Love", and "Carousel".

Her smile grew even brighter.

She didn't know much about sheet music, but that didn't matter, it was written by Lin Jianlu!
Last time, he wrote two songs for Faye Wong, which was her first album after joining EMI Records. As expected, it was a huge success. In particular, the album's title track, "Red Bean," has received excellent reviews since its release and has become Faye Wong's most widely acclaimed representative work since her debut. One album has completely established her status as the "Queen of the Cassiopeia" in the music industry. That's why she hasn't been able to finalize her new album without Lin Jianlu's support. It is said that she has selected more than 30 songs and practiced more than 10 of them, but she is still hesitant.
Actually, it's just that I've been waiting for this all along!

Last time, for two songs, they took 5% of the album's royalties. This time, for four songs, asking EMI Records for 10% is not unreasonable—that's what an agent should do!

However, despite saying that she would go to Baidai as soon as she left, Ge Fuhong's eyes kept glancing at the stack of manuscripts that Lin Jianlu had casually tossed back onto the coffee table.

"You've written so much! Who are you planning to work on next?"

It doesn't really matter who it's made for.

Among Lin Jianlu's women, there are four professional singers: Chen Shuhua, Su Huilun, Liang Yongqi, and Zhou Huimin. They are all signed artists under her management, so she is always happy to work with any of them.

Lin Jianlu simply replied casually, "I'll do it all. I've prepared all the songs, but I don't have much time right now. I'll give them the sheet music later so they can practice first. When I get back from my trip to America, I'll record them one by one!"

Ge Fuhong was overjoyed, "Great!"

Do them all? You mean... wow, judging by the thickness, there are probably thirty or forty songs!

The new albums from the four divas are officially confirmed!
Based on the timeline, it should be around the second half of this year to the beginning of next spring that the four divas will release albums one after another, and the Chinese music scene is about to be stirred up again!

But at this moment, seeing that Lin Jianlu seemed to be in a very good mood, Ge Fuhong couldn't help but ask again: "You're only doing it for them? Aren't you going to consider your own new album? Also, do you want to continue releasing with Rock Records, or switch to another company? You need to tell me in advance so I can help you negotiate the contract."

Lin Jianlu, who had already returned to her seat at the computer, turned back upon hearing this, thought for a moment, and said, "Alright!"

So he turned his chair around and said seriously, "I called Luo Da again yesterday and we chatted for a bit. I asked him if he would be willing to transfer his music factory to me, but I could retain a certain number of shares for him and hire him as the music director. He agreed on the phone, but I haven't had a chance to go and talk to him in detail yet."

After thinking for a moment, he didn't care whether Ge Fuhong had processed what he said, and continued, "Since you asked, then this matter is entrusted to you! Go and talk to him in the next couple of days and negotiate a price!"

"Music Factory is a joint venture between them and Rock Records. If I were to acquire it, I would leave each of them with 10% of the shares. It's a way of preserving goodwill from their past cooperation. After acquiring Music Factory, we shouldn't confirm the subsequent distribution. After all, you know that if we can acquire Golden Harvest, Golden Harvest has very strong distribution capabilities, not only in film but also in theaters, videotapes, and DVDs. They've also been involved in record distribution for many years. So let's wait and see. If we can acquire Golden Harvest, Golden Harvest will handle the distribution of Music Factory. If we can't, Rock Records will continue to handle it... In short, we must leave the shares to them."

Ge Fuhong nodded in agreement, "Okay! I'll go talk to them!"

This is a big deal!

Clearly, Lin Jianlu is no longer short of money these days. Opening a record company is just a side thing for him. The reason he has been able to hold out until now without starting a new business is purely to save face for his old record label, Rock Records. However, his contract with Rock Records will officially expire this winter!

Acquiring Music Factory directly would be a good idea.

On the Music Factory side, there are copyrights to many of the music and songs that Luo Dayou has worked on since coming to Hong Kong. However, this is only one aspect. The main reason is that everything at the company is already in place, but its current situation is quite dire. It doesn't even have a single officially signed artist anymore. Zhou Huimin used a collaborative model to release her last album, so it probably won't be too expensive. If, as Lin Jianlu said, he acquires the company but also retains a portion of the shares for Luo Dayou and Rock Records, and Luo Dayou agrees to remain as the music director, then the whole matter will be handled with ease, and all aspects will be satisfied, both in terms of substance and appearance.

The price won't be too high!

So next...

Ge Fuhong hesitated only slightly before decisively deciding on the spot to take the plunge herself. "How about this? Since you're going to start a record company, I'll merge Millennium Records into it too! Anyway, my company currently only has Gigi as a signed artist, and her two-album contract is up, and she'll be facing renewal soon. Let's just merge her into your company, and you can give me some shares."

Lin Jianlu paused for a moment, then chuckled.

The most valuable assets of a record company are, firstly, the singers; secondly, the production team; and thirdly, the accumulated copyrights!
What was the millennium?
Including Liang Yongqi's two albums, they probably own the copyrights to about a dozen albums by artists such as Jin Chengwu and Yang Caini. They also have a small production team that's just adequate, along with a set of mediocre equipment and a few recording studios. If Liang Yongqi doesn't renew her contract when it expires and moves to their acquired music factory, Millennium will almost instantly collapse.

It's not impossible to train new talent from scratch, but without big names involved in production and packaging, making a newcomer famous is not an easy task. More importantly, the millennium was too small and too weak. Even if a big newcomer was trained, it would be difficult to retain them.

Leung Wing-ki wasn't really willing to stay in the millennium any longer!

Before Lin Jianlu had much time to think about her new singer contract or buying a record company, she started flirting with EMI Records—her best friend Zheng Xiuwen works at EMI!
If you can't retain your employees, you'll always be a small company.

But once the entire music factory is integrated into the acquired music factory, she will be able to make a living from the best-selling albums of herself, Vivian Chow, Leung Wing-ki, and even Chen Shuhua, Su Huilun, and other superstars who may transfer over in a few years.

Of course, even so, saying "just give them a little bit of shares" still underestimates the value of the millennial generation.

Because in reality, the truly valuable parts of the music industry today are only the copyrights to Luo Dayou's works and Luo Dayou himself—Luo Dayou is getting old and hasn't been able to regain his former glory in recent years, but his skills and his perception of music are still top-notch!
If he continues to create, it seems difficult for him to write new works that are loved by today's young people. If he is made the main producer, his aesthetic sense is also somewhat outdated. However, if he helps Lin Jianlu with his work, he can still save Lin Jianlu a lot of trouble once he meets Lin Jianlu's requirements!
Production is never simply about taking out sheet music and saying, "Come on, I'll teach you how to sing." It's not that simple. Even if the arrangement is just there, different producers can produce completely different things. Lao Luo is still very useful in the daily tasks of gathering musicians, rehearsing, recording, etc.!

In fact, the millennials also had their own small teams.

Putting everything else aside, the copyright of Leung Wing-ki's previous album alone is still worth some money.

So, "Let's calculate Millennium Generation at half the price of Music Factory! Da You takes 10% for the new company, Rolling Stone takes 10%, and Millennium Generation also takes 10%, okay?" Ge Fuhong was overjoyed, "Great!"

Well, it's not just about money, but it's almost entirely about money—wealth brings people together!

Lin Jianlu has always been keen to buy at the bottom of the market, but when it comes to the women and friends around him, he is always more willing to be a generous spender—letting everyone enjoy a delicious meal with you, how could they not support you, not like you, and not wholeheartedly work for you?

So, it's about human relationships and friendships!
From their former employer, Rock Records, to their old friend, Lo Ta-yu, and then to their agent, Ge Fu-hong, each of them took 10% of the shares in the new company. This has calmed them down and united them in the new company, which is great!

"Alright, go ahead and get busy! Get this done!"

"Okay! I'll go to Baidai first to find Afei, and then I'll go find Luo Dayou to have a detailed talk."

…………

Lin Jianlu is at it again with his "creative" work.

It wasn't songs. In fact, he started writing songs as soon as he came to this world. He would write down whichever song he could think of, for fear that after too long of time, the world would wear him down and he would gradually forget many of the songs. By 96, he had already filled several large notebooks! In the last two years, he would just suddenly remember a song and quickly write it down.

For everyday use, just tear it off... Hmm, what an old trick!
What he's writing now is a "wealth narrative"—there's no way around it, although Aunt Thirteen has been in the underworld for many years and is quite good at speaking to people in different ways, but that's only enough to deal with the interpersonal relationships in the entertainment industry. No matter how much training you give her, she'll just memorize a few terms. If you really let her improvise, she'll most likely be unable to handle telling this wealth story.

Write it for her!

The difficulty of this narrative lies not in the founding of China.com, or in the vision and outlook for the future of the Internet, but in how to combine Rosamund Kwan's own verifiable acting experience and activity trajectory to fabricate when, where, and why she became interested in the Internet.

And it must be genuine and heartfelt.

Well, even a top-notch professional writer might not be able to handle it, because they either don't understand the internet at all or know almost nothing about Rosamund Kwan—so, the only option is to write it for her myself!
Take it and memorize it. Memorize the whole thing. Even if you've memorized it, you still need to look at it again every day when you think of it. Keep doing this until you feel that the experience is completely real, and you can even use your ability to make things up and keep adding new examples and new thoughts. That means you've succeeded completely!
In three to five months, she can build the basic framework of China.com, and at the same time, she can familiarize herself with "this experience", improve her English, and master many professional terms related to the Internet and computers. Then she can reappear in the media as an intellectual founder of a technology company, and even go to America with Ye Keyong to persuade the next round of investors!

In short, we aim to list China.com on the US stock market by the end of this year or the beginning of next year!
…………

Around 3 p.m., just after the manuscript was revised and printed out, Wang Fei called.

"Wow, thank you so much, Lu Ye! You're awesome! This song is... wow, it's amazing, I love it!"

Lin Jianlu was already working on the movie outline, and smiled when she heard this. "I'm glad you like it, but don't rush, I have to find time to record it for you! Of course, if you're in a hurry to finish, you can have Yadong do it for you."

"No rush! I'm not in a hurry! I'll wait for you to take action!"

"Got it!"

Just as I was about to hang up, I suddenly remembered something: "Where have you guys been playing cards lately?"

Wang Fei casually replied, "Teahouse? Sometimes they come to my house, sometimes to Leslie Cheung's house. Oh, I even went to Gong Li's place a few days ago. She's so hospitable; she treats us every time we go, haha!"

Yes, Gong Li is a straightforward and decisive person.

Before making a decision, she might hesitate and look back and forth, but once she made up her mind, this woman always acted swiftly and decisively. She didn't care how ambiguous things had been before. She had always liked Lin Jianlu, but she couldn't accept his womanizing ways and the large number of women he had. But once she made the decision, she still really wanted to have a child with Lin Jianlu. So she immediately ran to Hong Kong, bought a house, settled down, and tried to please Lin Jianlu in one go.

Now that she has settled in Hong Kong, she probably plans to live there long-term. So she quickly organized her network of contacts in the Hong Kong entertainment industry – recently, her place has almost become a hub!
With Lin Jianlu's endorsement, even though she was heavily pregnant, everyone in her circle of friends knew whose child she was carrying. In addition, she herself was no ordinary person; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call her the top actress in mainland China. Therefore, her plan proceeded quite smoothly.

"Yes, that's good. She doesn't have many friends in Hong Kong. You should visit them more often!"

"Alright! With you saying that, I'll definitely come over often. ...Hey, hey, Mr. Lu, how many is it now? I heard you have two more kids in Taiwan, is that true? Did Chen Shuhua have two, or did she and Su Huilun each have one? That makes your fourth child, right?"

Lin Jianlu chuckled, "None of your business!"

"Tch, fine, don't tell me then! I already know anyway."

"You know nothing! I'm hanging up!"

However, after hanging up the phone, I couldn't help but sigh, "Yes, there are more and more children now."

But then he suddenly felt happy again—no worries, I've prepared enough wealth for my family. When I'm about to die decades from now, even a hundred billion won't be enough for one of my kids!

…………

Write stories about wealth, outlines for movies and TV series, and program settings.

Amidst the hustle and bustle, I would occasionally receive a phone call to keep abreast of the ongoing battle between bulls and bears in the Hong Kong financial market—the next day, the Hong Kong government injected over eight billion US dollars of its reserves.

This time, the treasury was completely empty, and everyone knew that the Hong Kong government was out of money.

Presumably, external hedge funds and international speculative capital had already celebrated that very night, while even a giant like HSBC seemed to have finally succumbed to the pressure. Before the market closed that afternoon, while Lin Jianlu was still busy writing his article, HSBC had already begun to proactively contact Cai Zhongxin to discuss Hang Seng Bank.

And so, the conversation lasted almost the entire night.

There were too many things involved, and Hang Seng Bank's position was simply too high. Both the seller and the buyer were very cautious and meticulous. Around 4 a.m., even though he knew that his boss was carefree and probably not waiting for him at all, but was probably sleeping with some beautiful woman, Cai Zhongxin still offended him by directly dialing Lin Jianlu's number and waking him up.

Everyone was exhausted after talking about 28 billion.

Hang Seng Bank's market capitalization has dwindled to HK$33.2 billion. HSBC holds a 56.4% stake, which, at market value, is worth approximately HK$18.7 billion. However, a price of HK$28 billion represents a premium of about 50% on these shares—of course, this is a mid-sized bank with total assets exceeding HK$100 billion, and just a few days ago its market capitalization was over HK$10 billion; this price is already heavily discounted. Nevertheless, the premium is still too high!
Lin Jianlu understood this in his heart, and he had talked to Cai Zhongxin and He Zhiqian more than once—this extra high premium was actually money for the "Hang Seng" brand!
Lin Jianlu answered the phone in a daze, vaguely sensing a hint in Cai Zhongxin's words. He was stunned for a few seconds, still not fully awake, and his voice was even a little hoarse. Then he remembered Cai Zhongxin's instructions in the evening, so he said, "Didn't we agree that we would only give them 2 billion at most? Add another 200 million, 22 billion, if they don't want to sell, fine! I'm going to sleep!"

He then hung up the phone.

Of course, in reality, I couldn't sleep.

Lin Qingxia, a light sleeper, had already been woken up. She turned on the light, propped herself up, and looked over. "Business? Such a large sum? 22 billion? What do you want to buy?"

Lin Jianlu raised her hand, touched her face, and smiled, "It's nothing, just buying a pawnshop for fun! Go to sleep!"

So he got up on his own. It was the darkest time before dawn. He washed up, squatted on the toilet, got dressed, went downstairs, and ran along the hillside path.

When he returned after his run, he still hadn't received a call from Cai Zhongxin.

It wasn't until 5:30 that his phone finally rang. "Boss, it's done. 22 billion! After almost another hour of waiting, HSBC finally gave in!"

Lin Jianlu was so excited that he immediately clenched his fist tightly.

Then, without even having time to eat, he rushed home, took a quick shower, called his driver, and headed straight for Longhua Investment—the entire company was brightly lit, and the dozen or so employees all looked exhausted, yet were also incredibly excited.

Tsai Chung-hsin immediately showed the contract to Lin Chien-lu.

Lin Jianlu took it, but didn't really look at it carefully. She just glanced at it from top to bottom, focusing on the signatures of both parties at the end and the seal across the seam. She couldn't help but flick it with her finger, "Issue an announcement!"

"what!"

He patted Cai Zhongxin excitedly, "Old Cai, you've worked hard! The bonus is huge! Go take a nap, you can sleep until after nine o'clock, then go to the China Securities Regulatory Commission in the morning to complete the filing, and you can officially take over in the afternoon!"

Cai Zhongxin was also visibly excited, "No problem, leave it to me!"

The deal was completed for only 22 billion, a result that neither Lin Chien-lu nor Tsai Chung-hsin had anticipated. Just yesterday morning, Lin Chien-lu was still debating whether or not to accept the 70 billion price tag!
Now that's great, at this price, it's practically free!
First, take control, then let Lao Cai take over the board of directors. Next, once the situation stabilizes a bit, we can implement the pre-planned series of capital injection plans—issuing new shares to swap Wing Lung Bank and Wing On Bank under Hang Seng Bank, allowing us to further increase our shareholding. Then, in the second round, we'll issue new shares to the major shareholder, Longhua Investment, to inject capital into it and further increase our controlling stake. Finally, we'll follow the same plan we previously set for Wing On Bank: divest non-performing loans and bad debts, allowing Hang Seng to rejuvenate!
Ha, two years, just get through two years!

The moment when American internet stocks crashed roughly meant that the global economy was about to stabilize and recover!

After paying out 22 billion, he still had nearly 3 billion Hong Kong dollars in cash tied up in Longhua Investment! He hadn't even used the mortgage loan he'd just secured from Citibank! Not to mention asking Bank of China for help!

Simply perfect!
The cash flow is very healthy!
Lin Jianlu was extremely excited, and at this moment, he was no longer willing to hide his excitement. After Cai Zhongxin and the others went to find a place to rest, Lin Jianlu paced back and forth in the small conference room countless times before finally managing to suppress his excitement a little.

Well, even a big shot like him needs to maintain a certain composure, remaining calm even when faced with a collapsing mountain!

But she couldn't resist, so she took out her phone, happily considered it for a while, and finally decided to call Zhang Min. Hmm, Lin Jianlu had a great time the day before yesterday, and she's so happy today, she should have another blowjob to liven things up!

However, before I could find Zhang Min's number on my phone, a call came in first.

Zhang Manyu.

Hmm, she can do it too, so I answered.

"Ah Lu, there's something I need to tell you, and there's no going back now, I think I'm pregnant."

"Fuck...fuck!"

(End of this chapter)