Huayu: A Commercial Director

Chapter 279 It was all caused by greedy betting.

"Director Chen, it's been a long time."

"It's been a long time since I've seen Chairman Wang. I should be the one paying you a visit."

The two met, shook hands, and greeted each other, with Xiao Wang standing beside them.

"Come, come, please have a seat."

Old Wang's time is very precious, and he often sets small goals. Wanda Pictures' annual revenue is around 13 billion, with a profit of around 1.3 billion, or 10% net profit.

Wanda Pictures brought huge cash flow to Wanda, but since its delisting from Hong Kong, Wang Jianlin has wanted to list on the A-share market, but has encountered a bear market. According to the betting agreement, coupled with the relationship of competing with state-owned enterprises in Malaysia, Wang Jianlin's future days will not be easy.

Of course, Wanda's scale is so large that it cannot be compared with some other real estate companies that rely on song and dance troupes.

A car carried into the venue can raise tens of billions in funding; their shamelessness is practically written all over their faces. They are the most shameless group of people.

Old Wang is quite pragmatic, but he's too prone to making assumptions, and his current situation isn't very good.

Old Wang sat in the middle, Chen Shouzhe sat on the left, and Xiao Wang sat on the right. Originally, it was planned that Chen Shouzhe would sit in the middle, but Chen Shouzhe declined and ended up sitting on the side. The waiters started serving the dishes, and they did not look around, all of which were strictly trained.

Xiao Wang glanced at them a few times, probably because it was his first time here, and he was surprised to find that everyone there was fair-skinned, beautiful, and had long legs.

These women will eventually marry into extraordinary families, though they may also be relying on their youth for a living.

Once all the dishes were served and the door was closed, the three of them ate and chatted.

“When I was your age, I was just a worker. Talented people emerge in every generation. In this day and age, success depends on ability. You are much more capable than most people today,” Old Wang said while eating.

"Luck probably plays a bigger role." What could Chen Shou say? He had cheated, but even with his cheat, he couldn't compete with some people who were born into good families.

Unless he can unlock even greater power, returning to that era, or simultaneously gaining power and entering a good family, becoming a member of that family.

What are Lao Wang's family's financial conditions like?
It's definitely good, but there are many people better than Lao Wang. For example, there's a popular video online where a young official tells Lao Wang domineeringly that he wants to keep all the profits.

Old Wang felt aggrieved, but in the end he still invested.

Why? Because that guy's grandfather was Old Wang's father's boss. How do you explain that background?

Being born into the right family is far more important than hard work. Of course, Chen Shou should go to that chaotic era. Forget about it, he can't go. He'd rather be a dog in times of peace than a human in times of chaos.

"The success in the film and television industry comes from making money through each and every work. The sale of culture is more difficult than the sale of physical goods. You need someone to pay for it. Theaters can make money as long as a movie is shown, but production companies need to produce a movie and sell it for more than twice the price to break even. I've looked into it, and last year you took nearly a third of the domestic box office. Your profit from the film market alone last year exceeded 5 billion yuan, and that's all in cash."

When Lao Wang mentioned this number, he was filled with emotion.

He has a net worth of hundreds of billions, but he really can't come up with 5 billion in cash, and the banks won't lend him money either; they might even ask him to repay the debt.

Chen Shouzhe earns so much money in a year, but it's earned through real money, not through his stock market wealth.

Many people say they have hundreds of billions or even trillions of dollars, but that's just the company's stock price; you only get cash when you sell it.

Chen Shouzhe, on the other hand, possesses cash. It's like two people: one owns a house worth one million, but does that mean he has one million? When he urgently needs money, he still has to sell the house to get one million. And when he's in a hurry to sell, he has to check the current house price, whether it has fallen or risen. If he's in a hurry, the price will be lowered, and there are also agent fees, taxes, and so on.

Chen Shouzhe not only owns a house, but he also has a lot of cash on hand. He can eat whatever he wants and buy whatever he wants without any pressure.

"I can't compare to you, I just make a little money." Chen Shouzhe smiled. Xiao Wang next to him rolled his eyes. If Chen Shouzhe could make so much money from movies, he could take his company public if he were ruthless enough.

There will definitely be plenty of financial institutions willing to provide him with financing. Once the scale is large enough, it will be even more profitable to fleece retail investors in the stock market.

If you look closely, you'll see that almost all the big internet companies are like this. Jack Ma, Pony Ma, and Lei Jun all sell their company's shares when the stock price is high and buy them back when the price is low, thus making a profit from the price difference.

Even a fluctuation of ten yuan, with ten million shares, would still result in a profit of one hundred million. So who is losing money?

It's not just those retail investors who get fleeced.

It's such a shame that a company with such good performance isn't going public.

“Excessive modesty is confidence. Let’s not talk about that. I do need some money right now. I’ve already talked to a few other companies, and they’re willing to lend me money, but they’ll still sign a performance-based agreement. You have a lot of cash on hand, but what you want is shares in the cinema chain. What do you think I should do?” Old Wang said.

“The risks of a bet are huge, you know that better than I do. But selling me the cinema chain shares will strengthen our cooperation. Wanda has been an important partner of my company for many years, and I don’t want Wanda to fall into the hands of others and become a tool to control me.”

"Anyone trying to control you? Jiang Zhiqiang is almost bankrupt because of you. You're the most profitable person in the domestic film industry right now. Which cinema would dare not show your movies? Wanda Cinemas will continue to cooperate with you."

"I still hope to maintain control of the narrative. Mr. Wang, I have not wronged Wanda Pictures over the years."

Old Wang put down his chopsticks. He knew what Chen Shouzhe meant. After so many years of hard work, Wanda Pictures had made a lot of money thanks to Chen Shouzhe. If he couldn't agree to Chen Shouzhe's request this time, business would be even more difficult in the future.

If Wanda Pictures wants to maintain its large scale, bringing in Shou Zhe Pictures might be a major positive development.

Although Wanda Pictures made money last year, the stock and bond market crash still caused a major financial disaster for the company.

The current value is around 60 billion, and it is still the number one film company in mainland China. Huayi Brothers, Enlight Media, and Huace Media have all exceeded 10 billion, but thanks to Wanda's huge cinema chain, Wanda Pictures is still the number one in market value.

Of course, it can't be compared to its peak, but Wanda's current situation is already very serious.

The same thing happened with Xiaoma Benteng. When Zhong Lifan was still the general manager of Xiaoma, Xiaoma collapsed before its IPO. With the founder's downfall, Xiaoma also lost its leading horse.

With the family business in tow, the aunts joined forces to force their sister-in-law out, and in the end, they made a mess of things, selling off Xiao Ma's assets and causing Xiao Ma's complete demise.

Wanda Pictures is doing very well, but the problems at its parent company are quite significant. Old Wang needs to carefully consider Chen Shouzhe's opinion.

"How much can you afford?" Old Wang asked curiously.

He was very curious about how much cash Chen Shouzhe could actually produce, since there had always been a rumor in the business world that Chen Shouzhe had billions of yuan in cash.

Wanda Group currently holds a 60.86% stake in Wanda Pictures.

(End of this chapter)