Huayu: A Commercial Director

Chapter 282 Gaining More Control of the Discourse

The turbulent day left both the film and television industry and the business world bewildered.

This deal is huge.

154 billion in cash.

Legend has it that Chen Shou has the most cash in the film and television industry, and now it seems he wasn't lying.

It remains silent until it speaks out, and when it does, it shakes the heavens and the earth.

They spent 154 billion to acquire a quarter of Wanda Pictures' shares.

Having become a production company with its own cinema chain, no one dared to underestimate Chen Shouzhe anymore. They simply regarded the company as a production company, and even future rivals would have to curry favor with him because he owned the largest cinema chain group in the country.

On the other hand, many companies in the business world are aware that Wanda's headquarters is in trouble. It had a bet with other companies to go public, and the deadline is fast approaching. Now it needs a large amount of cash to make up for the money it borrowed.

Wanda delisted from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, borrowed 30 billion to repurchase its shares, and then returned to the mainland to relist. If the listing is successful, this money can be easily repaid.

It's like using someone else's resources to lay eggs, thus completing the operation of listing the product in a different location.

However, the listing process was unexpectedly delayed, and the company failed to list within the scheduled time. This meant that Wanda Group had to repay the borrowed money, including principal and interest, which required a large amount of cash to cover the losses.

Wanda doesn't have that much cash. Despite Wang's buying spree, he's actually selling off assets. There are people who want to borrow money, but their purpose is clear: to make Wanda lose money according to the previous agreement if the IPO isn't completed within the agreed timeframe.

Chen Shouzhe's money solved their immediate crisis and could even revive Wanda Pictures.

Chen Shouzhe's involvement means that Wanda Pictures will cooperate more closely with him in the future. Originally, apart from theatrical releases, Wanda Pictures relied entirely on Chen Shouzhe for its production.

Now that it has been acquired, it will naturally be a powerful alliance, and may even increase its share, since the money will ultimately end up in Chen Shou's hands.

Furthermore, listed companies have an easier time manipulating the stock market, so Chen Shouzhe wouldn't buy low and sell high.

Even in a bear market, Wanda Pictures remains stable in the face of huge profits, at least not as flimsy as Huayi Brothers.

Chen kept receiving calls from too many people.

Liu Zhi from Penguin called privately and said, "Director Chen, you've really messed up Penguin's plans."

"Huh? I don't know." Chen Shou asked in surprise, he really didn't know what the penguin's plan was.

Liu Zhi gave a wry smile. Wanda's problems weren't just being watched by Tencent; Alibaba and many other investment companies were also keeping an eye on Wanda.

Otherwise, would Wanda's path to listing have been so difficult?

A pack of wolves circled around, all waiting for Wanda to fall ill and give them a bite.

However, they did not expect that Chen Shouzhe would arrive with a golden rice bowl, forcibly feeding Wanda a bite of food, so that Wanda now had the strength to continue to deal with them.

Both Alibaba and Tencent's original plans have been disrupted, as Alibaba has set its sights on Wanda Pictures.

Penguins, on the other hand, have their sights set on Wanda Group, with an even bigger appetite.

Other investment companies also have targets; such a huge piece of meat, everyone wants a piece of it.

"It's nothing. Although there was a slight accident, it's still under control. I just didn't expect Director Chen to be so rich, 154 billion."

He was also shocked today; someone really could produce so much cash. He used to think it was just the film industry exaggerating; how could Chen Shouzhe, who had invested in so many companies, possibly have that much money left?

To his surprise, Chen Shouzhe actually took out the money, and it even exceeded his expectations.

He thought Chen Shouzhe would only get about 50 billion at most, but it turned out to be 154 billion.

Even Pony Ma was shocked today. He is indeed a billionaire, but to come up with that much cash, he still has to go to the bank to mortgage it in order to borrow it.

"I've already emptied all my wallets, just waiting for the Spring Festival sales to come in," Chen Shou said with a wry smile.

He really emptied his pockets of all his money. Of course, he didn't touch those stocks; they were all for future security.

Over the years, he has been accumulating wealth through the money he has earned overseas, and since he stopped acquiring Enlight Media last year and turned his attention to Wanda Group, he has been constantly accumulating all the money he has made.

He sold all the film copyrights he could, for millions or even tens of millions, and kept accumulating them. In the end, he managed to withdraw all the profits within two years. For this, he also sold his shares in Guimao, which are now worth over 500 yuan. He bought them for less than 200 yuan, so they have more than doubled in value.

Once the money comes back in a while, he will continue to sell Guimao's shares.

After all, they've given him quite a few good wines over the past two years, so the shareholder benefits are pretty good.

After the phone call with Liu Zhi ended, Chairman La, Chairman Ren, and Chairman Han all called him. Later, Yu Dong, Wang Changtian, and even Wang Zongjun sent him messages or called to congratulate him.

There's no other way. Chen Shouzhe is now the second-largest shareholder of the largest cinema chain, and they rely on him for their livelihood. How can they not try to curry favor with him?

Chen Shouzhe is the producer. He could use the theaters to his advantage before, but how can he do that now?

"Having a cinema chain is definitely a good thing. We won't be able to control the downstream anymore." Chen Shou had been planning for a long time. From the moment he had the idea of ​​acquiring Enlight Media, he found that Wanda seemed to be more useful than Enlight Media. Compared to a cinema chain company, a distribution company was definitely more important to him.

He has many companies that can handle publicity and distribution, but his cinema chain companies, especially First Cinema Chain, are valuable. They are currently suspended from trading and are the most valuable film and television companies in the industry.

"Next, we're preparing for the Spring Festival film season. Luckily, we held the premiere a couple of days ago, otherwise those people would have driven us crazy." Chen Shou looked at the phone that was still flooding in.

It wasn't just business owners who contacted him; many directors, especially those in the art-house genre, were also messaging him.

Hopefully, Chen Shouzhe can give them more screen time so they can have a job. They're all directors, so we should be understanding of them; they don't get many screen times to begin with.

Chen Shouzhe never expected that these people would come to him to complain about being poor, which is why he became a shareholder and they all came to him to beg for alms.

Chen Shouzhe simply turned off his phone. It was always like this; his phone would be bombarded with calls as soon as he received a message.

The moment I turned off the computer, everything became much quieter, and I could retreat into my little dream and make a movie.

The casting process has been underway for over a month, and a considerable number of actors for Journey to the West have been confirmed. They are just waiting for auditions after the New Year.

The film industry is now focused on the Lunar New Year film season to see how the competition will go. Two films from the film studio, especially The Wandering Earth, were highly praised after their premieres, scaring away three other films that had to be withdrawn from release.

Chen Shouzhe's refusal to personally intervene has already instilled fear in other production companies.

We must bite the bullet and fight this tough battle.

On New Year's Eve, Chen and his family spent the holiday at the horse farm. His parents also came from the Northwest. It was another Spring Festival. Adults might feel that the festive atmosphere was less intense, but it was indispensable at the horse farm. For the children, this was the essence of the New Year.

(End of this chapter)