How can you become a star without money?

Chapter 143 Promoting Yulong to Die for His Lord! [10,000-word update, please subscribe]

"Is Meishe going public?" Wang Yao didn't answer the question, but instead focused on another key point.

"Mr. Wang doesn't know?" Zhang Chaoyang narrowed his eyes.

"Mr. Xu mentioned it before, but I didn't expect it to happen so quickly." Wang Yao smiled.

"During the research phase, the valuation was set at 20 billion, and Mr. Wang deserves half of that credit," Zhang Chaoyang said with a smile.

"I'll think about Mr. Zhang's suggestion for now, since the company won't start restructuring until the second half of the year," Wang Yao said with a smile, not explicitly refusing.

"But it would be best if Mr. Wang could give me an answer before June. After all, the CEO position can't remain vacant indefinitely, as it would also affect the investors' attitudes." Zhang Chaoyang nodded in understanding.

Afterwards, everyone returned to the dinner table, but they all seemed preoccupied.

Although Liu Tao and the others didn't quite understand what Zhang Chaoyang and Wang Yao were talking about, they knew very well that it was a big deal that could affect them, as people working in the entertainment industry.

At the same time, I also gained a deeper understanding of Wang Yao as a person.

This is at least someone who can have an equal dialogue with Zhang Chaoyang.

Zhang Chaoyang has been focusing on health lately, and the dinner party ended before midnight. Originally, Qin Hailu and Liu Tao wanted to invite Wang Yao and Ren Quan to find another place to have fun, but Liu Tao's husband blocked them at the door.

In the end, they had no choice but to give up.

On his way home, Liu Tao looked at Wang Ke, and the image of Wang Yao's face flashed through his mind, causing him to unconsciously frown.

"What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell from drinking too much? Do you want to stop and rest for a while?" Wang Ke noticed Liu Tao's expression and quickly asked with concern.

He's now being supported by his wife.

"It's nothing. I met another investor friend while having dinner with Zhang Chaoyang today. He said he has a long-term project he wants to work with me on. What do you think?" Liu Tao hesitated for a moment and then asked with a smile.

"How was the pay?" Wang Ke raised an eyebrow.

"We didn't talk this much on our first meeting, but since Ren Quan introduced us, we should know each other well. The main thing is stability, it's almost 100 episodes," Liu Tao said with a smile.

"100 episodes? A sitcom?" Wang Ke was taken aback.

Hearing that it was Ren Quan who introduced them made me feel a little more at ease, after all, they were acquaintances for many years.

"No, it's a professional drama. It needs to be filmed overseas. If I can get the role, I can probably cover the interest payments for the next three years and catch my breath." Liu Tao shook his head.

“I think it’s fine. Don’t worry about things at home, I’ll take care of things.” Wang Ke smiled, but a hint of gloom flashed in his eyes.

"You're not really falling for him, are you?" Ren Quan asked curiously on the way back to Wang Yao's dormitory.

Although Kanpianer.com has been developing well recently, it is still only a company with a valuation of over one billion yuan.

It can't compare to a company like Sohu, which is already worth tens of billions. Zhang Chaoyang spun off the core business and gave it to Wang Yao. Even if he only gave him 10% stock options, it would probably be worth more than Kanpianer.com.

"Actually, having its own online video platform wouldn't be a bad thing for Kanpian.com. They could upload the movie to the video platform a month after its theatrical run to capitalize on its popularity and make some extra money, preventing the marketing and distribution costs from going to waste."
Moreover, once audiences are more willing to pay in the future, some films with poor theatrical releases but decent quality can be directly released online, and the ecosystem will gradually take shape.” Wang Yao smiled.

"You mean, find an opportunity to stalemate with Sohu?" Ren Quan's eyes lit up.

"I haven't thought about it yet. It mainly depends on how much Zhang Chaoyang invests in this sector. Small-scale operations are meaningless. What is the approximate budget for 'Qian Duoduo'?" Wang Yao asked.

“I didn’t ask for details, but Liu Tao’s salary is 15 yuan per episode, which is a very high price. The male lead has been decided, with the young master from Taiwan, Chen Chuhe, recommended by Huayi Brothers,” Ren Quan said, frowning.

“After all, it’s a web series, so some premium is normal.” Wang Yao nodded, pondering how to adjust it.

Originally, there was only one option: kiwi fruit. Now that Sohu has been added, the gameplay seems to have become more diverse.

"Help me find out about Meishe's financing in the next few days." Wang Yao was even more curious about this matter.

"Okay." Ren Quan nodded.

Wang Yao went back and first checked Tianhuo Media's accounts and working capital.

[Click to view]

The company achieved revenue of 70 million in four and a half months. Although 70% of the business has not been delivered, there is still nearly 20 million in working capital. The company's fixed asset, the Taobao Girl platform, will become a major core asset as the number of users and revenue increase.

Now that Tianhuo has gradually transformed from a media service company into an internet service company, its valuation method should also change.

Wang Yao estimated that after acquiring Zhou Yougen's company, he obtained some fixed assets in Hong Kong. Now, the overall valuation of Tianhuo could reach 10 billion yuan, according to the standards of internet companies.

The next day, after compiling the information Ren Quan sent about the recent industry news regarding Meishe's financing, he took the initiative to approach Xu Chen, ready to give him a push.

Xu Chen was surprised but even more apprehensive about Wang Yao's sudden visit. He had been terrified and unable to sleep for several days after their phone call during the Tianhuo acquisition two weeks ago.

I had finally managed to calm down recently, and the board of directors was urging me to raise funds and go public. I was afraid that making too much noise would alert Wang Yao, but I didn't expect that my worst fear would still come true.

He really doesn't want to see Wang Yao right now.

I always feel that something unexpected will happen every time we meet.

But as a 'great contributor,' he couldn't avoid seeing him.

I had no choice but to bite the bullet and give Wang Yao a tour of the company first.

This was Wang Yao's first visit to the Meishe Beijing headquarters. It was somewhat like a future live-streaming company, with half the building being shooting studios, and the place bustling with contracted models and business media personnel dressed in various revealing outfits.

Meishe now claims to have 3 million paying users, tens of thousands of signed models, tens of thousands of registered part-time photographers and post-production staff, and more than 200 employees, though most of them are in business roles.

This is a typical lightly operated business shell company.

No wonder that even though the financial report showed Q1 revenue of 4000 million, a net profit margin of 35%, and a 45% stake in a company valued at 6 million, industry investors were still only willing to give it a valuation of around 15 billion. This is because, excluding the website, the company has almost no fixed assets.

Wang Yao could at least scrape together 2000 million yuan in fixed assets, including long-term leased properties, assets in Hong Kong, automobiles, and equipment, not to mention intangible potential assets like Qu Shou and Ma Ruo.

From the perspective of allocation, the 15 billion yuan provided by the institution is quite generous.

No wonder Xu Chen was so eager to promote Zhang Xinyu in web dramas to boost her fame. As for the actresses from "Empresses in the Palace," they will most likely be associated with Sohu web dramas later on as well.

"General Manager Xu's company is bustling with activity," Wang Yao remarked after returning to his office.

“They’re all business media, but they can’t compare to the pragmatic talents at General Manager Wang’s company,” Xu Chen said with a smile as he poured tea.

"I just got back to Beijing yesterday and ran into Mr. Zhang from Sohu. We talked about Meishe's plans for financing and going public, which was quite unexpected," Wang Yao said with a smile, taking a sip of tea. "Actually, we started preparing after the New Year. We were thinking of doing better in the second half of the year before considering it, but Tianhuo's soaring valuation gave us a boost. Besides, several companies like Berna, Youku, and Leshi are preparing to go public this year, so we thought we could see if we could catch the wave."

"But I was just trying to find out what was going on internally; I didn't intend to alarm President Wang." Xu Chen chuckled, trying to smooth things over.

"Mr. Xu, you're too kind. Without you all, there would be no Tianhuo today." Wang Yao smiled warmly. "Would it be convenient for me to take a look at the prospectus?"

"There's no formal prospectus, just a draft of the intention statement." Xu Chen was very meticulous and firmly denied that it was already underway, handing over a document instead.

Wang Yao glanced at it; the data on the letter of intent was very clear, showing Meishe's revenue over the past three years, which had exceeded 1000 million for three consecutive years, and last year's net profit reached as high as 3000 million.

Selling photos of "welfare girls" is indeed highly profitable.

Based on the data, Meishe doesn't even need to raise further funds; it could directly attempt to list on the Hong Kong and US stock markets.

"Do you have any partner securities firms providing guidance for your IPO? What advice have they given?" Wang Yao asked.

"We approached two companies, and they both said that around 12 billion would be a safer bet, but the board members felt that 20 billion was worth a try, since there's no rush," Xu Chen said with a smile.

"Meishe.com boasts the highest percentage of paying users in China, and its paying users have the highest value across all industries. Plus, we have such high user stickiness. I think our valuation is too low."
With 300 million members, they practically monopolize the existing users in this sector. As the quality of the models' photos improves and the platform gradually shifts towards customized videos, its user base will continue to grow. Meishe.com is comparable to Playboy, which had a market value of over 10 billion US dollars at the time. I think we can be even bolder," Wang Yao said after a moment of contemplation.

Xu Chen was slightly taken aback. He hadn't expected Wang Yao to know so much about the Meishe model. Meishe.com had always claimed to be the largest platform for model photography enthusiasts in China.

But in essence, it is indeed modeled after Playboy, only it has changed from selling magazines to selling online images, and of course, the level of explicitness is also different.

Moreover, Wang Yao mentioned that online images will develop towards video, which gave him a lot of inspiration.

Yes, with a wider variety of products available for sale in the future, revenue is expected to increase further.

Wow, young people are so clever. I'll have to explain this to others later.

“Yes, indeed. Our platform has recently been trying to iterate on video services, otherwise we wouldn’t be cooperating with Sohu. Mr. Wang, do you have any further advice?” Xu Chen looked confident and assured.

"The rest is fine. We can add overseas business, especially in East Asia. Whether we actually do it or not is irrelevant; we can plan ahead. Investors will see this as a potential market. But these are all common tactics, and I'm sure Mr. Xu understands them better than I do."
But there are only two ways to continue increasing the valuation and gain investor approval: either the business model or the technological barriers are irreplaceable and unique, or the assets continue to increase. Wang Yao smiled.

“There are no technological barriers to the business model, so we can only focus on assets. Heavy assets are not very meaningful for Meishe’s business model, so we can only try to find ways to focus on light assets.” Xu Chen nodded in agreement.

“No, I think the exact opposite.” Wang Yao shook his head.

"Hmm? I'd like to hear more." Xu Chen narrowed his eyes.

"The 'light asset' approach simply relies on the potential value of a model's fame, which requires a significant investment. Mr. Xu can't focus solely on Qu Shou and Ma Ruo; both of them suffer from survivorship bias. Most models only have the ability to attract traffic, not the ability to convert that traffic into sales."
Moreover, while heavy assets may seem to have a low rate of return, their advantage is stability. I looked at the asset ratio assessment, and the brokerage firm's opinion was similar, so it's not a deliberate attempt to lower the price." Wang Yao smiled.

“But there aren’t many heavy assets, or high-quality assets that can appreciate in value in the short term, and the company’s working capital is very limited.” Xu Chen shook his head.

He knew that heavy assets were stable, and he wanted to learn from Sohu and buy land at the entrance of Zhongguancun, but he also needed the money and capital.

"Mr. Xu, you know about the mutual support between Kanpianer.com and Chengtian Entertainment, right?" Wang Yao said with a smile.

Xu Chen's heart tightened, but he said without changing his expression, "Of course, it caused quite a stir at the time, and I really didn't expect it to end in a 1-1 tie."

“After the mutual shareholding, Kanpian.com’s industry valuation reached around 20 billion yuan. I looked at its revenue, and it’s actually about the same as Meishe,” Wang Yao said with a smile.

"Mr. Wang, do you mean we should also go and find Chengtian Huchi? But the other party and the moviegoers have mutual needs, so we probably don't have much need for them, right?" Xu Chen frowned.

In fact, Wu Kebo had negotiated the mutual holding agreement with him many times, but the ratio had not been agreed upon. Xu Chen also wanted a 1:1 ratio.
"Actually, yes. Meishe has hundreds of full-time models and thousands of part-time models. Their schedules aren't always full. We can work with them to co-host a 'One-Day Store Manager' event with Chengtian Cinema."
Different models work as ticket collectors at the cinema every day. Aside from fans, handsome men and beautiful women are very attractive to ordinary tourists. This can indirectly increase the cinema's revenue and also attract a large number of offline fans for the models. The offline conversion rate is definitely higher than that online.

"Assuming that once this becomes a habit, one model brings in an extra 500 yuan in box office revenue or snack income per day, then 400 models would generate..." Wang Yao hadn't finished speaking.

"20? That's nearly 600 million in revenue a month?" Xu Chen asked gravely.

He has organized offline events before, but most of them are for fan benefits. Often, the venue and labor costs even result in losses. If the format Wang Yao suggested works, and the one-day store manager sells some merchandise, it will be a new boost to the company's revenue.

“That’s right. Moreover, for cinemas, handsome men and beautiful women can elevate the consumer level and is a good way to promote their reputation. There are also differences in quality among cinemas. If you were a viewer, would you take a look at a beautiful woman while you’re at the same price, or would you just pick any cinema?” Wang Yao asked rhetorically.

Wang Yao's method is a proven formula for future trendy brand stores. The most famous example is BF, a trendy brand invested in by Du Hua. All the models are trainees from the company, who are extremely good-looking and regularly work as sales clerks offline, attracting a large number of fans who are drawn to their good looks.

This increases offline exposure opportunities while reducing store operating costs.

Most importantly, there will be many "working girl/boy" personas that are easy to use as gimmicks to attract fans.

Meishe's advantage lies in its abundance of 'cheap and attractive resources' that can be utilized effectively. As a result, the daily manager of a movie theater will be significantly different from other theaters in the future.

Moviegoers also need emotional value.

"I could talk to Mr. Wu about this," Xu Chen said, suppressing a smile.

With this idea, Wu Kebo will most likely be unable to lower the price significantly, because the current market value of Meishe has been hovering around 14 to 15 billion, which is not much higher than Meishe's. Now that there is such a mutually beneficial plan, it would be impolite to refuse.

Moreover, Xu Chen was well aware that Wu Kebo also hoped to indirectly hold shares in Meishe to influence Tianhuo.

“If Mr. Xu needs it, I can also help find someone to negotiate, after all, we’re all family.” Wang Yao said with a sincere smile.

Xu Chen was somewhat moved. "Let me talk to them first. If there's really no other way, then I'll trouble President Wang."

“Besides Cheng Tian, ​​we can also try to get Berna. After Cheng Tian completely gave up film and television production, the competition between the two is not strong. Moreover, Berna also needs theaters and wants to go public. President Xu can cooperate with Kanpian.com in the middle and act as a smooth operator,” Wang Yao said with a smile.

"I really don't know how to repay Mr. Wang's help," Xu Chen said, moved once again.

This is tantamount to Wang Yao, representing Kanpianer.com, expressing his willingness to support Meishe's IPO?
This is a real surprise.

“We’re all family. I’ve said it before, without President Xu, there would be no Tianhuo or me today.” Wang Yao said with a warm smile.

Xu Chen knew there was definitely a trap, but he didn't know where the trap lay.

No matter how you analyze it, Wang Yao is pushing to solidify Meishe's valuation, and he also feels that Meishe's listing is a good thing for him.

"If we can acquire the cross-shareholding between these two companies, I believe the securities firms and investors will shut up. In addition, Tianhuo has more positive news coming in, such as the variety show 'Fairy Robe' that we previously invested in."
It will be released at the end of April. If the response is good, the models who appear in it will have the opportunity to increase their income, and Skyfire's revenue will also increase further. We will definitely do our best then.
Even if I use my shares in Kanpianer.com to cross-hold Meishe, I can still help President Xu solidify this 20 billion valuation.” Wang Yao’s expression was solemn, his tone slow and deliberate, and the unwavering determination in his obsidian-like eyes gave people an unparalleled sense of security.

Xu Chen, who hadn't initially shown much enthusiasm for financing and going public, found himself unconsciously becoming restless under the influence of the encouragement. He opened his mouth, but ultimately let out a sigh.

"Report your favor on the golden stage, support the Jade Dragon and die for you!"

Wang Yao walked out of the Meishe office building. The scorching afternoon sun felt warm on his body. He took out his phone and dialed Ma Ruo's number.

"Ma Ruo, what has Feng Jiao been doing lately?"

(End of this chapter)