How can you become a star without money?

Chapter 164's process is entirely wrong, but the ending seems to be correct.
Insider information.

Four words are enough to fascinate many people.

These four words contain the sense of superiority of information asymmetry, the mystery of uncertainty, the sense of privilege, and the gambler's wishful thinking.

This is especially true for some people who consider themselves intelligent.

Hearing these four words can easily spark a lot of imagination.

Because of her family background, Huang Shengyi used to think that she was stupid. Her parents, relatives and even peers were too outstanding. She felt that apart from being pretty, she was almost useless. This is why she lacked a sense of security and dependence on her family.

She married Yang Zi because she felt he was a smart man who could make up for her inner lack.

But after coming into contact with Feminism information, and after surfing the Ms platform every day and seeing the cases shared by women of different social classes, she suddenly felt that...

Yangzi is sometimes not much different from those fools who believe everything they hear.

Even she felt that insider information was like bait.

Why is Yang Zi so certain?

She had heard about the competition between Tianhuo Media and Alibaba. After all, it would be hard not to know about it since everyone around her was a Tianhuo artist. In addition, it involved her investment returns, so she paid close attention to it.

Although he didn't explicitly ask Wang Yao whether the situation was optimistic or not.

However, judging from the fact that Wang Yao recently contracted several rows of commercial buildings in Thames Town and the constant stream of job seekers every day, the company seems to be expanding.

How come when it came to Yangzi's mouth, there was inside information saying that the boss was going to cash out and run away?
She doesn't understand.

However, Yang Zi was surprisingly willing to relinquish his rights to her, promising that if she could purchase the shares from Wang Yao at a low price, the future profits from those shares would become the start-up capital for her personal studio.

The success of "Fairy Robe" gave Huang Shengyi the confidence to challenge Yang Zi. The last time the two quarreled was over the issue of establishing their own studios.

I never expected it to happen in this way.

All I can say is that Wang Yao is a lucky charm for people!
Yang Zi taught Huang Shengyi many negotiation skills.

But when facing Wang Yao, Huang Shengyi felt it was better to be honest with him.

"I heard Skyfire is going out of business?"

“Yes, that’s what the media says.” Wang Yao gave a strange smile upon hearing this.

"But I see your company is still expanding." Huang Shengyi was a little surprised. Could the rumors be true?

"That's a trade secret. If you can figure out a company's operations just by observing it, then either you're too smart, or the boss is too stupid," Wang Yao chuckled.

"Tch, I may not be smart, but I'm pretty good at judging people," Huang Shengyi scoffed.

She invested 20% of the net profit of "Fairy Robe" as a stock dividend. It is said that if the ratings remain stable, the net profit is likely to be 1 to 3 million, and she will be able to receive two to three million in profit, which is much higher than expected.

This was her first investment, so she was bursting with confidence.

"Really?" Wang Yao raised an eyebrow and smiled.

"Well, I can be wrong sometimes." Huang Shengyi awkwardly touched his nose. "Yangzi said he got inside information that you're planning to cash out and run away. He asked me to find out if it's true."

"? Shouldn't you have hinted at this indirectly? Haven't you seen Infernal Affairs?" Wang Yao chuckled.

"I can't think like you, and besides, this isn't that important to me. Instead of beating around the bush, I'll just ask you directly." Huang Shengyi spread his hands, his face completely open.

"Use your not-so-bright brain to help me think, should I sell my shares and cash out at this time?" Wang Yao laughed.

“From a friend’s perspective, I naturally don’t want to see you suffer heavy losses. After all, your opponent is Alibaba. I support you cashing out. Even 1% is worth 3000 million. I heard you have 40% of the shares. That’s a lot of money. I can retire right now.” Huang Shengyi said with shining eyes.

“If you give me 12 billion directly, I will really transfer it all to you,” Wang Yao said seriously.

"Uh, if I had that much money, would I be arguing with you like this?" Huang Shengyi rolled his eyes.

“At your position, you’re basically surrounded by people worth billions every day arguing with me. Once you have 12 billion, you’ll want to earn 120 billion. People always want what they can’t have; greed is endless,” Wang Yao chuckled.

"Maybe, we'll talk about it when I have that much money." Huang Shengyi shrugged.

"What price can Yangzi offer?" Wang Yao asked with a smile.

"You really want to sell?" Huang Shengyi exclaimed in surprise.

Are we really in trouble this time?
"Let's find out the price and see how optimistic the outside world is about Tianhuo," Wang Yao said with a light laugh.

"He said that if he takes 1% of the 10 million, he could consider taking 10%," Huang Shengyi whispered, afraid of hurting Wang Yao.

This is essentially a 3% discount acquisition, which is quite hurtful, especially since the other party had just secured high-valuation financing.

“His price is quite fair.” Wang Yao raised an eyebrow slightly.

The acquisition at only 3% of the original price suggests that Yang Zi really wants to replace himself as CEO of Tianhuo. After all, setting aside the Taobao models, Tianhuo itself is indeed worth the price.

"Then will you sell it?" Huang Shengyi blinked.

"Not considering it for now." Wang Yao squinted and shook his head.

But in Huang Shengyi's eyes, he was like a little boy gritting his teeth and enduring it.

It's kind of heartbreaking.

"I'll go back and ask him if we can raise it a little more." Huang Shengyi frowned and stood up.

“These are your marital assets,” Wang Yao said with a smile.

"What's the use of marriage if I don't get any of it? It's like the shares you hold; they seem valuable, but they're just worthless paper." Huang Shengyi said dismissively, her words somewhat blunt.

"You have a rather unpleasant way of speaking," Wang Yao said with a laugh.

"Although it's not appropriate for me to say this, I think with your talent, you could still achieve great success even if you gave up Tianhuo and started from scratch. Don't you still have Kanpianer.com?"

"I've seen many entrepreneurs sell their companies first, then cash out and start new ventures, becoming increasingly wealthy. I'll invest in you then, just don't think my money is too little." Huang Shengyi, holding his coat, hesitated for a moment before earnestly offering his comfort.

She worried that Wang Yao would become negative due to the shock of his startup's 'collapse halfway'.

"Nobody had high hopes for me, and I just couldn't live up to their expectations," Wang Yao said self-deprecatingly, waving his hand.

Seeing Wang Yao's bitter smile, Huang Shengyi felt a pang of heartache. She opened her mouth but found she had no words to comfort him, not even the right to help. She was immediately annoyed by her own powerlessness and turned to leave, as if she had made some kind of decision.

Huang Shengyi was certainly not the only one spying on the situation these past two days; several investors had already inquired about whether they wanted to cash out at a discount before her.

Most items are 2% to 3% off, and Yangzi offering 3% off is quite reasonable.

This is also the price at which most deals are made to acquire 'high-quality junk assets'.

If we wait a while longer and Alibaba and Meishe continue to release positive news, then Tianhuo will truly become a worthless asset.

These people basically foresaw that Taobao Girls would inevitably fail, and that Tianhuo's valuation would inevitably collapse. However, before Alibaba launched its all-out attack, they acquired enough shares in advance, cooperated with the major shareholder Meishe to remove Wang Yao, and then resold them through mergers and acquisitions or sold them to Alibaba. They could make a small profit.

After all, it's an asset worth billions; even a 20% profit from reselling it would be quite substantial.

Wu Kebo wasn't the only one with this awareness; any seasoned veteran in the capital market could see its value.

Even Liu Haifeng inquired indirectly and said that if Wang Yao couldn't hold on any longer, he would offer the fairest price to help him get rid of the situation.

These people were looking for profits from Wang Yao, and Wang Yao was also looking for inspiration from them.

"Mr. Wang, you wanted to see me?" Chen Tao knocked on the door, interrupting Wang Yao's thoughts.

"Oh, senior brother is here. How have things been these past two days?" Wang Yao snapped out of his reverie and smiled.

The investments made by Zhejiang Merchants Investment were recorded through Pufa Bank.

It just so happens that Wang Yao's first loan was obtained with the help of this senior brother Chen Tao, which provided expansion funds. At that time, the 10 credit card was a great help in the early stages.

Therefore, Wang Yao specifically requested Chen Tao to be in charge of the company's financing for this purpose.

Several months later, I met my junior brother Wang Yao again.

Chen Tao was filled with mixed emotions. The little brother who used to have to find a way to get a loan for 300,000 yuan had now become a tycoon with billions of assets.

Back then, he could presumptuously call someone "junior brother".

Wang Yao can still call him "senior brother," but he can only respectfully reply "President Wang."

“Our company’s business is quite simple, I understand it basically. Mr. Wang, is there something new you’re planning to do?” Chen Tao asked with a smile.

“We should be able to use this money in our account for investment, right? I’m planning to invest in Mulan Street. What do you think is a suitable number of shares to exchange for 3 million?” Wang Yao said with a smile. Chen Tao’s alarm bells went off immediately upon hearing this.

Everyone knows that Mulan Street is also Wang Yao's company. After announcing a 30%:10% cross-shareholding with JD.com the day before yesterday, it has become the hottest e-commerce platform right now.

Known as the first UGC e-commerce stock, it has received high praise from the industry.

If we consider the valuation of JD.com, Mulan Street could give a valuation of $3 million to $4.5 million. However, JD.com is currently preoccupied with its own problems. Although it claims that the next round of funding could value the company at over $15 billion, everyone can see that Liu Qiangdong's strength is superficial.

Therefore, using JD.com as an anchor for valuation is not advisable.

Moreover, Wang Yao's behavior of transferring assets from one hand to the other is very easy to be judged as malicious manipulation, because Mulan Street is not a stable and high-quality asset.

Who knows if Alibaba will target this after dealing with Taobao Girls?
However, in Wang Yao's financing plan at the time, this money could indeed be used for investment, as long as the CEO was willing to take responsibility for his actions and it was part of the company's development plan.

"As one of Tianhuo's main traffic service providers, Mulan Street's investment is actually reasonable. However, to prevent disputes later, I think Mr. Wang should inform the other shareholders in advance, since the risk of investing the entire company is not small." Chen Tao finally gave a fair answer.

His position puts him in a difficult position, as he has to bear the trust of investors while also managing risks for the operators.

“Shareholders’ consent is sufficient, right?” Wang Yao asked knowingly. “If I were to pledge my shares to Pufa and then invest in Mulan Street, approximately how much capital could I pledge?”

Chen Tao's expression changed drastically upon hearing this.

What does it mean?
Pledge Tianhuo shares to cash out and invest in Mulan Street?
Could this asset transfer be any more blatant?

If you weren't confident enough to compete with Alibaba, why were you stubbornly holding on? You could have just backed down, invested, taken the money, and focused on running Mulan Street properly.
“Mr. Wang, your actions will cause dissatisfaction among shareholders and are suspected of asset transfer. Even if the procedures are compliant, it will result in a very poor evaluation of future investors and may even affect the next round of financing or IPO.” Chen Tao was practically stating the obvious.

Dude, this approach won't work, the company will collapse!
“If Mr. Wang really needs funds, he can consider selling or exchanging some high-quality assets, such as real estate or wealth management products. Pufa can provide services for this. If you want to pledge Tianhuo shares, you can most likely get a valuation of around 4% to 5% of the original price,” Chen Tao continued to advise.

Given Wang Yao's blatant actions, the banks aren't fools, especially since Tianhuo's valuation is currently too inflated.

"Alright, could you please ask around for me if there are any suitable high-quality assets?" Wang Yao nodded with a smile.

Chen Tao hesitated for a moment, then nodded and left.

Actually, he wanted to remind Wang Yao that once this news got back to the bank, nothing stays hidden forever.

The news would spread throughout the domestic investment community the next day.

Our Shanghai's top e-commerce star, Mr. Wang Yao, is about to cash out and run away!

Who would dare to hold shares with you? Who would dare to lend you money?

Moreover, the high valuation that you're pushing onto Mulan Street by transferring assets from one hand to the other is unlikely to be accepted by the investment market.

Do you really think valuation is the same as inflating revenue figures?

Even American stock market companies know to put together a PowerPoint presentation and hold a roadshow to promote themselves.

Sure enough, before the next day even arrived...

That evening, Wang Yao received a call from Zhang Chaoyang of Sohu.

"Brother, can't hold on any longer?" Zhang Chaoyang asked with a hint of a smile.

"Huh?" Wang Yao feigned confusion.

"Stop pretending. It's all over the investment circle that you're abandoning Skyfire and moving to Mulan Street. To be honest, you might not even be able to keep Mulan Street. How about we package it together and I sell it to you? I'll give you a super high package price of 5 million US dollars, and then you can come and be the CEO of the new company," Zhang Chaoyang said casually.

“5 million? Tianhuo? Sell it.” Wang Yao said seriously.

"Of course it's Tianhuo and Mulan Street together. Tianhuo alone isn't worth that much money," Zhang Chaoyang scoffed.

"Mr. Zhang, this sounds a bit like you're trying to freeload," Wang Yao said with a smile.

“In the entire internet industry, only I can offer this price. The rest of you who dare to buy should be grateful for a package deal of 3 million. And the more you hesitate, the lower the price will be. That’s how the capital market works. This achievement for your first startup is already something to be very proud of,” Zhang Chaoyang said earnestly.

He was quite surprised when he learned that Wang Yao actually owned these two companies. He thought his plan to poach him as the CEO of the new company was going to fall through, because e-commerce was indeed more promising than media.

But now, not only has the situation taken a turn for the better, but Wang Yao's value has also been reassessed. Perhaps the new company, under his leadership, can recreate the glory of Sohu back then.

"Alright, thank you for your kindness, Mr. Zhang. I'll definitely come to you first when I can't hold on any longer," Wang Yao said with a smile.

“The price will definitely be different by then, so don’t blame me for giving you a discount. I’m planning to take my team to climb Mount Everest in a few days. Would you like to come along and relax?” Zhang Chaoyang didn’t press the issue.

"I don't have the time for that; I have a ton of things to do," Wang Yao said with a laugh.

“Then let me tell you something else that’s bothering you. The shareholders of Meishe are discussing whether to hold a shareholders’ meeting to remove you as CEO. They’re thinking of selling it directly to Alibaba,” Zhang Chaoyang reminded him.

"Luckily, I have 50.5% of the shares held on my behalf, otherwise I could have easily been removed from office." Wang Yao felt a bit more favorably disposed towards Zhang Chaoyang.

"So if you want to sell, hurry up. If you don't want to sell, you can't give up even a single share of your equity, or you'll easily be kicked out. Of course, I'll cast a dissenting vote for you at a crucial moment," Zhang Chaoyang laughed.

“Mr. Zhang, your vote is worth at least 2 million.” Wang Yao said meaningfully.

Wang Yao naturally knew about Tianhuo's company bylaws, which stated that a majority vote of shareholders could remove the CEO, so he used this extreme 0.5% as bait.

"More than that." Zhang Chaoyang, oblivious to anything amiss, began to chat idly.

Wang Yao chatted with him for a few minutes and then hung up the phone.

He then received a call from Gong Yu of iQiyi, who, on behalf of Baidu, inquired about Wang Yao's situation and offered to take the entire package for 4.5 million yuan, but Wang Yao politely declined.

Then came other investment institutions he had only recently met. As Zhang Chaoyang had expected, they were all offering package deals of $2-3 million, most of which were valuations for Mulan Street.

Wang Yao continued to observe the situation.

The next day, news that Wang Yao was preparing to abandon Tianhuo spread like wildfire, and even gossip media reported on it. The employees of Tianhuo Company were also affected and felt uneasy.

But Wang Yao unexpectedly received a call from Wu Kebo.

He couldn't hold back for even a day after the news was released?

Wang Yao initially thought Wu Kebo was forced into a corner by his own locked-in 0.5% stake and was preparing to acquire the shares at a premium, but to his utter surprise, the other party made him an even more outrageous invitation.

"Mr. Wang, are you interested in taking over Meishe from behind?" Wu Kebo's tone was a little hesitant, because these past few days he had been thinking about strategies to acquire Tianhuo.

The 0.5% stake that Wang Yao held was incredibly agonizing for him. It was like a person dying of thirst seeing a bottle of water in front of them but never being able to reach it, yet each time they felt they were just a hair's breadth away from success.

It's not that he can't do it, but he's unwilling to pay the price. If Wu Kebo dared to use the money borrowed from Meishe to acquire Shanghai Venture Capital's shares at a premium, someone would definitely sell. But he always felt it wasn't worth it and wanted to acquire Tianhuo at the lowest cost.

But while studying Tianhuo repeatedly, Wu Kebo suddenly had a flash of inspiration in his dream today.

After checking Meishe's equity structure, I finally found a win-win solution.

In any case, the ultimate goal is to merge Tianhuo and Meishe and list them on the stock exchange. So what difference does it make whether you become the chairman of Meishe first or the CEO of Tianhuo first?

Moreover, compared to taking 1% of the shares from Wang Yao, it is easier to control Meishe first.

When Lianyao has a single thought, the world instantly becomes vast.

Although Wang Yao does not directly own shares in Meishe, he has close relationships with the other two shareholders, Bernard and Zhang Chaoyang.

If they can persuade these two to support the deal, then after the second round of cross-shareholding, the stake held by Meishe's original major shareholder, Lehman, will be diluted to 24.96%, and even with Xu Chen's 4%, it will be less than 30%.
Wu Kebo has also reached an agreement with another major shareholder, Wang Shuo. As for the final Alibaba-affiliated shareholders, as long as Wang Yao agrees to the merger of Tianhuo and Meishe, Alibaba will essentially get an enhanced version of Taobao Girl, and there will be no reason for them to refuse.

After Tianhuo and Meishe merged, Wang Yao's shares seemed to be diluted, but in reality, they became more valuable. The valuation of the new company after the merger will inevitably exceed 40 billion. At that time, Wu Kebo promised to hand over the management rights of the new company to Wang Yao.

After hearing Wu Kebo's idea, Wang Yao felt a sense of absurdity.

Because the success rate of his plan is truly the highest.

Moreover, this is a near win-win-win situation.

Wu Kebo holds the most shares and has an extremely high return on investment.

Wang Yao and Alibaba reached a settlement, saving the company and its valuation.

Alibaba has acquired an enhanced version of the Taobao Girl platform.

The only loss was to the original founding team of Meishe and its major shareholder, Lehman, who were completely swept out of the core power circle.

It must be admitted that Wu Kebo is truly a talented individual.

Even under these circumstances, they can still pull off a great job.

Although the process was entirely wrong, the ending seemed to be right.

(End of this chapter)