How can you become a star without money?

Chapter 238 Dishes? Aren't these ready-made?
Birds of a feather flock together.

The greatest progress in human civilization to this day is learning to stick together and help each other.

Therefore, circles are indispensable in all human behavior.

The Shanxi merchants are an indispensable part of Chinese history.

One of the characteristics of the Shanxi merchants was that their goods were distributed throughout the world.

The essence of "goods flowing freely throughout the world" is diversified layout + integration of upstream and downstream of the industrial chain + financial synergy.

To achieve complementary and interconnected integration of 'trade + finance + industry' and enhance overall risk resistance capabilities.

The hallmark of Shanxi merchants was the "merchant and scholar from the same source" characteristic, meaning they were knowledgeable in both business and literature, so they would inevitably dabble in the arts and entertainment to present themselves.

Le's is a typical Shanxi merchant company, and Accountant Jia is a typical manager.

Le's started out in the communications business, providing supporting services for communication base stations. Later, they found that the demand for research and development was too high, so they turned to software development and successfully listed on Temasek in 06, raising hundreds of millions of dollars.

Because he had always been in the upstream industry of mobile communications, Jia's understanding of mobile and TV terminals was much better than that of his contemporaries. His initial goal was to become a mobile streaming media content provider in the 3G era.

However, due to the delayed issuance of 3G licenses, they could only turn to PC-based video services and firmly believed that internet video platforms would disrupt traditional television stations. They began to imitate Netflix's model, hoarding copyrights and becoming copyright dealers.

Furthermore, drawing inspiration from Netflix and Shengda's four-in-one model of "platform + content + terminal + application," it has attracted the attention of many coal mine owners.

Originally, the Le family was reluctant to get involved in the film and television investment industry. However, due to the "Yi Dong Meng Wang" event in 05, the Le family happened to bet on the mobile 3G business, believing that mobile phones would inevitably transform from communication tools to entertainment terminal devices. Therefore, they invested millions to produce China's first mobile streaming TV series, "The Promise," starring their second wife, Gan Wei.

"The Agreement" adopts a "free viewing + brand integration" model. China Mobile inserts a 15-second advertisement before the broadcast, plus traffic sharing, making it the earliest entertainment content platform to realize traffic monetization.

The profits were substantial, but details cannot be disclosed.

The success of "The Promise" brought a new shock to the film and television industry, namely that "content length, artistic value and monetization ability are not necessarily related", and that traffic monetization and viewership monetization are also different, laying the foundation for the recognition of emerging forms such as "micro-short dramas" and "vertical screen dramas".

The low-cost, high-return early 'short drama' model contributed a lot of cash flow to the development of Le's, and they also realized the difference between long dramas and short dramas, making a fortune quietly.

Until 09, when he began to get involved in legitimate film and television investment, he tested the waters with two low-budget comedies, "Metallic Attraction: Kung Fu Cyborg" and "Battle of Shama Town", both of which used the big director + big star + low-budget comedy model to make easy money.

"The Horseman" was released last month. Despite being squeezed by two Hollywood blockbusters, "Toy Story 3" and "The Karate Kid", it still grossed over 6000 million yuan. However, according to statistics from Kanpianer.com, its nationwide screening share was less than 10%. This translates to a 'critically acclaimed' film with an occupancy rate three times higher than "Lost in...".

This film, which outperformed "Lost in Thailand" at the box office, didn't even collaborate with Skyfire Cinemas during its release, and its social media promotion was minimal, demonstrating Jia's 'confidence' in the quality of his work.

Wang Yao was genuinely curious about which region's audience was watching "The Decision of the Horse." Could they all be viewers from Shanxi, watching it ten times each?

However, it's understandable, considering that Le's is said to be going public in August or September, and the high box office during the final roadshow was used to support Le's content strength.

After all, Wang Yao's large acquisition volume this year has resulted in Le's stockpiling of copyrights by one-third less than in the past.

Now, upon hearing Qi Jianhong suddenly mention the news of Le's going public, Wang Yao couldn't help but feel a little tempted.

To be honest, putting aside his return to China next week, Jia's execution and financing abilities are indeed remarkable. Although he is always one step ahead, each step is just right. If he hadn't been in a hurry to go public and committed financial fraud, he might have 'just right' become another new big system after BAT.

Currently, Jia Yueting and Feng Xiaogang are indeed considered top talents in the film and television industry. Le's ranks fourth with a market share of 8.7%, while Baofeng ranks third with a market share of 12%.

Moreover, both are representative of Shanxi merchants and are considered "monster stocks". In the future, one will rely on its ecosystem to achieve a valuation of hundreds of billions, and the other will rely on its light assets, high growth, and tens of billions in market value.

What a coincidence.

Wang Yao originally didn't want to touch PC video websites at this time, because after the interconnection of the three networks, the last barrier to the development of mobile terminals also disappeared. He was just waiting for the infrastructure and bandwidth technology upgrades and iterations to be reasonably priced, and then he could rely on the massive amount of copyrights he had accumulated and the advantage of future self-produced dramas to directly overtake others on the mobile terminal.

Qi Jianhong's initiative to bring it up actually stirred Wang Yao's 'compassion'.

"Does President Qi have a partnership with the Le family?" Wang Yao asked casually.

“Originally, there was no such thing. Le’s only focused on its own platform ecosystem and didn’t deal much with the mainstream film and entertainment industry. However, there were some problems with the revenue before the IPO, so they asked me to inflate some box office figures,” Qi Jianhong admitted.

"Because of this, Feng Xiaopao even mocked them. After all, how can a dark horse compete with two Hollywood blockbusters at the same time and still take in more than 40 million yuan at the box office in its opening week? President Jia is indeed a bit anxious." Cheng Long laughed when he heard this.

Although "The Karate Kid" wasn't exactly a top-tier film, it was still a collaboration between him and Will Smith, and its opening weekend box office was less than 30 million. In contrast, "The Horseman," a low-to-medium budget film, grossed over 40 million in its opening weekend.

How can you stage an accident like that?
Even if the audience isn't stupid, it's hard for other industry professionals to watch.

Feng Xiaopao publicly mocked him for this, but unexpectedly, the director of "Jue Ma" was also quite tough, and the two even had a fight on Weibo.

"Is the Le family also looking to enter the cinema market?" Wang Yao asked with a smile.

"When Accountant Jia invited me for drinks, he mentioned that he originally didn't want to get involved in asset-heavy industries like cinema chains. But this year, some damned person shared his interest in the copyright market, causing Le's to acquire two-thirds less copyrights than expected, and the quality was also much worse, failing to meet the previously planned standards. They can only make up for these shortfalls from other sectors."
He wanted Yaolai Cinema to join the Le's system, so that Le's would have the advantage of online and offline integration, and a portion of the funds from the IPO could be allocated to Yaolai. However, Yaolai was not short of money, and the two companies had different development directions.

"Since we've gotten this far, if Mr. Wang is planning to acquire AMC, he must need a lot of money, right? You could consider cooperating with Le's, and I'll be the middleman," Qi Jianhong said with a genuine smile.

"What will the final valuation of the Le family be?" Wang Yao asked.

"It's around 2 million US dollars, but Mr. Wang, don't be fooled by the low valuation. The stock price should rise significantly after the IPO. After all, it's the first listed video company in China, and Mr. Jia has a strong fundraising ability," Qi Jianhong said with a smile.

Leshi is arguably the platform with the highest paid video subscription rate in China, and it could indeed follow Netflix's path; it's a pretty good shell.

"We can chat and become friends," Wang Yao said with a smile and nodded.

“Okay, Mr. Wang has been in Hong Kong lately?” Qi Jianhong was delighted to hear this.

"I might have to go back to Shanghai the day after tomorrow to attend an event," Wang Yao said.

There's also a comic convention at the end of the month.

"Okay, I'll try to arrange it in Shanghai." Qi Jianhong nodded.

"If we can really acquire AMC, then Chinese-language films will have a base for going global," Jackie Chan said with a smile.

“Relying solely on Chinese-language films probably won’t be enough; we need to involve the whole of Asia. I want to pursue a diversified cinema model, otherwise it will be difficult to break free from local geopolitical influences,” Wang Yao said with a smile.

"If the AMC acquisition plan is really launched, should I buy some Tianhuo shares in advance?" Qi Jianhong said with a smile.

"President Qi can consider it," Wang Yao said with a smile.

"Will Tianhuo Media go public through a backdoor listing?" Qi Jianhong asked with some curiosity.

With its current size, Tianhuo Entertainment's market value of 30 billion is already at its limit. However, if Tianwang really does go public through a reverse takeover, its market value may double. Qi Jianhong might consider buying at the bottom.

“That’s inside information,” Wang Yao shook his head.

"I understand." Qi Jianhong laughed loudly, then changed the subject and started chatting casually, but kept subtly probing into the development center and direction of Tianhuo.

Finally, Qi Jianhong accepted Wang Yao's invitation, and Yaolai Cinema temporarily joined the Tianhuo Cinema Alliance, using the online ticketing system of Kanpianer.com, which filled the gap in Tianhuo's high-end cinemas.

Qi Jianhong and Cheng Long are both very talkative people, and their meal didn't end until midnight.

"This young Mr. Wang is quite a handful," Qi Jianhong commented after seeing Wang Yao off.

"How so?" Cheng Long raised an eyebrow slightly.

“Normally, if I offered him a sports car to drive freely on our first meeting, and he refused, it means he was still wary of me. But then he took my watch back. That’s strange,” Qi Jianhong said, frowning.

He initially used this method of gift-giving to test Wang Yao's preferences and character. Most people who were willing to be friends with him would immediately accept the kindness of being able to drive the sports car freely, because it was a matter of social obligation, and what is borrowed should be returned.

However, Wang Yao directly refused, indicating that he did not want to have too much entanglement with Qi Jianhong.

Yet he accepted the watch as a gesture of goodwill without any hesitation. Wang Yao couldn't possibly be unaware that the watch was worth at least a million. He accepted such an expensive gift so readily on their first meeting, without even a hint of politeness.

Refusing personal favors but accepting bribes?
What exactly does this kid mean?
Qi Jianhong has seen countless people, and this kind of situation would normally only happen to a 'pure and honest' person who is not interested in cars but is interested in watches.

But it's clear that Wang Yao isn't interested in cars or watches, and doesn't seem like a kind-hearted person.

That attitude is very strange.

"Could you be overthinking it? I think Ayao is just a rather simple-minded person," Cheng Long said, frowning after hearing the explanation.

He had worked with Wang Yao quite a few times and felt that Qi Jianhong might be overthinking things.

"How could someone so naive build such a large business at such a young age? I think it's because you're too naive, brother," Qi Jianhong laughed.

"Compared to you brainy people, I am indeed much simpler. But let me give you a piece of advice: Wang Yao is a young man, and he may be different from the people you've met before. If you try to get along with him in the same way you used to, you'll easily make things worse," Cheng Long warned. "So young, and without any background, is he some kind of prodigy?" Qi Jianhong pondered.

"New talents emerge in every generation; we must learn to acknowledge the excellence of others." Cheng Long smiled and patted him on the shoulder.

"I've always been humble, as you know, brother," Qi Jianhong said with a smile.

Wang Yao stayed in Hong Kong for another two days, mainly dealing with matters at the Hong Kong headquarters of Mulan Street (the international version of MLS) in addition to keeping an eye on the aftermath of the Ba Wang incident.

MLS's initial organizational structure is currently [click to view]:
The company's core technologies are all shared by Mulan Street in China, including the APP. The logistics system established by the Hong Kong headquarters is managed by the Huo family, involving Hong Kong, Macau, and even Taiwan.

The $1000 million in working capital on the books is used for marketing investment, and the R&D center still relies on the domestic Mulan company for sharing.

The difference between the MLS platform and the domestic version is that in the early stages, its social attributes were higher than its product recommendation and sales features. The platform's first batch of content was basically about sharing tips and strategies for saving money, group buying, travel, and part-time jobs.

Initially, it was positioned as a social media platform, with advertising revenue as its main source of income. It was positioned to compete with Instagram and Xiaohongshu, focusing on daily sharing, women, and check-ins.

The product promotion function and other features will be launched after the online store and online payment functions have been tested and expanded to a larger user base. Currently, it is only providing a small amount of product recommendation services for mainstream e-commerce platforms such as Amazon.

With the Huo family's involvement, MLS has now integrated most of Hong Kong's offline group-buying channels and acquired uBuyiBuy, a website that was just established last month. Yang Shengwu will continue to serve as the CEO of the group-buying division.

Merchants can open stores directly on the platform, which provides services such as operation management, traffic promotion/delivery.

We are currently waiting for the variety show "Sister Hua" to be released so that we can promote it on mobile devices. The combination of APP and QR code scanning for verification can basically put overwhelming competitive pressure on Groupon, the largest group-buying company in Hong Kong, and quickly seize market share.

Before boarding his flight back to Shanghai on July 7.26, Wang Yao received a news report.

Ranked fourth in the Chinese gaming industry, Wanmei Group invested 2 million yuan to acquire two companies, Xinyuan Film and Television and Shanghu Baohong, owned by Zhao Baogang, officially entering the cultural and entertainment film and television industry. It decided to continue the IP adaptation game model of "Wulin" and "Zhu Xian", adapting Zhao Baogang's famous IPs such as "Struggle" and "My Youth" into games, using film and television IPs to provide content services for games, and realizing the "interactive entertainment" model.

The real reason behind this is that the "Opinions on Promoting Enterprise Mergers and Reorganizations" released not long ago mainly mentioned supporting the cultural and creative industries.

Sure enough, once this door was opened, everyone wanted to put all sorts of things into it.

Sometimes it's really hard to understand whether these people are trying to cash out or are blindly betting because they can't see the future prospects.

However, it's also a good thing. This investment by Perfect World is likely to fail. We'll see if there's an opportunity to buy at the bottom. The IPs that Perfect World owns will still be very valuable in the next ten years.

Upon landing in Shanghai, it was already the height of summer, but due to the summer vacation, the impact of the World Expo was finally reaching its peak, and the entire city was filled with a crowded and sweltering atmosphere.

People are wearing increasingly lighter and more revealing clothes.

Wang Yao wandered around several offices in Tianhuo, and finally hid in Xingyou, a secluded haven, for some peace and quiet.

Because Tianhuo has many cultural and creative positions, and they are all related to the entertainment industry, the male-to-female employee ratio is as high as 2:8. Moreover, most of them are young and beautiful girls in their early twenties. In addition, there are a large number of aspiring young women who audition for modeling and acting jobs every day, which is very unfriendly to Wang Yao's energetic peers.

In contrast, Xingyou, being full of tech programmers with a male-to-female ratio of 9:1, felt much more refreshing.

Last quarter, Stargame's revenue from just one project, "Water Spinner," reached a staggering $7 million. In just over two months, the game sold more than 3 million copies, and the first paid skin, a special effects sword priced at $0.99, also sold nearly 300,000 copies.

The main user growth came from the Korean region, and the user growth and ranking activities on KT had a better-than-expected effect on the game's promotion.

Including other businesses such as website maintenance and software development, the total revenue has exceeded 1000 million US dollars.

Next month, Xingyou will also receive $50 million from the sale of its mobile app service to Deng Wendi at a very high premium. Xingyou expects its revenue to likely exceed $100 million this year. With such a generous buyer as Ms, its net profit may reach an astonishing 55% or more. If news of financing is released, it will likely be able to obtain a valuation of $300 million to $500 million.

The exceptionally high revenue has also led to a surge in business volume. Since the beginning of this month, Xingyou's full-time employees have increased from around 200 to 400, and there are also dozens of outsourced teams in various countries.

For normal game and software development, platform maintenance is not a big problem, but as Wang Yao's requirements become higher and higher and he wants to work on algorithms, there is a relative shortage of technical talent.

Wang Yao could only establish a branch in Silicon Valley. Although the cost was higher, it could indeed solve the talent problem. However, Xingyou also reached some cooperation agreements with top universities in China, but the results were minimal.

Because the mobility of top-tier talent in China is very low, the major domestic tech giants like BAT have basically locked up these talents in advance. As a fledgling small company, Xingyou doesn't really have much ability to compete with them and can only slowly poach talent.

However, Wang Yao also has other alternatives. Besides Silicon Valley, there is another region in the global IT industry with extremely high cost-effectiveness, namely India. Xingyou has invested in several companies in India, specializing in outsourced development, with costs equivalent to one-third of those in Silicon Valley.

Therefore, Xingyou's basic operations are currently sufficient, but it is indeed facing difficulties in cutting-edge technology research and development, especially in mobile APP development and algorithm research, where there is a severe shortage of relevant talent in China.

Although the Android version of "Water Spine" has been released, the game experience is much worse than that on iOS due to system compatibility issues. However, because it is free to download, the number of users worldwide has exceeded ten million. But when the mobile version is released later, the experience issues must be addressed first, so we still need to invest in it in advance.

"By the way, Mr. Wang, this is an invitation from the China Games 100 Club. Shall we go?" Just as Wang Yao was discussing whether to follow Mr. Lei's example and directly optimize and reskin Android games to make some money, Cai Haoyu suddenly gave him an invitation.

"The Game 100? What's that?" Wang Yao was taken aback and opened the invitation.

The China Game 100 Club is a top-tier elite organization in the game industry, composed entirely of well-known producers and other innovative forces in the Chinese game field, as well as outstanding investors and top managers who drive innovation in the game industry. The total membership is around one hundred people.

Initiator: Lei Jun.

Speak of the devil and he appears!

"So Lei Jun has such a high status in the gaming industry?" Wang Yao raised an eyebrow slightly, noticing that the main organizer, Lei Jun, was listed ahead of Tencent and Wanmei.

"Mr. Lei's company, DuoY, is the largest game portal and web game company in China," Cai Haoyu said.

"Oh? Mr. Lei is also the chairman of YY? My apologies, no wonder YY has so many pop-up ads for web games." Wang Yao suddenly realized.

This 100-person circle should be considered the most prestigious circle in the domestic game industry. Xingyou has already made a name for itself in the industry, and it's time for them to go out and broaden their horizons. They can't just keep working in isolation. Besides, Lei Jun is also there, so it's a good opportunity to ask him for advice in person and experience the charm of the marketing god.

“Since we’ve received an invitation, we’ll naturally go. Who knows, we might even have opportunities to collaborate in the future,” Wang Yao nodded.

Water Spinner has been in the top three of iOS sales for almost two months, so it was inevitable that it would be discovered by its competitors. However, Cai Haoyu doesn't like social media, and Wang Yao is intentionally controlling the popularity of Star Game in China, so they have been making money quietly.

However, if Xingyou really needs to raise funds in the future, it will still need the big names in the industry to help it out.

However, it's estimated that they'll just make a brief appearance there. After all, they are the first company in China to make money in the mobile game market, but compared to monsters like Tencent Games with revenues of over a billion US dollars, Xingyou is indeed insignificant. Even Wanmei, whose revenue last year exceeded 5 million US dollars, only ranked fourth.

The Committee of 100 will be held in Shanghai on July 30th, and Wang Yao arranged the schedule.

And it just so happens that it was the day of the open beta launch of "Happy Match," which is quite a coincidence.

Wang Yao specifically incorporated three cartoon characters, "Fire Sprout," "Snow King," and "Kangaroo," into the product to increase familiarity with these corresponding brands. Fire Sprout is the cartoon logo of Spark, Snow King is the logo of Mixue, and Kangaroo is the logo of Ele.me, which was just invested in last month.

Ele.me is a small-scale food delivery startup that officially started operating in May of this year, with monthly orders exceeding 1000. The founder, Zhang Xuhao, is Cai Haoyu's senior. He originally wanted to apply for angel investment to expand the business, but after learning that a low-profile, wealthy person had emerged from the school, he contacted Cai Haoyu through someone.

At the time, Cai Haoyu was focused on the gaming industry and wasn't interested in food delivery platforms. In addition, Ele.me was too small at the time, with only 1000 orders a month and monthly revenue of only tens of thousands of yuan, which wasn't even enough to cover the sales of "Water Assassin" in an hour. However, knowing that Mulan Street might have related supporting businesses, he recommended it to Wang Yao.

Wang Yao communicated with Zhang Xuhao and gave Ele.me an extremely high valuation of 200 million yuan. He invested 300 million yuan to acquire 70% of the shares, binding Ele.me with Mixue's delivery service. Currently, the company has reached an average of 300 orders per day, and the company size has expanded from a dozen people to over a hundred people. From initially serving the area around Jiaotong University, the company has expanded to all areas covered by Mixue stores.

Mixue's first batch of stores have already filled all the universities in Shanghai, and it is currently expanding into junior high schools. Ele.me is recruiting part-time riders through Mixue's offline stores and expanding to surrounding merchants. So far, the development of Gougou Chongchong has not yet attracted the interest of major group buying websites.

After all, compared to the group-buying industry, food delivery is currently just a minor category.

Wang Yao is waiting for Zhang Xuhao's team to mature and take shape, so that the expansion model in Shanghai can directly rely on Mixue's franchise stores' online stores to reach the whole country, and can even be integrated into the overseas KT coffee shop system.

Once Wang Yao starts promoting QR code scanning for ordering, and the verification efficiency improves, Ele.me's development speed may catch up to a new level.

The game "Kaixiao" features a storyline led by Xinghuo and supported by Mixue and Kangaroo. With a sufficient user base, soft product placement can lead to the creation of an animated IP.

Wang Yao finished get off work on time at six o'clock and received a text message from Qin Lan, inviting him to dinner to thank her for cleaning up the mess she made after drinking last time.

Wang Yao happened to have nothing to do, so he decided to go and freeload a meal.

When they arrived at Qin Lan's house, the door opened, and Qin Lan, dressed in casual clothes and an apron, smiled and said, "President Wang, you've arrived so quickly."

"I happened to be nearby, so I came straight over," Wang Yao said with a smile.

"Wait a moment, make yourself at home, I have another dish to finish." Qin Lan found slippers for Wang Yao.

"Food? Isn't this ready?" Wang Yao followed her into the living room, glanced at Fu Ru lying on the sofa as if he were asleep, and raised an eyebrow with a smile.

Qin Lan was startled and followed his gaze. From this angle, Fu Huan's figure, with his shorts and shirt and no lower body visible, was on full display.

"What are you thinking about, Mr. Wang!" Wang Yao rolled his eyes in annoyance and hurriedly went over to wake Fu Ru up.

"What are you thinking, Sister Lan? I mean, this ready-made food is enough." Wang Yao pointed innocently at the six dishes and one soup that had already been prepared on the coffee table.

How could three people eat so much?

(End of this chapter)