Internet moguls are being held hostage by the entertainment system!

Chapter 310 Wang Zhonglei, whose defenses have been breached, urges Lei Jun to build cars.
On December 15th, "Better Days" and "Youth" were released on the same day.

Since the announcement of their simultaneous release, the two films have maintained a competitive stance from the start of their preview screenings and promotional activities, with various media outlets offering both praise and criticism.

The film's producers, Datang Pictures and Huayi Brothers, are well aware that they are competitors and will only see whose film is stronger and has higher box office returns.

All the "pre-war rituals" came to a conclusion on the day the movie was released.

Thanks to pre-release online promotion and a live-streamed ticket sale the day before the official release, "Better Days" undoubtedly secured a high 30% screen share.

Then, thanks to its decent quality and novel subject matter, the film grossed over 100 million yuan on its opening day, leading the market!
As a period drama, "Youth" does not overlap with the audience of "Better Days," so the two cannot actually form a direct competitive relationship.

However, due to limited market share, theaters are more willing to bet on "Better Days," which has performed well in the early stages.

This led to a decrease in screenings of "Youth", and consequently, its box office revenue was also affected.

With 25% of the screenings, Youthful Days grossed 5500 million yuan on its opening day.

On its own, it's not bad, but considering that the box office of "Better Days" next door was twice as high, the difference is quite obvious...

The next day, upon receiving the battle report, Huayi's president, Wang Zhonglei, also gave his subordinates a severe dressing down.

"what happened?"

Wang Zhonglei slammed his fist on the table and roared at the public relations department head who had come to report on the results: "I approved 2000 million yuan for online publicity, so why is 'Youth' performing so poorly? How much of it did you embezzle?"

"Mr. Wang, I didn't..."

The person in charge was sweating profusely and felt extremely guilty.

Generally speaking, it's only natural to take a kickback when spending money, as long as it doesn't affect one's work.

"I swear, every penny spent on buying traffic and advertising on Kuaishou and Weishi was used effectively..."

"You still dare to say it was put to practical use!"

Wang Zhonglei glared at him, thinking: What rubbish about using it practically? We spent the same amount of money on online promotion, and "Youth" had half the box office of "Better Days" on its opening day. You're slapping me in the face!

The person in charge hurriedly explained, "It really worked. The data sent by Kuaishou and Weishi showed the number of people exposed, and the view and like rates of the promotional short videos were very high..."

"If it's so effective, why is the box office so bad?"

"This one……"

"Is there anything you can't say?"

"Sigh~, Mr. Wang, the main problem is that the user quality on these two platforms is generally low, and the proportion of online ticket purchases is far lower than on Douyin. If we take this 2000 million and buy Dou+..."

"Shut up!"

Wang Zhonglei broke down and shouted, his face turning black with anger.

He went to so much trouble and repeatedly refused Feng Xiaogang's request to buy promotional traffic on Douyin, all to prove that online promotion, even without begging on Chen Xiu's knees, can still bring benefits to the film.

As it turned out, Wang Zhonglei was a complete idiot who wasted money and his grades were also completely outclassed.

Then, you, who are in charge of public relations and publicity, actually came to bluff your way in. Who wouldn't be on guard?
The person in charge, after being yelled at by Wang Zhonglei, shut his mouth tightly and became terrified.

After a while, Wang Zhonglei, who had calmed down a bit, slowly sat down in a chair, rested his chin on his hand, and looked around as if he was thinking about something.

Just as the person in charge was about to ask whether the paid advertising should continue, Wang Zhonglei suddenly stopped and looked at him.

"These box office results are terrible. You need to think of a way to contact the regional theater managers."

"Mr. Wang, you mean...?"

"I didn't say anything. You're the head of public relations. You can make your own decisions about some things. All I want to see are results, results that make the company's financial statements look good, understand?"

"understand."

After explaining the movie, Wang Zhonglei felt a surge of anger and resentment as he thought about Chen Xiu.

"Then, this film, 'Better Days,' is too popular. You need to find a way to suppress it."

"I???"

The person in charge pointed to himself, looking around helplessly, thinking: Damn it, if I had this ability, would I be working for you?
Wang Zhonglei knew this request was a bit unreasonable, and hinted, "Just use the usual method: dig up the background of the lead actors, and while you're at it, guess why they were able to get such good resources, and whether there's anything behind it... You haven't even forgotten these old tricks, have you?"

"Mr. Wang, they're from Datang Film Industry!"

"so what?"

"If we were to throw mud at General Manager Chen..."

"What's there to be afraid of? This is always the same promotional tactic used during a movie's release!"

"But we've never encountered someone like Mr. Chen before..."

Seeing the cowardly attitude of the person in charge, Wang Zhonglei couldn't help but feel a surge of anger.

He didn't say it outright, but only hinted at it, so that if things went wrong in the future and Chen Xiu retaliated, he could still shift the blame to his subordinates. But he ended up with a non-stick pan.

"Don't worry, go for it! I'll cover for you if anything goes wrong."

"..." Upon hearing Wang Zhonglei's words, the manager, who was well-versed in workplace routines, not only did not feel at ease, but his heart skipped a beat and his legs went weak.

This flavor is too strong, it's like a template line that says, "Find a scapegoat, and you're all rushing forward..."

However, Wang Zhonglei was, after all, the boss, and the public relations manager still had to comply with his requests.

"Mr. Wang, shall I get my online army moving when I get back later?"

"Hurry up and get moving. It's Saturday today. If we don't bring out some good stuff soon, the first week of screenings will be over."

"Then I'll go out first?"

"Hurry, hurry, don't delay any longer!"

Wang Zhonglei shouted excitedly, already imagining how he would throw dirty water on Chen Xiu and how Chen Xiu would be furious.

The public relations manager, once outside the office, was thinking: how to satisfy General Manager Wang's demands without completely offending General Manager Chen—he needed to strike the right balance...

At the same time, Chen Xiu, the other protagonist in this conversation, was attending the launch event for the NIO ES8 at the Wukesong Arena in Beijing.

In addition to the 10000 NIO car owners and friends who had pre-ordered the ES8, there were also many investors present, including Chen Xiu, who attended as an investor.

However, what should have been a car launch event was turned into an electronic music festival by Li Bin.

The live performance by Imagine Dragons, who won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song, was indeed spectacular, but considering that Li Bin spent 8000 million yuan to attend the press conference, and that money all came from investors.

Chen Xiuyue felt more and more that Li Bin was a person who was all talk and no action, or that he had become so arrogant that he believed that NIO was bound to succeed.

"Mr. Lei, what do you think?"

"Ok?"

Lei Jun, sitting next to Chen Xiu, was a little confused, thinking to himself: How am I supposed to respond to you when you suddenly say something like that?
After thinking for a moment, Lei Jun tentatively said, "The music is good, and the car is also very good."

"Hehe, Mr. Lei is such a kind person. Next time Xiaomi releases a new phone, how about you hire a band to perform?"

"I'll pass. The profit from a mobile phone is limited, not as much as that from a car."

Lei Jun waved his hand, already understanding that Chen Xiu was expressing her dissatisfaction with Li Bin.

To be honest, he also felt that spending money on the band was too extravagant and unnecessary.

Chen Xiu criticized Li Bin briefly, but didn't delve into his actions. Instead, she followed up on the topic and posed a probing question to Lei Jun.

"Mr. Lei, you just said that the profit margin for selling mobile phones is limited, so why not electric cars?"

"Yes! Xiaomi's after-tax profit margin on mobile phone hardware is no more than 5%."

"Would you like to build cars?"

"I?"

Even though Lei Jun had seen many big scenes, he was still taken aback by Chen Xiu's question.

In those few seconds of stunned silence, Lei Jun felt his heart pounding, but he quickly calmed down and gave Chen Xiu his signature shy smile.

"This year, we just managed to reverse the decline in mobile phone sales. Now the entire company is preparing for next year's IPO, so we can't make any big moves!"

"What happens after the IPO? Or rather, a few years later, when mobile phone hardware continues to upgrade, actual and marginal costs continue to rise, profits are diluted, and market growth slows down, will Mr. Lei have any ideas?"

Chen Xiu's soft whispers, when they reached Lei Jun's ears, sounded as clear and loud as a great bell.

All other noises at the scene were completely blocked out of Lei Jun's ears at this moment.

Chen Xiu watched as his body trembled slightly, a thoughtful expression flashing across his face before his expression hardened again.

Lei Jun looked up at Chen Xiu and shook his head: "President Chen, Xiaomi currently has no plans to enter the electric vehicle field. Even if the growth of the mobile phone business slows down, we may increase our investment in AI research and development."

"AI..."

Chen Xiu nodded silently, thinking to himself: Lei Jun doesn't have any plans to build cars yet, probably because he hasn't figured out the tricks of the trade. Once he does, he'll go to Geely to learn from them and poach their talent.

"However, if Zhou Shouzi can grow up and take over Xiaomi's mobile phone business, then I can try a variety of possibilities."

Lei Jun suddenly said something with a gloomy expression, it was unclear whether he was hinting at something.

Chen Xiu curled her lip dismissively, glanced quickly ahead, and suddenly said, "Mr. Lei, the fingerprint unlock on Xiaomi phones isn't very reliable!"

"Ok?"

Lei Jun looked in the direction of the sound and heard Wang Yizhi, the boss's wife of NIO, explaining that she had used the wrong finger and that there was no problem with the phone's fingerprint unlock function.

Although he explained, Lei Jun's smile became noticeably stiff.

He also invested in NIO and even attended the new product launch event in person, only to be publicly criticized for his own company's products.

This kind of behavior would leave anyone speechless.

Just as Wang Yizhi finished her awkward interview with the owner of Jingdong and got up to return to the stage, she suddenly turned around and walked towards Chen Xiu and Lei Busi.

(End of this chapter)