Internet moguls are being held hostage by the entertainment system!

Chapter 490 Meng Ziyi's New Rap Group
Fangheng Fashion Center, Douyin, Meeting Room 1.

Like everyone else, Chen Xiu sat upright in her seat, her phone face down on the table, listening quietly to the speaker of this meeting.

"...According to the information I have received."

Zhou Shouzi looked at the attendees with great enthusiasm and said excitedly, "TikTok's private placement price in the secondary market has reached 450 billion US dollars. This news is definitely positive."

"I just spoke with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange by phone, and they sincerely welcome TikTok's IPO application!"

"If everyone thinks there are no problems with the prospectus, then by the end of this month, we can officially submit the IPO application and start preparing for the roadshow to go public!"

After he finished speaking, the scene fell silent. Everyone glanced at each other, but no one objected.

"Clap clap clap!"

The applause went from slow to fast, from soft to loud.

The others followed Zhou Shouzi and turned to look, only to see Chen Xiu leading the applause, and then the others sitting at the same table followed suit.

After briefly expressing his approval, Chen Xiu said, "I have no objection to the contents of the prospectus and look forward to your performance during the roadshow."

"I agree with Mr. Chen."

Zhang Yiming followed closely behind.

"Reconsideration!"

Su Xiao raised her hand in approval.

The rest of the people shared the same opinion.

Zhou Shouzi expressed his gratitude and then went on to talk about his roadshow plan.

After he finished speaking, the other board members asked a few routine questions, mostly about the work before and after the IPO, and some were worried about how to deal with the stock price falling below the IPO price...

Zhou Shouzi answered all the questions he could.

For those questions that he couldn't answer, or that had no answers, he could only leave them to the market.

After the meeting ended, everyone else left one after another, but Chen Xiu, Zhang Yiming, Su Xiao, and Zhou Shouzi stayed behind and held a private meeting behind closed doors.

The circle of four people sitting around was much smaller. Zhang Yiming glanced at Chen Xiu and Su Xiao and said, "I'll get straight to the point. After TikTok submitted its IPO application, Mr. Chen, are you ready on your end?"

"According to sources from Tencent, Yahoo is also quite interested in Line and is currently working hard to promote a merger between the two companies. However, Line's parent company, Naver, prefers to cooperate with Tencent. I will be negotiating with SoftBank soon."

Chen Xiu paused, hesitated for a moment, and then turned to look at Zhou Shouzi.
"Mr. Zhou, what are your thoughts on the collaboration between TikTok and Line?"

"OK! Since I only recently learned about this news, my opinion may be somewhat subjective."

Zhou Shouzi first explained the disclaimer clauses before continuing, "As I just said, the current secondary market's expectation for TikTok is $450 billion or more, which is a very confident response."

“Line’s market value is $90 billion today. If Tencent can merge WeChat with Line and then merge the new company with TikTok, from a financial analyst’s perspective, I can give the new company a valuation of $600 billion.”

“There are also certain risks in doing this. Line has 2.18 million monthly active users, mainly concentrated in South Korea, Taiwan, and mainland China. In addition to geographical factors, the company’s continued losses are also a hidden danger that needs to be addressed.”

Chen Xiu nodded slightly and exchanged glances with Zhang Yiming and Su Xiao.

Seeing them, Chen Xiu hesitated for a moment, and then shared her thoughts.

"Mr. Zhou's view is very objective, but from a long-term perspective, TikTok needs an instant messaging function to retain customers."

"Duoshan's failed attempt also proves the difficulty for communication software to develop in mature markets. Acquiring Line will save time and costs, which will be more conducive to the development of TikTok."

This statement was also agreed upon by the three people present.

After discussion, Chen Xiu and the others reached a consensus: if things were not going to work out with SoftBank, or if their demands were too high, then the plan against Line would have to be abandoned!
After the discussion ended, Zhang Yiming and Zhou Shouzi left together, while Chen Xiu followed Su Xiao to her office.

As soon as the two sat down on the sofa, Chen Xiu checked the information on her phone. After reading it, she raised her eyebrows in surprise.

Su Xiao didn't notice his expression and said, "Zhang Yiming has been getting very close to Zhou Shouzi lately. He must be trying to win him over, right?"

"He is seeking a sense of security."

Chen Xiu looked up and explained, then, based on the information Chen Duling sent him, searched for Meng Ziyi's live stream on Douyin.

Su Xiao nodded in agreement with this explanation, while also noticing Chen Xiu's focus.

"What are you looking at?"

"Um, Sister Xiaoxiao, I need to use the computer."

Chen Xiu's pursed lips revealed a strange expression.

Su Xiao pushed up her glasses, helped him up by the shoulder, and pointed to the computer with her other finger.

"It's always on, go ahead and use it!"

"OK, could you lock the door while you're at it?"

A flicker of curiosity flashed across Su Xiao's eyes. After doing as instructed, she went behind the desk, squeezed in next to Chen Xiu, and looked up to check what he was doing on the computer.

The screen displayed a Douyin live stream room.

The live stream room was a bit dimly lit, and it was furnished with a sofa and a coffee table. The main host and the secondary host were Meng Ziyi and Reba, respectively.

"Today, everyone has heard a lot of rumors about me and Dilraba, and we are doing a live stream to clarify this matter."

Meng Ziyi spoke to the camera and appeared perfectly normal.

Reba chimed in from the side, looking somewhat embarrassed.

Su Xiao glanced at the hundreds of thousands of people online and couldn't help but ask, "Where are they?"

"The karaoke room at home," Chen Xiu replied casually, her eyes glued to the screen.

Su Xiao turned to look at him, and was about to ask Chen Xiu what he was looking forward to, when Meng Ziyi in the live broadcast room revealed the answer first.

"OK! Now we'll move on to the clarification section, where Reba and I will be responsible for explaining. Please wait a moment."

After saying that, Meng Ziyi suddenly stepped out of the camera's view, and then the environment in the live broadcast room began to brighten, with colorful lights projecting multicolored light from the ceiling, and background music started playing.

Based on the familiar musical rhythm, the comment section quickly provided the answer: the song "Happy Worship".

"I am back!"

Meng Ziyi returned to the live broadcast camera with two microphones.

Seeing the helpless and hesitant expression on Dilraba's face as she took the microphone, and Chen Xiu's increasingly expectant expression, Su Xiao guessed what was going to happen next.

Meng Ziyi picked up the microphone and immediately got into the zone: "1, 2, 3, Go!"

"Everyone who's spreading rumors about me, get out of here!"

"Now let's get our footing! Heat up, take it!"

As soon as the deadly singer started singing, the comments section exploded with messages.

Most netizens were amazed by Meng Ziyi's singing skills.

It should be said that although Meng Ziyi's singing is off-key, her dancing is quite good; her long legs make her dance moves dazzling.

Su Xiao stared at the screen in astonishment, instantly understanding why Reba had been so embarrassed since earlier—it was because Meng Ziyi's tune was too difficult to follow!

However, Dilraba has her own style and her own dance moves.

"All those who spread rumors about her, get out of here! Let's create a happy era!"

Dilraba's beauty mark under the colorful lights shone brightly, and her swaying figure made her look quite alluring.

"To which group does happiness truly belong? Boys, girls, or..."

Chorus: "Girls and Girls!"

Reba and Meng Ziyi looked at each other and reached out their hands, directly using the most common way of clarifying in the bullet comments.

"Open a history textbook, and you won't find the answer even if you look carefully. You can't memorize it well either. Why do you insist on making things up when they don't exist!"

A rap song was given a fresh twist by Meng Ziyi.

She is indeed more suited to rap than singing.

Dilraba gradually got into the zone, took over the lyrics, and started rapping: "What era has what kind of wind? I hold my microphone, hold the girl with me, and sing Old school show Yall ready to roll!"

"In the 70s, boys and girls were the most excited. Disco fever never said goodbye. Only by playing funk could you be cool. Men and women, women and men and women..."

"Wow, Sister Meng and Reba are both so talented."

Chen Xiu couldn't help but exclaim, expressing high approval of Meng Ziyi and Reba's new rap style.

"Hahaha!"

Su Xiao laughed repeatedly, staring intently at the screen: "I have to say... the song isn't that great, but their performance kept me glued to the screen."

Chen Xiu shared the same sentiment, but since he had heard Meng Ziyi's explanation many times, he still managed to find time to pick up his phone and ask Chen Duling about the situation.

"What exactly happened? Why did Sister Meng and Dilraba go to sing to clarify things?"

"After the broadcast of Peach Blossom Village, netizens were all guessing who Mengmeng and Reba's boyfriends were. After guessing and guessing, they all guessed it was you. In order to prevent your reputation from collapsing, Mengmeng thought of pulling Reba along to clarify the situation in reverse."

Upon seeing this message, Chen Xiu felt a surge of emotion.

Although he doesn't care much about entertainment news, with TikTok's IPO imminent, it would be inappropriate to create some scandalous gossip.

A song lasts no more than three minutes.

After finishing her song, Meng Ziyi took Reba's hand and loudly announced to the 300,000 viewers in the live stream that the audience had grown to 300,000.

"Now you understand! Stop spreading rumors."

"Thank you everyone for watching the live stream. Please leave me alone and stop spreading rumors about me."

Reba followed up with a comment, and although it wasn't confirmed, netizens generally considered it a CP (couple) pairing between the two.

This scene caused a frenzy among fans of both sides, and was also a feast for onlookers.

They never expected that what was originally an ordinary love triangle between a man and a woman would turn into... a truly wonderful and surprising reversal!
Chen Xiu turned off the live stream, her expression revealing a profound meaning.

Su Xiao voiced her concern: "With such a big fuss, how will we handle this in the future?"

"Sister Meng probably didn't think that far ahead; she only thought about how to solve the immediate problem."

"Then you'd better put your tail back in."

"I've already thought of that."

Chen Xiu turned to look at Su Xiao, her eyes filled with an unusually firm emotion.

"I plan to gradually fade out of the entertainment industry and set my name as a keyword. If any self-media bloggers continue to spread rumors about me, I will reduce the exposure of their videos. If they continue to do so, I will directly issue a risk warning."

Su Xiao paused for a moment, a flash of joy crossing her eyes, then nodded in agreement, noting the matter in her memo to report to the auditing department at the end of the year.

(End of this chapter)