The director starts by learning from the abilities of renowned directors.

Chapter 186 Assets Worth Hundreds of Billions

At the end of September, Taobao Movies officially announced that it had reached an exclusive pre-sale agreement with "The Bourne Legacy", officially becoming the film's co-distributor and ticketing partner.

At the beginning of this year, Ali acquired Xiami Music; in the middle of the year, it acquired Hong Kong-listed company China Culture Media Group, which was later renamed Ali Pictures; in August, it established Taobao Movies, headed by Fan Luyuan, whose nickname is Mu Huali. Some time ago, he publicly stated that there would be no upper limit on Taobao Movies' ticket subsidies.

Alibaba has made a strong comeback, completing its layout in the entertainment industry two years ahead of the original timeline.

After Fan Luyuan announced to the media that there would be no upper limit on ticket subsidies, related topics immediately appeared on Zhihu, with highly-rated netizens offering analyses that surprised everyone.

Fan Luyuan's announcement of unlimited ticket subsidies is actually a prelude to Alibaba's acquisition of Maoyan Movies. Maoyan Movies is invincible in the online ticketing field, with a market share of nearly 8%. If Alibaba Group doesn't first scare Shen Qing with unlimited ticket subsidies, how will subsequent negotiations proceed?

This statement was widely accepted by netizens, while some raised questions about it.

Since Ali is planning to expand into the entertainment industry, why not simply acquire "Miracle Film & Television Media Co., Ltd."

For the broader entertainment ecosystem, "Magic Films" is clearly more valuable.

Meituan Movies invested 1 million yuan in ticket subsidies, but its market share declined instead of increasing. Why?

The domestic box office of "Bad Genius," produced by Magic Films, has reached 21.5 billion yuan!

Exclusive blockbuster movies are the core key to Maoyan Movies' unparalleled success.

The answer surprised many netizens:

Do you think Alibaba doesn't want to acquire "Miracle Films"?

It's crazy! In the early days, Shen Qing never sought financing. It's said that many companies wanted to invest, but to this day, "Shenqi Films" is still 100% owned by the Shen Qing family and 99% owned by Shen Qing personally.

Even if Shen Qing were willing to sell "Miracle Films" today, Alibaba still couldn't afford it.

Alibaba, can't afford it?

Many netizens were stunned by the answer.

The respondent continued their analysis:

Huayi Brothers currently has a market value of 140 billion yuan, and its net profit last year was 2 million yuan. The market generally believes that the net profit of Shenqi Film and Television is about 10 to 15 times that of Huayi Brothers. Let's calculate how much Shenqi Film and Television is worth.

Another Huayi Brothers may emerge in the market, but could another Magic Film & Television also appear?

Besides Shen Qing, who else can make a film that grosses $15 billion worldwide? Who else can make a film that consistently ranks in the top 10 of the annual box office in North America?

A leading unicorn company in an industry has far greater profitability than the second-ranked company. Once it goes public, its price-to-earnings ratio will most likely be higher than that of the second-ranked company.

Then, based on the analysis of the respondent, netizens came up with a very alarming number.

The value of Magical Films is at least 10 times that of Huayi Brothers, which is 1400 billion yuan, and could even reach 2000 billion yuan.

Hundreds of millions in scale.

Alibaba does have very healthy cash flow, but it has just delisted from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. How can it afford to buy Magic Film & Media?

Many netizens were stunned to learn for the first time that Magical Film & Media was so valuable.

"No, Shen Qing owns 99% of the shares in Magical Film & Media?"

"It seems that his parents still hold 1% of the shares."

"A valuation of 2000 billion, does that mean it all belongs to Shen Qing?"

"The key point is that this is not Shen Qing's only asset. In addition, he also owns a series of companies. It is said that the market generally believes that Maoyan Movies is worth more than 100 billion yuan, and Jumei Entertainment is worth at least several billion yuan."

"Have you noticed? Shen Qing's success rate in starting a business is too high. He also owns a company called Ciyuan Rhythm. I've been using Quanmin Daka (全民打卡) under his brand for a long time. I'm now using it for more than an hour a day. I'm a bit addicted. I also use Quanmin K Ge (全民K歌). Ciyuan Rhythm may be worth 100 billion in the future."

"Shenqi Films has not received any funding or gone public, so its valuation is hard to determine. It could be 1000 billion, 100 billion, or 2000 billion. The valuation varies greatly depending on the calculation method. However, Shen Qing has indeed been among the top three on various rich lists for many consecutive years."

In early October, Shao Xiaofeng, chairman of the board of directors of Ali Pictures, and Guo Jing, an Ali Pictures employee, secretly went to the hotel where the "Goodbye Mr. Loser" film crew was staying in Dalian to discuss with Shen Qing matters related to the acquisition of Maoyan Movies.

The Zhihu user guessed right; Alibaba has indeed chosen Maoyan Movies.

Alibaba doesn't just want Maoyan Movies.

After meeting, Shao Xiaofeng directly proposed a plan to acquire 10% of "Shenqi Film and Television Media" for 100 billion yuan and 70% of "Maoyan Movies" for 70 billion yuan.

Alibaba values ​​"Shenqi Film & Media" at 100 billion yuan and "Maoyan Movies" at 1000 billion yuan.

Alibaba's entertainment division is a high-level and significant strategic move within Alibaba, and Shen Qing and his series of companies represent the pinnacle of China's entertainment industry. Even a company as powerful as Alibaba would feel a headache just thinking about competing with Shen Qing in the entertainment sector.

Since fighting is too difficult, let's just acquire it directly.

It would be very difficult to directly acquire a controlling stake in Magic Film & Media; it would likely require 700 billion yuan.

"With this level of assets, he must be the richest person in China, right?"

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There is a good chance of acquiring a controlling stake in Maoyan Movies, but Maoyan Movies alone is not enough. Maoyan Movies' strength lies in its exclusive film and television resources from Shenqi Films. Therefore, while acquiring a controlling stake in Maoyan Movies, it is also necessary to invest in Shenqi Films Media.

"In the next three years, Taobao Movies may invest as much as 50 billion yuan in ticket subsidies. At that time, Maoyan Movies will not be able to maintain its current market share of 78%."

This is a blatant threat from Shao Xiaofeng!

Shen Qing smiled faintly and said, "Welcome, it's great to finally have a strong company enter the market. Otherwise, Maoyan Movies' market share would eventually reach 9%, and it wouldn't be good if we were investigated for monopoly. Actually, when I first founded Maoyan Movies, my goal was a 5% market share. I never expected that we would unknowingly reach nearly 8% market share."

Negotiations, of course, failed to reach an agreement.

Just after Alibaba's Shao Xiaofeng left, Peng Zhijian, the manager of Tencent Investment's M&A department, arrived.

Peng Zhijian's visit was to discuss Maoyan Movies' Series B financing.

Tencent has already reached a basic conclusion: Alibaba intends to acquire Maoyan Movies!

If Alibaba successfully acquires Maoyan Movies, then Tencent will completely lose its chance in the online ticketing field.

During a previous internal meeting, Tencent reached a consensus: even if Tencent were to enter the fray and allocate billions of yuan for large-scale ticket subsidies, it might not be able to compete with Maoyan Movies.

If Maoyan Movies only gained nearly 8% market share due to its first-mover advantage, then it's fine. But if a massive amount of money is poured in, Maoyan's 8% market share will immediately crumble.

The problem is that Maoyan's market share comes from a large number of exclusive hit shows from Magic Films. With this exclusive resource in hand, Maoyan is already in an invincible position.

Tencent lacks even the confidence to defeat Maoyan Movies alone. If Maoyan Movies were to join forces with Alibaba, Tencent would completely lose its chance in the online ticketing field, which is something Tencent cannot accept under any circumstances.

Currently, Tencent only holds 2.5% of Maoyan Movies' shares, which is too low.

"Taobao Movies is coming on strong, and its ticket subsidy investment in the fourth quarter of this year may reach more than 2 billion yuan. Mr. Shen, it's time for Maoyan Movies to raise its Series B funding."

Peng Zhijian spoke very sincerely. Seeing Shen Qing deep in thought, he added, "You should prepare an umbrella while the sky is still clear. It will be too late to find one when it's pouring rain."

Shen Qing finally nodded.

After deciding to proceed with the Series B funding round, the next step is to determine the valuation for that round.

When Alibaba came to discuss the acquisition, they gave a valuation of 100 billion yuan, which was actually quite fair. When Shen Qing traveled through time, Maoyan Entertainment's market value was only 60 billion yuan.

But the future is the future, and the present is the present. The Maoyan Entertainment of the future has no imagination, and even the Chinese film market of the future has no imagination, while Maoyan Movies at this time is full of infinite possibilities.

As of the end of September 2012, Maoyan Movies on this platform covered over 120 million ticket-buying users, with 1.2 million daily active users.

万，业务覆盖全国超过700个城市，与全国超过5000家影院密切合作，2012年前3季度贡献票房76亿元，占前3季度总票房190亿元的4成，占前3季度在线票务票房97亿的78%。

When the original Time & Space Microfilm Technology Co., Ltd. had a market share of only 25%, it was valued at US$20 billion.

When Taopiaopiao had a market share of around 20%, it raised 17 billion yuan in its Series A funding round, and its market valuation reached 137 billion yuan after the funding round.

So what is a reasonable valuation for Maoyan Movies right now?

After the news of Maoyan Movies' upcoming Series B financing was released, Wang Changtian quickly called to announce that Enlight Media would continue to invest.

Wanda Cinema also showed great interest in this.

After multiple rounds of negotiations, Maoyan Movies' Series B financing was finalized at 20 billion yuan. This round of financing was led by Tencent, with Tencent, a shareholder of the Series A round, continuing to invest. The overall valuation of Maoyan Movies after the investment is 130 billion yuan.

Prior to Maoyan Movies' first round of financing, Magic Investment Group held 88% of Maoyan Movies' equity, with the company reserving 12% of the equity as options. After the first round of financing, Magic Investment's shareholding ratio was 83.6%. After the completion of the Series B financing, Magic Investment's shareholding ratio will decrease to approximately 70.73%.

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本轮融资腾迅公司跟投10亿元，本轮获得股权为10亿/130亿，约等于7.69%，加上A轮2.5%X（1—15.38%），约等于2.11%，本轮后腾迅共计持股9.8%。注：（1—15.38%）中的15.38%从20亿融资额/130亿投后估值计算而来。

Following this round, Enlight Media holds approximately 5.95% of the shares, Wanda holds approximately 3.84%, and the remaining shares are held and managed by Shen Qing for future employee stock option incentive plans (option pool).

Negotiations for the Series B financing round began in early October, but the specific timeframe for completion is expected to be in November.

At the end of September, Gao Yuanyuan left Dalian and returned to Beijing. She hadn't been feeling well for the past few days, and when she took a pregnancy test, it showed that she was pregnant. Shen Qing's assistant, Shen Ying, accompanied her to the hospital for a checkup, and it turned out that she was indeed pregnant.

She then stayed in Dalian for a few more days before returning to the capital accompanied by Shen Ying.

During this time, his parents called again, urging Shen Qing to get married. Shen Qing hesitated for a moment, but ultimately decided not to rush to tell his parents about his girlfriend's pregnancy.

Let's wait and see.

Wang Fei and Zhou Jielun joined the crew in October.

When they filmed the scene where Jay Chou said, "I really admire Charlotte, but I always feel like I'm living in his shadow," everyone, from the other main actors to the crew and extras, burst into laughter.

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Amidst the laughter, a topic began to spread rapidly within the film crew.

"Jay Chou doesn't live in the shadow of any singer; there's no such Charlotte in the real-world music scene." But what about the film and television industry? Does there exist a Charlotte who makes people live in the shadows?

I don't know who started it, but the topic quickly got out of control, and the enthusiasm of the entire crew was aroused.

If there really is a "Charlotte" in the Chinese film and television industry, then who is the real-life "Charlotte"?

As soon as the topic was brought up, almost everyone would unconsciously look at Shen Qing.

Is there anyone more like Xia Luo in the film and television industry than Shen Qing?

No more.

There really aren't any left.

and so.

"Director, are you Charlotte?"

One day during a break from filming, Ma Li leaned close to Shen Qing and suddenly said this to him.

"?"

Shen Qing was a little confused when she heard this.

"Right now, the production crew is all saying that it seems like there's no Xia Luo in the Chinese music scene," but it's like there really is a Xia Luo in the film and television industry.

After Ma Li finished speaking, she looked at Shen Qing with amusement.

"so what?"

Ma Li said, "The entire crew has reached a consensus: if there really is a Charlotte in the film and television industry, then that Charlotte must be you, the director."

Shen Qing pointed to his nose and said, "You're saying I'm the Xia Luo of the film and television industry?"

Ma Li nodded.

Wang Fei, Yin Zheng, Chang Yuan, Tian Yu, Wang Zhi, and others all gathered around.

The lighting, photography, camera, and sound crew were all listening intently nearby.

The supporting actors and extras also found it very fun.

Shen Qing stood up, dusted off her clothes, and said seriously, "I originally wanted to interact with you as an ordinary person, but I didn't expect you to find out. I'm no longer pretending; I'm Xia Luo, hiding in the Chinese film industry. I'm coming clean!"

After taking a photo with Stephen Chow, Shen Qing's comedic talent was on full display. Every gesture and movement was full of drama, and a single sentence made everyone burst into laughter.

After saying that, Shen Qing called out again, "Does anyone have paper and a pen? I want to write this down."

"I have some!"

The assistant director hurriedly handed over a notebook and pen. Shen Qing quickly wrote down the sentence she had just heard on the paper, and then handed the notebook to her assistant.

"I'll include this line in my next movie!"

Wang Fei laughed so hard she clutched her stomach. Finally managing to stop, she asked Shen Qing, "Director, in this scene, President Zhou lives in the shadow of 'Xia Luo.' Since you're the 'Xia Luo' of the film and television industry, who lives in your shadow?"

"Cameron!"

Before speaking, Yin Zheng raised his hand like a student and said, "In 2010, your film 'Gravity' was released and grossed over $15 billion worldwide. The entire Chinese film industry—no, not just the Chinese film industry, but the entire country—was stunned! This achievement is simply astonishing. It's incredible that a Chinese director could make a sci-fi blockbuster of this caliber."

Gravity even completed post-production before Avatar.

Strictly speaking, Director, your film *Gravity* was the world's first truly 3D movie. To be honest, I still can't quite believe it's real. What you presented in 2010 was absolutely Cameron-level talent!

So, Director—if you really are the "Charlotte" of the Chinese film industry, then *Gravity* should absolutely have been Cameron's film!

"Yes, yes, I seriously suspect Cameron is living in the director's shadow."

Someone echoed this sentiment.

Tian Yu then spoke up: "When 'Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons' was released, didn't many people say that the director captured the essence of Stephen Chow's style, and that 'Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons' was even more like a Stephen Chow film than 'CJ7'? I think if the director is truly the 'Charlotte' of Chinese film history, then Stephen Chow must be living in the director's shadow."

Looking at the group of people excitedly discussing that he was the "Charlotte" of the Chinese film and television industry, Shen Qing couldn't help but feel a little emotional.

He had gradually forgotten his identity as a transmigrator, or rather, he had overlooked it. But after today's commotion, he had regained his sense of identity as a transmigrator, and even his memories of his past life seemed to have become clearer.

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