My capital is quite large.

On July 1st, the morning light pierced through the glass curtain wall of Shenzhen Nanshan Science and Technology Park, illuminating the panoramic conference room on the top floor of Haofeng Networks headquarters.

On either side of a ten-meter-long solid wood conference table, senior executives from various departments of Haofeng Network sat upright.

Each person had a thick quarterly report in front of them, and their eyes were filled with barely concealed excitement.

Today is the first day of the second half of the year, and also a big day for Haofeng Networks to review its mid-year financial report.

Li Feng, dressed in a simple dark shirt, sat in the main seat.

Zhang Xinyu, dressed in a well-fitting business suit and wearing gold-rimmed glasses, stood quietly beside him, holding a voice recorder in her hand.

"Mr. Li, let me first report on the company's overall financial situation in the first half of the year."

Chief Financial Officer Zhang took a deep breath and stood up. Even though he was a veteran accountant who had been in the business world for decades, his hand holding the report was trembling slightly.

"As of yesterday, June 30th, the sales figures for our five games available on the overseas Apple App Store—Angry Birds, Fishing Joy, Cut the Rope, Fruit Ninja, and Subway Surfers—plus the one-time sales of Plants vs. Zombies on Steam..."

"After deducting Apple's 30% commission, various overseas taxes, and exchange rate losses, our net foreign exchange inflow from the gaming business in the first half of the year reached an astonishing $210 million!"

A collective gasp filled the conference room.

Even if everyone has a good idea of ​​the company's hit games, the total number still sends chills down your spine when it's announced!

In just six months, relying solely on a few casual games, they raked in over 200 million US dollars from players worldwide!

Old Zhang swallowed hard and continued, "On the expenditure side: In the past six months, we spent 20 million US dollars to acquire the Los Angeles-based Fist Entertainment. The film and television department frantically stockpiled exclusive online broadcasting rights for movies and TV series, costing 200 million RMB. In addition, there were investments in several major TV series such as 'Lurking' and 'Meteor Shower,' as well as breach of contract penalties for several artists such as Liu Yifei, the preparation for the Weibo Night event, the expansion of company personnel, and server broadband costs..."

"According to the final calculation by the finance department, Haofeng Network's readily available cash reserves in its domestic and international corporate accounts currently amount to 850 million RMB!"

Eight hundred and fifty million!!

At that point in 2009, apart from publicly listed internet giants like Tencent, Alibaba, and Baidu, which unlisted private internet company in China had nearly a billion yuan in pure cash on its books?!

The key point is that Haofeng Network has not received any external financing and has not diluted even 1% of its equity! This 800 million yuan in cash is Li Feng's personal property, which is 100% under his absolute control!

"Well, the cash flow is still relatively healthy, just enough to get through the second half of the year."

Li Feng leaned back in his chair, his fingers tapping lightly on the table. His expression was calm and composed, as if the eight hundred million was just a string of boring numbers.

The executives looked at each other in bewilderment. Eight hundred million was considered "barely enough to make a mess of things"? Just how big was the boss's appetite?

"Film and Television Department, tell me about your situation." Li Feng turned his gaze to Lao Han.

Old Han immediately stood up straight, his face beaming as he reported to his supervisor, "President Li, the film and television department has had a bumper harvest! 'Lurking,' which we invested in last year, premiered on four major satellite channels last month, and the ratings exploded, becoming the top-rated drama nationwide in the first half of the year! With the first and second round broadcast rights plus the revenue sharing from DVD distribution, our ten million investment has already yielded a return of twenty-five million in the first round! And that doesn't even include the long-tail revenue!"

"The fully self-produced drama 'Meteor Shower' premiered last night on Hunan TV's prime time slot! The premiere ratings immediately broke 2.5%, instantly becoming number one in its time slot nationwide! Yang Yang and Li Xin's Weibo followers doubled last night; these two newcomers have become instant stars!"

"There's also that low-budget Shanghai sitcom 'iPartment,' which is currently being tested on iQiyi and a few local TV stations. Although its ratings aren't as high as 'Meteor Shower,' it's received good reviews among college students and is generating a lot of online discussion!"

Li Feng nodded in satisfaction: "Very good. How about the variety show?"

"The auditions for 'The Voice of China' have all ended!" Lao Han said excitedly. "After rounds of intense competition, we've selected the fifty most recognizable grassroots contestants. The four mentors—Liu Huan, Na Ying, Eason Chan, and Jay Chou—have already scheduled their appearances, and next week, these fifty finalists will directly enter the crucial 'blind audition' recording stage!"

With film and television variety shows flourishing everywhere, it's now the turn of the Internet platform department.

"Mr. Li, Haofeng Weibo has now surpassed 50 million registered users, with daily active users consistently around 25 million." The Weibo project manager stood up, his tone brimming with pride. "On the monetization front, following your instructions, we've strictly controlled the number of Google Ads (GGs). Currently, relying solely on the sale of a few trending search terms for movies and TV series each day, our monthly GG revenue is already perfectly covering our massive server bandwidth costs and labor costs, achieving complete self-sufficiency!"

In this internet age where everyone is burning money to grab users, it is a miracle in itself that a social behemoth that has only been around for six months can achieve self-sufficiency without bleeding money.

"Well done. Weibo doesn't need to make a lot of money right now. We just need to maintain our ecosystem dominance and keep netizens hooked on our trending topics," Li Feng affirmed.

Next, it was the turn of the person in charge of the video streaming platform [iQiyi].

The project manager wiped the sweat from his brow and stood up tremblingly: "Mr. Li... Mr. Li, what about the user retention rate on iQiyi's end..."

"stop."

Li Feng immediately raised his hand to interrupt him, "You don't need to report iQiyi's profitability and user retention to me now. Streaming video platforms will be a bottomless pit for the next five years. I don't expect it to make money now."

"Your only task now is to work tirelessly with those top-tier tech talents we've poached at high salaries to perfect the image compression algorithm and P2P transmission technology! Solve the buffering problem! We have the most comprehensive exclusive broadcasting copyright library on the entire network. As long as the picture quality is improved, catching up is only a matter of time!"

"Yes! Understood, Mr. Li!" The project manager breathed a long sigh of relief, feeling as if he had been granted a pardon.

Just as he was about to sit down, a deputy director in charge of iQiyi's content acquisition hesitated for a moment, then raised his hand and said, "Mr. Li, I have a suggestion, but I'm not sure if I should say it."

"explain."

"Our current copyright library at iQiyi is full of TV series and movies. Although the content is solid, it doesn't retain enough young people and students."

The deputy director tentatively suggested, "Recently, I've noticed on Tieba and other forums that many young people are watching Japanese anime. Could we create a separate 'Anime Section' on iQiyi? Buy some Japanese anime to stream and attract this young anime fanbase?"

Upon hearing the words "Japanese anime," Li Feng's previously lazy gaze instantly sharpened!

Yes! The anime section!

In 2009! At that time, copyright awareness on the Chinese Internet was just beginning to awaken, but it was only limited to film and television dramas.

For Japanese anime, all domestic video websites, including Tudou and Youku, are brazenly and blatantly exploiting pirated resources from subtitle groups!

Japanese television stations and copyright holders have absolutely no hope for the Chinese internet market, which is rife with piracy.

If someone were to take real money to Japan to buy the exclusive online streaming rights, it would be like buying gold by the pound at the price of scrap metal!

The three major shonen manga: Naruto, One Piece, and Bleach!

There's also Gintama, Detective Conan, Fairy Tail, and even the upcoming blockbusters Sword Art Online and Attack on Titan...

If Haofeng Network seizes this opportunity and buys out the permanent exclusive online broadcasting rights for these top Japanese anime in China, as well as the exclusive game adaptation rights for Greater China, for a bargain price of a few million US dollars, they'll be set for life!

Li Feng's heart began to race uncontrollably.

This isn't just about driving traffic to iQiyi!

How terrifying will the market size of ACG (Anime, Comics, and Games) mobile games be in the next ten years? Games like Naruto and One Piece can generate tens or even hundreds of billions of yuan in revenue for Tencent and Chaoxi Guangnian every year!

If Haofeng Network locks up the exclusive game adaptation rights to these IPs now, what will happen if Tencent wants to make comic-based games in the future?

No way! Not only has it cut off Tencent's revenue stream, but Haofeng can also leverage these IPs to create a new competitive advantage in the future ACG mobile game market!

"Old Han!"

Li Feng suddenly stood up and placed his hands on the conference table.

"Mr. Li?" Old Han was startled by his boss's sudden reaction.

"Take your passport and have the Finance Department prepare a $20 million credit line immediately! Fly to Tokyo now!"

"Go and wear down the doors of Shueisha, Kodansha, and TV Tokyo! I want to buy out the exclusive online streaming rights and game adaptation rights for all their top anime series in Greater China!"

Old Han was dumbfounded. The leap was too big! One second they were having a half-year summary meeting, and the next they were flying to Japan to buy cartoons for children?

"Mr. Li... Japanese corporate culture is very rigid and hierarchical. If I, a director of the film and television department, go there to discuss this kind of cross-border, cross-industry, full-category copyright buyout, their senior executives and presidents might not be willing to meet with me. What if it delays things..." Old Han said with some difficulty.

Upon hearing this, Li Feng frowned slightly.

Old Han is right. Japanese conglomerates, with their rigid structures, are very particular about negotiating on an equal footing.

If you just send a department director, the other party might think you're not high enough in rank and might treat it like a regular procurement transaction, doing it perfunctorily.

If word gets out and Tencent or other major domestic companies realize the potential commercial value of Japanese anime IPs and start bidding, then this opportunity to buy at the bottom will be completely ruined!

"You don't need to go."

Li Feng pondered for a moment before making a decision.

"Xinyu, notify the crew to prepare the flight path."

"Have the elite teams from the legal department and the investment and M&A department assemble downstairs immediately."

Zhang Xinyu felt a chill run down her spine. Looking at the boss's uneasy eyes, she realized the importance of this operation.

"Boss, where are we going?"

"Tokyo!"