My stepmother forced me to donate bone marrow, so I retaliated by slapping my scumbag father in the

Zhao Licheng thought for a few more minutes and finally nodded.

"Okay, let's sign it as Chairman Shen said."

"If sales fall below 200 million, Douyin will make up the difference."

"If sales exceed 200 million, Douyin will take a 15% cut."

The legal staff quickly prepared the performance-based agreement.

After reading the terms, Shen Ze signed his name directly.

Zhao Licheng also picked up his pen and signed the last page of the contract.

After the two parties exchanged contracts, Zhao Licheng extended his hand and said, "Chairman Shen, it's a pleasure to cooperate with you."

"It's a pleasure working with you."

It was already past midnight when I left the conference room.

Wang Xiaolong held back until he got into the car, but finally couldn't help but speak up.

"Chairman Shen, isn't a sales target of 200 million too risky?"

"Douxin has never done live-stream e-commerce before. We don't have complete data yet on whether users are willing to place orders, whether the payment process can handle peak periods, or whether there will be problems with logistics and after-sales service."

"If we only sell for tens of millions in the end, we'll have to make up the difference."

Shen Ze leaned back in his chair: "You think 25 million daily active users have no purchasing power?"

"It's not that they lack purchasing power."

Wang Xiaolong said with a wry smile, "But two hundred million is just too high."

"Even if a T-shirt sells for 200 yuan, it would still take a million sales. No normal live streamer has that kind of appeal."

"Then don't look for normal streamers."

"What do you mean?"

"Contact top celebrities."

Shen Ze said, "Douxin exclusively occupies the short video traffic entrance, celebrities bring popularity, the platform is responsible for centralized recommendation, and Anta offers a sufficiently low price."

"With these three things combined, 200 million is not the upper limit, but just the starting point."

……

Upon returning to Shanghai, Shen Ze immediately asked Wang Xiaolong to compile a list of the most influential celebrities in China.

Wang Xiaolong took the organized documents and went to Shen Ze's office.

"There are several people who are most suitable for the premiere promotion, among whom the most influential is superstar Andy Lau."

"He has been in the industry for many years and has extremely high national recognition, covering a wide age range of audiences."

"Young users know him, and middle-aged users are his core fans, but his appearance fee is not low."

Shen Ze asked, "How much should we report?"

"Six million."

Wang Xiaolong looked at him and said, "This is just the cost of the exclusive premiere on Douyin, not including sales revenue sharing."

Several senior executives in the office felt sorry for him.

In their view, spending six million to hire a celebrity for a live stream is enough to buy a huge number of online gigs.

Moreover, Douyin has already invested over a billion yuan in promotion; continuing to add celebrity fees will only increase the platform's costs.

Shen Ze didn't hesitate: "Sign. Six million, paid in full."

"At the same time, Andy Lau's first live broadcast was made the core event of the platform. It received ample traffic on the splash screen, homepage, and short video recommendations."

Wang Xiaolong perked up: "Understood!"

The news spread quickly.

Andy Lau will invest six million yuan to join Douyin and launch his first live stream!

The entire business district of Shanghai was once again abuzz with excitement.

Inside a private club, several owners were discussing something over and over on their phones.

"Shen Ze is really addicted to burning money."

"1.5 billion GG wasn't enough, now they're spending another 6 million to hire celebrities for live streaming."

What exactly is Douyin (TikTok) planning to do?

"What else can they do? It's just letting celebrities chat with fans, sing a few songs, and receive some gifts and tips."

One shop owner chuckled, "Andy Lau certainly has a lot of fans, but how much can they actually tip?"

"Even if a single live stream receives ten million in gifts, after deducting revenue sharing and other costs, how much will be left?"

"They still need to buy more viewers for this live stream, so it's impossible for them to recoup their investment."

"Six million may not seem like much, but this is just for a celebrity."

"If we want to maintain the popularity in the future, we'll have to keep hiring people."

"Six million today, ten million tomorrow, and in the end it's a bottomless pit."

Similar sentiments quickly spread throughout the business district.

When Shen Jianjun heard the news, most of the equipment for the fifteen sand pits had just been installed.

He sat in the living room, laughing heartily: "Heavenly King Andy Lau?"

"Did Shen Ze think that hiring a celebrity would make Douxin money?"

"Isn't the main purpose of celebrity live streaming to receive gifts? With a six million appearance fee plus promotional expenses, he needs to collect at least tens of millions in tips to break even."

Sun Mei also said with a sneer, "Those fans talk a big game, but how many of them would actually be willing to spend money?"

"Even if a million people watch the live stream and each person gives a reward of ten yuan, it will only amount to ten million."

"The platform also has to share the profits with the celebrity, so his six million is destined to go down the drain."

"Let him keep causing trouble."

Shen Jianjun sneered, "Our fifteen sand pits will be in operation soon, and the net profit will be in the tens of millions every day."

"Shen Ze spent over a billion yuan to acquire users and hired celebrities to please fans, but he couldn't even find a stable way to make a profit."

"It won't be long before the whole of Shanghai sees who the real business people are."

Sun Mei picked up the invitation from Tianning Hotel: "Shen Ze should also be attending Zhou Shao's banquet the day after tomorrow night."

"It'll be a good opportunity for everyone to see how he plans to explain this investment."

"The Zhou family is a family with hundreds of billions in real estate assets."

"Zhou Xuan has been exposed to real money-making industries since childhood, and would never look down on something as superficial as Douyin."

Shen Jianjun nodded: "As long as Young Master Zhou publicly denies Douxin, no one in the Shanghai business circle will support Shen Ze in the future."

"How long can a platform with no investors, no stable profit model, and that keeps burning money survive?"

At the same time, in the banquet hall on the top floor of the Tianning Hotel.

As Zhou Xuan listened to her assistant's report, her smile grew wider: "Six million to hire Andy Lau for a live broadcast?"

"Yes."

The assistant said, "Douyin has already started its pre-launch promotion across all platforms, and many users have already booked the premiere."

"Currently, the number of reservations exceeds three million."

"So what if it's three million?"

Zhou Xuan scoffed, "An appointment doesn't equal payment. At most, Andy Lau will chat with fans and receive some gifts."

"No matter how popular it is, it won't solve the problem of Douyin's inability to monetize."

The assistant nodded: "That's a common view in the business world."

"Many people believe that Shen Ze is just trying to maintain the platform's popularity by continuing to burn money to generate data."

Zhou Xuan picked up his wine glass and swirled it slowly.

He has invited dozens of wealthy people from Shanghai to this banquet.

Many of them own large corporations and investment institutions.

As long as he clearly explains the core issues to these people, he can easily gain their approval.

Users cannot be converted into revenue, server costs continue to rise, and huge investments in GG cannot be recovered.

Celebrity live streams rely on tipping and lack sustainability.

Every problem is a fatal wound to the heart.

Shen Ze will be speechless in front of Yu Binglan and the entire business community of Shanghai.

"Install a large screen in the banquet hall."

Zhou Xuan put down his wine glass: "The day Andy Lau did his live broadcast happened to be the same night as the banquet."

I want everyone to see it together.

The assistant was somewhat surprised: "Young Master Zhou, what if the live stream goes well..."

"The better the effect, the more useful it is."

Zhou Xuan sneered, "So what if there are millions of viewers in the live stream?"

"As long as the platform doesn't make money, the more users there are, the higher the server and bandwidth costs will be."

"I want to tell Shen Ze in front of everyone that the traffic he is so proud of is just a bunch of expensive numbers."

The assistant immediately nodded: "Understood."