Chapter 703 Vicious Competition

However, with Su Youling's departure, even though Li Tingxi tried his best to manage the company over the years, he couldn't cover everything, and the company still faced some shortcomings in management and sales.

Regardless of the circumstances, the design team and master craftsmen that Su Youling personally promoted are all the backbone of the company, and are the most important reason why Yitao Culture has been able to maintain its success to this day.

Ironically, right after the preliminary rounds of the competition, all of these people resigned, and the reasons behind it are probably not so simple.

"Have you found out who's pulling the strings behind the scenes? Is it targeting the art and ceramics culture or an individual? What do you need me to do?"

"President Li, these matters are still under investigation. The incident happened suddenly, and I only just received the news myself. Several leading designers took a plane abroad overnight, and we can't contact them. There must be something fishy going on behind the scenes."

Lu Wenli said anxiously, "With President Li retiring, the art and design department has seen a lot of fresh blood come in over the past two years. The advantages and disadvantages in design are secondary. It is a fact that these people are not as loyal to the company as the previous group of old people. During this period, I was busy with the marketing planning of the competition and did not notice the abnormality of these people. It is my dereliction of duty."

"Do you suspect your rivals in the competition?" Although Li Tingxi hadn't been involved in the marketing plan for this competition, he knew a little about the situation since Su Youling was participating.

"Who are the competitors for Yitao Culture in this competition? Have you checked?"

Lu Wenli was prepared and sent an email to Li Tingxi: "I checked this before the competition. After the preliminary round, these big companies were all shortlisted. Most of the top few in this competition are small studios or individual enthusiasts who are not signed with companies. For example, the first place is a student who just graduated not long ago, and the second place is... Wending Studio."

Li Tingxi nodded, "However, these small groups, in terms of seniority, power, and capital, cannot compete with Yitao Culture in the international market. The key point is not them."

Upon hearing this, Su Youling, sitting to the side, couldn't help but glance at it a few more times.

It seems that Yitao Culture has encountered vicious competition rife with behind-the-scenes manipulation.

She had learned about several of the large companies participating in the competition and had even dealt with many of them. Their methods didn't seem like those of the other companies. However, there was one new art company that had only been established for three or four years—BLUE—that was very powerful and had many hidden dark horse designers. Although the company seemed small, it dealt entirely in the buying and selling of high-end art, a very profitable business.

This company has a mysterious background. It is said to be backed by the strong capital of a multinational corporation, which is why it can spend lavishly on high-end artworks. Its resources are also enviable. In this competition, it is one of the few art companies that can rival Yitao Culture, a company with strong capital, and it focuses on the art market.

Although several other large companies also participated and sent their best teams, none of them were primarily engaged in the art industry. To put it bluntly, many of them were just using the competition to boost their international profile and open up new customer channels.

As expected—

Lu Wenli said without hesitation, "My main suspect right now is that new art company called Blue. Its background is very mysterious. The current major shareholder is a Frenchman who used to be a very powerful venture capitalist on Wall Street. I heard a lot of legends about him when I was in the United States. He is our senior and his influence should not be underestimated."

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"Evan had already retired and rarely participated in company management in public anymore, but this time he made a high-profile appearance at Blue Company, which shows that the capital behind him must have given him unimaginable returns. Since the other party has invested so much, they are naturally aiming for the ultimate benefit of this competition."

In this way, it aligns with the goals of Yitao Culture, which is to seize the international art market through competitions.

“Blue…” Li Tingxi glanced at the documents, turned around and handed the computer to Su Youling, indicating that she should take a look as well.

He asked Lu Wenli, "What are your thoughts now?"

"The departure of our core art team has not only severely impacted our competitions, but also likely caused our previously signed clients to quickly switch to competitors. Our Yitao Culture has been focusing on technical expertise since its reforms in recent years, so we are currently unable to find well-known and reliable brands to collaborate with for design."

"The company's PR department is now fully mobilized to work on marketing plans. I'm afraid that once the news gets out tomorrow, the company's stock price will plummet. As a last resort, we must announce that these people were laid off for violating professional ethics before the bad news gets out. Then, we also need to find a new design team that can be trusted and accepted by our clients before the news breaks."

The former is easier to handle, as marketing and public opinion control are areas where he transitioned. However, the latter is much more difficult, as it is neither his area of ​​expertise nor is it feasible given the current environment to find a more professional and trustworthy design team than his original one.

Li Tingxi looked at Su Youling thoughtfully and said into the phone, "Have you not considered collaborating with the former CEO? She's a young designer with a high profile in the industry, and her reputation is currently soaring. She alone could easily outshine the entire previous team."

Upon hearing this, Su Youling looked up at him and raised her eyebrows slightly.

Although he was happy to take advantage of this business opportunity, he didn't even ask her a single question. Was he really that confident that she would agree to the deal?

Lu Wenli was taken aback: "You mean Wending Studio? But theoretically speaking, we are now competitors."

"Can you find a more suitable team than this opponent?" Li Tingxi didn't explain further. "I'll give you ten minutes to weigh the pros and cons and get the contacts sorted out as soon as possible. Otherwise, once it's light of day and the news starts circulating, if you can't seize the initiative, there'll be no chance for anything to happen."

After saying that, he hung up the phone, leaving Lu Wenli scratching her head on the other end: "Isn't the president abusing his power for personal gain?"

Although Wending Studio was originally a good choice, the problem is that they are now participating in the same competition, and in principle, they cannot cooperate at this time.

However, after weighing the pros and cons, he couldn't find anything better, so he turned his attention to Su Youling and, after much effort, got her phone number and shamelessly called her.

"Hello." Su Youling introduced herself, "I am Su Youling, the person in charge of Wending Studio."

"President Su, hello, I'm so sorry to bother you so late." Lu Wenli wanted to test whether Su Youling knew the truth, but Su Youling said very directly, "I've heard about it. I accidentally overheard your phone call just now."

Lu Wenli chuckled to herself, thinking: Luckily, I was careful not to say anything bad about Wending Studio to the president, otherwise I would have offended the president's wife by speaking ill of her.