Chapter 202: Ready to go public! Powerful storm!
There is a joke that the Forbes rich list is equivalent to a pig-slaughtering list.
Although this statement is exaggerated, it is not wrong. The most important thing is that this thing is inaccurate. The real crocodiles lurking in the water do not want to be on the list, and those who are chasing to be on the list are pretending to be rich even though they do not have that much money. And some people are obviously very rich, but they pretend to be poor.
Lin Xiao is now being besieged by public opinion and envied by several circles. He absolutely does not want to be on Forbes, so he declined directly.
But I must meet the people from Merrill Lynch.
To be more precise, the two parties had already reached an agreement.
About a few hours later, Lin Xiao, Xia Xi, Gao Changhe, Li Shuang and other senior executives all arrived downstairs of the company to welcome Liu Fei, the boss of Merrill Lynch China.
This man is 46 years old this year, in the prime of life. He was one of the first batch of college students after the resumption of the college entrance examination, an undergraduate student at Beijing Foreign Studies University, and then went to the United States to study with a full scholarship. He was one of the first batch of Chinese MBAs at Harvard Business School. He is definitely an elite among the elites.
Merrill Lynch is one of the top investment banks in the United States and even in the world, with countless successful IPO cases.
After a brief tour of the company, the two sides sat down to negotiate.
"Mr. Lin, Mr. Xia, I think the company you should list the most is Lightning Entertainment." Liu Fei said bluntly: "This company has an almost perfect story."
"It helped the grassroots people, created a miracle in record sales, and defeated a large number of top superstars."
"It helped grassroots directors and grassroots actors to create a box office miracle and win the No. 1 box office title of the year."
"In the field of TV programs, we directly helped a second- or third-tier satellite TV station to reach the first-tier, and tripled the revenue of the entire TV station."
"Moreover, you have several film projects in the new year and are cooperating with three major TV stations. The future is full of room for imagination."
“It’s a story that Americans can totally understand and it’s extremely inspiring.”
"We can package it into a growing giant, a gorgeous success like the American dream."
"And your company has nearly perfect revenue and even more perfect net profit."
Lin Xiao could fully understand these words.
Even in 2004, the revenue of the entire Lightning Entertainment may have reached more than 500 million or 600 million, or even more.
Liu Fei continued, "According to our estimates, Lightning Entertainment's revenue in 2004 can conservatively reach 500 million, or even much more. And your profit margin is amazing. So according to my professional judgment, after your company goes public, its market value can reach more than 400 to 500 million US dollars."
"Based on this figure, the funds you may raise from this IPO will exceed $100 million."
“As for those of you present here, I don’t know your specific share distribution, but there is no doubt that even those with the lowest shareholding have become billionaires.”
Hearing this, Gao Changhe's face twitched slightly.
He actually calculated it secretly, and then his mind went blank.
When I joined Lightning Entertainment, I had nothing, but now I have billions of dollars inexplicably.
In this world, choice really is more important than hard work.
So this is what it means to make everyone successful.
Li Shuang, on the other hand, had a completely blank expression on her face. For some reason, she felt a little repulsed inside.
It's a very strange feeling. She wants to be successful, but the success she pursues is a very solid one. She puts in a lot of effort, sweat, and wisdom, and then gets huge success and shines.
Instead of being magnified by financial instruments and expanding directly like popcorn.
Lin Xiao thought for a while and said, "I'm very sorry, but we at Lightning Entertainment are not planning to go public for the time being."
Liu Fei was stunned: "Why?"
"Boss Lin, please forgive me for being blunt."
“If you don’t go public, Lightning Entertainment will be seen as a small company in this country.
“You do make a lot of money, but your sphere of influence is small, and the power you hold is also small.”
"And you are currently being ostracized by the entire entertainment industry. It may be a bit serious to say that you are being banned, but there is a similar trend."
"The two biggest forces in the domestic entertainment industry are banning you, and other circles are also watching coldly. Even your biggest allies, the three major TV stations, have voices against you."
"This is actually a dangerous signal. As you know, our country has a unique system. These TV stations are not only economic entities, but also have a certain political color. When necessary, they can even give up economic interests for politics."
"So in my opinion, the alliance between the three major TV stations and you is not stable. Recently, due to the profit sharing, you are completely at the cusp of the storm and there is a risk of overturning."
"I believe that President Lin and President Xia know the reason better than I do. It's because you are too weak."
"Whether in the capital group or the political group, you are too weak, but you have made too much profit, which has caused many people to be jealous. Now you are like children holding gold, ostentatiously walking through the streets."
As expected of an elite boss, he hit the nail on the head.
When the advertising bidding for the second season of If You Are the One came out, Lin Xiao was at the center of controversy and was criticized by the entire satellite TV industry.
The core reason is that his power is too small.
If it was a company under Liao Feng, there would definitely not be such a situation.
Behind Liao Feng is one of the largest political and business integration systems in the country.
Lin Xiao is just a grassroots, with only Lian Zheng and half of Ouyang Tang as his backers.
Liu Fei said: "So, Mr. Lin, Mr. Xia, you are geniuses and can achieve continuous success. But genius thinking alone is not enough, you also need a strong force to protect your own industry."
"You need allies, strong allies, and we at Merrill Lynch are undoubtedly a strong ally."
"Lightning Entertainment is now a hen that lays golden eggs, and it is also the best bargaining chip you can get. Accept our investment, accept our help, and we will help you go public in the United States."
"Once it goes public in the United States, Lightning Entertainment will no longer be a small company, but a rising giant, and will have many powerful allies."
"Then, whether in the film market, the music market, or the television market, you will be more powerful and proactive."
Lin Xiao certainly understood this, and he was indeed trying hard to make allies.
That's why they asked the three major TV stations to join in and make money together with everyone.
However, now there is a rebellion within Jiangnan TV, which was the first to get rich. Shanghai TV and Zhijiang TV have both fallen into a wait-and-see attitude, and the national TV circle has begun to attack him.
This chariot is in danger because it makes too much money.
But Lin Xiao still strengthened his will. He would bear the storm by himself and stabilize the chariot by himself.
He was willing to accept the investment, but the only reason was to help in the overseas expedition.
"I'm very sorry, Mr. Liu. So far, we at Lightning Entertainment have no plans to go public." Lin Xiao said firmly, "But we are willing to go public at Jiayuan."
Liu Fei exhaled and said slowly: "Boss Lin, Jiayuan.com has already accepted Softbank's investment. This is too small a deal."
"Of course, no problem, this website can be listed."
"But its financial report doesn't look good. You can actually make it look better. This market is very large, and your plate is already solid enough. As long as you embrace mobile SP, your revenue can be multiplied several times."
Lin Xiao certainly knew what the so-called embracing mobile SP meant.
It's a blind date that costs money.
They created a hierarchy system, charged money for viewing core information, charged money for matching with outstanding members, and even charged money for sending letters to the opposite sex more than a certain number of times.
Because of the existence of mobile SP, this kind of charging can be very smooth, and you can even consume it unconsciously.
Currently, one of the biggest profit sources for mobile SPs is dating.
But that is a typical case of fishing in a dry pond.
Because of the success of Jiayuan.com, other dating websites have emerged, but none of them can compete with Jiayuan.com, which is completely monopolized.
Moreover, this website has a very high reputation among urban white-collar men and women.
Because it is real, strict, serious and does not require any in-game currency.
Once you start to spend money, this reputation will gradually decline.
Of course, this website will not be completely free of in-game purchases in the future, because some ultra-high net worth clients have an in-game demand.
Those wealthy clients particularly want to build a hierarchy that will allow them to be the center of attention and have super high power in choosing their spouse.
However, Lin Xiao will definitely be very restrained when it comes to spending money.
He hopes that this website will continue to monopolize the industry and become almost the only benchmark in the industry, even with hundreds of millions of users in the future.
If necessary, this website can even split into two in the future.
Seriously dating one person, making friends with one person, and having sex with one person.
Therefore, in the future, the market value of this website and APP may exceed the sum of Baihe.com, Jiayuan.com and Momo.
Of course, these long-term stories and ideals are difficult to explain to a financial tycoon.
The other party only cares about one thing, which is how much benefit it can bring to him, and it is short-term benefit.
As for long-term benefits? He is also a worker and does not consider long-term benefits.
"If Jiayuan.com's monthly revenue can reach around 25 million, can it go public?" Lin Xiao said bluntly.
"Revenue of around 10 million US dollars per quarter?" Liu Fei said, "Of course that's enough for a listing, even if the net profit is not high."
"Boss Lin, do you plan to rely entirely on offline activities to generate this 25 million RMB in revenue?"
Offline activities are a gold mine.
In the future, internet celebrities will earn hundreds of millions a year by relying on training for offline activities.
Blind date activities are always more necessary than training and empowerment.
The number of Jiayuan.com members is increasing rapidly, and there are a large number of urban white-collar workers. For every offline blind date event, the number of people who sign up is huge. It is entirely because of the lack of organizational ability that selection has to be carried out.
So in theory, as long as Jiayuan.com recruits enough matchmakers, it can hold many offline events and generate more revenue.
Another part of revenue comes from the advertising model.
Precision advertising can also be placed on dating websites, because this type of users has strong purchasing power and precise targeting.
Liu Fei suddenly said, "Boss Lin, you are such an idealist. With the number of users and reputation of Jiayuan.com, you can make a huge amount of money just by embracing mobile SP."
"In the end, you guys are the ones who earn the hardest money."
Organizing offline activities is of course hard work and costly.
The key is that mobile SPs only have two years left to make money, if you miss it, it will be gone.
"Sure!" Liu Fei said bluntly: "When Jiayuan.com's monthly revenue reaches 25 million RMB, we are willing to help it go public on the NASDAQ."
"But I would like to ask one more question: will Lightning Entertainment go public in the future?"
“Even Facebook, will it go public in the future?”
Lin Xiao nodded and said, "It should be possible, but the time is far from right now. They have not yet grown into what I want them to be."
Liu Fei: "I'll wait and see."
"Let me repeat myself again: President Lin is truly an idealist."
……………………
When Lin Xiao returned home at night, he was gently bitten by Bubble.
"Bite you..."
Lin Xiao was surprised: "What's the matter?"
Paopao said shyly, "Sister Xia Xi sent me a text message today."
Lin Xiao: "So what?"
Paopao handed over the phone, and Lin Xiao saw the text message: Paopao, how does it feel to sit on his face? I...
Li Shuang, you big ass.
You tell me everything. You and Xia Xi tell me everything.
But vaguely, Lin Xiao actually knew why Li Shuang did this.
She was provocative and teasing.
It's like, I made a mistake, please punish me.
She was increasingly unable to suppress her inner turmoil.
Xia Xi sent this text message to Bubble, not for Bubble to see, but for Lin Xiao to see.
This abstract goddess has really taken great pains to take care of her family of five.
"Baby, how's the filming going?" Lin Xiao couldn't let go of Paopao's body.
"Director Han and assistant director Chen Sicheng had a quarrel today." Paopao lay on Lin Xiao and gently kissed the tooth marks.
"Why?"
Bubble: "Director Chen said that the main tone of this movie is humor, a little bit of wit, it can have depth, but it leaves a feeling of wanting more. He said that the deeper the film is, the more profound it will be, and the main tone of humor will be lost."
"Love Is Not Blind" has been filming for more than half a month.
It really is to let Hu Ge be the male lead and Ou Feifei be the female lead.
Actually, it’s quite adventurous.
Because Hu Ge’s cheeky vibe can be brought out, but he’s so handsome that I’m a bit afraid of destroying the balance.
Moreover, when asking director Han Jie to shoot the film, he was a little afraid that a comedy might be turned into an art film.
So, Lin Xiao asked Chen Sicheng, who was good at comedy scenes, to be the assistant director.
This is also very dangerous. If the cooperation is good, it will be completely complementary.
If the cooperation is not good, there may be a sense of division.
However, Lin Xiao will watch the final film. If it is not good, then he will start all over again.
He doesn't care about this investment.
"Fei Fei performed very well, and everyone praised her. Although she is not a professional actor, her acting is so authentic."
"Hugo, on the other hand, was slow to get into the game and was scolded."
"But he is very serious and humble. I found that he seems to be a cheerful person, but he is actually very delicate and sensitive."
The two people were chatting about something when their clothes disappeared inexplicably.
The bubbles were still on top, and they entered with a hum.
He groaned and groaned, and soon became unbearable.
Her emotions are so strong that she is particularly sensitive, so she is always quite fast.
It can even appear twice when in good condition.
"Baby, how many times have we done this?"
“I don’t know…” Bubble murmured, “Two hundred times?”
Lin Xiao said: "After so many times, why is my baby still so white and pink?"
"I don't know..." Bubble said shyly: "Do you like it?"
"I like it and I'll never get tired of it."
"Go wash up. I...I want to think quietly again."
Suddenly, Bubble became extremely shy.
Are you going to sit on my face again? Originally, their intimate behavior in private was nothing, but now that Xia Xi knew about it, she was immediately ashamed.
She was shy, yet happy to go into the bathroom to wash herself clean and smell good.
Counting the days in his mind, Lin Xiao’s 22nd birthday is getting closer and closer.
The day to get married is getting closer and closer.
………………
The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!
At this time, the two people who had quarreled today, Han Jie and Chen Sicheng, were staying in a pub drinking.
"I want to learn from you. You are too delicate and you dig too deeply into the pictures. I am more impetuous..." Chen Sicheng raised his glass to Han Jie.
Han Jie raised his glass and said, "I want to learn from you. You are much more sensitive to commercial elements than I am. You are also much better than me in your natural sense of humor and humorous scenes. If I am not careful, I will fall into that gloomy mood and cannot extricate myself, which will lead to the gloomy mood of the whole movie and keep going too far."
"A commercial film can have at most 25% of the atmosphere of an art film. Any more and it will be weird and awkward."
Chen Sicheng: "We are progressing so slowly and wasting so much money every day, but the producer doesn't care? Doesn't he scold us?"
Han Jie shook his head: "I won't scold him, but the leader said that he wants to see the finished film. If it doesn't pass his review, the film will be remade. If the remake is still not good, it will be sealed and not released."
"Let's take it slow, don't rush, training the team and training talents is the most important thing."
Chen Sicheng: "Fuck, awesome!"
Han Jie said: "Yes, a first-class boss."
Chen Sicheng: “He is also a first-class artist.”
Han Jie: "In fact, it is particularly dangerous for two directors to shoot a movie together. If they can't blend, the secondary director will directly overshadow the main director."
Chen Sicheng: "That's right. Lu Chuan's "Looking for the Gun" is full of Jiang Wen's flavor. Not to mention him, even Zhang Yimou's "Let's Talk Nicely" is full of Jiang Wen's flavor, completely overshadowing Zhang Yimou's flavor."
Han Jie: "I am not afraid of stealing the show. We are all newcomers, and we are as brave as a newborn calf. We just want to make the film well and not worry about anything else."
Chen Sicheng: "I envy you. You were chosen by the boss, but I came here on my own."
Han Jie: "I didn't feel that way before, but now I just feel extremely honored and under great pressure. I don't even know why the boss chose me."
"But I only have one goal now, and that is to get into the boss's living room."
Chen Sicheng: "Your ideal is really too high."
Now everyone in the entire group knows this ideal and enters the boss's living room.
Only those who enter the living room can be considered as the most trusted confidant of the Ergou Sect Leader.
………………
Today Li Shuang spent more time dressing herself up than usual.
Even in the middle of winter, she wears a skirt that highlights her curves with only a thong underneath.
The lipstick color is also very bright, a rare flaming red lip.
The whole person is glowing with sexy beauty.
She is playing a very delicate game.
Playing with fire.
She revealed the incident of Paopao sitting on Lin Xiao's face to Xia Xi, and Xia Xi sent it to Paopao.
Lin Xiao found out that I, Li Shuang, leaked the secret. I made a mistake. You come and punish me.
Come and spank me.
Of course, all this is subconscious.
It's just to create this atmosphere, nothing is said explicitly.
Even she herself didn't know why she was playing with fire.
And after the provocation, she had great expectations for today.
This morning, she went to Lin Xiao's office to report twice.
However, Lin Xiao did not respond at all, as if he was completely unaware of the atmosphere.
Li Shuang was very lost and felt as if she was performing a one-man show. Lin Xiao was unable to grasp her emotions at all.
At noon, she went to Lin Xiao's office to report a trivial matter, and she leaned slightly on the desk, making her already sexy curves even more exaggerated.
The amazingly round butt is full of incomparable temptation.
However, Lin Xiao still did not respond.
This time, she couldn't bear it anymore, so she went back to her office and went into the bathroom to cry for a while.
Looking at herself in the mirror, she whispered, "Li Shuang, what are you looking forward to?"
"You didn't even mention this game yourself. It's just your wishful thinking. Who would know about this game?"
"Don't be so flirty, don't be so frivolous..."
"Li Shuang, you should be content."
……………………
One o'clock in the afternoon.
I received a call from Zhang Yan from Jiangnan TV.
"The group has officially issued an order to suspend the production of The Brain and make way for the station's own program Crazy Heroes."
During this period, Lin Xiao completely ignored it, but the public opinion storm never stopped and became more and more intense.
Rumors that Jiangnan TV has lost its sovereignty and humiliated the country are heard everywhere.
Director Zhou could withstand the jealousy and ridicule from other satellite TV stations, but the leaders of the group could not. In addition, the leader of a certain propaganda department slammed the table and cursed, asking whether principles could be abandoned for the sake of economic benefits?
A department-level unit would allow a private enterprise to ride on its neck and bully others?
Is it really impossible to leave them?
If there hadn't been any outside criticism, the group and its leaders would probably have been happy to see it happen, after all, profits had doubled.
Now public opinion is in an uproar, and it seems like it is brewing into a political storm.
"Now the meaning of the above is actually very clear, that is, they want to force you to make concessions on the profit sharing, otherwise they will shelve "Super Brain" indefinitely."
"And they probably want to use this fight to directly set a rule that the share of profits for production companies cannot exceed 40%. The TV station will take the lion's share, and the production company will take the smaller share."
"It's probably a show of strength. They'd rather not cooperate later than lose the initiative."
So Lin Xiao is very annoyed by politics. Once it gets involved, things will become complicated, but if you do business in it, you will definitely have to deal with it.
"Got it." Lin Xiao hung up the phone.
It is impossible to make concessions.
Then, Lin Xiao received a call from Wang Shiqing, director of the production center of Shanghai Satellite TV.
"Boss Lin, there is something I want to tell you."
"Now the group and the publicity department are also reviewing our contract with Shuanglin Productions. Although the tone has not been finalized, there are also complaints. I am under a lot of pressure here."
Director Wang was also cursing in his heart.
I lost "If You Are the One" before, and you used this incident to criticize me, saying that although I am young, I don’t have any ambition to make progress, so I lost the show.
Well, I tried to make up for my mistake and cooperated with Ergou again to put on a "China's Got Talent" and signed the same contract as Jiangnan TV.
Now, other satellite TV stations are jealous and are using principles to make a big attack, and then this trend is now spreading to me, Wang Shiqing.
Before, you accused me of being conservative and not aggressive. Now that I'm cooperating, you say I'm losing power and humiliating Taiwan? Lin Xiao asked, "Boss Wang, can you handle it?"
Wang Shiqing: "Because this cooperation was approved by Director Chen, although we are under great pressure, we can still handle it."
"But in order to avoid more trouble, this program needs to be accelerated. It needs to be produced and aired quickly to achieve great results and shut these people up."
"But this is a dangerous signal. In our country, once a principled mistake is made, it will be very dangerous. The siege of dozens of satellite TV stations is all department-level and deputy department-level units. President Lin, you must find a way to break the deadlock."
Lin Xiao: "Boss Wang, do you have any ideas?"
Wang Shiqing: "There are two ways. The first is to introduce strong foreign capital. Foreign giant capital is indifferent to all relatives and friends and can suppress these domestic voices."
This is what Liu Fei of Merrill Lynch has repeatedly emphasized. Once giants such as Merrill Lynch are introduced, they will be the ones to take the lead in these lawsuits.
The current domestic atmosphere is still one of fear of foreign investment and the desire to not disrupt the environment for attracting investment.
But this is a double-edged sword, and Lin Xiao could easily be charged with treason, so he would not choose this path.
"The second way is to bring in state-owned capital."
In the eyes of many people, this is almost a once-and-for-all solution, and it can be regarded as finding a big backer for oneself.
But in exchange, some interests must be given up.
Lin Xiao: "Thank you for your idea, Mr. Wang. I will consider it carefully."
Wang Shiqing: "Boss Lin, I will withstand the pressure. After all, as the Magic City, we have to have this spirit of contract. But you really need to find a way to break the situation quickly. We can't let the situation continue to deteriorate like this. It will be very dangerous."
"In the future, Lightning Entertainment will have an annual revenue of 500 million to 600 million, or more than 600 million to 700 million, and most of it is net profit. There will be many people who are jealous."
………………
The Columbia president's private plane will land around six in the evening, and Lin Xiao will bring the company's core members to greet him.
Before this, Lin Xiao held a small core meeting.
At this time, Li Shuang had already changed into a uniform skirt and even washed off her heavy makeup.
After crying twice, she pulled herself together.
He even twisted his thigh twice to warn himself that the group was facing a storm and a crisis, and he still had time to act coquettishly. "We expected this storm, but we didn't expect it to be so severe."
"We underestimated this special environment." Xia Xi said slowly.
It was okay when "Crazy Stone" won the box office.
When Lightning Music made more than 100 million yuan from copyright, and it might even make hundreds of millions next year, it was already arousing envy and hatred.
When Shuanglin Production relies on advertising revenue from copyright, it may make hundreds of millions of dollars next year.
Many people were shocked. Was this just a blood sucker on satellite TV? Of course, Lin Xiao knew that this day would come, but it came earlier than he thought.
It is true that in this month, Lightning Group has been too successful, and too much money has poured in all of a sudden, and more money will flow in in the foreseeable future.
Xia Xi: "Now, there must be a hidden force that is trying to hunt us down and take a big bite out of us."
"We can't let the situation get worse, otherwise the bite they take will be very big, and they might take half of us."
Lin Xiao: "Who do you think this force is?"
Xia Xi thought for a while and said, "Maybe I can't escape from my former fiancé? He is backed by one of the largest political and business systems in the country."
There is a very annoying method in the country, which is that no evidence is needed, only public opinion.
When public opinion is strong enough, someone will use political means to deal with you directly. They can find any fault you have made and then deal with you. Even if there is no fault, they can still find fault.
And the angle that the other party finally found might be something you could never imagine. Lin Xiao had seen this kind of thing happen to many big guys in his previous life.
And now, public opinion is fermenting.
The last time it happened to Yangwang and Yangyang’s live broadcast room, the profit of just 10 million US dollars was enough to create a public opinion storm.
This time the interests are countless times greater, so the public opinion storm has risen to the political level.
Lin Xiao: "If there is a timing for attacking, then the enemy's current attacking timing is probably only about 30%. We can't just sit there and wait. We have to break through immediately, and we can't even wait until the enemy attacks at 50%..."
"We must take this matter seriously. This is not just a small disturbance, but a major storm."
"We must nip the storm in the bud and not let it get worse."
At this time, Lin Xiao's cell phone rang. It was Lian Zheng.
"Lin Xiao, I'm on my way to Shanghai."
Lian Zheng is indeed Lian Zheng. His sense of smell is even sharper than those of the Lightning Group. He sensed the danger as soon as the storm was brewing, and immediately put aside other matters and rushed to Shanghai.
In fact, when If You Are the One became a huge success and Lin Xiao's share was higher than that of Jiangnan TV, Lian Zheng sensed danger, so he immediately took action and tried to bring in Zhijiang TV to balance the situation.
But he also didn't expect that in the last one or two months, Lightning Group's success would be so great.
The more successful you are, the more others will covet you.
"Are you going to welcome the president of Columbia tonight?" Lian Zheng asked.
"Yes."
Lian Zhengdao: "Use her identity to make this drama bigger and build a bigger stage."
"It rises to a more grand narrative, with a bigger hand."
"Don't worry about these. I'll build the stage."
"You should start preparing your plans from now on, how to reach a higher level, how to tell a grand story."
"Make all preparations and wait for an audience with a certain important leader."
Lin Xiao was stunned. Is it going to be so big? Lian Zheng, Lian Zheng, was so worried about this future son-in-law that he wanted to use a higher level to help Lin Xiao get through this crisis.
And give him a pair of wings.
Wings full of great protective power.
………………
Note: After working hard for several hours, I finally finished writing it. I finished it a little earlier today. If you have monthly tickets, please give me strength, okay? Thank you very much!
(End of this chapter)