hollywood billionaire

Chapter 326 TikTok Effect (Part )

"So, Yi, you don't actually want to invest in Musical.ly itself, but you want to build a stable and powerful publicity matrix for your music business group?"

"That's not entirely true, but I can't deny that it is one of the important reasons."

“Musical.ly, and the short video platform it represents, will become the core of global pop culture in the next decade.”

Han Yi folded his hands on his thighs and gave Joshua Kushner a determined smile.

In this time and space, only Han Yi knows how powerful Douyin will be in the future.

If the emergence of MTV and music videos killed those radio stars, then the rise of TikTok has shaken the foundation of the entire music industry. From the logic of communication, the means of publicity, to the methods of cultivating artists, and even the form of pop music itself, they have all been subject to subversive challenges and changes.

"Are you so confident in short videos?"

"We live in an era of fragmented identity, fragmented class, and fragmented content, which leads to fragmented entertainment, Josh." Han Yi did not directly answer Joshua Kushner's question, but relaxed. He spoke eloquently, "I don't know if you have read the works of Stuart Hall. He is one of the founders of the subject of cultural studies. He said that human beings' once unified and stable identity is changing. It has to be fragmented. Now, the labels on us are no longer single, they are extremely diverse, and sometimes even contradict and conflict with each other...Identity has become a mobile feast, and as we are in the cultural environment in which we are, we are... It is constantly formed and transformed by the way it is represented, interpreted, and processed.”

"At the same time, countless cracks have appeared on the originally complete cultural mirror, creating countless fragments. Each fragment reflects different light and reflects different social classes... Yes, in modern society In science, especially in modern sociology related to the United States, we can no longer simply divide classes by income level. Differences in culture, nationality, race, language, occupation, religion, or other common interests will all split into fine details. different social classes.”

"Each social class has different spiritual pursuits, and the cultural content they desire is naturally different, which has given rise to the phenomenon of content fragmentation. The cultural products created and enjoyed by Asian Americans and African Americans are very different. , there is also a gap between Chinese Americans and Japanese Americans, and even first-generation immigrants and second-generation immigrants have different emotions."

"Different identities belong to different classes, different classes create different cultures, and different cultures give rise to different entertainment... I don't know how the financial circle views this issue, but in the entertainment field, many critics are worried about the public in the traditional sense. Will culture completely die out because of the increasing fragmentation of society - there will be no more popular culture, no more mainstream music, because what is popular will be different for each group.”

"Investors rarely study mass communication issues." Joshua Kushner shrugged and smiled, "But we can indeed see the existence of this phenomenon from the objective business development trajectory-I know now On music streaming platforms, there are more and more personalized recommendations, and user-made playlists are increasingly encouraged."

"Yes, no one sees the same homepage now. Uniform recommended content can no longer attract a new generation of more self-aware consumers. Instead, it will make them feel disgusted and disgusted, and feel that they should only provide services. The platform wants to 'pollute' their thoughts... Well, we can't go any further. If we continue, we will mention decentralization and Gen Z's left-leaning thoughts." Han Yi grabbed the drifting farther and farther away. Topic, pulling it back abruptly, "In short, in order to compete for consumers, various platforms are using personalized recommendations to improve retention rates. Not only the music streaming platform of Youshuo, but also film and television streaming platforms like Netflix , aren't you doing the same thing? After watching a movie called "Blood Forensic", the next thing I recommend to you are all crime dramas."

"So, what's your attitude towards this phenomenon, Yi?" Joshua asked.

"On the one hand, I think this is a victory for consumers. It can be said that this is the first time in history that ordinary consumers - specifically individuals - truly have the power to freely choose the cultural content they consume." Han Yi pondered for a moment and replied, "But on the other hand, as a... business owner, an investor, and someone who has to consider issues from the perspective of a content provider, I feel that personalized recommendations will actually seriously weaken the platform's ability to The influence it exerts on society and culture. Yes, that’s right, Netflix or Apple Music can still push commercial advertisements to users, but a content manufacturer or a service provider should not allow itself to regress to only advertisements. The function of the cards.”

"What other functions should they have?"

"The ability to shape and define an era, Josh, is the true value of a content platform." Han Yi responded without hesitation, "TV viewers in the early 1950s knew they would like 'I Love Lucy.' ? I don’t know, as an unheard of brand new category, it was created because CBS felt that Americans would like this kind of warm and humorous family drama after World War II, thus making sitcoms the first choice on the television network. A must-have program.”

"Did television viewers in the early 1980s know that they would enjoy music videos as a form of entertainment? No idea. Most people had no idea at that time that music could be integrated into a film with a story. Warner-U.S. Executives of American Express Satellite Entertainment believed that the commercial potential of teenagers was underestimated and wanted to invent a television program format specifically for them, so they founded the MTV television network, making music videos an indispensable part of modern music marketing. a part of."

“Look, Josh, content providers should provide more than just content. They should also provide unprecedented experiences, and a path to the future paved with creativity and talent. This is the key that opens the door to a new era. In my opinion, this is the most important capability of cultural enterprises. There are actually countless businesses that are more profitable than the entertainment industry, but why do billionaires still flock to Hollywood?"

"Because... only by controlling the cultural industry can billionaires leave their mark, continue to write history or even rewrite history, so that the wealth they accumulate has meaning beyond the material level?" Joshua speculated about Han Yi idea.

"I don't know if everyone has this idea... but at least it's like this for me." Han Yi nodded, "This is the source of my motivation to join the music industry. Use my wealth to choose what I think is worth it." Being heard by the voices of the times, and then allowing them to become the voices of the times, is the most fulfilling investment for me.”

"It is also the investment that best demonstrates power." Joshua raised his eyebrows and joked.

"That's right." Han Yi grinned twice, "So, personalized recommendations have pros and cons. It can promote social development at the mass level and allow consumers to have the active choice they deserve. However, it actually has a very negative impact on content providers and content creators. We can no longer dominate the birth of popular cultural products, and we can no longer accurately predict which content will become the next wave."

"Speaking of which, Josh, do you know how many shows are on NBC this season?"

"Sorry, I don't usually watch TV."

"It doesn't matter, few people still have the habit of watching TV now... The answer is 18, including "The Voice", "Dateline", "Saturday Night Live", and "Sunday Night Football" and other non-dramas Including episodic programs, there are a total of 18. At the same time, do you know how many original TV series and movies Netflix has announced this year—note, it’s just TV series and movies? 126. On average, every quarter , 32 parts.”

"In other words, the original content produced by Netflix itself is enough to fill all the drama time slots of the four major TV networks, and even more evenly for HBO and Showtime."

"Very staggering numbers."

"Again, this matter needs to be viewed from both sides. For consumers, the number of quarterly new dramas on the market has suddenly surged several times, and there are many more entertainment options to choose from than when there were only traditional TV stations in the past. But for consumers What does this mean for Netflix? This means that in order to provide fragmented content to fragmented classes, it spends several times more resources than ordinary TV networks to improve retention rates. I was just following... The two partners were discussing the issue of Netflix, so they took a look at their data. Netflix had 2015 million paid subscribers in 7083, and HBO had 4900 million. The latter’s current TV series, including old ones, totaled five. .There are also masterpieces such as "Game of Thrones" and "Westworld" that have received huge reputations and can promote the development of HBO Max's online business."

"So you are... not very optimistic about Netflix's operating model? Do you think it will fall behind in the competition in the future because of the high cost of content procurement and content production?"

"No, that's not what I meant." Han Yi waved his hand, "I still think Netflix will remain the dominant film and television streaming platform for a long time in the future, and its paying user growth rate will continue to follow the current pace. The momentum is growing at an annual rate of 20-25%... However, Netflix's model, and the type of content it represents, is too restrictive, has too much investment, and is too asset-heavy, and there is no way to fully release a content aggregation platform. Earning potential.”

"But short videos are okay?" Joshua Kushner was a little fascinated. His original idea was to come to the Mad City Music Festival to show Han Yi his professional capabilities in capital management, thereby attracting a big customer, but now, Joshua felt that Han Yi was using his keen insight into the entertainment industry to pull him on board.

No matter where the ship is headed.

"Of course. First of all, a platform like Musical.ly does not require self-made content. Videos created by users themselves are all its content. Even in the content production industry that is traditionally operated with light assets, Musical.ly Its business model is also the least strenuous. You only need to concentrate on managing the platform and stimulating users to continue creating. You don’t need to spend a lot of money to support a bunch of production companies to help it produce content like Netflix.”

"Secondly, a platform that is open to the public for free will always attract more users and have greater room for imagination than a platform that requires payment..."

"But how to cash it in?" Joshua couldn't help but interjected.

“How do Instagram, Facebook and Twitter monetize?”

"advertise."

"Yes, how do social media platforms make money? How do short video platforms make money? Because in the final analysis, these free platforms only want to do one thing - do their best to increase the time users stay on the platform. The longer they stay, , the easier it is for him to be attracted or persuaded by the information provided by the platform, and the higher the value of the platform itself in the eyes of advertisers."

Having said this, Han Yi raised his index finger.

"To sum it up in one word, it's addictive. The more addictive a platform is, the more advertising revenue it can get, and short videos are the most addictive form of content."

"I understand that." Joshua Kushner nodded. He has studied the rise and fall of Vine in detail, and also made a close observation of Musical.ly, which came to him for a period of time. The short video platform is indeed very addictive. It is simple and easy to use. As soon as you open it, the content will pop up and play automatically. It is more convenient than YouTube where you need to choose the content to play. It does not require users whose first goal is to relax and unwind. brain.

In addition, due to the time limit, whether it is Vine's 6 seconds or Musical.ly's 15 seconds, video producers are required to compress the essence into a very short space and present it in a concentrated manner, rather than making it an hour-long film. A lengthy video that spreads out the exciting points. In other words, the excitement, freshness and pleasure that short videos bring to users are short-term and strong.

In an era where drug abuse is common, Carpe Diem has become a social consensus, and the nipple music industry is extremely developed, cultural products like short videos are as addictive as Coco without side effects.

The most important thing is that almost all short video platforms use a random playback mechanism. You can see new content by swiping down with your fingertips. It is difficult to find duplicates no matter how long you browse. Moreover, in order to improve user retention rates, most platforms will develop corresponding content recommendation algorithms, collect users' viewing habits, analyze users' viewing preferences, and thus recommend to users the content they are most likely to be interested in.

“…So, Musical.ly learned from Vine’s lessons and relaxed the time limit to allow short videos to carry richer content, but it did not weaken the most attractive and high-conflict nature of this content form. It also cut off the post-production process Vine’s video classification is too complicated, so I tried my best to use short music videos to break the situation..."

Joshua replayed his analysis of the short video platform in his mind while listening carefully to Han Yi's evaluation of Musical.ly.

"They found the most precise entry point and changed the ecology of two industries in one breath. In the video industry and the music industry, the fragmentation process of the future society will only go further and faster. People who want to watch long videos There are fewer and fewer people, and more and more people want to watch a movie or even a season of a TV series in just a few dozen seconds. The same goes for music. No one wants to start listening to it from the intro. If you can only listen to the best fifteen seconds, why? What about enduring the relatively boring parts?”

"In the future music industry, the commercial potential of a song will be measured as soon as possible by entering the chorus, and the golden fifteen seconds will be the only consideration factor for whether a single can succeed on the charts. The short video platform will become The most important or even the only promotional position for record companies, because in a few years, no one will discover new songs through radio, Spotify or YouTube. All surprise discoveries will be made by swiping again and again. "

Han Yi used the phenomenon that was bound to happen in the future to plant a seed in Joshua's heart. This seed would grow vigorously in the next few years and eventually transform into a complete admiration for Han Yi's business insight and trend judgment.

"In my opinion, Musical.ly has everything it takes to change the world...but it falls short in one aspect."

“It does not have an accurate enough recommendation algorithm that allows the app to accurately determine your content preferences within four or five videos, or even two or three short videos, and accurately push the things you are interested in.”

"Then do you think, in this industry, whose recommendation algorithm can make up for the shortcomings of Musical.ly?" Joshua asked impatiently.

"Another Chinese company, I wonder if you have heard of it." Han Yi entered a few English letters on his phone, called up the search results, and then handed it to Joshua.

"Ah, ByteDance... Of course, they have been setting up US offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco for a long time. When I went to LA half a year ago, I had dinner with a group of founders of technology companies, and the head of their US branch also Yes." Joshua Kushner stared at the screen seriously for a while before returning the phone to Han Yi, "I remember they make a news recommendation application, which has a lot of traffic in China." "That's right. They have an application that specifically recommends memes, jokes, and humorous videos, and another application that focuses more on news content... More importantly, they also launched their own short video application, Douyin, on September 9 this year. Although the short video business has just started, their personalized information recommendation algorithm based on data analysis has been running and optimized for nearly four years. It can be said that ByteDance’s algorithm is why they continue to win the favor of users. Pictures, texts, news, and the newly opened field of short videos are all the secret sauce for success.”

“If Musical.ly’s current overseas popularity and user base can be combined with Douyin’s mature and accurate recommendation algorithm, it will inevitably give birth to a phenomenal application in the global market that is no less than Instagram.”

Having said this, Han Yi raised his arms in the air and vividly used body language to describe the future of the short video platform to Joshua.

“Imagine you see a hilarious video on Musical.ly where a user creates a 15-second humorous dance to…just for example, Michael Jackson’s “Rock With You.” You You find it interesting, like it, and continue to scroll down. After three videos, you see another dance video for "Rock With You". You continue to like and scroll down... After viewing four or five videos of the same style, you decide Make a video of yourself doing the dance too. Because you realize that your friends are sharing videos of themselves doing this dance on Snapchat, it becomes a hot topic that affects the community around you.”

"Then, you turn on the streaming platform and listen to "Rock With You" over and over again. You can't help but listen, how could you not? In the hour of recording the video, you don't know how many times you played 15 seconds of the song on a loop The best part, now you can't get it out of your mind at all, you have to satisfy your brain's thirst for this melody. Maybe after listening to it a hundred or a thousand times, your strong love for this song will It's slowly waning, but you've contributed a hundred, a thousand views to it."

"I don't know if it's been a week or two, but you accidentally opened the official website of Billboard and were surprised to find that this old song, which was released in 1979, was in the top five of the singles chart... Only then did you realize , it turns out that you are not the only one who has been recommended this song. Starting from a popular video, it spawned countless imitation videos. These imitation videos have their own life cycles and scope of dissemination, turning a video that originally only had... 15 likes into The -second video turned into a cultural phenomenon that lasted for a month. This is the change that the short video platform and its recommendation algorithm can bring to the music world."

In this time and space, only Han Yi knows how powerful Douyin will be in the future. After TikTok became popular around the world, it quickly became the only channel for music listeners to discover new music. After all, no other platform can push highly addictive content to viewers in such a precise, fast, and organic way.

The record holder for the longest consecutive number one spot on the Billboard singles chart, including "Old Town Road" which topped the charts for 19 consecutive weeks, "Dance Monkey" which made a fat girl singing on the streets of Melbourne win the title in 38 countries, and Olivier Ya-Rodrigo was instantly elevated from an unknown new singer to the top artist in the black swan era. His "Drivers License" broke Spotify's single-day play record twice... and countless others could not see the light of day in the traditional promotion system. A musician has a colorful career because of a video that suddenly went viral on Douyin.

Not only that, the emergence of Douyin has completely broken the song life cycle that is accustomed to in the music circle. Generally speaking, the period when a song gets the most attention is the two or three months when the record company devotes a lot of resources to it for radio charts and TV appearances. After the emergence of streaming media platforms, companies with a keen sense of smell like Han Music will also apply for publicity resources from the platform, and communicate with users themselves to purchase playlist locations in order to expand the publicity effect. However, no matter how rich and diverse the publicity is, Fengfeng The period is only about one quarter. After all, manpower is limited and financial resources are limited. No matter how wealthy a company is, it is impossible to invest too much energy in a song.

The promotion method of Douyin is different. No one knows which song will be used as the background music of the next popular video. Old songs that have been rarely used for more than ten years or even decades can be paired with a Content that makes people want to like it can instantly become popular and return to the list.

Britney's single "Criminal" released in 2011, during its first promotional cycle, peaked at No. 19 on the Billboard singles chart. In 2020, as the popularity of the "Jail Photo Challenge" rapidly surged around the world, "Criminal" overnight surpassed "Gimme More", "I'm a Slave 4 U" and other classics that performed better in the early stages of release. single, becoming one of Britney's top five most played singles on streaming platforms. The original playback volume of about 15 per day surged to , and eventually stabilized at the level of per day, continuing to create considerable revenue for RCA's copyright library.

The same mythical story also happened in Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill", Ke$ha's "Cannibal", Eminem's "Without Me", and Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" for which Han Yi has always wanted to acquire the copyright. ” and countless other old songs.

"New songs can be popular, old songs can be popular. Superstars' songs can be popular, and independent musicians' songs can also be popular. The algorithm of the short video platform puts everyone on the same starting line. Universal, Sony and Warner have discovered that they The publicity and distribution system that they were once proud of and relied on for their livelihood has suddenly become outdated and outdated. They will have to revise the record contract and clearly require in the contract how many Douyin videos the musicians must shoot each month. Looking forward to it. A certain video can become popular and make these artists stand out. At the same time, they will also significantly reduce the budget of other parts and spend most of their financial resources on paid promotion of short video platforms."

"And you want to occupy the position in advance and invest in these platforms so that the recommendation algorithm can tilt traffic to your artists?"

“In the future, short video platforms will inevitably open paid promotion services. As long as you are willing to invest money, they will be able to push video content to users’ mobile screens. But even so, there is no guarantee that your video will be popular, let alone that you will The music can gain popularity accordingly. If you are talking about modifying the algorithm so that the artists signed by the three major music groups have less natural traffic and we have more natural traffic, that is not realistic... The algorithm itself must be fair, otherwise the platform itself It will lose its greatest appeal." Han Yi explained patiently, "What I want to do is to occupy the position in advance and invest in Musical.ly. This way, I can monitor the trend in advance before others discover it. , arrange for my artists to use the traffic of these trends for promotion...and discover independent musicians who are taking advantage of these trends to take advantage of the trend, and sign them to Han Music."

"More importantly... you should be very clear, Josh, if the short video platform can really achieve what I said, then it will not just affect the music industry. Any industry, any industry Any product in any field can obtain traffic and income using the same logic.”

"I understand what you mean, Yi."

After pondering for a moment, Joshua Kushner spoke again.

"If I understand correctly, based on the size of Musical.ly and ByteDance... what you want to do is to buy Musical.ly first, and then wait for ByteDance, which wants to enter the overseas market, to follow. You talk about cooperation, or let them directly acquire Musical.ly from you as a whole. You enter the newly established company in the form of a share exchange and continue to enjoy the dividends of development as a shareholder, right? After all, compared with using the same amount, Instead of buying a minority stake in ByteDance, which already has two successful products and has gone through several rounds of financing, it would be better to acquire 100% of Musical.ly and then put it on the capital market for sale. Anyway, at present, After the collapse of Vine, there was no new competitor in the global market that could challenge Musical.ly in a short period of time. If ByteDance wants to develop a global short video application, there are only two ways to go - with Musical.ly Compete or merge with Musical.ly."

"Exactly, Josh." Han Yi took a deep look at Joshua. It was really shocking that such an extremely smart person could guess his general plan in less than ten minutes. In fact, after his rebirth, Han Yi, who is committed to becoming the leader of the four major music groups, is planning the acquisition of Musical.ly. In the previous life, ByteDance paid US$10 billion in cash and stocks, acquired Musical.ly in November 2017, and took over the latter's huge overseas database. Finally, in 11, the overseas version of Douyin Tik was launched. Tok has now embarked on the road to conquer the world.

Han Yi, who was reborn and had a memorandum to help him, had no reason to miss this opportunity to board the giant ship and ride the waves.

"Have you discussed this plan with other agencies before?"

"No." Han Yi shook his head, "You are the first, Josh."

"Why? If you don't mind me asking." Joshua smiled, "Your family also cooperates with many powerful people on Wall Street, such as Rubinstein. Their experience in M&A is more than I have gained so much. From the time I entered the industry until now, I have only done venture capital and have never handled an overall M&A case.”

"Because...since we are honest with each other, I hope you won't mind what I'm going to say next."

"No, Yi, I promise."

"Okay." Han Yi sighed heavily, rubbed his brows, hesitated for two or three seconds before opening his mouth, "I don't want to cooperate with the uncles I know at home, because I don't want to live under their control all the time. In the shadow. I don’t want the right project that I am optimistic about to end up turning into a wrong strategy that they lead, modify without authorization, and add seasonings randomly. You should understand what I mean. I want it just like you, Josh. Belonging to our own circle... We all believe that the future belongs to us, and we can do better than the previous generation, otherwise neither of us would start our own business, right? Just go back and inherit the family company."

Han Yi knew that these words would definitely impress Joshua Kushner, who has lived in the shadow of his father since he was a child. Because Karlie Kloss and the latter were not particularly happy at home, they definitely felt a sense of dissatisfaction in their hearts. The energy to admit defeat. Although he still has to rely on family connections to start on Wall Street, it can be seen from his choice of the Silicon Valley track that Joshua must be trying his best to get rid of the influence of the Kushner family and form his own system.

Han Yi knew that if he approached it from this angle, his words would most likely dispel Joshua Kushner's doubts.

I chose you over David Rubinstein, not because you are better than Rubinstein, but because you have nothing to do with my "family".

Is this the real reason?

of course not.

The reason why Han Yi did not choose David Rubinstein was that he did not want to be too involved with the Carlyle Group. As of now, Han Yi knows that he has US$1.5 billion in cash stored in the Carlyle Group. In the past interactions, Rubinstein intentionally or unintentionally showed the idea of ​​​​taking advantage of Han Yi and completely bringing him under the protection of the Carlyle Group, which made Han Yi determined to keep a distance from the other party.

Naturally, such a vital project as Douyin cannot be left to the Carlyle Group.

On the other hand, the Carlyle Group tree is too big and attracts wind. Just imagine, if Carlyle Group acquired Muscal.ly a year in advance and then waited for ByteDance to come to negotiate, then anyone would think there was something fishy - why would a large capital management group with a capital of more than 100 billion want to acquire Muscal.ly? Suddenly acquire % of a project as a whole? What do they want to do? Who is the financial backer behind this?

By then, even if KKR and SIG, which have already joined ByteDance, cannot find Han Yi, who invested behind the scenes, this acquisition, which was originally purely a business expansion case, may become complicated. At that time, ByteDance might not choose to acquire Musical.ly, but would start a new business overseas and find ways to compete with Musical.ly.

It is not impossible to fight against Taiwan, but for Han Yi, if there is an opportunity to invest in Douyin, why should he choose the unknown path with greater uncertainty?

But Xingsheng Capital is different. With such a small size, it is not within the radar warning range of giants like KKR. At that time, Han Yi can openly show off the name of Han Capital and announce that Xingsheng Capital will serve as the M&A partner and publicly promote the acquisition of Musical.ly.

A Hollywood investor with Asian origins bought 41% of the equity of United Artists Management Company, which also owns record companies, music copyright distribution companies, live performance companies and other music industries, and entrusted a billion-dollar venture capital firm on Wall Street to What’s so surprising about using its influence in Silicon Valley to help acquire a short video platform that focuses on music video content?

At least in 2016, this is a reasonable and common normal business practice.

Anyway, Han Yi has no plans to invest in ByteDance’s parent company in the capital. His goal is to establish TikTok Ltd. to integrate the overseas version of Douyin and Musical.ly.

Unlike other Chinese companies that have registered companies in the Cayman Islands, ByteDance does not use companies in the Cayman Islands to control companies in China, but uses companies in China to control companies in the Cayman Islands. TikTok Ltd., registered in the Cayman Islands, is only responsible for business in overseas markets and does not involve any assets in China. This is exactly what Hanyi wants.

Although ByteDance’s parent company established in the capital also has many foreign capital holdings, in fact, the proportion of foreign investors can account for 60%. The largest funders, SIG and KKR, are both Wall Street asset management groups, but Han Yi would never let his wealth be exposed like this. After all, Douyin is China’s first content platform with truly global influence, and is a concrete manifestation of the rapid rise in soft power of the rising Far East Dragon. At the end of the next president's term, TikTok's fate and the integrity of Douyin will become a major issue related to national security. Therefore, you don’t need to guess to know that the background and identity of every shareholder will be completely and thoroughly screened.

Han Yi, who is completely out of tune with the situation in China, will undoubtedly attract unnecessary attention and cause inescapable trouble for his family in Chengdu who are kept in the dark. Therefore, no matter how big ByteDance will be in the future and how attractive the expected earnings are, Han Yi will not let himself hold any shares in its parent company.

Holding part of the shares of TikTok Ltd. in the form of share exchange is enough for him to complete his layout.

More importantly, his entry into TikTok with Xingsheng Capital may help ByteDance avoid a storm overseas.

As mentioned just now, as China's first social media with global influence, TikTok has attracted a lot of prying eyes.

But in any case, bringing the Kushner family into the situation can at least give TikTok more time and space to breathe. If it is operated properly and suitable lobbying resources and communication channels are found, it may be able to achieve success without surprises like WeChat. Land safely and safely, minimizing potential damage.

Cooperating with Joshua to acquire Musical.ly was an idea Han Yi only came up with after meeting him for the first time today at Mad City. But after thinking about it this way, perhaps this unexpected surprise is the best solution.

Barbara seems... to be very supportive of herself, and her best friend's boyfriend can help.

"I believe in your network in Silicon Valley, your negotiating skills, and I believe that after the conversation just now, we should share our optimism about the future of the short video platform."

"We do share this, Yi." Joshua rolled up his sleeves and extended his hand to Han Yi, "Don't worry, after returning to New York, I will arrange a trip to San Francisco as soon as possible to finalize this matter."

"Then I'll wait for your good news. Let's have dinner together later? Bring Carly, and I'll introduce you to today's guest performers, as well as my experts in charge of investment management."

After talking about business, Han Yi resumed his relaxed and warm social attitude. He moved his body slightly towards Joshua, patted the latter's shoulder with his right hand, pointed to the stage with his left hand, and showed a bright smile.

"Sorry for taking up your break time to talk about work... Now, let's enjoy this music festival."

"Oh, wow, have you played it this far? I didn't pay attention at all... Hey, man, listen to the next song, "Bad Things." Maddie's new song is also the work I have been playing on a loop recently."

(End of this chapter)