China Entertainment's Standout

Chapter 965 The Perfect Personification of the Female-Centric CEO: A Super Carrier in the Entertainment Industry

As the helmsman of the entire Jiangdong faction.

Zhou Yutang will not directly participate in the day-to-day management of his companies.

Each has a management team composed of top professionals, but at the end of each year, they can never shirk their responsibilities regarding all matters, big and small.

The leader's appearance at such a crucial time, along with distributing money, can also unite people's hearts.

The ultimate skill in making empty promises is to actually feed people the promise.

Among the ranks of the super-rich, Zhou Yutang has a fairly good reputation.

Today, Jiangdong Entertainment is no longer the small workshop it once was.

The film business was spun off to Soochow Film & Television, and the artist management business was deregulated this year, with a new company established. Zhou Shufang, the former director of the artist management department of Jiangdong Entertainment, was appointed as president, and Yang Tianzhen as vice president.

Wherever there are people, there are conflicts of interest. When things get big, it's inevitable that interest groups will emerge.

For example, Chen Xi and Jiang Xuerou, who are in charge of film and television business in the Jiangdong Group, don't get along very well, which is almost an open secret.

The same applies to Zhou Shufang and Yang Tianzhen.

Zhou Shufang represents the Jiangdong elders of the Conglong faction. She has been working with Zhou Yutang for a long time and has made many great contributions.

Yang Tianzhen is a former member of Teacher Fan's studio, who brought her talent to Jiangdong halfway through her career.

However, he is very capable in his own business, quick-witted, and particularly skilled in internet marketing. He also has a group of elites who lead him.

On the surface, Zhou and Yang seemed to get along well, but in private, they engaged in a lot of open and covert struggles.

Zhou Yutang turned a blind eye to this and let them do whatever they wanted.

With transparent rules, everyone shares the same goal, and the company's interests have not been harmed as a result. The overall situation remains under control.

Maintaining healthy competition is beneficial to enhancing the company's competitiveness and vitality.

Overall, Zhou Shufang still has a clear advantage over Yang Tianzhen.

Yang Tianzhen's business acumen is beyond doubt; she has the agency business overseeing Lu Han, Zhang Tianai, and others.

However, Zhou Yutang accidentally dropped a bomb into Yang Tianzhen's hands last year, which caused Yang Tianzhen a lot of trouble.

Lu Han was spared from the CCTV Spring Festival Gala this time, having just finished filming "The Wandering Earth" and flying straight to Japan the next day.

Then netizens revealed some shocking news: they ran into Lu Han and Guan Xiaotong in Japan, along with photos of Chen Hechi and his wife traveling together.

As the plane landed in Shanghai and Zhou Yutang was on her way to Xingchen Company, she received a call from Yang Tianzhen and couldn't help but frown.

Xiao Lu had already submitted a report several months ago.

The collapse of the Sea King set an example for his employees, so how could he expect them to not date and work like beasts of burden?

There is no such logic.

Therefore, the public relations department prepared many plans in advance for Lu Han to expose his relationship.

Public relations management for celebrity relationships is an art, especially for a top-tier celebrity like Lu Han. It's not something you can just decide on a whim and announce on social media.

The first priority, of course, is to avoid making the relationship public, which could negatively impact the promotion of subsequent short-term works.

So the plan is to start the fire before "The Wandering Earth" and "Detective Chinatown 2" are even released.

Realistically speaking, given Lu Han's current status and Guan Xiaotong's influence, this whole situation will inevitably result in Lu Han losing fans and Guan Xiaotong gaining popularity by exploiting his fame.

Lu Han's management team had already coordinated with Guan Xiaotong's team. Staff from both sides understood the plans and details for going public with their relationship, and agreed on a unified statement and attitude to avoid any confusion or inconsistencies in information.

In the second half of the year, a single and photo shoot were arranged for Lu Han, and Guan Xiaotong also participated.

This is also a subtle way of revealing information about the two's relationship, reducing the sensitivity of fans. At that time, online trolls will stir up trouble, guide public opinion, and muddy the waters.

Then, they can take advantage of the festive atmosphere of this year's Spring Festival to reduce the impact of making their relationship public.

Zhou Yutang listened absentmindedly to Yang Tianzhen's rambling on about the follow-up plan, switching between replying to Nazha's messages, and nodded, saying, "You handle it."

Jiangdong's battle-hardened public relations department is already very familiar with this process, having honed their skills by cleaning up messes for their own boss.

"Won't this industry explode then?"

While listening to Yang Tianzhen's report, Chen Duling received a message and reminded him, "President Zhou, President Chen and the others are downstairs at the company."

The "President Chen" she mentioned was Chen Min from Starry Sky Games.

Uncle Chen Rui from Bilibili has reached the peak of his career this year, and Chen Min from Xingchen Games is no less successful.

The two were known as the "Twin Chens of Jiangdong," serving as the cornerstones of the Jiangdong entertainment empire and the pillars supporting the heavens, as well as the right-hand men of Governor Zhou.

at this time.

Led by StarCraft CEO Chen Min, and including Wang Yi, seven or eight StarCraft game executives in suits stood in a row downstairs from the company building, braving the biting cold wind.

This unique sight even caught the eye of the young woman in her business suit at the office building reception desk.

These people all started with company stock options worth tens of millions of yuan, and some even had assets exceeding 100 million yuan.

At this moment, they all craned their necks in anticipation, as if waiting for something.

Not long after, a convoy of Mercedes-Benz cars came in a line.

"arrive!"

Chen Min's eyes lit up like light bulbs. She jogged a few steps forward and opened the rear door of the second Maybach.

These billionaires and billionaires in the gaming industry followed suit, bowing slightly, their faces beaming with smiles, and their attitudes extremely respectful.

"Mr. Zhou, you must be tired from your journey!"

Seeing Zhou Yutang, dressed in a black coat, step out of the car and surrounded by a crowd, the receptionist's beautiful eyes widened and her lips parted slightly.

At this moment, the domineering CEO from female-oriented novels has truly become a perfect embodiment.

Every year-end, there's always the much-anticipated inventory and accounting. Jiangdong Entertainment's strong film and television business makes other film and television companies in the industry green with envy.

However, compared to the revenue brought by film and television projects, the appearance of stars and their dazzling brilliance have simply numbed people.

Starry Games has risen to prominence at an astonishing speed, quickly establishing itself as a super giant in the domestic and even global gaming industry!

By the end of this year, the PC/Xbox version of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds has sold over 5000 million copies worldwide!

Including the Chinese version, the PC version saw a massive sales surge.

This isn't the main source of income; a game sells for $30, which is essentially a one-time sale.

The real money-making machine will be the in-app purchase system launched this year.

This year, the game pass officially launched, and all sorts of cool skin chests are dazzling!
This is the real source of revenue for the game. Adding in the revenue sharing between domestic and international mobile games, even after deducting various operating costs, the total profit easily reaches nearly 16 billion.

That's 160 billion, not 160 million!
NetEase's financial report shows that its annual game revenue was only 362.82 billion yuan, which includes mobile games based on classic IPs such as "Onmyoji", "Fantasy Westward Journey", and "Westward Journey Online".

However, this is only the revenue from battle royale games; Starry Night Games' operations extend far beyond that.

Honor of Kings hasn't said anything yet.

This year, "Honor of Kings" also experienced a huge boom, with a total revenue of 258 billion yuan throughout the year, including iOS, Android, channel servers and related derivative products!
After deducting channel revenue sharing, payment costs, taxes, and other miscellaneous expenses, it brought Starry Night Games nearly 20 billion yuan in revenue.

It crushed its own battle royale mobile game and even surpassed Monster Strike and Fate/Grand Order to become the world's highest-grossing mobile game!
The Ahri skin, a collaboration with the movie "Eternal Love" released at the beginning of the year, features voice acting by Yang Mi herself and is priced at only 198 yuan, making it a truly reasonable price.
The movie "Snow in the Middle of the Year" was released, featuring a collaboration with the old sword god's Li Bai skin. The skin featured green snake sword energy rolling like a dragon wall. On the day of its release, the game generated over 100 million RMB in revenue and sold over 10 million copies in its first week.
As for leveraging the hype surrounding League of Legends' championship win, things like the Three Kingdoms Zhao Yun skin are just part of the regular promotional activities.

Little Ma was so anxious when he saw this that he was pacing around in circles at home.

With just a little effort, Pesticide Bro not only couldn't compete with NetEase, but Tencent's financial report also revealed that its total mobile game revenue for the year had been overtaken by the rising star, StarCraft.

Tencent, Jiangdong's good teammate, secretly made several knock-off games, but failed to make them successful. Pony Ma, unable to compete, joined in and chose to spend money to get his entry ticket.

When Starry Sky Games was first established, it relied on web games and mobile games to continuously fund its R&D, and at one point, it was operating at a loss. Now that it has grown stronger, these businesses have become like stepchildren raised by their stepmother. Many businesses have even been outsourced, with some being developed in collaboration with Tencent, and others being used to support emerging game companies in the industry.

Starry Sky only receives royalties from copyright sales, which is still a considerable source of income.

Aside from Starry Sky Games, miHoYo Studio is also worth mentioning.

Today's miHoYo is no longer the unknown bandit it once was. The founders are ambitious and enterprising, and Zhou Yutang has paved the way with resources.

The time has finally come for them to blossom and bear fruit.

With just the Honkai Impact series, miHoYo became famous in the gaming industry.

It may not be as impactful as PUBG and Honor of Kings, but thanks to Honkai Impact 3 alone, miHoYo achieved a profit of 12.47 billion yuan last year after deducting revenue!

"The construction of the Genshin Impact world view is almost complete, and the prologue of the manga is expected to be released in the first half of next year."

Cai Haoyu, the leader of the miHoYo team, is reporting the project's progress to the Grand Commander.

Compared to his youthful impetuosity, he now exudes a more composed demeanor.

The conservative valuation given by professional institutions is over 10 billion, and they do not accept capital intervention.

Several of the initial shareholders, including Cai Haoyu, have enough shares to make them a fortune.

Money gives men courage, and these billionaires naturally display a different demeanor and bearing than before.

On the other hand, the guy who was originally recruited by a big company but quit halfway through has now become the subject of ridicule among people in the industry and netizens.

The opportunity to achieve upward social mobility was once right in front of him, but he failed to seize it. Now he must be regretting it to the core.

After listening to Cai Haoyu's explanation, Zhou Yutang nodded slightly and asked:

How large is the funding gap expected to remain?

"Conservatively estimated, an additional investment of 1.2 million yuan will be needed."

"It's not a big problem."

Zhou Yutang nodded without even thinking.

Jiangdong Entertainment Dynasty is operating at full capacity, essentially a super money-printing machine. The cash flow he currently has is quite frightening.

You can’t spend it all, you can’t spend it all.

A portion of the funds will be used for operating costs and subsequent research and development, while the remainder will be used for investment.

This year, Liang Wenfeng's quantitative fund made its debut in the US stock market and also achieved considerable success.

Apart from a handful of people like Tian Ming, few people knew that Governor Zhou of Jiangdong was the mastermind behind it all.

Feng Ji brought the Game Science team to Shanghai to attend StarCraft Games' annual meeting.

Having been holed up in Suzhou for so long, the group of friends felt like country bumpkins visiting a grand garden. Hearing the various departments of Xingchen proudly reporting their remarkable achievements to Governor Zhou last year, they could only express their envy and awe in the simplest of words.

"Brilliant!"

"Old Cai, did President Zhou really not ask any questions back then and just give you the money directly?"

Feng Ji pulled Cai Haoyu aside and gossiped.

"You should all be familiar with President Zhou's style of doing things."

Cai Haoyu smiled and said, "Trust those you employ, and don't employ those you don't trust. How's the progress on your end?"

"It's still a long way off."

Feng Ji sighed and said with a wry smile, "I don't know how to report to President Zhou later."

My brothers are all so good at fighting, I feel like I'm holding them back.

Game Science, like miHoYo, is a legitimate company independent of StarCraft Games.

It was said to be starting from scratch, but the real boss behind the scenes was still Governor Zhou of Jiangdong.

Last year, Feng Ji also set up another team and worked on another mobile game project, which made some profit. However, this amount of money was just a drop in the bucket compared to Black Monkey's R&D costs, and the company relied entirely on Zhou Yutang's continuous financial support.

After finishing his business with both Starry Sky Games and miHoYo, Zhou Yutang specifically talked to Feng Ji about the situation with Black Monkey.

"Mr. Zhou, the underlying engine modifications and action system have been completed. We expect to release a combat demo this year. We would appreciate your guidance at that time."

"So fast?"

To be honest, Zhou Yutang was slightly surprised.

"The prototype technology demo is still in the early testing phase. The more complicated part is building the biodatabase and the real-world map, which requires the help of Vision Media."

Prior to this, there was no mature experience in developing AAA games in China.

Feng Ji and his colleagues were also feeling their way across the river, making many attempts and adjustments, including to the engine. They lost a lot of hair and put in a lot of effort, which is beyond what outsiders can know.

"Will it be released the year after next?"

After hesitating for a moment, Feng Ji still said frankly, "To be honest, even now I'm not entirely sure I can guarantee when it will be completed."

Seeing the brothers from Starry Sky Games taking off one by one.

It's impossible not to feel a sense of disappointment and confusion when you're doing something that may not be rewarded.

"Then let's take it slow. We can wait. It's all about human effort."

Zhou Yutang patted Feng Ji on the shoulder and said with a promise, "Fate will not let down those who work hard. What we are making is not only a game for the Celestial Empire, but also a window to open up cultural exports."

Some people seem to be born with leadership abilities, able to paint a rosy picture of the future.

Feng Ji was completely bewildered and almost burst into tears.

When I worked at Tencent, KPIs were my constant focus, and I went to great lengths to achieve them.

Now that Zhou Yutang doesn't talk about these things anymore, his perspective has broadened, and his thinking and vision have expanded. Feng Ji's admiration for Zhou Yutang has only grown stronger.

He occasionally uses a VPN to surf the internet, and TikTok has seen a surge in videos about Chinese mythology, such as the Investiture of the Gods and Journey to the West, as well as Chinese science fiction like The Wandering Earth.

Now that I think about it, it's very likely that Governor Zhou did it intentionally.

How can we export Chinese culture to the world?

The most important thing is to make sure that enough people see it.

Previously, media channels were firmly controlled by Western media.

They exploit information asymmetry, selectively amplify various facts, and use labeled narratives.

Misinterpretations of cultural differences have created deep-seated stereotypes about China among foreigners.

The emergence of short video platforms has led to their increasing importance in people's lives.

Through this channel, we gained the ability to break out of information cocoons and opened a window for the world to rediscover China.

Zhou Yutang did not tell him these things.

The overall strategic plan for the Investiture of the Gods and Journey to the West universe was only mentioned vaguely.

But for a smart person, sometimes it's not necessary to spell things out. Feng Ji quickly figured out the key points after a slight shift in his thinking.

His blood was starting to boil.

Being able to participate in such a world of great competition could potentially influence the historical process of a nation's status and the global landscape.

Isn't that a fortunate thing?
(End of this chapter)