Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 948 Borrowing for a few years

If you don't understand, just ask. After Zhou Yali explained, Chen Fan finally understood the inside story.

"So, you snatched Mr. Lei from Golden Princess Cinemas, poached Nansun Shi to be the general manager, and also managed to bring Tsui Hark along as the art director and director."

At the same time, you also recruited Florence Chan from TVB's subsidiary, Capital Artists, and made her the company's vice president and artist director. You even set up a separate music department for her, just waiting for the right time to open a branch company for her.

Chen Fan blinked, looking at Zhou Yali with a hint of surprise in his eyes, "How did you select these people, and how did you recruit them?"

Even if I were to suggest finding someone for her myself, I doubt it would be this accurate.

Could this be the legendary luck?
"To poach talent, you naturally need high salaries, not empty promises."

Zhou Yali immediately raised her head and said confidently, "As for selecting people, of course, we look at their abilities first, and then their interpersonal relationships. If someone is only capable but has average interpersonal relationships, it means that they have low emotional intelligence and are not suitable to be a manager. At most, they can only be a deputy or in charge of a module."

"To be highly capable and have excellent interpersonal skills is a different story. Such a person generally has high abilities, IQ, and EQ, and most importantly..."

She winked mischievously and chuckled, "As the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together. People who are capable and have many friends are sure to have equally capable friends."

And that is indeed the case. Tsui Hark has many friends in the film industry, including directors and cinematographers, while Florence Chan has many friends in the music industry, including singers and musicians, whom she can easily contact.

I appointed Tsui Hark as artistic director, and he will help the company find suitable people, even if they don't switch jobs, he will still help out of courtesy. I appointed Florence Chan as artist director and promised her to set up a music division, so she will definitely be able to support the music company.

This is about finding the right person, trusting them, and they will surely reward you with a fruitful career!

"Wow, that's amazing."

Chen Fan picked up his teacup, took a sip, and looked at Zhou Yali with a smile, casually asking, "Who taught you that?"

Zhou Yali was immersed in her cousin's praise and, without thinking, blurted out, "Of course it's Uncle Hongchang..."

Halfway through her sentence, she suddenly realized something, turned her head and glared fiercely at Chen Fan, "Couldn't it have been my own idea?"

Chen Fan chuckled and said, "If you had this kind of brain, your uncle wouldn't have left you with me for further studies, and your aunt wouldn't have had to neglect even your little cousin and work so hard to manage Qianfan Company for you."

Seeing everyone in the room covering their mouths and snickering, Zhou Yali was initially embarrassed and angry, her pretty face turning bright red. After a few seconds, she deflated like a punctured balloon, leaning on the edge of the table and pouting as she said, "What? I was the one who did it. Uncle Hongchang just gave me a little pointer. Can't I show off a bit?"

Just as Chen Fan was about to speak, there was a knock on the door of the private room. The cafeteria director came over with several people to serve the dishes, and soon a large table was filled with food.

Glancing at the dishes on the table, Chen Fan said with a smile, "They must have hired a chef from Hong Kong for the cafeteria."

Ye Yufeng looked at him in surprise, "How did you know?"

As she spoke, she turned to look at the dishes on the table and asked curiously, "From the surface, these are all traditional Cantonese dishes, no different from those at Guangzhou Restaurant, are they?"

Chen Fan smiled and said, "They look the same on the surface, but the taste is very different. Chefs in Guangzhou definitely stick to tradition and make the most authentic Cantonese dishes, while chefs in Hong Kong blend East and West and will unconsciously incorporate some Western ingredients and cooking methods."

Even with the same dish and the same plating, there can be significant differences.

Sitting next to him, Fang Xiaoying couldn't help but give a thumbs up and said with a smile, "Young Master is really amazing. Our canteen's chefs have been trained by chefs from Guangzhou Restaurant, Shenzhen Xin'an Restaurant, and several chefs from Hong Kong. They have combined the cooking methods of Guangdong and Hong Kong. Even Hong Kong businessmen who are used to eating here will have to try it to know. Only Young Master can tell the difference just by looking at it and smelling it."

Before Chen Fan could say anything, Zhou Yali, who had been pouting just moments before, suddenly changed her expression.

She held her head high, her tone seven parts pride and three parts disdain, "What's so special about this? You haven't tasted my brother's cooking. He's the best chef I've ever seen in the world, bar none!"

When everyone saw her expression, they couldn't help but burst into laughter again.

The cafeteria manager, who was standing nearby, felt a strange itch to ask if the world's best chef could give the master chefs some pointers. However, remembering that this was the famous writer, the company's consultant, the boss's cousin, and the "young master cousin" mentioned by the general manager, he ultimately didn't dare to speak.

After the food was served, I could only leave with a heavy heart.

With delicious food in front of him, Chen Fan didn't bother chatting. He tasted each dish first, then picked up the wine that Jiang Lili had poured for him and took a sip, indicating that the chef was alright and still had room for improvement.

If it were Liu Jujiang from Lujiawan, unless Chen Fan gave him a teaching halo, he would never improve at all, no matter how well he learned a dish.

After tasting the food, Chen Fan slowed down his eating pace, looked at Zhou Yali, and asked, "What's next? Do you have a plan?"

Zhou Yali nodded, picked up a napkin to wipe her mouth, and said, "We'll be busy from now on. First, we need to set up our own cinema chain. This part has already been arranged with the American cinema chain company. We'll enter Hong Kong under their name, buy more land or suitable buildings to expand, and strive to build at least ten cinemas within a year."

Hong Kong currently has only a handful of cinema chains, totaling less than a hundred cinemas, and they're very isolated, almost all operating independently. Even city-wide joint screenings are difficult to achieve; only a very few films featuring big stars can secure this. To gain a voice in the Hong Kong film industry, we must have our own cinema chains.”

While she was eating, Chen Fan thought for a moment and said, "Ten is a bit too few. We can build more, or set up multiple screening rooms in one movie theater."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Wanru couldn't help but look up at him in surprise. "No matter how prosperous Hong Kong is, it's still just a city. Over a hundred cinemas are already more than enough. Do you really want to build more? You think so highly of Hong Kong?"

Chen Fan laughed, "Shenyang has seventy or eighty cinemas right now, and the city's population is only over 380 million. Hong Kong, on the other hand, has over 500 million people. How many times more prosperous is Hong Kong economically? And how much more advanced is its entertainment industry?"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Wanru immediately fell into deep thought and remained silent.

Chen Fan smiled and said nothing more.

Currently, Hong Kong has only about 100 cinemas, but in the late 1980s, there were six or seven major cinema chains with a total of over 300 cinemas. At that time, Hong Kong's population was less than six million, but there were two to three hundred thousand people working in the film industry. Calling Hong Kong the "Movie Capital of the East" is no exaggeration.

With the future surge in Hong Kong's real estate market, Chen Fan would dare to invest in not just ten cinemas, but even a hundred, without fear of not making money.

Zhou Yali swallowed what was in her mouth, looked at her mother, then at Chen Fan, and said, "Okay, anyway, we're going to go with the integrated plaza model, with a cinema attached to a shopping mall and an amusement park. Let's build as many as we can, even if it means local residents are crammed in."

Chen Fan glared at her, annoyed. "What do you mean by 'squeezing out local businesses'? You have no business sense at all. Can't you use the high foot traffic and environmental advantages to attract local businesses and let them make more money?"

"That way you can charge them a little more rent, and they'll be happy, right?" Zhou Yali blinked, paused for a couple of seconds, then gave a thumbs up. "Brother, you're really ruthless."

Chen Fan sighed, "Look, I said the wrong thing again. What do you mean by 'black'? They'll thank you afterwards, believe it or not?"

Zhou Yali wanted to argue back, but her mother slapped her on the head, saying, "You're listening to me, Xiao Fan is teaching you."

After being slapped, Zhou Yali became obedient. "Okay, I'll remember that. We'll use this approach for the cinema's advertising later."

Then he raised his head and continued casually, "Besides building cinemas, it's about making movies. I've already opened up the subject matter databases of Qianfan Publishing House and our competitors to Tsui Hark, and I've also promised him that he can source his own material."

Then there's the music department, which is managed by Chen Shufen herself, and Shi Nansheng will provide full support in terms of logistics.

In short, like the American company Qianfan, the Hong Kong branch will be involved in audio-visual entertainment, publishing and media.

My hope is that when the Hong Kong Thousand Sails Building is operational, each module will have its corresponding companies moving in. At that time, I will upgrade the branch office to a subsidiary, and not just a single subsidiary, but rather divided by module, and then establish a local management center to coordinate everything.”

She turned to look at Chen Fan and smiled smugly, "I've also explained this plan to Shi Nansheng and Chen Shufen. The local management center is equivalent to a 'subsidiary group.' Whoever is more capable will become the president of the subsidiary group."

Subsidiaries and subgroups are all companies with independent legal status and all the elements required for a company. The parent company only exerts control through its shareholding ratio.

A branch office is merely an office or business unit, generally responsible only for its own business. It does not have an independent legal entity or its own financial system, and therefore does not possess the qualifications of a true company.

Qianfan Group entered the Hong Kong market in a hurry, without preparing many things. At present, it can only carry out activities in the form of a branch office. When the time is right, the headquarters will let go and allow it to develop freely.

This process was also a pie in the sky that Zhou Yali was dangling for Shi Nansheng and Chen Shufen.

They even talked about "poaching talent with high salaries," but in the end, it's all just empty promises!

Chen Fan ate a couple of bites of food, thought about what she had said, and was about to reply when Zhao Wanru put down her chopsticks, wiped her mouth, looked at Chen Fan, and asked, "Xiao Fan, do you think it's better for us to directly acquire Jade Channel, which has the largest viewership share in Hong Kong, or to acquire the weaker RTV?"

Hearing this, Chen Fan turned his head and asked, "Huh?"

Zhao Wanru explained, "As Yali just said, just like in the United States, Hong Kong needs to have not only film and music companies and cinema chains, but also newspapers, radio stations, and television stations."

You are right. Hong Kong is a bustling international metropolis, and due to special historical reasons, it has a unique geopolitical status.

I've done some research over the past few days, and it turns out that Hong Kong plays a very important role in global Chinese culture. For example, its martial arts novels and songs have a significant influence. In the past two years, Hong Kong cinema has also shown a growing trend of prosperity.

All signs indicate that the future here is limitless.

Therefore, I intend to make Hong Kong the headquarters of the Qianfan Group in Greater China and even throughout Asia. In this case, the media sector must be given due attention, making the acquisition or construction of a television station a logical step.

After she finished speaking, Chen Fan nodded slightly, thought for a moment, and said, "You just mentioned TVB Jade and RTV?"

TVB is the abbreviation for Television Broadcasts Limited, and Jade Channel is the name of the company's television channels.

Before Zhao Wanru could speak, Zhou Yali quickly explained, "Originally, Hong Kong had three television stations: TVB Jade, RTV, and CTV. However, CTV went bankrupt in 78, so now only TVB Jade and RTV remain."

TVB Jade is stronger. The largest shareholder of the TV station is the Lee Hysan family, a long-established Hong Kong family. The chairman is Lee Hysan, the head of the Lee family. However, Lee Hysan just passed away from heart disease in June. The current acting chairman is the second largest shareholder, Run Run Shaw, who is also one of the founders of the TV station.

Run Run Shaw was also the owner of Shaw Brothers Studio in Hong Kong. However, Shaw Brothers had been declining in recent years, and he intended to shift his business focus to television stations. After taking over as chairman of the television station, he sought to acquire the shares held by the Li family.

Therefore, if we want to acquire Jade Channel, we will face competition from Run Run Shaw, and we may encounter price gouging.

Rediffusion Television was originally an investment of the British Rediffusion Television Company in 49. It was a pay-TV station at first, but unfortunately, it was poorly managed and did not become a free-to-air TV station until 73. For a few years, it was on par with TVB Jade. When a good drama was broadcast, it could even suppress TVB Jade.

This TV station is actually quite good, and Rediffusion Television is also willing to sell its shares, so acquiring this TV station is relatively easy.

only,……"

She pursed her lips as she spoke, "Rediffusion Television's programming is too limited. Its strongest point is its dramas, while its other programs are almost negligible. Compared to TVB Jade's diversified operations, its ability to withstand risks is much weaker."

After she finished speaking, Zhao Wanru continued, "Both TV stations have their own strengths, and I am currently considering which one to prioritize for acquisition."

Chen Fan thought for a moment and asked, "Approximately how much money would be needed to acquire these two television stations?"

Zhao Wanru said, "We have done the calculations. If we were to acquire RTV, it would only cost about HK$200 million. If it were TVB, and we were to acquire all of TVB's properties, including Capital Artists, it would cost at least HK$500 million, and possibly more."

Without hesitation, Chen Fan immediately said, "Then let's acquire Lidi."

After a pause, he explained, "The core of a TV station is its programs, and the core of programs is its directors. Instead of spending 500 million to acquire TVB and then investing even more money in its operation, it would be better to directly acquire ATV and use the extra 200-300 million to produce high-quality programs. That would be just as effective as defeating TVB Jade and reversing the value of the two TV stations."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Wanru nodded repeatedly, "That makes sense."

Chen Fan smiled, took the teacup Jiang Lili handed him, took a sip, and asked, "Any other questions?"

"Have."

Zhou Yali said without hesitation, "In order to give the company a great start, we need writer Chen to write a script for the company. Ideally,..."

She chuckled at Chen Fan, "If we could borrow all the lead actors from 'Monk Comes Down the Mountain' for a few years, that would be the best."

Chen Fan's face darkened. "Borrow for a few years? Why don't you just say you're poaching them?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yali instantly perked up, looking at him with expectant eyes, "Really?!"

(End of this chapter)