Be reborn and be happy to the fullest

Yuan Ke carefully observed Li Shuo's expression and said softly, "The secretary's office has a file on Miss Yu Nuannuan. If we use some tricks, we can still manage to get her to come out..."

Li Shuo was stunned, somewhat taken aback: "What methods? Yu Nuannuan is the owner of SV Club..."

Yuan Ke said in a low voice, "SV Club is quite powerful, but the gap between it and our Shuoguo Group is gradually widening, especially after the establishment of SC Club. Its members are being diverted, while our Shuoguo Group maintains good relationships with both clubs... Hmm, we can put pressure on Ms. Yu through the co-location project with SV Club..."

Li Shuo squinted. Even as the founder of the Shuoguo Group, he hadn't expected that in such a short time, the SV Club, which was once high and mighty to him, had become something that even his own Shuoguo Group secretary could "exert pressure on."
"Did we develop too fast, or has SV Club really declined?"

"Hehe, there are two reasons, but our strength is the main one! Many of the new members joining the SC/SV club are actually drawn by your reputation..."

At this point in the conversation, Li Shuo suddenly had a more intuitive understanding of the current Shuoguo Group.

The strength of the Shuoguo Group ultimately stems from the correct direction guided by Li Shuo. This morning, he was about to guide the Shuoguo Group toward its next major direction.

"Okay, that's all the miscellaneous stuff. Now let's get down to business. Call everyone over from this financial list; I need to meet with them one by one..."

"Yes"

Li Shuo's main purpose in coming to Shuoguo's headquarters was to rebuild the financial department: more and more people know about his "value investing" approach, and he plans to do some big things in the industry. Before that, the most important thing is to streamline his team and truly make the financial department a handy tool!
For the rest of the morning, Li Shuo met with one person after another from the financial department in the president's office, from ministers to deputy ministers, vice ministers, team leaders, and so on. For each of them, Li Shuo asked them to sit down and have an in-depth conversation face-to-face.

First, you need to understand the employee's knowledge and experience, which is fundamental. Second, you need to understand the employee's personality and values!

Because Li Shuo was in this industry in his previous life, he knew the tricks of the trade all too well. First, there was a lot of deception, and second, it was full of all sorts of "rebels"! After all, finance was something the West had already mastered.

Li Shuo isn't exactly a fanatical radical, but he is Chinese, so he still needs to be wary of this. It might not matter now, but when he becomes the richest man in the world, these people from the Ministry of Finance will be managing hundreds of billions or trillions of assets for him. When the US tries to trip him up, Li Shuo needs to make sure that these subordinates don't immediately succumb to their knees!

Another point is about professional knowledge. Li Shuo needs people in the financial sector to not just follow the crowd, but to have their own judgment! The reason he took such a big fuss about the financial department this time was precisely because of the financial department's investment report on Forest Beverage!

"Boss, are you sure?"

After going through the list with each of the 12 employees in the finance department, Yuan Ke walked in and took the list from Li Shuo. The ones marked with an X were all the people who needed to be laid off! At this moment, what Yuan Ke saw was almost entirely Xs. At least the department heads, deputy heads and other senior executives were all affected, without exception!

Seeing Yuan Ke's surprise, Li Shuo sighed and said, "I didn't want this either. After this round of layoffs, the financial department will probably have to be rebuilt..."

He simply sighed without explaining the specific reasons for the layoffs. As the founder, Li Shuo has enough prestige to do anything within the Shuoguo Group!
Yuan Ke nodded and said, "I just received news that President Yang is hosting a luncheon for three people from Mango TV. Boss, what do you think..."

Li Shuo laughed, stood up and said, "It's lunchtime, let's go get a free meal..."

……

Shuoguo's Hongqiao headquarters was originally a very remote place, but after years of development, especially after Shuoguo's headquarters building began to be built here, in just one year, it has taken on the appearance of a commercial district, with upscale Western restaurants, cafes and even more upscale hotels everywhere.

The location where Yang Kangcheng hosted the banquet for the three members of Mango TV was the Caesars Hotel. Yuan Ke received the news quite late, so...

"Director Wu, please take a seat..."

"Come, come, Mr. Yang, sit here. We haven't seen each other in a long time. Let's have a good chat..."

Yang Kangcheng led his guests to their seats and handed them the menus. Just then, the phone rang...

By the time he hung up the phone, Director Wu and the others had already placed their orders, and the waiter was even carrying the menus, ready to serve the food. Yang Kangcheng quickly stood up: "Uh, wait a moment, we're not all here yet!"

Lowering his head to meet the questioning gazes of Director Wu and the others, Yang Kangcheng said with a forced smile, "Our General Manager Li is coming soon, please wait a moment, Director Wu..."

"Is this Mr. Li Shuo?" "Then we should indeed wait." "It's alright."

The three people from Mango TV seemed easy to talk to on the surface, but they actually exchanged glances, partly out of doubt and partly out of displeasure!
They are a state-run television station, and they take many rules about interpersonal relationships very seriously. Regardless of whether Li Shuo is the No.1 of Shuoguo Group, in the "Temptation of Returning Home" project, he is always the party that sells the broadcasting rights to the project!

The contractor (Party B) is making the clients (Party A) wait? This is utterly unacceptable!

So, while they were sitting there, Director Wu squinted at Yang Kangcheng and suggested, "How about we talk about buying the copyright first?"

Yang Kangcheng, however, was a seasoned veteran. He shook his head repeatedly, saying, "No rush, no rush. 'The Temptation of Returning Home' isn't anything special. How can it compare to catching up with Director Wu? Oh my, old classmate, it's been so many years since we last met..."

The reason Mango TV sent Director Wu this time is because he and Yang Kangcheng are classmates.

"Hey, Lao Yang, I wanted to catch up with you, but your General Manager Li is coming soon, so we at least need to do some work and make our stance clear to him..."

As he spoke, Director Wu gave his deputy a wink, who quickly stated the terms:

"Mr. Yang, Mango TV's offer is 1000 million yuan to buy out all the copyrights..." Even with Yang Kangcheng's slick nature, his face darkened upon hearing this offer, and he asked, "All the copyrights?"

Since the rise of online TV in recent years, satellite TV stations have become weaker. But even when they were powerful, they rarely bought out the copyrights, which meant that they were the only ones that could broadcast the content!
Director Wu quickly stepped in to smooth things over, reprimanding his deputy and explaining that the price was for those unfamiliar with the industry, and that for Shuoguo Culture, the online broadcasting rights could naturally be retained...

After this back and forth, Yang Kangcheng realized that Mango TV's sincerity didn't seem to be that great!

Nevertheless, he still tried his best to negotiate with Director Wu, and finally, when Li Shuo arrived at the scene, the terms negotiated by both sides were basically acceptable...

"Director Wu, hello..."

"Hello, Mr. Li!"

The two shook hands and exchanged pleasantries with smiles, but a slight "disagreement" arose when they took their seats. Director Wu invited Li Shuo to sit in the head seat, but Li Shuo sat down immediately!
This almost made Director Wu, who was already unhappy, explode on the spot: "Hehe, I've heard for a long time that President Li single-handedly built the Shuoguo Group in Lenghai, integrating the Lenghai circle into an orderly manner, and no one dares to provoke him. Seeing him today, I can confirm that his reputation is well-deserved..."

Although it was a compliment, it was actually a sarcastic remark about Li Shuo's domineering behavior. However, Li Shuo had just arrived and naturally couldn't understand the meaning behind the words. But he didn't show any humility and went straight to the point, asking, "Director Wu, are you here to buy the copyright of 'The Temptation of Returning Home'?"

"Well, you could say that," Director Wu thought Li Shuo's words sounded strange.

The next moment, Li Shuo asked in return, "I remember a week ago, didn't Mango TV reach a cooperation agreement with Shuoguo Culture? Why are they coming back to negotiate again now?"

This guy is getting more and more domineering, it's so annoying!

Director Wu frowned deeply, but these kinds of people have a characteristic: they don't easily fall out with others, especially with the rich and powerful.

So, he finally took a deep breath and honestly explained, "At that time, a cooperation agreement had indeed been reached, but it hadn't been signed. Coincidentally, at the same time, the issue of X's adapted song appeared online. As you know, Mr. Li, Mango TV is a major television station and is quite sensitive to potentially controversial topics, so the cooperation agreement was temporarily postponed..."

"Oh? Really? I heard a rumor before that Mango TV was under pressure from Zhang Yi. I didn't believe it at the time. I thought, who is Zhang Yi? Could he put pressure on Mango TV?"

Li Shuo smiled for the first time, easing the atmosphere, but he quickly asked, "So, how much is Director Wu planning to spend this time to buy the first-run broadcast rights for 'The Temptation of Returning Home'? It shouldn't be worse than the terms we discussed before, right?"

"Um, this..."

Director Wu was immediately left in a precarious position, feeling extremely uncomfortable. Even if he wanted to lash out, he had no way to do so, because it seemed that Li Shuo didn't value the cooperation with Mango TV at all; he didn't consider himself a party in the service provider's position at all! When the party in the service provider doesn't care whether or not a cooperation needs to be achieved, the party in the service provider naturally can't do anything about it.

Yang Kangcheng, who hadn't spoken until now, quickly smoothed things over, saying, "Director Wu's personal visit shows his sincerity. However, due to the influence of the X-adapted song, he can only offer a lower price compared to the last negotiation. Mr. Li, what do you think..."

"Oh"

Li Shuo nodded in realization, then quickly smiled and said casually, "It's alright. Since Director Wu is so interested in the X remix, why don't we start here..."

As he spoke, he snapped his fingers, and Yuan Ke behind him immediately took out the documents, distributed them to the others present, and then explained:
"Since yesterday, the controversy surrounding the composer X of the song 'Unforgivable,' adapted from the song 'The Temptation of Returning Home,' has suddenly escalated, with renowned writers Han Er and Guo Si both issuing comments..."

"The shift in public opinion brought unparalleled traffic. At the same time, Shuoguo Culture actively promoted and operated the project. At the very first moment when the public opinion fermented, they released the original song video of 'Unforgivable,' which further focused the attention on aspects related to the TV series..."

"In addition, Shuoguo Culture is expected to officially begin the pre-release promotion of 'The Temptation of Returning Home' starting tomorrow... The promotion process will not be limited to an exclusive premiere on a single television station..."

"We believe that the surge in traffic is a very precious window of opportunity, so in order to seize this wave of traffic, it is acceptable to release 'The Temptation of Returning Home' on online platforms ahead of schedule!"

At this point, Yang Kangcheng, who had been somewhat confused, suddenly realized something and thought to himself: "No wonder Li Shuo seemed so confident, he had a backup plan! No, to be precise, what Brother Shuo said makes a lot of sense. The online premiere plan might be better, since it keeps up with current events!"
Director Wu gasped in shock, exclaiming, "President Li, you must be mistaken! How can an online platform compare to a television station? In all these years, have you ever seen a big-budget TV series premiere online?"

In 11 years, many high-quality online dramas have emerged, but there are indeed not many big productions that premiere on online platforms, because most people still feel that television premieres are more "high-class".

Li Shuo didn't really care about this. He straightened his face and said seriously:
"For me, whether it's a web premiere or a television premiere is not the point!"

He held up three fingers: "There are three key points. The most important is to seize this period of traffic surge and release 'The Temptation of Returning Home' quickly!"

"Secondly, it's about cost control. If the online platform offers more, then I won't consider the differences between platforms!"

"The third point is the influence of brand and publicity resources. In this regard, Mango TV is quite capable, which is why I was willing to come here in person and sit down for a chat with Director Wu!"

Director Wu opened his mouth, wanting to say defiantly, "Then go find the online platform." He worked at Mango TV and had received so many videos, but he had never encountered someone like Li Shuo!

But in the end, he didn't say those words out of spite. After all, as Mango TV values ​​trends and hot topics the most, the recent buzz surrounding "The Temptation of Returning Home" was a major reason why Director Wu personally brought his team over!
Next, the negotiations truly began, and after some back and forth, the two sides reached a preliminary dynamic equilibrium:
Mango TV is willing to pay 2000 million yuan to acquire the first-run broadcast rights for the first half of "The Temptation of Returning Home" on satellite TV! In addition, Mango TV is willing to temporarily adjust its prime-time slot so that "The Temptation of Returning Home" can take over the time slot of the previous drama a week later and meet the audience ahead of time!

Both Yang Kangcheng and Yuan Ke were quite satisfied with the final proposal from Mango TV. So, after the gathering, Yang Kangcheng immediately praised Li Shuo, saying, "Wow, it's all thanks to Brother Shuo! Your visit really accelerated the negotiations! I'll draft the contract this afternoon, and we can sign it with Mango TV!" (End of Chapter)