Chinese Entertainment

Chapter 767 The Lame Light
the next day.

After Gu Wei finished the audition, he and Song Ge went to the dinner party arranged by Zhang Qiang.

When they arrived at the place, they saw that Han Sanping was there too. However, while the dishes were being served, Old Han gave Gu Wei a look, meaning that he would not join in and told them to chat.

After three rounds of wine, five flavors of food.

Seeing that the groundwork was almost complete, Zhang Qiang spoke.

"We invited Director Gu here this time because our Chairman Ma admires Director Gu's achievements in the film industry very much. We want to invite you and Xingchen Films to join the Ali family and make Chinese films together!"

Hearing this, Gu Wei laughed and said, "Boss Zhang, actually, Boss Ma has told me these things, and I have also replied to him. I think the current situation is good, and I don't want to join any other company."

Zhang Qiang smiled and said, "Director Gu, don't rush to refuse. As the saying goes, if you ask for a high price, you will pay a low price. Why don't you name a price? We can negotiate on any amount!"

Gu Wei thought silently in his heart: "I want one or two hundred billion, can you give it to me?"

He shook his head slightly and smiled, "There's really nothing to talk about. Xingchen Film and Television is not short of money. If they really were short of money, I would just spread the word that Xingchen Film and Television is preparing to go public. The securities firms that want to underwrite the issuance and the venture capital firms that want to suddenly invest in the company would line up far away from the door of our company.

Even if you, Ali, are willing to give me a premium, can it be higher than the A-share market?"

These words were so powerful and impressive that Han Sanping's eyes lit up and he began to think about the word "listing".

Zhang Qiang was speechless after hearing this, and even he felt that what Gu Wei said made sense.

Yes, the valuations of many companies in the A-share market are frighteningly high. It can no longer be described by the “price-to-earnings ratio”, but rather the “price-to-dream ratio”!
No matter how high the premium of Ali Enterprise's acquisition is, it cannot be higher than the valuation of the A-share market.

If you think about it this way, there is really no reason for Gu Wei to give up the shortcut of going public and choose to sell the company.

However, although the acquisition negotiations were not successful, Zhang Qiang felt that at least he had met and talked with Gu Wei, and the other party also gave a reasonable reason, so he could explain to his boss when he returned.

So after listening to what Gu Wei said, Zhang Qiang's expression did not change at all. After a while, he smiled and said, "That's true. Speaking of going public, I heard people talking about Xingchen Films a while ago, saying that the market value will definitely exceed 100 billion after going public. But I haven't heard that Director Gu has taken any action to go public!"

Seeing that the other party was still not giving up, Gu Wei smiled and said, "I've already said that the company is not short of money now, so there's no rush to go public!"

The reality is that once a company goes public, its existing organizational structure will have to be readjusted and many processes will need to be formalized.

It is not like now, when taxes are paid in full, the rest can be done as one pleases.

Hearing this, Zhang Qiang felt very sorry and thought that Gu Wei was too willful. It was a pity that he did not go public to raise money with such good conditions.

After all, Gu Wei is the only person in the domestic film market who has a box office legend. Going public at this moment will give investors great room for imagination. It will not be difficult for the market value to exceed 100 billion or even 200 billion.

If it fails one day and the box office myth is shattered, then when it enters the A-share market again, the situation will be different from today.

The dinner did not last long. This meeting between Gu Wei and Zhang Qiang was considered a complete rejection of Ali's acquisition.

In addition, Xingchen Film and Television is not a listed company, so even if Zhang Qiang is unwilling, he cannot force the acquisition.

Unless Tai Chi Ma is really not short of money and takes out hundreds of billions to knock Gu Wei out.

But even so, Gu Wei still feels that it is useless. Apart from the cash flow in the company's account and the copyrights of the developed series, the greatest value of Xingchen Film and Television is Gu Wei, an international director who is good at special effects.

Just like the matter that Huayi acquired Feng Xiaogang's shell company "Dongyangla Mei" for 10 billion yuan, shareholders and netizens were talking about it, thinking that Huayi was wasting shareholders' money, but it was just talk.

Because at that time Feng Xiaogang was also a big commercial film director and one of the few directors in the Chinese-language film market who could make sustained profits.

Except for "1942" which lost a lot of money, most of the films made by Feng Xiaogang since "Party A and Party B" have been profitable.

If Gu Wei is willing to sell Xingchen Films to Taiji Ma, and then set up a "shell company" and sign a bet agreement, he can still sell it for a good price, and there will be many people who want to buy it.

For example, Dahua Teng, the boss of Penguin Group, which is also building a "pan-entertainment" system, is very interested in Gu Wei.

Penguin Films CEO Chen Wu has been in contact with Gu Wei recently, suggesting that the production of the "League of Legends" animated film be started as soon as possible.

Even when the attempt to acquire shares in Star Films failed, he proposed that Gu Wei and Penguin cooperate to establish a new company.

It’s just that Gu Wei didn’t agree.

.........

Conference room of Xingchen Film and Television Company.

More than a dozen company executives, including Song Ge, Wang Chen, Chen Guofu, Jiang Xueruo and Zhong Lifang, gathered together.

Even Gu Wei postponed today's audition time by one hour. The purpose was self-evident, which was to hold a meeting to discuss whether to invest in Guangxian.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, Gu Wei raised his hand and knocked on the table, "Everyone, please share your ideas."

Song Ge and Gu Wei attended the dinner together. As they had known each other for many years, they naturally knew what the boss was thinking. At this moment, they chose not to speak first.

Since Song Ge didn't speak, no one else dared to speak rashly, and the conference room fell into a brief silence.

"Knock, knock." Gu Wei knocked on the table again with some dissatisfaction, "I called you over here to discuss this, so don't be silent."

Seeing the boss coming to the table again, everyone knew they couldn't remain silent anymore.

"I don't think it's necessary to buy shares. Although Guangguang is one of the top three film and television companies in the circle, its ability and strength in this field are not outstanding, and our company has no shortage of resources in this area. There is no need to spend a lot of money to buy shares..." Chen Guofu, who joined the company early and has been in charge of film production, spoke up. He was quite direct in his words, saying that buying shares in Guangguang would cost a lot, but the returns would not be great.

"What Mr. Chen said makes sense. I also think it's unnecessary. Besides, our company is also planning to go public. Once the listing is successful, the market value is estimated to be much higher than Guangxian."

As an old employee of the company, Wang Chen agreed with Chen Guofu's proposal based on the actual situation.

Hearing this, Gu Wei nodded slightly. The reason why he got angry just now was because he suddenly thought of Zhang Qiang's strong attitude at the dinner last night.

Now think about it, the reason why Ali Pictures is so strong is because it has the support of Alibaba's huge size, and the other party is so eager to invest in and acquire Xingchen Pictures, naturally they are optimistic about themselves.

Thinking of this, Gu Wei calmed down.

Song Ge, who was standing next to him, saw Gu Wei's expression and said, "I think we can invest in it. Although the business scope of the two companies overlaps, Guangguang has advantages in variety shows and radio and television. After investing in the other party, we can use these resources to allow Xingchen Film and Television to continue to expand, which will definitely improve the future listing."

As soon as she finished speaking, Jiang Xueruo spoke up to agree with Song Ge's proposal.

In the following period, more than a dozen senior executives spoke one after another. Gu Wei looked around and found that the number of people who agreed and disagreed was roughly half and half.

In fact, before the meeting, Gu Wei and Wang Changtian had another phone call.

Ali Pictures plans to acquire the shares that Guangxian is about to issue, which is about 9909 million shares. At present, Ali has offered the highest bid, and the estimated purchase price is 24.22 yuan per share, which is similar to the 24.83 yuan per share that Ali paid for Huayi shares previously.

If this deal is reached, Ali Pictures expects to spend nearly 24 billion yuan, and this equity will account for approximately 8.8% of the total share capital of Guangxian after issuance.

It can be said that once Ali completes the acquisition, it will immediately become the second largest shareholder of Guangxian.

There was constant discussion in the conference room, and Gu Wei was thinking over and over again in his mind. After a while, Zhong Lifang, who had just joined the company, spoke up.

"Boss, everyone, this is the data I compiled about Guangguang in the past two years. You can take a look at it first."

After saying that, Zhong Lifang turned on the projector directly.

"The past 2014 was a mixed year for Guangguang."

What was displayed on the projector was the annual report data of Guangxian. Many people frowned when they saw that Guangxian's net profit growth for the whole year last year was only 0.22%.

How could a film and television company with a market value of tens of billions of yuan have such a low growth rate at a time when domestic entertainment is booming?
"Last year, Guangguang released a total of 12 films, generating a total box office of 31 billion..."

"Dancong's profits are indeed good, but the income of Guangguang's traditional TV business has dropped sharply, and it has even shown a trend of loss."

"For example, last year, Guangguang's TV business "China Is Listening", a huge investment and a big bet, was almost ruined by a bad teammate. It started with a bang but ended quietly.

The advertising revenue of programs such as "China is Listening" and "Young China Strong" produced by Enlight Media last year increased compared with the same period last year, but the gross profit decreased year-on-year due to the significant increase in production costs of some programs.

The data are laid out before our eyes, which is more practical than what people say.

After reading these data, Song Ge also frowned. After Zhong Lifang finished speaking, he asked directly: "That is to say, light, which relies on TV and movies to advance, is gradually becoming stronger while TV is suddenly "lame."

"Yes." Zhong Lifang nodded. "In short, Guangxian's development is almost stagnant now, forcing them to introduce capital. If the company acquires a stake in Guangxian, in addition to spending a large amount of money, it may have to give up some resources to "help" the other party."

With the naked data in front of him, Gu Wei now understood why Lao Wang accepted Ali's investment. It turned out that Guangxian's TV business was declining and it had to consider turning to the Internet field.

In fact, this cannot be entirely blamed on Guangguang. Nowadays, the television industry is declining and the Internet is rising. Traditional media companies like Guangguang have been hit the hardest.

The reason why Wang Changtian talked to Gu Wei about buying shares was not only because he hoped to use the reputation of Xingchen Film and Television to increase investor confidence and raise the stock price, but also because he had his eyes on the Tudou Video website owned by Gu Wei.

In 12, before Alibaba entered the film and television industry on a large scale, Guangguang and 360 jointly established a video company. However, 360 has had a lot of troubles in recent years, and Guangguang itself does not have sufficient copyrights for various movies and TV series, so this matter ended hastily.

Now seeing that major domestic entertainment companies are springing up like mushrooms after a rain, and Huayi and Bona are also developing rapidly, Big Boss Wang is naturally anxious.

In an instant, Gu Wei almost lost interest in investing in Guangxian. After all, investing in Guangxian was purely useless, and resisting the invasion of Internet capital was not the way to do it.

Even if we can acquire shares in Guangxian before Alibaba this time, what about next time?

There are as many as 20 to 30 listed film and television companies in the industry, and there are countless unlisted ones. Alibaba is fully capable of investing in other companies and even using the investment money to poach people on a large scale.

Previously, Gu Wei had been considering resisting the entry of Internet capital into the domestic entertainment industry. Now it seems that his approach was wrong. Simply blocking it will not achieve the goal. He still has to start from within himself.

Now that Xingchen Film and Television has completed the closed loop, the next goal is to become the leader of the industry and even a standard setter.

After thinking this through, Gu Wei felt that today's meeting could almost be over.

However, as he watched Alibaba acquire shares of major companies in the industry on the screen, Gu Wei already felt pressure and urgency.

It holds a 9% stake in Sina Weibo, a 21% stake in 20st Century Media, a 59.32% controlling stake in Alibaba Pictures (formerly China Culture Media), an 8.08% stake in Huayi Film Group, and the 8.8% stake in Light Media.

As for the big companies that Ali Pictures is in contact with, such as Bona Film Group and Star Media, their large entertainment empires have already begun to take shape.

After the executives left, Gu Wei picked up his phone and called Wang Wei.

...

(End of this chapter)