Entering the Chinese entertainment industry is like entering a deep sea

Chapter 851 The Richest Man (Part 2)

Among the artists under Rong Chen's management, Dilraba Dilmurat and Zhao Liying are currently the most popular.

At the end of last year, the drama "Three Lives Three Worlds" earned Dilraba Dilmurat a salary of nearly 100 million yuan, making her the second most popular actress after Liu Yifei.

At the beginning of this year, the drama "The Journey of Flower" propelled Zhao Liying to become one of the two top stars in the Rongchen Group, on par with Dilraba Dilmurat.

Seeing her former junior sister so radiant, Yang Mi, the female lead of the upcoming drama "Legend of Fuyao," is both apprehensive and excited.

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In early March, it seemed that people both inside and outside the industry were waiting for the Hurun Rich List to be released.

Too many big things have happened in the past year.

Liu Yifei's youngest son, Li Rongheng, was born. Li Chen transferred 10% of Rongchen Film Industry's shares to his youngest son, who will be temporarily held by his biological mother until he comes of age.

By mid-year, Douyin's overseas expansion had been fully rolled out, and user growth was rapid. At the beginning of this year, Douyin launched its first short drama campaign.

The Hurun Rich List was released the day before Women's Day, and the timing was just right, seemingly confirming the saying that women hold up half the sky.

Sina Finance reports
Liu Yifei topped the Hurun Rich List with a net worth of 2115 billion yuan, becoming China's first female richest person!

"On March 7, 2017, the Hurun Research Institute released the '2017 Hurun Global Rich List.' Liu Yifei, a film star and wife of Li Chen, founder of Rongchen Pictures, topped the list with a fortune of 210 billion yuan, becoming China's first female richest person."

"His wealth mainly stems from his status as the largest shareholder of ByteDance and the core assets of Rongchen Film Industry. Recent equity arrangements and business innovations within the family have drawn widespread attention to his business empire."

"Liu Yifei, a core shareholder of ByteDance and an angel investor, holds shares worth approximately RMB 1200 billion. Her products, Douyin and its overseas version TikTok, continue to experience explosive growth."

"With over 250 million daily active users in China, it firmly holds the top spot in the short video market; the overseas version, TikTok, achieved over 200 million monthly active users in January 2017, becoming one of the most successful Chinese internet products in globalization."

"It is understood that, at Liu Yifei's suggestion, Douyin has taken the lead in launching a short drama project internally, attempting to combine Rongchen Pictures' professional content production capabilities with the platform's traffic distribution advantages to open up new content tracks and profit models."

"Rongchen Pictures' shareholding structure changes, with shares now valued at 720 billion!"

In mid-2016, to celebrate the birth of his youngest son, Li Chen gifted his 10% stake in Rongchen Pictures to his youngest son, who would then be held by his mother, Liu Yifei, until he reached adulthood. With this, Liu Yifei's stake in Rongchen Pictures reached 30%!

A single Hurun Rich List reveals countless stories of hardship and tears.

The Weibo account of the richest woman became a scene of great sorrow.

Yang Mi: "Waaaaah, my net worth isn't even a fraction of Liu Qianqian's!"

Zhu Yawen: "If I had to pay the difference, I'd be laughing in the middle of the night!"

Shu Chang: "I feel so sorry for my brother. He was cheated out of his money and his virtue by that slut Qianqian. He's almost forty and his net worth has shrunk dramatically!"

Tang Yan: "This fully illustrates a fact: having a son can make you rich!"

Liu Yifei, currently in Crystal City, USA, looked at these troublesome people on Weibo and WeChat and really wanted to grab them and beat them up.

In recent days, security at Crystal Wu has been upgraded to almost head-of-state level.

They hired S-class bodyguards from Blackwater.

The richest woman was furious, so she called her husband: "That Rupert Hoogewerf is just making things up! The richest person is clearly someone else, why should I take the blame!"

Li Chen laughed and said, "There's nothing we can do. Douyin is so high-profile, and all her assets are public knowledge. Even if Hurun didn't disclose them, those who are interested would probably have already estimated them. From now on, she can live off her husband without worry!"

"Don't even think about it! You keep making movies and earning money! My goal is to become the world's richest woman!" Liu Yifei couldn't help but laugh.

"If I want to become the world's richest woman, I could photograph myself until I'm old and it would never be possible!"

At the end of March, Liu Yifei and her mother returned to China.

Countless people came to see the richest man's daughter. When the entire crew of "Raging Storm" met the richest man's daughter, their first words were remarkably unanimous.

"Are you planning to have another child? Then Rong Chen is yours!"

Liu Yifei was speechless. She immediately grabbed the director of "Raging Storm" and questioned him sharply: "You said you wouldn't have any more children, but is it because you want to protect Rong Chen, or because you feel sorry for me! Explain yourself!"

Excluding the share swap with Wanda Cinemas, it's true that if she has another child, she will be the boss of Rongchen Pictures, not the boss's wife!
Why didn't she think of that!
Director Li expressed his innocence and could only say in front of a group of award-winning actors and actresses: "If you want to usurp the throne, just say so. I'll give it to you! You don't need to have any more children, okay?"

Everyone present burst into laughter, and Liu Yifei laughed too.

Filming for "Raging Storm" wrapped up at the end of April.

The couple also had some free time.

The couple, along with their two sons and three elderly relatives, embarked on a round-the-world trip.

He left all domestic affairs to Yang Siwei to handle.

Yang Siwei has thus become the de facto controller of the Rongchen Group.

Summer vacation is here, and "Wolf Warrior 2" has raked in a whopping 54 billion yuan at the box office this summer.

It became the first Chinese-language film to gross over 54 billion yuan at the box office.

Everyone in the industry was stunned.

In contrast, Stephen Chow's comedy "Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back," even with the participation of top star Lu Han, only achieved a box office of 19 billion yuan.

The box office revenue sharing wasn't even enough for Huayi Brothers to pay Stephen Chow the 100 million yuan signing fee.

In addition, Jiaxing's "Qiang Qiang San Ren Xing" was also at a loss.

The ratings for "Legend of Fuyao" were barely passable, and were not worth mentioning compared to "Eternal Love" and "The Journey of Flower".

The 4.1 million yuan performance-based agreement has failed.

Currently, the three individuals from Jiaxing have to pay 4.56 million yuan in cash to Shangshilai to repurchase its shares.

Yang Mi realized at that moment that she was a complete idiot.

Based on their shareholding percentages, Zeng Jia should pay 2.1 million, Zhao Ruoyao 1.19 million, and she should pay the least, only 0.87 million, which she can afford!

But the other two can't afford it!
The agreement signed at the time included a clause on unlimited joint and several liability for individuals.

This means that if the company's account does not have enough money to pay the 4.56 million, the founder must use all of his personal assets, including real estate, savings, and stocks, to repay the debt.

The three people are also jointly liable.

If one of them is unable to pay their share, the other two are obligated to pay it on their behalf first, and then seek reimbursement from them.

This is no longer the responsibility of a 'limited liability company,' but the personal responsibility of someone who will go bankrupt.

She has worked hard for many years, and in recent years she has worked almost non-stop all year round. The wealth she has accumulated from filming may be wiped out in an instant, or she may even be burdened with huge debts.

It's not even a fraction of what Liu Qianqian earned.

“Mimi, how about you and Liu Yifei borrow some money from each other first, and then pay her back after we get through this difficult time, with interest paid at the highest bank rate?”

"You two are such good friends, she'll definitely help you!"

"Yes, she's the richest woman in the world. This amount of money is nothing to her!"

(End of this chapter)