Can you be called a rich man if you don’t indulge yourself?

Chapter 204 A Small Matter of a Few Billions

A few minutes later.

Lei Yibin, who had adjusted his expression at the door of the office, walked in with a refreshing look on his face. He apologized as he walked, "I'm so sorry, Mr. Gu, for keeping you waiting for so long."

Gu Heng was sitting on the sofa in the office, crossing his legs and playing with the small decorations on the table. When he heard this, he didn't even stop moving his hands, let alone stand up. He just curled his lips and said, "It's okay. Business is more important. I'm pretty free anyway, so I'll just play with my phone in a different place."

Gu Heng's actions were very disrespectful, but Lei Yibin had no objection at all.

In his eyes, this was the attitude that a big shot like Gu Heng should have. If Gu Heng really hit it off with him and was polite to him, he would find it strange. Then he hinted at Cheng Yuxin with his eyes and sat down opposite Gu Heng.

After hesitating for a few seconds, Cheng Yuxin chose to give in. A hint of helplessness appeared on her delicate face. She gathered her skirt, bent her legs and sat on the same sofa as Gu Heng, but the distance between them was a little far.

no way.
Although she didn't want to be involved in Gu Heng's public opinion, Lei Yibin had already made a mandatory request, so she had to agree even if she didn't want to.
If it was in the past, she would definitely not be self-righteous if she had the opportunity to meet such a young and wealthy boss. Even if Lei Yibin didn't ask her to, she would find a way to get close to him. If she succeeded, the benefits would be huge.
But now, because of what happened to Gu Heng, she no longer wanted to think about it.

She is an internet celebrity with millions of fans, but it is probably difficult to protect herself under such public opinion. If she can become Gu Heng's girlfriend, then let alone being affected by public opinion, she can even quit her job as an internet celebrity. Isn't being a wealthy wife better than being an internet celebrity who is in the spotlight?
But she's not stupid.
She is very aware of the status of this group of internet celebrities in front of the wealthy.

Forget about becoming the official girlfriend, sometimes even if you want to be a canary you can't do anything. It's normal to be played with once or twice and then thrown away.

The more she thought about it, the more Cheng Yuxin felt the gap between people. After all, she was an internet celebrity. Normally, letting her fans smell her panties was considered a New Year's greeting. But when it came to Gu Heng, she could only be chosen at will, and she didn't even have the right to refuse.
The more she thought about it, the more miserable she became. Cheng Yuxin couldn't even laugh.
But at this time, Lei Yibin's voice sounded again.

"Mr. Gu, this is an employee of our company, Cheng Yuxin. I've always wanted to meet you, but there were too many people just now, and I was afraid of disturbing you, so I couldn't introduce you one by one."

After saying that, he turned his gaze towards Cheng Yuxin: "Yuxin, you have always wanted to meet Mr. Gu, right? Now that Mr. Gu is next to you, why don't you say hello to him?"

Upon hearing this, Cheng Yuxin also tried to put on a smile and said softly to Gu Heng: "Hello, Mr. Gu"

But there is no charm in this smile.
Gu Heng turned his head to look at her, frowned, and almost laughed out loud. Then he turned his head to Lei Yibin and said jokingly, "Boss Lei, are you sure that this Ms. Cheng wants to get to know me, and is not forced to come by you?"

Even a fool could tell that there was something wrong with Cheng Yuxin's expression, let alone Gu Heng and Lei Yibin.

Lei Yibin couldn't explain at this moment, so he could only smile awkwardly. His patience with Cheng Yuxin had reached its limit.
Gu Heng smiled and shook his head at the dull atmosphere, then took out a cigarette from his pocket, threw one to Lei Yibin, and then slowly lit it and said softly, "Boss Lei, you don't have to do these nonsense things.

If you have anything to say, let's talk about it directly. If there is nothing else, I will leave now."

It was too tiring to deal with someone as cunning as Lei Yibin. Gu Heng's patience was almost exhausted and he was no longer interested in pretending to be nice to him.

Is Lei Yibin annoyed?
Of course I am upset.
You have to know that he needed Gu Heng's help, but he didn't have much friendship with Gu Heng.

So he could only establish some friendship with Gu Heng temporarily, but he also knew that it was a bit difficult to establish friendship with Gu Heng in a short time with his identity, so he didn't expect too much.

But since we can't get close enough, it should be ok to try to gain some favor in front of Gu Heng, right?
For those who run their own MCN agency, aren’t beautiful women their most outstanding specialty?

As a result, these internet celebrities are more disobedient than one another, and have brought things to this point.
Forget about the good impression, it's good enough that Gu Heng doesn't feel disgusted now.
However, Gu Heng had already said so much, and Lei Yibin knew that if he didn't make things clear, Gu Heng would just walk away, and he wouldn't even have a chance to speak.

Thinking of this, Lei Yibin no longer hesitated and spoke directly.

"Mr. Gu, this is the case. I know you have worked in an MCN agency before. I wonder what you think of this industry?"

"What do you think?"

Gu Heng first glanced at Lei Yibin indifferently, then chuckled.

If it were his old self, he would not be able to answer this kind of question.

Because the vision is too narrow.

He was just a small scriptwriter before, how much could he know about this industry?

But now it's different. With the skill of [Junior Business Leader], Gu Heng's business acumen has greatly improved. Although he is still not as good as those executives of large companies, he still has some insights of his own.

When Lei Yibin heard Gu Heng's question, he quickly continued, "Yes, I mainly want to learn from you, Mr. Gu."

Speaking so modestly and low-key, Lei Yibin actually just wanted to start a conversation about his own topic, but Gu Heng's next words stunned him.

Gu Heng exhaled a thin puff of smoke and said nonchalantly, "I don't really watch it. To be honest with you, Mr. Lei, I usually don't pay much attention to the MCN industry."

what?
How can we have a chat if you're so uncooperative?
But there was no other way. The conversation had already come to this point. Lei Yibin couldn't give up just because Gu Heng didn't cooperate. He could only force the topic in: "Why?"

“No reason, I just think there is no need to pay attention to this industry.”

"Mr. Gu's statement is a bit biased. As a new industry that has emerged in recent years, the MCN industry still has great market plasticity. I have had a brief chat with Mr. Zhang from Douyin before, and he also agreed with my view and said that the MCN industry is a blue ocean in the domestic Internet industry."

But Gu Heng laughed after hearing it.

He asked directly: "Mr. Lei, do you believe it?"

Without waiting for Lei Yibin to answer, Gu Heng continued, "I read a business magazine before, which said that the market size of China's MCN industry in 2019 was 168 billion yuan, and the market size of China's MCN industry in 2023 was 500.45 billion yuan.

After four full years, the entire market share has barely tripled. You tell me this is the blue ocean of the Internet industry?
In 2016, the domestic short video market was only 19 billion. In 2023, the short video market directly exceeded one trillion, reaching 1.15 trillion yuan, which increased 7 times in 600 years. It even created Internet unicorn companies such as Douyin and Kuaishou. This is called a blue ocean.

To put it bluntly, the global market value of the MCN industry is only over 100 billion per year. Is this considered a blue ocean? What kind of blue ocean is this?
I might as well tell Mr. Lei why I don’t pay attention to the MCN industry.

The reason is very simple, the ceiling is too low. The money earned by monopolizing the market for a year is not even as much as my investment in the financial market. Do you think I need to pay attention to such an industry? "Gu Heng's words were more or less a slap in the face.
But Gu Heng was telling the truth.
500 billion may seem like a lot, but in Gu Heng's eyes now, it is not much. As long as he sincerely wants it, it may only take a few days.

Lei Yibin felt ashamed by Gu Heng's words.
He regarded something as a treasure, but others treated it like grass on the roadside, and no one was even interested in taking a look at it. This feeling was too frustrating. But he couldn't refute it because he believed what Gu Heng said. Is it necessary for a big shot with a net worth of hundreds of billions to show off in front of him?
But being a businessman?
The most important thing is to be thick-skinned. Even though it has come to this, Lei Yibin still did not give up. He smiled and said, "A mosquito is still meat, no matter how small it is. After all, the more money you have, the better."

Nodding, Gu Heng smiled in approval: "That's right, the more money the better.

So Mr. Lei wants to help me make money? "

After saying that, Gu Heng stared straight at Lei Yibin in front of him.

He had already made his words clear enough. If Lei Yibin continued to beat around the bush, there was no need for him to say anything more.

Fortunately, Lei Yibin was very clear-headed. After hesitating for a few seconds, he said directly: "Boss Gu, to be honest, I do have a little selfish motive in inviting you to our company today.

That is to invite you to invest in our Wuyou Media.

As you have just seen, our Wuyou Media is absolutely top-notch in terms of professionalism among MCN agencies. Even the Three Sheep Group cannot compare with us. The reason why they can develop better than us is that they were the first to enter the live streaming e-commerce industry, have strong profitability, sufficient funds, and are able to poach those already famous Internet celebrities on a large scale.

In comparison, our Wuyou Media's traditional model of creating internet influencers is a bit behind the times.

But this is not because this model does not work, but because our reserve funds do not allow us to expand the scale of manufacturing. If there is enough capital, I am confident that I can develop Wuyou Media to a valuation of tens of billions within three to five years and enter the tens of billions club!
I understand that you, Mr. Gu, look down on the MCN industry. After all, you are standing high enough and can see farther than us.

But you shouldn’t underestimate the live streaming e-commerce industry, right? If my business plan is successful, the profitability of our Wuyou Media will definitely be stronger than that of Three Sheep and Mei One in the future, because they only rely on the size of their heads, Yang Ge and Li Jiaqi, while we have countless top anchors that we have cultivated ourselves! We can involve all walks of life! "

A series of big cakes were drawn out of Lei Yibin's mouth as if they were free.

But Gu Heng remained indifferent, even wanting to laugh, and said with a joking expression: "So Mr. Lei needs investment?"

Lei Yibin smiled awkwardly, but still nodded.

"If you need investment, why not just tell me earlier? Why are you beating around the bush?"

Without waiting for Lei Yibin to respond, Gu Heng continued: "In fact, it's not impossible to invest, but..."

"But what? Mr. Gu, please tell me."

Hearing that Gu Heng had this intention, Lei Yibin also spoke eagerly.

“I have a big appetite. As I said earlier, the entire market is not that big. Even if it develops well, I won’t make much money.

You just told me so many pie in the sky, so I won't say anything more. After all, investment has risks. But if I take the risk and still can't make money, what do you think I'm doing? Although the valuation of Wuyou Media is not high, it is still more than 5 billion, right? A casual investment will cost several hundred million. If you only give me a 10% or % share, I might as well use the money to buy two sports cars.

Don’t you think so, Mr. Lei?

"Then how much do you plan to invest, Mr. Gu?"

Gu Heng flicked the non-existent dust from his fingernails and said casually, "I want to buy out your Worry-Free Media."

Lei Yibin: “???”

Cheng Yuxin: “???”

When these words came out, not only Lei Yibin was stunned, but even Cheng Yuxin, who was sitting next to him and trembling, was stunned.
They knew that Gu Heng was rich, but they didn't know that he was so arrogant.
The first thing they did was to acquire.
Wuyou Media is not a small company. The entire valuation is more than 1 billion yuan. Although the actual acquisition will shrink, it is still not a small amount.
Not to mention shrinkage, Lei Yibin would not agree even if it was a premium acquisition.

He has been the first to try it out, and with a net profit of 700 to 800 million yuan a year, he is almost dying of greed. He also has the confidence to make Wuyou Media bigger. How could he do such a thing as killing the chicken to get the eggs?
I could only smile awkwardly and said, "Mr. Gu, you are really a joker."

Gu Heng was really not joking. If Lei Yibin agreed, he really planned to buy Wuyou Media. He has always had the habit of eating alone.

Moreover, this kind of matter can be handled by my own IDE Capital, so I don't have to worry about it at all, and it doesn't cost much money. It's only a few billion anyway. If I don't spend this much money in my account, will I keep it as a decoration?

However, after he finished speaking, he had been observing Lei Yibin's expression. Seeing his expression change, he could guess Lei Yibin's thoughts. He knew that this matter should be hopeless, and then he laughed: "It seems that Mr. Lei is reluctant to give up the company he has worked so hard to build.

Then I won’t joke around. I want a 40% share at the very least, and this money can only be considered financing, not a purchase. It will be used for salary development in the future. If it’s lower than this share, there’s no point in discussing it.”

"Boss Gu, you..."

Lei Yibin wanted to say more, but Gu Heng raised his hand to interrupt him and said, "Let's stop here. I just mentioned it. If Mr. Lei is interested, you can contact IDE Capital directly, and someone will discuss investment matters with you.

It doesn’t matter if you are not interested. If we can’t be partners, we can just be friends.”

"Gu"

"Okay, Mr. Lei."

This time, Gu Heng showed impatience on his face: "It's just a small matter worth a few hundred million anyway, so don't waste too much of everyone's time."

Lei Yibin could only smile bitterly upon hearing this.
It is true that big guys have money, but big guys are also really hard to deal with.
Just like Gu Heng in front of him, hundreds of millions of investment is just a small matter in his eyes, not worth studying at all
Just like ordinary people go to a grocery store to buy snacks, if the store has them, they will buy them, if the store doesn't have them, they won't buy them.
What should I do with this?

(End of this chapter)