Actor: Thank you.

"The future era will be the Internet era."

Inside the courtyard house, in the main reception room.

Almost all of the company's artists were present.

Yang Zi was in class and didn't come.

Huang Bo went to work on the "Bullfighting" event and didn't show up.

Zhang Yuan had informed the rest of the group beforehand and asked them to come.

Some were sitting on sofas, some on chairs, and some on armrests.

Baoqiang simply plopped down on the floor and leaned against the coffee table.

It's all very casual.

Zhang Yuan glanced at it and realized that the space was indeed not big enough.

It will be fine once the renovations are finished there.

He was too lazy to go to the company office building, and it would take a while to get from his home to Wangjing by car.

However, the artists were also puzzled.

The boss specifically called us all over; he was planning to "lecture" us.

The future belongs to the internet age... You can hear this term everywhere, so it's not surprising.

“You’ve probably heard this countless times.” Then Zhang Yuan predicted their prediction.

"But I called everyone here today not to give a lesson."

"There are important work arrangements."

Zhang Yuan pulled over a whiteboard.

Yang Siwei and Zeng Jia, both with dark brown circles under their eyes, listened from below.

While he was competing with white people abroad, these two treated their office like home, working through the night with the lights on to finish projects.

A few days ago, when Yang Mi went to have dinner with Zeng Jia, he was shocked by what he saw.

"Why don't we resign?" Yang Mi even tried to persuade her.

But then he thought that if Zhang Yuan heard him say that, he would probably crush him the next time they met.

He learned his lesson and couldn't get out of bed for several days.

Thinking about it this way, Yang Mi actually felt a bit like "acting like a jerk"...

"What I want to talk about is Weibo!" Zhang Yuan even wore a pair of non-prescription glasses today.

When Zhao Liying arrived and saw him like this, she even talked to Zhang Tianai about it.

"Look at the boss, doesn't he look like Pigsy wearing glasses, pretending to be a college student?"

Zhang covered his mouth, trying to laugh, but his expression quickly changed.

"Don't talk about our wise and powerful boss like that."

"In my heart, he was always the most cultured person."

Seeing his expression, Xiao Zhao thought for a moment.

"Is the boss right behind me?"

“Whether my wise and mighty boss is here or not, I still think so!” Zhang Tianai replied with a righteous expression.

Then Zhao Liying is now standing and listening to the lecture while holding her laptop.

It was already a sign of "Teacher Zhang's" kindness that she didn't make her stand in the hallway.

"Next, everyone must strictly follow the plan provided by their agent to cultivate their personal image in the public eye."

"Of course, I won't make things difficult for you by making you pretend to be someone else."

Zhang Yuan scratched his head and looked at his group of underlings.

Asking Jiang Xin to portray a gentle and tender woman from Jiangnan is truly beyond my capabilities.

“Take Baoqiang for example, just be yourself, a simple country boy.”

"Going home to help harvest wheat and husk corn cobs—these things can be edited and posted on Weibo."

"Tian'ai, you should go for the image of a fashionable lady."

"Since you studied fashion design, you can share your outfit ideas."

"Post your everyday outfits on Weibo."

"If you continue doing this in the long run, it will help you gain access to fashion resources."

"Liying, you love to eat snacks, so just keep eating them all the time."

"But I have to invite others to eat with me, like colleagues and friends from the film crew."

"This will also make it easier for you to get endorsements for snack products."

"Moreover, you have a youthful appearance and a young audience. Eating snacks often will make the audience feel closer to you."

Xiao Zhao nodded repeatedly.

I don't know about Weibo, as long as I can eat snacks freely, that's fine.

“I have a question,” Zhao Liying said, raising her hand.

Zhang Yuan was pleased to see that some "classmates" had raised their hands to ask questions.

"explain."

Do snack companies reimburse expenses?

Zhang Yuan: …

"Let the production team announce whose scenes they're filming!" Zhang Yuan turned his head away, too lazy to look at her.

"That's about it. Your agents will contact you one by one afterward."

Zhang Yuan looked at the crowd, most of whom wore expressions of incomprehension.

They didn't understand why the boss was going to such lengths for a website.

Zhang Yuan didn't want to either, but before the era of short videos arrived, Weibo was the largest celebrity promotion platform in China.

Other platforms such as Baidu Tieba, online forums, or once-popular websites like Renren and Kaixin, combined cannot match the popularity of Weibo alone.

Call it the "cesspool" of the country or a gathering place for online trolls, whatever.

But no one can escape this.

Furthermore, Weibo's "dominance" lasted a long time, and it did not end even after the advent of the short video era.

There's no way to skip it.

However, the short video era is still lacking many pieces of the puzzle.

The popularization and evolution of smartphones, the arrival of 3G, 4G, and even 5G networks—these technological and industrial upgrades cannot be rushed.

It's not something Zhang Yuan can achieve overnight success.

The most basic thing is that once the domestic smartphone manufacturers have consolidated and the major battle is over, everyone can have a phone that can smoothly stream short videos without having to buy an expensive Apple phone.

This one thing alone could keep me busy for many years.

After all, what good is software if it doesn't support terminal devices?

In later generations, regions where short videos flourished were all economically and technologically advanced.

Early Weibo wasn't such a "cesspool"; most people still don't understand how online trolls operate these days.

Therefore, Zhang Yuan planned to be both early and opportune, seizing the initiative.

Moreover, he doesn't let the artists do it on their own; he wants to do it systematically.

"Next, I will assign each of you a dedicated online public relations representative."

"You are responsible for managing your online image."

"Including the creation and review of Weibo content."

"Maintenance of Tieba and forums."

"Online publication of work schedules."

"There's also offline public relations, responsible for planning and arranging events for each film, birthday parties, and holidays."

"These personnel will be assigned separately from your agents and assistants."

"These people are arranged by the company, which organizes training and pays them."

"You don't need to worry about it, but you do need to cooperate."

Clap clap clap... Zhang Yuan clapped his hands and then asked.

"do you understand?"

"Okay." The replies were sparse.

"Do you understand?" he emphasized.

"Understood!" Just like students in class who only perk up after the teacher taps on the desk.

"Good, very energetic!" Zhang Yuan said as he walked with his hands behind his back.

"Regarding personnel, Siwei and Zeng Jia are already recruiting, and we are trying to finalize the team for everyone before the Chinese New Year."

"Based on the number of announcements each of you makes and your business capabilities, the number of personnel will gradually increase."

"I hope that in the future, each of you will have a mature, close working team of more than 10 people by your side."

Regarding this group of personnel, Zhang Yuan's requirements for the agents are as follows.

A recent graduate from a prestigious liberal arts university.

Because publicity and promotion are indeed suitable for liberal arts majors.

Going to a prestigious university means having stronger abilities.

But don't go for anything too "prestigious".

Forget about Tsinghua and Peking University.

A regular 985 or 211 university is already very good.

As for hiring recent graduates, online marketing is a relatively new field, and no matter who you hire, they'll have to learn from scratch. It's better to use young people, who will learn faster.

Besides, it's cheaper for recent graduates...

Boss Zhang can be ruthless at times.

In addition, he had one principled requirement.

That means you must find someone with normal values ​​to handle publicity and promotion.

People who fawn over foreign things, are obsessed with money, disregard history, and hate their motherland... get lost!

Who knows when they might cause a major incident?

It also requires the team to maintain a certain male-to-female ratio and not to create an all-male or all-female team.

They didn't understand why their boss brought this up; it seemed completely out of the ordinary.

An artist might cultivate their image for over a decade, only to have it completely ruined by a single Weibo post.

If another mentally unstable person were to use a celebrity account they are monitoring to post or like content about problematic individuals, that would be even more troublesome.

These things not only exist, but there are many of them.

There was once a female-oriented novel where the protagonist became a warlord's concubine.

In order to remain a concubine and ensure that the warlord remains a warlord...

Is this a plot that a human could come up with?

Sigh, some people really know how to come up with such ideas.

You never know what kind of "crazy" mind might be hidden beneath a human exterior.

There are several reasons why Zhang Yuan did this.

The first issue is management.

The company pays to support these people, and the bodyguards around the celebrity are also from his security company.

This is the only way to more comprehensively regulate the behavior of artists.

Otherwise, if management doesn't reach the front lines and orders don't leave the office, these people will gradually "run wild" as their fame grows.

Secondly, there is the issue of talent cultivation.

Whether in the era of Weibo or the era of short videos, the basic methods of promotion and distribution have not changed.

These people are being trained now so that each of them can lead others and form teams in the future, so as to "fight for the future".

Both of these are long-term plans, so he attaches great importance to them.

But his subordinates didn't understand, and were even quite confused.

"Afterwards, all your Weibo, Baidu Tieba, forum, and any online accounts that can contact the public will be recalled."

"If you really want to play online, just create your own alternate accounts."

"But it's best to stay hidden and not cause me any trouble."

"Doesn't that mean we won't have any freedom?" Jiang Xin said, arms crossed.

"Get off the sofa armrest first, or you'll break it with your big frame." Zhang Yuan first unleashed a torrent of abuse on the troublemaker.

The woman rolled her eyes, twisted her waist and moved aside, then went to hug her best friend Cheng Hao.

"Being a celebrity doesn't really mean having any freedom. This is the price you have to pay if you earn ten, a hundred, or a thousand times more than an ordinary person."

"You may feel uncomfortable now. But you will soon understand my intention."

"You'll thank me later... What the hell are you doing?!"

As Zhang Yuan was talking, he noticed that Bao Qiang was daydreaming.

He looked down from time to time.

You are my number one, and also my number one henchman.

Why are you being so disrespectful when I'm speaking?
He picked up a cigarette butt from an ashtray and threw it at the person using it as chalk!

"Ouch!" Baoqiang clutched his head and stood up from the ground.

"What are you looking at?"

"Playing on your phone?"

"Hand it over!"

Zhang Yuan reached out, and Bao Qiang sheepishly placed his phone in his palm.

"You've even started using an iPhone."

"Your fingers are as thin as little radishes, you'd have trouble even using a Nokia."

Zhang Yuan now understood the teachers he had in his childhood classroom.

Standing in front, you can see exactly what the people below are doing.

"I saw you a while ago."

"I kept looking down at my phone."

"I can't be bothered to talk to you, but you're still pushing your luck!"

"What are you looking at?"

"Texting your girlfriend?"

"No," Baoqiang suddenly said with a grin, "I'm looking at stocks."

"Trading stocks during a meeting?" Zhang Yuan squeezed his hand so hard he almost broke the phone.

"It's not about trading stocks, it's about watching stocks."

Baoqiang smiled broadly, as if he were flirting with him.

"Huayi's stock!"

"what?"

"Oh!"

"Hey……"

As soon as he said that, all the artists who had been "listening attentively" started whispering among themselves.

Everyone knows that Zhang Yuan owns shares in Huayi.

Everyone knows that Huayi is going public!

Mr. Wang, Mr. Wang, when will Huayi become a listed company?

Just today!

At this moment, inside the lobby on the eighth floor of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

Some of Huayi's senior executives and a few artists gathered here.

At 9:30 a.m., Huayi Brothers Media Corporation officially went public!

The brothers Wang Zhongjun and Wang Zhonglei followed the tradition of the listing bell-ringing ceremony, which was invented by the New York Stock Exchange in the 19th century and has been passed down to this day.

With resounding clang, the nation was informed that the first film and entertainment company to be listed domestically in mainland China had been officially born!

However, in New York, they use small wooden hammers to strike a large brass bell, similar to a celebratory bell.

The Shenzhen Stock Exchange, on the other hand, incorporated Chinese culture by hanging a bronze bell with a red rope.

It's similar to what you usually see in temples.

Use an ebony hammer to strike it.

The real "bell-ringing" takes place domestically.

Only a portion of the people from Huayi arrived.

Celebrities like Feng Xiaogang and Luo Haiqiong were present, but most young artists did not appear at the bell-ringing ceremony.

It's not that I'm not qualified or that I don't have time.

The Wang brothers wished there were as many people as possible.

But the Shenzhen Stock Exchange knows that every listed company has this mentality.

Therefore, a rule was set that no more than 30 people could enter the venue when the bell was rung.

Otherwise, do you believe someone would dare to sell tickets?
Of these companies that can go public, nine out of ten are money-grubbing and will never let go of any opportunity to make money.

After the bell-ringing ceremony, the senior executives of Huayi Group went to the grand hall of a nearby five-star hotel.

Hua Yi had already booked an entire floor there!
Clap clap clap clap!
When the two Wang brothers came together, the applause was deafening!

They wanted to tear the roof off.

Especially those who received the rights issue.

The joyful smile on his face was something no amount of acting could fake.

money!
money!
money!
It's all money!
The pupils of these people are now shaped like US dollar symbols.

At least that one is now worth tens of millions!
Li Bingbing, Huang Xiaoming, and others who came earlier and became more famous have earned tens of millions!
The bearded man also arrived, his smile even more menacing.

The value of his shares exceeds 100 million.

Aside from the Wang brothers, the biggest beneficiary at the scene was Feng Xiaogang.

His two front teeth are almost tanned today.

Because he kept grinning, he just couldn't stop!
Even when facing interviews from invited reporters…

"Director Feng, what are your feelings right now?"

Feng Xiaogang's eyes narrowed into slits with laughter.

"I will stay at this company until the very end!"

"I'm going to follow Boss Wang to the very end!"

What defines talent?

That's what you call talent.

How did Director Feng manage to rise from the lowest-ranking nobody in the compound to his current position?

Ask him how he felt about going public.

He didn't express his emotions at that moment.

They didn't say how they planned to spend the money.

It's to show loyalty!
When it comes to currying favor with superiors, Director Feng is practically a benchmark figure in the Chinese film industry.

The Wang brothers were overjoyed to hear this; they were easily swayed by his words.

The other artists, seeing this, secretly felt it was a pity.

Why didn't I think of saying that!
They all followed suit and pledged their loyalty.

But the effect is never as good as the first one.

Huayi's IPO price was 28 yuan.

The opening price was 63 yuan.

It more than doubled.

A large screen was specially set up in the hotel lobby to display real-time stock price updates.

At noon, the price rose all the way from 63 yuan to over 90 yuan!
Feng Xiaogang was so happy he was practically grinning from ear to ear!

Because at this price, the 288 million shares of Huayi stock he held were worth more than 2.5 million!
How many years would it take to earn that much money by filming?

The Wang brothers became worth billions overnight!
Wang Zhonglei has already booked a flight and plans to travel and celebrate after finishing up his recent business.

Wang Zhongjun, on the other hand, had already made arrangements with several auction houses, planning to go to Hong Kong to indulge in some refined pursuits and spend some money.

I'm planning to buy some famous paintings and antiques.

People who have enough to eat and wear think about collecting things.

The two brothers had already reserved a villa in the suburbs of Beijing and were ready to buy it as soon as it went on the market.

In addition, they also planned to cash out as soon as possible.

The plan is to turn these companies' money into their own.

Then use that money to invest in some promising emerging companies.

Anyway, my mindset has already "exploded," I'm so happy I'm bursting.

Anyone who becomes a billionaire overnight would go crazy.

Those who can recover and adjust their mindset within a few weeks possess the demeanor of a great general.

Those who can recover in a few months are truly exceptional.

Because ordinary people may never recover from this, until they have lost all their wealth.

Just look at those rural residents who were relocated due to land expropriation and you'll understand.

Countless people have gambled away their entire compensation money from demolished properties.

Many gambling operations follow the demolition teams.

But there are also completely different ones.

Because in Nanluoguxiang, Beijing, there is another person who doesn't need to slow down at all.

"Boss, Huayi is listed on the stock exchange!" Baoqiang smiled, his eyes crinkling with wrinkles.

"Yes."

"I also sent a thank-you and congratulatory video message."

Zhang Yuan answered calmly.

He has no right to go on such a day, nor does he want to.

But proper etiquette is still necessary.

I recorded a video.

"Thank you, Huayi, for your tremendous support throughout my growth."

"Without Huayi, I wouldn't have achieved what I have today."

"I will always remember the days I fought alongside Huayi."

"The fact that it is now listed on the stock exchange proves that Huayi is a great company and will be forever recorded in the history of Chinese cinema!"

In the lobby of a hotel in Shenzhen, videos of celebrities who were unable to attend were being played in public.

He's the first one!

"This lad knows how to talk," the king said in a good mood.

"Yes, I watched it yesterday, and it's still so festive today. I don't get tired of it at all."

Feng Xiaogang's face immediately fell three degrees.

I watched it yesterday?
Doesn't that mean that the prize of being the first to pledge loyalty was snatched away by that kid?

Zhang Yuan's words were kind, but not entirely true.

Some things may be recorded in history, but the way they are evaluated and evaluated is another matter.

Anyway, it's fine to sing celebratory songs at this time.

Back in the capital.

Baoqiang continued speaking in a cheeky manner.

"Then, brother..."

"How much are your shares worth?"

He was genuinely curious.

After asking, I felt it was inappropriate.

If the eldest brother doesn't want to talk, he'll give himself another electric shock.

Zhang Yuan raised his eyebrows and pondered for a moment.

He didn't seem to care and didn't intend to keep it a secret.

And letting people know you have money isn't necessarily a bad thing.

"If we calculate based on today's highest stock price..."

"perhaps."

"That is to say."

"Not enough..."

He pinched his fingers.

"Seven hundred million, I suppose." (End of Chapter)