Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 195 The GEM is not bad either!
Zhang Chao sighed secretly. What was coming had finally come. He was not very interested in merging with Huayi and going public together.

Firstly, he had no big ambitions for the positioning and development of "Midnight Tide". For now, he can only do a good job in protecting literary works, developing copyrights of works, and taking into account the planning and operation of some literary creative projects.

Secondly, it is not so easy to get on the "pirate ship" of Huayi. Huayi was indeed very prosperous when it first went public, but soon the Wang brothers, who were so successful, started to do all kinds of things, such as spending hundreds of millions to buy Van Gogh's paintings or building a film and television city. The reputation of the "Huayi system" was also in a mess.

In the literary agency business, it doesn't matter if the scale is small, what matters is that the reputation is not bad. Writers are a bit obsessed with this issue. Liu Zhenyun is such a good top writer, but because he is too closely tied to Feng Xiaogang and Huayi, his reputation has been damaged.

As for the number represented by Wang Zhongjun's shaking index finger, he had no interest at all. 1 million, Shanxi Xing Youtian's money was real money in Hong Kong Island, and he only had to agree to be his cheap son-in-law.

However, Wang Zhongjun invited him politely after all, so Zhang Chao couldn't refuse too bluntly, so he said: "I have other ideas about the development of 'Midnight Tide', so its independence is very important. Unless..."

Wang Zhongjun said quickly: "We will guarantee the independence of Midnight Tide to the greatest extent possible. Apart from the consolidated financial statements required for listing, everything about Midnight Tide will still be controlled by you! - Okay, you say, 'unless' what?"

Zhang Chao smiled and said, "Unless I am removed from the merger, that is, my personal work will be independent from 'Midnight Tide'. I think only in this way will Huayi invest resources to develop 'Midnight Tide' well."

This sentence hit Wang Zhongjun's heart like a bullet, causing the expression on his face to twist. However, he managed to suppress it with the self-control he had acquired from more than ten years of experience in the business world.

What Huayi needs most for its listing is net profit. Now in the entire domestic cultural circle, including the entertainment industry, there is no project that can generate more "net profit" than Zhang Chao's novels.

Even though Feng Xiaogang's movies in the past two years have easily earned 1 million or 8 million yuan at the box office, in fact, as the producer, Huayi can only get a share of the box office, and after deducting the production costs, the revenue for a movie when the box office is good is only 2 to 3 million yuan.

But not every director in a film and television company is Feng Xiaogang, and it is impossible for every movie to make money. At least half of the money earned from Feng Xiaogang's movies must be lost in other projects.

Can Feng Xiaogang guarantee that his next movie will make money? Even Spielberg doesn't dare to say so.

Zhang Chao is different. He can produce almost two novels a year, with sales of millions at least. In addition, his previous works still provide royalties continuously. His royalty income in China alone is no less than 2 million.

What's more, he has a large amount of overseas income, including American royalties from "Gone Girl" and "The Great Doctor", royalties and peripheral products from Japan's Shueisha and Kadokawa, and royalties from Taiwan and Hong Kong. Although Zhang Chao has never revealed how much he has, Huayi Company estimated during an internal meeting that the total amount should exceed domestic revenue.

It can even be said that the "net profit" generated by Zhang Chao alone may exceed that of the entire Huayi company in some years.

What is Zhang Chao's creative cost? Apart from time, it can be said to be almost zero.

The income from the works of other writers signed by "Midnight Tide" currently does not even add up to Zhang Chao's domestic royalties.

Therefore, the acquisition of "Midnight Tide" is actually to incorporate Zhang Chao's annual income of tens of millions into Huayi's financial statements. Of course, it is not for nothing. Brother Wang Zhongjun has not regarded Zhang Chao as a fool, so he will naturally give enough returns.

He also had a hidden little idea that he didn't want to tell outsiders - if he could successfully tie Zhang Chao to Huayi, then Huayi's business would change from walking on two legs to walking on three legs. The previous two legs were Feng Xiaogang's movie box office and Wang Jinghua's artist management. These two legs were certainly fast and steady, but Feng Xiaogang and Wang Jinghua's teams were very independent and would negotiate with him at any time.

Although Zhang Chao is not under his control, if he is used well, he can counter Feng Xiaogang and Wang Jinghua. Only when there is a three-way balance of power can he and his brother sit firmly on the Diaoyutai.

Zhang Chao's idea is not like this. He will merge the income from his works into Huayi's financial statements. After the listing, he may get tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of additional income. But for Zhang Chao now, the money has reached a certain level. Any more is just a string of numbers and is not very attractive to him.

Not to mention that in the United States, there will be a century-long short waiting for him to speculate in the next two years. The extra income that Huayi's listing will bring him is almost unlikely to be comparable to this speculation.

The money used for speculation was mainly the royalties from Gone Girl and The Great Doctor that had been kept in the United States and had not been remitted back. In another year, the total amount should exceed 1 million US dollars.

If the income from his works is incorporated into Huayi's financial statements, then the money earned from speculation will be considered his own or Huayi's? Should it be made public? Although there are certainly ways to circumvent it, why bother?

The two of them were thinking about their own little thoughts. After a long while, Wang Zhongjun said bitterly: "It seems that Zhang Chao has no interest in participating in Huayi's listing plan?"

Zhang Chao said: "This plan may be very tempting to others. But frankly speaking, it doesn't mean much to me. I value the purity of 'Midnight Tide' as a literary agency more. Now several projects we are running have good prospects.

If Huayi is willing to participate, I believe it will bring you good returns. This will also help Huayi to go public on the main board in a few years. As for my own work, I believe Huayi has already evaluated its value internally, right? "

Wang Zhongjun nodded and said, "There's nothing to hide. We estimate that if you are willing to merge 'Midnight Tide' into our Huayi, you will be the largest shareholder besides us two brothers, and your shareholding ratio will even exceed that of my brother Zhonglei...

After the listing, your net worth should not be less than 3 million RMB, and may even be higher, 5 million or 6 million is possible."

Zhang Chao shook his head and said, "Have you ever calculated how long it will take for the income from my works to reach 3 million? Besides, the 3 million you mentioned is the market value of stocks, not cash. I need to take money out of the stock market, and as a major shareholder, I have to issue a notice to reduce my holdings.

If I sell too much and the stock price drops, I will be scolded. This kind of "3 million" really doesn't mean much to me. But if you have a subscription plan before the listing, I can buy some."

Wang Zhongjun's expression darkened, knowing that it was impossible to convince Zhang Chao. Then where else could he find a net profit growth point that could help Huayi enter the main board?

Zhang Chao said in a comforting tone: "Boss Wang, it's not bad to be listed on the Growth Enterprise Market! I congratulate you and your brother in advance on becoming billionaires! If there's nothing else, I'll leave first."

After saying that, he picked up his backpack and left the tea room in a leisurely manner, leaving Wang Zhongjun alone, feeling lonely in front of the cold tea.

(End of this chapter)