In Hong Kong, we build a global business empire

Chapter 691 Acquisition for HK$3 Million?
At 10:20 a.m., Lam Ho-yin and his son Lam Man-on appeared together at the TVB building on Broadcast Drive in Kowloon Tong.

As a major shareholder and vice chairman of the board of directors of TVB, Lam Ho-yin can be described as extremely irresponsible.

The last time I was in Kowloon Tong was in early January.

After that, he went to Japan after the New Year and stayed there for several months.

Nearly three months passed after I returned to Hong Kong.

So, it had been seven or eight months since I last came here.

However, Lin Haoran showed no remorse whatsoever.

After all, he had already told Shao Yifu that he would not interfere too much in the affairs here.

Not to mention TVB, he doesn't even bother with his own companies, which are wholly owned by him.

He has always trusted his subordinates and being a hands-off manager is his style of doing things. In his words, this is what it means to make money while lying down.

For Lam Ho-yin, TVB was more of a tool for public opinion.

As for making money?

Any one of his sizable companies is more profitable than TVB.

Therefore, he never really cared about the control of TVB.

As long as he remains a major shareholder, TVB will provide him with the assistance he needs whenever he requires it, such as in terms of public opinion.

However, he also knew that his sixth uncle would be happy if he didn't interfere.

After all, like most Chinese business owners in Hong Kong, Uncle Six prefers to manage his company personally. To put it bluntly, it's driven by a desire for power and a lack of trust in others.

Unlike Lin Haoran, these Chinese business owners do not possess a magic touch to identify loyalty, which makes it impossible for them to completely hand over management control to professional managers.

As the car drove into the building, the security guard at the entrance immediately spotted the license plate of Lin Haoran's Rolls-Royce and stood up straight to salute him.

As I got out of the car, I could see that the entire TVB building was bustling with activity, with many staff members walking around in a hurry.

Since TVB's ratings began to consistently outperform RTV's, RTV has rarely seen its ratings surpass those of TVB.

In a month, there were very few days when RTV's ratings surpassed RTV's. Sometimes, for the entire month, TVB's ratings were far ahead of RTV's.

It has almost become the norm for TVB ratings to exceed 70% and ATV ratings to fall below 30%.

As a result, TVB's advertising fees were several times higher than those of RTV.

Moreover, TVB's advertising slots are highly sought after, with advertisers vying for them constantly.
In contrast, ATV has been cutting its advertising revenue again and again, but it still can't reverse its decline.

Earlier this year, after the Australian consortium completed its acquisition of RTV (Rediffusion Television) in Hong Kong, it immediately attempted to inject capital into the station in an effort to revitalize its viewership and ultimately give it the strength to truly compete with TVB.

In the following months, they made a series of moves, first by holding the Asian Amateur Singer Competition, and then by spending a huge sum of money to buy the film and television rights to several Hong Kong martial arts novels for production.

Unfortunately, due to the low ratings of RTV (Rediffusion Television), the singing competition did not attract many elite participants.

Hong Kong singers with musical dreams clearly prefer the singing competitions held by TVB, since they have more opportunities to become famous and make a name for themselves there.

Nowadays, everyone knows that TVB is the largest television company in Hong Kong.

In Lin Haoran's memory of his previous life, after RTV was acquired by an Australian consortium, the Asian Amateur Singer Competition it held was a star-studded event, successfully signing a group of famous artists who would later become very popular, including Zhang Guorong, Mao Shunjun, Shao Yinyin, and Yu Shali.

However, last month, RTV held the Asian Amateur Singer Contest again. Lin Haoran saw the final results in the newspaper and found that none of the artists signed were people he knew from his previous life.

The reason is self-evident: whether it's Leslie Cheung, Teresa Mo, Shao Yinyin, Yu Shali, or others, they have all already been "captured" by the singing competition previously held by TVB, and none of them have been left out!
The two men led Li Weidong and Li Weiguo steadily into the TVB office building.

The remaining bodyguards dutifully stayed outside to wait.

The building was bustling with people.

When everyone saw Lin Haoran, they were all surprised and stopped in their tracks to greet him respectfully, their faces full of admiration and respect.

For a time, greetings such as "Good morning, Mr. Lin," "Good morning, Mr. Lin," and "Good morning, Chairman Lin" rose and fell in succession.

Many beautiful girls frequently flirted with Lin Haoran, trying to attract his attention.

Lam Ho-yin, one of the bosses of TVB, is one of the richest men in Hong Kong. Recently, he has become even more famous and has become the most prominent figure in Hong Kong because he actually "overturned" the famous Hui Fung Bank.

With such a legendary figure as their boss, the employees naturally feel extremely proud and walk with a swagger.

It's a pity that although Lam Ho-yin is the boss of TVB, he rarely sets foot here. It's extremely difficult for people to even see him.

Lin Haoran responded to the employees' warm greetings with a smile, showing his approachability.

As the group arrived at the elevator, a sexy and beautiful young woman immediately stepped forward and eagerly pressed the elevator button for them.

TVB is never short of young and beautiful girls. After all, television stations are an important part of the entertainment industry, so it's perfectly normal for there to be a plethora of beauties.

Given Lin Haoran's current status, if he were to beckon with his finger, countless young and beautiful girls with all sorts of ulterior motives would flock to him like moths to a flame.

But he merely smiled faintly, his gaze calm, showing no sign of being swayed by these overt or covert gestures of goodwill.

Soon, the group arrived at the door of the chairman's office.

Inside the office, Uncle Six, Shao Yifu, sat upright in his chair, wearing reading glasses, intently looking at a document in his hand.

Hearing the noise outside the door, he subconsciously looked through the glass window and saw Lin Haoran and Lin Wan'an. He immediately got up and walked quickly to the door to open it to greet them.

"Haoran, Brother Lin, you've finally arrived! Please come in, please come in." Shao Yifu's face was full of warm smiles.

Although he was genuinely surprised to see Lin Wan'an come along, he didn't show it on his face.

After all, as Lin Haoran's father, Lin Wan'an could be said to have gained status because of his son. Even powerful figures in Hong Kong would treat him as an equal.

After the door closed, only three people remained in the office.

"Uncle, thank you for your hard work. You've managed TVB so successfully, making it a leader in Hong Kong's television industry. I, as a shareholder, feel ashamed," Lin Haoran said with a smile, his tone full of sincere appreciation.

Shao Yifu waved his hand and replied with a smile: "Haoran, you flatter me. TVB's achievements today are inseparable from everyone's joint efforts. I just did what I was supposed to do."

Moreover, although you don't come to the company often, your vision and decisions have played a crucial role in the development of TVB. Without your advice, TVB would hardly have achieved its current success.

These were Shaw Yi-fu's honest thoughts. If it weren't for Lin Hao-ran's suggestions based on advice from television stations in later years, even if Shaw Yi-fu became the chairman of TVB, he would be no better than RTV.

"Alright, Sixth Uncle, let's stop flattering each other." Lin Haoran first pulled out a chair for Lin Wan'an, and after his father was settled, he pulled out another chair for himself, sat down calmly, and his expression became serious. "I came here this time not only to see the company's situation, but also to discuss something important with you."

Lin Haoran has never liked beating around the bush; his style of doing things is straightforward.

After mentioning the idea of ​​acquiring Shaw Brothers Studio to Lin's father, he specially arranged for Cui Zilong to conduct a thorough investigation of Shaw Brothers Studio.

The survey results show that last year, Shaw Brothers had ambitious plans to shoot 30 films this year.

However, for some unknown reason, the plan was suddenly changed this year, with the number of films being shot reduced from the original 30 to 16, and these films were mostly low-budget productions.

Now, seven or eight months of this year have quietly passed, yet Shaw Brothers has only produced eight films.

Given this situation, it seems unlikely that all 16 films planned for this year will be successfully completed.

Of these released films, the best-performing one at the box office was "The King of Gamblers," which premiered in April and barely reached HK$5 million.

The other films were mostly box office flops, earning only a few hundred thousand Hong Kong dollars. They were not only not profitable, but it was difficult for them to even break even.

Compared to Golden Harvest, the difference is like night and day.

It's clear that Shaw Brothers is in this situation because the current Shaw Yi-fu is more focused on the development of TVB than the one Lin Haoran remembers from his previous life.

After all, TVB is now so successful and radiant that Shaw Brothers has almost no time to attend to the affairs of Shaw Brothers Studio.

Based on these detailed investigation reports, Lin Haoran became increasingly confident in persuading Shao Yifu to transfer Shaw Brothers Film Company to Lin Wan'an.

Seeing Lin Haoran's serious expression, Shao Yifu also became serious.

He sat up slightly, looked at Lin Haoran, and his face still had a kind smile, but with a touch more seriousness: "Haoran, if there's anything important, just say it. There's nothing we can't talk about openly."

Today, Lin Haoran and Shao Yifu have become close partners. Previously, when Lin Haoran was engaged in a business battle with Huifeng Bank, Shao Yifu provided strong assistance by decisively transferring all the funds of his companies and his personal funds from Huifeng Bank to East Asia Bank, which greatly moved Lin Haoran.

This partner is truly reliable.

Lin Haoran understood that Shao Yifu's actions were a gesture of goodwill towards him.

But regardless, he accepted the sentiment.

"Sixth Uncle, what do you think the future of Shaw Brothers Studio will be like?" Lin Haoran asked.

"Shaw Brothers Studio... I think that as television sets become more and more common in Hong Kong, the film industry will inevitably decline sooner or later. In addition, with more and more competitors, the future of Shaw Brothers Studio is probably not very optimistic." Shaw Yi-fu frowned slightly and said after a moment of contemplation.

His words were not without basis.

In recent years, television sets have become increasingly popular in Hong Kong. Although cinemas have not yet suffered a significant blow, the number of television viewers has been growing rapidly.

In particular, TVB's strong rise and rapid development made Shaw keenly aware of the enormous potential contained in the television industry.

In stark contrast, the film industry seems to have hit a growth bottleneck, with little chance of new breakthroughs.

In addition, the rival Golden Harvest Film Company, together with other film companies, launched a campaign to suppress Shaw Brothers, resulting in a continuous loss of talent for Shaw Brothers over the years, especially screenwriters. Anyone who gained even a little fame would be poached by other companies, and Shaw Brothers, who was always stingy, was unwilling to give his employees a raise.

As a result, the quality of Shaw Brothers' films declined steadily, and their box office performance plummeted.

For this reason, Shaw now devotes almost all his energy to the TVB business, while his management of the Shaw Brothers film company, which he founded, is not only much weaker than before, but also shows signs of being left to its own devices.

The TVB in this world is undoubtedly more successful than the TVB in Lin Haoran's previous life, and all of this is due to Lin Haoran's time travel.

Therefore, Shaw Yi-fu's attitude towards Shaw Brothers Studio changed even earlier than expected.

"So, Haoran, what is your purpose in asking about Shaw Brothers' film company?" Shao Yifu asked, puzzled.

He originally thought that Lin Haoran came over to talk about TVB, but unexpectedly the other party talked about Shaw Brothers Studio for no reason, which he couldn't understand at all.

In Lin Haoran's view, television does have good development potential, but the film industry will not decline; on the contrary, it will only get better and better.

As someone who traveled from decades in the future, he had already proven this through the development of history.

However, Lin Haoran naturally wouldn't correct Shao Yifu's idea, since he was now there to help his father acquire Shaw Brothers Studio.

In fact, in Lin Haoran's view, besides having a complete film industry chain, Shaw Brothers' most valuable asset was the copyright of those classic films.

Handing over the entire Shaw Brothers film company to Mr. Lin would definitely save him a lot of trouble and effort.

"Sixth Uncle, my father is quite interested in investing in movies. You must have heard about this, right?" Lin Haoran asked with a smile.

Shao Yifu nodded slightly; he was indeed aware of the matter.

After all, Lin Wan'an had invested in three films. During the film promotion, he always liked to bring up Lin Haoran as a promotional gimmick, with slogans such as "Lin Haoran's father invested with passion" and "Father of Hong Kong's top tycoon invested in the film".

Lin Haoran didn't want to interfere too much with this kind of publicity that used his name to promote himself.

"Sixth Uncle, ever since my father handed over Wan'an Real Estate Company to me to manage, I've found that he can't sit still. So I was thinking of acquiring your Shaw Brothers film company so that my father can tinker with it and have some fun."

"Give me a price, and as long as it's fair, we can discuss it further," Lin Haoran explained with a smile.

“That’s right, Brother Shao. I’ve been in the business world for decades. Suddenly handing over such a large business to my two sons and having so much free time makes me feel really uneasy. Now that my health has improved, I’m even more bored and I’m always thinking about finding something to do!” Lin Wan’an echoed with a sigh.

Upon hearing the purpose of their visit, Shao Yifu's expression became somewhat complicated, and his gaze swept back and forth between Lin Haoran and Lin Wan'an.

He knew perfectly well that although Shaw Brothers Studio was no longer as glorious as it once was, it was still an industry he had built with countless efforts. It would be a lie to say that he had no feelings for it.

Therefore, he never considered selling Shaw Brothers Studio.

After a moment of silence, Shao Yifu slowly spoke: "Brother Lin, Haoran, Shaw Brothers Studio has a very special meaning to me. It has witnessed my journey from entering the film industry to becoming a big name in the industry. Every film carries my dreams and memories."

Lin Wan'an nodded slightly, his face showing understanding: "Brother Shao, I completely understand your feelings. However, I am indeed quite interested in film investment and am thinking of having a complete platform to make good use of my talents."

Furthermore, I guarantee that after the acquisition, we will treat Shaw Brothers Studio well and will not allow it to decline.

Lin Haoran chimed in, "Sixth Uncle, my father has always been a pragmatist. If he takes over, he will definitely put in the effort to revitalize Shaw Brothers. As you know, you are currently focusing your main efforts on TVB, so it's inevitable that you won't be able to take care of Shaw Brothers."

If things continue like this, the decline of Shaw Brothers Studio is only a matter of time. Rather than letting it decline slowly, it's better to hand it over to my father, who might be able to create a new era of glory.

Furthermore, if Uncle Six agrees, I can promise that as long as TVB is managed by you, I will not contest your control of TVB, and my shareholding will not increase further!

Shao Yifu sighed softly, stood up, and paced back and forth in his office, deep in thought.

He recalled the various difficulties that Shaw Brothers had faced in recent years, including talent loss and dismal box office returns. Although he was determined to turn things around, he was simply unable to do so.

TVB, on the other hand, is at its peak and definitely needs his full attention.

However, the acquisition proposal came too suddenly; he hadn't even considered it.

So for a moment, he couldn't make up his mind, unsure whether to agree or refuse.

"Let me think about this!" Shao Yifu stood up from his office chair and paced back and forth in the office, his expression serious and his brows furrowed.

Clearly, this matter put him in a very difficult position, and he didn't know what to do for a moment.

The office fell silent for a moment, with only the sound of Shao Yifu pacing back and forth.

After a long while, he finally walked back to his chair.

“Brother Lin, Haoran, it’s not that I don’t want Shaw Brothers to have a good future, it’s just that the price is a problem…” Shao Yifu stopped, a hint of hesitation in his eyes.

Lin Haoran and Lin Wan'an's words did indeed make him soften his stance on selling Shaw Brothers Film Company.

In particular, Lin Haoran's promise that as long as he was in charge of TVB, he would not take over from him and would not increase his shareholding was what deeply moved him.

In Hong Kong, everyone knows that Lin Haoran is someone who particularly likes to privatize companies. Except for those companies that cannot be privatized, he will almost always privatize the companies he has his eye on. It is precisely because of this that Shao Yifu has always been somewhat worried.

Now that Lin Haoran has taken the initiative to make this promise, it has undoubtedly put his mind at ease.

In addition, I am currently short of energy and find it difficult to assess both sides. Rather than watching the Shaw Brothers film company that I founded decline, I would rather sell it and let it rise again.

He was well aware of the Lin family's strength, so developing Shaw Brothers Studio wouldn't be too difficult.

He was also a decisive person. Since he believed that the film industry would decline in the future, selling off Shaw Brothers might be the best outcome.

Moreover, this will also enhance the friendship between him and Lin Haoran.

Lin Haoran was overjoyed, knowing that Shao Yifu was showing signs of softening his stance, and quickly said, "Sixth Uncle, please name your price. As long as it's reasonable, we absolutely won't haggle."
My main reason for acquiring Shaw Brothers Studio was to make my father happy, to give this restless man something to do, and also to reach a mutually satisfactory deal with you.

Lin Wan'an also said with a smile, "Brother Shao, we are both straightforward people, so let's not dwell on the price for too long. Give us a fair price, and we'll settle this matter quickly."

Shao Yifu returned to his seat and, after pondering for a long time, said, "Haoran is indeed filial. I admire Brother Lin for that. How about this, although Shaw Brothers is not doing well at the moment, it still has a complete industrial chain and rich film copyrights. Selling it to you is not impossible."

However, I have a condition: Shaw Brothers Studios, under the Shaw Brothers Film Company, must be sold to TVB at a low price. Shaw Brothers can continue to use it, but the ownership must be transferred to TVB!

Lin Haoran and Lin Wan'an exchanged a glance, and the scene fell silent once again.

The land where Shaw Brothers' film studio is located in Clearwater Bay is something that can be bought with money, so Lin Haoran didn't really care.

Shaw Brothers Studios may be very valuable in the future, but it is still too remote. When the impending real estate crisis breaks out, it will be easy for him to buy land in a better location.

Therefore, Lin Haoran didn't care about that.

"As for the price, I currently hold 61% of Shaw Brothers' shares. Based on market value, Shaw Brothers' current market value is approximately HK$4.91 million. I will sell my shares to you for HK$3 million. What do you think?" Shaw Yi-fu continued.

Shaw Brothers Studio is a publicly listed company; it went public in 1971.

However, Shaw Yi-fu has always controlled the majority of the shares.

This is why Lin Haoran, since he wanted to acquire Shaw Brothers Studio, didn't start with the stock market.

Because if Shaw Brothers' circulating shares are not persuaded, then even if they are acquired, it will not make much sense.

(End of this chapter)