The world is in trouble

Chapter 247 The Final Moment! A Full-Scale Counterattack!
Søren Colombia even held a small victory celebration.

Previously, Lin Xiao signed a betting agreement with Columbia Pictures for a global box office of over $70 million, but he boasted that the target would be $100 million.

Unexpectedly, it eventually exceeded $2.5 million.

This brought a huge surprise to the whole of Colombia.

The collaboration with the Lightning Corporation is also considered a stroke of genius by Amy Pascal.

The success of "The Last Days" will bring Columbia Pictures tens of millions of dollars in profits.

Excluding China, Japan, and South Korea, the box office revenue from other countries combined exceeds $100 million. Sony Classics, as the distributor, will receive over $30 million from these box office revenues alone.

Not to mention that Columbia was also the producer, accounting for nearly a third of the production share.

In the Chinese market, a film's revenue largely comes from box office revenue sharing. However, in the European and American markets, box office revenue sharing only accounts for about half of a film's profits. The other major source is videotapes and DVDs, which can amount to tens of millions of dollars.

Of course, this portion of the revenue will also be shared with Lightning Group.

But Sony made a fortune from this deal.

Even some films that gross four or five hundred million dollars worldwide may not generate such high profits.

Therefore, when Jiayuan.com rang the Nasdaq bell, Tom Bernard, the global president of Columbia Pictures and founder of Sony Classics, was also present.

Later, when Lin Xiao led a team to visit Sony Pictures, they even laid out a red carpet for them.

And for him, a very high-class party was held.

Many Hollywood stars were also invited to participate.

It includes not only celebrities, but also directors, producers, and more.

"I convinced the board to agree to a joint venture to create an animation studio."

Lin Xiao said, "How about we call it 'Eastern Fantasy Dream'?"

Amy pointed at Lin Xiao with her drunken, dazed eyes, her gaze telling him that he was pushing his luck again.

“Okay, you’re the boss.” Then she shrugged.

In Hollywood, if you win, everything you say is right.

Because the value war between China and the United States has not yet begun.

"There's a masquerade ball later, do you want to go?" Amy asked. "There will be many famous female celebrities and supermodels there, you definitely won't be disappointed."

Lin Xiao: "Is it the kind of person I imagined?"

Amy: "Yes, just like you imagine."

Lin Xiao: "Are you participating?"

Amy Pascal: "You're flirting with me, Lin!"

"I'm over forty, are you sure? You should know I'm not very good at rejecting a little boy like you."

This female CEO is indeed quite attractive; even though she is over forty, she still retains her charm.

Of course, Lin Xiao wasn't really that thirsty; it was just another way of rejecting him.

Hollywood's power structure is extremely chaotic, almost as chaotic as South Korea's entertainment industry.

This invitation, in a way, is also a form of domestication, but Lin Xiao does not accept this domestication.

Amy, of course, understood Lin Xiao's tactful refusal and shrugged: "That's a pity, otherwise you would have been amazed."

"By the way, I heard you've encountered a serious crisis in the heart of the internet industry?"

Lin Xiao: "Why is this rumor circulating?"

Amy: "Don't forget, Masayoshi Son is also one of our partners. Although his business is so vast that he can't possibly manage the small investment in Dream Vision, we still maintain a certain friendship."

"Lin, have you ever thought about focusing on the film and television industry?"

“You are a genius in this area. I think if you focus on this industry, you will achieve even greater success, and a super giant will emerge.”

Lin Xiao: "I am a greedy person and I am not satisfied with achievements in any particular field."

Amy: "Does that include mature women like me?"

"Lin, your clarity of mind might make people in the industry uncomfortable."

"However, I respect your wishes."

....................................

The following day, Sony Columbia held a press conference.

They will be partnering with Lightning Group to establish an animation studio.

The animation studio's first film, Kung Fu Panda, had an investment of over $1.3 million.

This news still caused a huge sensation in Hollywood.

There are two aspects to why Sony Columbia would choose to cooperate with a Chinese company.
Secondly, Sony Columbia is actually going to enter the animated film market?

This is a double adventure!

Although Disney's "Mulan" was successful before this, it was also produced by Disney on its own.

Sony Columbia is already weak in animated films, and now it wants to cooperate with an even weaker Chinese company?
A weak-weak alliance?
And it's a 3D animated movie?

Sony and Columbia have never done this, and the entire Chinese film industry has never done it either.

The previous investment of several million dollars in "The Last Days" was just a hobby, but now they're going to invest 1.3 million US dollars?
MGM invested $1.15 million in "Windtalkers" with Chinese director John Woo, but it was a box office flop, indirectly leading to MGM's bankruptcy. Have you forgotten?

However, Sony Columbia would never do a business that loses money. With a budget of $130 million for "Kung Fu Panda", they would invest no more than $50 million. The rest would either be paid out entirely by Lin Xiao or they would seek out other investors.

The profits they earned from their collaboration with Lin Xiao have far exceeded fifty million US dollars.

..........................................

The following day, Lin Xiao met with Masayoshi Son.

“Lin, several months have passed,” Masayoshi Son said. “You have achieved great success in the film and television industry, but your core business in the internet sector is not doing so well.”

"I have already contacted people at Android. Their situation is indeed very bad, and there is probably no hope of it getting better for the next few years."

It seems that Android has no hope at present.

Motorola and Nokia were still at their peak.

Nokia had its own Symbian system, while Motorola was working with Microsoft.

The iPhone, which Apple is trying to change the world, is still nowhere in sight.

Therefore, at this stage, Android really couldn't see any future.

Masayoshi Son: "We've been in contact with them, and their asking price was around 70 to 80 million US dollars. But this time, the investment for 'Kung Fu Panda' is 130 million US dollars. Will you be contributing most of the investment yourself?"

Lin Xiao: "That's right."

Masayoshi Son said, "The production cycle for this film is at least two years. And you are not DreamWorks or Pixar. You need to build a team from scratch and poach core members from your competitors. So this $1.3 million investment is likely to go over budget."

Lin Xiao: "That's right."

Masayoshi Son: "You really are a patriot."

He succinctly revealed the truth.

If the sole purpose is to make money, then they could easily produce several high-return works like "The Last Days" instead of going through the trouble of making an incredibly expensive 3D animated film.

The investment of over 100 million US dollars in producing "Kung Fu Panda" was entirely aimed at enhancing China's film industry capabilities.

Because half of this animation studio will be located in China.

In other words, the team and industry need to be established while making this "Kung Fu Panda".

“But this will make your already tight cash flow even tighter,” Masayoshi Son said. “When Jiayuan.com went public, you raised nearly $100 million. Even if you can use complicated means to get this money over there, you can’t get it all over there. You have to keep a portion to develop Jiayuan.com. You can’t just sell your shares and cash out.”

“At this point, if you still want to acquire Android, you won’t see any return for several years, and you’ll have to invest tens of millions of dollars to support it every year.”

"Lin, isn't your vision a bit too far ahead?"

Lin Xiao: "Mr. Sun, are you very dissatisfied with the development of Facebook in the United States?"

Masayoshi Son: "It's not just Facebook in the US. I think your energy is too scattered. I know the entertainment industry is important to you, but don't you treat it as a cash cow? Its role is just to provide for you. Now you're investing so much time and energy into it, while neglecting your core business, the internet industry."

"Don't be fooled by the fact that the entertainment industry can bring you huge profits every year; its ceiling is very low."

"The internet industry, however, has no upper limit. In the future, its profit scale may be dozens of times that of the entertainment industry."

"While 'Doomsday Journey' was a huge success worldwide, your competitors were making rapid progress in the fundamentals of the internet industry."

Then, Masayoshi Son looked at Lin Xiao and said, "Lin, Yang Zhiyuan invited me to China to visit Renren Group. What's your opinion?"

Lin Xiao said, "I think it would be good to go."

Masayoshi Son: "Really?"

Lin Xiao: "From the bottom of my heart, many times, you can't see the problem just by looking at the data and reports; you have to go deeper."

This is also why Lin Xiao is unwilling to accept investment in Facebook China.

Because investors focus on the data, on the financial statements, and eventually on the financial reports.

Even someone as professional as Masayoshi Son can be misled by superficial glamour.

Masayoshi Son: "Lin, I am still your ally. But once Yang Zhiyuan and I actually visit Renren Group in China, and once they really show outstanding results, then everything will be irreversible."

....................................

Next, Lin Xiao went to Erdog Studio, the studio that developed Fallout 3, and then visited their strategic ally, Epic Games.

Next, he visited Facebook in the United States.

The entire Facebook branch in the United States has several dozen employees.

When Lin Xiao, the big boss, arrived, the atmosphere was still not enthusiastic. The attitudes of the leadership were still good, but the employees under their command were indeed undisciplined and lax.

It could even be described as unruly.

Feng Xian said awkwardly, "I'm sorry, President Lin!"

He wanted to explain that American employees are like that—very free-spirited and very self-centered.

But that's complete bullshit.

This is because Facebook in the US was established rather hastily and did not have a very strong core team. The team that Feng Xian brought was not strong enough, and in order to so-called localize, many white people were recruited.

Because they were so generous in poaching talent and offered such good benefits, these white employees looked down on them.

Moreover, they believe they are the most advanced in the internet industry, and often look down on orders from the group.

Moreover, within this small branch office, there was a local faction and a Chinese faction, who were actually opposed to each other.

Compared to the atmosphere at Er Gou Studio?
It's completely different worlds.

Lin Xiao did not react at the time; instead, he smiled.

"The company burned through nearly twenty million US dollars in less than a year," Lin Xiao said. "Was there any corruption involved?"

Feng Xian trembled as he said, "Boss, although I am not capable enough, I can withstand any test when it comes to finances. I treat the company as my own home and would never steal anything."

Ugh!
Feng Xian is loyal, but his personal abilities are still insufficient.

They couldn't understand Lin Xiao's implied meaning at all.

Upon hearing Lin Xiao's words, her first instinctive reaction was to distance herself from the situation.

“What I mean is, it would be best if there was corruption involved, you understand?” Lin Xiao said slowly, “Next, you need to investigate whether there is any corruption involved. If there is, find a way to get the evidence.”

Next, Feng Xian will definitely be replaced.

If Wu Lingxi could take the helm of Facebook in the US, that would be the best outcome.

But no matter who comes, they need to have evidence of corruption. Then, they need to use swift and decisive measures to send several people to jail, completely shocking the entire company.

Completely reshape the tone of the entire company.

"Did you understand?" Lin Xiao asked.

Feng Xian: "I understand."

"I will fully implement your ideas and strive to lay a good foundation for my successor."

At this point, you finally understood.

....................................

Then, Lin Xiao went straight back to China.

When Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang heard the news, his face turned completely cold.

You, Lin Xiao, are truly arrogant.

In fact, Yang Zhiyuan had been waiting all along, waiting for Lin Xiao to take the initiative to visit him.

As a result, he went straight back to China?
what do you mean?
I was about to invest in Renren Group, and I was even going to get Masayoshi Son to invest in Renren Group with me, and you didn't try to stop me at all?

Why didn't you come to me to beg for mercy?

Mr. Cai from Alibaba has visited us several times already.

Wu Lingxi and Liao Feng from Renren Group have visited countless times.

They all see me as the key figure, even as a savior.

You, Lin Xiao, are the only one who hasn't visited me, even though you've already come to America?

I'm willing to give you a chance, but if you don't seize it, then don't blame me.

Afterwards, Yang Zhiyuan called Masayoshi Son.

"Has Lin always been this unruly?"

Masayoshi Son: "He is very opinionated."

Masayoshi Son also noticed this: Lin Xiao was very willing to make concessions and didn't even care that his partners made huge profits.

Sony Columbia's investment in the "Doomsday Journey" project alone was not large, but the profits they made were actually more than those of Lightning Corporation.

However, throughout the entire collaboration, Lin Xiao maintained the initiative.

He would rather not cooperate than lose control.

Yang Zhiyuan: "What have you thought about that matter? Would you like to come with me to visit Renren Group?"

Masayoshi Son: "Sure!"

................................................

domestic!

Once Yang Zhiyuan and Son Zhengyi confirmed the trip, Renren Group immediately launched a massive publicity campaign.

Liao Feng even shouted the slogan of "the decisive moment" within the company!

Last month!

It's 99% successful!

This last month, let's push for that final 1%!

Completely defeat Facebook.

The entire Renren website regarded Yang Zhiyuan and Son Zhengyi's upcoming visit as a huge victory signal.

When the second annual Renren Night is held, that will be the moment to declare victory.

The entire company was energized.

Only Wu Lingxi seemed somewhat worried.

Because she was always keeping an eye on Renren.com's core data.

The Super Girl strategy, coupled with the celebrity onboarding strategy, and the influx of traffic from Renren Video.

This caused Renren.com's traffic to reach an unprecedented peak.

However, Super Girl ended several months ago.

The novelty of celebrities joining the platform has gradually worn off.

The key is……

The celebrities' understanding is still insufficient.

They still believe that they were just doing their jobs for money, rather than treating Renren.com as a huge advertising platform.

Instead, they treated it as a task, so they didn't put their heart into it at all. This is still Renren's own fault; they belittled themselves from the very beginning of the collaboration.

Therefore, Renren.com's PV and IP visits have stagnated again during this period.

Moreover, judging from the curve, it may face a decline next.

At times like this, Wu Lingxi would be in great pain. Without having built up a strong foundation of semi-familiarity, everything she did was inefficient.

Every time, we have to use a big move to stimulate traffic for Renren.com to increase.

And now... there really are no more ultimate moves.

Conversely, Lin Xiao's Facebook page, thanks to its strong semi-acquaintance demographic, has a very strong internal driving force, and its traffic and user numbers have been steadily increasing.

Even Lin Xiao was reluctant to use his ultimate move to provoke it, for fear of breaking its virtuous cycle.

"Spend money, spend a lot of money, generate traffic..."

"Don't be afraid of the price, but make sure it's done well, beautifully," Wu Lingxi ordered.

The trusted aide said, "Why? Our growth has only temporarily stopped, but it should still far surpass Facebook's. There's no need to waste this money."

Wu Lingxi: "Do it right away!"

idiot!

The entire company was immersed in a celebratory atmosphere, a sense of impending victory.

Is this a question of whether the price has stopped rising?

This could lead to a decline.

Over the course of a year, she spent a great deal of money and employed numerous strategies to maintain this prosperous situation.

The more critical the moment, the more we cannot take it lightly.

"Baby, why didn't you ask to see me in America? I really wanted to see you in this foreign land. I even had the urge to run to you and kiss you passionately several times!"

Wu Lingxi received another text message.

"Get lost!" Wu Lingxi replied.

This is the content she replied to the most.

But... almost every time, it was her reply that ended the conversation.

"Baby, I'm sorry, I don't want to taint your nude photos."

Wu Lingxi: "Get out, get out, get out!"

........................

"Boss, three pieces of news!"

"The first piece of news is that YY Voice has surpassed 600 million downloads, with a peak of over 50 concurrent users."

Lin Xiao was taken aback. So fast?
The large-scale application scenarios for YY have not yet arrived, and World of Warcraft has not yet been released.

It's safe to say that Facebook's word-of-mouth effect is truly powerful.

Moreover, the number of times the application is used is very conservative.

In just over two years, they only launched three apps, but each one was a top performer.

"The second piece of news is that, according to Renren's publicly available IP visits and PV visits, Facebook may soon catch up with us in these two metrics."

"Although they claim to have nearly 60 million registered users, we only have 26 million!"

"But their strong incentives seem to be getting weaker and weaker, especially with the large-scale entry of celebrities. It feels like their last resort, and their traffic growth curve is getting flatter and flatter."

"And we have always had very stable growth."

This is the spirit of "Let him be strong, the breeze still caresses the mountain."

At the time, while the Super Girl strategy and the strategy of attracting a large number of celebrities to join Renren.com caused its traffic to skyrocket, Lin Xiao's side hardly made any moves and continued to develop according to its original pace.

We're just waiting for the opponent to run out of energy and play all their cards.

Unexpectedly, the global popularity of "The Last Days" sparked a huge sense of pride and gave Facebook a massive boost in traffic.

During this period, with the popularity of doomsday scenarios, Facebook's previously steadily rising curve suddenly became steep.

Just like that, without a sound, they're about to surpass it again.

"The third piece of news is that our game 'Zhu Xian' is ready for closed beta testing."

Depend on!
I'm so glad to hear you say that.

Last autumn, Lin Xiao asked Zhang Chun if Jade Dynasty could be put into closed beta testing within the year.

As a result, Zhang Chun hesitated and stammered, so Lin Xiao didn't press him any further.

Now, we can finally start closed beta testing?
It's been 25 months.

"Also, the second closed beta test of Perfect World is about to end. Should we release those deadly cheats?"

"If we don't release it now, it will be too late, and the servers will be shut down soon."

Lin Xiao closed his eyes, fell into thought, and then shook his head.

Attacking at this point would not yield particularly significant results.

To maximize the results, you must launch a fatal blow at the most critical moment!

..........................................

1 Month 18 Day!
Renren Group announced that the second closed beta test of "Perfect World" has successfully concluded!

They achieved another great success.

Despite some bugs and a decline in the quality of the later content, the game remains of high overall quality. Players are understanding and accepting of these shortcomings, resulting in consistently positive reviews.

After all... many people regarded him as the first college student in the village.

Next, Liao Feng assembled the production team for "Perfect World".

"Is there any problem starting large-scale closed beta testing on January 28th?"

When he asked this question, he stared intently at Li Qing, the person in charge.

Originally, they wanted to directly convert the second closed beta test into a large-scale, non-deletion open beta test, but Li Qing found Wu Lingxi and forced it to be postponed.

Li Qing said hoarsely, "There's a problem."

Liao Feng angrily said, "During the first closed beta test, you told me it wouldn't be available until February next year. Now February is almost here, and we've already had two successful closed beta tests. And you're still telling me there's a problem?"

"What's wrong? Why couldn't it be detected in the two closed beta tests?"

"It's been several months, and you still haven't resolved it?"

Li Qing was also furious. Wasn't this your doing?
I said the game isn't finished yet; the most crucial part is this final section. We didn't even get to that part in the previous two closed beta tests.

You could have made a final push in these last few months, but instead you brought in an outside help team.

For the past few months, the foreign aid team and the original team have been fighting each other openly and secretly, dragging each other down and finding fault with each other.

The progress did not speed up; in fact, it slowed down due to the intense internal strife.

Li Qing's team gradually lost control.

Meanwhile, those external support teams, wielding their authority like wildfire, report their so-called work results and progress to higher-ups every day.

Liao Feng was overjoyed, feeling that this foreign aid team was exceptionally capable.

Many of the foreign players on this team are from Taiwan. In Liao Feng's mind, the gaming industry there is much more developed than that in China, and therefore more professional.

Li Qing found Wu Lingxi once again.

"Mr. Wu, could we postpone the large-scale, open beta test of Perfect World for another month? Ideally, it would start in March."

Last time, it was Wu Lingxi who suppressed it, and this time he is placing his hopes on Wu Lingxi again.

Wu Lingxi said slowly, "Yang Zhiyuan of Yahoo! Group and Son Masayoshi of SoftBank Group will be visiting Renren Group soon."

"We must show them that Perfect World has achieved tremendous success."

"We must show them that the number of people online exceeds 20, 25, 30!"

"This is the most critical moment for Renren Group."

"This is the will of the entire group and all investors."

Li Qing, the person in charge of Perfect World, said hoarsely, "I understand."

Then he turned and left.

"Drip drip..."

Wu Lingxi's dedicated cell phone rang again. She waited until Li Qing's figure had completely disappeared before picking it up to look at it.

"Honey, I've used that nude photo too many times. Give me a new one."

Wu Lingxi: "Get out, get out, get out!"

"Go to hell, you bastard!"

..............................

Then, a huge announcement appeared on the Renren.com homepage.

It might even be a pop-up window!
Perfect World will begin its full-scale, open beta test on January 28th!

Instantly, countless players cheered.

Warmly encouraged.

The day has finally come.

This period is not only a grand occasion for "Doomsday Journey", but also a festival for "Perfect World".

Two closed beta tests have garnered a lot of positive word-of-mouth and generated a huge amount of anticipation.

No matter which gaming forum it's on, it consistently has the highest popularity, completely overshadowing the promotional buzz surrounding games like Lineage II and Legend of Mir.

Even in the second closed beta test, only 50,000 people were allowed access.

Therefore, countless players post on the Renren.com game community every day, frantically urging the launch of an open beta test with no data wipe and an unlimited number of participants.

In order to achieve unprecedented success, Renren.com continued to spend money on advertising everywhere.

Some have even suggested placing advertisements directly on YY Voice.

Even though YY Voice is owned by Lightning Group.

In at least every internet cafe, Perfect World posters occupy the most prominent position.

Moreover, they have already begun recruiting a massive number of ground sales representatives.

They partnered with numerous internet cafes on a large scale, paying them directly based on the number of computers installed.

Liao Feng was full of confidence in winning this final battle.

The goal is to achieve victory in one decisive battle.

………………

After seeing the announcement, Lin Xiao quickly received a text message.

"Those serious bugs still exist."

"In the past few months, the game has been slow to improve, and the two teams have fallen into internal strife."

This was sent by Ding Yuanzhi, her senior sister, whose gender is difficult to discern. She is currently a core member of the "Perfect World" game team, ranking among the top twenty.

"After this is over, I want to go home, is that okay?"

Lin Xiao was speechless.

Senior sister, please don't make it like "Infernal Affairs," okay?
There won't be another three years after three years.

"Of course, that would be great." Lin Xiao sent the message using this special anonymous phone.

At that moment, he truly understood what CDPR had gone through back then.

Even though they knew Cyberpunk 2077 was incomplete and had many bugs, they still had to release it.

This resulted in one of the biggest game-related incidents, almost causing CD Projekt Red to collapse on the spot.

Fortunately, they pulled through and continued to update and improve the game. When the DLC "Shadows of the Past" was released, it practically elevated the game to the status of a near-masterpiece.

Now, Renren Group is facing an even more dire situation, with Masayoshi Son and Jerry Yang arriving soon.

Their time was more pressing.

Generally, a large-scale open beta test will only be conducted at least several months after a closed beta test; otherwise, what is the point of the closed beta test?
The game will be improved and modified during this period.

As a result, Renren Group launched a large-scale internal test just ten days after the second closed beta test.

Ten days is hardly enough time to get anything done.

………………

Less than two hours after Renren.com announced the upcoming closed beta test of "Perfect World", Facebook took action.

It launched a new game.

Happy Farm!
It's basically a game where you steal vegetables (a type of online game).

This game has been in development for over a year, but Lin Xiao has been holding back until now to release it.

Because we need to use a large number of other Flash games to cultivate user habits.

Only in this way can it truly explode in popularity.

Now, after a year, they have been trained enough.

Facebook's traffic is now quietly surpassing Renren's once again.

Happy Farm is a super accelerator.

Only Lin Xiao himself probably knows the extent of the traffic it can generate.

"Such a simple game, and it's enough for Facebook to turn the tide and overtake Renren in terms of traffic?" Xia Xi bent over, manipulating the mouse to play the game.

"Yes." Lin Xiao: "Sis, please don't put your butt in my face, okay?"

Xia Xi ignored him and playfully wiggled her bottom.

"Lin Xiao, every counterattack you launch is both covert and underhanded."

"The movements were so small, so delicate, so precise!"

Lin Xiao sighed helplessly, "Speak properly and stop making random analogies."

..............................

Renren is keeping a close eye on Facebook's actions almost constantly.

Not only Liao Feng and Wu Lingxi, but even the senior management and shareholders of the entire Renren Group believe that Facebook will definitely make a big move in this last month when the outcome of the battle is decided.

They cannot simply sit idly by and wait to die.

As a result, we waited for several hours.

I was just waiting for a Flash game.

Happy Farm!
What the hell?

And then, Facebook really made a big move.

Facebook has officially announced that, effective today, YouTube will become independent and will no longer be a Facebook subsidiary.

The people at Renren Group were completely dumbfounded.

Depend on!
what do you mean?
We are now in a crucial phase of the battle for traffic.

Your Facebook traffic was already lower than ours, and now you've separated YouTube, a huge traffic portal. Are you complaining that your traffic is too high?
This doesn't look like a counterattack at all.
You're clearly cutting off your own arm.

But it is not over yet.

At 8 p.m., Facebook released another announcement.

On February 15th, "Zhu Xian" will begin its first closed beta test!
The senior executives of Renren Group looked at each other in bewilderment.

Lin Xiao, is this your full-scale counterattack?!
..............................

Note: Finally finished writing, going to eat now! Those of you with guaranteed monthly votes, please lend a hand! I'd be eternally grateful!

(End of this chapter)