Huayu: Starting from Fahrenheit

Chapter 442 Maoyan, valued at one billion
Wolf Warrior really caught a good time, coinciding with the release of Legendary Pictures.

Legendary is confirmed to be released in September.

During this period, "Wolf Warrior" was the only film the company produced independently.

His success is related to the stock price after the IPO.

Therefore, Legendary invested heavily in promoting Wolf Warrior.

Thirty million yuan in publicity funds is almost equivalent to the investment budget of Wolf Warrior.

Such a large amount of publicity funding is beyond what a film like Wolf Warrior, with an investment of only 30 million, could achieve.

Even films that cost hundreds of millions wouldn't dare to do that.

Of course, if the investment in Wolf Warrior is really over 100 million, Legendary might not dare to invest so much in promotion.

It was precisely because the production cost of "Wolf Warrior" was not particularly high that Legendary Pictures was able to put a lot of effort into its promotion.

After all, the investment cost of 30 million, plus the 30 million in advertising costs, only amounts to 60 million.

Sixty million, even if we lose it, it won't have much of an impact.

On the contrary, the production cost is 100 million, and if another 30 million is invested in promotion.

The production and promotion costs would be too high, and in the end, we might not even be able to recoup the costs.

Thanks to extensive publicity, Wolf Warrior became known to almost everyone online.

"Wu Jing's movie? Actually, I quite like him. I watched the trailer and it looks pretty good. I'll definitely go see it when it airs."

"Wu Jing has finally made it big! He used to be my favorite actor besides Jet Li and Jackie Chan."

"Haha, Legend is about to be launched, Wu Zhuo is really going all out! He's been promoting it non-stop."

"Of course we have to fight for it. Legendary's market value is so high now. If Wolf Warrior fails, the listing will definitely be affected."

"What is Maoyan Movies? Wu Zhuo keeps recommending it, is it a film company?"

"Upstairs, Maoyan Movies is a ticketing platform. If you don't have time to go to the cinema to buy movie tickets, you can buy them online. After you buy them, you can enter the cinema directly with the voucher."

“I checked, and you can get a discount on tickets for ‘Wolf Warrior’ on Maoyan. It costs 32 yuan at the cinema, but only 25 yuan online, which is a full 7 yuan cheaper.”

"I just checked it out, and it seems pretty good. Besides movie tickets, you can also buy concert tickets."

Tickets for Wu Zhuo's fan meeting in Beijing can only be purchased here.

"I tried this platform and it's pretty good. Not only can you buy tickets, but you can also buy snacks like popcorn. You can buy them in advance and then redeem them at the cinema with the voucher."

"There's even a box office ranking, and surprisingly, a box office ranking for all currently released movies."

I checked, and it seems like the highest-grossing films are all Hollywood blockbusters!

"Brothers, it's time to support domestic products! Hurry up and support the fairy sister's 'The Four Great Constables'."

"I took a look at the domestic box office charts, and they're all doing well! 'Painted Skin II' has the highest box office, exceeding 7 million yuan."

Other films like "Havoc in Heaven" and "The Four Great Constables" are also quite good.

"With the release of 'Wolf Warrior,' who can compete? Brothers, 'Wolf Warrior' is now on pre-sale, you can buy your tickets."

Many of the comments online are from netizens.

But most of them are online trolls.

Yes, Legend hired an online troll team to cover up their misdeeds.

The widespread discussion and comments related to "Wolf Warrior" unconsciously began to instill the idea of ​​watching the movie in everyone.

Meanwhile, film critics were also included.

"I attended an internal screening of Wolf Warrior, and I can only say that this film is absolutely worth a movie ticket. It showed me the fighting spirit of our soldiers. — Four stars"

"Wu Jing has completely changed his image from a kung fu kid to a tough guy in the movie, which is a huge transformation. — Four stars"

"A truly Chinese special forces film, no less impressive than The Expendables – Wu Wuxing."

With a large number of online trolls defending the film and film critics promoting it, "Wolf Warrior" had already reached 2000 million yuan in pre-sale box office revenue by the time it was released.

These pre-sale tickets are almost entirely from Maoyan.

This also brought the Maoyan platform into the public eye.

And seeing how well the cat's eye is performing.

A significant amount of capital has been attracted to this.

Wang Jianlin of Wanda Group contacted Wu Zhuo again.

"Brother Wu, let me be frank, I want to invest in Maoyan. Name your price."

Upon hearing this, Wu Zhuo pondered for a moment.

To some extent, his decision to launch a ticketing platform at this point was already a step too late.

If you want to overtake others by taking a shortcut, besides various innovations, the most important thing is actually capital support.

He might be able to overtake on his own, but it would take a very long time.

But with capital support, things are different. A large influx of funds can not only bring about technological innovation, but also rapidly expand territory.

His influence can indeed put Maoyan on the right track, but it only helps in the early stages.

Later on, it wasn't just a matter of influence anymore.

Instead, it's about competing on resources and capital.

What do you think Maoyan's market value is?

Wu Zhuo looked up at Wang Jianlin.

Currently, Maoyan has only two major shareholders: Wu Zhuo himself, who owns 70% of the shares.

Of the remaining shares, Legendary invested 60 million last week, acquiring a 20% stake.

The remaining 10% was distributed by Wu Zhuo to the founding team.

If you want a horse to run, you have to feed it grass.

Wu Zhuo, who knows nothing about technology, was able to create the cat's eye display by relying on the technical team introduced by Zhang Yiming and people like Zheng Zhihao.

Therefore, Wu Zhuo offered 10% of the shares as a reward.

"Legend invested 60 million, acquiring a 20% stake."

How about we invest 60 million, taking a 20% stake?

Wang Jianlin spoke with a smile.

Upon hearing this, Wu Zhuo rolled his eyes at him.

"Brother Wang, we invested in Legend last week, when Maoyan was worthless."

The current Maoyan is not the same as it was a week ago.

Sometimes, a week can really change a lot.

Within a week, thanks to Wu Zhuo's fame and extensive publicity, Maoyan has already built its reputation.

Although it's not as good as other ticketing platforms like Meituan Cinema, it's clearly a fledgling startup.

But Cat's Eye has great potential!
In order to attract customers for Maoyan, Wu Zhuo even brought in celebrities like Jay Chou and Wang Leehom to endorse it.

Moreover, the artists from Legendary Movies are also helping with the promotion.

In terms of sheer scale of advertising, Maoyan far surpasses Meituan.

Moreover, and more importantly, Maoyan has more functions than Meituan.

Meituan and other ticketing platforms on the market currently only offer movie ticket purchases, which is a very limited feature.

Unlike other platforms, even the stripped-down version of Maoyan still has more features than other platforms.

Take the box office ranking feature for example.

Don't let its simplicity fool you; it's very practical.

When buying movie tickets, if viewers don't have a specific target, they can refer to the ranking list to make their purchase.

Generally speaking, audiences tend to follow the crowd, and movies with high box office returns often have an advantage.

Besides this list.

Maoyan also has a money-making function, which is its advertising function.

Maoyan can recommend movies on its homepage and offer features such as pre-sales.

It can also sell movie merchandise.

This single feature alone has attracted a lot of capital.

This means that Maoyan has other profit models besides ticket purchase service fees.

Of course, other platforms aren't stupid either.

After Maoyan launched these features, other features quickly followed suit.

But the first person to eat crab is the first person to eat crab.

As the first to venture into this market, Maoyan has a very clear advantage.

As a result, Maoyan's market value surged within a week, attracting significant attention from investors.

"I told you a long time ago that I wanted to invest! You said you'd think about it."

As a seasoned veteran, Wang Jianlin wouldn't back down just because of Wu Zhuo's words. Instead, he brought up the investment he had previously considered. Indeed, when Wu Zhuo approached Wanda to discuss a joint ticketing agreement, Wang Jianlin had already mentioned his interest in investing.

Wu Zhuo did not agree at the time, but said he would think about it.

"How about this, I'll give up five percent, priced at fifty million, what do you think?"

Wu Zhuo looked at him.

This price is actually a bit high.

Although Maoyan has great potential, it has just been established and its market value is at most 6 to 7 million.

His idea was to give Wang Jianlin a chance to negotiate the price.

However, to his surprise, Wang Jianlin nodded in agreement after only a moment's thought.

“A valuation of one billion is no problem, but five percent is not enough. I want at least fifteen percent.”

Wu Zhuo was stunned. He really didn't expect that the other party would actually agree to what he had just said casually.

However, upon further reflection, he understood why.

Wanda's main assets are in real estate.

However, in the past two years, they have frequently ventured into the entertainment industry.

In June, they finally signed a merger agreement with AMC Theatres, the world's second-largest cinema chain.

The total transaction amount for this acquisition is US$26 billion, which includes the purchase of 100% equity in the company and the assumption of its debt.

Then, domestically, Wanda Pictures also began to make a strong push, clearly indicating its intention to get involved in the entertainment industry.

This is not about Mr. Wang trying to seduce female celebrities.

In fact, it's entirely driven by self-interest.

Since Huayi Brothers became the first entertainment stock in China to go public, its value has grown from several billion yuan to tens of billions of yuan.

After its IPO, Enlight Media continued its meteoric rise.

And now, even before its IPO, Legend has already caused a stir among investors.

This has made the entertainment industry pie grow bigger and bigger.

Whether it's Wanda, Alibaba, or Tencent, they all see huge profits in this.

As a result, one company after another began to plan their entry into the entertainment industry.

Maoyan happens to be a business related to entertainment, such as concert and movie ticketing.

Its prospects are obvious to any intelligent person.

Currently, Meituan has Meituan Cinema, while Tencent and Alibaba both have launched related ticketing platforms.

Unfortunately, Wanda has no plans in this area.

And that's exactly what gave him an opportunity.

Some might argue that even so, he wouldn't buy it at a premium.

Under normal circumstances, probably not.

But there's one problem: people from Alibaba and Tencent are right at the door.

Those two companies also came for Maoyan (a type of online entertainment platform).

Wang Jianlin is now seizing the initiative while also digging a hole for the two companies that follow.

He took 15 percent in one go.

Unless Wu Zhuo is a fool, he will definitely not give up too many shares.

Even if Wu Zhuo is willing to give up one more to the two families behind him.

They will also be ripped off because of his price, which is far above the current market value.

In addition, Wang Jianlin believes that Maoyan's market value will definitely continue to rise.

It might even rise soon.

Because Wu Zhuo has clearly stated that this is a censored version.

"Fifteen percent."

Wu Zhuo hesitated.

This amount is a bit much; he hadn't originally planned to give Wanda this much.

However, after thinking about it, he agreed.

For him, cat's eye...

One is an investment project.

Another reason is to solidify their position in the entertainment industry.

Having a similar platform in hand makes him feel more at ease.

And shares.

To be honest, one shouldn't be too greedy.

If someone truly wants to monopolize the shares and prevent others from getting a share, then nine times out of ten, others will have ulterior motives.

What's even more worrying is that if Tencent turns around and supports Meituan, it won't be good for Maoyan.

While Wanda is not Tencent, it has just as much capital.

In Wu Zhuo's plan, Wanda was his bargaining chip to counterbalance Tencent.

Yes, to check and balance Tencent.

Wu Zhuo plans to bring Tencent to Maoyan.

Firstly, this would prevent Tencent from collaborating with Meituan Movies again.

Secondly, if Maoyan wants to continue to grow, it needs to leverage Tencent's channels.

Especially WeChat.

The reason why Maoyan was able to rise in its previous life was actually because it connected to WeChat.

After WeChat became widespread, features like Maoyan, which are built on WeChat, were able to expand rapidly.

Therefore, Wu Zhuo intends to bring Tencent in and sell them a larger share.

However, Wu Zhuo is also worried that Tencent will take over his company.

Just then, Wanda Group also entered the market.

Let them balance Tencent's position.

"Alright, Brother Wu, it's painful. Then let's make a decision. I'll arrange for someone to come and take over as soon as I get back."

I have a meeting to attend, so I'll have to talk to you later.

He laughed and left. Let's have tea sometime.

Wang Jianlin was a decisive person. After receiving Wu Zhuo's reply, he didn't linger and left with his men.

After he left, Wu Zhuo met with people from Tencent and Alibaba.

Neither of these parties had their bosses personally present.

Wang Jianlin came in person because he has a good relationship with Wu Zhuo, and Wu Zhuo has even visited his home.

So he came in person.

As for Alibaba and Tencent, their bosses don't have much of a relationship with Wu Zhuo.

So they simply made a standard investment and sent a team over.

This time, because the other side seemed very formal, Wu Zhuo did not attend in person.

Instead, Zheng Zhihao was sent to lead his team to negotiate with the other party.

The initial contact was not particularly ideal.

Tencent does not agree with Wu Zhuo's valuation of 10 billion.

Meanwhile, Maoyan was also unhappy that Tencent demanded 40% of its shares right off the bat.

Forty percent? It would be better to let Wu Zhuo sell it to them.

The two sides parted on bad terms, agreeing to talk again next time.

Wu Zhuo didn't care.

This kind of financing cannot be finalized in just one or two meetings.

Even Wanda's side.

Even though Wang Jianlin and Wu Zhuo had already secured financing.

The two sides also argued over other terms for several days.

After handing over the Maoyan business to Zheng Zhihao, Wu Zhuo then got involved in the busy process of Legend's IPO.

I also check the box office figures for "Wolf Warrior" from time to time.

(End of this chapter)