The richest person in Chinese entertainment

Chapter 190: The ideological dispute between NetEase's largest individual shareholder, Chenguang and Penguin
October 10, Chenguang Weibo
@晨光娱乐: The filming of "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber" was officially wrapped not long ago [Wrap-up photo]. The post-production of the drama will be undertaken by top special effects teams from home and abroad, and it is expected to be officially released in the second half of next year.

@晨光娱乐: Chenguang Entertainment's new drama "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils" has recently started casting. Who are your favorite Qiao Feng, Xu Zhu, and Duan Yu? And who is the fairy sister Wang Yuyan?

As soon as Chinese netizens went online, they discovered the overwhelming news about Chenguang Entertainment.

In addition to promoting on its own Weibo, Chenguang Entertainment also bought a lot of media press releases.

For TV series like Jin Yong's dramas, which already have a huge fan base, preheating before they are aired is already a common practice.

It’s just that Chenguang Entertainment lacked experience in the previous filming of “The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber”, so some publicity did not keep up.

This time, after fully absorbing the experience of friendly competitors, Li Xiaoping began to promote "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils".

@唐焉: Is that Xiao Zhao played by Yifei? She is so pretty!
@江一艳: Yes, if Yifei can play the Fairy Sister, I will definitely follow “Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils”.

@朱亚文: I envy Zhang Chen! Jealousy has changed me beyond recognition!

@Luo Jin: Wang Yuyan must be Yifei, and the stills of Xiao Zhao are so beautiful!

@Sun Ao: I want to play Duan Yu!

First, the students in Table 02 of Beijing Film Academy sent a wave of flattery.

The male students were all very envious that Zhang Chen could play Zhang Wuji.

They also expressed that they wanted to play the role of Duan Yu, who could have a love line with Wang Yuyan, because in their opinion, since it was a TV series produced by Chenguang Entertainment, Wang Yuyan was already in Liu Yifei's pocket.

By this calculation, whoever can get the role of Duan Yu will be able to act out emotional scenes with Liu Yifei!

This is a great temptation for some male students in the 02nd grade class of Beijing Film Academy.

But after all, they haven't officially debuted yet, so their comments were a bit casual.

Actors who have already auditioned or are expecting to be notified by the crew to audition dare not express their opinions on Weibo.

After all, if they confidently say which role they want to play, but in the end they are not chosen, wouldn’t that be extremely embarrassing?
So they all remained relatively silent, waiting for the final casting result of Morning Light Entertainment.

The actors have various concerns, but netizens are very excited.

Fairy Sister Wang Yuyan, they still remember the original version of Wang Yuyan played by Li Ruotong. She is the eternal white moonlight in many people's hearts.

It is precisely for this reason that the discussion among netizens is far more intense than expected.

"Fairy sister, I only recognize Li Ruotong!"

"Yes, please don't ruin the classics, Morning Light Entertainment!"

"Li Ruotong is the eternal Fairy Sister. I won't recognize anyone else who plays the role!"

So if you want to remake a classic, it will be compared with the previous version.

In particular, many versions of Jin Yong dramas have been filmed, and almost every Jin Yong novel has an actor who best matches the image in the book in the audience's mind.

It is undoubtedly a huge challenge for Chenguang Entertainment to remake the film at this time.

The first step is to calm down the audience’s opposition to the classic characters and make them agree with Chenguang Entertainment’s casting.

In this case, the best way is undoubtedly to seek support from the original author.

Don't underestimate the original author's recognition of the actors.

This will invisibly win the favor of a large number of Jin Yong fans.

Therefore, in order not to stand on the opposite side of the majority of the audience, it is necessary to take Liu Yifei to meet Jin Yong.

As for the meeting time, it’s also very simple, on November 11rd.

On the bank of West Lake in Lin'an, Zhejiang Province.

"Pony, long time no see. Judging from your appearance, your company should be doing well?"

The last time he came to participate in the "West Lake Sword Contest", Zhang Chen still had to rely on Ding Sanshi to get here.

However, Zhang Chen had already received an invitation from the organizers of this year's West Lake Sword Contest.

People in the industry have discovered the relationship between Zhang Chen and Penguin from various signs.

Although it is unclear how much shares Zhang Chen holds in Penguin, it is clear from the fact that Penguin can help Chenguang Entertainment to attract traffic that Zhang Chen's shareholding ratio should not be low.

As for the exact amount, perhaps we can only get a glimpse of it when Penguin goes public.

Putting aside Penguin, the Internet company that currently sits firmly on the throne of the largest instant messaging social software in China, the amazing performance of Morning Glory Music this year alone has made Zhang Chen qualified enough to be among the top players in the Internet industry.

"Zhang Chen, that Weibo post of yours a while ago almost caused Penguin to suffer." Xiao Ma Ge said to Zhang Chen with lingering fear.

The anti-piracy incident that caused a sensation some time ago scared Penguin, which had originally planned to copy the successful experience of others, half to death.

It's Zhang Chen who's causing trouble. If their development strategy hadn't been formulated by Zhang Chen, I'd almost doubt whether Zhang Chen was considering giving up Penguin.

"It's not that serious. Just wait and see. I think it's just a lot of noise but little action."

Zhang Chen saw clearly that this task could not be accomplished in a short period of time.

"Then why did you make such a big fuss?"

"I have to make some noise. If I don't take the lead, those singers won't trust me as the new largest channel operator."

"So that's the case, then I'm relieved."

Brother Xiao Ma understood as soon as he heard Zhang Chen's explanation.

It’s simply that the singers are afraid that Zhang Chen will do the same things that the channel dealers did before after taking their new songs.

Now that Zhang Chen has spoken out, even if the singers are not completely convinced, at least his attitude has been made clear.

With this calculation, Penguin, as another shareholder of Morning Glory Entertainment, can be said to have benefited indirectly.

"Who is this? Yifei?"

Brother Xiao Ma looked at Liu Yifei who was following Zhang Chen obediently. He didn't pay attention to her at first, but after a closer look he found that it was Liu Yifei, who is currently quite famous.

It’s also because Xiao Ma Ge usually pays more attention to Zhang Chen, otherwise he might not be able to recognize celebrities in the entertainment industry who he doesn’t usually pay attention to.

"Hello Mr. Ma."

In front of outsiders, there is nothing impeccable about Liu Yifei's way of dealing with people.

She has a pure and sweet appearance, and her voice may sound grandma-like because she is young.

It was also an ancient etiquette class that I practiced for a period of time on the set.

So now she looks very quiet and like a lady from a noble family.

"Zhang Chen, why are you bringing Yifei here?"

Xiao Ma Ge is not sure about his shareholders' thoughts. Among a group of middle-aged men who are either programmers or technology geeks, Zhang Chen brought such a young and beautiful girl. What is he trying to do?
"Mr. Ma, you don't know?" Zhang Chen was a little surprised.

"Hmm? Did I overlook any important information?" Xiao Ma, the helmsman of the company, became alert after hearing Zhang Chen's words. Internet companies are most afraid of not keeping up with the pace of the times. If he missed an important confidence and caused problems in the company's operations, then he cannot escape blame.

"Yifei is now the largest individual shareholder of NetEase."

"what?"

Pony Ma was confused. This little girl in front of him, who looked between adult and minor, was the largest individual shareholder of NetEase?
"Yes, she now owns 8% of NetEase."

"Well, you can't judge a person by his appearance."

After standing there for a while, Xiao Ma Ge sighed.

"Let's go, Pony, although this is your first time here, you are quite familiar with those bosses. Take me to meet them."

Zhang Chen did not give much explanation on his identity as a NetEase shareholder.

As for why Liu Yifei has 8% of NetEase's shares, this matter has to start with the unexpected money that Zhang Chen earned during the World Cup.

At first, Sun Fangping thought that this money should not be earned, and Liu Yifei happened to lose money, so she asked Zhang Chen to give this unexpected money to Liu Yifei.

Liu Yifei didn't think much about it. She thought that since it was given by Zhang Chen, there would be no chance of returning it, so she went ALL IN on the NetEase stocks that Zhang Chen asked her to buy.

In addition, the price of NetEase did increase from less than 50 cents to 1 dollar, and her original assets doubled, so she invested all the remuneration that Yitian had paid her in advance.

All in all, the total amount was almost 300 million US dollars. Since NetEase's market value was still low at that time, this 300 million US dollars allowed Liu Yifei to buy a large number of low-priced NetEase stocks and become the largest individual shareholder.

If we include the shares that Zhang Chen let William buy, the NetEase shares held by the two of them are almost approaching 25%.

"Brother, Mr. Ma, do you think I'm stupid?"

On the way to the venue, Liu Yifei pulled Zhang Chen's sleeve, and when she felt that Xiao Ma Ge, who was walking in front, would not hear her, she asked in a low voice.

"Didn't you read NetEase's financial report this year?"

"Financial report? What is that?"

Liu Yifei was confused by the question, her eyes were clear, it seemed that she really didn't know what Zhang Chen was talking about.

Zhang Chen looked at the little girl speechlessly. They were already shareholders of NetEase, but she didn't even pay attention to the financial reports of the company whose shares she held?

"It's okay, just remember not to sell the stocks."

I originally wanted to trick the little girl, but after thinking about it, I decided not to.

If Liu Yifei gets scared and sells all her stocks, both of them will have to cry.

First of all, Ding Sanshi will definitely not be able to withstand the crazy share reduction of the largest individual shareholder, and the stock price will definitely take another big dive. It has finally risen to US$1 and resumed trading in the US stock market. If it falls below US$1 again, NetEase will face the risk of delisting again.

The second is Liu Yifei. It is hard for Zhang Chen to imagine how she will cry when NetEase’s stock price rises to nearly $60 per share in a year, not to mention that if nothing changes in the future, the stock price will reach $500.

That’s more than 500 times the profit. Liu Yifei’s 300 million US dollars multiplied 500 times is 15 billion US dollars.

Although it will take more than ten years to reach this number, this is a rate of return that is unattainable for most other financial management methods.

"Well, I see."

Liu Yifei nodded. Zhang Chen was not joking. That was serious business and she would obey.

"Attend the meeting first, then I'll take you to see Mr. Cha."

Seeing that Liu Yifei had listened, Zhang Chen felt relieved and continued to walk in.

"Today's West Lake Sword Discussion is different from previous ones. This time, the initiator Jack Ma is sitting down and listening attentively. Now, please allow Jack Ma to give the opening speech." Like the previous session, the host of this session is still Zhang Wei.

Jack Ma: "Good afternoon, everyone! Please allow me, as the host, to welcome you all to Hangzhou again to attend the 3rd West Lake Sword Conference."

After a number of CEOs gave their speeches, Internet CEOs led by Jack Ma took their seats on the stage.

The companies behind the Internet CEOs invited this time have several major characteristics. First, they have more than 1000 million users, and second, they have already achieved profitability.

Among them are six Internet companies including Morning Music, Alibaba, Penguin, 58, 3721, and ourgame.

After everyone chatted about some irrelevant issues at the beginning, Zhang Wei turned the topic to Zhang Chen.

"Zhang Chen, you launched an anti-piracy declaration some time ago. As a shareholder of Penguin, what do you think of this matter?"

This question is very sharp. If Zhang Chen doesn't give a good answer, he will be a two-faced person.

On the one hand, because Chenguang Entertainment needs to protect copyright to make money, they shout against piracy.

On the other hand, Penguin is "borrowing" the successful experiences of other companies and using its large user base to squeeze the living space of the "borrowed" companies.

So everyone here also wants to know whether Zhang Chen is against piracy or not.

"I am just a small shareholder of Penguin, and I have no right to interfere in Penguin's affairs."

This matter had already been discussed with Xiao Ma Ge before coming here. Zhang Chen needs to continue holding up the banner of anti-piracy, so he cannot answer this question directly. Therefore, it is most appropriate to throw the question to Xiao Ma Ge to answer.

"Then Mr. Ma, do you have anything to say about what Zhang Chen said?"

"First of all, Penguin has never done anything pirated, because any product produced by Penguin is original code. As for why it is so similar to other products, it is because Penguin never innovates blindly."

Xiao Ma Ge was also prepared after Zhang Chen's reminder and was not caught off guard. He immediately said, "As for the similarity of products, I believe that everyone here can find a company in the world that is similar to yours but was established earlier than yours, right?"

What Xiao Ma said is very simple, everyone started out by "borrowing", so the eldest brother should not laugh at the second brother.

"There is also Morning Light Music. You can also start Ali Music or 58 Music. Zhang Chen has not refused anyone to join in this matter."

The rules for Internet companies to determine plagiarism have always been vague, but there is actually a core point, that is, the source code. As long as the source code is different and some changes are made to the appearance, it is difficult to determine plagiarism.

There is no way around this. If any idea can be protected, it will directly become an obstacle to the development of the Internet.

If the source code is replaced with music, it would be similar to the moon notes. If the melody of a song is extremely similar, it can also be judged as plagiarism.

"Hahaha, thank you Mr. Ma for clearing up everyone's confusion."

This issue is indeed not something that can be discussed in a forum. The question she asked just now was just a routine inquiry about current hot issues, and she did not mean to deliberately embarrass the two.

Apart from this issue, the other topics discussed at this forum were nothing more than how to achieve profitability during the Internet bubble. This is also the reason why this forum invited CEOs of large and profitable Internet companies.

Each CEO also picked out key points and shared their experiences with some colleagues on site.

This also makes time pass quickly.

The time for this "West Lake Sword Contest" to end is coming soon.

And Zhang Chen finally achieved the second purpose of coming here.

"Brother, do you think I can really play Wang Yuyan well?"

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(End of this chapter)