The richest person in Chinese entertainment

Chapter 586 Different Stances, They Must Kneel

"Brother, are you really not going to help them?"

Liu Yifei, who had suddenly returned to Beijing, China, couldn't help but ask the question that had been bothering her for several days on her way to Chaoyang District.

"Sissi, what do you think of Hong Kong Island now?"

Instead of answering Liu Yifei's question, Zhang Chen asked a seemingly unrelated question.

"Hong Kong Island?" Liu Yifei was taken aback, then thought about it carefully.

Zhang Chen wasn't in a hurry; he picked up the documents that had been piling up for a long time and began to review them.

Although he was busy with concerts abroad, he still had to personally review most of the group's affairs.

Especially regarding the group's annual report.

The company is not listed and does not need to disclose information to the public, but as the boss, he still needs to know how the company has developed throughout the past year.

At the very least, he needs to know whether the company made a profit or a loss throughout the past year.

If it's a loss, how much was lost, and is it a necessary investment for future profits?

If it's profitable, how much profit was made? Is there greater potential for growth, and where are the bottlenecks in that growth?

According to the report in Zhang Chen's hand, the group as a whole is in a healthy development.

Firstly, regarding income:
1. Chenguang Brokerage

It originated from Morning Flower Agency, which she co-founded with Wong Jing-hua.

After Wang Jinghua left, Zhang Chen took back the mobile game shares and placed them between himself and Sun Fangping.

The company currently has 35 singers, including Yao Beina, Wang Xinling, and Lin Junjie, who were signed by the company during "The Voice of China".

And there are also the emerging singers that have been attracted over the years.

For example, Xu Song, Wang Sulong, and Guang Liang, the three original giants of Tencent Music.

In terms of actors, besides the earliest veterans Liu Xiaoli, Gao Yuanyuan, Fan Bingbing, and Li Bingbing, there are also other actors.

There are also Zhao Xiaodao, Yang Mi, Tang Yan, and other former classmates of Zhang Chen and Liu Yifei, who were recruited from the variety show "Morning Light Beyond Class".

In fact, the number of artists signed by Chenguang Agency has not changed much in the past few years.

The main reason is that after signing so many artists, the market has become saturated.

These artists have different profit-sharing ratios depending on the length of their contracts and their individual circumstances.

Top-tier artists, such as Fan Bingbing who takes on numerous roles, earn approximately 150-300 million yuan per film or television series, or 13-20 yuan per episode.

Of course, for female celebrities, the most important source of income is still advertising fees.

Excluding the investment income earned with Zhang Chen, Fan Bingbing's income as a celebrity is approximately 2.3 million yuan.

This is the book revenue.

After deducting various taxes, Fan Bingbing received approximately 5000 million yuan, while the company's revenue was 1.05 million yuan.

Other artists, though not as hardworking as Fan Bingbing, also did not sign contracts like hers that were tantamount to "selling themselves."

Therefore, there is a gap in income, approximately between 20 million and 3000 million.

Overall, it brought Chenguang Brokerage approximately 20 billion yuan in gross profit.

After deducting basic costs such as company training expenses and operating team expenses, the net profit is approximately 5 million.

2. Morning Light Music

This part is very complicated, divided into the parent company in China, the listed subsidiary in the United States, and branches all over the world.

If we disregard the stock price and only look at the company's revenue for the entire year, then...

By 07, Morning Light Music had already achieved complete dominance of the global digital music market.

The other party is Apple Music, which is also owned by Morning Light Music.

However, the rise of P2P platforms such as LimeWire and BitTorrent has greatly damaged the legitimate market.

However, compared to the original timeline in 07, when pirated music accounted for as much as 95% of the digital music market.

Under Zhang Chen's management, the market share of pirated music has been squeezed to around 60%.

Of this 60% market share, Morning Light Music and Apple Music together account for a staggering 80%.
The total size of the digital music market in 2007 was approximately $400 billion.

The legitimate market is worth approximately $160 billion.

Morning Light Music accounts for $120 billion of that.

Music downloads (2 RMB - 0.99 USD) accounted for 80%, approximately 96 billion USD.

Other revenue (ringtones, ads, memberships) accounts for 20%, approximately $24 billion.

In the realm of digital music, after introducing online album ordering, Morning Light Music has essentially achieved a near-monopoly on the physical album market.

In 2007, physical album sales totaled approximately $144 billion.

Of course, there are also various copyright revenues, which are also a considerable income.

Morning Light Music's revenue for the entire year of 2007 was approximately $300 billion.

After deducting management, legal, and anti-piracy expenses, etc.

Net profit is approximately $180 billion.

Chenguang Music (China) holds a 28.5% stake, which theoretically would entitle it to a share of US$51.3 billion.

However, the company needs to keep operating, and it's impossible to use all of its revenue for dividends.

But the most direct indicator is the change in stock price.

Although we are currently in the midst of a financial crisis, the US stock market is not looking good.

However, many tech companies still defied the tide of the stock market crash.

What does $180 billion in annual profit mean for a publicly traded company?
In tech companies, this performance can be directly reflected in the stock price using the logic of the price-to-earnings ratio.

Although during the financial crisis, the price-to-earnings ratio of listed companies in the US stock market dropped from 17 times at the beginning of 07 to about 12 times today.

But there are always exceptions.

For example, high-tech listed companies such as Apple and Google are still seen by the market, and their price-to-earnings ratios can reach 20-30 times.

For Morning Light Music, a conservative estimate would be a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.

So the company's stock price is no longer around $60 per share, which was when Zhang Chen sold his shares in 07.

Based on a total share capital of 12.5 billion shares, this share price values ​​the company at approximately $750 billion.

However, judging from the profit situation in 07, especially the last quarter when Zhang Chen held a concert, it accounted for the majority of the company's profits.

Once this financial report is released, it will definitely trigger a buying frenzy among shareholders.

The most conservative estimate is that the stock price could rise to around $300, which is 22 times the company's annual profit of $180 billion, or a valuation of $4000 billion.

Of course, we must also take into full account the fact that this year's financial crisis will erupt in full force, and stock prices are unlikely to rise wildly like in a healthy market.

But in any case, a valuation of $3000 billion is still relatively safe.

Some astute individuals have already begun buying large amounts of Morning Light Music stock in the market.

After all, Zhang Chen's concerts have caused quite a stir recently.

The stock price has now been pushed up to $108.1 per share and is still climbing.

Among them was Zhang Chen himself, who had already begun purchasing a large number of shares in his own company before the concert even started.

He bought the shares at a price far below the current market price, and also below the $70 he sold them for.

Zhang Chen suddenly turned to Liu Yifei and asked, "Qianqian, have you bought all the stocks I asked you to buy?"

Still preoccupied with the events involving Zhang Baizhi and the others, Liu Yifei looked up blankly and nodded subconsciously.

Zhang Chen nodded in satisfaction.

insider trading?

Liu Yifei herself is also a driving force behind the stock price of Chenguang Music. After all, she is a member of the group, so what's wrong with supporting her own company?
According to Zhang Chen's estimate of Liu Yifei's secret stash, plus the income from her concerts during this period.

It's worth mentioning that Zhang Chen didn't delay paying his fees like he does with other artists; instead, he settled the payment for each performance.

Therefore, Liu Yifei used her personal savings to purchase approximately 8000 shares of Morning Light Music during this period, with a total value of $80 million.

When the company's financial report was released, these shares would generate nearly $2 million in additional income for Liu Yifei within a few months. "The operation has become too large. If someone hadn't helped me calculate, I wouldn't even know how much money I have," Zhang Chen said, flipping through the pages of his company's financial information.

Due to the financial crisis, Zhang Chen is paying close attention to the company's profitability this year.

However, after seeing the situation of the above companies, Zhang Chen only looked at the final figures for the companies below.

3. Morning Light Cinema

Annual revenue of 32 billion yuan and profit of 8 million yuan.

4. Chenguang Apparel

Annual revenue of 12 billion yuan and profit of 8 million yuan.

5. Facebook

Annual revenue of $50 billion and profit of $21 billion.

6. Oil pipe

This company is now beginning to show its strength. Google wanted to buy it from Zhang Chen for $12 billion, but Zhang Chen did not agree.

Venture capital firms have now given valuations of around $80 billion.

This is many times more expensive than the $500 million Zhang Chen paid when he bought it.

7. Chenguang Film & Television + Sunlight (Film & Television Investment)
Total investment was approximately $12 billion, revenue was $50 billion, and profit was $6 million.

8. Google

Annual revenue of $180 billion and profit of $42 billion.

9. Apples

Annual revenue of $260 billion and profit of $35 billion.

10. Penguins

Annual revenue of $5 million and profit of $2 million.

In addition to these companies, Zhang Chen also acquired a large number of shares in American listed companies in 07.

However, Zhang Chen doesn't have the power to decide these companies' financial statements, and he won't get them much earlier than the outside world.

In total, Zhang Chen earned approximately $30 billion in 2007 based on dividends from various companies according to his shareholding.

If calculated based on stock prices, Zhang Chen's net worth could skyrocket without any limit.

Add to that the revenue from that transaction with Wall Street, and the approximately $07 billion in cash reserves held from the stocks sold during 2000.

There's also the revenue from concerts, which has been ongoing for some time.

How much money does Zhang Chen charge now?
"Tsk, outrageous." Zhang Chen glanced at the last number in the document and closed it immediately.

He finally understood the meaning of the sentence, "Money is just a number to me."

I used to have an extremely high pursuit of money.

He started his career with the goal of making money.

Over the years, without realizing it, he has earned more money than an average person could earn in many lifetimes.

Now, the wealth he possesses has truly become a series of cold, hard numbers.

In addition, he is a celebrity, and the most famous celebrity in the world, so he can't experience the pleasure of spending money.

Don't even think about buying or driving luxury cars.

Buying luxury goods?

Whatever brand of clothes he wears now, whatever brand of watch he wears, it won't be long before that brand becomes a second-tier or even first-tier brand in the world.

Forget about shopping or sightseeing.

There are very few people in this world who don't recognize his face.

It's fine if you're only famous in one region.

For example, a big star from China might not be recognized by people on the street abroad.

This is also the main reason why many celebrities are keen to travel abroad.

After all, nobody wants to be constantly on guard against fans and reporters in their daily lives outside of work.

But for someone like Zhang Chen, it doesn't matter where he goes.

If he dares to show his face on the street, it won't take more than a few minutes for him to appear on the front page of major media outlets.

Even in underdeveloped areas without internet access, his albums and his foundation help promote his fame.

This resulted in Zhang Chen earning so much money that he had nowhere to spend it.

"Why are you sighing?"

As Zhang Chen lamented the limitations of his life, Liu Yifei, standing to the side, looked at him curiously.

"Have you figured it out?" Zhang Chen didn't answer, afraid of getting beaten up.

Liu Yifei didn't seem to mind and nodded, saying, "Yes, this matter is indeed difficult to resolve."

The conversation between the two returned to the initial topic of Zhang Baizhi and his group.

"Actually, you don't need to overthink it," Zhang Chen said calmly, looking out the window. "Everyone has their own choices; you reap what you sow."

At this point, Zhang Chen suddenly paused.

This is the result of my own actions.
Zhang Chen glanced at the private vehicle space, which was made of thick bulletproof material.

"I just feel sorry for them." Liu Yifei didn't know what Zhang Chen was thinking; she also had her own worries, "Just like those rumors that were spread about me back then."

“You guys are different.” Zhang Chen shook his head. “What you received was all fabricated out of thin air.”

"They chose to date Edison Chen themselves, and they gave their consent to him taking the photos. They have to bear the consequences of the photos being leaked today."

Liu Yifei opened her mouth, unsure how to refute.

That's right.

But she always felt that something was off about this "victim blaming" mentality.

It's like that kind of argument, "Why were you the only one who got raped? Because you were dressed too provocatively!"

"Do you think I'm being unreasonable?" Zhang Chen seemed to see right through Liu Yifei's thoughts.

"A little." Liu Yifei nodded silently, without denying it.

Zhang Chen nodded and looked out the window.

A sudden silence fell over the car; neither of them spoke.

"Sisi, this world is sometimes reasonable, but sometimes it is unreasonable."

Suddenly, Zhang Chen looked out the window and said something that left Liu Yifei completely baffled.

"There are a few sayings, I think." Zhang Chen said to himself.

"The person who wronged you knows better than you how wronged you are."

"A person who has been hurt will always feel at some point that the whole world owes them something."

"The person who hurts you will always feel for a moment that they hurt you because you are guilty."

A few illogical and seemingly contradictory statements left Liu Yifei momentarily confused about the meaning behind Zhang Chen's words.

"It's simply a matter of different stances."

As soon as the car stopped and Zhang Chen opened the door, he made a summary.

Liu Yifei followed behind Zhang Chen, somewhat unable to understand this person she spent every day with: "So, what's your stance on this matter?"

"The Hong Kong entertainment industry must kneel down."

They have reached their destination.

The Water Cube, the swimming center for the 08 Olympics.

It is also a venue built with funds raised by Hong Kong Island businessmen.

Zhang Chen came here today to meet someone.

(End of this chapter)