How can you become a star without money?

Chapter 105: Remember, repay evil with justice and good with good.
Business competition is the most interesting of all forms of competition.

It's not about who's better, nor is it about winning or losing.

It's not about who dies first.

Online ticketing is not a very large market at present.

Even if Kanpianer.com generates over three million yuan in revenue daily, after deducting marketing and operational costs, its net profit is actually less than 3%. This is because the market is still in the development and cultivation stage, and it may even incur losses during the off-season.
This profit margin isn't considered a good business in either the entertainment or internet industries.

The real value of Kanpianer.com lies in its marketing and distribution monetization, other hidden revenues, and the platform's future valuation.

However, none of these are actually directly related to Chengtian Entertainment's main business.

Chengtian Entertainment announced its entry into the online ticketing market, a move that puzzled many and could only be attributed to a personal feud with Wang Jinhua.

After all, at the crucial juncture of its IPO, Wang Jinhua led a group of core artists to leave, which had a serious impact on Chengtian Entertainment's stock price after its listing.

However, the fact that Tian Tian Entertainment is planning to acquire Legendary Entertainment, clearly targeting Berna's IPO, has indeed sparked even more heated discussions within the industry, because this is what we call 'serious business'.

Bernard convened an emergency meeting overnight, complaining about Wu Kebo's erratic behavior while discussing countermeasures.

The next day, Dongfang Xin, on behalf of Bernard, expressed goodwill to Wang Yao.

“Mr. Wang, please feel free to ask if you need our cooperation. After all, our two families are practically allies,” Dongfang Xin said with a smile.

"Thank you for your help, Miss Dongfang and Bernard. However, we haven't seen any moves by them targeting us yet. On the contrary, they seem to have come prepared for you," Wang Yao said with concern.

"Indeed, since we are currently the only two companies venturing overseas, and they already have an advantage in the capital market, it will certainly have an impact on us. However, we are still very confident."
After all, Wu Kebo abandoned the film production sector after acquiring Jiahe. Now, the acquisition of Legend is probably more of a smokescreen to boost the stock price and make a name for themselves. I don't believe they can really come up with that much money to restructure the film production sector." Dongfang Xin said calmly.

I don't know if he was genuinely confident or just bluffing.

However, Wang Yao did recall that Legendary Entertainment was eventually acquired by Wanda Group, not by Chengtian.

Chengtian's final development path was not to compete with production giants like Huayi and Bona, but to shift to offline operations focusing on cinema chains and IP, and its investment in film and television projects was not too large.

Basically, they want to replicate Li Chaoren's business logic from back then: only collect rent, don't produce anything.

“However, if Chengtian Entertainment is willing to enter the online ticketing market, it would be a good thing for the entire film industry. At least ticket subsidies would stimulate a lot of box office revenue, and it might even boost the box office of ‘Big Soldier’ again,” Wang Yao said with a smile.

“Mr. Wang is very generous, but Wu Kebo won’t give us the ticket subsidies. I reckon they’ll only subsidize the movies they’re working on.” Dongfang Xin smiled.

After exchanging a few subtle messages, the two ended the call.

Wang Yao sorted through the information. It had been almost 14 hours since Chengtian Entertainment released its announcement yesterday, but he hadn't seen any special offers or promotions on the online ticketing websites.

Was it really just a feint to boost the stock price? Were they not planning to use votes to acquire more users?

Wang Yao is not a passive person. He believes that no matter what the purpose of being entertained all day is, since risks have been identified, contingency plans should be made in advance to avoid being caught off guard.

They found an information broker and compiled a list of Chengtian Entertainment's activities and the Li family's recent developments.

Wang Yao could roughly pinpoint the enemy's ammunition depot.

Chengtian Entertainment is currently valued at around 23 billion yuan, with total assets valued at around 18 billion yuan. Its main components are offline cinemas and copyrights. Last year, it divested its film production and advertising businesses and is now operating at a light level.

After some calculations, they currently have a maximum of around 6 million yuan available to maintain a debt ratio of 30% and avoid affecting market sentiment.

If the investment in the cinema chain is real, then at least 1 million yuan should be put up as initial start-up capital, and the annual operating cost of the cinema chain is 3 million yuan. Without other sources of funding, they can only put up a maximum of 2 million yuan.

However, if there are other people behind it, such as the Li family, who are willing to get involved, then things might really be different, after all, the Li family is a true behemoth worth trillions.

But then again, if it's just about the online ticketing market, the Li family probably wouldn't even be interested, right? After all, it's too small.

So yesterday, Wang Yao asked Ren Quan to prepare 5 million, seemingly true but actually false, mainly to test his resolve.

But as he continued his research, Wang Yao suddenly discovered something else interesting.

If we set aside the perspective of actual business operations and look at it from the perspective of capital, this incident seems much more interesting.

Who says winning or losing can only happen on the chessboard?
As Wang Yao stared at the data on the screen, his gaze becoming increasingly clear, Ren Quan called, inviting him to his home for a chat. Ren Quan's tone sounded quite serious.

When Wang Yao arrived at Ren Quan's house, he found that Wang Jinhua was also there.

"Sister Hua," Wang Yao greeted her with a smile.

"I'm sorry to have troubled you." Wang Jinhua sighed.

"Don't mention it. It has little to do with you. It's just normal business competition," Wang Yao waved his hand dismissively.

"You're here." She came downstairs with messy hair and dark circles under her eyes, as if she hadn't slept all night.

He placed a stack of contracts in front of Wang Yao.

Wang Yao glanced at it and raised an eyebrow slightly. It was a contract for the transfer of 25% of the shares of Kanpianer.com.

"The performance targets set in the previous agreement have basically been met. Once you sign this, you'll become the second-largest shareholder of Kanpianer.com." Ren Quan yawned.

Although the box office revenue target has not yet been met, it's only a matter of time. Moreover, the annual revenue targets for Huayi Brothers and Bona have already been met.

Ren Quan was very open-minded. In any case, he was going to pay anyway, regardless of whether he won or lost. If he won, it would be an advance payment; if he lost, the website would crash and the shares would be worthless. The real priority was to get Wang Yao on board.

"What? Are you afraid I won't help and will run away?" Wang Yao smiled.

"Of course! Sign it quickly, I won't feel at ease until I've got you on the bus," Ren Quan laughed.

Wang Yao glanced at the contract, and if there were no problems, he signed it.

"I guess I've witnessed the rise of the greatest company in the industry in the future?" Wang Jinhua joked with a smile.

"It's not about being great, just enough to get us through this difficult time safely." Ren Quan scratched his head and looked at Wang Yao, "Brother, give me a straight answer, how much do you want?"

Wang Yao handed him the data he had just compiled.

"If nothing unexpected happens, they really can come up with 2 million to fight us to the death?" Ren Quan's eyes widened instantly.

"Not sure, it depends on how many bullets he has in his gun," Wang Yao shrugged.

"Is it too late for Kanpianer.com to raise funds now?" Ren Quan sighed.

“Definitely, investors will take advantage of this crisis to drive down the price,” Wang Jinhua nodded.

“Then I’ll have to raise the funds myself.” Ren Quan frowned.

"Don't rush into the money issue. Let's hear what A-Yao has to say," Wang Jinhua gestured for Ren Quan to calm down.

“Money is definitely necessary, the more the better, but the core of resolving this crisis may not necessarily be money.” Wang Yao slowly began, “I don’t know Wu Kebo, but can you two guess whether his actions regarding online ticketing are genuine or not?”

"It's highly likely to be fake. He's not an enterprising entrepreneur; he's very conservative. The internet is a foreign territory to him. I think there's probably someone pushing him behind the scenes," Wang Jinhua stated directly, claiming she knew Wu Kebo very well.

"I do think it's possible. In fact, considering that he divested his production business, Chengtian Entertainment's future development direction is no longer that of a traditional film and television company."
"If we're really going to get involved in the cinema industry, then online ticketing is the future. Besides, look at the cinemas they're planning to build in their announcements; they're basically all related to the Li family." Ren Quan, on the contrary, voiced his opposition.

“What you say makes some sense,” Wang Jinhua said, raising an eyebrow slightly.

Ren Quan has a keen business sense and is able to see beyond the surface of problems.

"I asked around among my friends, and the Li family is preparing for big moves in mainland China and East Asia this year. They've already recovered from the impact of the financial crisis two years ago, and I've also heard that their 3G business might take off," Ren Quan continued to share information.

"3G services?" Wang Yao raised an eyebrow slightly.

“Li Chaoren invested in several 3G communication companies in East Asia in his early years, but due to market and technical reasons, he had been losing money for nearly ten years. But this year it seems that he is about to turn a profit. Once the communication business becomes profitable, it will be incredible,” Ren Quan said in a deep voice.

"I see." Wang Yao raised an eyebrow slightly.

The development of the 3G communications industry has an impact on the entire industry. In addition, the release of the Apple 4 this year has directly promoted the progress of the entire mobile Internet industry.

Moreover, it is directly related to the operation of cinema chains, mainly reflected in the coordination of online ticketing, membership payment, and content transmission infrastructure.

The first two are inevitable consequences of the development of the Internet, but the latter is a key juncture in the development of cinemas. 3G technology can indirectly support the remote management and maintenance of cinemas, and after 4G, it can even directly enter the era of high-definition digital projection, using digital media to replace film.

In other words, if the Li family really sees potential in the cinema market, they may make early arrangements in multiple dimensions such as cinema hardware and cinema management. There are currently more than 6000 screens in China, most of which are traditional film projections. In the future, they will all need to be upgraded with digital equipment, which is a huge market.

Moreover, Wu Kebo has connections to Dongying Electric, a former semiconductor giant that may have already mastered the technology for digital equipment.

With both software and hardware technologies already in place, the shift from film to digital is irreversible.

Since Cinemas has a global presence, online ticketing is indeed an important sector that they may not be able to bypass.

Online ticketing + offline equipment + exclusive operation – this cinema model is actually very valuable.

In their previous lives, the involvement of internet giants like Alibaba meant that Chengtian Entertainment had no opportunities. However, the emergence of Kanpianer.com has now provided them with an opportunity to plan ahead.

No wonder that after 5G became widespread, cinemas shifted their development path to a small theater model, probably utilizing the cloud-based XR technology brought about by early digitalization. "The situation is more serious than I imagined," Wang Yao blinked, rubbing the teacup in his hand.

"Really?" Ren Quan's heart jumped into his throat.

“If it really is the Li family behind this, it will be extremely difficult for us to turn the tide,” Wang Yao said.

"You're not suggesting I bet on a 50% loss, are you?" Ren Quan's lips twitched.

Upon hearing this, Wang Jinhua became anxious and said, "Ayao, you can bring up the difficulties, and we will find a way to solve them."

"It mainly depends on how much the Li family values ​​Chengtian Cinema, but that's hard to test. However, it also depends on whether you two dare to offend the Li family," Wang Yao said with a smile.

“What is there to be afraid of? He’s all-powerful in Hong Kong, but there are probably still people who can keep him in check on the mainland.” Ren Quan narrowed his eyes, his tone cold.

"Kanpianer.com now has over 2 million registered users. The total number of moviegoers is around 200 million, and we already account for 1%. As online ticketing becomes more widespread and the movie market expands, the company's valuation will rise accordingly, but there is also an upper limit."

I estimate that the number of online users this year will be at most 10 million. If we subsidize each user with 1000 yuan as the customer acquisition cost, and based on our current daily ticket sales of 5, we are losing 1500 million yuan per month. 1 million yuan can be burned for a year, but it will still result in a net loss.

Chengtian's strategy is probably to subsidize its own cinemas. Even if they subsidize each ticket by 20, the money is just circulating in their own accounts. They can recover some of it by using other offline consumption. The only loss is the fixed costs, such as labor and venue equipment.

"If we follow their pace, we can only keep up for six months, while they can easily wear us down. So if we want to fight, the main battlefield cannot be on ticket subsidies." Wang Yao finished his analysis.

Ren Quan and Wang Jinhua's expressions grew increasingly unpleasant. Indeed, if it were just about burning money, Kanpianer.com would definitely suffer heavy losses, but Chengtian Entertainment might not be so bad.

This is the advantage of owning your own cinema chain.

“Therefore, the key to ticket subsidies lies in the support of cinemas.” Ren Quan gritted his teeth.

“Partnering with large cinema chains is not as good as just selling the website.” Wang Yao smiled. “So we can only bundle with small cinema chains. We subsidize the tickets for the small cinema chains to attract audiences, and they give us high commissions in return to alleviate our tight cash flow situation.”

“But we can do that, can’t we just be entertained all day long?” Wang Jinhua asked, frowning.

"That's why I said the main battleground shouldn't be ticket subsidies. What we do, they can do; what we can't do, they can also do." Wang Yao smiled. "But owning our own cinemas is the trend. We can use this crisis to see which like-minded friends we have. What if we win?"

Ren Quan's lips twitched slightly, unsure whether Wang Yao was confident or forcing a smile.

You've already analyzed a situation where you're bound to lose! What's with all the "what ifs"?!
"Where is the main battlefield?" Wang Jinhua grasped the key point.

"Strike the snake at its vital spot, that's where it hurts," Wang Yao said with a smirk.

"Stop keeping me in suspense, my ancestor." Ren Quan rolled his eyes.

"You really don't use your brain at all. As a CEO, you can't act like this," Wang Yao laughed.

“He was out of options. We’re just honest working people; we’ve never seen anything like this before,” Wang Jinhua said, trying to exonerate Ren Quan.

"A great man once said that when you encounter a contradiction, you must first analyze it. As long as you grasp the main contradiction, the problem will be solved. The first step is to recognize that contradictions are dynamic, not static. However, multiple contradictions will exist in common, which is the core contradiction."

The second step is to focus on resolving the core contradictions and not worry about other secondary contradictions.

The third step is to remain vigilant at all times, because contradictions are constantly changing. We must comprehensively consider the changes in conditions and phenomena from multiple internal and external dimensions. Most importantly, we must observe the conditions and timing when the core contradiction can be transformed, which presents an opportunity to turn the tide.

"Come on, Quan-ge, let me grill you. What's our main conflict right now?" Wang Yao asked calmly.

"Stop roasting me, my ancestor! I want me fully cooked!" Ren Quan cried, his face contorted in despair.

"Stay focused, don't lose your composure. There will be many more difficulties like this in the future." Wang Yao shook his head with a smile. "Actually, the main problem is very simple. Whether it's expanding into cinema chains or online ticketing, these are not their core objectives. Their goal is to boost the stock price."

However, the methods and processes used to boost the stock price have created a direct conflict with us. So, what is the core conflict?

"Stock price?" Ren Quan subconsciously replied, "But we're not listed on the stock exchange."

“What Ayao said is true. Their actions are to create positive news. As long as we can create negative news, they will return to their core contradictions and have no time to pay attention to us?” Wang Jinhua had suffered great losses in the capital market before, and she immediately grasped the key point.

"Sister Hua, we can cooperate more in the future," Wang Yao said approvingly.

“That’s right, if the stock price falls, all his offline investments will just be paltry profits. The stock price is Wu Kebo’s lifeline!” Ren Quan suddenly stood up, his eyes, which were originally bloodshot, now frighteningly red.

"So here's the question: is there any bad news?" Wang Yao smirked.

“Wu Kebo has so much to say about us,” Wang Jinhua said, trying to contain her excitement. “But there are many things that can’t be brought to the forefront.”

"You guys chat, I'm going to take this call," Ren Quan said, getting up.

“Then create more secondary conflicts to confuse the other side. When he has exhausted all his energy resolving the secondary conflicts one by one, that will be our opportunity.” Wang Yao took a sip of his slightly cool tea.

"Chen Hao, Tang Yan, Jiang Yiyan, Fan Bingbing," Wang Jinhua called out four names.

"Sister Hua, please tell me in detail." Wang Yao took out paper and pen with great interest.

Wang Jinhua was taken aback. What kind of habit was it to carry a notebook with you at all times?
Oh, I need to take class notes?

I almost forgot this kid is a college student!

She's truly a prodigy.

"I won't go into the specific details, since they are all artists I've managed. But I'll sort out the relationships for you. Chen Hao broke up with him a long time ago and got married at the end of last year. Her partner is a very powerful private equity executive, and she still harbors some resentment towards Wu Kebo."

"Tang Yan was sent to Hong Kong by him back then. Tang Yan is a bit silly and timid. You're familiar with Wang Jing, you can ask him for details. In short, Tang Yan still harbors resentment towards his decision back then," Wang Jinhua said.

"No wonder Tang Yan would ask me for PR help." Wang Yao raised an eyebrow slightly.

The essence of all problems is actually a human problem.

The fastest way to solve a problem is to solve the people involved.

“She wanted to come with me at the time, but I didn’t think much of her,” Wang Jinhua shook her head.

"I'll try to get Tang Yan myself. As for Sister Chen Hao, ask Sister Hua if she's interested in getting involved. If so, it would be best if you could pass on a message to my brother-in-law, saying that while the entertainment industry might not be very lucrative, the river is certainly lucrative," Wang Yao said with a smile.

"I will definitely bring it." Wang Jinhua pondered the sentence. Although she didn't quite understand it, she keenly sensed that the key point was the words "river".

The main company of the Li family is the Hejiang Group!

"As for Fan Bingbing, he was the one who promoted 'Apple' at the time, and it did win an award, but it quickly caused trouble. Chen Hao also broke up with them around that time. Fan Bingbing was very clear-headed and didn't get too entangled, which is why Tang Yan and Jiang Yiyan came along later," Wang Jinhua continued.

“I understand. I’ll contact Yang Tianzhen again and help her resolve this matter. Besides these, were there any other issues with Chengtian Entertainment’s backdoor listing?” Wang Yao smiled.

"The rest is things I can't say," Wang Jinhua said with a smile, shaking her head.

"When Chengtian Entertainment acquired Jiahe, were there no copyright disputes in the early years?" Wang Yao asked, frowning.

Golden Harvest was a leading film production company in Hong Kong, accounting for almost half of the Hong Kong film industry at the time. Many classic films by directors such as Wong Jing, Jackie Chan, and Xu Ke were in Golden Harvest's hands.

These things that were worthless back then may become very profitable in the future.

"Yes, that's true. Back then, Jackie Chan and Wang Jing both wanted to buy back the copyright, but Grandpa Zou intervened and stopped them. However, there's no trace of the Zou family in Chengtian Entertainment now." Wang Jinhua didn't know why he was asking these questions.

What impact can copyright have?
“Okay.” Wang Yao nodded, having a general idea of ​​the relationships between the characters.

"You were right." Ren Quan answered the phone, his face growing increasingly grim.

"What's wrong?" Wang Yao asked.

"The person in charge of the cinema chain received a message from Wanda and Huaying cinema chains, saying that they are subsidizing 5 yuan per ticket every day to try and steal our ticket supply, and asking if we want to follow suit," Ren Quan sighed.

Ren Quan didn't mention lowering the commission rate, which shows that Chengtian Entertainment isn't stupid. They know that 10% is the bottom line for online ticketing. Normally, the platform takes 4 yuan per ticket, and the ticket subsidy is 5 yuan. This means that they don't take a share of each ticket and instead give 1 yuan to the cinema.

This ticket subsidy is quite low, so it seems that Chengtian Entertainment doesn't really want to destroy its own foundation right from the start.

They still have some brains.

This also proves that they are indeed greedy for online ticketing platforms.

“What about Shanghai Union?” Wang Yao raised an eyebrow slightly.

“With the connections between Huayi, Huangyu and Director Hu, they definitely won’t kick someone when they’re down,” Ren Quan said with a smile.

"In that case, I suggest that all cinemas that haven't taken advantage of our misfortune should follow our lead indefinitely, providing whatever subsidies they receive every day. However, for those cinemas that didn't initially believe we could get a share of the pie, we should suspend cooperation rather than give in." Wang Yao lowered his eyelids, his tone grave.

"More than 40% of the revenue of Kanpian.com comes from these few partner cinemas." Ren Quan was somewhat reluctant to part with them.

“Brother Quan, it’s precisely at times like these that we need to be clear about our stance. It’s crucial to know who our friends are and who our enemies are. Once we back down, it will be difficult to reclaim our rights even if we win later,” Wang Yao said in a deep voice.

"Remember to repay evil with justice and kindness with kindness."

　Thanks to HuangAA, True Actionist, jaychen1981, w致良知mw, 要睡了哦, 路人王sh, 虔诚的殉葬者, 巡山能手小钻风, MC桲儿, 怎么可能叫这名字, 虓东, guo1, wison11, 我去吃个白菜, 猫月8888888, 回不去的从前, 百事可乐lck, 忍耐力,

　　Many thanks to readers 2021030110376210, 20230414193_BA, 2023072834308645, and 20171030085824139 for their monthly ticket support!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)