How can you become a star without money?

Chapter 280 He really knows how to enjoy life! (2-in-1)

Human indulgence is instinct, but self-discipline is cultivation.

Things that bring short-term pleasure can also bring pain, while things that bring pain can ultimately bring lasting pleasure.

Lower desires can be satisfied by indulging them, while higher desires require restraint to achieve.

Wang Yao considers himself to be a low-level person, so when he indulges in something, he truly indulges, and when he is happy, he is truly happy.

"Why didn't you bring your assistants?" Deng Wendi asked curiously as she watched Wang Yao get into the car with his bodyguards.

"He made a mistake and is reflecting on it at home," Wang Yao said with a smile.

"Oh? It seems there's a significant mistake." Deng Wendi raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Being young means you don't know your place," Wang Yao laughed.

"Tsk, it's really strange. Every time I see your face saying such old-fashioned things, it doesn't feel out of place at all. People say that your appearance reflects your heart, and your mentality is just like an old man's," Deng Wendi laughed.

“I call this being upright and prudent.” Wang Yao chuckled and handed over the tablet: “Yesterday I reviewed the possibility of Ya Hu entering the mobile phone business again. I discussed it with the Le family and we can directly release an order for 100,000 customized mobile phones as a bargaining chip. We can also jointly develop and purchase patent licenses with the Mao Clan.”

"You really put in a lot of effort," Deng Wendi said, somewhat surprised.

Although these pre-orders are not large in volume, they at least prove that there are already existing channels in the Chinese market.

“Carroll would definitely be willing to make such a drastic change, after all, it’s the fastest way to prove his abilities, and Yang Zhiyuan has always been a supporter of the mobile phone business, so he will probably push for it as well,” Wang Yao said.

"But after all, this is a decision involving tens of billions of dollars. I'm afraid it's difficult for Yahoo to make such a big decision internally," Deng Wendi thought, feeling rather pessimistic.

“The debt and risks belong to Yahu, while the fame and profits belong to Carol and Yang Zhiyuan personally. As long as the benefits are sufficient, they will be more proactive. Moreover, I think Microsoft will definitely strongly support and welcome a new manufacturer to join the WP7 alliance.” Wang Yao smiled.

“I asked Li Fuzhen about it, and Samsung’s mobile phone business does have a very promising future, but it seems that the semiconductor and memory businesses are even bigger. I heard that Apple will take over all of next year’s production, and this year they’ve invested billions to build new production lines to expand capacity,” Deng Wendi said with a smile.

"Why are you suddenly interested in this business?" Wang Yao raised an eyebrow slightly.

Deng Wendi's attitude was always negative when the manufacturing industry was mentioned before. After all, she and the media group were in the light-asset industry, and they were naturally resistant to this kind of heavy-asset industry.

"I suddenly realized that it's really difficult to support a company with a scale of hundreds of billions on the internet alone, especially in the social media field. Even if MS is on par with Facebook, it's at most around 300 billion, but companies like Apple can easily break through several hundred billion."
"I also looked at Le's financial report analysis and found that the combination of 'Internet + physical stores' can indeed tell more stories," Deng Wendi said with a smile.

"What, Sister Di, do you want to turn Ms. into a company that surpasses the Media Group?" Wang Yao asked with a smile.

Deng Wendi's previous expectation for MS was simply to grow to the scale of Twitter, but now she's actually starting to benchmark against Apple. The speed at which her ambition has expanded is astonishing.

"Six months ago, I never imagined that Ms could really be brought back to life in your hands, let alone be valued at 20 billion. Since you have your eye on this direction, there's nothing wrong with me speculating about it, right?" Deng Wendi chuckled.

"Okay, take your time to think it over, no rush." ​​Wang Yao smiled and shook his head.

The car was parked at the AMC premium theater in the heart of San Francisco. CEO Gerry had booked an entire theater for Wang Yao to use as a meeting room. When they arrived, Gerry was chatting with Paris and her boyfriend; Elizabeth and the others hadn't arrived yet.

Paris's current boyfriend, Sevis, is not a celebrity or superstar. Instead, he is a self-made man who rose from humble beginnings to become a world-renowned nightclub king in fifteen years. He can be considered a typical representative of the American dream.

Paris Hilton's contrasting relationship with her socialite and grassroots background has sparked considerable discussion and generated a lot of buzz in the public sphere.

Servis is very capable. Last year, the three nightclubs he managed generated a record-breaking revenue of 1.3 million yuan. Moreover, he was one of the first in the world to introduce EDM and discover and cultivate entrepreneurs in the DJ industry.

However, he lost his job due to Paris Hilton's scandal some time ago, and recently took over the management of Drai's nightclub. Paris Hilton's sudden rise to fame has brought considerable benefits to his career, so Sevis showed curiosity about Wang Yao, the mastermind behind it all.

Especially after hearing Paris talk about the mysterious Eastern "luck-changing method", I felt even more respect for her.

After all, Paris had been having a lot of bad luck these past two years, which had even hindered his development. This trip to China was a complete rebirth for him. He grew up in casinos and nightclubs, and his greatest belief was not in God, but in fate.

Wang Yao was also very interested in this king of nightclubs.

After all, there's no place more likely to exploit people than nightclubs.

“Mr. Sevis could consider doing some collaborative activities on MS. MS has quite a few music styles suitable for EDM,” Wang Yao suggested casually.

"Mr. Wang is also interested in EDM?" Sevis asked with some curiosity, because although Wang Yao was young, he seemed to be the typical gentle and uninteresting Chinese man, and he thought he would like folk jazz.

"Those of us in the entertainment industry definitely have to keep up with every trend. K-pop is quite popular in Europe and America lately. I own several K-pop companies, so maybe we can collaborate in the future."
"You can also check out our ancient Chinese style EDM and local rap genres." Wang Yao played him a recently viral EDM song on Bilibili called "King of Poetry Recitation," which immediately caught his attention.

Because of the psychological effect of mother tongue shame, people naturally experience a false sense of 'superiority' when they hear a language they are not familiar with.

Like many popular songs from Europe, America, Korea, and Japan, if translated according to the literal meaning of the lyrics, they would basically be just like those catchy pop songs, but because most of them are filtered through the lens of foreign languages, they sound particularly good.

Just as Chinese people understand foreign languages ​​in this way, foreigners understand Chinese in the same way. In the future, when global information barriers are broken down in the short video era, Chinese catchy tunes and popular songs will also sweep the globe.

Ms's music section has a dedicated DJ (EDM) section, specifically catering to the largest user group of "tuhai" (a subculture known for its traditional Chinese music and style). Especially after signing a large number of traditional Chinese style singers, the DJ version of traditional Chinese style music has rapidly expanded and become one of the largest suppliers in China's car USB flash drive industry.

After listening to several ancient-style DJ tracks, Sevis instantly became very interested. For nightclubs, the melody and atmosphere are the most important. Consumers are most easily moved by the atmosphere of foreign languages: "I didn't expect that China has EDM. I always thought that you didn't even allow pop music to be played over there."

Chinese music has never had much influence in Europe and America. In addition, due to information barriers, most foreigners' impressions of China, even in 2010, are still based on stereotypes such as "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Bruce Lee".

"Don't talk nonsense. China's development is no worse than Miami's." Paris punched her boyfriend.

"I'm sorry, that's not what I meant," Sevis quickly apologized.

“It’s alright. China’s cultural exports are indeed somewhat weak, but that’s also a mysterious advantage. I heard that Sevis is now working for Yongli Group?” Wang Yao said with a smile.

Yongli Group is currently one of the world's largest luxury resort brands, with a market value of nearly 80 billion US dollars. Due to his outstanding abilities, Sevis was invited by Yongli Group to serve as the head of the nightclub business and acquired the largest nightclub brand, Drai's Group.

“That’s right. Although I was only fired two months ago, I didn’t expect to return to Drai’s as a manager.” Sevis grinned.

"Ms is now one of the world's largest social media platforms, and compared to Facebook, we have more public traffic and smaller communities. If there's an opportunity, we could consider collaborating with Ms on a global EDM nightclub tour."

"We'll assemble a world-class DJ team, something like the Top 100 DJs in the world, and have them tour nightclubs globally. Ms. will be responsible for incubating and training DJs, as well as ticket sales and promotion, while Mr. Sevis will be responsible for event preparation and resource coordination," Wang Yao said.

With the financial crisis just over, it's the peak season for pent-up spending in nightclubs, with global nightclub attendance reaching 70 billion, and even in China alone, there are 5000 million consumers every year.

These are the best daily active users. If Ms can incubate a group of top 100 DJs, it can not only make money through tours, but also accumulate a core group of at least millions of daily active users, and also boost the Ms music section, resulting in very considerable profits.

Wang Yao now has nearly a thousand part-time and full-time singers under his contract in the music industry, and they are all basically operating at a loss. Unlike models who have e-commerce and online sales, the profession of singer in China has always been hot on the outside but cold on the inside, with insufficient market to support this profession.

However, once this Top 100 DJs tour takes shape, the demand for DJs and resident singers in major nightclubs across the country will increase from amateurs to professionals or internet celebrities, naturally creating new demand that can at least solve the livelihood problems of many people.

When Sevis heard this suggestion, his eyes lit up. The reason he introduced EDM into nightclub operations and replaced the traditional misconceptions with a more flexible DJ model was because he saw the traffic effect in Paris. He had trained and signed three full-time DJs, who had become an important factor in stabilizing the bar's traffic.

However, he couldn't figure out how to expand this model, because the next step for DJs would be to become singers. Yongli is a resort company, not a media company, so naturally they wouldn't agree to his plan. Moreover, once DJs become singers, they would most likely not be able to go back to nightclubs.

But Wang Yao's suggestion made him suddenly see the light.

Who says DJs have to be elevated to the level of singers? Can't they form their own system?

In particular, the global top 100 DJs tour made him feel as if the crown of the king of nightclubs was unshakeable on his head.

"Mr. Wang, you really are a genius!" Severa said excitedly.

"If you're interested, you can plan it out later. Our company has plenty of talent and music resources," Wang Yao said with a smile.

“Looks like I need to sign some promising DJs,” Paris said with a laugh.

“Ms could invest in a talent show similar to The Voice of Holland with Fox,” Deng Wendi said, resting her chin on her hand.

Before the premiere of "The Voice of the Netherlands" last month, Wang Yao had already purchased the production rights for the variety show in more than a dozen countries and regions around the world. Preparations had already begun in England, China, Korea, Japan and other places. Ms Group and Tianhuo were the investors, and Deng Wendi and Elizabeth were the producers.

“That’s definitely possible.” Wang Yao nodded.

While everyone was chatting about the plans for the world's top 100 DJs, Elizabeth finally arrived late with Patrick King.

“Paris, congratulations on reclaiming your title as the fashion queen.” Elizabeth hugged Paris.

The two are not only acquaintances in high society circles, but also have a fairly good relationship, as Elizabeth was in charge of producing "Paryo 2" when it aired in England last year.

"Congratulations on your return to the group and your renewed leadership," Paris complimented.

“Patrick, this is Wang Yao, the future owner of AMC,” Elizabeth introduced, turning her head.

"Nice to meet you, I'm a big fan of 'Sex and the City'," Wang Yao said with a smile.

"Oh? I didn't expect there would be an audience in China." Patrick said with some surprise.

“The novel ‘Desire City’ has a large audience in China and has even influenced the life views of a generation of girls. I have always hoped that China would also have a similar female-themed novel, which is why I took the liberty of inviting Mr. Jin to meet me,” Wang Yao said with a smile.

“That would indeed be my honor, but it’s difficult, since I don’t know much about China,” Patrick declined.

"Of course, I just hope to have the opportunity to receive guidance from Mr. Kim. However, another topic this time is that I hope you can adapt a play based on Paris's experiences."

The story revolves around a hotel heiress who, after her family goes bankrupt, meets a girl from a lower social class, leading to a clash of class consciousness. It uses the stereotypical female archetypes of blonde and black hair to challenge some traditional perceptions. Wang Yao smiled slightly.

The script for "Ode to Joy" has been polished to near completion, and Wang Yao plans to capitalize on Patrick's popularity to boost his influence.

Patrick's smile froze, and his lips twitched slightly.

If Patrick hadn't never shown his original script to anyone, he would have almost thought his script had been leaked.

The outline described by this unfamiliar Chinese boy was inspired by Paris last year. He even spent a year observing the characteristics of underprivileged girls in New York to flesh out the character.

He didn't understand what it meant to have a telepathic connection, but at this moment he was as shocked as if struck by lightning. How could there be such a fate?

Patrick's attention to Paris Hilton over the past year has been nothing short of obsessive. With her recent fall that brought her fame and her return to the top, he has naturally been studying her and has been guided to watch a lot of metaphysical content about Paris Hilton worshipping "Eastern deities".

He was an atheist, and while he was curious about it, he dismissed it with disdain.

But today, he did feel a bit creeped out.

Could there really be some truth to Eastern mysticism?
Patrick swallowed hard, looked at Paris's smiling face, and forced an awkward smile: "What does Miss Paris think?"

“Of course I’ll follow my boss’s orders, but if Mr. Patrick could tailor a script just for me, I would have no regrets in this life,” Paris said with a smile.

Patrick is a highly respected director in the sitcom television genre.

“Paris’s popularity will be quite good, enough to attract sufficient sponsorship for the show, not to mention Fox’s full support,” Elizabeth said with a smile.

She has upgraded her rating for working with Wang Yao from B to A. The success of the reality show "Park Friends 3" is practically a done deal, so she is very supportive of this TV series collaboration.

Now she's even considering investing in Skyfire. Although Wang Yao may not understand what the European and American markets like, he is truly amazing when it comes to traffic marketing.

Patrick pondered for a moment. Originally, he planned to take the script to major television networks next year to seek investment. As the number one television network in the United States, Fox, coupled with Paris's popularity, would definitely guarantee high ratings.

“Tailor-made content can affect the audience’s sense of immersion; at most, it can be used for some interaction during promotions,” Patrick said.

“Of course, since it’s not a reality show, Mr. Jin can talk to Paris and gather some material if he’s interested,” Wang Yao said with a smile.

Patrick gave an awkward smile and forced himself to start chatting with Paris.

Wang Yao briefly explained the situation of YaHu Investment to Elizabeth yesterday.

"Yahu has approved a valuation of 20 billion?" Elizabeth asked, somewhat surprised.

"Pretty much, but even if they don't agree, given Ms's current potential, other investors' valuations won't be too different." Wang Yao nodded.

“We just need Yahoo’s portal and advertising resources,” Deng Wendi said.

“The mobile phone business is an internal decision for you. On behalf of the media group, I reserve my opinion for the time being. On behalf of Fox, I formally submit a request to Skynet to acquire a stake.” Elizabeth pondered for a moment, then decided to wait and see.

"Huh? So sudden?" Wang Yao was somewhat surprised.

We were talking about MS, how did we end up talking about Skynet's investment?

“Fox has had good results this year. I heard that Skynet is going to start branches in Europe and America. We don’t have an artist management department, but I admire Skynet’s artist incubation strategy. So we want to form a closer cooperative relationship. After all, if you really succeed in acquiring AMC, you can directly benefit us,” Elizabeth said truthfully.

After meeting Wang Yao, and considering the recent achievements on MS and repeated investigations into Tianwang, their family unanimously believes that this is a very promising company, far more promising than Huayi, which they are currently cooperating with.

“Although Skynet is currently valued at only $5 million, the acquisition of AMC is already more than halfway complete, so it’s difficult to arrive at a valuation at this point,” Wang Yao frowned.

Wang Yao welcomes any investment offers, but the price is indeed difficult to determine at the moment.

“Even if the acquisition is successful, it will still be heavily indebted. Based on Skynet’s current revenue, a valuation of $5 million is almost the limit. Do you think your revenue can break $10 billion next year?” Elizabeth joked.

Based on the fact that Tianwang's revenue in the first two quarters was less than 2 million, it is estimated that the revenue this year will reach a maximum of 1 million. Assuming an industry average net profit margin of 30%, the annual net profit would be 2 million. Based on Huayi's PE ratio of 6000, the valuation would be at most 6 million dollars. After acquiring AMC, it will also be burdened with huge interest debts that may not be paid off for at least five years, so the market value is unlikely to grow much.

Moreover, although the Chinese market is booming, it is still quite limited.

Fox made a fortune this year with just one movie, Avatar, so naturally they look down on the size of the Chinese market.

“We still have many promising projects waiting to be tested next year. Revenue of 10 billion dollars is not impossible. My target price for the next round of financing is 15 to 20 billion dollars.” Wang Yao shook his head.

“I acknowledge Mr. Wang’s capabilities, but this valuation is indeed a bit far-fetched. You’ve essentially swallowed up the entire size of Huayi. Are you confident you can crush him within a year?” Elizabeth asked, somewhat surprised.

“SkyNet’s focus is on the international market, and Europe and America are just one part of it, and mainly to support Ms’s development, not its main business.” Wang Yao shook his head.

“I definitely cannot accept this valuation,” Elizabeth shook her head.

"How many shares do you want?" Wang Yao asked, frowning.

“20%,” Elizabeth said with a smile.

Fox's revenue for the first three quarters has exceeded $50 billion, and with billions of dollars in profit lying in its books, it has plenty of confidence.

“Then how about this: $20 million for one year. If the valuation next year is less than $2 billion, it will be converted into 25% of the shares. If it is, it will be converted according to the valuation at that time. If it is less than $10 billion, you can redeem the shares with interest on the first priority,” Wang Yao said thoughtfully.

“That works, but there are additional requirements. We can’t accept investments from other Hollywood giants, and the money can only be used for business development, not to pay off the debts of the cinemas.” Elizabeth calculated carefully. If it could really grow fourfold in a year, it would prove that Skynet definitely had a higher value. No matter how you look at it, it would be a win-win situation.

"Of course, I could even submit it to Fox right now. Your project's production order should be ready by next year, right?" Wang Yao chuckled.

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow slightly, surprised that Wang Yao was so perceptive.

Her original intention was to use this investment to pass through Skynet and then flow back into the Fox project, so that she could both invest in a promising company and get the funds back into her own hands.

After all, she knew very well that Skynet had to rely on Fox's channels overseas.

“Of course.” Elizabeth found Wang Yao increasingly endearing and immediately showed him a partial list of projects she planned to invest in next year.

After some deliberation, Wang Yao selected two films, "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" and "Transformers 3," with a total production budget of 3 million. Wang Yao directly invested 1 million in the name of Skynet and in exchange for several minor supporting roles.

Because he knew very well that this was the price he was paying to get Elizabeth to support Tooth Tiger's investment.

During the discussion, Chloe Bennet, the first artist signed by the US branch, was brought in by her agent.

Ke-Ying Wang's management company was founded by a veteran music producer named Coquillad. He had previously traveled between Europe and Asia and served as the album planner and distributor for Li Yuchun. Later, he discovered that the Asian music market was very promising and found Ke-Ying Wang, who has great mixed-race talent.

However, because the music and persona style did not fit the Chinese market, there was little progress after two years of promotion. Coquerard and Wang Keying are planning to give up the Asian market and return to the United States this year. A month ago, Wang Yao announced within Tianwang that he would open a branch in Europe and the United States and asked Ji Jin and others to find a suitable company shell to acquire directly.

Ji, who had previously worked with Coquerra, recommended his company to Wang Yao. In the end, Wang Yao successfully acquired 85% of the shares with a $150 million investment. Coquerra was in charge of the overseas music sector development, mainly cooperating with JYP's branch offices.

As the only signed artist, Chloe Bennet naturally enjoyed the special treatment of being the only one. Wang Yao only recognized her as the female lead in "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." after meeting her a few times, and realized that she was a promising talent.

When preparing to assemble the four Lu sisters for "A Dream of Red Mansions", Wang Yao thought it would be perfect to bring together her, Gulnazar, Dilraba, and Tong Liya.

At just 18 years old, Wang Keying fits the stereotypical image of a mixed-race woman: tanned skin and big, wavy hair. However, perhaps because she was going to meet Wang Yao, she deliberately made her makeup lighter and more Chinese-style, which made her look much more pleasing to the eye.

"22" has been released overseas for almost a week, and its cumulative box office is less than five million US dollars, which can be described as somewhat dismal. After all, despite the high level of hype beforehand, only a small number of people actually went to the cinema out of curiosity. However, it has given AMC a chance to validate the unique theater business proposed by Wang Yao, attracting thousands of Chinese and international students to sign up for memberships.

The methods used for domestic film promotion and distribution don't really work well overseas; the fundamental issue is that they're not adapted to local conditions.

After watching the movie, Patrick expressed his approval of Zhao Liying's acting skills and planned to see if a Chinese character could be added to "Bankruptcy". He is quite interested in this kind of cultural conflict.

Wang Yao then introduced Wang Keying to Patrick as a potential partner, presumably to satisfy all his stereotypes about mixed Asian heritage.

Wang Keying seemed a little reserved when she first met so many important people, but she was outgoing and quickly found her footing in social situations.

At the end of the meeting, Paris took a photo with Chloe Bennet and sent it to her on WeChat to recommend "22," hoping to give this new acquaintance some attention. Then she and her boyfriend went to work on their variety show and Top 100 DJ business.

"How long will Mr. Wang stay in the United States?" As one of the branch managers, Coquillad naturally had to entertain his boss.

Interpersonal relationships and social niceties are the same everywhere.

"I'll stay for at least three more days. I plan to explore the surrounding area and do some sightseeing in Hollywood. We're already here," Wang Yao said with a light laugh.

“That’s true. It takes about two or three hours to drive there from here. Does Mr. Wang need a tour guide and driver?” Wang Keying asked with a bright smile.

“Keying is quite familiar with Hollywood, she’ll definitely have a great time showing you around.” Coquillad glanced at Wang Keying, seeing right through his little apprentice’s little scheme.

"Well, we don't need a driver, a tour guide is fine. If it's convenient, let's set off directly?" Wang Yao smiled.

Deng Wendi provided him with a convoy and bodyguards, all of whom were locals and naturally more familiar with him than Wang Keying, a girl from out of town.

However, since Wang Keying will be developing her career in both Korea and the United States in the future, it would be good for her to get to know Kim Ji-won first.

Wang Keying is an outgoing person. Along the way, she started introducing Wang Yao to various local customs and interesting stories and rumors about Hollywood. Her bluntness sometimes made Wang Yao feel a little embarrassed.

"Wow, what a beautiful house! Those evil capitalists really know how to enjoy life," Wang Keying exclaimed after looking at the grand estate.

"Luckily, the house isn't mine," Wang Yao smiled.

"Hehe, I wasn't talking about you, boss." Wang Keying shrank her neck.

Kim Ji-won and Nana, who had been sleeping at home all day, heard the noise and quickly ran downstairs to wait for their turn to go out.

But when she saw that Wang Yao had brought back another little girl, Lin Zhenna's originally excited and nervous mood suddenly became extremely complicated.

Kim Ji-won, on the other hand, had a big smile on her face.

Wang Keying was naturally prepared for the fact that Wang Yao was keeping two mistresses, but the fact that there were two really changed her impression of Wang Yao.

Those wicked capitalists, they really know how to enjoy life!

The two sides greeted each other politely but also somewhat reservedly.

"Didn't we say we were going to Hollywood for a photo op? Let's go." Wang Yao changed his clothes and waved his hand.

(End of this chapter)