Internet moguls are being held hostage by the entertainment system!

Chapter 254 Yang Mi Wants to Switch Jobs to Datang Film Industry
Before the Spring Festival, the live streams that Chen Xiu spearheaded led to a significant increase in Douyin's user growth rate.

This also brought tremendous attention to the TV series and movie "Three Lives Three Worlds".

On January 30th, the TV series "Three Lives Three Worlds" was launched simultaneously on online platforms and television. Within just 12 hours of its release, it garnered 600 million views across the internet, and its rating on Tomato TV was 0.597%, ranking third in its time slot.

Compared to its overwhelmingly superior online performance, the television station's results were only so-so.

However, the online buzz will still spill over into offline activities.

Within a week of its premiere, "Eternal Love" garnered over 30 billion views across the internet, and its ratings on Tomato TV climbed to 1%, continuing to rise.

This achievement has already reached the standard of a blockbuster drama.

The costs associated with the second run of "Eternal Love," online advertising, and overseas broadcasting rights began to rise, and the revenue of the TV series' producers also increased accordingly.

"There's hope! There's hope of fulfilling the bet!"

Hearing Zeng Jia's words, Yang Mi, who was preoccupied with her own thoughts, had no choice but to put aside her own and turn to look at her.

Holding the documents, Zeng Jia walked excitedly to the office door, pulled Yang Mi to the sofa, and couldn't wait to tell her about the series of good news she had just received.

"Youku doubled the price of weekly advertising slots for 'Eternal Love,' but demand still couldn't meet supply. Dolphin TV has already bought the second-run broadcasting rights, and other local TV stations also want to follow suit. Representatives from Xiaorizi are currently negotiating overseas broadcasting rights with Juku..."

Zeng Jia poured out all seven or eight revenue items from the TV series, piecemeal.

After saying that, she passionately grasped Yang Mi's hand.

"I've done the math. The net profit we can get from 'Eternal Love' is about 1 million. (That's the figure in the data. It was originally 2 million, but the profit reached 4 million, so we completed the bet ahead of schedule.) This profit, plus the profits from the previous two years, is only 3.1 million short of the 3000 million net profit required by the bet."

Zeng Jia held up three fingers and waved them in front of Yang Mi, then caught the thoughts in her eyes.

"Mimi, what are you thinking about?"

"Hmm, I was thinking about Datang Pictures..."

"Just thinking about it makes me angry!"

Zeng Jia said indignantly, "If Dilraba hadn't been poached, given her current commercial value, she could easily have made 3000 million in profit with just a few endorsements and variety show appearances. If Chen Xiu hadn't taken away our investment share in 'Eternal Love,' we might have already fulfilled our bet!"

"Oh."

Yang Mi glanced at Zeng Jia, her tone indifferent, as if she didn't care at all about what she said.

Zeng Jia, caught up in the excitement, didn't notice this detail and continued excitedly, "This year has only just begun, and 3000 million is actually easy to achieve. You just need to appear on another variety show and have your staff help share the burden, and you'll reach that goal!"

"Oh, that's how it is."

“Honey, I know there’s been some misunderstanding between us, and Liu Kaiwei’s situation really did wrong you. But I promise you, as long as we achieve the profit target, we can redistribute the shares, and Liu Kaiwei can be kicked out.”

"During the performance-based agreement period, core artists cannot be lost. Isn't that what you said?"

Yang Mi made a sarcastic remark in a veiled tone.

After that incident last year, Zeng Jia told her to consider the bigger picture, maintain a respectable appearance, and not let it affect the betting agreement.

Seeing that the betting agreement was on the verge of being completed, they pushed Liu Kaiwei forward to put out the fire and even promised a redistribution of shares. They really had a clever plan.

Yang Mi felt that if she hadn't carefully analyzed the situation recently, she might have been fooled by her again.

"Hehe, I'm doing this for the sake of the bigger picture."

Zeng Jia said awkwardly that she finally saw something different in Yang Mi's calm eyes.

However, before Zeng Jia could think it through, Yang Mi suddenly stood up.

"Alright, I understand the 3000 million profit. Is there anything else?"

"Uh... no more."

Yang Mi nodded, picked up her bag, and left the office without looking back.

After the door closed again, Zeng Jia stared blankly at Yang Mi's seat for a long time, thinking: This silly girl seems a little different.

On the other side, Yang Mi left the office and went straight to the company's break room to get a cup of coffee to refresh herself.

Those minor celebrities who were originally lounging around in the break room, upon seeing the big sister arrive, all wisely made excuses to leave.

Normally, Yang Mi might have smiled slightly and pretended to try and persuade her to stay.

She wasn't in the mood for that today; after everyone had left, she found a spot against the wall and sat down alone.

Leaning back in her seat, sipping her bitter coffee, Yang Mi's thoughts reconnected as she continued to consider those two options: Was it better to establish her own studio? Or was it better to establish her own studio and then sign with Datang Pictures?
After talking to Chen Xiu last year, she had given up hope for Jiaxing.

As Chen Xiu said, even if Jiaxing completes the performance-based agreement, Yang Mi's own benefits are not significant, and there are still many restrictions.

Jiaxing Media is a small company listed on the National Equities Exchange and Quotations (NEEQ). Jiaxing Investment Management, in which Yang Mi holds a 19% stake, owns 31.5% of Jiaxing Media's shares, making it the largest shareholder.

In terms of conversion, Yang Mi's shareholding in Jaywalk Media is approximately 6%.

Yang Mi cannot directly cash out these shares on the secondary market; she can only deal with her shares in Jiaxing Investment.

However, Jiaxing Investment is not listed on the stock exchange. If Yang Mi wants to sell her shares, she will have to find a suitable capital provider or internal shareholders such as Zeng Jia and Zhao Ruoyao to take over.

These people aren't fools; they know that Jiaxing Media's valuation depends entirely on Yang Mi, and they would never become the one to take over the company.

After sorting things out, Yang Mi realized she was caught in a vicious cycle: the harder she worked, the higher Jiaxing's valuation became, but she couldn't benefit from that valuation because no one was willing to take it. Simply put, she was burning herself out to illuminate the lives of Zeng Jia, Zhao Ruoyao, and a series of Jiaxing Media shareholders.

"TMD!"

Yang Mi cursed under her breath. Once she understood the logic, she had no more interest in the shares.

The idea of ​​stepping out and starting a personal studio began to gain momentum.

As for why I considered joining the Tang Dynasty...

Yang Mi wasn't stupid. After Chen Xiu's repeated reminders, she realized that Chen Xiu had ulterior motives towards her.

But what Yang Mi was after wasn't physical, because Chen Xiu couldn't find a trace of interest in her.

Aside from romantic relationships, Yang Mi felt that the only thing that could make Chen Xiu look at her differently was the economic value that her celebrity status could create.

Having figured this out, Yang Mi felt that Datang Pictures' development was far superior to Jiaxing Media's, and switching to them wouldn't be bad at all.

The reason she thought this way was mainly because of the scene during the last live broadcast, where the Douyin employees appeared, which made Yang Mi realize that Chen Xiu would not mistreat the veteran employees.

Recently, the option pool established by Datang Pictures has allowed industry insiders to see the benefits enjoyed by the first batch of employees who joined Datang Pictures.

In the adult world, sweet words are useless; actions speak louder than words.

Chen Xiu's generous approach to sharing profits, along with Datang Pictures' extensive film and television resources across the internet industry, were the highlights that attracted Yang Mi to join the company.

Having lost faith in love, she now only wants to make up for it in her career.

However, Yang Mi still wants to wait for the outcome of the performance-based agreement before deciding on a specific choice, since there is now hope of achieving the KPI, and she doesn't want to lose money.

Having made her decision, Yang Mi downed her coffee in one gulp, then got up from her seat and continued working.

……

Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Wangfujing.

Seeing the man with a receding hairline, square glasses, and piercing eyes being led into the private room by the waiter, Chen Xiu immediately put on a smile and went to greet him.

"Hello, Mr. Wang!"

"Hello."

Wang Xin, with the shy smile typical of programmers, sized up Chen Xiu.

When his gaze moved upwards, he lingered a little longer on Chen Xiu's face and hair.

After greeting everyone and dismissing the waiter, Chen Xiu apologized, saying, "I've never had a chance to get to know President Wang before. I hope President Wang won't mind that I arranged this meeting through President Shen of Sequoia Capital."

"I don't mind at all. Actually, I've wanted to get to know you for a long time."

"Ok?"

Chen Xiu's smile froze for a moment, wondering if Wang Xin's words were just polite, but the tone didn't quite seem like it.

Seeing Chen Xiu's puzzled expression, Wang Xin explained, "The time I founded Meituan was only one year different from the time you founded Didi. Our development trajectories are very similar."

"Two years ago, when Didi and Kuaidi merged, Meituan also merged with Dianping. Although I had never had the chance to meet him before, I had long admired Mr. Chen."

"Oh I got it."

Chen Xiu lowered her head and looked down, but did not make any further statements to define her relationship with Didi as she had done before.

Wang Xin's smile remained unchanged as he said, "I've always been curious why you left Didi. Back then, everyone could see that you had the advantage. It wasn't until that live broadcast before the Spring Festival that I realized, Mr. Chen, that you had found a new path."

"You still watch my live stream?"

"Industry information is something we should pay attention to."

"Didn't you only look into my information beforehand because I made plans with you?"

Chen Xiu suddenly said with a strange expression.

When Wang Xin's smile froze and his eyes showed a moment of confusion, he changed the subject again: "Actually, it's the same for me. Because I'm going to meet President Wang, I stayed up all night to learn about you. You don't mind, do you?"

"Hehe, I don't mind, I don't mind."

Wang Xin chuckled awkwardly, his expression shifting from a composed scrutiny to a more serious one.

Every successful entrepreneur feels a sense of pride and a desire to keep up with others.

Wang Xin just came in and started saying that his entrepreneurial experience was very similar to Chen Xiu's, and then he went on to comment on Chen Xiu's intentions in leaving Didi and founding Douyin.

Although the tone was still polite, the comparison was quite obvious.

Chen Xiu's unusual way of speaking can be seen as knowing but not pointing it out, while also implying to Wang Xin that she did not intend to compare herself with him.

Wang Xin's nonchalance was also a way of signaling a halt.

The initial encounter already revealed the underlying dynamics.

(End of this chapter)