Internet moguls are being held hostage by the entertainment system!

Chapter 484 Invites Pony, a Malaysian, to Make a Cameo Appearance in the Movie
The last word was forced down Li Yanhong's throat.

He suddenly realized that he had accidentally bumped into the waiter, and then Chen Xiu, Pony Ma, Zhang Yiming, and others on the outer circle were all looking in his direction.

The champagne-splattered shirt, her own broken state, and the unconscious curses that escaped her lips...

Li Yanhong felt extremely frustrated by the frequent and uncontrollable situations.

However, as the CEO of a company worth hundreds of billions, he still had to maintain his composure and dignity.

"Excuse me, did I bump into you?"

"Ah? No, no, Mr. Li, let me wipe it for you... um."

"It's okay, I just wasn't paying attention."

Li Yanhong wiped the wine off his shirt without a second thought, then glanced at the broken champagne glass on the floor.

"Please tell the manager later that I accidentally broke these two champagne glasses."

"what?!"

The waiter looked at Li Yanhong with shock and gratitude. Just a moment ago, he really felt like the sky had fallen.

"Thank you, Mr. Li, thank you..."

"It's alright! Could you please tidy up here for me?"

Li Yanhong waved his hand, regaining his sense of control.

The waiter naturally had no objections, and even inwardly praised Li Yanhong's magnanimity.

After he finished cleaning up the mess and left, Chen Xiu clapped her hands lightly and walked over: "President Li, what a magnanimous attitude!"

"This was originally my fault. If I were to take it out on others, wouldn't I be a petty and narrow-minded person?"

Li Yanhong slightly raised his chin and looked down at her with disdain.

Seeing that he had just been splashed all over, Chen Xiu let Li Yanhong fill the cup.

However, there are some things that I should mention, even if I have to.

"Mr. Li, I don't mean any offense, but I think that unexpected incident just now was more memorable than the other programs tonight."

"..."

Li Yanhong pursed his lips speechlessly.

Damn! I talked on and on about AI for ages on stage, and it's not as good as getting a glass of wine thrown on me?
After mentally ranting, Li Yanhong said, "An accident is called an accident because it has a low probability. I can understand why President Chen found it so memorable."

"It's not just my opinion, it's what everyone thinks."

Chen Xiu gestured with her lips to the outside, indicating that she did not hold any prejudice.

Li Yanhong looked up at Pony Ma and Zhang Yiming and found that they did indeed have the same face... This feeling was a bit strange, and his body began to feel cold.

"Excuse me, I need to go change my clothes."

"Please help yourself."

Chen Xiu nodded slightly, not bringing up the AI ​​topic they had just discussed again.

Watching Li Yanhong leave quickly and disappear through the door, Chen Xiu turned to look at Pony Ma, preparing to start another topic.

"Mr. Ma, let's find another place to talk."

"OK, let's go next door."

Pony Ma walked ahead, and Chen Xiu gave Zhang Yiming a wink, and the two of them followed.

After leaving the venue, I went to the next private room, closed the door, and there was no one else to disturb me.

After confirming the situation, Pony Ma said directly to Chen Xiu:
“We have already communicated with Naver, the parent company of Line. Rather than a full acquisition, they prefer to merge Line and WeChat, then take Line private and delist it, with Tencent holding a 51% stake and being responsible for daily operations and management.”

"Wasn't everything going smoothly? Why did you say you encountered trouble on WeChat?"

Chen Xiu looked at Pony Ma with confusion, not hearing any trouble in his description at all.

Zhang Yiming was also a little confused, but since Chen Xiu had already asked, he didn't say anything more.

Pony Ma pushed up his glasses, his face immediately darkening.

"Naver was willing to merge Line and WeChat mainly because Line had been losing money for several consecutive quarters, and Linepay's market share was also declining."

“Naver partnered with us with the mindset of taking a gamble with low-quality assets.”

"However, Line's management did not want to leave. Their message to Naver was that if a merger were to take place, they hoped the company would respect their wishes and find another internet company whose business did not overlap with Line's."

Upon hearing this, Chen Xiu and Zhang Yiming instantly understood the difficulty.

The cases of Line and Naver illustrate the misalignment of interests between subsidiaries and parent companies.

If Line and WeChat merge, Line's management will inevitably be replaced, and due to their own positions, they will likely oppose the merger.

Chen Xiu pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Which internet company did Line's management hire?"

"Yahoo! Daily Life"

Pony Ma gave Chen Xiu a strange look.

Zhang Yiming looked somewhat surprised: "Xiu, you guessed right."

"It's not hard to guess. Since Naver doesn't want Line, there's no need to consider internet companies in South Korea. There aren't many internet companies in South Korea with a higher market value than Line."

Why would it be Yahoo! Japan?

Pony Ma pressed for more information, his expression showing a mixture of understanding and doubt, suggesting he had some ideas but also some questions.

Chen Xiu smiled faintly: "As I've told you before, the internet is all about social networking, entertainment, and e-commerce. The merger between Line and TikTok is the most valuable, and the merger with Yahoo, a small e-commerce service, is not bad either."

"Anyway, it's about integrating the upstream and downstream industry chains to create a closed loop for user behavior logic, which is what we've been doing all along."

Pony Ma and Zhang Yiming gradually relaxed, and then they had new expectations for the collaboration between Line and TikTok described by Chen Xiu.

They all understood that once instant messaging and entertainment were integrated, the remaining e-commerce aspect would naturally follow.

Pony Ma paused, sighing, and then asked, "What should we do now? Directly compete with Yahoo!"

“Yahoo’s holding company is SoftBank. I’ll go talk to Masayoshi Son.” Chen Xiu spoke casually, as if he were going to chat with the old man next door about today’s vegetable prices.

Pony Ma and Zhang Yiming narrowed their eyes, both thinking: How did you get involved with Masayoshi Son again? Is there any place in this world that your connections can't reach?

"Cough cough."

Zhang Yiming coughed twice and asked in confusion, "Xiu, how do you plan to talk to Masayoshi Son?"

“SoftBank Vision Fund is also an investor in TikTok. From this point of view, our interests are aligned, and there is room for negotiation.”

Chen Xiu anticipated Zhang Yiming's doubts and explained, "SoftBank might reject my proposal because the prospects for merging Yahoo and Line are greater."

"That doesn't matter. Anyway, TikTok has already invested in Shein, and the downstream e-commerce channels are basically connected. If WeChat is willing to merge directly with TikTok and operate slowly, it can gradually take away Line's market share in the future, but it will take time."

Chen Xiu looked at Pony Ma and silently laid out the fallback plan for the failed acquisition of Line in front of him.

Tencent has already made multiple bets on TikTok, and WeChat's content overseas is rather lackluster. If merging with TikTok is a possibility, Pony Ma wouldn't find it unacceptable.

"I basically agree with your proposal."

Pony Ma first gave an affirmative answer, then changed the subject: "But didn't Baixiang say this morning that they were going to remove TikTok? If this matter isn't handled properly, it will affect the IPO listing, right?"

"This won't be a problem!"

Chen Xiu waved her hand dismissively, saying, "Zhou Shouzi will finish dealing with things soon, and TikTok will submit its IPO application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange by the end of this month."

"The person you poached from Lei Jun."

A smile flickered across Pony Ma's face; he still highly regarded Zhou Shouzi's abilities.

"Then proceed according to the original plan. When do you plan to talk to Masayoshi Son?"

"next month."

Chen Xiu, who was well-prepared, said that TikTok's IPO application would give him more leverage in negotiations and allow him to take a more proactive stance.

After a moment's thought, Pony understood the significance of this timing.

OK! Looking forward to your good news.

After saying that, he turned around leisurely and prepared to leave the private room and return to the next venue.

Unexpectedly, Chen Xiu suddenly called for a halt: "Mr. Ma, please wait a moment."

"Anything else?"

Pony Ma appeared normal and showed no signs of discomfort.

Chen Xiu awkwardly pursed her lips, a hint of hesitation flashing in her eyes, before quickly turning into determination.

Zhang Yiming noticed the change in Chen Xiu's expression and thought to himself: Here it comes, here it comes. He usually does this when he's about to say something shocking.

Why not give it a try? There's nothing to lose anyway...

Chen Xiu made up her mind, looked up at Pony Ma, and tentatively asked, "Mr. Ma, I recently discussed a film collaboration with Sun Zhonghuai. Have you heard about it?"

"I think that's true! What's wrong?"

Pony Ma responded with high emotional intelligence, saying that he actually wouldn't pay attention to such things at all.

Chen Xiu was not surprised; such words were originally used as an opening and to introduce what followed.

"The movie we collaborated on tells an entrepreneurial story. I am the male lead, and the filming location is Shenzhen."

"Oh, you can come to the Penguin Building to film if you need to."

Pony Ma mistakenly thought that Chen Xiu's only interest was finding locations. Considering that his own company had invested in the film and Chen Xiu was one of the shareholders, he felt it wouldn't hurt to agree.

However, his answer was an unexpected surprise to Chen Xiu.

"That's great! I hadn't originally planned to film at the Penguin Building, but since Mr. Ma has invited me, I'll accept."

"Hmm? You haven't considered it? Then you mentioned this movie because you want to?"

Meeting Pony Ma's puzzled expression, Chen Xiu smiled and stared at him with a gleam in her eyes.

"Mr. Ma, would you like to have a cameo role in my movie?"

"..."

Pony Ma pursed her lips and frowned, while Zhang Yiming opened his mouth and glared.

Their expressions differed, but their surprise was the same.

After a moment, Pony, who had barely accepted the information, said very seriously, "I don't want to."

"Give it a try! You might like it."

"No, I don't have that kind of interest."

"Then can I find someone to play you?"

Pony frowned hesitantly and looked Chen Xiu up and down carefully.

"If the movie is going to be about the rise of penguins, you can play my role."

"..."

Chen Xiu was stunned, and her expression began to turn strange.

"I do not want."

"why?"

Pony was shocked and thought to himself: Does he think I'm not handsome enough?
Chen Xiu's concern wasn't actually about this issue: "Because I'm not filming the history of how penguins got rich, you're just a minor supporting character with a few lines. If you act well, you might be able to salvage your image in the eyes of netizens."

"Is my image bad?"

"You've been made a scapegoat for the game, which is why I suggested you act in it yourself so that the audience can see the real you."

"Forehead……"

Pony's face showed even stronger hesitation, and he murmured, "Let me think..."

(End of this chapter)