HuaYu97: Starting as a Singer

Chapter 418 [418] The Darkest Hour of the Internet: Qi Yuan Invests in Wangyi?
On August 2nd, Qi Yuan's birthday banquet was a grand affair.

That day, Qi Yuan gave Zhou Juxing a suggestion in front of reporters: he should donate his family property to win back public favor, and then change his mind when he runs out of acting opportunities.

Qi Yuan only mentioned it casually at the time, and later he learned from Zhang Hao that Zhou Ruifa was indeed running a charitable foundation.

Coincidentally, many big-name celebrities attended the birthday party that day, and Jackie Chan gifted Qi Yuan a Porsche 911.

In the following days, news of Jackie Chan gifting a luxury car worth millions, "Rush Hour 2" setting a new record for Chinese actors in Hollywood, and Ning Hao going to Hollywood to become a director took turns dominating the domestic entertainment news pages.

Compared to these major news stories, Qi Yuan's 'jokes' are really not hot topics.

Few media outlets reported on his words, and few people cared.

Unfortunately, Zhou Juxing and his team's actions turned Qi Yuan's 'joke' into reality, which was quite explosive.

When Zhou Xingxing's team began to hype up the idea of ​​donating all his assets after his death across the country.

A small Beijing newspaper republished Qi Yuan's words and even released Qi Yuan's original audio online.

"He could set up a charitable foundation and say that he would donate all his assets in the future."

Since he has no children, he can definitely fool a lot of people, and his public image will be restored, right?
When he gets old and can't get roles anymore, he can just deny everything and say he never said he would donate his assets, shifting the blame to those around him.

Anyway, you can't force him to donate, can you?

Qi Yuan's words immediately became front-page news in mainland China and Hong Kong, putting Zhou Juxing in the eye of the storm.

[Prophet Qi Yuan's words have come true! Zhou Juxing's script for donating all his wealth to whitewash his image has been leaked ahead of time]

[A chosen one unleashes his power remotely, causing a major earthquake in the Hong Kong film industry!]

[Qi Yuan saw through Zhou Xingxing's tricks early on: first, he boasted about donating money, then he regretted it when he got old!]

[A rising star in the entertainment industry!]

……

Netizens across the country were stunned when they saw this news.

"This is outrageous! Could Zhou be a die-hard fan of Qi Yuan? He actually took Qi Yuan's advice on clearing his name seriously and put it into practice?"

"What do you mean by divine prophecy! No wonder the Hong Kong media said that the White Dragon King saw Qi Yuan running away with an airplane, and no wonder Jackie Chan gave Qi Yuan a Porsche. Could it be that Qi Yuan is really the reincarnation of the Purple Star?"

"Damn it! I almost got scammed by that bastard surnamed Zhou. When I saw that he was going to donate his entire fortune, I thought he was a good person and that people might have misunderstood him. But Qi Yuan's words made me see his true colors."

"I can see through him even without Qi Yuan reminding me. Everyone can check if his name can be found in the charity events of recent years."
Even if there were any, you'd need a magnifying glass to find them; I only donated a tiny amount out of desperation.

"Believe that someone like him will donate his entire fortune; you'd be better off believing I'm Qin Shi Huang."

……

When a wall falls, everyone pushes it down; the whitewashing marketing campaign planned by Zhou Juxing's team became the last straw that broke the camel's back.

This incident has caused widespread resentment towards him, not only in mainland China but also in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

There were even calls to boycott Zhou Xingju.

Many Hong Kong and Taiwanese celebrities, especially actresses, have been bullied by Zhou Juxing.

These people usually don't dare to offend Zhou Juxing, but Qi Yuan wanted to ruin Zhou Juxing's career in China. Some of them went on TV shows to make sarcastic remarks, while others secretly kicked him while he was down.

The overwhelming negative public opinion forced those Hong Kong brands to terminate their contracts with Zhou Xingju.

Zhou Xingju really achieved his goal; from now on, he can only become an 'international superstar' in Hollywood.

As for whether he himself is satisfied with the result, Qi Yuan doesn't know.

Anyway, Qi Yuan was quite happy. ...

Beijing.

Qi Yuan and Xiao Maju raised their glasses to drink together, as did Boss Ding of Wangyi and Boss Zhang of Souhu.

In March of this year, the dot-com bubble burst, causing the market value of countless listed internet companies to plummet, with some smaller ones delisting and closing down.

Xinlang's stock price fell to $1.06 per share, Sohu fell to $0.8, and Wangyi fell to $0.53.

The darkest hour for the internet has arrived, and so has the time for Qi Yuan to buy at the bottom, which is why we have this meeting today.

"President Qi, let me toast you!"

Mr. Ding sighed somewhat.

More than two years ago, Xiao Maju once considered selling QQ to NetEase, because he felt that QQ had little technical content.

As a result, Tencent, while holding onto QQ, expanded its game distribution business, becoming the only internet company in China to experience explosive growth in a challenging economic climate this year.

It really proves the saying that fortunes change.

After a few drinks, Mr. Zhang stood up and said, "Mr. Qi, you usually sing for everyone, but today I'll sing one for you. It's a girl's song, Zhang Shaohan's 'Eyelashes Curved,' can you give me some pointers?"

It's a pity that the song "That's Not Love, My Dear" hasn't been released yet, otherwise he would definitely choose this song.

Qi Yuan found it quite interesting that he could get the later famous Boss Zhang to sing for him alone, which was a new achievement for him.

Mr. Zhang's singing is amazing. His pitch is good, he doesn't sing off-key or crack, and he sings very seriously.

But it just doesn't sound good; it gives off a half-dead feeling.

It can only be said that some people are simply not suited for singing.

"Mr. Ma, I heard you're a good dancer. How about Mr. Zhang sings and you dance?"

Qi Yuan's wicked sense of humor came to the fore.

Boss Ding pours the wine, Boss Zhang sings, and Little Pony dances along. Just ask me, who else is there?

If you don't unlock this achievement now, you won't have the chance in a few years.

The little pony readily agreed and showed off his flamboyant dance moves on the spot; among ordinary people, he was considered a pretty good dancer.

After eating, drinking, singing, and dancing, everyone sat down again to discuss the collaboration.

Little Colt was the middleman; Boss Zhang and Boss Ding arranged for Qi Yuan to meet through him.

Mr. Ding is having the worst time. This year, Wangyi is extremely short of money and the company is on the verge of delisting. Otherwise, Mr. Ding would not have considered selling the company, but he just can't find a buyer.

Qi Yuan doesn't plan to take over NetEase, but he can easily get a stake by investing in NetEase.

In the era of traditional media, many print media outlets opposed Qi Yuan.

We are currently moving towards the Internet era, and this year is a crucial time for Internet companies, so he needs to plan ahead.

After some discussion, Qi agreed to inject US$1250 million into Wangyi through Xinghai Investment Company, and Boss Ding and the shareholders squeezed out 15% of the shares (equity).

Mr. Zhang is also short of funds. This year, his advertising revenue has declined, and the bursting of the internet bubble has caused investors' confidence to collapse. He has taken out his own money and mobilized his employees and relatives to buy stocks to stabilize the stock price.

Sohu's situation is somewhat better than NetEase's.

Qi Yuan originally intended to invest $10 million to acquire a 1000% stake in Sohu, but the forward-thinking Mr. Zhang offered a new path that Qi Yuan had never imagined.

(End of this chapter)