Film and Television World Life Record

Li Mu asked doubtfully, "Now we live in the mobile internet era. The peak of PCs has long passed. Whether it's HP and Dell from abroad or Lenovo from China, there are many strong players in the market. It's already a red ocean market, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it a sunset industry."

"Look at Lenovo, the world's leading PC company, with annual sales of over 300 billion RMB, but a market value of only tens of billions, not even as good as a startup."

"The company you plan to acquire, Red Star, has a PC business that is only a fraction of Lenovo's, less than 10 billion yuan in size. It seems like a lot, but the profit margin in the PC business is really very thin now. Your acquisition of Red Star is really incomprehensible."

Andy frowned and thought for a moment, then shrugged: "This is the board's decision. I'm just carrying it out. As for the company's strategic layout and future industrial development direction, that's beyond my control."

Andy clearly had doubts about this as well. Would acquiring a PC company, which belonged to a sunset industry, really be that helpful to Shengxuan's strategic plan?

However, she was brought in from Wall Street by Tan Zongming to handle this matter, and the board of directors had already made a decision; what else could be done?

Li Mu smiled and suggested, "I think you could have a talk with Lao Tan. Acquiring Hongxing is really not a good move."

Andy shrugged and smiled helplessly: "I'm here today on behalf of Shengxuan to participate in the Series A financing of Origin Technology. Lao Tan and I are very optimistic about the development of Origin Technology and hope to get on board as soon as possible."

"But you, you actually advised me to give up the acquisition of Red Star. Tell me, what's your purpose?"

Li Mu shrugged: "Looks like I can't hide anything from you. Actually, it's nothing. I just chatted with you and felt that our CFO might be lacking in ability. I wonder if we could poach you!"

Andy was quite surprised: "Hey! Is it appropriate for you to poach someone so openly?"

Li Mu laughed and said, "What's inappropriate about it? Your acquisition of Red Star was a terrible move. Besides, it's only a transaction of two or three billion. It's a waste of your talents to keep you busy for so long."

"Coming here to be the CFO of Origin Technology and to lead this Series A financing round involves more complex capital and funding issues, and is definitely more challenging than acquiring Red Star."

Andy smiled and said, "As the CFO of a company as large as Shengxuan Group, what reason would I have to give it up and go to a startup?"

Li Mu said, "Precisely because Shengxuan Group is too big and has been established for too long, it is not suitable for you?"

Andy asked curiously, "Why?"

Li Mu said, “A long history means a complex internal structure with a deeply entrenched network of relationships and various stakeholders. Even as the CFO, you don’t have as much power as you might imagine. To achieve results, you have to make reforms that will affect certain vested interest groups, which is very difficult to handle.”

"Even now, you are only in charge of the acquisition of Red Star and part of the company's IT business. It's really not easy to achieve results."

“Origin Technology is different. Not to mention that it has seized the market, its future potential is limitless, which I don’t need to say more about. On the other hand, a blank canvas is easy to paint on. The company has just been established, the internal relationships are simple, and everyone is of one mind and working together. This is the time when it is most likely to achieve results.”

"There's no greater sense of accomplishment in building a successful company than in managing an already successful one."

"What do you think, Andy?"

After being swayed by Li Mu's persuasive words, Andy was actually somewhat tempted. As the CFO of Shengxuan Group, she naturally understood the true situation of the group. First of all, the shareholders were very complicated, and Lao Tan was only one of the shareholders. The company was full of various forces and representatives of the shareholders.

Putting her aside, even Lao Tan has many concerns when making any decision, and he has to consider all aspects.

Just like when Andy was attacked online, her scheduled report at the board meeting the following day was immediately canceled, and Lao Tan had to take the stage himself. This was because some board members saw the news about her being attacked online and had objections, so Lao Tan had no choice but to compromise.

This indirectly shows Lao Tan's influence within the company. If Lao Tan is like this, then Andy is even more so.

Andy frowned and thought for a while: "Old Tan went to great lengths to poach me from Wall Street, he won't let me go easily."

Li Mu said, "That's not necessarily true. Old Tan has been good to you. As long as he knows that this matter is beneficial to you, he will consider it."

Andy said, "I am now the CFO of Shengxuan. I can't just consider my own interests; I also have to consider Shengxuan's interests."

Li Mu said, "You coming here as my CFO and overseeing the Series A financing of Origin Technology is also a good thing for Shengxuan, making it easier for him to get on board."

"Moreover, given Shengxuan's size, it doesn't lack excellent CFOs. Don't think it can't do without you! Whether you're there or not makes little difference to a stable large group like Shengxuan."

Andy wasn't angry at Li Mu's mockery. What Li Mu said was true; her appointment as CFO hadn't gone smoothly at the board meeting.

The two chatted for a few more minutes, and then Li Mu added, "Go back and talk to Lao Tan about the acquisition of Hongxing. I really don't think it's a good idea."

"You should quit now and come work for me as CFO, leading the Series A funding round for Origin Technology. You'll definitely be more free to work, happier, and more fulfilled there than you are at Shengxuan."

Andy smiled helplessly: "I'll consider it, thank you!"

After Andy left, Li Mu stood in front of the large floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at the city below.

He wasn't just making things up when he advised Andy to talk to Lao Tan about giving up the acquisition of Red Star.

What era are we living in? The mobile internet era. The PC industry has long been a sunset industry, and competition is fierce, with profits squeezed to the extreme.

Lenovo, a global leader in the PC industry, has annual sales of hundreds of billions, but its net profit is only a few billion, and its market value is only tens of billions, which is pitifully small.

As a company of the same type, Red Star is only a fraction of Lenovo's size, and its brand has little recognition in China, belonging to the third or fourth tier. It also lacks core technology. This isn't unique to Red Star; Lenovo also lacks core technology, relying on global component sourcing and affectionately referred to as an assembly plant.

A second- or third-tier PC brand like this doesn't really have much acquisition value.

Li Mu was very skeptical that such a large company as Shengxuan Group, with so many smart people, would make such an irrational choice.

However, after thinking for a while, he suddenly realized that the original novel of the series was published in 2010, and it was written around 2009. The timeline was changed to 15 or 16 when it was adapted into a TV series.

Then there's no problem.

In 09 and 10, smartphones were just emerging, and PCs still dominated the market. People used computers to access the internet more often. At that time, Lenovo was at its peak, and its influence was comparable to that of Huawei.

If we set the historical context in 09 and 10, the PC business was indeed a hot industry at the time, and Shengxuan's acquisition of Hongxing was a very correct decision, no problem.

The screenwriter changed the historical setting, but the content of the acquisitions remained the same. This resulted in a once-popular industry becoming a sunset industry five or six years later, and the fact that they were still acquiring it felt strange.

In addition, there are many other strange things. For example, the BMW 3 Series that Wang Baichuan drives would really just be a commuter car in Shanghai in 2015 or 2016. It's too exaggerated to use it to show off.

If we put the background in 2009, a BMW 3 Series was indeed a respectable car to drive, and for ordinary people, it was enough to make them look good.

There's also the 10 yuan surgery fee for Fan Shengmei's father. In 09, that was indeed a lot of money for ordinary people. In 15 or 16, was it as exaggerated as depicted in the drama?

Therefore, Li Mucai concluded that as long as Andy and Lao Tan had a proper talk, they would find that acquiring Hongxing was a terrible move, and it had little significance other than helping the original shareholders take over.

……

A month later, Shengxuan Group held several board meetings and finally called off the acquisition of Hongxing. Andy, who was in charge of the case, was suddenly free.

Li Mu seized the opportunity to talk to Andy alone several times, and also visited Tan Zongming once to express his attitude.

Old Tan genuinely cares about Andy, and probably feels that staying at Shengxuan Group would restrict her too much. Joining Yuandian Technology would give her more freedom and room for development, allowing her to better utilize her intelligence and talents.

Ultimately, they chose to let go and support Andy joining Origin Technology as the new Chief Financial Officer, in charge of Origin's Series A financing.

These days, internet technology is booming, and internet companies are highly sought after on Wall Street. Origin Technology has already shown enough potential, and its founder, Li Mu, is also her good friend and neighbor. This is a rare opportunity and platform.

After careful consideration, Andy finally accepted Li Mu's invitation to serve as the Chief Financial Officer of Origin Technology and to oversee Origin Technology's Series A financing.

Andy truly lives up to her name; the Andy in real life and the Andy at work are practically two different people. It wasn't until Li Mu actually took over the work at Origin Technology that he witnessed her genius and workaholic side.

In a short period of time, the tacit understanding between several large investment institutions was directly broken, and they could no longer exert pressure on Origin Technology in a unified manner.

With each company operating independently, the valuation rapidly increased, and financing negotiations accelerated, allowing Li Mu to witness Andy's business talent and wisdom.

Chapter 171 Seeing his building collapse

Origin Technology's financing is in full swing and it is getting closer and closer to achieving its goal, but a major incident has occurred at Qujia.

Qu Xiaoxiao's brother, Qu Lianjie, was lured to gamble in Macau by someone. He got carried away or lost his mind and ended up owing more than 200 million yuan in gambling debts, even more than in the show.

The person was detained. If the gambling debt of more than 200 million yuan cannot be settled within a certain period of time, the consequences will be extremely serious.

In the past, some people have tried to evade their debts, disappearing completely and never to be seen again. It's unclear whether they changed their names and went into hiding, or truly vanished.

Mr. Qu dared not gamble. Although he loved Qu Xiaoxiao dearly, he still relied on his son to carry on the family line. He only had one son, and if Qu Lianjie made any mistakes, the Qu family line would truly be over.

Despite being so angry that he wanted to slap Qu Lianjie to death, Qu's father had no choice but to raise funds everywhere to pay off Qu Lianjie's gambling debts and redeem him.

On the other hand, Qu Xiaoxiao also received the news that her father was raising funds everywhere, even at the cost of withdrawing working capital from the company, in order to pay off Qu Lianjie's gambling debts, which shocked her greatly.

When Qu's father divorced, he left with nothing. The current family property was built by him and Qu's mother, and has nothing to do with Qu Lianjie.

Even if Qu's father plans to give half of his assets to Qu Lianjie in the future, three-quarters of the family property will still belong to Qu Xiaoxiao.

However, Qu's father spared no effort in scraping together money from all sides, forcefully using family assets to pay off Qu Lianjie's gambling debts. This behavior broke Qu Xiaoxiao's heart.

However, she couldn't stop him. At this point, Qu's father had already revealed his preference for sons over daughters. Qu Lianjie, who could carry on the family line, was clearly more important to his father than his daughter.

However, Qu's mother clearly understood Qu's father better and had already made preparations in private. Seeing her daughter so heartbroken, she took her to the bank.

Taking out the private safe stored here, under Qu Xiaoxiao's curious gaze, Qu's mother peeled off the sealing wax and opened it, revealing a stack of property deeds, more than a dozen in total.

Mrs. Qu sighed, “Ever since your father brought Qu Lianjie to work at the company, I knew this day would come. Especially since last year, your father has shown that he wants Qu Lianjie to take over the company. No matter how I tried to persuade him, I couldn’t stop him. So I had to call you back from abroad.”

"But judging from your father's attitude, even if you do better than Qu Lianjie, it hasn't changed his mind. In order to prevent that spendthrift from squandering our family fortune, I've started to take action as well."

He pointed to the property deeds and said, "These are the properties I bought over the past year, without your father's knowledge, by taking more than 100 million yuan from the company and using your ID. There are houses and shops, all registered in your name. Take a close look."

Qu Xiaoxiao was shocked. She flipped through the books and found that they were all filled with her name.

"I...I went abroad with my passport, and Mom, you used my ID card to do these things! Mom, didn't Dad find out?"

Qu's mother said, "Since we started our business, I have always been in charge of the company's finances. Even now, though I go to the company less often, the company's finances are still under my supervision."

“As long as the company’s cash flow doesn’t have any problems, your mother can keep it a secret. It’s a pity that if it weren’t for Qu Lianjie’s incident, your father might not have found out for another year, and I could have set aside more funds for you, Xiaoxiao.”

Qu Xiaoxiao was stunned.

"Mom, this is company property. If you take it out privately, what will happen if Dad holds you accountable?"

Qu's mother snorted coldly: "The company belongs to our family. We founded it from scratch. You are our only daughter. All these funds are for you to buy a house. Your father was able to pay off more than 200 million yuan of gambling debts for Qu Lianjie. Do you think he would force you to sell these houses to pay off the company?"

As Qu's mother spoke, her eyes reddened.

"Xiaoxiao, I did all this to leave you a way out, so that Qu Lianjie wouldn't squander the family fortune."

Seeing her heartbroken mother, Qu Xiaoxiao silently shed tears: "Mom, you're so good to me."

Qu's mother wiped away her tears: "Silly child, if I don't treat you well, who will?"

……