Huayu: This producer has no bottom line.

Zhang Chaoyang sat in a large leather chair, tapping his fingers on the table.

"Mr. Ren, name your price."

Ren Pingsheng did not rush to answer. He picked up his teacup and, using the act of drinking tea, analyzed the current situation.

The original Sohu Weibo was launched in April, but it took a while to start making a strong push in September, by which time Xinlang had already firmly established its first-mover advantage.

But this life is different. Because I stirred up public opinion on Xinlang Weibo, it directly prompted Zhang Chaoyang to launch Sohu Weibo three months earlier.

SearchArc's execution has never been bad; what it lacks is perspective.

Once Zhang Chaoyang sheds the aloof, elite image of the "white society," the company's fighting power should not be underestimated.

So the question is, who will win in this life?

On one side is Xinlang, which has the advantage of being the first to act, and on the other side is Souhu, which was awakened in advance, has ample ammunition, and possesses a powerful matrix.

Ren Pingsheng's fate is uncertain.

But he is certain of one thing: regardless of who wins, Weibo will become an important platform for public opinion on the Chinese internet for the next five to ten years.

For someone like him who works in the entertainment industry, the public opinion field is his lifeline.

Whoever controls Weibo wields the terrifying power to make a star famous, ruin a movie, and even influence the market value of a company.

He currently holds three domain names, which are his bargaining chips.

But once a domain name is sold, it's gone. No matter how much money you get in return, it's just a one-time income.

What he wants is a long-term commitment, and the only way to do that is to use his chips to get a ticket to the table.

"Mr. Ren?" Zhang Chaoyang asked when he saw him remain silent.

"Mr. Zhang, to be frank," Ren Pingsheng said, pulling himself out of his thoughts, "Wang Gaofei from Xinlang also called me."

Zhang Chaoyang's fingers stopped, and Wang Zihui's body visibly tensed up.

"How much did he contribute?"

"Eight million, I rejected it."

Zhang Chaoyang leaned back in his chair. "So you're waiting for the right price to go up."

"It's about choosing a partner."

"What's the difference?"

"The difference is," Ren Pingsheng looked directly at Zhang Chaoyang, "that's who I'm helping by choosing to sell to them."

He paused for a moment, then continued, "Mr. Zhang, you should understand the logic that category equals brand. Baidu equals search, Taobao equals online shopping, and whoever gets weibo.com equals Weibo."

"You're launching now, but if you directly rename your product to Weibo and bind it to that domain, all the organic traffic from searching Weibo will be redirected to you."

Zhang Chaoyang didn't speak, but Ren Pingsheng could tell he was listening attentively.

"Xinlang has been running for half a year, and users' mindsets are forming. This window of opportunity won't be too long, half a year at most, a year."

Wang Zihui, who was standing next to him, nodded repeatedly. This was exactly the logic he had been emphasizing in the meetings over the past few days.

Zhang Chaoyang pondered for a few seconds, "What you said makes sense, but there's more than one .com domain name for generic terms."

This was exactly what Ren Pingsheng had been waiting for.

"Mr. Zhang is right. Having only a .com website is indeed insufficient to form a traffic interception network."

He paused for a moment, then said, "What if I also have weibo.cn and weibo.com.cn?"

The office fell silent instantly.

"It's you too?" Wang Zihui exclaimed in shock. He had been checking those two domain names for a while, but the registration information had been hidden. He had been searching for half a month without any clues. He never expected that they were all in the hands of this young man!

A flash of shock crossed Zhang Chaoyang's eyes, followed by an irrepressible excitement.

"Good, very good!" He slammed his hand on the table and stood up. "I love dealing with smart people! Ren Pingsheng, I want all three domain names you have. Just name your price; Sohu isn't short of money!"

Ren Pingsheng looked at the spirited internet mogul in front of him and shook his head.

"Mr. Zhang, I don't want the money."

"Free of charge?" This time it was Zhang Chaoyang's turn to be stunned. "Free of charge? Then what do you want?"

"Shares".

The moment those two words were spoken, the atmosphere changed.

"Souhu's shares?"

"It's not Sohu," Ren Pingsheng shook his head, "it's Weibo."

"Weibo does not yet have an independent company."

"It will happen."

Zhang Chaoyang sat down again. "Mr. Ren, do you think Sohu Weibo can win?"

"I'm optimistic about social products like Weibo," Ren Pingsheng said, without giving a direct answer. "I need a place where my voice can be heard."

Zhang Chaoyang laughed. "So you're buying insurance."

"That's one way to understand it."

"Interesting. How many do you want?"

……

Just as the negotiations upstairs were reaching a fever pitch.

Downstairs in the video entertainment center, Alex sat in his office, his face ashen.

Ren Pingsheng.

It's Ren Pingsheng again.

The thought of what had just happened made him furious.

The failure of "The Loser 2" is not just the failure of a web series.

This directly led to Deng Ye losing his voice in front of Zhang Chaoyang, and the video department was transformed from the group's main offensive force into a resource pool for the Weibo project.

People were pulled away, the budget was cut, and even Deng Ye's gaze towards him changed.

He was not reconciled.

He didn't believe he would lose to someone who didn't know the ropes.

In the past two weeks, he has read "Wanwan" and "Diaosi 1" over and over again no less than twenty times, and then he figured out something.

Web series are not something that can be made by simply throwing money at them.

It's normal that audiences don't buy it when Huang Xiaoming wears a suit worth tens of thousands of yuan to play a loser.

What do netizens want?

It's thrilling, it's exhilarating, it's something you'd never see on TV.

Although the video department was no longer the focus of the group, it became his opportunity to prove himself.

The platform is still there, the users are still there, and content production is still needed.

Limited resources?

It's okay!

How much did Ren Pingsheng spend on filming "Wan Wan"?

He also wants to fight a brilliant comeback at extremely low cost.

Alex took a deep breath and looked back at the proposal in his hand.

Director Guan Xiaojie.

This name isn't well-known in the industry, but his films, such as "My Youthful Sexual Encounters with the School Beauty" and "Crazy Leftover Women," are typical examples of low-cost, high-return productions.

This new project focuses on nostalgia for youth and topics related to relationships.

It just so happens to be riding the wave of nostalgia among those born in the 80s on the internet right now.

Alex picked up a pen and signed his name at the end of the proposal.

The cover of the proposal prominently featured three large characters: "Adolescence."

An hour later, Ren Pingsheng walked out of the Souhu Building.

Recalling the intense tug-of-war in the office just now, Zhang Chaoyang's decisive statement, "You can join the game, but you must be tied to me on the same boat," truly demonstrated the boldness of a first-generation internet mogul.

In the end, Zhang Chaoyang proposed that Ren Pingsheng purchase an option for 3.5% of the shares of the future "Sohu Weibo Independent Company" for 1 RMB.

The conditions for exercising the rights are very stringent. Ren Pingsheng not only has to complete the free transfer of three domain names, but also has to serve as the operations consultant for Sohu Weibo for three years, deeply involved in the product's promotion and marketing.

This is not just about wanting the domain name, but also about completely binding Ren Pingsheng to Sohu's chariot.