After all of them were reborn, who would still be an actor?

Chapter 688 A Shocking Super Bet in the Chinese Entertainment Industry

Unable to persuade Zheng Dalong, Li Mingyang had no choice but to switch from discussion to forced execution.

This left Zheng Dalong speechless.

Around 10 p.m., Li Mingyang and Zheng Dalong signed a share repurchase agreement for 60% of the shares worth 60 million.

Zheng Dalong couldn't come up with that much money all at once, so Li Mingyang gave him two years to pay it back slowly.

However, Li Mingyang had one request: Zheng Dalong had to help him separate all ten of his other studios from Bouquet Entertainment.

The most awesome studio in Bouquet Entertainment is Zheng Dalong Studio.

The other ten studios combined are no match for Zheng Dalong's studio.

Li Mingyang didn't even consider having them spend money to buy back the shares; he was prepared to simply send them away...

……

The next morning, Li Mingyang called Zhang Wei and Wu Zhikui to his room.

I told the two of them about separating the studio.

The two were speechless at Li Mingyang's actions. In their opinion, even if no one else wanted him, Zheng Dalong had to be kept.

But Li Mingyang had already done it; the agreement was signed, and the deed was done.

Their opposition is futile.

“Out with the old, in with the new; the bouquet has reached a point where it must break with the old to build on the new.” Li Mingyang said confidently, “I believe that under my guidance, the bouquet will open up a new chapter.”

"What else can I say..." Wu Zhikui said with a wry smile, "I can only accept the arrangement."

“I don’t understand what you’re doing, but the value of a bouquet of flowers for entertainment is very low… I have no objection to your 'what’s the point’ approach,” Zhang Wei said.

"Okay, if you accept this, then let's talk about other things."

"First, I'm planning to sell the Bouquet Hotel to my mom and godmother for 100 million. Do you have any objections?"

Old Wu and Zhang Wei exchanged a glance, both seeing speechlessness in each other's eyes.

"The Bouquet Hotel was originally yours, I have no objection."

“I have no objection... however, I invested money in the renovation of the Bouquet Hotel, so you have to return the money to me.”

"How many?"

"805."

"How come there are so many..."

"It's not just me; Zheng Dalong, Lao Wu, Zhong Xiaoyu, Ye Xiangdong, Li Ming, and Xu Yi all invested money and haven't paid it all off. Whose responsibility is this debt—yous or your mother's?"

“I invested a small amount back then, and I only owe more than 300,000 yuan.”

Li Mingyang lit a cigarette and frowned, saying, "How much debt is left in total? I remember paying off all the bank loans."

“Our total debt is 4025 million, and we still have 2030 million left in the bank.”

"How come there are still over 20 million yuan in the bank? Didn't they all mature a long time ago?"

"The Bouquet Hotel is quite profitable and has no bad debts. Your godmother is actively delaying payments. Does she think the bank will refuse?"

Li Mingyang took a deep drag on his cigarette. Zhang Wei's words reminded him that banks had many ways to bypass him; if he didn't want a loan, how would the banks make money...?

This is similar to buying a car. Salespeople don't like customers who pay in full; they prefer those who take out loans so they can earn a commission.

“I’ll take responsibility for the debt.” Li Mingyang took out his phone and glanced at the time.

Time is limited; he will be going to Cannes in early May. Before that, he needs to carry out sweeping reforms of his assets in China.

More than a year after Li Mingyang left, the Chinese entertainment industry has become riddled with barriers due to the influx of internet and financial capital.

Neither Li Mingyang nor Bouquet Entertainment has much room to maneuver.

Therefore, the only option is to relocate overseas.

Li Mingyang unfolded a world map and laid out an Asian streaming media ecosystem centered on Dongda University.

The Asian streaming ecosystem is actually quite simple: three countries and one region.

The three countries include Dongdaemun, Japan, and South Korea, and the region is the entire Southeast Asia.

India is not included.

The Korean company is based at the Dongyang Building in Seoul, and its partner is CJ.

The office is centered in Bangkok, Thailand, and the location is being selected. The partner has been confirmed: the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

Wang Changtian originally wanted to cooperate with CH3, Thailand's largest television station, but Li Mingyang rejected the plan.

Backstabbing in the CH3 (likely referring to a specific platform or strategy) is an old tradition! Tencent Video and iQiyi, which have expanded into Southeast Asia, have both suffered greatly from it!

None of the television stations in Thailand are good partners.

Of course, the Tourism Authority of Thailand is not a good partner either.

But the Tourism Authority of Thailand is a powerful department, incredibly influential!
A very powerful sum.

Lost in Thailand opened the door for Dongda students to travel to Thailand, contributing to the development of the tourism industry.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand must take care of him!
By going with the flow, the two sides will become the closest partners.

Xiao Rizi is headquartered in Tokyo, with its offices located in the T-CUBE building in Roppongi, Tokyo!

Roppongi T-CUBE was built by Samsung and Mitsui Fudosan at a cost of approximately 440 billion yen. The ownership of the building has been securitized, with Samsung holding 57% of the trust beneficiary rights and the remainder held by Mitsui Fudosan and others.

Roppongi T-CUBE has been a symbol of Samsung in Japan since its completion in 2003, and the sale of the building is intended to focus efforts on revitalizing Samsung's struggling smartphone business in Japan.

Mitsui originally intended to acquire it, but the price they offered was ridiculously low.

Samsung then commissioned Lee Boo-jin to discuss the matter with Lee Myung-yang.

Third-rate companies sell products, second-rate companies sell services, first-rate companies sell standards, and super companies sell buildings...

Li Mingyang really liked the building, but Samsung offered 5 billion... and he immediately lost interest.

Later, after dozens of back-and-forth discussions, Samsung finally offered a compromise solution.

Lee Myung-yang doesn't need to pay out of his own pocket; Samsung can lend him 5 billion to buy 57% ownership of the building.

The repayment period is three years.

If they can't pay it back, then take back all ownership, plus the shares of the science fiction film and television city in the bouquet.

They've set their sights on a stake in the Three-Body Problem Film City.

The Three-Body Problem Film City was originally a joint project of three major companies: LeEco, Enlight Media, and SMG.

SMG takes 50%, while LeEco and Enlight Media each take 50%.

LeEco held 20% of the shares, Enlight Media held 30%, and the remaining 30% was later split 50/50, with Bouquet Entertainment holding 15%.

Later, Enlight Media sold 15% of its shares to Wanda for 18 billion yuan.

This would be considered a bargain sale in the country.

Alibaba later approached Li Mingyang to buy a 2% stake in Three-Body Film City, offering 4 million yuan.

Li Mingyang didn't sell; instead, he sold 5% to Enlight Media, allowing Enlight Media's shareholders, BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent), to become shareholders of Three-Body Problem Film City again.

Bouquet Entertainment now owns a 10% stake in Three-Body Film City.

Samsung is really good at this!

Li Mingyang did not agree.

Before returning to Korea, Lee Boo-jin approached him again, wanting to sell the building, with all other conditions remaining unchanged.

The shares of Bouquet Sci-Fi Film City were transferred to the ownership of Dongyang Building.

Li Mingyang can accept this.

Just agreed.

We have an office space, but we don't have a partner yet.

Sony and SoftBank talk about cooperation, but they're actually just watching from the sidelines.

Southeast University abandoned Shanghai and chose Dali, Hengdian and Qingdao instead.

Dali's Youfeng Film City is close to Thailand.

Hengdian is the largest film and television city in Asia.

Qingdao is close to South Korea, just over an hour's flight away.

Lee Myung-yang's Asian streaming plans are almost public knowledge.

Zhang Wei and Lao Wu had no objections to other places, but giving up on Shanghai immediately met with their opposition.

Shanghai's geographical and talent advantages are greater than those of Dali, Hengdian, and Qingdao combined!
“An advantage is an advantage, but if you can’t make use of it, it’s not an advantage.” Li Mingyang raised his hand to signal the two to be quiet. “The second thing I want to tell you is that we will establish our own vertical film and television bases in six locations: Dali, Hengdian, Qingdao, Seoul, Bangkok, and Tokyo.”

"This verticality is not only the verticality of the building, but also the verticality of management and the verticality of creation."

"As for funding, we'll borrow from domestic banks, as much as we can."

“You’re under strict surveillance now, so even if the bank is willing to lend you money, you can’t get out,” Zhang Wei said.

Old Wu nodded in agreement.

"That's why... I'm going to compete for the Palme d'Or. If I get the Palme d'Or, the problem of capital outflow will no longer be a problem..."

Zhang Wei and Wu Zhikui were both shocked. Could someone really do that?!
Seeing the two speechless with shock, Li Mingyang shook his head and said with some disappointment, "You can't understand because your vision is too narrow and your perception is biased... Film is an integral part of the cultural war, and awards are the most effective blockade in the cultural war... If I don't win the Palme d'Or, my fate will be terrible. On the contrary, if I win the Palme d'Or, I can truly carry the banner of Dongda's cultural export, and all doubts will disappear!"

"But... you're not one of them, so why should they support you?" After calming down, Zhang Wei went straight to the heart of the matter and asked the most crucial question.

Li Mingyang did not answer the question, but instead mentioned a third thing.

Travel light!

FBTV has already given up artist management and advertising revenue. Similarly, Bouquet Entertainment will forgo government subsidies, film studios, mainland copyright sales, external investment, and all ties to the mainland.

Launching FBTV's independent content production industry!
No censorship! Exclusive copyright! Original content with rating system! Content is king!
Everything about Bouquet Entertainment will serve FBTV.

……

An individual's strength is ultimately limited.

FBTV is Li Mingyang's biggest source of confidence.

Use movies to open up the country's doors, and use streaming media to seize the market.

They then use the streaming market to support themselves.

Let's grow together and promote each other!
This is Li Mingyang's strategy.

Deep down, Li Mingyang wanted to leave...

iQiyi, Youku, and Tencent Video are vying for supremacy in the Chinese entertainment industry.

In the Chinese entertainment industry, all that's left is money.

Capital frenzy, traffic supremacy, self-entertainment... the result is a film and television winter.

The Chinese entertainment industry has followed the path of Hollywood.

It experienced a brief rise, never truly flourishing, and then its demise was inevitable.

Film and television production, from top to bottom, is utterly terrible, feeding the audience with traffic-driven content.

Without data, it's even worse!
It collapsed silently... The live-action drama was bad in every way.

The Chinese entertainment industry is closed off and indulging in self-congratulatory activities, without any pressure. Capital is all focused on building celebrity IPs, leading to fierce infighting among celebrities.

They're terrible at foreign wars, but adept at internal strife.

If he were to compete in the domestic market, he would never be able to surpass Zhang Yimou in his entire life!
"Are you out of your mind? You think you can talk back to Zhang Yimou? If you can achieve even half of his artistic accomplishments in your lifetime, you should be burning incense in gratitude!"

At the last international film exchange, Zuo Shandiao told a very true story.

Li Mingyang kept it in mind.

It haunts me! Like a demon in my heart!
Li Mingyang walked out of the Bouquet Hotel, followed by Zhang Wei and Lao Wu.

Arriving at the marble musical fountain at the main entrance, Li Mingyang put his hands on his hips and looked up at his Bouquet Hotel!

He bought this apartment building for over 100 million yuan back then.

They were planning to do live streaming because Li Ming and Zhang Wei were doing it so well that they cashed out early at a high price through live streaming of bouquets.

Bouquet Hotel remained, serving as his base in Shanghai ever since.

"I'm a little reluctant! But there's no other way; we have to cut our losses as soon as possible!"

After saying this, Li Mingyang turned around and walked between Zhang Wei and Wu Zhikui, heading towards the Three-Body Hotel.

"Manager Zhang, what do you think Director Li means?" Old Wu had a guess in his mind, but he wasn't sure.

"Prepare for the worst, and just do your own thing."

"Even if we're just playing our own games, we should keep the best..."

Zhang Wei looked up at the Bouquet Hotel. "What is the best? He knows better than anyone else. He created this situation himself. Just obey... Xiao Ye sees this more clearly than you do."

Wu Zhikui was puzzled by many of Li Mingyang's actions upon returning to China, especially the practice of keeping the worst members and eliminating the best.

This is completely contrary to reality.

Wu Zhikui didn't understand, and many of the management at the Bouquet Group didn't understand either, but since Li Mingyang wanted to do it, it had to be done.

On May 1st, Bouquet Entertainment experienced its biggest upheaval since its inception!

With a three-pronged approach involving finance, legal affairs, and equity, Bouquet Entertainment's studios were drastically dismantled, forcing over 300 people out of the eleven studios.

All of these people were recruited by Huace Media, New Classics Media, Sugarman Entertainment, and iQiyi, who had been prepared in advance.

iQiyi acquired Zheng Dalong Studio, which was the most desired studio!
After taking over Zheng Dalong's studio, iQiyi withdrew its investment from Bouquet Entertainment and used the proceeds to invest in Enlight Media.

Shortly thereafter, Enlight Media held a press conference, making headlines by announcing that it would acquire the other half of Youth Enlight Media's shares with a 15% stake in Enlight Media.

The other half of the shares are held in a company wholly owned by Li Mingyang.

Li Mingyang subsequently disclosed the betting agreement between himself and Enlight Media to the media.

With a market capitalization exceeding 300 billion yuan, Li Mingyang will own up to 20% of Enlight Media's shares according to the performance-based agreement!
Once Enlight Media has been listed for three years and its shares are no longer subject to lock-up, the company will repurchase 15% of its shares based on market value.

Enlight Media's acquisition of Youth Enlight Media was a fulfillment of the bet made at the time.

In addition, Enlight Media also disclosed a share authorization letter signed by Li Mingyang, in which Wang Changtian holds the shares on Li Mingyang's behalf. Wang Changtian remains Enlight Media's largest shareholder, holding more than 51% of the shares!

The investment by iQiyi and the gathering of BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent) in Enlight Media is undoubtedly a shot in the arm. In addition, the box office of "So Young" has exceeded 500 million yuan in just five days!
Enlight Media's stock price soared to its daily limit on the first day, and continued to rise to its daily limit the following day!
More than a month later, Enlight Media's market value has surged back to 30 billion!
It wasn't until this point that countless people in the Chinese entertainment industry and the news media understood why the sharp drop in CJ's stock price caused Enlight Media's stock price to collapse!

The sheer size of Enlight Media's shares owned by Li Mingyang has shocked the entire Chinese entertainment industry.

Wang Changtian's generosity and magnanimity were astonishing.

The news that Li Mingyang holds a 20% stake in Enlight Media has been revealed.

The high-salary system that has just been established in the Chinese entertainment industry is no match for the equity investment agreements between celebrities and directors.

The largest equity investment agreement in the Chinese entertainment industry was the one between Feng Xiaogang and Huayi Brothers.

Huayi Brothers acquired a 70% stake in Dongyang Meila for 10.5 billion yuan.

This equity investment agreement has caused a huge uproar in the Chinese entertainment industry.

Many people questioned whether Feng Kuzi was worthy of his position, but after Li Mingyang left, the number of people questioning him decreased, while the number of people envying him increased.

Feng Xiaogang's 10.5 billion yuan has already made countless people extremely envious.

However, this agreement is utterly insignificant compared to the performance-based agreement that Li Mingyang signed years ago.

Based on Enlight Media's market capitalization, Li Mingyang is worth at least six billion!

Three-Body Hotel.

"Shishi! Shishi!"

When Yang Mi saw that her best friend Liu Shishi had finally arrived, she quickly went to greet her.

Both women are big stars, so they naturally attracted a crowd.

Unlike the deserted Three-Body Hotel next door, the Bouquet Hotel was packed with people.

Led by staff, the two women took the private elevator to the executive floor of the Bouquet Hotel.

As soon as she stepped out of the elevator, Liu Shishi was eager to see her lover. She took out her phone to call Li Mingyang, but Yang Mi stopped her.

Yang Mi remained silent, then pulled Liu Shishi to an empty private room, closed the door, pressed her peach-shaped buttocks against the door, and grumbled, "That heartless bastard, he's always complaining about being poor. I've never seen a penny of dividends, and I even had to pay him $200 million. He's worth billions!"

Liu Shishi scratched her head with her finger. "Wasn't it six billion? How did it become over ten billion?"

"Six billion is just the market capitalization of Enlight Media! That doesn't even include its other assets; this hotel alone is worth at least 5 million!"

"This hotel is worth 500 million? That's impossible... The circular building in Hengdian, which covers more than 50 acres, is only worth 300 million."

"The location is different! Good locations appreciate in value very quickly, but that's not the point. The point is that he's complaining about being poor! He's not giving us any dividends at all!"

"Bouquet Entertainment survives on subsidies..."

"You believe this nonsense? He's a master accountant; he must be making a fortune, yet he won't give us a single penny. We're shareholders of Bouquet Entertainment."

When it comes to shareholders...

Liu Shishi hung her head and sighed softly.

"Shishi, we need to unite now. We can't just watch him dismantle Huashu Entertainment. His current actions show that he has no intention of taking Huashu Entertainment public."

"What's the point of joining forces... do you think you can outmaneuver him?"

Yang Mi was stunned; she couldn't argue with that!

Otherwise, I wouldn't keep getting scammed...

"I can't argue with him, but you're here! You talk to him about the shares!"

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"Shishi...you know him. He doesn't care how much I lose, he only cares about whether you lose anything."

"Really?" Upon hearing this, Liu Shishi was delighted, and her mood improved.

Seeing this, Yang Mi chuckled to herself and urged Shishi to discuss the two's shares.

Liu Shishi was in a good mood and easily swayed, so she agreed, "Honey, I heard that Mingyang is going to buy back the shares... We might not be able to keep our shares."

"Who told you that?" Yang Mi asked in surprise.

"Lei Jun, CEO of Xiaomi."

"What does he know about making mobile phones?"

"He's collaborated with Mingyang quite a bit, and he's also a shareholder of iQiyi, so he definitely knows more than we do!"

Yang Mi's mood immediately soured.

She doesn't want money; she wants to be a shareholder!
Ideally, they should be shareholders of FBTV!
Bouquet Entertainment and FBTV are of the same lineage, so there's no reason why they can't be interchanged.

If FBTV dominates Asia, she will be the Queen of Asia!
“Shishi, we must work together this time and not back down. We have 2% of the shares. Jing Tian doesn’t even have any shares in Bouquet Entertainment. If he takes back our shares, what difference will there be between us and Jing Tian?”

Liu Shishi didn't listen to what was said before, but Jing Tian did listen to the last sentence.

He nodded vigorously.

Mimi and Shishi walked out the door hand in hand. When they turned around, they saw many familiar faces standing in the corridor: Wang Changtian, Boss Zhao, Zhang Zhao, and Old Wang from Wanda, all surrounded by a group of people.

Mimi and Shishi only had time to say hello before the four of them entered the room they had just been in. A group of people were standing at the door, plotting something.

(End of this chapter)