Chapter 314: Holding Onto A Support
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“President Chen, are you going to enter the entertainment industry? Can I partner with you and invest a little money in your company?” The first one to call him was the most famous “30 billion director” in the nation who collaborated with Chen Jin many times, s.h.i.+ Xiaotao. The purpose of her call was to invest in Xing Hai Entertainment. She wanted to seize this opportunity and have a slice of the profits.
Chen Jin was quite surprised. “Xiaotao, don’t you have a production studio of your own? Why do you want to invest in my company?” Taotao Studios was definitely the top film and television studio in the country. The studio launched six movies. There was none that had a box office sales of less than 3 billion. The total box office sales for the 6 movies was more than 30 billion. Therefore, s.h.i.+ Xiaotao held the t.i.tle of “30 billion director.” It was obvious that this number would be refreshed and increased in the future. The potential for profits was infinite. Such a talented and capable director did not want to make her studio bigger and stronger, but instead, she wanted to invest in other companies.
“Because your company has greater potential for profits,” s.h.i.+ Xiaotao said.
This went without asking. Xing Hai Entertainment Company was backed by Xing Hai Technologies. Whatever the entertainment company wanted, it would get, including funds, technologies, movie box offices, video clicks, and TV ratings. It was as easy as pie. Even if it’s occasionally shot. Even producing the occasional bad film would have no serious impact. The company had a strong ability to withstand risks.
Her studio looked pretty good now, but to make those movies that required investments of hundreds of millions, even billions at every turn, she would still have to pull in a lot of investment for her company. Inevitably, a large number of profits would have to be divided. If you wanted to make more money, you would have to foot more of the expenses, but you also have to shoulder the huge risks.
When it came to the risks of making movies, as long as there were more than three large-scale production movies whose box office sales flopped, the production houses would face the risk of collapsing. This was true even for Hollywood’s eight major film companies, such as MGM and Warner Bros., who were film giants.
s.h.i.+ Xiaotao was now the most successful director of Z country. She was worth a lot of money. But if she used her own money to shoot a big movie with a production value of 1 billion, she would immediately become a poor man once the movie flopped. Just one major production that turned out bad could destroy all her previous achievements. Her ability to take risks was only at a score of one. It was totally possible for an outstanding director to produce a rotten film. Moreover, good movies that could not rake in box office sales were everywhere too. s.h.i.+ Xiaotao did not think that her luck would endure. Sooner or later, she would produce a bad film… She dared not stake all on one attempt.
However, there was a type of film company that could not only make movies as they desired, but they were also unafraid of poor box office sales. Even if they made 3 films that did badly in the box office in a row (or even 5 films and above), there was no need for them to worry about the company going bankrupt. Such film companies relied on large international companies and financial groups to back them up. They were extremely resistant against risk.
For example, Marvel Pictures and 20th Century Fox had the Disney Group backing them. Sony Pictures and MGM had Sony Group backing them. Warner Pictures had The Times Media backing them.
If there are no big international companies acting as a support behind the scenes, independent film and television production companies could easily find themselves falling into a major crisis because of one or two box office losses.
Xing Hai Technologies, which had annual revenue of more than one trillion, was undoubtedly a “supergiant enterprise.” With such a big company backing them from behind the scenes, Xing Hai Entertainment would not collapse even if they produced 100 bad films in a row. Their ability to withstand risks was extremely high. Of course s.h.i.+ Xiaotao would want to invest in such a company.
Chen Jin nodded, he understood s.h.i.+ Xiaotao’s considerations. Her meaning was simple: holding onto a support. “All right, Xiaotao, you can invest in my Xing Hai Entertainment. How much do you plan to invest?”
“You agree? That’s great!” s.h.i.+ Xiaotao was overjoyed. After some thought, she tested the waters by asking, “I want to invest 1 billion in exchange for a third of the shares, is that possible?”
“1 billion?” Chen Jin’s eyes widened. “You are actually this rich?”
s.h.i.+ Xiaotao’s family was not well-to-do. In order to raise money for the production of “Wa-wah 1,” the family nearly mortgaged the property to stake all on that one movie. The total a.s.sets of her family would not exceed 100 million. But only a mere three or four years pa.s.sed and now she could so easily come up with one billion. Was this cash?
“Nah, this can’t be considered very rich. All liquid capital has been withdrawn. Fortunately, the “Wa-wah 3″ at hand is nearly finished. When the movie is released, money will not be so tight.” s.h.i.+ Xiaotao looked like a rich woman carefully calculating her a.s.sets.
“Ok, you’ll invest one billion then.” Chen Jin shook his head. He had to take his hat off. He hung up the phone.
But in less than five minutes, the phone rang again. He picked up the phone and saw that it was from his little aunt, He Jia. He made a sliding motion with his finger and accepted the call. He immediately heard a gentle voice, “Xiao Jin, I heard that you are planning to open an entertainment company. This is a good thing…” This was wholly expected that He Jia also wanted to invest in his company in exchange for shares so that she could have a slice of the profits from Xing Hai Entertainment.
As he listened to her rambling, Chen Jin facepalmed. Helpless. He felt really helpless. He could not help but ask, “Little aunt, the a.s.sets you invested in my companies have exceeded 7 billion. You can’t use all that money even if you have 10 lives. Why do you want to earn so much? What is the meaning of making so much money?” He raised a spiritual question. Of course, he also asked himself this very same question. His own answer was this: he wanted to help more people live a happy life. So, he felt that he could pursue greater wealth.
But what about He Jia? She had so much wealth. But besides bringing happiness and satisfaction to herself, had she brought happiness and benefits to others? Obviously not much. He Jia was stunned by his question. She could not give a good answer for a while. After some time, she said, “Silly child, isn’t little aunt doing this to help you? If your company does well and grows big, I’ll benefit too. If you encounter difficulties or face cash flow issues, you can use the money that I gave you to tide you over… You are the one who has the skills. I don’t have any skills so I’ll entrust my money to you. Isn’t the meaning behind my having so much money your meaning too? Why are you asking me this kind of question?”
Chen Jin was stunned. He was a little entangled in her logic. After some careful thought, her argument seemed reasonable and true. “Ok, little aunt. How much do you want to invest?”
“One billion.”
“Ehhh… OK!” He ended the call with He Jia.
A moment later, his second eldest uncle also called, saying that he decided to sell his company’s film and television department. He then withdrew the previous investment of 100 billion and wanted to put everything into Xing Hai Entertainment. He must be involved in the dream production of first-cla.s.s films and television works!
“Ok!”
By this time, it was not necessary for Xing Hai Technologies to foot the bill of the registered capital of 30 billion. But it was not over yet. Like a group of hyenas who smelled prey, he also received a number of phone calls in succession. They were from Little Brother Ze, Brother Lei, and many big VIPs. Their purpose was the same: invest in Xing Hai Entertainment.
Chen Jin could not refuse in good stead. He had the t.i.tle of “Sole Devourer” in the investment circle. He did not allow others to touch his Xing Hai Technologies, but he allowed others to buy shares in the non-key subsidiaries of Xing Hai Technologies. Xing Hai Entertainment was akin to a newly opened channel of investment. Naturally, the majority of investors did not want to miss this opportunity; all of them were throwing money at him. Therefore, he attracted investments of 5.5 billion with little effort.
The last call was from Yuan Li. Chen Jin sighed in relief. It ended. The annoying and hara.s.sing calls finally stopped.
However, he heard Yuan Li saying, “Dear, I heard that you have opened a new company. Can I invest in it?”
Chen Jin’s head was about to explode. “Why are you like this too? Can’t you keep your money and spend it for your pleasure? What’s the meaning of going back and forth with your money?”
Yuan Li pursed her lips. “I can’t finish the money and I don’t know how to invest. I lost more than 1 million by speculating in stocks a few days ago. My heart hurts. It’s safe to park my money in your company. It’s best to invest my money in your company.”
He was speechless for a while. Chen Jin asked, “How much are you going to invest?”
“500 million.”
“Ok!”
The total investment he attracted reached an astonis.h.i.+ng figure of 9 billion. Of course, Xing Hai Technologies itself had to invest some money into it in order to hold a certain percentage of shares. Chen Jin decided to round the figure up. The registered capital was changed to 10 billion. Including the investment in technology, talents, hardware, etc., the parent company, Xing Hai Technologies accounted for 30% of the shares. The remaining 70% of the shares would be allocated amongst the other shareholders according to the investment ratio.
To register a capital investment of ten billion was not a small move, but a move big enough to shake up the entertainment industry.
Chen Jin shook his head. “I only intended to do things on a small scale, not to make waves. Now, driven by capital, it can only be turned into a giant. The entertainment industry will be turned upside down.”