Chapter 340: The Grand Entertainment System

Fang Hong stayed at the "Bundle-like Romance" crew for several days, until late May, before leaving.

Besides checking the filming footage, his main task was directing Liu Tianxian's acting, helping her understand the character, so she could perform the role better.

Liu Tianxian herself was gradually getting into form; she had already prepared for a long time, several months.

And there were other people — the director, the assistant director — helping her polish it; there was no reason she couldn't act well.

She wasn't stupid, on the contrary she was very smart, just no one had taught her.

Fang Hong actually didn't have much to do either, he was just secretly learning from Xue Xiaolu, watching how she filmed this kind of movie.

His reason for leaving was that he had business — he had an appointment with Shanda's boss Chen Tianqiao, to discuss the Shengda Literature division.

Although he had no money, he could still talk it over, see if the other side could give him Qidian alone; the entire Shengda Literature was too expensive, he couldn't afford it.

Shengda Literature wasn't only Qidian, it also had Hong Xiu Tian Xiang, Novel Reading Net, Under the Banyan Tree, Romance Fiction Bar, Xiaoxiang Academy and so on; some of these were never heard of later, but right now they all had a certain degree of fame.

In addition there was Tianfang Audiobook Net, Yuedu Net, and a 50% stake in Jinjiang Literature City.

It also owned three book planning and publishing companies: Huawen Tianxia, Zhongzhi Bowen, and Jushi Wenhua.

It had signed contemporary first-tier writers like Han Han, Yu Dan, An Yiru, Tsai Kang-yong, and many others.

For a portfolio of this size, 5 billion was still quite worth it, because they occupied 70% of the entire online literature market.

Qidian alone held 43% of the market share!

Equivalent to one company dominating alone; you can understand why BT wanted to kill it off — if it were Fang Hong, he'd want to take down Shengda Literature too.

If it didn't die, how would the others survive? It's just that he didn't have that kind of strength.

But before the negotiation, he needed to gather information on Shanda, do an assessment of the Shanda Entertainment division, otherwise going in blind and knowing nothing would make him look like he didn't understand anything.

The other side's willingness to sell to him would fade.

This was being handled by Chang'e's Chief Financial Officer Gao Zhun.

This person was someone Fang Hong had poached; a Bachelor of Laws from Jingcheng Daxue, formerly a lawyer.

Although the major wasn't a perfect match, she also had a Master's in Sociology — her education was extremely high — and later had presided over multiple acquisition and financing agreements for Baidu.

She had helped Baidu establish Baidu Venture Capital and Baidu Capital.

She had helped JD. com acquire Tencent's platform business; helped Didi acquire Uber China; helped Ctrip acquire Qunar and so on, many deals — a glorious track record.

Later she even became ByteDance's Chief Financial Officer!

But that was later; right now this person wasn't famous yet, so for Fang Hong to poach her over as one of the strategic decision-making leaders of an internet company was still feasible.

During this period, "The Shallows" had finished its global theatrical run, with an international box office of $103 million, of which North America was highest at $55.12 million.

Next was France at $4.13 million; other regions weren't worth mentioning, each one lower than the last.

But getting over a hundred million at the box office already exceeded expectations; the Zhong family could take $25.75 million in box office receipts, the rest went to Universal.

Subtracting the $17 million production cost, the profit was $8.75 million — working to the bone for just a few million dollars.

It was still okay though; compared domestically it was like earning over 60 million; it was originally filmed casually, and there were still subsequent licensing fees — that would be pure profit.

And the production money from before had already been invested, already spent, so this $25.75 million was sitting in the Zhong family's account.

This money wasn't touched, left there for now, to be discussed after "The Fault in Our Stars" released in June.

If so, the first batch of 1 billion in funding for the film and television production base could be assembled; Fang Hong remembered this movie's box office was quite high.

Now the Zhong family's licensing fees could form a capital pool to film subsequent movies, as long as they didn't make those A-grade blockbusters, the kind costing over a hundred million dollars.

That kind of investment film, without big capital backing, the Zhong family couldn't afford to make.

And the time couldn't be afforded either; films like that generally took one or two years, two or three years; Fang Hong couldn't wait that long.

But Fang Hong didn't plan to make that kind of film either — making small-budget, big-box-office films was fine, compressing the cycle infinitely, just making more of them.

Others couldn't win every single one, but he could!

This was what made Lao Wang Zong and the others envious — every single Zhong family film could earn a pile of dollars, equivalent to guaranteed profit; who wouldn't be envious?

"American Dreams in China" had passed 700 million at the box office, still in theaters, the final number was still unknown.

But looking at the situation, it would only be a little over 700 million, couldn't exceed 800 million, because the box office had been cut to only a few million.

And "Iron Man 3" was still fierce — within 5 days of release it had taken nearly 400 million at the box office; Hollywood IP blockbusters were still incredibly fierce, Marvel was very badass in this era.

Globally it was even fiercer — in half a month it broke a billion dollars, equivalent to 7 billion soft sister coins.

This film's international release date was May 3rd!

Look at their results, then look at your own — simply a world of difference.

But this money was meant for others to earn, no choice; who told Fang Hong to be reborn too late? If he'd been reborn in 2002 and started working hard, Marvel might have been his; what would there be to worry about then?

Fang Hong wasn't envious either; that era was boring, still in the wilderness.

This era was far more brilliant — whether the entertainment circle or the internet, every opponent was at their peak.

If he could take them down, that would be the real sense of accomplishment.

In an environment like this, companies went under every day; taking 2013 as an example, 12,000 businesses closed every day, 10 businesses went bankrupt every minute.

Some for all kinds of reasons, but most were gods fighting and mortals suffering.

This era was originally one where various capitals kept burning money, kept grabbing market share, kept expanding — many companies would rise, many would fall. That day, in a meeting room at Chang'e Technology, Fang Hong met with Chen Tianqiao, with Gao Zhun accompanying him.

Chen Tianqiao also brought someone — a beautiful woman.

"Hello, President Chen." Fang Hong extended his hand and introduced: "This is Gao Zhun, my company's financial officer."

"Hello, hello."

Chen Tianqiao shook hands with both of them, then introduced: "This is my wife, Luo Qianqian, Vice President of Shanda."

"Oh, hello." Fang Hong couldn't help but take a second look at this legendary woman standing behind Chen Tianqiao.

She was good-looking, with the air of a virtuous wife and good mother.

It was said this woman had given Chen Tianqiao a great deal of help — one managing external affairs, one managing internal affairs.

"Hello." Luo Qianqian smiled politely and gave him a light handshake: "President Fang looks very young, young and accomplished."

"Ah, it's all just good luck." Fang Hong said modestly.

"Luck is also a kind of strength. My husband also got lucky, but he still needs to grow on his own—if growth is too slow, it's hard to handle certain things." Luo Qianqian spoke as if hinting at something.

"Thank you, Ms. Luo, for the advice." Fang Hong said.

The four chatted as they walked toward the sofa area.

Fang Hong knew Luo Qianqian was talking about her husband. Chen Tianqiao's career had developed too fast; he couldn't cope with the sudden windfall and the attacks from outside.

The current Chen Tianqiao no longer looked as spirited as in the past. One must remember he had only just turned 40—the prime years for a man—yet he had already lost his fighting spirit.

Perhaps he had been scolded for too long. In earlier years, games truly were criticized and cursed by all kinds of voices in society.

They said the stuff was spiritual opium, that it ruined children.

Now that he'd stopped making games and switched to other things, becoming the head of Tencent, the scolding had quieted down.

Public opinion is fearsome. If one's mindset isn't strong, outside voices really can affect a person—otherwise there wouldn't be so many people driven to jump off buildings by online abuse.

And then there are all the open and covert struggles on the internet, having to deal with attacks of every kind—truly exasperating, wearing on one's mood.

No other way around it—back then Shengda Literature was too dazzling. If it wasn't taken down, who would be? Who told it to dabble in entertainment, online, games, and video all at once?

If it didn't die, there'd be no room for others!

The four took their seats in the sofa area. Fang Hong noticed Chen Tianqiao looking weary: "General Manager Chen, you don't look too spirited—did you not rest well?"

"Ah, don't even mention it—there's really too much going on." Chen Tianqiao waved a hand, not wanting to say more.

Fang Hong nodded and said nothing further.

Gao Zhun, with his short hair looking very capable, asked at the right moment: "I wonder what tea General Manager Chen, and Madam Chen, prefer? Or perhaps some coffee?"

"Give him tea, give me coffee." Luo Qianqian said.

"Understood."

Gao Zhun sent a message to have tea and coffee brought over.

The group continued making small talk. Before long, a secretary arrived with tea and coffee and set them before the four of them.

Fang Hong gestured: "Please, drink."

"General Manager Fang, if you want Shengda Literature, I can sell it to you, but you have to take the whole package." Chen Tianqiao took a sip of tea and got straight to the point.

This matter had been discussed over the phone before.

Fang Hong smiled—this put him in a bit of a bind.

"Would just Qidian work?" he tried asking.

"No. If you take one piece, who would I sell the rest to? Hard to move." Chen Tianqiao waved a hand.

The outside world values Qidian—that's why Shengda Literature is worth money. Without Qidian, the value of physical book publishing would also take a big hit; it might very well get stuck on my hands.

Basically all the good novels from Qidian have been given to Yutu—the entire chain is missing its most important piece.

Many novels do have publishing value.

If Shengda Literature were taken over, it would fill in everything from male-oriented, female-oriented, to publishing. Add to that Chang'e Technology's Animation Department and film-and-television segments.

That would mean the entire grand entertainment system has already formed a complete chain—it's just that every link is still very weak.

But there's no money! That's what troubled Fang Hong. He appeared rather silent, then nodded in agreement: "True enough."

"General Manager Fang, you have to understand—I don't want to face all the uproar out there, those troublesome fights. Otherwise I wouldn't be selling so readily." Chen Tianqiao said.

He'd put a great deal of thought and energy into building up the literature side, but two internal wars had left him utterly drained.

The last internal war led to the departure of his old guard, led by Wu Wenfei.

Wu Wenfei was one of the founders of Qidian!

"I can understand how General Manager Chen feels—those attacks really do wear one down. I wonder what price General Manager Chen has in mind for the sale?" Fang Hong said.

"5.5 billion!" Chen Tianqiao held up five fingers.

(End of chapter)