Chapter 517: No One Company Can Dominate

Yan Zi was furious inside, but there was nothing she could do—she had already apologized; what else could she do? Taking it back would be useless.

But unexpectedly, netizens shifted from furious rage to cold mockery: "Aren't you all about your dignity? Where's the improvement in public perception that Huang Jiaozhu claimed?"

Huang Jiaozhu's mouth was unreliable, but she couldn't blame Huang Jiaozhu—after all, Huang Jiaozhu meant well.

Huang Jiaozhu herself hadn't expected this outcome; she'd simply relied on past experience, where fans would defend her.

It could only be said that Yan Zi's actions had made netizens view her extremely poorly—though this wasn't due to Fang Hong's orchestrated public opinion campaign; he had already stopped, and he kept his word.

This apology from Yan Zi gave netizens an overwhelming sense of accomplishment; they felt deeply satisfied, for how many years had it been? Since 2001 until now, over a decade.

She still stood firm in the entertainment industry.

Her thick skin made even Liu Tianxian feel inferior; any incident tied to her would doom Liu Tianxian to retirement.

Fortunately, Liu Tianxian was pure—she only wanted to be an actress.

But what netizens didn't know was that all this was because Fang Hong had been suppressing Yan Zi; without his pressure, Yan Zi would never have apologized—netizens wouldn't have even been able to make a sound.

Netizens' power existed, but it was weak; there was nothing to be done—this was reality.

But this didn't matter; as long as she apologized, that was enough—other matters could wait, because the conflict still existed; an apology didn't mean it was over.

How goes the saying? Where there are people, there is the jianghu; as long as people remain, grudges remain.

Yan Zi was certainly unwilling to accept this; if she got a chance later, she might seek revenge—so it wasn't over yet.

Industry insiders, seeing Yan Zi's public apology, knew that Principal had won this round.

Because no one would lower their face to let others slap it; once you lower your face and offer it to be slapped, it proves you've surrendered.

Thus, this month-long struggle finally ended with Principal's victory.

This left industry insiders silent, filled with awe toward Yutu and its artists—not only were fewer people insulting Liu Tianxian, even insults toward Nazha had decreased.

Who knew if Principal might go mad and launch a fierce strike against them for Nazha's sake?

It could be said this incident had a profound impact on the entertainment industry; insiders grew even more fearful of Yutu and even more fearful of Principal.

They feared being caught and crushed by Principal.

Of course, more capital became alert—Yutu couldn't be allowed to dominate alone; if it grew too large, it would be a disaster for capital institutions.

If they entered this circle but always faced a powerful rival blocking them, or competing for resources and market share—and that rival refused capital—this would not be good for them.

Although the entertainment industry was currently a blue ocean market with a growing cake, the slice Yutu took kept getting larger.

Principal was growing stronger, squeezing the entertainment market; they found it harder to survive, especially because this incident had placed enormous pressure on them and the capital groups.

Even Alibaba hadn't been able to overcome this mountain—could they? It felt difficult, putting them in a tough spot.

Soon, Alibaba, Tencent, Ping An, and other capital groups announced investments in Huayi; these capital groups would become Huayi's powerful backing.

Some capital groups, though competitors, had developed tacit cooperation; after this struggle, they all shifted toward other film studios to encircle Yutu.

Because if they couldn't choose Yutu, they'd choose other film studios to counter that powerful enemy.

Shortly after, Guangxian Media issued a statement: Alibaba invested 2.4 billion to acquire approximately 8.8% of Guangxian's post-investment total shares, making Alibaba the second-largest shareholder of Guangxian Media.

This gave them considerable influence; it seemed Guangxian was under pressure and had no choice but to align with Alibaba Group.

These moves weren't over; soon came another major announcement: Yan Zi purchased over 1.93 billion shares of Ali Pictures at HK$1.6 per share, investing over HK$3.1 billion—roughly 2.5 billion.

She thus became the second-largest shareholder of Ali Pictures!

This fulfilled Jack Ma's earlier promise—not only Yan Zi, but Li Lianjie also became a director of the company.

Alibaba was now constantly active, accelerating its encroachment into the entertainment industry through capital means.

Actions involving billions at a time—likely spurred by Principal; after all, no one had ever made Jack Ma suffer, and he still carried a grudge.

Capital groups, affected by Yutu, kept moving; Bona also chose to embrace capital, initiating privatization—it had no choice, lacking funds to privatize.

Because this company was listed on the U. S. market; to delist from the U. S. market, you must repurchase all outstanding shares.

Otherwise, if you just delisted randomly, shareholders and institutions would both suffer losses.

Yu Pangzi sold his 13.3% stake to Fosun, on the condition that Fosun repurchased Bona's 19.3% stake from Murdoch's News Corporation.

Previously it was 19.9%; now it's 19.3%, likely because he sold some to others.

Afterwards, Yu Pangzi massively increased his holdings—though all this was secret; Fang Hong didn't know, and he didn't know Fang Hong was also competing to acquire Bona's shares.

Whoever acquires more becomes the company's father.

Yu Pangzi wanted privatization and delisting; Fang Hong wanted control of the company—their goals were different.

Anyway, the company was still listed on the U. S. market, with most shares held by institutions—there was still opportunity.

"Hmm."

Xiao Wangzong sighed deeply: "In the end, Principal still won."

"There's nothing to be done—Alibaba hasn't delved deep enough; if unwilling to use excessive tactics, Principal would just crush Yan Zi outright—they couldn't possibly match Principal," said Da Wangzong.

"Mainly because Yan Zi herself isn't clean—her actions were too repulsive; once you amplify her scandals and attack, she has no room to fight back," said Xiao Wangzong.

"It's also beneficial for us—some of that hot capital from other investors has flowed our way," said Da Wangzong.

These two brothers didn't have long-term vision; as long as they made money, they took the capital's money without caring about anything else.

"By the way, brother, Warner wants to collaborate with us on a movie," said Xiao Wangzong.

"What movie?" Da Wangzong usually didn't handle these matters—they were Xiao Wangzong's domain.

He loved antiques and art!

"Aquaman—a character from DC, similar to Marvel's superheroes," Xiao Wangzong said, his interest rising. "The box office for Transformers 4 was excellent; they see our domestic market growing and want to co-produce a film with us—it'll make entering our market much easier."

China has import censorship restrictions; partnering with a domestic company makes entry far simpler.

"Be careful—these Hollywood companies are experts at swindling people," warned Da Wangzong.

"I know. This collaboration with Warner is a rare opportunity for us," said Xiao Wangzong, his posture straightening slightly.

Warner was one of Hollywood's Six Majors—a global company; for such a company to collaborate with him, he couldn't help but feel proud, with a strange sense of achievement.

After all, collaborating with a Hollywood company had always been the dream of domestic film studios—a wish they could never attain.

"That's true, though. How much do they want us to invest?" Big General Manager was also quite tempted.

"One hundred million. They just want us to invest one hundred million." Little General Manager Xiao Wang held up one finger.

"One hundred million, huh." Big General Manager fell briefly silent.

He had thought a few tens of millions would do it, but one hundred million could already fund a big production — though of course that was by domestic filming standards.

Hollywood costing several times more was normal; their labor costs were far higher too.

"Bro, they promised us they'd shoot as fast as possible, and this one hundred million won't be tied up for long — once it goes online, we'll recoup." Little General Manager Xiao Wang sounded quite confident.

In his past life, this film had been shot two or three years later, with release not until the end of '18 — four years from now.

Tying up one hundred million for four years was still very uncomfortable for them, because many companies didn't have that much cash on hand; the money was all in the stock market or banks.

If they put out too much, it would affect the stock market, and over time, the interest alone was high, not to mention the impact on repayment cycles.

Fang Hong didn't know Warner was using Aquaman as bait. If he had, he probably would have asked about it, because he knew this film made money — over 1.1 billion at the box office in his past life.

If they really let Huayi take a share in the shoot, they'd definitely make money.

Actually, Warner's thinking was simple too: if they couldn't come up with a good IP Movie, it was hard to tempt anyone — nobody was a fool.

Of course, Warner wouldn't be that kind-hearted either.

"What's their total investment?" Big General Manager was still the more rational one.

"Two hundred million USD," Little General Manager Xiao Wang said.

"Converted to our money, that's 1.4 billion." Big General Manager's tone carried a hint of worry.

For them, this was no small sum at all.

"Hollywood's superhero films all have this kind of investment scale. Their Justice League was a 300-million-USD investment, and Marvel's production costs are all around 200 million USD — that's the normal price for a big film over there."

Little General Manager Xiao Wang explained: "We're not investing that much. We only need to put in 100 million."

"I know that, and I'm clear on the market over there. That's not what I'm worried about. What worries me is, if we give the money to them and midway they claim production costs aren't enough and ask us to top up the budget." Big General Manager didn't finish.

These Hollywood film companies all had terrible reputations!

"If they want to top up the budget, then we just take a bigger share." Little General Manager Xiao Wang said immediately.

"It's not as simple as you make it sound." Big General Manager said.

"Then what's your meaning? Afraid that if the film makes money, they'll cook the books to show a loss?" Little General Manager Xiao Wang looked at his brother.

"I do have concerns in that area." Big General Manager nodded, though he couldn't quite articulate what exactly he was worried about.

"It's fine, bro. We can sign a proper contract. As long as the contract is solid, we can avoid these problems." Little General Manager Xiao Wang said with great conviction.

Of course this could definitely be avoided — these things were an open secret; plenty of people had been screwed over by Hollywood like this.

As long as the agreement was drafted well, it could be prevented!

"That's good then." Big General Manager nodded and said nothing more.

In truth, he was also tempted by working with Hollywood — that was the global market, not confined to any one region.

Setting aside whether it made money, it sounded good and gave face to mention it. As for this 100-million quota, they could still bear it.

Compared to their 200 million USD — 1.4 billion converted — it was simply a small witch meeting a great witch.

Now, with capital and hot money pouring in, Huayi's market cap was rising, climbing again past thirty billion, so 100 million was no big problem for Huayi.

He just didn't know what moves Warner would make next.

The entertainment market was shifting by the minute now, with constant capital maneuvers, every major firm expanding, and schemes and plots mixed in among them.

For this New Year Slot, every major company was calm — all just obscure little films, except Bona's "Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy," which was fairly well-known and had already entered its large-scale Propaganda Department phase.

Xu Laoguai also showed up at various event interview spots.

"Lucy 2" would have to wait until after this film passed, shooting only after the new year — they were busy too.

Jade Rabbit had scheduled "Big Hero 6" for the New Year Slot, with no real people doing roadshows or anything — just hyping it in the media.

"Domestic 'Big Hero 6' explodes globally, International Market box office breaks 500 million USD, about to launch domestically."

"'Big Hero 6' triggers social media frenzy over 'Baymax' — why is this classic Animation Department film so popular?"

"Sci-fi Animation Department film 'Big Hero 6' is a global hit, repeatedly breaking box office records in the International Market, about to land in the domestic New Year Slot!"

"Film recommendation: Big Hero 6!"

"."

Such promotional slogans were everywhere on internet information platforms, though "Big Hero 6" now lacked no promotional resources — CCTV had even reported on it.

It just depended on heaven's will how much box office it could pull.

(End of chapter)