Chapter 1503
Group Battle
The three new female singers felt the pressure from Zhang Yuan, a senior figure in the entertainment industry.
Opportunities don't come every day, and young people don't have that much time to consider the cost.
Of course, these people are not young anymore.
It's worth noting that those singers were only teenagers when they debuted in their early years, and Wu Mochou, the youngest of these three, is already 20.
The oldest, Yuan Yawei, is already 28 years old.
Life offers few opportunities to take a chance, and Zhang Yuan hopes they will be clear-headed and have a clear understanding of the situation.
Next, he chatted with several friends in the music industry about the current market situation.
Overall, the entertainment market, especially the concert market, is growing year by year.
Ten years ago, Hong Kong and Taiwan singers were always the final act at variety shows, the headliners.
Even the headlining and finale performances were by singers from Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Only Wang Fei could be the headliner, but she is considered to be from the Hong Kong and Taiwan circle.
Things are different now!
The concerts of these four male singers from Hong Kong and Taiwan—Jay Chou, Wang Sicong, Tao Lin, and Lin Yixin—remain incredibly popular, with Jay Chou and Wang Sicong being the most outstanding.
But singers from mainland China are no longer just side dishes.
The eagle then loudly cursed Tong Daolang.
But it must be said that Dao Lang, Pang Long, and others can not only carry a solo concert, but also sell out their shows.
Times have changed!
"A new generation replaces the old." After hearing this, Zhang Yuan raised his glass and toasted everyone.
"Maybe in a few years, I'll have to make way for young people."
"You're not that bad, you're the most famous one."
"Exactly, look at Chen Long, Li Lianjie is still playing the male lead."
Everyone praised him, but Zhang Yuan knew that the road to further advancement would not be easy.
After reaching its peak, it declines. The road ahead is long and arduous, but it's already a precipice. Climbing back up is no longer something that can be controlled by individual ability alone.
"Hope still lies in the younger generation." He looked at the three girls.
"Let's focus on nurturing and helping young people improve."
"Why are you talking like you're so old?" the eagle replied, shaking its leg.
"What matters is not age, but the spirit passed down from generation to generation." Faced with this person who wasn't quite right in the head, Zhang Yuan could only be more direct.
"I'll take care of them more often in the future."
“You became famous with your teachers back then, and they will call you teachers in the future. This is called inheritance.”
Now I understand.
"Okay, finish this drink and then take the girls home."
"It's not good for girls to go home too late."
"It's okay, I'm used to staying up late." Jike Junyi grinned, her bright red lips showing no intention of leaving.
This person is very good at socializing, unlike the other two.
"Brother Long, please see them off for me."
Zhang Yuan ignored the man and instead saw him off.
There's no need to go too deep on your first encounter.
Moreover, I already have information on several people, so I don't need to get to know them through personal connections.
The next day, two of the three contacted him.
To be precise, it was someone else who contacted his person.
He invited Huang Xiaomao and Li Jing, a married couple, to dinner outside, and they talked about this.
"This dark-skinned girl, her husband came and said the contract was unreasonable and the profit sharing was too low."
"Oh," Zhang Yuan replied casually.
"How should we say it?" Huang Xiaomao asked, somewhat puzzled by his reaction.
"I won't say much." Zhang Yuan didn't even lift his eyelids: "We'll stick to our contract, or we'll part ways."
"No bargaining, take it or leave it."
Just reply like that.
"I heard her husband is a bit powerful," Li Jing asked.
"Heh." Zhang Yuan sneered.
Jike Junyi hooked up with a man who owns a bar in the Workers' Stadium area; this man will become her future manager.
The idea of a dark-skinned, hot girl from a poor background who came from the mountains was also suggested by this man.
Being able to open a bar near the Workers' Stadium requires considerable financial resources and connections.
It's just a partnership, and I only need to contribute some money.
If you're really that capable, you won't need to talk to yourself about money.
Ultimately, he not only wanted to be with this girl, but also wanted to make money as her agent.
"Don't pay any attention to him. If it really doesn't work, just give in. If he's willing to be an agent, he can continue, but the profit sharing can't be changed."
Zhang Yuan found it annoying that a nobody like him dared to negotiate with him before even making his debut.
Li Jing and her husband exchanged glances. "Let's talk this over properly. If we provoke this old man, things will get complicated."
"Also, the teacher of the girl who startled the eagle contacted me."
“Oh…” This time Zhang Yuan hesitated for a moment.
"How to say?"
"The other party meant that the contract could be discussed, but their students couldn't be bullied."
"And we also have to make sure she gets into the finals."
"See? He's a professional after all; his words are more reliable," Zhang Yuan praised.
The dark-skinned man only cared about money, while this teacher was more knowledgeable; money wasn't important, fame was.
With fame, why worry about money?
"Okay, you should talk to her about it."
The couple noticed that his attitude was significantly more amiable than before.
The main reason is that Wu Mochou's teacher has some connections.
She comes from an artistic family, works as a teacher at Shenyang Conservatory of Music, and has participated in many talent shows and competitions, including "Super Girl," but she has never even had the chance to go to the recording studio to appear on a show.
That's often how things are. Just like most of the acting teachers at Beijing Film Academy and the Central Academy of Drama, let alone being big actors, they probably haven't even acted in a single play.
And yet, he teaches others how to act.
Early teachers at the Central Academy of Drama and Beijing Film Academy were all highly skilled in practical application.
Therefore, the decline in the quality of the entertainment industry is also related to problems in the education system.
Wu Mochou has quite a bit of talent and ability.
Although they "take shortcuts," they attract attention by using unique shapes and typhoon styles.
Just like with "Super Girl," Li Yuchun also followed this path, and the TV station was happy to accept her.
Just like Zhang Liangying can only rank third, Yuan Yawei's vocal condition, talent, and singing skills are better than the other two, but her ranking is not as good as theirs.
People who don't understand might think Tia Ray's singing style is "greasy," but she has a background in black jazz music, and that's how she sings; her skill level is quite good.
Wu Mochou is also capable; otherwise, she wouldn't have been noticed by the teacher and recommended to the show.
A few people actually made it onto the show through open auditions, but most were "recommended" to get in.
Her teacher wasn't famous, but her husband was.
Those familiar with the Chinese national football team may know that a player named Wang Liang played for Liaoning FC in his early years, later for Shandong Luneng, and even made it into the national team.
He has a long face and isn't very good-looking.
His father is the head coach of Liaoning Football Club, and his mother is Zhu Xiangyun, the team champion of the 77 World Table Tennis Championships.
Gao Hongbo, the coach who said, "Little Gao is doing a good job, why are you replacing him?", is the old man's student.
Definitely a sports magnate from Northeast China.
Wu Mochou's teacher was the daughter-in-law of this family.
Given his relationship with the sports world, he has to give them some face, and at least not resort to excessive means.
Unlike the other two, Yuan Yawei didn't make any demands, because she was already familiar with musicians in the music industry.
"Brother Huang, I'll be relying on you from now on." He took good care of Huang Xiaomao.
"There's one more thing, Sister Jing. You know the people from Sequoia, right?"
"Yes."
Li Jing's Lefeng.com is the website he also invested tens of millions of yuan in; its initial funding came from Sequoia Capital.
"I want to talk to them."
"You want to raise funds?" Li Jing thought he wanted to get the other party to invest in the film and television company. "I remember Sequoia Capital seems to have invested in Bona Film Group and has some interest in the film and television industry."
"I can help you make the contact."
"That would be wonderful." Seeing her enthusiasm, Zhang Yuan immediately expressed his gratitude.
However, his contact with Sequoia Capital was not for fundraising.
But there's no need to tell this person.
……
After dealing with this matter, he took a plane to Shanghai.
I've come to the vicinity of University Road in the YP district again.
This trip marks his return to the Bilibili office, which he had been away from for several months.
The same two people, founder Xu Yi and angel investor Chen Rui, received us.
After months of negotiations, the financing agreement for Bilibili has finally reached its final stage.
He will acquire a 22.33% stake for $1000 million in cash.
They have only 10% voting rights, but will reserve seats on the board of directors for future use.
Because Bilibili's signature characters are the virtual characters 22 and 33, he discussed the number 22.33% with the other party, which has a symbolic meaning.
Both of them were happy to agree, since the investor was knowledgeable and passionate about websites.
The future of video websites is said to be dominated by the "Big Four," but outside of those four, Bilibili is the strongest.
There has to be a base of operations.
Throwing 1000 million US dollars into a few major stations wouldn't even make a ripple.
But for Bilibili, which was weak at the time, this was all the funds it would need for expenses and progress over the next few years, and it even made renting servers much more affordable.
I've arranged to have dinner with these two tonight.
"Mr. Chen, there's something I'd like to ask you for help with."
The group enjoyed Sichuan cuisine and beer, having a very pleasant time.
For practical people, let's skip the empty talk and focus on the practical things we eat.
"What is it?" the other party asked politely.
It's not just because he's an investor; after all, with his Series A investment, the website can continue to move forward, which better ensures that his angel round wasn't wasted.
"I remember that before you became the co-founder of Kingsoft Networks, you worked for a company called Beike Security."
"That's all in the past. Starting a business is tough," he said with a sigh.
"In the end, it was swallowed up by the old employer, but it was their funds that allowed the team to continue to exist."
"Why are you asking this?" the other person asked curiously.
Because Beike Security has been merged and acquired, which later became Cheetah Mobile.
“Brother Jun has secured funding for the company, so they're not short of money.” This person had anticipated this.
You can invest in Bilibili, but Cheetah Mobile is definitely not short of money.
"No, I don't have the ability to invest in a company of this size."
"I wanted to ask if you could introduce me to that old friend who works with you in the shell security business."
The man who started the business with him is Wang Xing.
After selling HaiNei.com to Qianxiang Group, it later became XiaoNei.com and Renren.com.
Wang Xing founded Meituan.com.
Later, everyone knew about Meituan; it was incredibly powerful.
It delves into all aspects of daily consumption in mainland China.
But Meituan was far from being that strong at that time.
Although the group-buying trend was started by companies like Meituan, it has only been around for two years since its founding.
Based on his previous failures, Wang Xing was quite steady after founding Meituan.
And they place great emphasis on financing issues.
HaiNei.com was sold because of difficulties in financing.
The most common mistake people make when starting a business is thinking they have a lot of money.
However, once the competition becomes fierce, it is not uncommon for people to burn through millions of dollars a day in the internet industry.
Therefore, for internet companies, half of their success lies in fundraising, while the other half is in company building and platform operation.
Whether it's profitable or not is not important.
But what makes Wang Xing truly remarkable is his experience; after all, failure is the mother of success.
Financing went very smoothly.
After all, in the investment industry, people are more willing to trust experienced entrepreneurs.
Therefore, just over six months after its establishment, Meituan received $1000 million in seed funding from Sequoia Capital.
Another year later, Meituan, which was gradually gaining momentum, received $5000 million in Series B funding from Alibaba.
Before 2012, this was the Silicon Valley bank... the one that later collapsed, killing off a bunch of high-earning people in Silicon Valley and causing these people with annual salaries of hundreds of thousands of dollars to instantly fall to the brink of bankruptcy.
He has more than $6000 million in his account at this bank.
The guy felt very confident.
$6000 million should last a while.
As long as we stay calm and develop our strength cautiously, we'll definitely succeed this time.
Then, he encountered a momentous event in the history of the Chinese internet.
This event is historically known as the "Hundred Regiments Offensive".
The later shared bicycle wars and other events were simply a replay of the "hundred-group war" in history.
I only said "hundred groups" because it's easy to pronounce.
In fact, at this moment, more than 5000 group-buying websites are engaged in a massive battle!
The entire Chinese market presents a beautiful scene of "vibrant life and flourishing development".
"You mean you're interested in Meituan?" Chen Rui pushed up his glasses.
She thought to herself that she had clearly raised her expectations for this person.
After all, he started out as just an actor, but now he's an investor.
I never expected them to be so carefree!
He dares to watch the fiercely competitive world of group buying!
What's the current situation with group buying?
Jun'er didn't dare touch it.
It's too messy.
And as everyone knows from later generations, Meituan ultimately won this battle.
However, at present, Meituan is not far ahead in the competition.
At that time, the number one group-buying website was Lashou.com, which was supported by GSR Ventures.
While Meituan received $5000 million from Alibaba, GSR Ventures invested $1.6 million in Lashou.
Their financial resources far surpass yours.
The remaining three companies, Meituan, Dianping, and Wowo, are roughly evenly matched.
Finally, there's Chen Yizhou, who swallowed up HaiNei.com, founded by Wang Xing, and also supported Nuomi.com.
These are the top five group-buying platforms today.
Meituan is currently in a precarious situation, surrounded by enemies.
And because the battle of the hundred groups has already begun, they are burning money faster every day than they burn paper money during the Qingming Festival!
The $6000 million in the account—it's gone in the blink of an eye.
And they had no choice but to fight, because if you didn't burn it, you'd die tomorrow.
To seize market share, you have to burn money.
"Let me give you a heads-up." Chen Rui was a fairly decent person.
Although Wang Xing is my friend, I still need to make things clear.
"Given the current situation with group buying, the amount of financing required is exceptionally high."
"Without hundreds of millions of US dollars, there's not even a chance to get involved... well, it's very slim."
Forget about loose silver; nowadays, without a hundred taels of gold, you won't even have the chance to catch a glimpse of the courtesan, let alone spend a night with her.
Wholesale prices are skyrocketing!
That's roughly what the other party meant.
"It's alright, just help me make the contact, and I'll talk to Wang Xing about the rest." Zhang Yuan was quite calm.
Chaos is the ladder of progress.
The Hundred Regiments Offensive was chaotic.
The Hundred Regiments Offensive is great!
No, I haven't had a chance yet. (End of Chapter)