Chapter 147 25 million

A hundred years ago, the French built a street in Shanghai and named it after their classical music composers such as Le Massenan. Many celebrities, such as Mei Lanfang and Xu Zhimo and his wife, lived here.

After the flames of war and bloodshed, Masnan Road was renamed Sinan Road, the name of an ordinary and inconspicuous county in Guizhou.

Like many courtyard houses in Beijing, the former residences of celebrities and upper-class luxury houses have become tube-shaped buildings with separate rooms for group living.

A hundred years later, this place was transformed and renamed Sinan Mansion. The doors of the century-old villa buildings in the shade of French plane trees are half-hidden, and it is more of a tourist attraction in Shanghai that is known to the public.

“I want to invest in Galloping Pony.”

In the private club's room, Concubine Pei looked at the large green-stained wooden frame window and her body tensed unconsciously.

The tourists with different postures and bulky clothes and the leafless sycamore trees on both sides of the street create a bleak scene outside the window. Even though the indoor heating is sufficient, you can still feel the winter chill outside.

Xie Jingxing thought for a moment and asked, "Reason."

"Pony.com has many high-quality film and television copyrights and a high-quality production team. If it can carry out an asset restructuring to survive the crisis, it will still be a leading film and television company in the industry." Concubine Pei was already prepared to give an explanation.

Xie Jingxing did not comment: "Who taught you this?"

"Why can't it be that I thought of it myself?" Concubine Pei asked back with a serious expression.

Xie Jingxing looked at them, and the two of them stared at each other in silence for a moment. There was a knock on the door outside, and then several waiters came in like a stream and placed various dishes on the table.

Secret sauce clams, crispy chicken with caviar, yellow croaker, braised bean noodles with sand garlic... the atmosphere became slightly relaxed with the introduction of each dish.

When the door closed again, Xie Jing Xing smiled and replied: "You can think of these things, but you won't say them in this tone."

"Hate it. I hired a university professor of business administration to give me private lessons. I specifically wanted to act professional in front of you, but you still despised me."

Concubine Pei slowly breathed a sigh of relief and returned to her usual relaxed and coquettish look.

Xie Jingxing continued to ask with interest: "Teacher, did you teach me how to calculate corporate valuation?"

"25 billion. Teacher, please help me make a rough calculation using public information. This is probably what the Pony.com is worth now." Concubine Pei looked very serious.

Xie Jingxing was quite pleased, pretending to be puzzled and asked again: "Why didn't you ask the teacher to conduct a special investigation? Given the current situation of Xiaoma Pentium, the credibility of the public information is not even half."

"I'm afraid of causing you trouble." Concubine Pei blurted out.

Xie Jingxing became more and more satisfied: "May I ask who your teacher is?"

"He is just an ordinary professor from Sun Yat-sen University. His daughter is a fan of mine and is planning to study acting. I helped introduce a teacher from Beijing Film Academy to give her training courses."

Concubine Pei was quite proud of it. This was something she had learned from Xie Jingxing, resource exchange and interest binding.

As Xiaoma Pentium is now caught up in the political and business haze, under normal circumstances, no one would want to get involved except for the financial capital that values ​​money more than life.

Not to mention that he kindly reminded her that many people were eyeing Xiaoma Pentium, and it would be best to wait until Li Ming's interpersonal relationship troubles were resolved before initiating an investment, otherwise Xiaoma Pentium's valuation would be a bomb.

These are the two graduate students led by the university professor. They went to conduct offline field research but were put in sacks and beaten by a truckload of bread men who appeared out of nowhere. This is how they came to such an important conclusion.

Therefore, everything we are discussing at this moment is based on the premise that Li Ming cannot get through this difficult time. If he can get through this, there will be no so-called investment restructuring opportunity.

Or there is another solution. Her boyfriend, who is capable of creating huge waves in the financial industry, is willing to play the role of white knight and lend a helping hand to Pony.

Concubine Pei's eyes were burning and her red lips were slightly parted: "Husband, do you think it is feasible to invest in Pony Galloping?"

"If Pony.com is worth 25 billion, then Li Ming's personal involvement in politics and business is also worth that much."

Xie Jingxing paused for a moment and said, "Now the acquisition of Xiaoma Pentium is equivalent to spending 25 billion in actual costs, and we have to repay 25 billion in debt on its behalf. Is it still worth the acquisition?"

“Merger and acquisition?!”

Concubine Pei's fingertips trembled, and the chopsticks in her hand hit the edge of the plate heavily, making a crisp sound.

Xie Jingxing raised two fingers: "The troubles faced by Xiaoma Pentium can be divided into two levels. Li Ming just said it personally, and there is also a financial level. I don't know the specific situation, but if Xiaoma Pentium wants to go public in the future, pure financial investment will not achieve the goal."

"...Teacher thinks so too." Concubine Pei said in a faint tone.

In fact, not only has the domestic stock market tightened its approval for the listing of film, television and entertainment companies, but any financial market in the world is not welcoming of any industry with a non-replicable business model.

Those numerous big-name stars who believe in qigong masters and Southeast Asian cults have all proven the saying that in the entertainment industry, small success depends on promotion, while big success depends on luck.

This means that running a business relies on metaphysics. If the company is lucky, one artist may become very popular and account for 50% of the company's revenue. If the company is unlucky, the artist may become unpopular and the entire company may collapse.

If Pony.com wants to go public in the future, it must have a stable business model. So the problem goes back to the starting point. Pony.com is trapped by financial capital and is overwhelmed. It has no money and energy to explore new business models.

Of course, if it is as Concubine Pei thinks, it is not impossible to wait until Li Ming dies and the crisis is completely exposed before entering the market to buy the bottom and sell the high-quality assets to make a small profit.

"I will take over this project, you don't have to worry about it." Xie Jingxing finally made the decision.

Concubine Pei was stunned: "Are you really going to acquire Pony? "

"It depends on whether it is profitable. At least from what you said now, there should be some profit." Xie Jingxing did not finish his words.

Concubine Pei stared at him in a trance, her bright eyes misted over and tears flowed down her pretty face.

She cried stupidly for a few minutes, then suddenly pursed her lips and wiped away her tears, and said in a sour and trembling voice: "I want to give birth to a child for you."

"Huh?" Xie Jingxing thought he had heard it wrong.

"I said, I want to give you a child."

Gradually, Concubine Pei's voice stopped shaking. She relaxed her body, leaned back in her chair and looked out the window tiredly: "They all say that it is a fantasy for celebrities to marry into wealthy families. Even the most courageous courtesan in ancient times would not dare to think so."

"They said I should take advantage of you before you have enough fun and get as much as I can."

She retracted her gaze and lowered her head to look at her flat belly: "I think they are all fools. They want money, houses, and investment in the heroine of a movie... These are too cheap for you. I want you to invest in Pony Galloping first, and then secretly give birth to a child for you."

"So what you mean is... you are as stupid as them. You didn't expect that I would directly consider a full acquisition of Xiaoma Pentium?" Xie Jingxing didn't think it was ridiculous.

Concubine Pei raised her lips and said with anticipation: "I originally wanted to wait two or three years until the child is older. Even if I can't enter your house, I will have a reason to ask you for all the shares of Xiaoma Pentium."

"Those who have constant property have constant determination. That's a good idea."

Xie Jingxing praised him, then changed the subject: "But I don't think you have the ability to manage a company with a market value of 20 to 30 billion."

"I can learn. If I can't, I can hire a professional manager. We can always live well." Concubine Pei vowed. The child was the lower limit of her trust in Xie Jingxing, and also the upper limit of her own value.

If she couldn't even hedge her children, she would have to accept the loss if the investment failed in the end. After all, there was no such thing as a 100% successful investment in the world. This was also the truth that Xie Jingxing taught her.

"I hope you can learn how to manage a business more than having children." Xie Jingxing shook his head for emphasis.

History has proven with blood and tears that as long as his first child is not Yu Tong or Zhou Fenglan's, it would be the greatest irresponsibility to treat the child.

He didn't have an heir to the throne, but he really had a lot of money, a lot of money...

Concubine Pei raised her face calmly, her makeup smudged like Peking Opera oil paint: "I just want to give birth to a child for you now, even if I get nothing in the end."

"Maybe you're overthinking it. My acquisition of Pony.com has nothing to do with you."

Faced with the collection that was obviously a little touching, Xie Jing Xing was helpless.

His acquisition of Pony.com was entirely based on the concept of "pan-entertainment", including the launch of Xiaowang's entrepreneurial live broadcast platform, with the core being the incubation of original IP.

Ten years later, Tencent formed a closed loop based on the three industries of games, film and television, music, and cultural publishing to create a complete "pan-entertainment" empire. Alibaba died heroically by entering the game social networking industry. ByteDance entered the game industry by relying on intelligent recommendation algorithms, and the entire game business was disbanded before it even entered the battlefield.

With the two giants' successive trial and error examples before us, it is almost impossible to directly challenge Tencent's "pan-entertainment" empire through conventional means.

Xie Jingxing plans to start with the smallest "cultural publishing". No matter how perfect Tencent builds its cultural and entertainment distribution channels, IP content is ultimately indispensable.

For example, the many film and television variety shows, online novels, games and even public account articles produced by Tencent on its own platform a few years later are all part of the IP content.

Following this logic, if data is the gold mine of the Internet industry, then original high-quality IP content is the industrial fuel of the concept of "pan-entertainment".

Even if we cannot beat Tencent, it will not affect the success of our investment, as this is a trillion-dollar market.

Specifically for Pony.com, the reason it cannot go public is that its business model is not replicable. Its Korean counterparts are about to come up with an answer to this question, imitating manufacturing factories and using variety shows to mass-produce traffic idol stars like an assembly line.

American colleagues have come up with another set of answers to the question, which is to acquire a large number of high-quality IP copyrights. When quantitative changes lead to qualitative changes, the company's main revenue does not rely on individual stars but on the copyright library, and the business model is stabilized to some extent.

Boss Jia’s LeTV made a living for ten years relying on the TV series “The Legend of Zhen Huan”, which is a classic example.

Xie Jingxing asked himself, everything he thought and did had a reason and a purpose, but it had nothing to do with the person who mentioned this to him today.

If you insist, he just doesn't mind throwing out a few sweet dates when the investment is successful... He is essentially the same as those rich second-generations who take girls out to eat, drink and have fun, but don't spend a penny on them...

"I don't care what your original intention is. It's enough that I can benefit from it." Concubine Pei was unmoved and had a dazed look in her eyes.

Xie Jing Xing was in agony: "Come on, whether or not we acquire Pony. You can always come to me with the pregnancy report to exchange for 25 billion."

“I don’t want cash.”

Concubine Pei burst into tears and smiled sweetly, with joy on her brows.

Xie Jing Xing was speechless as he picked up his chopsticks to eat. He silently thought of Song Anli who was eating the driver's meal with Li Yan in the lounge downstairs, and how much money she would cost to have a child.

"What if I give birth to twins?" Concubine Pei's words became more and more outrageous.

Xie Jingxing glared angrily: "If you are not hungry, get out."

"I'm very hungry now." Concubine Pei took out two tissues and gently wiped the corners of her mouth.

Xie Jingxing frowned slightly: "I gave you face?"

"Are you going to domestic violence me, or make me kneel down?"

Concubine Pei emphasized three syllables in each sentence. As she spoke, she stood up, pushed away the chair, and slowly squatted down and knelt on the ground.

The wind was freezing outside the window, but the room was warm and lively like spring. Xie Jingxing frowned and said nothing.

…………

Concubine Pei knelt for a long time before she could fill her stomach, which caused Xie Jingxing to unilaterally cancel his original shopping plan in the afternoon and went straight back to Sheshan Manor to violently beat her several times.

Fortunately, Song Anli couldn't stand it anymore and invited salespeople from several luxury brand stores to send clothes, which indirectly helped to mediate the situation.

"Didi CEO Liu sent me a message about the draft regulations for the online car-hailing industry for comments."

Watching Concubine Pei go to the living room to choose clothes with blushing cheeks, she felt indescribable in her heart and reported her work as usual.

Xie Jing Xing had no time to care about her mood. He casually put on a pair of casual pants, sat down at the desk and lit a cigarette: "How is the progress of the next round of financing?"

"Mr. Tang said that Didi probably doesn't want to wait any longer. The five of us institutional investors have offered US$7 million to transfer a 23% equity stake." Song Anli responded without hesitation.

Xie Jingxing nodded slightly: "What do you think?"

"From the time Shenzhou Car Rental entered the market and started to subsidize competition to now, Didi has burned through another 6 million yuan. One reason is that the funds on its books cannot keep up with the urgent need for financing."

Song Anli concluded after careful consideration: "On the other hand, there is a sense of policy crisis. Relevant departments have started soliciting opinions on the draft of industry regulations, which will be announced by the middle of next year at the latest. During this period, the policy is unclear and may change at any time."

"Not only Didi, but also Kuaidi and CAR Inc. need to raise as much money as possible before this. Once the policy turns cold, at least they will have money to adjust their strategies and get through it."

As she spoke, she got into the mood and became more confident: "After this round of financing, Didi's voice as an investor has been further diluted. In the future, we will have ample options for the war and Cheng Wei and Liu Qing."

"They are most likely going to make peace." Xie Jingxing took a deep puff of his cigarette.

Song Anli added: "Boss Tang also made the same judgment."

The sense of policy crisis forces everyone to step up financing to resist unknown risks and reduce the suicidal behavior of burning money and engaging in vicious competition, which is a natural and tacit understanding.

The most important thing is that since entering the market, China Auto Rental has not shown an attitude of competing with Didi and Kuaidi for life and death. This is very similar to Tencent's performance against Alibaba in the mobile payment battlefield. Its primary goal is to increase the entire market size.

It is like a hanged ghost following behind Didi and Kuaidi, and the more market share it can gain, the better. It is expected that with the listing of China Auto Rental on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange next year, Uber will enter the domestic market with the huge investment from the Saudi sovereign fund.

Lu Zhengyao will be the first player to admit defeat, so the second negotiation opportunity of Didi Kuaidi should not be far away.

Xie Jingxing then asked, "What's the latest development at Yidao Travel?"

"I heard that there seemed to be disagreements within the founding team." Song Anli was fully prepared.

Xie Jing Xing chuckled: "Call Liu Qing and ask her to wait a few days before negotiating with Kuai."

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(End of this chapter)