Chapter 177 Xiao Wang Enters the Pit
In the cold spring, hot tea soothes the heart.

Zhong Lifang explained patiently, and Xie Jingxing listened attentively with a cup of tea in his hand, occasionally humbly asking for details he didn't understand.

He is not an all-rounder, and his understanding of film and television theater distribution is only at the research report level, which is inconsistent with the actual situation.

At present, the market in first-tier cities is becoming saturated, and China Film Group Corporation alone has taken up half of the market share, while the rest of the industry leaders such as Wanda and Bona are developing rapidly.

Xiaoma Pentium could only enter second- and third-tier cities to make some money. Over the years, it has accumulated 10 cinemas, and even these were invested and operated jointly with external partners.

For example, in cooperation with China Resources Group, the cinema site was selected to cooperate with China Resources Supermarket, and the two parties cooperated to build a film and television city.

Slow-reacting peers such as Huayi Brothers also did the same thing, flocking to second- and third-tier cities. The number of cinema screens in the country has doubled year after year, with a growth rate 50% higher than the overall box office growth rate.

This results in everyone losing money and profit expectations are far from being seen.

The negative asset ratio of Pony.com's cinema distribution business is as high as 80%, which is definitely a serious bleeding point.

"With the reform of the cinema system, cinemas now pay more attention to the brand operation value. A cinema with 1500 seats needs an annual revenue of 2000 million to break even."

Zhong Lifang sighed and concluded: "In other words, it is not a one-time expense to build a cinema and everything will be fine. If there is no three to five-year long-term plan, I don't recommend doing it."

"Let's do some calculations based on the data you mentioned. For a cinema chain with 300 cinemas, one-third of which are self-operated, how much money will we lose every year?" Xie Jingxing seemed to be thinking about it.

Zhong Lifang frowned: "The minimum is 1 billion."

"How did you calculate it specifically?" Xie Jingxing asked.

He has path dependence when doing short-term, fast-paced Internet projects. The winner will be decided after two or three years in any track, and he is not sensitive to long-term heavy asset operations.

Zhong Lifang made calculations from multiple angles, including losses at self-operated cinemas, subsidies at franchised cinemas, and money burned by cinema chain brands.

In the best case scenario, the loss will be 20 billion in three years and the investment will be recovered in five to eight years. The worst case scenario is endless, 40 billion or 50 billion is possible, after all, competitors are not dead.

In the past two years, the expectations for 4G mobile networks have been good, and Internet companies have crossed over to the cinema distribution industry. There is no need to say much about the three BTA companies. Even the second-tier companies Dianping and Meituan have entered the market from the online ticket booking and sales end.

Xie Jingxing and Wang Gongzi invested in Ning Hao's "Lost in Thailand" and are considering in-depth cooperation with Meituan Maoyan to try online booking methods.

"How about this, you come back and make a strategic plan for me. If feasible, we will start by opening ten self-operated cinemas this year and build the framework of a cross-provincial cinema chain." He said vaguely.

Zhong Lifang was confused when she heard this. They only gave her a general direction and let her do whatever she wanted. How could this be like being stupid?
She tentatively said: "The company's financial situation is very bad now. Investment in most of the existing projects has been suspended. There are only two movies waiting to be made."

"Let Li Li sort out the accounts and find a few more banks for mortgage loans. Five hundred million should be enough." Xie Jingxing was well prepared.

The 15 billion yuan invested by Grapefruit Capital is not enough to fully repurchase the shares of the investing shareholders, and Pony.com still needs to raise about 5 million yuan from its account, and its cash flow has been completely drained.

Last year he invested in the stock market, mortgaged his house and borrowed money from friends, but now he doesn't have to do that anymore.

With Xie Jingxing's name and Xiyou Taihe's resources, it was no problem for Xiaoma Pentium to borrow 5 million yuan from the bank out of nothing.

"We can also deepen cooperation with China Resources in the cinema business. I will introduce you to several leaders of China Resources later. Try to get more favorable conditions."

He remembered Yu Nian mentioned that her father seemed to work at China Resources.

Zhong Lifang was speechless for a moment, and suddenly felt that running a cinema chain was not that difficult. It turned out that the platform was indeed very important.

"The A-share market will relax its review policy this year, and we will build up our cinema chain business and straighten out our financial statements. We will strive to go public," Xie Jingxing encouraged at last.

Zhong Lifang's heart beat violently and then she felt sad. Li Ming had just passed away and his family was in dire straits due to debts, but the door to going public was suddenly opened.

"Mr. Xie, this year we have invested heavily in two films. One is The Crossing, directed by John Woo, starring Zhang Ziyi, Takeshi Kaneshiro, and Song Hye Kyo. This film is a big investment and production, and feature films are more challenging for directors and screenwriters."

She adjusted her attitude and reported with a respectful tone, "The other one is a youth campus romance movie called Fleet of Time, which is adapted from the novel of the same name. It has been proven by the market and is more popular with the actors."

"The crew is in the preparation stage and the lead actor has not been decided yet. We don't have any outstanding artists. If you have any ideas for this business later, we can plan it by the way."

Concubine Pei raised the corner of her mouth and silently poured Zhong Lifang a cup of new tea.

The tentative lead actress of "Fleeting Time" is Ni Ni, who is currently dating a male star who is being promoted by Huayi, and the other party has made a lot of efforts to help her get the role.

"Arrange an interview for Concubine Pei."

Xie Jingxing accepted the gesture calmly. As for the artist management business, it seemed glamorous but was actually useless, so there was no need to let Xiao Ma Pentium do it.

He raised his hand and took a script handed to him by Concubine Pei. The cover read "Go Where the Wind Is" and said, "Her studio is going to invest in this project this year. Can you help take a look?"

"A modern, slow-paced rural romance?" Zhong Lifang glanced through it and couldn't help frowning.

Nowadays, TV series are still made in the old way. You buy a script, put together a production team list, and go to the TV station for an estimate. If you think there is money to be made, you start filming and investing.

Of course, this is only possible for investors with deep backgrounds. Ordinary coal bosses should just play with female celebrities honestly and don't expect to make money.

If this gentleman can get the TV station to find some propaganda about "rural revitalization" and automatically raise the price to be the scapegoat, then he can make money by making this film.

Otherwise, in a market where costume idol dramas are very popular, this film would lose money.

“It’s still released.”

Xie Jingxing emphasized to himself, and then said: "Why are you looking at me? I'm not familiar with the TV station."

"Then we, Xiaoma Pentium, will not invest." Zhong Lifang drew a clear line in an instant.

Xie Jingxing said with a speechless look: "But I am familiar with several Internet video platforms."

"Online distribution?" Zhong Lifang's eyes lit up.

Xie Jingxing nodded: "Not selling exclusively, distributing on all platforms. Tencent Video, iQiyi, Youku Tudou, Yunnan TV, these platforms will definitely buy it."

"We can talk." Zhong Lifang's expression changed very smoothly.

Xie Jingxing didn't care. The original intention of this TV series was to promote the 'Yin Shan Bu Du' milk tea brand, but now it is more inclined to establish a distribution channel.

Bringing in Pentium Pony to invest is just an experiment to build a complete industry chain from film and television production to distribution.

Film and television production, theater distribution, and online distribution will become the long-term strategic direction of Pony.

The advertising business + artist management will be gradually gotten rid of, and when the market matures, it will be reorganized into the MCN business, which can make much more money than artist management.

In his previous life, Xie Jingxing had played a friendly match with a top female e-commerce anchor. The girl started out as a micro-business, and later used more than a dozen WeChat accounts to engage in community vertical e-commerce.

Within two years, he created dozens of million-level expert accounts on major Internet platforms, and unknowingly formed a complete ecological closed-loop business model.

Xie Jingxing wanted to invest in her, so she got up from the bed, turned on the computer, showed him the more than 30 billion in cash in her bank account, and replied, "Get a marriage certificate with me and I will support you."

At that time, Xie Jingxing was speechless for a long time. He reflected on himself for missing the investment opportunity by looking down on the lower nine popular things, and he really looked down on the lower nine popular things. With 30 billion cash flow lying in the bank account for a long time, he really couldn't help but want to comment on it as a nouveau riche.

Afterwards, he immediately contacted other leading MCN agencies, but the results were the same: they all had exaggerated cash flows and were not short of money at all.

Later, the top female anchor came to him for help in a state of exhaustion. She had billions of cash but couldn't find a way to pay back the taxes...

"So, it is really important to abide by the law and pay taxes in full."

At night, Xie Jingxing lay on the soft hotel bed, holding a cigarette in his mouth and repeatedly giving instructions.

"We only see each other once every few months, could you please stop talking about work all the time?" Concubine Pei twisted her body to express her dissatisfaction.

The current state of the industry is like this. If she listens to Xie Jingxing and pays taxes honestly, the producers will try to avoid taxes and save costs.

A few days ago, she heard that a female celebrity she was not on good terms with privately mocked her for pretending to be noble. After a long time, the news spread and no one would hire her for work.

Xie Jingxing was in a lot of pain. Taihe, Xiyou, and Yunshan each had their own legal ways of tax avoidance. In the entertainment industry, it was not called tax avoidance but escaping. There was no technical content at all and it was eye-catching.

He was lying on the bed and had no intention of reasoning with Concubine Pei. He simply put out his cigarette, raised the flagpole, and got on his horse.

"Your studio also wants to do MCN business."

"Song Anli told me that I'm going to sign a contract with the daughter of the Sun Yat-sen University professor I mentioned last time. Why are you so excited?"

"I do not have."

"It's obvious. I can feel it."

“How much copyright did you collect?”

"Hmph~ Let's change the subject... Gu Man and Liu Cixin don't want to sell all the copyrights of the list you gave me, so Qidian Chinese website packaged a few books, including "Joy of Life", "Zhu Xian", and "Zui Xu"... The profile of the professor's daughter looks a lot like me... Be gentle..."

…………

Concubine Pei lied with her eyes open. The professor's daughter didn't look like her at all. However, there was a female celebrity who had become famous recently who did look somewhat like her.

Her brothel owner and agent Feng Guiyue was courting disaster by having the young star deliver the medical examination report to her door in the middle of the night, but she was stopped by Li Yan at the hotel entrance and asked to return the report.

Xie Jingxing did not make things difficult for Concubine Pei. The next day, he gave Li Yan and Song Anli a good beating.

He didn't have time to sort out the complicated relationships among the gangs and factions around him. He received a message from Prince Wang and hurried back to the Magic City.

Busy planning in the pan-entertainment field and catalyzing the game entertainment live broadcast industry.

Xiao Wang's IG club base is located in a residential area near Seaview No. 1 where Xie Jingxing lives. The house is filled with computers, and the smell of stinky socks and hair oil is fermenting and wafting.

A few young people, smoking cigarettes and swearing, were shouting and yelling, and the property staff stood at the door to negotiate.

Xie Jingxing saw this scene and asked in confusion: "Why not rent a larger single-family villa?"

"It's convenient to live in the city." The club manager explained awkwardly.

Xiao Wang pulled a face and glared at Zhang. He had clearly informed in advance that he would come today, but the idiot dared to embarrass him!

Seeing this, Xie Jingxing did not embarrass the manager. He endured the smell and walked into the room to observe.

Song Anli previously took time out to conduct research on Korean professional e-sports clubs, and subsequently acquired a place in the domestic League of Legends League (LPL) to form a team based on the general model of Korean club operations.

Rent a villa in the suburbs of Magic City as a base, buy two Korean players and a complete Korean coaching management team.

Korean coaches are very strict in their management, either beating or scolding, making the environment like a prison. This year's goal is to win the LPL League Summer Championship.

Xie Jingxing and Xiao Wang just came over from there. The two of them made a small bet of 100 million to play a BO3 match, and his "Assassin Team" won easily.

"What do you mean? Another game?" he asked in a mean way.

Xiao Wang pouted and said, "We haven't reinforced yet."

"You can package the live broadcast contract into the employee salary contract." Xie Jingxing helped to give advice.

Although Xiao Wang seems to be extravagant, in fact, after many contacts, it can be felt that he does not have much pocket money. It hurts to spend tens of millions to build this club, which is a pure loss.

Although Xie Jingxing also joined the game with the intention of losing money, Song Anli worked hard to run the club, and even though he knew he would lose money, he still treated the club as a serious brand operation.

The energy invested by both sides is not at the same level. If Xiao Wang wants to turn the tables and take revenge in the future, he must run the club seriously as a business.

"It's too complicated. I just think the live streaming platform you mentioned is interesting." Xiao Wang went into a lounge and closed the door.

Xie Jingxing shrugged: "You start a business, and I invest."

"How much did you invest?" Xiao Wang's expression relaxed.

Xie Jingxing asked without hesitation: "How much do you want?"

"Are you crazy? How would I know how much money it will cost if you don't tell me the business idea behind your business idea?" Xiao Wang complained angrily.

Xie Jingxing shook his head: "Douyu and YY gaming sector, there are only these two competitors in the market now, if you start your own business, just keep an eye on them."

It is very difficult to monetize the game live streaming industry. Even Mr. Chen from Douyu didn’t figure it out until he started operating a sewing machine.

Therefore, he did not regard this thing as a financial investment at all. He just made strategic investments to ignite the market and incorporated it into the pan-entertainment original content output matrix as a traffic entrance.

Obviously, it was impossible to explain this to Xiao Wang. He pondered and said, "I suggest you try to do a niche field, such as live broadcast of professional e-sports on PC games."

"Are you talking about League of Legends?" Xiao Wang perked up.

"Yes, League of Legends, CrossFire, Dungeon Fighter, CS:GO. We bought the exclusive broadcasting rights for these events and poached the top anchors from Douyu and YY."

Xie Jingxing said lightly: "There are also professional players who can be signed in a package, or you can go to Korea to get some female group stars to live broadcast on the platform."

"Don't you know how to spend money? Just tell me the amount and I'll invest."

He said calmly, "The market is in its early stages. We should stimulate the market and seize market share. As long as we have a large number of users, we will be able to run a successful business model sooner or later."

"Do you want to make a quick buck and leave?" Xiao Wang asked bluntly.

They burned money to destroy data, played capital operations to cash out and left, leaving the founder in a mess and in tears.

Xie Jingxing could do such a thing.

(End of this chapter)