Chapter 323 Chief Financial Officer

This high-level meeting of Jiahe Group lasted a whole morning.

In addition to granting them shares, the company also arranged the preparatory work needed for its listing, and also determined the general work arrangements for next year.

After the meeting, they had lunch together and then went back to work in the afternoon.

It seems that everything else is empty, only money is real and the biggest motivation for work.

But Liu Zhou is happy to see them like this. If you work hard not for money, Liu Zhou will suspect that you have ulterior motives.

Jiahe has started the listing process. Although there are many things that can be assigned to Zhang Zhao and others, Liu Zhou will also be busy since he is the boss of the company.

But the most important thing now is to find a chief financial officer for Jiahe Group.

Going public will involve complex and professional financial operations, and it is impossible without a professional financial officer.

Currently, the financial departments of Jiahe Group are still relatively traditional and are mainly responsible for basic tasks such as expenditure, income and taxation, and no effective financial system has been established at all.

Previously, because Jiahe Group was in a state of rapid development, some financial shortcomings were covered up.

But now the company is going public, and the existing financial manager is simply unable to cope with it. He has no idea about the listing process at all.

Although Zhang Zhao is good at running a company, he also doesn't understand finance.

Therefore, finding a chief financial officer became the top priority for Golden Harvest Group.

After the company goes public, the finance department can no longer be as rough as before, and this also requires the chief financial officer to establish a reasonable and efficient financial system for the company.

Liu Zhou knew a more suitable candidate for the chief financial officer, but he didn't know whether he was willing to come.

After Zhang Zhao and others went to work, Liu Zhou and Zhong Lifang walked towards Sina Group together.

On the way, Zhong Lifang suddenly said to Liu Zhou:
"Boss Liu, do we really not need to divest some of Jiahe's fixed assets?"

"No, just stay in Jiahe. This will also help to raise Jiahe's valuation."

Golden Harvest was an old film company. Although it declined after entering the new century, it still has some heritage.

For example, some fixed assets were left behind.

These include three floors of offices in an office building in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, where the former Golden Harvest headquarters was located, the properties where five or six cinemas are located, and the property rights of some cinemas in the Nanyang region.

Although the properties in Hong Kong are still quite valuable, Liu Zhou did not want to make a big fool of himself, so he decided to keep these fixed assets in Golden Harvest Group instead of spinning them off and putting them into his own pocket.

Moreover, Liu Zhou originally planned to run Jiahe Group for a long time and would not use it to do any capital operations.

Therefore, it doesn’t make much difference whether I keep these properties in my own hands or in Jiahe, and I don’t lack the rent.

As for the properties in Nanyang, their value is not very high and it is troublesome to manage them. Liu Zhou is too lazy to divest them.

However, Liu Zhou has placed the building that is about to be put into use in his own asset management company.

This building was originally built by Liu Zhou with his own money, so there is no question of whether it can be stripped or not.

In fact, Golden Harvest Group is quite simple. It has a simple equity structure and no other non-film and television investments. In terms of debt, it only owes Zhou Shan Capital US$120 million.

However, this amount of debt is not much compared to the current valuation of over 10 billion yuan of Golden Harvest Group.

"Mr. Liu, in this case, your asset management company will only operate that one building?"

"Don't underestimate this building, it will be worth at least several billion in a few years.

Moreover, this asset management company I set up will be passed down from generation to generation. I will gradually add assets to it when there is an opportunity, and it will not be limited to fixed assets.”

"By the way, Mr. Liu, the old villa in Shanghai that you also put under the name of Zhoushan Asset Management Company has been renovated. You can go and take a look when you have time."

"You don't have time to go now. Wait until the day the company goes public. If the stock price rises sharply, I'll treat you to a special dinner in that old house."

"Mr. Liu, do you cook for us yourself?"

"You have a nice idea, but I can't handle so many people. I'll just have to invite a team of chefs over when the time comes." Liu Zhou said with a smile.

Time passed quickly while we were chatting, and soon the car stopped downstairs of Zhongguancun Ideal International Building.

The two of them went directly to the floor where Sina Group was located. When the company employees saw that their big boss Liu Zhou had arrived, they seemed to be more focused at work.

At this time, several senior executives in the company came to Liu Zhou's office to say hello.

After all, in the past year, Liu Zhou has rarely come to Sina because he has been busy with other things.

Now that he came here suddenly, several senior executives naturally wanted to go over to say hello or briefly report on their work, and by the way, see if Liu Zhou had any work arrangements.

Liu Zhou came to Sina this time not to arrange work, but to find people.

So after chatting with them briefly, I let them go to work first, and then called over the Director of Finance Department Yu Zhengjun.

That’s right, this Yu Zhengjun is the chief financial officer chosen by Liu Zhou for Jiahe Group.

Yu Zhengjun holds a master's degree in accounting from the University of Southern California and a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of California, and is a certified public accountant in the United States. After graduation, he worked for Andersen, one of the world's top five accounting firms at the time, for five years before joining Sina in 2004.

If Liu Zhou had not appeared, after Duan Yongji kicked Wang Yan out and let Cao Guowei take over the position of Sina's president, Yu Zhengjun would have taken over Cao Guowei's position as Sina's chief financial officer.

He served as the Chief Financial Officer of Sina Group for more than ten years until he was poached by Baidu in 2017 to serve as Baidu's Chief Financial Officer.

However, in this life, because Liu Zhou acquired Sina and let Wang Yan continue to serve as president, Cao Guowei still sits in the position of chief financial officer.

Yu Zhengjun was also suppressed by Cao Guowei and could not get promoted, so he had been serving as the director of the finance department.

But there is no doubt that Yu Zhengjun's ability should not be underestimated.

It just so happens that it is difficult for him to move up in Sina in the short term, so instead of letting him be buried and then choose to leave, resulting in a waste of talent, it is better to invite him to work at Golden Harvest.

Although the scale of Jiahe is far smaller than that of Sina Group, at least he is the head of the financial department in Jiahe. He does not have to be inferior to others and can fully display his talents.

Moreover, Jiahe is now in a critical period of preparation for its IPO. For many CFOs, having the opportunity to personally participate in the operation of a company's IPO is a great temptation and a rare opportunity.

But without meeting the person, Liu Zhou was not sure whether the other person would be willing to work at Jiahe.

After a while, Yu Zhengjun, who was still quite good-looking, came to Liu Zhou's office.

"Mr. Liu, you're looking for me?"

As the second-in-command of Sina Group's financial department, Yu Zhengjun must be familiar with Liu Zhou, and the two have had exchanges before.

However, this was the first time that Liu Zhou met him alone, so Yu Zhengjun couldn't help but be curious about what Liu Zhou wanted to talk to him about.

"That's right, Mr. Yu, I have something to say, and I won't beat around the bush. You should know that my film and television company, Golden Harvest Group, is preparing to go public.

But we are still short of a chief financial officer. I would like you to take this position. I wonder if you are willing to leave Sina and join Golden Harvest."

Yu Zhengjun was shocked when he heard Liu Zhou's words, and then he immediately said:

"I'm willing to join Golden Harvest!"

Liu Zhou was somewhat surprised that Yu Zhengjun agreed so quickly and decisively, and could not help but ask:

"Don't you want to consider it? After all, there's no comparison between Golden Harvest Group and Sina, and if nothing unexpected happens, you'll be the first choice to take over after President Cao."

“Don’t think about it. I have thought it through clearly. Although Golden Harvest cannot compare with Sina now, I see that you spend more time on Golden Harvest than on Sina. I think Golden Harvest will have great potential in the future.

Besides, I would rather be the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix. I also want to try the position of CFO. Besides, Golden Harvest is preparing to go public, which is more attractive to me. "

In fact, Yu Zhengjun had another most important reason that he didn't mention, which was that he saw no hope of promotion at Sina and he was ready to resign and leave.

He felt that he had the ability to serve as the chief financial officer of a listed company, and he didn't want to waste any more time at Sina.

However, Yu Zhengjun had just come up with this idea and hadn't even written his resignation report when he was called over by Liu Zhou.

It's like someone comes and gives you a pillow when you feel sleepy, and it's a soft and comfortable pillow.

So Yu Zhengjun agreed without hesitation, without even thinking about it.

"Very good. You write the report and I'll approve it. Then you can talk to Mr. Wang and Mr. Cao. After handing over your work, you should start working at Jiahe as soon as possible."

Liu Zhou didn't care why he agreed so quickly, as long as he arrived in Jiahe.

"Okay, Mr. Liu, I should be able to start work at Jiahe in a week at the earliest."

"Ok, but you don't have to be too anxious. Hand over the work thoroughly. Although Jiahe is in a hurry to hire people, they don't mind waiting a few more days."

After confirming this matter, Liu Zhou asked Yu Zhengjun to go ahead and do it first.

At this time he was relieved. It was great that Yu Zhengjun was willing to go there. It was not easy to find a good chief financial officer nowadays.

Even through a headhunting company, it may take some time to secure the person.

Liu Zhou stayed at Sina until the end of the get off work day before going home.

When he got home, he saw Zeng Li feeding her son and couldn't help saying:

"He has been taking it for half a year. Is it time to stop taking it?"

"I want to stop, but my mom and aunt say it's best to breastfeed until the baby is one year old."

"So what do you think? If you want to break up, I'll go talk to them."

"No need, one year old is one year old. Drinking more breast milk will help Xiaobao have better immunity in the future."

Seeing Zeng Li carefully put her son, who had already eaten and fallen asleep, into the crib, Liu Zhou smiled and said to Zeng Li:

"Pear, come here, I want to show you something."

After saying that, Liu Zhou handed a document to Zeng Li.

(End of this chapter)