Hong Kong: Rise of the Kings

Peninsula Hotel Kowloon——

Deluxe room.

A mixed-race man in his fifties turned on the faucet, waited for the turbid water to flow for a while, and then splashed cold water on his face. In the bright mirror, his eyes were bloodshot, and his face looked extremely tired.

He is the current general manager of Jiayi TV and a well-known entertainment tycoon in Hong Kong-He Zuozhi.

He Zuozhi was the illegitimate son of Ho Tung, a famous gentleman and businessman in Hong Kong. He studied at King's College in Hong Kong, then went to the United States and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley. After returning to Hong Kong, he worked as an employee at Sang Kee Property Management Company under Ho Tung.

Soon after, he was transferred to Ruitai Trading Co., Ltd. as the manager. Later, he jointly established Zod Company with Shanghai-based wealthy businessman Miao Weide, which represented foreign wine, cameras, household appliances, etc., and the business was booming. Later, he lobbied Sir Robert Luo from the Macau business community to co-operate with the Macau Green Village Radio Station.

In 1959, the Hong Kong government announced a tender to undertake commercial radio stations. He found Executive Council members Luo Man-hui and Tang Shiu-kin as directors, tendered for the undertaking, and it developed rapidly.

In 1975, He Zuozhi entered television and founded Jiayi TV Station. After the launch, the TV station became famous and famous!

Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. Who knew that Jiayi TV has been on the verge of losing money since its establishment?

In fact, this is also the fault of He Zuozhi. One of the licensing conditions given to Jiayi TV by the British Hong Kong government required that Jiayi use part of its time to broadcast educational programs, so that it would broadcast educational programs from 2 to 6 p.m. and from 9 to 11 p.m. hour and 30 minutes, used as a TV teaching. However, these programs were not popular with viewers, and ratings fell, leading to a sharp drop in advertising revenue.

He Zuozhi is also an ambitious person. In order to increase the ratings, he spends huge sums of money to shoot large-scale TV series. For example, in Jin Yong’s first martial arts TV series "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", he persuaded other shareholders, claiming that after investing in the filming, he would be able to make the movie more popular. Improve your skills to a higher level and get rid of losses.

Facts have proved that this drama is indeed very popular. The TV program relies on strong funds and is well-produced, making Michelle Bai Biao, a beautiful actress from Jiayi, shine, and the ratings are also extremely high with TVB.

Unfortunately, when I saw the financial statements last night, it turned out to be another loss!

The reason is that the time slot of the TV series is wrong. Even if many advertisers invest in it, the audience will change the channel at this time.

In the end, advertisers called and announced that they were withdrawing all their funding.

Those damn educational programs really can't retain viewers, making the advertising revenue that TV stations rely on for survival less and less. In addition, the cost of investing in and filming the TV series this time is too high. When comparing the two, the losses will be even greater.

Last night, He Zuozhi hid in this hotel and stayed up late to read the information in his hand. The more he read, the more angry he became. Especially when he saw the profit and loss figures of the TV station, he almost became so angry that he had high blood pressure.

Looking at himself extremely haggard in the mirror, He Zuozhi sighed: "How can I explain this to other shareholders? I was very boastful at the beginning, saying that this would definitely bring the TV station to a higher level, but now - —Hey, the hole is getting bigger and bigger!”

Boom, boom, boom!

Boom, boom, boom! "

There was a knock on the door.

Before the female secretary in the living room went to open the door, He Zuozhi quickly walked out of the bathroom, made a shushing gesture to the female secretary, and then motioned for the female secretary to go over and take a closer look before opening the door.

The reason why He Zuo did this was because he was afraid that other major shareholders would come to question him.

He's had enough of the blame.

I am even more fed up with the consequences of my wrong decisions.

That's why he chose to hide in the hotel or in the guest room to avoid being found by those people on the TV station or in the company.

The female secretary is a slender Western woman. She has been with He Zuozhi for many years, so she certainly understands what He Zuozhi is afraid of.

Sometimes the words of shareholders are more powerful than swords and can hurt people invisible.

She also sympathized with boss He Zuozhi. Since he founded this TV station, he had never had a peaceful night's sleep. Even if he was hiding in the hotel, he could only be on tenterhooks.

The female secretary stepped on high heels and walked to the door. She looked outside through a nail hole in the door panel. She turned back and nodded to He Zuozhi who was looking at her: "It's the Du who made an appointment with you on the phone. gentlemen."

"Du Yongxiao?" He Zuozhi was stunned for a moment, his mind spinning rapidly.

Last night, he suddenly received a call from Du Yongxiao in the hotel.

Du Yongxiao briefly introduced himself, which made the originally defensive He Zuozhi full of surprise. He didn't understand why Hong Kong's first Chinese police commissioner and the tycoon of the Du Group wanted to find him.

Du Yongxiao got straight to the point and said that he was very interested in Jiayi TV.

After hearing this, He Zuozhi immediately became happy, thinking that Du Yongxiao wanted to invest in Jiayi TV as a shareholder, which was a great thing, as they were worried about insufficient funds.

Du Yongxiao accepted it as soon as possible and said he would meet at the hotel to discuss the details tomorrow.

He Zuozhi was originally upset by many things. Now that someone is willing to invest in Jiayi, it is of course a great thing. He agreed without thinking.

"Hurry, open the door quickly! Invite Mr. Du in!" He Zuozhi was overjoyed, but he didn't expect that Du Yongxiao was not just joking, but actually came over.

The female secretary opened the locked door. Outside, a young man in his mid-twenties, handsome and elegant, exuding the aura of a superior, walked in. He smiled before saying anything, with a kind smile on his face: " Boss He..."

He Zuozhi hurriedly greeted him, shook hands and said: "Mr. Du! I didn't expect you to really come!" He turned to the female secretary and asked: "Help me bring two cups of coffee, thank you!"

Then he invited Du Yongxiao to sit on the sofa in the living room and tried to say, "I thought you were joking when I heard you call me last night. I didn't expect that Mr. Du was a sincere person and he actually came today!"

"Please forgive me, Mr. He! I am a person of status after all. I am always serious about my work and I dare not joke around. Now, I will tell you clearly that I am really interested in Jiayi TV, which you founded."

Du Yongxiao looked serious and smiled as he sat on the sofa.

He Zuozhi rubbed his hands with an expectant expression, but finally sighed, "Although I don't quite understand why Mr. Du is interested in Jiayi, but... it's better to be sincere when doing business. Jiayi's current financial report is in the red..."

He Zuozhi hesitated for a moment, but still told Du Yongxiao about Jiayi's current poor situation.

Du Yongxiao nodded without saying anything.

He thought He Zuozhi would talk about the benefits and advantages of Jiayi, but he didn't expect that this boss would take the initiative to reveal the family background and the fact that Jiayi was not doing well. This made Du Yongxiao admire this man. He is worthy of being the son of Sir Ho Tung, the king of Macau. He is responsible for his work.

After speaking, He Zuozhi smiled bitterly and said: "After talking about this, you may praise me for my responsibility in your heart, but the fact is not so. If I really have responsibility, I will not hide in this hotel suite to read the report-I am afraid, I am really afraid!"

Thinking of every time the financial report came out, those shareholders came to the door in a hurry and loudly rebuked him for all kinds of confused decisions, such as agreeing to the unreasonable demands of the Hong Kong British government, giving up a good schedule, and persuading them to spend money to make a TV series. In a word, every decision he made seemed to be wrong.

He Zuozhi wanted to defend himself, but found that he had no reason to defend himself.

Because those decisions have been proven to be really wrong.

"So am I in a very bad state now? Am I like the defeated generals who were forced into Diaojingling back then?" He Zuozhi smiled bitterly, looking a little pitiful.

Du Yongxiao stared at him, and waited for him to vent his emotions before saying, "Boss He, I know your current situation very well. I'm not saying anything sarcastic or looking down on you. Running a TV station is your most wrong choice, especially since you made a mistake on top of a mistake. You didn't do a good job of increasing revenue and reducing expenditure. On the contrary, you spent a huge amount of money on filming TV series, thinking that you could win back advertisers. In fact, doing so will only make the loss hole bigger and bigger. The reason is that advertising also needs a good time slot. In essence, you have entered a vicious circle."

He Zuozhi's face turned ugly, but he had to admit that what Du Yongxiao said was right.

"I know that you keep shooting excellent TV series to change your fate, and want to win the audience and advertisers' favor with high quality. I don't believe that Jiayi will continue to lose money like this, but I can guarantee that if you keep doing this, Jiayi will go bankrupt in three years at most."

"You--" He Zuozhi stood up and glared at Du Yongxiao. Du Yongxiao's words were a bit too much and hurt his self-esteem.

"Don't get excited, Boss He! I said, I came here to help you this time, not to stimulate you!" Du Yongxiao took out a brown paper briefcase from his pocket and handed it to He Zuozhi, "Maybe the content inside can help you."

He Zuozhi walked over quickly, picked up the briefcase, tore it open, and took out a plan from it.

The plan was only a few pages, but the six thin sheets of paper held He Zuozhi's hopes.

He looked through it carefully.

The look changed from excitement to surprise, and then from surprise to astonishment, and finally to a complicated look, with a gloomy face.

This is an investment plan. Du Yongxiao clearly wrote on it that he was willing to spend a huge amount of money to acquire 50% of the shares of Jiayi TV Station, which was equivalent to becoming the president and person in charge of the TV station in name and in name.

However, the acquisition price was very low, so low that He Zuozhi couldn't stand it. The original equity valued at 18 million yuan, Du Yongxiao was only willing to pay 6 million yuan, directly cutting two-thirds. He felt that Du Yongxiao was "taking advantage of the fire".

Secondly, the plan also stated that if He Zuozhi was willing, he could continue to be a shareholder of the TV station. If he was not willing, he could sell all his shares and withdraw from Jiayi.

The main reason why He Zuozhi looked uncertain was that the acquisition price was only one-third of his investment in Jiayi at that time.

"Impossible, your acquisition price is too low, so low that I don't know how to describe it!" He Zuozhi grabbed the plan and looked at Du Yongxiao.

"You can describe it as taking advantage of the fire. It's okay, I don't mind." Du Yongxiao smiled slightly, looking calm.

He Zuozhi's female secretary next to him saw for the first time that a young man had such a calm and composed aura of controlling the overall situation. She didn't understand how he cultivated it?

"Boss He, I understand your thoughts and your mind. You founded Jiayi. Even if you suffered heavy losses, you are unwilling to sell it cheaply. After all, you still have fighting spirit and want to continue to fight, right?" Du Yongxiao took out a box of Marlboro cigarettes from his arms and handed one to He Zuozhi.

He Zuozhi gritted his teeth and snorted coldly: "I want to continue to fight. After all, no one can predict business."

Du Yongxiao nodded in understanding: "I understand, I understand. Boss He doesn't treat the TV station as an entertainment program, but as a casino! So many bets are big and small, which makes you lose very unconvinced. Maybe the last few bets will turn around and you will win three prizes in a row! Things like luck, no one can predict, right?"

It seemed that Du Yongxiao's attitude was too gentle, allowing He Zuozhi to vent his grievances with ease. He walked a few steps in the room: "You are the police chief and the president of the Du Group. Logically, you are also a businessman. Since If you are a businessman, you should understand that sometimes doing business really depends on luck, good luck and bad luck are all equal..."

Du Yongxiao continued to nod: "No one can say for sure about luck. But do you think Jiayi's loss is really just bad luck?"

"Uh, this--" He Zuozhi was stunned, and then he realized that he had been led into the ditch by Du Yongxiao.

Du Yongxiao smiled: "To buy half of your equity in Jiayi for 6 million, to be honest, I am also taking a lot of risks. According to the development trend of Jiayi, if you continue to do it, your losses will only get bigger and bigger. Don’t say one-third by then, no one will be willing to take over this mess.”

Just as He Zuozhi was about to speak, Du Yongxiao stopped him: "Please let me finish."

He Zuozhi opened his mouth, snorted in the end, sat back and looked at Du Yongxiao.

"In the final analysis, what you actually care about is not the price, but the issue of face! You founded Jiayi, but you sold it in less than a year. You are unwilling to accept it, and you are even more afraid of being laughed at. Yes or no ?”

When He Zuozhi was told that the matter was central, his eyes avoided Du Yongxiao.

Du Yongxiao continued: "So I have a way to get the best of both worlds——"

"Speak!" He Zuozhi lost his temper. He didn't understand why Du Yongxiao spoke and behaved so maturely even though he was very young. He is simply an older fox than an old fox.

"I will acquire 50% of the equity of Jiayi. You will withdraw as a small shareholder and declare to the outside world that Jiayi will reform. As for the other shareholders, I promise you to add two million to the purchase price just now, so that you can make up to eight million. Fa, it’s very auspicious, how about it?”

He Zuozhi hesitated.

For him, dumping the blame is currently the best option.

As long as I don't quit the TV station immediately, externally speaking, I will continue to struggle and my face will be saved.

As for other shareholders, they will never give up. Anyway, this TV station is a big black hole.

Seeing that He Zuozhi was still hesitating, Du Yongxiao increased his firepower: "Hey, the opportunity is fleeting! What's more, as far as I know, in addition to losses, Jiayi also has a large amount of foreign debt, at least three million. If I To acquire 50% of the equity, you have to bear half of the debt, which is 1.5 million. Plus the odds and ends expenses, such as actors' salaries, staff salaries, etc., it is estimated to be another large expense, seven Counting eight or tens of millions, it's definitely possible! So, you don't suffer, but you put the biggest risk on me..."

He Zuozhi was really shaken. He licked his slightly dry lips and looked at Du Yongxiao seriously for the first time: "I only have one question that I am curious about."

"Speak!" Du Yongxiao gestured as he picked up the coffee.

"Since you know Jiayi is a big black hole, why did you still acquire it?"

Du Yongxiao was slightly startled when he heard this, and then said: "Because I love Jiayi."

He Zuozhi closed his eyes and believed your bullshit!

But what Du Yongxiao told was true. In his previous life, he had watched many TV series produced by Jiayi and felt extremely sorry for this meteor.

While controlling the power of entertainment communication, he really wants to save this TV station, and he has already thought of a way to save it, which is to renegotiate with the British Hong Kong government, cancel the conditions that are tied to Jiayi's neck, and regain the prime time slot production rights.

With Du Yongxiao's current status, the British Hong Kong government should carefully consider his opinions, otherwise Du Yongxiao would not mind a Hong Kong-wide strike.

Since then, Jiayi has been revitalized, and he, Du Yongxiao, has become a new entertainment tycoon. So, doesn’t he really love Jiayi?