Reborn as a tycoon in Hong Kong

New Century Software Company was listed on NASDAQ at the end of October 1980.

In 1979, New Century Software had revenue of US$205 million, profit of US$112 million, and net profit of US$61 million.

The net profit of US$61 million was just to make the financial report look good. In fact, part of the funds required for research and development in 1979 were allocated in 1980, so that there was such a high net profit.

In the same way, New Century Software, which just went public at the end of October 1980, put some of its R\u0026D investment in 1980 into 1981 in order to produce a good-looking financial report. This way, the financial report in 1980 will look much better.

In order to have a good-looking annual report, it is postponed year after year. It is okay if nothing happens. Once the revenue and profit are not ideal in any year, then the annual report of that year will inevitably be significantly negatively affected, which will cause a thunderstorm.

There is a problem with doing this, and both Lin Baicheng and the senior management of New Century Software know it. But last year they did it because the company had just raised funds, and this year it was because the company had just gone public. For the benefit of shareholders and the company, it had to be done.

In the 1980 annual report, both revenue and profit increased. Among them, revenue was US$382 million, an increase of about 86.34%; profit was US$183 million, an increase of 63.4%, but the profit margin was reduced; net profit was US$105 million, an increase of 72.13%, but the net profit margin was also reduced.

It can be seen from the annual report that the company's revenue and profits have increased, and the growth rate is not low. It is in an incremental market, but the profit margin has decreased, which is inevitable.

Regardless, New Age Software is still very profitable.

At the same time, there is still a large amount of funds lying in the company's account. Not only does the company itself make money, when it went public at the end of October, it raised US$240 million in funds. This is not a small amount of money, and it is enough for the company to make money for two years.

Isabella and other senior executives of New Century Software held a board meeting to prepare for the establishment of a new headquarters for the company. Shareholders, including Lin Baicheng, had no objections to this.

The headquarters is the face of a company and is very important.

In addition to establishing the headquarters, the remaining funds of the company are invested in research and development. Upgrading office software, developing databases, etc. all require money and recruitment.

Next is Starlight.

In 1979, the company's revenue exceeded US$500 million and operating profit was US$40 million. However, because the company's channels were still expanding rapidly this year, it even borrowed a total of US$50 million from banks for this purpose. The company's income and expenses were actually Balanced.

But in order to make the annual report look good, the 1979 report shows that the company's net profit in 1979 was US$20 million.

There are also two financial reports for 1980 produced this year. One is a real annual report for boss Lin Baicheng, and the other is a false annual report displayed to the outside world.

Real annual report: The company's revenue was US$720 million and operating profit was US$95.8 million. Because there was less expenditure on channel expansion, this year's net profit was much higher, at US$57.7 million.

However, since there was an extra US$20 million in net profit in the 1979 annual report, in order to smooth out the US$20 million, the false annual report released to the public was naturally not like this.

In the annual report released to the public, the revenue and profit are the same. The difference is that the net profit is US$10 million less, only US$47.7 million.

In this way, there is still US$10 million that has not been wiped out, and this US$10 million will be wiped out in the net profit in 2081.

As long as Starlight Company makes money in 1981, and makes more money than in 1980, then the $10 million will be wiped out. If divided into two years and smoothed out in this way, the overall annual report will look much better. Once the company has financing or is listed, it will be of great benefit to the company.

In Lin Baicheng's heart, he was not prepared to let Starlight Company go public, but no one could guarantee the future. Therefore, there is no harm in making the annual report more beautiful, which is why he agrees with the management of Starlight Company to do so.

After Starlight Company, there is Morning Star Pictures.

In 1979, excluding the profit from "Home Alone", the company had revenue of US$75 million and profit of US$12 million.

In 1980, Morningstar Pictures' annual report was also unable to calculate the profits brought to the company by "Home Alone 2" because the movie was released during the Christmas season. As of the last day of 1980, the movie was only half-way through the theaters. It only takes about a month. The theater will not transfer the share to the production company before that, and the box office share will not be settled until at least one month after the film premieres.

This is different from Hong Kong and the mainland China market a few decades later.

Movies released in Hong Kong or mainland China usually only have one month of screening time, so only a few movies may get an extension key and can be screened for two months.

But here in the United States, most popular movies can be released for more than three months. However, after a month, the movies are usually shown in relatively remote areas and a few scattered movie theaters, harvesting a small number of box office.

Take the first part of "Home Alone" as an example. The movie was actually removed from North America six months after its release. However, three months after its release, the box office share the studio received was extremely pitiful, which had a negative impact on the overall business. It has little impact on profit collection. That is to say, if it is released for a long time, it can increase the influence of the film, help the development and sales of peripherals, and the box office of the sequel.

In 1980, Morningstar Pictures' revenue was US$146 million, nearly doubling its revenue.

Revenue did not double, mainly because the first part of "Home Alone" was solely invested by Lin Baicheng's private funds. Morningstar Pictures only received 10% of the distribution fee, so the revenue it accounted for was only more than 40 million US dollars. , the net profit is even less.

Revenue almost doubled, but net profit was unsatisfactory, only $15.6 million.

When the commission from the release of "Home Alone" in 1979 was included in the 1980 financial report, the net profit has not increased much. This is mainly because the company invested in "Home Alone 2" and "Home Alone 3" in 1980, with a total of 40 million. Among the US dollars invested, Morningstar Pictures and Lin Baicheng privately contributed half of the funds, and the profits were equally divided between the two parties.

US$20 million was invested in the two follow-up films of "Home Alone", plus the publicity costs incurred after the film was released. The second film was released in 1980 and the profits could not be counted, so the profits in 1980 were naturally not high. .

However, Morningstar Pictures' biggest achievement in the 1980s should be the rapid development of its subsidiary Blockbuster.

Blockbuster was established in Los Angeles in July 1979, with an initial investment of only $10 million.

In April 1980, Lin Baicheng used his own money to finance Blockbuster. At that time, Blockbuster was valued at US$25 million after financing.

In July of the same year, Blockbuster raised funds again. At that time, it gave up 20% of its shares at a valuation of US$62 million, and Blockbuster received US$12.4 million in development funds.

After this financing, Morningstar Pictures only holds 55.5% of Blockbuster's shares, Lin Baicheng personally holds 19.5% of the shares in the name of an offshore company, Buffett leads the investment and holds 10% of the shares, and Citigroup and Goldman Sachs each hold 5% shares.

The remaining 5% of the shares are used as option awards for management, and part of them have been awarded so far. Only a few people, led by manager Errol Kilman, have received option awards.

After all, Blockbuster is developing very fast, but it only took one year from the establishment of the company to two rounds of financing. It is impossible to give option rewards just for some achievements, so that the company will develop to a higher level in the future. , there are no options for rewards for recruiting talents.

Throughout 1980, Blockbuster's revenue was US$48 million and operating profit was US$7.4 million, but its net profit was a negative number. The company was in the red, which was related to Blockbuster's aggressive expansion.

Blockbuster sells and rents video tapes and needs to build its own stores. The company has not really developed yet, so there are not many franchisees. Most of the current stores are self-operated.

For self-operated stores, in every city that has been expanded to, there must be one directly-operated store that is purchased by itself and has a larger store. Other stores are either purchased or leased, but no matter which one, the money required is Quite a few. After all, even if it is a rented store, the lease contract must be long-term.

The purchase and leasing of stores, recruitment of employees, corporate brand promotion, etc. are all very expensive, so the company cannot make much money at all.

But even so, Blockbuster is still a good company, so most of the stores it operates are profitable. Its business model has been certified by the market. As long as there are no problems with the management and there is no strong competition. For opponents, when it expands to a certain scale, its expenses are no longer greater than its profits, and that is when its profits begin.

And this time, according to Blockbuster's internal evaluation as well as Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and others, will not exceed two years.

Lin Baicheng does not attach much importance to Blockbuster, but he will not ignore it either. Instead, he will regard it as a supplement to Morningstar Pictures. Morningstar Pictures must be a major shareholder of Blockbuster, but there is no need for him to keep his personal shares. After Blockbuster goes public, he can sell his shares at his own discretion.

After reading the annual reports of Morningstar Pictures and Blockbuster, seeing that it was almost time, Lin Baicheng went home from get off work.

In the afternoon, Lin Baicheng came to the company to continue reading the annual report, trying to finish it today.

Before Marvel Comics was acquired by Lin Baicheng, its annual profit was about 6 million US dollars, and its profit in 1979 was nearly 10 million US dollars.

In 1980, because Marvel Comics' channels were basically established in 1979, 1980 was a harvest year for the company. The net profit exceeded 10 million US dollars, reaching 14.5 million US dollars. The profit growth brought about by channel expansion The rate is still relatively high.

However, although Marvel Comics made more than 10 million U.S. dollars in 1980, the company had debts of 40 million U.S. dollars a year ago, so all the profits earned were used to repay interest and debt principal. Currently, there are still about 30 million U.S. dollars. The debt has not been paid off.

In the next two years, if the company's revenue and profits can be stabilized, all profits will still be used to repay debts until the debt ratio remains at a moderate level.

Golden Fleece Company's total assets exceeded US$1 billion in March 1980.

In 1980, Golden Fleece Company's net profit was US$108 million, and by the end of the year, its total assets reached US$1.26 billion.

The net profit of Golden Fleece Company is not high. After deducting the commissions of team executives and others, the net profit is only about 10%.

Without Lin Baicheng's guidance, Golden Fleece Company's profitability was actually normal. After all, not all of the company's investment managers are industry giants. If they were really that powerful, they wouldn't work for Lin Baicheng, but would start their own businesses.

Of course, the revenue and profit of Golden Fleece Company does not include the futures investment led by Lin Baicheng. Lin Baicheng has already given the commission to the company's management. This type of operation has nothing to do with the company itself.

Lin Baicheng does not have high requirements for the investment managers of Golden Fleece Company. Without his intervention, it is enough to maintain a stable growth of 10% every year, which can at least outperform the inflation rate.

among the remaining companies.

Sun Electronic Communications Company [, there is nothing much to say about this company. The acquired technology is still being digested. The team is currently developing mobile phone technology and how to make mobile phones commercially available. The revenue is zero.

Galaxy Semiconductor and Venus TV are subsidiaries of Galaxy Semiconductor and Venus Electric. The annual reports have been summarized at the head office. Lin Baicheng has already read the annual report.

Lin Baicheng has no apparent relationship with Pioneer Technology Venture Capital Company, and its scale is not large. The funds are mainly used to invest in some companies that Lin Baicheng is optimistic about.

Microsoft, this small company that fell into Lin Baicheng's hands, basically has nothing to do with him now. The company is engaged in the research and development of computer software tools. Lin Baicheng is satisfied that it can be self-sufficient.

Shiwei Software Company, a joint venture between Microsoft Corporation and New Century Software Company, develops computer operating systems. However, Bill Gates' Blue Software Company has successfully taken a large piece of the market by relying on IBM, and Apple's computers have It has its own operating system, so until other personal computer companies develop, the company is basically not a competitor of Blue Software Company.

In Liberty Broadcasting Company, Lin Baicheng is only a shareholder of the company. Although he is still the majority shareholder, he will give up his power sooner or later, and the company has always been controlled by Barry Diller. The company has just acquired a TV station not long ago and has just completed the integration. It is not yet sure how it will develop. Maybe it will be clearer in 1981.

In Zhonghe Game Company, Lin Baicheng is also just a shareholder. He has given up control. In his eyes, this company is the same as Apple, and he is just an investor.

As long as the need arises, he may sell his shares at any time.

"Now all that's left are those two annual reports."

Lin Baicheng murmured to himself. The two annual reports he was talking about were naturally the huge investments led by Maori Haruko and Lin Shufang.

Lin Baicheng each gave the two women billions of dollars to invest, and those investments started in the 1980s. Some companies are acquisitions, while others are just equity investments.

But no matter what it is, even if only part of the funds are used, the two women must give Lin Baicheng a detailed annual report so that he knows what the situation is so far.

However, this annual report has not yet been completed because it involves many companies and to keep it confidential. And after they are done, they will not hand it over to Lin Baicheng through the secretariat, but will be handed over to Lin Baicheng himself by the two of them.