Huayu: This producer has no bottom line.

Chapter 81 I struck gold

Ren Pingsheng did not give Zhang Chaoyang an answer on the spot.

3.5% options, that sounds like a lot.

But Zhang Chaoyang has been shrewd all his life, how could he possibly do a losing business?

Three domain names are worth at most tens of millions of RMB, but a mastermind who can manipulate events on Weibo can create more than ten times that amount in three years.

Not to mention stock options. They're diluted once in Series A and once in Series B. By the time the company actually goes public, how much of the 3.5% will be left?

Zhang Chaoyang didn't mention the anti-dilution clause at all just now.

Moreover, whether Sohu Weibo can reliably defeat Xinlang remains an open question.

Of course, there are indeed many variables in this life.

Sohu entered the market early and secured the title sponsorship of the Spring Festival Gala, resulting in a visible increase in user growth.

He then intervened as an operations consultant, replicating the gameplay of Xinlang Weibo from his previous life.

Is it possible for SearchArc to overtake them?

possible.

But what is the price?

The price paid was the explosive growth of China's internet and film and television industries over the past three years.

He cannot focus on creating content, cannot freely collaborate with any platform, and cannot expand at his own pace.

He's the kind of person who wants to be a director, build a label, and establish his own territory in the film and television industry.

He was reborn, not to work for an internet company.

A three-year commitment is not worth it.

Ren Pingsheng leaned back in the taxi and closed his eyes as he went through the cards of the three parties.

To be fair, Sohu is currently the only comprehensive internet company on the market that integrates portal, video, games, and film and television investment.

For someone working in the entertainment industry, this is a gold mine.

Video platforms can broadcast his content, portals can promote his artists, games can create IP collaborations, and film and television investments can underwrite his movies.

Moreover, Sohu's decision-making chain is extremely short. As long as Zhang Chaoyang is dealt with, the resources of the entire group can be mobilized.

But precisely because of this, the risk is concentrated on Zhang Chaoyang alone.

Today this guy's in a good mood, so he's allocating resources to you across the entire company. Tomorrow he might think practicing yoga is more important than business, and all your plans could fall through.

In contrast, Xinlang is different.

Cao Guowei is a professional manager by training and is always rational.

He won't surprise you, but he certainly won't scare you either.

The contract you signed with him can be executed even if the sky falls.

But the problem lies with Cao Guowei himself.

A ruthless person who can complete an MBO right under the nose of the board of directors and turn Xinlang into his own possession will never give anyone else a chance to sit at the table.

Xinlang's management is notorious for being divided into factions, with more than a dozen vice presidents, each in charge of their own area, and they don't respect each other.

Moreover, Xinlang does not have an independent video platform, games, or film and television investments.

For Ren Pingsheng, no matter how powerful Xinlang Weibo is, it is just a publicity channel and cannot form an ecosystem.

Selling it to Xinlang only brought them money.

Money is important, of course, but it's not the most important thing.

Actually, the best choice might be the penguin.

Ma Huateng's penguin empire is the only true example of a complete ecological closed loop.

Social media, games, videos, music, literature, payments... Tencent will have every entertainment monetization path you can think of in the future.

Moreover, any product that is integrated into Tencent's ecosystem can gain a massive number of users overnight.

This is how WeChat, Tencent Video, and Tencent Music started in their previous lives.

But what about Tencent's Weibo?

Ren Pingsheng frowned.

In its previous life, Tencent Weibo relied on QQ pop-up ads to drive traffic, and its user base once surpassed that of Xinlang.

But in the end, they still lost.

Weibo is essentially a public square, while Tencent is building a network of personal relationships.

The two product logics are fundamentally contradictory.

Ma Huateng himself knew this, which is why Tencent Weibo has always been a defensive product.

What about this lifetime?

If weibo.com is sold to Tencent, will Ma Huateng change his strategy from defense to offense?

Ren Pingsheng didn't know, but he had already figured out the numbers in his mind.

Sohu: It has the most complete ecosystem, but the boss is unreliable and the binding conditions are too harsh.

Xinlang: The most stable, but you can only get money, not the ecosystem.

Tencent: It has the strongest ecosystem, but Weibo is not its main battlefield, and it is too controlling.

None of the three are perfect.

Then I won't choose it.

Or rather, there's no rush to choose.

His current strategy is to let the three parties know that each other is vying for the same thing, raise the price and conditions to the highest level, and then make a choice at the last minute.

But the selection criteria are not based on who offers more money or more shares.

The key question is who can provide the greatest leverage for Shengping Vision over the next three to five years without restricting his freedom.

Two dogs fight, play off.

This is the game he's best at.

……

The taxi stopped at Dingfuzhuang.

Ren Pingsheng pushed open the door of the professional recording studio next to his own studio.

The post-production dubbing and theme song recording for "Old Boys" were all completed here. Compared to shooting comedy short dramas before, the production standards have been significantly upgraded.

Through the soundproof glass, Ren Pingsheng saw Dapeng wearing headphones, singing at the top of his lungs in the recording studio.

In the control room outside, besides Bai Ke and Qiao San, Tong Liya was also there.

Not only that, but Tong Liya was sitting next to a girl with shoulder-length short hair, dressed in casual sportswear.

Even though you can only see his profile, his heroic spirit and dashing demeanor stand out among the group of artists.

"The director is back," Bai Ke quickly greeted.

Tong Liya also stood up, smiling as she tugged at the arm of the girl next to her. "Director Ren, let me introduce you. This is Wang Zixuan, my classmate from the Central Academy of Drama. After graduation, she worked as a village official in Huairou. When she heard that I was filming in Beijing, she made a special trip to see me today."

Ren Pingsheng was stunned.

Looking at the cheerful girl in front of him, he quickly recalled the pure and charming Qiu Ya from the movie "Goodbye Mr. Loser".

Wang Zixuan?

So that's what she was called back then!

No wonder I couldn't find her even after searching through the roster at the Central Academy of Drama. And what's more, she actually became a village official?

Ren Pingsheng's temples throbbed twice.

He recalled his utter bewilderment when Xiao Ai called to say "no such person found," the countless hours he racked his brains searching for a candidate for school beauty, and how he had unexpectedly gotten in touch with Tong Liya...

Just as Ren Pingsheng was internally ranting, Qiao San leaned over and unintentionally added insult to injury.

"Director Ren, the three of us are all from the Central Academy of Drama class of 04. It's just that Ya Ya and Zi Xuan are in the second undergraduate class of the Acting Department, while I am in the second junior college class."

"..."

Fate is a truly ironic thing.

So the Wang Zhi I've been searching for all along is actually in Qiao San's yearbook?

Ren Pingsheng took a deep breath, suppressing the urge to kick Qiao San away.

He didn't mention that he had sent people all over the world to look for her but failed, and that he had ended up finding Tong Liya by chance. He just smiled and extended his hand.

"Impressive, truly impressive. It's quite rare to see someone in our circle experience life as a village official."

Wang Zixuan shook hands with a cheerful smile: "Director Ren, you're too kind. I'm just taking this as a learning experience. Yaya just praised you a lot, saying that you have a lot of ideas for directing."

"You flatter me, Ya Ya," Ren Pingsheng released his hand and handed her a business card. "Miss Wang is such a good catch. I hope we can cooperate sometime in the future."

"Sure," Wang Zixuan agreed with a smile, casually demonstrating a standard starting stance. "I've been practicing martial arts since I was a child. If you need action scenes or are short of a female action star, feel free to contact me anytime."

Ren Pingsheng watched her nimble movements, and a slight smile appeared on his lips.

Action scenes?

I really struck gold today.