The large meeting room was left with only five people.
Gu Bai tapped his fingers on the table, and the other four, including Mr. Shao and Xiao Qiang, dared not make a sound since Gu Bai remained silent.
A few minutes later, Gu Bai raised his head and looked at Shang Yu.
"Shang Yu, right? Tell me about Black Swan Entertainment’s recent situation."
This Shang Yu was recruited by Mr. Shao from a local media company in Shanghai. Mr. Shao had previously briefed Gu Bai about this, but it was their first meeting today.
Upon hearing Gu Bai’s question, Shang Yu immediately took out the prepared documents and stood up to address Gu Bai.
"President Gu, Black Swan Entertainment has been completing tasks according to your instructions. So far, we have signed 11 top anchors from three major platforms, including Lu Wei, PDD, Sao Nian, Zou Erke, Zhou Shuyi and others. The total expenditure for these contracts is 95 million, and at your request, our broker-sharing ratio with the anchors is one-tenth less than the market standard. Because of this, many anchors who have communicated with us have the intention to sign contracts with our company, totaling 25 in number. All of them have millions of fans on the platform. As for smaller anchors, we have not yet started contacting them."
After listening to Shang Yu, Gu Bai continued to ask, "Why haven’t the 25 anchors with signing intentions directly signed deals?"
"Some of them still have unexpired contracts with their original broker companies. As for the rest... the company currently doesn’t have enough money. The previous 100 million funding has been fully utilized, and the remaining contract fee is 60 million. Also, since the company is currently not profitable, they have been temporarily put on hold."
Contracts not yet expired are normal; Gu Bai could only recruit the few anchors with the largest flow of traffic. If he had to pay breach of contract fees for every anchor, he wouldn’t be running a live guild; he’d be a benefactor.
But not having enough money? That’s a little unacceptable.
After Shang Yu finished speaking, Gu Bai looked at Mr. Shao again. Mr. Shao had been handling matters related to Black Swan Entertainment.
Upon seeing Gu Bai’s gaze, Mr. Shao quickly explained, "President Gu, President Shang mentioned this to me before. But with you being in Europe these past days and the funds being quite large, I didn’t approve it. After discussing with Director Yi, we planned to handle it once you returned."
Yi Fangqin also quickly joined in to explain.
After all, with nearly 100 million in funds, if she, as the finance director, had casually transferred them without reporting to Gu Bai, she wouldn’t need to continue as finance director.
Gu Bai nodded and didn’t pursue the matter further.
"Later, inject another 100 million into Black Swan Entertainment. Sign those anchors with expired contracts with their original broker companies."
Yi Fangqin quickly acknowledged.
"I give you one week to solve all these anchor contract issues. A week later, I want Black Swan Entertainment to make a strong entry into the live broadcasting industry. Can it be done?"
"I guarantee to complete the tasks you assigned!"
Upon hearing Shang Yu’s assurance, Gu Bai nodded and signaled him to sit down, then looked at Mr. Shao again.
"Director Shao, your investment department shouldn’t just be building departments recently, right? Have you found any good investment projects?"
Mr. Shao directly shook his head.
"President Gu, the company has been established for a short time. I don’t recommend aggressively entering the market. We should first observe."
This statement fully showed Mr. Shao’s steady work attitude.
Gu Bai smiled contentedly.
At present, he doesn’t need a subordinate with a strong enterprising spirit. What’s needed is someone with extreme professional skills but is pragmatic and steady.
With a vision for the next four years, he is confident that he can turn Black Swan Capital into a financial giant comparable to or even surpassing Tencent within four years. As for more, he doesn’t want to think about it for now; the domestic environment doesn’t allow him to be carefree.
Thinking about this, Gu Bai continued to address Mr. Shao, "Panda TV has released news that it plans to conduct a B+ round of financing. Let your assessment department evaluate Panda TV and write me a report within the next few days."
Ever since knowing Gu Bai had 20 billion in hand, Principal Wang had sent clear signals both openly and secretly that Panda TV wanted financing.
Gu Bai himself has some interest in Panda TV, so he simply lets Mr. Shao do an evaluation. He needs to know in over a year, Panda will go bankrupt; he can’t rush into it without considerations, can he?
In recent days, he has carefully considered some information that emerged after Panda TV’s bankruptcy in later years. The three main reasons for Panda TV’s bankruptcy are: first, internal equity disorder, initially with Yuan Stone Capital, LeTV, Qihoo 360, and other early investment companies fighting for management power; later, after B-round financing, with the involvement of Xingzhen Capital, Hanfu Capital, Wokan Capital, Light Source Capital, and other capital companies, Principal Wang’s initial management team was directly driven away.
Second, a lack of funds. After B-round investment, due to inadequate project evaluations and unclear profitability directions, it couldn’t compare to Douyu and Huya at the same time, causing B+ round financing to remain postponed for 22 months. As a money-burning internet company without funds to burn, bankruptcy was reasonably inevitable.
Third, and most importantly, facing dual risks of profitability and regulation. Simply put, the backing wasn’t strong enough. Why could Douyu and Huya emerge victorious in the 2017 Hundred Group War with over 100 broadcasting platforms? Isn’t it because they relied on Tencent?
Therefore, to revive Panda TV, the key is to kick out Qihoo 360 and other capitals and achieve independent management, only afterward considering follow-up issues.
Upon hearing Gu Bai’s instructions, Mr. Shao immediately expressed understanding, deciding to start evaluating the Panda TV project later. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩⁂𝖿𝗂𝗋𝖾⁂𝔫𝔢𝔱
"Alright, specific work has been assigned. You all can go busy yourselves. Xiao Qiang can stay."
Mr. Shao, Shang Yu, and Yi Fangqin stood up to say goodbye to Gu Bai and then left.
After they left, Gu Bai smiled at Xiao Qiang and said, "Director Xiao, do you like watching movies?"
Upon hearing Gu Bai’s sudden and strange question, Xiao Qiang was somewhat confused but candidly responded.
"During my studies abroad, when my academic workload wasn’t heavy, I would occasionally spare time for movies, but generally, they were foreign films. Since returning to the country recently, I haven’t watched any movies domestically."
"Then you can spare some time to watch domestic movies. The domestic film market is not small now, and there are still many exciting films being released."
"I’ll watch some during my spare time."
Gu Bai didn’t continue chatting idly, but continued saying, "Do you know why I established a separate film investment department and appointed you as the head?"
Having studied abroad for so many years, Xiao Qiang is accustomed to foreigners’ way of speaking, knowing is knowing, not knowing is not knowing, and she doesn’t like beating around the bush.