Chapter 0909: An Offer One Cannot Refuse

Wang Zhonglei felt like his head was about to explode!

Compared to his elder brother, Wang Zhonglei was considerably less shrewd. It wasn't that he lacked ability, but rather that he couldn't hide his feelings when faced with unexpected events.

Now, he was truly frightened by Zhao Fusheng.

"Fusheng, are you saying that you are the real owner of Future Advertising?" Looking at Zhao Fusheng, Wang Zhonglei still found it hard to believe. Could it be that Zhao Fusheng had already started laying the groundwork when he was still a sophomore?

"Yes, to be precise, I am the major shareholder of Future Advertising." Zhao Fusheng smiled faintly and explained.

As he spoke, he looked at Zheng Yao.

Zheng Yao had also come to her senses by now. She nodded to the Wang brothers and frankly acknowledged Zhao Fusheng's status as the major shareholder.

Seeing the Wang brothers sitting there completely dumbfounded, Zheng Yao furrowed her brows slightly, looked at Zhao Fusheng, and said in a low voice, "What are you trying to do?"

Zhao Fusheng smiled and gently shook his head, but did not explain to her.

This matter itself was a spur-of-the-moment decision, not part of Zhao Fusheng's original plan. Initially, Zhao Fusheng had intended to establish a solid cooperative relationship with Huayi. Unexpectedly, Wang Zhonglei's words at the dinner that day gave Zhao Fusheng a sudden inspiration and he came up with an idea.

After going public, Shengda had a market value of 6.5 billion RMB. Subsequently, Chen Tianqiao began to gradually privatize it and eventually delisted. Zhao Fusheng didn't know much about the stock market, but he was clear that the more than ten percent of shares he held could be exchanged for at most one billion RMB, and that would be two or three years later.

As for now, although Huayi seemed less developed than Shengda, one must not forget that the domestic stock market in China was different from that abroad.

At the very least, it was an undeniable fact that after going public, Huayi's market value would reach nearly 80 billion RMB, even if that had to wait until 2009. But for Zhao Fusheng, this was an opportunity to position himself. After all, no one except him knew that Shengda would delist after going public, while Huayi would still have a market value of twenty to thirty billion RMB even by the time he was reborn.

That was the advantage of foresight.

It was the simplest arithmetic problem, and everyone could figure it out, but no one except Zhao Fusheng knew what the future held.

After a long time, the Wang brothers finally calmed down. Looking at Zhao Fusheng, Wang Zhongjun spoke, "Even if you own Future Advertising, what does that have to do with your investing in Huayi Brothers?"

"Heh, what if I said, how about exchanging part of my Shengda shares for part of your Huayi Brothers shares?" Zhao Fusheng looked at Wang Zhongjun seriously and asked.

Wang Zhongjun was taken aback, then frowned: "What does that have to do with Future Advertising?"

"If we reach a cooperation, then Future Advertising and Huayi Brothers can establish an even deeper partnership, don't you think?"

Zhao Fusheng smiled and said calmly.

"I still don't quite understand what you mean." Wang Zhongjun's brows were tightly knit; he was not as relaxed as Zhao Fusheng. For him, Huayi Brothers was the fruit of his and his brother's hard work. He had poured immense effort into bringing the company to where it was today. Although Huayi Brothers now had many shareholders, the Wang brothers still held absolute controlling interest.

"It's nothing. If you are optimistic about Shengda's development, I can transfer part of my shares to you, but you need to pay with part of your Huayi shares and cash." Zhao Fusheng reiterated his request.

Zhao Fusheng knew a bit about Huayi's rise.

Wang Zhongjun was born into a military family in the capital. His father was in the field army and often transferred. He loved painting since childhood. After graduating from junior high school, he joined the army.

After being demobilized in 1980, he entered a state organ and later worked as an art designer and photojournalist for the Material Publishing House of the State Bureau of Materials.

Later, he resigned and went into business, becoming the advertising department manager at Yongle Cultural Development Corporation. Wang Zhongjun was very capable in business, and within a few years, he became one of the first to get rich in the capital.

Later, he went to study in the United States. In 1994, Wang Zhongjun and his wife returned to China with 100,000 US dollars and founded Huayi Brothers Advertising Company with his brother.

In the beginning, Huayi's operations were quite difficult. They started with a small magazine that carried advertisements and was mailed directly to embassies and high-end apartments above three-star level. As bosses, the Wang brothers even had to ride bicycles to the subway entrance every morning, lock their bikes, take the subway, get off at Jianguomen, and then go to the company.

The key to Huayi's real turnaround came from the standardized renovation project for bank branches. Contracts from most domestic commercial banks, as well as Sinopec and State Grid, brought Huayi Brothers both fame and fortune.

The relationships involved were not for outsiders to know, but regardless, three years later, Huayi became one of the top ten advertising companies in the country.

After that, due to investing in a TV series, Huayi achieved a 100% return on investment, which made Wang Zhongjun suddenly see the prospects of the film and television production industry.

By now, Huayi had become the leading private film and television enterprise in the country, but only Wang Zhongjun and Wang Zhonglei knew that their current situation was not as comfortable as it seemed.

The film and television production industry, while offering generous returns, also carried the risk of losing everything if a project failed.

This was no joke. Back in the day, Wong Kar-wai's "As Tears Go By" was a huge success at the box office and critically acclaimed. Deng Guangrong, seeing an opportunity, immediately invited him to continue with "Days of Being Wild."

Then, Wong Kar-wai displayed his talent for driving investors crazy: not only did the budget overrun, but the film, originally scheduled for release in one year, took two or three years to complete.

If that were all, it wouldn't have driven Deng Guangrong to collapse. But "Days of Being Wild," which lost ten million at the box office, surprisingly won five awards at the Hong Kong Film Awards.

Well, that's a sad story.

Deng Guangrong was hospitalized with a cerebral hemorrhage because of it—for over three months, to be exact.

Of course, it had nothing to do with Wong Kar-wai, because this film made many people recognize him. Everyone felt that although investing in his films basically meant losing money at the box office, it was still worth a try for the sake of reputation and status.

Next to suffer was Taiwan's Scholar Film Company, which invested twenty million in "Ashes of Time."

Because, according to Wong Kar-wai's requirements, he only wanted big-name actors.

Leslie Cheung, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Jacky Cheung, Brigitte Lin, Maggie Cheung, and other big names—even Tony Leung's girlfriend joined in. Just this star lineup alone was worth far more than twenty million.

And the result?

The box office was even worse than "Days of Being Wild." If it hadn't been for Jeffrey Lau's "The Eagle Shooting Heroes," which recouped some losses at the box office, the film company's boss would probably have wanted to kill someone.

After more than two years of production, they ended up with a money-losing product that didn't even earn any acclaim.

That's the movie business.

Therefore, Wang Zhongjun knew better than anyone that putting all hopes into film and television production was a huge risk. For this reason, he agreed to his brother's proposal to meet with Zhao Fusheng today.

In fact, in the original historical trajectory, after Huayi went public, the Wang brothers had already begun to steer Huayi into other industries.

In short, they had been considering their exit strategy all along.

And this time, Zhao Fusheng had placed an opportunity before the Wang brothers. To be fair, Wang Zhongjun was somewhat tempted.

After all, given Shengda's current development trend, it wouldn't be long before Shengda went public. By then, even a five percent stake would be worth several hundred million.

And Huayi's current value, to be honest, was far inferior to Shengda's.

Not to mention, as Zhao Fusheng said, once the two sides became a community of shared interests, Future Advertising and Huayi Brothers would have even more room for cooperation.

After all, the advertising and film industries nowadays had far too many areas of mutual exchange, far exceeding the era when Wang Zhongjun started his business.

Complementary advantages and strong alliances were an inevitable process for modern enterprises.

With that thought, Wang Zhongjun looked up at Zhao Fusheng and said with a slight smile, "Since that's the case, how should we cooperate?"

Clearly, he had agreed to Zhao Fusheng's proposal.

Zhao Fusheng smiled: "Five percent of Shengda Technology's shares in exchange for ten percent of Huayi Brothers' shares, and I need at least ten million in cash. What do you think, Mr. Wang? Is that reasonable?"

This was the result of his careful consideration. Although there might be some discrepancies, overall it was quite favorable. Given the current situation, this deal merely split the eggs originally in one basket into two baskets. But from a long-term perspective, for Zhao Fusheng, it was undoubtedly a huge gain.

After all, Huayi would not be listed on the ChiNext until 2009, which was seven years away. No one would have expected that Zhao Fusheng would start laying the groundwork in 2002.

Upon hearing Zhao Fusheng's words, the Wang brothers did not nod immediately. Instead, they frowned and began to ponder, clearly considering whether Zhao Fusheng's proposal met their requirements.

After a long while, Wang Zhongjun looked up at Zhao Fusheng: "In principle, I agree to this exchange, but I need to consult with lawyers and financial personnel about the specifics."

This was true. Even judging by the current situation, this was a transaction involving tens of millions of funds. It couldn't be finalized over a meal with a few drinks at the table.

Business was never a game, nor could it be treated as one.

Both Zhao Fusheng and Wang Zhongjun were well aware of this. So the most important thing about their meeting today was to establish an attitude.

After all, that was the foundation for cooperation. If both sides lacked the intention to cooperate, it would be very difficult to reach a deal.

But fortunately, they were all smart people. Once certain things were made clear, the rest would naturally be easier to handle.