Chapter 185: Chapter 185: Find Someone to Take Charge
"President Wan, the current owner of Pioneer Culture is no longer Yu Bo," a subordinate reported.
"Huh? Not him anymore? Then who is it?" Wan Miao was somewhat surprised.
"It's the owner of Yangxin Investment Company, Xu Yang. That's right, this Xu Yang is also the boss of Fengcai Guild and River Bottom Scavenger," the subordinate said.
"It's him!" Wan Miao was somewhat shocked.
The name Xu Yang, after the clash with Hua'an Film and Television, had become a thunderous presence in the film and television industry.
Also, with the popularity of River Bottom Scavenger, basically anyone with a bit of status knew who the boss of River Bottom Scavenger was.
Unexpectedly, Xu Yang had already become the owner of Pioneer Culture.
Not to mention he had spent ten billion three months in advance to purchase the licensing rights.
Did he know about the upcoming rectification actions by the National Copyright Bureau?
Or perhaps he had absolute confidence in his own judgment, firmly believing that the National Copyright Bureau would soon launch a rectification action.
Otherwise, why would he dare to do this?
"Is he not selling to anyone, or is he specifically not selling to us?" Wan Miao asked.
"I inquired a bit and found that he's selling to other video websites, just not to us. Oh, and Pioneer Culture's General Manager Huang Zhigang said that if we wanted to buy, we could call and discuss it with Xu Yang. He even gave Xu Yang's phone number," the subordinate said.
The subordinate took out a piece of paper and placed it on the desk in front of Wan Miao, on which a phone number was written.
"What is this Xu Yang trying to do?" Wan Miao furrowed his brows.
He immediately took out his cell phone and dialed the number.
The call connected quickly.
"Hello," a voice answered.
"Hello, is this President Xu? I am Wan Miao, Vice President of Tencent Video," Wan Miao said.
"It's me. What can I do for you, President Wan?" Xu Yang asked leisurely.
"President Xu, we at Tencent Video want to purchase film and television rights from your Pioneer Culture. However, General Manager Huang from Pioneer Culture said that you're not selling to us and asked us to contact you directly. What do you mean by this?" Wan Miao asked bluntly.
"That," Xu Yang said straightforwardly, "a while back I invested in a movie called 'I Am Not the God of Medicine.' There's a guy at Tencent Film named Wu Chengtao who claimed to be the head of the film department. He called me, asking for a forty percent investment stake. I didn't agree, and then he threatened me. Later, he even played dirty tricks to obstruct the movie's approval process.
I think you understand what I'm saying, right?"
Of course, Wan Miao understood; if he didn't, he would be an idiot.
This was Xu Yang's revenge.
Wan Miao said, "President Xu, you should know that although Tencent Video and Tencent Film both belong to Tencent Group, they are not related to each other. You shouldn't hold Tencent Video responsible for this."
Xu Yang said, "Anyway, that Wu Chengtao pressed me using Tencent Group's name, thinking he could do whatever he wanted because he had Tencent Group behind him. Since you guys are subsidiaries of Tencent Group and I have no chance of dealing with Tencent Film, I have found an opportunity to settle the score with you."
This sounded somewhat unreasonable.
But considering how young Xu Yang was, his actions were understandable.
Wan Miao couldn't help but smile wryly, "President Xu, what can we do to appease you? Should we fire that person?"
Xu Yang said, "I don't care what happens to that person, that's your business. Honestly, if someone like him stays at Tencent Film, other film and television companies, including myself, would be quite happy. I may continue to invest in movies in the future and will be competing with Tencent Film. If they keep people like him around, that's fine by me.
As for appeasing me, I want the seven percent of the shares in Wan Da Film and Television that Tencent Group holds. I'm not asking for it for free, I'll buy it at market value."
In the past, when Tencent had not entered the film and television industry, it invested in Wan Da Film and Television and obtained a seven percent stake.
Xu Yang wanted to increase his shares in Wan Da Film and Television so he could get more profit.
Since there was such an opportunity, why not take it?
Tencent Group should be willing to give up that seven percent.
Otherwise, without the film and television rights from Pioneer Culture, Tencent Video would definitely fall from leading video website to a third-tier one.
That business would be completely beyond saving.
After all, what attracts viewers to a video website is popular content.
If you can't find popular movies and TV shows on a website and there are hardly any other options, who would come to watch movies and shows, or spend money there?
Using the seven percent of shares to maintain Tencent Video's dominant position in the video industry was still worth it.
Wan Miao smiled wryly, "President Xu, I can't make this decision."
Xu Yang said, "I know you can't make the decision. You should find someone who can. In any case, those are my terms. If you're unwilling, then forget it. I'm confident that I won't have trouble selling the rights to my film productions. I believe other video websites will be happy to buy them, and would love to see Tencent Video miss out."
Wan Miao said, "President Xu, I'll report this to the leadership immediately."
Xu Yang responded, "Good, I'll be waiting. But let me remind you to hurry. Otherwise, if other video websites buy up the popular shows, you won't be able to get them even if you want to."
Wan Miao smiled wryly, "I know."
After hanging up the phone, he went to Qiu Yong's office to report the situation.
"This Xu Yang really is bold to want seven percent of Wan Da Film and Television's shares from the group," Qiu Yong remarked.
"President Qiu, we have to tell President Ma about this. If we can't buy the rights, Tencent Video is finished. I trust President Ma won't want to see that happen," Wan Miao said.
"That's true. In the end, it all comes down to that Wu Chengtao from the film department of Tencent Film. I've heard about this. That guy is brainless, threatening people and causing trouble without knowing the extent of Xu Yang's reach. Now he's on close terms with Wang Xiaocong," Qiu Yong said with a cold laugh.
"Yeah, I think someone like Wu Chengtao should be kicked out, bringing us all this trouble!" Wan Miao said angrily.
"He will definitely be kicked out after this. I'll call President Ma first. You take a seat," Qiu Yong suggested.
Qiu Yong took out his cell phone and dialed President Ma's number.
The call connected quickly.
Qiu Yong said, "President Ma, there's something I need to report to you..."
He explained the situation briefly.
Upon hearing this, President Ma on the other end of the line frowned, "That Wu Chengtao, what a fool. How can we have such people in the company!"
Qiu Yong remained silent.
President Ma continued, "Agree to the terms. Anyway, the seven percent share in Wan Da Film and Television is now negligible to our group. In the past, we didn't have our film company, so we invested in Wan Da Film and Television. Now that we have our film company, those shares aren't important anymore.
I'll send someone to go with you tomorrow to sign the contract and transfer the shares to the other party."
Qiu Yong replied, "Alright."