Chapter 424: Recruiting from all sides
Jiahe Film Company.
Zhou Wenhe, one of the founders and chairman, is talking with the other two founders, Ho Kuanchang and Liang Feng, about Ming Wah Entertainment's expansion into Hollywood.
Ever since he cultivated Bruce Lee, an international Kung Fu superstar, Zhou Wenhe has always wanted to replicate this success and take Jiahe out of Hong Kong and into the world.
Seeing that Liu Tianwang, who is at the bottom of his career, has the opportunity to go to the United States to show his talents, Zhou Wenhe is very moved: "I never thought that Liu Tianwang would go to Hollywood to develop his career in the blink of an eye."
He Guanchang said, "King Liu is nothing. What's important is his Minghua Entertainment. We must treat it with caution. They seem to have sufficient funds and may become a strong rival for us."
Liang Feng disagreed and said, "Money? It's just a new company. Money doesn't necessarily mean you can make movies. Besides, is it that easy to get into Hollywood? We at Golden Harvest have put in so much effort over the years to achieve the little success we have today. How can a new company just go to Hollywood?"
Since its establishment, Golden Harvest Films has always wanted to enter Hollywood, and has spent a lot of manpower and financial resources to this end. However, it was not until 2010 that it set up a company, Orange Sky Golden Harvest, and invested HK$194 million in Legendary Pictures, a Hollywood studio that has produced well-known films such as "Inception", "The Dark Knight", "Superman Returns" and "Clash of the Titans", and obtained a seat on the board of directors.
Zhou Wenhe also said: "I think what Mr. Liang said is right. We can't do it with the size of Jiahe . How can a small mainland company like him go there just like that? You are making a mountain out of a molehill."
Just at this moment, someone from the secretariat brought them today's newspaper.
The newspaper clearly reported that Lu Yiming, the big money man behind Minghua Entertainment, had invested in a new film company in North America and spent 33 million US dollars to shoot a new movie.
The three of them were stunned.
Liang Feng cursed, "A new company that was founded only a few days ago has invested 33 million US dollars to make a movie? Damn, is this Lu guy crazy!?"
With the publication of newspapers, the news spread quickly.
The already bustling Hong Kong entertainment industry was now even more boiling.
If you have money you can really do whatever you want!
For a time, there were so many people who wanted to join Ming Wah Entertainment that even the actors and artists from old film companies such as Shaw Brothers and Ka Wo were distracted and their morale was shaken.
This incident made Zhou Wenhe very upset.
“This is too fucked up!”
He Guanchang sighed: "The Hong Kong film industry is probably going to change."
Minghua Entertainment, which was originally unknown, is now in the limelight, like the rising sun, announcing its rise with unstoppable momentum.
After several days of travel, King Liu finally arrived in the United States.
At this moment, Lu Yiming, who was supposed to appear at the ACM International College Programming Competition, unsurprisingly became a hands-off boss and ran to the airport to pick up the plane.
At the exit, King Liu spotted Lu Yiming at a glance and walked quickly towards him, pulling his suitcase.
"Mr. Lu."
"Liu Tianwang."
The two hugged each other, and then King Liu smiled and said, "Mr. Lu, let me tell you something interesting. I received several calls right after I got off the plane. Many old friends asked me if Minghua Entertainment would accept investment. They were willing to give a high valuation."
After hearing this, Lu Yiming immediately joked, "Wouldn't that mean I'm at a loss? If the company goes public, this news alone would probably cause the stock price to rise significantly."
King Liu sighed and said, "Indeed, what a pity."
After all, Minghua Entertainment is a company founded by Lu Yiming and King Liu. King Liu expressed that he was very heartbroken for not making this money.
Having said that, Lu Yiming actually had no intention of accepting outside investment. After all, Minghua Entertainment was developing quite well now, and Lu Yiming was not short of funds, so he naturally did not want multiple shareholders to come in and make decisions.
"Let's go and meet my partner, the nominal boss of Su Qiao Pictures."
Lu Yiming took King Liu and Li Xiaolin to a Cadillac, opened the trunk and helped them put their luggage in.
Lu Yiming drove the two to Suqiao Films. Su Zhenge and Qiao Ke were very excited to see King Liu.
Su Zhenge said: "Lord Liu, I am your fan, I have every one of your albums!"
Although they are far away from home, people of Su Zhenge's generation still prefer Eastern culture more.
After all, they are only the second generation of immigrants and have not been completely assimilated into the Western culture of the United States. Therefore, the movies they like to watch are mostly Hong Kong movies, especially those starring famous Hong Kong movie stars such as Chow Yun-fat, Lung Ge, Jet Li and Andy Lau, which are very popular in Chinatown.
Lu Yiming smiled and said, "Good fellow, you are a real fan, why don't you give him an autograph?"
King Liu immediately said: "I will ask someone in China to mail a complete set of collector's editions to me later, and it won't be too late to sign them then."
He looked around at the tall buildings outside the French windows and couldn't help but sigh, "Boss Lu, when do you think our Minghua Entertainment will have an office space like this?"
Lu Yiming said: "Any time is fine."
Su Zhenge immediately grasped the point and asked in surprise, "Boss Lu, King Liu, did you establish Minghua Entertainment together?"
"Yeah, look at this name, didn't each of us pick a character?"
Qiao Ke asked hurriedly: "Does your company accept financing?"
Su Zhenge was in a good mood because he finally confirmed that Lu Yiming was really optimistic about the future of the film industry and it was not just talk. After all, he took out a large sum of money to start a film company all at once. It couldn't be that he did it just to lose money, right?
"Yeah, yeah, do you want me to get some friends to invest in your company?"
Lu Yiming refused bluntly: "Forget it, Minghua Entertainment is mainly oriented towards the mainland market. We have already prepared for six or seven years of not making a profit, so we will not accept financing for the time being, so as to avoid being blamed by you for not making money."
Su Zhenge didn't even believe the punctuation marks in Lu Yiming's words: "Impossible! With your ability, how could you not make money, brother Lu?"
Qiao Ke also agreed: "That is to say, people should not be too modest."
Lu Yiming was speechless, but he still refused to give in to the matter of buying shares.
He looked at his watch and then said, "I'll leave it to you, King Liu. I've also got the director and the script ready for you. I'll leave the rest to you. I still have to go back to participate in the competition."
"No problem." Jock made an OK gesture and said, "Just go with peace of mind."
Lu Yiming immediately realized the huge cultural differences between China and the United States.
After returning to Seattle and entering the hotel, Lu Yiming saw Gong Wei and the others sitting in the lounge area. He immediately asked with a smile, "Hey, why are you sitting here? Is the game over?"
Gong Wei said with a dark face and a depressed expression: "It just ended this morning."
Lu Yiming asked confidently, "How is it? Did you live up to my expectations?"
Seeing Lu Yiming still smiling here, Gong Wei was furious: "How dare you ask? You ran away at the critical moment. Fortunately, we won the championship, otherwise it would be your fault."
Lu Yiming laughed: "Calm down, don't be too impatient. With your strength, plus the 'trump card' I left behind, isn't it natural for you to win the championship? There's nothing to be surprised about. Look at what you did just now, I thought something went wrong."
Although he was still upset, Gong Wei couldn't refute it. After all, Lu Yiming had made great efforts to help them win the championship. It was just that Lu Yiming went out to play at the critical moment, leaving the burden of winning the championship to him. Gong Wei was getting angrier and angrier the more he thought about it.
Seeing this, Lu Yiming said generously: "Oh, don't worry about these details. Then how about this, you guys divide the bonus among yourself, and I'll treat you guys to a big meal, is that all right?"
The champion of the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest receives a prize of 12,000 US dollars, which is equivalent to nearly 100,000 RMB. This is a huge sum of money, which can buy a house in the United States or in Xia country!
When Gong Wei heard what Lu Yiming said, the expression on his face suddenly relaxed, and he asked, "You really don't want this money?"
Zhou Zhiming curled his lips and said, "Lu Yiming is worth billions, do you think he is short of this 100,000 yuan?"
Gong Wei slapped his forehead and said, "Damn, I almost forgot that you are a big capitalist. Okay, then we won't be polite to you."
Zhou Zhiming said: "After the competition, companies like Google and Yahoo have contacted us and promised us that we can get a good salary once we get in. Microsoft even offered us an annual salary of 100,000 US dollars. Lu Yiming, what do you think?"
Nowadays, Internet companies like Google and Yahoo are in a period of wild growth. Whether in the capital market or within the company, it seems very crazy. They are in the limelight, and countless geniuses are trying their best to get in. Even outstanding may not be able to get offers from these companies. Therefore, when several people received the olive branches thrown by these big companies, they seemed very excited and felt that they were going to be successful.
However, when Lu Yiming heard this, he felt extremely contemptuous.
He said with a look of disdain: "Do you want to work for others all your life, or be your own boss and become a rich man ?"
Gong Wei was a smart man. He immediately realized that Lu Yiming was planning to recruit him, and immediately said with contempt, "Isn't working for you also working? What's the difference?"
Although his conspiracy was exposed, Lu Yiming was not in a hurry. He even said shamelessly: "How can it be the same? You come to work for me, which is to accumulate successful experience. When you have enough experience and can stand on your own, you can go out and start your own business. Isn't it better? And I can be your angel investor at that time."
This is of course true, but to put it bluntly it is just empty talk and is mostly misleading.
But Gong Wei also knew that the income from working abroad for foreigners was just so-so. However, under Lu Yiming's guidance, he felt that he could learn a lot.
So after a little hesitation, Gong Wei agreed to accept Lu Yiming's recruitment.
As for Zheng Nanling and Zhou Zhiming, they have long been “one of our own”.
In the hotel suite, Chen Guoliang and Long Qiquan were talking about the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest. Because the representative teams from Pengcheng University and Fu Ri University both performed mediocrely, they became a pair of brothers in distress.
Chen Guoliang said enviously, "Professor Long, you are lucky. After all, one of the players on the winning team is your student. Our Pengcheng University can be said to have been completely wiped out this time. Not a single one made it to the top 16. Sigh."
However, Long Qiquan did not feel happy. Instead, he looked at Bai Zihao, who was standing anxiously beside him, with a dark face and an unfriendly look.
If Bai Zihao hadn't eliminated dissidents, why would Zheng Nanling go and team up with outsiders?
As it turned out, no one in the Fu Ri University team could match Zheng Nanling's skills.
But it was no use saying these things now, and there were outsiders present, so Long Qiquan naturally didn't say anything.
Afterwards, the two talked about Lu Yiming. Chen Guoliang said, "Lu Yiming is really amazing. He won the individual championship before and now the team championship. The most important thing is that I heard that he is still in high school and Bill Gates personally called to invite him to participate. It's really shameful that such a top talent was discovered by foreigners before us."
Chen Guoliang didn't think too much about it, but Long Qiquan was thinking about recruiting Lu Yiming into Fu Ri University, and he felt that the sooner the better, the later, and he had to contact Lu Yiming before Chen Guoliang went to find Lu Yiming.
"Yeah, I'm really ashamed. But fortunately, he is now representing our country in the competition. Now that he has won the championship, the honor is still ours."
Long Qiquan stood up and said, "Okay, there's no point in saying all this. I'm going to go over there first. Let's pack up and go back home together."
"good."
After leaving the room, Long Qiquan couldn't wait to run to find Lu Yiming. As a result, on the way to Lu Yiming's room, he met an acquaintance - Zhu Jun, the team leader of Shuimu University.
"Hey, isn't this Professor Zhu? Where are you going?"
When Zhu Jun was called by Long Qiquan's name, his body stiffened involuntarily, and his expression was a little unnatural. He said, "Ah, I'm going to find one of my students. What about you, Professor Long? Where are you going?"
Long Qiquan was slightly startled and said, "Ah, I'll go find my students too."
"That's a coincidence."
"Yeah yeah."
"Then go ahead."
"Okay, I won't bother you anymore."
The two separated and left from different corridors.
A few minutes later, the two met again, face to face.
The air seemed to freeze in an instant, and both of them had awkward expressions. They understood that their purpose in coming here was to collide with each other.
"Are you here to see Lu Yiming?"
"The same to you?"
