313 Throwing the money, taking the land and the sword
The next day, various news about Cao Xuan's press conference hit the headlines on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and in the three places, triggering a new wave of discussion on the Internet.
What I talked about a lot was whether something happened to Cao Xuan and Shakira.
The male compatriots hoped that Officer Cao would bring glory to the country, and the female compatriots hoped that the wealth would not go to outsiders. Everyone held their own opinions and the quarrel was lively.
However, Cao Xuan did not care about external affairs. He made an explanation at the press conference that reporters would not bother him easily if they had material. As long as they were optimistic about the direction of public opinion and it was not harmful to him, they would not need to worry about it.
To be honest, Cao Xuan has never been on the front pages of major bulletin boards.
Originally, when he was in the United States, Cao Xuan thought that he would return home with a great reputation and show off in Versailles, but when he came back, he found that he was almost being enshrined in China.
Even among some extreme people, the Four Heavenly Kings are no longer worthy of carrying Cao Xuan's shoes.
Everything is too much and too little is too much. Seeing this situation, Cao Xuan not only poured cold water on the situation to cool down, but also thought about at least not adding fuel to the fire.
Anyway, the exposure is enough. He doesn't need to show up more. He will give everyone an explanation at the meeting. After that, it will be easier to build a reputation by keeping a low profile.
On the first night after returning to China, Cao Xuan stayed at home, and the next day he visited his master Li Xuejian.
This time he became famous abroad. Several elders were very happy. Comrade Lao Cao got very drunk. Li Xuejian even smiled like a flower and chatted with Cao Xuan for a long time.
As for the two palaces in the east and west, Hu Jing is still filming "The Unruly Princess" and Zeng Li has returned to her hometown to deal with the matter of buying a house. She will join the filming of "Li Wei Becomes an Official" from May to June and will serve as a class teacher after the summer vacation, so she takes this time to spare.
go home.
Cao Xuan originally wanted to visit the class, but Hu Jing was having a major event these days, so he planned to postpone his visit for two days. He just had something important to do.
In an office of the Beijing Yamen, Cao Xuan signed the contract and shook hands with the relevant leaders to express his gratitude. The contract was officially concluded.
Fanxing Entertainment acquired a piece of land with an area of about 12,000 square meters near North Third Ring Road Middle Road for 220 million as the future construction site of "Fanxing Building".
This future Fanxing Building will be located in Xicheng District, close to Shuangxiu Park, with guaranteed greenery and leisure. Not far away are the 985 and 211 Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications and Beijing Normal University. It has a strong academic style and cultural atmosphere, and is located in the inner four cities.
, the location is prosperous, next to the North Third Ring Road, and the transportation is convenient.
At the same time, the building is located very close to Nortel and Beijing Film Studio. It takes less than 20 minutes to walk, which can be regarded as an entertainment spot.
The most important thing is that among all the plots of land in the same period, the location, area, price and other aspects of this piece are the most suitable.
There is a good place in Chaoyang, located in the Guomao Business District, but it is only about 6,000 square meters. Cao Xuan found it too small, and he has always been taboo about Chaoyang, so he chose the Xicheng District.
There are still some formalities to go through for this land, but it will be handed over to Cao Xuan soon.
Cao Xuan is already contacting some architectural design teams. Once the plans are obtained, bidding will begin. The building is expected to have more than 15 floors and no more than 20 floors.
It's too high, not to mention the cost, the key is Fanxing can't use it.
These 20 floors are simply not used by Fanxing Company. Even if the company expands and recruits more people in the future, it is estimated that there will only be 3 to 5 floors at most before moving into the building.
Therefore, Cao Xuan plans to move in related companies such as Box Games, Jiaoyang Venture Capital, Fengyun Studio, etc.
Although the relationship may be exposed, to be honest, if you don't move, you can't hide it from too many people. They are not fools, so it is better to save some rent.
Anyway, Cao Xuan refuses to admit it. Don’t ask, it’s the landlord and the tenant.
You must know that the annual rent expenditures of several companies combined are quite large, and the scattered expenses add up to several million. In the future, if the company expands its business, the rent may be even higher.
In building the Fanxing Building construction base camp, in addition to Cao Xuan's property of being a house hoarder, he also had the idea of saving rent.
Although one year is not much, ten or twenty years combined are almost enough to build another building.
In this case, it is better to build Cao Xuan first. It will not only save rent, but also increase the value. The most important thing is that the land is cheap now.
Tens of thousands of square meters of land in the Xicheng District within the Third Ring Road of Beijing were acquired for 220 million. In a few years, I would not even dare to dream of such a good thing.
"Legend of Blood" and the popularity of the European and American markets have made Cao Xuan's cash flow extremely abundant.
In particular, "Legend of Hot Blood" is making crazy money. According to official statistics from Box Games and Shanda, this game has 650,000 people online at the same time, making it the online game with the largest number of people online at the same time in the world.
The cumulative number of users of this game has reached 20 million. You must know that the total number of Chinese netizens in 2002 was only 48 million, which is equivalent to one out of three Internet users playing Legend.
Of course, this data is not necessarily completely accurate, and the accumulated accounts cannot be counted as all users, but it also shows the popularity of "Legend of Blood".
Not long ago, "Legend of Hot Blood" updated a new event, and within three days, it earned more than 20 million yuan, a net profit.
The box game owned by Cao Xuan owns 60% of the revenue of "Legend of Blood".
In the first four months of 2002 alone, the net profit it brought to Cao Xuan was no less than 500 million, and the market value of box games is also rising.
Including the signing fee from Warner, the income from the albums "Four", "Chinese Style" and "ChrisTsao", and Fanxing's film and television profits, Cao Xuan now has a cash flow of 600 to 800 million.
Such a huge cash flow in this era allows Cao Xuan to do a lot of things. He has thought about many things before and can start planning.
Now, first acquire the land of Fanxing Building, and you can use the land loan for subsequent construction. Land is more expensive than building a building these days, so Cao Xuan doesn't need to worry too much about the rest.
Cao Xuan's next plan is a film and television city and theater chain.
The film and television city still has the old rule of buying land first and hoarding it. However, this land may not be as valuable as in the city. It is difficult to get a loan. If you want to actually start construction, you have to wait for the follow-up funds to be available.
Cao Xuan is not particularly anxious about the film and television city. He will take his time one phase at a time and do his best, and don't be held back by funds.
In later generations, there were rumors that Huayi was on the verge of bankruptcy and liquidation because of its establishment of a movie town and various spending on the company.
Of course, it remains to be seen whether the Wang Brothers’ so-called movie town strategy is actually investing money or using it as a gimmick to increase stock prices.
However, Cao Xuan feels that it is better to be cautious. In his expectation, this Stars Film and Television City is a long-term plan, and the construction period is likely to be more than 10 years, or even longer.
The film and television city is not in a hurry yet, but theater chains can already intervene appropriately.
China's cinema chain reform has been fully implemented since the beginning of the new century, but the relevant progress has not been obvious, and some local departments have been resisting or violating the plan.
It was not until 2001 that strict orders were issued from above, and the nationwide cinema chain reform was officially implemented.
By the first half of 2002, the cinema chain reform system had basically been realized.
Of course, because the theater chain reform has just taken shape, there are still many loopholes to exploit, which is why Cao Xuan is anxious to get started.
At the end of this year, "Hero" was officially released, with a box office of 250 million in the mainland, ushering in the era of domestic blockbusters, which also means that the Chinese film market is beginning to rise, relevant companies will pay more attention to theaters, and the policies of all parties will be more complete and mature.
I don’t know if I can get involved in the theater chain at that time, but the price I have to pay will definitely be far higher than it is now.
So Cao Xuan took advantage of the fact that he had funds in hand, and regardless of anything else, he entered the game first.
Wait until you become an insider, and then think about how the theater chain will develop and how to compete for the right to speak, otherwise it will all be empty talk.
The so-called cinema chain is a film distribution and screening operation mechanism formed by a film distribution body and a number of cinemas.
To put it bluntly, the theater chain has the final say on which movies to show in theaters and how to show them. The higher the movie schedule for you, the higher the box office will be, and the lower the movie schedule, the lower the box office will be.
Therefore, mastering the theater chain means mastering the terminal platform of the movie. All film companies and distribution companies must look at the expression of the theater chain.
The reason why Wanda is so awesome in the entertainment industry and people in the industry dare not offend him easily is because besides being rich, Wanda also owns the largest theater chain in the country at the time.
If you offend Wanda, your movie schedule will be reduced. Even Feng Dapao will jump in fear...
To lay out the theater chain, Cao Xuan would not be able to set up theaters one by one. Not to mention the time delay, he does not have that much energy, and it would be too laborious.
So the best way is to acquire an existing theater chain, which he has already set his sights on.
Changguang Cinema Chain, a cinema chain company in Dao City, Shandong Province, was originally an alliance of several theaters led by the relevant departments of Dao City.
Later, when the cinema chain was reformed, we found a sponsor for financing, and then found several cinemas in Hebei and Jiangsu provinces to meet the requirements for the establishment of a cinema chain, and finally obtained the above-mentioned cinema chain approval slip.
The Changguang Cinema Chain currently has 12 cinemas, 6 in Shandong Province, most of which are in Dao City, 4 in Su Province, distributed in Xu City and Lian City, and 2 in Hebei Province in Shi City, the provincial capital, with a total of 56 screens.
It may not seem like much, but in 2002, there were more than 500 theaters and 1,800+ screens across the country, even in some third- and fourth-tier cities.
The size of Changguang Cinemas is pretty good, and most of them are in second-tier cities. The quality and scale of the cinemas are guaranteed, and they can be considered high-quality cinemas.
There are better theater chains than Changguang, but let’s not talk about whether Cao Xuan can afford it or not. The key is that they don’t sell it.
Changguang Cinema Line plans to sell 45% of its shares in the theater chain due to problems with its sponsor's business, and Cao Xuan plans to take over.
If possible, Cao Xuan would like to get a 100% controlled theater chain.
But it is difficult, because the theater chain reform has just been established, and many theater chains are alliances of several theaters, and each of them holds a share based on the theater's valuation.
Some theaters are even just affiliated, and are managed and operated uniformly by the theater chain, and profits are then distributed as dividends. However, the theater is still owned by others. Once the contract period is up, you can just leave if you want.
Changguang Cinema Line was pretty good. At that time, because there was financing from a sponsor, the theaters were renovated and managed in a unified way, so they directly established a head office, then valued the theaters, and put them all under the name of the theater chain. The theater chain then divided shares among the theater owners.
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If Cao Xuan gets 45% of the shares of Changguang Cinema Line, then he will be the major shareholder and have relatively large control over the theater chain.
In the future, you can acquire shares or continue to invest in building new theaters to dilute the shares of small shareholders and firmly control the theater chain in your own hands.
Now, Fanxing is negotiating with the investor and several other small shareholders, intending to acquire more than 50% of the shares in one fell swoop.
Then Cao Xuan, as a major shareholder, reorganized Changguang Cinema Line into Fanxing Cinema Line, and then invested in building new cinemas in North China. By 2005, he wanted Fanxing Cinema Line to have more than 200 screens, and in terms of scale, it could reach the top five in the country.
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With one of the top five theater chains and a first-class film and television company in the country, Cao Xuan wants to see who in the entertainment industry dares to speak loudly to him...
