With the introduction of Goldman Sachs and Ochhausen, Zhang Yida met with David Urban again.
Urban is still looking forward to meeting Zhang Yida.
Although he was once a veteran of the Gulf War and received medals, this does not conflict with his role as president of a lobbying company.
The green dollar is your belief! Let him go to hell with the rest!
This is the reality in the United States, and it is completely normal to lobby the government on behalf of a foreign company.
Especially in the past two years due to the friction between China and the United States, a large number of Chinese technology companies have become new sponsors of K Street lobbying companies, which has also driven the growth of industry business volume.
Nowadays, what lobbying companies like most is to take orders from China.
Urban and Zhang Yida had a good chat. The former first boasted about his classmate relationship with Secretary of State Pompeo.
Even Pompeo's position was obtained by asking Trump for help.
Then, he talked about the great contributions he had made for Trump and how Trump valued his suggestions.
Americans have never been restrained, especially those engaged in lobbying work. Urban's purpose in doing this was to show his energy to Zhang Yida so that he could successfully take over this lobbying business.
After hearing this, Zhang Yida expressed his position directly: "Mr. Urban, I trust your ability and strength very much, and Musical.ly's lobbying work can be handed over to your company.
My hope is that the current ruling Xiang Party members and officials should not be so hostile to Musical.ly. We are a serious technology company and have never been involved in politics..."
Urban raised his eyelids and said calmly: "Mr. Zhang, you also know that the relationship between the two countries is so tense now, and this is an extremely difficult task."
Zhang Yida squinted slightly and looked at the celebrity in front of Trump, who had silver hair and a big red nose.
"10 million US dollars!" Zhang Yida reported a number.
This number may not sound like a lot at first, but it is Musical.ly’s total revenue in the US market in one month.
In addition, giant companies such as Google, Facebook, and Apple spend tens of millions of dollars on lobbying the government every year.
Urban smiled slightly, took a sip of the Americano coffee on the table, and sighed to himself that this trip was the right one. Chinese companies are really rich, unlike those companies in Silicon Valley that are so ridiculous.
In fact, lobbying for foreign technology companies is not the same as lobbying for domestic technology companies, and the fees for the former are naturally much higher.
"Mr. Zhang, if you want to achieve the effect you want, you will probably need to lobby hundreds of officials. This amount of money is not enough."
Zhang Yida finally knew how greedy the bald eagle in front of him was.
But greed is a good thing. If you want to make money, you have to make some achievements in a down-to-earth manner.
"If it is effective, I believe we will have greater cooperation."
Urban naturally understands what this means and wants to show off his skills. Is this questioning his own strength?
Well, for the sake of the dollar, he didn't care about Zhang Yida's impoliteness.
Nodding, Urban said with a smile: "Okay, let's talk about it today, and we will communicate on further lobbying results after a while."
Then, Zhang Yida called Musical.ly Americas President Ryan and the legal affairs department and arranged for them to start drafting a contract with Urban's lobbying company's subordinates, including the lobbying field, the obligations that needed to be performed, etc.
Zhang Yida himself talked with Urban about other topics.
After the contract was signed, Musical.ly America asked the finance department to make a deposit of US$2 million first, and subsequent payments would be made in batches depending on the results of the lobbying.
This is a normal process, and Urban naturally has no objections.
After both parties signed the contract, he shook hands with Zhang Yida and said goodbye, and led a group of employees to leave the suburban manor in New York where Zhang Yida temporarily lived.
Watching the group leave, Ryan walked up to Zhang Yida and said, "Urban is not a big shot. The real financial backers behind Pompeo and Pence are the Koch brothers.
The largest financial backers behind the entire Elephant Party are also the Koch brothers. Among the cabinet members initially appointed by Trump, a total of 16 people were funded by the Koch brothers.
In addition, the Koch brothers also supported the campaigns of at least 19 senators, 42 representatives, and 4 governors in this election."
Zhang Yida has naturally heard of the Koch brothers. The Koch Group is an unlisted company with extremely large power. Its business mainly includes petroleum, electricity, energy, chemicals and timber.
The Koch Group is still the largest private company in the world. In 2006, the company's annual revenue exceeded US$100 billion, and today it is at least several hundred billion US dollars.
The two brothers are worth more than $50 billion each, which is as much as the world's richest man Bezos.
In addition, the Koch Group is the most polluting company in the United States. Although it is often fined, it is nothing compared to the profits it earns.
The reason why I have such great confidence and have survived for so many years is because I know how to make friends and cultivate spokespersons.
The U.S. government often passes bills that are beneficial to the Koch group and opposes bills that are unfavorable.
This is the real big boss behind the scenes!
Zhang Yida knows about the Koch Group, and Ryan, who is an American and a senior executive of a technology company, also knows about it, or even knows more about it.
Zhang Yida asked with a smile: "Do you know the Koch brothers? Can you make some connections?"
Ryan shook his head and laughed, "How could I possibly know such a big shot?
I'm just giving you an idea, Boss. If we can find the Koch brothers to speak to our company, it might alleviate a lot of the hostility from the Elephant Party."
Zhang Yida rubbed his eyebrows and said, "Do you think I have such a great reputation?"
Ryan scratched his head, this was indeed a problem.
The Koch brothers are engaged in industry and are not short of money, so they really look down on small companies like Musical.ly.
Although Zhang Yida has never dealt with these American tycoons, he can almost guess what these people are like. Capitalists all over the world are the same, and they value profits most.
It is almost a dream to ask others to use political power to help you if you are unable to provide any benefits that they consider to be of "huge value".
…
After hiring a lobbying firm, Zhang Yida began to look for Musical.ly’s American team.
Vice president of Warner Music Group, senior president of public policy of Google, global creative director of YouTube, vice president of global commercialization of Facebook, vice president of Sony Entertainment, etc. A large number of American technology and entertainment company executives have entered Zhang Yida's sight.
The most senior among them is Kevin Mayer, whose current position is Disney’s senior executive vice president and chief strategy officer.
He has promoted Disney's acquisitions of Pixar Animation, Marvel, Lucasfilm, and 21st Century Fox.
He also led the launch of Disney's streaming media service application Disney+, which currently has more than 50 million paid subscribers worldwide and is one of the most successful and mainstream streaming media in the world.
At the same time, Kevin Mayer is also an important candidate for Disney's next CEO and has a high reputation in the industry.
Although Mayer is 56 years old, with a height of six feet four inches and a broad frame, this professional manager who is about to enter his old age still looks very tall and impressive.
Zhang Yida is no longer short, but when shaking hands with Mayer and looking at each other, he still needs to slightly raise his head, because the other person is half a head taller than him.
Because Mayer lost the battle to succeed Disney, there is basically no hope of becoming the top leader of Disney.
So when Zhang Yida extended an olive branch to him, he decided to come and have a chat with Zhang Yida.