China Entertainment 1997.

Chapter 544 Investing in JD.com and the new movie "Sword Rain"

Spain, someone's private beach
Although the weather in February in the Iberian Peninsula is warmer than that in China, it is not as good as summer.

You still need to wear thicker clothes in the morning and evening, but it’s much better at noon, just a long sleeve is enough.

Today this private beach is reserved by Boss Cao.

Hu Jing was playing beach volleyball with Zeng Li, Jiang Yue, Yuan Quan, Liu Rui, Han Mei and other close friends, and Sun Lan and her daughter cheered for their mother.

Xia Yu also had a few men who stupidly wanted to swim in the sea. Cao Xuan didn't bother to care about them, and lay on the beach chair by himself, basking in the sun comfortably.

Originally, Cao Xuan wanted to go out with his family to have fun, but Dongxi Ergong felt that it was not lively, so he called a few friends, and the more they shouted.

It doesn't matter to Cao Xuan, since there are more people, it's easier to keep it secret. Even if he is photographed, he can use excuses to gather with friends.

Even Cao Xuan later invited a few trustworthy friends and subordinates, and reimbursed the entire cost, so he invited everyone to travel with public funds.

"Boss, let me have one. Although the Spanish cigars are not as good as those in the Americas, they also have a special flavor?"

Gu Yunkai, president of Sunshine Ventures, is Cao Xuan's confidant since the late 90s, and he has worked hard all these years.

Boss Cao didn't treat him badly either. Not only was his personal salary top-notch in the industry, but he could also enjoy dividends from dry shares of some Sunshine venture capital projects, and his annual income was easily eight figures.

It is also because of this that Gu Yunkai rejected countless poaching and joint venture invitations, and followed Cao Xuan steadfastly, which is considered a good story in the investment world.

After all, managers at this level are still in the investment industry with a lot of network resources. Many will choose to start a business, and few are willing to work for others all the time.

But it was also because Gu Yunkai knew it well.

Cao Xuan single-handedly made several decisions of Sunshine Venture Capital, which were highly praised by the industry, and many profit-making projects were handled by his elite soldiers. He himself is more of a mediator and manages the company.

In terms of executive ability and management ability, Gu Yunkai is confident that he will not lose to others, but if he is to start a business independently and be responsible for guiding investment independently, it is his weakness. He does not have the vision and courage.

Since the positioning is a management position, starting a business still has to rely on others, it is better to follow Cao Xuan, the salary is good, and you don't have to take on too many things.

Gu Yunkai is a very self-aware person, he knows what choice is best for him.

Cao Xuan also trusted him very much, and entrusted Sunshine Venture Capital, one of the most valuable assets in his hand, to be in charge of him. Many other matters such as stock holding and fund establishment were also handled by Gu Yunkai and his own private financial team.

In this world, Gu Yunkai is definitely one of the people who knows how much money Cao Xuan has.

Facing this confidant, Cao Xuan, who almost never smokes, did not refuse the cigar he handed over.

Gu Yunkai personally cut open the cigar and lit it with a lighter. Cao Xuan took a few puffs, tasted it, and couldn't help shaking his head.

"I still can't get used to this thing, but it's good to pretend to be."

"Haha."

Gu Yun laughed loudly: "You're right. When I started smoking this stuff, I just thought it was quite fashionable. After I got used to it, I realized the flavor."

Cao Xuan didn't smoke too much, he took it in his hand to play with, occasionally took a sip, and turned around to ask a question.

"How about Jingdong's financing?"

"It's almost settled, and the contract will be signed in March."

Gu Yunkai obviously expected this matter long ago, after all, Cao Xuan is still very concerned about this matter, if he hadn't considered Cao Xuan's busy schedule during the Spring Festival, he would have reported it alone.

Cao Xuan has been observing Jingdong intermittently for these years, and because of this, although he can still enter the game, he has lost the best opportunity.

In 2006, Jingdong, which had only 38 employees at that time, ushered in its first financing. At that time, it was said that Dongge didn't even know what VC (venture capital) was.

Of course, it is not clear whether this is an exaggeration, but Dong Ge used a partner to raise funds, but later failed for some reason.

Later, Dong Ge got acquainted with Xu Xin from Capital Today. At that time, Dong Ge was so poor that even air tickets were too expensive. Xu Xin decisively and quickly gave JD.com 1000 million US dollars and got 40% of the shares.

(This contract has a VAM agreement. If Dong Ge completes it, Xu Xin will dilute 18% of the shares to Dong Ge and JD employees. In the end, Dong Ge will succeed in the VS bet)
By the time the two parties signed the contract, it was too late for Cao Xuan to learn the news, and he was annoyed for several nights at that time.

Later, Cao Xuan gave up trying to figure out what to do, followed up on several well-known entrepreneurs, and implemented an investment strategy of long-term fishing for big fish. It is hard to say that there is no reason for this failure.

However, although he failed to catch up in the first round, Cao Xuan did not give up on Jingdong. Instead, he let go of his cover-up and chose to contact Jingdong directly, trying to impress Jingdong's management.

During the financial crisis in 2008, the entire investment industry waited and watched cautiously. Jingdong, which had been burning money because of its own logistics, ushered in the biggest crisis.

Brother Dong, who was facing tight funds, met 42 investors in a week at most. He couldn't sleep for several months, and even had nightmares and cried bitterly at night. His hair turned gray in less than a month.

At this time, two people brought dawn to Brother Dong.

One is Xu Xin, who is planning to invest more and intends to introduce other capital, and the other is Gu Yunkai from Sunshine Ventures.

The former decided to add an additional US$800 million, while Sunshine Ventures intends to contribute US$3000 million, demanding a 30% stake in JD.com.

The valuation of JD.com is actually not low. The industry estimate is about 1-2 million US dollars. Sunshine Venture Capital’s request is more or less a bit of a lion’s mouth.

But then again, valuation is valuation, and the actual value depends on investors' own views.

Moreover, due to the popularity of Ali Taobao in the past two years, the C2C e-commerce model has been recognized by everyone, and JD.com's development strategy has always been controversial, especially the logistics strategy, which has been criticized by many people.

This also puts JD.com in an embarrassing situation. Although the data is good-looking, the prospects are unclear.

In addition, at the time of the financial crisis, Dong Ge asked the management to have absolute control over the company. The combination of various factors made JD.com not pleasing in the eyes of capital.

To put it bluntly, JD.com doesn’t have much confidence in bargaining with Sunshine Ventures.

Brother Dong, who was already short of money, was afraid that Xu Xin's 800 million US dollars would not last long, so he directly contacted Sunshine Venture Capital.

However, he didn't fight for his interests, and in the end he asked for an extra US$300 million, allowing Sunshine to take 3300% of the shares for US$30 million.

Xu Xin's shares have been further diluted after the dilution of the bet, but because of the follow-up investment of 800 million US dollars, they finally remained at around 19%.

The two major shareholders hold exactly 49% of the shares. Of course, this does not mean that JD.com’s management has absolute control. It still depends on the voting rights of shareholders.

Under Dong Ge’s insistence, the two major shareholders have given him enough respect, allowing JD’s management to gain control of the company’s management.

This also made Dong Ge very satisfied with the two shareholders.

Not to mention Xu Xin, the relationship between her and Brother Dong is similar to that of Cao Xuan and Brother Xiao Ma. They met "Wei Mo" and accumulated quite a good personal relationship.

Sunshine and Boss Cao behind him are also well-known good shareholders, especially Boss Cao's reputation in Penguin is an important reason why Dong Ge is willing to let Sunshine take 30% of the shares.

Capital eats people but does not spit out bones. There are too many things about various founders in the industry who have been invested by capital.

Brother Dong is very wary of these investors, fearing that if they play tricks, they will be kicked out in the future.

Therefore, a shareholder like Cao Xuan who has a lot of money, a wide network, and is not in charge of things undoubtedly has a lot of bonus points in his heart. For this reason, he is willing to give up some benefits to win over Cao Xuan.

"Mr. Liu has always said that he wants to meet you in person. He is very interested in you, because you are all from the countryside and are about the same age."

Gu Yunkai reported on his investment in JD.com, and also talked about Dong Ge's admiration for Boss Cao.

"It's easy to talk about. After you return to China, you can arrange it. I actually want to see him too."

Cao Xuan nodded briskly, wondering if he should prepare a meeting gift for Brother Dong, such as tiger bone antler wine or something, so that he can take care of his body.

Milk tea sister hasn't gone to college yet...

Cao Xuan and Gu Yunkai talked for a long time. Since the financial crisis in 2008, Sunshine Venture Capital has inevitably been affected. Some projects have plummeted in value, or even died outright.

But at the same time, the emergence of the financial crisis has also given Sunshine Ventures some opportunities. It has been exposed to many high-quality projects similar to JD.com, which can be regarded as a blessing in disguise.

At present, Sunshine Venture Capital holds the shares and stocks of Penguin, Warner, Marvel, JD.com, DJI, Septwolves, NetEase, Apple, and many other domestic and foreign companies, with an asset valuation far exceeding US$150 billion.

Among them, companies such as Penguin, Marvel, and Apple have grown by leaps and bounds, and their market value has almost reached a level every month.

Penguin, in particular, had a market capitalization of approximately US$200 billion at the beginning of last year. Less than a year later, it has surpassed Alibaba and surpassed US$300 billion, becoming China's Internet company with the highest market capitalization.

Sunshine still has a 35% stake in Penguin, which is worth almost US$100 billion.

Marvel is currently negotiating a merger with Disney, and Cao Xuan is expected to retain 15% of the shares in the future. When Disney starts operating, the value of these Marvel shares will rise rapidly.

Apple is basically stocks and some odd shares, worth tens of millions of dollars, but it has great potential.

It's a pity that Apple's name is too big now, and anyone with a discerning eye knows how to make money. The shares are tightly held, and the sun can only drink soup.

In fact, in terms of pure asset value, Sunshine Ventures is not outshone, but its success lies in its healthy capital flow and a large number of high-quality assets.

With these two advantages, Sunshine can mortgage a terrifying cash flow at any time, even those big foreign capitals have to pay attention to it.

Because of this, Sunny Ventures has always occupied the first echelon in the domestic investment field.

From 2005 to 2008, it was always ranked among the top ten investment companies in China in relevant financial reports, and successfully reached the top in 2007 and 2008.

Because of Ali's success, Sun Zhengyi was promoted by many media as the number one investor, but in the eyes of many knowledgeable people, Cao Xuan is definitely better than Cao Xuan.

The two are the largest shareholders of Ali and Penguin, the two major Internet giants in China.

Cao Xuan owns 35% of Penguin’s shares, Sun Zhengyi’s Softbank has a similar share in Ali, and Ali’s second largest shareholder Yahoo, Sun Zhengyi also has more than 20% of the shares.

Sun Zhengyi invested in Yahoo, known as the myth of Asian wealth.

Cao Xuan also single-handedly founded Fanxing and Box Games, which have a market value of more than [-] billion U.S. dollars. They are respectively the largest film and television entertainment company and game company in China and the top three in Asia. Their cumulative market value even exceeds that of Yahoo, which has been plummeting for several years.

The most important thing is that a large number of companies in Cao Xuan's hands have extremely strong prospects and potentials, and there is only one Ali who can really fight in Sun Zhengyi's hands.

Maybe it's not easy to distinguish now, but in a few years, or even a few years, one or two years of hard work will be able to truly distinguish between high and low.

However, Boss Cao is relatively low-key in this regard, and the heads of other companies don't like to talk about Brother Xiao Ma's connection with Jiaoyang.

Unlike Jack Ma, who has always been Barbara Ali’s difficult entrepreneurial story, which has added a lot of fame to Sun Zhengyi, maybe Dong Ge’s rise in the future can make a wave of Jack Ma.

.........

Cao Xuan went to Europe for vacation in early February and came back after playing for half a month. The main reason is that many people are busy and it is impossible to play with him all the time.

Everyone left one after another, and the atmosphere was cold and quiet. Cao Xuan's family felt bored playing by themselves, and after half a month, they had a good time playing, so they simply went back home.

Back in the capital, before Cao Xuan could sit still, a hot search on Weibo revealed a photo of him and Zeng Li visiting the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.

The photo was taken by a British paparazzi. It is said that he was traveling with his girlfriend, and found Cao Xuan. He used the excuse to take pictures of his girlfriend, but in fact took the opportunity to secretly take pictures.

Because he was more cautious, and it happened to be a tourist attraction at that time, everyone was taking pictures, Cao Xuan didn't pay special attention, and a few pictures were taken.

The photo was actually nothing, it was Cao Xuan taking a photo of Zeng Li, the two walked side by side, Cao Xuan helped Zeng Li get bags and water, chatting and laughing, other than that, there was nothing too close.

Cao Xuan has a cautious personality, usually on the outside, and hardly shows too much intimacy.

But even so, a man and a woman travel abroad together, take pictures and carry bags, and behave in a relaxed and tacit manner. These topics are enough to make the melon-eaters happy.

The British paparazzi directly published the photo on the "Sun" newspaper, and then it was forwarded by the domestic media, and it quickly became the top trending search.

Cao Xuan himself didn't take this matter to heart before, and it's not that he hasn't been photographed before, but he is more fortunate.

That day, Hu Jing was busy with remote work, while Xiao Cao Li was tired and fell asleep in the hotel. The two took the opportunity to come out to the world of two.

Otherwise, it would be easy to explain that the three of them were traveling together. If they were photographed with their children, it would be a real blowout.

Cao Xuan dealt with it coldly according to the old rules, neither admitting nor denying it, just wait until the heat passes.

Zeng Li is in a bit of trouble, this semester has just started, and she has to go to school.

"Why don't you... ask for a vacation?"

"How do you please? I don't even know how to speak."

Empress Xigong cast a blank glance at Cao Xuan, the culprit, and couldn't help but sigh.

I went to school to report in September last year, and went directly to filming "Di Renjie: The Empire of Heaven" without two days of class.

She didn’t return to school until the end of the year. The students hadn’t fully recognized it, so it was time for winter vacation. Because she went to Europe to play and took a few days off after school started next year, she was really embarrassed to open her mouth again.

"Then what to do."

Cao Xuan was a little innocent: "Why don't I just go to Weibo to announce my relationship? I'll announce the 'breakup' after a while."

"Then I really don't want to go to class."

Zeng Li rolled his eyes again, Cao Xuan has been rumored to have a four-figure date, but he has not admitted a girlfriend so far.

As a gossip target, even if the turmoil is a little bigger, she may still be out of breath. If it is officially announced as the first girlfriend, I am afraid that her photo will be posted on the global news pages, and that day will be a farewell to peace.

As an actor, Zeng Li's professionalism is Buddhist, but he doesn't reject being popular, but it doesn't mean he wants to be so popular.

The former is a popular work, let more people know her, keep a low profile, bid farewell to the exposure, you can still get peace, if you get involved in gossip about the girlfriend of the king, then don't even think about calming down.

Zeng Li has experienced this kind of life several times, being harassed enough, he instinctively resists this kind of life.

Cao Xuan was lucky that he didn't hold the child that day, and Zeng Li was even more so. She felt that her girlfriend couldn't bear it. If she was the child's mother, she could resign from the school directly.

"Well, let the two of you abandon me and go out to play, it will be retribution."

Hu Jing was gloating next to her, and it wouldn't matter if she and Cao Xuan were photographed. Anyway, the outside world basically thinks that they have an ambiguous relationship, and it's nothing more than a real hammer.

And Hu Jing, who is in the entertainment industry and has retired behind the scenes, doesn't care about this, but Empress Nishinomiya cares more about being a teacher.

Zeng Li ignored her and called the teacher he knew to inquire about the situation. Sure enough, there were already a large number of paparazzi ambushing nearby.

Hearing this, Cao Xuan shook his head: "Let's ask for leave, to hide from the limelight, and tell your leader that he has accepted a new play, if not, I'll tell him."

"Let me do it."

Zeng Li had no choice but to find the leader's phone number and dialed it. The other party probably heard the letter, and agreed without expressing too much.

Empress Nishigong breathed a sigh of relief, and then asked curiously: "It's really interesting, you can't be fooled by the leader."

"Yes."

Cao Xuan took his laptop and called up a script: "I originally wanted to invest in it, but I think you are also suitable. You can read the script. If you want to act, we can use it to shoot."

Zeng Li heard the words and opened the computer file, and the name of the script was impressively written with two words - "Sword Rain".

After more than ten minutes, Zeng Li read the outline and some related settings, and looked at Cao Xuan.

"You want me to play this Zeng Jing?"

"Well, this role is the core of the whole movie, you must play it, but it's still quite difficult to play this role, I'm not worried about your literary drama, but for acting..."

Cao Xuan hesitated to speak, the intention was obviously to question Zeng Li's acting skills, Nishigong Niangniang was not convinced, she raised her brows, and said a little arrogantly.

"Please go to Weibo to find out who is that amazing knife that cut off the martial arts dreams of countless actresses, and who is the most beautiful Li Mochou."

Cao Xuan gave her a thumbs up, expressing his admiration. Zeng Li's words were really not outrageous. Although he didn't shoot many fight scenes, his performance was too amazing and impressive.

Recently, many media have made an inventory of martial arts actresses. Apart from the older generation of Xiangjiang gang, Zeng Li is often the one who is the first to promote international chapters in the mainland.

Moreover, Zeng Jing's actual fighting scenes in "Sword Rain" are not many.

"This script is really interesting, but the eunuch at the end is a bit outrageous."

While the two were chatting, Hu Jing also read the script and raised a question.

In the movie, the setting of Rama's body is so awesome, even if it is immortal, the result is that the limbs are reborn, and the old eunuch restores his little brother.

"It's not outrageous. For eunuchs, such things as dominance and immortality are imaginary. Living without a little brother for 1000 years is still suffering."

Hu Jing was taken aback, and thought for a long time, but she was still speechless. You can say that this setting is unexpected or even outrageous, but you cannot say that this setting is illogical.

If the eunuch is not easy to understand, for example, if Rama's body can make people survive with a golden spear, many people must be more crazy and cruel than the king of the wheel...

"Have you decided on who will play Zhang Asheng?"

Zeng Li looked at Cao Xuan expectantly. Boss Cao wanted to find someone else, but he looked into her eyes and swallowed the words that came to his mouth.

"Looking at the director's needs, it might be me."

"It's great, we can film together again."

Zeng Li was very happy, and Cao Xuan's originally hesitant mind instantly settled down.

He didn't want to act in this movie before. Although the script is good, he has already acted in the "Embroidered Spring Knife" series of martial arts movies, so he is not very interested in martial arts movies.

In addition to "Let the Bullets Fly", Cao Xuan's next movie is to make another commercial blockbuster that will hit Hollywood.

But seeing Zeng Li looking at him expectantly, his heart softened.

In fact, the two have seldom filmed scenes together, and the one who actually played the husband and wife may be Yin Susu and Zhang Cuishan in "Yi Tian Tu Long Ji".

And Hu Jing's "When Men Are in Love", "New World" and "Painted Skin" are all partners or couples with Cao Xuan, and "Taken 2" has also become a comrade-in-arms.

In contrast, he and Zeng Li had filmed "Xiu Chun Knife 2" together, and they were hostile most of the time.

So even if Cao Xuan had no plans to act in this movie, the moment Zeng Li looked at him, he immediately changed his mind.

Blockbuster movies can be released for a while, making money is not as important as coaxing a daughter-in-law!
"Sword Rain" Zhang Asheng can be regarded as the second, but Cao Xuan "Painted Skin" has also been a green leaf, and it is not shameful to praise his wife.

He planned to bring Fan Xiaopang to play the blooming green again, the one played by the original Big S.

"Embroidered Spring Knife 2" and "Di Renjie: The Empire of Heaven" Zeng Li played for her twice, so it's time for Fan Xiaopang to return.

Moreover, the role of "Sword Rain" is more of a group portrait, this role is also very distinctive, and it is not shameful for Fan Xiaopang to play it.

But now there is a difficulty. According to the setting of the script, both Zeng Jing and Zhang Asheng are in the state after changing their faces.

In the movie, in order to live a quiet life, the two deliberately changed to a "normal face", but they didn't know how to make up to make Cao Xuan and Zeng Li look "normal".

Cao Tianwang, an idler on the street, Zeng Meiren, a country woman.

And if these two faces are "normal", who should be found to play the two people before the face change.

However, this issue is not for Cao Xuan to worry about. After learning that Cao Xuan will play the role, Su Zhaobin, the director of "Sword Rain", fell into the trouble of happiness.

The trouble is that the script may need some regulation, and Boss Cao is notorious for being a drama bully, so he may be under a lot of control as a small director.

Happiness is that the works starring Cao Xuan have not made any mistakes so far. With him joining "Sword Rain", it is like a safety lock. If he is lucky enough to explode, he will be prosperous.

Don't you see that Mr. Xu has collaborated with him in several films, and he has become the number one director of Xiangjiang. Chen Kexin also got out of the predicament and became the hottest super director in the film industry today.

The most illustrative is undoubtedly Lin Chaoxian, "Taken" became famous in the first battle, from a second-rate director in Xiangjiang, now he has a faint posture of attacking Hollywood.

For many directors, cooperating with Cao Xuan is also a rare opportunity, especially for ordinary directors, who might skyrocket...

(End of this chapter)