China Entertainment: I became a capital tycoon

Chapter 700 698. Calculating Sony and planning for the future
In the next two days, Cao Yu canceled all of Girls' Generation's schedules.

He didn't care about the money. What mattered was that the two chubby girls, Kim Taeyeon and Seo Hyunjoo, actually made him feel like he had gained something unexpected.

The two of them looked thin, but they were actually full of flesh. Holding one in your arms was like soft jade, and lying on your body was even softer. They turned out to be rare and top-notch girls.

Kim Taeyeon and the others finally realized the joy of being the president's woman.

At the same time, I also understand why Yoona says every day how good her chakra is. It turns out that it is really good. The good things make women want to have them on their men.

Even on the last day, Cao Yu called Lin Yoona, Quan Yuri and others over, slept with them and had some fun.

Lin Yoona and the others were a little surprised when they found out that the captain had fallen.

Later I thought, how many girls would not like such an outstanding president?

On the third day, despite the girls' reluctance, Cao Yu finally went to Japan with satisfaction.

At this time, in China, "Wolf Warrior 2" has already been taken off the screen, and the final box office was more than billion.

Although this result is somewhat lower than the original world's 5.6 billion, it has exceeded Cao Yu's expectations.

Although the movie did not do well at the box office in South Korea, Japan, and the United States, it did well in other Southeast Asian countries, with a global box office of nearly 800 million US dollars.

At the same time, Mao Xiaotong's film "You, My Deskmate" has also completed post-production and will be released in early December when the competition is not fierce, as a warm-up for the Lunar New Year holiday.

Cao Yu came to Japan this time for two main things. The first was to see the final film of "Slam Dunk" and then prepare for the promotion.

Then let’s take a look at DRRAM GIRLS’ situation after their debut.

The Tokyo branch of FNC has created the first girl group, and their reputation has already been spread through previous beauty pageants and promotion for a football game.

But after the official debut, the album sales were not very good. This time, Cao Yu wanted to find out the reason and then think of countermeasures with Kim Young Min.

……

Sony Music Japan, a subsidiary of Sony, is also a global record company.

When this company was at its most glorious, international superstars such as Michael Jackson, Celine Dion, and Utada Hikaru were all singers under Sony.

However, as physical records have been gradually replaced by the Internet, the company's global profits have also dropped significantly.

But in Japan, the company's biggest money-makers are not the international superstars, but girl groups.

In the company's conference room, Sony President Kazuo Hirai looked at the latest market data and said, "Everyone has done very well recently. Nogizaka46's concert tour was very successful. It not only completely established the reputation of this girl group, but also stopped FNC Tokyo's DREAM GIRLS. They will definitely replicate the glory of AKB48."

"Thank you for the compliment, President."

Sony Music's head, Toshiaki Muramatsu, immediately stood up respectfully, stuck his butt out, and bowed 90 degrees to the president.

But Hirai ignored him and said to Akimoto Yasushi, the person in charge of creating Nogizaka46: "However, it is not enough to just hold a concert, we need more good songs."

"Boss, I will finish writing the new song as soon as possible."

Akimoto Yasushi did not stand up and bow like other subordinates. He just agreed and said, "I listened to the new song of DREAM GIRLS. The style of the song still has a bit of K-POP shadow, so the sales volume is not over 100,000. If they keep doing this, we don't have to be afraid."

Hirai Kazuo warned: "Don't take it lightly, the Chinese boss of FNC is quite capable."

"I have studied his songs. His songs are well written, but they are only suitable for the Chinese and Korean markets. Moreover, he has no idea how the Japanese idol market works, and he doesn't know Japanese. It will be difficult for him to develop."

Akimoto Yasushi had naturally studied all of Cao Yu's songs and felt that he must have some talent to be able to be so successful in Korea, South Korea and China.

But this is Japan. Can that Chinese person write a song in Japanese?
Hirai Kazuo did not argue, but reminded again: "No matter what, we have one more enemy, and this enemy is very strong. We must work hard to make FNC retreat back to Korea."

"Hey! I'll keep a close eye on FNC's moves."

Sony Music's Toshiaki Muramatsu stood up again, his attitude extremely respectful.

Akimoto Yasushi didn't like this, he just nodded and said: "I understand, I won't underestimate my opponent, I will not only let Nogizaka46 curb the development of FNC in Japan, but also continue to attack AKB48."

"Very good. Sony is currently undergoing a transformation. As long as your music company can remain stable, I will be relieved."

Kazuo Hirai nodded with satisfaction.

Although Sony started out as an electronics company, it also attaches great importance to entertainment.

A successful idol group can not only bring certain profits to a loss-making company, but its star effect can also drive other industries.

Therefore, as long as the so-called DREAM GIRLS cannot become popular, FNC will definitely not be able to survive in Japan for long.

Cao Yu didn’t know that FNC’s Tokyo branch was being studied and valued.

He got off the plane and came to the company. When he passed by DREAM GIRLS' training room, the team members were training very hard and there was nothing unusual to see.

However, when he arrived at Kim Young-min's office, he found that this man who once dominated the Korean music scene was looking worried.

"President Jin, what's wrong? You look listless."

"President Cao, you are finally here."

When Jin Yingmin saw the president suddenly arrive without even saying hello, he quickly stood up, gave his seat to Cao Yu, and then quickly asked someone to make tea.

After Cao Yu sat down, he looked at Jin Yingmin and asked, "Are the album sales still not improving?"

"President, the sales of DREAM GIRLSA's first album, as of yesterday, were only over 46 copies, which is only half of Nogizaka's debut new album."

As he spoke, he handed over a copy of the latest data sheet.

Cao Yu had received an email from Kim Young Min before and knew that their sales were not very good, but they have been debuted for two months and they haven't even reached 100,000?
Or only half of the competition?
You know, Nogizaka46 has only been debuted for more than a year.

If this gets out, FNC will probably be laughed to death by the Japanese music industry.

"President Jin, why is this happening? Have you analyzed the reasons?"

Cao Yu was very depressed. He had been selected in a talent show and played as a layup in Atletico Madrid's friendly football match. He had done his job well, but in the end, this is the result he got?

"President, the poor sales this time are my fault. The song I chose has too much K-POP influence, and the relationship between Japan and South Korea has not been good in the past two years, so this is the case."

Jin Yingmin first admitted his mistake, and then said: "Besides, our opponent Nogizaka46 has debuted for more than a year, and their music producer is also very famous and understands the psychology of Japanese people.

There is another reason. Nogizaka46's debut method was to start with a small theater, allowing members and fans to get close to each other and establish a nurturing relationship. We did not adopt this model, which led to low fan stickiness and unwillingness to consume. "

"Oh"

Cao Yu nodded thoughtfully. The operating model of Japanese idol groups was indeed weird. No wonder they liked younger and younger aesthetics. It turned out that there were too many otakus who liked to cultivate them.

He thought about it and decided to analyze his opponent first, so he said, "Give me the detailed information of Nogizaka46."

He knew very well that Japan had a population of more than 100 million and its market was much larger than that of South Korea. Generally speaking, a new group or artist would be considered to have passed the test only if their album sales exceeded 100,000.

If DREAM GIRLS fails to make a breakthrough, FNC's Tokyo branch will become a laughing stock in the Japanese music scene.

By then, we won't be able to stay here any longer.

Taking a thick stack of information from Jin Yingmin, Cao Yu looked through it carefully for a while, and suddenly pointed at a girl and said, "This lead singer named Saito Asuka is pretty. Can you find a way to recruit her?"

"."

Jin Yingmin was silent for a while and shook his head: "It's difficult. Sony Music won't let me go."

"Sony Music."

Speaking of this company, Cao Yu remembered that Liu Yifei almost joined this company.

Of course, this was because he stopped Liu Yifei after his rebirth.

In the life before her rebirth, under the arrangement of Aunt Liu, Sissi actually stayed at Sony for a while, and her acting career was almost ruined.

He thought for a moment and said, "How has Sony Music been doing in the past two years?"

"The entire Sony company is losing money. In order to ease the financial pressure, they are going to sell one of their office buildings. However, Sony Music is profitable."

"Oh?"

Cao Yu raised his head and said, "Since they are under financial pressure, let's buy the entire Nogizaka46!"

"President, you can't buy a group just for a girl, right?"

Although Jin Yingmin felt that his boss was indeed rich and arrogant, as a good subordinate, he still advised: "Besides, it's useless to buy the group, they will choose new people. The key is that the music producer behind them is very powerful!"

Hearing Jin Yingmin mention the music producer twice, Cao Yu asked: "What is the name of their music producer?"

"."

When Jin Yingmin heard this, he doubted whether your president was from the music industry. You didn’t even know the famous Japanese artist Akimoto Yasushi?

He had no choice but to patiently say, "This person is Akimoto Yasushi, and he created the AKB48 that is popular in Japan."

"It turned out to be him."

Cao Yu didn’t know much about Japanese girl groups, but he had heard of various “die” combinations in English letters.

And if Ju Jingyi was in a group called SNH48, this person might have done it.

"interesting."

He smiled slightly and said, "What is the relationship between this person and Sony? Does he work for Sony?"

“It’s just a partnership, but we’ve been working together for nine years.”

"That's good."

Cao Yu smiled faintly: "Then just poach this person."

"President, this is a bit difficult."

"Don't worry, there is no one we can't dig out!"

Cao Yu said, and after a moment's silence, he arranged: "I will have someone contact Sony and tell them that we want to buy their office building. While I am at Sony, you can contact Akimoto Yasushi. You can say this."

After hearing what the chairman said, Kim Young-min was still a little skeptical. Could this help him poach Akimoto Yasushi?
However, the president has already arranged it, so the admissions office is it. "Then let's do it this way."

Just as Cao Yu was about to get up and leave, he suddenly added, "The album is not for sale anymore. Put the album MVs of these girls on Fei'e Video!"

"This"

Jin Yingmin was stunned. If the album is not sold, the loss will be huge.

However, he didn't dare to go against the grain now, so he could only agree: "I'll arrange it."

Cao Yu returned to his office and asked his secretary Gao Yala to sort out all the information about Sony and Sony Music.

After some research, he already had a plan in mind, and then asked someone to contact Sony in the name of Feiyu Group.

Sure enough, Feiyu Group's plan to purchase Sony's Tokyo office building soon attracted the attention of Sony's senior management.

Although Sony Music and FNC Tokyo branch are competitors, Cao Yu is not only the boss of FNC, but also the world's richest man and chairman of Feiyu Group.

Although Sony's CEO Kazuo Hirai had never met Cao Yu, he had long heard of this entrepreneur who created a business empire at a young age.

When he heard that the other party wanted to buy the company's office building, he was naturally very interested.

When the world's richest man buys a building, he should at least ask for a higher price to alleviate the loss-making business situation.

Two days later, Cao Yu came to this 70-year-old group company.

"Mr. Cao, I have long heard of your great name. Now that I see you, I can see that you are indeed a young and promising man."

When Kazuo Hirai saw Cao Yu, he greeted him in Chinese.

"Hello, Mr. Hirai. Same here."

Cao Yu was not surprised at all to see that the other party spoke Chinese fluently. After all, China is one of Sony's main markets.

Kazuo Hirai first took Cao Yu to visit Sony before the two sides began to formally discuss the sale of the building.

Sony's main office building is located in a bustling area of ​​Tokyo. It can accommodate 5,000 people and covers a large area.

After the visit, Cao Yu decided to buy this place.

After both parties sat down, Hirai Kazuo said with a smile, "Mr. Cao wants to buy this office building of Sony. I guess Feiyu Group is going to make a big move in Japan?"

"Mr. Hirai is right. Fei'e Video is developing very fast now. I bought this building because I really want to expand the company."

FNC’s Tokyo branch already has an office building, and Cao Yu took a fancy to this place and also started to lay out plans for Douyin and live streaming sales.

We must fully exploit the Japanese people.

"Mr. Cao is indeed very optimistic about the video industry."

In Kazuo Hirai's opinion, Cao Yu definitely bought this building not just for the video website.

This building can accommodate 5,000 people. How many people are there in your Feie Video branch? Just over 1,000. Can you use so much space?
Unfortunately, this is a trade secret, and since Boss Cao won’t tell him, he can’t ask.

"I personally feel that the Japanese market has great potential, and there is still a lot of room to be explored in the video industry. We will definitely need a large number of employees in the future."

Cao Yu did not hide his ambitions in Japan and asked with a smile: "Mr. Hirai, how much do you plan to bid for your office building?"

"Last year, we bought an office building in the United States for 1.1 billion U.S. dollars. I'll give you 500 million for this building."

Kazuo Hirai offered a very high price, intending to make a killing from the richest man.

With this money, Sony can at least hold on for another year.

"Five billion?"

When Cao Yu heard this number, he laughed.

Want to trick me?
Then let me see how I can trick you.

"Sony sold an office building in the United States last year that was more than five times larger than this one, and this building is old. Mr. Hirai actually offered 500 million, which seems too insincere."

He immediately took a document from his secretary and said, "In August this year, there were rumors online that Sony was going to go bankrupt and that you had serious financial problems. You wanted to sell off assets to tide over the crisis, but I couldn't accept this price."

After saying that, Cao Yu pretended to stand up and prepare to leave.

"Mr. Cao, business is negotiated. How much can you offer?"

"One hundred million!"

"One hundred million?"

Kazuo Hirai breathed a sigh of relief. This Chinese man was really too cruel.

This Sony office building is a bit old, but the land is worth 100 million US dollars. It seems that this person can't be killed.

He shook his head: "One hundred million is too little."

Cao Yu did not bargain any more, but said something irrelevant: "It is actually very simple for Sony to turn losses into profits."

When Hirai Kazuo heard this, he asked anxiously, "Mr. Cao, what can you teach me?"

He felt that Cao Yu must have unique insights to become the world's richest man at this age.

"hehe."

Seeing the other party's interest, Cao Yu smiled and said, "I heard that Sony Music has a good girl group called Nogizaka46. I think there is a girl in the group who has great potential. If possible, I would like to buy this girl group and your building together."

"hiss"

Kazuo Hirai hesitated.

Nogizaka46 is just now emerging and already has a certain fan base.

It seems that Boss Cao wants to recruit her and develop together with their DREAM GIRLS. It seems that he has great ambitions in the entertainment industry.

Before Hirai Kazuo made a decision, the head of Sony Music, Muramatsu Shunsuke, who was accompanying him, said, "President, the building can be sold, but Nogizaka46 must not be sold!"

After he finished speaking, he found that Hirai Kazuo was still frowning, and Muramatsu Shunsuke became even more anxious: "In two years, Nogizaka46 will definitely become the mainstay of Sony Music's income, President, and this is also the hard work of Akimoto Yasushi and I!"

Then he stood up and said: "FNC's group couldn't develop, so he came up with this plan to cut off the source of funds."

"Don't speak yet."

However, Kazuo Hirai interrupted him, fearing that his subordinate would say something unpleasant again.

As the president of the company, although he is optimistic about Nogizaka46, he also knows the importance of idols in company promotion.

But he attaches more importance to the entire Sony Group.

He turned to look at Cao Yu and said, "Mr. Cao, as long as you can make development suggestions to Sony and are willing to reach a cooperation between our two companies, I will give you the building at the lowest price. As for Nogizaka 46, since Mr. Cao likes it, I will give it to you."

In his opinion, Nogizaka46 is just the first batch of girls, and they can be sold and a new one can be created.

Sony’s development is much more important than a girl group.

"Mr. Hirai is so refreshing."

Cao Yu then smiled with satisfaction and said, "In fact, the development of smart phones is getting faster and faster. Mr. Hirai can pay more attention to the mobile phone business."

"Well, Mr. Cao is right. We repurchased all of Sony Ericsson's shares last year and will focus on the mobile phone business in the future."

Cao Yu's suggestion touched Hirai Kazuo's heart, and he immediately asked, "What else?"

"Also, the development of mobile phones will definitely affect the TV business. You can weaken the TV and computer business and focus on high-end imaging, games, entertainment, and most importantly, the development of semiconductors."

As Cao Yu spoke, he observed Hirai Kazuo's expression. Seeing him nod slightly, he continued, "Let me reveal one more thing. We at Penguin will release several games in the next two years. We can then let Sony represent us."

"it is good!"

Kazuo Hirai felt that Cao Yu had a very sharp vision, and his words could indeed point out the development direction for Sony, which was in a bottleneck period.

Cameras, camcorders and other imaging businesses are the foundation of Sony. Although they have faced some challenges due to the increasing pixel density of mobile phones, high-end photography is indeed inseparable from Sony.

And games do have a promising future, and entertainment is very profitable.

As for semiconductors, they are the direction of future technology. Even if the United States imposes restrictions, there will be no problem in developing related industries.

Most importantly, Cao Yu’s suggestion to weaken the role of television and computers is truly an eye-opener and is worth a fortune.

Hirai Kazuo said excitedly: "Mr. Cao, your suggestion has opened my eyes. How about this? Our office building, the land is worth 46 million US dollars. The building is actually quite old. I will only charge you million. Nogizaka will be given to Mr. Cao as a thank you. Mr. Cao can just change their name when the time comes."

Hearing this, everyone present was surprised.

Did the president really give Nogizaka46 away?
This is the result of the hard work of himself and Yasushi Akimoto, and is also an important layout of Sony Music in Japan.

Unfortunately, the president had already made the decision, and he had no choice but to speed up the formation of the second phase of the team.

Fortunately, the president did not give the name of the group to FNC Entertainment.

In this case, even if FNC gets Nogizaka46, they will only get thirty girls.

As long as Akimoto Yasushi is there, as long as they don't understand how Japanese girl groups operate, FNC will not be able to develop.

And Gao Yala, the secretary who came with Cao Yu, was even more surprised.

She really didn't expect that her man's deception could actually move the CEO of Sony Group and buy Sony's Tokyo headquarters building at such a low price.

My man is more capable than I thought.

"Thank you, Mr. Hirai."

Cao Yu pretended to be very satisfied and stood up to shake hands with Kazuo Hirai, but he was actually sneering in his heart.

"You won't let me use the name? Haha, do you really think you want those thirty girls? What I want is the man behind them."

(End of this chapter)