director of the millennium

Beijing, at home.

Wu Yuan, who had just returned to Beijing after a long journey, was holding Liu Yifei's arm and telling her about what he had gained from his trip to Los Angeles.

"Yes, we bought two Gulfstream G450s, each costing 2.5 million RMB. The subsequent fixed management fees, pilot, flight attendant, and aviator salaries, insurance premiums, etc., will cost about - million RMB per aircraft."

"This does not include the uncertain costs of fuel, route fees, and maintenance and repair costs."

“It’s a bit pricey, but it’s worth it.”

"If you order now, it will take until the end of next year to deliver."

Listening to Wu Yuan's enthusiastic description of the details of the visit to Gulfstream headquarters, Liu Yifei frowned: "It's too expensive, it's a complete waste!"

"5 million, we can't spend that much even if we fly for a lifetime!"

"That's true." Wu Yuan smacked his lips. He did feel a little distressed, but he still said stubbornly, "Anyway, it's money from the company account."

"And this plane is not just for the two of us. All the company's executives can use it."

"I didn't go for any super luxurious decoration or family plane. It can seat 14 people, which is enough to meet the needs of company executives on business trips and our daily travel."

When Wu Yuan and Liu Yifei go out, it's not just the two of them. Wu Yuan has to bring an assistant, and Liu Yifei has to bring the entire management team of five or six people, which adds up to almost ten people.

It's just like those rich people who buy a Gulfstream and then modify it so that it can only seat four or five people. It's really luxurious, but it's troublesome for the accompanying personnel.

Although Wu Yuan was a little impulsive, he did not lose his mind after all.

He did buy these two planes to satisfy his "rich man" complex. After all, he has made so much money over the years, but has hardly bought any "luxury goods" of the rich. It is understandable that he indulged himself.

But these two aircraft are indeed used more for official business, not really for enjoyment.

"Light and Shadow Times has 20 to 30 billion in its account, and Light and Shadow Kuaibo has even more. Spending this little money is nothing."

"Besides, after several rounds of financing, my shares have been diluted to 42.6%. Half of the company's money was actually paid by other shareholders."

"If they didn't disagree, I would have thought of registering both of them under Guangying Kuaibo's name, and then renting one to Guangying Times. This would be more cost-effective."

"Unfortunately, the shareholders of Guangying Kuaibo are more cunning than the others and would never agree to such a good thing."

Wu Yuan's expression was full of regret.

He really wanted to spend the company's money to benefit himself.

Especially the ones that are played quickly by Hua Guangying.

After all, after several rounds of financing, Guangying Kuaibo has introduced funds from many international venture capital companies such as Softbank and Sequoia. His current shareholding ratio does not even reach 50%, let alone absolute control.

Of course, his words are still very effective in the company. After all, these venture capital companies basically will not interfere in the operation of the investment companies. They care more about financial operations, and the actual company operations are generally the responsibility of the entrepreneurial team.

Not to mention Wu Yuan, Mr. Ma doesn’t have many shares in Alibaba, but doesn’t he still have the final say in the company?

Now, after several rounds of capital injection, the estimated market value of Light and Shadow Times given by various venture capital companies is around US$455 billion, which is already a very high number.

You should know that the market value of Qiyi Video is only 137 billion US dollars, and Guangying Kuaibo has fewer users in China than Qiyi Video. The reason why it can have such a high estimated market value is mainly because Guangying Kuaibo has a good overseas strategic development, and the company's financial report is good enough.

Just compare and it will become clear.

In 2019, iQiyi's full-year loss hit a new high of 103 billion yuan, exceeding 2018 billion yuan in 91. The loss further expanded, which can be said to have set a new record for losses.

These are the financial statements made public by listed companies.

Although Guangying Kuaibo has not yet gone public, its internal financial statements are no secret in the hands of major venture capital companies. In 2019, Guangying Kuaibo not only did not suffer losses, but also achieved a net profit of US$8 million.

This is all thanks to the Asian market of Guangying Kuaibo. After all, in Japan, South Korea and even the entire Southeast Asia region, Guangying Kuaibo is now the largest online streaming platform, isolating Netflix from the Asian market.

Membership services account for 85% of Guangying Qvod’s revenue, while other business revenue accounts for only 15%.
In other words, simply by selling VIP membership fees, the company earned back its expenditure costs and achieved profitability.

Although this number is not large, compared with iQiyi, which lost more than 10 billion yuan, it is really amazing.

Once upon a time, in the early stages of the company's development, advertising revenue accounted for more than 70% of Guangying Kuaibo's revenue, but now it is only 15%.

And these 15% of advertising profits basically come from the mainland market. There is no way around it. Chinese people are used to watching videos for free, so video websites can only find ways to make profits from free content, that is, relying on advertising. These are market habits cultivated in the era of piracy, and it is difficult to change them now.

In comparison, Guangying Qvod has completely adopted the Netflix model in other Asian markets, charging membership fees alone and without any advertisements to affect users' viewing mood.

Of course, it still can't be compared with Netflix in the United States.

Compared with iQiyi Video, which has been suffering huge losses, most video websites in the United States are now profitable.

Netflix became profitable after its listing, with revenue of US$2019 billion and net profit of US$201.56 billion in 18.67.

Netflix is ​​even more extreme than Kuaishou, with membership service revenue of US$198.59 billion, accounting for 99% of its revenue, while other business revenue accounts for only 1%.

Therefore, Netflix's current market value in the U.S. stock market is 1476 billion U.S. dollars, which is not only far higher than Qiyi Video, but also far higher than Guangying QVOD.

However, Guangying Kuaibo is currently preparing for an IPO, and is expected to be listed on the US stock market by the end of this year or early next year. When this estimated market value becomes the actual market value, the number is expected to increase and will probably stabilize at around 70 to 80 billion US dollars.

Although Wu Yuan's shares will be diluted again by then, his net worth is estimated to be 30 to 40 billion US dollars.

Of course, as for net worth, as long as you don’t sell your shares, it’s all fake, especially the market value of Internet companies.

In fact, Wu Yuan can only get $100 million to $200 million in dividends from Guangying Kuaibo every year, and this is only in the past two years since it started to make a profit. Before that, he had to invest money.

It would take at least three to five years for him to earn back the $10 billion he invested through dividends.

As for the seemingly tempting valuation of tens of billions of shares, he won't get a penny unless he sells the shares.

This is also why he wanted to use the money from Guangying Kuaibo to buy a private jet. He didn't have much money, but Guangying Kuaibo had a lot of money in its account. This money was for the company's operations and investment, so Wu Yuan didn't feel bad at all about spending it.

This is also the normal practice of most wealthy people, spending the company's money to buy themselves various luxury cars, yachts, private jets, and luxury houses.

Unfortunately, Wu Yuan failed to accomplish this. At this stage when Guangying Kuaibo was approaching its IPO, the company's shareholders were not willing for him, the founder, to increase the company's expenditure by $100 million or $200 million.
"What a pity." Wu Yuan still sighs with regret. (End of this chapter)