Started from Hong Kong Island

Chapter 234 [Make another big profit] Please subscribe
Late September

Li Wendi transferred several million yuan of funds to Zou Wenhuai, hoping that he could open up some gaps in theater acquisitions and make Run Run Shaw feel the crisis. As for the movie script, Golden Harvest Entertainment is still filming and it is estimated that it will be released in theaters before October.

But Run Run Shaw was not a pushover. He constantly threatened those small film production companies, warning them not to release their films in theaters owned by Cheung Kong Properties and Golden Harvest Entertainment, otherwise they would be liquidated by Shaw Brothers Film Company.

As a result, the theaters under Changxin Real Estate Company could only show some old movies, but could not maintain normal expenses. Fortunately, the theater property was their own, otherwise the losses would be even greater.

Despite Run Run Shaw's attack, Chow Wen-huai did not stop. Instead, he stepped up his efforts to acquire theaters and build a theater chain that was no worse than Shaw Brothers'. In Chow Wen-huai's plan, as long as he could compete with Run Run Shaw in theater chains and overseas (screening rights in other regions), Golden Harvest Entertainment Company could be considered a rival of Shaw Brothers Film Company, and would be one step closer to toppling Run Run Shaw and Mona Fong.

Run Run Shaw would naturally not allow Zou Wenhuai to do as he pleased. He constantly made things difficult for Zou Wenhuai in the acquisition and deliberately raised the acquisition price. Although he could not raise it too much, he could waste more of Zou Wenhuai's funds and the number of theaters acquired would definitely decrease.

In fact, the reason why Run Run Shaw was ranked among the top ten richest people in Hong Kong in the 80s and 90s was not because of how much money he made from movies, but because he owned a large number of cinema chains, which were truly high-quality properties. It is not wrong to call him a real estate tycoon in Hong Kong.

After Hang Lung Group went public in 72, it spent HK$1.15 million to purchase Shaw House and Xinhua Theatre in Mong Kok, Kowloon, which were owned by Shaw Brothers Film Company. Although this price was far beyond the market price of buildings in Mong Kok at the time, it was clear that the properties owned by Shaw Brothers Film Company were very valuable.

Most of the box office revenues of Hong Kong films in the 70s were less than 500 million yuan. After deducting costs, the money earned was not much. However, just two properties allowed Shaw Brothers Film Company to earn profits from 30 films, and this was just the tip of the iceberg of properties owned by Run Run Shaw.

Li Wendi was well aware of Run Run Shaw's strength and that fighting with him would require a lot of manpower and resources, so Zou Wenhuai became Li Wendi's tool to deal with Run Run Shaw.

In Li Wendi's memory, these few years should be Run Run Shaw's last glorious time in the film industry. By the end of the 70s, Shaw Brothers Film Company began to decline, and many film companies began to emerge and challenge the dominant position of Shaw Brothers.

In the end, Run Run Shaw had no choice but to withdraw from the film industry and even rented out his cinema chain to other companies.

Of course, this was also due to the fact that Run Run Shaw gained control of TVB.

Li Wendi believed that Zou Wenhuai in his previous life was able to defeat Run Run Shaw, so there should be no reason why Zou Wenhuai in this life could not defeat Run Run Shaw, after all, he had a helper.

In fact, Li Wendi also has his eyes on the big cake of theater properties. Although he cannot rely on this thing to make it onto the list of Hong Kong's top ten richest people like Run Run Shaw, there will be no problem in making more money.

In terms of film production, Run Run Shaw would certainly not miss the opportunity to oppress Golden Harvest Entertainment. It was reported that Run Run Shaw was planning to shoot seven films in the second half of 74, aiming to release all of them on New Year's Day.

This put Zou Wenhuai under a lot of pressure, and he even called to ask Li Wendi if she had any other scripts of such high quality.

Li Wendi will not come up with other scripts. He is not the main force to deal with Run Run Shaw, and Run Run Shaw has entered a period of decline. The biggest beneficiary is Golden Harvest Entertainment. There is no need for him to make wedding dresses for outsiders.

Zou Wenhuai and Ho Kuanchang are not easy people to deal with. They may not remember Li Wendi's kindness. They will only think that Run Run Shaw has offended Li Wendi too much, and Li Wendi is dealing with Run Run Shaw regardless of the consequences.

At this time, Li Wendi did not have much energy to pay attention to Zou Wenhuai's affairs. He still had a lot of things to deal with, so he had no time to write scripts.

Qi Nian Newspaper
Two issues of the "Pirate King" comics have been published, but the market response has been mediocre, with sales of only a few thousand copies. The sales of the first issue were even more shockingly low, at only 1980 copies. The sales of the second issue were better, at nearly 2500 copies.

This caught He Qijun off guard. According to her idea, the sales of the first issue could be lower, but the sales of the second issue should be one or two times more than the first issue. In the end, the sales were only 500 more copies.

Li Wendi was not surprised by this result. The comic version of "Pirate King" in his previous life also received mediocre response at the beginning, and did not have the strength of a "comic overlord". Later, it gradually occupied the first place in the comic rankings.

Therefore, everything needs time to accumulate and cannot be achieved overnight. "Take your time. It always takes time for things to develop." Li Wendi smiled gently and counseled He Qijun.

"Alas! We can only 'take it slow'. The situation has become like this, and other comic plans will have to be delayed for some time." He Qijun sighed. The Qinian Newspaper has spent a lot of manpower and resources on comics. Just in terms of poaching people, He Qijun offered a high price that was higher than the market situation. Now the Qinian Newspaper needs to recover some funds before it can proceed to the next step.

In fact, it was all because He Qijun was too impatient and some things were not done well. However, it is also a good thing, as it can give He Qijun a good lesson and things will go more smoothly in the future.

"If we want to make progress quickly, we can promote it in our own newspapers and magazines. We can also distribute the first issue of the comics for free in places with large traffic such as schools and shopping malls to build up some popularity." Li Wendi laughed and offered some suggestions.

These methods were naturally overused in the previous life, but in this era they should be considered innovative marketing methods.

Hearing this, He Qijun's eyes widened. This was indeed a good idea. There were still a lot of comic books from the first issue left. If they were not disposed of in time, they would just take up space. The loss had already occurred. What she should do was to maximize the benefits.

"Okay, I'll arrange for someone to do it later."

Li Wendi smiled and continued, "If we can arrange some guessing questions about comics, with prizes for the answers, we can give out some small cakes or magazines from our newspaper, etc. This will better attract specific groups of people and expand the influence of comics."

The two chatted for a long time, and Li Wendi gave a lot of useful suggestions, which He Qijun also planned to implement one by one.

Changxin Real Estate Company Office

Lin Dongmei sat right opposite Li Wendi. Li Wendi was browsing the documents very seriously, recalling the situation of the Mark (German currency) in the 70s in his previous life.

Due to the collapse of the Bretton Woods economic system and the rapid growth of West Germany's economy, the surplus in the balance of payments, especially the increase in short-term capital inflows, the West German currency, the mark, often faced great appreciation pressure. As a result, many people proposed a re-evaluation of the mark, which triggered several active appreciations of the mark.

Li Wendi remembered that in 74, the Mark appreciated by 23%, which was a good investment.

If Lin Dongmei hadn't brought this up, Li Wendi would have ignored it.

"How much money can we mobilize to invest in Mark without affecting the company's operations?" Li Wendi put down the document and asked Lin Dongmei. He couldn't remember the exact time when the Mark appreciated, but it wouldn't be too long because it was not the first time that the Mark appreciated, and the time for those bigwigs to argue would be greatly shortened.

"It's only about 400 million, and it's the result of diverting some project funds." Lin Dongmei replied with a straight face.

Li Wendi thought for a while and decided to make a big move. "Mortgage some of the company's high-quality properties to the bank, borrow more funds, and invest all of them in the mark currency market."

"Yes! Then I will go to Mr. Zhang to negotiate these matters and try to get more loans within this week." Lin Dongmei knew that this was an opportunity to prove herself. As long as she succeeded, she could establish her own prestige within Changxin Real Estate Company.

Women holding high positions in listed companies usually attract some troubles. Even if Lin Dongmei has a high degree and good work experience, it will be difficult for her to gain a foothold in Changxin Real Estate without solid achievements.

Li Wendi looked at Lin Dongmei's back as she left, and immediately thought about private investment. This time, the mark investment might be more valuable than the yen investment and could generate more profits.

(End of this chapter)