The meeting place with Wu Ruide was made at the Chang'an Club. Chang'an Club is located at No. 10 East Chang'an Street, Beiping, and is one of the well-known high-end membership clubs in China. It contains various items such as banquets, bars, and books, which are not only elegant and luxurious, but also a symbol of grace and luxury.

As a prestigious high-end private club in Beiping, Chang'an Club is known for its distinguished and successful members, such as Li Ka-shing, the president of Minsheng Bank, as well as many cultural and artistic celebrities.

Zhang Ran and Li Junwei took the elevator to the eighth floor, sat down in the private room, and chatted about creative media while drinking tea.

Things are indeed as Zhang Ran predicted at the beginning, and soon after Li Junwei's creative media went crazy to enclose the land, it really attracted the attention of Jiang Nancun, the boss of Focus Media in the magic capital. Jiangnan Village was thinking about building advertising at the beginning of 02, but he didn't expect that someone had already done this first, and he quickly followed up.

Circle building to grab land needs to burn money, Jiangnan Village has limited funds in hand, and burning money will definitely not burn Li Junwei, so it must be financed. In the last life, Jiang Nancun quickly got financing because his company was in the same building as the Softbank Magic Capital branch. But in this life, Li Junwei adopted Zhang Ran's suggestion, and the object of the first round of financing of Creative Media was SoftBank. SoftBank has already invested in Creative Media, so it is naturally impossible to invest in Focus Media again, and Jiangnancun did not complete the first round of financing until September. At the same time, Creative Media completed a second round of financing and began an even more frantic expansion.

Now that creative media has an absolute advantage in the national building advertising market, as long as there are no major problems in strategy, Jiangnan Village has almost no possibility of reversal. In the end, it can only be acquired by Li Junwei, just like after the listing of Focus Media in the previous life. Swift acquisition of competitor Juzhong Media.

Zhang Ran and Li Junwei were chatting when the door was pushed open. A man in his thirties, in a suit and leather shoes, walked in.

Li Junwei stood up, smiled at the visitor, and introduced: "Let me introduce you, this is Mr. Wu Ruide from IDG." This is Zhang Ran from Nortel, I told you!"

Zhang Ran smiled and stretched out his hand and said, "Mr. Wu, hello, I'm Zhang Ran!"

Wu Ruide shook hands with Zhang Ran and said, "Mr. Zhang, hello." I've admired your name for a long time! I've wanted to meet you for a long time, but I've never had a chance!"

After a simple greeting, Zhang Ran was not polite, and directly stated his purpose: "Mr. Wu, I believe that Mr. Li has already told me the reason why I am looking for you, I have a project running recently and need money, and I am looking for you to borrow money." ”

Wu Ruide bowed slightly, and said unhurriedly: "I heard Mr. Li say about you." The whole creative media came out of your idea, and it's really amazing! If someone like you borrows money to start a business, I'm definitely going to invest, but you're going to make a movie. I really can't help it. The film is too risky, and if your film fails, what will you pay back when the time comes?"

Zhang Ran knew that Wu Ruide would ask this question: "You are right. Movies are very risky, and you won't believe me when I say that your movies will definitely make money. I own 14% of Creative Media. I borrowed $20 million with all my equity as collateral. Repay $30 million within two years. If you can't afford it then, these shares will be yours!"

Wu Ruide was stunned, Zhang Ran's equity is now only worth more than 10 million US dollars, but the development of creative media is very rapid, and the listing is a late problem, and this part of the shares will roll up when the time comes. The risk of pledging this part of the equity and carrying out a stock pledge repurchase transaction is very small, and there is really no reason to refuse. It's just that he was a little puzzled: "How can a person as smart as you can't see the form clearly and only think about making movies?"

"Oh, what do you mean by that?"

"Film is a very risky industry, 90% of domestic films lose money, and even in the United States, more than 60% of films lose money. Without the support of big companies behind the film company, it is difficult to survive. Independent film companies in North America, no matter how good they are, eventually either collapse or be acquired, as is the case with Lianmei and Carlock. The reason why the big six film companies are still alive is because they are supported by large groups behind them. How many times did Fox die without News Corp.? How many times would Sony Columbia go out of business without Sony Corporation? Don't tell me, you can't even understand such a simple form?"

Zhang Ran was stunned, he didn't expect Wu Ruide to know so much about the film industry, but it is not surprising to think that IDG has participated in so many film investments in later generations. Wu Ruide is right, it is the power of capital that dominates everything in the film circle, and independent film companies cannot live long without the support of capital.

This is true for the United States, and it is also true for China.

Huayi's loss of a "1942" will hurt its vitality, and Alibaba Pictures loses hundreds of millions a year as if it were playing, just because Alibaba Pictures is behind Alibaba. Zhang Ran believes that by 2025, the giants of Chinese films will definitely be Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu, and Wanda, and Huayi and Guangguang will eventually be the meals in the hands of the giants.

No one wants to make a meal!

Zhang Ran didn't want to!

Now that he has said this, Zhang Ran knows that he has to take something out. Wu Ruide is just like Li Junwei said, a very powerful person. It is impossible to negotiate with such a person by fooling at all, and you must come up with something real! He nodded slightly: "You are right, you can't live long without capital to support the film company in the back." ”

Wu Ruide smiled: "You worked hard to make a movie, but the big head was taken away, and the film company you worked so hard to build eventually became a pawn in the hands of others, are you willing?"

Zhang Ran said lightly: "Naturally unwilling!"

Wu Ruide stared into Zhang Ran's eyes: "Then you don't have any other ideas, you just want to make a movie?"

Zhang Ran took a breath and said seriously: "Half a year ago, I experienced a small setback. If it weren't for Brother Li borrowing me 2.2 million, I am afraid that my project would have been snatched away by others. From that day on, I was even more convinced that my initial idea was correct. If you want to make a movie that you want to make, you can't just make a movie!"

Wu Ruide was full of anticipation for this question: "Oh, so what are you going to do?"

Zhang Ran said slowly: "Movies are products, third-rate companies make products, and second-rate companies do platforms." I want to be a first-class enterprise!"

Wu Ruide was stunned: "What does a first-class enterprise do?"

Zhang Ran gently spit out four words: "Ecosystem!"

Wu Ruide's eyes lit up, this is a brand new formulation. Unheard of, this Zhang Ran does have a doorway: "What is an ecosystem?"

Zhang Ran said unhurriedly: "The income of North American films depends on the industrial chain. Movies account for only 20% of the box office, DVD rentals and sales account for 40%, and TV and merchandise account for 4%. Take Disney as an example, movies, TV and radio, derivative products, and Disneyland have formed a complete industrial chain, which is the ecosystem. But the Hollywood model doesn't work in China, DVDs barely sell for money, and TV stations are in the hands of the state. Making movies in China can survive at the box office, and they can live well. But it will inevitably become the food of giants in the end. I'm thinking that the film and television industry and the fashion industry are connected, and the domestic market for clothing alone will exceed 100 billion yuan every year, and it will exceed 100 trillion yuan in ten years. If fashion products and film and television can be integrated on one platform, and the trend and sales of fashion products can be driven by film and television works and celebrities, then an ecosystem with film and television works as the starting point can be formed!"

Wu Ruide believed that Zhang Ran had an idea, but after Zhang Ran really said it, he was still a little stunned. This is far beyond his imagination: "Very unique idea, but this model is unheard of, how likely do you think it is to be realized?"

Zhang Ran is very confident in this: "In this era, only innovation can make a lot of money, and this year's Spring Festival "Time Prisoner" drove MP3 sales is an example; The name is not passed on, but recently the popular street photography in the United States, this brand has suddenly become a mess, not to mention the Korean wave. Korean film and television works do not make much money in China, but these film and television works have brought a wave of Kazakhstan and Han. But it has made Korean goods popular in China. The sales of clothing under this brand of clothing in China alone reached 300 million last year, and it is growing at a rate of 60 to 70 percent per year. Ten years later, the annual sales of Yilian in China will easily exceed 10 billion!"

Wu Ruide sighed slightly and pointed out the problem: "Clothing is a traditional industry, the return on investment is low, and it takes a few years for a brand to be made." Clothing and film and television are different industries, how do you integrate, so that they are in the same step, without internal friction? Enterprises must have a strategic focus, do everything, often do nothing well. In the early 90s, Motorola CPU, mobile communications, and digital signal processing all had the world's strongest technology. As long as you monopolize any of them, Motorola will become a Big Mac, but Motorola grabs everything, and ends up grabbing nothing!"

Zhang Ran nodded and said: "You are right, many great companies are dying of internal friction! It is indeed not easy to integrate film and television and fashion, but now is the Internet era, everything is possible." Whether it is a film company or a clothing company, it will be networked, which is the general trend. In the future, after watching movies and TV series on the website, I think the costumes are beautiful, so I place an order directly in the mall of the website, and the clothes will be delivered to my home by express delivery the next day. What I want to build is such an ecosystem that includes platforms, contents, terminals, and applications, and an entire industry chain that integrates food, clothing, and entertainment!"

Wu Ruide's hand trembled slightly, if this ecosystem is really established, it will be a huge empire! But because of this, he can't understand: "This is a very huge idea, it will take a long time to realize, so why don't you start it, but continue to be a teacher?"

Zhang Ran smiled: "Film and television and fashion are driven by stars, rather than packaging those famous actors who have neither acting skills nor taste, it is better for me to train my own students!"

Wu Ruide understood a little, and said with a strange smile: "It turns out that you are the king of Chuzhuang, and you will not sing for three years, and you will not be called for three years! We IDG investment has always looked at people, and I am very optimistic about you as a person, so I will lend you the money! But I have one condition, I hope to be able to invest in your project, how much money is needed, you say." ”

Zhang Ran is a reborn person with memories of two lives, but it does not mean that it will be smooth sailing, there are too many things that capsize halfway, there are too many enemies, it is difficult to go far alone, he needs allies to face the challenges of the times and fate together. He didn't hesitate: "Almost a year and a half, or two years later, I will start the first step of my own plan." If you invest $10 million, I'll give you 5% of the shares. ”

Wu Ruide frowned and said: "10 million US dollars is only 5% of the shares, too little!"

Zhang Ran said confidently: "A little bit is not a lot, if you invest this 10 million, it may increase tenfold in two years." Actually, I didn't need any investment, I was able to do this project on my own, and at that time Creative Media was almost listed!"

Wu Ruide pondered for a moment, and finally nodded: "Okay, I trust your judgment!" (To be continued.) )