[Wolf Warrior 2] is a big hit, and the biggest benefit must be Wu Jing, the director and starring, he is now just like when Gu Wei directed and acted in [Tang Detective] when it was a big hit, but it was even more popular than Gu Wei at that time, after all, the box office of the first part of [Tang Detective] was much worse than [Wolf Warrior 2].

The second is naturally Gu Wei, not to mention how much money [Wolf Warrior 2] made him for the time being, this success can be regarded as completely confirming Gu Wei's title of "King of the Box Office" in internal entertainment.

Even if [Wolf Warrior 2] has not yet been released, the total box office of the movies starring him has exceeded 16 billion.

This data is the only one in the current domestic entertainment.

What Xu Zheng, Huang Bo, Deng Chao, Shen Teng, these future tens of billions of actors are still far behind Gu Wei.

The most important thing is that Gu Wei never misses, although the reputation of the movies he starred in has high and low, but the box office is a big hit.

This is very scary, whether it is because of Gu Wei's strong box office appeal or because of his good vision, everyone only looks at the results.

Gu Wei debuted for 6 years, and has used the results of one movie after another to completely build himself into a golden signboard.

Whether in the eyes of his peers or the audience, he is the guarantee of the box office.

The last one is the heroine of the movie, Zhang Tianai, her role is not much in [Wolf Warrior 2], she belongs to the kind of vase decoration, but it is undeniable that she is the absolute female number one in the film.

The heroine of a box office movie that sold more than 5 billion yuan, needless to say, this qualification and achievements are unmatched.

Coupled with the previous films such as "The Richest Man in Xihong City", "Embroidered Spring Knife 2" and "Passing by Your World", Zhang Tianai has completely secured her identity as a first-line movie café.

If you just look at the box office results, there are only a handful of actresses in the entertainment industry who can compare with her.

The celebration banquet ended relatively late, everyone was very happy, and Wu Jing finally got into the car drunk with the support of Xie Nan.

"Actually, it's not just Director Wu who feels incredible, but I also feel that it's too exaggerated when I see the box office results of [Wolf Warrior 2] every day."

In Gu Wei's car, Zhang Tianai snuggled up to him.

"We shot well, and caught up with the good times, and the current results are also a combination of many factors.

Netizens all said that [Wolf Warrior 2] is a box office miracle, and since it is a miracle, it must be extraordinary." Gu Wei put his arms around Zhang Tianai's slender waist and sniffed lightly in her hair.

Although Wu Jing drank a lot, he was not his opponent after all.

"Do you think [Wolf Warrior 2] can really reach 6 billion?" She obviously heard the chat between Gu Wei and Wu Jing at the main table.

"There's hope, but I can't 100 percent guarantee it."

"Do you think there will be more and more movies with a box office of 4 billion or 5 billion in the future?"

"How can it be so easy, I can only say that our movie is a special case.

In terms of the current volume of the domestic film market, there will definitely be more and more films that sell two or three billion yuan, but if you want to reach the height of [Wolf Warrior 2], it is not just a good movie." Saying that, Gu Wei thought about it.

"I am making this sci-fi film now, but I have the potential to hit the box office of 5 billion."

"Your re-cooperation with Wu Jing will definitely fill the topic, but can domestic sci-fi films work, don't smash your signboard" Zhang Tianai was still a little worried about him.

"Haha. Don't worry, I never fight uncertain battles, since I dare to challenge domestic sci-fi films, I naturally have my reasons."

The black nanny car traveled through the road in the capital, and soon arrived at the community where Zhang Tianai lived.

Actually, you can consider getting fatter, the original figure is very standard, after filming [Operation Red Sea] and being busy with movie promotion these days, it is estimated that it is less than 90 pounds now."

On the big bed in the bedroom, Zhang Tianai unscrupulously showed his perfect proportions of good figure, with a slender body and delicate skin, but the original towering seemed to have become a little smaller.

"How can it be so exaggerated as you say, I just weighed 46kg in the morning, which is 4 pounds thinner than before

I'm fat-prone physique, and if I don't pay attention, these 4 pounds of meat can easily rise back."

Although she said that, Zhang Tianai still decided to try her best to return her weight to her previous state, she is 165 tall, as long as she stays within 100 pounds, it will not affect her photogenic appearance.

Women are those who please themselves, and of course she has to listen to Gu Wei's opinions.

"I've already told the company that you have time recently, so you can set up your personal studio these days.

The personnel are still your current team, the company accounts for 60% of the shares, and you account for 40% personally."

Zhang Tianai signed a contract with the company relatively early, she was already an artist under the company before she became famous, and after Gu Wei made her popular with [Crown Princess], she has made a lot of money for the company over the years.

In fact, as early as the beginning of this year, Gu Wei planned to help her set up a personal studio, but then she went abroad to shoot [Operation Red Sea] and had no time, so it has been delayed until now.

"You're so good to me, I don't even know how to reciprocate," Zhang Tianai said faintly while holding Gu Wei's arm.

After debuting for so many years, of course she knows the benefits of star studios, and the most basic thing is that opening a studio allows the artist to get more money.

For example, when an artist signs a brokerage company, if it is divided into three or seven, and the company is three and seven by itself, then according to Gu Wei's share division, her brokerage will be transferred from the company to her own studio, and seventy percent will still be her own, and the remaining thirty percent will be one into eight to the company, and one into two to the star individual, and she can actually get eighty percent and two.

Again, with a studio, celebrities are no longer mere part-time workers, but have more autonomy.

In the future, you can also sign a new contract in the name of the studio, invest in film and television dramas, and it can develop into a small film and television company.

Of course, this is not something that ordinary celebrities can do, and most artists' studios are still for personal services.

Zhang Tianai and Gu Wei already have a pimple emotionally.

She always felt that she was wrong at the beginning, and her feelings for Gu Wei were mixed with admiration, guilt and inferiority.

After the two broke up, Gu Wei just made a promise when they fell in love, and did not spend any resources to make her from a small model to a big star now, and now he took the initiative to open a studio for her.

Looking back on his experience over the years, how can Zhang Tianai not be moved.

"Needless to say, with your current fame and position, you should also have your own star studio.

It will also help you in your future work."

Zhang Tianai raised his body slightly and rested his head on Gu Wei's chest.

"Whether it's signing in the company or opening a studio, I always listen to you, and I can do whatever you ask me to do."

On this trip back to the capital, in addition to participating in the celebration banquet, Gu Wei had another important thing to do.

[ByteDance] is going to raise money again.

In December last year, Byte was valued at $12 billion after the D round of financing, and now in just over half a year, the company has opened the E round of financing again.

The financier this time is [General Atlantic], with a financing amount of 2 billion US dollars and a valuation of 26 billion US dollars after financing.

General Atlantic is a private equity firm founded in the United States in 1980, with hundreds of billions of dollars in funds in its hands, and investments all over the world.

However, in recent years, there has been a lot of investment in Chinese mainland, with billions of dollars flowing in every year, and some potential companies are selected for investment.

"In May this year, we launched the international version of Douyin, TikTok, and the development of the North American market is still in its infancy.

It's just that there is already a product of the same type over there.

Y is a music short video platform that has been launched in 14 years, and now has more than 20 million daily active users worldwide, including more than 6 million active users in North America, which is much more advantageous than ours.

To put it more realistically, in fact, our Douyin was inspired by Y in the first place.

However, our development in China is obviously much faster than that in North America."

In the office of [ByteDance], Zhang Yi was chatting with Gu Wei about this financing.

"Later, after discussion, we felt that it was a local company, and it was the same type of product as ours, and it was difficult to compete, so it was better to buy it!

Y conducted a round of financing in May last year, when the valuation was $500 million, and after a year, the user base has increased, and the valuation has been relatively higher.

The company's negotiators have negotiated with Y to buy their entire company for $1 billion.

In this way, the $1 billion raised last year was not enough, and the company's development in the past six months has also spent a lot.

In addition, TikTok entered the North American market, and we also needed a strong ally to support it there, so we started this Series E financing.

[Transatlantic] is a good ally."

Gu Wei had read reports on the news about [ByteDance] several financings, and he was also watching the flowers at the time, patronizing and lamenting the rapid growth of bytes' valuation and the huge amount of financing, but he didn't know that in fact, the amount of financing each time, including the selection of financing objects, was carefully planned.

Fast-growing enterprises, especially unicorn companies with huge potential like [ByteDance], want to invest in and eat meat, and it is not enough to have money alone.

Either they can help when the business is in trouble, or they can provide resources that others don't have.

Gu Wei was able to buy shares at the beginning, but it was also just in time for [ByteDance] to be in a deep crisis of public opinion during that time, [Douyin] was not released, and the fist products [Today's Headlines] and [Connotation Jokes] caused a lot of trouble, one involved infringement of other news websites, and the other was vulgar and incorrectly oriented.

That period was also the most underestimated time since the establishment of [ByteDance].

Later, the new flagship product [Douyin] came out, and Gu Wei, the major shareholder, relied on his fame and influence in the entertainment industry to help [Douyin] become famous and import his own traffic into this new short music video.

[Douyin], which has only been in existence for a year, has grown rapidly and has now become the second largest short video platform in China after [Kuaishou].

At this point, he bound himself to [ByteDance] and became one of Zhang's most reliable partners.

Sending charcoal in the snow and the help of resources in the later stage is what Gu Wei relied on to enter the core layer of [ByteDance].

If he is just simply rich, even if he comes in by chance financing in the early stage, he will be marginalized by the management through various methods in the later stage.

"You can decide these things, I said from the beginning of the shareholding, I believe in your ability."

Regarding Gu Wei's trust, Zhang Yiyi smiled and didn't say anything.

"Your movie has been very popular lately." After finishing business, the two began to chat again.

"Did you say [Wolf Warrior 2], you are so busy with work and still have time to watch movies?"

"Although I am busy at work, I have to relax once in a while, and I am not iron-clad, and I can only relax for a long time.

I really didn't care about anything when I first started my business, but now although the company is getting bigger and bigger, there are special people in charge of a lot of work, and I just need to control the general direction, which is relatively easy.

Besides, your [Wolf Warrior 2] is not your average fire now."

Gu Wei took a sip of the tea in front of him.

"How do you feel, it's not bad, right?"

"It's pretty good, although I'm a layman in the film and television industry, I still have basic appreciation skills.

I watched the whole movie, and my blood boiled.

I'm going to book some shows at the cinema near the company in the next few days, and watch them as a welfare organization employee."

"Haha. Then thank you Boss Zhang for your support of the box office."

"You are also the boss, and everyone should support your work," Zhang Yiyi smiled.

"But then again, is it so profitable to make movies now, the box office is going to break 5 billion in the past two days, and our company's revenue for the whole year last year was only 6 billion, which is about the same as the box office of your movie."

Don't look at the current valuation of [ByteDance] is so high, the amount of this financing is even as high as 2 billion US dollars, but the annual revenue in 2016 is only 6 billion yuan.

However, Internet companies cannot only look at revenue, the most important thing is market share and speed of development.

[ByteDance] is developing extremely fast, and its market share is increasing year by year, and it is only August now, and the revenue of the entire company this year has exceeded 10 billion yuan.

And Gu Wei knows that with the popularity of TikTok of [Douyin], the revenue of [ByteDance] will basically increase at a rate of doubling year by year, and he remembers that in 2019, advertising revenue alone exceeded 120 billion yuan.

The full-year revenue in 2022 even exceeded $80 billion, including an operating profit of $20 billion.

This is the charm of Internet companies, if you make movies, let alone Gu Wei himself, the annual box office of the entire domestic film market is only 60 billion yuan, which is far inferior to the developed [ByteDance].

So does the entertainment industry make money? It is very profitable for ordinary people and even the middle class, and the assets of small stars are hundreds of millions, and the first-line can basically be hundreds of millions.

But compared with the bigwigs in other industries, the ceiling is relatively low, Cheng Long, Uncle Benshan, Huayi's two brothers, Yu Dong, and Wang Changtian, who are worth billions, are almost at the end, and those who can reach tens of billions can already compete for the position of the richest man in the entertainment industry.

If Gu Wei reports all his assets now, he will be the real richest man in the entertainment industry.

It's a pity that he, the "richest man", is still not enough to see in front of which bigwigs.

In the entertainment industry, the most important thing is actually fame, fame is big and influenced, money and status are naturally not a problem.

"It can't be compared, the company got $20 in cash for this financing, how many movies do I have to make to make this money?

And we have to benchmark Tengxun and Ali, which will become the head enterprise in the Internet industry in the future, and I will have to take care of Boss Zhang when the time comes."

"Haha. Let's work together, it's still a little far away."

"The company's development has entered the fast lane, and I want to see it as a matter of the past few years."

"Then borrow your good words."

In this financing, the preliminary work was basically completed, and the contract was formally signed, and Gu Wei, as a shareholder, signed the agreement.

At the end of the E round of financing, the valuation of [ByteDance] became $26 billion, and Gu Wei's shares were also diluted a little to 10.23%.

Since the angel round of the company's establishment in 2012, [ByteDance] has raised funds 6 times, and the shareholder composition is extremely complex, Gu Wei's 10.23% does not look like much, but it is already the second largest individual shareholder after Zhang.

This asset looks very exaggerated, even close to 20 billion yuan, but it actually has little impact on him.

[ByteDance] is not listed, and under the premise that Gu Wei does not plan to sell these shares, it is only paper wealth after all.

He bought a manor, a big plane and other personal expenses, after all, he still relied on the income of being a star and an entertainment company.

"Don't forget the evening drinking party"

After the contract was signed, the top executives of Bytes, led by Zhang, were obviously very excited.

"Forget it, I don't have any common language with these financial circles, so I won't come forward."

Zhang Yiyi thought about it, and Gu Wei was indeed a little out of place at the last financing reception, and nodded.

"That's fine, you won't delay more time if you're so busy.

But if you have time, you still have to come to the company more often."

"How?" Gu Wei asked curiously.

"Every time you come, the young people in the company are very excited, and some newcomers have improved their work efficiency after knowing that you are a shareholder," Zhang Yiyi pushed his black-rimmed glasses and said with a smile.

"You're treating me like the company's mascot.

Lao Zhang, you deserve to be the boss, you really make the best use of things to the limit"

"You were originally the spokesperson of [Douyin], and I said that I am all for the development of the company and for the benefit of employees.

At this year's annual meeting, why do you want to sing a song on stage, right? ”

"How much do you pay for appearances?"

"Do you still have an appearance fee for your own company?"

"My brother settles accounts, you know that my current commercial performance has a price." Gu Wei has almost stopped running commercial performances in recent years, and now he is not short of money, and he is reluctant to go out to work even if he has time to stay at home and rest.

"You make an offer"

"Lao Zhang, if you perform on stage with me, I can do it for free" Gu Wei's eyes rolled and turned against the army.

"It's okay to sing, but I can't do it all." Zhang Yiyi was a little hesitant.

Don't look at him pouting Gu Wei very happily, it was his turn to start retreating.

"Let's sing together, what are you afraid of, don't you still have me.

Somebody just said they were going to give benefits to their employees."

Zhang Yiyi looked at Gu Wei's smiling expression and gritted his teeth.

"Okay, when the time comes, let's go on stage together, and make everyone happy."

(End of chapter)