"Given the two choices, since Lin Jia offered me these options, she must be confident she could earn back the capital. I don't believe anyone in the world would knowingly make a losing deal.
280 million was no small price. If they went to court, even if the case were judged by a court in Nanshan District, the compensation would top out at a few million.
The question was, where was their chance to turn things around?
Public opinion was so negative that the movie would face a coordinated boycott the moment it premiered."
After Jenny and Lin Jia met twice over two days, Lin Jia offered two options: either buy out the rights to Kuala Lumpur Affairs 2 and all subsequent rights for 280 million in one lump sum, or pay 200 million for 90 percent of this round's proceeds while leaving Goose Factory with 10 percent.
That meant 10 percent of Kuala Lumpur Affairs 2's proceeds was valued at 80 million. If this had been the first film, the price would have been low. But under the current public-opinion climate, with Chen Yuanguang not only refusing to apologize but adding fuel to the fire, the box office would never surpass 800 million.
Jenny was deeply conflicted. She was certain Lin Jia had some secret for turning the situation around, but she could not guess what it was, and the other party would never reveal it to her.
"What do you think?" Jenny asked.
Guo Wei had not been promoted, only given a raise. His job grade had risen by 0.1 as well. It sounded rather pathetic, but that was the workplace: plenty of hard work, no credit.
Where did the credit go? To the leaders, of course.
"I had someone ask around. A colleague's friend worked at the Gates Foundation, and the general response was that they had never heard of any invitation being sent to Chen Yuanguang.
"At the same time, Kate on Twitter could be found in their internal email system. Together with his verified Twitter identity, that confirmed he was an employee of the Gates Foundation.
"He had a YouTube channel, so I pretended to be an ordinary viewer and sent him a fifty-dollar donation, asking him about it.
"The fifty dollars I donated was probably the largest donation he had received since opening his YouTube channel. I figured he might not have received any before that. He said there was ten thousand percent no invitation ever sent.
"Later, he even said that if such a thing had happened, he would go kiss a donkey's ass as an apology."
A donation was just a tip.
The Gates Foundation having sent Chen Yuanguang an offer was the only possible turning point Jenny could think of. Now, it had been ruled out.
Unable to think of a solution, she ultimately proposed that Goose Factory internally decide to package Kuala Lumpur Affairs 2 and sell it to Lin Jia.
Jenny's proposal was to price it at 200 million while retaining 10 percent for themselves. But Mark directly said, "I don't see the need. Let's sell all of it to them.
"Let's see how they plan to turn this around."
Mark explained during the meeting, "There's no need to squeeze out every last penny. This concession is for future cooperation.
"If Chen Yuanguang manages to reverse the situation against the odds, they'll feel like they got a bargain from Goose Factory, and we can continue working together. If he fails to turn it around, then we've made money, and there'll be no need for future cooperation.
"Does keeping 10 percent this time mean anything to Goose Factory?"
In the end, a business deal worth hundreds of millions was commercially vetted through YouTube tips and asking around internally. When Lin Jia discussed the matter with the person in charge at Goose Factory, even she found it unbelievable.
Then, thinking of the mess in her own family, she felt a sense of resonance. "This world is one giant makeshift operation."
"Yuanguang, Goose Factory caved. They sold me all proceeds from Kuala Lumpur Affairs 2 for 280 million." Lin Jia was smug. Everything she had lost before had been won back in one go.
She knew very well how negative public opinion was right now, and how ferocious the reversal would be once Microsoft helped explain things. This kind of natural marketing event was something you could only stumble upon by chance. They had won big, and twice at that.
Chen Yuanguang applauded. "Congratulations. This was your achievement. If it were me, I wouldn't even have known how to get in touch with them over this."
Lin Jia said indignantly, "After the Goose Factory people found a loophole, they started putting on airs with me. Now that I've caught the opportunity, I have to give them a good show too.
"That's called returning courtesy with courtesy.
"Sigh, but 280 million is a bit too high. I'll have to go back and ask the old man for authorization. My family's film investment company definitely doesn't have that much cash on its books. We'll have to get a bank loan or borrow internally from the group.
"I really don't want to ask him. If I ask him for an internal loan, he definitely won't accept just interest. He'll demand a share.
"How much profit can you give up at most?"
Chen Yuanguang said, "You discovered the opportunity, so you decide. On my own, I only have a 2 percent investment quota."
Lin Jia shook her head. "No, no, no. You uncovered this opportunity. Between the two of us, it'll be an eighty-twenty split. If the old man wants an investment share, we can give him at most 20 percent. If he doesn't agree, we'll think of another way.
"If it comes down to it, we'll find Lei Jun. There's no reason not to fleece a senior brother."
Chen Yuanguang asked, "Eighty-twenty? You get eighty and I get twenty?"
Lin Jia shook her head helplessly. "How could that be? Of course you get eighty and I get twenty. Insight isn't worth much. Plenty of people could connect this matter with buying back the shares, but you're the only Chinese person who can become the Chief Scientist of the Gates Foundation."
Chen Yuanguang had no objection. Honestly, even if Lin Jia wanted eighty percent, he would have agreed. He did not care much about such things. What mattered most was bringing more future technology into the modern era.
"A 280 million investment quota? Lei Jun wouldn't agree to that just because he's your senior brother. Even if he were my biological brother, he wouldn't agree, would he?" Chen Yuanguang asked in confusion.
Lin Jia snorted. "You underestimate him too much. His investment instincts are no worse than his marketing talent. The success of Kuala Lumpur Affairs was obvious. Since we're willing to take over the sequel, he'll definitely be willing to hear our plan. We only need to show him the invitation letter, and this investment can be approved.
"Lei Jun might even be less ruthless than the old man. I haven't given the old man any face the last few times, so it'll probably be difficult. Forget it, let's go straight to Lei Jun. I don't want to go home and see his sour face.
"Don't you have his WeChat? Ask him to meet us directly. Tell him there's a big deal for him."
"After talking with my junior brother recently, I learned that he really did receive an offer to become Chief Scientist at the Gates Foundation. He just didn't make it clear: it wasn't the Gates Foundation itself, but the Gates Foundation Global Health Program. And his annual salary really was five million."
Lei Jun first posted on Weibo with a photo of himself and Chen Yuanguang, then reposted that post:
"It's hard to believe that someone so young could receive an offer with an annual salary of five million US dollars. When I previously invited him to join Xiaomi and offered an annual salary of 2.01 million, I was being conservative. The unit for the annual salary I mentioned was only RMB."
The instant Lei Jun posted on Weibo, the matter was ignited once more.
His comments section was packed with users. As the top internet celebrity among entrepreneurs, Lei Jun knew this matter was drawing a great deal of attention, but he had not expected this much. The commenters were far more frenzied than those asking about prices under his Weibo posts before a new Xiaomi flagship launch.
"President Lei, why are you speaking up for Chen Yuanguang too?"
"Where's the evidence? You need evidence to say something like that."
"Lei Buqun, aren't you just explaining things for him because you're alumni?"
These chapters weren't too bad, right? Aren't business plots an important part of tech webnovels?
Before you continue