YM778.TV Chapter 106 - 106 Misfortunes Never Come Singly
Wei Debin called Xu Yang.
He informed Xu Yang that the exploration of the aluminum mine was complete and asked Xu Yang to come to the company to discuss the price.
Xu Yang visited Fengkai Mining again.
The negotiation of the acquisition price was still conducted with Wei Debin.
“President Xu, our team at Fengkai Mining has finished the exploration, and it’s indeed similar to the data you provided. May I ask what price you are willing to sell the aluminum mine for?” Wei Debin got straight to the point.
“Two billion,” Xu Yang named his price.
“President Xu, two billion is impossible. If we acquire it for two billion, not only would we make no money, but we would also lose money,” Wei Debin said.
“To tell you the truth, although the aluminum mine has rich reserves, the cost to extract it is very high. At two billion, we would rather not take it,” he continued.
Wei Debin’s face showed a bitter smile.
“Then how much are you willing to offer?” Xu Yang naturally knew that the other party would probably not agree.
Negotiations were not really his forte.
It didn’t matter, as the talks could go on slowly, as long as the price didn’t fall below 1.5 billion.
“One billion!” Wei Debin put up one finger.
“President Wei, you’re really lowballing me. Even if you can’t give two billion, it should be more than one billion,” Xu Yang’s face darkened.
“President Xu, one billion is a reasonable price. The cost of developing an aluminum mine is very high, and considering you took it off our hands for only fifty million not so long ago and now you’re turning it over for one billion, making a clear profit of 950 million, almost twenty times the return on investment. Such a return would be seen as a very successful investment anywhere,” Wei Debin spoke confidently.
“How much I spent to take it over is not within the scope of our price negotiations. If you don’t want it, I can sell it to someone else. I believe that many mining companies would be interested in such a large aluminum mine,” Xu Yang stated calmly.
The two sides engaged in verbal sparring, trading barbs back and forth.
In the end, the acquisition price was set at 1.6 billion.
It was one billion higher than the price that the system had said the mine was previously sold for.
Xu Yang was quite satisfied with this.
He had no intention of shopping around; there was no need.
Contacting other companies might have fetched a slightly higher price, but definitely not by much, as no one is a fool.
Selling straight back to Fengkai Mining was just fine.
The two parties signed the contract quickly, and Fengkai Mining would transfer the funds to Xu Yang within three days.
Xu Yang naturally had no objections.
For such a large transaction, it was not possible to transfer the money immediately; getting it within three days was already very good.
After all, Xu Yang was not in a hurry; all he had to do was sit back and wait to collect the money.
There was no need to worry about Fengkai Mining defaulting on their payments.
With a contract in hand, it was impossible for Fengkai Mining to default.
If they did try to default, Xu Yang was not afraid.
He was no longer the kind of small fry that anyone could push around.
Armed with Fengcai Guild as a powerful tool for publicity, and friends like Jiang Yuheng and Su Wenbin who had significant strength in both business circles and officialdom, he was not intimidated at all.
If anything happened, a bout of publicity by Fengcai Guild plus a little help from the two would essentially solve any issue.
After signing the contract, Xu Yang informed the hired exploration and mining team that their work was done and they could return home.
The cooperation between the two sides ended, not even lasting a month.
If Xu Yang needed their services again, he could continue to employ them.
But such specialists were no longer needed by Xu Yang, unless the system provided him with another mine to acquire and explore.
Unfortunately, the system did not provide any information.
After lunch with Wei Debin, Xu Yang took the high-speed train back to Jiangcheng.
That same evening, after dinner, Xu Yang was browsing on his phone when he saw a message from Wu Jing in the investors’ WeChat group.
Wu Jing: Dear fellow investors, the plan to release “Battle Leopard” during the Spring Festival has encountered a hitch, and it might not be able to hit Wandai Cinemas now.
“What’s the situation?”
“Wandai Cinemas isn’t providing screening slots?”
“If it can’t hit Wandai Cinemas, won’t the box office take a hit by half?”
“More like two-thirds at least!”
“What should we do?”
“Director Wu, first tell us exactly what happened?”
Several investors were immediately bewildered.
It’s known that Wanda Cinema Line is the largest in the country, occupying half of the domestic cinema market.
If it can’t be screened in Wanda, the box office could lose more than half.
It means that Wanda’s disapproval of “War Leopard” will severely affect the audience’s viewing choices.
At this moment, the investors were anxious.
They invested in “War Leopard” hoping for a high return.
Such news right now was nothing short of disastrous.
It was foreseeable that if it couldn’t be screened in Wanda, there was no point in thinking about the box office returns.
The money they invested was surely going to be wasted.
Wu Jing: Wanda Cinema Line doesn’t think highly of “War Leopard”, claiming military action films have no future. They refused without even looking at the sample, sigh…
Wu Jing: Boss Yang, you have extensive contacts in the film industry. Do you think you could talk to someone from Wanda Cinema Line?
Yang Chen is the boss of Feiyang Film and Television. The company was quite successful in the past but has been declining recently.
Good opportunities wouldn’t come to Feiyang for investments anymore.
Investing in Wu Jing’s “War Leopard” was a significant risk for them.
Only such opportunities were available for Yang Chen to invest in.
Yang Chen still had some connections from before.
Wu Jing pinned his hopes on Yang Chen.
“Right, right, Boss Yang, you are the boss of a film company, we’re counting on you this time!”
“Boss Yang, we don’t have the capability or the connections in that area, we’re depending on you!”
“Boss Yang, if you handle this matter, you can make me drink however much you want at the celebration party.”
Yang Chen: I’ll see what I can do.
Ten minutes later.
Yang Chen: I got a friend to contact someone from Wanda through my connections. They wouldn’t budge and still refused to allocate screenings. I’m out of options too.
“What should we do now?”
“It’s over, we at least had some hope before, but now we’ve got nothing left.”
“‘War Leopard’ has faced so many difficulties—initially, there was no money, which stopped the shooting, and now, just as it’s about to be released, we’ve hit this snag.”
“It’s because the domestic military action films have had such poor reputations in recent years that nobody wants to give us screen time.”
“I watched the sample and thought it was good. Why won’t they watch the sample and give us a chance?”
“They just won’t see it, and there’s nothing we can do about it.”
“Is this the end for us? Does anyone else have connections?”
“Chairman Tang, you deal in antiques and are a shareholder of an auction house. Can’t you use your connections to solve this problem?”
The investors’ spirits plummeted once again.
Somebody thought of Tang Zhengqi.
Tang Zhengqi is the vice-chairman of the Jiangcheng Antique Association and also a shareholder of an auction house. He has extensive connections, and perhaps he might have the right ones for this situation.
Tang Zhengqi: I have no connections in the film industry, and even if I did, they would be at the friend of a friend of a friend level, which virtually means there’s no way to resolve this.
“What do we do now?”
“If even Chairman Tang can’t solve it, then there’s nothing to be done.”
“I’m not an insider. I invested in ‘War Leopard’ because I was impressed by Director Wu’s sincerity. I don’t have any connections.”
The investors plunged back into despair.
Seeing this, Xu Yang remembered he was a shareholder of Wanda Film and Television.
Wanda Cinema Line is a subsidiary of Wanda Film and Television.
It seemed, being a shareholder of Wanda Film and Television ought to be useful somehow.
Last time, after Jiang Yuheng transferred a three percent shareholding, Fang Pengtao, the president of Wanda Film and Television, contacted him and the two made a simple acquaintance.