SWDnovel Chapter 233 Acquisition of 6 Companies
Chapter 233 Acquisition of 6 Companies
"Buy?" Upon hearing Chen Mo's words, Wang Huabing couldn't help but gasp.
It's a powerful company after all; buying a company is as easy as buying a skewer of grilled gluten.
"Yes, buy it." Chen Mo took out a document from the drawer and showed it to Wang Huabing. "This is a recent survey conducted by Tencent's strategic investment department. In addition to the three major companies, Starlight, StarHua, and StarShining, there are dozens of medium-sized entertainment companies in China. These companies have artists, production capabilities, and a fan base, but they lack funds, distribution channels, and platforms."
"We can invest in them, acquire them, and tie them to our chariot. In this way, we will have our own artist resources, our own content production capabilities, and our own fan base."
He paused, then emphasized, "So what if Starlight, StarHua, and StarShining join forces again? We have dozens of companies, they have three. We have 180 million users, they have 30 million. Who's afraid of whom?"
After listening, Wang Huabing's eyes slowly lit up.
This approach is indeed much smarter than directly competing with tuk-tuks.
"Mr. Chen, has Tencent approved this proposal?"
"Approved." Chen Mo nodded. "Tencent's strategic investment department has approved the project, with an initial funding of one billion yuan. In the next month, we will acquire all the promising mid-sized entertainment companies in China."
"A month?"
"Yes, one month." Chen Mo laughed. "By the time TUTU realizes what's happening, we'll have already laid the trap. By then, they won't be able to catch up."
...
The acquisition of WeChat by Tencent started quietly, but the effects were immediate.
In the first week, three small and medium-sized entertainment companies announced that they had accepted strategic investment from Tencent.
The second week, five companies.
Week 3, eight companies.
In just twenty days, sixteen entertainment companies were ensnared on the WeChat platform.
Meanwhile, TUTU has recently had some rare free time.
In just twenty days, TUTU's daily active users exceeded 50 million, and its user base has reached nearly 100 million.
Although the growth rate has slowed down now, this achievement has already established it as a second-tier technology company.
During this period, Baidu also increased its investment in TUTU.
For nearly a month, there has been no response from WeChat.
So much so that the final competition of "Super Girl" is about to begin.
However, Lu Ran never let his guard down.
He felt that the other party couldn't possibly let him develop so unrestrainedly; they must have a backup plan.
Although Lu Ran seemed relaxed, his heart was actually tense.
If TUTU can win again this time, then TUTU's future will be bright.
Tutu Technology will also join the ranks of top-tier technology companies.
But everyone in the company is definitely much more relaxed now.
The game "Seven Heroes of the Jianghu" had already been tested and was ready to be launched, but Lu Ran had been holding back its release. At the same time, he also exchanged two other games for the development department to optimize.
Lu Ran felt that these games should be saved for later, as they might come in very useful later.
These are all the trump cards of their Rabbit Technology, and he felt it wasn't good to reveal them too early.
Especially at this crucial moment when it is competing with WeChat and Weibo.
Just as everyone was waiting to see when WeChat would retaliate, WeChat and Weibo jointly issued an announcement on Weibo.
The announcement stated that they have acquired sixteen entertainment companies and aim to create a truly mass-market entertainment platform.
The announcement also subtly addressed the resource monopoly of the three companies, Star Shine, Star Light, and Star China, and welcomed artists to join their family.
Finally, it was stated that this is only part of a strategy, and more companies will join in the future.
The news sent shockwaves through the entire entertainment industry.
"Holy crap, what is Tencent up to?"
"Sixteen stores! How much money would that cost?"
"I heard the total investment exceeds one billion!"
"Buying sixteen companies for 1 billion yuan, that's an average of over 60 million yuan per company, not expensive at all."
"Not expensive? What do you know? This is a strategic investment, not a full acquisition. They want an alliance, not a takeover."
"Legendary Entertainment has joined too? Isn't that Shen Yuege's former company?"
"They broke up with Shen Yuege a long time ago. I estimate that Myth Entertainment will also join in, after all, pop diva Xu Manlin and Shen Yuege didn't get along very well before."
"I heard they reached a settlement in the end, but who knows?"
...
Lu Ran sat in his office, scrolling through the news, his expression growing serious.
It's true that Samsung has a monopoly on the entertainment industry, but it has only monopolized some resources; it can't monopolize everything.
Previously, other entertainment companies, even if they went it alone, would definitely not be able to compete with them.
But this time, the fact that Tencent, the company behind WeChat, and Weibo have directly integrated more than a dozen medium-sized entertainment companies makes sense.
Entertainment companies of this caliber usually have at least one top star or aspiring top star supporting them.
Taken together, they are indeed a force to be reckoned with.
Zhou Mingzhe handed him the latest data: "Sixteen companies, with over two hundred artists in total, and a conservative estimate of two hundred million fans. Now, our advantage is gone."
Lu Ran nodded.
He certainly knew what that meant.
TUTU was able to turn things around because of the collaboration between Starlight, StarHua, and StarShining, which brought artist resources and fans into TUTU.
But now, WeChat Weibo has also formed an alliance, and it's even bigger – sixteen companies, two hundred artists, and two hundred million fans.
Although the individual companies are not as strong as those three, their sheer number makes up for it.
The fans here mostly overlap.
Since this is going to happen, fans will have to choose between two options from now on.
On paper, their strength is not much weaker than the three-way alliance in the entertainment industry.
Moreover, it has Tencent, a major financial backer, behind it, who is best at throwing money around.
"Moreover," Zhou Mingzhe added, "among these sixteen families, there are some you know."
"Really?" Lu Ran hadn't paid attention to which companies were listed, but he knew they were all quite large.
Legendary Entertainment.
...