69novels Chapter 19: Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest were both dumbfounded!
Chapter 19: Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest were both dumbfounded!
Upon closer examination, it turns out that this loss amounted to a staggering 15 million.
"No!" Lei Juekun gritted his teeth and said in a deep voice, "I absolutely cannot accept this number!"
"Then I really can't help you!" Zou Wenhuai shook his head gently and said slowly, "Mr. Lei, you might want to reconsider. We have several new films waiting for investment, and we need money everywhere. Moreover, actors' salaries are skyrocketing these days, and we truly have no way to help!"
Lei Juekun gritted his teeth again, turned around without saying a word, and strode away.
He simply could not accept such a price.
……
……
However, as time went by, Lei Juekun's mood became increasingly anxious and restless.
He had no idea how much room for maneuver he had left, let alone how many shares of Kowloon Construction that Gu Yuhan had already seized.
After much deliberation, he finally made up his mind to agree to Zou Wenhuai's conditions. No matter what, he had to protect Kowloon Construction, which he had built up from scratch. If Gu Yuhan successfully acquired it, all the hard work the Lei family had put in over the years would be for naught.
Just as Lei Juekun made up his mind, his secretary rushed in, looking flustered, and said urgently, "Mr. Lei, it's an emergency board meeting!"
In that instant, Lei Juekun felt a buzzing in his head, and a strong sense of foreboding washed over him. Why was a board meeting being convened at this crucial moment?
What does this mean?
Lei Juekun suppressed his unease and rushed to the board meeting room of Kowloon Construction. As soon as he entered, he saw a strange young man.
The young man had a faint smile on his lips, and he looked at him as if he were examining an object.
"Mr. Lei, I've heard so much about you!"
Gu Yuhan smiled slightly and extended her hand to Lei Juekun: "I am Gu Yuhan."
Looking at Gu Yuhan's outstretched hand, Lei Juekun felt as if his arm was filled with lead, unable to lift it no matter what he did. Gu Yuhan, however, maintained his smile and said calmly, "Mr. Lei, from now on, Kowloon Construction belongs to the Gu family. I hope Mr. Lei can recognize his place and understand the times; a wise person will yield to circumstances, and not refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit!"
Lei Juekun stood there stunned for a long time before slowly raising his hand and stiffly grasping Gu Yuhan's hand: "Mr. Gu, hello."
Gu Yuhan walked straight to the head seat and sat down, his face still bearing that composed smile: "President Lei, this is my shareholding certificate. You can take a look. My current shareholding ratio has exceeded 51%. Next, we can discuss the ownership of your portion of Kowloon Construction's shares. As a junior, I will give you a dignified exit."
"What?" Lei Juekun trembled violently and exclaimed, "You...you want to completely acquire Kowloon Construction?"
Gu Yuhan shrugged and said with a smile, "What, does President Lei have any objections? Feel free to bring them up. I'm a young man, and I'm easy to talk to."
Lei Juekun took a deep breath, suppressing his anger, and said, "Mr. Gu, I was blind to your greatness before, and I have offended you greatly!"
"Mr. Lei, I think you haven't understood what I mean. What I mean is, you must completely withdraw from Kowloon Construction Group now. There is no room for negotiation on this matter!" Lei Juekun's eyes widened upon hearing this.
He never imagined that the little brat he had casually addressed would actually drive him to his doom. He gritted his teeth and said, "Mr. Gu, I've already shown you enough respect!"
"If I called you 'old man,' do you think I'd be respecting you?" Gu Yuhan looked at Lei Juekun with disdain, his tone calm yet carrying an undeniable authority: "Stop giving me that nonsense. I'll say it again, I want you to completely withdraw from Kowloon Construction Group. This is a notice, not a request!"
"What can you do to me if I don't agree?" Lei Juekun glared angrily at Gu Yuhan.
"I now hold 51% of the shares, and I'm the one who calls the shots here!" Gu Yuhan still smiled, but his words were icy cold: "I can transfer all of Kowloon Construction's properties and land to my Bright Group for just one Hong Kong dollar. Mr. Lei, I advise you to obediently agree to my demands and not push your luck!"
Lei Juekun was furious and wished he could punch Gu Yuhan's smug face.
only……
Lei Juekun finally felt a deep sense of powerlessness. He remained silent for a long time before slowly asking, "How much are you willing to pay to acquire my shares?"
Gu Yuhan laughed upon hearing this, looking confident: "No rush, let's talk slowly."
……
……
Ultimately, Gu Yuhan offered HK$30 million for the acquisition.
Lei Juekun felt as if his heart was bleeding, and he was in so much pain that he could hardly breathe. To be fair, thirty million was not a small amount, but this matter could not be calculated in this way.
The potential for future value appreciation in Kowloon Development is limitless.
The shares he currently holds are worth about 30 million, but in another ten years or so, the value of these shares will be far more than 30 million, possibly even 300 million or 700 or 800 million.
At this moment, Lei Juekun was filled with endless regret.
He regretted his hasty remark calling Gu Yuhan a "little brat." Who could have imagined that this seemingly unremarkable young man would actually commit such a heinous act against Kowloon Construction?
Moreover, every strike is a fatal blow, leaving no chance of survival.
Watching Lei Juekun's dejected figure leave, Gu Yuhan simply smiled faintly.
In total, he spent less than HK$180 million to acquire Kowloon Construction.
Although Kowloon Development has a market value of 200 million, the price at which it acquired shares from other shareholders was not high. As for the shares held by Lei Juekun, it was even less likely that he would acquire them at the market price of five dollars.
He now holds 75% of Kowloon Development's shares and could easily consider privatizing the company and delisting it, turning it into his private property.
Currently, Kowloon Development still holds two very high-quality assets.
One is Kowloon Motor Bus, and the other is the Golden Princess Cinemas that Lui Kok-kwan is preparing.
Although Kowloon Motor Bus is not exactly the family business of the Lui family, the Lui family is the largest shareholder of Kowloon Motor Bus, holding 21.6% of the shares.
The founder of Kowloon Motor Bus was Mr. Tang Chiu-kin.
The company was founded in 1928, and this year marks its fiftieth anniversary. It has weathered nearly half a century of ups and downs.
Tang Chiu-kin served as the chairman of the board of directors of Kowloon Motor Bus. It wasn't until after World War II, when Kowloon Motor Bus faced a severe financial crisis, that Tang Chiu-kin had to bring in a new shareholder in order to save the company.
This new shareholder is Lei Juekun's father, Lei Ruide.
From then on, Raymond Lui officially took control of Kowloon Motor Bus. Although Tang Chiu-kin remained the chairman of the board, the Lui family's influence within the company grew day by day.
Later, the Hong Kong government intervened once. Because Kowloon Motor Bus was a public transport company, in 1961, the Hong Kong government required Kowloon Motor Bus to abandon diversified operations and focus on providing public transport services, otherwise it would not be issued a bus operating license. At the same time, it also set a cap on the company's profit margin.
Therefore, Kowloon Motor Bus began to divest its businesses. Kowloon Development was the real estate business segment that was spun off from Kowloon Motor Bus in 1961. Since Tang Chiu-kin was not interested in the real estate industry, Kowloon Development gradually came under the control of the Lui family and became their private property.
Later, in order to increase its market value for its IPO, Kowloon Development injected all of Kowloon Motor Bus's shares into the company. So now that Gu Yuhan has acquired Kowloon Development, he effectively holds a portion of Kowloon Motor Bus's shares indirectly.
Gu Yuhan glanced at the data and found that Kowloon Motor Bus's profitability was quite stable. Although it wouldn't make a lot of money in the short term, it was good at preserving value and could definitely be considered a high-quality asset.
Gu Yuhan wasn't in a hurry to sell it. Even if it didn't make much money, keeping it wouldn't hurt. He could consider it a contribution to the public good.
In fact, what Gu Yuhan truly valued was the Golden Princess Cinema Circuit, which was built by Lei Juekun.
In general, while the Lei family may not be considered among Hong Kong's top tycoons, they are still quite prominent figures. Lei Juekun himself is a renowned entertainment tycoon in Hong Kong's history.
His Golden Princess Cinemas chain broke the long-standing minimum guarantee distribution system practiced by Hong Kong Island cinema chains, and pioneered the box office revenue sharing system.
This move gave more opportunities to independent filmmakers, freeing theaters from guaranteeing the quality of bad films and providing independent films with entirely new distribution channels. It was also the emergence of Golden Princess Cinemas that forced the two giants, Golden Harvest and Shaw Brothers, to make corresponding changes.
It can be said that the emergence of Golden Princess Cinemas greatly contributed to the golden age of Hong Kong's film industry in the 1980s and 1990s.
So much so that the newly established Cinema City film company forced Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest, these two sworn enemies, to join forces against it. It should be noted that Run Run Shaw always regarded Chow Wen-huai as a traitor, while Chow Wen-huai believed that Run Run Shaw was a dictator, stingy and miserly, and always liked to put on airs.
These two companies fought for a full decade, but in the end they had to join forces to resist Cinema City, which shows how powerful Cinema City was at the time.
Of course, the real power didn't come from Cinema City itself, but from the fact that it gave filmmakers more choices. Before that, when making movies, everyone had to either align themselves with Golden Harvest or Shaw Brothers, and they all had to abide by their rules. Whether it was Golden Harvest or Shaw Brothers, if they felt your film posed a threat to them, they would reduce your screenings or even pull your film from theaters altogether.
Now, filmmakers have more autonomy. Golden Princess Cinemas' scheduling doesn't consider which company produced the film, but only its quality. High box office returns mean more screenings; low box office returns mean fewer screenings.
Now, Lei Juekun has been kicked out by Gu Yuhan, and what Gu Yuhan brings is a fully upgraded and enhanced version of Art City.
From company management systems to film industrialization processes, Gu Yuhan implemented comprehensive optimizations and enhancements. The staff remained the same, but the company's operational efficiency improved dramatically. Now, with the addition of the powerful distribution channel of Golden Princess Cinemas, it was like adding wings to a tiger, making it invincible.
Of course, for the time being, both Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest have given Gu Yuhan some face.
After all, if we were to truly categorize Hong Kong's wealthy into different classes...
Therefore, the first tier undoubtedly consists of the four established Hong Kong families: the shipping magnates, the shipping magnates, the Li family, and the Li family.
The top tier of wealthy individuals share a common characteristic: they all possess the power to challenge British giants. For example, the shipping magnate Jardine Matheson had the ability to carve out a piece of the pie from a behemoth like Jardine Matheson.
Basically, those who can reach this level are figures who can rival British capital.
The second tier consists of future members of the four major families, including Gu Zhenguo, Li Ka-shing, and Li Zhaoji.
However, Gu Zhenguo has now successfully acquired Hutchison Whampoa and has effectively begun his assault on the top tier. If he can stabilize the situation and completely control Hutchison Whampoa, it won't be long before Gu Zhenguo joins the top tier.
Counting down further, it's still not Lei Juekun's turn.
Lei Juekun's assets can only be ranked in the fourth or fifth tier at most.
Run Run Shaw would probably be ranked in the third tier, while Golden Harvest would be similar to Lui Kok-kwan, in the fourth tier.
Run Run Shaw had a significant advantage: he controlled TVB. However, he didn't have complete control, as the largest shareholder of TVB was actually the Li family.
Without any direct conflict of interest, the eldest son of the Gu family made a movie and hoped that everyone would give him face. Neither Golden Harvest nor Shaw Brothers would refuse to do so.
It just so happens that the summer movie season is coming to an end, and neither of them has any major films being released.
As a result, Shaw Brothers, Golden Harvest, and Golden Princess cinemas simultaneously released the film "Happy Ghost".
At this point, a total of ninety cinemas were simultaneously showing "Happy Ghost".
Gu Yuhan wasn't idle either. He directly spent HK$500,000 on various media outlets, with only one request: to hype them up, to hype them up relentlessly from every angle.
As a time traveler, Gu Yuhan was all too aware of the importance of movie promotion.
Maintaining good relations with the media is always a good idea.
Raymond Wong personally went to the cinema to see the actual effect of the film.
To be honest, Gu Yuhan had already watched "Happy Ghost" five or six times in his previous life, and he knew the jokes by heart. Watching it again didn't feel the same way anymore.
But for the vast majority of Hong Kong citizens in this era, this movie is an absolutely unprecedented and fresh experience, with a constant stream of laughs and no dull moments.
This is simply a case of overwhelming force.
Although "Happy Ghost" is categorized as a comedy ghost film, strictly speaking, it is actually a youth campus comedy.
Since Bruce Lee's death, Hong Kong cinema has been flooded with kung fu films. These films are not necessarily bad, but watching too many of them can easily lead to aesthetic fatigue.
These actors' kung fu skills are far inferior to Bruce Lee's, yet they are all deliberately imitating Bruce Lee's style, which naturally fails to attract many viewers.
Before Jackie Chan pioneered the new genre of kung fu comedy, kung fu films had indeed run out of novelty.
Besides these, the only other films on the market are period martial arts films, erotic films, and some modern comedies set in everyday life. These films aren't necessarily bad, but they lack sufficient gimmicks and originality.
While there are youth campus movies, most of them are romance films and art films, and they are not very popular with audiences.
It was only 1978, and Hong Kong cinema had not yet entered its true golden age.
The emergence of "Happy Ghost" was undoubtedly a precise and decisive blow. It's not only a rare youth campus comedy, but it also cleverly incorporates ghost elements. Ghosts are supposed to be scary, but when used for comedy, the effect is completely different.
Feeling the waves of laughter rising and falling in the theater, Raymond Wong finally breathed a sigh of relief.
While watching the movie, he carefully observed the audience's reactions, diligently noting the moments when they laughed and the effect of each joke.
This is a required course for any excellent director, and it was something Gu Yuhan specifically reminded him of.
Not only do directors need to study the audience, but screenwriters need to do even more research.
Nothing tells a better story than direct market research.
Of course, Gu Yuhan also made strict rules, resolutely prohibiting the inclusion of any vulgar toilet humor in the film.
Only at this moment did Raymond Wong finally breathe a sigh of relief. Previously, everyone in the crew and within the company had laughed uproariously, but Gu Yuhan had remained expressionless even after watching it five or six times, which had left Wong feeling uncertain.
But now, seeing the reactions of ordinary viewers, he can finally rest assured.