The Industrial Giant Reborn

Chapter 186 Controlling TVB
"Yes, Hutchison has acquired the TVB shares they hold from HSBC and Times Life. Now, I already own 90% of TVB's shares, so I naturally want to take over TVB." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

Shao Yifu asked: "It has long been heard that Chen Sheng's business strategy for Hutchison Huang is to only develop core businesses, such as real estate, docks, and trade. Is it difficult for Chen Sheng to also take a fancy to this small business of TVB?"

Chen Zhiwen shook his head and said: "Compared to Hutchison Huang's existing major businesses, TVB is naturally a small business, but I don't care how much profit TVB can bring me, or even lose money, what I want is a TV station. "

"Then Chen Sheng is going to drive me away?" Shao Yifu asked.

Chen Zhiwen shook his head and said, "No, but, Shao Sheng, are you really willing to stay and work for others?"

"This..." Shao Yifu fell silent. When TVB was first established, Shao Yifu didn't take this TV station seriously. He only joined because of the invitation of his friends, and only invested 2% of the shares. The reason why Li Xiaohe Inviting Shaw Yifu is because Shaw Cinemas has a large number of filming resources, which can complement the start-up TVB.

But no one would have imagined that in just over a decade, Shaw Cinemas was hoisted up and beaten by a rising star, and TVB, which used to be insignificant, became the overlord of TV in Hong Kong. However, his friend Li Xiaohe was seriously ill and could not operate the TV station for a long time, so Shaw was slow. Slowly took control of TVB.

Because Shao Yifu knows that Li Xiaohe's health is definitely not good enough, he is the potential owner of TVB in the future, even if the three major foreign companies want TVB in the future, they will face a situation where all the management is controlled by him, besides, foreign companies are just to make money , As long as you pay your own money, you will definitely be able to buy their shares.

It's just that Chen Zhiwen, who is much richer than him, obtained the absolute controlling stake in TVB, and he fell into a deadlock all of a sudden.

Make him work for someone else?That is really too difficult. Once one of the top ten richest people in Hong Kong, no matter how much he declined, he would not be reduced to this point.

"Chen Sheng, is there really no room for negotiation?" Shao Yifu asked with a frown, as if there was nothing left to exchange on his side.

"I definitely want TVB." Chen Zhiwen said: "If Shao Sheng is interested, he can become a non-executive director of TVB and participate in the management of the company by the board of directors."

Shao Yifu has good vision and ability in everything, but the attribute of "picking" is too strong. Isn't the reason why Shaw Brothers Film Company declined because it missed Li Xiaolong and Xu Guanwen consecutively?Let the competitor Golden Harvest earn a huge amount of box office, which in turn hangs Shaw Brothers.

In the history of TV stations, although TVB still developed very well in the 80s, all TV series were popular and exported to various Asian countries in reverse, but the root of the disaster was also planted at this time. Although the stars were very famous, their income was too high. Low, so low that the second-tier stars are similar to wage earners, and the third-tier stars, which are familiar to most people but don’t know their names, basically have to do other side jobs to survive.

Although stars are also jobs, stars in all countries in the world eventually move towards high income. This is a choice of the market. Relying on the monopoly in Hong Kong to suppress their income will only be counterproductive. After all contracts expire in the 90s, These people all went to the film industry.

"Chen Sheng already owns 90% of the shares, so what's the point of me being a director?" Shao Yifu laughed at himself.

"Shao Sheng, you decide for yourself." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

"I need to think about it. As for TVB's personnel, Chen Sheng is going to do it now?" Shao Yifu said regretfully. There is really no other way. The other party has 9% of the equity and is richer, so he can only give up. , but there are so many people who follow him, they have to ask. .

"I can stay with Shao Sheng's team and continue to run TVB, as long as they cooperate with my future policies." Chen Zhiwen said.

The reason why Shao Yifu was not directly kicked out was that apart from Chen Zhiwen's considerable appreciation for his charitable behavior in the mainland in the future, another reason was that the current wireless TV station is still inseparable from the filming base of Shaw Brothers Film Company. Over the years, Because of Shao Yifu's relationship, TVB has saved a lot of costs in filming many plots, which is one of the reasons why TVB can gradually defeat Li's.

Chen Zhiwen didn't really care about the cost savings, but if it suddenly disappeared, the wireless TV station would immediately be in a lot of trouble.

Therefore, we still need to stabilize Shao Yifu. Even if he wants to let him go, let him choose: either you leave, or you stay and work for me.

Shao Yifu will definitely leave on his own. This is the case with this kind of people, so it will be too embarrassing to drive the other party away. There is no need to make it so ugly. After all, the other party is also a business tycoon.

It's a pity that I have a special plan for TVB. Shao Yifu's extreme personality has ruined his Shaw Film Company. Chen Zhiwen will not let him ruin TVB again.

On January 1976, 1, a piece of news shocked the entire entertainment circle. Hutchison Whampoa had acquired 16% of the shares of TVB, and had reached an agreement with the current TVB chairman Li Xiaohe and general manager Shao Yifu. The two of them resigned from the TV station immediately, and TVB officially entered the Hutchison era.

Today's TVB is not a listed company, so no matter how well-known it is among the public, it is not obligatory to hold a press conference when changing shares. Besides, TVB itself is the largest gathering point for journalists in Hong Kong.

The change of ownership of the company naturally required a management meeting to be held immediately. However, Chen Zhiwen would not intervene casually in industries he did not understand. Instead, he made an appointment with Liang Shuyi, who used to be Shao Yifu's right-hand man at TVB.

"Hello, Chen Sheng." Seeing Chen Zhiwen, Liang Shuyi did not feel nervous like many people, but instead acted peacefully.

"Miss Zhou, please sit down." Chen Zhiwen waved his hand.

Fang Yat-hua, the most famous woman head of TVB in later generations, does not know where she is now, but in the current TVB, there is a strong woman, that is, Zhou Liang Shuyi.

She climbed from a clerk of TVB to the position of producer by herself. In the original history, after another year, she became the youngest deputy general manager in the history of TVB, and then left to join the newly established Jiayi TV, because of the various wireless environments at that time, she had no room for advancement.

After arriving in Jiayi, she also relied on her own efforts to become the deputy general manager of Jiayi, but in fact she was the real manager of Jiayi, and became the six core members of the so-called "Six Gentlemen of Jiayi". one of the characters.

It's a pity that no matter how talented you are, you can't overcome the congenital defects of Jiayi TV Station: the golden program time must broadcast educational programs. After Jiayi closed down, Liang Shuyi turned to politics and became a member of parliament for two terms. Yuan Li's TV station, which was renamed Asia TV, has been fighting with her old TVB for several years.

Until later, ATV was unable to recover, so Leung Shu-yi went to politics again, from the Municipal Council, the Legislative Council, the Executive Council, the Tourism Development Bureau, the Trade Bureau, the Airport Management Board, the ICAC representatives, the Consumer Council, etc., more than a dozen Over the past few years, the number of government affairs that have been held is dazzling, and many of them have become the chairman and become a political elite.

The bottom line is that people like Liang Shuyi like to challenge themselves constantly, and once they are no longer challenging, they want to leave.

Chen Zhiwen is naturally willing to keep such a person with all his strength. The wireless TV station has a big goal in his plan, which is enough to keep her busy for a long time. Moreover, such an ambitious person may be able to find places that he never thought of.

"Miss Zhou, what do you think about the future of TVB?" Chen Zhiwen asked.

"Chen Sheng, TVB surpassed Lidi in terms of market share three years ago and became the largest TV station in Hong Kong. However, the competition of TV stations has always been based on ratings, and ratings are something that sometimes a TV series It can be changed, so we can't sit back and relax until Li's is completely defeated. In addition, the Hong Kong government established a TV station called Jiayi a few months ago. Although there are many restrictions on the golden program, but There are many business tycoons behind this company, so it should not be underestimated." Zhou Liang Shuyi said skillfully, apparently already prepared.

"Then how do you think we can completely surpass them?" Chen Zhiwen asked with a smile. This point is indeed what Liang Shuyi said. Although since the 80s, TVB has dominated Lai's (ATV) most of the time, but it has never It can kill it, but in some years, ATV made a blockbuster, and put the pressure on TVB, until the entire Hong Kong movie declined, and the two companies did not separate their lives.

"Long-term broadcasting of high-quality TV dramas and a large number of new dramas, as long as it lasts for a few years, is enough to destroy Li's profitability and make the shareholders behind them withdraw their shares." Zhou Liang Shuyi said: "I think it's good to make martial arts novels. Although Li Xiaolong has passed away, his influence is still there. We can find those martial arts novels that have been proven by the market and make them into TV series. As long as we are willing to spend money, it will be difficult for us to think about it."

"Look at you, have you mentioned it to Shao Yifu before?" Chen Zhiwen asked with a smile.

"Yes, I mentioned it, but it was rejected due to the need to purchase too many copyrights and the high cost of filming." Zhou Liang Shuyi said.

Chen Zhiwen nodded and said, "If you want to make Jin Yong's martial arts films or Gu Long's, it's fine. I can pay for it, but the number of classic martial arts novels is limited. What should we do after all the films are finished?"

"Then we can only make self-produced dramas." Zhou Liangshuyi said: "TVB's current self-produced dramas are not bad, but what is more troublesome now is that many of us used the resources of Shaw Brothers Film Company before, and many screenwriters followed suit this time. Shao Yifu left, and in the past year, the film crew and screenwriter will be more nervous."

"If you don't have enough people, you can recruit again. If you can't find it, you can go outside to dig, or go to Li's to dig." Chen Zhiwen said.

"Indeed." Zhou Liang Shuyi nodded and said.

Chen Zhiwen went on to say: "However, a mature TV station must be able to cultivate its own talents, especially in Hong Kong, where there are only two or three TV stations, and sometimes it is impossible to find them."

"What Chen Sheng means is to increase the number of people in the wireless training class?" Zhou Liang Shuyi immediately understood what Chen Zhiwen meant.

(End of this chapter)