Chapter 331 Innocent

A good hunter always has to have extraordinary patience.

Yike encountered an excessive ban, industry lawsuits, and copyright holders' disregard in the United States. Under such circumstances, it was natural for it to be regarded as prey when it came into contact with Sony Music.

Pressing valuation, pressing prices, and talking about intervention, Sony Music's toughness is not only reflected in the previous "no talk of equity, no discussion", but also in various conditions.

Sony Music, led by Stringer, tried to catch this little white rabbit from the East by taking advantage of the encirclement of peers, Yike's competitors, and Fang Zhuo's ambition to change the music industry.

Stringer is very patient and can keep his composure.

He once made Yike's president fall into self-doubt of misjudgment.

Is Sony Music really so calm?

Did Sony Music see through his plan?

Is Sony Music, like its parent company, slow to respond to the development of digital music?

Is a record giant like Sony Music really willing to give up its bargaining power to an industry intruder?

Fang Zhuo had various thoughts flashing in his mind while waiting.

This time, the acquisition negotiations restarted by Apple were a tug-of-war for him and Stringer, Sony Music and Yike.

The two hunters were silently observing the performance of the prey and patiently waiting until the last moment.

Then, only one hunter had the last laugh.

"Mr. Fang, I will go to USTC when I return to China."

Yike and his group left Apple. Marketing Director Yu Hong was in the same car with the boss and sighed.

Fang Zhuo was surprised: "What do you mean?"

"Write your competitive means this time into the case." Yu Hong said, "I thought it was ineffective this time. Now it seems that Sony Music is really paying close attention to our movements. They waited until this time to call. Stringer is so patient, but he is still not better than you!"

Fang Zhuo smiled. This Xiao Yu, this Xiao Yu speaks so pleasantly.

"Xiao Yu, if you want to go back to HKUST to provide a case study, you must remember to compare it with another case study."

Yu Hong asked curiously, "Which one?"

"Last October, Under the Banyan Tree discussed the acquisition of shares with Bertelsmann of Germany. The German company initially offered 10 million." Fang Zhuo slowly recounted what happened last year, "However, when the discussion was halfway through, someone from Bertelsmann came downstairs and learned from the property management that Under the Banyan Tree had owed water and electricity bills for several months."

"Bertelsmann returned to the negotiation table and changed the offer from 10 million to 1 million. Under the Banyan Tree had no choice but to accept it."

From 10 million to 1 million in an instant, business negotiations are so ruthless that they will poke at the weakness as soon as they see it.

Fang Zhuo and Yu Hong both know that Yike will not sell to Apple, at least not when it currently has an advantage in the hardware market. If Sony Music withstands this pressure today, it may be able to get what it wants by lowering the price of Yike.

In that case, Yike can only follow behind and drink soup.

Now, it immediately has greater initiative.

"Patience is really important." Yu Hong has been involved in this matter, and now reviewing it really feels like walking on a tightrope.

Fang Zhuo shook his head slightly and made an assertion: "Rather than saying that Stringer is not as patient as me, it is better to say that the responsibility he bears cannot allow him to miss the opportunity of digital music."

In the current music player market, only Yike and Apple have become the climate in the United States, and these two companies have made forward-looking arrangements for software and hardware integration.

Sony Music can refuse Apple and Yike, and it can choose to wait for the transformation of its own players.

But when will it wait? Will it be in time by then?

If Sony Music sits back and watches Apple take over Yike, it will lose its bargaining power in the foreseeable future and can only be a wronged concubine. Now it has a chance to compete for the first wife by counterattacking Apple's acquisition.

"No one knows Sony's situation better than Stringer. It is precisely because he knows Sony so well that he would rather look for help from outside rather than try to promote Sony's strategic changes from within."

"Stringer's bottom line is too high, and my bottom line is too low. Without Sony Music, I can just go to Europe or return to China. He deserves to lose."

Fang Zhuo gave a self-evaluation.

Then, he found that Xiao Yu's eyes became smiling and he was speechless. He added: "It's because he has too little room. I have more room than him."

Yu Hong just nodded deeply and agreed. The boss is right. The boss said it well.

The business car stopped and started. The president and the marketing director were full of emotion about the cooperation between Yike and Sony Music. This step of cooperation on music copyright is not easy.

It is precisely because of this difficulty that it becomes more precious and delicious.

In fact, why does Yike have to suffer this?

Is it because it has an ideal of benefiting the American people?

The product is clearly made of parts purchased from all over the world. Yike just wants the American people to buy cheap things. What's wrong with it!

"Xiao Yu, remember what happened during this period, remember the blockade of the copyright holders against us, and remember our lawsuits."

"We are a clean and honest business in Yike. Why is it like this?"

Fang Zhuo said earnestly.

At this time, the phone rang. It was a call from fund manager Kong Yu.

"Hello, Mr. Fang, I'll send you a few stocks I selected for your review." Kong Yu's voice was loud and excited, "All the funding procedures have been completed! The gang members are really rich!"

Fang Zhuo said "hmm" twice and hung up the phone.

He suddenly felt that the noise reduction effect of this business car was a little too good.

Fang Zhuo put away his phone, met Yu Hong's eyes, and said firmly: "Yi Ke is innocent."

"Well, when I sell my shares, I will definitely ask you to do financial management." Yu Hong said a word that she often heard recently.

Fang Zhuo laughed dryly twice, changed the topic, and started talking about the next work.

Yi Ke and Sony Music have reached a consensus at the top level, and everything will go smoothly in the future.

Stringer should not play the trick of going back on his word.

Because his last-minute phone call today has completely exposed his intentions. Sony Music's calmness before was just an appearance. It actually had its eyes on Yi Ke.

The strategic intention was exposed, and going back on one's word was just a trick and not a tactic.

In the second week of November, Yi Ke, who had experienced bans, lawsuits, and frustrations, finally ushered in a period of happiness and quickly got the conditions that were previously stuck at the negotiation table.

Sony Music will obtain equity in the form of PreB round on the premise of Yike's valuation of US$300 million, and carry out in-depth cooperation on music copyright.

This involves the value conversion of three-year music copyright licensing, the promotion of its artists, the integration of profit sharing of record channels, etc.

Stringer is very bold. Since he has decided to cooperate, he will devote more resources to support Yike's confrontation with Apple.

Soon, Yike and Sony Music reached an agreement on the main conditions for cooperation, and the rest are details to be negotiated.

In the PreB round, Sony Music entered the market, and exchanged three-year music copyright licensing + US$5 million in cash for 10% of Yike's shares.

As a result, Fang Zhuo's shareholding was reduced to 44.1%, IDG America, IDG Huaxia, Today Capital, Shenxin Science and Technology, and Xiangjiang Huanyu held 16.2%, 9.9%, 6.57%, 5.76%, and 4.77% of the shares respectively, and the option pool was 2.7%.

Next, in addition to continuing negotiations, Yike will also complete the function development of iMusic, the restriction of music format transcription, and the encryption of digital music copyrights.

Among them, the most important one is to realize music purchase on the software.

This work requires constant debugging to ensure the payment security of users. Considering various conditions, it is estimated that it will not be launched until next spring.

Apple is not clear about the progress for the time being, but from the information we have learned, it will not be much faster.

On November 15, the commercial negotiations between Sony Music and Yike came to an end, and both parties are looking forward to the upcoming changes in the industry ecology brought by digital music.

"Xiao Yu, I will return to Shanghai at the latest this weekend."

Fang Zhuo held meetings in succession, interviewed several professional managers recommended by headhunters, and finally communicated with Yu Hong on the candidates.

Professional managers in the United States must cooperate with Yu Hong and must respect the opinions of the marketing director.

"Well, let's see you at the end of the month. I can't miss Zhou Xin's wedding." Yu Hong still felt a little hasty when she mentioned this.

"However, I have to do one more thing before I go back." Fang Zhuo sighed and said, "Sometimes I really feel that things are too complicated."

"What is it?" Yu Hong asked this question, and then tried to guess, "An Liang Club?"

Fang Zhuo looked at the marketing director in surprise. He almost never talked about this with Xiao Yu.

"I don't think you have good intentions towards them." Yu Hong curled her lips.

Fang Zhuo rubbed his face and felt that his image was a little distorted, especially since he had just won the cooperation with Sony Music. Shouldn't he be wise and powerful?

"Anliang Chamber of Commerce still has great financial potential. In the next few years, not only will our domestic development be fast, but the United States will also develop very fast. MIGA Fund can use Anliang Chamber of Commerce as a benchmark for investment and financial management, which will definitely have a siphon effect."

"But, we have to try whether these people are aware of who is making them money."

Fang Zhuo shrugged: "So, I want to do a small test."

Yu Hong waited for the next words.

"I saw a small incident mentioned in the marketing department's report last week. An employee was beaten by a black store manager while working." Fang Zhuo said.

"Well, he was beaten for no reason. Fortunately, it was a minor injury. We also called the police." Yu Hong explained seriously when she heard that her work was involved.

"Racial discrimination is very serious here. There is no need for any special reason. Black people tend to stick together. Let's leave it to the financial management group. If it works this time, remember to tell them next time if you encounter any problems." Fang Zhuo said lightly.

"How will they deal with it?" Yu Hong asked.

Fang Zhuo spread his hands: "How should I know? I am not in a gang, so I will just complain directly."

Yu Hong stopped asking. The employee's experience was indeed very strange. Considering that they were in a foreign country, they did not make it public before. They waited for the police to respond but did not receive any response.

Soon, Fang Zhuo called Tong Wandou and told him what happened to his employees with great indignation.

I wanted to use words to touch the interests of PL Fund, but Tong Wandou Fan Xiong took the initiative to take the matter, saying that Mr. Fang's employees were all his brothers, and he would never let his brothers suffer.

Fang Zhuo did not show up, but directly let the person involved vent his frustration and let him follow the financial management group to see how to deal with it.

The financial management group was very efficient, and the client was able to put his worries to rest within a day.

Fang Zhuo was quite satisfied with this, and before leaving, he called Li Xinyue of Anliang to express his gratitude to the Chamber of Commerce, praising them for being "yellow-skinned people helping yellow-skinned people" and being very responsible.

Li Xinyue had no idea what was going on, and accepted the thanks in confusion.

When she went to find out what was going on, she found out that the brothers in the Chamber of Commerce had a large-scale conflict, which was somewhat contrary to An Liang's current pursuit of a positive image.

The eldest lady of the Li family had some disputes with Shuanghua Honggun, and was particularly dissatisfied with him for taking people out without authorization.

Fang Zhuo didn't know how they resolved the disagreement internally, but he only knew that Copper Pea Fan Xiong was very dissatisfied when he sent him to the airport.

The Chamber of Commerce made money, and the brothers didn't want to care about their lives. The Li family ate delicious food and drank spicy drinks, and the brothers just made some soup to quench their thirst.

If this goes on, will An Liang still be the same An Liang?

Fang Zhuo couldn't figure out the answer. After all, he was not familiar with the affairs of the underworld. He just smiled and said to the copper pea before entering the airport: "Brother Fan, I don't understand what you are talking about."

"Anyway, I think Brother Fan is very loyal. If you have a shareholders' meeting, I will definitely vote for you."

Fang Zhuo said kindly: "I saw in the movie that who is in charge is the Li family. Their status has earned them more from my fund."

"There is such a thing? Their share is more?" Fan Xiong was surprised.

"After all, they represent the Anliang Association. I have to give them face." Fang Zhuo smiled slightly and patted Fan Xiong on the shoulder. "Let's go. Next time I come to New York, I hope Brother Fan can do his best to be a good host."

Fan Xiong silently watched the backs of the president and his assistants leaving, with an inexplicable expression.

Look at today's chamber of commerce. Whose Anliang is it?

Transoceanic flights flew overhead. President Yi Ke came and went, but the impact he brought to the music industry and the financial management concepts he cultivated will produce more results.