Chapter 134: Chapter 134: Acquiring a Copyright Company
Chen Guanglei explained with more than a hint of schadenfreude, “Yu Lu, this is where you don’t get it. With so many big capitals eyeing ‘War Panther 2’ like it’s a juicy piece of meat, who cares about an investment agreement? Xu Yang is an outsider in the industry, and they will squeeze him however they want. Having an investment agreement is useless—it’s just a piece of paper in front of big capital!”

Zhao Yulu nodded as if she understood.

In this society, when the powerful want to suppress the small fries, they don’t care about any rules. They just steamroll right over them with brute force, leaving the little guys with no room to resist.

Chen Guanglei then laughed loudly, “Just thinking about Xu Yang’s frustrated look makes me happy. He couldn’t invest in ‘War Panther 2,’ but Starlight Film and Television could. This investment is definitely going to earn a pretty penny.”

Zhao Yulu didn’t say anything.

Chen Guanglei continued, “Yu Lu, this time we’ve already settled the issue of stars endorsing products with President Bi. Next, you need to liaise with them to arrange for celebrities to come to our company for live-stream product endorsements.”

This matter was his main reason for attending the ‘War Panther 2’ celebration party.

Otherwise, he really wouldn’t have bothered to see Xu Yang basking in the limelight.

Having settled this matter, he hoped to help Jia Sheng Guild out of its current predicament.

Zhao Yulu nodded, “All right, I’ll take care of it.”

…

In a blink of an eye, several days passed.

These days had been calm throughout.

Yang Xin’s investment lawsuit against Hua’an Film and Television was in progress.

Xue Zhanhua had not yet made a move.

Then the weekend arrived.

With nothing much to do at home, Xu Yang and Zhao Yuxin decided to watch a movie.

There were quite a few blockbuster films they hadn’t seen before.

Xu Yang planned to buy a membership with a video streaming site to watch movies.

A year’s membership fee was only a couple of hundred yuan, which was nothing compared to his massive wealth now—it couldn’t even be described as a drop in the bucket.

Zhao Yuxin, on the other hand, said, “Honey, why bother with a membership? Just search online. There are lots of free websites where you can watch directly.”

Xu Yang replied, “I know, that’s pirated content. I used to watch that way too, but it seems the clarity isn’t as good as watching on a streaming site.”

Zhao Yuxin countered, “As far as I’m concerned, there’s not much of a difference. Anyway, I think it’s fine.”

Xu Yang then said, “Honey, we’re rich now, and if we’re going to watch something, we should watch the best. There’s no need to resort to pirated copies. After all, a year’s membership costs less than two hundred yuan.”

Zhao Yuxin rebutted, “Honey, if you’re going to insist on that, then I really must have a word with you. Even if we have money, we can’t just squander it, and besides, you don’t know how deep the cunning schemes of video streaming sites go. Don’t think that by paying less than two hundred yuan for a membership fee everything will be perfect.”

Xu Yang was taken aback, “What cunning schemes?”

Zhao Yuxin explained, “One of my girlfriends fell for it before. She bought a membership, but some movies still required extra payment. Additionally, streaming sites tailor ads specifically for members, and if you want to remove those ads, you have to pay extra. If there are popular TV series you want to see ahead of others, you also have to pay extra. There are a lot of other tricks too. Basically, they’re hell-bent on getting you to spend money. Nowadays, people are saying that members of streaming sites are just like leeks waiting to be harvested. Do you want to be a harvested leek?”

“Of course not,” Xu Yang immediately shook his head. “I don’t mind spending a few hundred yuan, but I can’t stand being treated like a leek ready to be harvested. I strongly condemn such behavior!”

Zhao Yuxin laughed, “Honey, they care about the money, but you care about being seen as a leek; that’s quite unique.”

At that moment, a notification from the system sounded in Xu Yang’s mind.

[Ding! The National Copyright Office will carry out a special operation to crackdown on piracy in three months. By then, the prices for copyright of various cultural and knowledge products will increase manyfold!]

Xu Yang’s eyes lit up.

A new investment opportunity had arrived! And it promised returns dozens or even hundreds of times over.

Now all he needed was to acquire a copyright company. Let it frantically buy up copyright of cultural works and then simply wait for the money to roll in.

With this thought, Xu Yang had no mood to watch any movies.

“Wife, let’s not watch a movie now. I just remembered something I need to look up. You go ahead and have fun,” he said.

With that, Xu Yang went into his study, turned on his computer, and began searching for copyright companies on sale.

Given rampant piracy, copyright companies were not faring well.

Many were operating at a loss and willing to sell.

After searching through multiple companies and comparing them, Xu Yang finally settled on a copyright company called Pioneer Culture.

He dialed the phone number listed for the company.

The call connected quickly.

Xu Yang asked, “Hello, is this President Yu from Pioneer Culture Copyright Company?”

The boss of Pioneer Culture Copyright Company was named Yu Liang, who asked, “You are…?”

Xuang Yang said, “I represent Yang Xin Investment Company and am interested in acquiring your company. When will you be available to meet and discuss this?”

Yu Liang replied, “I am currently out of town and won’t return to Jiangcheng until Monday. Come to my company at three o’clock in the afternoon on Monday.”

Xu Yang said, “Fine.”

In a flash, it was Monday.

At two forty-five in the afternoon, Xu Yang, accompanied by the General Manager of Yang Xin Investment as well as lawyers and accountants, arrived at Pioneer Culture Copyright Company to meet with Yu Liang.

Yu Liang was a man in his forties who looked fit, without any signs of being overweight.

After a simple exchange of pleasantries, Yu Liang led Xu Yang and his team to a meeting room.

Everyone took their seats.

Yu Liang asked, “President Xu, are you seriously interested in acquiring my company?”

Xu Yang nodded, “Of course. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have come. If your company passes my lawyer’s and accountant’s inspection without issues, I’ll carry out the acquisition.”

Yu Liang finally smiled, “My company’s clean. I’ll immediately get the paperwork ready for your lawyer and accountant to inspect.”

Truth be told, the company was just breaking even.

That is to say, it wasn’t making any money.

Running a business without profit, he was all too ready to let go.

However, despite advertising for over a year, while many had shown interest and visited the company, none were willing to acquire it.

Honestly, upon receiving Xu Yang’s call, he thought Xu Yang would be just like the others.

Now it seemed different.

He could tell that Xu Yang was seriously intent on acquiring it.

He wasn’t just another passerby who would leave after a glance.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have brought his lawyers and accountants on the first visit.

At least not without wanting to seriously consider an acquisition.

Of course he was thrilled about the chance to finally unload this burden.

By recovering funds, he could invest elsewhere instead of being stuck in a stagnant company. That was simply unbearable.

Whether Xu Yang would profit after the acquisition was none of his concern now.

Soon, he had someone bring the relevant documents over.