New York 2006

Chapter 73 Ronaldinho
At the Hilton Hotel in New York, more than 200 celebrities from the Chinese political, business and art circles were socializing in the banquet hall. Luo Jigang finished socializing with Cheng Zhengchang, the founder of Panda Express Group, and his wife Peggy Chiang, and initially finalized an advertising contract.As soon as Luo Ji was free, he was stopped again.He is very popular today.

"Xiao Luo."

"Ugh."

"Come here, let me take a good look."

Luo Ji knew her, she was Tang Nanshan, she was in her 50s, and Luo Ji had read her report not long ago.Luo Ji walked over with a smile on her face. She was well-maintained in her 50s and was much younger than the white girl of the same age.

"Hello, Sister Tang."

"Hahaha."

Tang Nanshan was amused and laughed. She was not like a traditional Chinese woman at all. She didn't care about the eyes of the people around her. She was very confident and her aura was not inferior to that of the elite men present.

Strength is confidence, and she is one of the few rich women present.His personal worth exceeds that of most men present.

Last year, Tanox, a company she founded to treat asthma and AIDS, was acquired by Genentech for $9.19 million.She is now a managing director at Orbi Capital in New York, a deep-pocket firm focused on public and private investments in the healthcare and biotech industries.

"Ronald, how are you lately? I saw on the news that you have a big conflict with Universal Music. Do you need my help?"

"Do you know the executives at Universal Music?"

Tang Nanshan smiled and said: "I don't know the senior management of Universal Music, but I know the people from Universal Music's European capital. We met when we invested in a pharmaceutical company."

Luo Ji smiled bitterly: "Public opinion has been favorable to me recently, and my albums are selling well on the Internet. It's better not to disturb the management people, otherwise the entire Universal Music executives will target me."

Tang Nanshan hesitated slightly: "I saw that some media broke the news that Universal wanted to monopolize your record company, and you resisted. Is this the case?"

"Anything that doesn't happen is just nonsense from the media." Luo Ji replied with a smile.

Some time ago, a reporter broke the news that he had received information from within Universal Music, saying that Universal Music intended to swallow up Logic's record company. Logic was unwilling to sell his company. Universal Music had only targeted Logic during this period.Including the "plagiarism case" and "Logic's black history case" that have caused a lot of controversy recently, these are all fake news deliberately created by Universal Music in order to make Logic surrender.

Tang Nanshan looked straight at Luo Ji, and finally said with a smile: "Haha, you kid is quite strict in your words, but you neither deny the authenticity of this matter nor admit the authenticity of this matter to the media. You have exposed everything, remember to come to me if you have any trouble."

Luo Ji smiled awkwardly and said, "Okay."

"Ronald, please get busy. There should be a lot of people who want to meet you today. Most of the influential Chinese people in the American business community are gathered here. Everyone likes you. Take advantage of it."

"Okay, thank you, Sister Tang."

As soon as Luo Ji said goodbye to Tang Nanshan, someone else came looking for him.

"Xiao Luo."

"Ugh."

"Come here, there's someone here who wants to see you."

The person who spoke was the initiator of this banquet, Norman Hsu and Xu Yongqian.He wears glasses, looks polite, and speaks in a friendly voice that makes people feel good.

After Luo Ji returned to New York a month ago, he declined invitations from all organizations.Xu Yongqian also invited him before, but he refused because he wanted to record an album.After Luo Ji's album was released, Xu Yongqian directly offered him 30 yuan to invite him to come and perform.Luo Ji was impressed by the money and immediately ran over.

The purpose of this banquet was to prepare campaign funds for Ms. Clinton, who announced her participation in the 2008 US presidential election.

Xu Yongqian is the initiator of this banquet. He is very active in the Chinese community and has a wide network of contacts. Many Chinese celebrities present today were invited by him. He himself is a "personal donation" to raise money for the Democratic Party in the Chinese community. Package fundraiser”.

Before 2002, various organizations often supported their candidate camps by donating "soft money", such as publishing political advertisements on television that hinted at their electoral intentions.However, after the McCain Feingold Reform Act was passed in 2002, "soft money" donations were almost banned; the importance of individual donations was further highlighted.There is also a strict upper limit for individual donations to a single candidate, which is 4600 US dollars, of which 2300 US dollars are each for the primary election and the official election.

This political campaign reality has given rise to many “personal donation package fundraisers” like Xu Yongqian.These well-connected "fundraisers" are active in various organizations or communities, mobilize people to donate to the camps they support, and are responsible for pooling the money.The relatively affluent Chinese community is Xu Yongqian's main position in raising funds for the Democratic Party.

"Who wants to see me?" Luo Ji looked at Xu Yongqian and asked.

As soon as he finished speaking, an elderly Chinese man walked over to the two of them. Luo Ji recognized him at a glance. Luo Ji had seen his photo during an interview on a Chinese radio station in San Francisco.He is Liu Shu, chairman of the Multicultural Broadcasting Corporation. In his 70s, he looks very energetic and has a great aura.

Xu Yongqian said: "That's him, he is..."

"I know him."

After Luo Ji finished speaking, he immediately walked up and shook hands cordially: "Mr. Liu, your broadcasting company has given me a lot of support. Even though the plagiarism incident had just been exposed and everyone was still in a wait-and-see mode, your broadcasting company has always been there. Support me and thank you for helping me during this time.”

Although Liu Shu is old, he is still full of energy and speaks with confidence: "Ronaldino, as a media person, I am very aware of the situation of Chinese Americans in the United States. If this happened to a white man, you would not be able to afford such a fuss. Big storm. Or our influence on the media is too low. It’s hard to find an influential figure like you. If we don’t support you, who will support you? But my support is insignificant, and the influence of the American media is very low. , the main thing is that you have done a good job in public relations."

"You have supported me since I first started, and I am very grateful to you."

"Come on, Xiao Luo, let's sit here and have a good chat." Xu Yongqian saw that the two of them were discussing harmoniously and said, "Then you guys talk first, I'll go and get busy first."

Luo Ji and Liu Shu sat on a sofa and chatted for a while. The 70-year-old man talked about his motivations for starting a business.

"My father is a Chinese journalist. After our family arrived in the United States, my son inherited his father's business and studied communication. In the 20s, there was a trade war between Japan and the United States. National sentiment in the United States was high, and the media began to expand Attacking Japanese people, but East Asians look very similar. Then the Chen Guoren case happened. He was beaten to death by two white people because of racial hatred. However, there were too few media supporting him. I resigned and started my own business at that time, and then founded Multicultural Broadcasting Corporation.”

"So there is such a past?"

Liu Shu looked at Luo Ji: "The Chen Guoren case was a key turning point in the participation of Chinese Americans in the civil rights movement. At the same time, it also became an impetus for American society to call on the federal government to strengthen hate crime legislation. The situation of Chinese Americans is much better now than it was 20 years ago. But what happened back then is still vivid in our minds, which is why we have always stood with the Democratic Party. Despite the differences within the Democratic Party, they have been strengthening the power of ethnic minorities. So, Ronaldinho, do you support the Democratic Party? "

Luo Ji still had great trust in this old man who had supported him since he started out: "My agent doesn't let me reveal my political leanings to the public. You should also know that the Dixie Chicks who sang country songs, they were very concerned about Iraq." The anti-war attitude was disliked by white people who supported the Republican Party, and their record sales plummeted. Singers are born to please the majority of people, so from then on, singers began to try not to reveal their political leanings to the media. But I I am willing to disclose to you privately that I support the Democratic Party."

"Very well, kid."

Luo Ji suddenly remembered an idea from before and said, "Mr. Liu, you also know that I emerged from the new Internet media. The combined influence of all my Internet platforms is almost as much as that of a medium-sized TV station. .”

"I know this. I have read relevant reports. You were able to change public opinion so quickly this time. Your new media played a big role. The real-time nature of new media greatly surpasses traditional media."

Luo Ji then spoke: "I had an idea before, and wanted to form a company specifically to train these new media people. But there are too few people available around me. Your company is a multicultural broadcaster, and there are Latinos , black, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Indian and other elite talents. I have experience in new media operations, and we complement each other, so can we join forces to establish a new online media company?"

Liu Shu, who is in his 70s, hesitated for a while: "I don't know much about new media. What will be involved if we establish a company?"

"News, sports, games, education, travel, music, movies, talk shows, as long as they are programs that appear in traditional media now, we can do it."

"How much is the initial investment?"

Luo Ji said with a smile: "I started this business with only a DV. The initial investment was certainly not large, no more than 100 million dollars."

"Okay, we can test the waters first."

After the discussion was over and the details were discussed for a while, Luo Ji said goodbye to Liu Shu and continued to socialize in the banquet hall.

When socializing at various banquets in Chicago, everyone was polite to him, but kept their distance.However, he was very satisfied with this gathering. Everyone was very kind to him and willing to take care of him if they had the chance.

"Ronaldinho." A middle-aged man came over. He was wearing a pair of black-rimmed glasses and looked like he had an artistic temperament.

"Who are you?" Luo Ji asked doubtfully.

"Hello, I am Zhu Qinqi, the founder of Nordica. I like your usual dressing style very much. It is simple and clear, and looks very good when paired with it. It seems to be different from the dressing style of young people today."

Nordica, together with POLO and TOMMY, is one of the three major casual men's clothing brands in the United States.

Luo Ji looked at Zhu Qinqi doubtfully: "Excuse me, do you have anything to do with me?"

“I want you to represent my brand.”

Luo Ji was surprised and said, "This doesn't match the positioning. I'm only a 16-year-old teenager, but your men's clothing brand is positioned as casual styles worn by older elites."

Zhu Qinqi smiled and said: "Of course it's not an endorsement. I got inspiration after seeing your dressing style. I want to open another brand company specializing in youth casual clothing brands. I want you to endorse it."

Tianqi's MV contains many future dressing styles, and Luo Ji also imitated their daily outfits.

It's not that Luo Ji never thought about starting a clothing company, but it was too troublesome and he didn't have enough energy, so he finally gave up.Now that he had such an opportunity, Luo Ji would certainly seize it.

"I agree in principle, but can I buy a stake in your new company? In this way, our cooperation will be closer, and we will both lose and prosper."

Zhu Qinqi hesitated for a while: "Being a clothing brand is risky, you have to think about it."

"I believe you!" Luo Ji said firmly.

Nordica's sales last year exceeded 18 billion U.S. dollars, and its net profit was in the tens of millions. How could Zhu Qinqi make a company so big? How could he be an ordinary person?

Zhu Qinqi smiled and said: "Okay, but I will give you a maximum of 15% of the shares. Those first-line celebrities who make joint products can only share this ratio."

Luo Ji immediately replied: "No problem, but you have to talk to my agent about the endorsement contract. He may kill you severely."

"Hahaha, happy cooperation."

The two were chatting happily when the entire banquet hall suddenly applauded. It turned out that the protagonist of the banquet, Ms. Clinton, had arrived.

(End of this chapter)