Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

Chen Yufeng was filled with doubts after the meeting. He searched for Zhao Xuming's number in his cell phone's contact list while trying to figure out what Boss Pei meant.

What puzzled him was that Boss Pei said that money was not the priority. Friendship and sincerity were the priority.

What was friendship and sincerity?

Every live-stream platform was a competitor, and there was no friendship between them. What friendship and sincerity could there be?

Not only would he not gain friendship, he would also be mocked by other live-stream platforms for being silly and naive if he sold the broadcasting rights cheaply.

Thus, Boss Pei's intention was definitely not to sell the broadcasting rights cheaply.

The so-called putting friendship and sincerity first should mean the competitor putting friendship and sincerity first.

The other party's friendship and sincerity depended on their performance.

What's more, Boss Pei had specifically emphasized that the focus was not on money but on things other than money.

What were these things?

Chen Yufeng could not figure it out either. What's more, even if he did, it would not be appropriate for him to say it directly. It would seem like he was extorting him.

However, it did not matter. He could let the vice-presidents of the various live-stream platforms fully express their subjectivity. If they took the initiative to propose it, Chen Yufeng could consider it based on the conditions that everyone raised.

Chen Yufeng had a rough idea at that thought. He immediately called Zhao Xuming.

"Hello? Boss Chen, what's the matter?" Zhao Xuming's voice sounded very enthusiastic.

Bunny Tail Live-Stream and ICL league were still in their honeymoon period after all. Their previous cooperation had been more pleasant. Most of the popularity had been earned by Bunny Tail Live-Stream, Zhao Xuming was still considered to be earning money, so his attitude was still very positive.

Chen Yufeng repeated Boss Pei's words, which meant that he intended to distribute the broadcasting rights of the ICL league.

Strictly speaking, after buying the exclusive broadcast rights of the ICL league, Bunny Tail Live-Stream could distribute it freely without violating the current contract. There was no need to seek the opinions of Finger Games and Long Yu Corporation.

However, he still had to inform him.

On the one hand, it was out of courtesy. On the other hand, it would be more convenient for him to contact the person-in-charge of all the live-stream platforms with Zhao Xuming.

Zhao Xuming raised his voice. "Really?"

There was a hint of disbelief in his surprise.

What was Boss Pei thinking? Why would he choose to sell the broadcasting rights of the ICL league at this juncture?

The ICL league was becoming more and more popular!

In fact, it was definitely better for Finger Games and Long Yu Corporation to distribute the broadcast rights. The distribution of the broadcast rights had nothing to do with them in terms of profits but the popularity was different after all.

Many platforms would live-stream the ICL league. There would definitely be more viewers, more popularity, and more publicity. There was no doubt about that.

In other words, this matter was definitely beneficial to Zhao Xuming and Finger Games.

On the other hand, distributing the rights meant that it would no longer have monopoly broadcasting rights for Bunny Tail Live-Stream. It also gave up the opportunity to attract more traffic to Bunny Tail Live-Stream and bring more popularity while earning money. It looked short-sighted and did not seem like Boss Pei's doing.

If Chen Yufeng had not mentioned this, Zhao Xuming would definitely not have mentioned it himself. He would not have asked for a rebuff.

However, he could not ask for more since it was Boss Pei's idea and Chen Yufeng had taken the initiative to mention it!

Zhao Xuming said, "How about this, Boss Chen? I'll make an appointment with the person-in-charge of a few live-stream platforms. We'll have a meal in Shanghai tomorrow and talk about it in detail. How about that?"

Chen Yufeng knew that such a huge matter could not be decided online directly. They had to meet, so he agreed readily.

What's more, Chen Yufeng could also take this opportunity to hint to the heads of the various live-stream platforms to let them think about how to express their 'friendship' and 'sincerity'.

…

…

March 13th, Tuesday…

Shanghai, Long Yu Corporation headquarters.

"Yo, Boss Chen, this way please!"

"Boss Zhu, you're here? Please come in."

"Boss Peng, Boss Liu, come, come, come. They're already in the conference room."

Zhao Xuming was beaming with joy as he welcomed them warmly.

Of course, he had reason to be happy.

Previously, the Vice-Presidents of these live-stream platforms had felt that it was too expensive to buy the broadcasting rights of the ICL league for seven to eight million yuan. He had called these people one by one, but had repeatedly been rejected by their unwillingness to buy it.

Now, shouldn't these people come to Shanghai obediently and buy back the broadcasting rights for the ICL league?

Of course, Long Yu Corporation would not be able to earn a single cent from distributing the broadcast rights this time. However, it was still the same as before. There was no money but there was popularity. Thus, Zhao Xuming would definitely not lose out.

The Vice Presidents of these live-stream platforms were a little embarrassed, but they were still full of smiles.

Business was business. There had been some friction previously but it was a good thing that Boss Pei was willing to sell the broadcasting rights of the ICL league and share the popularity with everyone.

Soon, everyone sat down in the conference room and prepared to discuss business.

In fact, Chen Yufeng had already spoken to these people over the phone yesterday. Everyone knew very well about this matter. Therefore, they quickly got to the main topic after Chen Yufeng and Zhao Xuming briefly introduced themselves.

Chen Yufeng looked around at the Vice Presidents of the various live-stream platforms who were present today. There were some familiar faces and some he did not recognize.

There were seven or eight people today but there were only three to five platforms that could be sold in the end. However, this did not affect other platforms from joining in the fun.

Chen Yufeng said, "Everyone, regarding the distribution of the ICL league's broadcast rights, Boss Pei said that money is secondary. The key is still our sincerity. Have you considered it?"

The Vice Presidents of several live-stream platforms looked at each other. Actually, everyone already had an idea in their hearts, but they were not sure who would speak first.

In the end, ZZ Live-Stream's Liu Liang was the first to speak out.

"Boss Chen, of course we can agree to Boss Pei's sincerity. Money is definitely one aspect. We have decided to give 12 million yuan to buy the broadcasting rights for the ICL league."

"In addition, our platform also has a few live-streamers who are good at GOG and IOI. They are still in the contract period. We'll give them to Boss Pei as well! We'll continue to pay their salaries accordingly. Two years of the contract would be equivalent to one million yuan."

Peng Bin from Waiwai Live-stream was the next to speak. "We're offering 10 million yuan. In addition, we have a live-stream program. The viewership of every episode is not bad. We can give away the broadcast rights for free. Of course, we also have a few good live-streamers…"

Zhu Yan from Wolf Fang live-stream said, "We have a popular mobile game that is exclusive. It is not very popular but it is still worth a bit of money. In addition, we will offer 11 million yuan."

Another live-stream platform said, "I'm sorry, Boss Chen. Our cash flow has been a little tight recently. We can offer a maximum of eight million yuan. However… We just happened to have a dispute with a big broadcaster recently. We've already shelved him. We can take advantage of the situation and send him to Bunny Tail live-stream. We can use his three-year contract as a compensation. It's about five million yuan. We'll pay him the salary while he live-streams at your place. What do you think?"

The bids of the live-streaming platforms were all different. However, they were all worth about 13 million yuan each.

These Vice Presidents wondered what Boss Pei meant after receiving Chen Yufeng's call yesterday.

Money was not the first priority. It must mean that Boss Pei wanted them to give Bunny Tail more live-stream content!

Anyone could tell that the live-stream content of Bunny Tail Live-Stream was relatively simple at the moment. There were basically no reliable broadcasters. The popularity of the website depended on the GPL and ICL league. Once the competition ended, the popularity of the website would drop by more than half.

Boss Pei's attitude was very clear since he lacked content.

They could only ask for a portion of the money, but each live-stream platform had to hand over some live-stream content in exchange for the broadcasting rights of the ICL league!

The Vice Presidents pondered for a moment. Boss Pei had repeatedly emphasized the keyword 'sincerity'. They could not afford to give him less money.

Boss Pei was so calculative. If the price was too low, Boss Pei might get angry and not sell it.

Boss Pei was now sitting steadily on the fishing platform after all. He was not in a hurry to sell the broadcasting rights for ICL league. It could be sold to just one company or many other companies.

The reason why Boss Pei did not make things clear was obviously because he wanted to see the sincerity of the live-stream platforms. If they were not sincere, Boss Pei would definitely remember them.

Considering the popularity of the ICL league, 13 million yuan was a high but sincere price.

The money might be a little high, but Long Yu Corporation and Bunny Tail Live-Stream had invested a lot of resources and taken the risk in order to promote the ICL league. These platforms could only be considered to be picking fruits. It was reasonable to pay a premium.

As for the live-stream content that was attached to the money, there were obviously only two types.

The first was competitions and programs with exclusive broadcasting rights. If they gave the broadcast rights to Bunny Tail live-stream, they would be able to lose a certain amount of money. The other was streamers. Those who did not get along with the platform could take the opportunity to send them away.

For example, one of the live-stream platforms was having a conflict with one of their own big streamers.

The platform had hinted many times to this streamer to ask for gifts from the audience and play the rankings. However, this streamer had repeatedly rejected it. He had signed a huge contract but was unable to generate enough profit for the website. The Vice-President of the platform had long disliked him. He could take this opportunity to reduce the price of this contract to a portion of the money needed to sell the broadcasting rights of the ICL league.

While the platforms were still paying the live-streamers' salaries, it was still quite appropriate to get rid of an unprofitable live-streamer in exchange for the live-stream rights of the ICL league.

What surprised Zhao Xuming and Chen Yufeng was that there were five live-stream platforms bidding this time!

The main reason was this special way of paying.

They did not have to take out 13 million yuan directly. Instead, they take out seven to eight million yuan and use the other content resources of the platform to make up the value Some exclusive content would be distributed to Bunny Tail's live-stream in exchange for the broadcasting rights of the ICL league. These platforms felt that they did not lose out.

Thus, some cash-strapped live-stream platforms were also tempted.

The broadcasting rights for this ICL league were different from before.

Before this, no one was sure if it would be popular or not. That was why everyone was hesitant and did not act decisively. Now that they saw Boss Pei taking the lead and the ICL league getting better, several large live-stream platforms were scrambling for it…

The other live-streaming platforms naturally could not sit still!

It was just like a product. Most passers-by would not take a second look if there were no customers around. However, everyone would have to take a look if there were people around!

Therefore, the vice-presidents of these platforms bid one after another and looked at Chen Yufeng expectantly.

These exclusive live-streaming resources and streamers were lacking in Bunny Tail Live-Streams, however, they were in fact more or less 'forcefully pieced together'.

It was hard to say if Chen Yufeng and Boss Pei would be willing to take the job. Thus, the Vice Presidents were a little apprehensive.

Chen Yufeng listened to everyone seriously and nodded slightly.

He could feel that these platforms had the intention of forcing their way through. For example, one of the platforms would send a popular live streamer who was in a conflict, while the other platform would reduce the price of a relatively unpopular sports competition. There was also another platform that would pack up more than twenty contract live streamers who did not produce good effects…

However, it was obvious that these platforms knew what they were doing. They knew that they were trying to make up for it forcefully, so their overall valuation had been lowered.

Chen Yufeng felt like he was in a large second-hand market. There were all sorts of things that he could use and could not. He was surrounded by people who were eagerly promoting to him.

Chen Yufeng thought about it. These things might have been forced, but they were indeed lacking in Bunny Tail Live-Stream. It was not impossible to take them all.

No one would complain about the content of a live-stream regardless of whether it was useful or not.

However, even so, he had to give these platforms a few harsh words. He could not be treated as a fool.

At that thought, Chen Yufeng pulled a long face. He cleared his throat and said, "The valuation of the items that you have offered me are still alright but I'm sure everyone knows if they are really worth that much money, right?"

The Vice Presidents' expressions changed and they felt a little guilty.

Most importantly, they were indeed in the wrong. If they insisted on quibbling, there was a high chance that the negotiations would collapse.

No one dared to negotiate with Boss Pei because no one knew what Boss Pei would do if they did…

However, they could not bear to add any more.

They could not possibly sell everything they had just for the broadcasting rights of an ICL league, right? It would not even be enough if they sold their own main streamer!

Zhao Xuming knew that something was amiss when he saw this.

He was jealous that the ICL league broadcasting rights could be sold for so much money, however, he also hoped that this distribution would succeed.

After all, the ICL league would become more popular with every additional platform!

Zhao Xuming quickly tried to smooth things over. "Everyone, calm down."

"Actually, I have already seen everyone's sincerity. However, Boss Chen is indeed losing out."

"I have a suggestion. Bunny Tail Live-Stream will broadcast the ICL league 30 seconds faster than the other platforms. That way, no one will suffer any losses. Boss Chen can go back and explain to Boss Pei. How about that?"

The Vice Presidents of the live-stream platform looked at each other and nodded. "Alright!"

It was not a big problem for them to be slower by 30 seconds. The impact would be minimal. Most viewers on the platform would not rush to the Bunny Tail live-stream just because of 30 seconds.

These 30 seconds could indeed attract some viewers for Bunny Tail Live-Stream. It could be considered a small addition to the distribution contract.

Chen Yufeng nodded. "Boss Zhao's suggestion is not bad. Since that's the case, Bunny Tail Live-Stream has no problem. Let's finalize the details and then sign the contract!"