I'm A Baller - Chapter 317
Chapter 317: Intriguing Developments
Wang Yan was laughing merrily in his heart but looked gentle and elegant, like a steady veteran in the industry.
“Alright, let’s begin.”
The live comments didn’t need any prodding. Plenty of questions were already popping up.
Xiao Cang looked through them and picked one that was commonly asked.
“Mr. Wang, why did Mi Zi and the rest decide to start Wangting Entertainment? How is this related to you? Rumor has it that actually Wangting Entertainment is your company. Is that true?”
It was a pretty astute question, but Wang Yan thought it was a good question.
It was an excellent chance to explain the ‘behind the scenes’ to the fans, and to convey a message to the masses.
What message? The message of expansion.
Wang Yan took a while to formulate his response, then started with his answer.
“Mi Zi and the rest decided to form their company because while they met by chance, it was a step they had to take.”
“In the beginning, the four of them had signed a management contract with Beauty Customization, and had nothing to do with me. I didn’t have any interest in livestreaming.”
“But perhaps in order to avoid overinvesting in them, CEO Liu only signed a 1 month contract with them.”
“If the first mukbang competition did well, he’d extend their contract.”
“If the competition didn’t create any buzz, that was the end of it and he wouldn’t have to continue supporting a group of big eaters.”
“In the end, the competition was more successful than expected. In trying to get them to extend their contracts, CEO Liu delayed the payment of their tips, withheld their commission, overstated his costs and so on.”
“I did not ask for any of the profits when they first discussed their contracts with the company, so none of this had anything to do with me. If you want details, please ask the livestreamers.”
“In short, they were all very frustrated and wanted to start their own business, but they lacked the capital.”
“So they came looking for me and asked me for help.”
“I had no interest in this sector so I initially didn’t agree to help.
“But later on, my cousin, CEO Wang, Wang Yunxi, found out about this situation and hit it off with the Ling Ya and the rest. After they had come to a fair agreement, they finally persuaded me to invest in them.”
“Instead of calling it an investment in Wangting Entertainment, I was really just trying to help a few friends. I lent money to CEO Wang, and I don’t have any shares in the company.”
“Later on, I wanted to do a second eating competition so that I’d have people to eat A5 wagyu beef with me. That’s how we actually properly met a second time.”
“From the later interactions, I found that Ling Ya and the rest were people worth befriending, and that’s why I started to consider if I wanted to properly invest in Wangting Entertainment.”
“We’re currently still negotiating.”
“If I were to invest, then I wouldn’t stop at this level. I’d buy them a fully furnished state of the art office building, then expand the company by another 20 times!”
“There should be no big issues with the negotiations, so look forward to it, everyone!”
Wang Yan was getting better and better at lying without batting an eyelid. But everything he said sounded so reasonable, nobody could find any fault with it.
If only 10% of what he said was a lie, not even the gods would have detected any problems.
But once he finished his answer, the eyes of all the livestreamers online, the showgirls at the venue and the guests in the VIP section lit up.
These were the main points Wang Yan was driving at!
First, Wang Yan was a generous investor who did not care about small profits.
Second, Ling Ya and the others definitely held shares in this company!
Third, Wangting Entertainment was about to receive a significant capital injection from Wang Yan.
Fourth, the company was about to start recruiting!
Before this, they had already been very excited by how Wang Yan had talked about how the new generation was raring to try new things and how the area of livestreaming could be expanded further. And now, they were even more excited by the bright prospects that Wangting Entertainment held.
Anyone smart enough could put two and two together.
Oh my god!
So his speech was all leading up to this secret attempt to advertise for the company?!
Was this Wang Yan really only in his twenties?
Of course not. Wang Yan was only 19.
Regardless of how old he was, this bait he had cast in his response was clear yet natural.
Wangting Entertainment was like a rising sun. If anybody joined them now, they would get the best resources and would likely be treated well as the pioneer batch. After all, nobody doubted how generous Wang Yan was.
They didn’t care if they could get shares or not.
Even without any shares, the valuable benefits that Master Wang bestowed on them would be enough to feed them!
Why not consider it?
Almost immediately after that, someone in the live comments asked: Will Wangting Entertainment continue to hire new livestreamers? Would you only be looking for mukbang livestreamers or are you open to other types of livestreaming?
Xiao Cang noticed the user name of the person asking the question and got a shock, so she quickly read the question out.
That was an up and coming League of Legends gaming livestreamer. He was good at the game and fun to chat with. Even though he wasn’t the most popular at the moment, he was rising up the charts.
Wang Yan didn’t know about this, but he was great at acting calm.
“Of course we’ll be open to other types of livestreaming. Wangting Entertainment will not restrict itself to the genre of content, but will be focused on making only good content.”
“Is mukbang livestreaming the only new and popular type of livestreaming these days?”
“No, right?”
“Good content will elicit good responses and create a good atmosphere.”
“As long as you dare to dream and you dare to do it, we’ll consider you, regardless of whether you want to livestream your makeup tutorials, your barbequing skills or even your line dancing moves.”
If you want to become popular on the internet, then one had to cover as much ground as possible so as to really take over this industry.
And how would that work?
When others were relying on their own strength to test the market to see what worked, Wangting Entertainment would have already gone through vigorous internal competition to select the best ten or twenty people to become pioneers in new markets.
They could be the first in that area, or they could be imitating someone else, but regardless of which one they were, the company would already have a fanbase and assure the quality of the livestreams, so their chances of succeeding will be higher.
Wang Yan was the one who came up with their business strategy and nobody objected since he was in charge, and they were already carrying out all of these things quietly.
So many people both online and offline were very interested after hearing this response. But the third question helped Wang Yan to show off once again.
“Master Wang, do you have plans for a fourth eating competition? When will it be?”
Wang Yan immediately denied this, but left a lot to their imagination at the same time.
“I don’t have any plans at the moment, and I intend to stop these competitions for a while until I find more interesting content.”
“I don’t lack money anyway.”
“Instead of riding on the competitions popularity and earning a bit of money from sponsors, I think it’s better if we keep our fans looking forward to our next event and bring them better content than before.”
“Also, I personally hope that the next competition will involve the whole internet.”
“I would like more people to participate, more platforms to work with us, more audiences to watch, so that we continue to make history and break more records.”
All of a sudden, the screens of all the livestream rooms were covered with the word ‘AMAZING’.
Many livestreamers were going insane showing their support for Wang Yan.
“Everybody, look at how ambitious Master Wang is!”
“Oh my god!! He just needs to say the word and millions of sponsors will be dying to sponsor him, but he doesn’t want their money? Master Wang is a real tycoon!”
“He’s really steady! He’s really going to make it big someday!!”
“Gosh, the moment I think of the leader of my guild, my head goes spinning! Those fellows have withheld our commission for half a year already! These people are awful!”
“Is Wangting Entertainment taking in gaming livestreamers for people playing single player games? I want to find myself a new boss…”
They were essentially comments from a bunch of livestreamers who were unhappy with their current work arrangements and were tempted to join Wangting Entertainment instead.
It was common for livestreamers to change guilds, but Wangting Entertainment had been able to rise to fame in such a short period of time and gain the support of many livestreamers.
In essence, everyone had been touched by what Wang Yan said.
He was rich, willing to spend, had a long-term vision, didn’t compete with his livestreamers for benefits… And he wasn’t just bragging. He had actual livestreamers who could vouch for everything he said.
Such an advertisement was unprecedented, but it was also extremely effective.
The showgirls and every single person who had come into contact with Wangting Entertainment before could no longer control their passions and impulses.
It didn’t matter if becoming an internet celebrity was a wonderful career to pursue or not. Wang Yan himself was someone worth following.
As long as the contract could guarantee the most basic necessities of life, there was no harm in trying!
For all you know, one might even become a pioneer in a new industry!
…
But while the viewers were all feeling tempted, Wang Jianhao was anxious.
“Mr. Wang! How could you do this to us! Does that mean Fish will not be involved in the next competition?”
It was true that Wang Yan thought that way, but he wasn’t going to admit it out loud.
“What are you talking about? The four biggest mukbang livestreamers are using your platform, so you’re our most important partner!”
“However, if we want to continue expanding the influence of the competition, it is very necessary to pull in two new platforms next time and gather the entire mukbang community together.”
“Please understand our difficulties. It is easy to protect our current territory, but difficult to expand!”
Bullshit, thought Wang Jianhao. Wang Yan was clearly trying to use this chance to tell other platforms that they were open to working with them! Goodness knows what else Wang Yan was going to suddenly offer them!
Wang Jianhao didn’t believe Wang Yan’s pacification at all. After interacting with him the whole day, Wang Jianhao dared not look down on the ability, foresight and ambition that Wang Yan had.
This young man wasn’t just some lofty rich man’s son who only knew how to spend money. He was more like a wolf in sheep’s clothing!
He claimed that he didn’t like giving speeches, but in the end, his speech was filled with hidden signals and aggressive messages. This guy knew what he was doing!
But there was nothing else Wang Jianhao could do but to just shake his head and laugh bitterly. No matter how powerful the platform was, they relied on the other party to choose to work with them.
“Master Wang, I, humble Old Wang, have never treated Wangting Entertainment poorly. So if you have any good ideas, don’t go ahead and leave us behind! Everything is still negotiable, right?”
By calling Wang Yan ‘Master Wang’ and lowering himself to ‘humble Old Wang’, he had clearly signified who was the client and who was the agency, showing that the platform understood the current situation well.
Anyone who made it this far in business wasn’t a fool.
“Everything is negotiable! Of course!” Wang Yan smiled modestly. His response was perfunctory yet powerful.
He had just switched sides so naturally.
CEO Shi from Panda had waited the whole night to finally find a chance to squeeze over and extended his hand to Wang Yan.
“Congratulations, Mr. Wang! Congratulations! Listening to your words is better than reading ten years of books. I’m feeling very emotional right now, and I can’t help it. But you have a lot of important people to talk to today, so why don’t we make an appointment to talk more in detail?”
“Sure, sure!”
It was another extremely fair, yet perfunctory sentence.
Given the success of today’s event, it should be the platforms who should be falling over their own feet to offer Wang Yan a deal.
Not far away from them was Mr. Li of Beauty Ko, rubbing his temples with a livid face.
He was no fool either. No matter how misled he might have been earlier, everything was as clear as day after seeing what happened today.
Damn it, he had been played out!
Team Leader Gong reported in a cautious voice, “I got my subordinates to look for some of our models and sound them out, but…it doesn’t look good…”
“How bad is it? Have we lost all our girls?”
Mr. Li still looked calm. He was in a foul mood but he accepted reality very quickly.
Team Leader Gong nodded. “Basically… the four of them we talked to had contact with Wangting Entertainment… Do you want to give them a warning?”
“It’s useless.” Mr. Li shook his head. “The contract is not in our hands. If you contact their modeling agency now, they will still be helpless against Wangting Entertainment. There are many models in the industry who broke their contracts and jumped ship. Nobody has ever won a lawsuit against this.”
There was no point in suing. Contracts like those from modeling agencies had few guarantees, but also few restrictions and gave the models a lot of freedom.
The only thing that really worked was to enforce unspoken rules, like threatening to stop offering them work or cutting off their other options and salary.
It was basically getting them cancelled, but in a more low profile manner.
How could he use this to threaten the models? If they simply decided to change industry completely, there was no point in trying to cancel them.
“Sigh…” Team Leader Gong sighed with a sorrowful expression. “What a loss…”
The 50 models who came to the scene were the cream of the crop. They were graceful and beautiful. Even Mr. Li couldn’t stop looking at them.
“Damn, this Wang Yan really has an eye for these things. The platform has so many models. How on earth did he manage to find these girls?” cursed Team Leader Gong. He was very critical of Wang Yan.
And it was only natural for him to feel this way. He had despised Wang Yan so much before this, and this event’s success was like a slap in his face.
He felt like he had been played out!
In comparison to his rage and dismay, Mr. Li was much calmer and his first reaction was to think of how to minimize his losses.
“Once you get back, check on the models signed directly with us. It’s fine if we lose models from other companies. We cannot lose our own!”
Team Leader Gong nodded with a look of relief.
“It shouldn’t be a problem. When we first submitted the list of names, we didn’t add any of our in-house models to it. Wang Yan wouldn’t have had a chance to get in touch with them.”
“Okay.” Mr. Li felt a little less anxious and was relieved that he had chosen to hold back some of his models back then.
But was this tactic really going to work out?
…
Wang Yan looked at the two men from Beauty Ko and instructed Wang Yunxi, “Work overtime tonight and finalize the contract with the models. Try to sign all the contracts tomorrow.”
“No problem!” Wang Yunxi was very excited because his job had become so easy. Everything was falling into place by itself.
“What happens after that? Do we follow the original plan?”
“No, let’s speed up.”
Wang Yan shook his head and grinned. His little white teeth shone coldly under the light.
“Send out all the showgirls we sign on. I want them to become ambassadors of Wangting Entertainment.”
“Within a week, I want to hit all 150 targets!”
“Within half a month, I want all of Beauty Ko’s models to know everything about Wangting Entertainment!”
“These fellows hope to hide their own staff from me?”
“The industry is so small! Once I’ve got all these 150 people to form a network, I’ll see where else you can hide!”
My god! Wang Yunxi was shocked and horrified.
“Yan, you’re going to completely uproot Beauty Ko…?!”
That was indeed his intention!
Wang Yan did not hide his smile.
“We’ve created a huge commotion today and we’re riding on a high now. It’s hard to say if Beauty Ko might change their strategy after this.”
“Since that’s the case, I’m going to just uproot all the people they’ve been grooming all this time.”
“I’m going to see what they’re going to do without any resources on hand!”
This was the first time Wang Yan had shown his ruthless and decisive side in front of Wang Yunxi.
Just because of the small possibility that a competitor might rise up, he decisively changed his plan and completely crushed his potential competitors…
Wang Yan was rapidly growing into a powerful leader.
Wang Yunxi was greatly encouraged and left in high spirits. He could even feel the wind as he walked.
Wang Yan turned around and once again discovered that He Miaomiao was staring at him very strangely.
“Hey, wake up and wipe away your saliva!”
Miss He’s pretty face turned red. Instead of wiping her saliva away, she spat out a mouthful of saliva.
“Bah! Why would a princess drool over a servant?”
She glared at him indignantly and argued back stubbornly.
However, compared to the first time she looked at him, there were a lot more emotions in her eyes now, and it could really drive one insane.
But Wang Yan didn’t have time to ‘resist’ her charm. Wave after wave of guests kept swarming over.
“Are you tired? Why don’t you go upstairs and rest first? Tomorrow, we’ll take the early flight back to participate in the sports meet.”
“I’m not tired. I’ll accompany you to the end.”
Miss He shook her head stubbornly. Now that the excitement was over, tiredness was written all over her face.
But Wang Yan did not continue to persuade her. She wasn’t going to listen to him anyway.
Just as he was about to find a place for her to sit for a while, he suddenly thought of something.
Wait a minute. He had another card that he could use tonight…
He wondered what sort of intriguing developments would follow…
