Chapter 372 Just Right
In fact, Rich23 Capital's investment in Huayi Brothers this time was only $2 million. Not to mention Barron, for Rich23 Capital's vice president Liu Chiping, this could be said to be the smallest investment he had ever handled...
Therefore, when he heard Liu Chiping talking about the so-called "celebration banquet" held by Wang Zhongjun and inviting him to attend, Barron had no need to spend time on such an occasion...
Just when he was about to say that Liu Chiping could go by himself, he heard the other party continue:
"Mr. Wang also said that he would bring some of the company's better artists so that you can have a better understanding of Huayi Brothers..."
Huh? What does this mean? A relatively outstanding artist?
"I'm leaving for Shanghai tomorrow, so I'll leave Beijing to you. However, you can go experience the atmosphere of China in the evening... but you can only stay for half an hour at most."
"Okay, I'll tell Mr. Wang, Your Highness."
In 2000, Huayi Brothers began to diversify its business, starting with celebrity management.
At that time, Huayi chose to cooperate with Wang Jinghua, who was known as the "No. 1 agent in the mainland", to establish Huayi Agency. Five years later, Huayi Agency became the top agency in China.
At its peak, the number of its contracted artists reached nearly 300. It can be said that at that time, Huayi Brothers had signed almost all of China's first-line actors.
However, this year, Wang Jinghua's contract with Huayi Brothers will expire. What happened next was also a hot topic in Barron's previous life, because Wang Jinghua's departure took away more than a dozen first-line stars from Huayi Brothers, including Chen Daoming, Liu Jialing, Xia Yu, Guan Zhilin, etc.
At that time, Huayi Brothers had only about 40 first-line stars. It can be said that this incident had a relatively large impact on Huayi Brothers.
The reason why Barron suddenly decided to attend the "celebration banquet" tonight was, well, not for anything else, but purely out of curiosity about which "excellent artists" would appear...
…
It is conceivable how excited the Wang brothers were when they learned that the Duke of Devonshire was willing to come to the celebration party they hosted. Even though the other party had stated in advance that His Royal Highness the Duke would only give them half an hour... that was enough to make them overjoyed.
After all, at that time, China still had some gap in development compared with Europe and the United States - it had just joined the WTO and was catching up with Western trends in many aspects.
Moreover, even in China, the scale of the film and television industry is too small compared with other industries.
Although Huayi Brothers is well-known in the film and television industry, the company's scale is far behind those giants in other traditional industries.
It is conceivable that, under such circumstances, if Huayi Brothers could invite Barron, a global super-rich man, to today's celebration banquet and establish a relationship with him, how much help would it be to the future development of Huayi Brothers?
Once this news gets out, Huayi Brothers will have a backer in terms of bank loans and cooperation with other companies...
Therefore, Wang Zhongjun repeatedly told his younger brother Wang Zhonglei to bring the most beautiful and famous female artist in the company... well, considering the age of the Duke, she had to be young, to the celebration banquet...
In addition, we need to contact the hotel that will host the celebration banquet again. Everything must be arranged properly, and there must be no mistakes!
...
"Mr. Liu, when will His Royal Highness the Duke come over?"
By nine o'clock in the evening, when the celebration banquet had started for nearly twenty minutes as agreed, His Royal Highness the Duke of England had not yet arrived. Wang Zhongjun came to Liu Chiping and asked tentatively.
It's not that he didn't want to wait until the Duke arrived before starting the celebration banquet, but on the one hand, today's guests had all received invitations in advance, so it would be difficult to postpone the time. On the other hand, at the beginning, the vice president of Rich23 Capital next to him said to him...
"Mr. Wang, I have said before that although His Royal Highness the Duke will attend this celebration banquet, he does not want to be too high-profile. In addition, it is a rare opportunity for him to come to China, and his schedule is very tight, so he will try his best to avoid unnecessary social engagements..."
No matter what, Wang Zhongjun will be considered a partner of Rich23 Capital in the future. As an elite who has worked in Goldman Sachs Asia for many years, Liu Chiping also knows what kind of attitude can express his views appropriately. His tone is still very polite:
"As for when His Royal Highness the Duke will be able to get here, it shouldn't be too long. Just now there was news that he has already set off..."
Sure enough, a few minutes later, at around 9:30, Liu Chiping received a call and said to Wang Zhongjun beside him:
"His Royal Highness the Duke has arrived. I'll go out to meet him..."
"Let's go together, Mr. Liu. I can't wait to meet Mr. Cavendish, too."
At this time, a team of cars with British license plates slowly stopped at the entrance of the hotel.
These luxury cars naturally arrived from England along with the Devonshire.
This was the scene Wang Zhongjun saw when he hurried to the hotel entrance.
Four tall and strong "foreign" bodyguards got out from the Mercedes-Benz SUVs in the front and back, and protected the Rolls-Royce Phantom in the middle that was painted with a crest. Then, the car door opened, and a handsome young man with blond hair and blue eyes in formal wear got out of the car, and walked towards the door surrounded by a crowd of people.
Wang Zhongjun knew that the young man who looked more handsome than the stars in Hollywood movies was the one he was waiting for—the hereditary Duke of Devonshire in England, who was also the sixth richest man in the world...
Before this, he had done his homework. Not only did he look for the other party's photos, he also read some related reports. He even watched the first episode of "Shining Life" about Barron, which is currently only broadcast in the UK.
"Hi, Your Highness. I am Wang Zhongjun, Chairman of Huayi Brothers..."
Wang Zhongjun himself studied abroad in the United States, so his English was very good and there was no communication barrier.
"Hello, Mr. Wang, nice to meet you, sorry for being a little late..."
"Not too late, not too late. It's just right. Let's go in and talk, Your Highness."
At this time, Wang Zhongjun was no longer as anxious as before, and said this to Barron with a smile on his face.