Chapter 726: Profits of over 100 million yuan at every turn

Over the next few days, Xia Yu inspected the situation of several companies.

In particular, Global TV, at this time, 'Super Girl' had long since passed the preliminary selection and entered the final stage of each major competition area.

After more than two months, players with strong abilities or beauty and strength have emerged in each division, and their popularity has gradually gathered around them.

In addition, in the past two months, Global TV and Jiuding Newspaper Company have joined forces to promote 'Super Girl' in a variety of ways, and its influence has grown increasingly.

Global TV now has 1.22 million subscribers throughout Asia, and just the annual fee of 200 Hong Kong dollars per household has generated 244 million Hong Kong dollars.

And this number of users also means that so many satellite signal receivers have been sold.

The retail price of each satellite signal receiver is HK$400, and Jinding Electric's business in this area alone has reached a turnover of HK$488 million.

The cost of manufacturing each satellite signal receiver is around HK$100, and the ex-factory price of Tiangong Electric Manufacturing Company is HK$250, with a gross profit of HK$150.

In addition, Jiuding Electric Retail also has a gross profit margin of 150 Hong Kong dollars.

Therefore, Tiangong Electric Manufacturing Company and Jiuding Electric Retail Company each earned a gross profit of 183 million Hong Kong dollars in the satellite signal receiver business.

Monopolies are indeed profitable businesses. In the home appliance industry, a gross profit margin of 30% is considered good, but now Xia Yu has a gross profit margin of 150% for each company. If this were revealed, it would absolutely drive many people crazy and they would scramble to enter this industry.

After some guidance from Global TV, Xia Yu went to learn about the movie industry.

With sufficient financial support, Jiang Zhiqiang stirred up a storm in Southeast Asia, engaging in large-scale mergers and acquisitions of cinemas.

He spent another 72 million Hong Kong dollars to acquire 78 cinemas in Southeast Asian countries, bringing the number of Global Cinema cinemas in Southeast Asia to 129 in one fell swoop, narrowing the gap with Shaw Theatres in Southeast Asia to just five cinemas.

Moreover, Galaxy Studios has released a number of high-quality films this year. Universal Circuit, which is extremely sensitive to the market and relies on the advantage of multiplex cinemas, has produced many blockbuster films, causing many independent cinemas or small cinemas to join Universal Circuit one after another.

As a result, Universal Circuit has reached 205 distribution networks in Southeast Asia with its directly-managed and franchised cinemas.

Under the financial attack of Kong Zhiqiang, the cinema landscape in Southeast Asia has changed from a situation of two giants competing for supremacy, Cathay Circuit and Shaw Circuit, to the current three-way tie between Cathay Circuit, Shaw Circuit and Universal Circuit.

Cathay Circuit distributes films from Golden Harvest, some small and medium-sized film companies in Hong Kong, Taiwan, the provinces, Southeast Asia and Hollywood.

Universal Circuit distributes films from Galaxy Studios, most small and medium-sized film companies in Hong Kong, Taiwan, the provinces and Hollywood.

The Shaw Theatre Circuit distributes films produced by Shaw Studios as well as Taiwanese, provincial and Hollywood films.

Practice has proven that multiplex cinemas have significant advantages, and the market has forced the Shaw Theatre Circuit and Cathay Theatre Circuit to follow the Universal Theatre Circuit's lead.

However, the Cathay Theatre Circuit and Shaw Theatre Circuit, which are used to the hegemonic buyout distribution model, are unwilling to change. Because of the huge internal differences, there is no sign of change yet, much to the disappointment of the Hong Kong filmmakers.

In response, Kong Zhiquan was secretly delighted. He knew that Cathay and Shaw Theatres were used to overseas buyouts and relied on their volume advantage to make a profit, so of course they were reluctant to give up some of the money that would otherwise go into their pockets. Kong Zhiquan couldn't wait for these two companies not to change, so that he would have more opportunities to continue to expand his advantages.

Time will tell who is right!

In the afternoon of 27 November, Xia Yu took the curious Li Qian to the filming location of the Shaw Brothers-invested film The Peerless Shuangjiao.

This movie was produced by Shaw Brothers in a previous life, but this time Xia Yu bought the copyright to the novel by Gu Long, so naturally Shaw Brothers had no chance.

The director of this movie is Chu Yuan, a well-known Hong Kong director who was originally under the Cathay Film Company. Unfortunately, in 1971 Cathay Pacific Limited in Hong Kong ended its production department and sold Yonghua Film Studio to Golden Harvest, so Chu Yuan was poached by Shaw Brothers.

This year, after Wu Siyuan of Galaxy Pictures repeatedly visited him, persuading him with logic and emotion, Chu Yuan jumped ship to Galaxy Pictures, while signing with Universal Brokerage for his agency business.

'How's the company doing?'

Xia Yu asked Wu Siyuan, who was accompanying him, while Li Qian curiously watched the actor hanging from the wire.

Wu Siyuan thought for a moment and said, 'It's very good. Because they needed to replenish the film library of the Universal Circuit, so far the company has invested in ten films and co-produced eight films. Relying on the advantages of publicity and distribution, every film has made a profit, although the exact amount has not yet been calculated.'

'In December of this year, the company's big move will be the upcoming "The Peerless Shuangjiao".'

'In addition, we have also invested in Pearl City Productions's Finger Pointing. The scriptwriting department and marketing department have always believed that this movie will do well at the box office. The movie has already entered the post-editing and dubbing stage, and promotion has already started.'

Xia Yu nodded with a smile and said, 'Not bad.'

'Martial arts movies are currently very popular, and since we have acquired the rights to so many martial arts novels, we should not miss this opportunity and boldly invest in filming.'

Wu Siyuan immediately nodded in agreement: 'Yes!'

Xia Yu continued to look at the filming site.

After hesitating for a moment, Wu Siyuan gathered his courage and said, "Chairman, I have an idea I'd like to report to you.'

Xia Yu raised an eyebrow and said, "Well, go ahead.'

Wu Siyuan immediately said, 'Chairman, the film market in Xiangjiang is beginning to pick up, which has led to the establishment of many new film companies this year. Our company has invested in the production of many films and has discovered a drawback, which is a shortage of talent in the film and television industry.'

'This has led to the situation where, in order to film smoothly, one has to use some less-talented people. This is still because Universal Brokerage Company is assisting, otherwise the impact would be even greater.'

'Although there are training courses at Universal Television, they mainly focus on acting, and there is relatively little training for behind-the-scenes talent. In the long run, this will have a significant adverse impact on the future of the Hong Kong film and television industry.'

'So my idea is, can we set up a few training courses specifically to train talent in various fields in-house?'

Xia Yu frowned slightly, and after thinking about it, said, 'You have a very good idea.'

'But it's a bit petty. There is no school in Xiangjiang that specialises in training talent for the film and television industry, so set up an art school.'

'Just the other day, Ma Tengdong and Huang Xizhao also mentioned the issue of talent to me, so let's do it together. Not only will it contribute to the Xiangjiang art world, it will also strengthen the company's foundations.'

'Come with Ma Tengdong and Huang Xizhao in a few days and let's get together to discuss a concrete charter.'

Wu Siming nodded happily and said, 'Okay, thank you, Chairman!'

Xia Yu nodded slightly and was just about to continue shopping with Li Qian.

Just then, an anxious voice came from behind him, "Where is the chairman? I have an urgent matter to report.'

Wu Siyuan immediately looked over and saw it was Chen Shufen, the general manager of Global Brokerage Company. She was seen running towards them with a worried look on her face and panting heavily.

Wu Siyuan immediately said to Xia Yu, "Chairman, it's Manager Chen from the brokerage company.'

Xia Yu also saw it and told Wu Siyuan, 'Go invite her over.'