Chapter 1025: Shaw is brewing a counterattack

Jiuding Securities Company, Chairman's Office.

Xia Yu sat on the sofa in the middle, and Wang Qi sat on the left. The two listened quietly as Yuan Tianfan recounted the story of 'spoiling the party'.

After about ten minutes...

'Pop...'

'You did well,'

Xia Yu said with a smile, applauding, and looking at Yuan Tianfan with full appreciation in his eyes.

Yuan Tianfan said modestly, 'Chairman, it was because you led the way well, and then President Wang also taught me in detail how to do it, so I was able to successfully complete the task.'

Xia Yu laughed and said, 'Don't be so humble. I can see whether you are capable or not.'

Yuan Tianfan smiled and didn't reply. At this time, it was best to remain silent, neither being overly humble nor appearing proud.

Xia Yu was becoming more and more satisfied with Yuan Tianfan. He looked at Wang Qi and their gazes met.

The latter nodded knowingly, and he, who had been considering it, made a decision.

'Tianfan, keep up the good work and don't let me down,'

Xia Yu said encouragingly, looking at Yuan Tianfan.

Yuan Tianfan was taken aback, but then he came back to his senses and respectfully promised, 'Chairman, I will continue to work hard and not let you down.'

'Mm!'

'If there's nothing else, you can go back to work.'

'Yes, Chairman, President, I'll go now.'

After saying this, Yuan Tianfan gently exited the office, and closed the door behind him.

'Wang Qi, Yuan Tianfan can be trained in management, he has the potential in this area,'

Xia Yu smiled and reminded Wang Qi.

Wang Qi smiled and responded, 'Chairman, I will do as you instruct, Tianfan is indeed very good.'

Xia Yu nodded slightly, not to pursue the matter, and asked Wang Qi, 'How much capital has been returned this week?'

Wang Qi had a specialist compile this figure every day and report it to him, and he knew it by heart. He blurted out, 'Chairman, because the stock market will continue to rise, liquidation this week has not been particularly strong. In other words, the shareholdings of those companies that are in competition with Swire Finance have sold for a greater amount. As of yesterday, more than 1.53 billion Hong Kong dollars has been returned.'

Xia Yu roughly calculated and said softly, 'The total trading volume on Thursday is estimated to be around 16 billion Hong Kong dollars, which means that the trading volume of the returned funds accounts for nearly one tenth.'

Wang Qi immediately said, 'Yes, apart from this, the stocks we bought from the stock market that are related to the Swire group of listed companies are not many, which means that there are many pending sell orders and the actual trading volume is small, which is only around 500 million Hong Kong dollars.'

Adding it up, the trading volume related to Jiuding Securities reached about 2 billion Hong Kong dollars, accounting for about one-eighth of the total trading volume of the Hong Kong stock market.

This figure is also in line with Jiuding Securities' position as the leader in the stock market, and it doesn't seem like much or like it's not enough. Of course, on the other hand, Jiuding Securities has not completely exerted its capabilities and is still quite restrained.

After thinking for a while, Xia Yu instructed Wang Qi, 'In the next half month, it doesn't matter if you make a big move, just sell as many stocks as possible. If anyone finds out, just claim that you want to withdraw the funds to acquire the equity of a series of companies from the Taikoo Group. This reason can eliminate any negative effects, and it will even stimulate the stock market to continue rising, making it even easier to sell the stocks.'

'After half a month, start selling the shares of the Swire group of companies secretly one after the other.'

'What I said has a slight change from the plan I designed before, so you should adjust it according to the actual situation.'

Wang Qi nodded emphatically: 'Okay, Chairman, I will do as you instructed today and tomorrow, and submit the adjusted plan to you for review on Monday.'

'Mm.'

Xia Yu nodded slightly, then looked at his watch and found that it was already a little after eleven.

He got up to go home, and before leaving, he smiled and said to Wang Qi, 'You can go home too. I've heard that you work so hard that you forget to eat and sleep. This is not a good thing. Everything should be done in moderation. Spend some time with your family at lunch. You have a lot of work to do for the time being, but your family is just as important. After this period of time, I'll give you some time off.'

Wang Qi's heart warmed, and he smiled, saying gratefully, 'Thank you, Chairman, for your concern.'

'I'm leaving.'

Xia Yu smiled, waved his hand, and then left the office.

...

The weekend lasted two days, and although the stock market was closed, the capital market was still very active.

After a short break of two days, the major capitals once again ignited the flames of war as the new week began.

Just as the attention of almost everyone was focused on the stock market, changes were once again taking place in the film and television industry.

In the Hong Kong film and television industry, the film market is needless to say, and the later entry of Galaxy Studios has successfully overtaken Shaw Studios and Golden Harvest with its well-produced films and strong distribution channels, becoming the leader in the film industry.

Shaw and Wrinkles, who had never met before, were forced by the situation to reconcile and join forces to fight against Galaxy Studios.

In the television sector, with its advanced mechanisms and a steady stream of classic programmes, Global TV has put TVB under such pressure that it can hardly breathe.

Even though Shaw Yifu acquired some shares last year, becoming TVB's largest shareholder and chairman, and taking complete control of the company, business is still very difficult.

Up to now, TVB has not even gone satellite, so how can it compete with Global TV, which is doing so well in the Southeast Asian market?

The gap between the two is widening.

But Shao Yifu is no ordinary person. After decades of ups and downs in the business world, he is not the type to admit defeat easily. The satellite TVB has ordered is already in production, and he is now gathering strength, hoping to compete with GTV once TVB goes satellite.

On Monday afternoon, Shao Yifu returned home. After eating lunch, he sat down on the sofa, and his son Shao Weiming sat down next to him and poured him a cup of tea.

'Dad, have some tea!'

'Hmm, leave it there for now,'

Siu Yat-fu said with a slight nod, before asking his son about the cinema circuit's business situation.

'How is the revenue of the cinema circuit doing?'

After Shao Yifu had concentrated on running TVB, Shao Weiming became the general manager of Shaw Studios and Shaw Circuit. Hearing his father's question, he gave a wry smile and sighed, 'Dad, the situation is not good. Many cinemas have low attendance rates. Even though some have been renovated and reopened, and a tiered box office system has been implemented, the negative impact of being left behind for so long has not been eliminated, and it feels like we're in a vicious cycle.'

'Galaxy Studios not only produces a lot of films, but the quality is also very good. Plus, every time a film is released, they do a great job of promoting and marketing it, and it always does well at the box office.'

'After the Chinese New Year last year, Universal Studios began to import more Hollywood blockbusters.'

'Plus, other small and medium-sized film companies will supply Universal Studios with films, so Universal Studios never lacks for good movies.'

'Over time, the audience has become accustomed to going to Universal Studios to watch movies, which has led to a serious decline in the number of people going to Shaw Studios.'

'If this situation continues and we are unable to resolve it, then our Shaw Circuit will gradually incur losses and become a burden.'

Shao Yifu's face was as gloomy as water. After a long silence, he asked, 'So you haven't thought of a way out of this predicament?'

Shao Weiming immediately said, 'Dad, we have thought about it and tried it. We just need to use films that are good enough to win back the audience. As long as we succeed a few times in a row and restore the image of our Shaw films in the hearts of the audience, then the audience will slowly come back.'

'But...'

Shao Weiming paused, and finally lowered his head and sighed.

He had tried, and he had used carefully crafted movies to deliberately avoid competing with movies produced by Galaxy Studios and other small and medium-sized film companies.

He had thought he would be able to win a resounding victory, but who knew that with the strong publicity and distribution of the Universal Cinema, movies produced by small and medium-sized film companies could also trigger a craze.

Their fine films produced by Shaw Studios were leading the way, but they were being closely pursued and the gap could not be opened.

What he lacked was the kind of film that would decide the outcome!

Although his son did not continue, Shaw Yifu understood what his son meant.

He took a sip of tea to calm his somewhat disturbed emotions, and asked in a calm voice, 'If there are no good films, then go all out and make them. I will not hold back the money. The key is, do you have a good script?'

In the past, when Shaw Brothers Pictures made a movie, there was basically no script, and it all depended on the director's performance, and they made them really fast.

But since the emergence of Galaxy Pictures, Shaw Yifu has seen the importance of a complete filming team and a detailed script. Shaw Brothers Pictures has also improved accordingly. Now, every movie and TV series that is made must first have a script, and the shooting cannot start until the script has been approved.

The concept that the script is the soul of a film has been engraved in his mind.

Shao Weiming said hesitantly, 'Dad, our company has good scripts, and the box office should not be bad if they are filmed, but I am not confident that we can achieve the effect we want.'

Shao Yifu frowned and became a little angry, "So what are you going to do about it?'

Shao Weiming took a deep breath and said solemnly, "Dad, since this path is not easy for the time being, I was wondering if there is another way.'

'Speak!'

Shao Yifu was concise and to the point, looking his son straight in the eye.

Shao Weiming continued, 'Last year, Galaxy Movies entered Hollywood, so this year, they have made a lot of money and attracted a lot of audiences with Hollywood movies.'

'And most importantly, Galaxy Movies has high-profile teamed up with MGM to co-produce E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and they have been promoting it for a long time. It will definitely be released next year, and many people are already looking forward to it. If it really becomes a hit, it will deal us a very serious blow.'

'I think the best defence is offence. Just like TVB preparing to go national, we at Shaw Brothers Films also want to go head-to-head with Galaxy Films. If we can defeat Galaxy Films once, Universal Cinemas will also be affected, and we will be able to turn the situation around in one fell swoop.'

Shaw Yifu's eyes narrowed slightly, his gaze like a knife, as if he could see through people's hearts. He asked in a deep voice:

'Are you sure?'