A beautiful day ended with earning money.
Pei Qian had wanted to sleep soundly today, revise for a while, and then eat some delicious food to reward himself. The plan had been perfect.
However, the ten million US dollars that fell from the sky for no reason completely ruined his good mood.
Pei Qian remained silent for a long time before asking, "Can we … sponsor these ten million US dollars back?"
Based on the principle of whoever earned money would spend it. Of course, it was better to sponsor the club since the money was earned by sponsoring it.
He Desheng said, "Boss Pei, are you saying that we should make a comeback and continue to sponsor the club and earn money?"
"I'm afraid not."
"Finger Games is not that stupid. They would not allow such a thing to happen a second time. Previously, we sponsored the club and asked them to put GOG's logo on their uniforms. That was considered a loophole in the rules. Now, Finger Games has requested that all club uniforms that participate in IOI's official competitions cannot be sponsored by other games. "
"Of course, the clubs that we sponsored previously are still in the gray area. Finger Games can't bear to pay them for breaching the contract. The results of these teams are not that good either, so … we'll just leave it like that."
"However, we can't continue sponsoring. This loophole has been blocked by Finger Games."
Previously, Pei Qian had sponsored a total of ten clubs. Now, five of them wanted to terminate the contract while the other five continued to sponsor.
Obviously, Finger Games had chosen five clubs that were stronger and more likely to enter the top eight to terminate the contract. As for the other five, they could not bear to part with the money.
After all, they would have to pay another ten million US dollars to terminate the contract. Even Dayak Corporation would feel the pinch.
Pei Qian was very melancholic.
On the bright side, at least the other five did not terminate the contract forcefully. Otherwise, he would have to earn another ten million US dollars and the pressure would be even greater …
He Desheng said, "Boss Pei, how do you think … we should spend this money?"
Pei Qian fell silent.
Yes, how should he spend it?
There was still a month to go before settlement. If he wanted to spend ten million US dollars, wouldn't that be messing with his mentality?
Of course, there were still ways to spend it. For example, he could invest in the 'Mission and Choice' project, continue to advertise for GOG, sponsor it, or organize some promotional activities.
However, this was a lot of money after all. He had to think about how to spend it the fastest and with the least negative impact.
At that thought, Pei Qian said, "There's no rush. Let me think about it."
Of course, He Desheng would not have any objections. "Alright, Boss Pei."
After hanging up, Pei Qian felt a wave of melancholy. His good mood for the day was gone.
He could not sleep anymore. He got up and washed up. Then, he went to Fish-Catching Internet Cafe for breakfast.
After that, Pei Qian sipped his coffee and browsed the news online.
The news in the E-Sports and gaming circles over the past two days had basically been flooded by IOI's world finals. After all, the GPL Spring Competition had yet to officially start. This was the only large-scale competition. Coupled with Long Yu Corporation's push, the news was overwhelming.
However, apart from the results of the various teams in the group stages, there was also a lot of news about FV Club. For example, the generous training conditions that were revealed on FV Club's Weibo, as well as the live Weibo accounts.
Moreover, it took up quite a lot of space and was very popular.
Because today was already the second day of the competition, the domestic teams did not have any matches today. Yesterday's match was also quite ugly to watch. Whether it was the media or the audience, they did not want to talk about it anymore.
As the number one seed in the country, FV Club had done some good work. It was very suitable for news reports.
Thus, even if Long Yu Corporation did not like FV Club, the various games media outlets still disliked them. They gave a large number of news sections to FV Club for the sake of higher clicks.
Pei Qian did not care too much. Since he wanted to create hatred, he would definitely create a certain amount of popularity. However, it was unlikely that this popularity would turn into profits. In fact, it would even have a negative impact after FV Team lost the competition. Thus, there was nothing to worry about.
Pei Qian looked at the news on other sections. Suddenly, a piece of news caught his attention.
"Rumors of Cold-Faced Lady Collapsing, Meng Chang Clarifies: Rumors"!
Even though the Cold-Faced Lady had nothing to do with Dream Realization Ventures, Pei Qian was still paying attention to the Cold-Faced Lady's news.
Pei Qian could rest assured if the Cold-Faced Lady became popular and its valuation inflated. He had run away correctly and avoided earning more money;
If the Cold-Faced Lady turned cold and confirmed that this was a rubbish project that could not burn money in the future, Pei Qian could consider buying rubbish assets at the bottom to burn money.
Pei Qian quickly clicked on the news and realized that the cause of the matter was that a media outlet had revealed that the Cold-Faced Lady had failed to raise funds and had a tight capital chain. It had already defaulted on payments to its suppliers and would probably close down in the near future.
This news had also exploded all the negative news about the Cold-Faced Lady.
In fact, there had been many voices of doubt on the internet ever since the Cold-Faced Lady was established, including those who questioned whether its food was delicious, expensive, excessive marketing hype, reputation far greater than substance, and so on.
However, the Cold-Faced Lady had been doing very well previously. The shop was very popular, and the internet was very popular. In addition, the taste was passable. The price was subsidized and was not particularly expensive. Thus, this voice did not cause much of a reaction.
However, the Cold-Faced Lady's marketing craze on the internet had gradually subsided. Coupled with this news, the negative voices of the Cold-Faced Lady from before were naturally dug out.
This news did not have much concrete evidence. It was just a chat record of the so-called 'industry insiders'.
Everyone knew that the chat records were not solid evidence, but it was better than nothing.
This news also aroused many people's desire to discuss. Someone even wrote an article to analyze the Cold-Faced Lady's business model and publicly criticized it.
The title of this article was' Cold-Faced Lady's so-called internet thinking is nothing more than an act '. The paragraph at the end of the article could be said to be murderous.
"I have to admit that Meng Chang has extremely strong cross-border thinking, extremely high IQ, top-notch execution, and superb eloquence. He seems to be a perfect entrepreneur from any angle."
"However, common sense tells us that no one is much more stupid than anyone else in any era. No matter how smart a genius is, he can only deceive consumers for a while and not for a lifetime. What's more, there are even smarter geniuses above geniuses. Perhaps in the eyes of other geniuses, such as Boss Pei, Meng Chang's thinking is as simple as a piece of blank paper. "
"Meng Chang has been emphasizing the internet's thinking and the trend of the times. However, he is like a child sitting in the front passenger seat of a car. He assumes a driving posture and thinks that he is in control of the direction of the car and collects money from the passengers as the driver. However, in fact, neither the car nor the road are in his control."
This article could be said to be a perfect last hit.
The chat records that were exposed did not have any authenticity. The Cold-Faced Lady could say that this was a competitor's smear. However, every word in this article was well-written, especially when it pointed out a few fatal problems with the Cold-Faced Lady.
The most important thing was this sentence: Perhaps in the eyes of other geniuses, such as Boss Pei, Meng Chang's thinking was as simple as a piece of blank paper.
This was obviously a clear indication that Boss Pei had sold the Cold-Faced Lady's shares twice previously!
Everyone knew that Boss Pei's investment success rate was extremely high. Boss Pei had sold his shares twice in a row. That must be because, in Boss Pei's opinion, there was a huge problem with the Cold-Faced Lady's model!
Thus, there was a lot of doubt.
On the other hand, the Cold-Faced Lady immediately refuted the rumors, saying that the company's capital chain was healthy, the financing was smooth, and there were no problems with daily operations. Please do not believe the rumors.
However, the debate about the Cold-Faced Lady's business model had begun once again.
Netizens were discussing intensely on many news websites that had republished this news, as well as on various forums.
Some people felt that the Cold-Faced Lady was bragging to begin with. It was not strange for it to close down.
Some people felt that the Cold-Faced Lady's situation was very good. This was the media trying to sensationalize and cheat clicks.
Some people also felt that Meng Chang liked marketing so much. This was most likely a self-deprecation and a collaboration with the media to hype up.
All in all, there were many different opinions, but there were indeed more and more doubts about the Cold-Faced Lady.
Pei Qian was speechless and conflicted as he read the arguments on the internet.
Obviously, many people knew about Dream Realization Ventures' sale of the Cold-Faced Lady's shares. They thought that this was a clear signal: Boss Pei did not think highly of the Cold-Faced Lady and it would die sooner or later.
However, Pei Qian knew very well why he wanted to sell his shares.
The contradiction was whether the Cold-Faced Lady could do it or not? From the looks of the news, it seemed like it had encountered some difficulties. However, what if Pei Qian saved it now?
That was a dilemma.
Pei Qian thought about it for a long time and decided to deal with the changes. He could not be fooled again.
This time, he had to wait for the Cold-Faced Lady to completely fail and there was no possibility of saving it before he took action. He could not turn losses into profits!
…
At the same time, at Fu Hui Investments.
Li Shi and Xue Zhebin stared at each other blankly.
Xue Zhebin probed, "Boss Li, your judgment of Boss Pei … seems to have deviated?"
"If Boss Pei runs away … what should we do?!"
Li Shi sipped his tea silently and did not reply.
After Li Shi and Xue Zhebin invested eight million yuan in the Cold-Faced Lady, Boss Pei immediately sold all the Cold-Faced Lady shares that he had spent two million yuan to buy previously. Once again, he drew a clear line with the Cold-Faced Lady.
In the end, this immediately caused a chain reaction. Investors were even less optimistic about the Cold-Faced Lady model!
According to Meng Chang's plan, he would work hard after obtaining Boss Li's investment. He would hype up the Cold-Faced Lady's valuation and talk to more investors. In the end, Boss Pei's actions were equivalent to taking drastic measures and cutting off Meng Chang's path of retreat!
Meng Chang could not get any investments and the Cold-Faced Lady was still burning money. Eight million yuan might seem like a lot, but it could not last for long. The Cold-Faced Lady's capital chain was already very tight.
The news that the Cold-Faced Lady was going to close down on the internet might be a little exaggerated, but it was not groundless. Investors were already not optimistic about this project. It was inevitable that rumors would spread.
After the unscrupulous media added fuel to the fire, it became what it was now.
Obviously, the Cold-Faced Lady was at a critical juncture of life and death. Most companies that went bankrupt would have problems with their capital chain very suddenly. They might die in a very short period of time.
This made Li Shi and Xue Zhebin's investment look very stupid …
Of course, the other investors more or less had some shares in the Cold-Faced Lady. Li Shi was not the biggest spendthrift.
Everyone was in a conflicted state of mind now.
They wanted to sell, but if everyone sold, the Cold-Faced Lady's valuation would collapse instantly. Then, everyone's shares would be worthless, and none of them would be able to escape. However, if someone sold and someone did not sell, the person who sold first would be able to escape, and the person who sold later would be trapped.
Xue Zhebin had been following Li Shi the entire time. In the end, he watched as Li Shi did a field trip and repeatedly analyzed. He was very serious, but he seemed to have failed in the end. This was like a negative example.
Li Shi coughed dryly to ease the awkwardness of the situation.
"Don't panic. The matter with the Cold-Faced Lady might have turned around, but it's obviously not over."
"The reason is Boss Pei's operation!"
"Boss Pei first invested two million yuan and then sold it immediately. Others might interpret it as Boss Pei seeing the problem with the Cold-Faced Lady and pulling out in time, but I don't think so."
"If Boss Pei thought that there was something wrong with the Cold-Faced Lady, he would have seen it from the beginning. Otherwise, he would not have sold all his shares. Why did he invest two million yuan after selling it? "
"Is Boss Pei so free to play with Meng Chang?"
"Impossible!"
"Obviously, there's a deeper meaning to this two million yuan operation. In my opinion, Boss Pei might be deliberately sending a signal and waiting for the Cold-Faced Lady's valuation to collapse! "
"Boss Pei is definitely not doing this just to teach Meng Chang a lesson. I said before that Boss Pei only cares about benefits and not feelings in business. Even if Boss Pei hates Meng Chang and punishes him slightly, that can only be his second goal. His first goal is definitely to earn money through the Cold-Faced Lady! "
"Boss Pei had already earned a sum of money from selling the Cold-Faced Lady's shares. If that's all, there would be no need for the two million yuan later."
"Therefore, I judge that Boss Pei will definitely do something else in the future!"
"I will choose a suitable time to buy some Cold-Faced Lady shares at a low price."
"This time, I want to predict Boss Pei's plan and walk in front of him!"
…
…
2012, January 1st, New Year's Day.
8 AM in China, 4 PM on December 31st, 2011 in Los Angeles.
Pei Qian woke up as usual. He did not have any special feelings about New Year's Day, nor did he have the habit of staying up until midnight to celebrate the new year.
This year was the special year of 2012, so there were endless discussions about this year on the internet.
As early as 2009, a global disaster movie called "2012" was released, and the fable of the Mayans had long been widely known.
However, Pei Qian knew very well that there was nothing special worth paying attention to in 2012. The so-called end of the world on December 21st was just nonsense. Apart from that, the Olympics, the United States Presidential Election, and the like actually had little to do with most people's daily lives.
Thus, Pei Qian was not in the mood to care about the discussions about the special year 2012. He still focused on his own matters.
He had to continue revising during the exam week, and the results of the two domestic teams in IOI's global finals were out.
One team was eliminated, and the other team persisted until they had the same score. However, they still lost after a fierce battle and finally lost the qualification to enter the top eight.
Just now, the second team's competition had just ended. The entire live-stream was filled with all sorts of curses. It would not be an exaggeration to say that it was the end of IOI in the country!
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