My capital is quite large.

Chapter 263 The Fighter

Inside the Zijinshan Manor in Jinling, Li Feng sat behind his desk, holding the NBA Greater China exclusive online video broadcasting rights contract that had just been submitted by the Overseas Investment Department.

"Boss, although this deal caused a huge stir, our cash flow has not been affected." Zhang Yuxi stood respectfully by the table.

"The initial payment for the billion-dollar copyright purchase will not require using the eight hundred million dollars in cash obtained from selling those two traitors recently."

"Previously, in order to acquire Toei Animation in Japan, the finance department specifically set aside a cash pool of 3 billion RMB, which was just right to pay the down payment for this multinational sports rights."

Li Feng listened to Secretary Zhang's report thoughtfully.

In this day and age, spending a billion US dollars over ten years is seen by outsiders as an absolutely insane and extravagant amount of money.

It's worth noting that in its previous life, Sina signed broadcasting contracts with the NBA in 2010 and 2013 for a paltry $700 million and $2000 million per year respectively, and of course, they only received non-exclusive secondary rights.

And Li Feng, he spends a whopping one hundred million US dollars every year!

But was this money wasted?

no way!

The investment department and iQiyi's operations team had already conducted a detailed financial accounting down to three decimal places before the contract was signed.

Although it's only 2014, those merchants who usually beg and plead in shopping malls to get sponsorships have been practically wearing down Haofeng Group's doorstep since they learned that iQiyi had secured the exclusive NBA rights!

The earning power and user engagement of sports events are unmatched by any film or television drama!

"Mr. Li, this is definitely a sure-fire deal!" Zhang Yuxi said excitedly as she opened the data analysis table.

"Once the next season starts, we'll enforce iQiyi's sports VIP membership system. Once this habit of paying to watch is established among the hardcore male fans and sports enthusiasts in China, the annual revenue from membership fees alone will be stable between 2.6 million and 2.7 million RMB!"

"And the annual sponsorship fees offered by major automotive, sports, and even FMCG brands can easily push GG's annual net income to over 6 to 7 million RMB!"

"In other words, if managed properly, we should be able to break even by 2018 at the latest!"

"And over the remaining 7 years of the contract, it will contribute an average of approximately 400 million RMB in net profit to the group each year! Throughout the entire contract period, it will generate at least 3 billion RMB in returns!"

Li Feng locked the contract in the safe and looked at Zhang Yuxi beside him, slowly saying, "Yuxi, do you really think that this billion-dollar deal can only be recouped through members and GG?"

Zhang Yuxi was slightly taken aback, blinked her watery peach blossom eyes somewhat awkwardly, and realized that the boss was deliberately giving her some pointers.

She quickly ran her mind through iQiyi, Weibo, and esports, then a flash of inspiration struck her, and a strange light appeared in her beautiful eyes as she tentatively answered:

"Boss... do you mean to use content to monopolize the entry point?"

While iQiyi currently has a large audience, the majority are still women who watch dramas. However, the NBA is an essential part of life that young male netizens cannot resist.

By locking this rare, top-tier IP onto iQiyi, it's equivalent to confining all the male fan traffic across the entire internet to Haofeng's pool!

The ecological synergy value here is something that no amount of 3 billion could buy!

Thinking of this, Zhang Yuxi bowed sweetly, saying, "Boss is brilliant!"

On the surface it was respectful flattery, but at that moment her heart was filled with joy.

"My boss is actually starting to give me pointers..."

In the past, the boss had only ever treated her, his new chief secretary, as a tool for handling trivial matters and as a side dish to satisfy his cravings at the villa.

But today, the boss not only didn't think she was being nosy, but patiently guided her to think about the group's strategy.

Thinking of this, Zhang Yuxi felt that all the absurd and exhausting things she had suffered at the Zijin Mountain Manor last night had become incredibly sweet.

"All that hard work practicing my ventriloquism these past few days has truly paid off..."

……

Meanwhile, in Nanshan District, Shenzhen, at the Fiyta Building.

In the conference room at Tencent's headquarters, Pony Ma sat in the main seat, his face terribly gloomy, staring at the heads of the game department and the investment department below.

"Can someone explain this to me?!"

"Didn't Tencent Sports have been pursuing the NBA broadcasting rights for a while? And then iQiyi just bought them out entirely?!"

Faced with the boss's fury, the vice president of Tencent's investment department stood up somewhat timidly.

"Mr. Ma... this, this really isn't because we're inactive. It's just that the price Haofeng offered is completely illogical from a business perspective!"

"Our team's highest bid was $5 million over 5 years, which was already a very competitive price. Who would have thought that Li Feng, that madman, would immediately extend the contract to 10 years and throw out a whopping $10 billion!"

The vice president defended himself, somewhat aggrieved:

"Furthermore, after studying the current situation of NBA stars, our investment department is actually... not optimistic about their future popularity prospects."

"First of all, their current star player Kobe suffered a major Achilles tendon rupture last year. Judging from his condition, retirement is only a matter of the next two years. The league is about to lose its biggest box office guarantee."

"Secondly, the James who succeeded him just got swept 4-1 by the Spurs in the Finals this year, which greatly damaged his image. Then he abandoned Miami and ran back to Cleveland, and his reputation on the internet is terrible. He has completely lost his appeal."

"After Jordan and Kobe, having superteams with tarnished reputations take over the league? We believe that the NBA's popularity in China will decline like Formula 1 racing within a few years. That's why... we didn't blindly follow suit and bid..."

Hearing the executives' confident analysis, Pony Ma's anger subsided somewhat.

He doesn't know much about basketball, but he has heard gossip in the news about LeBron James's bad reputation, and he also knows that the popularity of basketball in China has declined after Yao Ming's retirement.

Spending $10 billion over 10 years to buy a declining sporting event?

"It does seem like a doomed business deal, after all, Sina bought the copyright for several years back then, but they didn't make much money."

Pony convinced himself that although the investment department's judgment was somewhat conservative, it was logically sound.

Little did he know, it really wasn't Sina's fault!

After all, Kobe's performance had indeed declined since 11, and when LeBron James joined the Heat in 11, he was still crushed by Nowitzki's Mavericks. At that time, NBA viewership was indeed at a low point.

"Since you've lost the video copyright, you'll have to make up for the losses on the game side!"

Pony Ma coldly looked at the head of the IEG (Internet Entertainment Group) game department, "Haofeng is going to work on '2KOL2,' but what's the status of our original 'NBA2KOL'?"

The head of IEG quickly stood up and loudly stated:

"Don't worry, Mr. Ma! Although our '2KOL1' uses an old engine, it has been operating for three years, and our user base and payment habits are already very stable!"

"The project team has prepared a plan for the final stage!"

"Before Haofeng's '2KOL2' officially launches, we will immediately release a brand-new historical star version and dynasty system, along with a top-tier privilege skill synthesis system led by the Brawler and the Master Passer!"

"These skill crafting processes require significant in-game purchases and rely heavily on probability. We're confident we can hold our ground until the very end before Haofeng's new game is released!"