My capital is quite large.

Chapter 270 Record-Breaking Listing

Amidst much anticipation, the speed at which Haofeng Weibo listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has undoubtedly broken historical records in the entire Chinese internet and even Asian financial history.

From the formal submission of the prospectus to the ringing of the bell, it took less than sixty days.

This near-miraculous "green channel" speed is not only due to the efforts of top investment banks, but also the full support of Liangjiang State-owned Assets.

In early January, accompanied by the clear chimes of the bells in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange hall, Haofeng Weibo was officially listed for trading.

As expected, Weibo's stock price soared on its first day of trading, rising sharply for several days in a single week, bringing the company's total market value to an astonishing $22 billion.

This is not over yet.

Just as the entire internet was still reeling from Weibo's multi-billion dollar success story, in mid-January, Haofeng Group dropped two bombshells on the market.

The two core content platforms under its umbrella—iQiyi and Bilibili—have simultaneously announced plans to launch independent spin-offs and Hong Kong IPOs!

For a time, throughout January, the financial and venture capital headlines, both domestically and internationally, were almost entirely dominated by the name "Haofeng Group".

"Haofeng gets the meat, and the local governments get the soup"—this business myth of a private giant being closely tied to the local governments of Liangjiang has now become a consensus in the industry.

According to sources within investment banks, the Nanjing State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission has already intervened in the recently approved restructuring plan between iQiyi and Bilibili.

As expected, these two platforms will follow Weibo's model and each transfer 20% of their shares to Jinling local state-owned assets.

The continuous influx of capital and headquarters tax revenue has propelled Nanjing City's GDP into the coveted trillion-yuan club this year!

Xuzhou in northern Jiangsu Province benefited the most.

Backed by Xiaomi Technology's super foundry that roars day and night, and Huaxin Technology's semiconductor manufacturing base built with billions of yuan in investment, Xuzhou's GDP growth rate this year has been like a rocket, soaring to third place in the two provinces!

In terms of ranking within the province, it not only surpasses many established cities but also rivals Asu and the provincial capital, Nanjing.

It's only a matter of time before Xuzhou becomes the third city in the province to reach a GDP of over one trillion yuan.

……

However, while the outside world was going crazy for Haofeng's capital feast, Li Feng, the mastermind behind it all, was sitting in a multimedia classroom at Jinling University, looking at the textbook in front of him, feeling a headache coming on.

Just after New Year's Day, he took his new chief secretary, Zhang Yuxi, to study in the Jinda EMBA class.

Although their enrollment was only completed in January, Jin University's rules are naturally very flexible for alumni like Li Feng, who is a big spender. They simply changed their enrollment time in the system to September of last year, allowing them to seamlessly catch up with the final sprint of the first semester.

The days of picking up books again were far from as pleasant as I had imagined.

Looking at the complicated financial formulas and dry management case studies in the textbook, Li Feng felt his head buzzing.

Having been a CEO who gives orders for the past few years, he has long been accustomed to only looking at the final profit results and strategic direction. Where would he find the patience to analyze the underlying academic models line by line?

Therefore, the so-called class assignments, case studies, and even the in-class tests for the first stage naturally and without any suspense all fell into the hands of his female classmate and chief secretary, Zhang Yuxi.

"Boss, I've already finished today's assignment on 'Corporate Governance and Equity Design' for you. You just need to sign your name on the last page."

In the living room of the large, single-level villa, Zhang Yuxi handed a neatly printed thesis to Li Feng with a charmingly coquettish manner.

However, when Professor Jin handed out the graded test papers and assignments a few days later, Li Feng's face fell as he looked at the scores.

Zhang Yuxi achieved A+ grades (95 points or higher) in all of her major courses.

Li Feng's own homework, although written by Zhang Yuxi, was done by her. In order not to appear too perfunctory, Zhang deliberately imitated the boss's handwriting but also lowered her level, resulting in a score of only 85 points (B).

This stark contrast severely challenged the dignity of Li Feng, a former top student who had lived two lives and was admitted to a prestigious university in a small town based solely on his own merit.

"Yu Xi, come here."

Li Feng closed the report card, leaned back on the leather sofa in the master bedroom of Zijinshan Manor, and narrowed his eyes dangerously.

"Boss, what's wrong?" Zhang Yuxi, unaware of the seriousness of the situation, walked over obediently, dressed in a pure and innocent school uniform skirt.

"You got a 98 on the assignment I wrote for you, but I only got an 85?"

Li Feng sneered, reached out and pulled her into his arms, his large hand skillfully slipping under her skirt and giving her a light squeeze.

"You've gotten quite the brat, huh? You even dare to outdo the boss academically? Looks like I'll have to give you a proper tutoring session today!"

"I was wrong, boss... I'll accept whatever punishment you give me."

Zhang Yuxi bit her lower lip lightly, her legs going weak as she slumped into Li Feng's arms. Her beautiful peach blossom eyes were filled with an almost overflowing sense of obedience and flattery.

The winter sunlight outside the window was blocked by the slowly closing blinds. In this quiet office, Li Feng, with a hint of revenge for his academic setbacks, launched a deep punishment.

Zhang Yuxi not only didn't show any reluctance, but instead used all her skills to cater to and please him, allowing him to regain the dignity and satisfaction of being in a superior position under absolute control.

……

Meanwhile, amidst the vast waves of the Hong Kong stock market, the 20% of public shares released by Haofeng Weibo were predictably snapped up by various international brands and domestic capital giants in a very short time.

Even arch-rival Tencent and ally Alibaba have each used their investment platforms to grab approximately 5% of the secondary market share.

Of course, under the dual-class share structure set up by Haofeng, all of these publicly issued shares are purely financial investment shares without voting rights, and naturally cannot shake Li Feng's control over Weibo.

However, the influx of this huge sum of money not only greatly enriched Haofeng Group's cash pool, but also made the outside world see the signal behind this cooperation.

With the joint support of Liangjiang State-owned Assets and various capital sources, Weibo has become an unsinkable media aircraft carrier!

Compared to Haofeng Group's high-profile push for the simultaneous spin-off and listing of iQiyi and Bilibili, Tencent, as a long-established empire, has yet to choose to spin off its Penguin Video separately for listing.

This is not only because Tencent is already a behemoth in the Hong Kong stock market and does not need to raise money by splitting up videos.

The more fundamental reason is that Tencent Video's current user base and content ecosystem are simply not qualified to compete with iQiyi!

The gap between the two sides in terms of copyrighted film libraries is simply too large.

From the year 2000 until 2014, almost all the well-known domestic dramas, hit fantasy dramas, and even top-tier overseas anime and tokusatsu shows were locked in iQiyi's exclusive library.

Over the past few years, Tencent has filed three antitrust and unfair competition lawsuits against iQiyi in courts across various regions. But what were the results?

The two sides can wrestle for up to six months just over the legal procedures for objections to jurisdiction and trials in different locations!

And every time a case is ultimately sent back to the Jinling Intermediate People's Court for trial, Tencent's legal department loses every single one of them!

The same scene is playing out on the music platform as well.

The battle between Penguin Music and Soda Music in the copyright court also ended with Penguin repeatedly hitting a wall.

It wasn't until this moment, seeing the rejection judgments issued by the Jinling Intermediate People's Court, that the entire internet community truly saw the foresight of Li Feng back then.

Back when copyright was scarce, his decision to spend hundreds of millions of yuan to acquire premium copyrights at a premium, despite the ridicule of all his peers, was not a waste of a single penny.

This one percent of premium copyrights has now become an insurmountable steel defense line that no giant can cross.

Besides Haofeng Group's unparalleled success in the capital market, another established video website, LeTV, also emerged as a rising star in the capital market at the beginning of 2015.

Although Boss Jia couldn't compete with Li Feng in terms of copyright for premium products, he had the advantage of "getting up early".

LeEco still holds a large number of copyrights to second- and third-tier TV dramas that were acquired at bargain prices in the early days. In addition, they have recently started to develop their own LeEco Superphone, following the example of Xiaomi, and are now playing with concepts in terms of hardware.

In the realm of sports broadcasting rights, Haofeng had just secured the exclusive online broadcasting rights for the NBA in Greater China for a staggering ten years, and LeTV quickly followed suit, acquiring the exclusive new media rights for the English Premier League.

In the eyes of outsiders, LeEco at this time was essentially a budget version of "Xiao Haofeng".

With this highly imaginative ecological PowerPoint presentation, LeEco's stock price on the A-share market naturally rose all the way up, becoming an undisputed legend on the ChiNext board.

Faced with this new wealth-creation myth, the ecosystem of the entertainment industry is also undergoing subtle changes.

Artists outside Haofeng's company are so envious of those who have never worked there, seeing how Zhao Liying and Mao Xiaotong, who were originally unknown extras, have become incredibly popular celebrities, that they are almost driven mad with envy.

In their view, as long as they can hitch a ride on the coattails of these technology and video giants, rewriting their destiny and achieving financial freedom is just around the corner.

"Since we can't catch Boss Li's eye, let's buy LeEco stock!"

Driven by this wealth worship and herd mentality, a large number of non-Haofeng-affiliated artists and directors who frequented the Beijing and Hong Kong entertainment circles began to pour large sums of money into LeEco's original shares and private placement shares through various channels.

It was as if everyone saw another get-rich-quick myth in Boss Jia's dazzling PPT, and they flocked to this golden coast inflated by bubbles like moths to a flame.