Losing Money to Become a Tycoon: Starting with Games
Chapter 428: Should President Pei Continue Selling His Shares?
Meanwhile, at OTTO Technology.
Chang You was restless, pacing back and forth in his office.
"We still can't reach President Pei."
"Huang Sibo doesn't have any news about him either."
"Forget it. I'll have to make the call myself."
After thinking it over for a long time, Chang You decided this matter couldn't be delayed any further. He immediately gathered his team for a meeting.
"The situation has changed."
"A Better Tomorrow premiered at midnight today, and the response has been extremely enthusiastic—far beyond our initial expectations!"
"So, I think it's time to activate Plan B."
"Xiao Jiang, go ahead and brief everyone."
The young man beside him had already handed out printed copies of the proposal to everyone present. He then walked to the projector screen and began introducing the backup plan they had prepared earlier.
"As for the design of our phone, we previously created several different versions."
"As everyone knows, these designs are broadly similar, because President Pei explicitly required that the logo must be large and eye-catching."
"So, we designed many variations of the logo and then developed matching color schemes for the phone casing based on each one."
"Originally, we settled on a minimalist logo. However, with the release of A Better Tomorrow, our plan needs to change accordingly."
"At the time, the film crew of A Better Tomorrow had asked us to submit logo advertisement concepts. Now, the concept we provided has already been filmed and included in the movie—for example, this one."
Xiao Jiang pressed a button, and the projector began playing an advertisement clip.
A drone comes to pick up a food delivery, but the distance is too far. The restaurant owner casually takes off his phone and connects it to the drone to supply power. The drone travels across deserts, storms, and various harsh environments—and still has over 30% battery left upon returning.
The logo on the phone in this ad was one of the designs that OTTO Technology had not originally chosen.
Among all the logos, this one had the strongest futuristic feel—a design abstracted from the letters "OTTO," resembling an infinity symbol, with a distinctly postmodern style.
Xiao Jiang continued, "The reason we didn't choose this logo before was mainly because it felt a bit too flashy. As a new phone brand, we weren't sure we could pull it off."
"But judging from the current situation, audiences seem to have a high level of acceptance for this advertisement and the phone's design!"
"Considering that the movie's popularity will likely continue for some time, releasing a phone with this design will definitely attract a lot of fans of the film."
"Also, since our production volume for this batch of phones isn't very high, positioning it as a fan-oriented product might actually be a good direction."
After Xiao Jiang finished, the group began discussing.
"I always thought this logo looked the best!"
"The phone-related ads in the movie were really well done. Even after the movie leaves theaters, we can reuse these ads on video platforms or TV for promotion—it'll save us a lot of costs. So we should definitely go with this design!"
"I agree. It would be a waste not to use such great ads."
"Uh… President Chang, what does President Pei think?"
Everyone turned to look at Chang You.
He hesitated for a moment. "I haven't been able to reach President Pei yet. He's probably very busy these days."
The group exchanged glances.
"I don't think President Pei would object to this."
"I heard the movie script was written by President Pei himself, and it was also his decision not to outsource the ads. So maybe he planned this from the beginning?"
"Yeah… that actually makes sense."
After discussing it together, everyone felt the same way—the ads had already been filmed, and audiences clearly liked them. There was no reason not to use them.
Chang You made the decision on the spot:
"Alright, in that case, we'll go with this logo and design. Move quickly—prepare a new plan based on this logo and submit it to the manufacturer!"
…
Dream Fulfillment Ventures.
He Desheng stared at his phone screen, looking conflicted.
"President Pei still hasn't replied."
"Should I… give him a call?"
"But what if President Pei is busy? It might feel a bit abrupt…"
During this period, the Top Student, Come Quickly project was still riding a wave of hype. Besides the promotion done by He Desheng using the original funds, the other investors had also been spending their own money to promote the project.
The reason was simple: the more hype it had, the more willing Moral Education would be to pay a high price to acquire it!
All this time, He Desheng had been following President Pei's instructions—gradually selling off shares of the Top Student, Come Quickly company bit by bit.
Since last week, he had attended several shareholder meetings for the company.
His identity was that of a core member of the Top Student, Come Quickly founding team, as well as the head of Dream Fulfillment Ventures. These shares were all being managed on behalf of President Pei.
After all, President Pei was too busy to personally attend every small transaction or participate in all the tedious negotiations.
The purpose of these shareholder meetings was simple: to negotiate share sales with representatives from Moral Education.
Other shareholders had already been gradually selling off their shares, and Moral Education's stake in the company had been steadily increasing.
One investor who had originally put in 3 million yuan sold all his shares in one go for 8 million—more than doubling his investment!
At present, the valuation of the Top Student, Come Quickly project had reached nearly 40 million yuan. When these investors cashed out, Moral Education would naturally bargain a bit on the price, but even so, everyone was making a solid profit.
He Desheng could tell that Moral Education had been somewhat outmaneuvered by this group of seasoned investors.
Of course, it wasn't entirely fair to call it deception. Moral Education genuinely wanted this app.
As a well-funded education institution, Moral Education had always hoped to acquire an app like this to further expand its influence. Buying it was essentially a way of enhancing its own reputation.
President Li and the others wanted to cash out, while Moral Education wanted to boost its prestige—both sides were getting what they wanted, so there was nothing really to criticize.
Naturally, He Desheng wasn't going to expose anything. After all, he knew from the start that this project was meant for cashing out.
Now that President Li and the other investors had already paved the way, He Desheng was more than happy to go along with the flow—there was no reason for him to interfere.
In order to gain full control of the project, Moral Education was highly eager to acquire more shares—especially the ones held by He Desheng.
Only now did He Desheng fully understand why President Pei had repeatedly emphasized selling the shares gradually.
It was clearly to maximize profits!
As the popularity of the Top Student, Come Quickly project continued to rise and Moral Education accumulated more shares, the price they were willing to pay for the remaining shares kept climbing higher and higher.
After selling shares bit by bit over time, the portion remaining in He Desheng's hands had finally reached the bottom line that President Pei had previously set—about 20%.
Especially during the last transaction, Moral Education, in order to push its holdings past the 67% controlling threshold, had purchased shares at a high price—willingly acting like a sucker.
Based on a valuation of nearly 40 million yuan, selling all the shares would yield about 15 million yuan. After deducting the initial 2 million investment, the project had already made over 10 million in pure profit—and they still retained 20% of the shares.
Now, He Desheng was struggling with one question: should he sell this remaining 20% or not?
After all, it was still a substantial amount of money!
Of course, he didn't dare make the decision on his own. President Pei had clearly said that 20% must be retained.
But if he didn't sell, it felt like the cash-out wasn't fully completed—as if it conflicted with President Pei's original intention.
Or rather… it felt unfinished.
After thinking it over for a long time, He Desheng finally decided to call President Pei.
…
Pei Qian was lying on his bed like a corpse when his phone rang.
"Hm? He Desheng is calling?"
He quickly picked it up.
"Hello? What is it?"
On the other end, He Desheng paused for a moment, clearly not expecting President Pei to answer so quickly—and apparently not sounding busy at all.
"Oh, President Pei. I've followed your instructions and reduced our shares to 20%. Should we keep selling? If we sell everything, we could probably get another four to five million."
Pei Qian: "…?"
For a moment, he couldn't quite process what He Desheng was saying.
Already down to 20%? And selling that would bring in another four to five million?
He remembered they originally had around 60%…
So how much money had they made from the shares they already sold just to "undermine investor confidence"?!
Pei Qian quickly asked, "So what's the current valuation?"
He Desheng answered honestly, "About 40 million, President Pei."
Pei Qian: "?"
Wait—that's not how this was supposed to go!
Pei Qian was utterly confused. Logically speaking, if he kept selling shares, wouldn't that send a clear signal that he was bailing out? Other investors should have followed suit, their confidence crushed, causing the company's valuation to collapse and making the shares worthless…
But now, after selling so many shares, why had the valuation actually gone up?
The last time he remembered, the company was valued at around 25 million!
Pei Qian fell silent, unsure what to say.
He Desheng, on the other end, didn't dare to rush him—assuming that President Pei was contemplating some profound investment strategy and next steps.
After thinking for about half a minute, Pei Qian asked, "Then… what about President Li's shares?"
He Desheng replied, "Same as ours—they've all been sold to Moral Education. They paid a high price to acquire them, and now their stake has exceeded the 67% absolute control threshold."
"Of course, because of that, they're no longer as eager for our remaining 20%. They definitely won't offer the same price as before—I estimate we can negotiate it down to around four or five million."
Pei Qian was full of question marks.
Moral Education? What the heck is that?
That wasn't one of the original investors, was it?
After a moment of confusion, Pei Qian suddenly had a realization.
Oh no—this is bad. The hype had been pushed too far, and now something had gone wrong. An outsider had stepped in and disrupted everything!
It must be that Moral Education took a liking to the Top Student, Come Quickly app and proactively came in to take over. Since many investors were selling their shares, they simply bought them all in one go!
A very bad feeling instantly rose in Pei Qian's heart. He cautiously asked, "So… how much exactly did we sell our shares for?"
He Desheng replied, "A little over 15.6 million. I'd have to check the exact figure—just a moment…"
Pei Qian felt a bit dizzy. "No need to check…"
This was bad!
This situation had spiraled completely out of control!
The original plan was just to lose 2 million—but somehow, through a series of inexplicable moves, they had ended up making over 13 million in profit!
What on earth had he even done?!
Pei Qian tried to steady himself, cleared his throat, and asked, "Hypothetically—just hypothetically—if I wanted to buy back all those shares now… it would cost… quite a lot, right?"
He Desheng chuckled. "President Pei, you're joking. It's not even about the money. Moral Education wants absolute control over this project. They just acquired it, why would they sell it back?"
Pei Qian: "…Alright then."
Sensing that President Pei was about to hang up, He Desheng quickly asked, "Then, President Pei—should we sell the remaining 20%?"
Pei Qian replied decisively, "No!"
Beep. The call ended.
He Desheng stared at his phone, looking confused.
"Seems like President Pei still has some kind of follow-up plan… but why does it feel like he's a bit unhappy about this?"
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