My American magical life
Chapter 275 - 275 119 CEO Cheng You're Really Ruthless!_2

275: Chapter 119: CEO Cheng, You’re Really Ruthless!_2 275: Chapter 119: CEO Cheng, You’re Really Ruthless!_2 “Not just okay, but great!”

Cheng Daqi stood up and patted his shoulder as he spoke.

“You wrote this proposal, and I’m leaving the shooting of this video entirely to your team.

The book-tearing video has been completed.

Now go find Zhao and try to get a first draft done by this afternoon.

If today’s Saint Rodu sign-holding event isn’t interesting enough, we can shoot it another day, but you need to take action now.”

With Cheng Daqi’s affirmation and support, the young man from India excitedly left with the proposal in hand, out of Cheng Daqi’s office.

Having observed everything, Lisa, seated opposite Cheng Daqi, sighed so faintly it was almost imperceptible.

“Cheng, when you brought Mi’er and me in as investors, I didn’t understand what you were going to do.

Now I understand a little bit, but honestly, mas is no different from other MCN agencies right now, and I’m a bit disappointed.”

Lisa certainly had the right to be disappointed, albeit she was fully aware of the significance behind Cheng Daqi managing to bring the company from chaos to order in just one afternoon.

But, having the ability doesn’t mean you can run the company well.

The short video industry is never one where stable profits come easily; the content industry requires long-term perseverance to reap rewards.

And long-term perseverance requires money, a lot of money.

Lisa saw the situation clearly: mas spending too little money means death, burning through funds without being able to sustain it is also death, and even if mas makes it to the end, reducing the intensity of spending will spell death.

At least for now, Lisa couldn’t see anything special about mas, other than its capacity to spend money.

Cheng Daqi, lounging in his chair, was arranging work for Cao Yueyue on his phone.

“How can you say there’s no difference?

Those MCNs don’t have such a charming deputy general manager like you,” Cheng Daqi teased with a smile in response to Lisa’s challenging words.

Having spent a lot of time with Temir, CEO Cheng’s way of speaking had also become more blunt.

“Three core competencies?

Are you kidding me?”

The blonde Western woman found it a bit hard to believe.

Even though she wasn’t versed in short videos, her business experience was not negligible.

She really wanted to hear what Cheng Daqi could come up with, and if he couldn’t provide convincing reasons, then…

“First, I’m awesome.

Second, TikTok just reached the top, and I’ve already noticed the future trend.

I will sort out mas’s business path to give us a head start in the upcoming cutthroat era of short videos.

Third, I have you and Mi’er’s support.

As investors, your trust and support for me, isn’t that a core competitive edge for mas?”

Sometimes flattery is the solution; there’s not always a need for logic.

Telling her what she likes to hear has always been the best strategy.

CEO Cheng knew exactly how to handle Lisa!

The blonde certainly enjoyed hearing Cheng Daqi speak like this, but she quickly realized that Cheng Daqi’s answers were cheeky to the extreme.

Three core competencies, two, no, the first one is nonsense!

As a friend, Lisa would applaud Cheng Daqi’s bravado and self-aggrandizement, but she was now having a serious discussion about mas’s competitiveness with him.

“Don’t change the subject.

Among your three core competencies, only the second one is real, but you haven’t clearly explained the business path, is that appropriate?

Or are you even trying to guard against me, your investor?” The Western woman’s gaze was sharp.

She had been working tirelessly for Cheng Daqi these past few days.

If she still couldn’t gain Cheng Daqi’s trust after that, she really had to reconsider her friendship with him.

CEO Cheng shook his head slowly, then straightened up in his chair and replied earnestly.

“Lisa, you’ve misunderstood.

Actually, I still haven’t decided…or rather, most of the business path has been set, but there’s one very key issue I haven’t figured out.”

“Speak up, I can help you think it over.”

Curiosity sparkled in the blonde’s olive-green eyes.

What could be so perplexing even for someone as smart as Cheng Daqi?

“MCN agencies and signed internet celebrities often have very strict agreements, and these agreements are not only strict but also widespread, after all, that’s the industry standard.”

In the future, mas’s main model will be to sign a broad array of celebrities, free-range them for a while, and then select for intensive cultivation based on their fan growth rate and overall potential.

During free-ranging, mas invests highly valuable educational resources in them; and the cost of intensive cultivation is not low, sorry, I meant to say it’s very high—extremely high.

Under this model, mas needs an agreement stricter than those of its competitors to prevent its internet celebrities from going solo or defecting to other MCN agencies.”

Cheng Daqi was grappling with legal issues, or to put it another way, whether a multitude of lawsuits could affect mas’s image!

“The problem is, for those internet celebrities signing with mas, the contract binds them to mas from the get-go, but human laziness, cowardice, and ignorance can lead them to breach the contract.

I can foresee that mas’s legal department will become a significant revenue driver in the future, and mas’s lawsuits against a large number of contract-breaching celebrities could be very profitable, but such a way of earning money could also bring negative impact on mas’s image.

This is a tough decision for me to make; on one hand, there’s money to be made once we proceed, but on the other, the money burns my hands.”

The blonde was stunned by Cheng Daqi’s long speech; Lisa pondered for a moment, then looked up at Cheng Daqi and asked.

“You mentioned that the educational resources provided during free-range are of high value, can you elaborate on that?”

Lisa, indeed a sharp elite soldier handpicked by Cheng Daqi, had hit the nail on the head!

The heart of Cheng Daqi’s need for more complicated contracts lies in the high value that mas offers to internet celebrities.

But CEO Cheng, when you say high, is it really high, or what kind of high are we talking about?

“I’ve already started building a professional internet celebrity training curriculum.

Other MCN companies lack a standardized process for cultivating celebrities, or rather, their processes aren’t designed well enough.

In the future, mas will provide all signed celebrities with comprehensive and varied empowerment, which is why I say, even in free-ranging, mas will invest a lot in educational resources.”

Cheng Daqi had indeed begun to construct a training curriculum system, as evidenced by the folders containing hastily written booklets by Zhao Hongjin, no less than a few thousand words.

“You’re building your own training courses and charging your company’s internet celebrities for them?”

Lisa didn’t quite follow Cheng Daqi’s thought process.

“Why not?

Only if they have enough sunken costs will they be desperate enough to strive to become top-level internet celebrities!”

Cheng Daqi was troubled by legal issues, but he never wavered about the rightness of his actions.

Besides, he didn’t start the company with the aim of collecting damages from those who breached their contracts!

“But isn’t this scamming people?”

The blonde had fully grasped the meaning behind Cheng Daqi’s words—the bastard’s intention was to load each signed celebrity with a ‘training fee’ from the very beginning.

CEO Cheng, you’re truly devious!

“Lisa, you and Mi’er invested in my company.

Would you rather I scam you or others?

Besides, mas is a commercial entity; it seeks commercial success.

The specific tactics to ensure business model operation may be a bit unconventional but are unrelated to scamming, right?

Furthermore, as the company’s leader, I have to be responsible for its future prospects.

This is the best way I can think of to ensure our internet celebrities work hard!”

A perfect rebuttal; CEO Cheng had Lisa pinned to the ground.

The blonde wanted to argue back, but Cheng Daqi seemed to effortlessly counter her objections from any angle.

After hesitating for a while, the blonde girl lowered her head, silently pondering.

After reflecting for quite some time, Lisa finally cleared her thoughts.

Although she was convinced that Cheng Daqi’s plan was correct and clever, she didn’t like it!

“So in your opinion, this sort of internet celebrity training contract that is designed with no way out right from the start, is the foundation and assurance of all mas’s operations?”

“Yes.” Cheng Daqi tilted his head, smiled, and spread his arms in a helpless gesture.

“I want to pull out my investment!”

Resolution filled her olive-green eyes; the blonde didn’t want to join Cheng Daqi in ‘doing evil’.

“Lisa, unfortunately, the world isn’t like you; it isn’t filled with only beauty, love, and warmth.

There are greedy, ignorant, criminal, and predatory people in the world.

You can’t save everyone with your limited powers.

mas is a business company, and you are no longer a twelve-year-old Girl Scout.”

At that moment, Cheng Daqi really wanted to know how Lisa ever became friends with Temir!