Chapter 279: Acquiring Shares
Just after 2 PM, Jiang Shu and his group arrived at the Inkigayo studio.
The super-sized studio, capable of holding five thousand people, was already full by the time Jiang Shu arrived.
The front rows were occupied by fan site masters, and further back were many familiar faces.
A large number of artists were seated together by group; looking at them, one might have thought they were attending some kind of ceremony.
Jiang Shu's seat was at the very front, even further forward than the first row where the fan site masters were located.
There were five seats in the space between the stage and the audience, corresponding to the five special guests invited to watch the show.
Jiang Shu was the first to arrive; name cards were placed on all five seats, with Jiang Shu's name marked on the center seat.
The moment Jiang Shu appeared, the audience immediately spotted him.
"Chairman Jiang! Chairman Jiang! Chairman Jiang!"
The cheering suddenly erupted.
Hearing this, Jiang Shu chuckled and waved to the audience, walking towards his seat while waving.
The audience was very willing to interact with Jiang Shu because he was also very willing to interact with them.
This back-and-forth interaction was what excited these fans the most, naturally making them eager to interact with Jiang Shu.
Even after Jiang Shu sat down, the shouts from the fans behind him were still very loud.
Ignoring the fans, Jiang Shu picked up the program on the sofa, which listed the groups and artists performing, along with their corresponding songs.
At the very end were IZ*ONE and ITZY.
Before the two groups took the stage, this showdown also had a special MV recording, which was the production team's greatest respect for the first top-tier group showdown.
"Chairman Jiang, you're here so early?" A voice sounded beside Jiang Shu. He turned his head and saw Fang Shihe's large face.
"Chairman Fang," Jiang Shu called out with a smile.
Compared to Jiang Shu's attention-grabbing entrance, not many fans paid attention to Fang Shihe.
This former JYP director and current Big Hit Entertainment Chairman was not very well-known.
Fang Shihe looked at his seat and sat down at the end, to Jiang Shu's right.
"Chairman Fang, what made you interested in coming this time?" Jiang Shu asked.
"The birth of the industry's first top-tier group, one simply has to come and join the fun."
Big Hit's size was not enough to rank alongside Jiang Shu and the other four, but the reason he could appear here was... money well spent.
As long as the money was in place, SBS would do anything.
Similarly, with money in place, arranging Fang Shihe with Jiang Shu was also not a problem.
The reason Fang Shihe spent money to come was to piggyback on Jiang Shu's popularity.
Not long after, Park Jin-young and Yang Hyun-suk also arrived successively. It was quite rare to see these two come together.
Park Jin-young sat next to Fang Shihe, while Yang Hyun-suk sat at the far left. The production team seemed to be afraid that Jiang Shu and Yang Hyun-suk would clash, or perhaps Yang Hyun-suk's status was not quite on par with Li Xiuman's?
As the live broadcast was about to begin, Li Xiuman finally arrived fashionably late.
At this point, all five special guests were present.
The live broadcast officially began.
"A bit boring," Li Xiuman commented, resting his head on his hand, his eyes expressionless.
They were all here for the final 'double-i' battle; the preceding groups were completely uninteresting.
"It's only half an hour or so. If it's really unbearable, you can play on your phone," Jiang Shu said, leaning back on the sofa in a comfortable position.
"That's true." Although it was a live broadcast, among the five people present, only Fang Shihe would pay attention to his limited image, Park Jin-young had an idol's burden, while the other three would not care about such things at all.
After watching for a while, Yang Hyun-suk picked up his phone to fiddle with it. Li Xiuman glanced at Yang Hyun-suk, then turned back to Jiang Shu and leaned closer.
"How did you get into YG?" Li Xiuman asked in a low voice.
"I have my own ideas," Jiang Shu said with a chuckle.
"Then do you want to join JYP too?" Li Xiuman pointed at Park Jin-young, who was trying to look serious, and asked.
"No, JYP has no value."
He went to S.M and YG because he had ideas for them. He also had ideas for JYP, but there were no weaknesses for him to exploit. So why bother with all that effort?
"I understand you less and less now. I don't know what S.M will become in your hands after I leave," Li Xiuman said, shaking his head.
"You've already done all these things, and you're still worried about S.M's future?" Jiang Shu looked at Li Xiuman amusedly and said.
"This is a company I built with my own hands, so I still have some feelings for it."
I understand what you mean: you have feelings, but not many.
"Oh, right, there's something I need to tell you," Li Xiuman said to Jiang Shu, as if remembering something.
"What is it?"
"Tencent Music has once again proposed to buy a large stake in our company, and they've already bought a portion of Alibaba's shares. If they acquire another 5% stake, they will become our company's second-largest shareholder," Li Xiuman reminded him.
"Ah, that. I know about that," Jiang Shu said with a smile.
"You know?" Li Xiuman was startled, but the old fox he was, he instantly reacted.
"Tencent's move is your doing?"
"It's not my doing; it's just that we happened to reach an agreement," Jiang Shu said with a chuckle.
Li Xiuman chuckled. You think I believe that?
Although Tencent is seen by users as a capital penguin whose every pore oozes with blood and sweat, to many invested companies, this guy is a true angel investor.
Many companies controlled by Tencent, or where Tencent is the second-largest shareholder, are not heavily interfered with. Everything is left to develop on its own, with checks only at the end of each quarter to see where their money and the company's money went, preventing situations where investment funds are embezzled.
K-pop currently has a rising momentum, so it's normal for Tencent to see K-pop's development potential and want to invest early. However, targeting S.M is very odd.
DM Entertainment is currently the true soul of K-pop. Why would they go for S.M?
Jiang Shu saw Li Xiuman's expression and knew he was overthinking, and immediately laughed.
"Don't overthink it. Choosing S.M is simply because they are optimistic about S.M."
"With DM Entertainment there, why would they choose S.M?" Li Xiuman chuckled. You think I believe your nonsense?
"Because DM Entertainment is not listed," Jiang Shu said with a smile.
Li Xiuman, the old fox, showed a momentary, obvious blankness in his expression. A moment later, he looked helpless.
"I forgot about that."
Yes, DM Entertainment is not listed, and the company is not short on money. If Tencent wants to invest, they need an avenue.
Compared to DM Entertainment, S.M truly was the best choice.