Chapter 284 Entertainment Map
The entire American basketball community thought that Nike's behavior was too crazy and unreasonable. Yang Mo could not be worth so much money. Especially those Nike players, they all got sponsorship contracts from Nike. Now, a Chinese rookie suddenly appeared out of nowhere, first beat them in price, and then became their own boss. Anyone would be unhappy if they were put in this situation.
However, the problem now is that Yang Mo is not just a basketball player. Compared with superstars like LeBron James, Yang Mo is indeed inferior in basketball skills, but away from the basketball court, the number of people who know Yang Mo is definitely greater than the number of people who know LeBron James. James is only popular in the basketball circle, while Yang Mo is more popular outside the basketball circle.
Taking all factors into consideration, this is definitely not a foolish decision. In fact, if Nike doesn't pay, Adidas will. The most popular shoes in the world are Yang Mo's signature shoes. Nike's factories in Southeast Asia are working overtime every day. The production lines that were originally used to produce shoes for James Durant and others have all been converted to produce Yang Mo's signature shoes. The hot sales of Yang Mo's signature shoes have caused Nike's stock price to rise from less than $80 to more than $120, and the net worth of Nike's boss has skyrocketed. Judging from the benefits Yang Mo has brought to Nike, this compensation can only be described as reasonable.
So, despite all the noise from the outside world, Nike has no intention of making any changes.
Kevin Durant and LeBron James are undoubtedly unhappy with Nike's decision. In the past, they were just unhappy that Yang Mo's endorsement contract was higher than theirs, but now Yang Mo has become their boss. This makes them naturally less confident when facing Yang Mo.
They are unhappy, but they can only be unhappy. Because Nike has signed long-term contracts with them, and they have the right of first refusal. Even if Adidas waits until the contract expires to poach them, they only need to match the price. And more importantly, Adidas will not pay hundreds of millions of dollars in liquidated damages to poach them. After all, not every player has the market appeal of Yang Mo.
This incident caused a sensation in the American sports circle, but in China, there was a lot of cheering. Chinese fans were originally depressed because of the possible suspension caused by the fight, but now they heard the news and cheered. Nike shareholder, this name sounds high-end!
They calculated Yang Mo's current status through the stock price. The shares of Nike alone are worth nearly 1 billion US dollars. Although these shares cannot be traded within three years, Yang Mo's annual dividend is only 20,000 to 30,000. But his net worth immediately separated him from those basketball players. This is the status of a boss. Even if those players are the best in basketball, they are still just workers. But Yang Mo is a boss! Boss!
Basically, there is no dispute that Yang Mo has become the highest-earning basketball player in Chinese history. In fact, there will be no problem if the word "China" is replaced with "the whole world". Although Michael Jordan is also a Nike shareholder, his equity is not as much as Yang Mo's, and... Yang Mo is also an actor. In the near future, the money he earns in the entertainment sector will be the biggest.
What makes fans happy the most is that Yang Mo does not need to pay the "protection fee" in the name of training fee to the Sports Bureau. According to rumors, Yao Ming scored half of the points!
To be honest, looking back, Yang Mo couldn't believe that he had made such a big step in the past year, and he hadn't even broken his balls yet. He couldn't believe that he was a poor college student who had no money and was dumped by his girlfriend a year ago.
Yang Mo didn't expect it, and Yan Li didn't expect it even more. If she knew that Yang Mo would become a billionaire in a year, why would she dump him for a sports car worth three or four million yuan? If she didn't dump him, she would be a rich wife now, why would she need to go to the wheat field to pick up crops every day?
Fate! It’s all fate!
The fact that Nike gave equity completely overshadowed the so-called fighting incident. Compared to this, that incident was really too trivial.
At noon US time, the NBA quietly made a decision on its official website regarding the brawl: Michael Beasley and Jerome James were suspended for ten games and fined $20,000. Yang Mo and Chris Duhon were suspended for six games and fined $5,000.
The NBA's punishment is equivalent to classifying Yang Mo as an accomplice, although both of them were knocked down by him. But from a practical point of view, this is indeed the case.
Yang Mo had expected this punishment, so he was not surprised and accepted it calmly. The six-game suspension was a good break for him, just in time for filming. As for the $5,000 fine... Haha, would Yang Mo be short of this little money?
That morning, Lu Xueman took Yang Mo and the senior representative sent by Nike to sign the equity transfer agreement at NASDAQ in New York. After the signing of the handover agreement, Yang Mo officially became the boss of Kobe, James, Durant and others, although he was a small boss. But the village heads were all cadres, and the third shareholder could of course also be their leader.
After signing the equity transfer agreement, Yang Mo and Lu Xueman went to Madison Garden. They will hold a global press conference here tonight to announce the establishment of Baofeng Entertainment Agency.
On the way to Madison Square Garden, Yang Mo casually looked through the list of stars in Lu Xueman's press conference process, and found that the list of stars walking the red carpet included not only several top Chinese stars, but also Hollywood stars such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Cruise, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Wesley, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Jason Statham, Nicole Kidman, JAY-Z and Kristen. This level of star power is comparable to the Oscar red carpet.
So, he couldn't help but ask, "Are you sure all the stars here will come? Instead of inviting a few special actors?"
"Of course, there will be a few stars here who will become our artists." Lu Xue said casually, her eyes always on the documents in her hand.
Lu Xueman said it nonchalantly, not seeming surprised at all. Seeing this, Yang Mo became even more curious: "How did you do it?"
"Some of them report your name, some contact their agency, and some use the connections of the agents we poached." Lu Xueman raised her head slightly and answered.
"No appearance fee or anything?"
"Just provide the hotel and the reception vehicle." Lu Xueman closed the file and answered seriously, "You may not be very clear about the scale of our Baofeng Entertainment Agency. We have nearly ten top Hollywood agents under us, all of whom were recruited from super agencies such as CAA. With their connections and your influence, our company's momentum tonight is definitely luxurious. As far as I know, the number of reporters interviewing us has exceeded 3,000."
"This..." Yang Mo couldn't help but be a little shocked, and then asked in confusion: "But, I noticed that you didn't ask me how much money I paid to poach people."
"Money is not the most important thing. The top agents in Hollywood are not short of money. What they want is a platform and absolute freedom. So we promise to give them separate studios, self-commissioned benefits, and the power to appoint and dismiss personnel, and... if they do a good job, they can get even greater benefits." Lu Xueman said calmly.
"But why would they want to come to our new company? We don't have any connections at all. We are a new company with nothing." Yang Mo didn't understand what Lu Xueman said. In his opinion, what Lu Xueman said did not constitute any substantial temptation at all. It was basically all empty promises.
"Who said we have nothing? We have you!" Lu Xueman laughed, "You probably don't know how famous you are now, right? I used your identity to establish a very good strategic partnership with the eight major Hollywood production companies. And... I helped a domestic real estate developer acquire a theater chain in the United States. Of course, we also took a 10 million US dollar stake."
"Ah?" Yang Mo exclaimed, he was a little slow to react.
While Yang Mo was screaming, Lu Xueman continued to analyze the situation for Yang Mo: "The way Hollywood operates is that production companies, brokerage companies, and movie theaters are separated and do not interfere with each other. But...what we, Baofeng Entertainment, will do in the future is not only to become a brokerage company, but also to have the ability to produce films and occupy a certain proportion of movie theaters. The trinity will make us stronger. Moreover, our goal is definitely not just the continental United States. I have already started to make arrangements in China. According to my analysis, the domestic film market will grow exponentially in the next three to five years, and the number of screens will increase rapidly. What we have to do is to occupy a certain share of domestic movie theaters, and then serve as a bridge between Chinese and American films."
Lu Xueman spoke ambitiously. Yang Mo suddenly felt that she was really lucky to have discovered such a business genius by accident.
"Jordan, Jordan, not only do you have a bad eye for draft picks, you're also bad at economic operations. Such a talented businessman can only do the work of an assistant in your company. It's a waste of talent! I wanted to take advantage of a small opportunity at first, but I didn't expect that I'm getting a huge benefit now!" Yang Mo couldn't help but think happily in her heart.
But Yang Mo didn't know that the reason why Lu Xueman was able to grow to this position was because she gave her unlimited freedom and let her do whatever she wanted. Moreover... Yang Mo's popularity was too strong, and Lu Xueman basically succeeded in everything she did when she went out to work under his name.
