155: Special effects company

Lu Qingyu said, "Brother Su, I'm sorry. I've been neglecting you lately. Wait for me a moment."

Someone as capable as Brother Su shouldn't just be cooking for him; his talents certainly shouldn't be wasted.

Since he was just hanging around anyway, he might as well open an entertainment company here.

Lu Qingyu picked up his phone and dialed Qi Fei's number.

Ignoring the fact that it was already the middle of the night, Lu Qingyu called Qi Fei.

As it happened, Qi Fei hadn't gone to sleep yet either.

He knew Lu Qingyu had been studying very hard lately, so he was quite surprised to receive a call from him, especially at this hour.

Qi Fei asked, "Boss, is something the matter?"

Lu Qingyu replied, "Brother Qi, I think we could open a film company abroad. Could you look into it tomorrow? If we can acquire an existing one, that would be fine too, so we don't have to build from scratch."

Qi Fei was familiar with the overseas business. Lu Qingyu already had three entertainment companies, so opening one abroad wasn't strange.

"Alright, Boss. I understand."

After hanging up, Lu Qingyu said to Su Jixing, "Brother Su, you're about to have work soon, so don't worry."

Su Jixing thought: Honestly, cooking every day was actually pretty good. After all, the pay was high and the work was leisurely; he was almost tempted to change professions.

"I'm not worried, little brother. You don't need to be either."

Lu Qingyu said, "Don't worry, I'll definitely get it done in the shortest time possible so you can realize your greater value."

Su Jixing thought: Haha, I really thank you.

The next day, Qi Fei went out to investigate and, in the evening, after Lu Qingyu finished school, he came over to submit a report.

Qi Fei introduced, "Boss, I've looked into it. There are six film and entertainment companies that are currently operating at a loss due to poor management. They are worth considering for acquisition."

Lu Qingyu flipped through the documents in his hand bit by bit. When he reached the back, one entertainment company called Magic Paradise caught his eye.

Lu Qingyu examined the documents carefully. This company specialized in shooting science fiction films, though the quality and box office performance of their movies were hard to describe, and their ratings weren't high. However, what interested Lu Qingyu was that this company had an independent digital special effects team.

Film special effects were incredibly expensive, usually charged by the second.

If they acquired this company, at the very least, when future domestic film projects needed special effects, they could produce them in-house and save money.

Lu Qingyu said, "Brother Qi, go and make contact with this Magic Paradise."

Qi Fei hadn't expected Lu Qingyu to choose this one. In fact, Magic Paradise was the one Qi Fei was least optimistic about.

Qi Fei expressed his views to Lu Qingyu: "Boss, this company has losses exceeding 50 million. The movies they produce aren't of high quality, and their digital special effects aren't very competitive. If we want to improve in that area, it will require significant R&D investment. Compared to other companies, I think there are better candidates for acquisition."

Lu Qingyu was playing a film from Magic Paradise on his phone. Hmm, the plot really did look terrible. The special effects couldn't compare to the blockbusters Lu Qingyu had seen before, but they were better than the cheap "five-cent" special effects back home.

Speaking of blockbusters, Lu Qingyu suddenly thought of avatar. That was the pinnacle of digital special effects.

Wait, could it be that avatar didn't exist yet? Thinking of this, Lu Qingyu immediately searched for it. When he saw the blank search results page, a wave of wild joy washed over him. Wasn't this just another opportunity to make money?

"Brother Qi, this is the one. I'll leave the business side of things to you; go ahead and get started."

Lu Qingyu's tone was firm. Seeing Lu Qingyu's insistence, Qi Fei had no choice but to go along with it.

After leaving Lu Qingyu, Qi Fei immediately went to make contact with the people at Magic Paradise.

The company had been founded four years ago, and its special effects technology was at a medium level in Europe and America. The company's founder, Arthur, was a science fiction enthusiast, and the company was founded to fulfill his childhood science fiction dream.

The key issue was that the films they shot were truly terrible. They couldn't afford good scripts, and the scripts they could afford weren't good. This resulted in their current state, with annual losses of over 50 million. If the company's special effects team hadn't been taking on outside work, the company would have lost even more.

Arthur didn't want to sell the company, but there was no other way. If he kept holding on, he would go bankrupt. So, he had been looking everywhere recently to see if anyone was willing to take over his company.

However, there was another problem: their company was currently in a state of loss, so taking it over meant accepting the company's debts. That was why Magic Paradise hadn't been able to find a suitable buyer.

Arthur sat in his office, listening to his secretary's report: "Boss, the company's employees haven't been paid for two months. We really can't drag this out any longer."

Arthur sighed. He didn't want to, but there really was no money.

Just as Arthur was wondering whether or not to sell his house, the phone on his desk rang. The secretary answered it, and after the person on the other end finished reporting, the secretary said, "Boss, a manager from DS Finance is here. He says he wants to discuss the acquisition of the company."

Upon hearing the word "acquisition," Arthur sprang up from his office chair: "Quick, bring him in."

The secretary went out to bring the person in. Arthur was a bit excited—he had finally waited for someone to come and discuss an acquisition. DS Finance… why did that company name sound so familiar?

The secretary brought Qi Fei into the conference room. Arthur hadn't expected it to be an Asian person.

"Hello, Mr. Qi Fei, I am Arthur."

Qi Fei politely shook hands with Arthur. After the two sat down, it was Arthur who couldn't hold back and asked, "Mr. Qi Fei, may I ask if you are looking to acquire our company?"

Qi Fei didn't waste any words and nodded, saying yes. So, the two of them began to discuss the issues regarding the acquisition.

Arthur had finally managed to wait for someone to discuss the acquisition, so he was very cautious in his speech.

In the end, they agreed that the acquisition price for the company would be 80 million US dollars, and at the same time, DS Finance would be responsible for the company's 50 million US dollars in debt, while retaining all existing employees.

Before coming, Lu Qingyu had given Qi Fei maximum authority; Qi Fei could make decisions on everything. Regarding the last point, Qi Fei originally didn't want to agree. He didn't know the old employees, and if there were too many people among them just slacking off, the company would suffer a huge loss. However, after seeing the company structure, Qi Fei realized he had overthought it.

From top to bottom, the company had 19 people, including the cleaning lady. Qi Fei immediately agreed to Arthur's request.