Chapter 227: The Oriental Miracle

Xiao Ran thought that if he was going to put on a show, he should do it thoroughly. He glanced at Chen Dezhong and said, “Do you have around 100,000 to 200,000? Give it all to her!”
“Yes, I do!” Chen Dezhong heaved a sigh of relief. Since it was Yang Yuejie who was being punished, he would be fine. Hearing Xiao Ran’s question, he quickly nodded, took out about 200,000 from his pocket, and handed it to Yang Yuejie.
Xiao Ran found it strange why Chen Dezhong carried so much cash on him. After thinking for a moment, he realized it was so that he could show off at any time, which made him even more disdainful. Seeing Yang Yuejie leave, Chen Dezhong relaxed and cautiously asked, “President Xiao, may I go now?”
“Wait a moment!” Xiao Ran took the green tea handed to him by Lin Qingxia, took a sip, and felt instantly refreshed. Realizing it was top-quality Biluochun tea, he nodded and observed it carefully before saying softly, “Don’t you know I dislike seeing such arrangements?”
“President Xiao, I… I thought you didn’t object!” Chen Dezhong’s expression was amusing, half crying, half laughing. “Besides, I’m not the first one, so…”
“I understand. It takes two to make a fight. But don’t do this again, okay?” Only then did Xiao Ran lift his head, narrowed his eyes, and said to Chen Dezhong, “You may go! Also, sorry for disturbing your work by bringing you here.”
Lin Qingxia was confused. She really didn’t understand what he intended to do. After Chen Dezhong left, Xiao Ran stood up and glanced around. He thought few people would be foolish enough to engage in such arrangements now.
After all, being an actor had a bright future—why resort to such things? It was simply self-degradation. Xiao Ran was sure his act of establishing Lin Qingxia’s authority had succeeded. After getting into the car, Lin Qingxia asked, “What were you doing just now…”
“I was establishing your authority. You’re Mrs. Xiao—how can you have no dignity? Gradually, they will come to respect you, and then my goal will be achieved!” Xiao Ran smiled slyly, tracing circles gently on Lin Qingxia’s palm.
When this incident spread in the industry and high society, such arrangements gradually decreased. No one wanted to offend Xiao Ran. Moreover, the celebrities gradually learned to keep themselves clean. As Xiao Ran had said, “It takes two to make a fight.” If they didn’t act recklessly, such things would naturally diminish.
However, Lin Qingxia’s influence in front of Xiao Ran was clearly one of the key points of this incident. Needless to say, more people began to seek her help afterward. From then on, this couple not only had many friends in the industry but, years later, Xiao Ran even had less popularity than Lin Qingxia.
In December, Shadow launched a takeover bid against Hui De Feng, one of Hong Kong’s four major traditional British-owned companies. For this acquisition, Shadow borrowed 2 billion dollars from BOC and contributed another 2 billion dollars of its own, successfully completing the takeover for 30 billion Hong Kong dollars and taking a 45% stake, becoming the undisputed largest shareholder.

Financial and economic media across Hong Kong were shocked, believing that Phantom was about to launch a major offensive beyond the entertainment and media industry, which would become a significant driver for Hong Kong’s economy. By the end of the month, Wharf Corporation became one of Phantom’s parent companies, and Xiao Ran successfully became its chairman. Phantom Group was gradually transforming into a flagship enterprise and had finally taken control of a large listed company.

By March 1991, Phantom launched another acquisition campaign. Apart from loans from Bank of China, it acquired Chengki Infrastructure, worth 12 billion Hong Kong dollars, for 4 billion Hong Kong dollars. In June, Phantom carried out another major acquisition, taking control of Juxing Real Estate and securing property rights in several prime locations on Hong Kong Island.

That same year, Rong Taizi initiated an acquisition bid for Hengchang. Eventually, he completed a full acquisition for 7 billion dollars. To the frustration of Li Ka-shing, jewelry tycoon Zheng Yutong, and Xiao Ran, political pressure from the mainland forced them to sell their shares at the original price to Rong Taizi. This meant that Rong Taizi used their financial resources to make profits for himself, while they only received symbolic returns.

In fact, Phantom’s acquisitions of Juxing, Chengki, and Wharf Corporation were not full acquisitions—it didn’t even reach 51% absolute control. But what did it matter? Li Ka-shing’s control over Hutchison was also only in the 20s, yet he remained the largest shareholder.

It is well known that the larger a company becomes, the harder it is to achieve absolute control. However, aside from distributing shares to employees and general managers, Xiao Ran still held the majority of shares in Phantom’s core businesses, posing no real threat. In fact, Wei Dongling had no intention of listing these core businesses, even though the conditions were met, as he knew Xiao Ran would never give him a chance to seize his efforts.

Of course, all this referred to acquisitions in other industries up to June 1991. In the entertainment and media sector, Phantom acquired several newspapers and magazines in Europe in January. After building up its strength, it borrowed $1.5 billion in May and managed to acquire two television stations in the UK and France.

By June, the market value of Leo Corporation exceeded its all-time high. Phantom sold 32% of its shares for $300 million, retaining over 10% of the shares. As the largest European publishing company headquartered in France, Philie was not listed, so Phantom spent another $100 million to increase its stake to 62%. The initial investment had quadrupled in just two to three years.

The only thing that troubled Xiao Ran and Wei Dongling was that Murdoch, that old fox, was already emerging as a threat to Phantom’s horizontal expansion. Fortunately, they hadn’t yet clashed. Xiao Ran repeatedly warned Wei Dongling to pay close attention to Murdoch, and Lin Yongqiang and others had also gathered information on him. Later, using this intelligence, they successfully blocked two of Murdoch’s acquisition attempts.

By August, Phantom once again made an offer to acquire a renowned Japanese television station, taking advantage of the weakening yen to succeed in its bid for $900 million. That year marked the most crucial step in Phantom’s transformation into a comprehensive multinational conglomerate, with numerous acquisitions completed—China Bank playing a significant role behind the scenes.

Of course, that’s a story for later. Entering 1991, the media once again embarked on intense annual rankings. This time, Xiao Ran once again topped the list of the most influential figures in show business according to “Influence,” with Lin Qingxia in second place. The reason was simple: the movies they starred in became the highest-grossing Asian films globally, and they were recognized as the best on-screen couple.

Among the top ten most enviable couples listed by various magazines, the previously underestimated pair of Xiao Ran and Lin Qingxia topped the list—not only in Hong Kong but also in Southeast Asian magazines—confirming their widespread recognition. Xiao Ran was delighted by this result, knowing it meant Hong Kong cinema had successfully penetrated Southeast Asia and secured a strong foothold there.

“Asia Weekly” imitated “Influence” by ranking the most influential figures in Asia’s entertainment industry, with Xiao Ran naturally taking first place, without any opposition. The magazine’s reason was simple: if Xiao Ran wanted to, he could turn an ordinary person into the brightest star in all of Asia within half a year.

No one doubted this claim. By now, almost the entire Asia knew about Phantom Company’s Starlight Program, which aimed to promote ten to twenty actors and hosts each year—those who made the list definitely had the potential to become famous. Everyone tried their best just to make it onto the list. With Phantom’s vast entertainment and media empire, achieving this goal was a breeze.

In several of “Asia Weekly’s” annual rankings, such as the list of the top 500 international Chinese businessmen, Phantom ranked seventh after recently taking control of Hui De Feng. Xiao Ran also ranked ninth among Asia’s top ten influential figures of the year. Wei Dongling retained his title as the world’s best-paid worker this year due to increased salary and rising stock value.

Xiao Ran consistently appeared on all of “Influence’s” rankings. Meanwhile, “Power” had already begun preparing its annual wealth rankings. As it was part of its own portfolio, Xiao Ran gave the magazine considerable attention—except for the assets of Tianxia Fund, which were not disclosed, he revealed almost everything else.

According to “Power’s” statistics, Power Control’s karaoke business remained Phantom’s main source of income. With new products for karaoke recently launched, the market value of this single business reached $2 billion. Adding in Power’s other stocks and investments, the total value was approximately $600 million.

Shuxiang Media made several acquisitions in 1990, owning numerous magazines, newspapers, and publishing houses in Asia and Europe, with a market value of up to $800 million. Sihai Audio-Visual acquired a large European audio-visual distribution company last year, successfully expanding its sales network to Europe, even handling the distribution of many records. Its sales last year reached $2.3 billion, and its market value was as high as $500 million.

ATV’s current market value is also $200 million (since I initially underestimated its value, I’ve had to raise it gradually; I believe this figure is fairly accurate). It holds 44% of the Hong Kong market share, surpassing TVB to regain its dominant position.

If Thinking only focused on post-production, its market value would surely be low. However, it controls some of the world’s most advanced photography equipment, and at least 80% of films in Hong Kong are post-produced here, with equipment rented from them. Additionally, it has invested in several companies researching photography equipment, so its market value manages to reach $100 million.

The separated companies, Fantasy Animation and Infinite Visual Effects, have quite decent market values. Unfortunately, this has little to do with their performance, mainly because Phantom’s early investments in equipment were valuable—amounting to about $400 million. If not for their mediocre performance, and given that Infinite and Fantasy far surpass Light Magic in terms of equipment quality and advancement, their market value could have been at least $200 million higher.

Star Company is also remarkable. This agency, which represents at least 60% of Hong Kong’s top celebrities, has a market value of $100 million. With Phantom’s financial support, along with the impetus from Liquid Metal Men, plus Dolby Laboratories and Pixar, their total market value has now reached $1 billion. However, based on Phantom’s equity stake, the actual value of these assets is only $600 million.

The successful acquisition of Wharf Group at the end of last year brought in assets worth $4.5 billion for Phantom, mainly due to the stock price surge triggered by the news of Phantom taking control of Wharf Group. It must be admitted that people have great confidence in Xiao Ran, this highly legendary super-rich individual, and Wei Dongling, one of Asia’s top ten highest-paid executives and also one of the world’s highest-paid workers.

In Europe, Phantom controls equity worth about $600 million in Phili Company and retains equity worth about $100 million in Leo Company. Yinghua Company controls multiple theaters in Europe and Asia and made several acquisitions last year, totaling $300 million. Phantom Video and Basic Film, which specialize in producing art-house films, have little value due to their lack of liquidity, similar to the separated security company.

On the other hand, Tianlai’s market value has soared this year, thanks to a song titled “Endless Melody” that made a Western female singer famous in Europe and the United States. Taking advantage of this, Tianlai has established a foothold in Europe and the United States, gradually expanding its market share, with three of the “Four Heavenly Kings” under its control. Moreover, Phantom’s funding for the acquisition of British PolyGram has greatly strengthened its position, giving it a market value of $600 million.

The highlight remains Phantom Corporation. The editors had just calculated the other figures when they were shocked to compute Phantom’s market value. The investment profits from Phantom’s branches across the country amounted to over 100 million, while the profits from the headquarters alone reached 300 million dollars. This is an astonishing figure, and it only includes profits from box office revenues.

Thanks to Xiao Ran’s foresight, Phantom acquired two stocks from the Cheung & Ho Group last year for just 100 million dollars. However, Dell’s stocks proved extremely valuable, earning Phantom over 7 billion Hong Kong dollars in profits. Cisco, having gone public not long ago, can be ignored for now. Meanwhile, Hasawi Corporation also generated 200 million dollars in profits for Phantom.

Phantom (in the following text, “Phantom Group” refers to all subsidiaries, while “Phantom” refers solely to the headquarters) currently has approximately 300 million dollars in liquid assets. Adding the value of its stocks and what Fang Xiaoqiang earned during the Gulf Crisis and the reunification of East and West Germany, Phantom’s market value is 3.2 billion dollars.

Excluding some stocks that were given away, the total market value of the Phantom Group still stands at 14.6 billion dollars, or over 100 billion Hong Kong dollars—more than doubling from last year. With four years of rapid growth, if Phantom were to go public, it would surely be among the top ten most valuable companies in Hong Kong, and its stocks would be extremely sought after. It’s no exaggeration to say that if Xiao Ran were willing to list Phantom, the stock price could rise fast enough to make him the world’s richest man in a short time.

Fang Xiaoqiang’s initial investment of 100 million dollars has increased by over 60 times in just two or three years—a deal that’s incredibly profitable. It was only when Fang Xiaoqiang and Wei Dongling each made it onto Hong Kong’s top 100 richest list with a net worth of 700 million dollars each that people realized how lucrative investing in Phantom could be. Unfortunately, Xiao Ran doesn’t plan to list these core businesses. Even so, Hui Defeng’s stocks saw another astonishing rise due to this news.

This time, Xiao Ran can’t help but become the richest Chinese man. With 90% of Phantom’s shares, he’s already qualified to be the richest Chinese man. Moreover, don’t forget that Xiao Ran’s personal investments also include 18% of Microsoft’s shares, which haven’t yet appreciated much, along with other real estate properties worth approximately 500 million dollars.

Thus, without even expecting it himself, Xiao Ran surpassed the second-place candidate by a huge margin, becoming the richest Chinese man in Hong Kong and even globally, ranking 28th on the global rich list. This is truly a miracle—starting a business from the film industry is absolutely miraculous.

Around the world, it’s unlikely there’s anyone on the top 500 richest list who started their fortune through film. And Xiao Ran is not only a famous screenwriter and director but also an actor! Time magazine couldn’t resist interviewing Xiao Ran, using him as the cover with the headline: “The Oriental Miracle!”

*****
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