Chapter 291: The Fatal Weak Point

That night, Tie Long drove his newly purchased car to Turner’s house, where Michael and Turner were already waiting for him. Tie Long was also anxious; if he were to take action, now was the perfect time. According to his speculation, Xiao Ran must be planning to target the six major companies—otherwise, Wei Dongling wouldn’t have had to come now.
Michael and Turner welcomed him warmly, and Tie Long smiled back as if they were friends he hadn’t seen in years. Yet all three knew full well how fake their smiles were; it was merely a relationship based on mutual exploitation.
After everyone sat down, Tie Long, whose English had improved significantly, casually glanced at these two entertainment magnates capable of shaking the Hollywood film industry. “I suppose you’ve thought this through. What are your thoughts?”
“I think price isn’t an issue,” Turner said, his smile capable of winning strangers’ trust—though Tie Long wasn’t fooled. “The question is whether the weakness you offer meets our requirements!”
“We can use other payment methods…” Michael smiled cunningly, feeling himself to be extremely wise. “You still have a few scripts. The company will pay for them. Maybe we’ll even give you another chance to direct—a way to cover the cost!”
Tie Long had no objection to this approach; in fact, he welcomed it. As long as the scripts turned into successful movies, he’d have more capital. This was better than working hard slowly, and most importantly, neither of these billionaires would suffer any loss.
“In that case, I think it’s time to tell you!” Tie Long’s eyes narrowed as his tone suddenly turned vicious. With a swift motion, he declared, “Xiao Ran’s most fatal weak point is Wei Dongling!”
“Wei Dongling?” Michael and Turner were stunned. If not for their impression of Shadow, they might not have known who Wei Dongling was. Even then, they only knew he was Shadow’s CEO.
It was no wonder. While Wei Dongling was well-known in Asia, he wasn’t so well-known in Europe or the United States. Especially in the U.S., this was his first time coming on business, and he kept a low profile, making it inevitable that he wasn’t given much attention. Most importantly, Xiao Ran was Shadow’s star, overshadowing Wei Dongling’s presence.
Moreover, since the restructuring, Wei Dongling no longer had to rush around; he only needed to approve acquisition and development plans in the office. His abilities naturally weren’t easily displayed.
Michael couldn’t help but ask Tie Long, who looked smug, “You mean Wei Dongling, Shadow’s CEO? He’s just a CEO—not as important as you think!”
Tie Long’s excitement reached its peak. He had never been this happy before. Revealing a secret he’d kept hidden for so long felt exhilarating and easy—especially since it was directed at his opponent.

Seeing Michael ask this, Tie Long immediately stood up, laughing heartily. Waving his arms and staring at the two of them with a fierce expression, he said, “You haven’t fought against Xiao Ran, so of course you don’t know. Xiao Ran is terrifying, but without Wei Dongling’s cooperation and execution, he’s just a tiger without claws—nothing he does matters!”

Old Fox Turner, on the other hand, pondered for a long time. He found Tie Long’s words somewhat reasonable. Although he wasn’t quite sure what Wei Dongling had done in the past, he realized at that moment that whoever could earn Xiao Ran’s trust enough to be appointed CEO must be no ordinary person.

Tie Long sneered at the two surprised old men and said resentfully, “Wei Dongling held the position of administrative general manager when Phantom was first established! As Phantom grew bigger, he has always been its actual manager, carefully executing every strategy of Xiao Ran!”

When Tie Long said this, Turner and Michael exchanged a look, both filled with disappointment. They knew they had indeed overlooked Wei Dongling—after all, Xiao Ran, who could both direct and act, was simply too dazzling.

They didn’t even need Tie Long to continue explaining; they already knew they had been incredibly wrong before. Phantom hadn’t relied solely on Xiao Ran all along. They were well aware of this, especially Michael, as Disney’s CEO, who understood it even better.

When a company reaches a certain scale, it often faces bottlenecks, making it difficult for managers to keep up. From having assets of less than a million Hong Kong dollars to over two or three trillion US dollars, Wei Dongling had consistently remained in the role of executor, managing Phantom efficiently. This was truly astonishing.

After all, Phantom had gone through at least three major bottlenecks during this process, all of which it had successfully navigated—something no ordinary CEO could achieve. Michael even doubted whether he could do the same, though such a comparison left him deeply frustrated.

“Phantom has gone through at least three very significant restructurings in its corporate structure and management. From what I know, Xiao Ran never got involved in any of these restructurings—not even offered his opinions!” Seeing their increasingly serious expressions, Tie Long could no longer hide his pride. “That means each restructuring relied entirely on Wei Dongling!”

“And after each restructuring, Phantom was able to shed its outdated management methods and transform successfully with a more efficient and personalized approach. Almost every restructuring involved large-scale acquisitions, and Wei Dongling handled integrating the management systems and financial issues of the various subsidiaries with remarkable precision. I think you can now understand the role Wei Dongling played in all this!”

“Especially that major restructuring a couple of years ago, which transformed Phantom from a fragmented company controlling several firms into a cohesive group of seven flagship companies!” To gather information about Wei Dongling and Xiao Ran, and even analyze and study them, Tie Long didn’t know how much effort he had put into it.

Nevertheless, he still felt he was extremely worthy. Because he saw his own path reflected in Xiao Ran’s rise to success. In his analysis of Xiao Ran’s background, it seemed that Xiao Ran had started out in the film industry, but in reality, it was the stock investments that truly gave him the opportunity to soar. Using that capital, Shadow expanded rapidly and, with excellent foresight, acquired karaoke businesses, providing crucial funding for its further growth.

He also recognized Xiao Ran’s precision in stock investments, including those that shocked global financiers—such as investments in Dell, Microsoft, and Cisco. These companies alone added at least 50 billion dollars to Shadow and Xiao Ran’s wealth. Yet Xiao Ran’s initial total investment was only around 2 billion Hong Kong dollars, not including the additional billions invested later to maintain his shareholdings. Those were definitely very profitable deals.

However, he believed Xiao Ran’s greatest success didn’t lie in this area, as it was ultimately a long-term investment. So, it was Xiao Ran’s accurate investments in the stock market, karaoke, and films that were the real key.

Since he correctly understood this, he gradually realized that he could never achieve what Xiao Ran had done—especially since he lacked one of Xiao Ran’s strongest skills: vision!

Indeed, it was vision. Tie Long was well aware he didn’t possess such vision. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have chosen to follow Jiahe, then Hongguo, only to suffer repeated failures. But lacking vision didn’t mean he was incapable. He believed in his own talent. What Xiao Ran could do in the film industry, he could do as well.

Yet, at this thought, he began to doubt. By joining Warner and Disney this time, might he fail again because of Shadow? He firmly dismissed this ominous thought, suppressed his proud expression, and said solemnly, “The seven flagship companies span various industries and have all become giants, with a total market value of over 300 billion dollars!”

Actually, Tie Long had another sentence unsaid. He had discovered a major secret behind Shadow’s success in different industries—its earlier investments in high-tech products like electronics. Although it was still unclear how telecommunications could benefit Shadow’s core entertainment and media industry, industries that seemed unrelated at first, such as the internet and media, had now formed part of Shadow’s film industry ecosystem. Based on his understanding of Xiao Ran, he was convinced that telecommunications and electronics would eventually also become integral to Shadow’s core industries.

His speculation was quite accurate, but not entirely correct. The reason Shadow had expanded rapidly across industries in recent years was mainly because it had grown too large. This prevented it from staying stagnant; to advance further, it had to venture into other industries.

“Wait a moment…” Michael understood the importance of Wei Dongling very well, but he still had doubts. “After the restructuring, Wei Dongling is only Shadow’s CEO, while the other six flagship companies each have their own CEOs and presidents. So, his importance to Shadow must be much less than before!”

Turner had the same doubts. He knew that Phantom held the majority stake in the other six flagship companies—for example, in Shuxiang Media, Phantom’s holding was as high as 90%. In Hopewell, where the holding was the lowest, Phantom still held 30%, making it the largest shareholder.

He also knew that in this way, Phantom had complete authority to make any decisions for the six flagships, at least in those companies where it held an absolute controlling stake. Yet he didn’t think that with Phantom having grown so powerful, Xiao Ran and Wei Dongling would still interfere in its affairs.

Tie Long, who seemed to specialize in studying Xiao Ran, understood this situation even better. After taking a sip of his drink, he explained, “You might not have noticed that the executives or CEOs of the six flagships are all in their thirties—elites carefully cultivated by Phantom over the years at great expense.”

“Xiao Ran and Wei Dongling aren’t aware of this because their tremendous success and prestige have led the heads of the six flagships to rely on them, seeking their approval on many decisions. The most typical example is the bank acquisition by Tianxia Fund last year—according to all available information, Tianxia Fund decided on the acquisition method only after consulting Wei Dongling!”

Michael was puzzled. “Why consult Wei Dongling instead of Xiao Ran?”

“Because Xiao Ran is responsible for formulating strategic plans, while Wei Dongling is the one who executes those strategies!” Tie Long laughed heartily. “Moreover, due to Phantom’s rapid growth, Wei Dongling doesn’t need to personally implement the strategic goals set by Xiao Ran. But every strategy is executed by him in a very organized and efficient manner, with personnel assigned accordingly!”

“Besides, I think I can tell you something!” Tie Long, addressing the two attentive men before him, gradually took on a condescending tone. “According to my information, before Phantom takes any major action, Xiao Ran always talks to Wei Dongling at least once. I think Xiao Ran does this to adjust his strategies based on Wei Dongling’s execution methods!”

Glancing at the two older men, Tie Long waved his hand emphatically. “Without Wei Dongling’s genius in talent management and his ability to execute Xiao Ran’s strategies, what do you think would happen to Phantom? Although Wei Dongling is trying to train a successor, within three years, none of the seven flagships has anyone capable of managing such a vast empire!”

Tie Long’s analysis was clear and even convinced the leaders of the two major film companies. At least Turner and Michael were genuinely shaken. If Tie Long’s analysis was correct, losing Wei Dongling would plunge Phantom into inevitable management chaos!

This idea clearly stirred them deeply. What every company feared most was administrative chaos, which could lead to poor management and eventual bankruptcy. Under normal circumstances, they might not dare to act, as Phantom might not necessarily go bankrupt even if they intervened, given its relatively low level of external debt.

But things are different now; Xiao Ran is fighting against international speculators. According to intelligence, both sides have invested at least over 100 billion dollars in the Hong Kong market—a truly terrifying figure. But where did Xiao Ran get so much cash from? It must be foreign debt. Adding to the previous 50 billion dollars in debt, this means Phantom already has over 100 billion in foreign debt, and more will accumulate as it continues to clash with international speculators in the future. In such a situation, they only need to create some internal chaos within Phantom, and its downfall is inevitable. Turner and Michael fell into deep thought, while Tie Long watched them leisurely. When it came to dealing with Xiao Ran, he wasn’t necessarily more anxious than the two of them, though he indeed hated Xiao Ran for ruining his rise twice. But he knew better than them that these two old men were even more nervous about Xiao Ran’s existence. After some consideration, their expressions quickly calmed down, and they stared at Tie Long. “So, can you tell us how we can make Xiao Ran lose Wei Dongling?” “I think I might be able to tell you something—or rather, a big secret I’ve discovered!” Tie Long glanced at the two of them with a proud expression. What he was about to say might even be unknown to the whole world: “Xiao Ran knows nothing about business!”