Meanwhile, at OTTO Technology.
Chang You was restless, pacing back and forth in his office.
“Still can’t reach Mr. Pei.”
“Huang Sibo doesn’t have any news about Mr. Pei either.”
“Well, I’ll have to make the decision myself.”
After lengthy consideration, Chang You felt this matter couldn’t be delayed any longer, so he immediately gathered his subordinates for a meeting.
“The situation has changed.”
“‘Beautiful Tomorrow’ premiered early this morning, and the response has been extremely enthusiastic, even completely exceeding our initial expectations!”
“So, I think we can activate the second plan now.”
“Xiao Jiang, please introduce it to everyone.”
The young man beside him had already distributed printed copies of the plan to everyone present, then moved to the projector screen and began introducing the alternative plan they had previously formulated.
“Regarding the appearance of our phone, we’ve designed several options.”
“As everyone knows, these designs are quite similar because Mr. Pei had explicitly requested that the logo must be large and eye-catching.”
“So, we designed many different logo styles and created phone case color schemes for these logos.”
“Originally, we decided on a minimalist logo, but with the release of ‘Beautiful Tomorrow,’ our plan needs to change accordingly.”
“At the time, the film crew of ‘Beautiful Tomorrow’ solicited logo advertising proposals from us. Now, the advertising proposal we provided has been filmed and appeared in the movie, for example, this one.”
Xiao Jiang pressed a button, and an advertisement video began playing on the projector screen.
A drone was coming to pick up takeout, but the destination was too far, so the restaurant owner casually detached his phone and connected it to the drone to power it. The drone traversed a vast desert, rainstorms, and various harsh weather conditions, returning with over 30% battery remaining.
The logo on this phone was one of the unused logos from OTTO Technology.
It was the most futuristic of all the designed logos—an abstract form made from the four letters of OTTO, somewhat resembling an infinity symbol, with a very postmodern feel.
Xiao Jiang said, “Previously, we didn’t choose this logo mainly because we felt it was a bit too cool. As a new phone brand, we thought we couldn’t quite pull it off.”
“But from the current situation, viewers seem to have a high acceptance of this advertisement and phone design!”
“Considering that the film’s popularity will continue to grow in the coming period, launching a phone with this design will attract many film fans.”
“Plus, given that our phone production volume isn’t high, making it a fan-oriented product might not be a bad direction.”
After Xiao Jiang finished, everyone began discussing.
“I always thought this logo looked the best!”
“The phone advertisements in the movie are quite attractive. Even after the film is no longer showing, we can use these advertisement clips on video websites or television programs for promotion, which would greatly reduce costs. So the phone definitely should be made with this design!”
“I agree. It would be a waste not to use such a good advertisement.”
“Um… Manager Chang, what does Mr. Pei think?”
Everyone looked toward Chang You.
Chang You hesitated, “We haven’t been able to contact Mr. Pei yet. He’s probably quite busy during this period.”
Everyone exchanged glances.
“I don’t think Mr. Pei would object to this, would he?”
“I heard the screenplay was written by Mr. Pei, and the decision not to seek external bids for advertisements was also Mr. Pei’s. Does that mean Mr. Pei had planned this from the beginning?”
“Hmm, that does make sense.”
After discussing, everyone agreed that since the advertisement had already been released and viewers were very receptive to it, there was no reason not to use it.
Chang You immediately made the decision, “Good, since that’s the case, we’ll use this logo and design. Let’s quickly develop a new plan based on this logo and submit it to the contract manufacturer!”
…
At Dream Fulfillment Ventures.
He Desheng looked at his phone screen with a troubled expression.
“Mr. Pei still hasn’t replied to the messages.”
“Should I… make a call?”
“I hope Mr. Pei isn’t busy. It feels somewhat abrupt.”
During this period, the Brainiac Express project continued to generate buzz. Besides the promotions He Desheng was doing with the original funds, the other investors were also spending their own money to promote the Brainiac Express project.
The reason was simple—with higher popularity, Xude Education would be willing to pay a higher price!
During this time, He Desheng had been following Mr. Pei’s instructions, gradually selling off shares of the Brainiac Express company.
Since last week, He Desheng had attended several shareholder meetings for Brainiac Express.
His identity was as a core member of the Brainiac Express founding team and the head of Dream Fulfillment Ventures. All these shares were being managed on behalf of Mr. Pei.
After all, Mr. Pei was too busy to attend each time they sold some shares and participate in those complicated transactions.
The task for these shareholder meetings was simple—to discuss share transaction issues with representatives from Xude Education.
The other shareholders had been successively selling their shares, and Xude Education’s stake in Brainiac Express was growing larger and larger.
One investor who had originally invested 3 million yuan sold all his shares at once for over 8 million yuan, more than doubling his investment!
Currently, the Brainiac Express project is valued at nearly 40 million yuan. Several investors were looking to cash out, so their shares would naturally be somewhat discounted when sold to Xude Education, but even so, they were all making considerable profits.
He Desheng could see that Xude Education seemed to have been misled by these old foxes.
Of course, it wasn’t exactly misleading; Xude Education genuinely wanted this app.
As a wealthy educational institution, Xude Education had always wanted an app like this to further expand its influence. The acquisition was essentially a way to enhance its reputation.
Manager Li and the others wanted to cash out, and Xude Education wanted to enhance its reputation—both parties were willing, so there was nothing to criticize.
He Desheng certainly wouldn’t expose this, because he knew that this project was meant for cashing out from the beginning.
Now that Manager Li and the other investors had paved the way, He Desheng was naturally happy to go along with it, and there was no reason to say anything unnecessary.
Xude Education’s desire to gain absolute control over this project was very strong, especially for the shares held by He Desheng.
Now He Desheng understood why Mr. Pei had always emphasized selling slowly.
It was obviously to maximize profits!
As the Brainiac Express project continued to gain momentum, and Xude Education acquired more and more shares, the price for purchasing the remaining shares kept increasing.
After selling several times, the shares remaining in He Desheng’s hands had reached the bottom line previously set by Mr. Pei, which was around 20%.
Especially for the last transaction, Xude Education willingly overpaid to bring its shareholding to the 67% control line, playing the role of a sucker.
Based on the valuation of nearly 40 million yuan, selling all shares would yield roughly 15 million yuan. Deducting the initial investment of 2 million yuan, the project had so far earned over 10 million yuan in pure profit, and they still retained 20% of the shares.
Now, He Desheng was conflicted about one thing: should they sell the remaining 20% of shares?
It was a significant sum of money!
Of course, He Desheng wouldn’t make such a decision on his own, since Mr. Pei had said they must keep 20%.
But not selling felt like the cash-out wasn’t complete, which seemed to conflict with Mr. Pei’s original intentions.
Or in other words… the job wasn’t finished cleanly.
After much consideration, He Desheng decided to call Mr. Pei.
…
Pei Qian was lying motionless on his bed when his phone rang.
“Hmm? It’s from He Desheng?”
Pei Qian quickly answered.
“Hello? What’s the matter?”
He Desheng on the other end, was surprised, apparently not expecting Mr. Pei to answer so quickly and seemingly not busy at all.
“Oh, Mr. Pei, according to your previous instructions, I’ve sold the shares down to just 20% remaining. Should we continue selling? If we sell everything, we could probably get another 4 to 5 million.”
Pei Qian: “…?”
He couldn’t immediately connect with He Desheng’s frequency.
They’d already sold down to 20%? And selling this 20% would earn 4 to 5 million more?
He remembered they previously had 60% of the shares…
So to undermine the confidence of other investors, those stocks they sold must have earned how much money?!
Pei Qian quickly asked, “So what’s the current valuation?”
He Desheng answered truthfully, “About 40 million yuan, Mr. Pei.”
Pei Qian: “?”
This wasn’t right, the script shouldn’t have gone this way!
Pei Qian felt very confused. Logically, constantly selling off shares should have been a clear signal to abandon ship. Other investors should have sold alongside him, crushing everyone’s confidence, causing the company’s valuation to instantly collapse, with no one wanting the shares…
But after selling so many shares, how had the company’s valuation gone up instead?
The last time he checked, the company’s valuation was only around 25 million yuan, wasn’t it?
Pei Qian fell silent, not knowing what to say.
He Desheng didn’t dare to rush him, assuming Mr. Pei was contemplating some profound investment questions and strategies for the next steps.
After half a minute of thinking, Pei Qian asked, “So, what about Manager Li’s shares?”
He Desheng said, “Same as ours, all sold to Xude Education. Xude Education has spent big money acquiring shares and currently holds over 67%, which gives them absolute control.”
“Of course, because of this, Xude Education is no longer as eager for our remaining 20% of shares. They won’t buy at the previous price; I think we could negotiate at most around 4 to 5 million.”
Pei Qian’s head was full of question marks.
What the hell was Xude Education?
Among the previous investors, there wasn’t such an entity, was there?
After a moment’s confusion, Pei Qian suddenly realized.
Not good, they’d been hyping up the popularity so much that an outside party had entered the scene! Xude Education must have taken an interest in the Brainiac Express app and actively stepped in to take over. With many investors selling shares, they had bought them all up!
Pei Qian immediately had a very bad feeling. He tentatively asked, “So, how much exactly did we sell our shares for?”
He Desheng replied, “Over 15.6 million, for the exact figure I’d need to check… just a moment…”
Pei Qian felt dizzy, “No need to check…”
Oh no!
This situation had become somewhat unmanageable!
He had initially planned to lose just 2 million yuan, but somehow, after a series of mysterious operations, he had instead earned over 13 million!
What exactly had they done?!
Pei Qian tried hard to calm his emotions and lightly coughed twice, “If, hypothetically speaking, I wanted to buy all these shares back now, it would cost… quite a bit, right?”
He Desheng chuckled, “Mr. Pei, you’re so humorous. It’s not about the money—Xude Education wants absolute control over this project. They’ve just acquired it, how could they possibly sell it off again?”
Pei Qian: “…Then never mind.”
He Desheng sensed that Mr. Pei was about to hang up, so he quickly asked, “So, Mr. Pei, should we sell the remaining 20% of shares?”
Pei Qian: “No!”
With a beep, the call ended.
He Desheng looked at his phone screen in bewilderment, “It seems Mr. Pei has a backup plan for this matter, but… why did he seem unhappy?”