Invest 3 million, but not change the team name, not replace the management team, not even advertise, just take some shares?
How was this any different from giving away money?
Wu Yue didn’t know what to say for a moment.
Zhang Yuan sat to the side without speaking; he also didn’t understand what Mr. Pei was up to.
FV Club was already a small club with no reputation or achievements. If Mr. Pei were interested, wouldn’t it be better to just spend 1.5 million to buy it outright? Why invest 3 million without wanting any control?
It was far too generous.
Zhang Yuan was also puzzled, but this wasn’t the first or second time Mr. Pei had made such a surprising move, so he didn’t say anything.
Pei Qian’s thinking was very simple—he wanted to lose money!
He had no desire to buy the club outright because problems could easily arise after purchase.
Zhang Yuan was skilled at managing clubs. What if, after buying it and replacing the management team, the team immediately took off?
Therefore, he would only invest, not change the team name, not replace the management team, not add advertising spots, just take some shares, minimizing Tenda’s influence on FV Club.
Surely they couldn’t make money this way?
Wu Yue and Manager Lu exchanged glances, seeing confusion in each other’s eyes.
But confusion aside, how could they refuse money being offered?
After careful consideration, Wu Yue said: “Mr. Pei, I don’t know what merits our FV Club has to deserves such generous terms from you. We can’t be too unreasonable; we know our place. How about this: Tenda takes 70% of the shares, we take 30%. Would that work for you?”
“As for operations, you can make any requests at any time, and we can implement comprehensive reforms according to DGE’s standards…”
Pei Qian shook his head, firmly refusing: “No, I only want 49% of the shares, and the club’s management rights will always remain in your hands. We won’t interfere in any way, and this must be written into the contract.”
Implement comprehensive reforms according to DGE Club’s standards?
Don’t joke around! I’ve already suffered losses on this before!
Now, all GOG clubs were training their players according to DGE Club’s methods, and the training was effective.
An important reason why DGE could previously dominate other GOG clubs was its scientific, systematic, and healthy training methods.
Currently, other IOI clubs’ management was not standardized. What if FV Club adopted the complete set of DGE Club’s management and training models and then took off?
In Pei Qian’s view, FV Club was fine as it was. The culture from DGE absolutely must not spread over, lest bottom-tier players suddenly transform and achieve rapid progress—that would be a disaster!
Therefore, FV Club must remain authentic, the management team must not change, and Tenda must not have any influence on FV Club.
Wu Yue looked at Manager Lu, and the confusion in their eyes only grew.
They didn’t understand!
Mr. Pei had offered terms that were too good from the start, and he adamantly refused to take any additional benefits. It was truly bizarre.
When negotiating cooperation in the past, Wu Yue had often hesitated because the terms weren’t good enough. This time was different—he was hesitating because the terms were too good.
After much consideration, Wu Yue could find no reason not to accept this investment, but giving Mr. Pei only 49% of the shares was too difficult to accept.
That would be too ungracious!
Wu Yue thought for a moment and said: “How about this, Mr. Pei: your side takes 70% of the shares, but we can stipulate in the contract that Tenda won’t interfere with FV Club’s daily operations.”
“Please don’t be so polite with me anymore.”
“To be honest, I was originally planning to sell FV Club and leave the esports circle.”
“But since you’re being so generous, I have no reason to quit. I’ll continue my efforts and work hard to run the FV Club well!”
Seeing Wu Yue’s insistence, Pei Qian couldn’t say much more.
Taking more shares was fine; after all, these shares weren’t worth anything anyway.
“Alright, let’s do it that way.” Pei Qian nodded.
Manager Lu watched from the side, feeling the scene before him was somewhat absurd.
Why did it seem like Mr. Pei was reluctant to take an extra 20% of the shares?
Wu Yue let out a long breath, somehow feeling much more at ease after giving away an additional 20% of shares.
“However, Mr. Pei, I must be upfront about some objective facts about our FV Club. Currently, although our IOI division can participate in the qualifiers, the team is not complete. If we have to recruit new players, it would be difficult to break through the qualifiers, so you should be prepared…”
Pei Qian couldn’t help but smile.
Very weak strength with no possibility of breaking through?
That’s great!
I’d rather the FV Club not have any heat at all!
No need for mental preparation—as long as you behave and don’t cause trouble, my state of mind won’t have any issues at all.
Pei Qian smiled slightly: “Mr. Wu, that’s all fine.”
“You don’t need to worry too much about the players; let things take their natural course. Use good players if you have them; if not, wait a little longer.”
“Electronic sports, as a competitive sport, naturally have wins and losses. Winning the qualifiers isn’t important; just playing with your style is enough.”
“Although I’ve invested, there won’t be any pressure from my side regarding results, so you can rest assured.”
Wu Yue was deeply moved: “Alright, thank you, Mr. Pei!”
…
The next morning, Pei Qian and Zhang Yuan took the high-speed rail back to Jingzhou.
The entire process of investing in FV Club was extremely efficient: arriving by high-speed rail the previous day, discussing business, having dinner together, resting for a night, and leaving the next day.
This left FV Club’s owner, Wu Yue, feeling like he was in a dream, finding it all very surreal.
In just two short days, a bad situation had turned into a good one.
Originally, Wu Yue had been pressured by Dragon Yu Group and several established clubs to dismantle his team, and he had almost wanted to quit. But suddenly, Mr. Pei descended from the heavens, practically giving away 3 million, instantly injecting a shot of adrenaline, and the FV Club was revitalized!
In the office, Wu Yue and Manager Lu began to envision how to spend this money.
“We can get a new training base. The previous place was too cramped with poor conditions. This time we can get a more spacious place and update all the training computers.”
“Fortunately, Mr. Pei came in a hurry and didn’t visit our training base; otherwise, we would have been too embarrassed!”
“We should also improve everyone’s meals!”
“The players have persisted for so long, working for love on low salaries. It’s time for a raise.”
As Wu Yue spoke, Manager Lu took notes.
FV Club had always been a small club, financially tight, so the material conditions were not ideal. Now, with such a large sum of money suddenly available, they could certainly make good improvements.
After recording all these improvements to the training conditions, Manager Lu said, “Boss Wu, after deducting all these expenses, we still have quite a bit of money left.”
“I think the urgent task is to buy some players to fill our team roster again—at least we need to have five people, right?”
Wu Yue nodded: “Yes, that makes sense. So, we should start looking for some potential new talent during this period.”
Manager Lu was about to record this in his notebook, but stopped, considering for a moment before saying: “Boss Wu, I suddenly have a bold idea.”
“Could we directly poach some star players from other clubs?”
Wu Yue thought for a moment, his brow slightly furrowed: “That won’t be easy, will it?”
“Our club’s current state certainly needs reinforcement; that’s not a problem.”
“But now SUG and other established clubs have already bought up all the better players, and overall player values have increased. If we buy now, we’d have to pay large breach of contract fees—wouldn’t that be like sticking our heads out to be slaughtered?”
“Although it’s not our own money, so spending it doesn’t hurt, we can’t be so wasteful.”
“Besides, the money we have isn’t a small amount, but it’s not a huge amount either. If other clubs set high breach of contract fees and ask for exorbitant prices, we won’t be able to buy anyone anyway.”
Manager Lu quickly shook his head: “Boss Wu, you misunderstand. Of course, I’m not suggesting we buy from direct competitors like SUG!”
Wu Yue was confused: “Then where would we buy from?”
Manager Lu smiled slightly: “Do you remember why SUG and those clubs had their IOI divisions dismantled? They were dismantled by new GPL clubs!”
“That means those star players are in the hands of GPL clubs. And the GPL league is Mr. Pei’s league—which club owner wouldn’t give Mr. Pei some face?”
“That being the case, couldn’t we approach these clubs and hope they’ll be accommodating? We’re not asking for low prices, just that they don’t ask for exorbitant amounts. If we can buy these star players at market price and make a play for the world championship qualification, that wouldn’t be bad, right?”
Wu Yue’s eyes lit up: “Hey? That makes sense!”
SHG dismantled SUG, and SUG dismantled FV.
But now, if FV bought back those IOI players from SHG, wouldn’t that form a perfect closed loop?
That would be a perfect switch!
SUG and other established clubs had probably thought about buying back excellent IOI players from GPL teams, but ultimately didn’t do it because paying high transfer fees wasn’t worth it.
Moreover, these established clubs figured that since the qualifier slots had been predetermined, spending so much money to buy back their players didn’t make much sense.
But if FV Club did the buying, it would be completely different!
Those GPL clubs, like Shenhua, definitely wouldn’t give SUG any face and would certainly demand exorbitant transfer fees.
But FV Club was invested in and controlled by Mr. Pei—surely these GPL teams wouldn’t try to extort Mr. Pei too?
They weren’t asking for anything special—just for these GPL teams to sell their IOI players at normal market prices.
Although FV Club didn’t have a lot of money, they only needed to strengthen two positions, and IOI players’ values couldn’t compare to GOG players anyway. If they communicated well, this plan might work.
With such reinforcement, what if they broke through the qualifiers and secured a spot in the IOI World Finals? Wouldn’t that be extremely cost-effective?
Mr. Pei’s investment wouldn’t be wasted either.
Thinking of this, Wu Yue suddenly became energized and immediately stood up: “Book tickets! We’re going to Jingzhou right away!”