House Dad's Literary Life

Chapter 282 – One Person’s Publishing House

Fu Jun considered for a long time and decided to personally come to Jiangcheng to have a talk with Yang Yi. Because he wanted to accelerate the development speed of the Sahara Online Shop, relying solely on the self-sustaining function of the Sahara Online Shop was obviously not enough. He needed to increase capital and expand shares, introduce new capital investment, so he needed to discuss it with Yang Yi.

Moreover, this time Fu Jun also came to discuss his equity ratio with Yang Yi. Although he trusted Yang Yi very much, in business matters, in order to avoid future risks, Fu Jun had to maintain his shares in a reasonable and secure range

Currently, Yang Yi held 49% of the shares of the Sahara Online Shop. According to Fu Jun’s proposal, Fu Jun wanted to use his personal funds to buy 9% of Yang Yi’s shares at a premium price that was 30% higher than the current market value of the Sahara Online Shop.

Afterward, Fu Jun and Yang Yi would take out shares according to their respective share proportions, with Fu Jun taking out 9% of the shares and Yang Yi taking out 6% of the shares, for a total of 15% of the shares for financing. They would probably do two rounds of financing, and the funds obtained from the financing would naturally be transferred to the company’s account for the development of the Sahara Online Shop.

With the current valuation of the Sahara Online Shop at nearly 200 million, Yang Yi’s 9% of shares could be sold for about 18 million!

Compared to Yang Yi’s investment of 5 million for 49% of the shares a few months ago, earning 18 million by selling 9% of the share was already a big profit. However, compared to the future prospects of the Sahara Online Shop, selling for just 18 million would obviously be a loss!

So, Fu Jun wanted to offer a premium of 30%, which would be about 23 million to acquire 9% shares in Yang Yi’s hand. Although it was still somewhat unfair to Yang Yi, this was already the greatest sincerity that Fu Jun could show.

“Do you have over 23 million?” Yang Yi furrowed his brow and asked somewhat puzzled.

If Fu Jun had that much money, he wouldn’t have needed to agree to Yang Yi’s 5 million investment a few months ago.

“I currently don’t have enough to reach 20 million, but I can mortgage a villa to the bank and borrow 4 million for short-term turnover,” Fu Jun said with a bitter smile.

This was the truth. If Yang Yi wanted more, he would really have to sell everything he had!

However, Yang Yi wasn’t a dishonest businessman who only cares about money. He invested in the Sahara Online Shop to make money to build an amusement park for his daughter, not to become the richest person. Therefore, earning 10 billion or 1 billion didn’t make much difference to him.

Yang Yi didn’t directly answer whether or not he would sell his 9% shares. He smiled slightly and looked at Fu Jun, who had been talking a lot and was now drinking water, and said, “How much is your Sahara Publishing House worth now?”

The Sahara Publishing House was also Fu Jun’s hard work. He had been running it for more than ten years and has grown it from a small company to its current size. Now, with the help of the Sahara Online Shop and the promotion of Yang Yi’s two bestselling books, it has also grown a lot.

But compared to other giants in the same industry, there was still an obvious gap…

Fu Jun didn’t know why Yang Yi mentioned the publishing house, but he didn’t hesitate and answered directly, “Not much, around 15 million.”

It should be more than 15 million because Fu Jun invested in a printing factory a month ago, spending about 2 million. This was his personal investment, but it was also placed under the name of the publishing house.

“Don’t mortgage the villa! I want your publishing house, and then you give me 5 million to make it a round number,” Yang Yi smiled at Fu Jun and said, “But you should know, our shares are worth more than just this amount. If I transfer this 9% shares to you, when it comes to our 15% shares, you shouldn’t settle for just 40 million. You need at least 4 billion to consider it!”

4 billion? Fu Jun was taken aback and said, “Do you think our company is worth 2 or 3 billion?”

“2 or 3 billion is still considered low! It’s just a bit difficult at the beginning. Wait until we expand and go public, then you’ll know the tremendous power of this online shop is!” Yang Yi said with a hint of pride. “Of course, it’s not wrong for you to raise some funds now. What you lose is just a small gain. Seize this development opportunity, and we’ll earn even more!”

After listening to Yang Yi’s description, Fu Jun asked with some emotion, “Since you think it’s worth 2 or 3 billion, why are you still willing to sell it to me at such a low price?”

Yang Yi laughed, “Because I’m not just investing in Sahara, I’m also investing in you as a person. I believe you can lead with confidence and let the online shop develop well. The money I lose now can also be earned back in the future.”

Fu Jun’s overall abilities weren’t particularly outstanding, but he has a good character and has his own unique management skills. In Addition, he also always followed Yang Yi’s advice. Where else could he find such a capable shopkeeper? If Yang Yi didn’t support Fu Jun, did he want to see investors pushing Fu Jun and him aside and arbitrarily changing the development trajectory of the Sahara Online Shop?

“Why do you want the Sahara Publishing House?” Fu Jun was actually somewhat reluctant in his heart. After all, the publishing house was his first child. But it wasn’t impossible to give it to Yang Yi, because his focus was now more and more to the online shop, and he has almost no time to pay attention to the development of the publishing house.

“The publishing house? Don’t I write my own books? Not all content is suitable for online publication. Having a publishing house would be much more convenient!” Yang Yi said truthfully.

“Do you want Sahara Publishing House to exclusively serve you?” Fu Jun was dumbfounded.

“That’s right! Isn’t it interesting?” Yang Yi said happily, “I’ll just hand over my finished manuscripts to the publishing house, and they’ll proofread, typeset, etc, for me and then arrange for it to be sold on your online shop. It’s a one-stop service, personalized and absolutely first-class enjoyment!”

In fact, Yang Yi had this idea in mind. Regardless of whether the publishing house could make a profit by serving him alone, Yang Yi wanted to make it as his own exclusive publishing house, just like Mo Fei’s Studio.

Since he was a person who has a second chance1, why couldn’t Yang Yi be willful and enjoy it?

Moreover, Yang Yi wasn’t actually worried about the profitability of the publishing house. In the future, he would write many more works, and having a publishing house to take care of the various copyright operations and promotions would certainly bring in a substantial income. This would also save Yang Yi a lot of trouble.

After the two settled the issue of equity transfer and the financing for the expansion of Sahara Online Shop, Fu Jun curiously asked, “The remaining 5 million, Yang Yi, are you going to invest it in Weibo?”

Yang Yi smiled slightly and nodded.

The development of Weibo has also reached a critical period. Not only was it necessary to increase investment to purchase servers, but now Yang Yi has also asked Mao Peifu to make a “Star Recruitment” plan.

Unlike the development model of Facebook, Weibo would spend some money to get big stars to open their own Weibo accounts, which could attract more people to learn about and join this new thing. Yang Yi was confident that as long as they registered an account and started using Weibo, it would be difficult for them to let go in the future!

But all of this required money, cold hard cash. Although Yang Yi received a lot of royalties, almost half of it was invested in Mo Fei’s Studio as second-phase funding, and there were also various other expenses. Now, his life was also quite tight.

“Do you still lack investment for your Weibo?” Fu Jun, a devoted Weibo enthusiast, suddenly brightened his eyes and asked happily, “I still have money. Let me invest in you!”

Yang Yi rolled his eyes helplessly and said, “Director Fu, focus on running the online shop. That’s the real money-making tree. Compare to it, what does Weibo amount to?”

Yang Yi didn’t deceive Fu Jun. No matter how well Weibo developed, there were limitations. Besides, he wanted to treat Weibo as his own toy, in preparations for Mo Fei’s future development. Even if this project developed slowly, he estimated that he would not use financing methods.

Fu Jun was a little regretful, but he didn’t bring up the matter again. Today, his main purpose for coming to Jiangcheng had already been achieved.