Chapter 1 Becoming the Richest Man Starts With Losing Money in Games

Pei Qian continued to review the recent news in his office.

The documentary about FV Team's time in Los Angeles had been released and generated a great response.

FV Team had signed a huge contract with a streaming platform during the Spring Festival and had also accepted many endorsements. Several investors had expressed their willingness to invest, causing the team's valuation to skyrocket.

Although Wu Yue hadn't reported the exact amount of money earned yet, Pei Qian estimated it would be substantial.

Back then, Pei Qian had only spent 3 million to buy 70% of FV Team's shares. Now, whether it was signing with streaming platforms, accepting endorsements, or selling shares, FV Team would make money for Tengda.

Moreover, brand image was an important value of an esports club. FV had achieved success and gained popularity, attracting investors from all walks of life. The club's valuation was increasing rapidly, meaning that the shares Pei Qian held were also increasing exponentially in value.

The shares bought for 3 million could easily increase to tens of millions, instantly increasing tenfold.

Pei Qian was in a dilemma. If he sold, he would earn too much, which was painful; if he didn't sell, the club's profits, dividends, and the advertising effect brought by its popularity would continue to generate income.

Moving forward was a knife, retreating was a knife. It was incredibly frustrating.

While Pei Qian was feeling troubled, a knock came from outside his office.

He looked up and saw Zhang Yuan.

"President Pei, I'm here to report on the GPL sponsorship and broadcasting rights auction."

"The transfer fee for the DGE team members has been received, totaling 13 million. Shenhua Mobile won the exclusive GPL title sponsorship with a bid of 26 million per year. The cooperation bid for a single type of business is 6 million per year. Currently, computer manufacturers, peripheral manufacturers, sportswear, snacks, and many other manufacturers have won bids, totaling about 42 million. Broadcasting rights have been granted to three streaming platforms, each with a bid of about 12 million..."

"Adding all these funds together, it's about 110 million per year."

Pei Qian suddenly felt something was wrong. "Wait a minute, how does it seem higher than the price you mentioned before?"

Zhang Yuan nodded. "Yes, President Pei, because I followed your previous instructions and allowed these sponsors to pay in installments, spreading the money evenly over each month."

"The sponsors are very grateful, as this greatly reduces their financial pressure, so the bidding has become more intense."

"Also, there are some collaborations still in negotiation. If successful, it shouldn't be a problem to get another ten to twenty million in sponsorship."

Pei Qian couldn't help but freeze.

The sponsors are very grateful for the installment payments!

The bidding has become more intense? Seriously?

You completely misunderstood! I just wanted to spread the funds out each month so that I could burn money more comfortably!

After listening to Zhang Yuan's report, Pei Qian felt a little tired. He nodded and said, "Okay, I understand."

Seeing President Pei's expression, Zhang Yuan couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

As expected of President Pei!

The GPL league had only been running for less than half a year, and it had already earned more than 100 million, but President Pei looked so ordinary and wasn't excited at all.

Of course, more than 100 million wasn't a large sum for President Pei, but after all, this money was earned by the GPL league.

Looking at the whole world, the vast majority of esports competitions were still burning money to buy popularity. Esports leagues were rare, and being able to get so much sponsorship and earn so much money from running an esports league was unique!

President Pei wasn't surprised or excited at all about this historic progress.

It seemed that President Pei had even greater expectations for GPL.

Well, I have to keep working hard!

Zhang Yuan silently cheered himself on in his heart, determined to take President Pei as an example and continue to run GPL even better, and then left.

After Zhang Yuan left, Pei Qian felt restless.

He stood up and walked around the office twice.

"No, this is too much money. I'm afraid the existing methods won't be enough to spend it all."

"I can't pour more money into *Mission and Choice*. It would be troublesome if it slowed down the progress and affected the settlement. Although Spooky Horror House has decided to do a new project, separate funds have already been set aside. This kind of project is inherently time-consuming. Adding more money might make it impossible to guarantee the construction period."

"I have to think of a way to burn money quickly without affecting the settlement."

"Hmm... in that case, let's arrange for a streaming platform!"

"At this critical moment, I still have to rely on Lao Ma, my trusted aide."

Pei Qian immediately sent a message to Ma Yang, asking him to come to the office.

In fact, Pei Qian had long planned to burn money by creating a streaming platform. The reason why he hadn't taken action was mainly due to two reasons.

First, starting a streaming platform required a lot of funds. Tengda had other ways to burn money before, so it was difficult to squeeze out extra funds to create a streaming platform.

Second, the streaming platform was currently an emerging industry. Although major streaming platforms were also burning money, the situation was still unclear. Pei Qian was afraid that if he created a streaming platform that became popular, he would gain an advantage in the early stages of the streaming war, making it difficult to lose money.

Therefore, Pei Qian planned to wait until several streaming platforms had divided up the market share before slowly entering the market, quietly following behind these large platforms and burning a little money in a low-key manner. This would be safer.

Now, Tengda had a large sum of money that it couldn't spend, and several large streaming platforms had divided up most of the streamers and viewers. Small streaming platforms were starting to collapse one after another, and the situation in the streaming war was gradually becoming clear.

For Pei Qian, this was an excellent opportunity to enter the market and lose money.

Therefore, Pei Qian finally decided to call Lao Ma to take charge of this matter.

Not long after, Ma Yang arrived.

"Brother Qian! Is there anything I can do to share your worries? Does the company have any new products that need me to promote?" Ma Yang's long face was full of anticipation.

Pei Qian raised his hand. "No need!"

Previously, Pei Qian had asked Ma Yang to reverse promote the Fully Automatic Smart Argument Machine, but to his surprise, the Argument Machine became even more popular.

Therefore, Pei Qian would never take the risk again and didn't want Ma Yang to "promote" any more of Tengda's products.

However, Pei Qian wasn't too angry with Ma Yang about this matter. Even if blame was to be assigned, the primary blame should go to Chen Yufeng, who was responsible for writing the script. After all, Lao Ma had tried his best and had been talking about the disadvantages of the Fully Automatic Smart Argument Machine the whole time, but the audience still wanted to buy it. What could he do?

Pei Qian asked Ma Yang to sit down and said, "This time, I have a very important task to give you."

"I told you before that when the time is right, we will also create our own streaming platform, and you will be the CEO. Now, the time has come."

Ma Yang's eyes lit up. "Really? Brother Qian? That's great!"

"To be honest, I've made great progress in the past few months of streaming. If you want to talk about the position of CEO of this streaming platform, whether it's from experience, qualifications, or ability, it's definitely me!"

"Leave this to me, Brother Qian, you can rest assured!"

Pei Qian nodded. "Well, I also believe in your ability. Okay, don't get too excited. Let me briefly tell you how this streaming platform will operate."

Ma Yang's expression immediately became serious, and he listened attentively.

Pei Qian organized his thoughts and said, "First of all, there's the name of this streaming platform."

"Currently, streaming platforms are mainly divided into two categories. One category is like Waiwai Streaming and ZZ Streaming, and the other category is like Cat Ear Streaming and Wolf Fang Streaming. The former are mainly some older streaming platforms, but these names are obviously a bit outdated."

"The name of a streaming platform must not only be easy to remember, but it's also best to have a clear meaning. For example, Cat Ear Streaming's mascot is a cat, and the gifts that are sent are all cat food, cat cans, cat wands, and the like, which makes users feel more friendly."

"Also, the name should be a little cute, so that it fits the relaxed and happy atmosphere of streaming."

"So, we have to come up with a name of the second type."

Ma Yang nodded vigorously. "Yes, Brother Qian, I deeply agree!"

Pei Qian continued, "I've decided that our streaming platform will be called Rabbit Tail Streaming. The mascot is a rabbit, and the gifts that are sent are all vegetables, carrots, and the like."

A trace of confusion appeared on Ma Yang's long face. "Brother Qian, why not call it Procrastination Streaming? This also meets the requirements for naming, and our Procrastination Internet Cafe and Procrastination Takeout already have a certain degree of popularity. Wouldn't it be easier for everyone to remember if we called it Procrastination Streaming?"

Pei Qian thought to himself, "Heh, that's exactly why Procrastination Internet Cafe and Procrastination Takeout already have a certain degree of popularity that I don't want to call it Procrastination Streaming!"

Anyway, no matter what industry it is, as long as it's related to Tengda's existing industries, the chances of success will be greatly increased.

Pei Qian was afraid that if he called it Procrastination Streaming, it would inexplicably become popular, so he decided to call it Rabbit Tail Streaming, so as not to let users associate the streaming platform with Tengda as much as possible.

Moreover, the true meaning of Rabbit Tail Streaming is "a rabbit's tail won't grow long," implying that the streaming platform won't be able to sustain itself for long and will go bankrupt, which embodies Pei Qian's good wishes.

But he certainly couldn't tell Ma Yang these reasons.

Pei Qian cleared his throat twice. "There are too many streaming platforms called 'X Fish Streaming' on the market now, like Sailfish, Shark, Salted Fish... there are a dime a dozen. If we continue to compete with fish, the name won't be recognizable and will easily be buried and forgotten."

"But there isn't a streaming platform on the market that has chosen a rabbit as its mascot. Calling it Rabbit Tail Streaming will be more memorable."

Ma Yang nodded. "I see, Brother Qian, what you said makes sense."

Pei Qian breathed a sigh of relief. Sure enough, Ma Yang was easy to fool, which saved him a lot of worry.

He continued, "Regarding Rabbit Tail Streaming, there are a few key points that you must keep in mind."

"First, we don't forcibly poach streamers, nor do we forcibly retain them. All streamers are free to come and go on our platform. We don't require any streaming time from any streamer. They can stream for as long as they want."

"Second, the platform doesn't make any fake data. The number of people in the room is the actual number of people, and the price of the gifts is the actual price. We refuse to allow guilds to join, we don't create fake popularity, and we don't create agreement gifts."

"Finally, we strictly abide by relevant laws and regulations. We will severely punish anyone who tries to skirt the edge, uses abusive language that causes a bad influence, or has incorrect values."