Losing Money to Become a Tycoon: Starting with Games
Chapter 422: Moving into Lower-Tier Markets Is Truly Brilliant
February 18th, Friday.
School hadn't started yet, but Pei Qian was already overwhelmed with work.
"A Better Tomorrow" was set to premiere next Tuesday, yet he still hadn't found time to go to Feihuang Studio to see how the final cut of the film looked.
His schedule for the coming days was packed. He figured that if it came down to it, he might as well not watch it at all and just leave things to fate.
After all, even if he watched the finished version of "A Better Tomorrow" now, it would be meaningless—any problems discovered couldn't be fixed anymore.
At the moment, Pei Qian was on his way to Lin City.
The "Moyu Complex" over there was basically completed: one Moyu Internet Café 2.0 in the core commercial district, three Moyu Internet Café 1.0 branches in secondary commercial areas, Moyu Delivery, 20 Against the Wind Logistics stations, a large warehouse prepared for ROF computer assembly, and four distribution points located around the Moyu Internet Cafés.
This entire setup had taken nearly two months, and it was finally done recently.
Today was the first day of operation, and Pei Qian planned to check how well Lin City accepted the Moyu Internet Café.
Presumably… not very well, right?
Moyu Internet Café, Moyu Delivery, and ROF computer assembly were all relatively expensive services. Lin City's overall consumption level was on the lower side, so they probably wouldn't be well received.
As for Against the Wind Logistics—people would definitely like it, but it didn't make money anyway.
Of course, there were other possibilities too—some not-so-good ones.
If that happened, Pei Qian would need to prepare in advance and think carefully about where to spend the money he earned.
In the car, Pei Qian sneezed.
Then suddenly, he thought of something and took out his phone to call He Desheng.
"Why does the Top Student, Come Quickly project… seem to be gaining even more traction?"
On the other end, He Desheng was equally confused. "President Pei, I don't know either…"
Previously, when Pei Qian had asked how to make everyone lose confidence in the project, He Desheng's answer was "sell shares," which Pei Qian fully agreed with.
On Tuesday morning, Pei Qian had also clearly told Li Shi to start selling his shares, hoping to shake the confidence of other investors.
However, strangely enough, the shares that Pei Qian had instructed He Desheng to sell were mostly absorbed by other investors in small portions. It didn't seem to trigger any panic at all.
President Li hadn't sold his shares, and Pei Qian had no idea what he was thinking.
Could it be that President Li didn't believe him?
…Very possible. After all, this wasn't the first time.
What made Pei Qian anxious was that the Top Student, Come Quickly app kept burning money, its data kept improving, and its popularity kept rising!
With every passing day, Pei Qian felt increasingly uneasy.
After struggling with the decision for a long time, he finally said reluctantly, "Keep selling…"
There was no other choice. Pei Qian had a bad feeling—as if something would go seriously wrong if this dragged on any longer.
He had to hurry and dump more shares, continue shaking investor confidence, and get them to sell off their holdings during this period!
Even if selling shares now meant making money, there was no helping it—he had to cut his losses in time.
"Understood, President Pei," He Desheng replied. "Should we sell everything, or stop after reaching a certain point?"
Pei Qian thought for a moment. No matter what, he definitely couldn't sell all of it.
If he sold everything, wouldn't that just mean pure profit?
Pei Qian thought for a moment. "Then… at the very least, sell down to 20. Absolutely no lower! And each time, sell at most 5—no more than that."
Previously, Pei Qian's holdings had already been diluted to around 60%. After several rounds of selling, it was now below 50%, though he was still the largest shareholder and the actual controller.
But after a few more sales, it would eventually drop to 20%.
Pei Qian's thinking was that losing control didn't matter. Once everyone started dumping their shares and the project cooled off, he could find an opportunity to buy those shares back, regain control, and continue losing money.
After the project collapsed, no one would compete with him. Buying back those unwanted shares to "rescue" the bag-holders would likely be welcomed by them.
Keeping around 20% of the shares would, on one hand, limit how much he earned, and on the other, preserve his status as a shareholder—so he'd have priority when buying shares again in the future.
He Desheng didn't quite understand what President Pei was trying to do, but he was already used to it and didn't ask further.
"Alright, President Pei. Don't worry, I'll take care of it."
After hanging up, Pei Qian thought about other troublesome projects.
For example, Shared Phone Booth.
Originally, he had already given up struggling with this project, but recently some good news had come.
Zhang Wang had reinvested all the profits from the current Shared Phone Booths into production, planning to expand aggressively in Jingzhou's shopping malls and install more booths.
However, the new booths weren't doing as well as the initial batch!
The reason was simple: there were only so many high-traffic malls in Jingzhou. Forcing more Shared Phone Booths into them meant there weren't enough users to go around.
This was the only piece of good news Pei Qian had heard recently.
On the other hand, things at Terminal Chinese Web also seemed to be improving—at least the authors in the training program were updating less and less frequently.
As for the two game departments, the smartphone business, and so on…
He simply didn't have time to deal with them for now.
…
"Hello, President Pei. I'm the person in charge of Moyu Internet Café in Lin City—my name is Xiao Peng."
A sharp-looking young man with a buzz cut opened the car door for Pei Qian and introduced himself respectfully.
Pei Qian shook his hand, and they left the underground parking garage of the mall together, heading toward the elevator.
This was the largest mall in Lin City—the core of the Moyu Complex. The Moyu Internet Café 2.0 was located on the fifth floor.
"So, how are things going?" Pei Qian asked casually.
Xiao Peng smiled slightly, speaking with great pride. "President Pei, things are going extremely well!"
Pei Qian froze for a moment. "Huh?"
Xiao Peng didn't notice the surprise on his face and continued proudly:
"All four Moyu Internet Cafés, Moyu Delivery, Against the Wind Logistics, and the rest officially launched today. We strictly followed your instructions—no promotional activities at all."
"But clearly, the Moyu Internet Café brand has already taken root. Even before opening, people were lining up at the entrance. Now, all the internet cafés are completely full!"
"The response to Moyu Delivery has also been unexpectedly enthusiastic. Many office workers are choosing it for their meals—the acceptance rate is even higher than in Jingzhou!"
"As for Against the Wind Logistics and ROF computer assembly, there's no need to mention—they're extremely busy with orders. Fortunately, our warehouses are well-stocked, so there haven't been any shortages…"
Xiao Peng spoke fluently, clearly very proud of these results.
Finally, as if worried that President Pei might think he was taking credit, Xiao Peng quickly added, "Of course, this is all thanks to the strong foundation you laid in Jingzhou, President Pei! The success of these businesses in Lin City is simply a natural outcome!"
A question mark slowly appeared over Pei Qian's head.
?
Before he could say anything, there was a ding as the elevator arrived.
Inside the Moyu Internet Café, every seat was fully occupied. Servers moved briskly back and forth, delivering drinks. The place was lively and bustling.
There were no grand opening promotion banners, no discounts whatsoever!
And yet, the entire internet café was packed—there were even people waiting for seats in the lounge area!
Pei Qian felt dizzy.
In his worst-case scenario, he had only expected an occupancy rate of around 70%, barely turning a profit right after opening.
He never imagined that reality would be even worse than his worst expectations—the Moyu Internet Café in Lin City seemed even more popular than the one in Jingzhou!
And according to Xiao Peng, it wasn't just this one café—almost every business in the Moyu Complex was thriving!
This completely caught Pei Qian off guard.
Seeing President Pei silent, Xiao Peng sensed the awkwardness and hurriedly continued:
"President Pei, I must say, your decision to expand into Lin City was absolutely brilliant!"
"Lin City's overall economic development is relatively low, so there are very few well-known dining and entertainment brands here."
"Moyu Delivery isn't particularly outstanding in Jingzhou, but here in Lin City, it immediately becomes a high-end food delivery brand. With its refined packaging and food safety, it looks very impressive in an office setting, so it's especially popular among white-collar workers!"
"And Moyu Internet Café completely fills the gap of high-end internet cafés in Lin City. Plus, it's located in the core commercial district, where the people have the highest spending power in the city—so it's highly sought after!"
"All I can say is, President Pei, your strategy of entering lower-tier markets is truly brilliant. The results are far better than expected!"
Pei Qian: "…"
He's speechless.
After hearing Xiao Peng's explanation, Pei Qian realized that it actually made sense.
No matter how low a region's economic level is, there will always be a relatively wealthy group of people.
And in such places, there is often a severe lack of high-end dining and entertainment brands.
It's just like many years ago, when fast food brands that were affordable to everyone overseas entered the domestic market—yet for a period of time, they were perceived as high-end dining by locals, and people flocked to them.
It wasn't until many years later, as the domestic economy continued to grow, that these brands were gradually "brought back to reality" in people's minds and became nothing more than ordinary "fast food."
Now, the situation faced by the Moyu Complex in Lin City was quite similar. Brands like Moyu Internet Café and Moyu Delivery were priced right at the upper limit of what the wealthier population in Lin City could afford. At the same time, they offered excellent value for money, and their brand image was clearly superior to other similar options—so they were enthusiastically embraced by the people of Lin City!
Pei Qian stood at the entrance of the Moyu Internet Café, silent for two minutes.
Then he turned around and left.
Xiao Peng was stunned. "Huh? President Pei, you're leaving already? Aren't you going to check out the other internet cafés?"
Pei Qian's face darkened. "No need."
Xiao Peng couldn't help but sigh inwardly. "President Pei is truly decisive and efficient. Just one glance, and he already knows the outcome—no need for a second look."
"No wonder everyone says President Pei has the bearing of a great general. Seeing him today, it really lives up to the reputation."
Watching President Pei enter the elevator, Xiao Peng hurried after him and escorted him to the underground parking garage.
"President Pei, you're always welcome to come to Lin City to guide our work!"
Pei Qian forced a smile and silently got into the car.
He had come all the way to Lin City, originally thinking that even if there was bad news, it wouldn't be too bad.
But he never expected that the failure of the Moyu Complex had been determined the moment the city was chosen!
So frustrating!!!
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