Huang He successfully reached a cooperation agreement with Randolph and Jimmy. The agreement stipulated that Jiangnan Group would acquire Red Box, and Red Box would subsequently merge directly with Netflix. Randolph and Jimmy would serve as management for Red Box, be parachuted into Netflix, and regain control of the company.
This decision greatly excited Randolph and Jimmy, who began to envision their revenge. Huang He, having completed his task, was preparing to leave when Randolph suddenly called out to him. "Sir, I have some information that may be useful, though I'm not sure of its importance!"
"What information?" Huang He asked curiously.
"Netflix is currently collaborating with an online lottery company, sending out advertisements for them to all their users and encouraging them to register accounts," Randolph stated.
"Isn't that a normal sales strategy? What's the problem?" Huang He's expression shifted slightly, but he feigned indifference.
"The collaboration itself seems fine, but the issue is that the online lottery tickets being sold by this company are purchased in Netflix's name and then given to their users. These lottery tickets have a public retail price of $20 each, and Netflix's purchase price is also $20 per ticket!" Randolph said, lowering his head.
"But the collaboration fee is free! This is highly unusual. For collaborations like Netflix, the industry typically charges at least $3 per account for promotion. For high-retention users like Netflix, who directly link their credit cards, charging over $10 in promotion fees is quite normal!"
"I recall when I was managing Netflix, three emerging websites approached us for collaboration in this manner to drive traffic to their sites. The cheapest one charged $7 per account."
"But this collaboration with this online lottery company charges nothing. I find that very strange!" Randolph voiced his doubts.
"Then what do you believe is the reason behind this?" Boss Huang's expression remained unreadable as he posed the question.
"Thinking logically, either this company has a very deep future corporate collaboration with Netflix and needs to foster goodwill, or the company's owner is a good friend of Hastings, and he's just helping out of friendship, or..."
"Netflix wouldn't engage in any deep corporate collaboration with an online lottery company. Moreover, if there were such a collaboration, he would have informed me, but I received no such news."
"As for friendship, he could unhesitatingly fire you, his old friends, without a second thought. I don't believe he would value friendship enough to forgo the $7 per person fee!"
"Therefore, there's only one possibility!" Huang He's gaze turned cold, instilling a sense of dread.
"How did you obtain this information?" Huang He suddenly countered.
"Sir, although I've left, I led this company for seven years. There are bound to be some people loyal to me left behind," Randolph said, his head bowed, subtly showcasing his value.
"Gentlemen, tomorrow I will have our legal department come and sign the acquisition agreement. I will officially acquire this company. At the same time, I will be shipping a batch of the latest Piaomiao Zhilü DVDs. You can start stocking them!"
"As for the rest, you won't have to wait long!" Boss Huang said, rubbing his nose.
***
"Sir, everything went very smoothly. Magic Lottery has gained over 5 million registered users. While there are still 1 million active users who haven't opened accounts, these are people uninterested in lotteries or for various other reasons who haven't registered. The growth rate from here on will be very slow!" Hastings' trusted subordinate reported in his office.
"Excellent. Next is the transfer of the company's various technologies and personnel!" Hastings continued to instruct. "The new company will soon establish a new film and television subsidiary. Please prepare a list of trustworthy individuals for me. I will dismiss them for various reasons and then transfer them to work at the new company."
"Especially the algorithms we currently possess. These must be transferred to the new company. Simultaneously, all documentation of these algorithms must be destroyed within the company to absolutely prevent anyone from knowing that these algorithms originated from Netflix!"
Hastings' plan to play the trick of "plucking flowers and grafting them onto another tree" wasn't just about transferring users; he intended to move everything that could be transferred.
However, this would involve a very serious legal issue. If the transfer of a company's various tangible or intangible assets to another company were discovered, and the evidence confirmed, Hastings would face a prison sentence of at least five years, which he was unwilling to accept.
Therefore, Hastings' subsequent work was extremely cautious. In terms of employees, he was proactively dismissing those he trusted. Dismissed employees were not bound by non-compete agreements and could directly start working at Magic Lottery. This would quickly boost the new company's stock price.
Afterward, Hastings would transfer all legally transferable technologies and resources from the company. The only troublesome aspect was likely the algorithms.
Although the algorithms were not patented, as long as it could be proven that they were developed at Netflix, this could serve as evidence to report to the authorities, and a conviction would be almost certain.
However, Hastings had to transfer the algorithms; otherwise, Netflix's greatest advantage would fall into Huang He's hands. Thus, Hastings had to take a risky gamble this time, choosing to destroy all traces of the algorithms at Netflix to clear future troubles.
Fortunately, Hastings had complete control over the entire company, and with him, the ultimate insider, assisting, these matters were trivial.
Of course, there would inevitably be some clues left behind. If the relevant authorities conducted a thorough investigation, Hastings would likely still be unable to escape legal repercussions.
But this is where having someone behind you proves beneficial. With an elder backing Hastings, all investigations would be met with difficulties in evidence collection, leading to prolonged delays and ultimately fizzling out.
In short, unless irrefutable and conclusive evidence fell into Huang He's hands, Hastings was confident he could completely transfer everything to the new company.
The only inconvenience was that Hastings couldn't directly oversee the new company in the short term. After all, if all of Netflix's users, resources, and algorithms were moved to the new company, and then Hastings himself became the CEO of the new company, it would be too blatant.
However, Hastings could easily use a puppet to control the company from behind the scenes; these matters were incredibly simple.
Just as Hastings was contemplating these matters, the phone on his desk rang. The front desk secretary reported that Huang He had suddenly appeared at the company.
"Why is this guy here again!" Hastings' expression was one of extreme impatience, but given the critical nature of the current situation, he couldn't afford to create any more trouble.
He immediately instructed the entire Chairman's office to make swift preparations to welcome Boss Huang. Hastings even put on a pair of pure white silk gloves, as if to display profound respect.
However, Hastings waited and waited. After about twenty minutes, Huang He still had not arrived. Hastings felt something was amiss and immediately ordered his subordinates to investigate.
Suddenly, a person rushed in. Hastings was startled by this individual, as he was a minor head in the technical department and Hastings' relative, someone he trusted implicitly.
"Uncle Huang, Huang He is in the technical department. As soon as he entered, he had all the exits of the technical department blocked and sent people to cut off the internal phone lines. I don't know what he's doing inside. I came out of the entertainment room, saw the situation was not right, and immediately came to report to you!" The relative neglected to explain why he was emerging from the entertainment room during work hours.
"Why are you reporting now? It's been 20 minutes!" Hastings asked anxiously. The relative stammered out an excuse, but Hastings couldn't afford to dwell on it. He immediately led a group to rush into the technical department, only to find that the entrances to the entire floor of the technical department were blocked by two individuals.
"Stop, you're not allowed in!" The two individuals, seeing Hastings arrive with a large group, immediately stepped forward to block them.
"Let me through, I am the Chairman here. You have no right to stop me!" Hastings shouted angrily.
"Apologies, our boss said that no one is allowed in without his permission!" the two stated expressionlessly.
"Charge them!" Hastings looked at the two imposing figures, their muscles comparable to Schwarzenegger's, and decisively ordered his subordinates to rush in. However, the more than a dozen subordinates who charged forward were unable to break through the physical obstruction of the two muscular men.
"Security department, mobilize all your security personnel!" Hastings commanded into his phone. Soon, dozens of security guards began to arrive.
Indeed, these security guards were all of considerable size, even more imposing than the muscular men. Their bodies were covered in fat, at least ten times more than the muscle.
Just as these security guards were preparing to demonstrate their worth in front of the chairman, suddenly, another dozen individuals emerged silently from the hallway. These individuals were all muscular, but accompanying their muscles were large automatic rifles slung across their chests.
Then, all the security guards froze in place, no longer daring to move forward.