Chapter 360: Golden Shell Investment (3/10)

After taking care of some personal matters, Link continued his concert tour.

Within half a month, he held twelve concerts in China, from south to north, east to west, almost one concert per day, with a very busy schedule.

His concerts were almost always sold out, with an average attendance of 52,000 people per show. He sold over fifty thousand tickets for the twelve concerts, outselling many top singers in mainland China.

Link's fame and fanbase in China continued to grow.

In half a month, his three albums sold 470,000 copies in the mainland, including three English songs that reached the top of the Pepsi Music Chart, and eighteen songs that entered the top ten, alongside songs by artists like Jay Chou, JJ Lin, Hu Yanbin, and S.H.E.

The Southern Metropolis Daily called him a new force in the Chinese music scene, with a huge impact on the Mandarin music industry, comparable to top domestic singers.

At the same time, there were more reports in the media about him being a playboy, making him a controversial figure in China.

During the concert tour, he also took the opportunity to film three commercials, earning over twelve million dollars in endorsement fees for cars, beverages, and insurance companies.

Along with performance fees and ticket revenue sharing, he earned over forty million dollars, approximately 320 million yuan, including Hong Kong and Taiwan.

After paying a large amount of taxes, the remaining money was transferred to Hong Kong.

He registered an investment company called "Golden Shell" in Hong Kong, and then used Golden Shell to invest in Wanda Pictures and Dolphin Bay Entertainment.

The former is a subsidiary of Wanda Group, mainly engaged in cinema investment, film investment and distribution, TV series, and games.

Currently valued at about 3.2 billion, after its official listing in 2015, it became the number one cinema stock in China through a series of mergers and acquisitions, with its market value once exceeding 200 billion, making it a relatively promising project.

Link invested thirty million dollars to acquire about 7.2% of Wanda Pictures' shares, joining the board of directors and becoming the third-largest individual shareholder.

He also reached multiple cooperation agreements with Wanda Pictures in the name of Palm Beach Pictures. Since he didn't have time to be in China, Ms. Liu became his representative at Wanda Pictures.

Ms. Liu also registered a film studio in Beijing, responsible for Chris and Shu Chang's acting careers.

The registered capital was three million, with Golden Shell Investment holding 49%, Chris Liu holding 41%, and Shu Chang holding 10%.

The second investment was in Dolphin Bay Entertainment, with a registered capital of five million, Golden Shell Investment holding 75%, and Emily Yang holding 25%.

The business scope included actor management, actor business development, actor publicity and promotion, film and television drama publicity and promotion, etc.

This was the current positioning of Dolphin Bay. If Emily Yang wanted to grow and develop, she needed to demonstrate more capabilities and help him make money before Link would continue to invest and support her.

In addition, he spent over 22 million dollars on several properties.

This included a large courtyard house and two luxury apartments in Chaoyang District.

He also acquired twelve high-end apartments in the bustling area of Shanghai, under the name of Seashell Property Management Company.

He originally wanted to invest in Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu, but unfortunately, these three companies were already listed. Investing now wouldn't easily make him a shareholder, and the returns wouldn't be too high. It was better to invest in American companies for greater profit.

---

After handling these matters, he arrived at the set of "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" in Shanghai for filming.

Link played the role of Joseph, a young, handsome, and wealthy businessman from the United States.

His main scenes involved him falling in love with Sophia Snow Flower, the second female lead played by Jun Ji-hyun, but Snow Flower loved Nina Lily, the first female lead.

Although Sophia Snow Flower maintained a close relationship with him on the surface, she always thought of Nina Lily and even aborted Joseph's child.

But Joseph still loved her and was moved by her love for Lily.

This film was adapted from the novel "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" by Chinese-American writer Lisa See, published in 2005. It sold over one million copies and was translated into over thirty languages, making it a relatively popular novel.

After failing to secure a more important position at News Corp, Wendi Deng turned her attention to the film industry. "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" was the first film she produced and served as her stepping stone into the film world.

After Link joined the cast, Wendi Deng often approached him, asking him about the film and if it would be a box office success.

Link said he didn't know.

Wendi Deng didn't believe him, saying that "Easy A," which he invested in, had grossed nearly 150 million dollars worldwide in a month. It had a budget of 8 million and earned 150 million at the box office, with good reviews, indicating that Link had some vision in film investment.

Link said that Palm Beach Pictures was mainly managed by Katherine, and "Easy A" was also a project she brought in. He was only responsible for the investment and didn't know much about the rest.

However, as for "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan," the film couldn't be shown publicly in China, and with its Chinese background, Asian faces, and niche subject matter, it wouldn't perform well in the Western market either.

If it was well-made, it might win some international awards like "Lust, Caution," but it was unlikely to reach a box office of over a hundred million dollars.

Wendi Deng said she didn't expect it to gross over a hundred million, forty or fifty million with a few awards would be enough.

Link said they could try. He didn't know the original box office of the film, but with three international stars like himself, Li Bingbing, and Jun Ji-hyun, forty or fifty million shouldn't be a problem.

"Mr. Baker, it's your turn to prepare," the crew member came over to remind him.

Link nodded, said goodbye to Wendi Deng, and walked into the set to perform.

He didn't have many scenes, mainly five. The first one was in a high-end bar in Shanghai, where he sang "Give Me a Kiss" to confess his love to Sophia Snow Flower.

Link was a singer and sang both English and Chinese songs well.

He wore a black suit, held a microphone, and stood on stage, saying to the audience, "Ladies and gentlemen, I want to sing a song for the most frustrating and stubborn woman I've ever met. This song..."

There was laughter and applause from the audience.

Link smiled and continued, "Yes, she's down there and knows I'm talking about her. The rest of you can guess. This song is about my situation when we were dating, just begging her for a kiss, music!"

The music started, Link tapped his fingers, and sang the English version of "Give Me a Kiss" along with the accompaniment.

Give me just one kiss, yes or no

Kiss on my face, leave a love mark of you

Give me just one kiss, yes or no

The extras on stage also danced gracefully.

The lighting for this scene was handled by the special effects supervisor of "Star Trek," and the effect was excellent, looking very textured.

Link walked down from the stage, singing and swaying his shoulders, performing very relaxedly and effortlessly.

Director Wang Ying nodded slightly when he saw his performance.

As expected of an actor who had worked with the great director Woody Allen, his movements, language, expressions, and even micro-expressions during the performance were just right, without any sense of forced acting.

He had been a little worried when Wendi Deng said she would give this role to Link, thinking that a boxer and singer might not be suitable and it would take a lot of effort to film.

Now it seemed his previous worries were unnecessary.

Li Bingbing also sat in the audience, watching Link perform with a hint of surprise in her eyes.

She had seen Link star in "The Fighter." Although his performance in that film was good, it was just good, still some distance from a top-notch actor.

But in just over half a year, his acting had improved tremendously, his performance style more mature, and his performance more stable.

There was also the aura of an international superstar that he carried, which looked very charming.

"How is it? I told you this guy is amazing, he can succeed in anything. Do you believe it now?"

Wendi Deng said.

"I believe it. It's a pity he's too young. If he were a little older, I would definitely pursue him."

Li Bingbing joked.

"You're only in your thirties, not old at all. Do you know Marion Cotillard? She's fourteen years older than Link, and they're still very passionate. This shows that Link doesn't care about age when it comes to dating. Bingbing, if you want to pursue Link, you have a chance too."

Wendi Deng chuckled.

Listening to Wendi Deng's words and looking at Link in the middle of the dance floor, Li Bingbing's heart skipped a beat,