"Mr. Lin lost 100 million Hong Kong dollars? Why do I feel like Mr. Lin actually made a huge profit?"
Hearing what Lin Baocheng said, Li Ka-shing replied, "Mr. Lin, the shares of Hutchison Whampoa you bought from HSBC were acquired at fair market price. After that, you purchased enough shares with only about a 20% premium and easily became the largest shareholder of Hutchison Whampoa—no one was competing with you."
"Now look at Wharf. Mr. Bao is fighting fiercely with Jardine. His shareholding isn't much higher than theirs, and he still hasn't secured control of the company. These days, to buy up shares, one must pay a premium far exceeding 100% of the pre-acquisition price."
"Compared with Mr. Bao, you've struck gold, Mr. Lin—practically no cost at all."
"You can't put it like that. Selling my Wharf shares to Mr. Bao at a low price was the price I paid, and that price wasn't small at all."
Lin Baocheng disagreed. He had sold 8.5 million Wharf shares to Bao Yugang at HK$20 per share. Now, for every HK$1 above HK$20, he effectively "lost" HK$8.5 million. If it's HK$10 higher, that's a loss of HK$85 million. With Wharf's stock now over HK$30, he had already "lost" nearly HK$90 million.
And that was only based on the current price—if the stock rose further, the loss would grow. In any case, no one could say he paid no price.
Li Ka-shing simply smiled and didn't argue further. He nodded politely and left. When the conversation isn't going anywhere, there's no point continuing.
Watching Li Ka-shing walk away, Lin Baocheng couldn't help thinking that he couldn't allow Li Ka-shing to keep holding onto his Wharf shares and profit massively. Since they were already enemies, of course he had to weaken Li Ka-shing's strength. The less capital Li Ka-shing had, the slower his future expansion, and the easier it would be to suppress him.
"Mr. Lin from ATV?"
While he was lost in thought, someone approached to greet him. Lin turned his head.
"Sir Run Run Shaw? Hello, hello."
Lin Baocheng was a little surprised as he shook hands. This was Run Run Shaw of TVB—one of the station's major shareholders. However, Shaw was not yet the largest shareholder; that role belonged to the Lee family's Lee Hsiu-hei, owners of the Lee Theatre.
Run Run Shaw said, "Mr. Lin, it's fortunate I ran into you tonight. I have something to ask."
"Please go ahead, Sir Shaw."
"Regarding ATV's recent aggressive poaching of TVB's actors… I wonder if you're aware?"
Although he phrased it as a question, Shaw knew perfectly well that Lin had to know—he likely ordered Wong Hei-chiu to do it. Before Lin took over ATV, everything had been normal. The poaching only started afterward. If it wasn't Lin's directive, whose could it be?
These days, although the largest shareholder of TVB was Lee Hsiu-hei, he was in poor health and no longer involved in management. No one in the Lee family's next generation wanted to go into entertainment, so day-to-day operations were handled by Run Run Shaw.
"I'm aware."
Lin didn't deny it. He nodded and said, "Sir Shaw, I think it's inappropriate for actors to float freely between the three stations. Long-term contracts are necessary. Otherwise, if I put effort into nurturing a star and they then run off to TVB or CTV to work, I'd be the one losing out."
"Even so, Mr. Lin, there's no need to aggressively poach from two stations at once."
If ATV had poached only a few actors, Shaw wouldn't have approached him. But ATV had contacted many TVB actors. Some refused, but others were tempted by ATV's offers and switched over.
Shaw feared that, if this continued, a large number of actors would leave, morale would suffer, and filming would become difficult.
"This only inflates actors' salaries and increases expenses. Mr. Lin, ATV has already taken quite a few people. I think it's time to stop."
"How about this—tomorrow I'll ask Wong Hei-chiu for a list of who he poached. Here, I can give you my word: except for a small number of top stars, ATV will no longer aggressively poach other major stars."
Then Lin continued, "Sir Shaw, the best long-term solution is for TVB to sign long-term contracts with your actors. Then ATV would have no choice but to pay huge penalty fees if we want to poach them. Isn't that right?"
He knew TVB would certainly start signing long-term contracts after this incident. Poaching in the future would require a much higher cost—no longer worth doing.
"Mr. Lin is right."
Shaw nodded. Ideally, he wouldn't want to do this, as it would increase TVB's expenses and lower profits. But since ATV had done it, TVB had no choice but to follow—unless they didn't want to grow.
Getting Lin to promise not to poach broadly anymore was already good enough, especially since the two barely knew each other. After chatting a bit more, Shaw left.
As for top stars, aside from a select few, Lin wasn't desperate to poach them. Targeting up-and-coming talents like Chow Yun-fat was easier and cost far less.
"Mr. Lin, what were you discussing with Sixth Brother Shaw just now?"
After Shaw left, Bao Yugang approached.
"Mr. Bao."
Lin greeted him. "Just talking about the TV stations. ATV has been poaching actors from the other two stations lately. It seems we went too far, and Sir Shaw was getting anxious."
Bao Yugang said, "Harmony leads to prosperity. Actors can be trained internally, after all."
"I think so too, so I won't continue large-scale poaching."
Lin nodded. ATV and TVB would definitely compete, but he and Shaw didn't need to become enemies. Since Shaw had brought up the issue personally, Lin would give him face. Other than a few stars he particularly wanted, there was no need to poach more. Even for those select few—if they couldn't be poached, so be it.
"Come, Mr. Lin. Let's go meet Fok Ying-tung. He's been wanting to meet a young talent like you."
Bao Yugang led Lin toward the center of the hall where Fok Ying-tung was. Among Chinese businessmen, Fok's influence was enormous—even greater than Bao's.
Lin had actually met Fok before, at a charity gala hosted by the Hong Kong government. But at that time, Lin had not been important enough for Fok to take notice. They merely exchanged nods. Fok probably didn't even remember him.