Li Ruigang: If China has Ali, why can't it have a world-class media and entertainment company?

Uncle Li said: "I am doing two things now. One is the Chinese Cultural Fund, which is a very market-oriented platform. I am also participating in the management of SMG, the state-owned Shanghai Cultural and Broadcasting Group. These are almost two different worlds, and everything is completely different. I live between two different worlds, and my brain keeps switching between the two worlds."

On November 4, Li Ruigang, Chairman of Shanghai Culture and Broadcasting Group (SMG) and Chairman of Chinese Cultural Industry Investment Fund (CMC), told Business Weekly/Chinese Edition: "I live in the middle of two different worlds, and my brain is constantly switching between the two worlds."

Sitting in CMC's conference room on the 36th floor of Century Business Plaza on Changle Road, Shanghai, this media tycoon who has attracted much attention in recent years accepted our exclusive interview. Li Ruigang explained that SMG is a state-owned media group and CMC is a very market-oriented investment platform. He is now focusing more on CMC. "China can create a large-scale IPO and Internet company like Alibaba, but why can't it create a world-class media entertainment company, content company or integrated company? There will be this opportunity."

Li Ruigang, who is only 45 years old and known as "Uncle Li", disclosed CMC's investment projects and overall concept for the first time.

1. Use capital power to promote media integration?

Reporter: Nowadays, people say they want to find tickets from the BAT era and the mobile Internet era. You not only have tickets here, but also ships and aircraft carriers. And your main thing in recent years has been to launch several investment projects on the market. Can you understand it that way?

Li Ruigang: I will not be satisfied with just investing. Investment is the money raised today, investing it tomorrow, and selling it on the market the day after tomorrow, and then I will make a difference. This is not my real mission. I hope to slowly build an industrial platform through the fund platform. This is my pursuit. Of course, this industrial platform will integrate investment and operation. I am different from ordinary investment fund managers. They have a strong financial background in investing. I have also learned in the past few years and have made some progress, but what I am stronger is my understanding of the industry.

I am doing two things now. One is the Chinese Cultural Fund, a very market-oriented platform; I am also participating in the management of SMG, the state-owned Shanghai Cultural and Broadcasting Group.

I actually separated them because they were almost two different worlds. SMG will also discuss cooperation and meet with foreign partners, but it is completely different from the fund's operating model and everything. I live between two different worlds, and my brain keeps switching between the two worlds.

2. CMC helps SMG?

Reporter: In addition to the media, what will be the next layout on CMC's industrial platform?

Li Ruigang: Sports are a very important part. CMC has a sports company-Shengli Family. We rarely talk about this company publicly, but Shengli Family will develop very rapidly in the future. We are an athlete agent. The athletes we have signed include Zou Shiming, Shen Xue, Zhao Hongbo, Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao of figure skating, Ma Qinghua, China's first F1 racer, and Chen Hongbing, who runs extreme races. Next, we will also do events, including running, tennis and so on. Recently, we are about to sign a contract with China Winter Sports Center, which includes athlete management, event development, sports media and other aspects.

In addition, there are film and television, music, and the Internet. We all have a series of layouts including offline, and finally the layout of an overall industry.

Reporter: Everything that CMC does today is in your plan?

Li Ruigang: We have positioned three directions for business development. One is what we call media and entertainment, the second is our Internet mobility, and the third is lifestyle.

Conceptually speaking, media and entertainment are the first engine, because essentially I am a traditional media person, my genes are content, and the starting point is the content I am good at.

Next, we began to develop towards the mobile Internet. What is the purpose of moving to the mobile Internet? There are several points to think about. First, all content will be Internet-based in the future; second, the Internet has become a channel, a platform, and a community, and all content must be promoted to consumers through the Internet; third, the future business model is through the Internet and mobile Internet to achieve value-added content; fourth, what have the Internet and mobile circles brought about changes in the crowd? Post-90s and post-00s require us to do this.

Why do you still have to do a lifestyle? It's also very simple. Everything we do today, whether it is TV, movies, or the Internet, is all online. We will do offline next, including film and television investment, theme parks, dream centers, etc. This is also known as O2O.

This is my current layout or logical thinking of development.

3. Be Alibaba in the cultural field?

Reporter: Whether you are doing media industry or investing, the world you face is the same. The rules of the whole world are changing. Silicon Valley and Wall Street are all under the impact of the mobile Internet. What is your grasp of this trend in terms of architecture, concepts and ideas?

Li Ruigang: The media itself has its own basic laws. This basic law will not change. It is just that the production factors of the industry have changed, and then people's thinking patterns have also changed. Media essentially has two aspects. One end is creating content, and the other end is reaching users through various means.

After the advent of the Internet, China faced the same pain as the United States. The whole world is facing the same problem or paradox. People at both ends want to get closer, that is, the end of creating content has always been transformed into new media and Internet. But so far, no successful cases have been seen. Because essentially your genes are content genes.

All channel and platform companies come from Silicon Valley. They do not make content. They rely on technology to bring about tremendous changes in the entire business format. But to this day, they are also moving upstream and towards the content end. Whether it is Facebook, Google or Amazon, the only difference is the way of expression. Some people directly create content, some invest in content, and some buy content (just like Amazon acquired the Washington Post).), and some people talk about creating an ecosystem where other people's content can grow on it, but no matter what, they all want to move upstream.

Reporter: Now the opponents around you are no longer traditional entertainment companies. BAT (referring to Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent) have also come in, and they are all deployed in the big cultural field.

Li Ruigang: Now BAT is making cultural investment, and even Wang Jianlin and Guo Guangchang are doing it. This makes me immersed in excitement every day. The ceiling of the industry is being opened. It used to be that only so-called media licensed by the government did radio, television, newspapers, and magazines. Today, all kinds of people, with money, resources, and the entire team, and his new understanding of the industry, entered the industry. The impact of this on us is sometimes disruptive, forcing you to consider whether today's position is stable and whether long-term development in the future needs adjustment. China can have such a large Internet company, but why can't it have a world-class media entertainment company, content company.