Chapter 89 1/2

“Oh my god!!! Sheng Dong, did you really buy DE? Is it true?”

“That’s DE!!!”

“Wow, wow!”

Since the news came out, Sheng Quan’s various social media accounts have not stopped buzzing. Most of the messages were congratulations and astonishment that she could actually buy DE.

Moreover, the purchase price was only $30 billion.

Thirty billion is a lot, but this is DE we’re talking about.

Previously, there were rumors that the domestic esports industry was becoming less prosperous, with several major clubs trapped in a vicious cycle of “unable to profit without winning, with reduced profits leading to salary cuts or layoffs, making it even harder to win.”

However, no one expected that the first to exit the market would be DE, the most seemingly confident among the major clubs.

And no one would have thought that the one taking over would be Sheng Quan.

Sheng Quan was quite satisfied with the current results. After returning to Starlight, she leisurely went to the pantry to pour herself a glass of juice, lounged on her exclusive lazy sofa, and said to Guo Zhao:

“Busy for so many days, finally got it done.”

Previously, the rewards for the lottery were all handled by 006, and Sheng Quan didn’t need to worry about anything. But with the amount of the task, everything had to be handled by herself.

After collecting relevant information, Sheng Quan sent a delegation to negotiate with DE.

The main reason they won in the negotiation was that Sheng Quan didn’t desperately need DE, but DE desperately needed a buyer with deep pockets willing to “jump into the pit” at this moment.

There was no other way. In the heyday of the esports industry, DE was thriving. They not only bought land to build club venues but also invested heavily in constructing buildings with a layout suitable for esports.

Because the club was so well-built, any new buyer would have to be someone looking to enter esports. Otherwise, after the purchase, these visually stunning but internally unique buildings would almost all need to be renovated again.

Even if a buyer was willing, how many people could come up with tens of billions in funds?

If DE waited slowly, they might still get the expected price, but they didn’t have time to wait.

Esports were notorious for burning money. Not to mention the facilities, there were teams, substitutes, batches of young trainees, and various backend personnel such as operation planners, data analysts, team doctors, esports agents, psychological consultants, etc. The bigger the club, the more people need to be supported, somewhat similar to the film industry. Once filming started, every second was burning money.

Struggling to make ends meet and having to spend money like water every day, DE originally had no intention of selling the club. After the rule changes in this year’s global competition, they invested heavily in purchasing a large quantity of event-specific equipment for player training.

“They withdrew too late.”

Guo Zhao sat at the bar, sipping coffee. “But your entry came just at the right time.”

Guo Zhao had also participated in this matter. From the beginning, he believed that acquiring DE was not difficult and could even be considered quite simple because their attempts at “reform” had actually accelerated the demise of the club.

Even though Guo Zhao never watched eSports matches, he knew that the core of eSports was the players. DE, by piling up equipment without focusing on the players, was doing something futile.

Sheng Quan also agreed: “If they hadn’t messed up on their own, I wouldn’t have chosen them.”

Even though she said “buy the best,” if DE wasn’t suitable, Sheng Quan wouldn’t have bought the largest club in the country.

But who made it so suitable?

Moreover, she bought it at a suitable price. Sheng Quan happily took a sip of her juice.

The behavior of treating various talented players as disposable commodities to make money and disrupt the market is now revealing huge downsides.

DE couldn’t revive anymore. If they didn’t want to be heavily indebted, they had no choice but to sign the acquisition contract handed over by Sheng Quan.

Of course, at this moment, they were also fortunate. Just before the market completely collapsed, there was a big benefactor like Sheng Quan to take over. This was somewhat timely to cut losses.

Although they were at a loss now, it was better than going bankrupt.

In essence, they just didn’t believe that the Chinese players in this year’s global competition could win. Sheng Quan taking over at this moment seemed like a godsend to them.

Sheng Dong: Thank you; I also think you are quite the big losers.

In this situation, where both sides considered each other big losers, they haggled for more than a month before everything finally settled.

When the hot search appeared, those outside the esports circle were just watching the excitement, but the major clubs were envious.

The executives were envious that DE could still escape at this time.

Others looked at the comprehensive changes happening in the Water Breaking Club and envied Sheng Dong even more than DE.

During the eSports winter, everyone’s life was not easy.

Previously, due to poor management, DE had pressed down player salaries several times, and the salaries of other staff were also reduced.

After Sheng Quan took over, not only did she not press down the salaries, but she even increased them by five percent.

“Not only that, I heard that Sheng Dong bought DE because she was interested in a small team, just to buy the club for that small team.”

“She seems to have always been like this, rich and generous. In one of the novels she liked before, she even threw money at the crew and specified the actors she wanted.”