Rebirth: The Era of Hong Kong Tycoon

Chapter 106 [Buying Land]

Modern newspaper.

Luo Zhaoyou and Zhang Jiancheng were sitting on the sofa in Lin Rongheng's office, with 'troubled' expressions on their faces.

Luo Zhaoyou sat up straight and said, "Boss, the preparation of "Modern Weekly" has made great progress, but the preparation of "Economic Daily" has encountered some difficulties!"

Lin Rongheng asked: "Can't the Economic Policy Research Office recruit suitable people?"

Luo Zhaoyou nodded and said: "Almost, the main reason is that our contacts in this area are also somewhat lacking. In addition, some professors and famous experts are only willing to submit articles and write, and they are unwilling to join this economic policy research room. They feel that it is too restricted. Affecting my work! Of course, if the requirements of our "Economic Daily" are not too high, there will be no problem publishing in May!"

"Modern Daily" and "Modern Evening News" are famous for their "vulgarity". It is really difficult to run a professional economic and commercial newspaper; otherwise, "Oriental Daily" and "Daily Daily" in the previous life would not let this field go.

In the past, the economic and business section was only a supplement after all, and it was enough to invite those university professors and famous social figures with high salaries; if it is now a professional "Economic Daily", it must restrict the contributors and submit manuscripts regularly.

Lin Rongheng heard this and said with a smile: "I don't think it's a lack of contacts, but you are reluctant to invest, right? You only have "Modern Daily" and "Modern Evening News" in your eyes, and you think these two newspapers are more profitable!"

There are things that cannot be done without money, such as professors and famous scholars, they also have to eat and dress, so they cannot get rid of the charm of money!

The two of them felt hot immediately, and the boss could tell at a glance. Their idea was to distribute "Modern Daily" overseas first, which required a lot of capital. After all, they needed to invest in the news editorial department, printing factory, and distribution department. , The advertising department can be described as a huge investment.

Zhang Jiancheng said: "The sales volume of "Modern Daily" in Hong Kong has reached 8 copies, which is very close to the sales volume of "Ming Pao" and "Sing Tao Daily". If this trend continues, we can surpass it in the first half of the year. But we The influence of these two newspapers is far inferior to that of these two newspapers, because they also publish overseas."

Lin Rongheng heard the words, without too much hesitation, he said: "Well, we will first target overseas distribution, mainly following in the footsteps of Sing Tao Daily. But there are two places, let's not think about it, this place is Singapore and Malay!"

The two were stunned, and Luo Zhaoyou couldn't help asking: "Why is that? Singapore has the most Chinese population, and it is the place where Xiangjiang Newspapers must compete in Southeast Asia!"

Lin Rongheng waved his hand and said: "There is no reason, just don't enter now, our primary goal is to focus on Europe, America and Australia, and occupy the distant markets first!"

The "Hu Jiao and "Oriental Sun" incident" occurred in Singapore in May this year. The Singapore and Malaysia governments strictly controlled Chinese newspapers. Even Jin Yong cashed out his equity in these two places.

Lin Rongheng didn't want to get into trouble!

It’s not that these two places just gave up, and if there is an opportunity in the future, you can also try a joint venture with the locals; it seems that the new government later stipulated that the shares of individual shareholders in the newspaper industry should not exceed 30% of the shares, so as to restrain some Newspapers criticized the government's actions.

When the two of them heard the words, they no longer struggled with this issue, they always did the same thing, and it was okay to 'give up the distance'!

Toronto, Vancouver, San Francisco, New York, London, and Sydney, these six cities have the largest number of overseas Chinese in this era, and these places already have offices and news gathering departments of modern newspapers.

Therefore, if "Modern Daily" wants to publish in these places, it means that it already has a foundation, and the problem is not very big.

Early March.

The media revealed that Universal Films spent a huge sum of 1050 million Hong Kong dollars in Clear Water Bay to purchase a piece of land with an area of ​​up to 72 square feet, intending to build "Universal Cinemas".

1000 million Hong Kong dollars to buy a piece of land is also a big deal for a real estate company; if it is for a film company, it is undoubtedly an astronomical figure.

Take the Hong Kong box office in 1970 as an example. If the box office reached 100 million Hong Kong dollars, it could be ranked in the top ten; and if the box office of a movie reached 100 million Hong Kong dollars, the profit would only be more than 20 Hong Kong dollars after deducting the theater share and production costs.

According to the annual production volume of Shaw Brothers Films, more than 20 films are produced a year, and the profit is only 600 million. This requires the success of each film; of course, Shaw Brothers also owns theaters, which is naturally equivalent to earning double share of money.

However, it is obviously impossible for all films to be successful.

The land purchase fee of only 1000 million Hong Kong dollars is such a heavy burden for a film company, what about the high construction cost?
Therefore, everyone thinks that Lin Rongheng is 'too rich and has no place to spend'.

You may not be optimistic about Huanyu movies - they don't have the strength to reach the scale of Shaw Brothers movies, but you will never think that Shao Laoliu's financial resources are stronger than Lin Rongheng.

In the conference room of Universal Films.

Lin Rongheng called Chen Hansheng, Zhou Changsheng, Li Xing and other executives for a meeting, and Lin Rongheng had a map in front of him.

Pointing to the circled land on the map, Lin Rongheng said: "We will divide this land into two parts. The northern part will be used for studios, administrative buildings and other buildings, and the southern part will be used for building antique buildings and hotels. Of course. , the current priority is the construction of the north side. We can make a lot of construction while filming.”

If Universal Studios is only used for filming, it will be difficult to recover the cost. After all, the investment in antique buildings is too large, and Xiangjiang movies have always been poorly produced. Where is the upper limit of the box office?

Therefore, Lin Rongheng intends to build a "miniature Hengdian film and television city" that can collect tickets. Anyway, Xiangjiang people have never seen it in the world.

At that time, Universal Studios will even become a tourist attraction for all overseas Chinese visiting Hong Kong. After all, there are imported products such as Qin Palace, Tang Palace, Ming and Qing Palaces, the Great Wall, and ancient city walls.

It can be said that Lin Rongheng has a preliminary plan in mind for the construction of Universal Studios, because he has visited Shaw Brothers Studios and traveled to Hengdian Studios in his previous life.

The overall plan has been specified for Zhou Changsheng, Li Xing and others, and the next step is to find a master, draw a blueprint according to Lin Rongheng's thinking, and then start to level the mountain.

Chen Hansheng said: "In the first half of the year, the film company may not be able to come up with funds!"

In the first half of the year, Huanyu Company invested in four films, with a total investment of 200 million Hong Kong dollars, and the company still had to recruit troops, so funds were indeed tight.

Lin Rongheng nodded and said, "It's okay, I have borrowed a total of 2000 million Hong Kong dollars this time. Excluding the land purchase of 1050 million Hong Kong dollars, the remaining funds can fully support this project for more than a year. Take your time, I am not in a hurry!"

It is best to complete the project in 1976, when the oil crisis is over and Xiangjiang's economy takes off, citizens will naturally have the money to visit Universal Studios here.

Meanwhile, Zhou Changsheng and Li Xing were also concentrating on building this huge project at this time, full of confidence; the source of confidence was naturally the consortium behind the boss and the boss's personal ability.

The total investment of such a seemingly huge project is only about the same as that of the Galaxy Center; of course, the construction period of the two is far behind.

(End of this chapter)