Rebirth: The Era of Hong Kong Tycoon

Chapter 116 [Chess Pieces]

Modern newspaper.

Lin Rongheng and a group of management are having a meeting. The main content of the meeting is the preparation status of "Modern Daily" in six overseas cities.

Vancouver, Toronto, San Francisco, New York, London, and Sydney, these six cities can be said to have the largest number of Chinese in Europe, America and Australia. Modern Daily will become the best way for Chinese in these cities to get in touch with the outside world, especially The way to the Chinese world in the East.

The word "modern" in the registration of "Modern Daily" is popular and extensive in itself, and I believe it will not make the locals feel as distant as "Sing Tao Daily".

Lin Rongheng's initial goal for the six branches is - the sales volume is stable at more than 1 copies, I believe it will not be a big problem; of course, this is only the initial goal, and naturally hope that each city can break through to 5 to 10 copies in the later stage.

As for profits, about half of the content of the newspapers published in the six places is international news, which is edited by the Xiangjiang headquarters and sent to the branches by telex; Ministry, which is equivalent to less than half the size.

And the price level in these places is high, and the price of newspapers is naturally high. After such a calculation, there is still a very considerable profit.

However, as Lin Rongheng said in advance, the initial profits of the newspaper will continue to be invested in this business; it can be said that before 1973, Lin Rongheng would not let the modern newspaper pay dividends.

The annual profit of the newspaper is 1500 million Hong Kong dollars. The employee stock ownership plan will be settled in the second half of the year. At that time, Lin Rongheng’s shares will be diluted to 68%. dividends.

Lin Rongheng's idea was to cash out after listing. There was no problem with Modern Newspaper's market value of more than 1972 million Hong Kong dollars at the end of 6. At that time, Lin Rongheng could cash out about 30% of the shares and make a profit of about 2 million Hong Kong dollars.

After the stock market crash and the oil crisis in 1973, the Hong Kong stock market plummeted, and Lin Rongheng would consider increasing his holdings. Lin Rongheng could increase his holdings to more than 2000% with 35 million Hong Kong dollars; or in 1974, direct privatization, the cost would not exceed 5000 million Hong Kong dollars.

Lin Rongheng said to the senior executives: "This time we have dispatched a total of 12 editors to the six branches. Is there any influence on the head office?"

The editors of modern newspapers are all trained in a unified way and have similar styles, so they are far more capable than editors recruited overseas; just like Rupert Murdoch of News Corporation, after the acquisition of the newspaper industry by Britain and the United States, he always brings editors from Australia. Newspapers can be brought back to life in no time.

Zhang Jiancheng said: "It doesn't matter, we have been preparing for overseas distribution for half a year, and we have sufficient talent reserves; so this time it is not difficult to publish "Modern Daily" in six cities at the same time!"

People outside thought that Modern Newspaper was Lin Rongheng's cash machine. In fact, Lin Rongheng hadn't made any money so far, and even paid 30 Hong Kong dollars. Instead, he used the shares of Modern Newspaper as collateral for a loan of 200 million Hong Kong dollars. The mortgage is removed.

After all, with Lin Rongheng's face, loans below 1000 million Hong Kong dollars can be unsecured!
Outsiders don't know about the huge investment of Modern Newspaper. Its monthly profits are all used for investment, and it also borrowed 300 million Hong Kong dollars for expansion.Not only that, in order to compete with the "Oriental Daily", Lin Rongheng had to use 15% of the shares as an incentive; after all, at that time, Lin Rongheng was not the opponent of the Ma brothers with financial resources. The Daily News poached it.

After listening to the management carefully, Lin Rongheng nodded in satisfaction about the progress reports of the six overseas branches. Everything went well. The news from overseas was that it will be officially released on May [-]st.

Then, Lin Rongheng asked, "What about the progress of Modern Weekly?"

Luo Zhaoyou said: "The publication will start in mid-May. We have recruited a lot of female reporters and editors to focus on news about the entertainment industry."

A paparazzi suddenly appeared in Lin Rongheng's mind, should he set up a paparazzi?
Or take the moderate line of "Ming Pao Weekly"?

Although Ming Pao Weekly is said to be gentle in reporting entertainment news, the originator of the paparazzi is actually Lei Weipo, the editor-in-chief of Ming Pao Weekly; Ming Pao Weekly, edited by Lei Weipo, published the "Love Letter of Ho Xiuwen" last year ', the current sales soared by tens of thousands, and Luoyang paper was expensive for a while.

Although it was rumored that 'Jin Yong reprimanded Lei Weipo face to face', who knows what kind of human psychology?

Anyway, it's not good to talk about the "paparazzi" in front of all the management, so Lin Rongheng called Luo Zhaoyou alone after the meeting was dissolved.

"Did Huang Sheng come to the newspaper to make irresponsible remarks?"

Luo Zhaoyou straightened his face, and said seriously: "He just wants to interfere with the company's affairs, and no one in the company's management will pay attention to him! I have come here once or twice, and expressed some opinions, but no one has paid attention to it. In the past two months Did not come to the company."

Lin Rongheng nodded, he was just asking casually.

Huang Renqi became the chairman of the board of directors, but it was Lin Rongheng who pulled him out to 'take the blame'. If he wanted to use this title to come to the company to express his opinions, presumably no management would respond.

Not to mention that the actual control is in Lin Rongheng's hands, even Lin Rongheng's prestige in Hong Kong far exceeds him, how can the people below mix with him.

What's more, Lin Rongheng also distributed 15% of the shares to those "deserving officials".

Of course, the company doesn't welcome Huang Renqi, but sometimes, for some public events, the company's senior management will ask Lin Rongheng for instructions; if Lin Rongheng doesn't want to participate, he will ask Huang Renqi to participate.

Huang Renqi knew what it meant for Lin Rongheng to push him out to be the chairman of the board of directors, but he still enjoyed it, because he needed to join the upper class of Hong Kong, and Lin Rongheng had indeed made money for him; and Lin Rongheng asked him to participate Those boring banquets, you can recognize those so-called 'upper people'.

Lin Rongheng told Luo Zhaoyou the idea of ​​"paparazzi".

Luo Zhaoyou thought for a while and said, "Boss, your idea is very good. If you are afraid of affecting you, after the sales increase, you can come and scold us face to face, and then we will switch to mild reports. Actually, don't read Jin Yong's "Ming Pao" is now advertised as a newspaper for intellectuals. Thinking back to the early days of "Ming Pao" when it was founded, it was poor and white, and it strived to be politically neutral. It could not accept money from anyone. The title you see is like this in this society. In order to succeed at the beginning, you always have to write slant; once you succeed, you will pretend to be a good person later!"

Lin Rongheng naturally knew this truth, and said with a smile: "It's not as exaggerated as you said! You should pay attention to the scale a little bit, and if you arouse public anger, you should restrain yourself a little bit. Also, I'm not the head of the modern newspaper, so it's none of my business!"

Luo Zhaoyou's eyes lit up. He only now fully understands why Huang Renqi is the chairman of the board of directors of Modern Newspaper, and why he often attends those boring banquets and activities instead of the boss.

It turned out that Huang Renqi was just a pawn of the boss, a pawn that could be discarded at any time.

Of course, this is what you want and what I want!
As for Huang Renqi himself, he not only thanked Lin Rongheng for giving him the opportunity to meet people in the upper class, but also thanked Lin Rongheng for greatly increasing the value of his shares.It can be said that after Modern Newspaper goes public, the value of about 10% of Huang Renqi's shares will be as high as tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars; the original business is probably the most proud investment in his life.

And Lin Rongheng himself is not unbalanced about Huang Renqi's ability to make so much money. If he hadn't taken over the newspaper office with complete equipment and staff, and Huang Renqi had contributed a little in the early stage, Huang Renqi also had some credit. The speed of industry development will definitely slow down.

(End of this chapter)