American Peanuts

Chapter 246 Surveillance Scandal, Abandoned Son

As everyone left the meeting room, Charlie stopped Susan Wagner directly.

"I wonder if you have time to talk to me alone later?" Charlie looked at Susan Wagner with a smile.

"Sorry, I have something to deal with later. I have to catch the plane back to New York." Susan Wagner said with a smile. She obviously knew what Charlie wanted to ask, as if she was deliberately teasing him, but she didn't want Charlie to know the answer. .

"If you have any questions, please wait until I get to New York to ask." Susan Wagner was about to leave, but was stopped directly by Charlie.

"Jeff Bigger made a deal with you?" Charlie stood in front of her.

"Sorry, I need to keep this matter secret. We have to follow the company's rules and regulations, right?" Susan Wagner shook her head.

She walked past Charlie and came to the door of the conference room and saw Victoria walking in. She also smiled and said hello to Victoria.

Victoria ignored Wagner, walked directly to Charlie, and asked with concern: "She started to take action?"

Charlie nodded.

"She broke her promise." Victoria said coldly.

"It would be better to say that she thought so from the beginning." Charlie shook his head.

Pioneer and several other giant companies successively reduced their holdings in Time Warner before and after the company completed the merger. Some bold ones even secretly bought a lot of stocks before announcing the merger. What followed was a long period of of suspension.The stocks after the merger were just lifted last week. Several other institutions also sold some stocks as agreed and kept their holdings at the same proportion as before. Only Blackstone under the leadership of Susan Wagner and a group of people who followed her Many domestic capitals not only did not reduce their holdings, but bought a lot of shares.

Or, Susan Wagner thinks too highly of herself and feels that the valuation will continue to rise.

Or, she was preparing to perform some kind of action.

This can be seen from her sudden support for Jeff Bick, the former CEO and chairman of Time Warner.

Want to join forces vertically and horizontally?Or do you want to force me away?Thoughts flashed through Charlie's mind.

"What are you going to do next? Do you want to implement the plan?" Victoria asked.

Just before the merger, Charlie told Victoria a very bold plan, in which the acquisition of Time Warner was just the beginning.

"Of course, since I have encountered resistance, I should complete the entire plan. Not only can I not stop, I must also speed up. Who knows what Susan Wagner will do next?" Charlie shook his head.

Susan Wagner is backed by Blackstone, which is not only the largest asset management company in the world, but also a representative of the local faction in the United States.

For upper-level capital, two paths have been extended. One of them is the international group, which hopes for global integration. Many technology companies and Internet companies are supporters of this idea, believing that only in this way can they realize their own interests, such as Apple is designed in California, assembled in Asia, and has stores all over the world. This is the reason.

The other corresponding part is naturally the local faction. This part often comes from traditional industries in the past, such as oil interest groups and military interest groups. They hope that the United States will become isolated, cause trouble globally, and declare more wars. Only in this way can the United States become isolated. Ensure maximization of your own interests.

Blackstone holds many properties in the United States and naturally does not want capital to flow outside. It has always been a supporter of the local faction and can even be said to be in charge of the local faction's purse.

There are multiple frictions between the two parties in terms of interest demands, and the factions they support are naturally different. The international faction is blue and the local faction is red. Under the influence of lobbying groups, the two factions silently transmit their influence to the entire Washington.

As for some mysterious organization that controls the entire world that the American people often talk about, of course it does not exist in reality. If it existed, it is naturally impossible that there has been no news at all for so many years.

Of course, the Rossi family can also be considered a representative of the local faction. The families he met at the previous gathering are all the mainstays of the local faction. It is precisely because of this that Charlie knows how deep the interests behind Susan Wagner are. , and how many resources can be mobilized.

"I think we should seek help from new emerging technology companies now?" Victoria suddenly raised another question.

"Stop joking, otherwise the country will be turned upside down." Charlie immediately rejected the proposal.

"Not only should we not get involved with this group of internationalists, we should even avoid these people." Charlie warned.

Although one is mainly domestic and the other is foreign, and everyone makes money in different places, the two sides have been grudges for a long time.

The reason is very simple. The general commander is either born from the blue side or the red side. It is impossible to have two general leaders, and the general leader can only choose one path, either to promote foreign countries or to promote domestic affairs. If you ignore one, you will naturally neglect the other.

Charlie doesn't want this to become the main battlefield for the war between Time Warner and Unlimited.

On the day after the first high-level meeting of the newly merged company, news that shocked the world began to spread rapidly from various media outlets.

The revelations cited multiple insiders who claimed that News Corporation’s News of the World had conducted a large number of surveillance operations in the UK, and the subjects even included members of the British royal family.

Three days later, the scandal-stricken Murdoch and his second son James returned to the UK to attend a special hearing.

This hearing will take the form of a live broadcast, which is exactly the same as when Charlie Rossi attended the SEC hearing.

Charlie also turned on the TV directly and began to watch the live broadcast.

The screen is exactly the specific situation where special investigator Tom Watson asked questions about the Murdochs and his sons.

Tom Watson: Mr. James Murdoch, do you know the word MAFIA?

James Murdoch: Of course I do, Mr. Watson.

Tom Watson: Can I state that the News of the World headquarters is a MAFIA organization headquartered in the UK?

James Murdoch (flustered, impatient): Of course not, it's describing a criminal, it's not true.

Tom Watson (looking at Murdoch Sr.): Mr. Murdoch, you must be the first mifia leader in the world who does not know that he leads a criminal organization.

James Murdoch: Mr. Watson, please, this is too inappropriate to say, and I request a protest.

Tom Watson: Former News of the World editor Colin Myler keeps mum about everything. Isn’t this maifa’s code of silence?
After much back and forth, the Murdochs insisted that they had no knowledge of the News of the World editor's tapping of thousands of people's phone calls, and then claimed that they had been misled and concealed by people within the company.

Of course, when faced with honest questioning, the two also raised their hands and swore an oath, insisting that everything they said at the hearing was based on honesty and there was no lie.

"The result is here. We can't let the UK continue to pursue it. The father and son have completely distanced themselves from each other." Victoria, who was sitting next to Charlie, couldn't help but say at this time.

"Yes, a hearing cannot bring down Murdoch, let alone try to break up his company." Charlie didn't seem surprised. He seemed to have known the outcome of all this.

"What are you going to do next?" Victoria asked.

"Did you see the Australian weather I sent you? We have to get there today." Charlie stood up.

The two of them took a private jet and made an emergency trip to Queensland, Australia. The person who contacted Charlie locally was none other than the basking shark.

"Have you found the other party yet?" Charlie asked.

The basking shark immediately patted his chest and nodded: "Of course we found him. Not only did we find him, we also controlled him. Now he is obediently staying on a boat, hundreds of miles away from the coastline, and no one will find him."

Charlie stopped: "I asked you to find the other party, but I didn't ask you to kidnap the person. This would make things impossible to end."

"Sorry, sir, we don't know when you will come, so we can only follow. As a result, one of us was discovered, so we can only do nothing. Don't worry, his eyes were always covered. The same goes for those female models.”

Charlie had no choice but to make the mistake and let the basking shark lead the way to the destination. He took a speedboat and arrived on a large luxury yacht floating in the South Pacific.

As soon as they boarded the ship, they saw Basking Shark's men standing on the deck, looking quite relaxed.

"Where's the fish?" Charlie asked.

Then Charlie was taken to the interior of the cabin, where seven or eight female models were tied with their backhands and their eyes were blindfolded.

Hearing English communication outside, he immediately shouted.

"Help! Please don't hurt me!"

Wearing bikinis, they look to Charlie for help.

"I'll let you go later." Charlie's words gave them a reassurance.

In the past, Basking Shark's men had communicated in Aboriginal languages, and they thought they had met Australian aborigines. However, Basking Shark's men were very disciplined and no one was harmed.

Charlie came to the lower deck and came to the middle-aged man who was being monitored alone.

Hearing footsteps approaching, Laclau Murdoch immediately began to shout.

"Help, help! I will give you as much money as you want, please don't hurt me! My father is Rupert Murdoch, a news tycoon, and he can meet all your requirements. Please don't hurt me!" he said in tears. With.

The men made room and Charlie sat opposite him.

"If I remember correctly, you should be married and have two children, right? Think about your supermodel wife knowing that you drive a yacht and take seven or eight girls to surf. I wonder what she will think? "Charlie talked about other things.

Laclau was stunned, not knowing how to answer this question.

"I'll give you money, I'm willing to give you money! Please let me talk to my family!" He thought of something and thought the other party was just threatening him.

"No, you don't need to call your family, because I want to talk to you about something very important that will change the rest of your life." Charlie continued.

The kidnapper obviously wouldn't talk nonsense to him. Laclau vaguely felt that something was wrong, and in fact it was true. The group of people ran to the boat in the middle of the night and fished him out from the pile of women. In addition to saying some weird bird songs Besides, no matter what I say, I won't respond, which is too abnormal.

"Who are you?" screamed Laclau Murdoch.

Charlie did not identify himself, but asked the other party instead.

"Tell me why you resigned from the top leadership of News Corporation in 2005."

"..." Laclau remained silent for a long time.

"Answer me." Charlie took a gun from his men and immediately pulled the bolt.

The crisp voice immediately returned to the cabin, and Laclau immediately screamed.

"I said, I said it all, I said it all, I didn't like old Murdoch, and I didn't like working in the company. It would be nice to have fun outside, so I left."

"You took charge of a local Australian newspaper at the age of 22, and became the local general manager of News Corporation before you were 30. This is not like the achievements of a person who doesn't like work."

"who are you?"

"It doesn't matter, you can think about it slowly. Anyway, you will have a half-month voyage this time. It has only been five days. You still have a lot of time to think." Charlie said leisurely.

"I...Old Murdoch doesn't like me. He wants to hand over his position to his younger brother. It's that simple."

"It doesn't matter if you divorce old Murdoch and marry another woman? I heard that you didn't even go to their wedding."

"What the hell do you want to do?" Laclau roared hysterically after being told of his inner fragility.

"Keep telling the truth."

"It has something to do with inheritance rights. The woman gave birth to two daughters. Although she does not have the right to vote in the company, she has inheritance rights. I want the old Murdoch to retire, but he doesn't think so. He still wants to work until 2020. I told him He had a huge row! And I left the company and that’s what happened.”

"You want to inherit the old Murdoch's mantle? What about your brother?"

"He doesn't have enough ability. I should have the final say here."

"But old Murdoch doesn't think so. Objectively speaking, you are just an abandoned son, an abandoned heir." Charlie continued.

Laclau smiled self-deprecatingly: "So what?"

Charlie walked up to him and whispered in his ear: "If you want to get back what belongs to you, the two of us can join forces."

Charlie finally revealed his purpose, and at this time Laclau fully understood that the other party was not kidnapping, nor did he need a ransom, but wanted something more.

Laclau was neither as excited nor panicked as before. After thinking for a long time, he slowly said: "What are your plans?"

“Do you know about the News of the World scandal?”

"News of the World, you mean..." Laclau suddenly realized something.

In order to produce some cutting-edge big news, editors will use various tricks. These are nothing new, but if they are exposed, they may cause huge waves.

"I would like to ask, do you have evidence that Murdoch Sr. was directly involved in surveillance?"

In order to prevent Susan Wagner from getting pregnant

(End of this chapter)