Richest man

Chapter 34 Oceania: Kerry Parker (1)
——Kerry Parker: "Double-faced" tycoon cleverly built a media empire with two sides of Australia's richest man

Kerry Parker was stupid when he was a child, and was ridiculed by his classmates. Even his relatives and friends always thought he was a fool and idiot. Even his own father publicly scolded him as a useless "playboy".Then, why can he stand out after inheriting the family business and become the number one tycoon in mainland Australia today (he now owns a fortune of [-] billion U.S. dollars, making him the richest man in Australia. The No. [-] TV station he controls is the current five national TV stations in Australia. The one with the highest ratings and the greatest influence on the Internet; he almost monopolizes the periodical market in Australia, and its types and circulation account for more than half of the total.)
Obviously, the "fool" is not stupid.Just like some people think he is a "demon", and some people worship him and call him a "benefactor", Kerry Parker is a typical "two-faced man".

The Parker family's earliest foray into publishing was Kerry's grandfather, Robert Parker, who owned a stake in a local newspaper in the 20s. In 1933, Robert's son, Kerry Parker's father Frank, founded the Australian Women's Weekly, which was a huge success.Later, he successively founded newspapers such as "Sydney Daily Telegraph", and gradually became a leader in the Australian media industry.

Born in such a publishing and media family, Kerry Parker should be a "lucky guy" who grew up in a honeypot.Contrary to people's expectations, Kerry Parker's childhood was ridiculed and tortured.

Kerry Parker was born in 1937.He was sent to a boarding school when he was 5 years old, and a year later contracted what was then potentially fatal polio.For the next nine months, he was confined in an iron lung to help him breathe.He didn't go back to school until he was 9 years old.He was often ridiculed because he was far behind others in his studies.

In 1956, 19-year-old Kerry finally graduated from school and entered the newspaper office under his father.But in the next 18 years, his father almost never gave him any rewards, and never gave him a chance to show his talents. When Sir Frank Parker died in 1974, 37-year-old Kerry took over his father's estate.Only then was he freed from his father's yoke and had his first taste of power.

At first, it was difficult for people to imagine how the huge Parker family business would survive after Frank passed away.Frank is the boss who firmly takes the business into his own hands, while Kerry is regarded by people as dull-witted, lazy and lazy, and has almost nothing to do except eating, drinking and having fun.

After Kerry Parker took charge of the PBL Group in 1974, he showed his leadership strategy even more.Since his father passed away, his company has grown by 30% every year.As if suddenly, Kerry Parker changed from a "fool" to a "genius", and his business genius was fully displayed during his 30 years in charge of the Parker family business.He even conjures up the heyday of a media empire like a juggler.For example, in 1987, he sold the two channels of TV 10.5 in Sydney and Melbourne to another tycoon Alan Bond for an absolute high price of US$9 billion.Three years later, Bond was in financial crisis, and Kerry easily re-acquired the above two TV channels for himself at a low price of 2.5 million US dollars.So far, who dares to regard this "imperial tycoon" as a fool
As the saying goes: "One generation is poor, the second generation is rich, and the third generation eats up and becomes poor." Kerry Parker subverts this "truth".Perhaps, precisely because he wanted to break through such a "tradition", Sir Frank used the incentive method to enlighten and educate Kerry, who was about to inherit his father's career.In any case, Sir Frank's stern reprimand also played a role in hardening Kerry by making him realize that life was not easy; , Be ruthless to your opponents, and don't care about others talking about you behind your back.Over the years, he has been familiar with all aspects of the company's affairs.At the same time, he also learned some of his father's strengths, that is, he has no scruples about everything, because he needs to survive.

A wealthy man inherited from his father, Kerry likes to say that his father built jumbo jets and all he could do was fly them.He was perfectly content being the driver of his father's sprawling business.He is not Rupert Murdoch.The latter is of the pioneering type, constantly expanding his empire's enterprise, creating, owning, and extending spheres of influence; while he wishes to keep the legacy intact.He is conservative in thinking, lacks confidence, and even worries that one day he will go bankrupt and feel ashamed of his father.He never thought that his achievements would surpass his father.

However, when people really understand the 30 years of Kerry's amazing success, people will find that when he flew the jet plane built by his father, the plane was constantly "expanding" and getting stronger.So, rather than saying that he is conservative in thinking and lacks confidence in his career, it is better to say that he is an entrepreneur who is always vigilant and full of sense of urgency.

Quickly seize business opportunities and be a reserved "gambler"

Decision-making: with the keen eye of a hawk
Kerry Parker took over his father's baton of power amid people's doubtful eyes.There is reason to think that such a handover by Sir Frank was hasty.Because, compared to Kerry Parker's laziness, eating, drinking, and "doing nothing", his brother Callard is a studious young man.So what made Sir Frank feel at ease to hand over such a huge family business to such a "prodigal son"

There is a Chinese saying that goes, "Ginger is still spicy when it is old".As for the potential and talents of the two sons, Sir Frank had already conducted investigation and judgment quietly.And perhaps it was with this judgment that he deliberately trained his youngest son severely.And Kerry Parker unknowingly showed his business ability in the process of participating in his father's business.

Thus, some people noticed that since Kerry Parker took charge of the Bulletin magazine, although he went to work with his feet on the desk, the publication's circulation increased rapidly.Others saw how he peddled advertisements and thought he was a good salesman.Some people even participated in the founding and distribution of the "Peerless Beauty" magazine by the United Newspaper Company in 1972, and found that he had the courage and courage to do great things.It was the company's first influential publication without Frank's enthusiastic support.Frank agreed to let Kerry try it, and it turned out to be amazingly successful.

Many people think that the name of the magazine "Peerless Beauty" is a disaster, and if it is published, the consequences will be disastrous.Kerry's most important contribution in this matter is that he ignores such and such cynicism.He keenly felt that this magazine, like its American magazine "Metropolis", would have a large market.Therefore, he only accepted one suggestion, which is to abbreviate the English title of "Peerless Beauty" to Cleopatra (the Chinese name is also called "Jiali"), which is both nice and implicit; but he put aside all other opinions.At the same time, Kerry wisely withheld the magazine's market research and advertising agency complaints from reporting to his father; he also instructed his partner, Ita, to take Thompson's opinion and lock it up In the drawer, don't let others know.

For the first time, women will be able to read magazines about their bodies, their sex lives and their careers, the things they care about and aspire to.As a result, the magazine was a dramatic success.Within five years, Peerless Beauty had become the fifth best-selling magazine in Australia, with a circulation far exceeding that of Cosmopolitan, which the Parker family had intended to buy.

Eagle-like keen eyesight is the key to Kerry Parker's ability to quickly capture business opportunities and develop innovations.Broadcasting the world cricket match on TV is another wealth "New World" discovered by Kerry Parker.

From September 1977 to the present, almost any TV station will tell you that the coverage of world cricket is an ideal opportunity for TV to earn advertising.It has bright colors, fighting scenes, loud applause, the passion of Australian nationalism, and 9-second commercials that can be inserted every four minutes.The most prominent is that it brings huge profits, because the retransmission fee is extremely low, and the ratings are higher than almost all other programs.

But in the mid-70s, almost none of the big TV bosses were interested in it, except that Kerry had a vague sense that it could be developed into a TV sports project.If asked in 1976 which TV station would broadcast a cricket match, they would have shook their heads and refused, and even asked: Who would broadcast a game that lasted five days and ended in a draw with few viewers?Come on, let the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) do this kind of thing.In fact, this task is only undertaken by ABC.

Kerry, however, had other plans.As a schoolboy he was passionate about sports and as an adult he watched AFL, cricket and golf with great enthusiasm.He's a sports fan and a TV fan, so it's only natural that Kerry wants to broadcast the games on his Nine and breathe some life into them to make them more exciting than boring.Moreover, as a sports fan and TV owner, he had more foresight than most TV station managers to realize the potential advantages of color TV for these sports broadcasts; and color TV was spreading rapidly at that time. In 1975, two-thirds of the audience in Australia bought color TV.Watching through color TV can immediately bring vitality to this slow cricket match.Kerry didn't just have his sights set on cricket - he picked up tennis, rugby and golf first, with varying degrees of success.

Since as far back as 1956, when television was first broadcast in Australia, cricket matches have been televised on ABC, fully reflecting the sport's traditional slow, leisurely approach.Earlier, several commercial stations were invited to bid for broadcast rights, but no one was interested.Therefore, by 1961, the Australian Cricket Association stopped looking for other channels, and ABC enjoyed the broadcast rights at a low price.In June 1976, when the Cricket Association notified the commercial stations that they were willing to sell the broadcasting rights on the same terms, they received a call from Nine again, saying that Kerry wanted to talk to them.

Kerry's idea of ​​a so-called "big fight" is based on Nine's experience in successfully hosting the Australian Open Championship in 1975.At that time, he agreed to invest 100 million yuan as a bonus for the championship, in exchange for three years of television broadcasting rights.Many sponsors may be satisfied with this, but Kerry has a greater ambition. He wants to turn the Australian Open Championship into a world championship with the same reputation as the British and American Opens, the American Masters, and the League. One of the competitions.Therefore, he invested several million more to make the playing field reach a super-class level.He insisted that the venue of the Open must be permanent, so he chose the Australian Golf Club in Sydney and hired a famous designer to re-plan the venue.Some small hills have been added as commanding heights for the audience to appreciate, while a complete communication cable has been laid underground. When Kerry's Open was televised for the first time in October 1975, it was more spectacular than any other tournament in the world.And, for the first time in a World Series, a camera will be placed in each of the 10 caves.This won the appreciation of the audience, so the ratings are quite high.More importantly, such equipment venues also absorbed 18 sponsors (advertisers), which quickly recovered Kerry's investment.

(End of this chapter)