America's Road to Fame

Chapter 215 The New York Times
After hearing William Chen's inquiry, Camillo Hagen hesitated and said:

"Currently, the market value of The New York Times is not high, but if you want to fully control this newspaper company, it is not so easy..."

Through his introduction, William Chen also generally understood the inside story.

《纽约时报》由亨利·雷蒙德和乔治·琼斯于1851年9月18日创办，原名《纽约每日时报》，1857年9月14日改用《纽约时报》的名字。

After World War I, the "New York Times" has become the largest newspaper in the United States. Together with the British "Times", it is called "the newspaper of newspapers".

The New York Times is currently in the hands of the Salzberg family, and the current head is Arthur Salzberg Jr.

Under the impact of the Internet, the overall depression of the newspaper industry, according to the data provided by the Newspaper Association of America, American print media advertising fell by 2007% from 2010 to early 55, and the editorial department shrank by 1/3.

The "New York Times" is also facing the plight of declining subscriptions and advertising. In this era of social media and mobile Internet in full swing, the newspaper's classical and serious "gray lady" style seems to have become unattractive.

Coupled with the destructiveness of the subprime mortgage crisis to the overall economy, in order to get out of the predicament, the "New York Times" Group also had to start selling many of their assets at low prices.

But even so, if you want to completely acquire the "New York Times" Group, you still need to face a major difficulty, that is, although "The New York Times" is a listed company, and its current stock price is not high, with a market value of less than 15 billion US dollars, but "New York Times" The New York Times Group is implemented with a dual-class shareholding structure.

As a circulating class A share, although it occupies 90% of the total share capital, the corresponding voting rights are only 30%; 70% of the voting rights are held in class B shares, which occupy 10% of the total share capital.The Salzberg family holds 90% of Class B shares, which gives them a firm control over the New York Times Group.

Even if Chen William buys 90% of the Class A shares in circulation in the market, he will only have 30% of the voting rights in the board of directors at most, and he still cannot shake the control of the Salzberg family. He can only obediently hold 90% of the company % of dividends...

Therefore, if you want to fully acquire the "New York Times", you must first obtain the consent of the Salzberg family, but they have always claimed that they will not sell this newspaper group at all.

When Camillo Hagen said this, seeing William Chen's frown slightly, he said instead:
"But Mr. William, there is no absolute thing in the world. If you can't buy what the other party has with your money, it is likely that your bid is not enough. A similar example is that in 2007, Murdoch's News Corporation The acquisition of The Wall Street Journal."

"The Bancroft family, which also owned 64.2% of the voting rights of the parent company of The Wall Street Journal, has always claimed that it would not sell the newspaper. But when Murdoch offered the sky-high price of 50 billion U.S. dollars, The Bancrofts reversed course immediately and finally agreed to the deal. After all, the Wall Street Journal was trading at $36 and Murdoch was paying $60 per share.”

"The current share price of The New York Times Group is about $10.15, and the market value is nearly $15 billion, so I think referring to the example of the "Wall Street Journal", if the bid is more than $25 billion, then the hope of convincing the Salzberg family is very high. It’s just that this kind of premium acquisition also needs to consider the future development of the company, and the prospect of the newspaper industry is still quite worrying.”

Hearing what Camillo Hagen said, William Chen nodded and said to him:

"It's worth a try, you go to contact the other party first, and try to quote first."

As for the future development of the "New York Times" that Camillo Hagen was worried about, William Chen was not too worried, because he knew that the transformation of this newspaper would still be very successful in the future. It will definitely not lose money if you come down.

Moreover, the status of the "New York Times" is also very important, and it can be used as a very useful public opinion tool for him.

……

"You want to buy The New York Times?"

Sure enough, as William Chen expected, when his uncle John Drey heard the news, a look of great interest appeared on his face:
"Not to mention anything else, if you can really buy this newspaper, they will welcome you even more."

William Chen followed John Drey's gaze, and saw that he was the commander in chief who was chatting cordially with the guests.

They are now on a yacht. The commander-in-chief came here from Washington, and together with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, invited those giants in the financial world to meet, which is to encourage everyone to unite and deal with this financial crisis.

William Chen, who just invested in Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, was also invited to this reception.

It is precisely because William Chen invested in the banking industry that was in trouble at this time, helped Goldman Sachs and Citigroup out of the predicament, and provided them with funds, which also won the attention of the other party. The commander had a special chat with William Chen just now.

He expressed his appreciation for Chen William's ability to help the bank out of the predicament with practical actions. As long as everyone can work together to tide over the difficulties, the economic crisis this time will be nothing to worry about, just like the difficulties that the United States has overcome before.

"William, I know you are still studying for a master's degree right now? I was a teacher before, and that experience was very important to me at the University of Chicago. I saw that you were about the same age as my students at the time, but you have achieved It is indeed very remarkable that you have achieved an astonishing achievement, and it is no wonder that Mr. George has always been proud of you."

In close contact, Chen Weilian couldn't help but sigh, being able to be in this position, naturally he will not be too mediocre, and he does have his own charm when getting along with others.

William Chen knew that he was referring to his grandfather—George Drey, and because of this, the words he chatted with William Chen were very relaxed and intimate.

Not surprisingly, William Chen saw his uncle among the accompanying personnel.

So I told him about my plan to buy The New York Times.

As for what John Drey said just now, William Chen can also think of the reason.

When he first bought the "New York Observer", Chen William told the editor-in-chief Kaplan that there is no absolutely objective and neutral media in the United States, and all newspapers are more or less biased, left or biased. Right, Conservative or Liberal.

Just like among these newspapers in New York, if the "Wall Street Journal" is the flagship newspaper of conservatives, then the "New York Times" is definitely the largest newspaper of American liberals.

The corporate motto of The New York Times used to be: "Publish all news fit for publication".They claimed that The New York Times' news coverage "should be fearless, impartial, and free from affiliation, geography, or any special interest."

Perhaps at the beginning, they could still maintain this attitude and report more objectively and neutrally, but when the newspaper was handed over to the current head Arthur Salzberg Jr., he pursued it more than his predecessors. Profits, the quality of reporting in The New York Times has declined, and a lot of fake news and political bias have appeared, greatly damaging the credibility of The New York Times.

Presumably the commander-in-chief will still remember these things. If William Chen can buy this newspaper that is biased towards the liberals of the Xiang Party, they will be happy to see it.

Not to mention that Chen William needs to make this newspaper lean towards the donkey party. Even if it can remain neutral and impartial, it will be a victory for the donkey party to remove an opponent's public opinion position in this way.

"But I know that the Salzberg family will not let go of this newspaper so easily, are you sure? William."

John Drey also knew that the Salzberg family had strict control over the New York Times, so it was not so easy to get it.

"You always have to try first. It's nothing more than a question of how much you want to bid. If you want to buy this newspaper, you must increase the premium."

William Chen would not tell his uncle directly that the bottom line in his mind was 30 billion US dollars. If he could not win the newspaper with a [-]% premium, then at worst, he would switch to another newspaper group. Less.

(End of this chapter)