The birth of the Hong Kong Island family

Henry Keswick took the initiative to meet with Airship Tai and asked how he thought about it.

In fact, he felt that by acting like this, he was already giving airship Tai some face; after all, he only needed senior staff to come and negotiate for this kind of thing.

But Henry Keswick enjoyed the happiness brought by this kind of "bullying the small" and "taking advantage of the situation". In recent years, although Chinese capital has become more and more powerful in Hong Kong, especially in real estate, shipping, and industry, But he still believes that British capital is the boss in Hong Kong.

The two parties met in the Xingguangxing Building.

"Mr. Huo, I wonder how you are thinking about it? You know, if this deal is completed earlier, the grudge between you and the American officials can be ended earlier."

He did not state the official British attitude. In fact, the British Hong Kong government implemented an "active non-intervention" economic strategy and would not directly help Land or suppress the Chinese.

This time, the US consulate took the lead in suppressing Thailand, with the British Hong Kong government cooperating.

To put it simply, when the U.S. Consulate saw the increasing success of Airship Tai, they immediately felt that a businessman who made a fortune from the Peninsula Campaign and the corpses of American soldiers was now about to become a tycoon, and was naturally very unhappy. At the same time, coupled with the fact that the British Hong Kong government had just been scared by Zuo Lengchan and almost abandoned Hong Kong, it was naturally not happy with Xingguangxing renting the office building to "Huayi Company".

They hit it off immediately, and Airship Tai hit the muzzle of the gun.

Of course, the US and British officials are more interested in giving Tai a lesson to prevent him from becoming a plutocrat in Hong Kong, rather than killing them all. The first is to worry about the resentment of all Chinese people, and the second is to abide by the law.

Airship Tai felt that the depression and humiliation at this time had been wiped away, and he wanted to laugh a little in his heart, but he still said seriously: "I'm sorry, Mr. Henry, Starlight has been sold to a merchant designated by the US Consulate. The payment is in cash. , not a single penny note!”

Henry Keswick was stunned, and then the expression on his face became embarrassing and humiliating. He regretted coming in person, but should have sent senior personnel to inquire. Now, I have lost face!

However, he still said in disbelief: "It's impossible! We must not only afford 37.5 million Hong Kong dollars, but also satisfy the US Consulate. Could it be that there are others in Hong Kong!"

Airship Tai smiled and said: "Of course! There is no problem that this building is worth 37.5 million Hong Kong dollars, even in the current real estate downturn. As for whether the US Consulate is dissatisfied, in fact, Mr. Henry may not understand that as long as they are not insiders, they can Admit it. You are too confident!"

Henry Keswick's face turned red, and then he threw his hands away angrily.

He didn't even ask who the buyer was, because he vaguely guessed one person, not to mention that the truth would soon be revealed; however, he didn't want to see Airship Tai again and suffer this ridicule.

A smile appeared on Airship Tai's lips, and the depression on his lips disappeared. He is afraid of the Hong Kong government and US officials, but he is not afraid of Jardine Matheson.

Henry Keswick returned to the company and told his father John Keswick what had happened.

After listening to this, John Keswick said solemnly: "If Lin Zhichao intervened, the American and British officials would give him face. Especially last year, Lin Zhichao had a clear-cut Zuo Lengchan, so Hong Kong officials had a great impression of him; in addition, He is the world's shipping king and has always been friends with American and British politicians."

Henry Keswick said unwillingly: "Is this the end of it? Or, let the Hong Kong Telephone Company continue to make things difficult for Starlight Bank?"

John Keswick said: "It's not necessary! With Lin Zhichao's strength, even if he doesn't rent it out, it won't have much impact. But if Hong Kong Telephone does this, the impact will be extremely bad, and the British Hong Kong government will also stop it. It pushes Lin Zhichao into the arms of the other side, so no British politician will agree."

Henry Keswick was very clever, otherwise later generations would not have launched the 'Cattle War' and swallowed up the dairy company without spending a penny.

Soon he sighed and said: "Chinese capital is rising in Hong Kong, and Lin Zhichao is developing rapidly, which has a great impact on our British capital!"

John Keswick sneered: "Is it a big impact? I don't think our British capital has a lot of land resources and can become a real estate giant at any time. What's more, if Chinese capital can't be listed in large numbers, then it won't be able to develop rapidly. . And precisely, the Hong Kong Council is very strict with listed companies, and Chinese company management is very poor, so it is impossible for a large number of companies to be listed. How can an unlisted company be able to compete with a listed company? "

Henry Keswick was right. He knew the stock market very well and listed companies had too many conveniences.

Afterwards, Henry said: "What my father said makes sense! If our Jardine family did not develop overseas first, it would be even bigger in Hong Kong today."

John emphasized: "We must persist in overseas development. It is best to expand the proportion of overseas investment to 60%, leaving only 40% in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is still too close to the opposite side!"

The father and son have always been wary of the mainland because Jardine lost 30 million pounds of wealth in the mainland in the 1950s. Of course, the Keswick family is a businessman who has always insisted on trading with the UK and the mainland, because they want to make money back bit by bit.

The other side.

Cheung Kong Holdings acquired Starlight Bank for HK$37.5 million in cash, which aroused great repercussions. At the same time, well-informed Chinese businessmen are naturally very supportive and prevent Chinese assets from flowing cheaply to real estate companies.

After Cheung Kong Holdings acquired Starlight, the U.S. Consulate immediately withdrew the ban, and the Hong Kong phone company didn't seem to make things difficult again. However, for the sake of safety, Lin Zhichao did not immediately put Starlight Hotel up for rent with great fanfare. Instead, he left it there temporarily and only informed the original tenants that they could buy and sell American goods and install telephones.

As for Lin Zhichao himself, he has never been to the Xingguang Building to check it out. First of all, although this building is worth a lot of money, it is nothing to him; secondly, who knows if there is Zuo Lengchan in Huayi Company (which sells specialties) to shoot him.

Of course, he doesn't intend to make things difficult for Huayi Company. As long as everyone gets along well! In another year, Zuo Lengchan in Hong Kong will be completely abandoned, and the situation will be much better. By 1971, even Zuo Lengchan on the opposite side had no place for survival.

In mid-February, Media Building.

After two months of preparations, the management of "Oriental Daily" has been established, and the candidates for president 'Luo Wenhui', editor-in-chief 'Dai Pingshu' and managers of other departments have all been finalized.

On this day, Lin Zhichao held his first management meeting with everyone in the conference room.

"In the future, you will call me 'boss' or 'Linsheng' on any occasion. I hope you all know this!" Lin Zhichao's first sentence was to correct everyone's title.

Very important!

He has told some close friends to just call him 'Linsheng'. Hearing "Sir Lin" a lot, it always made Lin Zhichao feel a little uncomfortable. The main reason was that he was strictly forbidden to call his subordinates, good friends, or relatives.

Ordinary friends, partners, strangers, there is no need to emphasize it.

"Okay, boss!" everyone said immediately.

Everyone vaguely guessed that what the boss meant was that my business achievements were so great that I didn’t need a knighthood to set myself off.

Later, Lin Zhichao said: "Next, I will give you two months of preparation time, and then the Oriental Daily will be officially launched. In terms of funds, I will first inject 1 million Hong Kong dollars, and I can recruit 100 local reporters, 20 Overseas reporters will be expanded slowly in the future. People from other departments can be recruited as needed."

Everyone was shocked, this is such a big deal!

Generally, 100,000 Hong Kong dollars is enough to run a newspaper. When will this 1 million Hong Kong dollars be earned back?

Luo Wenhui immediately said: "What we want to run is a popular newspaper with the largest sales volume in Hong Kong. From the beginning, we planned to have 1 and a half pages. The content should be rich and have three characteristics: One of the characteristics is to collect and write a large number of Hong Kong social news to attract people. Readers, the timeliness is fast and the coverage is wide, so many reporters were recruited at the beginning; secondly, the supplement edition published a large number of articles by famous people in the Hong Kong journalism and literary and art circles, so many famous people were invited to publish them; thirdly, the articles were short, with many columns, and easy to read I understand, it is suitable for the tastes of readers of different ages.”

This is something that the boss has communicated with him, and now he will convey it to him.

Everyone took notes one after another and felt that this newspaper was different!

Lin Zhichao added: "We need to capture people's curiosity! For example, for some shocking news, we need to get the source as soon as possible, such as a murder for love, a murder of a woman, a gang fight, a gold shop being robbed, etc. in such and such a place. Citizens can enjoy To know the right to know, we must report it to them as soon as possible. Whether the news is good or not, the title accounts for one third of the importance. For the same news, as long as the title is good, the effect is self-evident. I will take this article from today's "Sing Tao Daily" News distance, if I were the editor, I would probably write like this."

Eye-opener!

Everyone didn't expect Lin Zhichao to be so 'vulgar' and indeed a 'profiteer'!

Seeing everyone's expressions, Lin Zhichao said without regret: "This is just a kind of marketing, there is no false propaganda, there is no need to feel inappropriate. The first job I got in Hong Kong was selling newspapers. At that time, I... At that time, I You understand that the most important thing is to attract people and arouse customer curiosity.”

Everyone was taught.

Finally, Lin Zhichao said: "President Luo, you and President Li Ziduo of Oriental Publishing House are jointly planning to build a first-class printing plant with the best equipment and the strictest management."

Li Ziduo immediately said: "Okay, I will communicate with him!"

Anyway, a large amount of printing business is needed, so it is natural to develop a large printing factory - Oriental Printing Factory.

Although there are Oriental Publishing House, Oriental Daily, and Oriental Printing House, this group is called "Media Group" without the word "Oriental". First, the media group sounds domineering; second, Oriental Media Group is easily confused with Oriental Group (Tang Zhongyuan).

After some arrangements, the preparations for "Oriental Daily" have officially begun, and it will probably be published in April. The Oriental Publishing House's "Manke World" was also published in that month.

After these two things are resolved, a film company and theater chain will be established in the second half of the year.

In terms of theater chains, Lin Zhichao owns several theaters, but they are all managed by others and can be taken back later.

"Oriental Daily" aggressively recruited editors, reporters, staff and other positions, and published advertisements in major newspapers in Hong Kong, which caused a lot of discussion.

With such large-scale investment and battles, it soon became known that the boss behind this was actually Hong Kong Chinese leader Lin Chichao. As the ‘Hong Kong Chinese leader’ after Sir Robert Ho Tung, it does not seem strange to run a newspaper. After all, the Robert Ho Tung family also owns the Industrial and Commercial Daily.

This newspaper is now managed by General He Shili and is an out-and-out Taiwan-leaning newspaper.

Many people are concerned about the newspaper run by Lin Zhichao. What is its tendency?

There is a high probability that it is a newspaper that favors the British Hong Kong government!

As everyone knows, this newspaper will learn from "Sing Tao Daily" and establish a newspaper without a clear position.

"Ming Pao".

After hearing the news about "Oriental Daily", Jin Daxia couldn't help but laugh to himself: "How can newspapers be so easy to handle! I almost lost my life for Ming Pao to be what it is today!"

Thinking of what happened some time ago, he couldn't help but tremble. Those Zuo Lengchan really wanted to kill people!

He is not optimistic about the prospects of "Oriental Daily". Although Lin Zhichao is very rich, people who buy newspapers will not buy it; good-looking and attractive content is the key.

He started to enter this industry in the 1940s, and it took him ten years to start Ming Pao. What is important is that he was unable to open up the market at first, and could only rely on the serialization of his novels to gain a foothold. It was not until the political Z incident in 1962 that he started to enter the industry. , which allowed "Ming Pao" to break through 80,000 copies.

Ming Pao didn't make a lot of money from last year's political scandal, because wealthy people emigrated overseas, and some Zuo Lengchan fanned the flames. It didn't reap any benefits, but sales increased slightly.

"Could it be that Lin Zhichao benefited from the Hong Kong government in last year's incident and therefore knew the benefits of controlling speech, so he decided to start the Oriental Daily?" Jin Daxia maliciously guessed.

Thinking of what happened last year, he made so many comments and was scolded a lot. Lin Zhichao just published an article and got many people’s approval and recognition from the Hong Kong government.

Somewhat unfair!

"Sing Tao Daily".

Hu Xian was sitting in the office, a little angry because Oriental Daily poached her vice president.

Having one more competitor was already enough to make people feel unhappy, but now that her right-hand man was poached, she was simply angry.

As everyone knows, a big reason why Luo Wenhui changed jobs was that Hu Xian was too domineering and had to report everything to her; in his opinion, he was just an assistant at "Sing Tao Daily" and had no place to perform. Therefore, faced with the recruitment of "Oriental Daily News", he almost did not hesitate to decide to change jobs. Lin Zhichao is a big tycoon in Hong Kong and it is a new newspaper, so his role will be great.

Hu Xian said: "Running a newspaper can't be done by spending money! I don't believe that Lin Zhichao can succeed in the media. He really thinks he is omnipotent!"

Originally, Hu Xian still had a good impression of Lin Zhichao. Last year's "A Citizen Lin Zhichao" was deeply appreciated and admired by her, but now the good impression has disappeared.

"If he doesn't do it well, he'll be ruining his reputation. He made the wrong choice in this step!"

After muttering to himself, Hu Xian felt better.

New York, Manhattan high-rise apartment.

Lin Zhichao is sitting in his office, which is a home office. He sometimes likes to sit here and enjoy some fun. For example, today, Audrey Hepburn was wearing an office uniform, black stockings and high heels, walking around in front of him.

She came to the desk, stood opposite Lin Zhichao, then bent her waist, and then moved closer to her man, her eyes filled with admiration. The degree of love preservation between the two is still very high. There may be a reason why distance creates beauty. In short, love is still greater than family affection.

Unknowingly, Audrey Hepburn is about to turn 39, but she still looks like she is in her twenties. Outsiders think that he is well-maintained and has good makeup, but they don't know that it is all natural.

Her faint red lips said: "What are you thinking about? Are you worried about having too much money?" There was a playful joke on her face.

Lin Zhichao raised her chin and said: "I'm not worried about money, but thinking about my son's future career, which is the family business of the Hepburn family."

Audrey Hepburn immediately said: "What about the Hepburn family? They are all members of the Lin Zhichao family!"

He was very serious, for fear that Lin Zhichao, a Chinese, would care about this.

"Haha, it's okay as long as I know, there's no need to care!"

In Audrey's lineage, all English names are legal, and Hepburn is the surname. Of course, there are Chinese names within the family, and they are all called by Chinese names at home. This is Audrey's respect for Lin Zhichao.

Lin Zhichao believes that as long as it is of his own blood, he will not be able to control future affairs. What's more, using an English name will help you break into Western upper class society.

Later, Lin Zhichao said: "Audrey, are you willing to work a little harder and create a bigger career for the children? I can give you some advice."

Audrey Hepburn had no intention of being lazy and said, "Okay! Anyway, we just follow your will and leave it to the management. As long as we supervise that they won't deceive us or be lazy, that's fine. I'm already familiar with it." It’s your style!”

Lin Zhichao smiled, the fact is that simple. As a boss, as long as you grasp the direction and invest funds, there will definitely be people willing to serve you.

"In this way, let Audrey Investment Company discuss the purchase of the small hotel in the New York train station that we looked at yesterday, and then re-plan, design, and build it into a Hyatt Hotel. This matter must be fully handled by a professional real estate team. Use loans to build office buildings and buy ready-made ones in Manhattan.”

Audrey Hepburn's investment company is also considered large-scale, with a capital of over US$200 million. Her other Audrey toy company has a market value of just over 250 million U.S. dollars. She is now an out-and-out richest woman in the United States.

"The funds Audrey invested are far from being used up!"

"Just leave it in the account to earn interest, and then invest in securities after the stock market has an opportunity. For now, we will set up two real estate projects first."

"Okay, I understand, I do these two things well!"

Audrey Hepburn understood that having two sons with Lin Zhichao was equivalent to earning two more family fortunes. The same is true for the eldest and second bedrooms. This man really cares about 'family unity'. Each son has a share, and his daughter also has a small share.

Lin Zhichao then handed Audrey Hepburn a piece of paper and said, "Do you know why I asked you to change 'Audrey Toys Company' to 'Audrey Company'?"

It is popular in the United States to use the name of the founder as the name of a company, such as Disney, Hilton, Wal-Mart, etc. Now Lin Zhichao has also made the word "Audrey" very loud in the West.

Audrey said: "Could it be that you plan to develop this listed company into a comprehensive company?"

Lin Zhichao nodded happily, then pointed to a piece of paper on the table and said: "In the future, toys will only be a business of Audrey Company, and we will also develop technology, media, culture, etc. This listed company must continue to tell stories to investors , continued to expand its business, and eventually became a large listed company."

Audrey nodded excitedly. She believed that with this man's guidance, all these things could be achieved. What's more, the eldest son has already shown interest in doing business, so he can join Audrey Company in another seven or eight years.

"Well, I listen to you! But what kind of high-tech product is on this paper?"

"This is called a game console, or an arcade. In 1962, the United States had already developed the SpaceWar video game on a large computer worth 400,000 US dollars. But obviously, who would play games on such an expensive computer? So I was thinking about using a display screen, a host circuit board, two battle joysticks and buttons to make such an arcade game machine that can be played by inserting coins. After playing, you need to continue inserting coins (coins are sold) (Machines are already very popular). The game must be very simple to be attractive. You can develop a table tennis game that is only played with simple dots and lines."

How could Audrey Hepburn understand it? She didn't understand it at all, but a rendering was clear at a glance, and the plan described by Lin Zhichao had also been sketched out.

"Is it a good prospect?"

"If it can be developed, Audrey Company will become famous again and create a milestone in electronic games. As for the prospects, if a bar installs such a game machine, it will be full of coins after one night. In short, people need a kind of The market for entertainment methods is huge.”

Audrey Hepburn said: "If we do that, I will convene the board of directors later and propose this plan!"

Lin Zhichao nodded and said: "Remember not to say it is your own idea, just say a friend's idea. Also, Audrey Company should not pay too many dividends in the future, but should reserve more research and development funds. You can even purchase properties to increase the company the value of."

Audrey Hepburn nodded and said: "The cash flow is very sufficient, with more than 20 million US dollars."

Lin Zhichao said: "In short, if Audrey Company wants to develop and expand its business in the future, the more money the better, or the more assets the better."

"Ok, I see!"

Audrey Company is firmly controlled by Audrey Hepburn. The original founding team reduced its holdings of many shares, while Audrey Hepburn used dividends to increase her holdings to 53.5%.

Moreover, Audrey Hepburn did not sell high and buy low Audrey's company's stock. If it falls this time, she will continue to increase her holdings a little, and it may eventually be more than 55%.

The 9% held by Lin Zhichao has never been reduced.

The idea of ​​​​arcade machines was handed over to Audrey Company because Hong Kong did not have such innovative technology and it was not convenient to promote it. His purpose is to make money, and the same goes for Audrey's company.

But this kind of innovative technology, with Lin Zhichao’s plan, may be very simple to develop in an environment like the United States. After all, it must not be too difficult for someone born in a garage, a newly graduated electrical engineer, and a part-time boss to build an arcade machine.

The difficulty must be ‘innovative thinking’!