Chapter 57: Financial Times

After seeing that there was still some time before the end of the workday, Xia Yu drove back to the company to handle a few matters. After all, he had been out all day, and there were bound to be some things waiting for him to personally address.

As soon as he sat down in his office, Zhao Cheng, the head of the editorial department, knocked on the door and walked in, handing Xia Yu a stack of resumes. "Boss, since the vice president recruitment notice was sent out, these are the resumes we've received so far. Please take a look."

"Hmm!" Xia Yu nodded and began to review the resumes carefully.

After looking through several resumes, Xia Yu's disappointment became more apparent. He couldn't help but shake his head.

The quality of the candidates who had applied was quite low; none of them had experience in mid-level or senior management at major newspapers. Moreover, the newspapers they had previously worked for differed from the "Jiu Ding Daily" in terms of type, so Xia Yu found them not suitable according to his standards.

Despite his disappointment, Xia Yu continued to go through the resumes, hoping to find a suitable candidate.

Unfortunately, after reviewing more than ten resumes, he was still dissatisfied and began to question if his standards were too high.

Just then, Xia Yu came across the last resume and his eyes widened as he began to read it intently.

Yan Wenhan, male, 30 years old, studied journalism and finance at Oxford University in the UK. After graduating, he worked at the "Financial Times" in the UK for five years, holding positions such as news reporter, editor, and deputy head of the editorial department. He resigned a month ago due to personal reasons and returned to Hong Kong.

Seeing this resume, Xia Yu was very pleased. He had already decided to invite him for an interview the next day. If the interview went well, the vice president position would be his.

Xia Yu's high regard for Yan Wenhan was due to several reasons.

Xia Yu had memories of the later-era Warner CEO, who was a top figure in the media industry with extensive knowledge about various media outlets. This CEO happened to be British and was very familiar with the local newspapers in the UK, including the "Financial Times."

The "Financial Times" is a world-renowned international financial media outlet founded by James and his brothers in 1888. The paper is published in London, Frankfurt, New York, Paris, Los Angeles, Madrid, Hong Kong, and other locations. In later years, it had a daily circulation of around 450,000, with 70% of its distribution outside the UK in over 140 countries. The paper provides global economic and business information, analysis, and commentary. The financial index created by the paper is well-known. It is a leading global financial newspaper with over 1.6 million readers across its American, British, European, and Asian editions, and its main website has up to 3.9 million online readers per month. It ranked fifth in global financial newspaper influence.

The "Financial Times" is currently owned by the Pearson Group but was bought by Japan's Nikkei News for £844 million in July 2015.

Yan Wenhan's ability to enter the "Financial Times" right after graduation and rise to the position of deputy head of the editorial department before turning 30 as a Chinese national demonstrated his strong capabilities.

In addition to his own abilities, Yan Wenhan's previous work experience was also highly relevant to "Jiu Ding Daily."

Since "Jiu Ding Daily" was focused on financial news, Xia Yu needed someone familiar with both finance and media to assist him and potentially succeed him in the future.

The "Financial Times" was a professional financial media outlet with deep expertise in financial and business information. Considering that the paper was established in 1888 and had been around for 90 years by 1978, Yan Wenhan had spent five years there and likely gained significant knowledge. Such a talent returning to Hong Kong would undoubtedly be able to compete with the leaders of major newspapers in Hong Kong in terms of ability and vision.

Furthermore, as the "Financial Times" is a global newspaper, Yan Wenhan would have had exposure to various aspects, including insider processes, networks, and other resources. If he took on the role of vice president or even president of "Jiu Ding Daily," he could play a crucial role in the international expansion of the newspaper.

For these reasons, Xia Yu had a very positive impression of Yan Wenhan.

"I hope tomorrow's interview won't let me down…" Xia Yu murmured with anticipation as he looked at the resume.

He then decided not to wait any longer and asked Zhao Cheng to call Yan Wenhan to schedule an interview for 10 a.m. the next morning.

After that, Xia Yu was busy with other matters until the end of the workday, and then he drove home.

Upon arriving home, Xia Yu's family was once again struck by the sight of his luxury car. They expressed their amazement, but Xia Yu gave a brief explanation and didn't elaborate further. He then had his family get in the car, planning to take them out for a meal and to buy them clothes.

The evening was spent in a flurry of activity. During the clothing shopping, Xia Yu took them to a high-end clothing store. The clothes were expensive but of better quality and style.

The family was satisfied with the clothes from the store, but when they learned the prices, they were taken aback. His parents were even concerned and wanted Xia Yu to choose a different store, but Xia Yu insisted on buying the clothes there, leading to his mother Chen Mei repeatedly expressing how expensive everything was on the way home. Despite her complaints, her joy was evident, and her gaze towards Xia Yu was filled with pride.

Once home, Xia Yu had time to tidy up the room, arranging the items in a way that pleased him, and then took out his notebook to continue writing "The Legend of Seeking the Qin."

In the past ten days, due to the increasing number of employees at "Jiu Ding Daily," the scale of the company had grown, leading to more tasks. Additionally, stock trading had consumed his time and energy. As a result, he had managed to copy less than 200,000 words of the manuscript so far. Including the previously copied 480,000 words, he had only about 600,000 words, still a million words short of completing the manuscript of "The Legend of Seeking the Qin."

Moreover, in the past ten days, no satisfactory novels had been collected, so only Xia Yu's "The Legend of Seeking the Qin" was being published, at 20,000 words per day. This was not sustainable for long, and Xia Yu felt a lot of pressure. The feeling of being forced by the situation was very unpleasant.

Xia Yu had already made up his mind to have Zhao Cheng draft a high-price recruitment notice for essays the next day, believing that a high price would attract great talent.

Additionally, if Yan Wenhan successfully joined the company after tomorrow's interview, Xia Yu would be able to relieve himself from some of the busy tasks and have more time to complete "The Legend of Seeking the Qin."

It wasn't until around eleven o'clock that Xia Yu put down his pen and went to sleep...