Chapter 225: The Rise of the Song of Chu

When Xia Yu arrived at the Kowloon Grand Hotel, he met with the heads of *Nanyang Daily* and *Sing Tao Daily*. After introducing himself, he first extended a warm welcome and reassured them. After all, they were merely the heads of their respective newspapers, and the decision to sell shares was made by their respective bosses.

At this point, they were likely feeling uneasy, so Xia Yu needed to calm them down to prevent any potential resignations that could cause him trouble.

Subsequently, Xia Yu assigned the task to Yan Wenhan. From now on, *Nanyang Daily* and *Sing Tao Daily* would be under the management of the Jiuding Media Group, and it was Yan Wenhan's job as the general manager to handle them.

In the following days, HSBC delivered good news. They had acquired shares from nine other shareholders, totaling 31.9% of the stock, with high efficiency.

The 31.9% of the shares were transferred to Jiuding Media Group at 3.9 million HKD, which was a 20% premium.

As for how much HSBC paid for these shares and their profit, Xia Yu did not concern himself with it.

On the other side, Jiuding Securities Company also acted quickly. Over the course of a few days, they acquired 21% of the shares scattered in the stock market.

Therefore, Jiuding Media Group already held 84.9% of the shares. Xia Yu decided not to continue slowly acquiring shares from the market since only 15.1% of the stock was left. With fewer shares available, prices would become more sensitive, and stock prices would likely rise.

Thus, Xia Yu immediately concentrated all the shares into Jiuding Media Group and announced the completion of absolute control. He also promptly applied to the exchange for delisting and privatization.

With such a high shareholding ratio, there was no unexpected outcome. The exchange approved Jiuding Media Group's application, and *Nanyang Daily* was suspended from trading that day.

This news quickly spread, causing a stir in the newspaper industry.

It was shocking that *Nanyang Daily*, the leading English newspaper in terms of sales, was now controlled by Jiuding Media Group and was in the process of privatization! Other competitors, whether *Ming Pao*, *Sing Pao*, or *Hong Kong Economic Times*, expressed their astonishment.

The most affected, however, was Hu Xian of the Sing Tao News Corporation.

Having already been squeezed by Jiuding Media Group in the Chinese newspaper sector, Hu Xian had to take a risk and invest heavily in creating Sing Tao News Agency to seek breakthroughs.

But before Sing Tao News Agency was completed, Jiuding Media Group had taken control of *Nanyang Daily* and was about to complete privatization, leaving Sing Tao News Agency's *English Tiger* further suppressed by Jiuding Media Group.

This news left Hu Xian's face looking extremely distressed.

However, worse was yet to come.

To add to the drama, someone had leaked to the media that Jiuding Media Group had spent 12 million HKD to acquire Malaysia's *Nanyang Daily*, 11 million HKD to acquire *Sing Tao Daily*, and 2.2 million HKD to acquire Hong Kong's local paper *Everyday Daily*.

These consecutive revelations caused a frenzy among those closely following the matter, leaving them bewildered and numb.

The deputy editor-in-chief of *Ming Pao*, Pan Yue-sheng, reported the situation to Jin Yong immediately. At that moment, both were speechless in their office.

After a long while, Pan Yue-sheng finally expressed his powerless amazement: "Tsk, tsk. Four newspapers, and it's already confirmed that 25.2 million HKD has been spent. The acquisition of *Nanyang Daily* alone cost at least 11 million HKD. Calculating it all, this acquisition has cost at least 36 million HKD."

"Jiuding Media Group is invincible. Xia Yu indeed plays big. In the entire newspaper industry, only he has such a big scale and capability."

Jin Yong adjusted his glasses and shook his head, exclaiming: "Indeed, 36 million HKD. In the entire newspaper industry, only he can come up with such a sum. Jiuding Media Group has always been unmatched, and now, it will probably be lonely and snowy. The younger generation is formidable! The younger generation is formidable!"

"Yue-sheng, compared to Xia Yu, we old-timers have lived like dogs."

Jin Yong said with a smile, and Pan Yue-sheng could only shake his head bitterly in response.

"Old Cha, Xia Yu's prowess is indeed formidable, but the most affected is not us but that newspaper queen. She must be stunned right now. After all her efforts to build Sing Tao News Agency to compete with Jiuding Media Group, it's not even completed, and she's facing Jiuding Media Group's encirclement."

"In the Hong Kong-Macau-Taiwan regions, with *Jiuding Daily* suppressing business and economic news, and *Fengyun Daily* impacting political and livelihood news, now there's also *Everyday Daily* in grassroots entertainment and livelihood news. Once it's revamped, leveraging Jiuding Media Group's powerful editorial and distribution system, sales will definitely surge."

"And in Southeast Asia, *Sing Tao Daily* faces pressure from *Jiuding Daily* and *Fengyun Daily*, and now with *Nanyang Daily* and *Sing Tao Daily* jointly pursuing."

"Finally, in the English newspaper sector, *Nanyang Daily*, which is a financial newspaper, already suppressed *English Tiger*. Now, in commercial finance news, which paper can compete with *Jiuding Daily*? After Jiuding Media Group's resource integration, sales will definitely explode."

"Surely, that newspaper queen must be going crazy right now."

After analyzing, Pan Yue-sheng expressed his mixed feelings. He wasn't sure whether to revel in the misfortune or sympathize with Hu Xian. Anyone in her place would be driven mad.

Pan Yue-sheng had indeed guessed Xia Yu's intention. Although a major part of this series of acquisitions was to strengthen and expand Jiuding Media Group, another objective was to encircle Sing Tao News Corporation.

Xia Yu would not go easy just because Hu Xian was a woman. The business world is like a battlefield, and showing sympathy for the opponent is extremely foolish.

Since Hu Xian clearly wanted to build a news agency to compete with Jiuding Media Group, Xia Yu had to respond in time. He would not wait until Sing Tao News Agency was completed to counter; he needed to take the initiative, launch an attack early, disrupt Sing Tao News Corporation's plans, and profit from it.

This time, Xia Yu's actions were aimed at decisively taking down Sing Tao News Corporation, crushing Hu Xian's ambitions, and solidifying Jiuding Media Group's monopoly.

Unfortunately, the plan was not perfect. The four major newspapers had not yet completed their integration and revision before being exposed. Otherwise, if the four newspapers had fully developed and erupted simultaneously, the exposure would have marked the moment of despair for Sing Tao News Corporation.

Now, the exposure only made a big splash, but Sing Tao News Corporation had not yet suffered a real blow.

However, there was no way to avoid this; privatizing and acquiring a listed company was inevitably public.

...

"By the way, Old Cha, Hu Xian had previously been trying to recruit us to join her uncompleted Sing Tao News Agency. Jiuding News Agency has also been contacting us. We had been vague before, not wanting to choose sides. Now it seems the time to make a decision has come."

Thinking of the previous procrastination, Pan Yue-sheng's mind stirred, and he spoke to Jin Yong.

Jin Yong frowned and then relaxed, feeling somewhat nostalgic: "Indeed, now is the final opportunity to choose sides. Hu Xian has no chance of winning. Otherwise, once the outcome is decided, it will be too late."

"Then let's agree to cooperate with Jiuding News Agency."

"Okay, I'll contact them right away." Pan Yue-sheng nodded in agreement.

Major newspapers like *Ming Pao* and *Hong Kong Economic Times* had been avoiding cooperation with Jiuding News Agency and Sing Tao News Agency, hoping that Sing Tao News Corporation would challenge Jiuding Media Group, giving them a chance to grow.

But the current situation had awakened them. They had completely lost faith in Sing Tao News Corporation and extinguished the last bit of hope for competing with Jiuding Media Group, fully acknowledging Jiuding Media Group's dominance.

If even such a powerful entity as Sing Tao News Corporation was being suppressed, *Ming Pao* with its smaller scale would inevitably face similar targeting from Jiuding Media Group. To avoid the same fate, they had to align themselves with Jiuding News Agency while still maintaining their autonomy.

At least aligning now was the final opportunity to choose sides; otherwise, waiting until the outcome was decided would force them into alignment, making the difference significant.

Although they would also be impacted, the impact would be minimal, mainly facing pressure from the local *Everyday Daily*. Unable to resist, they could only accept their fate and minimize losses.

This ostrich mentality was not unique to *Ming Pao* but was shared by other major newspapers.

This time, they were finally, like Jin Yong and Pan Yue-sheng, ready to fully bow down.

At this moment, the situation was extremely unfavorable for Sing Tao News Corporation!