Chapter 675: Chasing News Corporation (Part 2)

'It's great that you can think of so much on your own!'

Xia Yu praised Yan Wenhan.

'Europe and the United States, especially the United States, are the world's largest media market, and Asia is the basic market for Jiuding Newspaper Company, which determines the lower limit of the company. Only by entering the European and American markets will the upper limit of growth be opened.'

'As for the island market, you can put it on hold for now. It's not the best time yet. I've already made arrangements. You focus on the European and American markets.'

'And there's no need to choose one to enter, you can do both!'

Yan Wenhan was stunned, then overjoyed. His boss saying this meant he would definitely give him financial support.

In fact, in order for Jiuding Newspaper Company to develop better, it would be most beneficial to invest a large sum of money now and develop by leaps and bounds.

Xia Yu knew full well that this was the lowest point in the European media industry. Once the 1980s began, the European economy began to recover, and the influence of the media sector began to explode. At that time, it would be several times more difficult to acquire media companies.

Moreover, Rupert Murdoch had already completed the foundation of most of his business, having acquired influential newspapers in Australia, the UK, Canada, the US and other places.

The International News Group had already become famous, but it was fortunate that it had not yet fully formed and reached the top of the world.

However, once the 1980s began, the International News Group was set to explode. Rupert Murdoch, who had already laid a solid foundation, took a giant leap forward, buying newspapers and magazines everywhere, completely completing the layout of the print media sector.

Then in 1985, he set foot in the television sector. To achieve this goal, he even gave up his Australian citizenship and took on American citizenship, removing the last obstacle.

After 1985, the International News Group was unstoppable.

Now Nine Entertainment is arguably the leading media company in Asia, but compared to the International News Group, there is still a big gap.

There are many high-quality newspapers and magazines in the world, but a large part of them are controlled by large consortia and are not for sale.

Very few can be acquired.

Now that these high-quality print media have not yet been acquired by the International News Group, it is the opportunity for the Nine Publishing Company, so the Nine Publishing Company must race against time to complete its global layout before the International News Group.

Today, Rupert Murdoch's International News Group is approaching an annual turnover of 1 billion Australian dollars. With the current strength of the Nine Publishing Company, without Xia Yu's support, it simply cannot catch up with them by relying on normal development processes alone.

They must now burn through capital and catch up like a rocket.

'Then Chairman, I will start screening targets and make a plan right away,'

Yan Wenhan said immediately.

To Yan Wenhan's surprise, after he finished speaking, Xia Yu shook his head with a smile.

When he looked puzzled, Xia Yu said, 'This time, don't act alone.'

'You will work with Gavin. You should know that many newspapers in Europe and the United States are owned by publishing companies. You should focus your efforts on the United States. It is very difficult to acquire national newspapers there. You can start with the top ten cities in the United States and acquire the top three newspapers in terms of influence in those cities. It is best to do so behind the scenes and not reveal the shell company that makes the acquisition or its relationship with Jiuding Newspaper. Wait until the time is right to reveal it.'

'In Europe, I will let Gavin do it. You can communicate with him, and after the acquisition, divide it and hand it over to you.'

'Gavin is currently in the island country. After he returns, the two of you come to my office together, and I will give you some advice.'

Yan Wenhan nodded happily and said, 'Okay, Chairman, then I will let the employees of the news agency collect business intelligence on the American media industry.'

'Yes, go!'

After sending Yan away, Xia Yu inspected several other companies in the same building, and the morning passed in this way.

After the lunch break in the afternoon, Xia Yu called Song Hai, the general manager of Jiuding Electric, and they went to Tiangong Group together to check the production of satellite signal receivers on site.

'Chairman, please follow me. The production line for satellite signal receivers is in Building 2, Zone C,'

said Colin Hester, General Manager of Tiangong Electrical Appliances Manufacturing Company, as he led Xia Yu.

Xia Yu nodded slightly and quietly surveyed the surrounding factories.

In a short while, the group arrived at Building 2, Zone C, just in time to see a large truck with the name 'Tiangong Electrical Appliances' printed on the body being loaded.

Colin Hester immediately introduced Xia Yu, 'Chairman, what is being loaded right now are satellite signal receivers, which were ordered by our sister company Jiuding Electric.'

Xia Yu looked at Song Hai, who immediately nodded and said, 'Chairman, there are a total of 5,000 units in this shipment, which will be airlifted to Singapore and then distributed to Malaysia from there.'

Xia Yu gave a light nod, and then asked Colin Hester to continue leading the way into the factory.

Once inside, they saw a scene of busy activity. There were many workers on the assembly lines, responsible for processes such as assembling parts and boxing goods.

Some of the workers perked up and worked even harder when they saw Xia Yu and the others come in.

'Chairman, shall we start from this side?'

Colin Hester asked Xia Yu, pointing in a direction.

Xia Yu nodded slightly: 'Just arrange it.'

Colin Hester smiled and led Xia Yu to the left. At this time, the person in charge of the factory also approached, and after being introduced, he was named Liu Feng.

Being able to perform in front of the chairman Xia Yu made Liu Feng's heart flutter, and he explained to Xia Yu as if he had been injected with adrenaline.

'Chairman, the production line for satellite signal receivers is semi-automatic, and the entire manufacturing process includes... Now this is the production line for satellite receivers, which has the most complex processes...'

Liu Feng explained to Xia Yu and the others with great skill, and time passed unawares, until they reached the penultimate process – the label-attaching process.

The label was the nameplate of Tiangong Electric, and there was also a logo printed on the satellite receiver – a domineering hammer with a wheel of gears circling it.

Xia Yu had designed this logo, and the hammer combined the characteristics of the Hao Tian hammer and the Quake hammer. It had clear angles, and the angle of the hammer was 45 degrees, which made it look more comfortable.

There was no other way. The Tiangong brand was too conceptual, and Xia Yu had asked people to design dozens of logos, but none of them satisfied him.

After looking at it, Xia Yu asked, 'What is the current production volume?'

Liu Feng immediately replied, "Chairman, in order to catch up with production, we are working three shifts, and on average, we can produce 3,000 finished sets in 24 hours.'

Colin Hester immediately added, "Chairman, in three days, we will have three more production lines, and the production volume will double.'

'Ninety thousand sets, one hundred and eighty thousand sets...well, this production volume is not bad.'

Saying this, Xia Yu looked at Song Hai again and said with a smile, 'Song Hai, you have to sell all this production volume, is that a lot of pressure?'

Song Hai did not make any empty promises. He gave a wry smile and said honestly, 'The pressure is very great. There are now twenty-seven stores in Southeast Asia that have opened or are preparing to open, and so far only about one hundred sets have been sold.'

Having said this, Song Hai knew only too well the frustration and pressure he was feeling.

Xia Yu smiled and said, 'You have to work hard! You don't need to be responsible for major publicity, but product posters and Super Girl promotional posters must be posted at the entrance of every electrical appliance supermarket. When the preliminary auditions officially begin, sales will explode.'

'As you command!'

Song Hai let out a sigh of relief and hurriedly said.

'Colin, you don't need to worry about sales. Do your best to ensure quality and quantity in production, and store the manufactured satellite signal receivers in the warehouse for now,'

Xia Yu then reassured Colin Hester by giving him further instructions.

Colin Hester quickly agreed.

Xia Yu was not worried about the satellite signal receivers not selling. He was not making money from selling the satellite signal receivers, but from the annual fees and the advertising revenue from the expanded influence of the TV station, which were the big money.

If it was really discovered that they were not selling, there were ways to promote sales, such as buying a washing machine and getting a satellite signal receiver for free.

In any case, the main thing is to expand the number of satellite TV subscribers, and even Super Girl has this mission.

Those who open up markets are destined to spend higher costs!

Afterwards, Xia Yu went to see the production plants of other districts that produce goods on behalf of other companies, and saw the production process of televisions, washing machines, refrigerators, air conditioners and other electrical appliances.

Before leaving, Xia Yu called Colin Hester over and earnestly told him, 'Colin, we need to speed up the development of our own electrical appliance brand. We need to resolve the basic patents, spend the money we need to spend, avoid possible future commercial disputes, and recruit talent to set up a research and development laboratory to develop our own patented technology.'

Colin Hester nodded firmly: 'Chairman, I'll remember.'

Xia Yu patted him on the shoulder, then looked at Song Hai and said to him, 'Song Hai, in due course your end will need to cooperate with the sales of our own brand of electrical appliances. How exactly you do this, you and Colin will discuss.'

Song Hai immediately promised, 'Okay!'

After inspecting the production work of Tiangong Electric, Xia Yu was finally able to rest assured. Everything was waiting for the satellite launch, and the preliminary auditions for "Super Girl" had begun.