Chapter 720: A Super Gold Mine

In fact, after reading the investigation report and combining it with his memories from his previous life, Xia Yu already had the best acquisition target in mind.

However, after Gavin Peter had worked so hard, Xia Yu still wanted to hear his thoughts, so as not to dampen his motivation.

Gavin Peter perked up, sat up straight immediately, cleared his throat, and spoke the prepared speech he had prepared: 'Chairman, I think that the publishing market is still in a downturn, and it is worthwhile to acquire any large publishing house. Therefore, my opinion is that it is best to acquire the top one-third publishing house in each country. If we can acquire the largest publishing house, that would undoubtedly be best.'

'In West Germany, I plan to acquire the Bertelsmann publishing group.'

'In France, I plan to acquire the European Publishing Exchange.'

'In Spain, I plan to acquire Salvat Publishing.'

'And I heard that Fritz, the chairman of the Itaca Distribution Group, which combines publishing and wholesaling, died. His heir, Fritz Jr., doesn't want to run a book business and wants to make a difference in the mining industry. The family's shares want to sell, so I also want to acquire it.'

Xia Yu was not surprised by the first few words of Gavin Peter, but the last words he added did attract Xia Yu's attention.

He opened the investigation report again and found information about Itaca.

According to the information, Itaca is the largest book wholesaler in Spain, not only controlling the largest book club in Spain, the Readers Club, but also a shareholder of the second largest bookstore chain in Spain, Crystal Bookstores.

Generally speaking, the distribution channels for books and periodicals are: publisher – wholesaler – bookseller – reader, or publisher – bookseller – reader.

Itaca is undoubtedly the most powerful intermediary in Spain, and it also has some publishing business under its wing. Although it is not particularly strong, it is among the top ten in Spain in terms of distribution power.

Fritz, mentioned by Gavin Peter, is the former chairman of Itaca. The Fritz family holds a 35.8% stake.

If they were to buy out Fritz Jr.'s shares, they would be invincible. If they were to buy out Salvat Publishing, the most powerful publishing company, they would instantly become the overlord of the Spanish publishing industry.

Moreover, they could easily enter the Spanish market with books from the publishing houses they bought in France and West Germany.

It can be said that if Gavin Peter's plan succeeds, the benefits will be enormous.

However, all of this is still hypothetical.

Xia Yu thought for a moment and said, 'Gavin, if your plan succeeds, it will undoubtedly be the best case scenario.'

'But if you want to acquire the largest publishing houses in three countries, you should understand the difficulty involved. It is too conspicuous and will easily arouse opposition from the governments of the countries concerned.'

Gavin Peter's face grew serious and he nodded, saying, "Chairman, you are right, but I still think there is a certain degree of certainty. I want to give it a try.'

'Try?" Xia Yu muttered softly.

Looking at Gavin Peter, who had a serious expression on his face, Xia Yu didn't want to dampen his self-confidence. After all, he had been right before, and it was now a low point for the European publishing industry. No matter which company was acquired, there would be no losses in the future. The difference would simply be a matter of which company had the greatest growth potential.

Obviously, Gavin Peter believes that the largest publishing houses in each country have the greatest potential. Xia Yu did not argue with him, but nodded slightly and said, 'Yes, if you want to try, go ahead and give it a shot. I will give you my full support financially.'

Gavin Peter was overjoyed and nodded heavily in thanks, "Thank you, Chairman!'

Xia Yu smiled and said, "After reading your research report, I also had some ideas. Since we are now financially well-off, we can acquire some more publishing companies in addition to your plan.'

Gavin Peter was surprised, but for this kind of thing, he would be happy for it to happen more often, so he focused his attention on Chairman Xia Yu's next words.

Xia Yu flipped through the investigation report, then took out a pen and circled something on it, then flipped through a few more pages and circled something twice.

After circling it, he handed the investigation report to Gavin Peter and said, 'You take a look first. These three companies are also listed as acquisition targets, and they must be acquired with full force.'

Gavin Peter was surprised and found the circled places marked by Xia Yu.

Each of the three countries circled a publishing company.

They were Springer, the third largest publishing company in West Germany, Hachette, the fifth largest in France, and Planeta, the third largest in Spain.

Gavin Peter frowned, carefully looked at the research information on the three companies, and found that it was not surprising. The only one that was a bit special was Hachette Publishing Group, which also owned six magazines, and its parent company Lagardère Group was chasing a stake in Airbus.

There was nothing special about these publishing houses. Gavin Peter couldn't see anything that would make the chairman want to keep an eye on them. He searched his memory, but he was still a little confused.

Seeing Gavin Peter's puzzled expression, Xia Yu smiled and said, 'Gavin, these companies all have their own characteristics. Just go ahead and buy them. With a deeper understanding later, you should be able to discover something.'

Xia Yu didn't explain, because this was selected by him based on his past life memories. Nothing had happened yet, so there was simply no way to explain.

Could he have said that the Spanish publishing house Planeta would become the largest book publisher in Spain in the future?

Could he have said that the largest Spanish publishing company at the time, Salvat, would be acquired by Planeta later?

Not only that, but the Planeta Group that evolved from Planeta later became involved in the fields of culture, education and training, information services and entertainment, and had a considerable influence in the former Spanish colonies in South America.

As for Springer Verlag, which was the third largest publishing house in West Germany at the time, it had a clear distinguishing feature: it was outstanding in the fields of technology and academic publishing. In later generations, it became one of the world's largest science and technology publishers, with enormous influence among the upper echelons of society.

Of the three publishing houses selected by Xia Yu, the most valuable was Hachette, which was ranked fifth in France at the time and was valued at 10 million francs (about 6 million pounds).

At present, the publishing business of Hachette is not outstanding, and four of the six magazines under its subsidiary Hachette-Filipacchi Médias are in the red.

However, what Gavin Peter could not have imagined was that Hachette would later make a magnificent comeback. As soon as the French economy improved, Hachette's revenue automatically rose sharply.

The most prominent of these is its subsidiary Hachette-Filipacchi Médias, whose loss-making Elle and Marie Claire magazines each sold more than 10 million copies per issue in the 1990s. They had a huge influence on the fashion world, and at this time the most powerful magazine in the French fashion industry, L'Officiel, was left wondering where it had gone.

And Hachette Filipacchi Médias, relying on its huge profits, vigorously pursued mergers and acquisitions, becoming the world's largest newspaper and magazine publishing group, publishing more than 260 periodicals and newspapers.

By the 1990s, Hachette Group was the world's leading publishing company with an annual turnover of 7.37 billion US dollars.

In 2006, Hachette Group acquired Time Warner Publishing Group, the fifth largest publishing group in the United States at the time, for 5.37 billion US dollars, instantly becoming one of the world's top three publishing groups.

This potential gold mine was worth only 10 million francs at this time, only about 6 million pounds.

This big leak was seen by Xia Yu, and it would be unpardonable if he didn't pick it up.

If he took it, Xia Yu would have a huge influence in the French fashion industry in the future, and he could then fully enter the French fashion industry and easily enter the highly profitable luxury goods industry.

Moreover, its parent company, Lagardère, is chasing a stake in Airbus, and it is quite possible that Lagardère will sell the now-insignificant Hachette Group to raise funds. The acquisition will not be too difficult.