Chapter 1090: ‘Global Rich List’
Xia Yu was reading the Economic Weekly magazine, which was published by the Jiuding News Group, but it was an incomplete version that had not yet been released.
Yan Wenhan had urgently sent it to him by air from Xiangjiang, and the main purpose was for him to review the two lists inside.
The Global Rich List and the World's Top 500 Enterprises!
Relying on the powerful global news gathering network of the Jiuding News Agency, these two lists are truly global in the truest sense of the word, and are not pseudo-global lists like those of Forbes and Fortune magazines.
Yan Wenhan once reported the situation to Xia Yu. In terms of the 'Rich List', it was their 'Economic Weekly' that started it all, and then a year later Forbes followed suit and launched the American Rich List, which has now only expanded to North America.
As for the 'Top 500 Companies' list, it was not the Economic Weekly that started it, but the American magazine Fortune in 1955, except that at that time only American companies were on the list.
It wasn't until 1976 that Fortune magazine released its first international top 500 ranking, but even this excluded the United States, i.e. it only included companies outside the United States.
So nowadays, there is no real 'World Top 500 Companies' ranking.
Unless Fortune magazine perfectly integrates their domestic US list with the international list, which is the fastest way!
But if it's not integrated, it's not integrated!
So there is simply no real global rich list or corporate ranking in the world.
This means that once Economic Weekly releases these two lists, there is a high probability that they will be enthusiastically received around the world.
Of course, with such enthusiasm will inevitably come endless questioning.
Therefore, Yan Wenhan sent this yet-to-be-published magazine to Xia Yu for review, mainly for two reasons.
The first reason was to ask Xia Yu to review it, especially regarding Xia Yu's own ranking on the list and the ranking of the Jiuding enterprises, and whether or not adjustments should be made.
The second purpose, which is the main one, is to hope that Xia Yu can authorise him to mobilise the resources of the Jiuding Consortium around the world to promote it and make the Economic Weekly a huge success!
There is no other way. The strength of the Jiuding Newspaper Group is mainly concentrated in Asia and North America. In recent years, Yan Wenhan has also acquired some newspapers in South America and Oceania, so it has coverage there as well.
All the print media companies of the Jiuding consortium in the United States are directly controlled by the American branch of Jiuding Newspaper Group, but CNN is under the control of Polaris Capital. CNN and Jiuding Newspaper Group only have a cooperative relationship and do not have cross-shareholding.
In Europe, the power of Jiuding Newspaper Group is even weaker.
Apart from Thames Newspapers Holdings Limited in the UK, there are not many newspapers in other European countries.
The main media power of the Nine Dragons Consortium in Europe is in the hands of companies such as the Mirror Group and the Financial Times Group, which are owned by the Bright Foundation.
Although Yan Wenhan knew George Berkeley, he was unable to get George Berkeley to fully assist him. After all, although both were under Xia Yu's direct management, the Bright Foundation was independent of Europe, and George Berkeley had more freedom, more power, and more control over resources.
Therefore, the best solution was for Chairman Xia Yu to step in and make the arrangements.
...
The Fortune Global 500 is just a commonly used name for the list. The correct term is 'the world's 500 largest companies', with the emphasis on 'largest'.
The reason for this is that Fortune magazine generally selects the operating income of a company for each financial year as the basis for ranking, and that size is most important. Therefore, the Fortune Global 500 actually refers to the world's 500 largest companies.
However, Xia Yu's Economic Weekly's list of the world's top 500 companies is consistent with the selection criteria of the later Forbes magazine, which is no longer unilaterally limited to large turnover.
Instead, it is based on a comprehensive score using four indicators: revenue, profit, assets and market value. The list uses a comprehensive score to evaluate the world's largest and most powerful listed companies.
Fortune, Forbes, Financial Times and Business Week all publish global rankings of companies. The criteria for these rankings differ, with the latter two focusing on market value.
Xia Yu still most highly regards Forbes, however, because of the perspective he now has. For a company to become a long-standing business, it must be strong in all aspects, not just in terms of market value and turnover.
If you simply rank companies according to market value, it is the least reliable, because market value changes in real time, and its limitations mean that it is difficult to truly reflect the situation of global companies. Moreover, financial institutions can monitor the stock market in real time on their own...
Xia Yu carefully reviewed the list of 'Fortune Global 500' in 'Economic Weekly' and expressed his approval. He said that his own company is selected according to realistic standards. After all, as long as 'Fortune Global 500' causes a sensation, the ranking on it is the best business card for the company.
When discussing business, this name, once mentioned, can absolutely convince people subconsciously, as has been tested in later generations.
Moreover, the Global 500 does not require the disclosure of controllers, so it will not reveal that the Jiuding consortium is the one behind the companies on the list.
On the contrary, the Global Rich List is different, as being on it can cause a lot of trouble.
Unlike the Forbes Rich List, which has an uncertain number of people each year, the Global Rich List has always been clear that there are 500 people on it.
Interestingly, the top five are all from the Middle East: the Saudi royal family, the Al Saud family, with 117 billion US dollars; the Al Nahyan family of the United Arab Emirates, with 61 billion US dollars; the Al Sabah family of Kuwait, with 42 billion US dollars; and the Al Thani family of Qatar, with 38.2 billion US dollars.
These four royal families, except for the Kuwaiti royal family, which prefers to keep a low profile, are likely to have disagreements. The other three royal families don't know what low-key means, and love to be in the limelight. It just so happens that the international crude oil price has remained high in recent years, making them the perfect targets for the spotlight!
In particular, the Saudi family's first appearance on the list with over 100 billion US dollars in assets is definitely able to attract everyone's attention and ignite the heat of the Economic Weekly.
As for the people at the helm of the really big conglomerates, such as the Rockefeller, Rothschild, Morgan, Mellon and Mitsubishi families, none of them appear on the list. Xia Yu and Yan Wenhan made it clear that these families are not to be exposed, unlike the Middle Eastern nouveau riche. If Xia Yu exposed them all, he would become a thorn in everyone's side!
The 'Global Rich List' can be used as a deterrent to expose a particular family at a special time, but there is no need to do so now! It would be even more foolish to expose them all!
However, on the list, Xia Yu saw himself, ranked 188th in the world with a net worth of 800 million US dollars!
Xia Yu looked at the list several times and realised that his net worth of 800 million US dollars was still ranked first in Hong Kong, slightly higher than Bao Yugang's 750 million US dollars in second place.
The reason for this low ranking is also because as the power of the various companies in the Jiuding consortium continued to expand, Xia Yu successively concealed his shareholdings. Although he still held the title of chairman of each company, his shareholding ratio was pitifully low.
Bao Yugang's worth was also deliberately concealed quite a bit, and Xia Yu did not intend to deceive Lao Bao.
This worth, the tycoons of Hong Kong, Macao and Southeast Asia would definitely not believe, but for the lower-middle class people, being able to fool the vast majority is enough!
The 'Global Rich List' mainly attracts the general public, while the 'World's 500 Largest Companies' attracts the elite. Having both is enough to fully cover the user base!
After confirming that everything was in order, Xia Yu walked into the back compartment and dialed Yan Wenhan's office number on his satellite phone.
The network of signals from his Jiuding consortium's three communications satellites was already sufficient to cover the whole world. For reasons of confidentiality, he had installed secret satellite phones in various companies around the world, just in case any of the world's intelligence organisations, especially the KGB and the old rogue state of the United States, tried to pry into his business.
'Doodle doodle...'
'Hello, Wenhan, it's me. I've read the list, and that's the way it should be... What about print run? How many copies does the Economic Weekly currently sell each week?'
'...'
'Two million four hundred and thirty thousand copies already... This time, print ten million copies worldwide. Put four million in the US market, three million in Europe, half a million each in South America and Oceania, and the remaining two million in Asia. To improve efficiency, send the final draft to each region and print it at a local printing house or one of our sister companies...'
'You keep track of global sales at all times. If they don't sell, you'll give them all away for free in the last two days. But I'll make sure all media companies cooperate fully. I estimate that with the group's media resources around the world promoting it together, sales should hit an amazing number. You need to allocate the group's global printing resources well, print and restock in time, and absolutely no mistakes should be made. Get Gavin Peter to arrange for the Guinness World Records certification team to certify it and set a world record for a second round of promotion...'
'Click!'
After talking to Yan Wenhan on the phone for more than ten minutes, Xia Yu hung up the phone, his mouth slightly raised, and a sense of anticipation arose in his heart.
His Economic Weekly was different from Forbes. The latter had a weekly circulation of more than 4 million when it first released the list of the richest people in the United States.
His media empire, however, is spread all over the world, and he can mobilise far more publicity resources than Forbes. So he is 90% sure that this issue of Economic Weekly will have the highest weekly sales in the world. As for whether it will reach 10 million copies, or even exceed 10 million copies, we'll just have to wait and see!
'Will it be released simultaneously worldwide on 1 February... There are still ten days to go, so it's almost time...'