Chapter 1209: Core TV Station in Hand

'Yes, Chairman, please command!'

Yan Wenhan leaned slightly forward, in a listening position, his gaze focused on Xia Yu.

Xia Yu immediately commanded, 'The first thing is to create the island's sixth largest newspaper giant, and the name will be Zenniho Broadcasting Co., Ltd.'

'The biggest local news agency is the Chunichi Shimbun, which controls 43.5% of the shares, but that's not enough.'

'I need you to acquire all the nearly 300 local newspapers that you have already invested in or acquired, even if you can't control 100% of them, you must at least gain absolute control.'

'In addition, continue to acquire some local newspapers, and then integrate the assets of these newspapers to establish a parent company. Each local newspaper will be allocated 65% of the parent company's equity according to the size of its assets, and the remaining 35% of the equity and the equity of the local newspapers will be dealt with properly.'

'The Zennik Press Store will also be merged into Zennik Broadcasting, and the number of stores will continue to be expanded to create a good home delivery distribution network, striving to cover every town and village on the island!'

'Most importantly, create the island's sixth national newspaper, and call it the 'Zhenri News'!'

'In order to break the monopoly of the five major national newspapers such as the 'Yomiuri Shimbun' and 'Asahi Shimbun', you can let Zhenri Broadcasting integrate all resources to create it with all your strength. While ensuring the high quality of the newspaper, you don't need to care about the company's losses. Arrange for all newspaper deliverymen from the Zhenri Newspaper Store to deliver the 'Zhenri News' free of charge to all households covered by the store for a period of one year!'

'Remember, there is no need to make a big fuss about promoting the 'All Day News', and there is no need to announce sales figures. I don't care about losses, what I need is to increase influence as quickly as possible, understand?'

Yan Wenhan looked grave, deeply appreciating Xia Yu's determination. He nodded emphatically and responded loudly, 'Chairman, I understand what to do, so please rest assured!'

He was well aware of the current sales of the Yomiuri Shimbun, which was currently the number one newspaper in the country. The daily circulation of the morning edition was around 9.2 million, and the evening edition around 4.5 million.

Together, the morning and evening editions had a daily circulation of over 13 million, the highest in the world!

If the chairman's request to create the 'All Day News' was to be distributed at a daily rate of 15 million free copies, and if each newspaper was currently sold for 30 yen, then 450 million yen worth of newspapers would have to be distributed that day.

If this were to be distributed every day for a year, it would be worth more than 160 billion yen!

Of course, if the entire industry chain, including printing and distribution, were to be done in-house, and if the entire industry chain could forego profits and only calculate costs,

then the loss could be reduced by half to around 80 billion yen. If this were converted to Hong Kong dollars at the exchange rate, it would be more than 2 billion Hong Kong dollars!

This amount of money exceeds the value of the Yomiuri Shimbun and Asahi Shimbun, and it is more than enough to buy a single national newspaper.

But the problem is that even if you have the money, you still can't buy it!

The six major consortia in the island country simply don't lack this kind of money, so how could they possibly sell their respective mouthpieces' core flagship newspapers? Without their core flagship newspapers, the power of the media giants would be halved.

It is precisely because it is impossible to achieve, and taking the initiative to make an acquisition offer would alert the enemy, that Xia Yu simply decided to spend his own money to create a Zennichi Shimbun that he could completely control.

He would give the newspaper away for free to users for one year, and one year would be enough for users to develop a dependency and reading habit.

After a year, assuming that half of the 15 million daily circulation can be converted, it will be enough to completely establish the foothold of 'All Day News' and rank above the 'Sankei Shimbun' and 'Nihon Keizai Shimbun' which are at the bottom of the rankings.

By then, with the support of the following huge local newspapers, All Day News will definitely become the sixth largest newspaper tycoon in the island!

Seeing that Yan Wenhan had listened, Xia Yu nodded with satisfaction and continued with the second matter.

'The second thing is to create the island's sixth private television news network!'

As soon as these words came out, Yan Wenhan's brows jumped wildly, and he felt the pressure coming at him.

He had looked into the situation of private television news networks on the island, so he knew the difficulties involved.

At the very least, a private television news network needs a core television station, and at present, he was not confident enough to get the core television station of one of the five television news networks.

He knows that his side owns 10% of NTV, which belongs to the Yomiuri Shimbun Group, but he has also looked into the ownership structure of NTV.

In addition to the 10% owned by his side, Global TV, the management of NTV holds 11.3%, the Island Nation Industrial Bank holds 6.3%, and the Island Nation Sun God Bank holds 5%.

The remaining 66.9% of the shares are all in the hands of the parent company, Yomiuri Shimbun Group!

This shareholding ratio has already exceeded the absolute control line, so even if our side acquires all the shares the day before tomorrow, there will be no room for manoeuvre.

Xia Yu could see Yan Wenhan's difficulty.

He said with a faint smile, 'Wenhan, do you feel it's very difficult?'

Yan Wenhan gave a wry smile and said honestly, 'Yes, Chairman, it's very difficult.'

'We can set up a TV network by joining local TV stations. After all, we already own the equity of 13 local TV stations. We can find a way to increase our equity and invest in a few more TV stations to meet the requirements for setting up a TV news network.'

'Even if we use these 13 local TV stations as the foundation, the TV news network we create will be stronger than the TXN TV news network and won't be at the bottom.'

'But the key is to have a core television station, which is the core of content production. Currently, the powerful television stations within the Tokyo area are in the hands of the five major media giants, and it is too difficult to acquire them.'

'If we were to rebuild one, it would also be very difficult, and I really don't know much about the television field, so someone more professional would need to take charge.'

It was rare to see Yan Wenhan have so many reasons, and Xia Yu knew that he really didn't have much of a grasp, otherwise he wouldn't have been so helpless.

Fortunately, Xia Yu had already considered this and had a clever solution.

With a casual smile, he said, 'Wenhan, you don't need to worry about Core TV. I plan to acquire NTV, a TV station owned by the Yomiuri Shimbun Group.'

'The Yomiuri Shimbun Group's TV business and its control of the NNN TV news network are driven by two core businesses. Apart from NTV, it also has Yomiuri TV, which it was founded on. So for the Yomiuri Shimbun Group, NTV is not a non-negotiable item!'

'There are difficulties with the acquisition, but I will handle it.'

'Your main task is to acquire control of local TV stations.'

'By the way, among these local TV stations, you need to pick one that is located in a big city such as Osaka or Nagoya, that is creative and produces its own programmes, and support it as a key target. At that time, our news network will also be driven by a dual core.'

Hearing Xia Yu say this, Yan Wenhan's pressure disappeared by a large margin. Although the other tasks were equally difficult, he at least thought that they could be completed.

'Chairman, I will do as you command,'

Yan Wenhan said respectfully.

'Mm!'

'Two requirements: one is concealment, and the other is efficiency.'

'You don't need to come out directly, just arrange for the right islander to come forward. You control the situation behind the scenes, and the shareholding needs to be handled properly to ensure that from any perspective, it is a local company in the island country.'

'In addition, the general election for the House of Representatives in the island country is at the end of the year, and I need the power of the media. You just need to understand the importance and speed up efficiency.'

'Okay, don't worry! I guarantee that I will complete the task!'

Yan Wenhan nodded emphatically and made a promise.

...

In fact, Xia Yu did have some confidence in the acquisition of NTV.

The parent company of NTV, Yomiuri Shimbun Group, is backed by the Sanwa consortium and the Dai-Ichi Kangyo consortium. Previously, Sanwa Bank also held a separate 10% stake in NTV, and Kazuya Fukuhara, the deputy manager of Sanwa Bank, could make the decision to sell it to Xia Yu.

As for NNN TV News Network, when it was established in April 1966, it had eighteen TV stations as members. After more than ten years of development, there are currently twenty-seven TV stations as members, ranking first in terms of scale.

Of these 27 stations, only NTV and Yomiuri TV are directly controlled by the Yomiuri Shimbun Group, while the other stations only hold a minority stake of less than one-third of the shares.

NNN is just an organisation, and without controlling all the stations, the Yomiuri Shimbun Group only has leadership over NNN, but it does not mean that all the affiliated stations of the entire NNN need to follow its advice.

This is because many affiliates do not only join one alliance.

For example, Fukui Broadcasting Television in Fukui Prefecture has joined not only NNN, but also ANN.

Moreover, in order to enrich their programmes, many TV stations will also purchase programmes from the core TV stations of other TV news networks, although the price will be a bit higher if they are not allies.

Therefore, to put it bluntly, the so-called five major TV news networks are actually five alliances with interests as the core. As long as the interests are in place, dissolution is possible.

To give a direct example, if Xia Yu were able to acquire all but two of the 25 television stations that make up NNN, he could dissolve the alliance by having all 25 stations withdraw.

The main reason the Yomiuri Shimbun Group does not acquire a controlling stake in these television stations is that it is too costly. The consortium behind it cannot afford to waste so much money on this. After all, a controlling stake is not essential to the Yomiuri Shimbun Group, so there is no need to waste money.

However, for Xia Yu, who is not short of money and has a deeper level of strategy, and who always focuses on stability, he does not need a loose alliance. What he wants is a television news network that can carry out his orders at critical moments!

However, in order to increase the success rate of the acquisition of NTV and to hide himself, Xia Yu does not intend to let Jiuding Securities come forward.

Nomura Securities will still be in the lead!

And there is another company – Chiba Bank!

As one of the major banks in the island country, Chiba Bank, currently ranked 42nd in the island country's banking industry, is perfectly qualified to acquire NTV and will not arouse suspicion.

According to the division of labour, Chiba Bank will acquire 6.3% of the shares held by Industrial Bank of Japan and 5.5% of the shares held by Taiyo Kobe Bank.

Nomura Securities, the core company of the Sanwa consortium, came forward to acquire the 66.9% stake held by the Yomiuri Shimbun Group.

As Nomura Securities, there was absolutely no resistance from the Sanwa consortium. Given the current close relationship between the Sanwa consortium and the Dai-Ichi Kangyo consortium, as long as Dai-Ichi Kangyo is willing to pay a sufficient price, it is likely to let go as well!

The Sanwa Consortium and the Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank Consortium would never have imagined that Nomura Securities was already in the Cao camp but still thinking of the Han camp, and was now digging up the Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank Consortium's feet with all its might!

Things were more or less as Xia Yu had predicted.

Before the acquisition, Junpei Hinata first communicated with the president of the Sansui Association and obtained the support of the Sanwa Consortium.

After all, the Yomiuri Shimbun Group was only jointly controlled by the Sanwa Consortium and the Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank Consortium, and it was not always so handy to use.

If Nomura Securities could acquire NTV, it would mean that in addition to the Yomiuri Shimbun Group, the Sanwa consortium would have another mouthpiece that would be easier to use. Its influence may not be as great as the Yomiuri Shimbun Group, but it is better than nothing, isn't it?

After obtaining the support of the Sanwa consortium, Nomura Securities asked the Sansui Club chairman to act as a go-between and hosted a banquet for the Sanjin Club chairman and the president of the Yomiuri Shimbun Group in Hakone, Kanagawa, the hot spring town and health resort of the island country.

The four of them played golf at the Hakone En Golf Course during the day and soaked in the hot springs at night, enjoying the luxurious services.

In the end, faced with the extremely sincere and extremely high takeover price of 100 billion yen offered by Junpei Hinata, the president of the Yomiuri Shimbun Group and the chairman of the Sankin Kai both agreed.

The next day, Nomura Securities formally signed an agreement with the Yomiuri Shimbun Group, and the 100 billion yen was fully cashed out the same day.

In order to minimise the impact, Nomura Securities and the Yomiuri Shimbun Group did not deliberately hold a press conference.

Nomura Securities' progress went smoothly, and Chiba Bank also encountered no resistance.

The island nation's Industrial Bank and the Sun Kobe Bank held equity in NTV, and did not intend to make a strategic investment.

Their goal was simply to preserve the value of their capital. Therefore, in the face of Chiba Bank's high premium, the island nation's Industrial Bank and the Sun Kobe Bank all readily agreed.

Chiba Bank spent a total of 16.2 billion yen to buy a combined 11.8% of the two banks' equity.

The premium for the acquisition was much lower than that of Nomura Securities' acquisition.

However, considering the large number of shares Nomura Securities acquired and the added bonus of absolute control, this was actually quite normal.

After the acquisition was completed, Xia Yu effectively controlled 88.7% of NTV's shares, with the remaining 11.3% in the hands of NTV's management.

Xia Yu let go of this stake, as it would not affect his control anyway. The management had a sense of belonging and worked more actively with a small stake. If there were any disobedient executives, with absolute control, they could easily be sanctioned.