In Hong Kong, we build a global business empire

“The closure of three mainstream newspapers has undoubtedly brought great opportunities to us at Oriental Daily News.

Although our Oriental Daily has long been the sales champion in Hong Kong, we occasionally face challenges from other mainstream newspapers, such as Sing Tao Daily. The strength of their news team should not be underestimated. When they come across hot exclusive reports, their sales may even surpass ours.

Today, the absence of these three mainstream media outlets in the Hong Kong market has left a large market gap. This is good news for us at Oriental Daily and other mainstream newspapers.

Especially for us, Oriental Daily, as Hong Kong's number one newspaper, I am confident that we can grab the largest share of the market left by these three newspapers!" Cui Zilong continued.

This is also the reason why Cui Zilong seemed so excited when he made the phone call.

After years of development, Oriental Daily has already firmly established itself as the number one newspaper in terms of sales.

However, it is precisely because of this that they have encountered a bottleneck period in their development.

Unless a newspaper can obtain some shocking exclusive news, it will be difficult to increase its sales significantly.

But now, the three mainstream newspapers, Sing Tao Daily, Chinese Daily and Commercial Daily, have been banned, which has brought hope for Oriental Daily to break through the bottleneck and seek new growth points.

This bottleneck does not refer to the top sales position, because Oriental Daily has already occupied this throne.

What they really want to break through is daily sales.

Although newspaper sales can occasionally jump to 300,000 or 400,000 copies, on most ordinary days, daily sales only remain at around 100,000 copies, and occasionally even fall below 100,000 copies a day.

Now, with the abolition of these three media outlets, Oriental Daily is expected to achieve a significant increase in daily sales in the future, possibly breaking the 200,000 copy mark. In special periods, the highest daily sales may even reach 500,000 copies.

This is undoubtedly a huge improvement.

"By the way, do you have any new information about the current situation of Jardine Matheson?" Lin Haoran asked.

“Boss, based on the intelligence I have gathered, I know that Mr. MacLehose seems to be concerned about the forces behind Jardine Matheson, so no further action has been taken against the company.

But it is said that the government has decided to suspend all asset transactions of Jardine Matheson in Hong Kong to prevent them from transferring assets before the formal disposal of Jardine Matheson. Cui Zilong responded quickly.

"Okay, I get it. By the way, since Sing Tao Daily, Huaqiao Daily, and Gongshang Daily have now been forced to close by the Governor's Office, the large number of media elites under their control are now faced with the situation of making new choices.

These talents, whether they are senior editors, reporters or experienced marketing personnel, are rare and valuable resources in the newspaper industry. We, the Oriental Daily, should take positive action, formulate a talent introduction plan and extend an olive branch to them.

These people have rich experience and deep industry accumulation in their original newspapers. Their joining will not only enhance the overall strength of our team, but also bring new perspectives and creativity, injecting new vitality into our news reports. "Lin Haoran originally planned to hang up the phone, but suddenly thought of this matter.

"Boss, don't worry. I started taking action as early as after we received the announcement from the Governor's Office. Now the human resources department of Oriental Press has taken action. We have a big gap in talent due to the expansion of overseas markets. Now is a good opportunity!" Cui Zilong laughed.

"Well, if that's the case, then I'm relieved. If there's nothing else, I'll hang up first!" Lin Haoran responded.

"Okay, boss. I'll get busy now!"

After hanging up the phone, Lin Haoran lost interest in staying in the study.

The Governor's Office's actions this time were indeed beyond his expectations.

I didn't expect them to be so decisive and use such tough measures!
This is probably an unprecedented move during MacLehose's term of office.

It is true that some governors in the past may have acted more harshly than MacLehose, but MacLehose's political style has always been known to be close to the people. He is generally regarded by the Hong Kong citizens as one of the most outstanding and most beloved governors in history, and he has always acted in a relatively gentle manner.

However, this time, he skipped the investigation and trial procedures without even going through a judge and directly closed down three influential mainstream media outlets.

Such a move not only surprised Lin Haoran, but probably shocked the citizens of Hong Kong as a whole.

He went back to his room, changed into a suit, dressed simply, and went out.

"Let's go to Kangle Building!" Lin Haoran said directly after getting in the Rolls-Royce.

"Okay, boss!" Li Weidong started the car and quickly drove away from the Lin family villa.

Behind the Rolls-Royce, three small cars also followed out at the same time.

Ten minutes later, Lin Haoran arrived at the Kangle Building. He took the elevator and soon arrived at the 51st floor of the building.

In the general manager's office, Ma Shimin was on the phone.

Seeing Lin Haoran appear, he pointed at the microphone, indicated the call status, and then continued talking on the phone.

A few minutes later, Ma Shimin ended the call, stood up and said, "Boss, I just talked to the person in charge of a property in Crucian Bay. The person in charge told me that the property sales today are extremely hot.

Several buildings launched last month had only sold about half of their units before, but this morning all the remaining units were sold out, even some floors that were not very popular were sold out.

In the morning alone, our sales at this property exceeded HK$100 million.

The person in charge asked me if we should take the opportunity to promote the project and sell the buildings that are still in the project approval stage, with only blueprints and even the foundations not yet laid!"

"In that case, let's decide to launch more. Before the real estate crisis really comes, I predict that even if the property prices in Hong Kong rise, the increase will not be too large.

The sudden surge in the number of customers today is just because of the accumulation of the past few days. This situation will not last for many days. It is a miracle that there has been such a boom in the past two or three days. Why don’t we take this opportunity to sell off and recover more funds? "Lin Haoran said after a little thought.

As Hong Kong's leading real estate giant, the Hong Kong Land Group has a wide range of business operations, covering not only numerous commercial buildings, but also the development of villas and commercial housing projects.

Although the proportion of commercial housing projects is slightly less than that of commercial buildings, it is still an important part of the group.

In addition, last month, the Hong Kong Land Group cleared a number of real estate projects, most of which were commercial housing projects in cooperation with other real estate companies.

Therefore, the number of commercial housing projects currently under construction by the group is not too large.

The commercial housing development project in Crusoe Bay was a wholly-owned project of the Hong Kong Land Development Group and was already half completed. Many houses had been sold, so it was not sold at that time.

"In addition to the real estate project in Crusoe Bay, we have more than a dozen properties in Sheung Wan, Causeway Bay, North Point, To Kwa Wan, Ma Yau Tei and other places. The sales this morning were very good. I estimate that by the end of today, the funds we have recovered will exceed 500 million Hong Kong dollars, or even 700 million or 800 million Hong Kong dollars. This was unthinkable before!" Ma Shimin continued, with a sigh in his tone.

In the past, Hong Kong's real estate market was indeed hot, but it was already very good if their Hong Kong Land Group could earn HK$100 million in sales on the best day for its commercial housing projects.

But now, after experiencing a few days of real estate downturn, Hong Kong's real estate has actually turned around and brought such great benefits to the Swire Group.

As for commercial buildings, the Hong Kong Land Group basically builds them in the core areas of Hong Kong. Such locations will naturally not be sold but rented out, which is the long-term development.

Obviously, the Hong Kong Land Group is just one of the beneficiaries. Others such as Cheung Kong Holdings, Sun Hung Kai Properties, Carrian Holdings, New World Development, Hopewell Holdings, Hang Lung Properties, etc. have naturally also become beneficiaries.

While Lin Haoran and Ma Shimin were discussing today's real estate trends in the office, real estate tycoons across Hong Kong were also closely following the developments of their own properties.

Chen Songqing, Li Jiacheng, Guo Desheng, Zheng Yutong and others all expressed great joy and excitement about the sales performance of their own properties.

Especially Chen Songqing, as the real estate crisis eased, the burden in his heart seemed to be lightened a lot, and he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

In the past few days, Chen Songqing has been in a state of anxiety. He even put aside his dignity as a real estate tycoon and personally called Lin Haoran, begging him to take action to stop the spread of the real estate crisis.

However, as time passed, when he learned that all the major real estate projects under his company were showing hot sales in the morning, the once high-spirited and confident Chen Songqing returned again.

At this moment, he was standing in a high-rise office in the Carrian Building, overlooking the bustling street scene in the center of Hong Kong. His every move revealed a heroic aura of being able to command the world and make decisions. He was completely different from the anxious image of someone who was worried about whether the Carrian Group could survive the difficulties a few days ago.

While thinking, Chen Songqing couldn't help but feel deeply regretful for his previous temporary decision to give up participating in the official land auction.

He should have foreseen earlier that the Governor's Office would never sit idly by and allow the Hong Kong real estate crisis to spread.

After all, I was too cautious and lacked courage!

If it had not backed down at that time, the Jianing Group would have had the opportunity to win two or three pieces of land with great potential.

Thinking about how Lin Haoran successfully won a prime plot of land worth 5 or 6 billion Hong Kong dollars with only 3 billion Hong Kong dollars, Chen Songqing felt mixed emotions. He was jealous of Lin Haoran's good luck, but also envious of him for being able to seize such a good opportunity.

Why didn't such a great opportunity come to me? (End of this chapter)