American Scandal King

Chapter 244: Suppressing Stock Prices
That day, Ian and Murdoch talked for a long time.

No one knew what they talked about, and most people didn't even know they had met.

After leaving Murdoch's estate, Ian found a nearby hotel to stay in.

In the evening James Pelley came to see him again.

He spoke kindly and sincerely, expressing his deep regret for the incident.

Unfortunately, there is only attitude but no real benefits.

Good businessmen are like this. They may beg for peace with you in a servile manner, but they will never give you benefits easily - only poor people talk about dignity, because their dignity cannot be sold!
Ian also said with a smile: It’s okay, I don’t mind.

This made it seem like there was nothing between them, but everyone knew that the honeymoon period was over.

For a moment, James Pelley wanted to say: Why not give Channel 2 to Ian? There is no need to fall out with Ian over this.

But this was not his decision alone, it was the decision of the board of directors.

The board of directors was reluctant to let go, not only because of the money, but also because they knew that they could not further tie the fate of CBS to Ian Carr... Ian Carr did not promise to increase CBS's market value this year.

Under these factors, the conversation is "friendly but ineffective".

When he left, James Pelley was full of worries.

Of course, at this time, his concern was still whether Ian Carr had any black material of his own, and he hoped that he would not do that.

Anyway, it probably hasn't reached that stage yet.

It really hasn’t reached that point!
Ian has no intention of spreading negative information about James Pelley. The friendship between them still exists, and business matters will be resolved through commercial means this time. Spreading negative information about him is extreme.

But Ian's business methods today will also give James Perry a headache.

Standing at the hotel window, Ian watched James Perry leave.

He said calmly to the secretary behind him, "Sell those CBS shares that are at 8 points tomorrow."

........................

Two days later, early in the morning.

Ian woke up and picked up a copy of the Wall Street Journal.

The prominent headline above:

"Ian Carr sold 14.8 billion CBS shares. The cooperation between Carr Media and CBS may be in serious trouble due to the China documentary incident."

Ian snorted softly: "It's obviously my news."

It’s a pity that due to planning, this news cannot be released by myself.

Throwing the newspaper aside, he stood up and went to the wine cabinet, took out a bottle of wine and poured it out, then took some ice cubes from the ice bucket next to it and put them down.

A red-haired beauty in the bed opened her sleepy eyes and said, "Can you give me some, Mr. Karl?"

Ian looked back at her and handed her the glass: "What was your name? I'm sorry I can't remember your name."

The beauty sighed softly: "My name is Nali...you didn't ask."

Ian smiled slightly: "Sorry, I've been busy lately."

I met this beauty at the bar last night and we hooked up after just a few words.

The easier it comes, the less we cherish it.

The other party was not angry, she drank the wine in the glass in one gulp: "I'm leaving, I will miss you, Ian Karl, but I guess you won't miss me."

As she said this, she put on her clothes in a dashing manner. Just as she was about to leave, she looked back at Ian: "I'm not a prostitute, Ian Karl, but I still want some financial help."

Ian shrugged. "How much?"

The other party shook his head: "You sold CBS stock. Does this mean that it will continue to fall in the future?"

"Yes." Ian replied.

“How much do you think it will drop to?”

Ian smiled. "That's more than asking for money directly, but I can accept that... The impact won't be too big. I estimate a maximum drop of about 20%, but I don't recommend going that low. I'm not % sure about financial matters."

"Thank you. I won't tell anyone." The beauty walked out.

Ian casually said, "It doesn't matter if the short selling gets out. It will only make the effect better... provided you have enough influence."

The door opened and closed.

Ian walked to the window and silently fiddled with the camera, pointing it at the building opposite. This had become a habit for him and seemed like a part of his life.

In the afternoon, Ian received a call from James Pelley.

He knew Ian had sold those eight points of CBS shares, and he was terrified. On the phone, Ian's tone was heavy: "Ian, I understand how you feel, but you're creating panic for CBS. We can talk it over."

Ian said calmly, "Haven't we already talked about this?"

James Pelley said in a deep voice, "What's next? Will you sell the other 17% as well? If so, the board of directors has the right of first refusal, and you can't sell without permission. If you continue to release unfavorable news, your shares will continue to fall in value, resulting in greater losses!"

Those eight points are stocks on the market and can be sold freely, but these 17% are not, so they must be approved by the board of directors... This was part of their original agreement.
Ian smiled and said, "Then let the board of directors pass the resolution."

James Pelley was shocked.

Ian's shares correspond to 42.5% of the shares. He has no decision-making power, but Ian's tone implies that he does!
In other words, someone on the board supports him?

As long as shareholders holding 8.5% of the shares support it, he can sell it at will.

broken!

There's a mole!
Ankang Company? James Pelley thought immediately.

But their stake is not large, and even if combined with Ian Carr's, it does not reach 51% of the shares.

So there must be someone else!

James Pelley said anxiously, "Ian, even if you are dissatisfied with CBS, there is no need to go to this extent."

Ian said calmly: "It's not me. We are still friends. I won't do that, but it has nothing to do with me if others do it."

James Pelley felt a chill in his heart when he heard this: "Murdoch?"

Ian didn't say anything, just hung up the phone silently.

He sat on the sofa, as if in the shadows, motionless.

………………

Things are back to where they once were.

To short sell, you have to keep releasing all kinds of negative news and suppress the stock step by step.

Only this time the revelation did not come from Ian Carr, but from News Corporation.

CBS failed in its competition with LEE;

CBS loses Channel 4;

Popular CBS host Bernice Kraut leaves LANN.

WND President Jason French said the Today's Star column will not be moved to CBS and expressed his refusal to cooperate with Channel 2;

CBS President Dandy Frank met privately with the NBC chairman.

A series of unfavorable news appeared one after another.

Unlike previous reports that were all negative news, this time the news was not negative, and a considerable part of it was related to Ian.

For example, LEE was bought by Carr Media; Ian bought LANN from CBS for Channel 4; Bernice Kraut became famous because of the Oscar broadcast and joined LANN soon after.

Jason France of WND is a loyal fan of Ian Carr. He expressed his dissatisfaction with CBS's unauthorized changes to the documentary and openly confronted his boss. He would not agree to the transfer of assets of WND's star programs... He is ready to jump back to Carr Media with WND at any time.

Only the private meeting between President Dandy Frank and the chairman of NBC had nothing to do with Ian, but this news was indeed not made by Ian, but by News Corporation itself... Other people's reporters are also reporters, who wouldn't dig up some explosive news?
Most of this information is already public, but no one cares because they don't talk about it.

But when they appeared together, things that were once unexpected began to emerge, especially Ian Carr's selling, which made many people realize that CBS seemed to be in trouble and their stock price was inflated.

Although Ian Carr does not have the status of Warren Buffett as the stock god today, he has built a huge business in less than three years and is undoubtedly a business genius. His selling itself is the biggest blow to confidence.

Like Bernice Kraut's departure from LANN, it didn't have that much impact... She's not Tok Carlson and doesn't have that much influence, but aren't many things exaggerated?

As long as he is shameless enough, Ian Carr can be the eternal god of English music!
So in the mouths of News Corporation reporters, Bernice Kraut became the best host in the world, and giving up her would be CBS's biggest loss.

People who trade stocks don’t pay much attention to entertainment. It doesn’t matter whether you know the status of this woman or not. What matters is that this is what others tell you.

As the news continued to spread, CBS's stock price began to fall.

Not long after, a News Corp. reporter interviewed Ian Carr and asked him if he had given up on CBS. Ian replied righteously, "I have no comment on that."

So everyone understood.

After all, if you don’t want to give up, you can just say no… If you say you have no comment, then it must be true!
On the surface, nothing Ian did was intended to hit CBS. However, the existing events had nothing to do with the black material. The clever manipulation and publicity, coupled with Ian Carr's objective behavior, still caused CBS's stock price to fluctuate.

So CBS began to fall from its highest market value of 185 billion.

Although CBS has repeatedly issued statements trying to save the situation, they cannot get around the fact that Ian Carr sold his shares.

CBS was also anxious about this.

On this day, the anchor of CBS Channel 2 announced the news directly on TV:
"Ian Carr is suspected of collusion with Russia!"

(End of this chapter)