American Gossip King

Chapter 37 Betting Against Clients

There is a gym not far from the Pioneer Daily office.

The environment was somewhat basic, but at least the facilities were complete.

Today, in the center of the gym, Ian is exchanging punches with his fitness instructor on the boxing ring.

The fitness coach only defended and didn't attack, but no matter how Ian tried, he couldn't break through the opponent's defense.

"Well done, great job! Keep it up!" The coach professionally encouraged Ian as he threw punches wildly, boosting his confidence.

Sweat dripped continuously from Ian's forehead, and everything went black before his eyes.

He stopped, waved his arm, and said, "Take a break, Jayce, I can't go on."

The coach was full of fighting spirit: "A man can't say no."

Ian shook his head: "I don't need to prove myself with words."

He stepped off the boxing ring, went to a tea table nearby, and casually picked up a newspaper to read.

The newspaper headline read "Alec Brierley meets with lover," followed by a large photograph.

Ian chuckled softly.

This is exactly the kind of material he sent Bill to get his hands on.

"Your news?" the coach leaned closer and said, "You always manage to break good news."

"Not exactly good news," Ian said casually.

During this period, Ian did not find any major scoops, but he found quite a few medium-sized scoops, especially those related to the private lives of some Hollywood stars.

Although the material wasn't huge, a media company needs more than just big news.

Ordinary news is the key to supporting daily sales and represents the lower limit of a company's performance.

Just like writing a book, it is certainly necessary to have exciting and thrilling moments, but it would be too much to ask for every chapter to be like that, so there is always a need for some relatively calm content.

For a company, the quality of ordinary news indicates its lower limit, while sensational news indicates its upper limit.

So after the Charlie Mills kidnapping of a celebrity, the Blazer child molestation case, the Lili Marta crazy party incident, the Danny Koskerry dismemberment case, and the Garrick burning torch incident, the Herald published more relatively ordinary news—ordinary in Ian's eyes, but sensational news that caused widespread lament among his colleagues.

This has resulted in the First Report's performance, while not skyrocketing, steadily improving: it has now reached an average daily sales volume of 20,000.

That's the minimum sales volume of 20,000, not the peak sales volume.

Peak sales were 200,000 copies, driven by the Garrick Torch case!

Self-immolation itself is explosive, but interviewing self-immolators on-site is an even bigger explosion!

While reading the newspaper, Ian asked, "Tell me, Jayce, what would happen if you went all out against me? To be honest, I wouldn't be angry."

The boxing coach laughed, "I can let you hit me a hundred times, and you won't be able to land a single effective attack on me, while I can knock you down with just one punch."

"How do you compare to professional standards?"

Jayce shook his head: "I'm not qualified to compare myself to professional boxers. The real difference is this: I could stand here without fighting back, and you couldn't even hit my head. Meanwhile, a decent amateur boxer could easily beat a professional, even with just footwork. A professional boxer would face the same fate against a top professional… That's the difference, sir. There's a huge gap between professional and amateur! Have you seen Muhammad Ali's fights? His butterfly footwork could easily toy with a top professional! It makes you truly understand what it means to be so close yet so far!"

Ian nodded: "I like your honesty. So I should practice my shooting more; no matter how good your dodging is, it can't outrun the speed of a gun."

Coach Jayce was taken aback: "You said you wouldn't punish me."

"I did not punish you."

"But this is the punishment; you won't buy my lessons anymore!" The coach was frustrated.

Ian laughed heartily and patted the other person on the shoulder: "Don't worry, I'll keep buying."

Just then, the door opened.

Lloyd walked in from outside.

Seeing his boss sitting in the lounge area next to him, sweating profusely, drinking a beverage and reading a newspaper, he no longer felt the slightest bit dissatisfied.

He strode over to Ian and whispered, "We've already finalized deals with twelve publishers, and this month's GG fee has reached 500,000!"

The Los Angeles Herald was originally a state-level newspaper, but this state-level status was just a facade. Poor sales meant that although they had many distribution partners, actual cooperation was almost completely interrupted.

However, with the improvement in the quality of the news from the Herald newspaper during this period, the previously broken cooperation has been restored, and it is gradually returning to being a true state-level regional newspaper.

The suffering of others is the media's feast!

The burning torch incident marked a milestone for the Los Angeles Herald!

Ian's expression remained calm.

He sipped his juice, continued reading the newspaper, and said casually, "It's almost the end of the year, Ron. The big sales promotion for the annual and quarterly magazines is coming up soon. I have an idea..."

"What?"

"I want you to contact all the channels and tell them that the Los Angeles Herald makes a promise to all its customers. Next year, the Los Angeles Herald will broadcast more big scoops, at least five national hot news stories, all exclusive! Now is the cheapest time to subscribe to our magazine. If we can't deliver, we'll give you a full refund."

Lloyd was stunned: "Are you kidding me, boss?"

Ian laughed, "No, I'm serious. It's like a bet, except I'm betting against all the clients!"

Lloyd's mouth dropped open in astonishment.

The latest novel is first published here!

He knew about betting, but betting against a client was something he'd never heard of before.

Normally, this would be an impossible task.

But Ian was confident.

He waved his hand and said, "With this bet in place, my requirement is at least 150,000 magazine subscriptions. Do you know what that means? We can get a lot of Google Ads with that sales! Not only that, you also need to use this to convince our Google Ads clients. At least five exclusive, top-tier national hot topics—that's enough to make them willing to pay even higher Google Ads fees! Of course, I also promise a full refund if I don't meet these targets!"

He then looked at the fitness instructor and asked, "Jayce, what do you think of this idea? Would you buy my newspaper because of it?"

The boxing coach was also dumbfounded.

Is this how business can be done?

Isn't that a bit too crazy?

He stared blankly for a while, then finally shook his head: "I don't think it's a good idea, but... yes, I'll buy your newspaper because of it!"

Ian laughed: "Then at least the promotion was a success."

Lloyd said, "But if you fail, you'll go bankrupt!"

Ian smiled.

He got up and went to the window to look at the streets of Los Angeles.

It's November, and the weather is getting colder.

A winter wind blows, bringing a slight chill, and frost has already formed on the streets.

On November 7, the US presidential election voting was completed.

Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore and Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush are about to engage in a 36-day legal battle over the Florida vote counting issue that will determine the outcome of the election.

The news temporarily overshadowed Ian Carl's news, and although the outcome was already known, Ian couldn't use it for anything.

With the cheat code and the experience of living two lives, I'll eventually reach that point, won't I?

Compared to that, what are these things now?

Although it's taboo to engage in betting in business, for someone like me who's got the best skills, not engaging in betting would be foolish!

So he smiled and said, "Then let's just go bankrupt."

Lloyd looked at Ian helplessly.

The boy has grown up, but he's also become even more reckless.

In that instant, he suddenly understood.

Given Ian's current style, he'll either become a shooting star, quickly streaking across the sky and disappearing without a trace;

Either grow into a towering tree, blocking out all the light...

I'd love to try it with you.

The old man smiled and nodded: "Then I'll go crazy with you."