American Gossip King

Chapter 88 The First Step in International Cooperation

After completing negotiations with the three men, Ian did not immediately force them to surrender. Instead, he set about further publicity to build up the hype to its peak.

Shortly after, the Los Angeles Herald and WND News broke another bombshell story.

Under Mr. Ian Carr's "guidance of justice," the three robbers from Palos Bank turned themselves in.

Ian has once again become a hot topic.

After all, not every big boss has the courage to carry a camera and chase after a robber, and even find the robber and persuade him to turn himself in—that's doing the work of a policeman.

The comments from various places turned into a sea of ​​joy as a result.

"I think Ian Carl should become a policeman; he's much better at chasing and finding criminals than any policeman."

"I think he should become a negotiation expert, after all, negotiation experts can't get criminals to surrender."

"That's because he's rich; he essentially bribed the robbers."

"I think Ian Carr's approach is wrong; it's tantamount to encouraging people to commit crimes."

"Come on, buddy, do you think crime needs encouragement? Give me your address, and I'll rob you right now."

"Go rob Ian Carl; he welcomes being kidnapped."

Suddenly, news about Ian was everywhere, and everyone was laughing and having a good time.

Countless men sought pleasure with Ian.

The only regret is that this surrender incident was not classified as violent news, but rather as economic news, which prevented Ian's right eye points from increasing. Instead, his left eye's copying ability and hypnotic power increased.

It doesn't matter, anyway, the US has no shortage of violent incidents.

Just as Ian had predicted, the surrender of the three bank robbers and the serialization of their autobiographies caused the Los Angeles Herald's sales to surge.

To boost sales, Ian Carr announced: "Due to the increased size of the Los Angeles Herald, we will expand our coverage in the third quarter and raise prices. The second quarter will be the last chance to maintain our current prices."

As soon as this news came out, the sales of the first quarterly publication of the newspaper surged, from an average of 500,000 copies per day to about 650,000 copies per day.

This is, of course, also because Ian is about to fulfill his bet—having already covered four hot topics in a single quarter, no one doubts how many more juicy scoops he'll unleash. Why wait for the price to go up if you don't buy now while it's cheap?

The Los Angeles Times was in an even worse state, with many realizing that a change of ownership was inevitable.

It's worth noting that the Times and the Pioneer Daily had an agreement not to lower the price. Who would have thought that at this critical juncture, the Pioneer Daily would not only refuse to lower the price but would instead announce a price increase, which would actually further stimulate the magazine's sales?

To this end, the Acton family desperately tried to contact the Dubong Group, hoping they would agree to allow the Acton family to buy sensational news from other companies at high prices.

The Dubong Group's answer was simple: How much news do you need to buy to suppress Ian Carl?

In the bet, Ian Carl's Herald only needs to win once!

Today he releases a hit product, and you buy a bunch of heavyweights to bet on it. Tomorrow he releases another hit product, and you do the same thing?

If he produces ten viral articles, you'll have to buy at least a hundred heavyweight news items. How much money will you lose?

In the end, they might not be able to suppress it.

The key is that other competitors wouldn't sell it to you like that...

They might sell you a portion for short-term profit, but they can't sell you all of their heavyweights. So, would they still want to run the business?

This left the Acton family in despair.

April 1st.

Abbreviation

But what no one expected was that the next day, the Los Angeles Herald published a bombshell news story:

Senator Inez Kiza ****!

The evidence is conclusive, and there is no suspicion involved!

This news caused an uproar.

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The president's office of Carl Media Group.

Ian is meeting a special guest.

Hua Ziruo sat in his office, shaking hands with Ian with a broad smile: "Thank you so much this time, Mr. Carl."

"You're welcome, Counselor Hua. Actually, I've always liked China," Ian replied in fluent Mandarin.

At that moment, Ian gestured for Hua Ziruo to sit down and poured him a drink: "The media should be impartial, but sometimes we are also constrained by the will of the state and make some selective and biased reports. I personally hate this. As journalists, what we should do is not to participate, but to observe and record fairly and impartially."

Hua Ziruo really liked Ian's answer: "If only every American media outlet had your level of understanding... Your Mandarin is fantastic."

This is a heartfelt agreement.

Every foreigner who wants to do business with Chinese people says they like China, but very few can speak fluent Mandarin.

Ian demonstrated his inclination through his actions!

The two chatted for a while, and Hua Ziruo asked, "By the way, what are your thoughts on China's development?"

Ian said seriously, "I am very optimistic about China's development. In fact, I believe that China can achieve rapid development in the next twenty years, and even surpass the United States in some aspects, and I personally welcome this."

Hua Ziruo was taken aback.

Abbreviation

Even the most confident Chinese wouldn't dare say they'll surpass the US in twenty years—we're still in the era of the Southern Media Group.

Ian Carl, isn't your flattery a little too shameless?

He looked at Ian in shock: "If other Americans viewed China this way, they would more likely demand that your government suppress it with all its might. So I don't know whether to call it lucky or unlucky."

Ian laughed: "Do you know what the biggest problem is for Americans? It's that they don't have the same strong sense of national identity as China. America is a hybrid monster; it has its own advantages and can be inclusive, but it hasn't digested and handled its various internal problems well, so its future is destined to be fragmented. I'm American, but that's not important. What's important is that I'm also a businessman. I don't need to worry about America's future; I only need to be responsible for my own... At worst, I'll change my nationality. You'll welcome me, right?"

The latest novel is first published here!

This is very business-like, the typical tone of a ruthless businessman, even less humane than international arms dealers!

But Hua Ziruo liked this answer: "Of course! Since you're so confident, why not invest in China?"

Ian laughed: "Of course I'd like to, in fact, I've always intended to. It's just that I've been too busy, and there are still many procedures to go through for the investment in China..."

Hua Ziruo immediately said, "We can help you."

Being able to cultivate good relations with the American media is something China has always dreamed of.

Only by making Americans stop viewing China as a barbaric and backward country and reducing anti-China propaganda can China's image be improved—and an improved image can further reduce the risk of the United States going to war with China.

The reason why Chinese people go to great lengths to win the Olympic Games is essentially to showcase their best side, create a better image, and improve international perception of themselves.

The people can accept their country being an enemy of a barbaric and backward nation, but they will not accept their country being an enemy of a nation with an ancient civilization, enlightenment, and strength... It has nothing to do with conscience, but rather that it would mean enormous casualties and costs.

That's exactly what Ian was waiting to hear.

He nodded: "That's great! I've been researching China lately and have found a few good companies. It seems there's a pretty good game company in Shanghai..."

After chatting with Hua Ziruo for an afternoon, the two sides quickly reached an agreement.

Ian's media group will soon establish a branch of Carl Media in China, cooperating with China, and will report on news about China as fairly and neutrally as possible, even if there is negative news (negative news is inevitable in any country), Carl Media Group can choose not to report it.

Meanwhile, China will do its utmost to provide Ian with all kinds of convenience for his news work and investments in China—news has the highest priority, and so does investment.

China currently welcomes investment, but there are various regulations and basic procedures in place. However, they will now provide Ian with the fastest and most convenient treatment, including tax and land incentives.

In fact, if possible, Ian could even obtain better loans from China, but that would make the cooperation too obvious and give competitors a clear target. With the support of Linuo Bank, there would be no need for that.

Furthermore, the investments in China at this stage don't require much money at all—Shanda Legend hadn't even launched yet, and the entire company wasn't even worth half a million US dollars. Tencent's Jack Ma was also in a difficult situation with a large number of customers, a shortage of funds, and no clear direction for profitability. Buying them all wouldn't cost much, not to mention that Ian was just making an investment.

He won't buy them all, since they still need to be managed with care. Buying them all would reduce their enthusiasm. Shanda once conducted a study and confirmed that 18% is the optimal investment ratio, but this is a comprehensive consideration.

As for Ian, if we remove the investment risk issue, he can increase it to 49%, and maintaining this level is enough. Therefore, Ian has signed priority investment agreements. Even if there is additional investment later, Ian will be given priority to ensure that the equity is not diluted.

Furthermore, there are differences between listed and unlisted companies.

Unlisted companies need to leave enough equity for founders as an incentive, so it is not suitable to buy too much.

For listed companies, you don't have that many shares to begin with, so buying more shares on the stock market isn't a big problem, so the more the better.

In short, the investment ratio can vary depending on the time, the person, and the situation.

Thus, an initial international cooperation was achieved.

(End of this chapter)