Chapter 536 Reuters Group

On April 25, one month after the agreement was reached, SEM Group (Standard Entertainment Media Group) publicly announced that it had completed the acquisition of Times Newspapers, a subsidiary of News International Group.

At the same time, the Independent Newspaper Group, a subsidiary of SEM Group, will be renamed Standard Newspaper Group, and the newspapers it operates will add "The Times" and "The Sunday Times".

The Times was founded in 1785, which makes it 222 years old.

The Times has long been considered the most mainstream newspaper in Britain and is known as "the faithful recorder of British society."

The Times plays an important role in British domestic politics and international relations.

However, after being acquired by Murdoch, many people believe that the style of The Times has gradually become more conservative.

After the Times was merged into the Standard Newspaper Group, its CEO Ibai Gomez said that the Times would continue to uphold its mission of "reporting facts independently and objectively" and "reporting history in the making." purpose……

This also marks that the Standard Newspaper Group will own the second of the four major newspapers in the UK, "The Times", "The Guardian", "The Independent" and "The Daily Telegraph".

In fact, in addition to Sky TV's previous concessions on Premier League broadcast rights and the sale of The Times Newspaper Company to SEM Group, Barron's previous "friendship" with Murdoch also included SEM Group's price of 650 million pounds. , acquired the shares of Reuters Group held by News Corporation.

News Corporation currently owns 10% of Reuters Group's shares, but Barron's acquisition of Reuters Group's shares this time is not "taking advantage of the situation", but can indeed be regarded as something that Lang Youqing's concubine intended.

To purchase 10% of the shares of Reuters Group for 650 million pounds, SEM Group also paid a premium - the current market value of Reuters Group is around 6 billion pounds.

When Murdoch first served as a director of Reuters Group, News Corporation once held more than 23% of Reuters Group shares.

However, Murdoch was eventually forced to reduce his stake in Reuters Group from 23% to less than 15%, and now only has 10% of the shares - because Reuters Founders AG was worried about his influence on Reuters Group Launch a hostile takeover.

Here we need to briefly introduce Reuters Founders AG, which was established after the listing of Reuters Group in 1984. Its main purpose is to defend the fairness and independence of Reuters news services.

The board members of Reuters Founders AG are called trustees, and the trustees can force any investor to reduce their holdings after they hold more than 15% of the shares in Reuters, a listed company.

They can also call for a special shareholder meeting to block any investors' attempts to gain control of the company.

It is like forcing Murdoch to reduce his shareholding in Reuters Group to less than 15%. This is the only time that Reuters Founders AG has exercised this "golden equity" so far.

It was also Murdoch who realized that he could not convince the trustees of Reuters Group's founders that his acquisition of the company would not affect the neutrality and impartiality of its reporting, so he finally decided to continue to reduce his holdings. Some Reuters Group shares.

In fact, the 10% of Reuters Group shares he now holds cannot bring him much effect.

Because during Murdoch's tenure as a director, Reuters Group's board meetings were always very "active."

Murdoch needs to face too many doubts.

In addition, although Murdoch has not made a public announcement, Barron knows that News Corporation has now become interested in Dow Jones, which owns many media companies including the Wall Street Journal, and is preparing to acquire it.

Therefore, by selling shares of Reuters Group at this time, Murdoch can not only get rid of this tasteless and useless waste, but also obtain part of the funds to use it to acquire Dow Jones.

While buying 10% of Reuters Group's shares from News Corporation, SEM Group also began to increase its holdings of Reuters Group's shares in the stock market.

In the end, they set their shareholding ratio in Reuters Group at the 15% limit allowed by Reuters Founders AG for a single individual or institution.

If possible, Barron naturally hopes that SEM Group can acquire Reuters Group, but before that, he needs to face the obstacle of Reuters Founders AG and obtain the other party's approval before he can complete the acquisition.

…

"How are you doing, Cather."

After the overwhelming news in the media about Prince William and Cather's breakup subsided, Barron arranged to meet with Cather at a villa in the suburbs of England.

"Of course I'm fine. If not, would you still see me?"

It can be heard that although Kaiser is still smiling, there is still some emotion in his words.

"The reason why I'm meeting you now is because I don't want to make things more complicated when all the reporters' eyes are on you..."

Barron spread his hands and said:

"If there's anything I can do to help, I'm more than happy to do it. After all, I regard you as friends."

"friend?"

Kaiser said with a bit of self-deprecation:

"I have broken up with William. How can I be qualified to be your friend, His Highness the Duke of Devonshire? I would also like to thank you for the job you gave me before. I am afraid it was also because of William..."

Although what Kaiser said was true, Barron would not be so straightforward.

He looked into Cather's eyes and said sincerely:

"Of course not. Even if you are no longer William's girlfriend, I will still not change my attitude, because that is simply not necessary for me..."

"Or is it because we've slept together?"

"Uh...Cather, I almost forgot about that."

After Barron said these words, Cather's eyes dropped slightly and fell on the table. She said lightly:

"That's right. I'm a little pretentious. If a woman who has had a relationship with you needs to be taken care of... that's simply impossible."

"Kather..."

Feeling that her topic had strayed a little, Barron looked at Cather again and said:

"I know that you have always wanted to be a princess, or even a queen..."

"Yes, everyone said that, including the media. After we broke up, they started to ridicule me, saying that my dream of being a princess was over. I need to keep cheering up to face them..."

Speaking of this, Kaiser became a little excited:

"It's the same breakup. I can't show any frustration, let alone do anything wrong, but what about him? He can even go to the bar to drink and have fun without caring..."

Barron has also seen media reports on what Kate said...

Contrary to Kate's deliberate efforts to maintain a perfect image in front of the media, William didn't seem to care about other people's opinions after the breakup.

According to news in the newspaper, on the night of the two's breakup, William drank and had fun with friends at the famous Mahiki Bar.

In one report, the amount he spent at that time was even found out - 4,700 pounds.

In addition, the reporter interviewed the bartender at the bar, who claimed to have heard William say:

"I'm really happy, I want to have a good time!"

When William walked out of the bar, he was so drunk that even his pants were stained with alcohol.

An onlooker at the time commented:

"He doesn't look like a prince at all, he looks like a young Londoner out for fun."