Hong Kong 1980: The Savage Era

Chapter 521 523 [Power over Asia TV]

Asia Television conference room.

The 90s was the best period for the development of television broadcasting in Hong Kong. Originally, Asia Television and TVB divided the broadcasting market in Hong Kong. Now the Li Ka-shing family has established Satellite Broadcasting Co., Ltd. and the Wharf Group has established Wharf Cable Television Co., Ltd., and there is a trend of the market being divided into four parts.

As rumored by the outside world, Asia Television seems to be making money, but in fact it pays no dividends every year, while TVB's annual profit is as high as hundreds of millions of Hong Kong dollars and its dividends exceed 100 million.

In recent years, Asia Television has been poaching talents and creating TV dramas and variety shows on a large scale. It seems to be on par with TVB, but in fact, it has invested a lot and is still unable to make ends meet.

New World Development's investments have not been good in recent years and it has significantly reduced its shareholdings. Now, Lin Baixin and his son also have the idea of ​​transferring their shares because the Lin family wants to invest in other industries.

Unlike their previous lives, Lin Baixin and his son were very ambitious and acquired a lot of properties outside. They changed their usual habits and planned to become real estate tycoons.

"Mr. Lin, are you really planning to sell 25% of the company's shares? The company's current development situation is good, and perhaps it will soon defeat TVB." Luo Qihong smiled slightly. Although he did not have a good relationship with Lin Baixin and his son, he still wanted to remind them.

Lin Baixin shook his head and said, "We are not withdrawing from the company, we are just reducing our equity and returning the decision-making power to you, Luo Sheng."

"Everyone should have heard that the Li & Fung Group's moves in the market are really due to some cash flow difficulties. They have no choice but to do so."

"Since Mr. Lin has made the decision, I will take over. 10 billion is 10 billion, no bargaining." Luo Qihong said with a smile.

"After the deal is done, Ah Hong will be the company's largest shareholder, and it's time for the board of directors and management to make some moves." He Sheng on the side glanced at Luo Qihong and said.

This person was good friends with Cheng Yu-tung, so he also followed suit and called him Luo Qihong. Luo Qihong didn't mind, after all, he was young.

"Mr. He is right. Mr. Luo should be elected chairman of the board and general manager of the company. My father and I will step back and serve as ordinary directors." Lin Baixin didn't mind. This was a foregone conclusion and there was no need to struggle.

Lin Jianyue echoed, but he was dissatisfied in his heart. He wanted to see how Luo Qihong would rescue Asia Television. That might be Luo's Waterloo.

"Then thank you Mr. Lin and Mr. Xiao Lin." Luo Qihong clasped his fists to express his gratitude.

"Ah Hong, the current situation is not good. What do you plan to do?" Cheng Yutong asked to ease the atmosphere.

Luo Qihong thought for a moment and responded, "The company's current difficulties are the large production volume, high costs, and high salaries for artists, which severely restrict the company's development. Although the advertising fee was increased earlier, it has little effect."

"So now there is only one way to go, which is to improve the quality of production, reduce the number of new programs and reduce costs."

The production department of the TV station has always been controlled by Luo Qihong. He is very familiar with this part and has already had a specific plan, but he is unwilling to put a lot of effort into reorganizing it. After all, he was not the one who was in charge of the company at that time.

"How confident are you?" Cheng Yutong continued to ask, asking on behalf of all the directors.

"It's half and half. The situation is more serious now. Dragon TV is in the hands of Murdoch, and Wu Guangzheng wants to make achievements." Luo Qihong explained briefly.

Dragon TV was originally owned by the Li Jiacheng family. In July last year, they sold 7% of their shares to Australian communications tycoon Rupert Murdoch for HK$30 billion. Murdoch's News Corporation has a complete set of capabilities to produce large-scale dramas and can also provide programs to the TV station in a timely manner at low prices, and is coming on strong.

Lin Jianyue wanted to say something but was stopped by Lin Baixin. Zheng Jiachun on the side also noticed something was wrong but didn't say anything. After all, he and Lin Jianyue still had some friendship.

Luo Qihong took over the entire Asia Television and did not plan to make large-scale personnel changes. Although Lin Baixin and Lin Jianyue's confidants were all over the TV station, those people were capable after all. After the meeting, Luo Qihong summoned Zhou Liang Shuyi in his office.

"We just passed the board of directors meeting. I am now the acting chairman and general manager. Please report to me some specific information about the company, mainly the difficulties the company is facing and how to make shareholders profitable."

Zhou Liang Shuyi pondered for a moment, and she suddenly felt that her position was stable again. Luo Qihong had always supported her to spend a lot of money to compete with TVB, which was very different from Lin Baixin and his son.

"Since the establishment of Satellite Broadcasting and Wharf Cable, our advertising fees have been declining. We may suffer losses this year. However, TVB is not doing well either. Its profits will also decrease. I estimate that they will decrease by at least 3%." Chow said, "Our profits will be in trouble this year. I have no way to turn the situation around for the time being."

"What if I want to cut expenses? Can I start with the salaries?" Luo Qihong stated his purpose.

Zhou Liang Shuyi's eyes widened. "Mr. Luo, this is absolutely not possible. Those artists are the foundation of our TV station. Without them, it would be difficult for the TV station to compete with TVB."

"President Liang, our current competitors are not just TVB, but also Satellite Broadcasting and Wharf Cable. We don't have to cut salaries, but we must find a way to reduce costs, otherwise it will be difficult for me to explain to the board of directors." Luo Qihong said with a gloomy face.

He has no intention of turning off the "tap" of Suk Yip Chow, but he must stop some "useless" programs and TV dramas to increase the ratio of profit to expenditure.

"Then we can only use the production funds on key programs, stop new programs and TV series, and increase the number of reruns of previous TV series and programs." Zhou Liang Suk-yee still has ideas, but her obsession with defeating TVB is too strong.

Luo Qihong nodded and said, "Give me the list of new programs and TV series and I will screen them."

Luo Qihong did not adopt all of Zhou Liang Shuyi's suggestions, but only adopted and improved them selectively, and at the same time proposed new ways to make profits.

In fact, he wanted to remind Zhou Liang Shuyi not to be so extravagant, and that the current way of confrontation needed to be changed.

Luo Qihong is very confident that he can make the company a profitable company second only to TVB. The company will distribute its profits as dividends next year. Although the amount will not be too much, it proves his ability.

mid-December.

Luo Qihong flew to Singapore. The acquisition of F&N Group has entered a new stage, and he must stay in Singapore to make some decisions.

"Mr. Luo, I discovered something when the market was absorbing stocks. There should be another party that is acquiring the shares of F&N Group just like us. It is very likely that it is acquiring F&N Group." Zhang Wenhe reported.

Glancing at the rather nervous Zhang Wenhe, Luo Qihong thought for a moment and said, "Have you found out which company it is?"

Zhang Wenhe shook his head. "It's unclear at the moment. The other party hired a professional securities company and absorbed the stocks in multiple accounts. It's difficult to find out the true identity of the person behind the scenes."

"Forget it. It's useless to spend a lot of effort to find out who the other party is. The acquisition of F&L Group cannot fail." Luo Qihong said in a deep voice, "Start screening the shareholders of F&L Group and prepare to acquire the shares held by suitable shareholders. At the same time, do not relax the plan to absorb stocks from the market."

"Yes! I'll arrange it right away." Zhang Wenhe hesitated for a moment and said, "In fact, with a little effort, we can determine who attacked the F&L Group through the capital transfer of those companies. I already have a few suspects."

Luo Qihong took the list handed over by Zhang Wenhe suspiciously, browsed through it, and immediately became interested in these companies.

“These are all large local companies in Singapore, right? Why can’t they be foreign-funded consortiums?”

(End of this chapter)