American Gossip King

Chapter 171 Taking You to Do Journalism

In the office, Ian listened to his secretary's report with his eyes closed.

"Gantnet Group rejected your offer, believing that without your 70% stake in the Los Angeles Times plus the Los Angeles Herald, it wouldn't be worth $20 billion, but they are open to cross-shareholding."

"The Dublin Group is dissatisfied with the Los Angeles Times' development, believing that you have not fulfilled your previous promises."

"Xhosa Presses said they would not agree to sell the press to you unless you agreed not to do the same things as the Xingkelun Daily."

"The CBS board approved the sale of Channel 4 to Carl Media, but expressed dissatisfaction with your price, believing it could have been worth more. They also stated that you have shown too much favoritism towards LANN, and that CBS is also your child, your eldest son..."

Listening to this series of reports, Ian chuckled: "The problem is, CBS isn't my biological child, LANN is."

Ian is currently focusing all his efforts on developing LANN, since it is Carl Media's own television news network.

Therefore, he targeted CBS and bought some of CBS's assets.

Of course, it was much better than what the Xingkelun Daily did, after all, he wasn't the chairman of CBS and couldn't make decisions unilaterally.

Even so, the CBS board members were still somewhat dissatisfied.

After a moment's thought, Ian said, "Tell them that I will increase CBS's market value to no less than $180 billion this year. CBS can still expand externally; I'm just taking a small slice of the pie for my own contribution. Besides, Carl Media will start raising funds sooner or later, and they can all join then, including merging LANN with CBS, no problem."

Secretary Ida replied, "Can I speak my mind?"

Ian looked at her: "What?"

Ida said, "I don't think they'll believe this empty promise."

Ian laughed heartily: "They just need to believe that CBS's market value can rise to $180 billion."

Then he stood up and said, "Tell the Gannet Group that the price will not change, but all newspapers under the Gannet Group can share in all reports from Ian Carl and Butterfly. As for the shares, I will only accept 15%. At the same time, we will not assume the debts incurred by the Gannet Group as a result."

Despite being the largest newspaper group in the United States, Gannett Corporation is not actually that big. It has shrunk over time, and its market value is only about $7 million, or about $16 billion now.

In other words, the value of Ian's two newspapers now exceeds that of the Gannet Group, making the Gannet Group no longer the largest newspaper group—not surprising, given that the Herald and the Times are now the two newspapers with the highest circulation in the United States.

However, this doesn't mean they can't afford it.

Can you lend me money?

I don't mind being swallowed up by you snakes.

Ian was determined to give up the newspaper business. His desire for Gannett's 15% stake was merely to retain influence in the newspaper industry, not to profit from it. In that case, there was no point in asking for more.

According to Ian, the two newspapers were effectively sold for $14.6 billion, with Ian himself acquiring a 15% stake in Gannett. Gannett Group could then reclaim its position as the First Newspaper Group, which would benefit their share price.

That should be fine.

No matter how much you shrink afterward, I won't lose much money.

With Ian's exclusive news coverage, Gannett's market capitalization decline should slow down considerably.

But Gannett Group isn't stupid either.

The First Newspaper's billion-dollar value is supported by its profits rather than its own assets. Ironically, these profits are closely related to Ian himself, resulting in non-systematic business success. Gannett, on the other hand, is different. They are truly successful through systematic business operations, not relying on any one person. Therefore, although Gannett's profitability is average, it has been able to maintain its position as the First Newspaper Group.

The situation with the newspaper means that once the newspaper changes hands, profits will drop significantly.

This is also Ian's biggest weakness at present, and it is also the reason why Ian keeps acquiring companies in the same industry... I don't need to be good at system building, I can just buy those that are good at it and add my own advantages.

Date hurriedly jotted down: "Is there anything else?"

Ian thought for a moment and said, "Tell the Dubon Group that if they're willing, they can sell their Times shares to Gannett as well. I'll share Gannett's shares with them. Isn't controlling a newspaper group more valuable than controlling a newspaper? Besides, I can give them GG's bundled deals on major news stories as a reward for their past support!"

In this way, they would lose less money, but their influence would not be small, because the Dubang Group would inevitably have to hand over their shares to Ian for holding on their behalf.

When the newspaper industry as a whole is in decline, maintaining the status quo is Ian’s greatest contribution. In this way, Ian can control the mouthpiece of the newspaper industry at the lowest cost, while also appeasing the dissatisfaction of the Dubong Group.

"Yes, boss." Secretary Ida smiled at Ian. "You're getting more and more of a genius."

She left gracefully.

Every secretary wants to seduce me, do you think it's easy for me?

Ian sighed.

Then he picked up the phone:

"Scarlett, I miss you... Are you filming? Okay, then next time."

"Kate, I miss you... Okay, next time then."

"Jessica... okay, next time then."

"Helen... Barbara... Clecie... Shauna... Amanda... Nicole... Why are you all so busy?"

After a series of phone calls, Ian suddenly realized that his darlings were all busy with work, and the only one who was free, Lena, was pregnant. Suddenly, he had nowhere to vent his frustration.

As for Catherine, she was the one who always reached out to him; Ian had no intention of contacting her first.

Why don't you go find Olivia?

"Forget it, I'll just get back to work." After thinking it over, Ian finally decided to give up.

I contacted her recently, and I'm a little tired of her.

I walked out of the office and left Trump Tower.

The sun is shining brightly today.

In the warm spring season, when flowers are in bloom, the bustling streets are teeming with pedestrians.

Ian leisurely arrived at the parking lot in front of the building. As soon as he got into his car, he saw a beautiful woman standing at the main entrance of the building.

Ivanka Trump!

She was dressed in red, her long legs slightly visible, and stood at the main entrance, looking around.

Her exquisite figure and stunningly beautiful face were incredibly alluring, attracting the covetous eyes of many men along the way.

Ian's heart stirred slightly, and he drove to the entrance of the building.

The latest novel is first published here!

He called out to Ivanka, "Hey, beautiful, don't tell me you're waiting for a taxi."

Upon seeing Ian, Ivanka smiled: "No, I've been waiting for you."

Ian was stunned: "What did you say?"

Ivanka casually tossed her long hair: "Your secretary told me you left, and my father asked me to talk to you about the GG business... The Trump Organization is planning to establish some business cooperation with Carl Media."

"Sounds pretty good," Ian chuckled, opening the car door. "Get in."

Ivanka got into the car quite naturally: "Where to now?"

Her long, beautiful legs were naturally displayed before Ian's eyes.

Ian's heart skipped a beat.

Without using X-ray vision, Ian drove away.

He casually remarked, "Would you be interested in doing news gathering with me? We can discuss business while we do...news."

Ivanka's eyes lit up slightly.

She turned her beautiful face to look at Ian, her eyes filled with hope: "Any clues?"

Ian shook his head slightly: "I don't need any clues, my eyes are the clues."

The Lamborghini cruised along the Los Angeles Boulevard, speeding through the long street.

With a strong wind blowing, Ian drove with Ivanka along the way.

Ivanka looked at Ian, while Ian's gaze swept across the streets and alleys.

His eyes seemed to possess a magical power, deeply captivating Ivanka.

She asked softly, "Where do you plan to sit with me?"

Ian didn't even turn his head: "You think I'm joking? I'm serious. I'm working, looking for news."

Ivanka laughed: "You won't find any good news this way."

"That's not necessarily true." Ian looked into the distance and suddenly said, "There's some good news up ahead. How about it? Interested?"

Ivanka stared ahead in astonishment.

In the distance, skyscrapers stand tall and traffic flows, but there's nowhere suitable for a news story.

She looked at Ian in surprise: "Are you sure?"

Ian had already parked his car near a hotel.

He pulled Ivanka out of the car: "Let's go, let's get a room first."

Ivanka exclaimed in surprise, "Are you sure? Ian Carl, this doesn't sound like news!"

Ian smiled slightly at Ivanka: "What are you worried about? That I'll rape you after we book a room, and then use that for the news?"

Ivanka gently twisted her perfect waist.

Bright and beautiful under the sunlight.

She laughed and said, "That would be a really big scoop."

(End of this chapter)