American Gossip King

Chapter 280 I Want Lockheed Martin Shares

2003, April 5.

On this day, news that shocked the world arrived.

Saddam Hussein has been arrested!

Lieutenant General Jay Garner publicly declared that under his leadership, U.S. soldiers had long been aware of Saddam's movements. They had eavesdropped on all of Saddam's operational plans and made targeted combat deployments, further precisely striking Saddam's army and finally closing in at the last moment.

At the same time, Lieutenant General Jay Garner publicly stated: "Thank you for Mr. Ian Carr's help."

This is necessary because if Ian Karl releases information about Saddam, the public will inevitably know that Ian Karl is with Saddam. However, Ian Karl will explain that all of this was agreed upon with the Ghanaian Lieutenant General, and that it was under the guidance of the wise and powerful Lieutenant General, who made advance preparations in advance. He himself is just a loyal soldier of the United States and the Lieutenant General!

Good!

The news sent shockwaves around the world once again.

So, after disappearing for two months, Ian Karl actually went to Iraq and went into exile with Saddam?

After the news broke, CBS was the biggest beneficiary.

CBS stock price surges!

The reason for this was that neither News Corporation nor Carl Media were publicly listed at the time. CBS was the only publicly listed news company under the two major corporations, and the old man even released the best news through CBS.

This is why Murdoch was willing to give the Oscars and Super Bowl broadcasting rights to LANN... Not counting the news value, the revenue from the increase in stock price alone far exceeded the signing fees for the two broadcasting rights... This is equivalent to Ian's news fee; sharing big news also requires payment, right?

Next, News Corp and Carr Media’s various platforms began broadcasting Ian Carr’s trip to Iraq.

This is a news story that's been going on for two months straight!

Episode 1: Ian Karl arrives at the airport to observe refugees from various regions. Episode 2: Ian Karl meets with Saddam Hussein. Episode 3: Ian Karl's life before the war. Episode 4: Ian Karl participates in Saddam's resistance strategies. Episode 5...

Anyway, there are nearly fifty days, so there's plenty of content to work on.

Even this wasn't enough for Ian, because the news only needed to show a portion of the story, but a lot of details were not suitable for broadcast.

So after Ian sent a lot of content to Carl Media, someone started to fully edit the content and make a documentary called "The Days with Saddam".

Of course, we won't release it now. Instead, we'll release all the news first, and then broadcast the documentary. It's like selling the same content twice, but the key is that the audience buys it!

After all, there are still many details to consider!

For example, Saddam Hussein treated his subordinates brutally during his time on the run.

The news only mentions it briefly, but the documentary is much more detailed.

In order to maximize profits, the documentary was not a single episode, but was shamelessly divided into fifteen episodes.

To put it another way, the first month was filled with news reports about Saddam Hussein, and the second month was filled with documentaries!

Originally, the news of Saddam Hussein's capture was just a hot topic for a few days, but now, thanks to Ian's actions, it has become a comprehensive exposé, full of hot topics, inside stories, and news, and it's still going strong!

The news was exclusively broadcast by the two major media groups, while the documentary was exclusively streamed by LANN, in order to quickly increase LANN's user base and reach an agreement.

In this situation, the global media was filled with lamentations.

These two companies got all the good news!

These past two months have been the golden age for News Corporation and Carl Media!

For Ian, there are still many opportunities to take advantage of this!

………………

May 24, the presidential residence in Baghdad.

"Cheers!" Ian smiled and clinked glasses with Lieutenant General Jay Garner and Chief Executive Paul Bremer.

They each took their seats.

Lieutenant General Jay Garner laughed, "I've seen it, it's absolutely fantastic. You know what my favorite part is?"

Ian laughed, "Uday and Saddam indiscriminately slaughtered innocent people!"

Lieutenant General Jay Garner laughed heartily. If he understood Chinese, he would surely have said, "Ian Karl understands me best."

The US military intervention this time bypassed the United Nations and lacked a legitimate justification.

Ian Carl's collection of evidence of Saddam's atrocities greatly benefited the United States.

The more brutal Saddam Hussein was, the more international public opinion supported the United States.

Although Americans are used to being unreasonable, their unreasonableness is still based on the pretense that "we are very reasonable".

So what's wrong with being able to look prettier through disguise?

Ian shook his head: "I'm still considering whether to release this part."

Jay Garner was taken aback, but Paul Bremer understood what he meant and laughed, "Ian, don't do that, we've already given you enough."

Ian shook his head: "That's two different things, Paul. Those things were traded for Saddam's wealth and a portion of the Baghdad news. The news about Saddam wasn't part of the original negotiation terms. I had the right to choose the news!"

Paul Bremer looked at him speechlessly.

He wanted to say, "I know you won't stop this news," but he knew even better what Ian Carl's tastes were like.

He said, "We can't give you any more oil fields."

Ian shook his head and said, "It's not an oil field."

"What is that?" Jay Garner finally understood.

You just want to increase your demands and get more benefits.

But whether it's Uday or Saddam, they're both headline news stories, and Ian Karl can't afford to let them go, so Jay Garner isn't planning to make him too many promises.

The latest novel is first published here!

Ian stated directly, "I want to buy shares in Lockheed Martin."

What?

The two were stunned.

Lockheed Martin is the world’s largest defense contractor, with countless cutting-edge technologies.

This is a publicly traded company, but as a defense company, it's not something you can control just by buying shares; it requires the cooperation of Lockheed Martin itself and even the White House.

Therefore, what Ian wants is not shares, but a seat on Lockheed Martin's board of directors. Purchases of more than 5% of shares must be disclosed, and Lockheed Martin can block or even retaliate if it does not accept the offer.

He wanted this because of Lockheed Martin's high technology.

It's not that Ian couldn't steal it, but for a company of this caliber, their technical data, including blueprints, are transported by the truckload.

You think you can just take a few remote-controlled cameras and photograph the blueprints?

That was really difficult!

Not to mention that the company is so big that if you try to sneak in and do something, you'll strain your eyes.

Therefore, it is necessary to have the authority to openly and legitimately enter Lockheed Martin's important facilities.

What could be more upright and honorable than being a board member?

Once he becomes a director and obtains a large amount of technological information, he can sell it to China.

That thing is really awesome!

He didn't need to reveal his ulterior motives; he simply smiled and said, "I don't need much, just a board seat is fine, at market price! You just need to help me persuade them."

Upon hearing this, Jay Garner breathed a sigh of relief.

Military industrial enterprises rely on military personnel for their livelihood, so when a high-ranking military official makes a request, that kind of face must be given.

He laughed and said, "That's not a big problem, but Lockheed Martin is a defense company, and as a member of the media, you can only..."

Ian raised his hand to stop him: "I just want to make money. I won't ask about anything I shouldn't. It's wartime now, and arms dealing is a great way to make money!"

I definitely won't participate; otherwise, if Lockheed Martin's core technologies leak out in the future, I can't be held responsible.

If you ask me anything later, I'll just say I'm a pure shareholder and I don't have any of those research secrets. Go find Chinese special agents!

Jay Garner laughed: "Then it'll be a pleasure working together!"

(End of this chapter)