Rebirth of England

Nowadays, competition among British local newspapers has become increasingly fierce.

Because in addition to competing with those national newspapers, the four British "United Kingdoms" of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland each have regional newspapers, and the counties under them, and the ones below In every region, there are many local newspapers with smaller distribution areas.

The competition between these newspapers is very fierce, and with the rise of the Internet, news websites have impacted them. It can be said that some local newspapers can only survive by relying on news with local characteristics.

By 2008, after the subprime mortgage crisis, more than 70% of local newspapers in the UK would go bankrupt.

According to Barron's understanding, the Bute family is currently mainly based in Scotland, but they also had mining companies in Wales before, so most of the local newspapers they own are from these two places.

In addition to these local newspapers in which they own most of the shares, the Bute family also owns more than 20% of the shares of the very influential "The Scotsman" in Scotland. Therefore, as those tabloids continue to lose money, they want to get rid of some It’s very normal to have baggage.

The newspapers that Viscount Bute wanted to sell this time included the Courier and the Daily Record in Scotland and the Welsh Register in Wales.

These three newspapers are all local newspapers, and their profits have continued to decline in the past few years, especially since the year before last, they have already suffered losses. Last year, the three newspapers caused a total loss of more than 3.5 million pounds.

Under such circumstances, especially since the Bute family still holds a very high proportion of shares in a national newspaper like The Scotsman, even if these three newspapers are sold, they will still be able to influence The Scotsman. , as well as two other Scottish regional newspapers that are doing reasonably well.

As for the sale price, it is not high. The three newspapers together only cost 2 million pounds, but they still need to bear the accompanying debt of about 3.5 million pounds.

Barron agreed directly - although when he purchased the Independent Newspaper, he only paid a symbolic price of 1 pound, but at that time the Independent Newspaper still had debts of more than 15 million pounds, and based on their business conditions at the time The situation is likely to increase losses by millions of pounds every year.

Therefore, in comparison, it is appropriate to be able to win these three local newspapers at the current price.

What Barron values ​​more is the local influence of these newspapers. They already have some regular readers.

Especially newspapers in Scotland - next May, the Scottish Parliament elections will begin. At that time, Melvin Coy, the founder of the former "Imperial Shield" military company, will run for election as a member of the Scottish Parliament. Barron will give him his support, and at that time two of the three Scottish newspapers he has now bought will be able to make a difference.

As for the current losses of these three newspapers?

After buying these newspapers, Barron planned to convert one of the Scottish newspapers and the Welsh newspaper into free newspapers.

Free newspapers can greatly increase the length of their advertising content, and news sources can be obtained directly from independent newspapers. They only need to retain a few reporters and editors and maintain local news columns.

Moreover, the circulation of free newspapers will be greatly increased compared to paid newspapers.

With this two-pronged approach, it is not difficult to turn these three newspapers from losses to profits. Even in the worst case, if there will still be a certain loss, compared with the influence these newspapers can bring in the two regions of Scotland and Wales It's something Barron can bear.

And with these "public opinion tools" in hand, it will be more convenient for Barron to win over politicians in Scotland and Wales.

…

"You said there is news about Lady Emma?"

After returning to the villa in Kensington, Barron met Nigel Inkster who had arrived.

After hearing Barron's words, Nigel's expression was a little strange, and he said:

"Yes, Your Highness the Duke, but that Lady Emma...she is already dead."

"died?"

Barron was really surprised:

"When did this happen?"

"Just a week ago..."

Nigel handed a piece of information to Barron, then pointed to one of the hospital cases and death certificates, and said:

"Ms. Emma Evans was diagnosed with cancer a year ago, and it was terminal. She spent most of her time in a manor in the south of France. In addition, we are investigating Mrs. Emma At that time, I happened to contact her lawyer. According to the will she left behind, the only heir to her inheritance designated by Ms. Emma is you, the Duke."

"I?"

If Barron was surprised by Lady Emma's sudden death just now, now, after hearing Nigel's words, he even suspected that he was hallucinating...

"Yes, according to the information sent by Mrs. Emma's lawyer, which is the one below, Mrs. Emma's inheritance includes 1.5% of the shares of the British Northern Gas Company, a manor and two properties in England. One of the properties is in London, and there is also a manor in France, with a total value of more than 60 million pounds!"

After listening to Nigel's words, Barron flipped through the information.

Nigel also confirmed and marked some of the above information, which can be said to be fully prepared.

Lady Emma married Baron Eden Evans twenty years ago, and the Baron fell ill and died in the sixth year of their marriage. They had no children.

Lady Emma did not remarry after that, so until her death a week ago, she could be said to be alone.

But Barron could never imagine why the other party would leave these inheritances to himself.

If he didn't know clearly that his predecessor was the child of the old Duke and his married wife, Barron couldn't help but wonder whether he was the son of his cheap father and this Lady Emma. child.

Because after hearing the name Lady Emma, ​​Barron went back to Chatsworth Manor to find some letters left by the old Duke and check them out. He actually found a lot of letters signed by Emma. The font is also clearly written by a woman...

Although there are no explicit words in the letter, many of the contents give people the feeling that the relationship between the two is not ordinary.

This is understandable. After all, the old Duke has been widowed for many years, and the Cavendish family has excellent genes. This can also be seen from Barron's handsome appearance, so the old Duke is really It can be said that he has a certain attraction to women, and given the general piss...er, personality of British aristocrats, it is considered normal to have a lover of some kind.

I’m afraid it’s not normal to not have it…

After all, in Barron's heart, the old Duke, a cheap dad, really doesn't have a deep bond with him, so he can look at these things calmly without any embarrassment.

From the annotations on this document, we can see that most of Mrs. Emma's inheritance came from her deceased husband.