Chapter 339 TVB TV Station Acquired

"Mr. Yang, that's Li Xiaohe over there. The Li family owns a large number of street-side shops in Causeway Bay, and even many streets belong to them."

Qin Zhiye pointed to a man in his early 50s in front of him on the left and introduced him, "I once chatted with Mr. Zheng. In Causeway Bay, the Lee family is the real king of land. Even Hongdi can't compare with them."

Yang Wendong nodded and said, "After all, they were once one of the four major families in Hong Kong. It's normal for them to have some background."

Speaking of the four major families in Hong Kong, many people will think of the four super conglomerates headed by Li Jiacheng; however, in the 20s, Hong Kong also had four major Chinese families, namely the Chow Wing Tai family, the Ho Kai Tung family, the Li Pui Choi family, and finally the Li Hiu Sun family.

After the war, the four major families basically kept a low profile. This was also because the founders of the families were old or dead, and the second and third generations could only maintain the status quo and could no longer exert the strength of the founders.

Li Mingze and Li Ho-wo are the current heads of the Li family. Relying on the wealth of their ancestors, they own a large number of high-quality properties in Causeway Bay, a large soft drink factory, and serve as directors of British American Tobacco Co., Ltd., Cathay Pacific Airways, and Shanghai Commercial Bank, etc.

"Over there," Qin Zhiye went on to introduce the other people.
There are both giants among Chinese companies and some large overseas media companies.

At this time, Li Xiaohe came over and said with a smile: "Mr. Yang, I have heard of your great name for a long time."

Yang Wendong nodded and said, "I have heard of the Li family's name a long time ago."

How could you not have heard of it? The King of Opium!
There are too many businesses in this world. Even if it is collecting excrement, Yang Wendong would not look down on it. As long as he can make money, it is fine. But some things are intolerable.

However, Lee Hiu-shen was later murdered in the street, which was justice.

Li Xiaohe then said, "Mr. Yang, can we discuss this? How about giving me the TV station license? I can ask my eldest brother to cooperate with your company on the property? I guarantee you won't lose money."

"Lisheng, you are joking. There are still many consortiums competing for this license." Yang Wendong said, "Have you said this to them all?"

Li Xiaohe shook his head and said, "That's not the case. I'm not worried about the other five conglomerates because they want the TV station for economic benefits. But I observe that Mr. Yang is like me and doesn't just consider economics.

So the auction later will most likely be a fight between you and me. Instead of giving the Hong Kong government a bargain, how about we cooperate?"

"Since Lisheng also said whether I am doing this for economic benefits, how could I agree to such a deal with you?" Yang Wendong asked back.

Li Xiaohe paused and said, "How about this, let's cooperate. After we get the TV station, I can ask you to invest in it. How about that?"

"I don't care about shares either. What I want is management rights." Yang Wendong said with a faint smile: "Can you give me that too?"

"This..." Li Xiaohe frowned: "Mr. Yang, is there nothing to discuss?"

Yang Wendong said: "Let's just look at the auction."

"Okay." Li Xiaohe also realized that he couldn't convince Yang Wendong, so he didn't force it.

Soon the bidding officially began, but the first stage was not a direct auction of prices. Instead, some leaders of the Hong Kong government sat down openly with people from the seven consortiums to negotiate the future operating model of the TV station.

For the Hong Kong government, how much money this TV station license can make is a small matter. What is more important is that before the auction, it needs to reach an agreement with multiple bidders on many details.

If the bidding consortium agrees, then they can continue to participate; if they disagree, then they can withdraw; of course, many things can also be negotiated.

Everyone discussed together for more than two hours, including various legal restrictions, requirements for authenticity of advertising content, freedom of press interviews, intellectual property protection, government image maintenance, social responsibility obligations, etc.
This has angered many overseas financial groups, who believe it is "unfree". Even a British media company has strong opinions.

Just like that, after all the quarrels, in the end, Japanese and American capital withdrew, and only five companies were left. These five companies also agreed to the Hong Kong government's requirements, and some non-core bottom line details could be negotiated later.

At noon, everyone had a simple lunch and rested for an hour. At 2 pm, the auction officially began.

The starting price is HK$260 million.

Yang Wendong was not in a hurry to join in, but looked at everyone one by one, busy raising the price one by one.

Until the price reached HK$410 million, only Li Ka-shing and the British Independent Television were still competing. In the end, the British TV station also fell silent.

"420 million." Yang Wendong raised his hand.

This is not a real estate auction, so there are not so many requirements and no placards. There are only a few companies in total, and everyone can just raise their hands to make a bid. As long as the bid is not less than an increase of 10 each time, it will be fine.

Li Xiaohe frowned slightly and raised his hand and said, "430 million."

"450 million." Yang Wendong raised the stakes. Sometimes doing so can save money in an auction. Li Xiaohe paused for a moment and continued to raise his hand: "460 million."

"480 million." Yang Wendong continued, without any expression.

Li Xiaohe frowned and was about to increase the stakes when someone next to him stopped him and whispered, "Second brother, the eldest brother has a limit on the funds. If you increase the stakes, you will probably offend Yang Wendong completely, which will be very disadvantageous to our Li family. There is no need to offend such a new Chinese upstart."

"But I don't want to give up this TV station." Li Ka-shing also said in a low voice.

"But our Li family's financial resources may not be better than the Yang family's." The person next to him continued, "If we continue to fight, you won't get the TV station, and you will make enemies for your family. This is not good for us. Yang Wendong is obviously determined to get the TV station."

"But." Li Ka-shing was still unwilling.

The person next to him said, "Since there is a second TV station, there may be a third one in a few years. According to the Hong Kong government, Rediffusion Television cannot bid for the new TV station this time. If Yang Wendong gets this TV station, he will definitely not be able to participate in the next one. Why don't you wait a little longer? There is no benefit in forcing competition now."

“.Okay.” Even though he was unwilling, Li Xiaohe had no choice.

Moreover, in this kind of auction, he does not have enough time to consider. He has to make a decision in just one minute, either go for it or give up.

He knew which option was better: to continue fighting and finally lose as much as possible to the family and make enemies, or to wait for a few years.

Seeing that Li Ho-wo seemed to have given up, the person in charge of the Hong Kong government's auction on the stage asked again without any result, and then officially dropped the gavel: "480 million, deal, the license of Hong Kong TVB has been obtained by Changxing Media Company again."

"Pa pa pa~~~" Many people below applauded.

Several people also came over to congratulate Yang Wendong and Qin Zhiye, and the two responded politely.

Li Haohe led his men and left without looking back. When he got outside, he sighed and said, "I don't know when the Hong Kong government will issue a license next time."

The person next to him said, "I've said long ago that Yang Wendong would definitely not give up the TV station. His industrial layout clearly requires TV stations. You insisted on not believing it and came to compete with him, and ended up making him pay at least hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong dollars more."

"It's just a few hundred thousand Hong Kong dollars, which is a drop in the bucket for Yang Wendong." Li Xiaohe said indifferently: "He can't be so heartless as to make enemies with us because of such a small amount of money. In real estate auctions, it is normal to spend a few million more due to competition."

"But if you had continued just now, you might have offended him." The person next to him reminded.

"Let's go back." Li Ka-shing said, "I can't get a TV station license in Hong Kong. I have to find a way to try in Southeast Asia."

"Do you like working in television so much?"

"Yes, I want a TV station."

After dealing with their business counterparts, Qin Zhiye and Yang Wendong met with Hong Kong government officials to discuss follow-up cooperation. Funds will also be transferred to the Hong Kong government in batches.

After the two of them got off the bus, Yang Wendong said, "According to the previous plan, we will immediately purchase signal equipment from the United States, and the construction of the signal tower will also begin immediately. I want to build a TV station within a year."

Originally, TVB's bidding ended in 1965, and it was not officially launched until 1967, which took two years.

No one knows the specific reason for the low efficiency, but it is most likely related to funding and investment.

Because under normal circumstances, you must first obtain a license, then go around the world to find the corresponding manufacturer, find a suitable signal transmission location, purchase various equipment required for the signal tower, etc.;

Because these inquiries also require a lot of funds, if you make preparations in advance but still fail to get the license, you will lose a lot of money.

But Yang Wendong was determined to obtain the TVB license, and hoped to start broadcasting as soon as possible after obtaining it, so he did a good investigation in advance and just waited for the successful bidding for the license to place orders directly with various companies.

Qin Zhiye agreed and said, "Okay, according to the plan, the equipment from the United States will arrive the latest, and it will take about 8 months. I have already selected the location of the signal tower, and I will negotiate with the Hong Kong government in a few days to get it. I have also placed an order for the materials for the signal tower in Taiwan, and they will be delivered in two months. Then I will arrange for people to build the tower first."

"Okay." Yang Wendong nodded, and then said, "After the American equipment arrives, it will take some time to debug, right?"

"Yes." Qin Zhiye replied, "It needs debugging, and we need to go to many places in Hong Kong to actually test the signal strength. The expert from the United States has already come and he said there should be no problem, but we still need to test it before we start broadcasting;

Even if some problems cannot be corrected in the short term, we have to know about them in advance and find ways to solve them later.”

"Okay." Yang Wendong added, "One year is about enough."

PS: Please give me a monthly ticket
(End of this chapter)

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