On the outskirts of Greenwich, the mansion of the Hearst family.
It was around eight o'clock in the evening.
William Hearst III had a hasty dinner with his family and came to the study, followed at the same time by his personal assistant Roger Halls.
"Nike informed us this afternoon that they plan to cancel all advertising cooperation with Hearst Group in the second half of the year," Roger Halls carefully looked at William III's expression, reported another bad news, and explained the reason: "Black Rock Asset Management, a subsidiary of Cersei Capital, recently increased its stake in Nike to 5.6% and obtained a seat on Nike's board of directors. Moreover, Nike is still in contact with Ygrit Portal and plans to further expand its Internet advertising efforts. "
As Roger Holes was talking, William Hester III suddenly burst out and swept the coffee cup on the desk to the ground with a clatter. At the same time, he stared at Roger fiercely: "Can't you give me some?" Good news?"
During this period, not only was the Westeros system completely blocked, many other advertisers of the Hearst Group also canceled their cooperation due to various reasons.
Not to mention whether this situation will continue to worsen, but looking at it from now on, the Hearst Group's revenue in 1994 may experience a serious negative growth of more than 20%. If a company's revenue stops growing, it already means decline. Negative growth of up to 20% will bring about a series of corporate layoffs, insolvency, business contraction and other domino effects, which are enough to make a large company go bankrupt in just a few years.
The only thing William Hearst III is glad about now is that the Hearst Group is not a listed company. Otherwise, the Hearst Group's share price may have fallen by more than half during this period.
Even so, an article in the Wall Street Journal last week pointed out that due to a series of recent turmoils, the total wealth of the Hearst family may only be left at about US$1.5 billion at this stage, shrinking by as much as US$1 billion.
A spokesman for the Hearst Group immediately refuted the Wall Street Journal's sensationalism, but William Hearst III, an insider, understood that even if the Wall Street Journal's judgment was slightly exaggerated, it was not far off.
The Hearst family's main assets at this stage are still its series of newspapers and magazines and other print media, with television assets accounting for only a small part.
In fact, only 30% of the income of print media comes from the sales of newspapers and magazines themselves, and the other 70% is advertising. Because the Westeros system and more and more other advertisers have broken off cooperation, the sharp drop in the revenue of newspapers and magazines will have a series of negative effects. The final result is that the paper media itself will depreciate significantly and even go bankrupt.
Roger Halls called the maid to clean up the coffee cup that William III had broken. Looking at the still angry boss, he couldn't help but have a slightly absurd idea in his heart.
good news
Indeed there is.
"Citizen Kane", which re-entered North American theaters with great fanfare last week, actually made a box office of US$17.36 million with only 1,271 screens. The first week of more than US$13,000 was completed in this unpopular period at the end of April. With the release of many new films, it is expected that the total North American box office of this re-release of the film may reach 60 million US dollars.
Therefore, it can be seen that the Hearst family is still 'famous' in the United States.
After the sudden outburst, William Hester III quickly calmed down. He still had to face what he had to face. The most important thing now was how to get out of the predicament at hand.
There is obviously no hope for reconciliation.
During his trip to Washington a few days ago, William III even asked the White House to help negotiate the matter, but the result was still in vain. William III even doubted whether Clinton helped make the call after agreeing. You must know that after Clinton came to power, the media under the Hearst Group were not polite to this politician who unexpectedly ascended to the presidential throne due to various encounters.
Clinton has recently been mired in the Paula Jones sexual assault case. Even though everyone understands that this is a motive created by the Republican Party for this year's midterm elections, the Hearst Group's media outlets have followed suit and added fuel to the flames of such a hot news topic.
All in all, since Mr. President took office more than a year ago, the traditional print media has not given him much recognition. From the travel scandal, the gay controversy in the military, the haircut scandal, etc. to the recent Paula Jones sexual assault case, the traditional media have basically stood on the side of crusade against the president's side.
It is not difficult to imagine that the White House cannot have a good impression of traditional print media.
If it were in the past, everyone would have rinsed the president. After all, the White House is dominated by print media, and the president is just there to rinse it.
However, many people did not expect that this time they would encounter another major change in the media industry. Unlike TV and newspapers back then, which could still coexist with each other, this time the surging Internet has the potential to completely replace traditional paper media. the trend of.
It just so happens that the emerging Internet media is on the side of the White House again.
So, between the traditional print media that has been scolding itself for more than a year, and the emerging Internet media that firmly stands on its own side, it is self-evident which side the White House will stand on.
What is even more impossible to ignore is that the Yigrit portal, which has almost monopolized the Internet interface, has accumulated hundreds of millions of total users around the world in just a few years, and its comprehensive influence is no less than that of any old brand. Media Group.
Of course, Washington is wary of this, but with such powerful media influence, if it uses all its strength to point the finger at a certain person, the impact will definitely be devastating. As the head of an established media group, no one understands this better than William Hearst III.
As a result, during his last trip to Washington, William Hearst III tried to contact some politicians to suppress the further expansion of the Westeros system, and received many responses, such as those who had been verbally criticizing the Westeros system since March. However, there are very few candidates for Congress who are really willing to take the lead and take substantive actions, and they cannot pose a threat to the Westeros system at all.
As for the Hearst Group.
William III couldn't help but think of the United Nations General Assembly broadcast live on television this morning. Simon Westeros' beautiful female spokesperson faced the sudden attack of some country representatives and refused to give in.
Because of the recent racist genocide in Rwanda and the fueling of the Westeros system, almost all public attention has been attracted to Africa.
The result is that the pressure on the Hearst Group has not eased at all. The bans are still there, the lawsuits are still there, and the performance decline is still there. However, not many people are paying attention to this matter. This is purely to let the Hearst Group remain silent. Died of blood loss.
Thinking of this, William Hester III suddenly had an idea.
That's right.
The first thing to do is to draw public attention away from the bad things in Africa.
Only by regaining enough public attention can the Hearst Corporation manipulate public opinion again, thereby attracting the attention of other companies in the industry and federal government regulatory agencies, and intervening to stop Simon Westeros's misdeeds.
After thinking for a moment, William III raised his head and asked Roger Halls: "What was the name of the maid in Westeros who we bribed back then?"
Roger Halls said: "Doris Fitcher."
"That's her," William III nodded and asked, "Have we still had contact with her recently?"
Roger Halls shook his head.
Ever since Doris Fetcher encountered a $12 million lawsuit from the Westeros family, the other party has been completely abandoned. The Hearst family has not spent huge sums of money to litigate for others like Simon Westeros. Habit, as for the fate of the other party, it is not within the Hearst family's consideration.
William Hester III reorganized for a moment and said: "In this way, you should contact her now, find her as soon as possible, and convince her to deliberately cause a suicide. We need an explosive news hot spot to attract the public's attention again."
When Roger Halls heard this, he paused and asked: "Sir, what should we do specifically?"
William III looked at his assistant and said: "A poor young girl was forced to commit suicide because of Simon Westeros's malicious lawsuit. Such breaking news is enough to make Westeros suffer a lot of criticism, and we can regain our The initiative in public opinion.”
Roger Holes fully understood William III's intention, but he did not agree immediately and still looked at his boss.
William III also understood what Roger Halls was thinking, and he knew even more clearly that his assistant understood his deeper intentions. The public response caused by a suicide attempt and a real suicide death are completely different. The former may only become a farce, while the latter can really arouse a strong response from a large number of public.
What William III really needed was the latter.
The two had a brief confrontation, but William III took the initiative and said: "It's best to use sleeping pills. You can keep an eye on him personally and send him to the hospital as late as possible."
His boss spoke clearly, and Roger Holes finally nodded: "I will arrange it as soon as possible."
In a villa a few hundred meters away from the Hearst mansion, two agents from the Westeros family intelligence team who were guarding the surveillance screen listened to the entire conversation between William III and his assistant. The two just looked at each other. One of them picked up his cell phone and dialed a series of numbers: "Boss, you may need to come over in person."
After a brief chat, Chris Wenden hung up the phone, took out a cigarette and lit it, and continued to look at the monitor screen and said to his companion Terry Scales: "The minds of these big shots are much darker than us."
Terry Scales, who had an ordinary appearance and a slightly thin body, nodded in agreement nonchalantly, and looked at the surveillance screen with his partner, but there was a bit of uncertainty in his eyes.
Martin Dinham soon arrived with his assistant.
After watching the video just now, Martin Dinham directly called Simon's phone, introduced what happened just now, and made an appointment for a meeting tomorrow.
After hanging up the phone, Martin Dinham took out the key and opened the special surveillance host box with two layers of insurance. When entering the second layer of password, Chris Wenden and Terry Scales both turned around and spoke with them. Chris Lamont, Dinham's assistant who came with him, did not evade.
The team responsible for monitoring often comes into contact with a lot of sensitive information. Therefore, just like a tightly secured banking system, the team has very strict operating procedures in order to avoid agents who come into contact with certain special information.
It's just that there are at least two agents responsible for surveillance at the same time.
The most important thing is that for the most direct audio and video evidence, only a person in charge like Martin Dinham can get started, and an assistant will also be 'assisted' in the operation process. If the information is useless, it will be completely destroyed afterwards. As for useful information, the person in charge and assistants will select and save it together, and ensure that there will be no backup.
Although the agents responsible for monitoring are insiders, they are unlikely to have any substantive evidence, so they can minimize certain hidden dangers.
Taking out the hard drive containing the conversation between William III and his assistant, Martin Dinham personally replaced it with a new hard drive, re-locked the main case, and finally gave Chris Wenden a brief explanation. Dinham and his assistant hurriedly left. go.
Chris Wenden and Terry Scales continued their work until 12 o'clock in the evening when the replacement agent arrived and they were able to rest.
In a bedroom of the surveillance villa, it was already past one o'clock in the morning, and Terry Scales was lying on the bed fully clothed, but he didn't feel sleepy at all.
The agent held a pocket recorder in his hand and was wearing headphones. The conversation between William III and his assistant was played repeatedly in the recorder. The sound in the headphones was not loud, but very clear.
The agents responsible for surveillance work in teams of two and are on duty for six hours at a time. Therefore, even the agents on duty in front of the surveillance screen are not actually complete insiders. This is also a deliberate precautionary measure.
This conversation in the hands of Terry Scales can be regarded as the most valuable record since he started on duty.
Terry Scales, who was also a former intelligence agent of the Australian National Security Department, was initially satisfied with the treatment given by his boss. However, as time went by, Terry Scales realized more and more that a lot of the work he was doing, if he did a little bit of manipulation, would definitely allow him to get unexpected huge returns.
Such as this time.
Terry Scales can fully imagine that, having been caught by the Westeros system, if William III continues to implement one of his plans, it is likely to bring devastating results to the Hearst family.
Deliberately luring someone to commit suicide and then watching that person die is actually murder.
Once the matter is exposed, not only will William III be imprisoned, such a scandal will definitely further destroy the entire Hearst Group. So, how much should you quote for information that can save the Hearst family from destruction
$5 million
Of course not enough.
After all, the treatment given to these core agents by their boss, including annual salary, benefits, pension plans and even various generous benefits covering their families, is already worth millions of dollars.
If it’s only $5 million, it’s not worth the gain.
At least 10 million US dollars!
Thinking of this, Terry Scales hesitated again.
Even if you can really get 10 million US dollars for this recording, will you spend your life in the future
He knows very well what kind of person his boss is.
Although there is no evidence, many things happened during this period, including several bloody massacres and the tragic explosion at Woodfield Manor. Everyone knew who was behind the scenes, not to mention that the young man was still in the short period of time. Private armies were used to overthrow a country in Africa in one week.
Such a cold and bloody guy at heart, if he knew about his betrayal, it would be impossible to let him go.
Even his family.
All the core agents of the Westeros family intelligence team have one characteristic, they all have a perfect family behind them.
At least a perfect family on the surface.
Terry Scales' wife and two children live in Melbourne, and under the arrangements of the Westeros system, in addition to his generous personal salary, his family also enjoys top-notch medical and educational benefits. All children are studying in Australia's top private schools.
However, because they work outside the home for a long time, even though they spend up to six months a year with their families when there are no special tasks, Terry Scales is still dissatisfied with his family, marriage and personal status quo.
Especially after seeing the luxurious life of those at the top of this social pyramid.
Before she knew it, Terry Scales had her future mapped out.
Counting the recordings in hand, some other information, or at worst being a double agent for a period of time, it would be at least 10 million US dollars. After getting it, he could completely change his face through plastic surgery, change a new identity, and then go to a certain place in the Caribbean. The island country with its numerous tourists and beauties settled in and began to enjoy their colorful retirement life.
No longer now, like a invisible mouse in the middle of the night, running around for some big shot.
As for his family, unless Simon Westeros wants to chill all the agents who work for him, he probably won't do anything to them.