Chapter 536 Reuters Group

On April 25, one month after the agreement was reached, SEM Group (Standard Entertainment Media Group) publicly announced that it had completed the acquisition of the Times Newspaper Company under News International Group.

At the same time, the Independent Newspaper Group under SEM Group will be renamed Standard Newspaper Group, and the newspapers it operates will be increased to The Times and The Sunday Times.

The Times was founded in 1785 and has a history of 222 years.

For a long time, The Times has been regarded as the first mainstream newspaper in Britain and is known as "a faithful recorder of British society."

The Times has played an important role in British domestic politics and international relations.

However, after being acquired by Murdoch, many people believe that the style of The Times has gradually become conservative.

After merging The Times into Standard Newspapers, its CEO Ibai Gomes said that The Times will continue to uphold its purpose of "independently and objectively reporting facts" and "reporting developing history"...

This also means that Standard Newspapers will own two of the four major newspapers in Britain, The Times, The Guardian, The Independent and The Daily Telegraph.

In fact, in addition to Sky TV's concession on the Premier League broadcasting rights and the sale of The Times Newspapers to SEM Group, Barron's previous "friendship" with Murdoch also included SEM Group's acquisition of News Corporation's Reuters shares for £650 million.

Currently, News Corporation owns 10% of Reuters shares, but Barron's acquisition of Reuters shares this time is not "taking advantage of the fire", but can indeed be regarded as a matter of affection and intention.

SEM Group paid a premium for the purchase of 10% of Reuters Group for 650 million pounds - the current market value of Reuters Group is about 6 billion pounds.

When Murdoch first served as a director of Reuters Group, News Corporation once held more than 23% of Reuters Group's shares.

However, Murdoch was eventually forced to reduce his stake in Reuters Group, reducing his shareholding ratio from 23% to less than 15%, and now only has 10% of the shares - because Reuters Founders AG was worried that he would launch a hostile takeover of Reuters Group.

Here we need to briefly introduce Reuters Founders AG, which was established after Reuters Group went public in 1984. Its main purpose is to defend the fairness and independence of Reuters news services.

The board members of Reuters Founders AG are called trustees. After any investor holds more than 15% of the shares in the listed company Reuters, the trustees can force these investors to reduce their shares.

They can also call for a special shareholders' meeting to prevent any investor from attempting to gain control of the company.

It is like forcing Murdoch to reduce his shareholding in Reuters to below 15%, which is the only time that Reuters Founders AG has exercised this "golden equity" so far.

It is also because Murdoch realized that he could not convince the trustees of Reuters Founders AG that his acquisition of the company would not affect the neutrality and fairness of its reports, so he finally decided to continuously reduce his holdings of Reuters Group shares.

In fact, the 10% of Reuters Group shares he holds now can no longer bring him much effect.

Because during Murdoch's tenure as a director, Reuters Group's board meetings were always very "active".

Murdoch needs to face too many doubts.

In addition, although Murdoch has not announced it publicly, Barron knows that News Corporation has now begun to be interested in Dow Jones, which owns many media including The Wall Street Journal, and is preparing to acquire it.

Therefore, Murdoch's sale of Reuters Group shares at this time can not only abandon this tasteless chicken rib, but also obtain some funds to acquire Dow Jones.

While buying 10% of Reuters from News Corporation, SEM Group also began to increase its holdings in Reuters on the stock market.

In the end, they set their shareholding ratio in Reuters at 15%, which is the upper limit of Reuters Founders AG allowed for a single person or institution.

If possible, Barron naturally hopes that SEM Group can acquire Reuters, but before that, he needs to face the obstacle of Reuters Founders AG and obtain the other party's approval before he can complete the acquisition.

…

"How are you recently, Kate?"

After the overwhelming news about Prince William and Kate's breakup in the media subsided a little, Barron arranged a meeting with Kate at a villa in the suburbs of England.

"Of course I'm fine. If I'm not, would you still meet me?"

It can be heard that although Kate is still smiling, there is still some emotion in her words.

"The reason I'm meeting you now is that I don't want to make things more complicated when all the reporters' attention is on you..."

Barron spread his hands and said:

"If there is anything I can do to help, I am happy to do it. After all, I consider you my friends."

"Friends?"

Kaiser said with some self-mockery:

"I have broken up with William, how can I be qualified to be a friend of your Highness the Duke of Devonshire? I also want to thank you for the job you gave me before, I am afraid it was also because of William..."

Although what Kaiser said was the truth, Barron would not really be so straightforward.

He looked into Cather's eyes and said sincerely:

"Of course not, even if you are no longer William's girlfriend, I will not change my attitude, because that is not necessary for me at all..."

"Or is it because we have slept together before?"

"Uh... Cather, I almost forgot about that."

After Barron said this, Cather's eyes drooped slightly and fell on the table. She said lightly:

"That's right, I am a little self-indulgent. If a woman who has had anything with you... needs to be taken care of... then it is impossible."

"Cather..."

Feeling that her topic had deviated a little, Barron looked at Cather again and said:

"I know, you I always wanted to be a princess, or even a queen..."

"Yes, everyone said so, including the media. After we broke up, they began to mock me, saying that my dream of being a princess was over. I needed to keep cheering up to face them..."

At this point, Cather became a little excited:

"It's also a breakup. I can't show any frustration, let alone do anything wrong, but what about him? He can even go to the bar to drink and have fun without caring..."

Barron has also seen media reports on what Kate said...

Unlike Kate who deliberately maintains a perfect image in front of the media, William doesn't seem to care about other people's eyes after the breakup.

According to the news in the newspaper, on the night of the breakup, William drank and had fun with friends at the famous Mahiki bar.

In a certain report, the amount he spent at the time was even found - 4,700 pounds.

In addition, the reporter interviewed the bartender, who claimed to have heard William say:

"I'm really happy, I want to have a good time!"

When William walked out of the bar, he was already drunk and even his pants were stained with wine.

A bystander at the time commented:

"He doesn't look like a prince at all, just a young Londoner who is out for fun."