Chapter 252 Straits Times and Wonderful Cases

After Li Xiaofan picked up the phone, the voice of Tang Xinyi's best friend Huijuan came from the phone.

"Afan, I have already contacted you about the matter you asked me to do a few days ago. You can go directly to Straits Times to find Senior Sister Xu Manli..."

"Great, Huijuan, thank you!"

Tang Xinyi's best friend and roommate at Hwa Chong Institution Huijuan is now a master's student in journalism at the National University of Singapore.

Last week, Li Xiaofan and Tang Xinyi invited Huijuan and her boyfriend to have a meal at Orchard Road. During the meal, Li Xiaofan wanted to ask Huijuan to introduce him to a reporter from the financial sector of Singapore Press Holdings.

Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) is the largest and only news publishing group in Singapore, with reporters all over the world. The most famous newspapers under the group are the English version of Straits Times and the Chinese version of Lianhe Zaobao. Singapore Press Holdings publishes more than a dozen newspapers in four languages ​​in Singapore. In addition to Lianhe Zaobao, Chinese newspapers also include Lianhe Wanbao and Shin Min Daily News. The second most popular English newspaper after the Straits Times is TODAY.

In fact, when Singapore was founded in the 1960s, the domestic news media was quite rich and colorful. In the early 1970s, the media director of Nanyang Siang Pau, which was close to the mainland Chinese thinking, was arrested. Later, Nanyang Siang Pau and Sin Chew Daily merged to become Lianhe Zaobao. The English versions of Oriental Sun and Singapore Herald were also closed one after another. The Newspaper and Printing Act was implemented in Singapore in 1975. By the time Singapore Press Holdings was established in 1984, it became the only news publishing group in Singapore. For many years, there was no competitor, and the Newspaper and Printing Act seemed to only govern this newspaper company.

Xu Manli is Huijuan's senior sister in the Journalism and Communication Department of the National University of Singapore. She is currently a reporter for the financial section of the Straits Times.

The Straits Times is an English newspaper with a long history in Singapore. It is the flagship publication of Singapore Press Holdings Limited, with a circulation of 400,000 copies per day. Its audience is high-end English-reading people in Singapore and overseas people who live and work in the Lion City.

In the small conference room of the Straits Times newspaper office building, Li Xiaofan met the fast-talking financial reporter Xu Manli as scheduled.

Like Huijuan, Xu Manli is also a master's student in journalism and communication at the National University of Singapore. After graduation, she has worked at the Straits Times for five years, specializing in professional financial reporting.

Xu Manli is very small, about 1.62 meters tall, wearing a pair of glasses with a strong degree, but her eyes are very sharp.

After she made a cup of coffee for Li Xiaofan, she asked, "Mr. Li, I heard from Huijuan that you came to me to provide an interesting clue for a financial report?"

Li Xiaofan smiled and said, "Yes, Ms. Xu, do you know Yahoo and Netscape, which was recently listed on NASDAQ?"

"Of course I know. I use Netscape every day when I turn on my computer to surf the Internet. Yahoo is also a website I often visit. Its search engine is very easy to use. In addition, Netscape, which you mentioned just now, has set off an Internet boom on Wall Street after it was listed on NASDAQ in recent days. Our reporters stationed in New York have been following and reporting on this company recently..." Xu Manli spoke very quickly.

"Ms. Xu, have you ever opened an ad on the Yahoo homepage?"

"Advertisement? I don't really care about it. I often use Yahoo to search for keywords and information directly..."

"Next time, if you pay attention, there is a small banner ad on the Yahoo homepage that says 'We provide the world's most cost-effective and affordable consumer products'. This is an ad made by a company in Singapore. I guess this may be the first local company among many Singaporean businesses to advertise on the Internet website in Silicon Valley..."

"Oh, there is such a thing?"

Hearing keywords such as "Singapore's first", "Yahoo homepage", "Internet advertisement", etc., the sensitive Xu Manli immediately became interested.

"Mr. Li, wait for me for a few minutes. I'll go to the computer in the office next door and log on to Yahoo to see the advertisement you mentioned!"

Two or three minutes later, Xu Manli came back to the meeting room like the wind and said loudly: "Hey, really, I didn't notice that there was an Internet advertisement of our Singapore company on the homepage of Yahoo before!"

Then, she picked up the business card given by Li Xiaofan, looked at it and smiled: "Mr. Li, it turns out that the advertisement is your Singapore Yifan Private Limited! No wonder you know it so well..."

"Yes, Miss Xu, don't you think this is a very interesting clue for news reporting?"

"Well, it is indeed interesting. Mr. Li, now I will simply interview you, the client. May I ask, how did you think of running to Silicon Valley, so far away in the United States, to place an Internet advertisement on the Yahoo website? Let me ask again, after your Singapore Yifan company advertised on the Yahoo website, what effect did it achieve?" While asking questions, Xu Manli opened her notebook and began to record. It seems that this emerging Internet topic really attracted her.

"Speaking of which, this matter is related to your junior sister Huijuan..."

"Ah, what does it have to do with Huijuan?"

"A few months ago, I met Huijuan by chance at Clarke Quay in Singapore. Huijuan then introduced me to her boyfriend, who then took me to the computer room of the National University of Singapore to see the Internet. Then when I was surfing the Internet in the NUS computer room, I saw the Yahoo website, and then I had the idea of ​​advertising on their website, and then I really went to Silicon Valley in the United States..."

Li Xiaofan talked about his great optimism about the future of the Internet and Yahoo, but of course he concealed the story of his investment in Yahoo. He will talk about the story of investing in Yahoo after Yahoo's IPO on NASDAQ next year.

"The effect of advertising on Yahoo is really great. When I first founded Singapore Yifan Company, the monthly trade volume was only tens of thousands of Singapore dollars. Recently, last month, in July, my orders and trade volume both exceeded one million US dollars. The effect of advertising on Yahoo is really great!"

"Mr. Li, please speak slower. Your story is really interesting. If it really works so well, I would like to report your case!"

...

Originally, Xu Manli and Li Xiaofan had an appointment for half an hour, but in the end she spent a full hour and a half interviewing Li Xiaofan.

She didn't say goodbye to Li Xiaofan until her colleagues came to urge her to go to the meeting.

"Mr. Li, your case story is very exciting and interesting. Thank you! In the next few days, I will write a preliminary draft for you to review. I will then submit it to my superiors for review and try to publish it as soon as possible."

"Okay, thank you so much! Ms. Xu, actually, I have a little idea. One of my Yifan Optical Glasses Stores is about to open. This optical store specializes in providing professional and cost-effective myopia glasses services for myopic users like you. You can come and experience it when you are free. I think when you publish the news just now, I will also make an opening advertisement for the optical store in the Straits Times and Lianhe Zaobao..."

"Haha, Mr. Li, when this news is published is not decided by me, a small reporter. We have a level-by-level review process. However, I personally feel that it is not a big problem for your case story to be published. This news report is in line with the current Internet hot spots, and it is also very inspiring to many of our businesses in Singapore!"