Mr. Whitney, the editor-in-chief of The Independent, is a middle-aged man who wears glasses, is short and slightly fat.
"It is a great honor to meet you, Your Highness, and this beautiful lady..."
"Mr. Whitney, this is my assistant Laura. I am also a loyal reader of The Independent. I am very happy to meet you today."
Their meeting was scheduled in a cafe in Canary Wharf, and the headquarters of The Independent was in an office building less than 100 meters away.
After taking their seats, Barron said to Whitney:
"Mr. Editor-in-Chief, you should know why we are here today. It is about a novel..."
"Yes, Your Highness, I am very interested in the novel that describes the life of the British aristocracy in the old times, especially after Mrs. Bute strongly recommended it to me and said that it was the most fascinating novel she had read in recent years..."
"I hope it won't disappoint you too much, but I have every confidence in it."
As Barron spoke, he gave Wang Wanting a look, and she took out part of the manuscript of "Downton Abbey" from her briefcase and handed it to the editor-in-chief Whitney.
Just like the last time the Viscountess read this part of the novel, in this corner of the cafe, the only sound was Whitney flipping through the manuscript.
After a while, Whitney sighed with regret - he had read the last page of the manuscript...
When she looked up again, Whitney looked at Barron with admiration... as if she was looking at a peerless beauty.
Thinking of the "good reputation" of the British gay country, Barron couldn't help but get goosebumps at the editor-in-chief's performance.
Fortunately, the other party was not really coming for Barron himself. He said excitedly:
"This is really a masterpiece, the plot is fascinating, and I believe that your noble origin, Your Highness, has added a great deal of persuasiveness to the description of this work. I believe it will cause a sensation after it is published!"
"So you are also optimistic about the publication of this novel, Mr. Editor-in-Chief?"
"Yes, Your Highness, I will personally facilitate this matter, and with the current quality of this novel, there will be no obstacle at all."
Barron took a sip of coffee. His expression was in stark contrast to that of Editor-in-Chief Whitney:
"But there is another question, Mr. Editor-in-Chief. In addition to you, several other newspapers, including the Daily Telegraph, are very interested in this novel. Your newspaper does not have an advantage in this regard. You should also know that your newspaper's business performance has not been very good in recent years..."
As soon as he said this, Whitney's expression changed from excitement to silence. You know, The Independent was founded by three editors of The Daily Telegraph who left. Coupled with the competition over the years, the relationship between the two sides is certainly not good. The fact that The Independent currently ranks last in sales among major national newspapers also made Whitney a little embarrassed after Barron mentioned The Daily Telegraph.
However, at this time, he only regarded Barron's statement as a negotiation strategy with himself. After all, a novel is not just published in series. There is always room for discussion on the promotion and subsequent publication, including copyright and the distribution of these interests.
"Your Highness, you can rest assured that even now, the influence of our Independent is still not bad, and we can give this novel the most comprehensive promotion..."
Barron remained unmoved by his words. He shook his head slightly and said to Whitney:
"Mr. Editor-in-Chief, in fact, this time I'm meeting you, in addition to the novel, I also want to discuss with you the future of The Independent."
"what do you mean?"
After all, he is the editor-in-chief of a major British newspaper. At first, Whitney might have been excited about seeing such an excellent novel as "Downton Abbey", but at this moment, he has realized something. It seems that the purpose of this visit by His Royal Highness the Duke is not that simple.
"I have said before that The Independent has no advantages over other national newspapers, but if I buy this newspaper, it will be completely different. I also heard that INM plans to move the headquarters of The Independent from London to Dublin, Ireland, right? This is not a good thing for The Independent. Once it leaves London and moves to Dublin, The Independent will probably be removed from the mainstream newspapers in Britain forever. As a loyal reader of The Independent, I don't want this to happen."
What's going on? At first, I met the Duke of Devonshire just because he had a novel he wanted to publish...
But now you tell me you want to buy The Independent outright?
Do life situations have to be so exciting?
"I'm sorry, Your Highness, I'm afraid you need to talk to our boss about this matter. I really can't be of any use..."
As the editor-in-chief, Whitney knows the current situation of her newspaper very well.
But will the situation improve if a new boss is chosen?
Others may not say so, but the Duke of Devonshire in front of him...
"It is indeed because of this novel that I am meeting you this time, Mr. Editor-in-Chief. As for the purchase of The Independent, I do not need you to do anything. I just want you to know that as a supporter of The Independent, I hope to use my own power to change the status quo. It is time for change. I hope that after buying this newspaper, I can get the support of employees like you who love this newspaper. That's all."
At this moment, Barron gave Whitney the feeling that he was already very confident in buying The Independent, or was there something going on behind the scenes that he didn't know about?
"If that's really the case, then I will work hard for the newspaper's revival. But there is one thing, Your Highness, I hope you won't feel offended. It was said that your family's financial situation is not very good before, and with all due respect, The Independent is burdened with a lot of debt. In addition to changes, we need funds..."
Barron shrugged and said nonchalantly:
"As a media person, Mr. Editor-in-Chief, you should know that news reports always need to be based on facts, but unfortunately, many reports nowadays are not like that. Do you think our Devonshire family, which has been passed down for hundreds of years, would be as unbearable as described in the reports?"
…
Initially, Barron just needed to choose a newspaper to publish the novel "Downton Abbey".
But when he encountered the incident with The Independent, he began to change his mind and wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to buy the newspaper outright.
In addition to being able to use the novel "Downton Abbey" to boost newspaper sales to a certain extent - just like when Jin Yong serialized martial arts novels in Ming Pao in order to save it.
In addition, owning a national newspaper like The Independent, even if it requires continuous transfusions in the worst case scenario, can play a huge role in expanding the family's voice and influence.
And given the situation of The Independent, it would not be difficult to buy it now. It's just a matter of negotiating the price.
In Barron's previous life, after several years of struggle, INM finally sold the two newspapers, The Independent and The Sunday Independent, to a wealthy Russian businessman from Klob for 1 pound...
Even a person like this can be sold, not to mention Barron who is the Duke of England.
Moreover, The Independent and The Sunday Independent were not the first British newspapers to be sold to each other for £1. Before that, The London Evening Standard was also sold to the Russian businessman for £1.
There are even newspapers that revealed that under these 1-pound transactions, the British Media Newspaper Group, which got rid of the burden, not only asked the other party to assume responsibility and debt, but also privately compensated more than 10 million pounds...