Ivanta still couldn't understand why Barron was so "obsessed" with Chinese courtyard houses, although she knew that the Duke of England had shown interest in Chinese culture many times before...
It's a rare opportunity to spend time with Barron, and in China. Unlike America or England where both of them are extremely well-known, when she's with Barron, she doesn't have to worry about paparazzi's sneak shots, so Ivanta is in a good mood.
Next, Barron spent a few days accompanying Ivanta on a tour of Yanjing, visiting many attractions including the Forbidden City and the Great Wall.
Ivanta also left many photos in these places...
Many years later, Ivanta became known to the Chinese people in another identity. After several photos of her taken alone in the Forbidden City and the Great Wall were made public, many Chinese people saw Ivanta's young appearance in the photos and realized that she had been to China so long ago...
After all, she is not like a certain British duke who can be called "an old friend of the Chinese people". Before that, Ivanta seemed to have no intersection with China...
After being instilled with passion by Barron, Ivanta left Yanjing contentedly and returned to New York on the first-class flight that Barron had booked for her.
Barron and his team, with the help of the decoration team introduced by him and Yan Hegui, decided on a renovation plan for the three courtyard houses.
According to the plan, the cost of repairing and renovating these three courtyards alone is estimated to be more than 10 million yuan, and Barron also entrusted Yan Hegui to help him pay attention to some classical mahogany furniture from the Ming and Qing dynasties... After receiving many benefits from the Duke of England, Yan Hegui naturally made a promise with confidence.
Barron also got another piece of news from Yan Hegui, that is, American media tycoon and owner of News Corporation Murdoch and his wife Wendi Deng have also arrived in Yanjing. He is also planning to buy a courtyard house here. It is said that it was his wife Wendi Deng's idea.
However, the courtyard house they were originally going to buy had already been bought by Barron, so no one knew which one they would choose to buy later... These were no longer things Barron wanted to care about.
But speaking of Murdoch, he has been patiently making plans to enter the Chinese media market, and it seems that he has achieved good results so far.
In 1990, Little Superman Li Zekai founded STAR TV. After three consecutive years of losses, he sold his shares to News Corporation for US$525 million in 1993.
At that time, the investment community was all amazed at Lee's capital skills. It seemed that Murdoch had made a losing deal. Only a few people understood Murdoch's good intentions.
Although STAR TV did not start to make a profit until 2002, the significance of the acquisition lies more in that it brought Murdoch to the doorstep of China.
Murdoch also built the Star Media Group based on STAR TV, and currently holds a 37.56% stake in Phoenix Satellite Television, making it its largest shareholder.
Moreover, the programs of STAR TV and Phoenix TV have already entered Guangdong Province and other places in mainland China.
As early as three years ago, XiaoNetcom conducted private placement for its broadband project. The "CNC Foundation" established by investment institutions such as News Corporation and Goldman Sachs invested US$325 million and acquired 30.97 million shares of XiaoNetcom at a price of US$10.495 per share.
In Murdoch's view, due to the progress of digital technology including decompression technology, almost all programs that could be broadcast on satellite TV can be realized on broadband. Therefore, investing in broadband is equivalent to investing in satellite TV transmission network in disguise - the latter is still a field in the mainland where foreign investment is strictly restricted.
After that, Murdoch sent his son James Murdoch, who is also the chief vice president of News Corporation in charge of China business, to join the board of directors of MiniNetcom.
In addition, James is also the CEO of Sky Broadcasting in the UK.
Last year, China Netcom carried out a series of reorganizations and acquired the equity of Ji Tong and Xiao Netcom, but the foreign capital in these companies was not cleared out.
Baron knew that China Netcom would be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange this year. Murdoch's investment in China Netcom would be converted into shares, and News Corporation would then hold approximately 8% of the shares of the listed company.
By then, there is no doubt that according to common market practices, News Corporation will use related-party transactions to better sell its programs to the mainland.
In fact, over the past decade, all of Murdoch's actions in Hong Kong have been aimed at entering the mainland.
So far, among the major media giants that have entered the mainland, only Murdoch's News Corporation has made achievements in both broadband and content.
At this point, it can be said that Murdoch is more important than Barron in terms of the importance attached by the top management...
After all, News Corporation's global public opinion reach can be said to be extremely powerful.
Currently, News Corporation owns 109 daily newspapers, biweekly newspapers and 15 weekly newspapers around the world, with a total circulation of approximately 60 million copies per week.
Australia's Sydney Morning Herald, America's New York Post and Britain's The Times are all Murdoch's properties.
In terms of television media, in addition to Hong Kong's STAR TV and Phoenix TV, he also owns Sky TV in the UK and Fox TV in the United States.
His satellite TV markets include America, Britain, South America, Central Asia, India, China and Southeast Asia.
Last October, Murdoch visited China at the invitation of the State Council Information Office.
At the time, News Corp. was trying to expand its business in China, and Chinese media regulators were attempting comprehensive market changes.
The head of publicity even met with Murdoch and hoped that News Corporation would make greater efforts to promote "letting the world know China and letting China know the world".
However, Barron understands that, looking back, Murdoch's many "efforts" in China will not produce much results in the end, at least they will not gain as strong public opinion energy as in other countries.
After all, anyone with a discerning eye can see the hidden intentions behind his calls for so-called "openness." In America and Europe, he has become accustomed to using the power of public opinion to incite the masses and call the shots.
Many people even suspected that his marriage to Deng Wendi was also an extremely important factor in opening up the Chinese market.
Similarly, after China suffered a setback, he also became the main force in various smear campaigns against China in the future.
…
After Ivanta left Yanjing, Barron and his party went to the Magic City.
Here, Barron met Mark Blom, CEO of Argos Holdings.
Argos Holdings was established by Argos Retail Group to invest in and acquire shares in the OEM companies of its Argos department store and Primark clothing chain.
"Supor is currently in the process of IPO and is expected to be listed on the Growth Enterprise Market of China A-shares in August. This is also the first company among our partners to be listed."
As Mark said, Argos Holdings currently holds shares in nearly 100 Chinese companies, with shareholding ratios ranging from 10% to 30%, but more than 80% of these companies are not large in scale.
Of course, this is compared with Supor, which is already the largest Chinese company in which Argos Holdings holds shares.
Supor Corporation initially started out by producing pressure cookers and in 2002, it entered the small kitchen appliance industry.
As Argos Retail Group promotes its partnership program in Zhejiang Province, Supor has also applied to join.
At that time, Argos Holdings invested 10 million pounds and held a 15% stake in it, and Supor also received an OEM order from Argos Retail Group to help it produce "Argos" branded cookware and small kitchen appliances.
Before going public, the shareholding ratio of Supor is 55% held by the Su Zengfu family, 15% by Argos Holdings, and 30% by other shareholders.
Argos Holdings is the company's largest shareholder after the Suzenfu family.
This time, Supor's IPO is expected to issue 34 million common shares, accounting for approximately 25% of the total share capital after listing.