Chapter 231 Sheffield Rand Corporation
Edith Rockefeller was also very excited when she heard about this, and couldn't help saying, "Whom I, Edith, want to give birth to a child for? What's their business? Don't you have anything else to do every day? You can't sell newspapers unless you take something from the rich."
"Then I'll tell you the truth. The newspaper's profits have really been stagnant in the past few years. It seems that there has been no decline because newspapers are cheap, but the total sales this year have not increased synchronously." Sheffield spread his hands and explained, "Pulitzer and Hearst turned newspapers into erotic serial novels. I am not against them eating shit, but it is undeniable that most people don't like to eat shit. Not everyone is willing to force shit on the citizens. Although my newspaper started late, it is catching up faster than their expansion speed and occupying an increasingly larger market share. This is the reason."
Under the premise that the total volume has not increased much, the newspapers under their own brand are snatching customers from other newspapers. Don't think it's nothing, occupying the existing market is also a very important step. Once the existing market is fought over, some people will be out of the game.
In the mobile phone market of later generations, Samsung was eliminated in this way. Once the stock market was occupied, Samsung was no longer the international giant in people's impression. At least in the mobile phone market of the Republic, it was already something else.
Relying on unsavory reports to attract attention is not a long-term solution. Feeding shit is a habit, and it attracts people who love to eat shit. Isn’t this the reason why the pig farm’s presence has become less and less? After all, most people don’t eat shit.
Who wants to read news about pig farms? Don’t you know how much your company’s traffic has dropped? And if there are too many reports like this, they won’t attract normal people and will definitely backfire in the end.
"Then what do you want to do? I don't care and I don't care what the newspapers say to me, but can you bear to see your son being profiled in the newspapers every day?" Edith Rockefeller looked open-minded, but was actually putting pressure on Sheffield. You, a slave owner, can scare DuPont, but you can't deal with a few so-called giants in the media industry?
"I can't pay attention to them now, not because I'm afraid of them, but if I respond, it will confirm our relationship. Although it's a bit selfish of me to say this, I hope you can understand." After Sheffield apologized, he changed the subject and said, "Do you think they are just making up stories about the private lives of the rich to make a profit? Then you underestimate them. These two people have done a lot of bastard things. When the California Workingmen's Party passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, who was cheering behind the scenes? Wasn't it the media owned by William Hearst? Hearst was born in San Francisco, California. His father, William George, was an Irish immigrant and a successful pioneer who made his fortune by mining gold and silver mines."
"As for Pulitzer being a Hungarian immigrant, they are the same. They are in agreement on this issue. Last year, they were suing my newspaper in California over this matter. As for the rubbish report about the Spanish fleet landing in New York, I won't mention it!" Sheffield said sarcastically, "When the storm is over, I will dig into the details of these two people."
"They want to be dragon slayers? My dragon has a big appetite." Sheffield finally calmed Edith Rockefeller down and breathed a sigh of relief. If he killed these guys who also controlled public opinion, he might end up bleeding.
"Anyway, you can't just brush me off. This is not only my business, but also little William's business. If you can even deceive your own son, then you can do whatever you want." Edith Rockefeller rarely showed a trace of grievance. It might be the first time she looked like this, and it really didn't have much appeal.
"Don't worry, I won't let them have it easy." Sheffield said with a twisted eye. "I'm going to discredit these two people and watch their image collapse. Maybe there's still a place for them in Arkham Asylum. It's a shame that such a peaceful and comfortable place with birds singing and flowers blooming doesn't have two public figures living there."
Sheffield pretended to be unaware of the incident and waited until the situation cooled before launching a counterattack. He then instructed the public relations department of the United Company to respond to the accusation of war-mongering and asked whether some people were unpatriotic and diverted attention from their private lives. It seemed that almost all newspapers supported the war during the war, but now they were accusing it of selling death? As a neutral and objective media person, wasn't it a bit too irrelevant?
In this heated debate, Sheffield was ready to have a face-to-face negotiation with the founder of Rand Corporation. Before that, Sheffield suddenly came to his senses and wondered if this matter had anything to do with the DuPont consortium. He never forgot what the old man had taught him, and he always wanted to blame DuPont for anything that happened.
"William is so rich at such a young age, which makes everyone very envious." After meeting Sheffield, Lovelland couldn't help but sigh, saying that the United Company was very wealthy.
"Yes, I am particularly good at selling death. As the controller of the Death Empire, it is normal for me to get some human blood pie. After all, many people think that I am the person closest to the devil. In fact, I don't agree with this. It should be said the other way around. The devil is the existence closest to me." Sheffield stared straight into Laughlin Rand's eyes and said slowly, "The stock of Rand Corporation has been rising well recently, which adds some variables to our negotiations."
This sentence refers to the fact that Lovelin Rand leaked the news of the acquisition of Rand Corporation, which increased the net worth of many shareholders, mainly himself. It was because the news of the impending merger spread that he was being closely pursued by a group of dung collectors. The dung collectors showed mercy and did not dig out the fact that the Sheffield family was the largest owner of the slave market in New Orleans. Perhaps it was too long ago and the two people had forgotten it before they reached adulthood.
"William, I'm very sorry for the trouble this has caused you, but please believe me, I didn't know it would cause such a stir." When Lafflin Rand heard Sheffield introduce himself like this, his heart suddenly lifted.
If the Spanish-American War had any impact on many companies, it was that Sheffield United and its allies recruited tens of thousands of private armed forces overseas to appear in the war and accompany the American Expeditionary Force. It should be noted that the number of American Expeditionary Forces landing in Cuba was only over 20,000, and United Company actually gathered tens of thousands of people and landed before the American Expeditionary Force landed in Cuba, which made a big splash.
But after all the excitement, a problem arises. There is such a large private armed force under the United Company, which makes everyone feel terrified. Moreover, this armed force has its base overseas, so no one knows how many people there are and what kind of strength they are.
"I am a serious businessman. Mr. Rand may not believe me, but in the United States, I am known for abiding by the law!" Sheffield waved his hand and said, "I have a good business reputation. All the partners I have worked with know this. As for participating in the war, I do not deny it, but that is an overseas matter and is not within the scope of discussion. Let's talk about our problem. The merger of Sheffield's arms company and Rand Corporation will become a real giant. It will be stronger than the other DuPont consortium. I believe you also know the strength of the DuPont consortium, Mr. Rand. At least you did not take any advantage of DuPont."
"Yes, when it comes to the competition between Rand and DuPont for market share, Rand has long been at a disadvantage," said Rand with envy. "After all, our two companies do not have a wide influence in the southern states."
This shows that the Sheffield family is taking advantage of this field, because the Democratic Party has deep-rooted power in the southern states and has always firmly controlled the base. Although it could not grab much market in the north before, it has eaten up all the market in the southern states.
"It is the love of the southern states that has allowed our family to survive for so many years. We finally got the chance. You know that Democrats love war the most." Sheffield forced a smile and said, "This way, once the two companies merge, there will basically be no shortcomings. And I will not exclude Mr. Rand. I will only hold a simple majority of shares and will not interfere with decision-making. I have already stated my conditions. Mr. Rand, name a price and let me see if I can accept it."
The new company name, in accordance with the custom of the time, was a combination of Sheffield and Rand, and was named Sheffield Rand Corporation. Later, there was a company called Lockheed Martin, which was formally established by the merger of Lockheed and Martin Marietta, and became Lockheed Martin.
Sheffield acquired a majority stake in Rand for $2.6 million, retained Laughlin Rand's position, and stayed to continue serving the new company. On the second day of the formal negotiations, the news that Sheffield and Rand were re-elected to merge the new company appeared on the front pages of major newspapers.
Especially the newspapers under Sheffield, they boasted about the merger of the companies and it seemed that a new era had been entered in a certain field. Sheffield certainly had no objection to this. He also wanted to use this incident to demonstrate to the two newspaper media giants. You scold me, but I still did it.
(End of this chapter)
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