Chapter 1919

“。。。 You should know better than anyone that in the impact of new media on the Internet, the circulation of the post has declined almost every year, and the profits have also declined year by year. The average daily circulation in the first quarter of this year is 8.3% lower than that in the fourth quarter of last year. Today, the average daily circulation is only 573000. Three years ago, it was 678482. In terms of profits, the first quarter of this year was 83% lower than the fourth quarter of last year. I have to think about the future. "

Standing in front of the main gate of the Washington Post Building, looking at Andy Smith, who was invited to visit the post, taking the leave of the motorcade, Donald Graham lost his eyes. Soon after he recovered from his lucidity, he lowered his voice with a low face, saying what only his niece, Catherine weymos, standing beside him, could hear.

Katherine Weymouth, who is already a publisher and chief executive, has a bad face, a frown and a deep look at her uncle Donald Graham.

For her uncle, Catherine is still very convinced. You know, Donald Graham, who inherited his mother's mantle, is not an ordinary son of a rich family. He went to the battlefield, worked as a policeman, and tried to create his own glory from the grass-roots level. On the day he took over the post, Donald delivered a speech saying, "from today on, I will follow the rules set by my mother.". It turns out that Donald not only follows the rules, but also has more information sources than the Post reporter because of his knowledge of Washington.

After entering the digital era, Donald Graham took the Washington Post to make many attempts on the Internet, and was honored as a mentor by Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook. Officially, because of this, Donald doesn't have a Facebook stock, but he has been firmly sitting on the top of the Facebook board. Enough to see its ability.

However, the decline of traditional paper media is the trend of the times, which is not a problem that anyone can solve by ability. But Katherine, who just took over as Washington Post, doesn't seem to want to watch the paper sell in her hands.

"An Kao, I want to try again!"

Donald Graham glanced back at his niece, with a smile on her indifferent face. He turned around and patted her on the back. As he walked to the building, he whispered, "I understand how you feel. I also know that every member of our family was frightened at the thought of being sold. To be honest, I am the same myself, but when Andy Smith came into my sight, my thoughts and feelings changed.

In the foreseeable future, I believe that the post can survive without changing everyone and maintain a certain profit, but we can't think of just surviving. Of course, I'm not saying that selling is a guarantee of success, but the chances of success are obviously greater.

I also know that many people may be afraid if they learn that our family intends to sell. When a family has a newspaper for decades, when the family's behavior in these decades is full of faith and principle in both good times and hard times, when the family becomes the leader of excellent values, when their work is so excellent, worrying about change is the only natural response.

However, since you want to try it, you should try it boldly. If you can recover the situation, the Graham family will not sell our family logo, and Andy Smith is our last option. After all, what I give Andy Smith is an explicit intention and signal, not a promise. "

"Spare wheel?"

Andy squints his eyes, taps his fingers on the leather armrest of the airplane seat and whispers in the motorcade on Washington Street.

Andy was not surprised by Donald Graham's intention to sell. Before that, he had already speculated about this possibility. It was almost impossible for the Washington Post to get rid of the decline of traditional paper media. The Graham family's idea of selling the post was also within the common sense.

However, Andy doesn't like the way and thinking of the Graham family '...

Well, it has to be said that Andy is really excited and interested in being able to buy the Washington Post, although he is not happy to be regarded as a "spare wheel".

Looking at the Washington Post, which has been changing for more than 100 years, it is far more complicated than the news ideal and the hero of resistance in the familiar story. It seems that the ideal of news has always been hanging on the top of our heads, but many factors of politics and business make the world of news and media less black and white as in movies.

Even though the Washington Post has gone into decline, it and the Los Angeles Times and the new york times are still the three most influential newspapers in the United States today. Then contact the oxsouzberg family who sticks to the New York Times and the Pulitzer family who sold the world news. It is not hard to see that in the world of journalism, there is no inheritance, only learning, inheritance and subversion.

To buy such a well-known newspaper, in a big way, it is because the media is an important force to maintain social equity and justice, and from their own considerations, it is also to consolidate the media power and the right of public opinion.Journalism plays a key role in a free society. As a local newspaper in the American capital, the post is particularly important. In particular, the brand value and core value of the Washington Post are

the first is the courage to say wait. The post always carries out news confirmation before publishing, and can't only have one source for news. Because a lot of news has a stake in real people, their reputation, their livelihood and their families.

The second is to insist that Qingshan will not relax, regardless of the cost.

Although he is greedy and has the ability to buy, but to be honest, Andy has a headache after buying so many traditional paper media. After all, the Internet has changed every factor of the news industry, shortened the cycle of news, eroded the source of income that newspapers depend on for a long time, and created new competition relations. Some news collection costs are very low or even none Cost required.

In the future, there will be no road map for traditional paper media, and it is not easy to find a good road.

This requires innovation and creation, which means Andy has the courage to let his subordinates boldly carry out new experiments. And the touchstone will be the reader, to understand what they care about, the government? Local leaders? The opening of the restaurant? Business? Charity or sports and so on, everything will work according to the readers' preferences.

However, before thinking about this, Andy felt that he should first ask his subordinates to help him acquire a building near the White House and prepare for taking over the Washington Post in advance, because this time, the Graham family only sold the Washington Post itself, not other assets of the post company. Post has some educational assets, as well as magazines and websites, such as foreign policy and slate books, which are not for sale. In addition, the post's downtown Washington headquarters is not on sale.

That is to say, in time to really take over the post, there will be an overall relocation, and Andy naturally can't let the post move too far away from the power center of the White House. As for the money, you can buy temporary office buildings whenever you have money, not to mention Andy's style. It's Andy Smith who has gone all the way to the present Days of success.

besides, now the real estate bubble in the United States is shattered, and everywhere is the sale of buildings. How cheap it is!