Kowloon City District, Kowloon Tong, Broadcast Drive.
All three television stations and two radio stations in Hong Kong are located here. Since there are only five electronic media companies in total in Hong Kong, and all are clustered in this area—plus the fact that this location sits on a small hill—it is also nicknamed "Five-Station Mountain."
On the afternoon of purchasing the shares of Rediffusion Television, Lin Baicheng arrived here, standing outside the Rediffusion Television Building.
Before his arrival, Cheng Yufeng had already informed General Manager Wong Hee-chiu, so Wong brought the station's management to wait in advance.
"Let's go inside first."
Lin took a glance at the many employees in the distance looking in their direction and led the way inside.
"Is that the new owner of the TV station? He's really young…"
Many members of the management thought silently upon seeing Lin. They wondered what changes this young new boss would bring to the station.
The ordinary staff, although unaware that the company had changed ownership, could tell something major had happened—seeing the general manager and senior executives greeting Lin personally—and they knew Lin's identity must be extraordinary.
Lin first asked the station's management to wait in the conference room, while he, along with Cheng Yufeng and Wong Hee-chiu, went to Wong's office. He wanted to speak with the general manager privately first.
"Manager Wong, let's sit and talk."
Lin sat down in Wong's chair, while Wong sat opposite him, and Cheng sat to the side.
"Manager Wong, I'll skip the pleasantries. Let's get straight to the point."
He continued, "In the past, the TV station was under Rediffusion, so your news reporting had to follow their instructions, which resulted in bias in some reports. Now, I am the absolute majority shareholder of this station, and I hope my TV station will report news truthfully and fairly—standing on a neutral ground."
Looking directly at Wong, Lin said, "In future, when reporting news about Mainland China, we must maintain an objective and neutral stance. We shall neither exaggerate and praise the Mainland nor smear it. Everything should be reported truthfully based on facts. So, I want to ask—Manager Wong, do you personally hold any prejudice against the Mainland? And if the station adopts a neutral stance, are you still willing to work here?"
Since Lin had written stories about this era in his past life, he knew of Wong Hee-chiu—he knew he was highly capable in television management. If possible, he wished to keep him as general manager.
However, this depended on Wong's political stance: if Wong harbored strong anti-Mainland sentiment, Lin absolutely wouldn't employ him—no matter how capable he was. This was Lin's bottom line. He was patriotic toward China and would not hire someone with opposing beliefs.
"Mr. Lin, I wouldn't say I love the Mainland, but I definitely have no prejudice against it. I'm very willing to continue working here."
Wong replied immediately. In truth, he had no strong political leanings—he neither particularly liked nor disliked the Mainland—and certainly wouldn't let such issues affect his work.
"I'm satisfied with your abilities, Manager Wong. In that case, you will continue as the general manager."
Lin nodded. It was best this way—he wouldn't have to search for a new, capable leader.
"You're familiar with the rest of the management team—you know their views. I don't care what personal beliefs they hold, but they must never let personal bias affect their work. If anyone's stance goes against the station's greater interests, dismiss them."
"You are the one managing the station. If anything goes wrong at the strategic level, I will hold you responsible. You understand that, right?"
"You can rest assured, Mr. Lin. Everyone here is just a regular employee trying to make a living. No one cares much about politics. I'll speak with them."
Wong nodded. He did not consider this an issue—people work to earn a living; they weren't concerned with ideology.
"Good."
Lin nodded, then turned to Cheng Yufeng: "Yufeng, I currently hold 61% of the shares in Rediffusion Television. If I want to acquire the remaining shares, what do you think is the best way to do it?"
"Right now, you are already the absolute majority shareholder. The other shareholders pose no threat to your control. If you insist on fully acquiring the station, I believe the remaining shareholders would be willing to sell."
"If they refuse, you could inject new capital into the station. Then, they must either contribute capital proportionally or see their shares diluted. Usually, when the largest shareholder is determined to take full control, as long as the offer is reasonable, minority shareholders won't resist—since holding out benefits them nothing."
"However, when purchasing their shares, it's best to offer a premium. You just acquired the station—if you force them out without offering a premium, it might harm your reputation. In future acquisitions, minority shareholders elsewhere might resist you."
Cheng shared his advice.
"How much of a premium do you think is appropriate? I won't accept anything too high—otherwise, it'd be better to dilute them via capital injection."
Lin would not overpay for the remaining shares—he wasn't foolish. He simply preferred to own 100% since a television station is a core asset of a media group.
Cheng thought a moment and said, "A 20% premium should be appropriate."
"Then 20% it is. Handle this as soon as possible. If any shareholder refuses to sell or asks for an unreasonable price, tell them I will inject 50 million HKD into the station, and they'll need to contribute their proportion—or be diluted."
For now, Lin only intended to inject 50 million HKD into Rediffusion Television—mainly because cash was running low.
After spending 120 million HKD to acquire 61% of the station's shares, his company accounts had less than 300 million HKD left. He still needed 100 million HKD for the manga company in Japan—and there were many other expenses:
Yokoi's game console development costs money, the Rubik's Cube manufacturing costs money, acquiring remaining TV shares costs money, and he needed working capital.
Fortunately, with Galaxy Games' arcade machines being shipped, every batch delivered generated income—otherwise, constant spending with no revenue wouldn't be sustainable for long.