Chapter 505: 492 ATV's media hegemony! Swire is panicked!

After the meeting ended,

Swire Group, Peng Lizhi's office.

The HSBC representative did not leave, but was drinking coffee with Peng Lizhi in the sofa area.

"Henry (Peng Lizhi)... I must tell you an important piece of news!" The HSBC representative looked solemn.

"Hmm?" Peng Lizhi subconsciously sat up straight: "What news?"

HSBC representative: "This morning, I received a confidential internal message from other bank securities companies: Guan Zu is going to short the Swire Group."

"What?"

Peng Lizhi was shocked.

"He is that confident?"

The HSBC representative said solemnly: "On this point, please don't underestimate it... You might not be clear, but in the stock market, Guan Zu's short-selling ability is 100% profitable."

The HSBC representative introduced Guan Zu's battle record.

Then summarized: "As long as it is a company he shorts, he must have 100% certainty to deal with it... Boss Li has suffered losses at his hands many times."

Peng Lizhi: "You mean, Guan Zu really has the means to deal with Swire this time? Is this also the reason why he was so confident when he just held the meeting?"

The HSBC representative nodded: "That's right... so, you must, must be cautious."

"Although this time we at HSBC don't know how much money the other party has shorted, or how much leverage they have placed..."

"But after adding leverage, it will be at least no less than 5 billion!"

Peng Lizhi raised his glass in thanks: "Thank you very much for your reminder!"

HSBC representative: "You're welcome... Actually, I have a premonition that this Guan Zu will definitely take action against us at HSBC."

Peng Lizhi: "!!!"

The HSBC representative said seriously: "This person Guan Zu, and the Five Star Group, have too high a reputation in Hong Kong, it's really a bit incredible... And more importantly, he has mastered public opinion and has very great influence in the media industry..."

"Hong Kong shouldn't have such a powerful person existing!"

Peng Lizhi nodded: "Good, I understand, I will report to the Taipan!"

Soon,

The HSBC representative said goodbye.

Peng Lizhi pondered for a moment and called his secretary.

"Go to Cathay, lift the blacklist on the Five Star Group's senior management..."

Whether it was Guan Zu's words or the HSBC representative's words, they both made Peng Lizhi understand: Guan Zu had other ways to deal with Swire, and driving into Tang Baolin was just because of the blacklist.

If the blacklist wasn't lifted, the one getting into a car accident next time would be him, Peng Lizhi.

Secretary: "Okay, Director!"

Subsequently, Peng Lizhi walked quickly to Taipan Merlin's office and reported the news told by the HSBC representative.

After hearing the report, Merlin also began to become cautious.

The other party was using so much capital, they must have full certainty.

"Wait!"

Merlin suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

He said to Peng Lizhi: "Contact all media immediately, throw money at me. Since that Guan Zu wants to deal with Swire, he will definitely use the media first."

Peng Lizhi reacted instantly.

That's right!

Media!

Soon, he quickly called his secretary and arranged for people to contact the media.

Half an hour later,

On the media side, they received the things Guan Zu wanted the media to publish.

——The historical crimes of the Swire Company!

Trafficking of Chinese laborers!

Merlin and Peng Lizhi looked at the manuscript sent by the media in their hands, and their faces instantly turned livid.

In the 19th century, the Swire Group transported a large number of Chinese laborers to the United States and other places. Just the construction project of the Central Pacific Railroad in the United States attracted more than 15,000 Chinese laborers to participate. And the Swire Group was one of the main forces participating in the Chinese labor trade at that time.

At that time, how miserable were the Chinese laborers?

Just refer to the slave trade in Africa and you'll know.

And most of these things, Hong Kong citizens were not clear about.

They could imagine that once these materials were published, Hong Kong would definitely explode!

The Swire Group would have big trouble!

"Bang~~~~"

"This Guan Zu is simply bullying people too much!"

Merlin exploded directly, fiercely throwing the manuscript in his hand onto the table, shaking the teacup on the table, and tea splashed out a little.

Peng Lizhi's face also turned gloomy: "If these black materials are made public, the reputation of the Swire Group in Hong Kong will plummet, and the image painstakingly managed for many years will be completely destroyed!"

Hong Kong had been colonized and ruled by Great Britain since the late 19th century, and in terms of education, it naturally tried its best to whitewash itself.

And Swire's affairs naturally would not appear in textbooks, nor would they be known by citizens.

Merlin's face was gloomy: "Contact those media immediately, tell them they absolutely cannot publish these things! No matter how much money it costs, we must suppress this matter!"

Peng Lizhi nodded quickly and quickly picked up the phone to call his secretary: "Immediately contact all the media we contacted before, prohibit reporting Swire news; if necessary, give them double the price to have them suppress the manuscript!"

After hanging up the phone,

Both people in the office were very uneasy,

Merlin was angry: "This bastard actually used such low-class means to deal with us. He thinks he can bring down Swire by relying on these old things? It's simply a dream!"

"Bang~~~"

The more he spoke, the more excited he became. He walked to the wall and punched the wall fiercely, making a dull sound.

That's what he said, but he was really panicked.

"We cannot just sit and wait for death."

"Notify the media immediately, give money, no matter how much money, we must give it out, we must grasp the initiative of public opinion! And TVB!"

"Yes!"

Both of them knew that the Swire Group, which had always been as stable as Mount Tai, had a crisis.

And just as they were acting in a hurry,

That night, 19:00,

ATV News was officially broadcast.

After nearly a year of market cultivation, ATV News's ratings had basically been maintained at over 65%, and during major news, it occasionally exceeded 80%, completely crushing TVB.

What is this?

Hegemony (crossed out) power of public opinion!

At this time, the news was broadcast, and the camera focused on the news studio.

Host Wen Huixin was dressed in a capable professional suit, with her back straight, extremely professional!

She faced the camera, and with a firm and powerful voice, opened tonight's report.

"Good evening, fellow viewers, I am ATV News host Wen Huixin."

"First, reporting a piece of the latest news..."

"This afternoon, Five Star Group's Guan Zu, CITIC, Cao family, China Resources, Swire, Cathay, HSBC, and other Dragonair shareholders held a shareholders' meeting..." "After voting, Mr. Guan Zu of the Five Star Group officially became the Chairman of Dragonair, responsible for all affairs of Dragonair..."

"After the shareholders' meeting ended, Mr. Guan Zu accepted an interview with ATV,"

Then the camera turned to the footage of Guan Zu facing the interview,

"Facing the reporter's interview, Mr. Guan Zu stated: He will definitely strengthen employee training, provide citizens with five-star service, eliminate any discriminatory behavior... and truly achieve the concept of 'Dragonair is an airline belonging to the people of Hong Kong'!"

"Good!!"

New Territories, a residential building,

In a household, a family of 4 was sitting around the TV in the living room, eating dinner and watching TV.

The father was a dentist, the mother ran a small shop, and their economy could barely be considered a middle-class family.

This family had the habit of traveling abroad every year, but every time they saw flight attendants fawning over foreigners and then treating Hong Kong people coldly, this feeling of being a second-class citizen made people very uncomfortable.

"I hope Dragonair can win some face for our Hong Kong people."

!

"In the future, we won't have to worry about being discriminated against when taking a plane."

"I'm afraid that's difficult... Currently, all international routes are Cathay's, we still have to take Cathay's planes."

At this time,

On TV, Guan Zu faced the interview and released another piece of news:

"Currently, Dragonair has obtained approval documents from the Governor and the Chief Secretary, canceling the 'one route, one company' policy."

"We at Dragonair will consult with numerous international cities as soon as possible to obtain more international routes."

"In the future, Hong Kong citizens will no longer have only Cathay as an option to choose from!"

"I believe that only with competition can there be progress!"

Once this news came out,

Many citizens in Hong Kong couldn't help but look forward to it.

If Dragonair really developed international routes, they had a choice, of course they would choose Dragonair.

'Hong Kong people's own airline'!

This gimmick of Guan Zu's won a lot of favor from citizens.

After one news item was broadcast,

Wen Huixin's expression was solemn, and she began a new report.

"Citizens, next, reporting on the latest on-site situation of Hong Kong citizens' protests against Cathay Pacific."

Following her words, the screen switched to the protest site video at Swire Plaza.

Crowds surged, protesting citizens held high banners with words like "Protest Cathay's discrimination against Hong Kong people" and "Sincere apology," and angry shouts came one after another.

"Recently, because Cathay Pacific discriminated against Hong Kong passengers, it has triggered increasingly large protest activities in Hong Kong."

"But facing so many complaints and protests, although Cathay Pacific has issued 3 apology statements, it has yet to make any response to the citizens' reasonable and legal demands for mental damage compensation. Their arrogance and disregard have caused the anger of the general public to escalate continuously."

The screen returned to the protest site, and the citizens shouted in unison:

"Compensation! Compensation!"

Wen Huixin: "Cathay's disregard for the reasonable and legal demands of Hong Kong citizens also shows Cathay Pacific's arrogance towards us Hong Kong people."

"In this regard, we at ATV have also dug deep into Cathay Pacific and found the reason for its arrogance..."

Media reporting,

has always been killing without seeing blood.

No need to state it clearly, just hint at it, and it can cause citizens to have wild thoughts, and then believe it to be true.

"As everyone knows, the largest shareholder of Cathay Pacific is the Swire Group... The Swire Group is famous in Hong Kong and can be considered a super British-funded consortium."

"As of now, the Swire Group owns numerous core assets in Hong Kong. Its office building total floor area reaches 8.6 million square feet, and the total floor area of its retail property portfolio is 3.2 million square feet..."

"In the aviation sector, as the largest shareholder of Cathay Pacific, it controls important aviation resources."

"In the beverage business, Swire is one of the largest Coca-Cola bottlers in Asia and the United States."

"But!"

"Many citizens may not know that the Swire Group has a history of bad records and is too numerous to record!"

Wen Huixin's expression was indignant, and her voice was intense,

Guan Zu's instruction, she naturally had to use twelve points of effort!

At this time, the TV news screen switched to historical data photos related to the Swire Group.

In the yellowed photos, the buildings of Swire House stood eerily.

"The Swire Group participated in the sinful Chinese labor trade as early as the nineteenth century."

Following Wen Huixin's narration, the scene of the Shantou "Piglet House" appeared in the precious yellowed historical photos, with simple, dark houses, and the eyes of the imprisoned Chinese laborers full of fear and despair.

"They opened 15 'Piglet Houses' in Shantou, tricking and kidnapping countless compatriots, and transporting them like livestock to plantations and mines around the world to do hard labor."

In a tea restaurant in Hong Kong, diners were enjoying their meals, and the TV on the wall was playing ATV News.

A young office worker was originally eating wonton noodles in big mouthfuls, but when he heard this, his chopsticks stopped in mid-air, and his eyes widened.

"What? There's such a thing?"

A lady at the same table also put down the spoon in her hand, shocked and covering her mouth:

"Oh my god, Swire actually did this kind of thing?!"

"I didn't know before?"

Wen Huixin's indignant voice came out: "Chinese laborers endured disease and hunger in crowded, dirty ship cabins, with a mortality rate as high as 30% to 40%."

"After arriving at the destination, they were forced to engage in high-intensity labor in harsh environments, living a life worse than death, while the Swire Group made a fortune from it, with hands stained with the blood and tears of Chinese laborers!"

"This Swire, in order to make money, actually stopped at nothing."

"Oh my god~~"

Citizens in the tea restaurant exclaimed one after another.

On the TV screen, Wen Huixin's voice was still calm:

"Most of the Chinese laborers would be sold to the United States to become hard laborers building the Pacific Railroad. They worked in harsh environments, and many died due to overwork, disease, and accidents. Although they made huge contributions to the infrastructure construction of the United States, there are few records in history about their contributions and efforts."

The screen switched, and the scene of California railroad construction came into view. This part of the data was collected from San Francisco.

Countless Hong Kong citizens directly exploded.

Those photos were simply shocking!

"Are they still human?"

"These people are too bad, harming so many people."

Wen Huixin continued to criticize: "And nowadays, not only has Swire not reflected on the sins of those years, but Cathay Pacific, under the Swire Group, is discriminating against our Chinese passengers in its service."

"And according to the financial report released by the Swire Group, every year Swire earns more than 4 to 5 billion Hong Kong dollars in profits in Hong Kong from real estate rental income, aviation passenger and cargo transport income, beverage sales profits, etc..."

"Why?"

"Sins were monstrous in the past!"

"Now they are stepping on our Chinese people's heads again, acting domineering!"

"And they can still earn a lot of money from us Chinese!"

"Why can they, Swire, do this?"

"Are we Chinese so lowly that we can let them bully us without resisting? Do we not even have a bit of backbone?"

"We call on everyone to pay attention to this humiliating history, to understand this history of humiliation..."

"We cannot let this history be forgotten, we must let the truth be known to the world, let every citizen understand this history... and then know shame and then be brave..."

Wen Huixin's words were deafening and spread to every household in Hong Kong.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 506 =====