บท 69: Chapter 69: Competitive Advantage
Chapter 69: Competitive Advantage
First, The Paris Commercial News had no noble background. The newspaper's owner was a businessman from Marseille who had inherited the family business, and he was the sole shareholder.
Second, the newspaper was not doing well financially. It had applied for tax extensions twice in one year, so it was likely open to the idea of being sold.
Finally, and most importantly, The Paris Commercial News had a very large printing workshop. It seemed that the owner intended to also offer printing services to other newspapers, but this venture clearly hadn't brought in much profit.
Joseph immediately decided that this was the right newspaper to buy.
To enter the publishing industry, the most direct way was to acquire an existing newspaper.
He also selected a few backup options, and by the time he finished his work, the sun was already setting.
Early the next morning, Joseph headed straight to the northern part of Paris to negotiate the purchase of The Paris Commercial News and to personally inspect the newspaper's facilities.
The neighborhood where The Paris Commercial News was located wasn't very busy, but a large building by the river with a sign reading "Paris Commercial News" was hard to miss. Even from a distance, one could hear the loud and busy noises coming from inside. Behind the building, dark waste water was constantly being discharged into the river.
Joseph first took a look around the newspaper office. The large building was the printing workshop, which housed seven printing presses. Inside, workers were busy operating the presses, pulling down long handles that pressed blank sheets of paper onto the printing plates. With another pull of the handle, a freshly printed newspaper sheet was produced.
Around them, dozens of workers hurried back and forth, adding ink, drying papers, and transporting materials, all moving with quick and practiced precision, indicating they were experienced.
After touring the warehouse and the editorial office, Joseph had a good understanding of the overall situation and was quite satisfied with what he saw. He then asked an editor to take him to the owner of the newspaper.
The editor led Joseph and his group to an office on the second floor, where a slightly overweight, middle-aged man in a dark green vest and glasses was seated. "This is Mr. Denico," the editor said.
Seeing visitors, Denico immediately stood up, smiling politely. "Welcome, esteemed gentlemen. Are you here to place an advertisement, or do you have something to print?"
Joseph, not one for small talk, got straight to the point after exchanging pleasantries. "Mr. Denico, I'm interested in purchasing your newspaper."
Denico immediately returned to his chair, waving his hands dismissively. "Go home. It's not for sale."
Seeing that Joseph didn't budge, Denico raised his voice. "Go on, or I'll have you thrown out!"
Joseph glanced at Emond, thinking about how in the movies, this would be the moment someone steps in and says, "How dare you! Do you know who this is? This is the Prince!"
But Emond clearly wasn't going to intervene.
Joseph pretended not to hear Denico and continued, "May I ask why you don't want to sell?"
Denico mumbled under his breath, "I promised my father I'd run this newspaper well."
Joseph sighed, then sat in the chair across from him, smiling. "I'm offering 150,000 livres to buy it. And you can continue managing the newspaper."
He had brought an accountant who had roughly estimated the value of the newspaper. It was worth around 120,000 to 140,000 livres, mainly due to the value of the property and the printing workshop.
Denico was taken aback. The newspaper had been losing money for over a year, and he had thought selling it for just over 100,000 livres would be fortunate. He hadn't expected such a high offer from this young man.
He hesitated but still shook his head. "No... My father asked me to..."
Joseph nodded. "160,000 livres."
"But..."
"170,000 livres, final offer."
"Paid in full?"
"Yes."
"170,000 livres... Sir, are you sure... you want to buy my newspaper?"
"Yes." Joseph gestured to the accountant, who showed Denico a bank statement proving he had 170,000 livres in the bank.
Denico stared into Joseph's eyes, confirming he wasn't joking. After struggling internally for a while, he finally slumped his shoulders, a look of resolution on his face. "Oh, alright, it's yours."
Inwardly, he thought, Dear Father, you can't blame me. He offered too much...
Joseph's lawyer immediately produced a pre-prepared contract, which both parties signed. Then the accountant and Denico headed to the bank to finalize the payment.
Given the inefficiency of banks in this era and the large sum involved, the paperwork took over two hours to process, and it would take three days for all the funds to be fully transferred.
On the way to the bank, Denico had inquired about Joseph's identity and felt like he'd hit the jackpot that day, not only securing a large sum but also making a connection with the Prince.
When he returned, his demeanor was much more respectful, and he repeatedly assured Joseph that he would manage the newspaper well for him.
Joseph encouraged him and then asked, "How has the newspaper been performing financially?"
Denico hesitated before replying, "You know, people these days prefer gossip and scandals. Newspapers like ours, which focus on liberty and ideals, have a hard time... Um, we lost 1,200 livres this year, but we did make a few hundred in profit last year."
Worried that the Prince might change his mind, he quickly added, "In fact, when business was better a few years ago, we made over 1,000 livres in profit annually."
Joseph nodded. "Then I'll pay you a salary of 1,000 livres per year, plus a 5% bonus on the newspaper's total profits."
He was buying the newspaper to win the battle of public opinion, and The Paris Commercial News would be a key asset in this fight. Tying the management's interests to the newspaper's success was essential to motivate them.
Denico could hardly believe his ears. After selling the newspaper and no longer having to worry about losses, he was surprised to be offered such a high salary!
The Prince was like a savior sent from heaven!
Overwhelmed with gratitude, Denico repeatedly vowed to do everything in his power to satisfy the Prince, to make the newspaper profitable and successful as soon as possible.
Then, to Denico's surprise, Joseph announced a 20% salary increase for the newspaper's management and core skilled workers. Denico immediately tried to dissuade him, "Your Highness, the newspaper is still losing money. It's not advisable to increase expenses so drastically."
Joseph smiled, pleased that Denico was already trying to save him money. "Don't worry. Business will improve soon. Just do as I've instructed."
Joseph didn't dwell on the salary issue but quickly moved on to more pressing matters.
"Mr. Denico, how many skilled plate engravers does the printing workshop currently have?"
At this time, newspaper printing technology was still primitive. The text was printed using movable lead type, which was relatively inexpensive.
However, all illustrations had to be printed using copperplate engraving, a technique where artisans painstakingly engraved the copper plates by hand, which were then combined with the movable type or printed separately. Because of the labor and time required, this was the most expensive part of the printing process.
Denico replied without hesitation, "Your Highness, the workshop currently has five engravers, three of whom have over ten years of experience and are quite renowned within the coppersmith guild."
Joseph nodded. "Please prepare some fine-grained chalkstone, cut into sheets the size of drawing boards, and polish one side smooth. We'll need about forty of them. Have those three experienced engravers bring them to Versailles; I have a job for them."
Chalkstone, a type of limestone, was widely used as a building material and was very inexpensive.
Denico was puzzled. "Chalkstone? Are you repairing floors?"
Joseph smiled and shook his head. "No, it's for lithographic printing."
Denico's eyes widened. "You mean, printing with stone plates?"
"Exactly."
Joseph knew that to dominate the publishing industry, high-quality content alone wouldn't be enough. He needed to tackle costs, distribution channels, and more, leaving no room for competitors to fight back.
"My newspaper will have amazing content and sell for only 1 sou, maybe even 8 deniers. Your newspaper has ordinary content and costs 4 sous. How do you plan to compete?"
And in terms of cost control, lithographic printing—or stone printing—was a powerful tool.
Thanks to cheap materials and simple, fast plate-making, lithographic printing costs only one-fifth, or even one-tenth, of what copperplate printing costs!
Another tool for reducing costs would be the cheap papermaking process using wood as the raw material. If this process could be scaled up, it would reduce paper costs by 70%. Historically, this technology even sparked a revolution in the British newspaper industry.
With these two technologies, Joseph was confident he could lower newspaper prices to less than one-fifth of the current rate and still make a profit.
Of course, the cheap papermaking process was technically demanding, and Joseph wasn't entirely confident it would work. But lithographic printing wasn't overly complex, and experienced engravers should be able to master it quickly.
Joseph then instructed Denico on several tasks to be done in the near future, such as hiring more staff, increasing ink and paper supplies, and designing a new newspaper called News and Pictures.
After making all the necessary arrangements, Joseph prepared to leave as evening approached. Before departing, he casually asked Denico, "By the way, is there a large paper mill near Paris?"
Denico immediately pointed northeast. "Yes, in Saint-Antoine. Half of the paper used in Paris comes from there, Your Highness."
(End of chapter)
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