The Shadow of Great Britain

Chapter 1584: Chapter 16: Cultural Trust: Empire Publishing Group’s First Step (Part 3)

Arthur spoke up, and everyone couldn’t help but laugh.

Although they would not shamelessly admit their own strength, the continually growing sales figures indeed gave them great confidence deep down.

”Blackwood’s” was no longer out of reach. In this competition, ”The British” had evidently gained the upper hand. Compared to the old-fashioned classical literature, fashionable novels were indeed more popular with readers. Not to mention, ”The British” actually had a secret weapon: major works released anonymously, which significantly increased market share.

Arthur paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back: ”If we exclude the magazines’ high prices, I believe that, given the affordability, British readers would prefer buying a copy of ’The British’ over ’Blackwood’s’ for entertainment. What limits us from expanding the publishing empire into broader horizons, besides the 4 pennies stamp tax on each copy, is our printing efficiency and sales channels. As for the publishing stamp tax issue, it’s unlikely to see a breakthrough in the short term. However, the issue of printing efficiency will greatly improve once we introduce new printing machines. So, the main problem we need to focus on now is our sales channels. ’The British’ shouldn’t just remain a private publishing house, and we shouldn’t be short-sighted, merely content with being in the publishing business. We should establish our own bookstores, create our own sales network, and become a great company encompassing content production, printing manufacture, and offline sales...”

As Arthur spoke, everyone couldn’t help but swallow; such a promising future was naturally very enticing but also brought new worries.

Disraeli couldn’t help but ask, ”Arthur, I certainly agree with your views. It all sounds wonderful. However, considering our financial capacity, after purchasing new printing machines, at most we could probably only afford to launch one or two more cheap magazines. As for the bookstore you mentioned, you know how expensive properties in London are... And although I have confidence in our content, I still don’t believe ’The British’ alone could fill an entire bookstore’s inventory.”

Arthur raised his hand to signal Disraeli to stop: ”Benjamin, I understand your concerns. While we’re definitely not poor, we’re not exactly tycoons either. Therefore, to prepare for a promising future and to raise enough funds, we must make certain changes. In fact, yesterday I specifically took a trip to the Financial City and had a brief discussion with Lionel about my ideas. Lionel assured me that if ’The British’ is truly ready to transition from a private publishing house to a joint-stock company, Rothschild Bank is willing to be our listing sponsor and stock underwriter, and they would send professionals to straighten out our accounting records and main business profitability to ensure we can pass the general accounting standards review.”

”Go... public?”

The bombshell Arthur dropped instantly ignited the atmosphere in the editorial department. No one had expected Arthur to propose such a bold initiative.

The reason they hadn’t thought of this wasn’t due to a lack of imagination, but because the London Stock Exchange had never seen a publishing company’s stock.

In the 19th-century financial market, the types of companies available for stock investors were far less than those in later generations.

The stocks traded there were either manufacturing companies engaged in textile, steel, coal, and other industrial productions, or trade logistics companies focused on import and export, shipping, and railways. Besides, there were mostly financial companies engaged in banking and insurance and real estate companies involved in property development and investment. At most, there were some utility companies providing water, electricity, and gas services.

A publishing company’s listing was unheard of; even established companies like ”The Times” had never imagined such a future.

Because, in most people’s view, the publishing industry was actually a relatively cheap enterprise, with low input and low returns, not only lacking the necessity for public financing, but even if it went public, it was uncertain how much could be raised.

Thus, while Arthur’s idea was good, it might not necessarily yield any effect.

If it went public but had a lukewarm reception, it might have been better to abandon the idea from the very start.

However, what Arthur said next once again exceeded everyone’s expectations.

”I know what you’re worried about, and although ’The British’ is selling well, any industrial company fetching the output of a coal mine could have us running for ten years. When I discussed this with Lionel, we considered this issue, but Lionel’s opinion was, if we do this, we either don’t do it or go big. You might know that Rothschild holds a significant share of ’The Times,’ so if we go public this time, Lionel plans to convince his father to bundle this asset into this new public company. Moreover, he acknowledged my idea of securing the exclusive rights of newsstands at Manchester-Liverpool Railway stations and is willing to increase their investment in us, helping us secure the exclusive rights for newsstands at stations of the under-construction Great Western Railway.”

”You mean, linking our publishing business with railway construction?” Disraeli keenly grasped Arthur’s intent.

Everyone knew what the hottest project was on the London Stock Exchange at the moment, and it was railway!

Although the Manchester-Liverpool Railway had a tragic incident at the inauguration, killing former State Minister Hesketh, after fulfilling a stellar financial report of 500,000 passengers in its first year, investors no longer cared about who the locomotive actually ran over.

As a result, the stocks for the under-construction Great Western Railway rose accordingly, and investors like Arthur, who bought shares in advance, had already reaped more than fivefold returns. As the profit effect spread, those struggling to buy railway company stocks turned to purchase stocks of banks and insurance companies holding railway company shares.

In other words, in the current London Stock Exchange, if a company had anything to do with railways, its stock would take off.

While Disraeli wasn’t sure if this brand-new method of selling books, through station newsstands, could make money, he knew that as soon as the news spread, even if the newsstands couldn’t make a profit, the stock would eventually recover it.

Moreover, the Rothschild family was even willing to merge their shares of ”The Times” into the new company. Although ”The British” and ”The Times” might not be as profitable as industrial companies, in terms of reputation, not even ten industrial companies could match either one of them.

Disraeli took a deep breath and asked, ”Has the name of the public company been decided?”

Arthur picked up his teacup and took a sip: ”We’ll call it ’Imperial Publishing.’”