Taking Back Control

Chapter 58 The Storm

In London, workers are busy setting up a podium in the lobby of HPC headquarters. They gathered the press in the lobby, waiting to hear about the changes happening in HPC. Rumors have been flying since the engagement between Logan Huntzberger and Odette Roitfeld ended, and Mitchum Huntzberger left the company. The news media was reporting concern that with the leadership of Mitchum Huntzberger, jobs and revenue from the news company would be lost stock value of HPC would drop. And it would disrupt the news services in the UK and the US because there would sell companies.

He was standing beside his grandfather, his Uncle Alec, and the lawyers, off to the right waiting for his PA Carson to give him the single to walk out to the podium. Nervously, Logan glanced down at his watch. In ten minutes, he would announce the changes that would occur under his leadership. Carson nodded, and Logan walked out towards the podium, where flashes of lights from the camera gave him a moment of blindness. He stood quietly, waiting for the room to settle down as his grandfather, Elias Huntzberger, his uncle Alec Ward, and their lawyers lined up behind him.

Logan lifted his head and looked at the teleprompter that Carson had set up.

"Hello, I am Logan Huntzberger the new CEO and publisher of HPC. As many of you have heard, my father Mitchum Huntzberger, recently retired as the CEO and publisher of HPC. I would like to take this time to introduce my uncle, Alec Ward, president of Silicon Valley Publishing and Streamline Media Limited."

Alec stood beside his nephew, solemnly looking at the press.

"After meeting with my grandfather, Elias Huntzberger, founder of HPC, we made a group decision to merge the two companies with our company, allowing us to open the doors to competition in both the digital and Media networks. By merging of the companies, we will become more competitive in both the digital and Media including the new Streamline Media network that competes with Netflix. Our plan is to create a new publishing company called, Huntzberger Publishing News & Media Group or HPN&M, which will have two divisions, the newest division will be Ventures."

The audience could hear a buzz from the reporters in the room. One reporter raised his hand to ask a question. Logan recognized him as an American reporter.

"Mr. Huntzberger, Tom Wilkins from the Times. Why wasn't this done before?"

"Under the leadership of my father, he convinced the board that he was in control of the whole company and didn't want to expand or move forward. Our company lost a lot of revenue and had to sell many newspapers and smaller companies in the US. We lost customers by not investing in the digital world, causing a decline in our sales for the past seven years.,

After lengthy discussions with my grandfather, Alec agreed to merge his company, be the CFO of HPN&M and run the new division, Ventures. We have identified and implemented new opportunities by leveraging the company's core strengths."

Another reporter from a US paper asked, "Mr. Ward, how does this affect your company or other companies that HSP owns in the US and Europe? Will you be closing your company?"

Alec leaned into the microphone to answer the question as Logan moved aside.

"I want to assure everyone that you will see an increase in employment both here and in the US under our new company. As Logan mentioned, by merging my company with Huntzberger Publishing we will now be able to become competitive with both the Washington Post and the Times. We will have two branches of the companies, one based here in London and one based in Hartford Connecticut."

Logan stepped forward and continued, "I along with my Uncle Alec Ward, will commute between the US and the UK to have meetings with the Vice Presidents of the two divisions. "