Chapter 122 Birthday Party

As for the private equity fund Mars Fund under DS Capital, the 50 million pounds raised previously had already been invested in long positions in international crude oil and gold.

There was no way. As a newly established private equity fund, it had no previous track record, and neither Barron nor Daisy, who were in charge of the fund, had much exposure to investment before. Even DS Capital's previous investments had yielded astonishing returns, but the larger the funds, the more they focused on sustained and stable profits.

Therefore, the ability to raise $50 million in funds in the initial stage was largely due to Barron's own factors.

Only when the Mars Fund can conquer investors with its profitability can it start to scale up to a higher level.

…

"Happy birthday, darling, this is a gift for you."

I took the beautifully packaged box that Bonnie handed over. From the Vacheron Constantin logo on the box, I could guess that it contained a watch. Sure enough, it was very beautiful.

"Thank you, babe, I love it."

At that moment, Barron gave Bonnie a hug and kiss, then took off the watch on his hand and replaced it with the one Bonnie gave him, which was a perfect fit.

October 18th was Barron's birthday, and it happened that the interior decoration of his villa in Kensington had been completed - after all, it was only a partial renovation, mainly redecorating the soft furnishings, so the speed was still very fast.

So he decided to move back from the Devonshire Hotel and hold a birthday party there.

The party was not too high-profile. Barron only invited friends who were familiar to him, including the Butts, Yulia, Daisy, and the Camerons. Well, the two princes also returned to London specifically to attend Barron's birthday party.

After buying the house next door, the entire villa became much larger and the hall was also expanded.

The decoration style of the entire villa is still the traditional British style, but it does not look as magnificent as Chatsworth House, and it focuses more on elegance.

"William, I saw the report that you have a new girlfriend..."

When he saw the two princes, Barron smiled and said to William.

"Yes, Barron. I wanted to bring her here today, but something happened at home, so I changed my plan. I'll introduce her to you when I have the chance."

William said to Barron very familiarly.

But his words made Barron's eyes flash with an imperceptible look of interest.

If my guess is correct, Miss Cather probably just made up this excuse.

After all, given Barron's current popularity in the UK, it's hard to believe that the other party didn't know what he looked like when he heard Prince William mention him.

My current boyfriend wants to take me to a friend's birthday party, and his friend has once "encountered me" before. This kind of embarrassing situation must be avoided...

"Today is an important day, we should celebrate it properly. I brought the best red wine from my collection, I believe you will like it."

Ian Booth was still as enthusiastic as ever, but after learning about his special "hobbies", Barron felt a little uncomfortable with his embrace, which was a little too enthusiastic for an Englishman.

Catching a look of amusement in the eyes of the Viscountess beside Viscount Bute, Barron broke away from Ian Bute without making a sound and said to the Viscountess:

"Ma'am, you are getting more and more beautiful."

As he spoke, he gave her a warm hug. Well, I have to say that the Viscountess's figure is indeed very good... and I mean it literally.

There was no hand kiss, but instead a direct and intimate hug. This surprised Chris, who had been looking forward to the show, a little.

She gave Barron an angry look from a position where Viscount Bute's view was blocked.

Fortunately, it seemed that Viscount Butt did not notice anything, and walked into the hall with Barron with a normal expression.

After all, those who attended Barron's birthday party were all people of status, and they would not play as wildly as young people.

During the process of making wishes, cutting cake and dinner, there was more small talk.

Just like with the Camerons, Cameron talked to Barron about his recent cooperation with the BBC to win the terrestrial digital television license for ITV Digital.

"Sky TV is a strong competitor, Your Highness, Murdoch's influence in Britain is growing, and he can often influence public opinion."

Just as Cameron said, this is also what many people are afraid of, but behind Murdoch, there is also the shadow of America - to be honest, some British companies are not competitive enough. Even the BBC, in its competition with Sky TV, often needs to rely on the support of certain policies.

Cameron is also deeply aware of Murdoch's influence on public opinion. Just like the current Prime Minister, when he initially won the election, it was thanks to the support of News Corporation's media. It is no wonder that he would return the favor on some matters.

"Indeed, Mr. Cameron, BSkyB Digital is a great rival to our promotion of terrestrial digital television, but it seems that the BBC needs to bear more pressure. Having said that, our Premier League's single qualification for television broadcasting rights makes it difficult for us to compete for users. I think the FA should be forced to open up more Premier League broadcasting quotas!"

In 1992, Sky TV beat ITV to buy the domestic rights to the Premier League for five years at a high price of £305 million.

The Premier League had just been born at that time, and no one could predict what this huge investment would bring.

Back then, no one in the UK paid to watch TV. Every household watched free open-air TV. Sky Sports was able to succeed with its pay channel plan thanks to its exclusive broadcasting rights for the Premier League.

A year later, Sky TV went from being a mess with annual losses of more than 40 million pounds to a television empire with profits of 67 million pounds.

In the nearly five years since then, the Premier League has become more and more exciting, and Sky Sports has added rugby, cricket and golf in addition to football, so people have gradually changed their attitudes and started to buy Sky's services.

As Murdoch's assistant Holcim once recalled: There were so many customers ordering Premier League program packages that the sports channel's office received several sacks of checks every day.

After tasting the sweetness, Sky TV firmly cooperated with the Premier League. In the next round of five-year copyright competition in 1997, they paid the Premier League 670 million pounds...

This time, the exclusive broadcasting rights of the Premier League will expire this year.

Barron knew that according to his memory from his previous life, Sky TV would offer a whopping price of 1.024 billion pounds for the exclusive broadcasting rights for the next round of Premier League starting next year!

At this time, it can be said that no one in the whole of England can compete with such a bid.

In a competition of financial power, Sky TV will definitely win all the time...

This is also the reason why Barron complained about Cameron like this.