Look, we get it: modern life is tough. Finances are tight, tensions are high and trust is low. You know what we need? A revolutionary new media brand that’s going to redefine news for the 21st century – and as luck would have it, that's exactly what the “New Gen Roys” (Kendall, Shiv and Roman) have conjured up. Are you in?
Yep, Succession’s most twisted trio want to take on their estranged dad, Logan, and beat him at his own media game; something that, given their own previous failed hostile takeovers has shown, may prove to be somewhat tricky. Still, with the levels of self-confidence they so often display, why shouldn’t these nepo babies have a crack at tossing a few billion into a new online news portal, in this economy, just for the hell of it?
The Hundred – working tagline: "Know everything. No limits" – is described with lofty ambition by Kendall as “Substack-meets-Masterclass-meets-The Economist-meets-The-New Yorker”. Wait, is Roman having doubts? Oh no, he's simply blown away by it all over again. “Is it literally too good? Why has no one done this before?” What, getting experts to comment on world events in an online news setting? Roman, it's a good question.
The blueprint for this new media hellscape – I’m guessing they’ve also cracked how to sufficiently monetise their venture, right? – can also be seen in the deck for its launch in episode one, and is truly a triumph of meeja-marketing wordsoup:
“The global media startup is a digital hub delivering all the essential information to navigate the now. The world’s leading experts provide humanity’s most invaluable knowledge in bespoke, bite-sized parcels, designed to improve the lives of subscribers and the world in general. The antidote to the modern malaise of empty-caloried input-overload.”
To give them their dues, they’ve obviously done their research (read: paid someone else to do it) as they expand further on one of the slides of the deck:
“How big can it get?
- Initial audience 180 million English language ready customer base across the world hungry for stimulation, news and info
- Multi-lingual, multi-faceted growth opportunities
- Follow the growth: contagion financial model applicable
- The Hundred franchise of The Hundred: thousands of permutations of The Hundred available and scalable e.g. audio, events and dating services”
Kendall also says that he’s been hard at work collating contributors for the past few months, and explains further The Hundred’s purpose:
“An independent bespoke information hub with the hundred greatest top writers, experts and minds in every field from Israel-Palestine to A.I. to Michelin restaurants. It’s a one-stop info shop, with high-calorie info-snacks.”
We have Shiv to thank for the venture – who was “high as shit on it” after conceptualising it in Dubai, apparently – and they're about to get a round of monied potential investors to throw their money in the pot until… wait, what’s this? Oh. They’ve changed their minds. Now, the new gen want to buy the old-school publishing house Pierce Group Media, purely to fuck their dad over.
“Maybe…fuck The Hundred?” Shiv, that’s no way for the co-CEO of a high visibility execution dependent disrupter news brand to be talking. What about changing the face of the entire media landscape as we know it? Kendall, come on, surely it’s worth fighting for? “Think how funny it would be if we screwed Dad over his decades long obsession!”
And just as quickly as it was conceived, it’s vanished into the ether, and instead their quick sibling whip-around has landed them the $10 billion cash needed to close the Pierce deal. Perhaps they’ll return to their idea of The Hundred in the future? In which case, please like and subscribe for more content.
Succession continues weekly on Sky Atlantic and NOW TV.
