SOLVED. SciFi short story - men try to convince media tycoon to part with his empire in return for immortality. [s]

[Harry]

An agent goes to a media tycoon and offers him immortality in return for his media empire. This agent is short (it is specifically mentioned), immortal, and works for a shadowy organisation.

The agent shows the media tycoon how media will look in the future, short clips of news, and the media tycoon instantly understands - he sees that you will be able to manipulate people by showing them anything you want.

The agent gives the media tycoon a brief taste of immortality (through a potion?), making him feel younger. Tycoon agrees to transfer.

I think agent recommends they trick the tycoon by giving him more temporary immortality, but to his surprise the agency in fact does agree to part with full immortality for the tycoon.

[Harry]

Thanks in advance!!

[Justanotherbiblophile]

I recall a novel (maybe very long short), of a time-travel agency that was trying to recruit Hearst(?). Immortality could only be given to people who were born with the right genes. But Hearst wasn't willing to play ball (and they needed him to do the thing which would create their agency), so... hijinks ensued.

[Lou]

"Welcome to Olympus, Mr Hearst"
in Gods and Pawns

[Lou]

It's also in
The Best of Kage Baker

[Harry]

Sadly i dont think this is it - but these look like great reads so they are on the list anyway!
Thank you for trying though!

[Andy]

Lou wrote: ""Welcome to Olympus, Mr Hearst"
in Gods and Pawns"

Yeah, that's the story that leapt to mind for me.

[Andy]

Excerpt from the Kage Baker story https://books.google.com/books?id=EEl... which talks about the agents of the time travelers being quite short.

[Harry]

that link doesnt work for me - any chance you could copy some text if you have a moment? Id love this to be the one!

[Harry]

Andy wrote: "Lou wrote: ""Welcome to Olympus, Mr Hearst"
in Gods and Pawns"

Yeah, that's the story that leapt to mind for me."

sorry as above, didnt reply to you directly

[Harry]

Andy wrote: "Lou wrote: ""Welcome to Olympus, Mr Hearst"
in Gods and Pawns"

Yeah, that's the story that leapt to mind for me."

that link doesnt work for me - any chance you could copy some text if you have a moment? Id love this to be the one! Thank you.

[Andy]

The quote is "And we didn't look like a couple of immortal cyborg representatives of an all-powerful twenty-fourth century Company, anyway. I appear to be an ordinary guy, kind of dark and compact (O.K. short) and Lewis... well, he's good-looking but he's on the short side, too."

[Harry]

SOLVED. Unbelievable, thank you Andy, and to everyone else that commented with the right answer!

In the part of the short story I could read Hearst is shown TV before its invented, and drinks a potion that simulates immortality. Wont let me read any more on google books, so I'll need to buy it properly. Thank you all so much!

[Andy]

Glad to help. Thanks for coming back and letting us know we found it.