Hong Kong, Kai Tak Airport:
In less than ten days, Chen Zhiwen came to the airport to pick up someone again. The last time was the world-famous architect Pei Jinming. But this time, in terms of respect, he was far less respected than Master Pei, but his importance was even greater. powerful.
After a while, Chen Zhiwen saw an acquaintance. It was Joey, the professional investment manager he had previously cooperated with Citibank. There were also several white people around him, but anyone could tell at a glance that they were definitely not his colleagues.
The people behind them are tall and strong, with muscular arms, strong bodies, and bronze skin. The first impression gives people that they are military personnel. Although they seem to walk casually, they always distinguish one who is slightly shorter. The man is wrapped in the middle.
"Hi, Joey." Seeing them approaching, Chen Zhiwen said with a smile and waved.
"Eric, long time no see." Joey quickly walked in, smiled and shook hands and said, "This is Mr. Henry Morgan I was talking about on the phone. Mr. Morgan, this is Mr. Eric Chen."
"Hello, Mr. Morgan." Chen Zhiwen said very formally.
As early as 3 days ago, he received a notice from Joey, saying that a distinguished person wanted to come to Hong Kong to discuss possible cooperation with him. Later, through the phone call arranged by Angel, he learned that the person's name was Henry. .Morgan.
He is not very famous, nor does he have any special industry. His dignity lies in his last name: Morgan.
From subsequent phone calls, we learned that Henry Morgan, who went to Hong Kong, was a member of the Morgan family and had a certain status in the U.S. banking industry.
Such a person was exactly the person Chen Zhiwen needed to cooperate with, so he naturally attached great importance to it, so he once again came to Qi's airport to personally pick him up.
"Mr. Morgan, this title is too common in my family, please call me Henry." Henry Morgan also shook hands and said with a polite smile: "If you don't mind, can I call you Eric? "
"Of course, Henry." Chen Zhiwen was also very happy. Western names and surnames are different from Chinese. In the Chinese world, people who can be called by names are usually very close people. But there is a slight gap in Europe and the United States. Many people like to keep it simple. Just call them by name.
"Okay, Eric, I'm very happy to meet a young business talent like you. What our Morgan family likes most is to cooperate with business geniuses like you." Henry Morgan said with a smile.
"I'm also very happy to be able to cooperate with the Morgan family." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.
A hundred years ago, the entire United States was controlled by several major families. These families controlled the oil, finance, steel, trains, rubber, automobiles, mining and other fields in the United States, and almost controlled the entire U.S. politics and economy. Subsequently, as a result, several It was only through the president's efforts that these monopoly giants were broken up.
But splitting up and eliminating are completely different things. Splitting up only dismantled the trust monopoly, but the assets, connections, and resources of these families did not disappear. Instead, they all disappeared. Taking this opportunity, these families faded out of the media's sight. But it still controls many economic lifelines.
Among the former trust monopoly giants, the only two most powerful ones were the Rockefeller family, which monopolized oil, and the Morgan family, which monopolized finance. Other steel, railways, and automobiles were just foils to these two.
After the Rockefeller family's Standard Oil was dismantled, it became 34 independent oil companies. The seven strongest among them evolved into the Seven Oil Sisters who control half of the world's oil.
Although the Morgan family at the same level suffered a certain blow in the 1929 economic crisis, a skinny camel is bigger than a horse. In today's United States, many banks are behind the Morgan family, although they cannot be said to belong to them. Although the family has a certain influence, Morgan Stanley, which is directly controlled by Morgan Stanley, is one of the top ten investment banks in the world.
"This is my first time coming to Hong Kong." Henry Morgan and Chen Zhiwen walked out side by side, looking at the scene in the distance and said: "But it seems to be much better here than I imagined."
"Compared with New York, there is still some gap, but compared with ordinary American cities, it is more than enough." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile. Today, Hong Kong has a certain reputation internationally, but it is also because there are only a few big cities in Asia that stand out from the crowd, and they are far behind New York and London.
"Before this, I had only heard of the name of Jardine Matheson Group occasionally. Their company has many businesses in Australia and South Asia, some of which have some cooperation with my family's business." Henry Morgan said.
"Jardine Matheson is one of the largest financial groups in Hong Kong." Chen Zhiwen explained that in Hong Kong, Jardine Matheson and HSBC are indeed well-known, but in the United States, they are really nothing.
"I also heard that Eric, you also forcibly acquired another large foreign bank in Hong Kong a few months ago, similar to Jardine Matheson?" Henry Morgan seemed to be a little interested.
"It can be said that although they are both one of the four major foreign banks, the Hutchison I acquired is still quite different from Jardine Matheson." Chen Zhiwen replied with a smile.
When a few people walked to the airport VIP parking lot, a stretched Lincoln was already parked here waiting.
"Eric, do you want to take my car?" Henry Morgan extended the invitation and said with a smile.
"Okay, this is my first time taking such a long car." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.
People like Henry Morgan were fully prepared for their travels and airlifted his car to the destination in advance. This kind of "trench" is worth learning from Chen Zhiwen in the future.
The interior of the Lincoln limousine is very luxurious. On one side is a full-length sofa, on the opposite side is a row of wooden tables with various drinks. There is also a small refrigerator on the side, and there is also a 25-inch refrigerator hanging under the roof. The color TV set also came out with these two wires, leading to two microphones.
Inside the car body, there are small lights of various colors, slowly rotating, and various lights constantly exchanging in the air, making it look like a small KTV.
"How's it going? Is my car modified well?" Henry Morgan handed over a bottle of red wine and asked with a smile.
"Very good." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said, which reminded him of the ideal car 50 years later. Except for the technology, the luxury of this car far exceeded the ideal.
"If you like it, I will introduce you to a special modification company that is very good at interior decoration. Or if you want to buy cruise ship decoration, you can also find them." Henry Morgan said with a smile.
"Okay, it's quite useful for a cruise ship." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.
Along the way, the two casually chatted about their experiences without formally entering into business topics. Soon, the car arrived at the Prince's Building, the headquarters of Galaxy Group.
After some introduction, the two came to a reception room in the southeast corner. An Qi also made coffee for them, and then left, leaving only the two of them.
"Eric, you should know the purpose of my coming to Hong Kong." Henry Morgan said after taking a sip of coffee: "A month ago, by chance, I went to Los Angeles on a business trip. I was bored that night, so I went to a nearby I went to a bar and found many young people gathered around a machine, playing non-stop. I watched it for a while, but within ten minutes I became interested in Eric's arcade game Snake.
That night, I bought the arcade machine from the bar and had it delivered to the hotel. That night, I played until midnight. If there hadn't been a meeting the next day, I would have had to play all night. I have to say, this The game is very interesting. "
"Indeed, it is very interesting, which is why it is successful." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.
As a soul from 50 years later, for him, a game like Snake is good to play when you are bored, but it is too boring to play continuously. But for others, it seems like an addiction. Many people will keep playing for a long time, unable to let go, and their fingers will even cramp the next day.
"So after the meeting the next day, I immediately arranged for someone to check the information in this area and found out that this thing was originally called an arcade machine and was created by an American company called Atari. So, I went to play it too. I’ve chosen Atari’s games, but compared to your Snake, I always feel it’s a lot worse. This is not just me, the data I’ve collected shows that in bars, a large number of people will also choose Snake.” Henry Morgan said: "Then I sent people to investigate and found out that Snake came from Hong Kong. I also knew that there are business wizards like you in the world, Eric, who have made great achievements in the fields of beverages and electronics. Very high results, to be honest, there are few people in this world that I admire, and you are one of them, Eric."
"It's a great honor." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile. It felt like he was flattering himself and making himself feel good. Then he would be able to follow the other party's wishes when negotiating later.
"After investigation, I also found that Snake Arcade has not exerted its due commercial capabilities. It is only available in bars in some medium and large cities. Although these cities have stronger economies, in terms of population, they are not It may not be as good as the larger number of small and medium-sized cities, and your sales channel seems to be only bars. In the United States, although there are many people going to bars, there are not many people who go there regularly. If you only rely on them, you will miss out. Too many other customers,” Henry Morgan said with a smile.
"It is true that bars are not everything, but they are also the best choice. Arcade machines are too expensive and must be placed in places with a large number of people." Chen Zhiwen said.
Game consoles of later generations are everywhere, even in small supermarkets and gas stations, but it is absolutely not feasible now. The most fundamental reason is that the current chips are too expensive, and dozens of them are needed to be able to execute the game interface. The cost of chips and arcade machines is too high. If they are placed in a small supermarket, they will not be able to make back their money in decades. Only places with a very large flow of people like bars are normal business models.
"But in the United States, there are many places with large crowds." Henry Morgan said calmly: "For example, airports, large shopping malls, subway stations, and schools."
"School?" Chen Zhiwen was moved and asked, "Can you send arcade machines to school?"
In fact, Chen Zhiwen also knows some of the weaknesses of bars, but places such as airports, shopping malls, and subway stations are not places that he, a foreigner, can directly contact. Before finding a suitable partner, his main target is still bars, and even the most unlucky places are bars. If you can’t handle a bar with any social skills, how can you handle anything else?
As for the school, Chen Zhiwen naturally knew that it was the biggest treasure. The school had a large and stable crowd, which was much better than coming and going in a bar. At the same time, this group had the least resistance to games and was the best fertilizer. sheep.
When he was thinking about what kind of partners he needed to find, his requirement was to be able to deliver arcade machines to various shopping malls, a few airport waiting rooms, etc., but he never thought about schools because this is very difficult.
But if it can really be done, it will gain a very large market.
(End of chapter)
