"AMC's technical reserves are relatively poor in many areas. I need some time to sort them out and ask the technical department for their opinions. Boss, when will you make a deal with Chrysler?" Gu Dehua thought for a while and said.
"How long do you need?" Chen Zhiwen asked. He couldn't prepare for this in advance. After all, he hadn't officially acquired AMC, and he couldn't arrange for someone to check which patents were needed. He also needed to compare whether Chrysler had similar patents, and if so. If so, there are issues such as whether the other party is willing to sell.
"It is estimated that it will take two to three months, and we will need to contact people at Chrysler later," Gu Dehua said.
"That should be no problem. Just do as you are asked. I will also need some time to negotiate with them." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.
In many previous acquisitions, Chen Zhiwen generally did not care whether he would make less money, but would strive to complete the transaction quickly, because the companies he acquired before would double or even dozens or hundreds of times in the future, including Hutchison , Wharf, the predecessor of Costco, etc.
But this time the acquisition of Chrysler's automotive terminal retail stores is a normal business transaction, so of course it will be whatever it is. Anyway, it will take some time for the oil crisis to end, and Chrysler will continue to do so during this period and even after the oil crisis ends. There will be a serious shortage of money for a period of time, and he is not the one who is anxious. It is normal for this kind of deal to be negotiated for a year and a half.
"Okay, I will arrange a team to take charge of this matter. If there is any news, I will inform you." Gu Dehua promised.
"Okay, I will leave Detroit tomorrow. I will be responsible for the development of the overseas market. On the AMC side, you need to keep an eye on it, especially the domestic cooperation plan." Chen Zhiwen continued.
"Don't worry, boss, I will definitely spread the news to the country." Gu Dehua nodded and said.
The automobile industry is the industry that Chen Zhiwen wants to get involved in most after he makes his fortune. After all, for him, wealth is just a number and does not mean much. He needs a more powerful goal to realize this dream.
Just like Samsung, the top company, also tried to make cars in the 1990s. Maybe Lee Kun-hee had the same idea at the time, but Samsung still failed. Apart from the outbreak of the financial crisis, the most fundamental reason for the failure is still not clear. Plan, I just think that as long as I build my own car, I won't worry about no sales.
This view is actually seriously wrong. The automobile industry has a very high technical content, and the technical and brand barriers formed are also very strong. It is extremely difficult for outsiders to catch up. But the most difficult thing is not the technology, but the market.
Looking back at the history of the development of the global automobile industry, the automobile giants have basically remained unchanged in recent decades. In the following decades, only South Korea's Hyundai broke into the top ten in the international market, and the other nine were basically the same. Several.
The reason for this is because these markets have basically been solidified. Even if there are changes, it will be internal fighting within the top ten giants. It is not the turn of outsiders. Only Hyundai has the support of the whole country. In addition, the United States wants to suppress Japanese cars, so Opening up its own market gave Hyundai the opportunity to rise.
Acquiring AMC, even if Chen Zhiwen has money, even if he invests a lot of profits in the technology field in the future, it will be difficult for AMC to have any chance in stable markets like Europe and the United States. At most, it can only increase sales.
Therefore, the only opportunity is other new markets, such as the newly opened mainland. This is a market with great potential, and among the global automobile giants, except Volkswagen, which is willing to try cooperation, other giants have refused. As long as you seize this opportunity, Opportunities, coupled with huge capital operations, in the future, even if it is not among the top ten, there should be a good chance of becoming a second-tier strong brand.
This opportunity can be said to be the biggest opportunity in the automotive industry in the past thirty years. The next opportunity will be electric vehicles in 40 years.
Due to the acquisition agreement, Chen Zhiwen will not make any big changes to AMC's top management. However, as the boss, there is no problem in adding people. In addition to Gu Dehua, Chen Zhiwen has also transferred hundreds of people from Hong Kong to work in personnel, finance, production workshops, technology, etc. People have been placed in the purchasing, after-sales, quality and other departments. These people do not have much power, but they have the right to review and can know a lot of things happening within the entire AMC. Every once in a while, these people will report their own experience to facilitate Chen Zhiwen, who is thousands of miles away, to understand what happened at AMC.
Although it is possible that these people will be boycotted collectively, in general, big things are unlikely to be kept hidden, and the most important financial matters will also be reviewed by a third-party agency every six months.
Another point is that even before the successful acquisition of AMC, some of AMC's employees had already been bribed by Chen Zhiwen. After all, money can lead to the gods. In the future, these people will also become Chen Zhiwen's eyes.
Under the supervision of many parties, Chen Zhiwen can leave with peace of mind. After all, if a car company does not develop well, it will become a super gold-eating beast. He still attaches great importance to internal problems, and as long as the second oil crisis is over, the entire United States The local automobile industry will have a great recovery, so that at least in the United States, AMC can survive for a long time.
After leaving Detroit, Chen Zhiwen came to New York, and naturally the person who came to greet him was his best partner: Henry Morgan.
"Eric, how does it feel to become the owner of the fourth largest automobile company in the United States and control the employment of tens of thousands of Americans?" Henry Morgan had already prepared the presidential suite of the InterContinental Hotel in New York City for Chen Zhiwen, and the two came to Sitting on the large terrace here, you can see New York's Central Park not far away. The scenery is very good.
"The pressure is huge. Tens of thousands of Americans are employed, especially in the high-paying automobile industry." Chen Zhiwen said lightly.
Henry Morgan smiled lightly and said: "Although I don't know why you want to acquire companies in the automotive industry, if you really have a way to stabilize AMC, then your investment in the United States will be very meaningful. In the United States, there are jobs You have everything, you have ZZ status, even if you are a foreigner and cannot vote, as long as you are appropriately close to some congressmen, you will have a certain self-protection effect."
"This is indeed one of my purposes for acquiring AMC." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said, "In the future, I will do my best to open up markets in Europe and Asia."
Although he pays more attention to the mainland market, it does not mean that the United States does not matter. On the contrary, he must do his best to restore the factories in the United States to normal, or even better. In this way, he can better reflect show his value.
Whether it is the electronics industry, the retail industry, or the beverage industry, the United States is the main market. If you make too much money in these three markets, if there is no certain return, problems will always arise over time, even if the backends of the retail and electronics industries will It will not work to create a lot of jobs, because after all, this is the internal economic cycle of the United States.
This is like the domestic "foreign exchange balance" policy. Although the United States does not have it, it will not work if it is too outrageous. Therefore, under appropriate circumstances, it also needs to maintain this balance. The automobile industry is a good choice, because even if the United States We are currently de-industrializing, but the automobile industry will not go there. As long as we can open up more overseas markets for AMC through investment, that will be our advantage.
In fact, many multinational companies are also complying with this kind of default policy. Japanese car brands are about to invest heavily in the United States. German BBA and Volkswagen also have factories in the United States and will also export from American factories.
"It's a very good idea. It will also be of great help to your industry in the United States." Henry Morgan nodded and said, "Our family is not involved too much in the automobile industry, but we can help with finance. For example, you If you want to acquire an auto parts company, you can come to us.”
"It's not necessary for the time being. It is impossible for the automobile industry to have the entire industry chain. No one has this ability." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile and shook his head.
"Although the entire industry chain cannot be achieved, it is still necessary to master some core parts. If AMC really grows in your hands, there will naturally be demand for this in the future." Henry Morgan said with a smile.
"Maybe, let's talk about it later." Chen Zhiwen nodded. No one knows what will happen in the future. Maybe AMC will really grow bigger and become a top car company with second-tier brands in the world.
"I have another question. It's purely a personal curiosity. Isn't AMC going to change its name? Does its A stand for American?" Henry asked curiously.
"It was recently acquired. It would be too sensitive to change the name directly. Moreover, AMC already has a great reputation in the United States. Changing the name suddenly would be tantamount to abolishing the martial arts. Let's wait until later." Chen Zhiwen replied.
AMC, the full name is "American Automobile Group". This name is generally not suitable for American companies. However, because of its long history, it is just like that. But now that it has been acquired by an outsider, it seems a bit inappropriate to use it again.
Chen Zhiwen also considered this issue and asked Gu Dehua and some American car people. They all opposed the name change, at least not so quickly, because many Americans recognize this brand. After all, even if it is far less famous than the Big Three, it still has It has been around for decades. Once the name is changed, the cost is too high and the loss is too great. For life events like buying a car, many people only look at the brand.
Even if you want to change it, you have to plan it slowly.
"That's true." Henry nodded and said: "Anyway, if you need funds, just tell me that several powerful people in our family are very optimistic about you now, and they hope to cooperate with you more in the future. Or what do you have? If you need other people to share the risk for plans that require a large amount of capital investment, you can also come to us.”
"The investment plan is too big. In addition to the retail industry in the United States, it is mainly in the mainland. Are your Morgan family willing to follow it?" Chen Zhiwen said with a smile. With larger financial investment, many of his plans will indeed be much more convenient, Henry It means that rather than wanting to give myself a loan, it is better to say that I want to know my future investment direction.
"Mainland? This shouldn't be a problem." Henry Morgan said.
"Okay, if there is any need, I will contact you." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.
"Speaking of the retail industry, Costco's first financing has been completed, so the next expansion plan will also require a lot of funds, right?" Henry Morgan asked again.
"Yes, in the next three years, there will be more radical expansion plans. In terms of funds, financing alone is not enough. Borrowing is also needed, but I need the lowest interest." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.
In a previous financing, Costco released 10% of its shares and raised US$300 million. Except for a few well-connected financing targets, most of them were given to some large investment funds in the United States, such as various types of pension funds. gold fund.
In the retail industry, the resources needed are actually ZZ. These funds have strong backgrounds, so it is most suitable to find them.
US$300 million is not a small amount. If it is just used to build a new Costco branch, it will be more than enough if the supplier can stock up on goods. However, the expansion of Costco and the store itself will not actually cost much unless you specifically choose to do so. Open a store in a luxurious location in the city center.
What actually costs the most is investment in various logistics centers, logistics fleets, large warehouses, large databases, etc.
Under such circumstances, a large amount of funds are naturally needed to expand. Especially nowadays, many large retail brands have begun to enter warehouse supermarkets, forcing Chen Zhiwen to continue to expand, because warehouse supermarkets are too exclusive and have a first-mover effect. It is also very strong. Once a place is occupied by other brands first, even Costco, which is experienced, is unlikely to ask customers who have already paid membership fees for other supermarkets to pay membership fees for itself.
"This is not a problem. In terms of interest, we will definitely give you a discount, but as you know the current situation in the United States, the range may not be very large." Henry added.
"The best deal is enough." Chen Zhiwen said. In order to suppress the inflation caused by the oil crisis, the U.S. government is desperately raising interest rates. But in fact, suppressing inflation is only one purpose. The other is to attract the return of global dollars. In this way, other countries around the world It will fall into a dollar debt crisis, especially in developing countries. Once problems arise, the economy will collapse completely.
For example, South America, the backyard of the United States, has already fallen into difficulties and is at risk of sovereign debt defaults. This is the fundamental reason why Chen Zhiwen's capital is able to purchase farms on a large scale and at low prices or hoard land there.
"Okay, I'll ask someone from JP Morgan to contact Costco about this matter." Henry Morgan smiled and said, he was just a middleman, but if the family cooperates more and more with Chen Zhiwen, he will be in the family His status is getting higher and higher.
"One more thing, I need your help." Chen Zhiwen paused and said.
"What's the matter?" said Henry Morgan.
"I need to borrow rocket technology from the United States to launch a satellite into outer space." Chen Zhiwen said.
"Launching a satellite? Is it for Asian TV stations?" Henry Morgan was stunned after hearing this and asked. As Chen Zhiwen's long-term partner, he naturally knows about Chen Zhiwen's industry. The largest TV station in Hong Kong is Chen Zhiwen's, and over the years, this TV station has been trying to cover the Chinese market in Asia and even Europe and the United States.
"No, it's Costco." Chen Zhiwen said: "Costco's current procurement, warehousing, and shipping are completely electronic. Each Costco store and warehouse has a large number of computers and servers to record all data. , but the connection between these branches still relies on land transportation of floppy disk data, which is too inefficient. In the past, it could be maintained when there were few stores and few transactions. Now the number is increasing, and more branches will be needed in the future, so I need a satellite to ensure that this data can be transmitted quickly and increase the efficiency of the entire Costco."
When the number of stores doubles, the data processed by Costco's servers may be four times larger. Logistics and transportation become more complicated. As time goes by, Costco's data processing becomes more and more confusing. This is not a technical problem. , but the data delay between various stores is too great, causing the data to be unable to be updated in time, which ultimately leads to more and more errors.
Wrong data is worse than no data at all, or using traditional methods. Therefore, Costco’s technical team can only choose to keep up with some product data in high demand. In this way, it alleviates the problem and prevents a large number of errors from being generated. , because after there is less data, data can be exchanged by phone or fax.
But this is not a long-term solution. Before the Internet became popular, satellite transmission was the simplest method, and the location of all trucks could be monitored at any time.
"Costco needs satellites to transmit data? Are you not considering leasing satellite channels?" Henry Morgan asked.
"Costco has a lot of data, and it involves very important information. We need to control it ourselves." Chen Zhiwen said.
In the original history, Wal-Mart was preparing to launch satellites in the first half of the 1980s, and Chen Zhiwen also needed it. This was a necessary step to defeat the traditional retail industry. Although the initial investment was a bit large, if all supermarket material data were digitized , the cost and time that can be saved and the efficiency that can be improved will be very amazing. As long as the cost is reduced one step further, it will be a huge blow to the traditional retail industry. Even some small supermarkets such as 711 will suffer an unprecedented impact.
It is impossible to defeat Wal-Mart, and it will even be difficult to surpass Wal-Mart in the future. However, the retail market is so big that no one can monopolize it. An early development now is a step forward.
"Well, I'll consult with satellite companies in this area and ask them to come up with a reasonable plan and quote." Henry Morgan nodded and said. Although he thought it was a bit incredible that a supermarket still needed to launch satellites, considering that he was a cooperation partner, His partner has basically made no investment mistakes over the years. He should have his own ideas. Although the cost of launching satellites is high, it is not much for Chen Zhiwen.
"If it's a launch, can only NASA do it?" Chen Zhiwen asked again.
"It should be that Europe also has launch capabilities, but judging from the data, the probability of failure is relatively high. Polar bears also exist, but they will not accept commercial launches. Taking all factors into consideration, it is safest to let NASA launch launches, but we do not If you need to worry about it, it’s better to leave it to the satellite company, they have their relationship.” Henry Morgan said with a smile.
"Okay, but you can quote a price to Europe. If it's cheaper, you can lower the price to the United States." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said. In fact, the country also has the ability to launch, but currently the country has not announced that it will undertake international launches. The commercial launch business is still in the early stages of reform after all. Rockets are not ordinary things. If he takes the initiative to find it, he may not be able to succeed easily. After all, even a hotel investment may take a year and a half, and he can't wait. Such a long time.
Moreover, Costco is an American company, and the satellite to be launched is also a geosynchronous satellite located over North America. Although space law does not stipulate that geosynchronous satellites must obtain permission from the corresponding country, since this is making money in the United States, it is better to give priority to American products. .
"Of course, but the effect may not be great. This area can be said to be a monopoly." Henry Morgan said.
"Let's take one step first and see what happens next." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.
(End of chapter)
