"Okay, how long will it take to demolish the hotel? Are you prepared for this?" Chen Zhiwen asked.
"Currently, the Hilton Hotel itself still has contracts with some travel agencies, and some even have contracts until half a year later. We need to cancel these contracts before we can officially close the hotel. If we want to demolish it, we need to report it to the Hong Kong government. Based on the experience of demolition of other buildings in the past, , if it’s quick, it can be over in about three months.” Li Haonan said.
"Half a year is too long. Communicate with these travel agencies and spend some money to terminate the contract, or discuss with the big hotel and transfer the contract to them. If the disassembly work is done, just follow the normal procedures." Chen Zhiwen thought. After thinking about it, he said.
The Grand Hotel currently belongs to Robert Kuok and is considered one of his group's allies. Since he doesn't open a hotel anymore, it doesn't matter if he gives these businesses to his allies. It can also speed up the construction of Hong Kong's super buildings.
"Okay, I'll contact the hotel right away." Li Haonan nodded and said.
After Li Haonan left, Chen Zhiwen arranged for Lei Shengli to be called, but he could not arrive until the afternoon.
This is also why Chen Zhiwen needs to put all company headquarters together. Although companies like Midea and Red Bull do not necessarily place their headquarters in Central, where land is a premium, later generations of Apple, Google, Alibaba, etc. also did not place their headquarters in Central. The headquarters is located in the best location in the city center. On the contrary, this may cause some inconvenience.
But for Chen Zhiwen, it is convenient for him to put several core business companies together. Otherwise, Midea's current headquarters is in Yuen Long, and it may take half a day to call someone over. As for the high housing prices, the headquarters may not be enough. Use, this is not a problem for him.
Housing prices in Hong Kong are currently at their lowest. When building a new headquarters, the bigger the better. Besides, even if one building is not enough, as long as land is acquired, there will be no shortage of office buildings in Central. It can even be built through some pedestrian bridges. Buildings that are close together are connected.
"Chen Sheng." Lei Shengli trotted over with a smile.
"Drink some water. This is the mineral water recently made by Master Kong, a subsidiary of Red Bull. It is produced in Shanghai. I sent some to Hong Kong." Chen Zhiwen said as he handed over a 500ml bottle of mineral water.
Drinking water is actually the healthiest thing. Even if it is tea, drinking too much and too strong a day is not necessarily a good thing. After all, in modern society, the human body is basically no longer lacking in nutrients. It will only cause over-nutrition or excess energy. enough problem.
As for Master Kong's various businesses, Chen Zhiwen basically didn't have much involvement. They were all decided by his team. When a company's single business scale is large enough, it will inevitably try related businesses, such as the beverage industry, to make it bigger. It will naturally spread to other beverages or mineral water fields, even Coca-Cola is the same, and Pepsi-Cola is investing heavily in the food industry.
When Red Bull invested in the Shanghai Stock Exchange, Chen Zhiwen gave an instruction to try his best to make related products in areas that are needed domestically. Anyway, with the export of Red Bull beverages, there is enough foreign exchange. According to the foreign exchange balance policy, Red Bull can also sell a large share of domestic sales. .
Mineral water is a recent business because an employee found that he could not buy water when he was traveling by train. Most people filled hot water at the train station before boarding the train. Some people who traveled far away even took it with them. Boiling a kettle and getting on the train made him discover the need. So, after returning to Shanghai, he put forward this opinion, which was also adopted by the senior management of Red Bull (Shanghai) Branch.
In this era, it cannot be said that all those who can make trains are rich, but they are most likely not poor. Master Kong’s mineral water is not very expensive, and most people on the train can still afford it. It will even be linked to the Shanghai Stock Exchange in the future. In cooperation with railway station agencies, they launched activities such as giving away mineral water when buying a ticket.
Of course, this income is actually only a small part of the Red Bull (Shanghai) branch, and it is a drop in the bucket for Chen Zhiwen. However, this shows that Red Bull is successfully entering the domestic market. As long as it persists for a few more years, The brand image can take hold.
"Thank you." Lei Shengli took the water, but did not drink it immediately. Instead, he asked, "Sheng Chen, I heard that the Hilton Hotel was taken over?"
"Yes, we have taken it and are now preparing to demolish it. Although it is a waste to demolish a five-star hotel, its location makes it more cost-effective to build an office building. Even if there is no demand for Midea's headquarters, I will still demolish it." Chen Zhiwen said .
Five-star hotels serve people who are on business or traveling. Among these people, except for a few who are really rich, most of them still care about cost-effectiveness. This has led to the fact that even if the Hilton Hotel is located in a prime location, other The price cannot double.
But office buildings at this location are fine, because office buildings in Central don’t have to worry about renting out at all. Especially after the real estate crisis is over, resources are scarce. Many global technology companies have gone bankrupt. Even those giants are worried about one day. Garage entrepreneurs will subvert themselves, but those who collect rents from buildings in central locations in Central or other big cities don’t need to consider these things at all, and their profits may not be as high as those of a few leaders in the technology industry.
This is also one of the fundamental reasons why Chen Zhiwen is obsessed with the Central Building. Even though Midea is very good in the gaming field now, with a year's profit equivalent to half of Landmark, no one knows what will happen in ten years. What will happen in the computer market? Can't make it to the top? If you delve deeply into the field of computer games, you may not necessarily be able to maintain your current advantages. History has changed too much, and the era of technology will soon come. Travelers have no absolute certainty. At most, they can rely on various memory cheats to invest in advance. Companies like Microsoft and Cisco.
"I have sent people to the United States to contact Master Bei Jinming. He is already designing the building based on the basic conditions, but it definitely needs to be seen on site." Lei Shengli said.
"Arrange my private jet to pick him up." Chen Zhiwen said without hesitation. His private jet is not strictly for his own use. Some close friends, business partners or celebrities can use it if necessary. It can also be used. Bei Jinming is not only his partner in the field of "architecture", but also the most famous Chinese architect in the world.
"Okay, then I will notify my colleagues in the United States." Lei Shengli said.
"How is the development of Mario?" Chen Zhiwen asked again. This game can be said to be Midea's biggest hit in the next five years, if not one, because it can produce multiple series and is so powerful in attracting money that it may More than all current games combined, in its original history, Nintendo relied on this game to become one of the global gaming giants. Even in the mobile Internet era, Mario's mobile games can earn hundreds of millions of dollars in profits a year.
"The basic underlying framework has been released, and the image of all the interfaces has been drafted by the art team. When the finished product is almost ready, I will hold another meeting, and then Mr. Chen, you can take a look at it." Lei Shengli said.
"Okay, let me know as soon as the plan comes out." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said. He couldn't get involved in technology, but he was still good at appearance and game rhythm. Anyway, as long as it was similar to the previous life, it would be fine.
"Okay." Lei Shengli said.
In February 1983, the Hong Kong government once again held an investment land auction and also offered some land in good locations. There were 11 pieces of land in total, but 7 of them were not auctioned, and 4 pieces of land were auctioned, and 3 pieces of land were auctioned off. He was photographed by Hutchison.
As the news spread, the real estate market became even more sluggish. Even the Hong Kong government's bidding did not include a few companies. This showed that most real estate companies were still not optimistic about the future. However, some people began to pay attention to Hutchison Whampoa. You know, in In the two or three years before September 1982, Hutchison Whampoa had not participated in any bidding. The only auction of Land King was attended by Chen Zhiwen, the boss behind it. Although he participated in the bidding of Land King, it was not successful in the end. And now that Hutchison Whampoa has begun to participate in the auction in a high-profile manner, has any information been revealed?
Hutchison Building.
"This building seems a bit old." Chen Zhiwen stood on the top floor of the Hutchison Building and said with a smile. Although it is the headquarters of Hutchison, it is still a building in the 1960s. The land price at that time was already in the 20s. It's very high, and no matter how high it is, it's not cost-effective. Nowadays, various new buildings with 40+ floors are commonly appearing near Central, which makes the buildings in the past look very short.
"The Hilton Hotel is going to be demolished. How about demolishing the Hutchison Building, Mr. Chen?" said the Zhou family with a smile.
"Midea is in urgent need of a headquarters. Hutchison Whampoa probably doesn't have this need for the time being, right?" Chen Zhiwen shook his head and said: "It's my own building anyway. It can be demolished anytime. This fund is better spent on the real estate market in Hong Kong or Japan." .”
It is definitely profitable to demolish and build a super building now, but the real estate markets in Hong Kong and Japan are currently at a low level. It is a bit inappropriate to spend more than one billion to build a super building at this time. After all, if the money is used in Hong Kong or Japan Buying property land in Japan can easily multiply several times in a few years. The same goes for building buildings in Hong Kong after making money. Although labor costs in Hong Kong will also increase, they will certainly not be as fast as the growth of the real estate market itself. .
"Okay, I'm just talking." Yang Xiao of the Zhou family said: "In recent auctions, we have won 7 office properties. According to the Hong Kong government's bidding requirements, we also need to prepare to build buildings. One of them Located in Tsim Sha Tsui, I am planning to build a 35-story new building for long-term rental collection."
"After the real estate crisis, the Hong Kong government should have conducted three auctions, right? We only won 7? I heard that there were many failed auctions. These land parcels were not very good?" Chen Zhiwen asked.
"Actually, the location is not bad. If I had enough funds, I would want more than half of it. But the problem is that the bidding of these land has attached conditions. If you buy the land, you will have to spend a lot of money to develop it. , many projects are not suitable for long-term holding, but the current market conditions are still falling. If we sell them after one year of development, we may lose money, so I just selected some projects with good positions that can be held for a long time. Later, At most, we can shoot two or three residential plots of land and provide some benefits to the employees within our group without making much money." Zhou Jiayang replied: "The land price in the market is actually not high now. I am going to spend a sum of money to directly buy it in the market. This way, if we don’t develop the acquired land, it will be fine. Our land bank at Hutchison Whampoa has also dropped significantly in the past few years, so it would be a good idea to take advantage of this period to make up for it.”
"This is okay, but the quality of the land is probably not as good as what the Hong Kong government bid for, right?" Chen Zhiwen said. In fact, by 1984, more high-quality land may be released. After all, the real estate crisis has only been in the past few months, and the big The company can still sustain itself for a while.
"It's not as good as the Hong Kong government's. The quality is naturally much better." Zhou Jiayang said.
"As far as I know, the Hong Kong government's financial revenue has begun to deteriorate recently. Without the income from land auctions, their lives are also difficult. Why don't you go talk to the Hong Kong government's Land or Finance Secretary and we can take over those failed auctions? The original price of the land auction is also acceptable, but the condition is that the Hong Kong government shall not impose other restrictions. We can hold it if we want to, and develop it if we want to develop it." Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said.
"Okay, then I'll give it a try." Zhou Jiayang nodded and said. If this can be successful, or partially successful, then Hutchison Whampoa can easily seize the opportunity of the real estate crisis and hoard medium or even high-quality land on a large scale. Some of the land that the Hong Kong government failed to auction would have definitely been popular a few years ago, but it is only because of the economic impact that it cannot be auctioned now.
"The Hong Kong government is as arrogant as the Hong Kong government. This matter is probably not that easy, but let's bring it up first." Chen Zhiwen added: "How is the acquisition of Land and Jardine's shares going?"
"In the past three months, we have secretly acquired 3% of Land shares and 4% of Jardine Matheson shares. Now we own 16.4% of Land shares." Zhou Jiayang said.
"It's enough to become a director." Chen Zhiwen smiled and said: "Keep it up, Land's current financial situation has not deteriorated on a large scale, and it is not suitable for us to start in a short period of time."
As the largest financial group in Hong Kong for almost a century, and with a large amount of investments overseas, Jardine Matheson Group has a very strong foundation. Even if Hong Kong encounters a debt crisis, it can still cope with it as long as it sells some overseas assets. The time when it really became unbearable was at the end of 1983 and the beginning of 1984. Yihe was dragged down by Land Holdings and had to slowly untie Yihe Mutual Control. This happened to be Chen Zhiwen's opportunity. By then, he would have had more opportunities. Multiple stock shares.
However, history is very different. Because of his own existence, no one knows how Jardine will operate.
"I have been secretly contacting some funds in the UK. They also have shares in Jardine Matheson and Land. If the acquisition is successful, it will increase our chances of winning." Zhou Jia Yang said with a smile.
(End of chapter)
