In the following week, Chen Zhiwen stayed at AMC and had a general understanding of all aspects.
At present, AMC does not have any new models under development. This type of medium-sized car company basically just repackages old wine in new bottles. It only needs to replace existing models every few years. But having said that, those car giants actually The same is true, most of them are like this. Only a very few projects will be completely new models. To develop a new model plus various tests and production line preparations will cost a huge amount of money. For ordinary companies, this is true. I can’t afford it, but it would be nice to have it once every ten years.
If the research and development of the turbine is successful this time, it will inevitably require a new model or a major facelift of the existing model. Relatively speaking, the money spent on developing a turbine is far behind compared to the two.
However, Chen Zhiwen doesn't care. After entering the automobile industry, this kind of expenditure is inevitable. As long as the subsequent models can be successful and open more markets, then no matter how much money was invested before, the money will be recovered. And the bigger the market, the better the company will be. The stronger the R&D capabilities will be, the more opportunities there will be for developing technologies to feed back into the market.
The strong get stronger, which is also an iron rule in the automotive industry.
After leaving a sum of funds for AMC to continue research and development, Chen Zhiwen returned to New York again, because negotiations between Morgan Stanley and Disney shareholder representatives had been completed. The final price was US$1.59 billion, and he also needed to bear a huge debt of approximately US$1.12 billion. .
This is also an inevitable cost of acquiring a large company and bearing the other party's liabilities. After all, if there is such an opportunity to acquire, it must be that the other party has been poorly managed for a long time, causing the market and shareholders to lose confidence. And a company with long-term poor management is bound to have large liabilities. of.
The total adds up to more than 2.7 billion US dollars, but it is nothing compared to Disney's huge profits in the future. Not to mention other things, in a few years, as long as Disney produces some classic animated movies, it can almost easily suppress such a huge debt. .
After obtaining Chen Zhiwen's authorization, Morgan Stanley also signed a memorandum of understanding with Disney representatives on behalf of Chen Zhiwen. Then, Morgan's people immediately moved to Washington.
In fact, Morgan's people have been communicating various conditions with the Ministry of Commerce a long time ago in order to save some time in the future. After the formal application is submitted, they will immediately get down to business.
Soon, Chen Zhiwen obtained the conditions from the U.S. Department of Commerce.
This was also his first time coming to Washington, D.C., and he stayed in a four-star hotel 2 kilometers northwest of the White House.
Anyone who knows it knows that there are generally no high-rise buildings near the ZZ Center, and naturally there are no super hotels here. In addition, all the people who come to Washington are political dignitaries. The business of five-star hotels here is not as good as that of cities such as New York and Los Angeles. .
In the hotel, Jim Hughes took a sip of coffee and said, "Mr. Chen, as you wish, I have obtained some requirements from the U.S. Department of Commerce."
"OK, please tell me." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said, this is actually a good thing. It is better to have a request than not to ask at all.
"Let me talk about another possibility first." Jim Houston paused and said, "If Mr. Chen is willing to become a U.S. citizen, then all our subsequent conditions will become very simple. It can be said that it is just a matter of going through the process."
"I will not change my nationality. I don't care about this." Chen Zhiwen shook his head and said.
"Why? You can have dual citizenship in Hong Kong and the United States, and your business in Hong Kong can still proceed normally." Jim Hughes asked: "Besides, with the current scale of Mr. Chen's assets, it is inevitable to leave Hong Kong, and with a As an American, your future investments in the United States, Europe, Asia, and even South America and Africa will be very secure. Isn’t this great? If you are considering tax issues, we at Morgan Stanley can legally help you. Are you avoiding taxes?”
"Needless to say, I have no plans at the moment." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile and shook his head. It is easy to obtain American citizenship, but it is difficult to get out. He naturally knows the benefits of becoming an American citizen, but in this way, many of his Investments outside the United States will also be controlled by the U.S. government, which is completely unnecessary.
At the same time, taxation is also one of the major issues. There are many ways to avoid tax now and even in the 1990s, but it has become more difficult after the Internet society in the 21st century. Even Swiss banks were forced to submit a large amount of banking data to the US government, not to mention other neutral However, if you are a US citizen or hold a US green card, you will have to pay global taxes at that time. Even Chen Zhiwen's investments in other places will have to pay US taxes, regardless of whether they have any relationship with the United States.
He won't do such a thankless thing. His own industry comes from some innovations of later generations, and a small amount is acquired with funds. It is naturally good to have the US government behind him, but because of this, it will lead to his future It would not be cost-effective if all the industries became American, but it would be okay for my future children. After all, some industries in the United States can only stay in the United States.
"Okay, Henry said, you don't want to." Jim Hughes did not continue to press, and said: "If this is the case, then Mr. Chen must agree to the following requirements."
"I'm listening." Chen Zhiwen said that for any large-scale acquisition, the country where it is located will put forward a lot of requirements. The same is true for mergers and acquisitions between domestic companies. Now when it comes to overseas large consortiums acquiring local companies, the requirements may be higher, which is okay. Disney is now being run by a group of wastes. Otherwise, not to mention its peak state, it is a stable period. If Disney shareholders want to acquire such a company, Disney shareholders have agreed, and the U.S. government will also find ways to make various demands, so I really have to thank the rich second generation of the Disney family who don’t know anything.
Jim Hughes said: "This is naturally an employment issue, including Disney's two parks, film department, headquarters management department and everyone else. Large-scale industry cannot occur, that is, you cannot lay off employees or deliberately lower wages. However, our For the consideration of your management, the negotiation team still persuaded the Ministry of Commerce to allow you to have 2% of the power to lay off workers, but compensation must still be paid, unless the employees have violated relevant laws."
"That's no problem. I can agree. Also, thank you very much. Allowing 2% of layoffs will be of great help to me." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.
Maintaining employment is the most important thing for any country in any era, especially when it comes to large-scale acquisitions, that is, acquisitions of companies in the United States. This requirement is often required, but for domestic companies, the US government may have looser controls.
As a foreign investor, if you want to acquire American companies and then use them to make money in the United States, ensuring employment is naturally the most basic thing. And with a 2% layoff right, although this ratio is very low, the deterrent effect is considerable. This can By removing those who want to take advantage of the acquisition period, more people can continue to maintain a normal working attitude.
"It's okay, this is what we should do." Jim Hughes said with a smile: "This restriction that does not allow large-scale layoffs is only for 3 years. After 3 years, it will be free, but there is a lifelong restriction, and that is whether Disney How about it, its headquarters must remain in the United States, and the place of registration must be the same, and priority must be given to ensuring employment in the United States. In addition, Disney is required to relist in the United States within the next 10 years and introduce at least 25% of domestic capital."
"That's okay." Chen Zhiwen agreed. Disney's popularity actually has a lot to do with its background. If we say that in the 1980s and 1990s, it only relied on a few animated movies, park income, etc. to grow into a medium-sized and large-scale company in the United States. For enterprises, it doesn’t matter whether they have an American background, but success after the 21st century will require a national team behind them.
Any giant company has a lot to do with the national power behind it. It is unlikely that a giant like Samsung will emerge in South Korea, but it will be fine if you have an American as your father. The decline of Japanese giants is actually similar. reason.
Therefore, after Disney returns to normal and its financial situation improves in a few years, Chen Zhiwen will definitely arrange for it to be listed. This will not only recover the acquisition cost spent today, but also introduce other large capital and resources to build connections for the next expansion. preparation.
But it can only be like this in the future. The current Disney shareholders are not interested in it and want to sell it immediately. Only after it has achieved certain results in the future and has huge potential can it attract truly capable people to join.
This kind of operation is very common in international acquisitions. Not everyone is 100% confident in their investment. They go public when they can and recover costs first. This is very common in the Internet industry.
"That's good, but if it goes public by then, Chen Shengke can choose Morgan Stanley as a service provider, and we can give a very big discount." Jim Hughes said with a smile, American investment banks, in addition to mediating acquisitions, Arranging for the listing of large companies is also a big business. After all, large-scale acquisitions are rare, but listing companies is very common, and the profits are very high.
Not to mention, in Chen Zhiwen’s hands, the future Disney is just one of them. Although the financial status of several existing companies is not known, from market feedback, the scale is definitely not small. If they get the exclusive rights to list these companies, Services, that’s a very big business.
However, he had asked before, and the answer he received was that he had no plans to do so for the time being.
"Are there any other requirements?" Chen Zhiwen asked again.
"One more thing, Disney has two TV stations, both of which are children's channels. You also know that TV stations are relatively sensitive things, so the Ministry of Commerce gives you two choices." Jim Hughes said: "This first one, It is to sell these two TV stations. As long as they are sold to other Americans, then there will be no problem. The second is that you will continue to control them, but any program broadcast on the TV stations must be approved by the relevant departments in advance, and the TV department must All are managed and operated by Americans born in the United States, and Chinese are not allowed to participate."
"Do advertising programs also need approval?" Chen Zhiwen asked.
"This shouldn't be necessary. Normal advertisements will suffice, mainly various animation programs. Although the children's channel will not have news programs, animations also have a certain influence." Jim Hughes said.
"Yes, but the conditions for approval must be determined before the transaction. For example, what kind of programs cannot be broadcast, everything must be recorded in paper documents, otherwise it will not be clear in the future." Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said.
Although this may be subject to certain controls, the two TV stations are very high-quality promotional resources. Their main products are electronic games, and their main customers are children. They are completely overlapping customer groups. In addition, they are Red Bull drinks or other beverages and foods. , this group is also a big customer, even Costco can promote here. Even if it has some inconvenience, it is acceptable to get such a TV station. As long as the rules are customized in advance, besides, he himself wants to settle down. I have enough money to do business in the United States, but I don’t want to mess around with other things.
"I knew you would make this choice. Without the support of Disney behind this kind of children's TV station, no one might want it if you give it away." Jim Hughes said with a smile: "There are also some requirements, which may involve capital investment. Yes, the Department of Commerce hopes that you can spend US$200 million to renovate Disneyland, and in the future, try to attract tourists from overseas to the United States to stimulate the U.S. tourism industry. However, these are not mandatory requirements, they are suggestions. .”
(End of chapter)
