"Then I will arrange for someone to do this after I return to Hong Kong. But there is still a problem. If our cooking oil is to be sold to the mainland, even if the factory is moved to the country, it may not be feasible. Foreign investors have many problems in selling domestically. Strict requirements!" Qin Zhihao said.
The oil-making company in Hong Kong is not large in scale, and it only occupies a small part of the Hong Kong market. The rest is controlled by various foreign-funded edible oils. To acquire such a small business, just let your subordinates do it.
But after the acquisition, it is not easy to sell the oil domestically. This kind of product that can be made domestically may not be welcomed even if foreign capital invests in the country. After all, the money made by domestic capital is still internal, and this kind of enterprise in this era must be the same State-owned enterprises, and foreign capital, even if their profits are lower, will convert their profits into foreign exchange and transfer them away, which is something the country does not want to see.
"In the future, we will definitely focus on the domestic market, but it won't be necessary in the early stage. The Hong Kong market may be a bit small, but we have Galaxy Trading. As long as the cost is kept low, these oils can be sold to Europe and the United States. However, it is a bit difficult. I can only say that first Maintain the business, slowly grow stronger, and then wait until the domestic market can be further opened to foreign investment!" Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said.
He doesn't plan to start this business from the domestic market right now. In just a few years, the market demand will explode immediately, because when the economy gets a little better, the demand for oil is the most urgent. Historically, Arowana was born in 1986, and then built a large-scale modern oil refinery in the country in the early 1990s, and then quickly occupied the market and became the best-selling brand in the mainland. Even in the 21st century, under the confrontation of strong competitors like COFCO , is still one of the top edible oil brands in the mainland, and has also entered other markets such as rice and noodles.
It is now 1983, which is three years earlier than in the original history. These three years are just enough time for our team to get familiar with, research and develop, expand this industry, and even continue the merger and acquisition model overseas. By the end of the 1980s, the country allowed the import of edible oil, and there was a market for it.
Moreover, he acquired farms in the West a long time ago, allowing Galaxy Trading to involve the trading of agricultural commodities. If there is another large edible oil brand, it will definitely be even more powerful. After all, the demand for edible oil for mass commodities such as soybeans and corn is very high. .
In the future, when the domestic economy improves, the demand for oil will be much greater than that of Westerners in Europe and the United States. One is because there are so many people in the country, and the other is because various domestic cooking methods consume a lot of oil. This is far beyond what a white-skinned ghost guy can steam vegetables and then sprinkle some cooking oil on them.
Of course, eating too much oil is indeed unhealthy, but Chen Zhiwen can't control this kind of thing. All he has to do is to satisfy the market, and then make the oil quality relatively high and the price relatively cost-effective.
"The soybeans of the Hong Kong refinery have always been imported from the Northeast. The quality is good and the price is OK. However, the scale is small and there are no sales channels in Europe and the United States. If we take over, and add our resources in the European and American retail markets, we should be able to Make a difference." Qin Zhihao analyzed.
"That's it. Although the scale is a bit small, you should pay attention to it. Maybe the edible oil industry and the Arowana will become one of the core businesses of the Red Bull Group." Chen Zhiwen said.
Regardless of whether it is Midea or Red Bull, if it is large enough now, it will only operate in industries with large market capacity. This is the case for functional drinks, cola, and instant noodles. Those small snacks, even if the profit is high, will basically not be done. At most, we can rely on Galaxy Trading’s channel capabilities to invest indirectly, and the edible oil industry is large enough, especially in emerging markets like China. If the edible oil is done well, there will be many industries that can expand. .
"Okay, I understand." Qin Zhihao said.
…
A few days later, Director Wei received news that the leaders of Yanjing City had agreed in principle to Chen Zhiwen's proposal to expand the size of the International Trade Center, and subsequent negotiations would be based on this.
Although it was expected, Chen Zhiwen was still a little happy. This was equivalent to adding a large central office building cluster. This kind of stable income would make other Fortune 500 companies jealous!
It was an unexpected surprise to discover the blue ocean market for edible oil. Almost any capital can enter this industry. The problem is that the market outside the mainland is already saturated. Outside the mainland, even if you spend money to grab the market, it is not cost-effective. Yes, but within the mainland, it is quite popular. If the scale of the mainland becomes larger in the future, it may be possible to go abroad in the opposite direction.
Originally, after the two events, Chen Zhiwen was ready to return to Hong Kong, but news came from Qin Zhihao that the deputy director of the CCTV department in charge of advertising hoped to meet Chen Zhiwen.
Considering the importance of CCTV in the future, Chen Zhiwen came to CCTV's headquarters building as scheduled. This is a building with more than ten floors. It may not be anything in Hong Kong, but it is also very good in China.
In fact, as Chen Zhiwen, people from CCTV should naturally come to him, but Chen Zhiwen also wanted to see what CCTV is like now, so he was more or less curious, so he asked to come.
Several jeeps were parked at the door. These are naturally the recent results of the Yanjing Jeep Factory. Over the past year or so, the Jeep Factory has successively assembled thousands of off-road vehicles, most of which were given to the military, and a small number were Stayed in Yanjing City.
With better quality and comfort, Yanjing Jeep vehicles have become what many dignitaries demand. However, the main products of Yanjing Jeep are still assembled by Caikan, limited by foreign exchange quota. It cannot be mass-produced. It will have to wait until some parts can be localized in China, which is estimated to have to wait until next year.
When Chen Zhiwen arrived, Deputy Director Lin of CCTV came to the door to greet him: "Mr. Chen, I have admired your name for a long time. I am honored to meet you today."
"You're welcome, Deputy Director Lin." Chen Zhiwen also shook his hand politely and said. CCTV’s status in the country may not be very strong now, but it will be completely different in a few years, and its influence will increase exponentially. Especially an ordinary advertisement will have a huge impact on a product. Yes, Chen Zhiwen intends to build the mainland into a base for his own products, so he naturally needs to make good friends with organizations like CCTV.
"Please, we are ready upstairs." Deputy Director Lin said with a smile.
"Okay." Chen Zhiwen nodded and walked forward with Deputy Director Lin. There is also an elevator here, which is rare in mainland buildings and is imported.
After arriving on the 13th floor, several people entered a conference room. Chen Zhiwen took a look through the glass and felt that half of Yanjing was now in front of him. It was different from Shanghai. There were many buildings in Shanghai during the Republic of China. , although generally only a few tens of meters high, there are relatively many of them, and there are relatively few in Yanjing City. If you can build your own International Trade Center, you will probably be able to see the entire Yanjing city from the top.
"Mr. Chen, please have some tea." An assistant brought several cups of tea and handed them to everyone sitting down.
"Thank you." Chen Zhiwen said, and then took a sip. It was a little bitter, but the taste was pretty good.
In addition to Chen Zhiwen and Qin Zhihao, the other people present were several leaders in charge of advertising business at CCTV. After everyone chatted casually for a while, they got down to business.
"Mr. Chen, I heard from Mr. Qin that you are planning to buy the rights to our advertising for the next 20 years. We want to know first, what kind of advertising will you have if we cooperate like this?" Deputy Director Lin asked road.
"It's the products of various companies under my umbrella, such as Midea's home appliances, electronic products, computers, or several beverages under Red Bull, or some civilian products." Chen Zhiwen said. Qin Zhihao's negotiation with CCTV a few days ago naturally raised the demand at the beginning, directly asking for 20 years. Anyone would be suspicious of such an unusual request, but Qin Zhihao's identity is still relatively important, and CCTV cannot refuse it directly. , after several communications, there was today’s meeting in which Chen Zhiwen personally appeared.
"But why 20 years? Isn't this too long? I also understand some of the business methods of Western TV stations, but they don't have such a long-term advertising contract, right?" Deputy Director Lin asked incomprehensively.
If the other party were not a super rich man in Hong Kong and had invested a lot of money in China, he would have thrown this kind of request into the trash can long ago. But the current domestic situation requires all departments, regardless of internal or external business, to Looking for ways to earn foreign exchange, CCTV, as the largest TV station in the country, is also a functional department, so it naturally has indicators.
Faced with the temptation of foreign exchange, it is not easy for them to give up directly, otherwise it will be difficult to say whether they are right or wrong if their superiors find out.
"The main reason is that I am optimistic about the domestic economy. If the domestic people's economic conditions improve, they will naturally buy TV sets, and then CCTV will inevitably become the object of watching by everyone across the country. I just want to buy a longer contract, which will facilitate our group's future operations." Continuous domestic investment." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.
"But with such a long-term contract, we don't know what changes will happen in the future. Isn't it a bit too hasty to just settle it now? How about we sign it for five years?" Deputy Director Lin felt that Chen Zhiwen's words were a bit too much. It makes sense, but it doesn't seem to be enough.
"Five years is too short, at least ten years, and I ask that we have priority to renew the contract." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile: "Priority is also relatively common in foreign cooperation. Its simplest logic is, That is, if the price I offer is the same as others, then I need to continue to cooperate. If the price offered by others is higher than mine, the renewal of the contract will be invalid, and we will still use US dollars to settle the bill. What does Director Lin think?"
Setting a long-term contract with CCTV does not mean taking advantage of the current low price of CCTV advertisements and then setting the price for several years at a time. Chen Zhiwen will not do such outrageous things to take advantage of. First of all, he is not a fool. , No contract will set the price 20 years later 20 years ago. Secondly, even if it is really signed, there will be huge conflicts in the future.
It is obviously not cost-effective to conflict with a future authority such as CCTV because of this small profit. Even in 20 years, CCTV's advertising fees may be very expensive for the country. In prime time, they may be as high as thousands. Ten thousand yuan, but to Chen Zhiwen at that time, it was just a drop in the bucket.
What he values is that once the position is decided, this position will belong to him. Otherwise, various advertisements on core TV stations cannot be bought with money, especially after more than ten years, with the rise of domestic enterprises, he No matter how good the relationship is, it may not be as good as the sum of so many people.
But if there is a contract and it is signed very early, then even if these people have strong connections, they should not take the initiative to offend him, and Chen Zhiwen will not do anything. At most, he will only get a small part of CCTV's advertising space. Because there are too many, it is of no use. Only a small part is enough for his industry.
"Priority? In that case, it's okay." Deputy Director Lin nodded and said. In fact, CCTV's bottom line is that 20 years is too long, but considering the identity of the other party and the payment in US dollars, it still has to fight for it.
Signing a 10-year contract at one time and delivering it in US dollars is still acceptable to Taiwan. After all, having US dollars is the most important thing. And after 10 years, everyone will compete fairly, which sounds very good. If If Chen Zhiwen is still very generous here, then CCTV will naturally be willing to cooperate.
It's just that having to cooperate and being able to cooperate are two different concepts, and CCTV will naturally pay attention to them.
"Okay, let's discuss the advertising time next." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.
After an hour of negotiation, Chen Zhiwen got almost 30 minutes of advertising rights, which were scattered before and after the news network, before and after the 9 o'clock TV series, before and after the noon news time, etc. There was still a 10-minute gap. Overall, it was still Not bad.
However, the starting time is not now, but the year after tomorrow, because it was only in 1985 that China began to relax its restrictions on foreign-invested products, and then it will be the time for itself to compete with others.
Of course, the main purpose of CCTV is foreign exchange, and Chen Zhiwen readily gave a deposit of US$3.5 million, allowing CCTV to complete some of its foreign exchange tasks.
After successfully completing this small matter, Chen Zhiwen and others, led by Deputy Director Lin, walked around the CCTV headquarters and prepared to leave. However, suddenly, they saw an acquaintance - Liu Xiaoli.
(End of chapter)
