Reborn Tycoon Rise

Welch smiled and shook his head and said: "There is no such plan for the time being, but I hope that we can cooperate in this regard in the future!"

"How to cooperate?" Xu Zhi asked.

Welch said: "I hope that your company's factory in the mainland can produce some household appliances for General Electric."

"Sorry, Midea will not be a foundry for any company." Xu Zhi shook his head and refused.

Midea produces its own home appliances mainly because competition in this industry is fierce and profits are too low. Building factories in the mainland can reduce costs and increase its influence on the mainland.

There is no risk in the investment for Xu Zhi, a time traveler, because he knows the future and knows that there will be no problems investing in the mainland. But for many international giants, it is a very risky factor because they are afraid of investment failure due to political factors.

Welch's idea was very simple. Let the American side bear what they considered to be extremely high political risks, and then he could avoid the cumbersome management of production and manufacturing.

Welch smiled and said: "Mr. Xu, don't rush to refuse. I have another plan here. We can jointly invest in the mainland and build a large-scale manufacturing factory. We will jointly manage it. What do you think, Mr. Xu?"

"Just producing household appliances?" Xu Zhi asked.

Welch nodded and said, "Yes, although Midea and GE both have home appliance businesses, GE's main products are refrigerators and air conditioners, while Midea's main products are televisions. There is not too much competition between us. This is the basis of this collaboration.

What's more, currently more than half of the entire U.S. electrical appliance market is occupied by Japanese brands. Our enemies should be them, right? "

"I'm a little excited." Xu Zhi said with a smile. What Welch said does make sense. The electrical appliance market is so big. As long as you don't reach the top three level, it would be idiotic to treat your peers as enemies.

Throughout the 1980s, Japanese products were at their most arrogant. Toyota surpassed General Motors and became the world's largest automobile manufacturer. Japanese clothing and cotton accounted for 60% of the U.S. market. The same was true for the home appliance industry. At least half of the brands belonged to Japan. .

Even though the United States raised tariffs and forced Japanese companies to build factories in the United States, the effect was not good. It was not until the Plaza Accord and the economic rise of other parts of Asia that the matter was completely resolved.

Welch also valued the low labor costs in the mainland, but he did not dare to go directly to build large factories. In the original history, although GE had already launched trade cooperation with the mainland in 1979, real investment had to wait until year 1991.

To invest and make money in any country, even a powerful one has to bring along some local snakes. Obviously, Welch valued that Xu Zhi was Chinese, had a good relationship with the mainland government, and understood the culture of the mainland. Cooperation between the two parties was to get what they got. need.

Welch smiled and said: "This is a win-win cooperation. Our enemies are all Japanese brands. I have calculated the cost of production in the mainland. As long as the quality control is qualified, the profits for both you and me can be as high as tens of millions." Dollar."

"Cooperation is possible, but I have another request!" Xu Zhi said with a smile: "I hope General Electric can provide some patents on refrigeration compressors."

"Yes, as long as the price is right." Welch pondered for a moment and nodded in agreement. The electrical appliance market does not care about having another peer. For him, reducing production costs is the most important thing.

"Then I don't know how big the scale of this investment is?" Xu Zhi asked next.

Welch said: "Between US$5 million and US$10 million, the estimated production capacity is one million refrigerators and one million air conditioners. Except for compressors, all other supporting equipment will be placed inland.

In the future, the scale will be increased according to the situation. "

Xu Zhi frowned and asked, "This investment seems not enough, right?"

Welch said: "General Electric's home appliance factory in Washington state was officially closed at the beginning of this year. It was originally planned to be moved to Mexico. Now I have decided to ship the equipment of this factory to mainland China."

"If you use the previous production line, Mr. Welch must pay attention to one thing." Xu Zhi said with a smile: "The labor costs of workers in the mainland are very low, but the overall cultural level is not high, so the advanced production lines here in the United States may not be Suitable for mainland China.

It does not mean that it cannot be produced, but from a cost perspective, you can appropriately change the production line according to the actual situation, so as to obtain the highest profit. "

"Understood, I will negotiate this matter with the engineers." Welch nodded. He also had a technical background and later became involved in management. He also understood some of the truth.

Xu Zhi smiled and said: "In this case, I hope we can reach all this cooperation as soon as possible."

…

If you invested in the United States before 1980, it would often take a year and a half to pass the review of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.

But after 1981, President Reagan came to power and began a series of large-scale tax cuts, tax rebates, liberalization of market regulations, and attracting foreign investment, which enabled the U.S. economy to develop rapidly throughout the 1980s.

Regarding foreign investment, except for companies that affect national security, any other industry is acceptable. This is also the fundamental reason why Sony was able to annex Colombian companies in the late 1980s. Otherwise, even if Sony is willing to be taken advantage of again, the US government will pass the test. No.

Hutchison Whampoa's investment in General Electric did not cause much turmoil. It was not a company acquisition, and ordinary people did not care about it. After a week of hard work, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States agreed to this request for a shareholding.

For a consideration of US$580 million, Hutchison Whampoa acquired 3.9% of GE's equity, becoming the largest foreign shareholder in GE.

As a price for taking shares, Hutchison Whampoa gave up all the voting rights carried by the stocks, but there is another benefit. These stocks only have a one-year freezing period and can flow freely after one year. This is actually more in line with Xu Zhi The purpose of investment is just to make a quick buck anyway.

General Electric is a listed company and has received an investment of nearly US$600 million, so it naturally needs to be announced to the public. In order to increase the company's brand promotion, Welch also held a formal signing meeting at the Boston City Hall Plaza.

In front of countless reporters, Xu Zhi and Welch each signed the prepared double contracts.

Under the flash of lights, the two formally exchanged contracts, and then briefly answered some reporters' questions.

These are only apparent cooperations. In the past week, Xu Zhi and Welch have reached multi-party cooperation. Midea and General Electric will make every effort to carry out multi-faceted cooperation in the field of home appliances.

Midea can obtain a large number of GE's non-core technology patents at low cost.

General Electric can also use Xu Zhi's influence in Asia to gradually close high-cost domestic production plants in the United States and then move production operations to the mainland or other places in Asia.

The two parties will form a strategic partnership based on this cooperation to jointly compete against Japanese brands and compete for the international market.

…