The Industrial Giant Reborn

"Is there a new game? Is it casual or combat?" Henry Morgan asked impatiently.

The current various games have been divided into two categories, leisure and combat. The previous game modes were mainly leisure. Until the appearance of "Space Invaders", combat games became popular.

"It's a fighting game. It's called "Tank Battle", and its playability is far better than that of "Space Invaders." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

In fact, the games before "Pac-Man" can only be said to be average, that is, they can almost monopolize the world only when they appear in the current wild era of video games. If any of these games appear a few years later, then basically There won't be any market.

But "Tank War" is different. It was a game that was popular for 20 years, until the advent of the Internet raised the threshold of the game.

Although it is not as good as Mario, it is currently the most playable game on arcade machines and future home game consoles, especially it can customize different background screens, but this is absolutely absolutely amazing. kill.

"Has the game been developed?" Henry asked.

"Basically it has come out, but there are still many areas that need to be optimized, and it should not be perfected until the middle of next year." Chen Zhiwen said. The game of "Tank War" is not difficult. It is somewhat similar to the interface of "Pac-Man", but the setting of the background, the number of tanks in each level, when and where the tanks appear, etc. need to be carefully studied. A suitable balance needs to be found.

"Okay, there is no rush. Although the effect of "Pac-Man" is not good, the whole market can last for about half a year." Henry Morgan said, although he wanted to know what kind of game Chen Zhiwen was very optimistic about. , but you can't ask too much, this is an absolute commercial secret.

"Actually, it's not too bad. We have been too successful before, and we feel bad if we drop a little bit. This kind of mentality is still unacceptable." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile. The performance of "Pac-Man" is indeed not as good as before, but it is definitely a blockbuster. Only in the United States, Midea estimates that it can earn tens of millions of dollars. In addition to markets outside the United States, 100 million dollars is not enough. Difficult, but not as good as "Space Invaders" and "Magic Cube".

Moreover, in the market of home game consoles, Pac-Man is actually a hit, because this type of game is not suitable for high-frequency consumption like arcade machines, but is suitable for home game consoles that can consume unlimited time.

"Yes, we are greedy." Henry Morgan raised his glass again: "But greed is the essence of our capitalist development."

"That's right, let's respect greed." Chen Zhiwen also raised his wine glass, earning more money can have more uses, otherwise, life would be too boring for them who already have wealth and freedom.

The layout of the gold futures has been completed, and with the addition of two backhands to ensure the safety of this investment, basically there will be no major problems. In the next few days, Chen Zhiwen went to the first Home Depot branch in Los Angeles.

The financial backer came behind, and Bernie, the entrepreneur, naturally accompanied him. After shopping around the Home Depot store, Chen Zhiwen asked, "Bernie, how many of them are purchased from Hong Kong?"

"I took the hardware tools directly from the warehouse of Costco, which should be regarded as coming from Hong Kong. For all kinds of wood boards, they are still purchased in the United States. The same is true for paints. For legal reasons, Asian Wooden boards need a lot of procedures to enter the United States, and they can’t keep up with the opening of new stores for the time being. Some fasteners are also from Xinghe Trading. As for kitchen and bathroom products such as toilets, water pipes, and faucets, they are basically from the United States or Mexico.” Bernie thought I want to say.

"That's okay, take your time. In fact, these things are basically available in Hong Kong. Even if you don't have them, as long as you have enough orders here, Xinghe Trading will also look for them in Southeast Asia, which can minimize your procurement costs." Chen Zhiwen Said.

"Materials in Hong Kong are indeed of high quality and low price. No wonder Costco can be so successful in the United States." Bernie said with a smile.

Pierce, who was on the side, said: "The purchase of materials in Hong Kong is only part of the cost reduction, and the more important thing is the optimization of transportation costs. Bernie, your Home Depot is a business model that crosses the era, but I suggest that you still give priority to it." Open a new store in a coastal city, where the population is concentrated, and the transportation of materials in Hong Kong is convenient. If you go to the inland, you need to transport the goods from the port to the inland, so some products are not cost-effective. When you grow in size, you can Learn from Costco and build your own logistics system."

"The expansion is too far away, it's still early, but you're right." Bernie nodded and said with a smile.

Pierce said: "It's not early, don't worry, with Eric's funds and cheap materials in Hong Kong, coupled with this business model, it is difficult to think about it, but the speed must be fast, gain enough experience in these two new stores Once the speed cannot keep up and someone else discovers this opportunity, it will be troublesome, just like the current Costco, where many retail companies have entered the membership warehouse supermarket.”

"That's right to think so." Bernie nodded and said. He also knows the current situation of Costco. Celtic, Sears, Wal-Mart and many supermarkets have begun to try member storage supermarkets, completely imitating Costco, but This is still a bit difficult, especially in terms of extreme cost control and scale, because the current Costco is not small.

But Home Depot is different. This kind of business logic can be seen at a glance, and there is no need to work hard to build a membership system. Anyone can easily copy it, and it does not have a scale.

"There will be no problems in a short period of time. If you don't have a large scale, you will generally not be able to attract too many investors or peers. Don't worry, the priority is summing up experience and cultivating talents. If you don't have enough funds, you can find me, whether it's financing It's okay to borrow money." Chen Zhiwen said.

It is in his best interest to develop Home Depot as soon as possible. Not only can he get hundreds of times the return after it goes public, but he can also use the supply channels to obtain more resources purchased in Asia. He values ​​it.

"Thank you, Eric." Bernie said sincerely, meeting such a high-quality investor basically has no strings attached, does not participate in management, and uses his own resources to help start-ups develop. dreamt of.

"You're welcome, this is my business too. If you succeed, so will I." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

"It's getting late, and I know a place where the steak is Wagyu beef from Japan, and the taste is very good." Pierce said.

"Okay, let's try it." Chen Zhiwen nodded. Wagyu meat is indeed very famous, and it is considered very high-end in the United States.

After the incident in the United States, Chen Zhiwen naturally returned to Hong Kong.

Nowadays, although many industries in Hong Kong have been siphoned out of a lot of cash, everyone is on the road of healthy development, and there is no problem with a little less capital. Especially Wharf and Hutchison still have a lot of land in their hands, and Hong Kong The housing price in China will not stop rising until the end of 1981, and it has remained high and fluctuated until September 1982, when it plummeted in half.

This day is still 3 years away, enough to maximize the benefits of a lot of land in hand. In addition, as long as you are brave enough, you can borrow money to develop real estate everywhere. In this area, Chen Songqing is the king.

And the history has not changed. Chen Zhiwen has heard about this rising star, who has recently become active in the real estate market, but he has not intervened. This giant scammer will deceive countless investors and banks in the next few years, but he has little involvement in the bottom-level ordinary people. People, as long as they don't deceive those low-level people who are living in difficulty, and it's none of their business, then Chen Zhiwen won't care.

Investment is risky, just bear your own responsibilities.

The time soon came to December 16, and the world's attention was attracted by the Middle East. On this day, Iran announced that it would stop exporting oil, and the global market suddenly lost 5 million barrels of daily supply.

Although 5 million barrels is a lot, it only accounts for 5% of the global oil consumption. As long as it is controlled, the impact will not be great. However, there are lessons from the first oil crisis. All developed countries and large financial groups are desperate If you buy oil, you are afraid that you will fall into a situation where there is no oil available. You must know that expensive oil is one thing, but it will cause inflation and rise in prices. Not only will it cause more serious inflation, but it will also cause huge losses in the industrial chain, and even lead to the bankruptcy or transfer of enterprises.

No one knows how long the oil shortage will last, so who dares to bet? In France in 1973, it didn't pay much attention to the first oil crisis at the beginning, and then there was no oil available, and it was so anxious that it almost drilled wells everywhere in Paris to find oil.

As a result, oil prices began to take off.

Although it is not good for the global economy, it is good news for Chen Zhiwen.

Because the outbreak of the oil crisis is one of the fundamental reasons for the rise in gold prices.

And this is also very good for Costco. Although Hong Kong will have to increase the export price of Costco due to the increase in energy and transportation costs, the comparison is relative. Compared with other supermarkets, Costco’s increase is absolute. It is the smallest, because the low SKU (supermarket commodity type) model is destined to have much lower transportation costs.

On the other hand, the reappearance of the oil crisis will once again change the living habits of ordinary people in the United States.

Before the first oil crisis in 1973, a barrel of oil was about 3-4 US dollars. After the first oil crisis, the price basically remained at around 12 US dollars, and the price of gasoline and diesel at the terminal naturally increased by three or four times. This is actually one of the big reasons why off-price supermarkets like Walmart started to take off.

Because when oil prices are low, commodity prices are also low, and many people don’t care about going to the supermarket a few more times, or even pay too much attention to commodity prices. Naturally, Wal-Mart, which opens stores in the suburbs, does not have much advantage, because people are happy to shop nearby, even in It doesn't matter if the price is a bit expensive in urban areas or neighborhoods.

However, oil prices have doubled, and many manufacturing industries in the United States have suffered serious losses. Those who lay off workers will also cut their salaries. People's travel costs have also increased several times, and supermarket prices have also increased significantly. Or the middle class will subconsciously reduce shopping or look for cheaper shopping places, so Wal-Mart took off, and now Costco also takes advantage of this.

Now that the second oil crisis has begun, in a few months, the price of oil will rise from $13 a barrel to $34, which is almost a tenfold increase compared to six years ago. Benefits are reduced and prices are rising. In the retail sector, those who can control costs will get higher returns.

Another point is that the automobile industry is about to usher in very drastic changes. As long as the income from gold futures is in hand, you can take the first step of your car dream.

On the same day, Chen Zhiwen personally made an appointment with Bao Yugang on the phone, and the two met at the Hilton Hotel the next day.

"Hello, Baosheng." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile and shook hands after seeing Bao Yugang.

"Hello, Chen Sheng." Bao Yugang was also more polite. Both of them were already at the pinnacle of the Chinese community in Hong Kong, and there was no conflict of interest, so they were naturally very kind.

"Bao Sheng, how is the acquisition of China Power's stock recently?" Chen Zhiwen asked.

"Almost 6 percentage points have been acquired, and I don't dare to acquire too quickly, otherwise the Kadoorie family will easily find out." Bao Yugang said.

"It's the same with me. The British capital is more vigilant now, for fear of becoming the next Wharf." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile. So many big British consortiums are not fools. When Hutchison was acquired at the beginning, it can also be said that Chen Zhiwen picked up a company that was about to go bankrupt. No matter how profitable Hutchison is now, no one wanted it back then, but Wharf But it was different, this was actually stolen from Jardine by Chen Zhiwen. With the lessons learned from the past, the British-funded consortium became very cautious, which also made all the Chinese capital, including Chen Zhiwen, have to be more careful.

However, it is also because Chen Zhiwen has been seeking to gather funds to buy more gold futures. Otherwise, with the funding situation in the past few years, he would have been able to attack HK Electric long ago. The value of Hong Kong Electric is indeed high, but it is far behind gold futures.

"So it's better to be the first to eat crabs. With the current economic situation in Hong Kong, if we want to acquire, we really can only spend a lot of money." Bao Yugang laughed.

"The big cost is worth it, but it's better if it's smaller or smaller. Now I have a chance." Chen Zhiwen paused and said, "Does Bao Sheng know about the things in the Middle East?"

"Of course I know. I'm in the shipping business, and I'm very sensitive about this." Bao Yugang nodded and said, "Global oil prices are going to rise sharply."

"It's not a price increase, but an oil crisis that is likely to be the same as last time." Chen Zhiwen said.

"It is possible. If this is the case, the shipping industry will be in trouble." Bao Yugang said with a sigh. Once the oil crisis breaks out, the global freight demand will immediately decrease, but it also depends on the situation. If there is a regional conflict, especially It is the Suez Canal. If it is blocked, the cargo ships bound for Europe will need to detour to Africa and South Africa. In this case, even if the economy deteriorates, the demand for cargo ships will increase exponentially.

This was the case with the first oil crisis, but I don’t know the second time. If there is no suspension of sailing, the shipping industry will enter a reprieve.

"Isn't Baosheng ready to transfer assets to land? Moreover, the shipping market is so big that even if the demand drops, it won't happen overnight. Let's discuss the two power plants." Chen Zhiwen said.

"Chen Sheng, please tell me." Bao Yugang said.

"Because of the need for environmental protection, both CLP Power and HK Electric have started to replace the new generation of fuel-fired power generation technology. This was naturally no problem before, but once the oil price rises several times, what do you think will happen?" Chen Zhiwen said.

"That will inevitably lead to an increase in costs, but in the case of rising oil prices, the two power plants can reasonably increase electricity prices." Bao Yugang said.

"So we have to find a way to suppress the rise in electricity prices. Even if we don't come forward, we can use the media and other people to come forward. After all, once the electricity price rises, no one in Hong Kong will benefit except power plants. How many people will care about it? What about rising energy prices?" Chen Zhiwen said with a faint smile.

"That's not bad. TVB belongs to Chen Sheng. It's really reasonable to pay attention to the ordinary needs of the people." Bao Yugang said with a smile.

"Of course, but the media alone is not enough. I will also let the Hong Kong Manufacturing Factory Association come forward to resist the increase in electricity prices, or only allow a part of the increase. In this way, once the oil price rises and the electricity price does not rise in time, it will be inevitable. There will be losses, and even future losses will be enough to cause the stock prices of the two power plants to plummet, as for how much they can drop, it depends on our ability." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

This is the biggest effect of the acquisition of TVB. TVB itself has average profitability, but it can provide a very good assist for brother companies.

"I understand what Chen Sheng means. When their stock prices fall, we will buy them. The effect will be much better." Bao Yugang nodded and said. Acquisitions without worrying about causing the stock price to skyrocket.

"Okay, it's still the same as before. You are in charge of CLP Power, and I am in charge of Hong Kong Electric. Don't touch the other party, so as not to cause abnormal stock prices." Chen Zhiwen said.