The Industrial Giant Reborn

"AMC's technical reserves in many fields are relatively poor. I need some time to sort it out, and I also need to ask the technical department for advice. I wonder when you will make a deal with Chrysler?" Gu Dehua thought for a while and said.

"How long will it take you?" Chen Zhiwen asked back. He couldn't prepare for this matter in advance. After all, he didn't formally acquire AMC, and he couldn't arrange for someone to check which patents he needed. He also needed to compare whether Chrysler had similar patents, and if there were any. If so, the other party is willing to sell and other issues.

"It will probably take two to three months, and we will need to contact the people at Chrysler later on," Gu Dehua said.

"That shouldn't be a problem. You just need to do things as required. I will need some time to negotiate with them." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

In many previous acquisitions, Chen Zhiwen generally didn't care much about making less money, but would try to complete the transaction quickly, because the companies he acquired before would double or even multiply dozens or even hundreds of times in the future, including Hutchison , Wharf, the predecessor of Costco and so on.

But this acquisition of Chrysler's automobile terminal retail store is a normal commercial transaction, so naturally it will be whatever it is. Anyway, the oil crisis will take some time to end, and Chrysler will He will be seriously short of money for a period of time, and he is not the one who is in a hurry. It is normal for this kind of transaction to be negotiated for a year or so.

"Well, I will arrange a team to take charge of this matter, and I will let you know if there is any news." Gu Dehua promised.

"Okay, I'm leaving Detroit tomorrow. I'll be in charge of the development of the overseas market. You need to focus on the AMC side, especially the domestic cooperation plan." Chen Zhiwen continued.

"Don't worry, boss, I will definitely spread the news to the domestic side." Gu Dehua nodded and said.

The automobile industry is the industry that Chen Zhiwen most wants to get involved in after he made his fortune. After all, to him, wealth and the like are just numbers and don't have much meaning. He needs a stronger goal to realize this dream.

Just like the pinnacle of Samsung, it also tried to make a car in the 1990s. Maybe Li Kunxi had the same idea as him at that time, but Samsung still failed. Apart from the outbreak of the financial crisis, the most fundamental reason for the failure is still not a complete one. plan, only thinking that as long as his own car is built, there will be no market.

This point of view is actually seriously wrong. The technology content of the automobile industry is very high, and the technical and brand barriers formed are also very strong. It is as difficult as the sky for laymen to catch up. But the most difficult thing is not the technology, but the market.

Looking back at the history of the development of the entire global auto industry, the auto giants have basically remained unchanged in recent decades, and in the following decades, only Hyundai of Korea has rushed into the top ten in the international market, and the other nine are basically those. several.

The reason for this is that these markets have basically been solidified. Even if there is a change, it is an internal struggle among the top ten giants. Outsiders are not at the mercy, only Hyundai, which is regarded as the support of the whole country, and the United States wants to suppress Japanese cars, so Letting go of its own market gave Hyundai a chance to rise.

The acquisition of AMC, even if Chen Zhiwen has money, even if he invests a lot of profits in the technology field in the future, it will be difficult for AMC to have any chance in the stable market of Europe and the United States. At most, it can increase sales.

Therefore, the only opportunity is other new markets, such as the newly opened mainland, which is a market with great potential, and the global auto giants, except Volkswagen, are willing to try to cooperate, and other giants have rejected them. Opportunities, coupled with huge capital operations, in the future, even if you don't make it to the top ten, you should have a good chance to get a strong second-tier brand.

This opportunity can be said to be the biggest opportunity in the automotive industry in the past 30 years, and the next one will be electric vehicles 40 years later.

Restricted by the acquisition agreement, Chen Zhiwen will not move AMC's top management, but as the boss, it is no problem to add people in. In addition to Gu Dehua, Chen Zhiwen also transferred hundreds of people from Hong Kong to station, personnel, finance, production workshop, technology, Purchasing, after-sales, quality and other departments are all staffed. These people don't have much power, but they have the right to review and can learn a lot of things happening inside the entire AMC. Every once in a while, these people will report their own Experience, so that Chen Zhiwen, who is thousands of miles away, can understand what happened at AMC.

Although it is also possible that these people will be boycotted collectively, in general, it is difficult to hide major events, and the most important financial affairs will be audited by a third-party organization every six months.

Another point is that before the successful acquisition of AMC, some of AMC's employees had already been bought by Chen Zhiwen. After all, money is a magic weapon. In the future, these people will also become Chen Zhiwen's eyes.

Under the monitoring of many parties, Chen Zhiwen can leave with peace of mind. After all, if the car company does not develop well, it will be tantamount to a super gold-swallowing beast. He still attaches great importance to internal problems, and as long as the second oil crisis is over, the entire U.S. The local auto industry will recover greatly, so that at least in the United States, AMC can survive for a long time.

After leaving Detroit, Chen Zhiwen came to New York, and the person who came to greet him was naturally his best partner: Henry Morgan.

"Eric, how does it feel to become the owner of the fourth largest automobile company in the United States and control the employment of tens of thousands of Americans?" Henry Morgan had already prepared the presidential suite of the Intercontinental Hotel in New York City for Chen Zhiwen, and the two came to Sitting here on the large terrace, you can see New York's Central Park not far away, and the scenery is very good.

"There is a lot of pressure. Tens of thousands of Americans are employed, especially in the high-paying auto industry." Chen Zhiwen said lightly.

Henry Morgan said with a light smile: "Although I don't know why you want to acquire companies in the automotive industry, if you really have a way to stabilize AMC, it will be very meaningful for your investment in the United States. In the United States, there are jobs. You have everything, you have ZZ status, even if you are a foreigner and cannot vote, as long as you get closer to some congressmen, it will have a certain self-protection effect.”

"This is indeed one of the purposes of my acquisition of AMC." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said, "In the future, I will do my best to expand the markets in Europe and Asia."

Although he values ​​the mainland market more, it doesn't mean that the US side doesn't matter. On the contrary, he must do his best to restore the factories in the US side to normal, or even better. out his worth.

Whether it is the electronics industry, the retail industry, or the beverage industry, the United States is the main market. If you make too much money in these three markets, if there is no certain return, there will always be problems after a long time, even if the back-end of the retail and electronics industries will suffer. It will not work to create a lot of jobs, because after all, this is the economic cycle within the United States.

This is like the domestic "foreign exchange balance" policy. Although the United States does not have it, it can't do it if it is too outrageous. Therefore, under appropriate circumstances, it also needs to maintain this balance. The automobile industry is a good choice, because even the United States It is currently de-industrializing, but the automobile industry will not go there, and as long as it can open up more overseas markets for AMC through investment, that is its own advantage.

In fact, this kind of default policy is also followed by many multinational companies. Japanese auto brands are about to invest in the United States on a large scale. Germany's BBA and Volkswagen also have factories in the United States and will also export from American factories.

"It's a very good idea. It will also be of great help to your industry in the United States." Henry Morgan nodded and said, "Our family doesn't have much involvement in the car industry, but we can help you in terms of finance, such as yours. If you want to acquire any auto parts company, you can contact us."

"No need for now, the auto industry can never have a complete industrial chain, no one has the ability." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile and shook his head.

"Although the entire industry chain cannot be achieved, it is still necessary to master some core parts. If AMC really grows in your hands, there will naturally be demand for this in the future." Henry Morgan said with a smile.

"Maybe, let's talk about it later." Chen Zhiwen nodded. No one knows what will happen in the future. Maybe AMC will really become a top car company with second-tier brands in the world.

"I have another question, just out of personal curiosity, isn't AMC going to change its name? Its A stands for America?" Henry asked curiously.

"It has just been acquired recently, so changing the name directly is too sensitive, and AMC already has a great reputation in the United States, changing the name suddenly is tantamount to self-defeating martial arts, let's talk about it later." Chen Zhiwen replied.

AMC, the full name is "American Automobile Group". This name is actually not suitable for American companies, but because of its long history, that's it. But now that it has been acquired by outsiders, it seems a bit inappropriate to use it again.

Chen Zhiwen also thought about this issue, and asked Gu Dehua and some American car professionals. They all opposed the name change, at least not so quickly, because many Americans recognize this brand. It has been around for decades. Once the name is changed, the cost is too high and the loss is too great. Buying a car is such a major life event that many people look at the brand.

Even if you want to change it, you have to figure it out slowly.

"That's true." Henry nodded and said: "In short, if you need funds, just tell me that several powerful figures in our family are very optimistic about you now, and they hope to cooperate with you more in the future. Or what do you have? For plans that require a large amount of capital investment, if you need other people to share the risk, you can also come to us."

"The investment plan is too big, except for the retail industry in the United States, mainly in the mainland. Would your Morgan family be willing to follow?" Chen Zhiwen said with a smile. With a larger financial investment, many of his plans will indeed be much more convenient. Henry The meaning is not so much that I want to give myself a loan, but rather I want to know my future investment direction.

"Inland? This should not be a problem." Henry Morgan said.

"Okay, if there is a need, I will contact you." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

"Speaking of the retail industry, Costco's first financing has been completed, so the next expansion plan should also require a lot of funds?" Henry Morgan asked again.

"Yes, there will be more aggressive expansion plans in the next three years. In terms of funds, financing alone is not enough. I do need loans, but I need the lowest interest rate." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

In a previous financing, Costco released 10% of its shares and raised 300 million US dollars. Except for a few close friends, most of the selected financing targets were given to some large investment funds in the United States, such as various pension funds. gold fund.

In the retail industry, the resources needed are actually ZZ. These funds have strong backgrounds, and it is most suitable to find them.

US$300 million is not a small amount. If it is only used to build a new Costco store, it is more than enough if the supplier can hold up the goods. However, the expansion of Costco does not cost much to the store itself, unless it is specially selected. Open shop in a luxurious location in the heart of the city.

In fact, the most costly is the investment in various logistics centers, logistics fleets, large warehouses, large databases, and so on.

Under such circumstances, a large amount of funds is naturally needed to expand, especially nowadays, many large retail brands have also begun to enter warehouse-style supermarkets, so Chen Zhiwen has to continue to expand, because warehouse-style supermarkets are too exclusive, and the first-mover effect It is also very strong. Once a place is first occupied by other brands, even the experienced Costco is unlikely to allow customers who have already paid other supermarket membership fees to pay for themselves.

"This is not a problem. In terms of interest, we will definitely give you a discount, but you know the current situation in the United States, the range may not be very large." Henry said again.

"The best deal is enough." Chen Zhiwen said that in order to suppress the inflation caused by the oil crisis, the U.S. government is desperately raising interest rates, but in fact suppressing inflation is only one purpose, and the other is to attract the return of global dollars. In this way, other countries in the world It will fall into the US dollar debt crisis, especially in developing countries, once there is a problem, it will be a total economic collapse.

For example, South America, the back garden of the United States, has already fallen into difficulties and risked sovereign debt default. This is the fundamental reason why Chen Zhiwen's capital can buy farms or hoard land on a large scale at low cost there.

"Well, I'll let people from JPMorgan Chase contact Costco about this matter." Henry Morgan said with a smile. status is getting higher and higher.

"There is one more thing, I need your help." Chen Zhiwen paused and said.

"What's the matter?" Henry Morgan said.

"I need to borrow rocket technology from the United States to launch a satellite into outer space," Chen Zhiwen said.

"Satellite launch? Is it for Asian TV stations?" Henry Morgan was taken aback after hearing this, and asked. As Chen Zhiwen's long-term partner, he is naturally aware of Chen Zhiwen's industry. The largest TV station in Hong Kong is owned by Chen Zhiwen, and over the years, this TV station has been trying to spread its influence to the Chinese market in Asia, even Europe and the United States.

"No, it's Costco." Chen Zhiwen said: "Costco's current procurement, warehousing, and shipments are completely electronic. Each Costco store and warehouse has a large number of computers and servers to record all data. , but the connection between these branches still relies on land transportation floppy disk data, which is too inefficient. In the past, when there were few stores and few transactions, they could still be maintained. Now the number is increasing, and more branches will be needed in the future, so I need a satellite to ensure that these data can be transmitted quickly and increase the efficiency of the entire Costco."

When the number of stores doubles, the data processed by Costco’s servers may quadruple, and logistics and transportation become more complicated. As time goes by, Costco’s data processing becomes more and more chaotic. This is not a technical problem. , but the data delay between the various stores is too severe, resulting in the data not being updated in time, which eventually leads to more and more errors.

It is better to have no wrong data, or to use traditional methods. Therefore, Costco’s technical team can only choose to keep up with some product data that is in high demand. In this way, the problem will be alleviated and a large number of errors will not occur , because the data can be exchanged by telephone or fax after less data.

But this is not a long-term solution. Before the Internet was popularized, satellite transmission of data was the easiest way, and it was also possible to monitor the location of all trucks at any time.

"Costco needs satellite transmission data? Are you not considering leasing satellite channels?" Henry Morgan asked.

"Costco has a lot of data, and it involves very important information, we need to control it ourselves." Chen Zhiwen said.

In the original history, in the first half of the 1980s, Wal-Mart was preparing to launch satellites, and Chen Zhiwen also needed it. This is a necessary step to defeat the traditional retail industry. Although the initial investment is a bit large, if all the data of all supermarket materials are digitized , The cost and time that can be saved and the efficiency that can be improved will be very amazing. As long as the cost is reduced by one step, it will be a huge blow to the traditional retail industry, and even some small supermarkets such as 711 will also be hit unprecedentedly.

It is impossible to beat Wal-Mart, and it will even be difficult to surpass Wal-Mart in the future. However, the retail market is so large that no one can monopolize it. If we can develop faster now, we will develop one step further.

"Well, I'll go and consult with the satellite company in this area and ask them to come up with a reasonable quotation." Henry Morgan nodded and said. The partner has basically made no investment mistakes over the years, so he should have his own ideas, and although the cost of launching satellites is high, it is not much for Chen Zhiwen.

"In terms of launching, can only NASA do it?" Chen Zhiwen asked again.

"It should be that Europe also has launch capabilities, but judging from the data, the probability of failure is relatively high. Polar bears also have them, but they will not accept commercial launches. Comprehensive considerations, it is safest to let NASA launch, but we do not want to do this. If you need to worry about it, it is better to leave it to the satellite company, they have their relationship." Henry Morgan said with a smile.

"Okay, but you can quote a price to Europe. If it is cheaper, you can lower the price from the United States." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said. In fact, China also has the ability to launch, but at present, China has not announced that it will undertake international ones. Commercial launch business, and it is still in the early stages of reformation. Rockets are not ordinary things. If I take the initiative to find them, I am afraid it will not be so easy to succeed. After all, even a hotel investment may take a year and a half. He can't wait. Such a long time.

Moreover, Costco is an American company, and the satellites to be launched are also geostationary satellites located over North America. Although the space law does not stipulate that geostationary satellites must be licensed by the corresponding country, since it is making money in the United States, it is better to choose American products first. .

"Of course, but it doesn't necessarily have much effect. This area can be said to be a monopoly field." Henry Morgan said.

"Let's take a step and take a look." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.