The Industrial Giant Reborn

The recommendation letter from Citibank can basically make an appointment with anyone you want to meet, provided that you have certain capital and resources.

"Mr. Knight, hello." In the presidential suite of a four-star hotel in downtown Portland, Chen Zhiwen met with Phil Knight, the founder of the later sports brand Nike.

"Mr. Chen? Hello." Just after entering the suite, Phil Knight was greeted and shook hands by a very enthusiastic Chinese. He naturally guessed that this was the Chinese from Hong Kong who wanted to meet him.

He didn't want to come, but the person in charge of Citibank in Portland called in person, and Citigroup is Nike's biggest creditor, and Nike's financial problems have been troublesome recently, so it has to be given face.

"Please sit down. What would you like to drink? Mr. Knight." Chen Zhiwen brought Phil Knight to the sofa room inside, and at the same time, he had already prepared several drinks to entertain the guests.

"Ordinary coffee is fine." Phil Knight said politely while seeing the scenery outside.

This is one of the tallest buildings in Portland. The presidential suite is also located at the corner of the highest floor. You can see half of the city at a glance. Not far away, a huge lake is full of life under the sunlight.

"The scenery here is very nice. Has Mr. Knight been here before?" Chen Zhiwen handed over the prepared coffee.

"Thank you." Phil Knight took the coffee and said, "I have been here before, but I have never been to this presidential suite. The height is different, and the scenery I see is different. But I often go fishing by the lake, just I can't go now."

"Why?" Chen Zhiwen asked.

"The land nearby was bought by a large fund and opened a farm. Mr. Chen is also a businessman, and he knows that international food prices have risen a lot during this time." Phil Knight said while drinking coffee.

"I've heard that food prices have risen quite dramatically." Chen Zhiwen nodded after thinking for a while.

In the 1970s, the global climate was very unfriendly to agriculture, which led to a serious reduction in the grain production of the northern bears, and they had to seek food imports from the international market. Under the oil crisis, the United States was also seriously short of oil. The two sides of the Cold War unanimously cooperated through transit companies , leading to a global food shortage of up to 30 million tons, and food prices rose 2.5 times in just four years.

With huge profits, capital that had no place to invest due to the oil crisis naturally took a fancy to land. In recent years, farms around the world have begun large-scale mergers and acquisitions, and some governments have also taken the opportunity to release land and even cut down forests to convert them into farms.

If he has spare money, Chen Zhiwen would like to invest in a farm, preferably as the world's number one landowner. However, investing in land in the past ten years should not be possible, but it is no problem to buy a small farm for fun.

"I heard from people at Citibank that Mr. Chen asked me out to invest in my company?" After finishing the coffee, Phil Knight turned to the topic.

"Yes." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said, he had informed Citibank of the purpose when he entrusted Citibank, and there was nothing to keep secret about such matters.

"Nike has not yet entered the international market. How did Mr. Chen know about our company? Why did he invest in our company?" Phil Knight asked.

"Have you heard of the Red Bull drink?" Chen Zhiwen pointed to a can of drink in the corner of the table and asked. This is what he brought here specially. There is no such drink in the hotel. Even in Portland, he sent people to go to 3 supermarkets to find the product, which is enough to show that Red Bull is still not popular enough in the United States.

"I've heard of it. I've seen it in TV commercials, but I haven't tried it." Fernette said after glancing at Red Bull.

"This is my company's product. It is mainly a sign for athletes to quickly replenish their physical strength after exercise. We have also found many well-known sports stars in the United States to endorse. For publicity reasons, we also chose some sports shoes on the market. It was originally a trivial matter, but we got feedback that athletes like Nike shoes very much, so I checked your information and found that your company has great development potential, so I came here.” Chen Zhiwen opened his eyes The eyes finished the nonsense.

Although the investment does not necessarily require a clear explanation of why the investment is made, Chen Zhiwen also feels that it is better to just find a reason. If the reason is not mentioned, it will be easier for the other party not to accept the investment.

"Which sports stars? There are our sneakers in your advertisements?" Phil Knight suddenly became interested. Although he doesn't pay attention to Red Bull, he also knows that this Red Bull drink often appears on TV. If the stars in it wear their own Shoes, isn’t that also an advertisement? Although there is not much exposure, it is better than nothing!

"This is confidential, and I don't want to disclose other people's names casually. As for the brand issue, Mr. Knight doesn't have to worry. For legal reasons, even if we use Nike shoes, we will cover up the trademark." Chen Zhiwen smiled said with a smile. Not only in the United States, but in many countries, other brand logos are not allowed to appear in the advertising laws, even for positive publicity, because in many cases, the law cannot distinguish between yin and yang or sarcasm, and it is simply banned.

"Actually, we don't mind. Mr. Chen doesn't need to cover up our brand." Phil Knight said.

"This can be discussed, I think we may have a deeper cooperation." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

"Mr. Chen, we won't give up because of an advertisement," Phil Knight said.

"This is not an ordinary advertisement. It's just that this year, Red Bull's advertising budget is 5 million US dollars. Although it has not been determined next year, it should not be a problem to double it." Chen Zhiwen said lightly: "And my request is investment, which is a real investment. Funds do not take any advantage of Nike, and at the same time, I can also help solve the current supply chain problems of Nike."

"Five million dollars?" Phil Knight was startled. He wasn't even sure if the person in front of him was bragging, but the letter of recommendation from Citibank's headquarters is indeed not available to everyone. If there is such a Big advertisements, and my company will drink some soup, which is also an unprecedented exposure effect.

After a while, Phil Knight asked: "Mr. Chen also knows about our supply chain problems, and the bank is also suing our company. I wonder if there is any good solution?"

Nike has encountered a lot of trouble during this time, because it has developed very well in the past few years, so the company spent a lot of money to buy an old shoe factory, and invested a lot of money in maintenance and renovation, but it has only been doing terminal sales before. Nike's management underestimated the cost input of the manufacturing plant, which eventually seriously affected the company's capital chain. At the same time, the account was frozen because it did not inform the debtor bank, and it was also sued in court.

This matter is not a big secret. Since the other party wants to buy shares, they will definitely find out.

Chen Zhiwen said with a smile: "The problem of the Nike factory is not a big problem. The bank is just worried that you will not be able to pay back the money. As long as the funds are sufficient, they will naturally withdraw the lawsuit. As long as Nike accepts my investment, the problem can be easily solved.

And the supply chain problem I am talking about is not this matter, but the future. "

"The future of the supply chain?" Phil Knight frowned and asked, he didn't quite understand.

Chen Zhiwen said with a smile: "Yes, shoemaking requires a lot of manpower, and the cost of manufacturing in the United States is too high. Even if Nike is a high-end brand, it can't bear the cost. The only way is to move out and move to Asia."