Reborn Tech Maniac

Chapter 393 Shall we meet Tang Huan together?

Since the new Hong Kong Governor Youde took office on May 5, he has been annoyed by the fall of Jardine.

His predecessor, MacLehose, who was originally outstanding in political performance, put a lot of pressure on his successor. In the end, he had to be yelled at by businessmen from his country who were making money in the Far East. It was really miserable.

The person Youde is most afraid of seeing now may be Simon Keswick, but he has no way to avoid it. After all, the Keswick family represented by this person owns about [-]% of the shares of Jardine, and Jardine It is the largest British-funded consortium in the Far East, and its significance is of great significance.

But the matter has come to this point, and it is irreparable. Youde has no way to deal with the current situation. You can only blame you, Jardine, who didn't know how deep you were, and went to provoke Tang Huan, a Silicon Valley upstart, and lost your money. What else do you want if you don't admit it?
There is nothing Simon Keswick can do to pester Yoder all day long. When he returned to London to ask for help, the British government was in the middle of the Falklands War-this war that he could not afford to lose was waiting for him, and he had no time to deal with the people in the Far East. A business war caused by personal grievances.

As for Simon Keswick's proposal to freeze Tang Huan's commercial interests in game consoles, computers, movies, etc., the British officials shook their heads again and again.

Just kidding, don't you know that Tang Huan, the richest man in the United States created by Wall Street, has become a typical representative of the interests of the American high-tech industry?There are over [-] high-quality employees in the United States alone. If you make a decision without reason, it is very likely that you have stabbed a hornet's nest. Isn't this an accident during a war?
Moreover, Tang Huan's relationship network is extremely complicated. For example, he, the ship queen Christina, and the Kuwait Investment Authority took advantage of the fact that the British government pushed some BP shares to the public trading market, and they really sucked in a lot of shares. .

All in all, this involves a power game of "Is it okay? Is it worth it? Dare you?" Britain, whose economic situation is already sluggish, doesn't want to break up with Tang Huan for the sake of peace at this time.

Naturally, Simon Keswick would not be willing to stop there, and continued to actively run and lobby.

Needless to say, he really got some help. Xiangjiang officials' attempt to intervene and the appearance of the "White Warrior" are one of the results.

But all these efforts came to naught after Tang Huan's trip to Ma Island and his return from injuries.

Tang Huan rescued hundreds of Argentine soldiers, and actively campaigned for the rights and interests of the British living in the Falkland Islands during the war, which fully demonstrated the presence of the United Nations. The task given by Seoul as a special envoy for humanitarian observation has become an international benevolent person who is concerned by all parties. .

When the news came from Xiangjiang that Qinhe had acquired the controlling stake in Jardine, Simon Keswick, who was jumping up and down, got a clear reply from Downing Street, "Don't make trouble, we will discuss this matter with Tang Huan face to face at an opportunity. "

"What's the fuss? I'm doing this for the British Empire's strategic interests in the Far East, okay?" Simon Keswick's nose was almost crooked with anger. He felt that this answer was worse than no answer, because when he tried to lobby further, , the attitudes of all parties are obviously not as enthusiastic as before.

In life, one must know the trade-offs. Surfing in the business world requires a quality of knowing the current affairs, otherwise, even the most basic stop loss cannot be done.

Simon Keswick saw that even the British authorities wanted to recognize Tang Huan's successful acquisition of Jardine, so he had to retreat and shift the scope of the struggle from the external capital market to the inside of the enterprise group, and as much as possible Fight for power in every aspect.

Just as Qinhe was about to hold a general meeting of shareholders, Simon Keswick finally had a role to play and began to unite with British shareholders to prepare for a protracted corporate political civil war.

Jardine's British shareholders have not responded for a long time, which is related to Simon Keswick's fanning the flames.

Thinking that he was almost ready, Simon Keswick set off from London, England to Xiangjiang. It turned out that he had not been away for too long, but the atmosphere of public opinion discussing Yihe here had changed so much that he was really shocked. It's so uncomfortable.

The superficial cause of this capital war was the competition for the controlling stake in Heung Kong Telephone. So when Tang Huan succeeded in taking all of Landmark and Jardine, he naturally had to show how much he favored Heung Kong Telephone and had plans in advance. The first Big Operations is all about this public service company.

Heung Kong Telephone has issued an announcement that it will start to adjust tariffs in the second half of the year. It is expected that the average reduction will be no less than [-]%, so that the daily life of the people in Heung Kong can more easily benefit from the development of the modern communication industry.

At the same time, Heung Kong Telephone will introduce the latest telecommunications technology and equipment from the Silicon Valley of the United States, provide caller ID, and even the latest applications such as telephone banking self-service.At that time, consumers in Xiangjiang will enjoy various world-class conveniences brought by high technology.

In addition to the written description, Heung Kong Telephone also demonstrated various devices that fully support dual-tone multi-frequency to prove that these promises are not false.

Consumers are the most sensitive to price. Xiangjiang Telephone has held the franchise for a long time. This time it took the initiative to lower the tariffs, which is simply a blessing from God. And all this happened after Tang Huan took control of Xiangjiang Telephone.In stark contrast, when Jardine took over Xiangjiang Telephone, he was not so considerate of others.

As a result, while holding the promotional materials of Xiangjiang Telephone, many people scolded Jardine, a greedy guy, for not being able to deal with it. If it hadn't been for him to get in the way, Mr. Tang would definitely let everyone get it at the beginning of this year. These are affordable.

Well now, Jardine, which was completely defeated, not only returned the Xiangjiang phone to Mr. Tang, but also put himself in it. It is really to blame.

Different from the thundering applause of consumers, the Dadong Telegraph Bureau was feeling uneasy.

Previously, Xiangjiang Telephone was in charge of the local local calls in Xiangjiang, and Dadong Telegraph Bureau was in charge of Xiangjiang's external communications. Isn't it dangerous.

The Dadong Telegraph Bureau did not count on its owner, Swire & Co., to plan for a rainy day. Because the four major British-owned firms in Xiangjiang had withered to the point where only Swire & Co. was left, Swire & Co. did not dare to act rashly in the face of Tang Huan's just closed fangs.

Tang Huan's viciousness at all costs for personal grievances really shocked everyone.

You must know that Tang Huan's "whatever it takes" means spending money crazily, regardless of profit or loss.Because everyone began to think that the Jardine that Tang Huan bought was a mess, and his subordinates publicly stated their position.

When the British shareholders of Jardine were colluding in London and preparing for infighting, Zhou Mi of Xiangjiang was furious in front of the media, because after preliminary statistics, he found that Jardine was heavily in debt and owed more than 100 billion Hong Kong dollars.

Zhou Mi bluntly questioned, "Companies such as Jardine Matheson have frequently issued additional shares on the stock market to raise funds. Where has the money gone now?"

Immediately, the financial team invited by Qinhe launched a larger-scale audit operation.

There are even many rumors about this, that the British businessmen have been using various shady means to put Xiangjiang's wealth into their own pockets, and then take it to the UK to enjoy themselves. Anyway, the Hong Kong government takes care of it. The Independent Commission Against Corruption had also investigated the British before, but they often returned without success, and they couldn't even find them.

There is no doubt that this kind of public opinion is not only a blow to Jardine Matheson, but also affects the public image of other British-funded enterprises in Heung Kong.

Among all the social strata who are talking about this, enthusiastic college students are undoubtedly the most special group. Affected by the current Hong Kong stock market and real estate bubbles, their employment, and subsequent work and life are under great pressure. Naturally, he was extremely dissatisfied with those greedy businessmen.

Among them, a college student in the history department discussed Jardine's fortune in his thesis. As a result, this article went directly out of the school and was widely quoted by the media.

……

On July 1832, 7, two Scottish-British men, William Jardine and James Matheson, founded Jardine & Co. in Guangzhou, China, mainly engaged in opium business.

In 1833, the British Parliament ended the British East India Company's monopoly on Sino-British trade.Therefore, Jardine Matheson seized the opportunity to fill the vacuum left by the East India Company, and changed from the main agent of the East India Company to the largest British foreign firm in Asia.

According to the biography written by the British, William Jardine is an excellent planner, tough negotiator and strategist. For the less fortunate family members in Scotland, and also for nephews who work in the company.

At the same time, William Jardine was also known for being domineering and arrogant, and was nicknamed "Iron Head Mouse".

His office in "Creek Hong", No. [-], Guangzhou, has only one chair. Only he can sit on it, and his guests can always stand.

William Jardine's shrewdness was even able to get more converts during the period of opium smuggling along the coast, and persuaded the Prussian missionary Pastor Guo Shili.

In 1839, when Lin Zexu banned smoking, William Jardine went to London in person to lobby the British government to start a war with the Qing Dynasty, and advocated taking Xiangjiang from the Qing Dynasty as a trading base.

In 1840, as William Jardine wished, the Opium War broke out.

In 1841, Xiangjiang was occupied by the British, and Jardine Matheson bought the first piece of land in Xiangjiang for 565 pounds.

In the same year, William Jardine was well-received and elected to the British Parliament.

British Foreign Secretary Henry John Temple praised him: "Mr. Jardine provided us with detailed guidance, assistance and information on naval, military and diplomatic affairs in China, and brought us satisfactory results."

In 1842, Jardine & Co. moved its head office from Guangzhou to Xiangjiang and changed its name to Jardine & Matheson.

In 1843, Shanghai_Hai Yihe Matheson Co., Ltd. was established.

In 1844, land was auctioned for the first time in Shanghai, and it was also purchased by Jardine Matheson.

In 1872, Jardine Matheson began to give up the opium trade with China, laundered whitewashing, and gradually diversified its investment business.
History has always been written by the victors. Today, the names of many places in Hong Kong, such as Jardine's Street, Jardine's Square, and Jardine's Hill, are all related to these British people. Don't treat the Chinese as human beings, and exchange opium for silver, which is the bloody primitive accumulation.

Now Jardine has been disclosed that it owes more than 100 billion Hong Kong dollars in foreign debts. If it weren't for the various privileges it has enjoyed for a long time, I am afraid that it would have no chance to borrow so much money.

……

After all, history has been going on for a long time, and the Xiangjiang people who have been taught by the former Hong Kong Governor MacLehose to have a sense of belonging to Xiangjiang may not have any reaction, but this figure of more than 100 billion is too eye-catching.

You know, many people in Xiangjiang are still desperately struggling for a residence of tens of square meters.

Jardine's old background was exposed so thoroughly that it immediately became the target of all the people who could not satisfy their interests in reality and poured out their dissatisfaction.

Zhou Mi even said, "If the British shareholders are still playing big names in London and don't come to Xiangjiang to hold a general meeting of shareholders to discuss countermeasures, I will suggest to Mr. Tang that Jardine should enter bankruptcy proceedings. As for the investment loss , we admit it."

Seeing Zhou Mi being so cruel, Simon Keswick threw his glass in anger, but he didn't care about the shareholders who were starting to get restless, but was worried about his ancestor's precarious reputation amidst the turmoil of public opinion.

There are already people petitioning to change the place names of places like Jardine's Street, Jardine's Square, and Jardine's Lookout. This is really a very bad signal.

William Jardine had no children himself, and his huge inheritance was inherited by the nephews of the Jardine family, and finally passed on to the branch of the Keswick family.

Henry Keswick, who controlled Jardine from 1970 to 1975, is the older brother of Simon Keswick, belonging to the fourth and sixth Keswicks.

Simon Keswick originally wanted to follow the example of his elder brother, kicking out Niu Bijian and becoming Jardine's seventh Keswick.

From this, it is not difficult to see how much Simon Keswick attaches importance to his family's inheritance.Naturally, he couldn't tolerate the posthumous evaluation of the family founder William Jardine, and fell from the clouds to the dust.

This time when he saw Hong Kong Governor Youde, Simon Keswick directly asked the other party to take measures to strictly control these public opinions.

Youde, who had felt a little uncomfortable in his heart for the past two days, did not speak after listening.

However, he snorted dissatisfied in his heart, "You idiots, after screwing things up, you know to create pressure on me. I don't even think about it, my position in Yihe is almost gone, and I am still in these insignificant waste energy on little things."

Obviously, from the point of view of the governor of Hong Kong, Youde only wanted to stabilize the situation in Xiangjiang as soon as possible, while Simon Keswick was still trying to regain his ancestral property - Jardine. These two people couldn't pee in the same pot at all.

Seeing that the impatience on Simon Keswick's face became more and more obvious, Yoder answered the question slowly, "Tang Huan is coming to Xiangjiang."

"It's better if he comes." Simon Keswick snorted.

"I'm going to meet him at the airport in my private capacity." Yoder glanced at Simon Keswick, who was already strong and capable, "Do you want to go with me?"

(End of this chapter)