We are all reborn, who wants to be the richest man?

Speaking of Samsung, its tentacles in the field of people's livelihood extend widely to all walks of life, from grain and oil to food. It has established its own brand and set up production bases. Its influence in South Korea is far-reaching, probably second only to Lotte.

However, what is unexpected is that such a giant that controls the upstream supply chain has never had its own retail platform.

Although Samsung later launched brands such as South Korea's Homeplus and Samsung Shopping, it currently has no layout in the retail department store sector, leaving the outside world with endless speculation.

But the South Korean people might not have expected that Samsung's pace in entering this industry would be so rapid and bold.

On the third day after Luo Nianzhong's chaebol's happiness, Samsung quickly announced a shocking news.

It immediately announced that it had successfully acquired the ParknShop supermarket segment of Watsons ParknShop Group in South Korea, as well as the entire operating network of 724 FamilyMart convenience stores in South Korea, and planned to renovate these stores and name them Samsung Shopping and Samsung Convenience Store, marking its official and powerful entry into a new era of the retail industry.

Samsung's feat of going from a blank slate to standing out from the crowd and competing with South Korean retail giant Lotte in the South Korean market was achieved in just a blink of an eye.

"Great! Samsung is so powerful that it can actually acquire Watsons' retail stores."

“Is it really a good thing for consumers? Many of ParknShop’s products are self-owned, and their price-performance ratio is rare in South Korea. Now that Samsung has entered the market and there are no foreign competitors, won’t prices go up like crazy?”

“That shouldn’t be the case, right? Watsons’ products will be available to Samsung, and this has already been stated in the announcement.

So it's just a change of brand and owner, nothing else will change.

As for the issue of prices, we must support our country’s industries.”

"That's right, support the national industry. By the way, I still have money in my membership card of ParknShop Supermarket. Where can I go to get a refund?"

"No need to return it, you can use it directly in Samsung Supermarket."

Samsung's acquisition of Baekje Group's retail business in South Korea has attracted widespread attention among the South Korean public.

Basically, it's all positive, because Samsung's actions have greatly satisfied the self-esteem and pride of South Koreans.

Of course, there are some concerns, mainly about price manipulation.

But this worry was quickly eliminated by national pride, and Samsung's ambition did not stop there.

According to its official disclosure, Samsung is actively negotiating to acquire Watsons' various production facilities and product factories in South Korea.

Once the agreement is reached and the deal is finalized, Samsung will become the largest upstream supply chain giant in South Korea's retail industry.

"As expected, Samsung is still generous every time it makes a move."

"This is the foundation of the old chaebol."

The matter was not over yet. Just one day later, news came out that Samsung was planning to acquire the retail-related businesses of SK Group, LG Group and Hyundai Group through equity swaps. The speed and breadth of this series of actions made the entire South Korean society dazzled and amazed by Samsung's huge layout.

To the outside world, this may just be a lively business feast; but in the eyes of the chaebols, they are well aware of the subtle mysteries contained therein.

Despite Samsung's rapid rise in the retail industry, it is worth noting that the Samsung Retail Group, to which its retail business belongs, only holds a 22% stake in Samsung's parent company, which does not even reach the threshold of one-quarter.

In this feast of retail industry integration, Watsons is undoubtedly the big player hidden behind the scenes. The total shares of its subsidiaries have exceeded 33.6%, firmly sitting on the throne of the largest shareholder, a well-deserved title.

Following closely behind is Samsung Group, which, with a 22% stake, not only becomes the second largest shareholder but also the actual manager of the group.

What is quite surprising is that Hyundai Group, which was originally the chaebol with the least layout in the retail industry, miraculously acquired 18.5% of the shares, leaving SK Group and LG Group behind.

The outside world is confused and puzzled as to how the Zheng family of Hyundai Group could acquire so many shares, but those in the know know that behind this is a generous gift and a silent reward from Luo Nianzhong to the Zheng family.

That night, Zheng Zhouyong's loyal protection of his master not only enabled the Zheng family to successfully win the Incheon International Airport, a heavyweight construction project, but also unexpectedly gained a steady stream of cash cows.

With this move, Luo Nianzhong is not only using the Zheng family to send a clear signal to the other three families - as long as you follow me loyally, you will be able to share the fruits of victory.

At the same time, it is also reserving sufficient cash flow for the future of Samsung Retail. When necessary, Samsung Retail will inject capital into other chaebol companies.

It is worth noting that Hyundai Group invested a lot of real money to acquire these shares, which is completely different from those chaebols whose companies in this field have been acquired and exchanged for shares.

Why would a company with a lot of cash reserves so much? The answer is self-evident. On the one hand, it is definitely to suppress Lotte Group.

As it is now, Lotte's department stores are deserted and sparsely populated, which is exactly what competitors such as Lee Kun-hee expect to see.

"Father, we need to think of a solution. We can't go on like this. The share price of South Korea's Lotte Group fell as soon as the market opened, and the debt ratio is almost at 90%."

The most anxious person in the Shin family in this price war is Shin Dong-bin.

He is Shin Kyuk-ho's second son, and he is in charge of South Korea's Lotte Group.

If South Korea's Lotte Group collapses, no matter what the reason, it will be a major blow to Shin Dong-bin.

Now, he felt that Lotte was in a life-and-death situation.

Is a debt ratio of 90% scary? Not really, because there are many chaebols in South Korea with debts exceeding 100%, such as Daewoo.

Is a debt ratio of 90% scary? It is very scary, because this company cannot withstand the impact and can be said to be shattered at the slightest touch.

As long as there is a large amount of foreign capital short selling, we can only rely on the National Bank of South Korea, that is, the power of the government.

Look at Samsung now. Why did the Lee family capitulate? A big reason was that the load factor was increased due to the stock price decline at that time.

If you have to choose between bankruptcy and surrender, I believe many people will choose it with their eyes closed.

"Don't be so anxious. You need to be steady in everything. How can you convince others like this?"

If there is one person who might be happy about the blow to South Korea's Lotte, it must be Shin Dong-joo, the eldest son of Shin Kyuk-ho.

Although Shin Dong-joo is in charge of Lotte on the island country, the development of Lotte in South Korea is related to the family's inheritance rights.

To him, his younger brother was just lucky.

At the beginning, Shin Kyuk-ho asked the two brothers to choose to manage each side. At that time, Lotte in the island country had developed and matured, while Lotte in South Korea was still in its infancy. Shin Dong-joo of course chose to stay in the island country, and he even went so far as to accompany his mother in the island country.

But who knew that South Korea was having so much fun? The government kept giving money to stimulate the development of Lotte South Korea. In just twenty years, the turnover of Lotte South Korea was nearly three times that of Lotte on the island country.

Regardless of whether there are external factors, Shin Dong-bin has made a contribution to the growth of South Korea's Lotte, which is a reflection of his ability.

At this time, South Korea's Lotte suffered a blow, and Shin Dong-joo must have been the happiest one, but he couldn't help but mock him, saying that he was not stable.

Shin Dong-bin also knew about the conflict between his two sons, but he had no way to do anything.

In terms of ability, the second son is definitely stronger.

In terms of the degree of liking, he likes the second one more because the eldest one has been in the island country for a long time and the second one is by his side.

The most important thing is that the second brother can play with him like two dragons playing with a pearl, which is very exciting.

However, in the competition for the position of head of the family, the eldest brother Xin Dongzhu has a more obvious advantage.

This is mainly caused by the management philosophy of the two brothers. The second brother is more decisive. Most of the people within South Korea's Lotte Group are professional managers and are more international.

But the eldest brother is different. He believes in traditional ideas, that is, family business.

Most of the senior executives of Lotte in the island country are family members, especially the bride's family.

All of these people have more or less shares in the group and have a say.

Now that the second-in-command Shin Dong-bin wants to develop a professional manager model, everyone is worried that he will bring this model to the island country of Lotte.

Everyone has his own frustrations, but Shin Kyuk-ho is still healthy now, so he doesn't have to worry about this issue.

"Let's not talk about the other things. Let's talk about the current situation first. What does Kim Young-sam say?"

Shin Dong-bin glanced at his brother, who sat back on the sofa with a calm expression on his face, and then spoke.

"The other party replied that this was a normal business practice and he had no control over it."

"TMD, it's not that he can't control normal business practices, but that he can't control himself."

The head of the Xin family cursed angrily and smashed an ornament on the table, obviously dissatisfied with the other party's response.

"What are we doing? We bet on the right horse, but got no benefit at all? Does he really want foreign capital to dominate the South Korean retail market?"

"He said Samsung Retail is a South Korean company, at least South Koreans own the majority of the shares."

There are some things Shin Dong-bin didn't say. The Luo family is foreign-funded, but how good can Lotte be?

Every time Lotte is involved in ethnic issues with the island country, it will be boycotted to some extent.

"And with this kid who's fooling around with me?"

Who doesn’t understand now? Although most of the seats on the board of directors of Samsung Retail Group are held by the four major chaebols, the ones who really hold the final say are Watsons and the Luo family.

But what can they do? The Xin family also knows that even if the other party wants to intervene, they dare not intervene, and cannot intervene.

"There is no other way. I can only go to the island country to see if I can raise funds."

Funding is the key and the only factor in this retail war.

Luo Nianzhong’s strategy is very simple, which is to spend money to seize the market, and the products are also simple, that is, pork and chicken.

Facts have proved that Luo Nianzhong's strategy could not be more successful. Just look at the long queue of people in the meat section. Who says there are no middle-aged women rushing to buy food in foreign countries?

"I can give you a 30% discount on five pounds of pork belly."

The chef on the scene skillfully cut the pork for the other party, while the salesperson explained carefully.

"Amani, you don't have to tell me, they will automatically give you a discount when you pay at the front desk."

Luo Nianzhong’s strategy is simple, which is to enjoy discounts on meat when shopping.

As long as you shop in this supermarket, you can enjoy discounts on pork and chicken, up to 50% off, even if you only buy a piece of chewing gum.

Although price war has very low technical content, it is indeed the most effective form of publicity, without a doubt.

As a result, Lotte's customer flow was compressed and sales plummeted.

The grand occasion of Samsung Supermarket has brought a lot of fame and praise to the Lee family, especially Lee Boo-jin, the eldest princess of the Lee family who is in charge of this business.

Regarding this woman, Lee Kun-hee deliberately mentioned that he wanted to send her to warm Luo Nianzhong's bed.

Luo Nianzhong refused without even thinking about it. This woman was ambitious and he didn't want to bring her home.

Of course, if one day this woman climbs into his bed because of ambition, that would be a different story.

One is taking someone home, the other is just a one-night stand, those are completely different things.

So Luo Nianzhong came to her office, not for anything else, just to leave an impression on her.

That is, she wants to control Samsung, and this man can help her do it.

"Tell me about the specific data."

"We are still in a floating loss state, losing about 10 billion won every day."

One billion Korean won is less than one million US dollars. It is a lot of money, but Luo Nianzhong said he can afford the loss.

To be honest, Luo Nianzhong underestimated South Koreans' obsession with meat. No wonder people later said that in terms of consumption and diet, South Korea's hypocritical mask of a developed country was torn to pieces.

Since the 80s, South Korea's per capita income has been three to eight times that of China, but what about its per capita meat intake? It was not until 2022 that it surpassed China.

South Korea’s high wages are based on high prices. Money earned in South Korea must be spent in South Korea, so don’t even think about saving a penny.

But what’s interesting is that in 2022, South Korea’s per capita meat consumption will exceed that of China, which is not something that can make South Koreans happy.

Because at this time, the Chinese people's diet underwent major changes, moving from eating well to being healthy, just like an island country.

The island nation's per capita meat intake stagnated in the 80s. At that time, they were clamoring to sell Tokyo and buy the United States. Can you say that their people have no money?

So when both China and the island countries are starting to eat healthy, South Koreans, a country with an average income similar to that of the island countries, still have problems with eating meat.

So South Koreans went crazy and started buying large quantities of daily necessities just to meet the consumption target for buying half-price meat.

According to Luo Nianzhong's estimate, the maximum floating loss per day would be US$300,000 to US$400,000.

Even though the company lost money by supplying pork to the whole of South Korea, the sales of other products also increased accordingly, making up for the price difference.

But South Koreans seem to have never seen meat before. They eat at least five kilograms of meat every day, and they feel like they will eat until they vomit.

This is actually a mistake, because meat is half price, and nothing else is as cost-effective as eating meat.

And the national delicacy, chicken wings? Not many people eat it now.

When people used to say you were a national delicacy, that was because you were cheaper than pork belly.

Now that we have pork to eat, who would still want to eat fried chicken?

If the price of meat remains the same in the future, Luo Nianzhong is afraid that South Korea will apply to have pork listed as a world heritage site.