The Industrial Giant Reborn

For the next week, Chen Zhiwen stayed at AMC, and he had a general understanding of all aspects.

At present, AMC does not have any new models under development. These medium-sized car companies are basically old wine in new bottles. It is enough to replace the existing models every few years. But then again, those car giants are actually The same is true, most of them are like this, only a very small number of projects will be completely new models, the development of a new model plus various tests and production line preparations will cost a lot of money, the average company, it is true I can't afford it, it would be nice to have it once in ten years.

If the turbine is successfully developed this time, it will inevitably require a new model or a major remodel of the existing model. Relatively speaking, the cost of developing a turbine is far from the two.

However, Chen Zhiwen doesn't care. After entering the automobile industry, this kind of expense is inevitable. As long as the follow-up models can succeed and open up more markets, no matter how much money was invested before, it will be able to pay back. And the bigger the market, the company The stronger the research and development capabilities, the more opportunities to develop more technical feedback to the market.

The stronger gets stronger, which is also an iron rule in the auto industry.

After leaving a sum of funds for AMC to continue research and development, Chen Zhiwen returned to New York again, because Morgan Stanley and Disney shareholder representatives had already negotiated, the final price was 1.59 billion US dollars, and at the same time, he had to bear a huge debt of about 1.12 billion US dollars .

This is also the inevitable cost of acquiring a large company and bearing the debts of the other party. After all, if there is such an opportunity to acquire, it must be that the other party’s long-term poor management has caused the market and shareholders to lose confidence, and a company with long-term poor management must have large debts. of.

The total adds up to more than 2.7 billion U.S. dollars, but compared to the huge future profits of Disney, it is nothing. Not to mention other things, in a few years, as long as Disney makes some classic animation movies, it can almost easily suppress such a huge debt. up.

After obtaining Chen Zhiwen's authorization, Morgan Stanley also signed a memorandum of understanding with Disney representatives on behalf of Chen Zhiwen. Afterwards, Morgan's people immediately moved to Washington.

In fact, a long time ago, Morgan's people had been negotiating various conditions with the Ministry of Commerce in order to save some time for the follow-up. After the formal application was submitted, they immediately entered the topic.

Soon, Chen Zhiwen got the conditions from the US Department of Commerce.

This is also the first time he has come to the city of Washington in the United States, and he lives in a four-star hotel 2 kilometers northwest of the White House.

Anyone who understands understands that there are generally no high-rise buildings near the ZZ Center, and there are naturally no super hotels here. In addition, all the people who come to Washington are political figures, and the business of five-star hotels here is not as good as that in New York, Los Angeles and other cities. .

In the hotel, after taking a sip of coffee, Jim Hughes said, "Mr. Chen, as you wish, I have obtained some requirements from the U.S. Department of Commerce."

"OK, please tell me." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said, this is actually a good thing, it is better to have a request than to have no request.

"Let me talk about another possibility first." Jim Houston paused, and said: "If Mr. Chen is willing to become an American citizen, then all our subsequent conditions will become very simple. It can be said that it is just a matter of going through the process."

"I won't change my nationality, I don't take that into consideration." Chen Zhiwen shook his head and said.

"Why? Hong Kong and the United States can have dual citizenship, and your business in Hong Kong can still be carried out normally." Jim Hughes asked: "Besides, with Mr. Chen's current asset scale, it is inevitable to leave Hong Kong, and with a As an American, future investments in the United States, Europe, Asia, or even South America and Africa will be guaranteed. Isn’t that great? If tax issues are considered, Morgan Stanley can legally help Are you avoiding taxes?"

"Needless to say, I have no plans at the moment." Chen Zhiwen said with a light smile and shook his head. It is easy to get American citizenship, but it is difficult to get it out. He naturally knows the benefits of becoming American citizenship, but in this way, he has a lot of Investment outside the United States will also be controlled by the US government, so it is completely unnecessary.

At the same time, taxation is also one of the major issues. There are many ways to avoid taxation even in the 1990s, but it will be more difficult after the Internet society in the 21st century. Even Swiss banks are forced to submit a large amount of bank data to the US government, not to mention other neutrals. Banks, but American nationality or holding a US green card will have to pay taxes around the world at that time, and even Chen Zhiwen's investment in other places will also have to pay taxes to the United States, regardless of whether it has any relationship with the United States.

He will not do such thankless things. His own industry comes from some innovations of later generations, and a small amount is acquired by funds. It would not be cost-effective if all the industries became American, but it would be fine for my future children. After all, some industries in the United States can only stay in the United States.

"That's okay, Henry said that you don't want to." Jim Hughes didn't continue to press, and said: "If this is the case, then Mr. Chen must agree to the following requirements."

"I'm listening." Chen Zhiwen said that for any large-scale acquisition, the country where it is located will put forward many requirements, and the same is true for mergers and acquisitions between domestic companies. Now that it involves large overseas consortiums acquiring local companies, the requirements may be higher, which is okay. Disney is about to be run by a bunch of trash. Otherwise, not to mention the peak state, it is a stable period. If you want to acquire such a company, Disney shareholders agree, and the U.S. government will try to make various demands, so I really have to thank the rich second generation of the Disney family who don't understand anything.

Jim Hughes said: "The first is naturally the issue of employment. Everyone including Disney's two parks, the film department, and the headquarters management department cannot have large-scale industries, that is, you cannot lay off employees or deliberately lower wages. However, our Considering your management, the negotiation team persuaded the Ministry of Commerce to allow you to have 2% layoff power, but the compensation should still be compensated, unless the employee violated the relevant laws."

"That's no problem. I can agree. I would also like to thank you. Allowing a 2% layoff will help me a lot." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

Maintaining employment is the most important thing for any country in any era, especially when it comes to large-scale acquisitions, that is, the acquisition of companies in the United States. This requirement is often required, but for domestic companies, the US government may be more relaxed.

As a foreign investor, if you want to acquire an American company and then use the American company to make money in the United States, then employment protection is naturally the most basic, and having the right to lay off 2% of employees, although this ratio is very low, has a considerable deterrent effect. Get rid of those who want to take advantage of the acquisition period to dawdle, and let more people continue to maintain a normal work attitude.

"It's nothing, this is what we should do." Jim Hughes said with a smile: "This restriction that does not allow major layoffs is only for 3 years. After 3 years, you will be free, but there is a lifetime restriction, that is, whether Disney How about it, its headquarters must remain in the United States, and the place of registration is the same, and it must give priority to ensuring employment in the United States. In addition, it is required that in the next 10 years, Disney needs to re-list in the United States and introduce at least 25% of domestic capital in the United States.”

"This is also possible." Chen Zhiwen promised that Disney's popularity has a lot to do with the background behind it. If we say that in the 1980s and 1990s, it only relied on a few animated films, park income, etc. to grow into a medium and large American company. It doesn't matter if the company has an American background or not, but after the 21st century, success requires a national team behind it.

Any giant company has a lot to do with the national strength behind it. In South Korea, it is unlikely that a giant like Samsung will appear in the future, but it will be enough after recognizing an American as a father. The decline of Japanese giants is actually similar. reason.

Therefore, when Disney returns to normal and its finances improve in a few years, Chen Zhiwen will definitely arrange for it to go public, so that the acquisition cost spent today can be recovered immediately, and other large capital and resources can be introduced, so as to prepare for the next expansion. preparation.

However, it can only be like this in the future. Currently, Disney’s existing shareholders don’t care much about it, and they can’t wait to sell it immediately. Only after certain achievements are made in the future and the potential is huge, can they attract truly capable people to join.

This kind of operation is very common in international acquisitions. Not everyone has 100% confidence in their investment. It is very common in the Internet industry to go public when it can be listed and recover the cost first.

"That's good, but if it goes public at that time, Chen Sheng can choose us Morgan Stanley as a service provider again, and we can give a very big discount." Jim Hughes said with a smile. American investment banks, in addition to reconciling acquisitions, Arranging for the listing of large companies is also a big business. After all, large-scale acquisitions are rare, but it is very common for companies to go public, and their profits are also very high.

Not to mention, in the hands of Chen Zhiwen, the future Disney is only one of them. Although the financial status of the existing companies is not known, but based on market feedback, the scale must be quite large. Services, that is a very big business.

However, he also asked before, and the answer he got was that he had no plans to do so for the time being.

"Are there any other requirements?" Chen Zhiwen asked again.

"There is one more thing. Disney has two TV stations, both of which are children's channels. You also know that TV stations are more sensitive things, so the Ministry of Commerce will give you two choices." Jim Hughes said: "The first one, It is to sell these two TV stations, as long as they are sold to other Americans, then naturally there will be no problem. The second is that you continue to control, but any program broadcast on the TV station must be approved by the relevant department in advance, and the TV department must All are managed and operated by Americans who grew up in the United States, and Chinese are not allowed to participate.”

"Advertising programs also need to be approved?" Chen Zhiwen asked.

"It shouldn't be necessary. Normal advertisements will do, mainly various animation programs. Although the children's channel will not have news programs, animation will also have a certain influence." Jim Hughes said.

"Yes, but the approval conditions must be determined before the transaction. For example, what kind of programs cannot be broadcast, and everything must be recorded in paper documents, otherwise it will be unclear in the future." Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said.

Although this may be subject to certain restrictions, the two TV stations are very high-quality publicity resources. Their main products, video games, are mainly customers. Children, completely overlapping customer groups, and Red Bull drinks or other beverages and food , this group is also a big customer, and even Costco can promote it here. It is acceptable to get such a TV station, even if there are some inconveniences, as long as the rules are customized in advance. Doing business in the United States, I don't want to mess around with other things.

"I knew you would choose this way. This kind of children's TV station, without the support of Disney, may not be taken by anyone if you give it away." Jim Hughes said with a smile: "There are still some requirements, which may involve capital investment. Yes, the Ministry of Commerce hopes that you can spend 200 million US dollars to renovate Disneyland, and in the future, try to attract tourists from overseas to come to the United States to stimulate the tourism industry in the United States, but these are not mandatory requirements, it is a suggestion .”