The Industrial Giant Reborn - Chapter 629

c620 Costco goes public

Disney’s finances are normal, coupled with Eisner’s ability and early acquisition of Marvel, it marks that Disney as a whole has entered a path of self-development. Chen Zhiwen’s interference is no longer very useful. After all, he has no What kind of special golden finger can remember the classic movies in history? In this area, whether it is animation or live-action movies, Disney’s own internal personnel are needed. Even for the Marvel series, Chen Zhiwen has indeed watched many movies and has some memories. It was profound, and he could recall some of the plot, but those were just some of the most classic clips. He didn’t have the ability to tell the entire plot of a movie.

However, because I invested in Steve Jobs’ new animation company earlier, Disney will at least own part of the shares of this future strongest competitor. Even if it suffers a certain blow, the impact will not be huge. Besides, this The market is big enough, and it is impossible for Disney to really monopolize this industry. Let Steve Jobs, a creative person, develop more in the animation field. When he wants to take over Apple again, there is a high probability that even if Disney does not interfere of its own, it will They will acquire each other’s companies and cooperate with each other to control half of the entertainment industry, especially animation. The peripheral income is really too strong.

As for the issue of where to build Disneyland, Chen Zhiwen will not interfere too much. Even if Disneyland Paris has been losing money in history, in fact, this may just be on the books. The simplest logic is that as long as American companies improve Licensing fees or some indirect means can easily transfer all profits away. Not only Disney, but also Starbucks, Google, Apple and other companies are using various tax avoidance methods to reduce European profits to 0 or even losses. The European Union has also investigated these companies, and in the end either they were fined hugely or nothing happened. In essence, no matter how good the laws are, there are still many loopholes. Workers who only pay personal income taxes cannot avoid taxes. There are many ways to avoid taxes in complex corporate transactions, so in terms of tax rates, part-time workers pay the most.

After leaving Disney, Chen Zhiwen reunited with his family. After playing in Los Angeles for a few days, he came to the headquarters of Costco. It was also in Los Angeles and he also owned several buildings of his own. Because it was not in the city center, there was no land. Expensive, there is a lot of greenery inside the headquarters, and the scenery is very beautiful.

“This place is really beautiful.” Chen Zhiwen looked at the various designs that were like art and couldn’t help but exclaimed. When Costco built its headquarters, he was still in Hong Kong. Such things did not require him to care too much. It was immediately approved and approved. Anyway, there will be a dedicated financial department to connect with it in the future. However, I did not expect that the building was actually very beautiful. Compared with the headquarters in Hong Kong, which is a cold steel forest and full of greenery, the feeling is just different.

“I invited a designer from Silicon Valley. They specialize in architectural design for some large companies in the United States.” Pierce said with a smile: “Don’t look at the total cost of our headquarters of 40 million US dollars, but these designs, It cost almost $5 million.”

“It’s worth the money.” Chen Zhiwen nodded and said. The design cost of large buildings is very high. The larger the design, the higher the proportion, because this requires considering the combination of cost, safety, energy saving, beauty and other aspects. The higher the building, the higher the cost. The bigger the house, the higher the requirements. It is not comparable to those who simply build houses. In any country, the income of top architects is no worse than that of top lawyers and accountants.

“Yeah, I didn’t expect that one day, I would be able to spend tens of millions of dollars to build a headquarters like this. It would be worth it in my life.” Pierce laughed and said, “Unfortunately, I am older and can no longer keep up. Ari Grams, after Costco goes public, I plan to gradually hand over part of the company’s business to a few candidates we selected, and let them express themselves in practice, so that we can select the most suitable people. ”

“Yes, you are still here, so a few years will be enough.” Chen Zhiwen nodded and said. Among the rich, many people are still struggling in their jobs when they are in their seventies or eighties, such as Buffett, Shao Yifu, Li Jiacheng and so on, but in fact, the proportion is not high. Most of them retire and enjoy the rest of their lives when they are about the same age. Only those who pursue careers as their life goals will struggle like this.

Among working people, there are almost no such people. Basically, they retire when they are around 60 years old, such as Shen Bi of HSBC, Lee Iacocca of Chrysler, and even Eisner of Disney, etc. This is the thinking of normal people. , who still works hard for others when they are older? It’s not your own industry. Of course, this may also be a requirement of the company’s board of directors. The first is that one person is generally not allowed to control the company for too long. The second is that as you get older, your management capabilities will definitely decrease, similar to Buffett and Li Jiacheng. After all, they are only a minority, and they are the bosses. Even if most people try to persist, they may give up after a few failures.

In the early 1970s, when Chen Zhiwen invited Pierce to start a new retail business for him, he was already close to 55 years old. Now, more than ten years later, he is almost 70, and he is no longer suitable to continue to be a CEO. Okay. The City must choose a suitable candidate. Pierce had informed Chen Zhiwen as early as two years ago and was already looking for a suitable successor.

Even if he is reluctant to give up, there is nothing he can do. Even the super rich cannot beat time. Getting old is getting old. Besides, if it weren’t for Pierce’s age, he wouldn’t have been able to invest so many resources into Costco. Go, it can be said that you can’t have your cake and eat it too, and not only Costco, but any company must also consider the issue of top-level replacement. Even companies such as Hutchison Whampoa, Land and Midea, in fact, there are related internal Mechanically, one is for normal succession, and the second is to consider that if special circumstances occur, the company’s operations cannot be affected by the departure of one or several people. That would be a management problem.

“Costco’s IPO is currently scheduled for June 16. It will be managed by Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. The road show has also begun. It is estimated that the market value may exceed 5 billion US dollars. This can definitely be said to be the largest in the history of the United States. , the largest IPO.” Pierce added.

“Yes, we have created a miracle.” Chen Zhiwen also said that even in the era of electronic technology, many high-tech companies, such as Microsoft, are optimistic, but their development can only be said to be rapid, but it is still step by step. The current market is limited. Even if it goes public, the IPO market value will not be outrageous. For example, the market value of Microsoft’s listing is only more than 700 million US dollars. Although it is already very high in this era, it is far behind the Internet ten years later. .

In the Internet era, because computers and other infrastructure have been perfected, the development of Internet companies has grown exponentially like a virus, with full potential. Therefore, even if they lose money every year, their listings can become popular, such as Google, Facebook, etc. Before Internet companies, , IPO listings are all very common. Companies like Costco, which has developed smoothly in the long term and is listed again at a high level, are very rare in the US market and even the global market.

“Will you come on that day? What Dow Jones wants you to do is to come and show your face. This can also increase some attention and thus increase the IPO value on the first day.” Pierce asked .

“Yes, I will go.” Chen Zhiwen promised that he would still participate in the IPO of the core enterprise. He himself was not so busy anymore.

Today, his companies can basically gradually break away from his golden finger support and enter self-development. There are not many places that need him. This also makes him relaxed and not as busy as before. To reach today’s status, the most important thing is not how much money a company has made by seizing the opportunity. More importantly, as the boss and the world’s top rich man, he needs to build good relationships with governments of various countries, whether it is It’s the same whether it’s the West or the Mainland. These two places are the two largest markets for all his companies in the future. Other places combined may not be able to compare with these two.

However, there is no need to worry too much in the past few years, because the relationship between the two is still very good.

“Okay.” Pierce nodded and said.

After leaving the Costco headquarters, Chen Zhiwen and his family traveled in the United States for another half month, visiting major cities and several of his own farms, and then returned to Hong Kong.

In such a short period of time, nothing has changed in Hong Kong. The only thing Chen Zhiwen did was to let several of his companies start large-scale fund-raising in the stock market or obtain loans from banks to obtain more cash flow and prepare for the 87 stock market crash. Be prepared.

Time soon came to June. Costco was about to go public. Chen Zhiwen came to the United States again, but this time his family did not come.

“Eric, congratulations.” Henry Morgan said with a smile.

On the morning of the listing day, Chen Zhiwen and others arrived at the exchange headquarters very early. As the person in charge of the company and the person who will ring the bell for the listing later, they must prepare in advance. Otherwise, they will encounter a traffic jam and be too late. It has become a joke in the history of U.S. listings, and naturally people from Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs investment banks also came with them. This time Costco went public, it was one of the largest IPOs in U.S. history, and so did the two major investment banks. We attach great importance to it. Once a record-breaking success is achieved, it will not only earn high profits for the investment bank itself, but also serve as a sample for its own investment bank to promote in the future and attract other companies preparing to go public.

As Chen Zhiwen’s long-term partner, Morgan Stanley also successfully became one of the two financial investment banks involved in Costco’s listing. Naturally, Henry Morgan also came in person. One has the best relationship with Chen Zhiwen, and the second is , he also holds some shares of Costco, although it is less than 1%.

“Thank you.” Chen Zhiwen said with a smile. Costco’s home base is in the United States, so listing in the United States is inevitable. Otherwise, there is no way to truly develop here. Giving up part of the shares in exchange for normal development in the future was also a long time ago plan, and now it has finally come to this day. .

“Haha, but I heard that the shares you are planning to sell this time are not small? Doesn’t this reduce your equity to 50% at once?” Henry Morgan asked again.

In Europe and the United States, most people do not pursue absolute control of the company, let alone 50%, just 33%. Many people do not care. They will use various complex control methods to even achieve only 10% of the shares. , you can control the entire company. Of course, this may be because the initial development profit is too much, or you may not even be optimistic about your own company, so you seek to cash out in the early stage.

But this kind of thing is too ridiculous for Chen Zhiwen. Who doesn’t know the future potential of Costco? In addition, Chen Zhiwen has almost never failed in his management and investment over the years, so how could he not have confidence in himself?

“After all, it is an American company. I hold too many shares, so it is not safe. I just need to have control.” Chen Zhiwen explained casually. This is actually one of the reasons, and the other is naturally the upcoming stock market crash.

We were well prepared to go public this year. During the 1987 stock market crash, the stock price of any company would fall severely. Some people even thought that the events of 1929 would be repeated. Panic has reached the extreme. In this case, the U.S. government will give up on the major shareholders of listed companies. The restrictions allow major shareholders to reversely acquire stocks and drive up the stock price. For Chen Zhiwen, this is a good opportunity to sell high now and buy low later. It can also leave many people speechless: I buy shares, but I should meet the needs of the U.S. government.

Of course, not only Costco, but also many of the companies he has invested in, such as General Electric, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Intel and other listed companies, this will be a good opportunity. It is not that the price is more cost-effective, but that there is a wave of panic selling. Under such circumstances, Chen Zhiwen can freely make acquisitions without attracting anyone’s attention. This is the best time to secretly add more money. Once he gets it, he doesn’t need to worry about it. He has no intention of acquiring these companies anyway.

“That’s right. It’s really good that you think so. Anyway, for you, controlling the purchasing power of Costco is the most important thing.” Although Henry Morgan does not do retail, in this simple industry, elites like them You can still see the path inside at a glance. Chen Zhiwen’s biggest resource for retail is to rely on massive orders and supply chain control to minimize control costs. This advantage has helped him stabilize a large number of existing supermarket chains. Orders are inseparable from each other. They are bound to each other, but Costco is just one of them.

Of course, it sounds simple, but it is basically impossible to replicate the success of Costco in the early days. In the era of global trade, Chen Zhiwen seized the production advantages of Asia. These are all necessary factors for success. Now it is impossible. If we copy it again, even if we go back more than 10 years ago, not many people can copy it again.

“Let’s go meet the people from Dow Jones.” Chen Zhiwen didn’t say anything more and changed the subject anyway.

“Okay, everyone has been waiting for you inside for a long time.” Henry Morgan nodded and said.

Subsequently, Chen Zhiwen met with several senior executives of Dow Jones, many existing shareholders of Costco, and a large number of foundations preparing to invest in Costco in the future.

At 8 o’clock in the morning, the Dow Jones Index opened, and Costco was officially listed. The stock price was set at 16 Hong Kong dollars, with a total of 300 million shares, and an opening market value of 4.8 billion U.S. dollars. Under the witness of countless people, Chen Zhiwen struck the gong, and Costco’s stock was officially listed. Enter market circulation.

“Buy, buy, 1 million shares, don’t save me money.” The phone operator on the scene immediately received a lot of similar orders. A large number of calls came from all over the United States, even Europe, Asia and other places. This time the market was good. The listing of many companies has obviously attracted the attention of many international capitals. Who would not be optimistic about such a high-quality retail company, which is also preparing to expand in Europe and Asia after its listing?

At the close of trading in the afternoon, Costco’s share price rose to US$2.468 billion, and the overall market value was as high as US$7.44 billion. After the listing, Chen Zhiwen held 48.9% of the shares, worth US$3.66 billion. At the same time, he also cashed out US$920 million alone. (End of chapter)