Chapter 423 New Cooperation with Walmart
Chapter 423 New Cooperation with Walmart (asking for monthly pass at the end of the month)
Li Xiaolong nodded and said, "Yes, I have made movies in Hong Kong before. Now that I have come to the United States, I naturally want to enter Hollywood;
And Hollywood has always had white people as the protagonists, so I must become the first Chinese star."
"You have great ambitions." Yang Wendong praised, "But this is definitely very difficult. White Americans naturally don't like other races. It's okay to be a supporting role or a villain, but if you want to be the protagonist, even if you win, some white audiences may not be able to accept it so easily."
Xenophobia is actually normal, even for the Asian community. Not to mention other white people and black people, even yellow people from different places may be treated differently. Of course, this is everyone's freedom as long as it is not illegal.
Li Xiaolong said: "Yes, I know that too, but things have to change. I believe I can do it. There are many white people who support me in martial arts competitions in the United States."
Yang Wendong said, "Then I wish you success in Hollywood. But you can also consider going to Hong Kong to make movies in the future. You should know that I also have a film company in Hong Kong."
In fact, Yang Wendong knew that Li Xiaolong was bound to fail in Hollywood in the next few years. White people look down on other people in their bones, and the capitalists in Hollywood are even more so. And most importantly, there are too few Chinese Americans in this era, with small audiences and limited spending power.
Li Xiaolong's real fame actually came in the past when he went to Hong Kong to shoot a few movies. After they became popular in Asia, Hollywood saw his value in the overseas market and began to promote him. In fact, everything is just the choice of capital interests. If you have value, you will be famous. If you don't want to, don't dream.
Of course, this is also true in Hong Kong. Especially with the control of the Changxing Group over the upstream and downstream industries of the film industry, the future of Hong Kong films may be better than in the past, but it is all in the hands of Yang Wendong.
Li Xiaolong thought for a moment and said, "Okay, but in the short term, I plan to develop in the United States."
"I understand." Yang Wendong did not force it. In many cases, people will not turn back unless they hit a wall. So he said, "Keep this business card. If you need anything in the future, you can come to Hong Kong and find me directly."
"Thank you." Li Xiaolong also put away the business card.
Yang Wendong looked around again and asked, "How many of these Zhenfan Martial Arts Schools are there in the United States?"
Li Xiaolong replied: "There are four in total."
"The number is too small." Yang Wendong said with a smile: "With your fame, you should open more, which can in turn make you more famous; if it is because of funding issues, I can invest a little more."
Li Xiaolong shook his head and said, "Thank you for your kindness, Mr. Yang. Actually, other Chinese Americans have approached me before and wanted to invest, but the problem is that my energy is limited, and my apprentices also have limited energy. They can't teach others indefinitely.
People like them also need me to discover and guide them, which is really difficult and cannot be cultivated in one or two years, so the Jun Fan Martial Arts School can only maintain a few of them. "
"That's true." Yang Wendong nodded.
Capitalists generally dislike technology that cannot be replicated quickly because it is heavily dependent on a certain person or group of people.
Martial arts, for example, really require a strong foundation and time to cultivate. It cannot be acquired by spending money in a short period of time. Just like the football waste in the previous life, waste things are still waste no matter how much abalone they eat.
Li Xiaolong added: "Even if we can really open 40 or 400 Junfan Martial Arts Schools, the number of people we can teach is limited. Only when it is shown on the screen can millions of people see it, and only in this way can we promote Chinese martial arts. Otherwise, many people only know about Japanese karate, but don't know how powerful Chinese martial arts are."
"Okay, just for this, I will definitely support you with all my strength in the future." Yang Wendong smiled and said, "Mr. Li, you can try in Hollywood first. If it works, I will use the power of capital to promote your popularity. If it doesn't work, you can come to Hong Kong. As long as you have the ability, I will make you a Kung Fu superstar in Asia."
If Li Xiaolong becomes a more famous superstar than in his previous life with his own promotion and does not die prematurely, it will be of great help to his career.
Especially for industries related to people's livelihood, having him as the spokesperson will definitely achieve twice the result with half the effort. Moreover, various movies are highly profitable in themselves and can also drive other Hong Kong movies to go overseas.
"Okay, thank you Mr. Yang." Li Xiaolong was also happy.
"Okay, I'll wait for your new movie from now on." Yang Wendong said again.
If Li Xiaolong had not been allowed to hone his skills in Hollywood, his future achievements might not have been so great. Moreover, a proud person like him will never give up unless he fails. If he really went to Hong Kong, he would find ways to leave, which would not be good for him.
So it is better to wait a few more years. Anyway, Hong Kong will face an economic crisis and other problems in the next few years. When everything is over, Hong Kong's economy will take off again, and Li Xiaolong will also be frustrated in Hollywood. The timing is perfect.
Li Xiaolong smiled and said, "OK."
After some casual chatting, Li Xiaolong invited Yang Wendong to have a simple meal next to the martial arts gym, and then the few of them separated.
On the way back, Bai Yujie asked curiously, "Is that guy good at martial arts?"
"Very impressive, much better than Hong Kong's martial artists." Yang Wendong said, "You also know that Hong Kong's current movies are mainly martial arts movies. I have used various methods to promote martial arts classes in Hong Kong, but relying on those people is not enough. We need the participation of American martial arts champions like Li Xiaolong to gain enough fame and open up the Asian market for Hong Kong movies."
Many times, an industry needs a disruptor to emerge. Once a very famous Hong Kong movie star appears, he can easily take over the non-Chinese market in Southeast Asia and make them familiar with Hong Kong movies.
Once the view changes, other films of the same type will also be accepted locally, which will mark the beginning of the Hong Kong film market dominating Asia, and even TV dramas and music will benefit.
However, it is very difficult for such a person to appear. At present, we can only rely on Li Xiaolong in history.
"Well, I watched his apprentice's demonstration, it was really amazing." Bai Yujie also agreed.
"If you are interested, you can look for Li Xiaolong's old fight videos, which look more exciting." Yang Wendong added, "But right now there are more important things to do. Christmas is coming soon. We will go to Arkansas and then we will go back."
The core purpose of coming to the United States this time was to acquire KFC, which has been accomplished. But since we are here, other matters in the United States naturally need to be dealt with together.
The next day, the group took another flight and arrived in Arkansas, which is also the headquarters of Walmart, a future Fortune 500 company.
"Eric, long time no see." Sam Walton smiled and said after seeing Yang Wendong, "I heard that you are doing better and better in Hong Kong."
Under normal circumstances, Walton would not be interested in a Hong Kong company, but Yang Wendong is a major shareholder of Walmart, so he would pay proper attention to it, especially some of Carrefour's business methods in Hong Kong, which he also understands very well.
Yang Wendong smiled and said, "Not bad. Walmart has been developing well recently. I heard that the 30th store is about to open?" Walmart in history can be said to have started from scratch and borrowed a lot of debt. In the early days, the development of such a company was very slow. No matter how capable Walton was, it was useless because without scale and trend, there was no way to obtain external financial assistance. Even if banks lend money, they are very cautious and the interest rate is high.
Now, Yang Wendong invested in the company and borrowed money at a low interest rate a few years ago, which has qualitatively improved the development speed of Walmart.
"Yes, the development speed is getting faster and faster now." Walton smiled and said, "So I invited you here this time to discuss the subsequent development plan of Walmart. After all, you are also a major shareholder."
"Okay." Yang Wendong nodded.
If Walmart can develop faster, it will be of great benefit to him. The investment itself is very profitable. He has never thought that Carrefour will be able to enter the US market, at least it is unlikely in the next twenty years.
After everyone arrived at an office inside a small building, Walton personally made a few cups of coffee and said, “Eric, the number of Walmart stores is now approaching 30, which leads to a problem;
As the stores expanded, our shipping costs became higher and higher. Each store had different requirements for what they needed, which caused great trouble for suppliers in delivering goods.”
"Yes, I know that." Yang Wendong asked back, "So you want to build a logistics center?"
In the supermarket industry, when the scale is small, the transportation cost may not be obvious, but once the number increases, the logistics cost will increase sharply;
Because when the quantity is small, the stores are basically together, and the transportation can be done in one go. Even if a store is out of stock, it can be mobilized from nearby stores.
But as there are more shops, they must be separated, which leads to various problems. Especially in the pre-Internet era, many things still need to be recorded by phone and paper. The more the number, the more labor costs will increase exponentially, and the probability of making mistakes will also become very high.
This is also why shopping malls were popular in the past, because supermarkets will encounter this problem when they reach a certain size.
The Carrefour in Hong Kong is much better, because although there are many of them, they are basically concentrated together, which is much better than the United States, which has such a large area.
Sam Walton nodded and said, "Yes, only by setting up our own logistics center, warehouse and distribution can we reduce costs; more importantly, we can ensure that there are no problems with inventory, quality and quantity, which is very important for the supermarket industry."
"How much money does it take?" Yang Wendong asked again.
Sam Walton said: "It will cost about $100 million to $150 million. This amount of money can build a logistics center and warehouse in Arkansas. In this way, we can continue to open new stores in the future and make good use of this logistics center."
"Sure, I will invest according to the proportion." Yang Wendong asked again: "But I am only a small shareholder of Walmart now, how much money do you have?"
Walton smiled and said, "I don't have enough funds, otherwise I wouldn't have to ask you. My idea is that Walmart will borrow money from the bank this time. Based on Walmart's previous business performance, the bank should be optimistic about it. You are a shareholder, so although this does not require your consent, I still want to inform you."
"That's fine too." Yang Wendong paused and said, "Walton, or can I invest another sum of money in Walmart?"
Walton shook his head and said, "That's not necessary. I think the current equity ratio is pretty good."
"Well," Yang Wendong did not force it, and continued, "Have you ever considered going public? After all, Walmart now has many other small shareholders. They also need the company to go public in order to make a profit."
Before Yang Wendong got involved in Walmart, Walton sold a lot of shares to pay off debts in order to operate the business. The proportion was not large, similar to that of early shareholders.
Although Yang Wendong knew about this, he did not go out of his way to look for these people to acquire the company, because this kind of behavior could not be concealed. If Walton knew about it, it would probably cause unnecessary conflicts.
But if it goes public, he can easily acquire shares secretly. Even if Walton suspects, he has no evidence. And once it goes public, Walton will not be able to transfer Walmart's assets. In this way, the future rights of Walmart shareholders will be stable.
Historically, Walmart went public in 1970, but history has changed a lot now, so it doesn’t matter if it changes a little bit.
Walton said: "If we want to go public, I would like to do it later, when we are bigger and can raise more funds at one time."
"Okay then." Yang Wendong smiled and said, "I have another thing that I haven't thought of before, but since you have prepared a logistics center, maybe we can give it a try."
"What is it?" Walton asked.
Yang Wendong said: "You also know that I have a supermarket in Hong Kong. Although the cultures of the East and the West are different, many things in the supermarket are still similar, and my Carrefour also has a stable and low-cost industrial chain in Hong Kong.
Once your logistics center is built, I can directly deliver cheap daily necessities from Hong Kong to the logistics center, which will definitely reduce your procurement costs."
Although he had previously arranged for Changxing Trading to cooperate with overseas supermarkets, it was very difficult because many supermarkets in this era had goods delivered directly by suppliers and needed to be replenished at any time. If they wanted to do this business, they had to have a nearby warehouse.
But the supermarkets are separate. How do we do this?
Therefore, only a few products can be shipped to overseas supermarkets, while others simply cannot be shipped.
But if the supermarket itself has a warehouse and logistics center, that would be perfect. Overseas suppliers can just send large quantities of goods to the warehouse here, and the logistics center itself will be responsible for transporting the goods to various supermarkets.
"Goods from Hong Kong? Can they be cheaper than those from the United States? The transportation cost is not low," Walton asked.
Yang Wendong said, "I know this. I will calculate the cost in the early stage, and only those that are cost-effective will be shipped to the United States. And you also know about containers. There are many container warehouses in the United States. When Hong Kong has them one day, it will be more convenient and the cost will be lower."
"Okay, let's try it this way first." Walton agreed.
Anyway, I just want cheap stuff, so I'll wait and see the price later.
PS: Please give me a monthly ticket at the end of the month
(End of this chapter)