Chapter 558 Cooperation with Toyota

Chapter 558 Cooperation with Toyota

Chapter 558 Cooperation with Toyota
In the 1970s, the exchange rate of the Japanese yen to the US dollar fluctuated around 360:1. The 16 billion yen plus the 55 billion yen debt totaled 71 billion, which was about 2000 million US dollars.
This amount of money is not much compared to the fifth largest film company in Japan. If it were not for its heavy debts and years of losses, it might not be able to get it even if it was multiplied several times. In history, due to lack of funds, Nikkatsu was forced to start the SQ route, and even though it eventually fell into vulgarity, it only survived for a dozen years.

After the basic amount was determined, Jiuzuo and the others said goodbye and left. Zou Wenhuai, Li Xiaolong and the others all had great joy on their faces: "Mr. Yang, taking over the fifth largest film company in Japan is of great significance to our entire Hong Kong film industry."

If they control enough theaters in Japan, not only the films of Changxing Group, but also other Hong Kong films will have a better chance to enter the Japanese market;
This does not mean that Changxing Group will be so generous to open up the market to other companies to make profits, but as a channel, it needs a large number of movies, including Japanese and even other movies, as long as there is a suitable one, it will not refuse; secondly, the export of Hong Kong movies cannot rely on just one company or a few people, but requires the efforts of many people;
Of course, the core is still Changxing Group, and it even operates in the mode of a satellite company.

Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Yes, but although our core goal is Nikkatsu's 500 cinemas, now that we have acquired all the companies, we have to consider what kind of movies to make in the future."

In this era, Asian film companies are like early Hollywood, with cinemas and film companies being one and the same, forming a complete profit chain from top to bottom; Hong Kong is actually similar, but it gradually began to separate under Yang Wendong's monopoly.

After acquiring Nikkatsu, they naturally could not ignore the film company. Otherwise, one, they would have to keep it going, and second, this was also their first acquisition in Japan. Even if the acquired company did not need to become a giant, it had to survive successfully, so as to provide a good example for other mergers and acquisitions in the future.

Zou Wenhuai said: "I have also considered this issue. In the short term, we should cooperate more with Hong Kong, which is more martial arts-oriented. Japan is also more martial arts-oriented."

"Okay, you guys try it yourself." Yang Wendong was not very proficient in this area, so he naturally wouldn't interfere too much: "But I have another idea. Do you remember that we once acquired shares of Tsuburaya Company?"

Zou Wenhuai asked, "Mr. Yang, are you talking about the Ultraman TV series?"

Changxing Film Company and Changxing Culture Company are two different independent subsidiaries, but because they are both in the cultural industry, they are relatively close. Last year, Changxing Culture Company acquired 30% of the shares of Japan's Tsuburaya Company, and Zou Wenhuai also knew about this.

Yang Wendong said: "Yes, you can try to contact them and see if you can bring the plot of Ultraman to the big screen. Maybe it will have a better effect."

Yang Wendong is not clear about the development process of Japanese films, nor does he want to worry about it, but some of the mainland routines in the previous life can be replicated. For example, popular cartoons, after being made into movies, still have amazing box office results. The more well-known, the better the box office results. And because it is an intermittent story, theoretically it can be filmed indefinitely.

"Okay, I'll go to Tsuburaya Company to discuss it." Zou Wenhuai agreed.

Yang Wendong added: "Okay, you can discuss other matters with Nikkatsu's management. Just try to make sure the film company doesn't lose money. Our main concern is the cinema."

500 cinemas, in multiple cities in Japan, as long as they are well managed, will be a huge stimulus to the Hong Kong film market;

Moreover, although these properties themselves are heavily in debt and may not be able to repay the debt even if they are sold now, Japan's economic development speed in the future will be comparable to that of the mainland in the early 21st century. With real estate income and incidental economic income alone, it is impossible for there to be a loss.

"Okay, Mr. Yang." Zou Wenhuai agreed.

In the next few days, Yang Wendong also came to the headquarters of Nikkatsu and took a basic tour. He also met some celebrities who were somewhat famous in Japan at this time, but he didn't know any of them. He just knew them temporarily.

However, some of these stars know the name of Yang Wendong, and some know Li Xiaolong, and they are all very active. Of course, it is also possible that the company does not need to go bankrupt, or does not need to force them to make that kind of movie.

After the tour, Yang Wendong said to Zou Wenhuai: "At present, to support so many people, we still need to invest some money in the early stage."

"Yes, Nikkatsu Films has been losing money for several years, otherwise their shareholders would not be willing to sell the company." Zou Wenhuai explained: "At present, we can only make some reforms as soon as possible to ensure that various films can be produced."

Yang Wendong said: "Well, to put it simply, we can slightly modify some of the popular Hong Kong movies in the past ten years and see if we can get results. If we can, we can continue like this for a few years to ease the operating losses first;

If that doesn’t work, then we can only rely on Japan ourselves. If the situation remains the same after two years, then I will have to find a way to close some of our businesses.”

Foreign-related acquisitions will appropriately promise to the seller and the government that there will be no layoffs, but this is also time-limited. The international practice is generally two years. If the company can be saved within two years, it will be saved. If not, then the matter can only be resolved through business.

Zou Wenhuai nodded and said, "Okay, I have also asked Hong Kong to prepare the materials. When they are almost ready, I will bring them to Japan and negotiate with the people from Nikkatsu."

"Why bring them to Japan? Let Nikkatsu's people go there, we are the bosses." Yang Wendong frowned and said, "Although Hong Kong's economy cannot compare with Japan, I am the boss of Nikkatsu now, and they have to listen to me."

Not to mention this era, even decades later in the mainland, when China became the world's largest industrial country, many people still worshipped foreign things and even picked ballpoint pen refills, printers, some core automotive components, etc. to brag about overseas products.

A time traveler may not be able to change this situation, but at least within the scope of his own company, no matter whether it is a Japanese, American or European enterprise, if it is acquired by him, he must respect the Hong Kong headquarters.

Zou Wenhuai immediately said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Yang, I'll make new arrangements right away."

"Well, we Hong Kong films want to be the leader in Asia. We need to have this kind of confidence, otherwise we won't be able to succeed." Yang Wendong said with a faint smile: "The next ten years will be our chance."

In fact, in the original history, I did not exist. After Li Xiaolong's death, Hong Kong movies still gave birth to stars such as Xu Guanying, Chow Yun-fat, and the Four Heavenly Kings. Together, they made Hong Kong movies popular throughout Asia.
Now I try my best to ensure that Li Xiaolong can continue to live, and with the huge investment in capital, I will be sorry for myself if I don't do better. In the future, it will be difficult for Hong Kong to drive a large economy by relying solely on manufacturing, but high-end service industries can. They do not conflict with real estate. However, the premise is to seize the opportunities in Asia and the mainland in the future, and have enough talent reserves, then it may be possible to achieve sustainable success;

Of course, even if Yang Wendong devotes all his energy to it, it can only increase the probability. No one can guarantee 100% success. After all, even Hollywood gradually declined by the 20s.

After securing the Nikkatsu Film Company, Yang Wendong came to Aichi Prefecture, Japan, the headquarters of the future global automobile giant Toyota;
Watsons' Zhou Haoran also arrived here a day in advance and introduced: "Mr. Yang, according to our previous plan, we have sold Red Bull drinks to companies such as Toyota and Honda. It has been successful so far. Toyota has designated our drinks as a logistics supplier."

"It's not easy to become Toyota's supplier. How did you do it?" Yang Wendong asked in return.

This era is different from decades later. The future technology, software, and Internet giants can easily surpass the traditional giants in scale and valuation in ten or even a few years, but it is absolutely impossible now.
Today, the world's top companies are basically in finance, oil, automobiles, steel, minerals, etc., among which automobiles are also the core industry of many countries. For example, the two defeated countries, Japan and Germany, did not need to invest too many human resources in the military, aircraft, rockets and other fields. Therefore, a large number of talents went to the automobile industry, which created a madness in the automobile industry and even once suppressed the United States.

Toyota is naturally the leader of Japan's automobile industry. Even though Yang Wendong has developed in Hong Kong for ten years, the scale is still far behind this kind of core national industry. Moreover, his own influence is of little significance to Toyota, and may even be worse than that of Li Xiaolong, who can be the spokesperson.

Zhou Haoran smiled and said, "It was a bit of a trick. The people from Toyota's logistics department took some benefits from us, but it was not given directly, but through legal means.

Another example is our Red Bull, which is also really effective. After trying it for free, many Toyota workers felt that it had a good anti-fatigue effect. They were willing to accept it, and then the logistics department was able to pull our products into the procurement chain. "

Many times, marketing and quality must be possessed together to achieve the greatest effect. You cannot rely solely on marketing or solely on quality. It is best to have both.

"Okay, we should give some legal benefits. That's how business works." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Once we have Toyota, it will be much easier to deal with Honda and other car companies. After that, we can promote our products to the whole Japanese society."

To a certain extent, refreshing drinks are also a rigid demand of the market and one of the inevitable needs of industrialized society. In the early years of Europe and the United States, coffee was so popular because of its anti-fatigue effect.
In Asia, people don't like coffee that much, and since it is expensive and takes a long time to make, it will naturally be replaced by convenient and fast drinks. Especially after the emergence of cans, transportation costs have dropped dramatically.

Zhou Haoran said: "Yes, the feedback from Red Bull is very good now. When the production capacity in Hong Kong increases, we can promote it on a large scale."

"Well, let's start from Japan. It's close here and it's easier to lay the channels." Yang Wendong also said.

Originally, Red Bull started in Europe and then gradually spread to the United States. That was because the production and manpower of the European Red Bull company were all in Austria. It was naturally impossible for me to repeat such an operation now.
For promotion in Asia, Japan is the most suitable country, and because of the short distance, the transportation cost can be reduced a lot.

Zhou Haoran agreed, "Okay, Mr. Yang, I have already contacted many Japanese retailers, and the basic conditions for cooperation have been discussed."

"Okay, let's do this for now." Yang Wendong added, "The group is not planning to enter the Japanese retail supermarket market, so in this market from now on, you will have to rely on your real skills."

Regarding the global retail market, Yang Wendong's plan is to personally manage and control Southeast Asia and the mainland in the future, while Europe and the United States will be mainly based on investment; of course, if Carrefour becomes bigger, he may also invest, because the scale of the entire retail industry is so large that there will be no conflict.

But he does not plan to get too involved in Japan, mainly because Japan's society developed earlier and the classes are fixed. The same is true for businesses. Traditional industries have long been controlled by giants, and the same is true for the retail industry. Today's giants are already quite large and are deeply tied to Japan's big conglomerates. His investment is meaningless. As for running the business himself, that is even more impossible.

"I understand, Mr. Yang. This is actually a capability that only a normal company like ours should have," Zhou Haoran said.

Many industries of Changxing Group either rely on new ideas to quickly capture the market, or the boss's early layout has resulted in a lot of channels, or at least some of them;

This makes it too easy for all businesses to succeed while sailing smoothly, but it is also an advantage after all and it is impossible to leave it unused. Now that the group specializes in traditional fields such as beverages, it is a great test of the management team's capabilities.

Yang Wendong nodded and said, “Yes, there will be more and more such businesses in the future. If our group wants to grow bigger, we must go beyond Hong Kong and cooperate with international giants;

By cooperating with these giants, some of our previous advantages are no longer important to others.”

In the early years, Changxing Group cooperated with many companies, all of which benefited from its own foresight advantage. Even when occasionally cooperating with large companies such as 3M, it also had special advantages;

However, as the company has grown to today’s scale, many businesses have to rely on their own strength to cooperate or compete with others.

Zhou Haoran added, "Mr. Yang, there is one more thing. A deputy executive chairman of Toyota once came to me. He hopes to meet with you and said that there might be a good cooperation opportunity and he wants to discuss it with you."

PS: Ask for monthly ticket

(End of this chapter)