Chapter 717 The Beginning of the Auto Parts Business

Chapter 717 The Beginning of the Auto Parts Business

Chapter 717 The beginning of the automobile parts business

After arranging things in New York, Yang Wendong took his private plane to Los Angeles and checked into a newly built hotel.

Zheng Zhijie and Tang Shengzhi, the head of the Four Seasons Hotel Group, also rushed over from Hong Kong. After the boss got out of the car, they smiled and said, "Mr. Yang, take a look at our newly built Four Seasons Hotel. How is it?"

"It looks very good. It's much bigger and more majestic than those in Hong Kong and Singapore." Yang Wendong commented after looking around.

The Four Seasons Hotels in Hong Kong and Singapore are simply one building, while the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles consists of two buildings, front and back, surrounded by a large amount of vegetation, professional swimming pools and many outdoor rest areas, giving it a much stronger overall feel.

Zheng Zhijie smiled and said, "The housing prices in Hong Kong and Singapore are not only expensive, but also limited in size. Even if you have money, you can't buy a property that is too big. Although the economy in Los Angeles is stronger, as long as it is not the most central prime location, the land area and cost are much better than those in Hong Kong and Singapore."

"Yes, our overseas hotels in the future will be like this one, with a large enough area." Yang Wendong also said: "On the one hand, more greenery and more ground services will make the hotel more attractive. On the other hand, if we want to expand in the future, it will be more convenient to have land."

In fact, whether it is an office building or a hotel, everyone likes to have more open space around it. However, in places where every inch of land is valuable, this idea is definitely unrealistic. However, only the core of the city in the world cannot do this.
Even in Hong Kong, if the hotel is built in the New Territories, it is fine to build an extra golf course, but the location is not good and the business will definitely not be good. Cities in other countries can choose a middle location to achieve a balance;
But there is one exception. In the future, the mainland can choose to build a hotel in the most prime location at an early stage. The area will naturally be larger. Even if it is not demolished and continues to operate, it is also good. After all, it is hard to imagine that there will be a five-star hotel surrounded by gardens in the middle of the cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
Tang Shengzhi asked, "Mr. Yang, aren't we planning to focus on seeking franchisees in our future overseas plans?"

"Well, in Europe and America, it's mainly franchise, but in Asia, there may be some self-holding." Yang Wendong didn't explain too much, and then asked: "In the United States, have you found any local financial groups that are interested in joining the Four Seasons Hotel?"

Tang Shengzhi replied: “There is a casino owner named Max in Las Vegas who has some ideas in this regard. He has also visited Hong Kong and Singapore for inspection. I also accompanied him throughout the trip. He had a very good impression;

It’s just that Asia is different from the United States. He is still very hesitant and wants to wait until our hotel in California is up and running before considering the next step.”

"Well, everything is difficult at the beginning. Let's do this one first. As a first mover, you can give some discounts." Yang Wendong nodded and said.

Franchising is a normal business model. KFC is like this, attracting capital from all parties to join on a large scale. The Four Seasons Hotel will be the same in the future, but the difference is that the latter is a five-star hotel, taking the top luxury route, and its grade is higher than that of InterContinental.

The investment for this kind of franchise starts at tens of millions of dollars, so it is very difficult to attract people.

Even with Yang Wendong's wealth, if there is any franchise business that requires an investment of more than tens of millions of dollars, he will be very cautious and will not agree to it casually, especially if it is a not very well-known brand.

Tang Shengzhi said: "Yes, I know, but Max also proposed another plan, which is to form a joint venture with us, so that he can feel more at ease."

"Joint venture?" Yang Wendong thought for a moment and said, "It's not impossible, but we also have to consider the situation in Las Vegas and his strength. If we think it's feasible, then the first franchised hotel will adopt a semi-joint venture model. The economy of Las Vegas should not be bad in the future."

Since ancient times, "du" has been a money-making tool. The reason why Macau in the past had so many social welfare benefits and gave money to the people at every turn was because it was the only city in a superpower where huge profits in a certain aspect were legal;

Las Vegas is not the only one in the United States, but it is also one of the main gathering places. The neighboring city of Los Angeles is also expected to bring many potential customers to Las Vegas after the development of electronic technology in the future.

However, what is more important is to create a very good-looking model for other potential franchisees in the future. If the profit of the model is high, it can truly attract other capital to join.

Tang Shengzhi agreed: "Okay, then I will go to Las Vegas and have a good discussion with Max."

"Okay, but be careful when going to places like this and don't get involved in drugs. This is prohibited within the group." Yang Wendong reminded again.

Senior executives within Changxing Group are not allowed to be involved in drugs. Once discovered, they will be dismissed. Although this is also a personal freedom, the company also has the freedom to lay off employees. In any case, legal compensation will be required according to the law.
Of course, if you play around a little, it’s usually okay and no one will mind. The main problem is that you end up in debt or are forced to pay your debts.

Anyone, no matter how honest they were, will lose their bottom line once they touch this, and it will be easy for them to leak company information. In order to avoid this risk, the group headquarters can only take a one-size-fits-all approach, which is also a warning to others.

Tang Shengzhi smiled and said, "Don't worry, Yang Sheng. I, Tang Shengzhi, will never reconcile with drugs."

"Okay." Yang Wendong smiled.

In the following days, Yang Wendong visited Intel again. However, because the cooperation in the gaming field had temporarily ended, there was not much communication. Yang Wendong only had some basic understanding of Intel's recent business progress. He did not really understand the professional content involved, but he only needed to look at the market feedback.
I also went to Sequoia Capital and talked with Don Valentine, who has also invested in several small electronics companies;
Although the oil crisis had a huge impact on the global economy, it had little impact on Silicon Valley. The development speed here far exceeded the average economic recession, and at most only a few people were affected.

"Eric, this ICDE company is a chip company that produces automotive engine control units." Don Valentine introduced, "Originally I was not interested in this, but with the outbreak of the oil crisis, I estimate that large automobile groups will definitely monitor or even control gasoline usage in the future. The potential of this market should be considerable."

Yang Wendong nodded in approval and said, "Indeed, Tang, you have a good eye for investment."

What many people don’t know is that even the gasoline cars of the past had more demand for chips than electric cars, because a complex engine + gearbox + transmission, etc. is much more complicated than a battery + motor, and requires more monitoring, which naturally requires more chips.

The future electronics industry will gradually affect the automotive industry, especially the chip field. By the 90s, every car will have a lot of chips to monitor various important parts.

Of course, this time is still a bit far away, but some new companies have enough vision and will gradually join in. Few people think about how big the scale will be in the early stage of starting a business. Most of them find themselves becoming the industry leader. Don Valentine smiled and said, "Eric, if you think it's good, you can also invest in several other similar companies. The principle of my Sequoia Capital is to only invest in one company in the same industry, but there is no limit on your side."

"I'll think about it." Yang Wendong did not object;
He naturally has some ideas about the automotive industry. After all, the scale of this industry is absolutely the largest in the manufacturing industry. Even future smartphones cannot compare with it.
Historically, after South Korea's Samsung reached the top scale, it also wanted to make cars. Mainland China's Xiaomi and many other industry giants also wanted to make cars after achieving success in their own industries. This is because the appeal of this industry is too strong.

However, it is not realistic to do this in Hong Kong, but you can start by investing in some potential overseas or future mainland automobile companies and suppliers. You won’t lose money anyway.

The oil crisis in the 70s was also a major shock and change to the global automotive industry. From then on, the American automotive industry began to decline. Chrysler almost went bankrupt in 1979, and GM and Ford could only barely maintain their operations. Japanese cars gradually took over the American market.

But Japan is a country that generally keeps its own rice to itself and basically does not give any of its products to outsiders. It even frequently registers some patents first and then waits for companies from other countries to pay them. It was successful several times in the 1980s and 1990s, but was later suppressed by the two giants of China and the United States.

It is almost impossible to enter the Japanese automobile industry chain. Relying on its huge advantages in plastic production, Changxing Group ultimately only became a supplier to some Japanese parts companies, and its scale is still not large.

After returning to the hotel, Yang Wendong said to Lin Youqing: "In the future, you should also pay attention to the dynamics of the American automobile industry and send me a copy of the information once a month."

"Okay, Mr. Yang." Lin Youqi agreed and asked, "Mr. Yang, are you planning to invest in the American auto industry?"

"I don't have such plans for the time being, I just want to learn a little bit about this industry." Yang Wendong smiled;

The US auto industry will be in a serious downturn starting this year, but like those large listed companies in Hong Kong, they are all well-funded and can hold on for a long time even if there are problems.

In the past, after the second oil crisis, oil prices rose to around $30, a full 7 times increase compared to seven years ago. In addition, the US government began to impose strict restrictions on automobile displacement, which caused the three major giants and a number of auto parts companies to suffer heavy losses.

Even if he wants to invest at the bottom, he needs to wait until that time, and he also needs to see whether history has changed too much because of his butterfly effect. Otherwise, he would not dare to invest blindly in an industry involving huge amounts of money.

Lin Youqi replied: "Okay, I understand."

Yang Wendong added: "Also, check out the information of the several automotive engine chip control unit companies that Valentine just gave me. If possible, invest in them if you have the chance."

All engines in the future will need to be controlled by chips. Only chip control can ensure the right amount of air and oil are delivered at the right time. American car companies did not care about this function when oil prices were cheap before, but the future will be another matter.

It's just that this investment did not take advantage of the "prophet" golden finger at all. It was a purely selective investment, and it was hard to say whether it would be successful. However, more than ten years after the time travel, with his current net worth, not all investments require "prophet" abilities. The use of capital is also feasible, and it can even change some industries.

Lin Youqi said, "Mr. Yang, this involves the electronics industry. Do you need me to discuss this with the people from Glory Electronics?"

"Okay, just communicate among yourselves." Yang Wendong nodded, and then said, "I'm going back to Hong Kong. You haven't been back for a long time, right? Let's go back together. You can come over later."

Lin Youqi is also an old employee of Changxing Group in the early days. He was first sent to the United States by Yang Wendong to handle the business with 3M, namely sticky notes;

Later, Changxing Group developed at a blowout speed, and its business in the United States increased. Lin Youqiang became one of the persons in charge of many businesses in the United States. The reason why he was one of them was because there were professionals in charge of the detailed business.

Lin Youqiang is a person who gathers resources from all parties, and many businesses also need to be negotiated with professionals, just like the headquarters office in Hong Kong. At the same time, he can understand all the situations, which makes it convenient for Yang Wendong to quickly understand the situation in the United States, otherwise he would have to meet too many people.

Lin Youqi smiled and said, "Okay, thank you, Mr. Yang."

On his second to last day in the U.S., Yang Wendong went to the Hollywood set and met with Li Xiaolong, who was already filming his third movie;

Now the film business in the United States has not officially started yet, so many aspects of the film are negotiated between Li Xiaolong and Paramount himself. Li Xiaolong himself, like Stephen Chow in his previous life, likes to write his own plots, which can be regarded as making use of their expertise.

On January 1, Yang Wendong, Lin Youqiang and others returned to Hong Kong on a private plane. After a day of rest, they called Wang Zhiqun of Glory and informed him of the matter.

"Automotive chips?" Wang Zhiqun's face changed after hearing this, and he said, "In fact, we are also trying to do the automotive parts business internally, just like Changxing Industrial, but we have never been successful."

"Oh, what are you trying to do?" Yang Wendong asked back.

For some small businesses, the companies below can try them independently first, and then inform the boss Yang Wendong when there are results.

PS: Please give me a monthly ticket
(End of this chapter)