Chapter 733 Wal-Mart Stock Increase

Chapter 733 Wal-Mart Stock Increase

Chapter 733 Wal-Mart Stock Increase

Today, the scale of cooperation between the two parties and the Gore family is not very large, which is mainly limited by the arcade market. Before the emergence of hot blockbusters, the entire market is only a few million dollars;

If the scale was not very large in the future, Yang Wendong would not participate in such a thing at all given his level;

Besides arcades, there are other aspects of cooperation. For example, the Gore family will also appropriately help other industries of Changxing Group, such as KFC, Best Buy, etc., at least to ensure that these companies can be treated fairly when they encounter problems;

Likewise, other areas of these businesses, such as supply, will also collaborate with companies owned by the Gore family, thus achieving a perfectly legal transfer of interests;

This is also a social norm. It is often impossible to completely distinguish between government and business, nor is it necessary. You have me and I have you, so that we can achieve common interests. The premise is that it cannot be openly illegal.
For example, the current Watergate scandal has become the headline news that has attracted worldwide attention. It is so explosive that the entire global situation may be rewritten because of this incident.
However, this has nothing to do with Yang Wendong. His current business scope cannot participate in the highest power struggle in the United States. This is mainly because the companies he has invested in now are all full of potential in the future but have no achievements now.

For example, Intel can be said to be a newcomer in Silicon Valley, but even the most visionary technology practitioners are not clear about its future performance; or Walmart Supermarket, although it is now listed, its market value is only about 1.3 million US dollars. This market value seems okay, but it is just one of the thousands of billion-level companies in the United States.

Few top Americans would pay attention to what Yang Wendong did, and they simply regarded him as a foreign investor with some financial resources.

On July 7, Yang Wendong arrived at Walmart’s headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas;
"Eric, long time no see." Sam Walton personally came to the company door to greet him.

Yang Wendong also shook hands, looked at the building in front of him, and said with a smile: “Walton, your new headquarters building is very beautiful.”

Sam Walton smiled and said, "Haha, it's just a building with more than ten floors. It's just a little bigger in area, but it's far inferior to your headquarters in Hong Kong."

"Have you been to Hong Kong recently?" Yang Wendong asked back.

Sam shook his head and said, “That’s not the case, but I sent some people there, not just to Hong Kong, but also to many places in the United States, Europe, and Asia;
I mainly want to learn something from other supermarket peers and see which one has some advantages that are worth learning from. "

"So that's why. No wonder Walmart is growing so fast today." Yang Wendong said with a smile.

The most powerful people are always growing. The reason why Walmart can be successful, besides its own strong capabilities, is that it has been constantly learning from its peers. This is one of the important reasons why any person or even a country can succeed.

Sam then continued, “Haha, actually, Walmart still has a lot to compare to your Carrefour in Hong Kong. Although your original team came from Walmart, I also found that many of your operating methods are completely different.”

Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Yes, any company has to make appropriate changes when it goes to different places. There are still big differences between the retail business in Asia and America."

Sam smiled and said, “Yes, I’m glad you’re an Asian, otherwise if you start a business and build a supermarket in the United States, we’ll probably become enemies in the future.

But if we go abroad one day, we may become competitors.”

"Haha, I hope so. When you and I become rivals, won't we become world-class retail companies?" Yang Wendong laughed.

Not all competitors can become enemies. If you don’t have enough market share, you are not worthy of being a rival.
Sam nodded and said, "That's right. We are still a long way from that. The United States alone, with Celtic and Sears, is a huge opponent."

"There's no rush for this kind of thing. We just need to do our own thing well." Yang Wendong shook his head and said

The United States is not Asia. It is a mature supermarket market. Even though there were no supermarkets before, the retail industry still existed, namely the two top giants, Celtic and Sears. These two companies are also among the top 50 companies in the United States, with annual sales of billions of dollars. Even the entire Changxing Group is nothing in front of such a behemoth.
Historically, it was not until the late 80s that Walmart gradually surpassed these companies in scale and became the top retailer in the United States.

"Okay, let's go up first." Sam Walton nodded.

Everyone came to a meeting room on the top floor of the headquarters. After everyone sat down one after another, the first thing that happened was an internal board meeting;
Yang Wendong rarely participates in Wal-Mart's management, but as a major shareholder, he still attends the annual company meeting, including but not limited to understanding the company's previous development, future plans, etc.

As for Wal-Mart, he actually doesn't want to interfere, but now many of his businesses overlap with Wal-Mart, and there are even many possibilities for cooperation, so he will also learn about it appropriately;
Walmart's current annual turnover is at least over 100 million US dollars. Even if a small portion of the materials are purchased from Asia, it is still at the level of hundreds of millions of Hong Kong dollars. The future growth rate is unimaginable, so it is naturally worth his personal participation.

More than an hour later, the meeting ended, and Yang Wendong and Sam came to the rooftop, where there was a special rest area;
"Sam, it seems that purchasing materials from Hong Kong is also very cost-saving for Walmart." Yang Wendong said with a smile: "Next, I plan to increase the export of various materials to Walmart in the United States. This will be good for both you and me. What do you think?"

Not to mention now, even decades later, all kinds of materials in Europe and America will come from Asia, mainly from the mainland;
It can even be said that the economic recovery of Europe and the United States after the 90s was due to the fact that cheap materials from Asia reduced inflation in Europe and the United States, otherwise they would not have survived until the 2020s. "No problem, I welcome all kinds of daily necessities from Hong Kong." Sam Walton nodded and said, "I will also ask the purchasing department to increase purchases from Asia."

At this time, many other supermarkets still mainly purchase supplies from the United States, or from neighboring Mexico and Europe, and purchase very little from Asia;
Only by participating in it personally, you will realize that Asian goods are truly of high quality and low price. For a cheap supermarket like Walmart, this is of great value and can even be said to be strategic.

"That's good." Yang Wendong smiled;
Changxing Trading served Carrefour in its early years, so it built a daily necessities procurement chain for supermarkets, and later began to supply Walmart and some European supermarkets;
Although the materials were duplicated, the transportation methods for procurement were different, which led to slow development in the early stage. In addition, due to cultural and legal differences, exports to the United States were definitely not as good as those consumed in Asia.

However, after a few years, we have become familiar with all aspects, so we can naturally expand the scale of our services to Walmart. The most important thing is that once we have sorted out our supply chain through Walmart, we can supply other retail groups more conveniently.

As foreign capital, he never thought about creating his own retail industry in Europe and the United States. As long as he could participate in a part of it through the supply chain, it would be enough.

Sam Walton said: "OK."

Yang Wendong continued, “Sam, in the past few years, many competitors have emerged in the US market. Although the distance between you is relatively far, what you are competing for now is just time. Whoever develops first will have a greater chance of success in the future.
So I think Wal-Mart should increase its growth rate. As long as the growth rate is fast enough, the purchasing cost can also be reduced, which is also in line with your previous business principles. "

"Expand investment? I'm already investing very fast in the US," Sam replied. "And from a financial perspective, Walmart is already heavily in debt. Even if the bank is optimistic about its business model, it's impossible for it to borrow unlimited money."

Yang Wendong smiled and said, "Don't worry about the funds. I can invest, or I can arrange for other banks to provide Walmart with sufficient funds."

Although his presence would not have a big impact on the history of Wal-Mart, he still hoped that Wal-Mart could succeed sooner, especially under Walton's leadership. If Wal-Mart could succeed a few years earlier, he might be able to take Wal-Mart into foreign markets.

Sam Walton quickly understood what Yang Wendong meant and asked, "Do you want to invest in Wal-Mart again?"

"I have this idea, but I still respect your opinion." Yang Wendong said with a smile.

U.S. stocks are different from Hong Kong stocks. On the surface, as a major shareholder and director, you still cannot buy or sell shares at will, otherwise you may violate certain legal regulations.

Of course, it is possible to secretly acquire some companies without voting rights, but this is usually just a small-scale acquisition and will not be a big deal. The market mechanism does not allow it, unless a subsequent merger and acquisition is initiated, which will get rid of some restrictions.

Sam Walton shook his head and said, "Eric, we have a pleasant cooperation, but I don't want anyone to threaten my family's controlling position."

"That's a pity." Yang Wendong didn't say anything else;
Being rejected is actually very normal. This is also the norm in business activities. No one’s charm can make anything they want to invest in successful.

After meeting with Walton, Yang Wendong returned to his hotel and called Zeng Haonan, who was in charge of the US financial business: "Mr. Zeng, Walton did not agree to my continued increase in Wal-Mart shares. You can start from today and slowly buy Wal-Mart shares from the stock market.

Remember, go slow, take your time and add a few percentage points, but don’t rush, and don’t let anyone find out.”

He already owns 14.9% of Walmart's shares, and the Walton family holds just over 50%. There is not much left, and any further increase would be limited.

This time, whether Walton agrees or not, he will only acquire a part of it, and then feel at ease and never think about buying Walmart stock again. After all, there is a limit.

"Okay, Mr. Yang." Zeng Haonan agreed immediately: "During this period of economic crisis, the US stock market is not doing well, and the share prices of some high-quality companies have also dropped a lot."

This kind of task is just an acquisition, with no time limit or share limit, it is really too simple.

"High-quality companies?" Yang Wendong recalled and said, "Don't think about buying at the bottom. Just follow our own plan."

He really didn’t know much about the high-quality American companies in the 70s. Although some of them would be very successful in the future, he was not sure whether this was a good time to invest.

So it still needs to be considered seriously.

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(End of this chapter)