Chapter 785 No.1 KFC and Sina Weibo

Chapter 785 No.1 KFC and Sina Weibo

Chapter 785 No.1 KFC and Best Buy
In the following days, Yang Wendong met with Reagan several times. The two discussed some international events and future plans. Yang Wendong did not hide anything. Combining his more than ten years of business experience with some future memories, Reagan was shocked. He could not imagine that an Asian businessman would have such amazing views on international affairs.

"Eric, if you were an American, I would definitely hire you as my campaign assistant." Reagan laughed.

Yang Wendong said: "It's a pity, but if you have any questions, you can always ask me."

In the early 80s, the U.S. economy fell into a certain quagmire, and the Reagan administration was forced to raise interest rates to suppress inflation, but at the same time, it relaxed a lot of business operations, such as mergers and acquisitions between large groups, and even allowed overseas groups to acquire U.S. companies as long as it did not involve national security or special interests;
Likewise, monopoly laws were shaken. During the Reagan era, American film companies were allowed to invest in theaters, which greatly increased the voice of Hollywood giants.
In addition, he will be in office for eight years, and these eight years will be the golden period for his group to enter the United States, so it is natural to maintain a good relationship with him.

Reagan nodded and said, "No problem."

Neither Reagan nor Yang Wendong could stay in one place for a long time. A few days later, Yang Wendong left the secret farm and once again came to a small office building in Silicon Valley.

Several people have come out to greet them. If people from the previous life saw them, they would be shocked, because the one leading them is Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple. At this moment, he has grown a lot of beard and looks like himself decades later, except that his hair is longer and he is more handsome.

"Jobs, I've heard about your success in Hong Kong," Yang Wendong said with a smile.

Jobs was also very happy and said, "Really? I am also famous in Asia?"

"Well, that's not the case. I know about you because I paid special attention to you." Yang Wendong said, "It is difficult for the Asian economy, even in Japan, to popularize personal computers. But in a few years, they will reach this level. By then, you will definitely be famous all over the world."

Japan at this time was considered a developed country, but it still lagged behind Europe and America;

From the 50s to the 70s, Japan was in a state of turmoil, surpassing Europe and the United States in various industries, but social welfare and people's wages were not yet at the top level. After the 80s, Japan's income almost caught up with Europe and the United States, especially after the real estate market exploded.
"Really? I'm going to be the world's top entrepreneur." Jobs laughed.

Compared to the extroverted Jobs, Wozniacki, who loves to study technology, is much more silent. He is still as unkempt as ever, and only greets Yang Wendong politely.

After the group entered the office building, Yang Wendong also took a look around and asked, "Is such a small office building enough?"

"It's not small anymore. It's much better than the garage before. This is because of the money you invested. Otherwise, we would probably still be in the garage," Wozniacki introduced. "At present, except for the motherboard, all other parts of our computer are purchased. We also have to thank you for your help in Hong Kong, Eric. Otherwise, it would be difficult to find manufacturers for so many plastic parts.
On the right is our computer assembly workshop, where there are only a few people assembling computers non-stop. After assembly, they are sent to the test room on the left for testing, and then they are finished. "

Yang Wendong said: "You are now a well-known emerging company in the United States. It is not feasible to adopt such a simple production model."

Wozniacki said, "We also want to industrialize production, but the current funds are indeed limited. We mainly need to develop the next generation of computers. Although there will be a second round of financing soon, the financing funds can only be used for research and development, and cannot be invested in production."

"But it won't work without production." Yang Wendong suddenly thought of Foxconn in his previous life. He didn't know whether the company was established now. He said, "How about this, I have a proposal to directly put computers in Hong Kong for production?
How about sending a few experts over here and having my company produce it for you? It will definitely be faster than yours. The electronic parts will be airlifted from the United States, and when the computer is completed, it will be airlifted back to the United States. "

"All produced in Hong Kong?" Wozniacki and Jobs looked at each other and said, "Eric, are you sure? Computers are very complicated."

Yang Wendong smiled and said, "That's OK. You can continue production according to the existing model first, and then send one or two people to Hong Kong for guidance. I will arrange some professional engineers who can speak English to communicate with them and try to produce in Hong Kong.
After production, ship it to the United States for testing. If it doesn’t work, then forget it. If it works, at least you can increase production capacity a little, right?

Later, based on cost, quality, and efficiency, you, Apple, will decide whether to produce in the United States, Hong Kong, or both.”

Hong Kong does not have a personal computer industry now, but many years ago, Yang Wendong's business had everything, including plastic parts, monitors, hardware panels, etc. Except for the most core chips, Hong Kong cannot produce them unless Yang Wendong builds a factory with the latest chips. But there is no need. This thing will be outdated in two years, and he must keep up with it. There is not enough talent in Hong Kong, and he only needs to provide himself with simple home appliances.

After a quiet discussion with Wozniak, Jobs said, "Okay, let's give it a try."

"Haha, good." Yang Wendong laughed;

Computer processing industry will be one of the high-end industries in the next 20-30 years, and even the basis of smartphone OEM.

In the future, whether in Hong Kong or the Mainland, it will be able to drive tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of factories and have a huge influence everywhere. It can be said that one factory is enough to feed a city, which is not an exaggeration at all.

Afterwards, Wozniak took Yang Wendong to watch the operation of Apple's new computer.

Yang Wendong was not really interested in this. After all, he had seen smartphones before. Computers of this era still required inputting various Mac commands, which was not something that ordinary people could use.

Only when the graphics system appears can it be considered a real personal computer;

After watching, Yang Wendong said to Jobs: "Jobs, don't forget our previous agreement. You can introduce new capital, but I must follow and ensure that my shares are not diluted.
Of course, if you still need me to invest, I will be happy to continue to invest more;"

This content was included in the first investment agreement. No matter where Jobs looked for capital investment in the future, or how much the investment was, he could follow the investment to ensure that his share ratio would not be diluted.

"Thanks, Eric, but there are many other capitals this time, and they can also provide resources other than funds, which I also need to consider." Jobs smiled;

As entrepreneurs, they also do not want one shareholder who holds a particularly high share among their investments;
Earlier, Apple had no capital and could only agree to Yang Wendong's request, but now it is naturally impossible to let Yang Wendong continue to invest and increase the proportion of shares. Yang Wendong said: "I also have resources. Don't forget my Best Buy, which is the largest electronics supermarket in the United States?"

He also knew Jobs's idea, which was normal. People tend to seek profit and avoid harm. Even if they were forced to introduce foreign capital, they hoped to introduce a pair of small shareholders.

Regardless of whether others will interfere in the company's operations, as long as there are major shareholders, it is a huge threat.

Jobs said: "We also hope to use Best Buy's channels, but this time the investment involves the technology level."

"Okay, let's think about it next time." Yang Wendong did not force it.
Apple is in short supply nowadays, and once it is produced, it will not worry about sales. At this time, it is natural that it will not care about multiple channels, even if Best Buy is very strong;
When Apple's sales are not so good one day and it encounters a growth bottleneck, then channels will be king;
However, according to Apple's development trend, by the time this day comes, it will have already been listed, and I may have already cashed out.
After leaving Apple, Yang Wendong said to his assistant Aying, "Aying, help me arrange for someone to go to Taiwan to check on a man named Guo Taiming. He should have opened a small factory."

Although I want to enter the OEM field now, it is hard to say whether I can succeed, especially if Honor also makes computers in the future, then other brands will not recognize you;

So if you don’t succeed yourself, then investing in the future king of foundry is a good choice;

There were many top OEM companies in the past, but Terry Gou was the most successful, which must have been due to his strengths.

"Terry Gou? OK, I'll write it down." Ah Ying immediately wrote down the boss's request.

Several people then came to a building in the center of Los Angeles. On the top of the building, the three big words "KFC" were as dazzling as a star.
"This KFC headquarters building is pretty good." Yang Wendong asked with a smile: "Is this our own property or is it rented?"

Lin Youqing beside him replied, "It is leased. Not only KFC, but also Best Buy's headquarters is here. The two companies rented this property together. They also plan to find a suitable time to build a headquarters building themselves. However, our funds have been invested in other directions recently, so we can only wait."

"Well, wait a few more years. In a few years, I will give each of them a skyscraper." Yang Wendong nodded and said;
The second oil crisis was coming, and his remaining funds in the United States had a use. He continued to invest in oil field stocks as he did last time, making a profit without any loss.
As for the property, we can only wait until we earn the money, then it will be cost-effective to build a large one, after all, KFC and Best Buy are already large in scale and need their own headquarters;

The American executives from KFC and Best Buy also came downstairs to greet the boss;

After greeting each other, Yang Wendong was invited upstairs, where he also had his own office. At the same time, his team also began to review the accounts of the two companies;

Even though overseas companies submit data every year, they are basically just results, and the headquarters still needs to review this process at regular intervals.

Yang Wendong was drinking tea with the people in charge of KFC and Best Buy. Yang Wendong asked, "William, how many stores are there in the United States now?"

"Mr. Yang, there are 5285 stores in total. KFC is already the largest fast food chain in the United States, covering almost every city in the United States." William said with a smile;

Although KFC has some competitors, such as McDonald's, it is the strongest in terms of capital. With the profits of Changxing Group's other industries in the United States and the help of Citibank, KFC has expanded to various cities in the United States and has also prepared corresponding distribution measures.
This made it difficult for competitors like McDonald's to catch up, and he became the CEO of the largest fast food company in the United States;

Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Okay, in the United States, the expansion may not have reached its limit, but there is not much room for growth. You don't need to be responsible for Asia. How is the expansion in Europe going?"

KFC's brand in Asia is independently operated in Hong Kong, and over the years, it has opened more than 2000 stores in Asia.

Whether in the United States or Asia, franchising is the main method, but you also need to invest a lot of money, including processing centers, distribution centers, etc.
William said: "We have opened 520 stores in Europe, mainly in the UK, France, Germany and Italy. Due to distribution issues, the expansion speed is relatively slow. Europeans don't like KFC very much. There are also many fast food restaurants in Europe."

“Well, then we can appropriately increase advertising investment in Europe, or organize some activities to attract local people to consume there,” Yang Wendong said.

William agreed: "Okay, Mr. Yang, I will prepare the relevant plans and budget."

Yang Wendong then looked at Barney and asked, "Barney, there are now 103 Best Buy stores in the United States, right? This pace seems to be a bit slow recently?"

In the US branch, Yang Wendong basically still regards local people as the boss. The Chinese are generally responsible for finance and personnel, forming a balance of power with the local European and American sides;

Barney replied, "Yes, it has been a little slow recently, mainly due to funding. Best Buy's main problem is that it has been losing money. You also understand that our investment is huge."

"How are the sales of personal computers?" Yang Wendong suddenly asked.

Barney said, "You mean Apple's personal computer? I did get some, but not much. Apple doesn't have enough time to produce it. But I heard that IBM is also preparing to make personal computers. With their capabilities, they will be able to launch them soon."

"Well, okay, let's wait and see how the personal computer performs after it comes out." Yang Wendong said, "As for funding, I can't support too much for now. I'll ask Citibank to give you some funds."

"Thank you, Mr. Yang," Barney said quickly;
PS: Please give me a monthly ticket
(End of this chapter)