Bill Ford Jr. was a little nervous.
As the current head of the Ford family, he was actually someone who had seen the world and been through a lot. However, when he thought about how he was about to meet the world's richest man, Li Mu, he felt a little nervous.
The current total market value of the Ford family was only two to three billion US dollars, and a large part of it was owned by the investors and other shareholders. The actual shares that the entire Ford family could control were less than half.
Moreover, the old money had a very big problem, which was that they had too many children.
This kind of family would usually be rich for four or five generations. From the second generation onwards, the number of direct descendants would increase exponentially. Four would become sixteen, sixteen would become sixty-four. After four generations, the number of direct descendants would be close to a hundred, and this did not include their spouses. The number of direct descendants of the Ford family had reached the point where even Bill Ford Jr. couldn't recognize them all.
Although this kind of family was still as glorious as it was today, it was also very bitter.
Back in the day, it was really a top family that could shake the world. What about now? The world was developing too fast, and the descendants were not strong enough. Not only did the Ford family not move forward, but it was also moving backward.
The absolute value was already shrinking, but the number of people who wanted a share of the pie kept increasing. Now, the hundreds of people in the Ford family were like blood-sucking worms waiting to be fed every day. A considerable part of the dividends and profits were directly into the family trust fund, and then distributed to the descendants. This kind of family no longer had the grandeur and grandeur of a top family. Instead, it was quite like a fallen aristocrat.
A family with a total assets of tens of billions of US dollars, but per capita income was less than 100 million US dollars. Facing a rich man who was worth hundreds of billions of US dollars, it was understandable that they were nervous.
Bill Ford Jr. even thought that if he could use this opportunity to suck up to Li Mu, it would really be very good.
The best result would be that Li Mu didn't buy the three brands in his hands, but acquired them through mergers and acquisitions.
Acquisition was to buy things with money, and merger and acquisition was to bring the acquired parties into one's own system.
Bill Ford Jr. felt that even if the three brands were valued at $7 billion, Ford would only be able to relieve some of the pressure by selling them. After all, Ford had paid far more than $7 billion to acquire these three brands. In the years since they were acquired, Ford had suffered losses from the investments, and the losses were uncountable.
Therefore, the best result would be that Makino Technology could acquire these three brands. Ford didn't need to pay much. Just a few shares of Makino Technology was enough for Ford to win in the future.
Muye Technology had not been listed yet, and the capital market generally valued it at more than 200 billion US dollars at this stage. If Google were to be listed, then Muye Technology's IPO would really skyrocket.
At this stage, if they could get the shares of Muye Technology from Li Mu, it would be far better for the Ford family than to sell them for cash.
…
In the afternoon, Li Mu took Li Ziwei and Chen Ze to the Ford headquarters with Elon Musk's team.
Elon Musk had already negotiated with Ford several times, and the price had increased from 7 billion to 6.3 billion. Li Mu had asked him to negotiate with around 5 billion USD, but Ford had rejected.
Actually, for Li Mu, 5 billion USD might seem a little low, but in fact, it was very generous. Which of these three brands wasn't in debt? Which of them did not suffer losses every year? The combined losses of the three brands were a few hundred million a year. If the losses continued for a few more years, Ford would also feel bad.
Once the losses started, it would be very difficult to turn the losses into profits. It could be said that none of these three brands were won by Ford alone.
Jaguar had always been mediocre, and Land Rover had been successful for a few years. Half of the credit was due to Aurora, and the other half was due to Song Siming from "Dwelling Snail". If Land Rover was still in Ford's hands, and Ford could develop Aurora, then Ford would not be willing to sell it even if it was 7 billion USD.
As for Volvo, it was even worse. If this brand had not been acquired by the Huaxia brand and the Huaxia people had not fallen in love with this brand through all kinds of advertising, Li Mu would be willing to eat four tires if it could win against Volvo because of its peaceful operation.
When Volvo was in its own way, there were very few legends about it in the market. But ever since it became half a Hua Xia brand, the legends about Volvo suddenly became overwhelming.
Everyone in Hua Xia who knew a little about cars would have heard a legend about Volvo. Someone swore that the cousin of his second brother's third uncle's distant nephew drove a Volvo and got into an accident. The car crashed, and the airbags all burst, but the driver was fine.
Someone even said that the brother-in-law of his boss's brother drove a Volvo down a mountain. If it wasn't because he was driving a Volvo, he would have been dead. That was why this person was only focused on Volvo, and he would only buy Volvo cars.
That was how Volvo turned its losses into profits. Everyone felt that Ford had suffered a loss, but that was not the case. Ford might not be able to turn Volvo's losses into profits even if he was given another chance.
Ford was the most famous car brand in the US, and its three brands, Jaguar, Land Rover, and Volvo, were selling badly in the US. Even its own compatriots did not respect Ford. It was almost impossible for Ford to make these three brands popular.
Therefore, if Ford does not sell their cars for 5 billion USD this year, they will have to invest another 300 to 500 million USD into these three brands next year. After investing 300 to 500 million USD, the selling price will definitely not be higher than 5 billion USD. The selling price might even be lower.
…
When Li Mu saw Bill Ford Jr., Bill Ford Jr. shook hands with Li Mu and said in broken Chinese, "Hello, Mr. Li. I've heard a lot about you!"
Li Mu smiled and said, "Mr. Ford, you don't have to be so polite."
Li Mu sat opposite Bill Ford Jr.
Bill Ford Jr. sat on the other side of the table and smiled at Li Mu. "It's an honor for Ford to come all the way here, Mr. Lee."
Li Mu smiled and said, "Actually, I'm just passing by. You know, Google is going to be listed soon, and Larry Page invited me to come to New York to ring the bell with him. It's hard to refuse, so I'm here."
As he spoke, Li Mu added, "Actually, I really don't want to handle a business worth billions of dollars by myself. But since I'm in the United States this time, I came over to meet all of you. I may not have that much time. After today, I don't know if I'll still be in Dearborn tomorrow. So, if I leave halfway, I hope Mr. Ford won't be offended. You can continue talking to Elon Musk."
Bill Ford Jr. felt a little embarrassed. He had wanted to subtly express that Li Mu must have attached great importance to this acquisition, but he did not expect Li Mu to directly tell him that he was just passing by to take a look.
However, Bill Ford Jr. didn't doubt what Li Mu said, because Google was indeed going to be listed soon, and there was a lot of discussion in the capital circle.
Bill Ford Jr. felt that Li Mu's aura was a bit different. Normally, big shots would have a strong aura that would make others feel pressured, but Li Mu not only had an aura, but he also seemed to have a halo that could weaken others' auras.
When a person who was worth hundreds of billions of dollars said that he didn't want to do a multi-billion dollar business himself, Bill Ford Jr. couldn't do anything about it.
After calming himself down, Bill Ford Jr. asked Li Mu, "Mr. Lee, as far as I know, Makino Technology has never been involved in any automobile industry. Why do you suddenly want to acquire three world-class automobile brands?"
Li Mu smiled and said, "Mr. Ford, I have two questions. First, these three brands are not world-class. Based on the current situation, they are at most second-class. Second, I want to acquire these three brands, and it has little to do with Makino Technology."
As he spoke, Li Mu asked him, "Have you heard of the CSC Club? Its full name is China.
Club。”
"Of course," Ford nodded and said, "This is Mr. Lee's club. I have heard of it."
The CSC Club was indeed very famous. This was not only because the members were all from rich families, but more importantly, the cohesion of this club was very strong. Li Mu could easily raise tens of billions of yuan in this club. It was terrifying.
Some anecdotes about the CSC Club had been reported by Wall Street.
Li Mu said, "I set up a racing track in Hua Xia for a period of time, but I didn't think it was very interesting. It just so happened that Hua Xia doesn't have any good automobile brands, so I want to buy a few ready-made ones. When I go back, I will integrate them and create a domestic brand. I will produce a few awesome models and tinker with a few racing cars. At the same time, I will make a contribution to the automobile industry in Hua Xia."
Li Mu was completely telling the truth. He would take these brands back and integrate the technology. Then, he would combine the strengths of the three companies, and with the unique technology of Tesla, he would create an independent automobile brand in Hua Xia. Then, he would produce some awesome models that would sell well all over the world. At the same time, he could also participate in rally and touring car races.
In fact, Li Mu had already planned the future very carefully. In his opinion, the chances of success were very high. There was definitely a chance to revitalize the national automobile industry. But when Bill Ford Jr. heard this, he shook his head in his heart.
He believed in Li Mu's original intentions, but he didn't believe that Li Mu could do it well.
He felt that Li Mu really lacked understanding of the automobile industry. Do you really think that you can make a brand big with some advanced technology? Don't joke around. Ford has a lot of high-end technology. Look at what it has become now.
The automobile industry was actually a very large wooden barrel. The level of technology was only one of the parts that made up the wooden barrel. The rest were the organization and coordination of global procurement, optimization of production lines, design of models, global marketing, quality control, after-sales, public relations, financial strength, and so on.
With so many capabilities, the technical level of Jaguar, Land Rover, and Volvo was only above average. Which of the rest was not at the bottom of the world's brands? Just based on Li Mu and the mediocre technical level of these three brands, you want to revitalize Hua Xia's automobile industry? I'm afraid I'm going to have to make a huge loss …
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