No matter how lively a topic is, it will be over.
After a few days of commotion, the news about Li Dong finally died down.
For the past few days, Li Dong had also been overwhelmed.
Wherever he went, people would look at him and talk about him.
In the end, Li Dong had to reduce the number of times he appeared in public.
Luckily, Hua Xia was a big man, and there were many things happening every day. Hence, people would not focus on him.
As the Olympic Games approached, the stock market plummeted again, and everyone's attention was diverted.
No matter how much money the richest man had, it was still someone else's.
The stock market plummeted, and that was their money.
On one hand, there was the joy of the Olympic Games, and on the other hand, there was the bleakness of the stock market plummeting. This June, Hua Xia was in a dilemma.
The hot summer could not warm the hearts of the investors.
…
As the stock market plummeted again, the real estate market, which was previously declining, entered another cold winter.
On the 14th of June, Li Dong's personal wealth was 72 billion.
On the 20th of June, Li Dong's wealth had shrunk by 1 billion in one week.
The plots of land under Dong Yu Real Estate had also entered a shrinking period due to the cold winter of real estate.
Li Dong's wealth had shrunk, and the others were not doing well.
The wealth of the real estate developers had shrunk further, and the first-hand housing market and land market were not doing well.
What followed was a wave of store closures.
It was not the real estate companies that were closed, but the real estate agencies. The first-hand housing market was not doing well, let alone the second-hand housing market.
According to the relevant statistics, the number of real estate agencies in Shanghai had reached 16000 in the past two years. But in 2008, half of them had closed down, and there were only 8,000 to 9,000 agencies left.
Fortunately, Li Dong did not rely on these land to make a living. The real estate market was bleak, but the retail market was not affected.
Some experts said that the impact of the financial crisis on the retail industry would be delayed by half a year.
This meant that the retail industry was not affected. It was not that the retail industry was strong, but the crisis was delayed.
Some people agreed with this, and some did not care.
Li Dong was the kind of person who did not care. He did not care about what these experts said.
At this point, even Carrefour was a little afraid. They were afraid that Li Dong would not take over Carrefour in one go.
Some people from Huarun Resources and Bailian also told the media that the merger Far away was not rational.
When the financial crisis hit the Hua Xia market, it was obviously not a good choice for Li Dong to spend more than 10 billion to acquire Carrefour.
Even if he wanted to expand the retail market, he could wait and see.
Someone said, "Li Dong is too full of himself!"
The title of the richest man and the number one supermarket made Li Dong forget himself.
At this time, using more than 10 billion to earn interest was more cost-effective than acquiring Carrefour.
He was not the only one who said this. Many people said the same thing.
…
Li Dong didn't care about the doubts from the outside world.
Chen Lang continued to speed up the negotiations with Carrefour. As the financial crisis intensified, Carrefour was very cooperative.
On June 21st, both parties held the last round of negotiations.
The negotiations mainly focused on a few general issues. First, how much would the merger cost and how would it be paid?
Second, how would Carrefour carry out the handover and whether the top executives would stay or leave.
Third, who would bear the expenses if the stores were closed down and renovated?
Fourth, should Carrefour keep the brand for a period of time before changing the store name, or should they quickly change the brand across the country after the agreement was reached?
Fifth, which was the most important issue in the retail industry, was the integration of the backend.
The integration of the backend involved a lot of things. The integration of both parties' member systems, product purchasing and sales systems, supplier systems … all could be included in the integration of the backend.
This was the foundation of the retail industry, and also the core of Carrefour's value of more than 10 billion.
Otherwise, if it was just a store without maintaining the brand, tens of billions of yuan would be too much.
Carrefour had its own mature operating system. It had been rooted in Hua Xia for 13 years and had a solid foundation. Far away could not be replaced by dozens of companies.
Both parties still had a lot to discuss on this point.
Now that the general direction was set, they could discuss in detail.
This was also one of the reasons why Li Dong said in front of the media that they would only announce it in July. It was not only to expand the influence of the suppliers' meeting, but also because of the time.
…
On the night of the 21st.
Chen Lang, who had been talking with Carrefour for the whole day, called Li Dong.
At this time, Li Dong was eating dinner.
When he saw the caller, Li Dong hurriedly put down his bowl and chopsticks and walked to the side to pick up the call.
Once the call was connected, Chen Lang said tiredly, "General Manager Li, we have reached a general agreement."
"Great!"
Li Dong was overjoyed. Although he knew that Chen Lang was very tired, Li Dong still asked, "Tell me the general contents of the agreement. Just make it simple."
Chen Lang was also prepared to report. When he heard this, he immediately said, "I have asked someone to send a fax to the headquarters for the specific contents of the agreement.
But let me tell you the general outline first so that you can be prepared.
First, the problem of the funds.
After a few rounds of negotiations, the funds for this acquisition was finally set at 11.4 billion.
According to your suggestion, we have reached an agreement with Carrefour. We can pay in cash in four installments.
For the first installment, the down payment must be no less than 30%. It must be in place within a month after the agreement is officially signed.
As for the next three installments, starting from next year, they will be paid in full within one and a half years.
In other words, all the money must be paid in full before July of 2010. "
Li Dong pondered for a moment and said, "This is not a big problem. Continue."
Far away's suggestion was that it would be best to pay in full within three years.
Generally, for such a large-scale acquisition, three years was not considered a long time. It was also very common.
However, Carrefour was obviously unwilling, so Li Dong did not force it.
One and a half years, including this year, would actually be two years. There was not a big difference. Li Dong felt that paying in installments within two years would not be too much pressure on him.
"Second, the problem of the senior management. The agreement we signed with Carrefour is that in the next six months, Far away will send people to take over. The original Carrefour's senior management must complete the handover before they can leave. During this period, Carrefour will bear all the benefits. Also, if the handover doesn't go smoothly, we have the right to request for an extension. "
Speaking of the management, Li Dong thought for a moment and said, "I don't need to say this. You should understand that it is not easy, or rather, very difficult. In half a year, the handover of more than a hundred Carrefour stores and the entire backend system will be very difficult. Although I have set a goal for you, you still have to be steady. At this moment, no mistakes can be made. Otherwise, it will affect the integration of the entire Carrefour system, and the losses will be even greater. "
Chen Lang said in a deep voice, "I understand this point. General Manager Li, don't worry."
As he spoke, Chen Lang continued, "Third, regarding the renovation and closure of the stores …"
There were some overlaps between Carrefour and Far away's stores. In addition, some of the leases had expired. Whether to renew the leases or close them was also a problem.
On this point, Far away was not considered to be at a disadvantage. They were already prepared for this.
Carrefour had already considered these problems when they were selling the stores in a package. This was also related to the huge reduction in the evaluation value.
Otherwise, it would be almost impossible to negotiate this cooperation with 11.4 billion yuan.
Just think about Trust-Mart. In 2006, Trust-Mart's revenue was only half of Carrefour's, but the acquisition price was as high as 1 billion USD. If converted to RMB, according to the exchange rate at that time, it would be close to 8 billion yuan.
Of course, this did not exclude the possibility that both parties' prices were too high.
This was also the norm in the industry. Of course, the acquisition price had to be higher to increase the value of the enterprise.
It was not uncommon to exaggerate 5 billion yuan to 10 billion yuan. It was not that there were no real prices, but it was very rare.
Even if the price was a little high, according to the style of foreign investors, the actual price would not be lower than 7 billion yuan.
Carrefour was twice the size of Trust-Mart. 14 billion yuan was actually just a guarantee. The value of the enterprise was not calculated in this way. If the scale of the enterprise was doubled, the value would not be as simple as 1 + 1.
If they had not been boycotted, if they had not suffered from the tainted milk powder incident, if Far away had not tried to poach people, if there had not been a financial crisis …
Alright, due to various reasons, Carrefour was sold to Far away for 11.4 billion yuan.
If it was 2007, the value of Carrefour's Hua Xia business would probably not be lower than 15 billion yuan. Sometimes, business competition was just that cruel.
A few small accidents caused the value of Carrefour to drop by 4 billion yuan in half a year. This was probably something that Carrefour did not expect last year.
Far away had to pay a price for such a huge advantage. Some of the stores had to be closed, renovated, and the lease renewal. These were all things that Far Away had to settle on their own.
…
Li Dong and Chen Lang talked for close to an hour.
Originally, they had said that they would give a brief report, but the two of them had forgotten about it.
Until Shen Qian walked over and reminded him, "The food is cold. The work can be done at any time. There's no need to rush."
Li Dong then came to his senses and said to the other side of the phone, "Alright, let's leave it at that for now. We'll talk in detail later. If you're free in the near future, come back. I should be there when the agreement is officially signed. "
"Alright."
"…"
The two of them talked for a while before Li Dong hung up the phone. He was in a good mood and said, "It's done."
"I expected it."
Shen Qian was not surprised and said, "If it wasn't done, you wouldn't have chatted until now."
Li Dong chuckled and walked to the dining table to pick up the bowl and chopsticks to continue eating. Shen Qian grabbed the bowl and chopsticks and said to the housekeeper, "Aunt Zhang, give Mr. Li another bowl of rice. Serve the dishes that have just been heated."
The housekeeper hurriedly went into the kitchen. Li Dong said while waiting, "11.4 billion. The price is still within my expectations. After the acquisition of Carrefour, Far Away's layout in East China, South China, Central China, and North China is almost officially completed. Combined with the original system of Faraway Supermarket and the expansion of business in Guangdong Province, South Fujian Province, South Hunan Province, and Hebei Province, more than half of Hua Xia, no, Hua Xia's economic center is in my pocket! "
At this moment, Li Dong appeared to be in high spirits. He had reason to be proud.
In four years, he had completed the layout of more than half of the Hua Xia region and become the retail overlord. Was that not something to be proud of?
Although rebirth had helped him a lot, it did not mean that rebirth was omnipotent.
If he could not seize the opportunity, rebirth would be useless.
Over the years, Li Dong had seized a lot of opportunities.
Whether it was defeating Su Guo, acquiring Carrefour, or dominating Kelong in Jiangbei, those opportunities were fleeting.
If he could not seize them, then he would have missed these opportunities.
And Li Dong had seized all of them. That was why Faraway Supermarket was today, the retail overlord.
Seeing his proud face, Shen Qian chuckled and said, "I know. You're good, okay? But don't forget, there are still the three major regions of Southwest, Northwest, and Northeast. "
Whether it was Carrefour or Far Away, they did not have much of a layout in these three major regions. This was something that could not be helped.
These three major regions were economically underdeveloped regions. Investment and output were not proportional.
Before taking over the coastal area of Central China, most enterprises were not willing to expand there on a large scale.
Currently, only the Great Shang Group had a good market share there. The other retail enterprises were scattered and did not form a system.
Hearing Shen Qian mention this, Li Dong said helplessly, "That's true, but these three major regions can only wait. Besides, we have a lot of layout in Shancheng now. Later, with Shancheng and Sichuan as the core, it will not be difficult to take over the Southwest region. The most important are the Northeast and Northwest regions. The Northeast region is better, but if we want to expand in the Northwest region, it will be very difficult. "
Seeing that Li Dong was lost in thought again, Shen Qian's face was full of helplessness. She urged, "Okay, I shouldn't have mentioned this. Eat first. We can talk about it after eating. Seriously, you can't even eat a meal in peace. "
Li Dong laughed, took the bowl and chopsticks, and wolfed down the food.
…
On June 23rd, Li Dong went to Hubei Province to discuss the expansion of cooperation with CNOOC.
The cooperation between Far Away and CNOOC had started as early as 2006.
At that time, CNOOC hoped to facilitate the merger of CNOOC, CNOOC, and CNOOC. CNOOC's chairman, Wang Aiqun, was unwilling to give up his position and went to Beijing to look for connections.
It was at that time that Li Dong and Wang Aiqun had the foundation of cooperation.
After that, Li Dong decided to expand to CNOOC, and CNOOC provided a lot of convenience. But as Far Away gradually grew, the previous cooperation relationship had gradually changed.
Although CNOOC and Far Away had joined forces and squeezed the living space of CNOOC and CNOOC.
But Far Away gradually took over the dominant position in CNOOC.
Now, although CNOOC understood that they had used the strategy of driving the wolf to swallow the tiger, there was no way back. They could only bite the bullet and continue to cooperate with Far Away.
When Li Dong went to CNOOC, the governor of CNOOC personally received Li Dong.
With the rise of his status, people began to pay attention to Li Dong's every move. In the past, it was usually the local deputy who received him, but now, it was the chief who received him.
That night, the local news in CNOOC reported that the governor and Far Away's chairman, Li Dong, had a good talk. The two sides reached a number of agreements, and the next step for Far Away was to expand their investment in CNOOC …
On the 23rd, after meeting with CNOOC's politicians, on the 24th, Li Dong rushed to the neighboring Xiangnan.
That night, Li Dong had a meeting with the governor of Xiangnan. They reached a strategic cooperation memorandum on the next step for Faraway Group to enter Xiangnan …
It was only then that Li Dong gradually got rid of the restrictions of his age and was no longer a junior in the eyes of others.
He was the head of a hundred billion group, the richest man in Hua Xia. At the age of 23, he no longer brought about underestimation, but greater importance.
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