Although Chen Ze had extraordinary trust in Li Mu, he really couldn't believe that Li Mu actually wanted to buy three car brands from Ford in one go.
Seeing his stunned look, Li Mu smiled and said, "Old Chen, I'm not kidding you. We didn't fly all the way here to visit the Ford factory."
Chen Ze calmed down and asked: "How much does it cost to acquire these three brands? It's an astronomical figure!"
Li Mu smiled and said, "However, the price quoted is only a few billion dollars."
Billions of dollars…
Chen Ze almost vomited blood after hearing this.
Only Li Mu can talk about billions of dollars so easily.
However, if you think about it carefully, the combined value of these three brands is only a few billion US dollars, which is indeed not high.
He recalled some data in his memory and said: "It seems that Ford spent at least six to seven billion US dollars to acquire Volvo, right? In addition to Jaguar Land Rover, the acquisition price of these three brands was at least tens of billions of US dollars. Why? Will it be sold so cheaply?”
Li Mu said with a smile: "Because I'm losing money!"
As he spoke, Li Mu said like a treasure trove: "You see, Volvo suffered huge losses when it was taken over by Ford; Jaguar and Land Rover also failed to escape the fate of huge losses when they integrated them. They bought three brands for more than 10 billion US dollars. The total losses over the years have amounted to several billion dollars, and now the total sales are only a few billion dollars, and Ford has lost at least nearly 10 billion dollars."
The losses of large industrial groups are like cutting flesh with a blunt knife. Although it won't kill you with one knife, it will cut off a large piece every time the knife goes down.
For example, when the domestic steel and coal prices are not good, private related companies can immediately turn from profits to losses, and then they are deeply trapped by their own companies. The losses are increasing every day, and the losses are getting bigger and bigger, although the net assets are not yet at this time. It becomes a negative number, but the key is that this net asset value is like a stock that has dropped to its limit. You want to sell it but you can't.
Under such circumstances, business owners can only bear losses and hope that one day the market will improve. Many times, they simply wait for the richest man in a place to become a deadbeat, with a net worth of tens of billions or even a negative net worth. Just three or two years.
Once an industry becomes entrenched, it is truly terrifying. It is like a cement block falling on you, pulling you into the abyss, and you cannot get rid of it even if you want to get rid of it.
Ford has been getting worse and worse over the past century. The main reason is that its business is too big and its management is poor. In the end, it is trapped by its own assets.
When Chen Ze heard this, he was shocked and said hurriedly: "Then if you buy these three brands from him now, aren't you becoming Ford's scapegoat? How can you buy back three loss-making companies with billions of dollars?" Don’t we have to supply them with blood all the time?”
Li Mu said with a smile: "In the hands of Ford, it is a murderous evil spirit, but in my hands, it may be a lucky ghost. Ford is not capable of making these three brands profitable, but it does not mean that I am not capable."
Chen Ze had a big head, rubbed his temples, and said: "Old Li, you have never worked on cars before. This is a big industry with tens of thousands of people. Which car brand does not purchase and sell globally? The supply chain alone is It’s enough to drink a pot, let alone sell it.”
Li Mu patted his shoulder and said with a smile: "Don't worry, I've thought about everything I should think about, and I've thought about things I shouldn't think about. I'm very confident that I can turn these three brands from losses to profits. , So what if it doesn’t work, it’s just a few billion dollars. After I lose all my principal, I will disband the factory and donate all the equipment and technology patents to the country. It can be considered a good thing, so what are you afraid of?”
Chen Ze nodded and said with a smile: "Okay, since you said so, then if I don't support you, what kind of brother are you?"
After saying that, he immediately added: "I know a little bit about cars. As long as you need it, I will be at your disposal from now on."
Chen Ze himself is a person who is obsessed with cars, and has a much deeper affection for cars and the car industry than Li Mu. Originally, he was just worried that Li Mu would buy back three hot potatoes and end up being beaten, but deep down, he felt sorry for Li Mu to win this. The three brands are still very much looked forward to. Now that Li Mu has shown strong confidence, he no longer has that worry in his heart, and what is left is full of enthusiasm.
Three internationally renowned automobile brands are about to be acquired by Chinese companies and become 100% Chinese companies. Thinking about this kind of thing is enough to make people excited.
If we can build these three brands well, it will be a national light.
…
Chen Ze excitedly followed Li Mu to the hotel, where Elon Musk's team members had been waiting for a long time.
In order to deal with these three brands, Elon Musk brought over his senior management at Tesla. In addition, through the introduction of friends, he also hired several authoritative figures in the automobile industry with high salaries to ensure that this time The acquisition finally came to fruition.
For Elon Musk, he is also looking forward to this acquisition, because as Li Mu said, if these three brands are acquired, all the models, platforms, and technologies of these three brands will be open to Tesla pull.
In other words, in the future, Tesla will only need to carry out new energy vehicles on the models of these three brands. There is no need to redesign the chassis or build a platform, because the future Tesla can even be directly powered by these three brands. The brand is responsible for OEM.
Elon Musk introduced the team members to Li Mu at the banquet. After everyone had lunch, they immediately went to the presidential suite of more than 400 square meters reserved by Li Mu.
In the presidential suite, Elon Musk gave a general work report to Li Mu.
Everything is going smoothly so far. Except for Ford's slightly higher demands for money, everything else is very cooperative and sincere.
However, there are also problems. For example, Volvo's production line is still in Sweden. After the brand changes hands, Makino Technology will send people to Sweden to solve the subsequent corporate changes, employee transfers and other issues. This is not a trouble for Makino Technology. The trouble is that Land Rover still has a production line in the United States.
Jaguar Land Rover's main production line is in the UK, but there is also a production line in the United States. According to the requirements of the automobile industry union, if Ford sells this production line, the buyer must guarantee that this production line will continue to operate for at least five years, and must not actively lay off employees or Discontinued.
Elon Musk said: "The auto union in the United States is very influential. Even General Motors and Ford can't do anything to them. If we cannot meet the union's demands, the auto union will prohibit Ford from selling this production line."
Li Mu nodded slightly.
He has long experienced the awesomeness of American labor unions.
In fact, sometimes it is more appropriate to say that you are awesome rather than stupid.
The U.S. Automobile Workers Union is extremely powerful. Not only can it exert absolute suppression on auto companies, it can even influence the country's overall policy in the automotive field.
In order to resist the impact of Japanese car companies, the U.S. labor union asked the government to put pressure on Japanese car companies. Therefore, the U.S. government required Japan to sign a "voluntary binding agreement" and could only export 1.68 million vehicles to the U.S. market each year.
In the end, the Japanese had no choice but to go to the United States to build factories. Although this benefited the American Automobile Workers Union and created a large number of jobs, for the three major American car companies, they were simply their mother's pig teammates.
American cars themselves lack competitiveness. Fortunately, they can rely on the advantages of the local market to make a living in the United States. As a result, the association forced Japanese car companies to build factories in the United States. For Ford, General Motors and Chrysler, this is simply Just to lure the wolf into the house.
The labor costs in the United States are very high, which in itself makes the three major car companies miserable. However, the Japanese know better about cost control than they do, so their advantage is very obvious, making the lives of American car companies even worse.
The auto union's oppression of American auto companies is still everywhere. Ford once tried to close one of their assembly plants in the United States, but the union demanded that even if the assembly plant is closed, the more than 3,000 workers in the assembly plant must be paid full wages, and Social and medical insurance.
The auto union has gone so far as to put forward an extremely ridiculous plan, requiring American auto companies to provide 95% of wages to unemployed auto union workers. This is simply shameless.
What’s even more frightening is that in order to protect their own interests, the automobile unions do everything possible to prevent automobile companies from optimizing the industrial structure.
For example, they are trying every means to prevent American car companies from building factories overseas;
For another example, they tried every means to resist the automation reform of the production line.
It is precisely because of this arrogant operation that Detroit has gradually become a dead city. Along with Detroit, there are also the golden years of the three major American car companies.
However, Japanese car companies are very thieves. They came to the United States to build factories, but refused to sign any agreement with the Automobile Workers Union. As a result, the Automobile Workers Union could only pile up on American car companies like blood-sucking worms, but they were powerless against Japanese car companies.
This further weakens the competitiveness of American cars in the United States and Japanese cars. Therefore, the North American family car sales rankings are randomly pulled out. Among the top five car companies by sales, Honda, Toyota, and Nissan occupy three places all year round. seats.
Li Mu also didn't want to deal with the American Automobile Workers Union. If he opened a factory in the United States, even if the Automobile Workers Union came to visit, he would not sign any agreement with the other party. But the current problem is that Ford itself is within the sphere of influence of the American Automobile Workers Union. You can ignore the auto unions, but not Ford.
Immediately, Li Mu said to Elon Musk: "It will be difficult for us to solve the problem of the union for a while. The most important thing right now is to complete the acquisition as soon as possible. Therefore, as long as the demands of the Automobile Workers Union are not too excessive, we will agree to it for the time being and wait for the acquisition." After you’re done, slowly break it off with them.”
Elon Musk nodded and said, "I will communicate this with Ford in detail."
Li Mu smiled slightly and said, "Ford himself should be deeply troubled by the guild, right?"
Elon Musk shrugged his shoulders and said: "Everyone says that the purpose of the existence of the American Automobile Association is to destroy the American auto industry. Without them, Japanese car companies would not be able to be so comfortable in North America."
After that, Elon Musk reminded: "But this afternoon you can use this issue with Ford to suppress the price and get them to make some concessions."
(End of chapter)