Chapter 112: Bargain Hunting Trip

For more than 30 years, Microsoft and Apple have been in a love-hate relationship with each other.

Their founders, Gates and Steve Jobs, also followed the same script, from being allies at the beginning to hating each other.

In a way, the two men have a lot in common.

For example, they were all born in the same year, neither of them finished college, both are great entrepreneurial geniuses in the United States, both are involved in IT and the Internet, and both are very smart and have strong personalities.

According to our Chinese understanding, they are typical enemies and confidants.

Coincidentally, their standards and tastes in selecting entrepreneurial partners are quite similar.

Steve Wozniak and Paul Allen are both kind and easy-going people.

Fang Hexuan didn't know how Gates would convince Allen, and he wouldn't be stupid enough to stay in Seattle and wait for the result.

His schedule for this trip to the United States was quite tight, mostly for business matters.

So he flew again to Kentucky in the eastern United States.

Just by hearing the name of the state, you should be able to guess which company Fang Hexuan is going to visit.

That’s right, it’s KFC!

Although I know that Colonel Sanders will die in two months at the age of 90,

But this did not prevent Fang Hexuan from coming over and trying to seek cooperation.

Although he came for KFC, he also knew that KFC had been controlled by PepsiCo as early as last year.

Therefore, Fang Hexuan came to Kentucky to see the actual operating conditions of this fried chicken fast food chain.
He also wanted PepsiCo to send someone to talk to him in person.

His idea was to introduce KFC to Hong Kong first and then to the mainland a few years later.

In fact, KFC had already tried to enter Hong Kong as early as 1973.

At that time, their store in Hong Kong was called "Hometown Chicken".

In June 1973, the first Hometown Chicken restaurant opened in Mei Foo Sun Chuen, and other branches soon followed.

By 1974, the number of stores had reached 11.

However, KFC's success in Hong Kong did not last long.

In September 1974, KFC suddenly announced the closure of many stores, leaving only four stores open.

By February 1975, the first batch of KFC restaurants entering Hong Kong were completely defeated and all closed down.

It was ten years later before I entered Hong Kong again.

The reason why Fang Hexuan wanted to introduce KFC was not to make money, but mainly to cooperate with PepsiCo to establish Parkson China.

That is to say, it means obtaining the exclusive operating rights of KFC, Pizza Hut and other restaurants in Greater China.

As for why not set up a catering company of our own to compete with Parkson, it is because there is no need and it may not necessarily succeed.

Fang Hexuan's main business is still the pillar industries such as automobiles, electronics and semiconductors.
The reason for going to the restaurant was to reserve a seat and to prepare a dowry for Fang Luoyi.

He will hand over Watsons, Yum China, and even Felix Sports to his sister in the future.

After visiting KFC for two days, Pepsi finally sent someone to discuss cooperation.

Fang Hexuan’s core demand was very simple: the business in Hong Kong, Macao and the Mainland should be handed over to him, and the profits would be shared between the two parties in proportion.

He came to visit as the richest man in Hong Kong. PepsiCo certainly knew the importance of Mr. Fang, so they also attached great importance to this cooperation negotiation.

The two sides talked for another two days, and Fang Hexuan and Pepsi agreed to hold another round of negotiations in Hong Kong.

After that, he left Kentucky and returned to Seattle.

If Gates hadn't called him, he might have continued east and made a trip to New York.

Paul Allen has agreed to introduce Fang Hexuan as a shareholder, and he will surpass him and become the second largest shareholder in terms of shares.

The three signed the share transfer agreement and, of course, the 86-DOS copyright agreement in the presence of several lawyers.

In this way, Fang Hexuan became the second largest shareholder of Microsoft, which was still a small company.

Microsoft got its ticket to the personal computer market.
It can be said that both parties are happy.

Fang Hexuan was in a good mood. He strolled around the meeting place in Seattle with his bodyguards.

He was not wandering around aimlessly, but wandering around with a purpose. When he saw a Starbucks coffee shop, he walked in without hesitation.

The store’s furnishings and coffee varieties are obviously different from those of later generations.

Fang Hexuan was not surprised. Without Schultz's reforms,
Starbucks is not the Starbucks that it was afterwards.

Fang Hexuan’s ideas about this beverage company are different from those of Parkson.

He only hopes to be able to participate in the investment at some point and learn Starbucks' business philosophy from it.
Lay the foundation for creating a coffee brand in the future.

It’s also a lie for Fang Hexuan to say that he doesn’t attach any importance to catering.

After all, this industry with an extremely high turnover rate may itself be breeding a super cash cow that can provide him with financial support at critical moments.

After staying in Seattle for only one day, Fang Hexuan went to New York as his next stop.

In order to promote Transformers in the United States, he also needs to use comics and cartoons to attract children.

Therefore, he decided long ago to hand this task over to Marvel Comics.

After all, in his heart, this comic company has become his own meal.

Rather than letting it go through many hardships, it is better to be reborn in the hands of the richest man.

Speaking of this, we have to mention Marvel’s frustrating history.

In 1939, an American publisher named Martin Goodman founded a comic book company called Timely.
And published a picture book called Marvel Comics, which is Marvel Comics.

In 1967, DC's total monthly comic circulation was 700 million copies, while Marvel's total monthly circulation was 600 million copies.

In 1967, the U.S. population was about 2 million, and this circulation meant that about 3% of Americans read their comics every month.

At this point, Marvel has become an IP cash cow, and such a cash cow is of course becoming more and more recognized by the market.

In 1968, a company called Cadence Industries Corporation bought Marvel from Marvel founder Martin Goodman for $1500 million.
This is the first time Marvel has changed ownership.

In 1986, New World Pictures purchased Marvel from Cadence Industries Corporation for $4600 million.

This is the second time Marvel has changed hands.

The 1987 U.S. stock market crash forced New World Pictures to sell Marvel to its next owner, the Andrews Group, for $1988 million in 8200.

This is the third time Marvel has changed hands.

The owner of Andrew Group is Ronald Perelman.

He is a big brother who is famous for leveraged buyouts and buys here and sells there.

This big brother doesn't care about comics, he only cares about how much money he can make in the future from this deal.

In order to make Marvel make as much money as possible, Marvel has carried out a series of capital operations since 1991.

In 1991, Marvel went public on the New York Stock Exchange.

In 1992, he spent $2.65 million to buy a card manufacturing company called Fleer.

In 1993, he spent $700 million to acquire a 46% stake in the toy company Toybiz.

In 1994, it spent $1.58 million to acquire Panini, an Italian sticker company, and Heroes World Distribution, a local comic book distributor.

In 1995, it spent another $1.5 million to acquire a card company, Skybox.

In short, Ronald Perelman treats Marvel as a cash cow.

They tried every possible way to make money from Marvel, but the debts were left to Marvel.

In the end, Marvel was forced to sell many of its characters and IP copyrights.

Even Fang Hexuan, who was used to seeing all kinds of bizarre capital operations in later generations,

I also have a little sympathy for Marvel's fate.

Therefore, he believes that he is the ultimate good guy who can save Marvel.

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　Thanks to book friend 20230318044509636 for the recommendation vote!

(End of this chapter)