The Industrial Giant Reborn

Chapter 137 Red Bull's Expansion -- Very Coke
TVB is very well-known in later generations, especially in the 80s and 00s, when various Hong Kong movies emerged one after another, almost monopolizing the ratings in Hong Kong. Even in the Mainland, it has a very high status. The Big Three were filmed in Chinese costume films.

The benefit of wireless is actually not much. A random super building in Hong Kong may surpass it, but its influence is still very large, and it can even affect the values ​​​​of the next generation of children.

Of course, the most powerful entertainment industry in Hong Kong is the film industry. Movies in the 80s and 90s conquered the whole of Asia until they were defeated by Hollywood blockbusters with high technology, but on many levels, the culture inside Hong Kong movies is really deep.

Especially Zhou Xingchi, Chen Zhiwen likes it very much. His comedy movies are the funniest in them, but they are tragic stories. Many of them are actually about the tragic fate of small people, but they are also turned into comedies.

Since Hutchison itself is the major shareholder of TVB, it is inevitable to control TVB, and after being controlled by TVB, it will be enough to affect the entire entertainment industry in Hong Kong. In the future, if there is a chance, it may even save Hong Kong's film industry, not to mention other things , if there are more actors like Zhou Xingchi, it will be a good thing for ordinary people in Hong Kong and the mainland.

To achieve the goal, it is actually not very difficult. To control theaters in Asia with strong capital, and to establish a good relationship with China to introduce Hong Kong films. It may collapse, but if the older generation after the 00s retires and Hong Kong movies lose quality, even the gods will not be able to save them.

As for getting off in person, that's impossible. His time would not be wasted on such trivial matters, and it doesn't matter if he plays occasionally.

If it goes well, try to make the Hong Kong or Chinese current popular in Asia after 00, instead of the Korean wave.

Now it is only necessary to acquire wireless shares. If Times International does not sell this time, then find HSBC. As long as the controlling stake is in hand, when Li Xiaohe passes away, wireless will naturally be his.

After Zhou Jiayang and Richard left, Chen Zhiwen couldn't help but think about how to plan wireless in the future. This is also the first company that needs his serious consideration after the acquisition of Hutchison, especially for the annual Miss Hong Kong held by wireless. Election, if this activity is done well, the other meanings are far greater than the meaning of profit.

……

Time soon arrived in September, and Galaxy Group had completed the privatization of Hutchison. However, Hutchison only belonged to Galaxy in name, and the entire Hutchison was still operating independently, only taking orders from Chen Zhiwen. After successfully passing the approval of the general meeting of shareholders, Hutchison will spend 9 million Hong Kong dollars to merge the entire Whampoa Group.

At this point, Hutchison Whampoa was officially born, but it will take some time for a complete merger, and it is estimated that it will be completed before the end of the year.

All Hutchison’s internal plans are being implemented as planned, and Li Jiacheng’s method is also gradually cleaning up and recording a large number of non-performing assets and non-core land in his hands. It is estimated that Hutchison will bring hundreds of millions of Hong Kong dollars in funds, as well as the joint venture’s future. part of the proceeds.

Richard and Zhou Jiayang are cleaning up dozens of listed companies and more than 300 unlisted branches under Hutchison. Most of these companies need to be sold. They've been busy enough for a while.

Although the "scale" on the surface is shrinking rapidly, Hutchison's debt problem has also begun to turn around. After a large number of assets were resold, Hutchison's capital chain began to operate normally. At the same time, Hong Kong's real estate market and stock market began to pick up further. Chen Zhiwen's financial resources also let Hutchison's creditor banks begin to breathe a sigh of relief.

However, the better is the better, and there is still a long way to go before all the debts are paid off.

With the stability of Hutchison, Chen Zhiwen's economic pressure has been greatly reduced, and there is also good news for Red Bull. Red Bull has officially entered the European market.

Unlike when it first entered the United States, Red Bull’s sales in the United States are breaking new highs every day. October is also the season when many people choose to exercise. For the first time, Red Bull’s sales lasted for half a month in the United States. The total demand of major supermarkets and distributors exceeds one million bottles every day.

After having excellent results in the US market, it is naturally more convenient when negotiating with large European supermarkets. There may be some objections in terms of price in some negotiations, but no supermarket refuses to introduce Red Bull, because Red Bull is a high-margin product. Red Bull has high profits, and the same is true for retail supermarkets. Compared with cheap drinks such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Sprite, Red Bull is more attractive to supermarkets, and at the same time, it does not occupy much space.

"Chen Sheng, this is the sales data of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Italy in the last month. They are 15.3 bottles, 19.6 bottles, 24 bottles, and 11.5 bottles respectively. It is gradually expanding, and it is estimated that it will not reach a relatively stable value until the middle of next year." Red Bull's general manager Qin Zhihao said a little excitedly.

"Is this just the supermarket's data?" Chen Zhiwen asked.

"To be precise, it is the data of some supermarkets. The data of supermarkets that are relatively well-known in these four countries. We have not negotiated cooperation with other small supermarkets. The market outside the supermarket has not yet been determined, because Hong Kong Insufficient production capacity, I want to wait until next year to consider this matter." Qin Zhihao replied.

"When will the problem of insufficient production capacity be resolved?" Chen Zhiwen asked.

Qin Zhihao shook his head and said: "As long as the new factory starts operation in three months, our production capacity can be more than doubled, and even if the sales volume in Europe is the same as that in the United States, we can handle it."

In order to cope with the surging market, Red Bull purchased a large piece of land in Yuen Long at the beginning of this year and built a factory directly on the ground. The scheduled production capacity is 150 million bottles of Red Bull per day. The equipment also invited the largest beverage manufacturer in Germany. The Krones Group specializes in tailor-made designs.

"The production capacity may not be enough again, and another incident happened in the United States." Chen Zhiwen said: "The cooperation between Coca-Cola and Pepsi at Costco is not very good, so they asked us if we could also make Coke, I thought If you think about it, you agree.”

The core rule of Costco is cheap, but many products are priced by powerful manufacturers, such as various large household appliances and giants in the food and beverage industry.

Household appliances are not a big problem, because the frequency of purchases of such products is very low. In addition, although the manufacturers are strong, distributors still have a little authorization to adjust prices. Food is highly replaceable, and it is also potato chips. , Costco basically does not sell more big brands, but chooses cheap and cost-effective brands. Ordinary drinks are similar, but Coke is not good. Although there are some small brands, Americans still only recognize Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

Costco’s cheap strategy has resulted in a much lower price of Coke in the store compared to nearby stores. This has not attracted attention when there were only one or two stores, but as Pierce expanded, it was naturally discovered by Erle, and then Erle asked Pierce The price was adjusted back to normal. In the absence of a substitute, Pierce could only agree first, and then sent a fax to the boss Chen Zhiwen.

"Make cola?" Qin Zhihao was stunned for a moment, thought for a while and said, "It's not difficult to make cola. If you want to taste like Coca-Cola or Pepsi, you can do it in the laboratory, but only relying on Costco. There won’t be many, and Costco itself is asking for a lower cost than Liangle, which is hard to do.”

"But as far as I know, in many supermarkets in the United States, there are many Cokes that are cheaper than Coca-Cola? How did they do it?" Chen Zhiwen asked after thinking for a while.

"Those are all non-branded colas. They survived because there was not much publicity. The investment in advertising is basically 0, and then they are only sold near the factory to reduce logistics costs." Qin Zhihao explained: "The transportation cost of beverages is very high. High, if it is only a place that radiates around, the cost is much lower, but if the area is large and the distance is too long, it is not cost-effective, and if the area is large, it must be publicized, which is a contradiction.”

"So if we only do small-scale, there will be no major problems, but it will be more difficult if we want to expand." Chen Zhiwen asked.

"Yes, the most difficult thing is that when the scale is large, you need to face the pressure of Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Let alone new companies or small companies, even beverage and food giants such as Danone and Nestle will not get involved in the Coke industry. If you get older, you will fall into a deadlock." Qin Zhihao shook his head and said.

"The purchase volume of Costco should be enough to support a Coke factory. I will try to convince Wal-Mart to see if we can let our Coke in. Hong Kong and Asia will also be our potential markets. "Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said.

The biggest purpose of producing cola is for the northern market that is about to open in a few years. This may be the last chance for any beverage company to enter the cola field.

"If that's the case, we can give it a try." Qin Zhihao nodded and said.

"Let's arrange for the laboratory to debug the samples first. Although the difficulty of cola is not high, it may take a while to adjust it to a good taste. In addition, our laboratory does not seem to have achieved much in the past two years, right? No research has been done. New product?" Chen Zhiwen asked suddenly.

Qin Zhihao said: "The laboratory has been trying to slowly improve the ingredients of Red Bull. Without changing the taste, I want to enhance the refreshing effect. So far, some effects have been achieved."

"It's still not enough. Recruit more talents in this field. If Hong Kong doesn't have it, go to Wanwan to recruit, or go to Europe and the United States to build laboratories. We must not only develop one beverage. After the research of Coca-Cola this time, we need to research other beverages. Red Bull's market is considered a success, we need to start diversification." Chen Zhiwen said.

"What's the name of our cola?" Qin Zhihao asked.

"Let's call it Very Coke. The English name is Fit Cola. How about it?" Chen Zhiwen asked with a smile. It is very difficult to come up with a name. I don't know how many beverage brands in the Mainland have spent a lot of manpower and material resources in order to come up with a name. , because the name is too important, it must be easy to remember, and it must be easy to pronounce. An easy to remember name can even offset billions of publicity fees, and a bad name can directly ruin the brand.

(End of this chapter)