Volume 6: The Great Change Chapter 0805: Those who are good at fighting have no great achievements
"Nan Jiawu."
"Why him?"
Nan Jiawu is the child with cleft lip that Nan Yi picked up at the door of the old villa on Yuandan Day in 1983.
"I've read his evaluation report. His contribution to Nan Corporation in the future will be very limited. Dad, why don't you treat him as your own son?"
The tone Nan Ruoyin added to the three words "own son" is very intriguing.
Nan Yi smiled and said, "Little girl, you are very smart. Since you think he is suitable, I will leave this matter to you. You can talk to Yuan Dan."
"Okay, he has a fiancée at the age of eight. I believe Yuandan will be very happy to agree to it, hehehe."
"Don't laugh, little girl, your smile looks a bit evil now."
"I just want to laugh, hehe, hehe, hehe, hahaha, hahaha, hahaha."
"Hang up, your laughter will speed up the aging of our satellite."
"Dad, let's chat a little longer so that the satellite can age faster."
"Okay, stop being childish. Remember, you are going to Montana to participate in the Fox Town mayor election next month. Even though it's just a formality, you have to perform well anyway."
Nan Ruoyin was going to college, and although the recommendation letter and the donation were enough to get her into college, Nan Yi still wanted to give her some extra bargaining chips. After research by the Intelligence and Policy Committee, he developed a "political" route for her.
Foxtown is a newly built town in Montana, established less than five years ago. More than 80% of the townspeople work for Scarlett Grain Group, and the other 20% are ranchers, farmers, cowboys, etc. whose land and businesses are adjacent to Scarlett Grain. Previously, most of the town government staff were part-time employees of Scarlett Grain, and the town government budget was entirely provided by Scarlett Grain.
In the United States, administrative agencies at the town level have a great degree of freedom. Positions such as the mayor and sheriff are usually elected by the townspeople. The mayor usually has nothing to do and only needs to spend two days a week at the town government. Therefore, the mayor usually has a part-time job and also has his own main job.
The idea of the Information Planning Committee is to establish a "Junior Mayor" position in Fox Town. Any townsperson under the age of 18 can participate in the election. Once they become the Junior Mayor, they will have a financial budget of $100,000 to use. They can spend it however they want, even spending it all on a party.
Of course, if the townspeople are dissatisfied, they will drive the young mayor out of office.
Nan Yi was not worried at all that this little girl Nan Ruoyin would not make good use of the $100,000. She had already secured the position of young mayor, and she had served as a corporate leader, had three years of experience traveling around the world, and had letters of recommendation. Every business school would be vying for her resume.
"Dad, why don't you just let me be the mayor?"
Most of the staff members in the city-level administrative units in the United States are part-time workers, and they all have their own main jobs. They may be doctors, lawyers, or businessmen. It is easier to become a mayor than to start a million-dollar business from scratch.
Of course, the mayor does not have much real power, even the mayor of a big city like New York City.
"How about letting you be the county magistrate?"
"That's fine."
"Stop talking nonsense and remember to help me feed the fish and turtles in Peacock Lake."
"Okay, bye, Dad."
Not long after talking to Nan Ruoyin, Scarlett called.
"Have you had dinner yet?"
"I just finished eating. I called to remind you about something, the baseball team."
"As I recall, it will be done in the second half of this year."
Nan Yi had promised Nan Youqiong that he would give him a baseball team, but this matter has been delayed for a long time.
"No need to wait until the second half of the year, there is an opportunity now. Do you know Rangers?"
"Yes, the team in Texas."
"Walker said a shareholder wants to sell his shares. You should buy them out."
"Walker? Oh, Bush Jr., is it appropriate to be so close to him on the same board of directors?"
"Ha, Adam, you're worrying too much. No one says that a donkey party can't be a director of the same club as an elephant party. The parties are determined by big positions, not by small private social interactions."
"Okay, since you are heavily involved, you have more say. How much money do you need?"
"Not much, less than 7.5 million."
"OK, I'll call the bank and transfer the money to your account."
"Uh-huh, there's another thing. I bought 70% of Energizer's shares using Adler's future NGL name."
"The one who makes the battery?"
"right."
"Is there anything special about it?" Nan Yi asked.
"you do not know?"
"Don't keep me in suspense."
"Eveready Autoped, an electric scooter launched in 1915. Energizer is a company with a lot of ideas when it comes to the practical application of batteries. Adam, lithium batteries have entered the lithium-ion battery era. Before you launch your electric car, should we first retrieve the scooter from the trash can?"
"You mean the scooter in that picture we saw on the wall of the Met? The one with the woman in the hat standing on it?"
"Yes, that's Eveready Autoped. It was priced at $100 at the time, which was too expensive. Naturally, there was no market for it. But now, I think there will be a big market for it. You can put it in the trunk and take it out to ride when you are stuck in traffic or when you go on an outing. You can also launch a children's version."
Nan Yi thought for a while and said, "That's a good idea. Let's take it a step further and imagine what would happen if we removed the handlebars of the scooter?"
“Not very good. Although I am not good at physics, I still know about dynamic balance. Balance, direction and speed control are all huge subjects and cannot be solved in a short time.
Once we have a few generations of scooters and have enough profit, I will consider allocating money to explore your idea. Adam, we have already laid out enough of the distant future, we should focus more on the next five years of each present moment. "
"What you said makes sense. I should be more pragmatic and invest more in areas that can produce results in a few years. Can I buy Eveready Autoped now?"
"Can."
"Please buy me two to keep at home."
"OK, Adam, one of us, you, should go to Moscow."
"I know. When the situation becomes clearer, I'll go. You're more valuable than me."
"Bitch, don't try to deceive my tears. Even if the situation in Moscow is bad, it's nothing more than losing a little money. Don't talk like you're going to lose your life."
"Haha." Nan Yi looked at his watch, "It's time for you to do yoga. Bye."
"Bye, fly to New York as soon as possible, or I'm going to go patronize a stripper."
"I gave you face." Nan Yi said with a gloomy face.
"Hahaha, you're anxious." After a burst of laughter, Scarlett hung up the phone.
Hearing the busy tone on the phone, Nan Yi shook his head.
He dealt with official business in the morning, had a quick bite at noon, took a walk to digest the food, and then Nan Yi took a nap in the yard basking in the sunshine.
While Nan Yi was taking a nap, Nan's medical team was officially reorganized into a medical care group, becoming a third-level department under the Information and Policy Committee, affiliated with the medical group, with a chief team leader, Alexander Fleming, and two deputy team leaders, Dr. Cheng Liren, and Zou Yitang's son Zhang Yizheng.
Zhang Yizhen was adopted by Zhang Chonglou, a master of acupuncture, since he was a child. In fact, he should be a member of the Zhang family. When the medical team was recruiting traditional Chinese medicine practitioners, Nan Yi found Zou Yitang and asked him to recommend a few candidates. Zou Yitang recommended Zhang Yizhen.
Among the traditional Chinese medicine practitioners in the medical care team, Zhang Yizheng is not the most senior, and his overall medical skills are not the best. But the few who are skilled in medicine are even more impressive, with an average age of six years or older. They are afraid of accidents when they go out for a consultation, not to mention letting them manage trivial matters.
Once the medical security team is established, three medical institutions will be established immediately: Adler Clinic, a comprehensive hospital, will be established in New York. After a few years of development, it will consider establishing branches depending on the specific situation. The director is Alexander Fleming;
Nanpotang, a chain of Chinese medicine clinics, will set up branches in Shanghai, Shencun, Beijing, Nanchen Village, Xiangkeng, New York, and Tokyo. The chief director is Zhang Yizhen;
Wei Li Dentistry is a chain of dental clinics that aspires to make dental care affordable for ordinary people all over the world. Wei Li’s profit is naturally very small. Other clinics charge 10,000 yuan for implanting a tooth, but Wei Li will only charge 9,999 yuan, always charging ordinary people 1 yuan less.
Moreover, Weili will often launch various preferential activities in the future, such as giving away eggs when pulling a tooth, giving away two teeth when pulling one, and interest-free installment payments for dental implants, etc., thinking about what the people think and worrying about what the people worry about.
There is a saying that when people reach middle or old age, the economic level of a family can be reflected from the number of teeth they have.
This statement had some truth before, but it no longer works now. Micro-profits are here, and the slogan of micro-profits is to trick every consumer into pulling out their good teeth and replacing them with dental implants.
Weili will first develop in Hong Kong, and then expand to all countries with a high degree of medical marketization, exporting a new culture of showing off wealth. If you have money, you won’t look at cars, watches, or yachts, you will just go to the dentist.
"Look, do you see my shiny front teeth? They are handmade with 24K gold, costing 188,800 yuan. Look at my left canine tooth. Hehe, a three-carat tooth ring. Nose rings and tongue rings are out of fashion. A tooth ring is a must. It is low-key, luxurious and classy."
After the tasks are assigned, everyone goes about their own business.
Cheng Liren first went to the University of International Business and Economics to visit professors and teachers he was familiar with, intending to set up a way to recruit talent.
The School of Dentistry of Taipei University is world-renowned and one of the best in the world. Besides, Cheng Liren graduated from Taipei University, so who wouldn’t want to return home in glory, take care of his younger classmates, and gain a good reputation?
Cheng Liren's trip to Kunming University was naturally very smooth. Not to mention the familiarity, just from the perspective of solving the employment problem, no school would dislike him.
Many universities in the Western world are extremely concerned about their students' employment. In order to help new graduates find jobs, they go out and beg companies for help.
In order to encourage the fresh graduates to mobilize their subjective initiative, they were forced to violate their principles and resorted to the trump card of not issuing diplomas if they were not employed. They bore the eternal infamy for this, but the benefits were brought to generation after generation of students.
"A-choo."
It was a new day again, and the weather suddenly turned cold. Nan Yi was leaning over the computer reading emails when he suddenly sneezed. He took two "Teacher Model" tissues from the table, blew his nose, folded them twice, and wiped the computer screen.
After throwing the dirty tissue into the trash can, Nan Yi responded to Cheng Liren's email - he agreed to invest in Swiss Straumann, but his application to establish his own implant company was rejected.
In a separate line, Nan Yi added reasons for rejection: the high cost of dental implants is not due to the materials themselves, but rather the small proportion of profits made by implants in the dental implant business. Although the profits of implant companies are still considerable compared to most industrial products, it is a little too late to enter now, and the input-output ratio is not likely to reach Nan's average expected return on investment. Please focus on expanding low-profit dental stores.
With a few clicks of the mouse, Nan Yi sent the email to Cheng Liren and copied it to the Intelligence and Strategy Committee.
In this life, Nan Yi attaches great importance to his teeth. This has a lot to do with the fact that Nan Yi had bad teeth in his previous life and spent almost the money of a Mercedes-Benz C-Class on his teeth. As the saying goes, "Experience makes a good doctor" and he has been to the dentist many times, so he naturally knows more secrets of the dental industry than ordinary people outside the industry.
At least, he was quite clear about why dental implants were so expensive. For thousands or tens of thousands of teeth, the cost of an implant was only a few hundred to a little over a thousand. The bulk of the expense went to the dentist's medical training and labor, and the landlord was the next in line.
When setting the price of dental implants, dental clinics usually adopt the "add zero to a lucky number strategy". The cost of an implant is 500, and then they add a zero and quote 5000. This number doesn't look very good, so they change it to 5888. You will get paid for the hard work of getting dental implants. It's no big deal, it's just for good luck.
Dentistry is definitely one of the professions with the highest added value that is accessible to ordinary people and replicable. Perhaps the word "one of" can be erased.
Of course, the cost of studying dentistry is not low, both in terms of money and time. It is a high-input, high-output profession.
The reason why Nan Yi agreed to Cheng Liren's application to invest in Straumann was because he used to have several implants of this brand in his mouth, and now Fang Mengyin also has one in her mouth. He has personally experienced whether it works well or not; plus, he had just finished reading Straumann's information, and this company is definitely worth investing in. Not to mention holding it for a long time, even if he waits for it to go public and cash out, he can make a considerable sum of money.
There is no need to set up your own business. The bulk of the profits come from dental clinics. Instead of dividing your energy to manage an implant company, it is better to open one more branch and spend more time thinking about how to lure customers into the store.
There is no need to worry about the implant choking someone's throat. Even if Zhang the butcher is gone, we can still eat hairy pigs.
After dealing with the email, Nan Yi connected to the server and checked the foreign investment table of all Nan’s investment-related companies.
As of the end of February 1991, Nan had directly or indirectly invested in 37,096 companies and invested US$75.16 billion, of which US$30.732 billion was his own capital, and the rest was raised funds or funds controlled by Nan but belonging to others, such as the Scarlett Fund's long-term value investment fund and Pan American Investment shareholders.
Companies that invest more may invest hundreds of millions of dollars, while companies that invest less may only invest tens of thousands of dollars.
Although Scarlett Fund has made more overseas investments and higher returns than Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, it is still slightly inferior in terms of fame. This is related to the fact that there is almost no personal capital of Scarlett in the Scarlett Fund.
In the eyes of outsiders, Scarlett is responsible for doing the work and collecting commissions. If we estimate it high, the Scarlett Fund can only increase Scarlett's net worth by $200 million, while Buffett is now estimated to be worth more than $4 billion.
The outside world estimates Scarlett's net worth to be $1.3 billion, most of which comes from Taylor Associates. Due to the previously established strategy, Scarlett's shares in the group have been reduced, and her net worth has fallen by $200 to $300 million compared to the previous two years.
As for Scarlett Grain Group, Scarlett Mining Group and Scarlett Oil, they do not give outsiders any chance to make a correct assessment. With a large number of offshore companies under their umbrella, even the IRS has no chance of figuring out how much assets these three companies have, not to mention those who make up the wealth list based on their own ideas.
No matter who asks, these three companies are all losing money, losing a lot of money, and so far these three companies still owe a total of several billion dollars to the holding company under Nan's Investment Holdings and more than 2 billion yuan to Weir Bank. It has been two or three years, and they have not paid back a penny. If they don't pay it back, they will be asked to throw red paint on them.
There are advantages to not going public. If you say that a company is losing money, then it is losing money, and there is no need to make up nonsense. From the moment the company opens its doors, every external debt can be clearly documented.
When Scarlett Oil started, it only invested a total of 50,000 US dollars, and then it raised funds and borrowed money all the way. It only had a few oil fields in the single digits, but the debt was billions. Outsiders didn't care whether the creditor behind it was named Nan or Taylor. In short, Scarlett Oil was insolvent.
Poor Yizai worked part-time as a deputy well manager for two or three years, but he never got any salary and even a small dried fish.
It's not that it didn't make any money. Scarlett Oil is a rare flower in the oil industry. It is in debt every year and borrows money every year to pay employees, but it has never collapsed, thanks to the fact that there are several stupid companies and banks behind it that are willing to lend it money.
If there are people willing to lend, there will naturally be money to pay salaries. Take Yi Zai, the deputy well manager, for example. His annual salary is more than 300,000 US dollars. The accountant will write checks for him every week, but Scarlett will collect the checks on his behalf.
Needless to say, it must have been deducted by Scarlett. How could she have the nerve to do so, receiving hundreds of millions from Scarlett Oil every year, and not even letting go of Yizai's small change.
In fact, many people related to Nan’s Scarlett system receive their salaries and benefits from Scarlett Petroleum. Many researchers engaged in field exploration under Fan Shengzhi Research Institute receive part of their salary from Scarlett Petroleum under the title of oil explorers.
This kind of operation, transferring money from one hand to the other, seems to be all their own money and is purely unnecessary. But in fact, there are deeper reasons. The oil field is the forbidden territory of the oil consortium. Nan's family can make a few bucks from it, and it doesn't matter if they make a small profit, but they cannot do it on a large scale.
The Nan family has been classified as part of the Finance Department and enjoys the benefits and friendship of the Finance Department. The oil consortium will not give it the hat of the Oil Department, and the Finance Department cannot tolerate betrayal.
Nan can only eat the oil bowl for a while, or eat a corner. If he wants to take up the pot and eat, the oil consortium in Texas will immediately send a few missiles to congratulate the newcomer, and California will call Wall Street and give Nan a series of blows.
If you make a few hundred million a year , you can be a wild kid. But when the scale reaches tens of billions, there will naturally be a parent committee to teach you the rules of life. You have to eat the Zhang family's food and call the Li family dad. Neither the Li family nor the Zhang family can tolerate such a clever fence-sitter.
Scarlett had already communicated with the oil consortium a long time ago. At a certain stage, Scarlett Oil will be sold to the oil consortium. It will no longer engage in oil extraction, but only in a certain link in the oil field.
Simply put, the attitude of the oil consortium is that you are welcome to eat the oil meal. You don't have to eat it on your knees, you can eat it standing up, but don't even think about entering their control system, let alone being on an equal footing with them.
Nan Yi and Scarlett both understood all of this. Since they didn't have the ability to overturn the table and make new rules, they could only abide by the rules set by others.
After thinking about it for a while, Nan Yi started to look through the list of invested companies.
Most of the companies are ones Nan Yi has never heard of in his previous life, especially some unknown companies that are developing into hidden champions. The things they produce are relatively simple and are supporting products for a certain product, but they are indispensable to the product.
Such enterprises are usually small, and an investment of several hundred thousand or even tens of thousands can give you a significant share. For example, a German company that produces water filters accounts for 65% of global sales. However, due to a fire, the entire company was burned down. When it was facing the dilemma of breach of supply contract and lack of funds for company reconstruction, Baoguo Agricultural Machinery appeared.
Because a small agricultural machine produced by Baoguo Agricultural Machinery needed their water filter, they simply came to the rescue and invested in the company, becoming the second largest shareholder without any involvement. Later, after internal circulation, the shares came into the hands of Nanshi Investment.
Similarly, there are many investment targets that are not actively sought. Instead, valuable investment targets are discovered by chance through unexpected events, and they tend to become investors passively.
Of course, most of them are targets that are actively sought out, and not every company has the potential to become an industry leader or even a unicorn. As long as the expected return on investment is not low, the risk assessment is passed, and it is an area of interest to Nan, Nan will invest.
After checking out the reports of more than a dozen companies, Nan Yi felt his eyes a little sore. After a short rest, he started to read them selectively, choosing the ones with more green arrows first.
A green upward arrow indicates a positive paper return on investment. The more arrows there are, the higher the paper return rate is. Conversely, a red arrow represents a negative paper return. The more arrows there are, the greater the loss is. This is the same as the ups and downs of the world's mainstream stock markets.
Green rises and red falls, and the mainstream world can accept it, so the Nan family will naturally follow the trend. There is no need to be unique in such matters or to emphasize one's own personality.
Those with relatively high rates of return are all start-up companies, with small capital and huge returns, and appreciation of dozens of times; those with relatively large returns are computer-related industries, and the returns of Apple, Dell, Cisco, and Microsoft are not low.
Especially Apple, although it has been on a downward trend in the past two years and its financial reports are getting uglier year by year, Pan American Holdings holds a lot of shares.
In 1983, when Apple's market value was still low, it bought 3% of the shares. In 1985, when Jobs was kicked out of the company, it bought another 6% of the shares from him. The 9% shares have been held in its hands and have never touched.
In 1987, Apple also split its stock 2-for-1, so Pan American Holdings had more shares, but the stake remained the same.
Although it is a major shareholder, Pan American Investments only sent a director representative to Apple, who always kept silent and did not comment on Apple's internal affairs. He was only very active when dividends were distributed each year and would be the first to rush to the board meeting.
Relying on dividends and the Scarlett Fund's operations on Apple stock, basically, more than 50% of the expenditure on acquiring Apple stock has been recovered. Of course, 60% to 70% of it belongs only to the Nan family and has little to do with the shareholders of Pan American Investment Holdings.
Even if Apple's stock becomes worthless, Nan's loss will not be that big.
[Before Jobs returns to Apple, Apple will pay dividends. It will be later if it does not pay dividends.]
On Microsoft's side, the title of the richest man Wei Ye will soon be well-deserved. Bill Gates is only one step away from being the richest man in the United States. As long as he works harder, he can sit on the throne of the richest man in the United States and smell the scent of a woman.
If one accidentally uses too much force, he may even be unable to sit on the chair of the world's richest man.
Looking at the computer screen, Nan Yi clenched his fist, made a cheering gesture, and shouted "Fighting" excitedly. Being able to witness the rise of the world's richest man, Nan Yi couldn't help but be inexplicably excited. His knees went weak and he almost worshiped him.
One day, Nan Yi, the richest man who rents a house in Longkunxia Village, will have a soul clash with the world's quasi-richest man. They will discuss the past and present of silk trade and Windows system, and then teach him some experiences of being the richest man, such as which bowl of soy milk to drink and which bowl to pour.
They all came from there. Although he is only the richest man in a small village, Nan Yi is not without a say. After all, the feelings of the richest people are universal, regardless of size.
After refueling the quasi-richest man in the American film, Nan Yi also refueled those in the European and Asian films.
Nan Yi sat in front of the computer until after nine o'clock in the evening. He got up and moved around, then made himself a cup of tea. When his mind became clear again, Nan Yi sat back at the computer, opened the document, and typed a few words on it - Adam Award Plan.
"In order to contribute to world science and technology and accelerate its development, 300 million US dollars will be allocated from the South to establish an Adam Smith Fund, and the Adam Award will be established in the name of the fund. An annual selection will be held to select the five candidates who have made the greatest contribution to world science and technology in the previous year..."
Nan Yi thought for a moment, moved the cursor, added "(number to be determined)" after "five", then moved the cursor again and continued typing.
"Each candidate for the Adam Award can receive a prize of $1 million. After the Adam Award has been running for a few years, candidates with outstanding contributions in the food field will be added to the list of candidates. If there is no strong opposition, when the time is right, the winemaker of Nan Chen Winery will be recommended as a candidate to inject high-tech attributes into Nan Chen Winery."
Nan Yi took his left hand off the keyboard, stroked his chin, hesitated for a moment, and typed "(Information and Strategy Committee discusses feasibility)" and then started a new line and typed "The winner will be tentatively called a national hero."
After reading the content thoroughly and making some minor modifications, Nan Yi did not send the document out but only saved it temporarily on the hard drive.
Exiting the document and calling up the email system, Nan Yi wrote an email to Rachel - closely follow the developments of Apple, and if the stock price drops significantly, ask other shareholders at the board meeting whether they want to reduce their holdings of Apple shares.
After sending the email, Nan Yi sent another email to the financial team - pay close attention to Apple's movements and track Pan American Investments' next strategy for Apple's stock. If Pan American Investments reduces its holdings, let a suitable company come forward to take over the shares.
In addition, if Apple’s stock price plummets, buy up shares on the Nasdaq market and try to diversify your holdings of the shares you buy up.
Note: Report to me before each move.
After typing, Nan Yi read the email, confirmed that it was correct, and clicked the send button.
