Chapter 1711 Family Business

Today's Ford is in a time of pain.

Sometimes it is easy to fall into a vicious circle when running a business. In the 1.0 era, there were not many employees and the business was not large, but it could make a lot of money. As a result, when I was ready to step into the 2.0 era, I suddenly found that there were too many labors. , The business is big, but the money is getting less and less.

Ford is like that.

In its glory days, Ford used to be in its prime. In addition to Ford, there were a lot of brands such as Mercury, Lincoln, Aston Martin, Volvo, Jaguar, Land Rover, etc. But the more brands, the lower the profit, and even a major financial crisis has begun .

Ford's own financial department estimates that in the next few years, Ford's losses will become larger and larger, and the financial crisis will become more and more serious until it is dragged into a corner.

At this time, Ford was like a very successful middle-aged and elderly person, but he was dragged down by a large group of children who didn’t do well. These children didn’t really want to be an old man, but Ford didn’t educate them well. No path to success was planned for them, so that these children could only be raised by him.

If it is really a father-son relationship, Ford would definitely not have the idea of ​​getting rid of the burden, but the key point is that being a business is not a father-son relationship. No matter who is the reason for these sub-brands to be unsatisfactory, for Ford, since there is no ability to help They improve, and the best way is to quickly get rid of all these burdens.

In this way, not only is there no drag, but when you get rid of the burden, you can also rely on the money from the sale of sub-brands to go back and forth.

Since last year, the form of the auto industry has not been very good, especially the old auto companies such as Ford and GM. The system is bloated, the internal friction is serious, the quality control is insufficient, the product competitiveness is insufficient, and the sales network has major defects. All businesses are like It's a mess, and I can't understand it at all, and I can only cut it off.

In view of the current situation, although Ford wants to sell several sub-brands, it has not found a suitable opportunity to sell. In Ford's view, at this stage, I am afraid that no auto company still has these brands in its hands. Interested because these brands have been reduced to shoddy assets.

Now, these sub-brands are like giant babies without any profitability, but they have a huge appetite. Any company that wants to buy back not only has to spend a lot of cash to acquire them, but the first thing after the acquisition is to continue feeding These giant babies, otherwise once the giant babies die, all the investment will be lost.

Who would give themselves a few more mouths to eat in this economic situation?

Saying it is a giant baby is a graceful description. In fact, these sub-brands are giant beasts of 10,000 tons. Whoever buys them will ride on their necks. If they can bear it, then everything is easy to say. , these giant babies can crush him to death immediately.

However, Ford never dreamed that someone would actually want to acquire its own sub-brands in this economic situation, and as soon as he opened his mouth, he wanted to buy three.

When Davidson relayed Li Mu's intentions to Ford's chairman, Bill Ford Jr., the current head of the Ford family, Bill Ford Jr., was so shocked that his jaw was about to dislocate.

He couldn't believe that a representative figure like Li Mu, who was at the forefront of the high-tech industry, would be interested in traditional manufacturing.

It's not that I haven't been in contact with the Internet rich in Silicon Valley. These people have eyes on the top of their heads. They are all self-proclaimed masters. Always stand on the moral high ground.

Bill Ford Jr. thinks the Silicon Valley gang is particularly boring. Although some of the things they do are really awesome, these people are really boring.

Under normal circumstances, you talk to him about the oil industry, and he talks to you about the greenhouse effect; you talk to him about the national will, and he talks to you about LGBT equality; you talk to him about Ford, and he talks to you about the Prius.

In the eyes of their group, Prius is the future development direction of the auto industry, and all traditional fuel vehicles are the demons that make global warming.

Little Bill Ford dislikes such bird people the most. Everyone is American. Who the hell doesn't know who?

You usually live in a villa with more than 50 million US dollars in the Bay Area. The villa consumes thousands of kilowatts of electricity a day. I don’t know how much greenhouse gas it will burn to generate these thousands of kilowatt-hours of electricity. As a result, you go out and drive a Prius. Come and tell me about environmental protection? Speaking of global warming? I can go to your uncle.

Precisely because he knew so many bird people, Bill Ford Jr. was very dissatisfied with the rich people in Silicon Valley and the Internet. Of course, he also knew that those people were also dissatisfied with himself.

That's why, he didn't understand, Li Mu, as the top existence in the Internet industry, would be interested in the traditional automobile industry.

This doesn't seem to fit the character!

Also, isn't Li Mu's appetite a bit too cruel, Jaguar, Land Rover, Volvo, he wants to take them all in one package?

This gives the impression that a vegetarian suddenly came to him, pointed at a pig, a cow, and an elephant, and said, "Excuse me, how can I sell these three, I will eat them all in one go. "

He was stunned for a long time before confirming with Davidson: "Davidson, are you kidding me? Li Mu wants to buy my three brands?"

"I'm not joking with you." Davidson said, "I was commissioned by Li Mu to help him connect. If you are interested, I can arrange for the two of you to take time to sit down and chat."

Little Bill Ford couldn't help but ask, "Davidson, we've known each other for a long time. Can you tell me why Li Mu is interested in the traditional auto industry?"

"I don't know..." Davidson said seriously: "I also persuaded Li Mu that the auto industry is not very good now, and compared with the Internet industry, this industry has no advantages. The business risk is higher, but Li Mu doesn't seem to care."

Having said that, Davidson added, "He should have some interest in the auto industry, I think it should be a personal hobby."

"Personal hobby..." Bill Ford Jr couldn't help but say: "If it's a personal hobby, wouldn't it be nice to buy an Aston Martin? It's not expensive, and it's all about performance cars."

Davidson smiled and said, "What? I hear what you mean, do you plan to sell? If you don't plan to sell, I'll tell Li Mu."

"No no no." Little Bill Ford hurriedly said: "Everything is negotiable. Since Li Mu is interested, I can have a chat with him, or we can send someone to meet and contact each other first to see the wishes of both parties, the principle All of Ford's assets are available for sale, as long as the price is right."

Davidson said, "Since that's the case, then I'll pass on your original words to Li Mu. You can communicate first, and then see how to arrange it next."

"Okay!" Little Bill Ford said with a smile, "then please help me convey it."

After hanging up the phone, little Bill Ford immediately threw a fist in excitement and blurted out, "YES!"

Afterwards, he immediately pressed the hands-free and quick call on the landline on the desk, and immediately said, "Lauren, let the members of the board of directors in the group come to my office immediately."

A few minutes later, members of the Ford Group's board of directors came to Bill Ford Jr.'s office.

Although the Ford Motor Group is a listed company, the Ford family still holds more than 70% of the shares through various channels. Strictly speaking, this is a family business. Therefore, no matter who the previous CEOs are, they are only professional managers hired by the Ford family. People have no independent decision-making power at all in real major events.

Because of this, the people who came to Bill Ford Jr.'s office were basically all direct members of the Ford family. Most of them were surnamed Ford, and a few were relatives, cousins ​​or sons-in-law of the Ford family.

Little Bill Ford's office area is more than 200 square meters, and even if a dozen people come in one after another, it does not seem crowded at all.

After confirming that all the members of the company's board of directors were present today, Bill Ford Jr. said, "Let everyone come here because there is a news to announce to everyone."

Speaking of which, Bill Ford Jr. paused for a while, and went straight to the point without much delay: "Li Mu, the founder and chairman of Makino Technology, expressed an acquisition intention to me through the Davidson of the Goldberg family. , Jaguar, Land Rover are interested in three brands, intend to package acquisition."

As soon as these words came out, everyone was stunned.

The reason for their surprise was the same as that of Bill Ford Jr., so everyone speculated, and some even suspected that it was a prank in itself.

However, Little Bill Ford interrupted their discussion and said, "I know Davidson fairly well, he definitely won't create anything out of nothing. As for Li Mu, this person has so many properties, he can't have time to engage with us. What a prank, his time is more precious than ours in terms of worth."

Someone immediately said: "Li Muren has a lot of stupid money, why don't you take this opportunity to knock him a good deal."

Little Bill Ford asked back: "Do you think you are smarter than Li Mu? Blackmail him? If he could be blackmailed by you, he would not have the wealth he is today. I have only heard of Li Mu beating others, but I have never heard of him. Someone can knock him out, if you don't believe me, just look at Google."

The members of the Ford family who had been so excited just now that they wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to knock Li Mu's fortune immediately wilted.

Little Bill Ford was right, if Li Mu was someone who could make a fortune, his company would never be able to achieve what it is today.

On the contrary, Li Mu is simply a shrewd person, and he is extremely accurate in calculating others' calculations. If he tries to knock him out, he will definitely be unlucky.

At this time, Little Bill Ford said again: "I called everyone here, not to ask everyone's opinions, but to inform everyone about this matter, and at the same time tell everyone my attitude, as long as the price given by Li Mu is suitable, these three brands, Let's get going right now!"