Chapter 316 I Want to Get to Know the Future King of Genting Casino
According to Zhao Lixuan, Star Cruises currently has bases in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. The cruise markets in these three places have nearly 1 million cruise tourists each year, accounting for 60% of the entire Asian market. Other major market shares are in Japan and South Korea, and there are still very few in mainland China.
Among the three places mentioned above, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong, Singapore has the largest market share due to its unique geographical location. Therefore, Star Cruises attaches great importance to marketing in Singapore.
"Mr. Li, I came to visit your company today because I want to establish a long-term partnership with your Yahoo Singapore site in view of the growing traffic and popularity of your Singapore Yahoo website."
"It's an honor, welcome!" Li Xiaofan smiled.
"In fact, Mr. Li, we have initially thought about doing long-term cruise advertising and promotion activities on your Yahoo Singapore website. Please give our company a more favorable quotation..." Zhao Lixuan finally stated the purpose of meeting Li Xiaofan in person.
Just now, Desha reported to Li Xiaofan that Zhao Lixuan and her team initially planned to make a hyperlink of a graphic advertisement on the homepage of Yahoo Singapore all year round, and then help their Star Cruises company to make a webpage.
The price that Desha had previously reported to Zhao Lixuan and her team was: 3,000 Singapore dollars a day, 1.095 million Singapore dollars a year, plus the cost of webpage production, a total of 1.1 million Singapore dollars.
Zhao Lixuan certainly did not accept this price, so she clamored to see the boss Li Xiaofan to bargain.
In fact, the company's internal agreement on Desha's quotation had a lot of discounts and room for maneuver, but Desha was also very smart, leaving this last favor to the boss to make the final decision, so that VIP customers like Zhao Lixuan could also feel a sense of accomplishment.
"Director Zhao, it's ok. The price of the advertisement can be discussed. Then you can either name a price or not. What do you think is appropriate?"
"Director Li, I feel that the 1.1 million Singapore dollars quoted by your Miss Desha just now is too expensive! I think it should be at least half off, and we have to pay the advertising fee on a monthly basis. Director Li, do you think it's okay?"
Li Xiaofan smiled and looked at the shrewd Zhao Lixuan in front of him, and said with a smile: "Since Director Zhao has spoken, I can agree to all you said. But I have a condition..."
Zhao Lixuan asked curiously: "What condition? Director Li, just say it!"
"I want to meet your boss, Mr. Lim Kok Thay, is it okay?"
"Director Li, I can't make the decision to meet our chairman. He happens to be in Singapore these days. So, after I go back to the company, I will contact his secretary by phone. If our chairman is free next time he comes to Singapore, how about we contact him?"
"No problem!"
Li Xiaofan met Lim Kok Thay, in fact, just to get to know him first. In his previous life, although Lim Goh Tong, the gambling king of Genting, Malaysia, had several biological sons, Lim Kok Thay was only the second son. However, after Lim Kok Thay returned from studying abroad at the University of London, he performed well during his time at Genting Group. In particular, the Star Cruises company he founded has achieved great development achievements. In 2000, Star Cruises was listed in Hong Kong, with a peak market value of US$2.9 billion. Star Cruises has grown from obscurity to become a cruise company with 20 cruise ships and a total of 26,000 cabins, ranking first in the Asia-Pacific region and third in the world.
Lim Kok Thay's business talent made Lim Goh Tong feel that his career had successors.
In November 2002, Lim Kok Thay succeeded Lim Goh Tong as the president and CEO of Genting Limited and Resorts World Limited. On the last day of 2003, Lim Goh Tong also handed over the chairmanship of Genting Group to Lim Kok Thay.
From then on, Lim Kok Thay took over Genting Group in an all-round way and became the new generation of gambling king in Southeast Asia!
Li Xiaofan wanted to get to know Lim Kok Thay first, inspired by SoftBank Group's Masayoshi Son. Many of SoftBank Group's subsequent large-scale acquisition funds were raised by them through the establishment of investment funds, which were the money of investment fund partners.
Li Xiaofan was thinking that after Yahoo went public next year and he became famous, he could find opportunities to set up venture capital funds in Singapore and back home, so it was important to get to know a group of wealthy bigwigs like Lim Kok Thay first, and strive to make them partners of his future investment funds...
In the afternoon, through exchanges with Star Cruises' Zhao Lixuan, Li Xiaofan also learned a lot from her about the current development of Singapore's cruise industry.
In the early 1980s, Singapore Port was only a port of call for European and American cruise ships, with little income.
Later in 1989, the Singapore Tourism Board specially established the Cruise Development Agency. The establishment of the Singapore Cruise Development Agency has greatly promoted and promoted the development of Singapore's cruise industry.
In 1991, the Singapore government invested 50 million Singapore dollars to build a cruise terminal. As a result, at present, international cruise ships and tourists to Singapore are growing at an average annual rate of more than 60%.
According to Zhao Lixuan, Singapore is currently actively developing the cruise industry and building a cruise home port.
The difference between a cruise home port and a general cruise port is that in addition to the basic cruise berthing and passenger boarding and disembarking functions, it is also a cruise industry cluster and a cruise onshore service functional area.
As the departure port for a cruise tourism voyage, the cruise home port mainly serves cruise ships and tourists. Efficient customs clearance efficiency and comfortable tourist services are very important. The newly built cruise port passenger terminal in Singapore has achieved a perfect combination of the basic cruise berthing function of the cruise home port and supporting commercial facilities...
Looking at the word "Genting" on Zhao Lixuan's business card, Li Xiaofan recalled the past events of Singapore opening casinos in his previous life.
Previously, gambling was prohibited in Singapore. After the Asian financial crisis, the Singapore government faced a declining economy, and the thinking of Singapore's leaders changed. In 2005, ***, who had been the Prime Minister of Singapore for less than a year, was determined to break the ban and announced the approval of casino operations, hoping to save the tourism industry from decline, create a large number of jobs and increase government revenue.
The process of opening casinos in Singapore has not been smooth sailing. Since the introduction of the casino plan in 2004, it has been controversial. The debate about whether it is legal almost triggered a referendum.
People in Singapore are worried that the legalization of gambling will cause various related social problems and crimes. The plan to open a casino also triggered a debate about citizens' right to choose. For a time, the whole country was in an uproar about the referendum. It was not until Singapore's Prime Minister *** spoke at a parliament that he formally rejected the request for a referendum on the matter.
*** said that the Singapore government made this decision after collecting opinions from the public and various social groups and comprehensively considering the pros and cons of building a casino. But he also said that the government has no intention to turn Singapore into a gambling city like Macau, nor will it allow locals to gamble like Malaysia's Genting Casino. Considering the impact of the opening of Hong Kong Disneyland and the fact that Singapore has not developed large-scale tourism facilities for many years, Singapore has made the decision to lift the ban on casinos this time.
In the previous life, in May 2006, Singapore's first casino license "Marina Bay Leisure Casino" was publicly tendered to the world, and the Malaysian Genting Group, which was determined to win, actually failed in the bidding, which once made Lim Kok Thay, who had just taken over, very frustrated.
It is only the end of 1995, and there are still eleven years before the first Singapore casino license bidding in 2006. Li Xiaofan suddenly feels that he may be able to do something in the future...