2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 547 Exciting News
P.S.: Wishing everyone a happy and healthy Dragon Boat Festival!

"Mr. Zhang shouldn't care about these things. When he comes back, we'll invite the group's senior executives and throw him a welcome-back ceremony."

There's nothing we can do if there are any grudges; when things come up, the priority is getting things done.

The internet industry has technology, but in terms of marketing tactics, according to Tan Jincheng, it's all about bragging. The louder the bragging, the higher the company's reputation, and the safer the product.

Orange Technology needs Sun Tongyu's reputation, and since Sun Tongyu is the vice president and a major shareholder, he has to cooperate.

But Wei Lai doesn't need that. What Wei Lai wants is Zhang Yong's down-to-earth and hardworking spirit, the true spirit of a craftsman, not some kind of craftsmanship spirit. Honestly expanding territory is what Zhang Yong needs to do now.

Today is April 7th. The torch relay has already begun in Europe and is currently being carried out in the home of the French nationalist, who is known for his urination and defecation. The intermediary agency for Flash Technology's share reform was recommended by Shen Nanpeng and has now been finalized.

Boss Tan felt a little more relaxed, as there weren't as many meetings, but he still needed to keep a close eye on Guan's progress.

"You trust him that much? This is like pioneering a new land."

Even Gu Qingqing was a little curious about the power Tan Jincheng gave Zhang Yong. Having known him for so long, she understood Tan Jincheng's personality. In terms of running a business, he was no different from traditional entrepreneurs; they both liked to do things personally.

It all started with salespeople who brought in business and found orders on their own. They developed step by step. Although they gave their subordinates a certain degree of autonomy, it was common to see them personally taking charge.

When I was running Orange Technology, I personally took charge quite a few times, which led to a lot of misunderstandings.

Before they knew him, the technicians from both companies had often criticized him in private, and he was aware of this, but he still did things his own way. However, this time, the car manufacturing project gave Zhang Yong a great deal of autonomy.

Tan Jincheng naturally knew what Gu Qingqing meant. There had been quite a few discussions about this at the company recently: "Because I really don't know anything about cars. What can I do if I don't give him autonomy? Haha."

Current two-wheeled electric vehicles don't offer many smart features. To put it bluntly, they're just assembled from purchased parts. The well-developed supply chain has led to a proliferation of vehicle factories, and you can make money simply by doing marketing without any ambition.

Without developing a brand, marketing doesn't need to be too complicated. Just focus on low prices. Many factories even open a few stores on the street, producing and selling their own products, limited to one or a few cities, and still make a considerable amount of money each year.

Nothing is as good as cheap and effective.

The parts are readily available, and there are only a few exterior parts. If you follow your ideas and tinker with them slowly, there shouldn't be any major problems. If you make a good mold, you can make a car. Some skilled craftsmen can even assemble it themselves.

However, cars are not something you can simply copy by remembering a few popular models. Besides, they are not something that can be copied so easily. Many private brands have copied cars over the years, but they have also been involved in numerous lawsuits.

"That's it? Isn't this a bit too frivolous?" Gu Qingqing was somewhat astonished.

"That's enough. Mr. Zhang has the education, the professional experience, and the sales experience. He has some fame, but not much, and his price is lower. Isn't that enough?"

To put it bluntly, if you don't know something, you'll be at the mercy of others. Instead of racking your brains to figure out how to control it, you might as well let him do whatever he wants.

If you don't want to be controlled by others, you have to learn on your own and understand the processes of the automotive industry. Tan Jincheng is also learning this, but it's definitely impossible for him to master it. He is a reborn person, not someone with a system.

Mr. Tan's first idea for making cars was to change his previous business approach, avoid doing everything himself, and delegate authority.

The San Tai Zi brand that Zhang Yong later developed actually has a pretty good reputation. It offers refrigerators, TVs, and sofas for under 20 yuan, with decent quality and a very good price-performance ratio.

The downside is still what Zhou Hongyi criticized: he doesn't know how to market, so his cars don't sell well. Otherwise, he wouldn't be constantly being criticized. This is probably the dilemma of most tech guys.

People like Lei Jun, who are both technically proficient and good at marketing, are rare.

"Okay, sometimes your thoughts really are different from normal people. Has Mr. Zhang already met up with Mr. Xie and Mr. Huang?"

"They've met up. After their inspection in Chuzhou, they'll head to Jingmen."

Boss Tan was at home, but Huang Ming and others kept him informed of the work progress. In addition, before their team went to Chuzhou, Tan Jincheng had also contacted the Chuzhou government through the provincial government.

The Chuzhou authorities warmly welcomed the arrival of the Beicang and Shanchi Investment delegation, even though Mr. Tan did not personally appear.

The inspection results from Chuzhou were good. Yangzi Automobile has the necessary qualifications, production capacity, and accumulated technology and patents. The entire factory is considered good in Zhang Yong's evaluation system.

Tan Jincheng knew how difficult it was to acquire a large state-owned enterprise; it wasn't easy.

At its peak, Changfeng Group was used as a tractor for ceremonial cannons during the 50th anniversary celebrations, and in 1999, it became the first vehicle to enter Macau. With such a glorious history, how could the Hunan Provincial Government easily relinquish such a car factory? Like all companies, once a merger or acquisition is initiated, the acquiring party inevitably takes away the advantageous resources, leaving behind a mess. Flash Motor's acquisition of Changfeng is no benevolent act; it's likely following the same pattern.

What are the high-quality assets of Changfeng Group?
The complete vehicle production qualification, the listed company financing platform, and four production bases will all be taken away by Flash Group once the acquisition is successful. Changfeng Group will then be nothing more than an empty shell.

Taking the good stuff and dumping the bad stuff elsewhere makes the acquisition extremely difficult.

Flash Motors was actually prepared for the acquisition to fail, but if the acquisition failed, Tan Jincheng wanted to buy Yangzi Automobile, which Zhang Yong had mentioned was a good investment. For Changfeng, which was short of money and had poor business, selling a subsidiary to save itself was not a problem at all.

Compared to the entire Changfeng Group, Yangzi Automobile has everything except a financing platform, which perfectly matches the initial nature of Weilai Automobile.

If the acquisition cannot be completed, the attitude of the second largest shareholder, Xinhua Lian, will be crucial in gaining control of Yangzi Automobile. Xinhua Lian, one of the top 50 private enterprises in China, was the key party in the 2005 acquisition of Yangzi.

This company is incredibly powerful, with businesses spanning chemicals, mining, real estate, ceramics, wine, finance, and many other sectors.

Listen to this: chemicals, real estate, mining—are these things that ordinary companies can do? Compared to them, Flash is nothing.

Fortunately, automobiles are not their main business. Their cooperation with Changfeng is mainly due to the fact that they are both from Hunan Province. Hunan Province acted as a middleman, meaning that a small part of their business was leaked to Changfeng Group.

Otherwise, Tan Jincheng really wouldn't dare to make a move against Changfeng Group.

As for the third largest shareholder, Yangzi Automobile, and the Chuzhou State-owned Assets, that's fine. They are just a small shareholder and don't have much say. It doesn't matter who they cooperate with. Cooperating with Shanchi might even get them an electric vehicle factory or a clothing factory or something.

Tan Jincheng suggested to Huang Ming and his group that they stay in Chuzhou for a few more days, explore the city as much as possible, show some goodwill, and perhaps put in a good word for each other in the future.

Xie Junhong was fine. He came out under the name of Beicang City Investment, but in reality, he was just playing a supporting role. All expenses were paid by Flash and ByteDance. The district treated it as a vacation for him, and he also took the opportunity to see if there were any other projects that Beicang City Investment could invest in.

As for Flash Technology's backdoor listing after the failed acquisition?

It's very simple, just switch companies. The stock market in 2008 wasn't as exaggerated as it is now. There were still many companies with market capitalizations below 10 billion or even a few hundred million. Just pick any ST company.

If the financial crisis hits again in the second half of the year, I don't believe there won't be bosses willing to sell their shell companies.

"Why hasn't President Shen sent any news yet?"

Mr. Gu was clearly distracted. It was 10 a.m., while it was already late at night for Lao Mi. During the previous communication, Shen Nanpeng asked the two of them to wait during the day, as Nasdaq had already given its final opinion on Orange Technology's prospectus.

Tan Jincheng put aside his work at Flash Group and came to Orange Technology today to wait for this news.

To be honest, the most important thing right now is for Orange Technology to go public. As for things like the restructuring of Flash Technology and investment in car manufacturing, those can be done step by step.

This is related to the harvesting of rice and leeks (a metaphor for exploiting the poor), how could I not be excited?

Tan Jincheng could already imagine what would happen if the US didn't take the subprime crisis seriously, believing that the Federal Reserve had already solved the problem and maintaining an optimistic attitude until Lehman Brothers went bankrupt.

Haha, when the stock price plummets, we can make a killing through a buyback.

Having lived two lives, this was the first time he had successfully taken a company public, and on the most popular market these days, NASDAQ. Boss Tan was very excited.

It doesn't matter how much money he earns; the main thing is that it fits the image and persona of Boss Tan earning US dollars.

"Who knows? I wonder if he's finished with his work yet. Orange Technology's listing this time is really thanks to this old guy."

Boss Tan was also absent-minded. To be honest, Tan and Gu were quite confused about the whole listing process. After all, it was their first time experiencing it. Without Shen Nanpeng's efforts, it would never have gone so smoothly.

They didn't even have the chance to go public.

After waiting for about half an hour, Shen Nanpeng finally contacted the two of them. Before they could ask any questions, Shen Nanpeng said excitedly, "Orange Technology's application has been approved. Next, we'll be queuing up for listing."

From last year to the official filing, it has been about four months. Orange Technology's speed from preparing for listing to completing the filing is quite fast. How could Shen Nanpeng, who was in charge of the whole operation, not be excited?

"By the way, there's another piece of news that's also quite favorable for us: the RMB has officially fallen below 7 against the US dollar today."

(End of this chapter)