As soon as I entered, I saw a layout that was different from that of ordinary department stores.

Some shelves are very high, at least more than two meters, and ordinary people simply can't reach them.

But there are all kinds of boards, water pipes and the like on it, and there are price signs on the shelves.

Because of the boards, water pipes, etc., all the aisles are also very large, close to two meters, which is more convenient for placement and transportation.

Of course, this is an area such as building materials, but it is different when you go to other small and medium-sized tool areas, and it is much more closely placed.

On the shelves are boxes of screws, wrenches, screwdrivers, tape measures, etc.

In addition to this, there are paints, brushes, glues, and many more.

Anyway, with building materials, home decoration, gardening and the like, there is everything here, the variety is very complete, just like a large home building materials wholesale market.

Of course, relying on variety and price advantages to build a warehouse-intensive hypermarket is exactly the elite model of Home Depot.

Xia Yu wandered around the home Depot shopping mall, and also had the impression that the customer flow was much less than that of ordinary supermarkets.

But it's normal to think about it, the products sold are different, and the way customers buy and the time they spend are also different.

Xia Yu took a few subordinates, as well as bodyguards, and everywhere he went, there was a group of people, which naturally attracted the attention of many people, and the organic employees quietly reported to their superiors, suspecting that there was a super big customer.

I bring bodyguards when I go out, and I still walk around the inside of the mall, and the employees can't think about it in that direction.

After a while, a middle-aged white man with two subordinates appeared from a corner and walked towards Xia Yu and the others.

Under the reminder of his subordinates, Xia Yu looked over, his eyebrows raised slightly, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl slightly.

He recognized the person who took the lead, and he just saw the photo today, and it was another of the founders of Home Depot, Arthur Blank, who was also the CEO of Home Depot.

"Hello sir, is there anything I can do for you?"

Arthur Blanc stopped in front of Xia Yu and asked with a smile.

Xia Yu smiled slightly, nodded and said, "Of course, Mr. Arthur Blank!"

Arthur Blanc was a little surprised, he didn't expect to be recognized by Xia Yu at once, he recalled his memory, it seemed that he had never been in contact with any Asian American.

Arthur Blanc frowned and asked, "This gentleman, I don't know if you are?"

Xia Yu said with a smile: "My name is Xia Yu, and I am the chairman of Polaris Capital. ”

"Our company's business is mainly to invest in companies with potential! This time, I happened to pass by here and saw that your company was holding a product knowledge and skills research meeting, so I came to take a look at it out of curiosity. ”

As soon as these words fell, Arthur Blank was surprised, and immediately shook hands with Xia Yu with a smile: "Mr. Xia, hello, welcome to your arrival!"

"Hello, Mr. Blank!"

Xia Yu looked at Arthur Blanc with a smile and asked, "Mr. Blanc, I wonder if it is convenient for you to take us on a tour?" In San Francisco and New York, although there are shops such as tools and building materials, I just looked at it, and your shops seem to be very different from those traditional stores. ”

Although he is not a big customer, Arthur Blanc is of course very happy to face the request of the chairman of the capital investment company.

He is very welcome to capital, after all, the capital required to open such a hypermarket is too great, and he can open the company, and capital is indispensable.

Rejecting capital is ruining one's future, after all, if the opponent accepts the support of capital, he will definitely be able to catch up and crush himself.

At the beginning, after he and Bernie Marcus were fired from the hardware department of the original group, they used their savings to set up the Home Depot company, and also looked for investors, including specially looking for home building materials suppliers to pull investment, and a total of hundreds of people were found to get funds.

When they first opened the store, due to the large size of the store, there was not enough money to buy goods that could fill all the shelves, and they also found a bunch of empty cardboard boxes with dealer logo stickers from dealers, and then put the empty cartons on top of the shelves, so that consumers felt that the Home Depot store really had a lot of inventory.

Although it has temporarily survived that stage, there are still great shortcomings in the inventory, and now the company is trying its best to use the current situation and future of hot sales to stabilize dealers, otherwise where can Home Depot company take so many goods on credit.

Warehousing and inventory account for a large part of retail costs.

If there is enough capital, it will definitely be able to catalyze the Home Depot company quickly.

He and Bernie Marcus were able to accept more than 100 investors, which naturally showed that he welcomed capital.

Next, he took Xia Yu to walk around the mall, and when answering Xia Yu's questions, he also tried his best to describe the advantages and development model of Home Depot, wanting to show the most attractive side of Home Depot.

During the whole process, Xia Yu seemed very patient, and from time to time praised the model of Home Depot, which made Arthur Blank feel very good.

Before they knew it, everyone was in Arthur Blank's office to take a break for coffee.

"Mr. Xia, I have a certain understanding of the capital company in Atlanta, and it seems that I have not met your company before. ”

Arthur Blanc asked tactfully, his eyes looking straight at Xia Yu.

Hearing this, Xia Yu put down the cup and smiled calmly: "Mr. Blank, my company is not in Atlanta, but in San Francisco, it's normal that you haven't heard of it, and I only came to Atlanta this week." ”

"I just invested 50 million dollars in Turner Broadcasting Company a few days ago, of course, this news is not known to the outside world, and I ask you to keep it secret. ”

Arthur Blank's eyes widened and he asked in disbelief, "Five million dollars to invest in Turner Broadcasting?"

As an entrepreneur, newspapers are a must-have, and Turner Broadcasting is an Atlanta-based media giant, and it's hard for him to understand it.

It was because he knew too much about Turner Broadcasting that Arthur Blanc couldn't believe it.

Now even ordinary citizens are not optimistic about Turner Broadcasting, thinking that Ted Turner is on the wrong path and waiting for him to hit the wall.

But now I suddenly learned the news, it is really exciting, if it spreads, it will definitely cause a huge sensation of public opinion!

Of course, he will not say it to the public, and now he is more concerned about the strength of Polaris Capital.

Being able to easily take out 50 million dollars to bet on Turner Broadcasting Company must be strong, and these 50 million dollars are enough to buy two or three Depot companies.

After all, Home Depot now has three shopping malls, and the monthly net profit earned for the company is only about 150,000 US dollars, and it is estimated that the net profit is less than 2 million US dollars in a year.

However, like retail companies, as long as they are properly managed, they rely on scale to make profits, and the larger the scale, the lower the proportion of compressed costs, the higher the profitability rate, and the larger the profit scale.

If Home Depot had enough capital, he would have expanded in great strides, just like he is now using revenue and loans to slowly open new malls.

Arthur Blanc nodded seriously and reassured, "Mr. Xia, don't worry, I will definitely keep this secret!"

After speaking, Arthur Blanc asked with concern: "Mr. Xia, your Polaris Capital Company is so strong, what are the areas in which you generally invest?"

Xia Yu glanced at him and said calmly: "Because the company has abundant funds, it is not limited to which field to invest in for the time being, as long as it is a potential company, it will invest, and it is decided to resolutely invest in the end. ”

Xia Yu repeated the old trick again, deliberately showing the strength of Polaris Capital as an example.

But as the saying goes, one trick is eaten all over the world.

Regardless of whether the moves are old or not, the key is in the role!

Sure enough, Arthur Blanc was shocked again, and of course Xia Yu deliberately said an information point that made him frown.

That's tens of millions of dollars!

What can I do?

Home Depot is now worth less than $20 million, and even if Polaris Capital guarantees a minimum investment of 10 million, the company will have to change its surname to Polaris.

After all, when Home Depot was founded, they had already received too much capital, although it was very fragmented, and many of it was investment from suppliers, but that did not change the fact that the majority of the company's equity was in the hands of other shareholders.

He and Bernie Marcus have a combined stake of only fifty-two percent!

Kankan control company!

Of course, although there are many shareholders, their shareholdings are very fragmented, and they do not pose a threat to them.

But once the equity is concentrated in one family, it is dangerous for them!

Thinking of this, Arthur Blank's heart gradually calmed down.

Although Home Depot needs capital investment, and Polaris Capital is strong enough, the disadvantages and risks are too great!

No matter how much he needs funds, he can't sell the company?

The company is not its own, so what is the use of more investment?

He and Bernie Marcus have only been in business for two years and are planning to devote themselves to running the company!