No matter how much Gu Kun wants to brave bad water, he has to consider the emotions of the newly recruited surface partners.

So he spent the entire Christmas holiday and the entire New Year's Day holiday until the Westerners generally restarted work after the New Year.

The calendar quietly flipped to 1999.

And Gu Kun himself took his fiancée and has been skiing and playing golf in the Alpine castle in Bavaria every day. When I was disgraced from exercise, I soaked in a hot spring on the spot, and soaked for as long as I wanted

On days when the wind is not too windy, you can also go to the deck of the yacht and sailboat to bask in the winter sun, which is a special fun. This feeling of basking in the warmth, without wearing sunscreen, and not being afraid of the heat, is really enjoyable for people in the south.

(The current king of Thailand seems to have taken 20 concubines to the Bavarian Alps to escape the world, away from the hustle and bustle and disease.) It can be seen that people in Southeast Asian countries are accustomed to seeing tropical scenery and the sea, and it is very compelling to find a change of taste for the mountains and snow lakes.

Before I wrote this whole episode, it was a day or two before the news broke out about the King of Thailand, and I was the first. It can be seen that I am very prescient, and I am very apt about the extravagant ways of Southeast Asian aristocracy, and if you don't believe it, you can go back and read the time of the chapter release and the time of the online news. In addition, I would also like to thank several Malaysian book lovers in this book for providing detailed information on customs and customs)

Halfway through January, the white people in Europe started work one after another, and Gu Kun asked Sophia to contact the people of Kering as planned.

The words and reasons for the contact are ready-made, and they have been explained to Sophia before.

It's nothing more than "acting like you're going to replace Kering's mode in front of Richemont's people, and acting like you're going to replace Richemont's model in front of Kering's people", and try to be harmless in front of any of them, so that the other party feels that you are not his urgent competitor relatively speaking.

The idea is very simple, the key is to win in the details, whether you can show insight and understanding when selling people.

Sophia, who was well prepared, did a good job, and after only two weeks of matchmaking negotiations, the relevant equity exchange intention was negotiated.

During the process, Gu Kun himself also attended several social gatherings in person, mainly eating, drinking and having fun with the big boss of Kering, François Henri Pinault, and boasting about each other's friendship and business.

Gu Kun didn't know much about François Pinault before, only some descriptions and information on paper. So Gu Kun subconsciously regarded the other party as a character template like John Rupert.

After drinking together a few times and playing with women a few times, Gu Kun figured out something different.

François Pinault's family, born and raised in France, has a natural love for the luxury industry, and even the owner himself is a bit of an artist.

At this point, perhaps the first giant in the field that Gu Kun has never met, Bernard Arnault of LVMH, is also like this, Arnault is also the kind of Frenchman who is very artistic and pursuing.

Therefore, these people rarely consider backing down on the business circle they have entered and loved. They will not cower and switch to other subdivisions because they have been unable to compete for the world's first place in this segment because they are "focusing on making women's clothing/women's bags", in order to "rather be a chicken than a cow", they will insist on doing it, make less money, and the career center will not back down at all.

This is very different from the South Africans at Richemont. The South Africans have a clear purpose, and they don't have a sense of honor, and they are very utilitarian when they enter the field.

After having a better understanding of the opponents in the circle, Gu Kun can be regarded as having a better understanding of the follow-up rhythm and plan, and adjusted his diplomatic strategy in time, so that he can maintain a harmless image of humans and animals for a longer time.

So far, Gu Kun's "Lanfang culture" has completely entered the circle of the world's top luxury giants and become one of them.

Just by throwing money, relying on two or three billion US dollars of equity replacement, and the royal identity gimmick of an "ancient kingdom in Southeast Asia", the two-pronged strong entry into the market was successful.

After the completion of the equity exchange with Kering's sub-brands, the number of French and Italian luxury brands held by Gu Kun has further decreased by two, from 8 companies to 6, and the shareholding ratio of each company has further increased.

Of course, in the process, Kering also got what they wanted. In the past two years, Kering has been planning to attack Boucheron and Balenciaga, and Gu Kun originally had a little stake in these two companies through the exchange with the Hong Kong stock financial industry, so he completely emptied the equity of these two companies and replaced the equivalent Gucci/Armani/Cartier with Kering.

In Giorgio Armani, Gu Kun's stake is close to 40 percent, and at Gucci it is 19 percent.

In addition, he also got a 14% stake in Cartier, a jewelry giant, and the total value of Cartier's stake alone is close to $1 billion. As a price, Gu Kun's stake in the Oceanic jewelry brand Tiffany was completely sold.

Obviously, Gu Kun still plans to enter the international first-line jewelry brand in the future, but when he negotiated with Richemont before, he did not show this ambition. Because Richemont is a tycoon in the jewelry industry, the world's first in the jewelry field, much stronger than LVMH, if Gu Kun poses in front of Richemont's people to enter the jewelry industry, it will definitely lead to the vigilance and hostility of the other party. Only when dealing with a group like Kering, which does not pay attention to the jewelry industry, is it suitable to do so.

As for why it was very Cartier to throw Tiffany, Gu Kun actually didn't think much about it, these two brands can be made in the future and become a big man. But Gu Kun doesn't like the brands of Breton dogs and ocean dogs, but Tiffany is a brand of Oceanic countries, so Gu Kun must be inclined to press Tiffany and stand up to Cartier, which has more roots in Italy.

……

The reason why Gu Kun's layout is so hurried is also because in the original history, the period from 98 to 99 was also the peak time point of mergers and acquisitions of top luxury brands - Kering and Richemont were inspired by LVMH's Arnault and the acquisition of Givenchy in 95, and began to gradually start and imitate.

After LVMH successfully acquired Givenchy, it will also sum up the lessons learned and replicate this model to expand rapidly. Therefore, the past few years have also been a high incidence period for Arnault to frequently play the role of "barbarian at the door".

A small part of the mergers and acquisitions of Kering and Richemont were not even initiated by them, but they were invited by the "independent management of small brands threatened by Arnott" to appear as saviors.

This situation is a bit like the cause of the Battle of Qin-Zhao Changping during the Warring States Period, when the Qin State attacked Korea, occupied a large amount of Korean territory, and cut off the remaining territory of Korea in the middle, resulting in the Korean Sangdang County (now Coal Boss Province) becoming an enclave.

However, because the Han people had a war with the Qin state, Shangdang County was unwilling to surrender to the Qin state on the other side of the Yellow River to the west, but preferred to surrender to the Zhao state on the other side of the Taihang Mountain to the east, which later led the Qin state to launch the Battle of Changping to attack Zhao. If you don't consider the follow-up battles, Zhao actually picked up the cheap in the territory at the beginning.

Gu Kun is in a hurry to enter the market now, but also in order to better card himself and play himself as "Arnot's biggest enemy" as soon as possible, so that when those independent brands that "have been suffering in the world for a long time" are threatened by Arnott Capital, they will be the first to regard Gu Kun as Zhao Guo, and tend to lead Gu into the room.

Now, the preparations are finally completed, and Gu Kun can directly select a brand company to trade "thousands of gold bones".

……

The 99 lunar New Year is relatively late, halfway through February, so Gu Kun still has time to vacation in Europe for a while.

One day at the end of January, Gu Kun, who had bought all the shares of Giorgio Armani in the hands of Kering and Richemont and owned nearly 40% of the shares of Armani, finally came to a dagger and invited Giorgio Armani himself to his Alpine Snow Lake Castle as a guest.

Giorgio Armani is already a 65-year-old man, but he still firmly controls the company as the founder and has no day to retire.

At the end of the 90s, the market value of his company was still very low compared with later, mainly because the Matthew effect brought about by Internet media had not yet been fully manifested. But the company's brand, especially in the field of men's wear, is really very compelling.

Because at the end of the 90s, two of the most powerful men in the world liked to wear Armani clothes very much - they were Bill, the commander of Oceania, and Bill, the richest man in the world, Microsoft Bill.

Most men in the world have no aesthetics, and when a man buys clothes, he looks at what brand is compelling, and the key is to see what a man with more money and status than him wears, so what he also has to wear, so that his status is not inferior.

Giorgio Armani has always disliked the finger-pointing of the capital, but the company has always lost some equity due to historical reasons. In previous years, he could only try to spread out these shares, so that no one could form a major shareholder who could threaten the company's business decisions.

But unexpectedly, after all, the new catfish muddied the waters, and the outflow of shares circulating in the hands of those Xiangjiang luxury industry investors, Kering and Richemont were all concentrated back into the hands of Gu Kun alone.

With so many shares, it was impossible for Giorgio Armani not to negotiate with him.

Saturday, 30 January 1999.

Giorg Armani came to the Bavarian Snowlake Castle with a small gift.

"Mr. Armani, I'm glad you to appreciate it, I've always respected artists and don't want to interfere with the design and management decisions of an artist-business owner. Rest assured, I don't want to be above you just because I'm richer than you. ”

Gu Kun was very face-saving, and as soon as the two sides met, they put on a very respectful posture for the elderly.

Even Zhu Youran was very face-saving and said very politely: "Mr. Armani, you are the same age as your father, and he is also 65 years old this year, we invite you to come, just to talk about cooperation in marketing, if you are willing to show sincerity, we will make your brand one of the most popular men's luxury brands in the Asian market." ”

One of them must be added, after all, after this example of a thousand gold bones is erected, Gu Kun will still poison Gucci, and it will be troublesome to compete for favor when the time comes.