Welch smiled and shook his head and said, "There is no such plan for the time being, but I hope that in the future, we can cooperate in this regard!"

"How to cooperate?" Xu Zhi asked.

"I hope that your factories in the mainland will be able to produce some of the household appliances for GE," Welch said. ”

"I'm sorry, but Midea won't be a foundry for any company. Xu Zhi shook his head and refused.

Midea manufactures its own household appliances mainly because of the fierce competition and low profits, and building factories in the mainland can reduce costs and increase its influence in the mainland.

There is no risk for Xu Zhi, a traverser, because he knows the future and knows that there will be no problems in investing in the mainland. But for many international giants, it is a very risky factor, because they are afraid that their investments will fail due to political factors.

Welch's idea was simple, let the United States take what they thought was extremely high political risk, and then he could avoid the cumbersome management of manufacturing.

Welch said with a smile: "Mr. Xu doesn't have to be in a hurry to refuse, I have another plan on my side, we can make a joint venture to invest in the mainland, build a large manufacturing plant, and we will jointly manage it, what does Mr. Xu think?"

"Just producing household appliances?" Xu Zhi asked.

Welch nodded and said: "Yes, although Midea and GE both have household appliances business, GE's main products are refrigerators and air conditioners, while Midea's main products are TVs, and there is not too much competition between us, which is the basis of this cooperation."

What's more, more than half of the entire U.S. electrical appliance market is currently occupied by Japanese brands, and our enemy should be them, right?"

"I'm a little impressed. Xu Zhi smiled and said, what Welch said is indeed reasonable, the electrical appliance market is so big, as long as it is not mixed with the top three levels, then it is a very idiotic behavior to treat peers as enemies.

The whole 80s was the most arrogant time for Japanese products, Toyota surpassed GM to become the world's largest car manufacturer, Japan's clothing cotton accounted for 60% of the market in the United States, and the same is true for the household appliance industry, at least half of the brands belong to Japan.

Even though the United States raised tariffs and forced Japanese companies to build factories in the United States, it did not work well until the Plaza Accord and the economic rise of the rest of Asia.

Welch also valued the mainland's low labor costs, but did not dare to directly build large factories, in the original history, although GE had already started trade cooperation with the mainland in 1979, but the real investment did not wait until 1991.

Obviously, Welch values Xu Zhi himself as a Chinese, and has a good relationship with the mainland government, and also understands the culture of the mainland, and the cooperation between the two sides is to take what they need.

Welch smiled: "This is a win-win cooperation, our enemy is all Japanese brands, I have calculated the cost of production in the mainland, as long as the quality control is qualified, you and I can make profits of tens of millions of dollars." ”

"Cooperation is possible, but I have another request!" Xu Zhi said with a smile: "I hope GE can provide some patents on refrigeration compressors." ”

"Yes, as long as the price is right. Welch pondered for a moment and nodded in agreement, the electrical market does not care about one more peer, for him, reducing production costs is the most important thing.

"Then I don't know how big the scale of this investment is?" Xu Zhi then asked.

"Between $5 million and $10 million, the estimated production capacity is one million refrigerators and one million air conditioners, and all other supporting facilities will be in the mainland, except for compressors," Welch said.

In the future, the scale will be increased according to the situation. ”

Xu Zhi frowned and asked, "This investment doesn't seem to be enough, right?"

"A home appliance factory in Washington state was officially closed earlier this year and was going to move to Mexico, and now I've decided to ship the equipment from this factory to Chinese mainland," Welch said. ”

"If you were using the previous line, there was one thing that Mr. Welch had to pay attention to. Xu Zhi said with a smile: "The labor cost of workers in the mainland is very low, but the overall cultural level is not high, so the advanced production line in the United States may not be suitable for the mainland."

It's not that it can't be produced, and from the cost point of view, you can change the production line appropriately according to the actual situation, so as to obtain the highest profit. ”

"Understood, I'll negotiate this with the engineers. Welch nodded, he was also from a technical background, and only later participated in management, and he also understood some truths.

Xu Zhi smiled: "In this case, I hope we can reach all this cooperation as soon as possible." ”

……

If you invest in the United States before 80 years and want to pass the review of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, it can be delayed for a year and a half.

But 81 years later, President Ronald Reagan came to power and began a series of massive tax cuts, tax rebates, market deregulation, and foreign investment, which led to the rapid development of the American economy throughout the 80s.

In terms of foreign investment, except for companies that affect national security, any other industry can be, which is why by the end of the 80s, Sony was able to annex Columbia, otherwise even if Sony is willing to be the big wrongdoer, the US government will not be able to pass that hurdle.

Hutchison Whampoa's stake in GE did not cause much turmoil, it was not a corporate acquisition, and ordinary people did not care about it, and after a week of hard work, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States agreed to the request.

For US$580 million, Hutchison Whampoa acquired a 3.9% stake in GE, making it the largest foreign shareholder in GE.

As a price for the shares, Hutchison Whampoa gave up the voting rights carried by all the shares, but there is another benefit, these shares only have a one-year freeze period, and they can flow freely after one year, which is actually more in line with Xu Zhi's investment purpose, anyway, he just wants to make a quick buck.

General Electric Co., Inc., a publicly traded company that received an investment of nearly $600 million, naturally needed to be announced, and Welch held a formal signing meeting at Boston City Hall Square in order to increase the company's brand promotion.

In front of countless reporters, Xu Zhi and Welch each signed the prepared double contracts.

Under the flash, the two formally exchanged contracts, and then briefly answered some reporters' questions.

In the past week, Xu Zhi and Welch have reached a multi-party cooperation, and Midea and GE will make every effort to carry out multi-faceted cooperation in the field of household appliances.

Midea can obtain a large number of non-core technology patents from General Electric at a low cost.

GE could also use Xu's influence in Asia to gradually close high-cost production plants in the United States and relocate production operations to the mainland or elsewhere in Asia.

On the basis of this cooperation, the two parties will form a strategic partnership to jointly compete with Japanese brands and compete for the international market.

……