In a large parking lot in the southwestern suburbs of Los Angeles, a Rolls-Royce Gust came to a slow stop, the rear door opened, and a handsome young man in his 20s and a middle-aged white man in his 50s stepped out of the car.

The middle-aged white man glanced at a building not far away and said with a smile: "Eric, your mall is indeed big enough, much larger than the Kmart and Sears I often visit. ”

Kmart and Sears were the largest department store chains in the United States before the 80s, and in the 70s alone, the turnover of the two supermarkets was as high as 10 billion dollars.

In the Forbes list, which ranks companies by turnover, both supermarkets are among the top 10 companies in the United States.

It wasn't until the rise of Wal-Mart in the 80s and 90s that all American retail supermarkets and department stores were bloodied, and the two companies declined.

Xu Zhi smiled: "This can't be compared, my shopping mall is the flagship store of Best Buy, and it is naturally much larger in terms of area, if it is a shopping mall in other places, it is about the same size as an ordinary supermarket." ”

After nearly a year of development, the electronics supermarket chain Best Buy has opened 17 stores in the United States, with another 25 under construction.

Located in the southwestern suburbs of Los Angeles, this one is the brand's flagship store, just 10 kilometers drive from the city's business district, and there are also a large number of residential areas around it.

Other shopping malls are much simpler, many of them directly acquire existing large warehouses in good locations, and then carry out internal modifications, which are not only low-cost, but also open quickly.

After all, Best Buy's main business is to sell electrical appliances, not home decoration materials, the environment of the entire shopping mall only needs to be concise and clear, low-cost property investment, can reduce the operating costs of the entire company, so that the market competition has more low-cost advantages.

The white man nodded and said, "The retail market in the United States seems to be very different now, and in recent years Sears has become less and less profitable in terms of earnings and profits, and a few small supermarkets seem to be starting to rise, and we have noticed this phenomenon." ”

"Goldman Sachs invested in Sears?" Xu Zhi asked, and today he was accompanied to this Best Buy shopping center by Goldman Sachs' vice president of investment, Ke Li, and the two sides have been cooperating a lot.

Currie shook his head and said: "No, we Goldman Sachs rarely invest directly in a company, but Sears has a close relationship with Goldman Sachs, and many of my investment clients have also bought some Sears shares, and the return of Sears shares in recent years has not been very satisfactory, and the performance development is also very slow." ”

Xu Zhi said with a smile: "I heard that President Reagan has signed a large-scale tax cut bill, and the benefit group covers all the middle class in the United States, and the most direct beneficiary of this bill is the retail industry, especially supermarkets. ”

In the 80s, the U.S. economy showed a boom, after the second oil crisis, the economy began to recover slowly, oil prices began to fall, coupled with a series of tax cuts in the United States, the retail industry as the most direct beneficiary and heated up significantly, Wal-Mart also entered the peak state in the 80s, with sales growth of nearly 50% every year, and 10 years from a regional supermarket to the leader of the national supermarket.

At the same time, the benefits of other supermarkets are not bad, of course, provided that there is no Walmart near you.

Xu Zhi had already acquired a large number of Walmart shares as an economic investment, but he did not tell anyone about this.

"We're not looking for a good thing at Goldman Sachs. Currie shook his head and smiled: "It's a pity that I didn't invest in Eric's company in the first place, otherwise, the rate of return would have been higher now." ”

"Goldman Sachs' policy is to make profits through indirect investments. Xu Zhi said with a smile.

Two years ago, Xu Zhi intended to introduce Goldman Sachs' capital for Hutchison Sachs to find influential allies for future internationalization, but Goldman Sachs was unwilling to invest directly, and even Vice President Curry could not do anything.

Goldman Sachs Group has a history of more than 100 years since its establishment in 1869, and even in 2019, Goldman Sachs is still the world's largest investment bank.

Goldman Sachs is the last investment bank on Wall Street to retain a partnership mechanism, which is simply like the platform of Apple in the future, and all partners are like countless app developers.

The asset-light model means that Goldman Sachs does not invest with its own funds, but relies on its own brand and the ability of its partners to persuade third parties to invest.

For example, a partner is optimistic about the future of a company, but Goldman Sachs will not contribute money, according to the rules, the partner himself is not allowed to contribute, and the investment method is that the partner relies on his own ability and relationship channels to find a third party and use his funds to invest.

When the investment makes money, the partner will get a commission from the investor, and Goldman Sachs will get its own commission according to the contract with the partner.

This approach is actually that Goldman Sachs transfers the risk to the partner, and the partner transfers the risk to the third-party investor, so that no matter what the era, Goldman Sachs is sure to make a profit.

But if it encounters a business that is not accompanied by a hundred profits, Goldman Sachs will also end up in person, but Hutchison is obviously not so optimistic.

Currie asked: "Eric, as far as I know, the funds you invested in GE were raised in the Xiangjiang stock market, and the interest rate is very high, so much money to invest in a stock, the risk can be said to be extremely high, can I know, why were you so optimistic about GE at that time?"

"It's nothing, I'm just bullish on Welch. Xu Zhi smiled and replied, this kind of thing only depends on the prophet, and there is no way to explain it.

Welch was later known as the greatest CEO of the 20th century, reigning for 17 years, leading General Electric to the top of the world, and by 1999, its market value ranked second in the United States, second only to Microsoft.

After Welch took office, he carried out a series of reforms, layoffs, and the sale of non-core assets to GE, and in less than a year, GE's profits soared, the company's operating efficiency improved, and the stock price naturally rose for two consecutive years.

The $600 million that Xu Zhi invested at the beginning has now exceeded $1 billion, and looking at the rise of GE stocks, it is clear that this is not the end.

Currie smiled: "It seems that we Goldman Sachs missed a good opportunity!"

"Welch's reforms have only just begun, and I think GE stock is worth investing in for a long time to come. Xu Zhi said with a smile, at least before the 21st century, buying GE shares is a guarantee of making money and not losing money, and after the 21st century, it is completely the opposite.

"Some of Goldman Sachs' partners have invested in some GE shares, but I'm talking about Hutchison Whampoa shares," Currie said. ”

Xu Zhi smiled in surprise: "Goldman Sachs is willing to invest in Hutchison now?"

Currie nodded and said: "Yes, we Goldman Sachs are very optimistic about Eric's investment vision, so the board of directors has agreed to invest in Hutchison, of course, if Midea can accept our investment, it would be great." ”

"Midea has no plans to accept external investment for the time being. Xu Zhi thought for a while and said: "It's okay to invest in Hutchison, but I'm afraid the price is much higher than before." ”

Two years ago, Hutchison had not invested in General Electric, but now it has made huge returns, and this market value is naturally not the same.

Currie nodded and agreed, "No problem, we'll follow the rules." ”

Xu Zhi nodded and smiled: "Okay, then let's go in first, and the investment matter can be discussed in detail later!"