Watson's personal care chain store has a branch in the mainland, and the boss of the branch is called Luo Jun.

As soon as the turmoil started, Luo Jun made a report to the headquarters on the one hand, and on the other hand, he seized the time to do crisis public relations.

Something happened on the territory he was responsible for, of course, and it was his responsibility.

In normal times, I usually say hello to those Weibo bloggers in private, stuff some red envelopes or something, and the matter will be over.

But this time the development of the matter was a bit incomprehensible to Luo Jun, and every blogger and media reporter contacted by the company's public relations department shook their heads and said that they couldn't help.

When the company directly contacted Sina Weibo and asked to delete the influential blog post, it was also decisively refused.

Someone is doing something!

Luo Jun was thoughtful, but he was only the boss of a branch, and his ability was really limited, so he couldn't solve this matter, so he could only wait for the notice from the headquarters.

……

The parent company of Watsons Group, which is Hutchison Industrial.

Huo Jianning, managing director of Hutchison Whampoa Group, is the "working emperor" who makes the most money in Heungjiang. His annual salary is HK$274 million, with an average monthly salary of HK$22.83 million.

If the average daily work is calculated as 12 hours, he can receive more than HK$1,040 in his bank account for every minute he works, and his daily salary reaches HK$750,000.

This person can be described as Li Chaoren's absolute henchman, left and right!

Just look at the position he holds in Li Chaoren's company, how much Li Chaoren trusts him, or that the Li family in Xiangjiang can have today's achievements, at least one-third of which Huo Jianning did for him.

Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings Limited – Executive Director and Vice Chairman

Cheung Kong (Holdings) Limited – Director

Hongkong Electric Holdings Limited – Chairman

Hutchison Whampoa Limited – Group Managing Director

Hutchison Telecommunications International Limited – Chairman

Hutchison Harbour & Land Limited – Chairman

Hutchison Telecommunications (Australia) Limited – Chairman

Partner Communications Company Ltd – Chairman

Husky Energy Company – Director

……

Huo Jianning joined Cheung Kong in 1979 and has been doing so for more than 30 years. The battle to fame in his career was to spin off Orange and go public, and successfully cash out.

He resold Orange at the end of 1999 and successfully earned the group a profit of over HK$160 billion.

This time, the turmoil in Watsons was so big that it alarmed the "working emperor".

Li Chaoren plans to take action against the Watsons Group, Huo Jianning knows this, at this juncture, Watsons has caused such a big turmoil, isn't this embarrassing for himself!

"How did you do it! The store operation was made like this by you, how can I explain it to the board of directors!" Huo Jianning called Huo to the office and reprimanded him.

"Third uncle, don't blame me, our store management is okay here in Xiangjiang, it's the mainland side, you know, it's not my direct management over there." Huo Hao shouted injustice repeatedly.

"Shut up! Call me Mr. Huo in the company. Huo Jianning said with a blank face.

"Yes, yes, Mr. Huo. Huo Hao nodded hurriedly.

"I don't care about anything else, who will take responsibility, you will negotiate within the group. There is only one thing, that is, to calm this matter down for me quickly, otherwise, there will be no good fruit for you to eat!" Huo Jianning glared at Huo Hao and ordered.

Huo Hao understood and immediately held a meeting of the group's senior executives after returning to the Watsons Group.

In Watsons Group, the position of president is now vacant, and the senior vice president of operations is the de facto number one.

"Someone has to come out and take responsibility for this incident, so that this matter can be quickly settled. At the same time, this can be regarded as an explanation to the public. Huo Hao's eyes were blazing and he looked at the general managers of operations in his various regions.

When everyone heard this, their eyes brushed to Luo Jun, the general manager of mainland operations.

The matter started from the mainland, and the mainland netizens who participated the most on the Internet are also mainland netizens, and now they are going to launch a back-stabber, which is of course Luo Jun.

Luo Jun has a bitter face, he has been joining Watsons for seven or eight years, and all the shops in the mainland have been expanded by him with people. There is no merit and hard work.

Moreover, the store management system is issued by the group, and he is only the executor.

"Mr. Huo, isn't this ......" As soon as Luo Jun spoke, he was interrupted by Huo.

"Mr. Luo, I know that you are wronged in this matter. However, there is no way for the group, you can rest assured, the group will not forget your contribution. In this way, if you resign by yourself, the group will still compensate you sufficiently, and your face will look better. Huo Hao said hypocritically.

The official level crushed people to death, Luo Jun was only the head of the region, and Huo Hao was the leader of the group, what could he do.

Soon, A.S. Watson Group issued an announcement:

I apologize to the consumers

Due to the mismanagement of the operation department in mainland China, which led to the deviation of store service, Mr. Luo Jun, the general manager of the company's mainland operations, resigned. As for the group, it will also improve the service status of stores in mainland China as soon as possible, and strive to satisfy more consumers.

Of course, this statement cannot satisfy all consumers, but at the very least, the leaders of Watsons Group Headquarters and the board of directors of Hutchison will not be so passive in the face of the directors' questions.

It is in this situation that Meigo.com, together with Temasek, submitted a takeover offer to Hutchison Industrial, intending to acquire the "Personal Care Chain Store (Asia Pacific)", "Watsons Distilled Water Company" and "Parknshop Supermarket" of Watsons Group!

Watson's personal care chain is mainly concentrated in Asia, with more than 1,700 stores in more than 10 countries and regions, including nearly 600 stores in mainland China.

PARKnSHOP, the top three supermarket chains in Hong Kong, is doing quite well in the mainland, especially in South China.

Watsons distilled water is powerful, in 1903 began to produce distilled water, is now the world's largest distilled water manufacturer, and the company's products include Watsons distilled water, Watsons drinking mineral water, Watsons soda series, Watsons sa soda, Mr. Confectionery frozen juice, Sunkist juice and soft drinks, etc.

The prices offered by Hutchison for the three branches were US$3 billion for the personal care chain, US$2.5 billion for PARKnSHOP and US$3 billion for Watsons Distilled Water.

It's hard to say whether this price is expensive, but in terms of revenue and profit, it's worth the money.

However, these real industries have been severely suppressed by the Internet in recent years, and their value has been declining year by year compared with previous years.

This is also the reason why Li Chaoren has contacted many consortia privately, but he has not dealt with Watsons so far.

Because many people are no longer optimistic about these supermarkets and chain stores.

Especially in the mainland, brick-and-mortar stores have been hit hardest by online e-commerce, and many cities have seen a wave of store closures.

Coincidentally, PARKnSHOP and Watson's personal care chains, whose main markets are still concentrated in the mainland, have been the most affected.

Many people are worried that if they take over these stores, they will close down in less than two years!

Even though one party wanted to buy and the other party wanted to sell, this closed-door negotiation lasted for a full ten days.

During this period, Li Chaoren and Huo Jianning also went into battle in person, but Wang Ye insisted that he could only give 2.5 billion US dollars to Watson's personal care chain, not a single point more!

"Wang Dong, you have Modu Jahwa, Fuhua Cosmetics Company, and Meigo.com, so the acquisition of Watsons' personal care chain is very suitable for you. Huo Jianning said with a smile.

"I wouldn't have bought it if it wasn't suitable, but this price has exceeded the true value of these stores. As far as I know, all of your Watsons stores are rented, and if the contract expires and the mall does not renew the contract, more than half of the stores will be closed. Wang Ye didn't let go at all.

"How can you not renew the contract, our Watsons is still not a small reputation, haha. Huo Jianning said confidently.

Wang Ye also knew about the recent denunciation of Watsons on the Internet, but he didn't bother to talk about it.

This kind of small turmoil is impossible for a large company to break its muscles and bones.

"Too much time has been wasted for this acquisition, and now I am making a final offer on behalf of Meigo.com, which is to buy Watsons' 1,700 stores in Asia for $2.5 billion. ”

Wang Ye said calmly, and then added: "Please note, this is the last offer! If you don't accept it, then I will immediately return to Pengcheng and set up my own chain store, I believe that in the mainland, my influence will be greater than Watson's." ”

Huo Jianning and Li Chaoren's faces changed slightly, of course they knew what Wang Ye meant by this, and they also knew about Wang Ye's information.

Not to mention that there are so many cosmetics brands under Wang Ye, but his two identities as the director of Starlight Commercial Real Estate and the director of Wanfeng Real Estate Group are enough to pose a great threat to Watsons.

If Wang Ye really set up his own cosmetics chain store and squeezed out Watsons in each shopping mall, or adjusted the location to a worse place, then Watsons will be greatly damaged.

"We, Temasek, also made a final offer, PARKnSHOP plus Watsons Distilled Water, with a package price of US$5 billion. Li Guanghua also spoke.

Li Chaoren and Huo Jianning looked at each other for a moment, and then said, "That's it for today, we need to go back to the board of directors to discuss the price you proposed." ”

On this night, the top floor of the office building of Hutchison Industrial Headquarters was brightly lit and did not go out all night.

The company's directors and major shareholders were present to discuss the offer for the acquisition of U.S.com and Temasek, and now it is time for shareholders to vote at the last minute.

"My personal suggestion is to promise them the price, although this price is a little lower than we expected, but everyone can see that the physical channel has indeed been shrinking in the past two years. Wang Ye is right, maybe in another year or two, Watsons and Baijia will not be worth as much as they are now. ”

Li Chaoren explained frankly to the shareholders.

In the end, everyone voted and passed the asset sale with a vote of more than 90%!