Chapter 325: Business Trip

……

"Baba, hug!"

Mengmeng's son and daughter made Guo Shouyun's whole heart melt. Even though he had hugged him countless times, when he saw them spread their little hands and staggered towards him, Guo Shouyun still couldn't help but squat down, stretched out his arms and hugged the two little babies tightly in his arms.

Although he really wanted to just stop and watch them grow up every day, the reality of life made it impossible for him to stop.

"Wendy, they're left to your care!"

Looking at the beautiful woman in a long white dress standing next to her, Guo Shouyun said softly.

"Don't worry!"

Guo Shouyun nodded, "Baby, be good." Go find Aunt Wendy!"

As he spoke, he handed the two little ones in his arms into Wendy's arms. George was very well-behaved and took the initiative to throw himself into Wendy's arms. But Elizabeth was a little troublesome, grabbing Guo Shouyun's shirt collar alive and not letting go. It took a long time to finally appease the little guy.

"Be good at home, Daddy will be back soon!"

After touching their little heads, Guo Shouyun turned around and went upstairs to Molly's room. Looking at the big white bed full of sunlight, Guo Shouyun's eyes darkened, he stepped over, and after sitting down on the stool next to him, he naturally held her white and translucent right hand.

"Honey, I'm going out for a while. It could be two or three months, or it could be longer. I won't be able to come to see you during this time. But don't worry, Wendy will take care of our children. You know, she's a good girl. George and Elizabeth also relied on her, believing that they would be well cared for and grow up healthy.... ”

It took half an hour to say goodbye to the person he loved the most, and Guo Shouyun left slowly.

"Boss, it's almost time!" Matthew reminded.

Guo Shouyun nodded, and after staring at Wendy and the two little ones for a moment, he turned around and continued to explain: "Ward, the family will be left for you to take care of." ”

"Sir, don't worry, I will take care of Madame, Miss and Young Master!"

Patting him on the shoulder, Guo Shouyun took one last look at the Guo Manor, turned around and walked into the car.

"Let's go!"

"Yes!"

Matthew answered, and under his command, the convoy slowly drove away from the Guo Manor.

After being reborn, Guo Shouyun went to a limited number of countries. Except for the UK, spent a few days in Greece. In England it's more about love, and it's the same in Greece. But this time I left differently, purely for work.

France, India, and China, the three countries will take at least three months, and if it is long, it may take half a year. The first time he went on a business trip for such a long time, and more importantly, he was away from home for so long, Guo Shouyun naturally felt reluctant in his heart. In particular, it will miss the most important time for his son and daughter to grow up, which makes him feel a little sad.

However, sentimentality was only a temporary moment for Guo Shouyun, who had experienced a lot and was more mature, and soon he adjusted his mentality and began a day of intense work. Of course, the place of work is on a private jet flying to Paris.

"Bruce, how do you have time to call me?"

The moment it was connected, Catherine Lincoln's voice had already arrived, speaking quickly, revealing the clean and neat style of a strong woman.

Guo Shouyun, who has become accustomed to her way of communication, did not waste time.

"How's the negotiation with Burger King going?"

"I thought you didn't care?... It has been negotiated, $1.5 billion, and we will acquire it wholly by us. ”

"Where's the money?"

"We came up with $280 million in cash ourselves. Of the remaining $1.22 billion, Merrill Lynch issued $420 million in asset-backed bonds with an interest rate of 6.4% and a 10-year maturity. The other $800 million is a mortgage refinancing after the acquisition of Burger King, **** and Bank of America are lenders, with an interest rate of 5.4%, the same 10-year term!"

Guo Shouyun nodded knowingly.

Originally, Catherine Lincoln intended a leveraged buyout, but the interest rate of the buyout was too high. The annual interest rate of 10~12% will put the Kwok Group with a heavy debt burden. Therefore, in the end, Guo Shouyun and Catherine discussed, or Guo Shouyun invested a sum of money, first bought Burger King, and then used its mortgage. Of course, the loan money should be used for the overall development of the group, which can be regarded as Guo Shouyun's support for the Guo Group.

"What are your plans for the next step in Burger King?"

"It is the first step to rectify internal management, optimize the corporate image, and integrate Burger King's logistics system with Guo's Logistics. The second step is to set up a 'catering laboratory' directly under the headquarters to further optimize the taste and structure of 'Burger King'. The third step, 'catering + real estate', according to your requirements, buy the store property in the economically developed city, reduce the cost and increase the assets. For underdeveloped regions, brand authorization is the mainstay. … Well, my plan is not bad!"

"It's really good. Still, there are some areas where it is not enough. ”

"Where?"

The Western-style fast food market in the United States and Europe is saturated. However, the rapid development of Asia, especially China, has only just begun. Therefore, the focus of the group's next development is on the Chinese and Asian markets. Moreover, we are far behind KFC and McDonald's in this area, and Burger King needs to catch up with them as soon as possible if it wants to make great progress. ”

"I am naturally aware of the importance of the Chinese market. Moreover, I have also made a plan for the Chinese market. Next year, we will open 50 branches in Huaxia Market!"

"It's too few, at least 500!"

"500 of them, are you crazy, what about the funds?"

"Naturally, there will be money. Besides, I didn't ask you to open all the directly-managed stores. The best strategy is to focus on direct sales in the mainstream business districts or CBD of first-, second- and third-tier cities in China, where the real estate appreciates the fastest and has the highest value. Moreover, it is also conducive to enhancing our corporate image. For non-commercial areas and small cities, brand licensing is the mainstay. We are responsible for the design and promotion of the brand image, as well as the training of personnel. They only need to pay the authorization fee. With such a strategy, I believe the amount of money spent will not be too staggering. And, if you do it right, you'll even be able to make a profit early with the licensing fee. ”

Think about KFC and McDonald's that opened all over China later, and you can see how much profit they have made from them. Now that he has the same company under his own, Guo Shouyun naturally won't watch them set aside Burger King and conquer the city in China.

On the phone, Catherine Lincoln was silent for a moment, "The same line of thought, is it also suitable for Bailejia?"

"You've finally got the hang of it!"

"What are you talking about, am I stupid?" said Catherine.

"No kidding. Bailejia is also suitable for the business strategy of 'real estate + direct operation in first, second and third-tier cities, and authorization in small cities'. However, unlike Burger King, we have not yet won the US market, and the Chinese market is even more incompatible. Moreover, the revenue of Bailejia needs to be coordinated by the logistics system, slaughterhouses and farms of the Guo Group. In this way, we can gain a price advantage in the same industry. On the other hand, opening a Palox is more troublesome than opening a Burger King. Instead of spending a higher price to open up the Chinese market, it is better to save time and energy and take down the American market first. ”

"I see, what you mean is that the expansion of Palaca requires the cooperation of the entire Kuok Group. The process of globalization should be tackled by one country at a time, but aimed at multiple markets?"

"That's right!"

"Got it!"

Catherine thought about it for a moment and replied.

"If you get it, let's do it as soon as possible. 03 and 04 years are the best expansion periods for Kuok Group, after which the cost of property will double or even more. So, it doesn't matter if expanding too quickly will cause temporary unstable foundations. We'll have time to adjust later. But you have to remember that by the end of 04, the scale of the Paradise branch must be increased to at least 3000~4000, and 30~40% of them are directly operated. ”

"Yes, no problem. But I want money!"

"Catherine, I've already allocated you $800 million!" Guo Shouyun said with a roll of his eyes.

"$800 million isn't enough, but I'll leave you alone for now. I'll look for you when I'm done... There's something else, I'll hang up if it's okay. There's a lot of work to do at Burger King. ”

Guo Shouyun didn't answer, and directly showed his attitude by hanging up the phone.

"Strong women are much more difficult to do than men!"

Shaking his head and sorting out his thoughts, Guo Shouyun flipped through the documents on the table and picked up the phone again.

"Boss!"

"Erik, have you read the Facebook website design proposal submitted by the technical department?"

"Looked. ”

Eric Schmidt replied.

"Tell me what you think?"

"There is no problem with the content of the website, which is mainly based on the three major blocks of picture display, address book and personal status. Simplicity and fluency are also guaranteed. But the more controversial question is whether the 'real-name system' will be resisted? After all, there is no similar website in the world that has adopted the real-name system. ”

"It's because we didn't have us that we were the first one. Facebook's adoption of the 'real-name system' is resolutely unchangeable. Anything else?"

"There is also the question of openness and closure. When discussing within Ruby, people tend to be closed, and on the Facebook page, only Ruby companies are connected. Moreover, Ruby covers enough formats such as online payment, news, professional networking, online job search, classroom, blog, video, finance, etc., which can provide every registered Facebook user with rich needs, so compared with the open model, closed is more suitable for us. ”

Guo Shouyun groaned, in his previous life, he knew very well that the reason why Facebook was able to suppress many competitors and become the No.1 in the world's social field was because of her open model. Any internet startup can put their website on Facebook, and then decide to rank, put it on or off the shelves according to the user's positive rating.

By cooperating, Facebook can get a small royalty, as well as a huge advertising fee from the traffic.

Openness has laid the foundation for Facebook to become the hegemon of the social field in the future.

But now Guo Shouyun's Facebook is different from Zuckerberg in that it has enough content and apps to retain users through Ruby and even companies owned or controlled by Guo Shouyun, such as Apple, Amazon, Google, and eBay. So, closed mode is indeed more appropriate than open. Of course, there is no such thing as an immutable business strategy. When closure is not enough to bring about more conducive development, openness is also naturally the next option.

"There is no problem with closure, but it should be targeted. The content we already have, such as online payment, news, professional networking, online job search, classroom, blog, video, finance, etc., adopts a closed development strategy. But for games and networks, which we don't have, we can adopt an open strategy. In addition, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo, and Apple can be our cooperative enterprises. ”

"Understood!"

The relationship between these companies and Guo Shouyun was also clear to Eric Schmidt, so he didn't ask too much.

"Finally, I would like to repeat Facebook's website design requirements to focus on user experience, which is the first priority. The second is the 'fool' operation, the simpler the website operation, the better. After a pause, "I have a word here for all the product managers of Ruby: Don't make me think." ”

"Don't make me think?"

"That's right. Telling this to all product managers and company executives is one of the fundamental design principles of our company website in the future. Always make our website simple and useful. ”

"Understood, I'll convey it myself!"

After continuing to talk to Eric Schmidt about some details of the website design, Guo Shouyun hung up the phone.

……

"Steve, I read the files in my mailbox, and there is no problem with the design of the new Mac. … Chips can be used by Intel, at least until our own ARM chip design matures. Also, there is no problem with the development and design of iTunes multimedia playback software. I will help you negotiate the copyright with music giants such as EMAI and Sony Records! In addition, I used the first version of the website, and the fluency is okay, but the simplicity is not enough. Especially in the first column, you don't need to set six or seven recommended positions, just put one. It's more eye-catching and effective. Of course, the asking price can also be higher. ”

……

"William, is there any more detailed information about the Claes Fund?"

"Also, if you want it, I'll have it sent to your email right away. ”

"Send it immediately. In addition, judging from the simple information you provided, the structure of the Claes Fund is quite healthy with 17 funds and an asset portfolio of $22.3 billion. The purchase price of $650 million is not too high. However, after the successful acquisition, the asset allocation of the industrial sector and the military sector will be reduced, and the proportion of investment in the Internet sector, biomedical sector and technology sector will be strengthened. In addition, finance and real estate are also good. It can be configured appropriately. ”

"Understood!"

"Is there any movement from Merrill Lynch?"

William Chang understood the meaning of Guo Shouyun's words, "O'Neill's purge of the company is basically over. Merrill Lynch has 11.2% fewer employees than it did at the beginning. At the same time, Merrill Lynch's profitability increased by 5.6%. However, Merrill Lynch's board of directors has a lot of criticism about him. ”

"Expected. Reform has never been warm-hearted. … Stay tuned, keep me informed if there is any news. ”

"Yes!"