Compared to Berlin, New York is much warmer in August.

But no matter how hot the weather may be, the venerable old Mr. Huntelaar is always a clean, upright gentleman, and even in the most stuffy room, he should not be seen to let go of a button. A hat, a cane, a black dress, and an unsmiling face are the eternal impressions of the old German man.

Holding Henry's arm down from the carriage, old Huntelaar glanced up at the high noon sun, his eyes narrowed slightly, and he immediately lowered his head and walked into a luxury hotel on the side of the road.

In recent times, the old Huntelaar has lived an extremely fulfilling life.

There is no need to take care of the several trading companies under his own name, and how many years of accumulation have made them regular, and the old Huntelaar only needs to go around occasionally and check the accounts. But since his only descendant, Huntelaar Jr., transferred his first invention and invested in a bicycle factory, the elder Huntlaar could not be as laid-back as he used to be.

John was unaware of his identity as a shareholder, and almost never asked about the factory, and even asked Joshua to send him the semi-annual financial statements, so the old Huntelaar could only reluctantly take this responsibility on his shoulders, but fortunately, he also had a 20% stake in the bicycle factory, and he had to pay attention to it from time to time, and it didn't add much workload to help his grandson.

But all the qiē has been different since he came back from Berlin.

John's bastard boy caused his grandfather a lot of trouble, such as the Huntelaar Hospital building, which the Steve family is now working on, a manufacturing plant that is being renovated and expanded to produce blood pressure monitors and complete surgical instruments, and the tungsten light bulb that he is still hesitating to launch, and now he is going to talk about a collaboration......

"Sir, may I be able to help you?"

Saw old Huntelaar walk into the hotel. The waiter in the lobby immediately greeted him and asked very respectfully.

Opening his eyes, which had been squinting, old Huntelaar said in a deep voice, "I'm looking for a guest to stay at, Andrew?" Mr. Carnegie ......"

"Excuse me, is it Mr. Huntelaar?"

Just then, a stocky young white man walked over and asked respectfully.

"Yes. I am. ”

Turning his head to look at the young man, old Huntelaar nodded.

The young white man immediately stepped forward and said respectfully, "Mr. Huntelaar, I am Mr. Carnegie's retinue, and he is waiting for you in the restaurant, please come with me." ”

"Okay."

Nodding slightly, old Huntelaar followed the young white man to the hotel's restaurant.

"It's an honor to meet you, Mr. Carnegie."

"It is my pleasure too, Mr. Huntelaar."

After exchanging greetings with a middle-aged white man about fifty years old. Old Huntelaar sat down across from the steel industrialist.

For the first ten seconds, no one spoke.

Old Huntelaar looked at the "young man" in front of him, who was more than ten years younger than him, with great interest, and couldn't help but be secretly surprised. Since he found the other party, the old Huntelaar naturally did an investigation in advance, and knew that although this very sturdy guy looked very inconspicuous, he had a steel company with the largest number in the United States, with an annual output of hundreds of thousands of tons. That's a staggering figure, considering that the U.S. now produces just over two million tons of steel a year.

Meanwhile. Carnegie was also secretly looking at gray-haired old Huntelaar.

The reason why the future steel king will intersect with the old Huntelaar is naturally because the other party has what Carnegie needs - a magical steel patent. And for this kind of steel that does not rust, Carnegie is extremely important. That's why I came forward to negotiate this deal in person. However, he also knew that he didn't want to win the patent easily today, because according to the information collected by his subordinates, this Mr. Huntelaar was also a veteran of the shopping mall and was not easy to deal with.

After a moment of relative silence, Carnegie smiled and said, "Mr. Huntelaar, what do you want to drink?" ”

"Coffee. Thank you. ”

After beckoning the waiter to bring two cups of coffee, Carnegie slowly asked, "Mr. Huntelaar, I don't understand why you don't choose to start a steel mill of your own since you have this magical patent." Maximizing benefits? And so many steel companies in the United States, why do they choose to cooperate with me? ”

Carnegie had never figured it out, so he had to figure it out first.

"Quite simply, because I don't have the ability to run my own steel mill."

Gently putting down the cup in his hand, old Huntelaar said lightly: "I am old, it is impossible for me to have the energy to create and manage a steel mill, and I can't come up with so much cash, cooperating with others is the best choice." As for choosing you as a partner, it is not my intention, but the recommendation of others. ”

"Who?"

Carnegie frowned, and immediately asked.

"My grandson."

After hesitating for a moment, old Huntelaar said calmly: "Although I don't know how he knows about you, since he is the inventor and owner of this patent, he naturally has the right to choose a partner!" ”

"Your grandson? His invention of stainless steel? The choice of me? ”

After hearing this, Carnegie's face suddenly showed a look of surprise.

Old Huntelaar was also quite helpless about Carnegie's doubts, and John specified in the letter that he must find this Mr. Carnegie to cooperate, and the old man had no choice but to say vaguely: "Mr. Carnegie, if you have a chance to meet him in the future, you can talk about this matter in detail, but for now, can we talk about patents first?" ”

"Oh, of course."

After the corners of his mouth twitched slightly, Carnegie smiled: "Mr. Huntelaar, if you are willing to transfer the ownership of the patent completely, I am willing to contribute 100,000 dollars!" ”

"It can't be, Mr. Carnegie."

Looking at Carnegie's seemingly loyal and honest face, old Huntelaar said quietly: "First of all, as I said in my letter. We only offer exclusive manufacturing licenses in the U.S., and do not transfer patent ownership! In addition, the price of 100,000 dollars is also unacceptable! ”

Although the tone did not fluctuate much, the attitude of old Huntelaar was unusually firm.

Are you kidding?!

Now a ton of ordinary steel rails costs nearly a hundred dollars, and the profits are even more terrifying, how could the old Huntelaar agree to a hundred thousand dollars? To know. Although the application range of stainless steel is much narrower in this era, if you take into account its characteristics and uses, it is obviously a tall product, and the profit is higher than that of ordinary steel, right?

"Oh? So what do you think is the right price? ”

With a slight frown, Carnegie asked in a deep voice.

Regarding the matter of only providing authorization in the United States, Carnegie had long been mentally prepared, because the other party made it very clear in advance in the letter. And now is the era of rapid development in the United States, which has a huge market and is still an importer of steel. Carnegie has not yet thought about opening up foreign markets, and he does not particularly attach importance to this.

But the price offered for $100,000 was rejected outright, which made Carnegie feel a little unhappy.

"I can offer two options."

Under Carnegie's gaze, the old god Huntelaar stretched out two fingers: "One is to obtain the patent authorization with 500,000 US dollars, and guarantee the priority supply of stainless steel ...... we need in the future."

"Half a million dollars?"

After hearing this number, Carnegie's face suddenly sank!

This figure, in Carnegie's opinion, is clearly insincere!

Although the $100,000 he gave was a little less, but spending $500,000 to buy a patent?

Old Huntelaar certainly noticed the change in Carnegie's expression. However, he didn't have a trace of worry, but continued to say calmly: "The second method." It is that we take the patent as a shareholder and get part of the shares of your company, after all, we are also very optimistic about the future prospects of stainless steel......"

"Shares?"

Hearing this extremely sensitive word, Carnegie's pupils suddenly shrank!

Although he was a little unhappy that the other party offered a price of 500,000 US dollars, it was not strange at all, and this is how business is done. There is always a process of bargaining. And considering the particularity of stainless steel, this price is actually not impossible to consider. Think about it, if Carnegie Steel had this one-of-a-kind product, how much would it help the company's reputation and growth?

But if the other party wants a stake in his company, this has to make him more vigilant.

The steel company was not Carnegie's alone. It's not a big deal to have one more person in the company, but now that the company is growing at a very fast pace, Carnegie still prefers that the other party will ask for money directly. And his steel company is not the supergiant that took a quarter of the market share in the United States a decade later, and Carnegie himself is not the super-rich man who could eventually sell the company to Morgan for hundreds of millions of dollars.

Carnegie Steel isn't worth that much now, a thousand dollars, if the elder Huntelaar buys a stake in half a million dollars......

Quietly waiting for Carnegie's answer, old Huntelaar was not in a hurry.

Although I don't know why John looked at this Carnegie so differently and made it clear that he would give preference to the form of patent licensing, the elder Huntelaar also understood the great prospects of the steel industry in this era, so after weighing it, he also felt that this choice was good. Now that Carnegie was so entangled and worried, his feelings became even stronger.

After pondering for a long time, Carnegie suddenly smiled and asked, "Mr. Huntelaar, if you buy shares with patent licensing, how much do you want to convert the patent into money?" Or half a million dollars? ”

"Hehe, of course we won't go too far!"

Raising his eyebrows, old Huntelaar smiled: "If you want to use the patent to license shares, you will naturally have to make a big ......discount when converting the price" (to be continued......