A letter of recommendation from Citibank can basically make an appointment with anyone you want to meet, provided that you have a certain amount of capital and resources.

"Hello, Mr. Knight." In the presidential suite of a four-star hotel in downtown Portland, Chen Zhiwen met with the founder of the later sports brand Nike. Knight.

"Mr. Chen? Hello. As soon as Filknight walked into this suite, he was greeted and shook hands by a very enthusiastic Chinese, who naturally guessed that this was a Chinese from Hong Kong who was going to meet him.

He didn't want to come, but the head of Citibank in Portland called in person, and Citi is Nike's largest creditor, and Nike's economic problems have been troublesome recently, so he has to give this face.

"Sit down, what do you drink? Mr. Knight. Chen Zhiwen took Philnet to the sofa room inside, and at the same time, he had already prepared several drinks to entertain the guests.

"Regular coffee will do." Filnet said politely, and at the same time saw the scenery outside.

It's one of the tallest buildings in the whole of Portland, and the Presidential Suite is also located on the corner of the top floor, with a view of half the city, and not far away, a huge lake comes alive in the sun.

"It's a great view, Mr. Knight hasn't been here before?" Chen Zhiwen handed over the prepared coffee.

"Thank you." Philnet took the coffee and said, "I've been here, but I haven't been to this presidential suite, the height is different, and the scenery is different." But I often go fishing at the lake, but I can't go anymore. ”

"Why?" Chen Zhiwen asked.

"The land in that vicinity was bought by a large fund and opened a farm, and Mr. Chen, who is also a businessman, also knows that international food prices have risen a lot during this time." Philnet said as he sipped his coffee.

"I've heard that food prices have risen quite dramatically." Chen Zhiwen thought about it and nodded and said.

In the 70s, the climate of the whole world was very unfriendly to agriculture, resulting in a serious reduction in the grain production of the northern bear, and had to seek food imports in the international market, and the United States under the oil crisis was also seriously short of oil, and the two sides of the Cold War coincidentally cooperated through transit dealers, resulting in a global normal food deficit of up to 30 million tons, and food prices rose 2.5 times in just four years.

In recent years, large-scale mergers and acquisitions of farms around the world have begun, and some governments have taken the opportunity to release land or even cut down forests to convert into farms.

If he has spare money, Chen Zhiwen also wants to invest in farms, and it is best to sit on the throne of the world's first landlord, but it should be impossible to invest in land in the last ten years, but it is no problem to buy a small farm to play.

"I heard from Citibank that Mr. Chen asked me out to invest in my company?" After the coffee, Philnet turned to the main topic.

"Yes." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said, he informed the purpose when he entrusted Citibank, and there is nothing to hide and keep secret.

"Nike has not yet entered the international market, how did Mr. Chen know about our company? And why invest in our company? Philnet asked.

"Have you ever heard of Red Bull?" Chen Zhiwen asked, pointing to a drink in the corner of the table. This was specially brought by him, there was no such drink in the hotel, and even in Portland, he sent people to run 3 supermarkets to find the goods, which is enough to show that Red Bull is still not popular enough in the United States.

"I've heard it, I've seen it on TV commercials, but I haven't drunk it." Philnet said after glancing at Red Bull.

"This is my company's product, the main thing is to quickly replenish the physical strength of athletes after sports, we have also found a lot of well-known sports stars in the United States to endorse, because of publicity reasons, we also chose some sneakers on the market, this was originally a small thing, but the feedback we got is that athletes like Nike brand shoes very much, so I checked your information, I think the development potential of our company is very high, so I came." Chen Zhiwen finished the nonsense with his eyes open.

Although investment does not necessarily need to be explained very clearly, Chen Zhiwen also thinks that it is better to find a reason casually, if you don't say the reason, then the other party is more likely not to accept the investment.

"Which sports stars? Do you have our sneakers on your ads? Philnet was immediately interested, although he didn't pay attention to Red Bull, he also knew that this Red Bull drink often appeared on TV, and if the star in it was wearing his own shoes, wouldn't it also be an advertisement? It's not much exposed, but it's better than nothing!

"It's confidential, and I don't want to reveal other people's names casually, and as for the brand, Mr. Knight doesn't have to worry, for legal reasons, even if we use Nike shoes, we also cover up the trademark." Chen Zhiwen smiled and said. Not only in the United States, but also in many countries, other brand logos cannot appear in the advertising laws, even if they are positive promotions, because in many cases, the law cannot distinguish between yin and yang or ridicule, and simply ban it.

"Actually, we don't mind, Mr. Chen doesn't need to cover up our brand." Filknight said.

"This is negotiable, and I think we may have a deeper level of cooperation." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

"Mr. Chen, we're not going to stop because of an ad," Filknight said.

"It's not an ordinary advertisement, it's just that this year, Red Bull's advertising budget is $5 million, and although it hasn't been confirmed next year, doubling it shouldn't be a problem." Chen Zhiwen said lightly: "And my request is investment, it is a real investment of funds, not to take any advantage of Nike, and at the same time, I can also help solve the current supply chain problems of Nike." ”

"$5 million?" Philnet was shocked in his heart, he wasn't sure if the person in front of him was bragging, but the recommendation letter from Citibank's headquarters was indeed not available to everyone.

After a while, Philnet asked, "Mr. Chen also knows about our supply chain problems, and the bank is also suing our company, I don't know if there is any good solution?" ”

Nike has encountered big trouble during this time, because the development has been very good in the past few years, so the company spent a huge amount of money to buy an old shoe factory, and invested a lot of money into maintenance and renovation, but the management of Nike, which has only been engaged in terminal sales, underestimated the cost of manufacturing plants, and finally seriously affected the company's capital chain, and at the same time, because the debt bank was not informed and the account was frozen, and was sued in court.

This matter is not a big secret, since the other party wants to buy shares, he will definitely find out.

Chen Zhiwen said with a smile: "The problem of the Nike factory is not a big problem, the bank is just worried that you can't pay back the money, as long as the funds are enough, they will naturally withdraw the lawsuit, as long as Nike accepts my investment, it can easily solve the problem."

And when I talk about supply chains, it's not about the thing, it's about the future. ”

"The future of supply chains?" Filnet asked with a frown, a little incomprehensible.

Chen Zhiwen said with a smile: "Yes, shoemaking requires a lot of manpower, and the cost of manufacturing in the United States is too high, even if Nike goes to the high-end brand, it can't stand this cost, and the only way is to move out and move to Asia." ”

(End of chapter)