A new year is coming (1971).

On New Year's Day, Lin Zhichao took his two daughters Lin Wanzhu (16 years old) and Lin Huizhu (14 years old), followed by Xu Caiying and Lin Ruicheng (13 years old), a family of five to Causeway Bay for shopping.

At present, Lin Zhichao has four sons working and studying overseas, namely Lin Ruihuan (22 years old), Lin Ruijiang (20 years old), Lin Ruihai (19 years old), Lin Ruikai (17 years old), these four sons will not return to Hong Kong during the winter vacation and Spring Festival this year.

There are also two sons who were originally overseas, Lin Ruidong (16 years old) and Lin Ruinan (12 years old), who did not return to Hong Kong this year.

As the children's studies are heavy, the Lin family usually only gathers for about a month during the summer vacation, or once during the winter vacation in several years.

Overall, the relationship between the brothers is still very good, after all, the relationship between mothers is good, which affects the relationship between children.

Lin Zhichao is 'the dragon gave birth to nine sons', exactly nine children, of course, he is not sure whether he will have illegitimate children in the future (there is a high probability that there will be).

"Dad, did that 'Uniqlo' steal the name of our company?" The eldest daughter, Lin Wanzhu, pointed to a store on the third floor of Xintiandi Shopping Center and asked curiously.

Although Lin Wanzhu is from Xu Caiying, she is more similar to Tang Caiyun's personality - elegant and intelligent, and has a certain understanding of her own business, even if she usually prefers Tang Caiyun's 'mother', and Lin Huizhu, who is born by Tang Caiyun, is the little princess of the family, and she prefers Xu Caiying.

In the end, Tang Caiyun and Xu Caiying did not emphasize who was their own mother, resulting in the two daughters being separated.

"It's not theft, it was originally opened by our company, so we just happened to go shopping and see how it was!" After speaking, Lin Zhichao was about to walk in with his two daughters.

On the contrary, Lin Huizhu said mischievously: "Follow my father out to go shopping, your eyes and thoughts are 'business', so boring!" ”

Lin Zhichao was suddenly a little embarrassed, he couldn't refute what his youngest daughter said, he was a person who always thought about business in his head.

Seeing the apologetic expression on her father's face, Lin Huizhu immediately took Lin Zhichao's arm and said, "Dad, I'll joke with you!" As long as Dad comes out with us, we are all so happy! ”

Lin Zhichao said with a smile: "You girl, eccentric!" ”

The two daughters are his pistachios, and they are very pleasing to Lin Zhichao. Because of this, they will also be considered as one of their successors in the future.

Lin Ruicheng, the son of "Bruce Lee", pointed to the Uniqlo poster in surprise in the back.

Lin Zhichao looked at the poster at the door, it was Bruce Lee's endorsement poster for the Uniqlo brand, Bruce Lee in jeans and a corset shirt was quite fashionable.

It is said that it is an endorsement fee of 80,000 Hong Kong dollars per year, and the contract has been signed for a total of three years. This price is not high, Bruce Lee's value has risen sharply since last summer.

After walking into Uniqlo, the waiter greeted with a smile, "Welcome!" ”

Lin Zhichao nodded, and then took care of his own experience, and the clerks inside did not follow or anything like that, and the whole shopping was more self-service.

There are many places that are more obvious than other clothing stores, and many of the clothes here are stacked together, and they are placed as much as possible in a limited space. Different sizes of a style, stacked in a container or in a conspicuous place, with posters and models on display, are very conspicuous.

It must be correct to say that it is a 'fast-selling brand', but it is a bit biased to say that it is a completely fast-selling brand. Because of this era, it is not suitable to be a fast-selling brand, because the transmission of fashion elements and the supply chain are not as convenient as those in later generations.

The "boss" female store manager Qiu Yue finally found out that Lin Zhichao's identity was not simple, wasn't it the boss who had met once, and hurriedly stepped forward to say hello.

Lin Zhichao turned his head and said with a smile: "Hey, aren't you Qiu Yue, the store manager of the crocodile shirt?" ”

Qiu Yue was immediately encouraged, she had only met once, she was still the deputy store manager at that time, but she didn't expect the boss to remember it so clearly.

"Well, the head office asked me to work here."

Lin Zhichao nodded and said, "That's right, you come to tell me about it, how is Uniqlo's positioning?" Will Hong Kong people be able to accept this model? ”

Qiu Yue was immediately flattered, and then said: "UNIQLO has positioned the Western-style style of men's and women's clothing and children's clothing, which is more popular with young people, and our jeans are selling very well, but in a short period of time, Hong Kong people seem to accept this positioning and style."

Listening to the meaning of this owner, Uniqlo is the 'first person to eat crabs', after all, at this time, the first-line brands of Europe and the United States have not entered Hong Kong, and Hong Kong clothing is at a historic staggered time.

Even if it is jeans, in fact, it was really popular in the United States at the end of the fifties, and the sixties were the time when the West was popular, and the Beatles preferred it.

But Bruce Lee's endorsement still has a great effect, and for a while, there are more people buying jeans in Hong Kong.

Lin Zhichao finally nodded and said: "Be confident, we are the first to eat crabs, and as long as we strengthen propaganda in the later stage, Hong Kong will definitely learn the clothing of Western metropolises." ”

Qiu Yue said: "The boss is right! Celebrity endorsement advertising is still very effective, and the general manager said that the opening can have the current level, which is already very good! ”

Lin Zhichao looked around, there were still many young men and women buying, and said: "Do it well, and study hard, and the potential of this corporate brand will not be lost to crocodile shirts in the future." ”

Qiu Yue suddenly became excited, the boss meant that Uniqlo had potential, and she would also have a promotion channel in the future.

"Yes, boss!"

After a circle, Lin Zhichao and his family have also gained, although Lin Zhichao wears more formal clothes, he doesn't mind being younger.

As for Uniqlo, Lin Zhichao is full of confidence, and he will be in the exploration period in the 70s, and the 80s will be the development period.

On the first working day after New Year's Day, Lin Zhichao came to the Global Group and held a meeting with the senior management.

Bobby Blair and other foreign executives also attended the meeting, and about a quarter of the foreign executives in the entire conference room were held, of course, in English.

At present, the Universal Group controls 252 ships (including 50 VLCCs and ULCCs, totaling 12 million tons), totaling about 22.8 million tons, more than double the merchant ships of the Soviet Union, accounting for 4~5% of the world's merchant ships, and about 8~10% of the world's oil tankers.

To put it bluntly, Lin Zhichao holds the lifeblood of the global economy. If he had a brain rush one day and parked all his merchant ships in the port, the freight rates of world shipping would skyrocket.

At the same time, the debts of Global Shipping and Universal Shipping will be fully 'theoretically paid off' in half a year at most. Since the beginning of last year, Global Shipping has almost stopped shipbuilding, and after the delivery of the remaining 10 VLCC/ULCCs in the second half of this year (1971), there have been few launching ceremonies belonging to the Global Group since then.

"Starting this year, as long as the contract for tankers under 100,000 tons expires, they will be sold. After all, the oil tanker is too small and the operating fee is too high, so it is obviously not very cost-effective. During the meeting, Lin Zhichao made arrangements.

The global group has about two 70,000-ton oil tankers, eight 50,000-ton oil tankers, and two 30,000-ton oil tankers, totaling about 700,000 tons of small oil tankers.

As for why Lin Zhichao didn't cash out the 100,000-ton oil tanker, it was because it was unnecessary. Global Group has about 50 tankers of 10~150,000 tons, with a total tonnage of about 5.5 million tons; Lin Zhichao of these ships is preparing to sign long-term contracts, striving to skip the 'idle period' of 1973~1974; at the same time, he will also keep some 100,000-ton oil tankers in order to speculate on oil spots.

Feng Yongfa said: "Almost all of these ships expire in these two years, and if they are sold, considering the life of the oil tanker, the price will not be too high." ”

The life of oil tankers is generally 20 years, rarely more than 30 years, while the life of cargo ships is 30~40 years. Almost all of these tankers were built in the mid-fifties, so they are practically worthless.

What Feng Yongfa means is that if it is a business, it may be more cost-effective than selling.

He is a great steward, so he prefers to settle financial accounts.

But another vice president, Bobby Blair, said: "It is right to phase out in time, these oil tankers continue to operate at high costs, and the risk factor is also high, in addition, the group should make a choice between bulk carriers and container ships, I personally think that some bulk carriers should be cleaned up and some container ships should be purchased, which is a long-term development strategy." ”

The two vice presidents 'competed', and Feng Yongfa continued: "The group has stopped shipbuilding since the beginning of last year, and only occasionally needs to build one, which is already the boss controlling the risk. This year, the group's debt will also achieve zero debt, so that the group's risk is very low, whether it is a small oil tanker or a bulk carrier, in fact, it can avoid risks through long-term charter."

Lin Zhichao listened to everyone's discussion and motioned for more people to participate, and soon everyone expressed their opinions, all of them were discussing things, and there was no battle of will.

Lin Zhichao saw this very clearly.

In the end, he made a decision: "No matter how cheap the price of the small oil tanker is, it will be sold when it expires." In the future, 100,000 dwt tankers will also be phased out, and in the future, we will only operate VLCC class tankers (including ULCC). Between bulk carriers and container transportation, we choose container transportation as a long-term development. However, container transportation should not develop too fast. Therefore, I plan to list Huaxing Shipping in the next two years and use the method of listing to raise funds to develop container transportation. As for the elimination of bulk carriers, in fact, we have about 50 ships around the world, with a total of 1.2 million tons; So, this thing can be taken slowly, without a long-term rental, choose to sell"

On the whole, Bobby Blair's remarks are more in line with Lin Zhichao's meaning, but he is too radical to vigorously develop container transportation, after all, it takes a process; Three freighters can't be eliminated too quickly and too much, and there are not many global shipping.

And Feng Yongfa's statement is not wrong, anyway, the global group has no debt, and there is no need to consider the risk at all, so many ships in hand, you can make more money.

The 'oil crisis' of 1973~1974 lasted only half a year. Around November 1973, Middle Eastern oil was not sold to the United States and Europe, but to Japan (the Japanese, for the sake of oil, were soft at the beginning and did not support Israel); In April and May 1974, some European countries could not bear it, so they expressed their support for Israel, and the Middle East sold them oil; However, the Netherlands in Europe and the United States have been insisting on Israel, and it will probably take a long time for them to get Middle Eastern oil.

On the whole, this wave of 'shipping market' downturn lasted for a short time, but the impact was very large.

Anaphase:

Japan deeply felt the strategic importance of oil resources to the country, so it frantically imported oil, and then stockpiled, coupled with the development of nuclear energy in the late seventies, so after 1978, it reduced a lot of oil imports, so the demand for transportation capacity also declined.

The United Kingdom restarted the development of its North Sea oil fields, and the United States also restarted its own oil field development, so shipping began to decline completely in 1980, reaching a low point in 1985.

Feng Yongfa was not discouraged, but continued to suggest: "How should the two listed companies under the group be planned? ”

He is talking about Asia Shipping and Longfeng International, which currently has 1.5 million tons of Asian shipping and Longfeng International has a deadweight of 500,000 tons.

In addition, the global group has three partnerships (accounting for one-third of the shares), which also have a total load of more than 1 million tons; These three companies have stopped developing and are only operating the existing fleet.

"Asia Shipping is an important listed company that our group has cultivated, and in the past two years, we have to issue new shares to expand, mainly to build ULCC class tankers, and also to sell small vessels, but on the whole, it is the object of the group's cultivation in the 70s. As for Longfeng Shipping, it can also take advantage of the strong stock market to issue new shares to build VLCC."

His idea was simple: to raise HK$200 million from the stock market to develop these two listed companies; The global group does not issue shares, allows the shares to be reduced, brings the oil crisis, and then increases its holdings at a low price, which is very cost-effective.

Among the two companies, Asian shipping is the most important, and it is expected that by 1978, it will be able to cultivate a 2 million ton shipping company, mainly large ships. Longfeng International can also grow to only one million tons of ships.

Of course, the most important thing for the two shipping companies is to buy Wharf shares in the future. So in recent years, Lin Zhichao has been purging the original foreign management and replacing them all with the Chinese management of the Global Group, focusing on loyalty.

For the two listed companies, everyone discussed and made detailed arrangements.

For example, Asia Shipping, which built two ULCCs, was recently built; Later, the method of issuing new shares will be used to slowly repay debts.

Since New Year's Day, Bruce Lee's second film "Jingwumen" has been hyped in Hong Kong and will be released as the Spring Festival file of Golden Harvest movies.

Last year, Golden Harvest Films won the crown of Hong Kong's largest film company with a box office of more than 3 million (two by Xu Guanwen and one by Bruce Lee). As for Shaw Brothers, although there are more movies released, Wang Yu is lost, and there are only three movies that exceed one million.

Anyone can see that Shao Laoliu, a person who has worked in the film industry all his life, is not the opponent of Lin Zhichao, the 'god of business', even in the film field that Shao Laoliu is most familiar with.

Everyone also analyzed the advantages of Golden Harvest films, there are three points:

First, adopt a dividend system to recruit film professionals such as Zou Wenhuai and Li Hanxiang to join;

second, knowing people, Golden Harvest has continuously discovered Bruce Lee and Xu Guanwen, both of whom have become box office guarantees;

Third, the commercial means are high, and the Shaw Brothers are beguiled to become the star Wang Yu to stand on his own, making the Shaw Brothers' hearts float.

Although the general manager of Golden Harvest Film is Zou Wenhuai, Lin Zhichao himself also said in the media that he rarely participates in the affairs of Golden Harvest Films, and the reason why Golden Harvest Films was established is just that Hong Kong films need to be changed, and the traditional production model is no longer conducive to the growth of the Hong Kong film industry. But many people still put half of the credit on Lin Zhichao.

The week before the Lunar New Year.

"Shocked! "Jingwumen" set a record with a three-day box office of 1.5 million Hong Kong dollars"

"For three consecutive days, Hong Kong's major movie theaters were full"

On Monday, "Oriental Daily" gave the front-page news to the movie "Jingwumen".

In fact, from last Friday to the weekend, Hong Kong citizens were talking about "Jingwumen", promoting the movie for nearly half a month, which instantly made Hong Kong citizens crowd into the cinema.

For this movie, Lin Zhichao himself predicted a box office of 4 million, but he didn't expect it to be 1.5 million Hong Kong dollars in three days, and it may be 2.5 million in the following month.

Because many citizens can't help but watch it for the first time, even if there are crowds in major movie theaters, and even scalpers increase the price of movie tickets.

In the evening, Lin Zhichao came to the media group and listened to the work reports of Zou Wenhuai and Qiao Shan.

Zou Wenhuai said excitedly: "Boss, the distributors of Taiwan Island have come to cooperate, and "Jingwumen" has the potential to sweep Asia!" ”

Last year's "Big Brother Tangshan" set off a big box office wave in Taiwan and Southeast Asia. And the mood of this "Jingwumen" is obviously more in place, and it can resonate more with the whole of Asia.

Lin Zhichao said: "So, I ask you to pay attention to the overseas distribution of Bruce Lee movies, this "Jingwumen" is more powerful than "Tangshan Big Brother", you can watch it!" ”

Zou Wenhuai immediately said: "Yes, we must attach importance to overseas distribution!" ”

In Singapore in the previous life, the tickets for "Jingwumen" were ten times higher, and the army was also dispatched to maintain order; The domination of movie theaters in the Philippines for half a year has forced governments in Southeast Asia to enact regulations to 'reduce imported films' in order to protect the development of local films.

After chatting for a while, Lin Zhichao left satisfied.

At this time, Hong Kong is full of Bruce Lee fans, whether Bruce Lee is eating or going to the toilet, there are a large number of fans following; So much so that Golden Harvest Movie sent a lot of people to follow to avoid accidents.

Zou Wenhuai also wanted to protect himself, but was laughed and scolded by Lin Zhichao, the general manager should have the appearance of a general manager, and what would it be like to protect an actor.

To sum up, a "Tangshan Brother" and a "Jingwumen" may bring about 30 million profits to Golden Harvest Films, because these two movies can achieve very good results in Japan and the United States.

In the previous life, Golden Harvest Films, with these two movies, completely gained a foothold in Hong Kong and made Zou Wenhuai a rich man in one fell swoop.

On the other hand, Shao Lao Liu's mood is not good!

Golden Harvest Movies has both Bruce Lee and Xu Guanwen, which is already an unshakable existence.

"Sixth uncle, I heard that Wang Yu was filming a movie with the theme of "One-armed Knife" on Taiwan Island, I am afraid that there is also a shadow of Golden Harvest movies behind it. Otherwise, he is an actor, where did he get so much money? ”

A high-level official came to tell Shao Lao Liu something.

"Smack"

Shao Lao Liu suddenly slapped his desk and said angrily: "I can bear anything, but Wang Yugang filmed the theme of "One-armed Knife", it is absolutely impossible!" Okay, you Wang Yu, you don't know if you've been tricked, no matter what, I'm going to cut you! You go and ask General Manager Zhou to come here! ”

The high-level was taken aback, it was the first time he had seen the sixth uncle make such a big fire, it seemed that this Wang Yu was really being used.

After a while, Zhou Duwen came to the office, and then heard about it.

"Boss, what are you going to do?"

Shao Lao Liu said: "Hire a few barristers for me to fight a lawsuit, and I must not let Wang Yu's movie be released, the one-armed series of movies is the copyright of our Shaw Brothers, and he is seriously violating the law." ”

Zhou Duwen was stunned for a moment, knowing that the cost of inviting a few barristers to fight a lawsuit may reach one million Hong Kong dollars. This is the first time that a boss who has always valued money is willing to spend so much money.

But if you think about it, you can understand that the boss is going to knock on the mountain and shock the tiger, obviously putting Wang Yu to death, but in fact, he is showing it to other people in the Shaw Brothers movie.

As for Golden Harvest movies, you can sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight, anyway, it's not their infringement, at most they will lose some money, but Golden Harvest is rich.

"Okay, I'll go collect evidence and find a lawyer."

Shao Lao Liu nodded, of course he understood that Wang Yu was being used, but he had to do it.

To be honest, he really hopes that Golden Harvest Movies will recruit Wang Yu under his command, and then shoot the one-armed knife series; In this way, he can at least hurt Jiahe.

It's good now, Jiahe clearly watched the excitement, which really made him feel uncomfortable.

"This Zou Wenhuai, eat inside and out!"

Shao Lao Liu shouted angrily.

For a while, many people in Shaw Brothers movies knew that the boss was scolding Zou Wenhuai.

As for scolding Lin Zhichao, it is impossible for Shao Lao Liu to do this, he originally thought that Zou Wenhuai did it, after all, Zou Wenhuai did it.

What's more, Shao Lao Liu also thinks that whether it is Bruce Lee, Li Hanxiang, or Xu Guanwen, these are all gifts from Zou Wenhuai to the new owner. After all, no matter how powerful Lin Zhichao's business is, there must be no time to figure it out in the movie.

Of course, Lin Zhichao's social status and influence, Shao Lao Liu did not dare to scold.

(End of chapter)