On January 1, 1979, Hutchison Whampoa held a general meeting of shareholders at the headquarters of Hutchison Building.

The purpose of this general meeting is to elect the chairman of the board of directors, which is due to the change of major shareholders of Hutchison Whampoa last year.

The position of chairman of the board of directors of Hutchison Whampoa will be voted on between Lin Zhichao and Wei Li. There are six or seven hundred shareholders who participate in the voting at the shareholders' meeting, so in order to count the votes fairly, the hired law firm counts the votes.

In a large conference room, Lin Zhichao and others sat on the rostrum, and Wei Li presided over the meeting.

During the question session, a shareholder stood up and asked, "Mr. Lin, can you tell us about the proportion of shares held by Cheung Kong Group in Hutchison Whampoa?" ”

Lin Zhichao said with a smile: "No less than 40% of the shares!" ”

The shareholders in the audience suddenly became a sensation and exchanged their heads one after another.

In less than a year, Cheung Kong Group has secretly purchased no less than 15% of the shares, but the market value of Hutchison Whampoa has only risen by about 15%, which is obviously a bit incredible.

As everyone knows, Cheung Kong Group has controlled 45% of Hutchison Whampoa shares, and is properly approaching the full acquisition line.

Wei Li suddenly died down in his heart, there is no suspense in today's election!

Sure enough.

In the subsequent election, there was a one-sided situation, and when Cheung Kong Group finally gave up the vote, Lin Zhichao still defeated Wei Li with an absolute advantage and was elected chairman of the board of directors of Hutchison Whampoa.

In his acceptance speech, Lin Zhichao showed humility as always.

"Thank you very much for your support, I have always been very, very trusting and satisfied with the management of Hutchison Whampoa, so my follow-up work is to preside over the board meeting, work with the management to run the company well, and provide constructive advice to the current management, so that the market value of Hutchison Whampoa will be among the top four in the Hong Kong stock market as soon as possible."

Thunderous applause! Prolonged!

All of you here are Hutchison Whampoa shareholders, so don't you want Hutchison Whampoa's market value to soar. And now Lin Zhichao said that the market value will soar to the top four, which means that it is second only to HSBC, Jardine Matheson, and Cheung Kong Group, surpassing Hongkong Land and Swire & Co., etc.

At present, the market value of Hutchison Whampoa is only 2.7 billion Hong Kong dollars, and there is obviously a lot of potential.

At the same time, Lin Zhichao's words are also more modest, that is, he said that he will communicate and negotiate peacefully with the management, and there will be no civil unrest. In this way, everyone has full confidence in Hutchison Whampoa.

Of course, he didn't want to leave Hutchison Whampoa, because he can now get a 2.5% profit share every year, and his annual income can reach more than 6 million.

Therefore, he must compromise with Lin Zhichao, otherwise it will not be cost-effective to leave too early.

Of course, it is not a shame to compromise with Lin Zhichao, after all, he was originally a senior worker, and the one who paid the salary could be regarded as Lin Zhichao.

Following.

Sing Tao Daily reported: Yesterday, Sir Lam Chi-chiu became the chairman of Hutchison Whampoa, the first Chinese to serve as a major trading house in Hong Kong (the Wharf Group is not an independent foreign firm and trading house), and as Hong Kong investors say, he will not be the only one.

"Oriental Daily" reported: Yesterday, Sir Lin Zhichao, who spans shipping, industry, real estate and other industries, entered Hutchison Whampoa without accident, and also ended the situation of "strong and weak Chinese" in Hong Kong's business community for a hundred years.

The South China Morning Post foreign correspondent reported: For more than half a year, I have been chasing Shen Bi relentlessly asking 'why did you choose Lin Zhichao, the head of the consortium whose strength has surpassed HSBC's, and he finally replied recently, 'Cheung Kong Group has excellent results and good reputation, and Hutchison's business has now made certain achievements after getting out of the predicament in 1975 and embarking on the track, so it is logical for HSBC to sell Hutchison shares at this time." He went on to add: "The sale of HSBC's stake in Hutchison will be in the long-term interest of Hutchison's shareholders and we are confident that Cheung Kong will make an invaluable contribution to Hutchison's future development." ’

According to a foreign reporter from The Tiger, it is said that Lin Zhichao was introduced by Lin Zhichao in HSBC's acquisition of SITC. Assuming this is the case, we can't help but sigh that Lin Zhichao's influence is huge, and we have to admit that this is a transaction.

The media has reported it in a grand manner, and it is not humble compared to the report in March last year. After all, only 25% of the shares were traded last year, and the board of directors represented by Wei Li may also launch a reverse takeover; But now that Lin Zhichao has been elected chairman of the board of directors, it means that Cheung Kong Group's ownership of Hutchison Whampoa is a foregone conclusion, and no one can launch an anti-takeover.

After all, more than 40% of the shares, coupled with the support of HSBC, there is no reason to be counter-acquired.

A week later, Cheung Kong Group announced that it had held a 45.5% stake in Hutchison Whampoa, and had sent two directors to join the board of directors of Hutchison Whampoa in accordance with the usual practice, namely Michael Rice, an executive director of Cheung Kong Group, and Li Yeguang, a non-executive director.

The board of directors of Hutchison Whampoa also approved the joining of Merris and Li Yeguang, representing the official ushering in the identity of Hutchison Whampoa's 'Cheung Kong Department'.

At the board of directors of Hutchison Whampoa, Lin Zhichao officially sat in the chairman's position, Wei Li and Richard Xin were on both sides, and the two directors of Cheung Kong Department also sat on one side.

Everyone obviously felt that Cheung Kong's involvement in Hutchison Whampoa had gone further, especially the two directors sent by Lin Zhichao, which made everyone unexpected.

Li Yeguang is familiar with them, this is a barrister in Hong Kong, even if it is a major foreign firm class, it has to be respected, of course, Li Yeguang also has the nickname of Lin Zhichao's 'staff officer'.

Everyone is a little unfamiliar with Mairis, but after the introduction, everyone can't help but sigh that Lin Zhichao has even invited foreigners in, and it is obvious that the affairs of Hutchison Whampoa cannot get rid of Changshi's interference.

Next, everyone must have both cooperation and some hidden competition.

Lin Zhichao immediately said: "The matter of Hutchison Telecommunications, since everyone has been investigated and recognized, then let's prepare for the establishment immediately!" What do you think, President Willy? ”

Lin Zhichao still proposed such a matter many times and negotiated. Obviously, the face has been given enough.

Wei Li immediately said: "No problem! We set up Hutchison Telecommunications as soon as possible and acquired a large number of paging companies and licenses, striving to become the largest paging company in Hong Kong as soon as possible. ”

After all, Hong Kong's paging business is small, and even if Hutchison Whampoa does not fully recover, it is still a skinny camel bigger than a horse, and it can become the industry leader through acquisitions as soon as possible.

Lin Zhichao nodded and said, "Very good!" As long as it is a promising industry, Hutchison Whampoa can be involved and developed. Today, Hutchison Whampoa is no longer fighting alone, and Cheung Kong Group is backed by abundant assets and cash flow. ”

A kind of Westerner management suddenly understands that the situation is stronger than people.

Cheung Kong Group is the third largest company in Hong Kong by market capitalization, after HSBC and Jardine Matheson, due to its large property assets and diversified businesses.

Next, Willy began to chair the working meeting.

He said happily: "Last year (1978), Hutchison Whampoa made a net profit of 250 million yuan, further extricating itself from the predicament, and Hutchison Whampoa's debt was only 810 million Hong Kong dollars."

It seems to be saying that he has a lot of credit for it. In the first year of his tenure, the profit in the first full year (1976) was 107 million Hong Kong dollars, the profit in the second full year (1977) was 160 million Hong Kong dollars, and the profit in the third full year (1978) was as high as 250 million yuan, and the debt at the peak was as high as 1.3 billion Hong Kong dollars, and now the debt is 810 million Hong Kong dollars.

As everyone knows, Hutchison Whampoa's assets are as high as more than 6 billion, which is much higher than the asset value of Cheung Kong Group, but the profit is half less. As for the reduction of liabilities, there are actually quite a few assets sold, and of course a lot of new investments.

Generally speaking, Wei Li only has credit for asset reorganization; But in terms of business management, it can only be said to be average.

And it is precisely the head of an enterprise that must first know the way of management, as for asset restructuring and financial technology, only second. After all, for a well-run enterprise, asset restructuring and financial and technical arrangements are not particularly important.

Lin Zhichao didn't squeeze Wei Li anything, after all, others have also made contributions, so he affirmed the performance of the management led by Wei Li.

Suddenly, everyone was happy!

However, in the second half of the meeting, Lin Zhichao once again put forward his opinions: "Hutchison Whampoa's current listed companies are: Hutchison Whampoa, Watsons, Hutchison Real Estate, Harbour Engineering, Kwan Yicang, together with Hutchison Whampoa, a total of six listed companies. Among them, the seaport project has been in a loss-making state, and I propose to sell it to Cheung Kong Group to further alleviate the financial pressure. ”

Wei Li was taken aback, and he suddenly felt bad.

Sure enough.

Director Xia Boyin immediately said: "This plan is very good! Hutchison Whampoa is not strong in the field of construction infrastructure, and this company is obviously relatively weak; On the contrary, if it is sold to Cheung Kong Asset Group and then handed over to Poly Construction for integration, it is a win-win situation. ”

Peter Wei also nodded and said, "I agree to negotiate this deal!" ”

Then a number of high-level executives echoed it, after all, it was beneficial to Hutchison Whampoa.

As the chief executive officer, Wei Li can only agree.

In this way, Lin Zhichao has not yet served as the general manager, and has begun to take charge; The so-called suggestion has become a decision of Hutchison Whampoa.

There is no doubt that Lin Zhichao has won the trust of the board of directors and management of Hutchison Whampoa in a relatively short period of time, and Wei Li has gradually lost his influence.

The disadvantage of Wei Li is that he is neither an old minister of Hutchison Whampoa, nor is he actually a monolith with Richardson and others; He does not hold the equity of Hutchison Whampoa, but is only a senior worker.

Therefore, he is destined to have no possibility to wrestle with Lin Zhichao!

In Lin Zhichao's view, Wei Li is even weaker than Richard's threat; Richardson has a deep-rooted influence in Hutchison Whampoa, but when he becomes the chief executive, he will become a 'threat'.

In this way, Lin Zhichao hopes that Wei Li can stay for two years, and Richardin will take over for another two years, and finally all of them will get out of the way and replace them with his core executives. In this way, Lin Zhichao must find a president who can be in charge of Hutchison Whampoa, and Ma Shimin was remembered by him again.

After the meeting, in order to ease the relationship with Wei Li, Lin Zhichao took the initiative to invite him to his office to chat, and his performance was more affirmative between words.

This made Wei Li feel that he could do it again!

And Richardin and others, who learned the news, couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

Shortly after his election as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hutchison Whampoa, Mr Lam attended a meeting of the Board of Directors of Television Broadcasts Hong Kong Limited.

Perhaps the most complicated of the meetings was Run Run Shaw.

Since the 70s, Lin Zhichao has become a media tycoon in Hong Kong with lightning speed. Media groups have quickly become the hegemon of Hong Kong in the print media, film and publishing industries.

In particular, its film company, Golden Harvest Films, killed the Shaw Brothers without leaving a piece of armor and quickly became depressed. Its domineering degree is far more powerful than that of Jiahe in the previous life. In the top ten local films, Golden Harvest occupies about seven every year, while Shaw Brothers barely has one or two.

And now, Run Run Shaw is even more frightened, because Lin Zhichao is actually one of the major shareholders of Hong Kong Television Broadcasts Limited. The current shareholding structure of TVB is:

HSBC and Hutchison Whampoa both hold 2.36 million shares (unlisted companies), making them the two largest shareholders, with the same shares.

Times Life International holds 2.26 million shares, which is also a British-owned company.

As the chairman of TVB, Li Xiaohe only holds 270,000 shares;

Lee Wing Sum and Lim Wing Tat hold a total of 110,000 shares, and these two are also members of the Lee Hysan family;

As general manager, Run Run Shaw holds only 320,000 shares.

There are also some small shareholders, whose holdings are only tens of thousands of shares.

Therefore, in Shaw's view, if Lin Zhichao, as the chairman of the board of directors of Hutchison Whampoa, takes the shares of TVB in the hands of HSBC, then Hutchison Whampoa will hold more than 51% of the shares of TVB, and then Lin Zhichao will naturally become the chairman of the board of directors, or become the person in charge of TVB.

So in this way, wouldn't he not only lose his position as the film hegemon, but also lose the opportunity in the TV industry.

And Lin Zhichao has really become a media tycoon in Hong Kong, and he Run Run Shaw has worked hard for more than ten years, completely making a wedding dress for Lin Zhichao.

Tragedy!

"Since Sir Lam is already the chairman of the board of directors of Hutchison Whampoa, and he is a veteran of the media industry, I propose that he succeed Mr. Willy and be elected as a director of TVB." Li Xiaohe said with a smile.

Lin Zhichao has a good relationship with the Li family, especially with his brother, so he is happy to befriend Lin Zhichao, and invited Lin Zhichao to join TVB as soon as possible.

As for Lin Zhichao, if he really has thoughts about TVB, then he can't stop it, after all, HSBC and Lin Zhichao have a close relationship, and the combined equity of the two accounts for 61% of TVB.

In the conference room, there was applause, and it was clear that everyone had no objection to this.

Lin Zhichao immediately delivered his speech: "I am very happy to join TVB as a director In my opinion, TVB is currently operating well, and Mr. Shao's management methods are exemplary, so we, the directors, enjoy dividends every year!" ”

Everyone couldn't help but be a little surprised, after all, Lin Zhichao himself is a media tycoon, and it is normal to spy on TVB. Even Shen Bi of HSBC was very surprised, he still thought that if Lin Zhichao talked about TVB, it would not hurt to sell half of his equity if he sold his personal favor, after all, even Hutchison Whampoa was sold.

Now in Lin Zhichao's words and deeds, he seems to have no idea about TVB at all, they don't doubt Lin Zhichao's 'sincerity', after all, Lin Zhichao doesn't need to be fake.

Run Run Shaw immediately came out and said modestly: "Lin Sheng is good at intrigue and management, just from the operation of Oriental News and Golden Harvest Films, it can be seen that if you participate in TVB's operation or suggestions, then TVB will definitely be able to do better, and I will learn from it." ”

He completely lowered his profile, in fact, he was more sincere, after all, you can suspect that he Lin Zhichao has intentions for TVB, but you will never doubt Lin Zhichao's business skills, or the business skills of the media industry.

Lin Zhichao waved his hand and said, "There is really no time and advice for this, so don't be modest Mr. Shao!" ”

Then Li Xiaohe said: "Since Mr. Lin said so, then Shao Sheng should not be modest." ”

At this time, Lin Zhichao is online, if it is next year (1980) after the death of Li Xiaohe, he will be the first to move into the chairman of the board of directors of TVB, because Hutchison Whampoa is a major shareholder, and he is a media tycoon, there is no suspense.

But will he take over the chairmanship?

In fact, whether it is connected or not does not affect Hutchison Whampoa can become the largest shareholder of TVB at any time, there is no one. In other words, Lin Zhichao can take TVB at any time through equity.

However, Lin Zhichao is more eager to run Li's TV station, and then run it into an innovative TV station, compete with TVB for the local market, and then develop overseas (copyright, satellite TV station, etc.).

The most surprising thing about the board of directors that day was that Qiu Degen was actually a shareholder, although only tens of thousands of shares.

However, Lin Zhichao didn't take it to heart, without Qiu Degen in Lychee Garden, his financial resources were completely insufficient and he could not pose a threat.

(End of chapter)