The birth of the Hong Kong Island family

Lin Zhichao invested heavily in the "Oriental Daily". Although he achieved very good results, anyone with a discerning eye can see that this newspaper will not make any money for the time being.

It is rumored that Sir Lam's cost of running a newspaper is nearly 2 million Hong Kong dollars, setting a record for the highest cost of running a newspaper in Hong Kong. Therefore, many people believe that Sir Lam wants to gain influence from public opinion. In the incident last year, Sir Lam used the influence of public opinion to support the government's work.

There is certainly a market for such speculation!

at the same time.

In an office.

The "Fun Ma" brothers, one of the "Four Major Families in Hong Kong", were sitting together to discuss matters. The eldest brother, Ma Xiru, and the second child, Ma Xirui, both looked solemn.

Ma Xiru said: "There must be something fishy about Lei Luo retiring at the age of forty-eight. He left the good Inspector Zong Hua alone and now he is working as a rent collector. I'm afraid he got wind of something."

Ma Zhenzhen immediately said: "I heard that it was the big incident last year that prompted the British Hong Kong government to review, and it also affected the JC Bureau."

Ma Xiru's eyes lit up immediately and she said in shock: "I understand! The anti-corruption voice of the JC system must be stronger than before. Lei Luo got wind of it and retired early. Anyway, the money he has earned over the years will not be spent in a few lifetimes. over."

Ma Cherish said with a smile: "This is too cautious! He thought that after retirement, there will still be a few JC brothers who listen to him, and then he will no longer have his share."

After saying that, he smiled even more arrogantly.

Lu Le favored Lai Hao, so he naturally took pleasure in his misfortune.

Ma Xiru ignored the question and started thinking about it seriously.

After a long while, he seemed to have thought of some good idea and smiled.

"What did you think of? Are you planning to expand the market?"

"Expand P, how big is the market? I was thinking that the recent "Oriental Daily" became famous as soon as it was first published, and its sales volume is close to that of the old best-selling newspapers."

"Brother, you don't want to run a newspaper, do you? That thing can make money by selling fans. I can make back what I spent in a year selling newspapers in three days."

"What do you know! If we run a newspaper, we can not only launder black money into white money, but also use newspapers to increase our influence. This is like a 'Sword of Shang Fang'. Do you know who is the boss of "Oriental Daily" ?”

"have no idea!"

"It's the famous Sir Lin! Others have already become brothers with the Governor of Hong Kong. When Liao Liewen, the president of the Chaoshan Chamber of Commerce, met him, he had to call him Uncle Lin. He has such a high status, why does he still need to run a newspaper?"

"In order to consolidate our position, this newspaper is really exciting!"

The two brothers hit it off quickly!

Ma Xiru even said: "Although we are amateurs in running newspapers, we have a ready-made teacher. All we have to do is learn from him!"

Ma Zhenzhen said: "Brother, are you talking about Lin Zhichao?"

"good!"

"Would it offend anyone by doing this?"

"Don't be afraid of this! When doing Bai's business, business matters. What can he do to us?"

"That makes sense!"

What the two of them don't know is that although business matters are emphasized in the mall, the business methods are much "darker" than things in the society. The important thing is that market tactics are like stabbing people with a blunt knife.

Take the Zhang Yuliang family at this time as an example. After offending Lin Zhichao, they have been suppressed by the shopping mall. At that time, a large building was built but had not yet been sold, and a lot of funds were frozen; two more buildings on Des Voeux Road were lost one after another, and the family heritage was weakened; more importantly, one step was wrong, and the next step was wrong. Zhang Yuliang missed the best opportunity in the past. It was an opportunity to make money, so later there were bank runs and Zuo Lengchan's chaos, resulting in heavy losses.

At this time, the Zhang Yuliang family was not even worth over 100 million (the property was temporarily devalued), but had already lost a lot. Wheelock in this life is naturally beyond the reach of the Zhang family.

Killing people with this kind of blunt knife caused Zhang Yuliang endless pain. Every time he thought about what happened back then, he regretted it, which led to him missing too many opportunities later.

"Mr. Malcolm, welcome to Hong Kong! Welcome to Universal Group!" Lin Zhichao led Vice President Bobby and other senior executives to greet Malcolm McLean and other members of the Sea-Land Joint Venture on the first floor of the Universal Building.

He and Malcolm McLean were very good friends. Whenever Lin Zhichao came to the United States, Malcolm McLean would ask him to play golf and talk about the prospects of container transportation.

The Universal Group has also launched a ‘European, American and Japanese’ container route, which is just six modified container ships (free ships).

Currently, there is no container terminal in Hong Kong, but the Hong Kong government has decided to put out three pieces of land for bidding in the Kwai Chung area to build a container transport terminal. Among them, Pier 1 has the largest area and the best location.

Therefore, Lin Zhichao planned to join forces with Malcolm McLean to bid together.

Malcolm McLean took the initiative to hug and said: "Mr. Lin, I have wanted to come to Hong Kong for a long time, but unfortunately I have never been able to make the trip. Today I finally came, and I am very happy!"

"Haha, I won't let you down, please come this way!"

Later, Lin Zhichao took Malcolm McLean and his party to inspect Universal Group.

The first-class headquarters building, spacious office environment, and energetic staff are undoubtedly proof that Universal Group is a powerful group.

Malcolm McLean praised: "These are almost all Chinese management and staff, but they can manage a huge fleet well. The prejudices of our Westerners have completely changed, because Hong Kong shipping has become the leader of Mr. Lin Under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, it has surpassed Greece."

Lin Zhichao said with a smile: "Haha, you deserve the award! Our vice president, Mr. Bobby, has also brought the excellent experience and management of Western shipping to Universal Group. We have grown in a learning process!"

Bobby was immediately honored. In fact, his role was more in communication and management of the "European and American business", and the group's contribution was not particularly large.

Malcolm McLean nodded and said: "You are right, only by learning from each other can we go further."

He came to Hong Kong this time with the intention of joining forces with Lin Zhichao to rapidly develop Hong Kong's container transportation. Not only is Hong Kong's geographical location important, but more importantly, the US military hopes to make better use of Hong Kong as soon as possible.

As for why it is necessary to join forces with Lin Zhichao, after all, the Hong Kong government has put out three terminals for bidding one after another. First, because Lin Zhichao is a local snake and has the strongest strength, indicating that he will bid for the largest terminal No. 1; second, they hope to build it faster, which is even more inseparable from Lin Zhichao.

Lin Zhichao is also feeling the pressure and must join forces to hope to win the bid for Pier 1.

It turns out that three famous European shipping companies that ply the Hong Kong route - Pinnacle Steamship Company (UK), Herb Lord (Germany), Overseas Container (UK) - have joined forces with local consortiums - Swire \u0026 Co., Hutchison \u0026 Co., and the Kadoorie Family. , HSBC, and Jebsen \u0026 Co. also formed a consortium, Modern Container Terminals, becoming a strong contender.

At the same time, Japan's Oyama Dockyard Co., Ltd., a container shipping company with good strength, expressed its intention to participate in the bidding. What's more, Hong Kong's geographical location is very important for Japanese cargo transportation.

Originally, land-sea transport was also a strong competitor on its own, with higher strength than Japan's Oyama Shipping.

In this way, if Lin Zhichao forms a separate group, he can certainly win in terms of price, but will the Hong Kong government require transportation volume? This is a problem. His container transportation is not currently dominant and has just started.

Therefore, he roped in Sea-Land Transport, which was originally preparing to bid for Pier 3, to cooperate in investing in Pier 1. In this way, the strength of the two families becomes the largest.

Return to the conference room.

Feng Yongfa took out a map, which marked the dock bidding in the Kwai Chung area. This time Malcolm came in person and brought his team. The two families were preparing to form a consortium.

"Mr. Lin, what do you think the scale of investment this time is?"

"The price tag will not be high, but the subsequent construction costs will be higher. After all, it is the largest container terminal among Terminal 123. I predict that the initial capital will be 60 million Hong Kong dollars, and each of us will need to spend 30 million Hong Kong dollars, which is 5.3 million US dollars. .”

The Hong Kong government officially closed the bidding for Pier 1 at the end of June this year, and announced the winning bid in early July. Bidding for Pier 2 and Pier 3 followed, and the bidding is expected to be completed within one year.

The HKD 60 million only includes the price tag and initial construction funds, which can be completed later with loans.

Malcolm nodded and continued, "What is the name of the joint venture?"

Lin Zhichao smiled and said: "How about we call it 'Global Sea-Land Container Terminal Co., Ltd.' or 'Global Sea-Land Container' for short?"

In fact, whether it is land and sea containers or Japan's Dashan Shipyard, these two container terminals were eventually sold by them.

"Yes! Happy cooperation!"

“Happy to work with!”

For Lin Zhichao, who once planned to finance sea-land transportation, Malcolm would not care about a terminal in Hong Kong.

The next two days.

Lin Zhichao accompanied Malcolm to visit Kwai Chung and visit Hong Kong, which was a great honor.

Of course, when he went to the United States, others treated him the same way.

Both of them are very optimistic about container transportation, but this development is too long, and those who get involved at the beginning may not necessarily survive in the end; in the previous life of sea and land transport, the founder was proposed as a management team in the 1980s and 1990s, so Malcolm only You can use the money to support your retirement; and by the end of the 1990s, sea-land transportation was even sold to Maersk.

This is why Lin Zhichao did not vigorously develop container transportation at the beginning, because he had to consider the development trend and slow speed.

The third day.

Global Shipping and Sea-Land announced the joint establishment of ‘Global Sea-Land Container’, which caused a wave of waves in Hong Kong’s business community. Anyone with a discerning eye knows that these two companies are so powerful that no one can control them, so they are bound to win the Kwai Chung Pier 1.

The board of directors of Modern Containers, dominated by Swire, immediately realized that a strong competitor was born. At the beginning, they thought that the ‘Modern Container’ formed by uniting eight consortiums was determined to win, but now some of their shareholders have backed down.

Of course, this retreat is not to dissolve the company, but to hope that Modern Containers will concentrate its efforts on competing for Container Terminals 2 and 3.

Shi York, chairman of the board of directors of Modern Containers, met with Visby, the person in charge of Overseas Container (UK) (30% of the shares), as well as the directors of Bianhang (UK) (15%), Herb (15%) and other companies. people.

Five local foreign banks only account for 40% of the shares. In fact, Modern Containers represents the interests of the British.

Shi York: "This time Lin Zhichao suddenly cooperated with Sea-Land Transport, which caught us by surprise. How do you think we should respond?"

Originally, with so much British capital gathered, if Lin Zhichao bid for No. 1 alone, they could put pressure on the Hong Kong government to set an annual transportation volume of 200,000 containers.

It is impossible to directly target Universal Group. After all, the Hong Kong and British governments will not do this. However, the requirement of transporting 200,000 containers per year is impossible for Universal Group to achieve, because as far as they know, Universal Group Just started business.

Modern Containers has gathered three European container companies, and its strength cannot be underestimated, so it can meet this requirement.

Visby said: "There is no way! We didn't expect that Lin Zhichao has such a good relationship with the United States, so it is impossible to favoritism through official channels. So either win the bid for Pier 1, or bid with all your strength for Pier 2 Terminal. To be honest, if it is only land and sea transport, then they can only live on the 2nd or 3rd day at most. Our consortium is the strongest. But now."

The rest of the words were not spoken.

Shi Yoke was secretly annoyed that Lin Zhichao had risen too quickly and posed a great threat to British foreign companies. At the same time, HSBC, Hutchison and Wheelock, all of which were British-owned foreign banks, had good relations with him.

In fact, Lin Zhichao only had direct "festivals" with Taikoo and Yihe.

More importantly, Lin Zhichao also has a very deep relationship between the Hong Kong government and the British, so he has never been suppressed by the British Hong Kong government. On the contrary, he has been taken care of.

"Okay then! Bid for Pier 1 first. If you don't win, then bid for Pier 2!" Shi York said helplessly.

In this modern container group, Jardine Matheson refused to participate, seeming to think that this was a lost cause. Taking advantage of the advantages of a local foreign company, Swire \u0026 Co. held only 15% of the shares, but Shi York was elected as the chairman of the board of directors.

Mid-May, Star Island.

"boss"

Jason, Vice President of Shangri-La Hotel Management Company and CEO of Shangri-La Hotel Singapore, led the management team to welcome Lin Zhichao and took him to visit the office building.

Shangri-La Hotel Management Company is an enterprise engaged in hotel management. It is the own hotel management company of Lin Zhichao family. The ownership and management rights of large hotel groups are two departments. An excellent hotel management company can save a penny without investing. , you can get high profits, that is, an asset-light enterprise.

For example, the Miramar Hotel in Hong Kong charges 4% of gross profit as management fees every year. The same is true for the Shangri-La Hotel in Sing Tao, but it only signed a management cooperation for fifteen years.

In fact, it will take less than ten years for Shangri-La Hotel Management Company to become an excellent hotel management company.

Back in the conference room, Lin Zhichao took the lead and asked: "Jason, how are the preparations for the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore going?"

Jason immediately reported seriously: "Boss, our management team is now complete and we are working with Intercontinental Hotels to train hotel employees. We will ensure that the training time for each hotel employee will be half a year. In the future Training will be conducted regularly”

Lin Zhichao said with satisfaction: "These experiences must be carefully studied. In the future, we will have our own set of management processes."

Jason said enthusiastically: "No problem!"

In fact, a hotel management company must have its own reservation system, cooperate with airlines, etc., all of which require Shangri-La Hotel Management Company to develop slowly.

Shangri-La Hotel Singapore will open on New Year's Day this year. In fact, it is only the completion of the first phase of the project, and it will develop slowly in the later period.

Lin Zhichao even predicted that the business would not be good at the beginning, so he planned to go public within a year or two. Anyway, you can’t throw too much of your own money into it.

“How high is the local management level?”

"Sing Tao Shangri-La Hotel has 60% local management, another 30% are posted from Hong Kong, and 10% are recruited from overseas."

This ratio is good!

Hong Kong's hotel industry is not yet developed. Although many talents have been cultivated through the Miramar Hotel over the years, they are only barely adequate. Of course, Lin Zhichao plans to open Shangri-La Hotels throughout Asia, and then to Europe and the United States, becoming a representative of "Hong Kong style hotels" in the future.

Therefore, he has been asking Jason to use more local managers and eventually form a global management team.

As for the "Hong Kong style" temperament, it is naturally conveyed through Lin Zhichao, the president - a style that combines the best in one. Hong Kong is originally a place where Chinese and Western cultures meet, so "Hong Kong style" is the temperament of combining Chinese and Western cultures.

For example, if he opened a Shangri-La hotel in Europe and the United States, Lin Zhichao would not pursue his own characteristics, but would look for excellent historical buildings to create secondary works, retain some local traditional culture, and then endow the hotel with modern hotel culture.

After chatting with everyone about hotel management for a while, Lin Zhichao went to watch the show with satisfaction.

This time Lin Zhichao came to Star Island not only to check the progress of Shangri-La Hotel, but also to participate in the groundbreaking ceremony of ‘Raffles City’. The construction of ‘Raffles City Plaza’ with an estimated investment of RMB 100 million will officially begin.

Raffles City will consist of an eight-storey shopping mall (including two underground floors) and a 32-storey office tower. When completed, it will become Singapore's first shopping mall and the first shopping mall on Orchard Road.

On the day of the groundbreaking ceremony, Lawyer Li led people from the Development Bureau to attend the groundbreaking ceremony.

During this period, Lawyer Li asked: "Mr. Lin, you are an expert in the field of oil tanker transportation. What do you think the prospects of the oil refining industry are?"

This topic is a bit strange. Lin Zhichao transports oil, but he does not necessarily understand the prospects of the oil refining industry. He just wants to invest. Without a complete set of equipment and technology, everything is in vain.

Lin Zhichao's current wealth is not based on whims, so he has no plans to develop oil and refining now. Only after the arrival of the 1980s and the acquisition of Husky and Hong Kong Electric did he have the conditions to enter this industry.

"The prospects are very bright! Singapore is located at a critical gateway for maritime transportation. If it develops the oil refining industry, it can be said to be a unique advantage. Jurong Island is a natural good land. To put it another way, the situation in the Middle East is a powder keg. In the future, there will be countless conflicts over the competition for oil. The more this happens, the more important the oil resources are. Although Singapore does not produce oil, it can refine and store oil."

Lawyer Li smiled and said, "I like talking about this with Mr. Lin. You always have long-term insights!"

Lin Zhichao said: "It's a pity that I don't have the technology, otherwise I would have invested in this on Jurong Island."