The birth of the Hong Kong Island family

A month later, Lin Zhichao ended his overseas trip and returned to Hong Kong.

During this trip, he participated in the launching ceremony of a 326,000-ton ULCC in Japan. This is Universal Group’s first oil tanker of more than 300,000 tons.

This UCLL oil tanker is also one of Universal Group's "fourth batch" of large oil tankers with over 200,000 tons. There are ten ships in this batch, with a total tonnage of more than 2.7 million tons.

Fully 6 of this batch of ships have been leased to Japanese shipowners, and the lease period is as long as five years. It turns out that due to the economic growth, Japan has increased its pursuit of oil and has a "sense of urgency" for oil resources. , began to purchase large amounts of oil and use it as reserves.

Therefore, the Japanese shipping company believed that the demand for oil shipping capacity in the next five years would be strong, and took the initiative to find Lin Zhichao to charter the ship for five years. The only requirement was that the price should be cheap. Lin Zhichao gave a quotation of 20~25% return rate (the specific calculation needs to be based on operating expenses). In the end, both parties hit it off.

Lin Zhichao made some calculations. The contract for this batch of ships expired in 1975. It would be best if it could be renewed for three years.

Generally speaking, the real "shipping winter" began in 1980 and reached its lowest point in 1985. Therefore, Lin Zhichao had enough room to operate when it came to reducing ships. Before 1978, when he reduced ships, he would definitely also reduce "small tonnage" oil tankers (non-VLCC oil tankers, a total of about 6 million tons).

If the ship reduction is too drastic, it is easy to lose customers. After all, Universal Group will still have to do shipping in the future.

During this trip, in addition to shipping-related matters, Lin Zhichao also supervised the bargain-hunting process of U.S. stocks by Victoria Harbor Investment and Audrey Investment.

As of the end of June this year (1970), the 'Nifty 50' had almost all fallen by 40 to 50% compared to the first half of 1968. For Lin Zhichao, this situation is simply a pile of "too cheap" US stocks.

So in June, Victoria Harbor Investment and Audrey Investment began to hunt for the bottom of US stocks. Victoria Harbor Investment's capital scale was 415 million US dollars, while Audrey Investment's capital scale was 200 million US dollars, which was more than 600 million US dollars. Start buying U.S. stocks at the bottom in two months.

In this round, Lin Zhichao planned to gradually cash out his position at the end of 1972. First, part of the funds can be invested in spot gold; second, the oil crisis is coming and the stock market will plummet again.

The investment period is almost two and a half years. Lin Zhichao hopes that Victoria Harbor's investment will reach more than 600 million US dollars, while Audrey's investment will reach more than 300 million US dollars.

This goal should be easily achievable.

this day.

Lin Zhichao came to the Yangtze River Industrial Park, which has 1.2 million square feet of large-scale factories and is an important production base for Hong Kong industry. At its peak, the Yangtze River Industrial Park accounted for 10% of Hong Kong's industrial output value and now has 16,000 employees. Workers work here.

Today, Cheung Kong Industries Group still dominates Hong Kong industry with its zippers, toys, and electronics industries. Last year, it created a profit of HK$135 million, returning to its peak period. This is due to the high growth of the zipper industry. The profit of Yangtze Zipper has reached more than 60 million Hong Kong dollars, a surge of 25%.

In the R\u0026D room of the Yangtze Toy Factory, Lin Zhichao was playing with two 'transformable car robots' and was very happy.

Lin Zhichao said: "What's this name?"

Ke Yanping, general manager of Yangtze Toys, said: "This one is called Diaclone, and this one is called Microman. Both have registered patents in Europe and the United States, and have international patents. They use the brand of our Bond toys."

Bond Toys, the brand name of Yangtze River Toy Factory, has opened stores in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia. Non-OEM toy products exported to Europe and the United States also use the Bond brand.

Because I registered ‘Bond’ in the early years, even after the movie came out, I had to face the situation of free advertising.

Lin Zhichao nodded and asked: "Are they equipped with comics?"

A manager quickly handed over a pamphlet that looked like an 'instruction manual' and said, "It's equipped with a comic book."

Lin Zhichao then took a serious look and found out that the core of the story was constructed by himself. Specifically, he teamed up with Oriental Publishing House to jointly create the "Story of the Transforming Robots Daia and MSI".

The story is actually very simple. These two transforming robots are just 'car transforming robots' controlled by humans in the future and have no independent thoughts.

As he looked at it, Lin Zhichao suddenly felt that this was just a recipe for Gundam!

Gundam?

Why not Hong Kong's Gundam?

Suppressing this thought, Lin Zhichao put down the comic strip with satisfaction and said, "This is not considered a publication. Is there any trouble in the United States?"

When publishing publications in a country, you must abide by the law.

Ke Yanping then said calmly: "No, we have consulted a lawyer. This can only be regarded as an instruction manual."

Lin Zhichao nodded, Ke Yanping's level is still very high, and he has a very rich international vision and experience. This is due to the fact that Yangtze Toy Factory went to Europe to develop "Beer Lily" in the early years, and then went to the United States to participate in "Barbie". On the experience of OEM for European and American toys.

"Okay, then prepare to export to Europe and the United States under the Bond brand. You can handle the channels yourself."

"No problem, we have been cooperating with many European and American toy wholesalers, and we plan to actively participate in major toy exhibitions"

Ke Yanping simply reported on the sales promotion plan.

In fact, Lin Zhichao would be happy to see the two car robots from Bond toys selling well in Europe and the United States. But he also understands that at most it will only be slightly popular, but will not achieve real world popularity.

If you want to be popular in the world, you must have "perfect promotion and marketing". This requires local companies in Europe and the United States, and even only American companies can do it.

Why not Europe? Because the consumption level of any country in Europe is very different from that of the United States. It is difficult for the entire Europe combined to compare with the consumption level of the United States. Based on the consumption level of the United States, only by conquering Americans can we conquer the world.

Therefore, these two car transforming robots are actually the predecessors of "Transformers".

Next year, Lin Zhichao will operate the Audrey Group to create secondary creations for these two transforming robots and formulate a perfect marketing and promotion plan. The story of the Decepticons and Optimus Prime will appear in the world ten years in advance.

The Audrey Group will also usher in its third glory, completely suppressing Hasbro.

In the mid-1960s, with its "GI Joe" toys, Hasbro's annual sales once reached 60-70% of Audrey Group's level, posing a huge threat.

Asia Daily.

Brothers Ma Xiru and Ma Zhenzhen were discussing in the office. At this time, "Asia Daily" had become an important use for them to "publish newspapers" and "money laundering". The so-called "fan newspaper" means that "Asia Daily" can convey some "fan newspaper" information, and "money laundering" is easy to understand.

In short, this newspaper is already very important to the "Er Horse", so although it was "attacked" by competitors at the beginning of the year, the Second Horse still worked hard to run it. Even if the opposite was a large consortium, they were determined to do it.

Originally, if they were ordinary opponents, the two horses would definitely "burn down the printing factory" and "intimidate the other party's employees." However, facing the powerful media group, the two have not dared to do anything beyond them.

In fact, the two of them were worried about being targeted. In the past six months, Asia Daily has kept a low profile.

"Brother, to say the least, we have been very cautious in the past six months and have not done much in Asia Daily. However, the sales volume has increased a lot, and it is approaching 50,000 copies." Ma Zhenzhen He said proudly.

Although Ma Zhenzhen's character is "out of touch", he is indeed a "Golden Horse", which means "one of the two horses" who specializes in money laundering. He is very popular. Whenever he sees a civil servant spending money, he will quietly settle the account. , and then did not come forward to express his merit.

The eldest Ma Xiru is called the "Fan Horse" and is mainly responsible for work such as fan stalls. He almost never appears in the public media and leaves it to his younger brother Ma Xiru to come forward when something happens.

"Well, actually thinking about it now, as the Chinese leader in Hong Kong, there is absolutely no reason for Lin Chi-chao to deliberately target us, let alone to kill us. In fact, he may not know that the Oriental Daily offended his colleagues last time. After all, he He is a world shipping king, an industrial tycoon, and a real estate tycoon. How can he still have the energy to run a newspaper?" Ma Xiru analyzed seriously.

The two of them thought Lin Zhichao was targeting them at first, and were shocked. In particular, Lu Ledu told the two of them not to provoke "Oriental Daily". Once the boss gets angry, the two of them will harm their families.

Based on this, neither of them dared to take any action afterwards.

Seeing his elder brother's analysis, Ma Zhenqi immediately said with interest: "Brother, I have thought of a good idea. Even if our "Asia Daily" cannot compare with "Oriental Daily", it will always sell better than other newspapers. After all, what we learned is " Oriental Daily. Therefore, if we want to increase sales, we still need to continue to recruit reporters and editors and expand the team."

Ma Xiru said with a smile: "Of course I understand this. The reason why I came to you this time is to conduct a second round of recruitment team, and we can find employees from other newspapers. If we can't offend Oriental Daily, how can we still afford it? Any other newspapers?"

Ma Cherish immediately said: "Brother, what I mean is not only that, but also that we only need to not target Oriental Daily."

Ma Xiru's eyes immediately lit up and she said, "This is a great idea! Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"Brother, I'm not here to scare you. Let me take care of it!"

"That's right, there's nothing wrong with being cautious!"

The next day.

"Newspaper seller"

"Here, boss, what do you want to buy?"

I saw two or three aggressive "Young and Dangerous" boys coming to a newsstand in Kowloon and shouting at the people inside the newsstand.

The young and Dangerous boy took the lead, flipping through the newsstand casually, while the boys on both sides stared hard at the newsstand owner and his wife.

Seeing this, the boss and his wife thought for a moment that they were here to collect protection money again, but they had already handed it over!

Generally speaking, their newsstands only need to pay once a month. If someone still comes to collect it, it means they are not abiding by the rules of the road, and the association that originally collected the protection fee will handle it. Otherwise, the credibility and prestige of the road will be lost.

"Hey, what did you do? You put Asia Daily down there. How can those of us who like it see it?"

The boss wants to cry but has no tears. These young people don’t follow martial ethics. Is this a reason?

Just looking for trouble!

"Brother, our place is under the control of the xx society, and we have paid protection fees, so why don't you ask them, after all, this is the rule."

"Did I say you're collecting protection money? What I'm saying is that in the future, Asia Daily must be placed in a conspicuous position, and you have to shout out loud if it sells less every day. Humph."

The boss was stunned and said in confusion: "Asia Daily? This and you"

Young and Dangerous said impatiently: "You will do whatever I ask you to do. Do you still want to do business?"

The boss quickly said: "Yes, I will put the Asia Daily in a conspicuous place. If anyone comes to buy the newspaper, I will definitely recommend it."

Young and Dangerous said proudly: "That's pretty much it. I will check it regularly. If you can't do it, don't worry about me being unkind. No one will be able to help me then!"

"Yes, don't worry"

Although the boss and his wife run a newsstand, they actually don't have much background or connections. They can only give in when faced with this kind of gangster. What's more, just placing "Asia Daily" in a conspicuous place and helping to promote it will not cause much loss.

Of course, there are also distressing aspects. Although "Asia Daily" is considered a best-selling newspaper (with sales of more than 10,000), it is not as good as "Oriental Daily", "Sing Tao Daily", "Ming Pao", "Overseas Chinese Daily" and other newspapers There are sales and influence.

When the time comes, if I sell less, will these gangsters still cause trouble?

For a while, the boss became a little troubled.

After the three gangsters left, the boss thought for a while and said, "I understand, this is the boss behind Asia Daily, 'Er Ma', who instructed his younger brother to do this!"

The wife suddenly said in fear: "What should we do?"

They are just ordinary people, how can they offend those damn societies.

The boss said: "Don't be afraid. As long as it's not targeting our family, there's nothing to be afraid of! There are thousands of newsstands in Hong Kong, how can they manage them all?"

The wife said: "Then it's better to put it in a conspicuous place, so as to save trouble."

"Well, this doesn't hurt!"

Media Building.

This has become a real "media building" in Hong Kong. In addition to media groups stationing their headquarters here, it has also attracted some other publishing houses and newspapers to use it as office buildings.

Lin Zhichao himself also comes to the office once a week to deal with some things.

On this day, Lin Zhichao met with several scholars and professors in the field of finance and economics in his office in the Media Building, and they all had a great time chatting together.

"Everyone, you can express your opinions in this monthly magazine "Capital" without any scruples. Hong Kong is a free economic port, so so can your opinions."

Chen Xianwang, professor of economics at the University of Hong Kong, immediately said: "Thank you Sir Lin for giving us a platform. Listening to President Luo, your company has great success in terms of the cost of starting a publication, the quality of printing and the richness of content. A lot of effort has been put into it.”

Although he is a professor at the University of Hong Kong, he thinks that his business and economic level is far behind Lin Zhichao. Some bosses may not understand economics or business, but Lin Zhichao went to Harvard University to give a lecture, and he is a super comprehensive businessman.

Lin Zhichao nodded and said: "That's true. Our investment is very large, and the preparation time is almost a year! In fact, I also have selfish motives, that is, I want to get to know business economists in Hong Kong. If I can learn from them, That’s my honor!”

On the contrary, everyone felt happy, and the reason was self-evident.

Learn martial arts and become an emperor!

They study economics and business administration in order to be appreciated by entrepreneurs. Although they are now scholars, it does not mean that they do not want to have good relationships with wealthy people, or even hire them as consultants.

And Lin Zhichao is definitely the best choice.

Chen Xianwang then asked for advice: "Sir Lin, what do you think of the establishment of the Far East Society and the subsequent preparations for the stock exchange?"

This topic is undoubtedly the subject of discussion.

Lin Zhichao said with a smile: "Nowadays, Chinese-funded companies are not as troublesome as before when they go public. Chinese-funded companies can easily raise funds from the market and then develop the company. Whether it is British-funded, foreign-funded, or Chinese-funded, two or three stock exchanges It can also truly promote the development of industry and commerce.”

He has always been willing to support Hong Kong's financial development, and has also expressed support for Hong Kong's financial development in the media.

After hearing this, Chen Xianwang immediately said: "Will this kind of chaos in the financial market eventually cause losses to citizens?"

Lin Zhichao said naturally: "Every mature financial market must be a process. And in this process, it is to allow shareholders and investors to grow, truly understand the risks of the financial market, and finally be in awe! They need to pay tuition, finance The market cannot make money, but when the stock market is booming, they will not listen even to the government. What really awes them is an experience."

Well, everyone couldn't help but take a breath of cold air, thinking that this is a capitalist!

However, in the end, everyone agreed with Lin Zhichao's point of view, that is, a mature financial market has many ways to go, and it will definitely not be peaceful.

After chatting for a long time, Lin Zhichao and Luo Wenhui sent these scholars and professors off together. Everyone got along very happily today. Everyone has also discovered one thing, that is, Lin Zhichao's success is no accident. This person who only went to middle school has economic and business theory knowledge that is not inferior to everyone.

These are due to Lin Zhichao’s persistence in studying over the years.

Back in the office, Luo Wenhui also came in.

"By the way, after the launch of "Capitalist" this time, there will be another magazine "FHM", a magazine specially customized for men."

Luo Wenhui quickly took a pen and wrote it down, feeling very excited.

Today's Lin Zhichao can definitely be regarded as a 'professional' in the media field, and none of his subordinates admire him.

Comics, newspapers, and movies have all become No. 1 in the industry. This is amazing.

"Boss, this magazine for white-collar men is somewhat similar to Playboy. It won't arouse my wife."

Lin Zhichao smiled and said: "It doesn't matter if there is appropriate softness and sentimentality, as long as it is elegant and not tacky. What's more, this magazine is not about sentimentality, but about male taste. It involves too many aspects and, Women’s love for this magazine will not be lost to men, because they also need to understand men.”

Luo Wenhui's eyes lit up and he said, "That's really the case!"

Afterwards, the two communicated for a while, and Luo Wenhui had an idea.

The rest is the matter of the subordinates.

Of course, when the publication is published, Lin Zhichao will check the results and put forward his own opinions.