Chapter 1288 Europe's No. 1 Business War
Huge wealth is not only the most effective weapon to resolve disputes, but sometimes it is also an artifact to rebuild confidence.
Pilkadoun was now conquered by Ning Weimin, and his confidence in Ning Weimin returned.
Of course, it cannot be said that this old French man is jealous of money. The key is that he is in trouble. It is human nature.
Ning Weimin's method was very simple. He was afraid that the old French man would not believe him, so he took the initiative to call the head office of Credit Suez Bank on the spot.
Then report the account number of your own account, and let the people in the bank use the numbers on the account to personally prove to the master that you are not just talking nonsense, and the master is not daydreaming.
“Hey, I really didn’t expect that in my own company, among the subordinates who work for me, there would be a billionaire like me. Young man, your life is destined to be better than mine. "My life must be wonderful."
When he hung up the phone at the bank, Picardon said in a trembling tone, but then he felt as proud as a life achievement.
Then looking at Ning Weimin, he couldn't help but expressed with relief, "But I think, despite this, this should be the most self-satisfying achievement for any business owner. This is enough to prove that I have indeed discovered something. A business genius, and his future was not delayed by keeping him in my company. Young man, I am very glad that I met you in the Republic. Now, I am finally the same as Mr. Dior who cultivated me. You can be worthy of your employees..."
"Oh, people like you shouldn't doubt yourself so much. You have done too much for me. I can work for you. Let me. The benefits are endless.”
Ning Weimin was very moved by the master's words. He was extremely respectful and said very politely, "So, now you should let me help you. Speak, please speak, I will listen to your instructions." "
"Oh", Piercardon replied with a smile, "my friend, I am very happy to hear you say that. Since it now seems that you have full ability and the willingness to lend me money, Then I will tell you about it. However, I still want to state in advance that I just want to help others. It does not mean that you must do it. You should listen to the details first. situation, and then think carefully about the business risks involved in this matter. I am very touched by your friendship, but everyone is responsible for their own wealth, and you have the right to refuse me."
So I accepted. After coming down, the master finally revealed what he had hidden in his heart.
In the end, this incident turned out to be a big surprise for Ning Weimin.
Because he discovered that this incident not only involved him in one of the most fierce business wars in Europe at the moment, but the core of the business war was also far beyond his expectation.
It is actually a luxury brand that will be the world's number one and most commercially valuable in the future - Louis Vuitton.
If you want to fully understand this Europe's No. 1 business war, you must first briefly introduce the development history and current business status of Louis Vuitton, a world-famous brand.
The Louis Vuitton brand was founded in 1854.
The founder, Louis Vuitton, was a leather goods maker born in 1821.
In 1837, Louis Vuitton, an uneducated poor man, went to Paris to pack his bags for the nobles.
In 1852, he invented the flat-topped square leather suitcase, and was later selected as the queen's royal bundler, and he set foot in the upper class.
In 1854, he opened the first luggage store named after himself in Paris. It can be said that he started with luggage. Therefore, Louis Vuitton's business at this time was quite single. Complete specialization.
Louis Vuitton's suitcases were first made of gray canvas.
As there were more and more bad imitators and fakes were rampant, in 1896, Louis Vuitton’s son George began to use the abbreviations L and V of his father’s name with flower patterns, creating designs that are still famous today. The international monogram is printed on Monogram Canvas.
By 1900, Louis Vuitton's company had one hundred employees and continued to grow year after year.
All employees have been trained for a long time to become box making experts.
To this day, Louis Vuitton employees undergo eighteen months to two years of training before they are qualified to make products on their own.
In 1925, Louis Vuitton also opened up a new production line because of its cooperation with another fashion icon, Coco Chanel, and found a new development direction for the company's business.
At first, Coco Chanel ordered a small dome-shaped handbag from Louis Vuitton.
This was originally a personal design for her own use only, but later, this design became widely sought after.
Louis Vuitton began mass production and named this handbag Alma.
The huge success of this design prompted Louis Vuitton to decide to make more compact handbags.
Before this time, handbags were often seen as immodest and too bulky.
But Louis Vuitton gradually changed all this after entering this field.
Since then, Louis Vuitton's business has gradually enriched, from a pure box-making company to a leather goods brand that makes both large and small bags.
In 1936, Georges Vuitton, the second generation descendant of Louis Vuitton, passed away, and the company was subsequently taken over by his son Gaston Vuitton.
But Gaston took over the company in a very difficult period. Due to frequent wars, Louis Vuitton's business development almost stagnated before the end of World War II.
Even in order to survive, Gaston, like Coco Chanel, chose to cooperate with the German Nazis to ensure that his career in Paris would not be destroyed.
When Gaston Vuitton passed away in 1970, Louis Vuitton finally ushered in the fourth generation of managers who made Louis Vuitton shine again.
Gaston Vuitton's son-in-law Henri Lacamier became the head of Louis Vuitton, taking over the management of the company and the Louis Vuitton brand.
The biggest difference from previous managers is that Henry has accumulated a lot of business experience in the companies he ran before.
So when he took over the company, he took the Louis Vuitton brand to a whole new level.
After Henry took over the power, he made drastic changes to the Louis Vuitton brand in order to develop it from a family business into a modern large-scale company.
Henri changed Louis Vuitton's business model from wholesale to retail, and by 1978, he had expanded Louis Vuitton to many countries, including Japan.
In six years, he successfully increased Louis Vuitton's sales from $20 million per year to $260 million per year.
So in 1984, Henry successfully listed Louis Vuitton, making Louis Vuitton the first listed company in the fashion industry.
On the day of listing, one million shares of Louis Vuitton were sold at a price of $63·63 per share.
Next, Henry will use stock market financing to continue to add stores to different countries and expand the company's business territory.
As of 1987, Louis Vuitton's sales have reached the level of one billion US dollars per year.
In 1986, Louis Vuitton ushered in another important opportunity for career development. Henri Lacamie, then general manager of Louis Vuitton, made a bold business strategy decision.
The Louis Vuitton Group merged with the Moët Hennessy Group, a high-end beverage company that produces Moët & Chandon, Dom Pérignon and Hennessy Cognac. The two companies merged into one to form Louis Moët Hennessy AG ( LVMHMoetHennessy·LouisVuitton), referred to as LVMH.
This newly merged group company is led by Louis Vuitton's general manager Henri Lacamier as the general manager of the group.
Alain Chevalier, the former general manager of Moet Hennessy, serves as the chairman of the new company’s operating meeting.
Perhaps in the eyes of many people, there is no connection between luggage and high-end wine. This merger is completely illogical and incomprehensible.
However, the commonality of "luxury goods" and the complementarity of the two in terms of product composition and financial system make the merger a perfect combination of the two.
Clothing-related industries are easily affected by emergencies such as global economic crises and wars.
The alcohol business is stable.
It is precisely based on their unanimous understanding of establishing a complementary and mutually beneficial relationship that both the Louis Vuitton Group and the Moët Hennessy Group willingly chose to merge.
Theoretically, the merger of the two companies can not only take advantage of their scale advantages to effectively prevent hostile takeovers by others, but also allow the two companies, which are both doing well, to pool resources and achieve faster expansion.
But it is very regrettable that after the merger, the fourth generation of Louis Vuitton and the original president of Moet Hennessy did not get along well.
I have to admit that although there are many benefits to the merger of the two companies, from the perspective of "company culture", there are actually too many differences and differences in the attributes of the two companies.
LV is a long-established family business, habitually carrying the pride of a time-honored French brand and a condescending chain of contempt.
MH is an enterprise brand managed by professional managers.
So no matter what the value concept is or the way the company operates, the two companies cannot agree on anything.
As a result, the running-in period after the merger was completely difficult to pass. The group was divided into two distinct camps, fighting over big and small things all day long.
Once, just because of printing souvenirs, people from LV put Henri Lacamier's name in front of MH's Alain Chevalier's name. This move greatly angered the other party.
So soon, MH's Alain Chevalier vetoed LV's request to hire Chanel designers to design for LV as a counterattack.
There is no doubt that the contradiction between the two parties became more and more serious under this situation, and soon broke out completely, even in the public industry without concealing it.
At a public press conference, Henri Lacamier of LV told reporters, "The merger of LVMH, for MH, is obviously an acquisition and absorption, not a marriage of equal brands, but For us at LV, it is very important to maintain the independence of the brand.”
Such remarks were resorted to in the media, which of course made MH's Alain Chevalier extremely unhappy. Not only did he feel humiliated, but he also began to worry that the two companies might eventually part ways.
So in order to prevent this from happening, MH's Alain Chevalier decided to introduce alliance players to the venue.
He went to find another big winery-Guinness.
Conspired with it, hoping that Guinness would come forward to acquire up to 20% of LVMH shares, and then send Guinness people to the board of directors to help MH firmly grasp the control of LVMH.
You know, LV originally had this 30% equity.
MH has 24% equity here.
But if this plan comes true, the situation will be completely reversed, and LV’s voice advantage within the company will completely disappear.
The news of Xing Hao was leaked in advance, and before the other party could take action, Henri Lacamière knew about it.
However, this move was tantamount to a backstab sneak attack, and of course it further stimulated Henri Lacamière.
As a result, LVMH has become a big battlefield. The contradiction between the two companies can no longer be concealed. The possibility of "talking it over" disappears. The original small friction has officially escalated into a competition over who has more money. There are many internal battles for equity.
What should LV do next?
The simplest way is of course to fight tooth for tooth, blood for blood.
It would be easy for Henri Lacamier to have such an idea - grandson! If you are not trying to make an alliance, then I will be making an alliance too!
You want to build a winery to form a small circle of your wine and wine alliance?
Okay! As a pearl in the fashion industry, I also want to find some fashion brands to form an alliance with me.
As a result, Dior, another jewel in the French fashion industry, successfully attracted the attention of Henri Lacamier.
Soon, he was introduced by others and took the initiative to make tentative contact with Bernard Arnault, the current owner of Dior clothing.
Unexpectedly, the meeting went very smoothly and we had a great conversation.
Bernard Arnault is nearly forty years old, at the age when a businessman is most energetic and charming, and he has just brought the debt-ridden Dior out of bankruptcy
Business difficulties have made this brand, which has been somewhat declining in recent years, shine again.
Therefore, both in appearance and conversation, Bernard Arnault is a talented person, and he had a particularly good conversation with Henri Lacamière.
Even Henri Lacamier felt that the Bernard Arnault he met for the first time was simply his younger self.
So soon, Henri Lacamier decided to cooperate with Bernard Arnault and made a request, hoping that he could find a way to raise funds and secretly acquire 21% through the open market of equity.
Then he joined LVMH, became a board member and formed an alliance with himself, so that he could compete with the MH and Guinness camps and use his absolute advantage to completely stabilize the control of LVMH.
But to be honest, Henri Lacamier was very happy about this matter, but he definitely made a major mistake that could not be repaired, so that the situation finally got out of his control.
You know, it involves this kind of internal struggle within the company, the cooperation of competing for power.
If you make a careless move and encounter a pig teammate or a traitor, you will lose everything.
Henry Lacamier was too hasty in choosing allies.
As the saying goes, one cannot eat hot tofu in a hurry. He should have been more cautious and chosen carefully.
He really shouldn't have been blinded by anger and rushed to fight back with his fist.