Wolf of Xiangjiang

one day.

After watching a fashion show, LVMH Group President Arnault was surrounded by reporters for interviews.

At this time, Arnault did not get the title of "European Villain" because he did not have the opportunity to launch a sneak attack on Gucci.

"Mr. Arnault, this year Gucci Group acquired the French brand Latour, further expanding its luxury goods footprint. What do you think of this?"

Today's Gucci Group can be described as "strong and powerful", with luxury brands including Gucci, Sao Paulo, Bottega Veneta, Latour, Sergio Rossi, Tom Ford and other brands.

In recent years, the company has achieved success in many areas. First, Gucci and Bottega Venetian have grown rapidly. Secondly, the joint venture brand Tom Ford has been a great success. Finally, Latour has joined the Gucci Group.

Arnault's expression suddenly changed. He was very wary of the Gucci Group. He then said, "I am not optimistic about the prospects of the Gucci Group because the company itself is controlled by Chinese capital, which does not have a good grasp of the luxury goods sector."

A group of reporters were watching the show, as a direct attack on a business war like this was a guarantee of media traffic.

A reporter continued to add fuel to the fire: "But the growth of Gucci Group in recent years is no less than that of LVMH Group!"

Arnault was already arrogant at this time, and immediately said: "This capital group is only good at acquisitions, but the ability to integrate various brands requires talents who are more familiar with the luxury industry."

Afterwards, Arnault left the scene, but the media was already in an uproar, eager to create chaos.

Many media outlets have begun to inquire about the shareholders behind the Gucci Group. This is because the Gucci Group has never been listed, and coupled with a series of chain holdings, the shareholders behind it have a mysterious background.

Now that Arnault has brought up this topic, European and American media have immediately started to make a fuss.

After investigation, it was found that the major shareholder of Gucci Group is the British department store 'Harvey Nichols Group', which was acquired by Hong Kong Chinese capital as early as the early 1990s.

The media was in an uproar!

It turns out that the world's second largest luxury goods group is actually controlled by Chinese capital, that is, the world's richest man. For a time, overwhelming public opinion attacked.

In fact, Gucci Group was invested in by Middle Eastern capital for a period of time a long time ago!

The Gucci Group responded quickly to external public opinion.

President Di Marco stood up and told the media: "Gucci Group is a purely European company, with all management from Europe. Asian capital is only a strategic investment and does not participate in any management. Italian capital accounts for about 20% of Gucci Group's shares (Monica's shares), and the rest is a strategic investment."

Later, Maurizio, honorary chairman of the board of directors of Gucci, consultant of Gucci and descendant of the Gucci family, also stood up and said: "Gucci's headquarters has always been in Florence, and the Gucci family has always held important positions in the Gucci Group."

Maurizio has been employed by Lin Zhengjie, and currently he can get 100 million euros in "consultancy fees" from Gucci every year; plus Lin Zhengjie once saved his life, Maurizio is naturally very "loyal" to Lin Zhengjie.

Moreover, Maurizio's youngest daughter also joined the Gucci Group and became a designer. (In fact, she also saw the influence of the Gucci family)

After the two people spoke out, this round of public opinion gradually subsided.

Foreigners are relatively rational. If it is just strategic investment capital, it is completely acceptable. After all, Gucci was almost bankrupt at one point. Without the intervention of capital, it would definitely not be as glorious as it is today.

On the other hand, the Italian government naturally fully supports the Gucci Group. After all, this year the Gucci Group has taken over Latour, the "pride" of France.

Moreover, Gucci Group achieved total revenue of 45 billion euros in the first half of this year, and is expected to exceed 100 billion euros in revenue for the whole year (profit is expected to be 15 billion euros). All of these are taxes paid to the Italian government, and most of the workers employed are of Italian nationality.

Overall, there is no reason for the Italian government to want the Gucci Group to be caught up in a public opinion storm and send a spokesperson to support the Gucci Group.

When Lin Zhengjie arrived at the Gucci Group headquarters in Florence, public opinion had almost dissipated. After all, the heat will eventually pass.

But after hearing about this, Lin Zhengjie was still very angry. Arnault was really plotting against him!
In fact, Lin Zhengjie has long understood that when Chinese acquire overseas companies, they must be careful about being targeted by "racial discrimination", so they must use more local people as management.

However, this situation can easily lead to being cheated, after all, the locals may not agree with you.

However, Lin Zhengjie is different. He has a "plug-in" for time travel - personal charm. It is easy for him to win over the foreign management, so the foreign management under him are of the same mind as him.

Basically, management who have met him two or three times will be very loyal to him, and the longer the contact, the higher the loyalty.

Of course, there is a prerequisite here, that is, Lin Zhengjie will not treat everyone unfairly and will give them adequate treatment!
Li Jiacheng's overseas success in his previous life was mainly concentrated in Europe, led by the UK, and Canada. The success in the UK was first due to the relationship between Hong Kong and the UK, so there were many similarities in management (Hutchison Whampoa was originally a British-funded enterprise); and the success in Canada (Husky) was because Canada itself was more open to immigration, and the Chinese were a larger ethnic group. As for the success in other industries (ports, etc.), these were relatively easy to operate industries.

And Lin Zhengjie's success overseas in this life is truly difficult!
Accompanying Lin Zhengjie on the inspection was Axel, president of the Harvey Nicholas Group, who is also the chairman of the board of directors of the Gucci Group and is Lin Zhengjie's true spokesperson.

The asset value of Harvey Nicholas Group (department store) is naturally much lower than that of Gucci Group. After all, Gucci Group makes a profit of more than 1 billion euros a year, while Harvey Nicholas Group makes a profit of just over million euros a year.

"Boss, the public opinion has almost subsided and has no substantial impact on the Gucci Group!" Asel introduced.

"Well, I don't take it seriously. These are just little tricks!" Lin Zhengjie responded.

Sitting in the conference room at this time were not only Axel of the Gucci Group, but also President Di Marco, Design Director Frida Gianni, Chief Financial Officer Robert Polet and other senior executives.

Then, Lin Zhengjie suddenly asked, "How is the situation of the Hermès shares we invested in last year?"

Robert Polet then said: "The increase has exceeded 40%. The current market value of Hermès is 70 billion euros (listed in France), and we have made a book profit of 1 million euros."

Lin Zhengjie has not withdrawn much money from Gucci Group over the years. In addition to acquiring other brands, Gucci Group has also made another important investment in real estate. Of course, the investment in real estate only started this year, mainly in Europe, including a lot in Italy.

At this time, the Gucci Group also had a lot of cash flow in its accounts.

Lin Zhengjie said: "I got a piece of business news, that is, LVMH Group is preparing to maliciously acquire Hermès. First, LVMH Group secretly purchased 4.9% of Hermès' shares in the market, and at the same time signed a bet agreement with three investment institutions holding 17.2% - the agreement is that if Hermès' shares reach a certain price within a certain period of time, LVMH Group will buy the Hermès shares held by the investment bank. In this way, the three investment banks will make a profit without loss. If Hermès does not reach a certain price, they will receive liquidated damages from LVMH Group; if it reaches this price, the three investment banks will sell the Hermès shares held by LVMH Group at a high price. In turn, LVMH Group also uses this bet agreement to circumvent various laws and regulations. As long as the time comes, they can immediately obtain 22% of Hermès' shares by taking over the shares of the three investment banks."

Everyone was stunned that such a confidential matter had actually been known by the boss; of course, what was even more shocking was that LVMH Group was actually preparing to make a hostile takeover of Hermès.

Robert Polet immediately said, “Then it will be difficult for the Hermès family to deal with it, because although the Hermès family holds more than 50% of Hermès’ shares, they are distributed among nearly 200 members of the Hermès family, and no one of the Hermès family members holds more than 5% (any excess must be made public). As long as the LVMH Group defeats them one by one, the Hermès family will be easily lost.” My goodness, the Hermès family already has 200 family members, and their Lin family still has a shallow foundation.

DiMarco thought of one thing, that is, the boss would not tell them this for no reason, so he quickly thought of a possibility.

He took the initiative to say: "Since LVMH Group has declared war on us, we must fight back. I think we should disclose this news. Then the Hermès family can prepare in advance, and the acquisition war between the two companies will also cause the Hermès stock price to rise, and then we can take the opportunity to cash out."

Kill two birds with one stone. First, it warns the Hermès family and thwarts the LVMH Group's conspiracy. Second, it triggers a takeover war, allowing them to cash out their stocks at a high price.

As expected of a senior executive who has followed Lin Zhengjie for many years, he has Lin Zhengjie’s style – revenge.

Everyone quickly formulate a strategy!
Finally, Lin Zhengjie asked, "How is the acquisition of German RIMOWA luggage going?"

The Gucci Group also needs to enrich its products so as to generate better synergy and improve profit efficiency.

Dimarco then said: "Dieter, the head of RIMOWA, is not very satisfied with the current offer of 3.8 million euros. In addition, as the third-generation head of the family, Dieter has been in charge for nearly years, but he has no suitable successor, so he is somewhat willing to sell!"

Lin Zhengjie nodded. This was a good thing. Not having a suitable heir would undoubtedly be the biggest blow to a family business, so there would be a willingness to sell. In addition, with the grouping of luxury brands, it would not be a good thing for RIMOWA suitcases to fight alone.

It should be noted that RIMOWA suitcases are made of luxury leather and have a history of hundreds of years.

"If we make money on Hermès, we will add 5000 million euros, bringing the price to 4.3 million euros!"

Everyone started laughing, and the boss of LVMH Group must be furious.

A few days later, the Gucci Group broke a shocking news through the media industry - LVMH Group was preparing a hostile takeover of Hermès. Not only did it already hold 4.9% of the shares, but it also reached a bet agreement with three investment banks that held 17.2% of the shares.

For a time, it shocked the entire luxury circle and the whole of Europe.

There was an uproar, the market exploded, and Arnault became famous in the capital circle this time.

LVMH Group and Hermès Group are both representatives of French luxury goods, but now a civil war has broken out, and many people are paying attention to the development of the matter. Of course, Hermès is a top brand of luxury goods, and it can despise the existence of other luxury goods, including LV.

Of course, the most shocked are the Hermès family and Arnault of the LVMH Group!

For example, Arnault flew into a rage in his office, roaring, "Who leaked the news?"

The three investment banks immediately came to his mind, but he didn't understand why they did this - harming others and not benefiting themselves!

Of course, he would not have thought that it was the Gucci Group that leaked the information. After all, the Gucci Group leaked the information to the media in secret this time. In addition, in Arnault's mind, it was impossible for the Gucci Group to know about this.

Arnault immediately ordered his subordinates to: "Go and find out who leaked the news and find out the person behind it from the reporters!"

"Yes, boss"

If the three investment banks really did something good, then Arnault would naturally have to make arrangements in advance, either by acquiring the shares of the three banks or by suing the three banks - and refusing to pay the penalty.

At the same time, the Hermès family was completely in fear and shock. Although the family held more than 50% of the shares, these shares were scattered among more than 200 family members, and no one held more than 5%. So once LVMH obtained the shares of the three investment banks, it would be the largest shareholder. If it looked for other small shareholders to defeat them one by one and acquire more shares bit by bit, Hermès would be in danger. After learning from the painful experience, the Hermès family began a counterattack against LVMH.

The Gucci Group, which had accomplished all this, began to sit on the sidelines and watch.

As the two companies started to fight, Hermès' stocks also rose, and the Gucci Group also began to gradually cash out from the market.

The outcome of this battle could not be determined for a while, and Lin Zhengjie had already left Italy and went to the United States to visit a pair of illegitimate children.

In order to avoid possible paparazzi, Lin Zhengjie met with the Hilton sisters in a villa in Long Beach, New York.

This time, Paris Hilton gave birth to a daughter, while Nicky Hilton gave birth to a son.

Looking at this pair of children, Lin Zhengjie couldn't help but feel emotional - he really made an outstanding contribution to the future of mankind.

Paris immediately said, "It's a pity that such beautiful babies are illegitimate children!"

This woman speaks without restraint.

Lin Zhengjie said, "If they can inherit the best opportunities and huge wealth of mankind, what's wrong with illegitimate children? They have the best genes and are destined to have an extraordinary future. Their father will not treat them unfairly and will create the best conditions for them. If they are capable, perhaps in 30 years they can take back the Hilton Hotel Group and restore the glory of the Hilton family!"

He is the best at coaxing women!
Paris and Nikki's eyes immediately lit up. First of all, they admitted that Lin Zhengjie had very good genes. After all, they had followed him for so many years and knew some of this man's "secrets". Secondly, they also knew that the current Hilton Hotel Group was in the hands of Lin Zhengjie (in the hands of Barings Bank).

Paris and Nikki looked at each other, and in sync, they both took Lin Zhengjie's arm.

"I don't believe you would be so good to your illegitimate child?" Paris said deliberately.

Lin Zhengjie said: "How much money have I made for you?"

Talking about this, the two sisters became very excited. It turned out that since the end of last year, they have successively purchased 3 million US dollars of Apple stocks, accounting for about 0.4% of Apple. And these million US dollars were all given by Lin Zhengjie or earned from the stock market.

But the key point is that Apple's market value has nearly doubled this year, from 800 billion U.S. dollars to 1600 billion U.S. dollars, which means that the shares they hold are now worth 6 million U.S. dollars.

Nikki quickly added: "It's impossible to control the Hilton Hotel, right?"

Lin Zhengjie said seriously: "The child has just been born, why are you in such a hurry? Just follow me and I will make arrangements for you in the future!"

It was a very simple operation. Lin Zhengjie only needed to arrange for the Hilton sisters to cash out the Apple stocks, and then purchase 10-15% of Hilton Hotel stocks from the Bank of Bahrain. This way, he could both satisfy the Bank of Bahrain's cashing out and allow the child's mother to enter the Hilton Group.

As for whether the children can control Hilton Hotel Group in the future, it depends on their ability, but if the Hilton sisters can hold 20% of Hilton Hotel shares in the future, they will basically be the largest shareholders. (End of this chapter)