1977: The beginning of the blind date with the daughter of the king

Chapter 526 Thank you US Government!

Westinghouse Electric!

Today it is a Fortune 500 company jointly controlled by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Mellon Foundation.

And this is the object that Li Changhe intends to negotiate with David Rockefeller this time.

Of course, Li Changhe was not thinking about acquiring Westinghouse Electric, and he could not do so. After all, Westinghouse Electric is still a world-class giant today.

Its value cannot be achieved with one or two billion dollars.

But this did not prevent Li Changhe from taking advantage of it.

Because Li Changhe knew very well that the next twenty years would be the twenty years of decline of Westinghouse Electric, until it was completely split up.

The collapse of such a behemoth, and the technologies and industries that flowed out of it, are enough for Li Changhe to take the opportunity to derive a new giant electrical company.

"Perhaps, I should thank the US government. In the 1970s and 1980s, you were indeed the beacon of civilization, illuminating the way forward for the world!"

Li Changhe sat in front of the desk, looking at the report from Westinghouse Electric, and chuckled to himself.

He actually didn't understand before how such a large Fortune 500 company could go bankrupt.

But after coming here and getting to know Americans better, he gradually understood the reason.

The collapse of a giant like Westinghouse may appear to be the result of market elimination, but the root cause is the suppression by the US government.

Moreover, the US government's suppression is not only aimed at Westinghouse, but more accurately, it is aimed at all manufacturing industries in the United States.

The collapse of Westinghouse Electric is actually a microcosm of the collapse of the US manufacturing industry.

One thing that everyone in later generations understands well is the hollowing out of the U.S. financial sector and the disappearance of its manufacturing industry, but this is not entirely the result of capitalists’ pursuit of profit.

A big reason for this is the suppression by the US government.

The reason why the US government suppresses it is because of its fear of trusts!
Trusts, the giant capital monopoly organizations that have taken shape in the United States, have always been the focus of the U.S. government's prevention. Therefore, they passed the Anti-Trust Act, making anti-monopoly a sharp sword of the government in the form of legislation.

And this sharp sword slowly sent the US manufacturing industry to the guillotine.

One thing that many people know is that in the 1970s and 1980s, Japan's manufacturing industry counterattacked the United States and swept many American markets, such as home appliances, semiconductors, automobiles, etc.

But what most people don’t know is that this result was actually caused by the US government.

In the 1950s, the US government forced some domestic companies to open up technology licenses to Japan. For example, Westinghouse Electric and General Electric have provided technical support to Japanese companies such as Toshiba, Mitsubishi, and Panasonic.

However, in the next twenty years, Japan worked hard to digest the technology and develop with all its strength, while the United States also made technological breakthroughs.

The huge manufacturing base actually enables them to have sufficient innovation capabilities. For example, the liquid crystal technology that Li Changhe is interested in this time was actually first researched in the United States.

However, the research was useless. RCA (American Radio Corporation), which first developed liquid crystal technology, only researched it for a few years and then sealed the technology.

When Li Changhe looked up information later, he wrote that RCA considered this technology a threat because it was one of the largest home appliance manufacturers in the United States at the time. RCA believed that the new technology would have an impact on their television market and affect the company's profits, so it was sealed.

But Li Changhe now doesn't think so. He thinks an important reason why RCA sealed the technology was that it was afraid of attracting an antitrust investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Antitrust investigations can be said to be a powerful weapon used by the U.S. Department of Justice to suppress these giant commercial companies in the past few decades. Once they feel that a new technology mastered by a giant company will affect the balance of the entire market, the Department of Justice will raise the banner of antitrust investigations and target the company.

Subsequently, these companies had almost no power to resist the Ministry of Justice's lawsuits. They either had to lie down and accept the punishment, or wait to be broken up.

Therefore, in order to circumvent antitrust investigations, many companies will suppress technology and not expand it even if they have innovations, in order to protect their original markets.

This has resulted in lags in technological innovation.

In addition, antitrust investigations will bring another blessing to the world, that is, technological openness!
For any technology under investigation, even if it is approved, the Ministry of Justice often does not allow you to have exclusive use of it. Instead, you must authorize it to be open and made public.

Li Changhe actually hadn't figured out before why IBM made all its technical standards public and allowed other companies to use them after developing the personal computer in 1981.

Later he found out that the root cause was the antitrust investigation.

IBM is already the leading company in large computers. If it were to dominate the personal computer industry, the Department of Justice would immediately raise its antitrust knife without hesitation.

So IBM disclosed all its technologies in the personal computer industry before the Department of Justice raised its antitrust knife, which triggered a rapid development of the computer industry.

Of course, IBM is behind the times here!

Another similar case is ATT, or American Telephone and Telegraph, which is now also facing an antitrust investigation by the Department of Justice. According to the information observed by Li Changhe, the investigation may have reached a critical stage and ATT is about to give in.

Li Changhe remembered that in a few years, ATT would probably be dismantled. Not only that, its patents in transistors would also be made public, and it would no longer be able to use patents to control the market.

Therefore, faced with the anti-monopoly banner repeatedly raised by the U.S. government, many U.S. manufacturing industries either keep their technology secret or outsource it.

The result is obvious. The consequence of the US government's suppression of enterprises is that Japanese companies have now swept the US microelectronics market, begun to continuously impact US domestic industries, and completely wiped out the original technology research and development companies.

But for Li Changhe, he felt that the US government was doing a good thing.

It can be said that the prosperity of many industries in the world has a lot to do with the US government's anti-monopoly and open technology patents, breaking the technological monopoly of internal companies.

After all, if there was no antitrust threat, how could IBM open up computer standards and how could it break into the computer industry?
If there were no antitrust threat, how could he steal America's LCD technology and prepare to parasitize Westinghouse Electric?
Apart from anything else, if there were no antitrust, companies like General Electric, ATT, Westinghouse Electric, and RCA would probably all belong to the Morgan family behind the scenes.

It was precisely because of the fear of antitrust investigations that the Morgan family, after acquiring General Motors, ATT, Westinghouse and many other companies, took the initiative to sell Westinghouse Electric, which then became part of the Rock family.

RCA, the company that first developed liquid crystal technology, was essentially a company jointly established by General Motors, ATT, and Westinghouse. Li Changhe knew that in a few years, RCA would have to be sold!
Unfortunately, its liquid crystal technology was sold as early as 76, otherwise Li Changhe would really be interested in it.

Of course, Westinghouse Electric, which he is eyeing now, also has reserves of LCD technology.

"Boom boom boom!"

While Li Changhe was still thinking, there was a gentle knock on the study door.

"Boss, you have to leave."

Anna walked in and said to Li Changhe.

Li Changhe glanced at the clock in the study and found that it was not long before the time he had an appointment with David Rockefeller.

"it is good!"

"You go arrange the car, I'll go change my clothes."

Li Changhe returned to the room, changed his clothes, went downstairs, got into the car prepared by Anna, and drove towards Montecito.

Montecito is a small town located in Santa Barbara County, California. It is also a famous luxury residential area in California. However, unlike Beverly Hills, the luxury homes here are mainly manors.

A luxurious manor often covers 20 to 30 acres. In addition to building a huge villa, there is also enough land to build other places of your choice.

In addition, it is not far from Los Angeles International Airport, which meets the living requirements of some politicians and celebrities.

The British royal family has a residence here, and David Rockefeller also has an estate here.

Soon, Li Changhe's convoy arrived at the gate of the manor. After communicating with people inside the manor, the guards let them pass and the convoy stopped in the parking lot.

When Li Changhe got off the car, a group of people were already waiting there. "Hello, Mr. Victor, I'm Mr. David's assistant, Pike. Mr. David asked me to come pick you up."

At this time, Pike walked up and spoke respectfully to Li Changhe.

"Ok!"

"Then please lead the way, Mr. Peake."

Li Changhe said casually.

"Okay, but before that, please let me apologize to Mr. Victor first."

"I'm sorry that my tone on the phone yesterday caused you discomfort, but please believe me, Mr. Victor, it was really an unintentional mistake on my part. I didn't know your identity before."

At this time, Pique began to apologize to Li Changhe in a low and quick voice.

After listening to this, Li Changhe looked at him in surprise: "So, you were the one who made the first call yesterday?"

Just thinking about that condescending tone is really annoying.

"Yes, Mr. Victor, I am not making excuses for myself, but please believe me."

At this moment, Pique apologized to Li Changhe with full "sincerity".

After listening to this, Li Changhe smiled and said, "Mr. Pike, this is just a small matter. You don't need to apologize to me."

He was not so low-minded as to argue with David Rockefeller's secretary over a phone call.

"Or do you have any intention in apologizing to me?"

When Pique heard this, he immediately shook his head quickly.

"No, Mr. Victor, please don't think too much about it. I apologize only because my actions have had a bad impact on you."

"In fact, it was Mr. Cole who gave me the task to communicate with you, but he did not tell me your exact identity. I thought you had an appointment to meet with Mr. David, so..."

After hearing what the other party said, Li Changhe smiled thoughtfully.

He knew the other party's intention. If nothing unexpected happened, the other party must have been tricked by the old man Cole and offended him.

So he rushed to apologize today. Of course, it is not ruled out that he also wanted to use himself to fight back against Cole. After all, he had already pointed out that it was Cole who framed him.

At this time, Li Changhe actually admired him a little.

Even though the young man looked a little stupid, he had good skills in palace fighting. At least he knew to apologize to himself and even pointed out the mastermind behind the scenes.

What a scheming boy!
Li Changhe doesn't like such people, but if the other party is with David Rockefeller, it would be good news for him.

"Don't worry, Pique, it's just a little thing, I don't take it seriously."

"I know it's not your fault."

"But speaking of it, when serving Mr. David, no matter who the customer is, you always need to treat him seriously. This actually has nothing to do with your identity, but it does have to do with your job, right?"

Li Changhe walked forward and chatted with Pique.

Pique immediately nodded respectfully: "Yes, Mr. Victor, you are right, thank you for your advice."

The two of them chatted as they arrived at the door of the manor villa.

Li Changhe had gotten to know this guy a little better. He was a very professional young man and not stupid. As for the future, perhaps he could just wait and see.

After entering the hall of the villa, Li Changhe saw that David Rockefeller was sitting on the sofa in the living room.

"Hello, Mr. David, long time no see, you are still so energetic."

At this time, Li Changhe strode up to David Rockefeller and said with a smile.

David Rockefeller also stood up at this moment, looked at Li Changhe, and then exclaimed.

"Wow, Vic, you really impressed me today. This outfit suits you very well."

"If I were a young girl, I don't think I would be able to resist your charm!"

David Rockefeller said humorously to Li Changhe.

Li Changhe smiled. Sometimes he liked Americans’ American humor.

After sitting down, the two exchanged a few pleasantries and then naturally got down to business.

"Vic, you should have guessed why I came to you. I wonder what you think of the ideas we discussed before?"

"Your uncle told me that he doesn't have the energy to focus on this right now, so all the cooperation is left to you."

"How about it, are you interested in cooperating with us?"

David Rockefeller asked, smiling.

After listening to this, Li Changhe smiled and said, "Of course, who can refuse to cooperate with the Rockefeller family?"

"It's just that I don't know which projects you want to cooperate with me on. I'm not very familiar with the Rockefeller family's industries."

Li Changhe pretended to be "ignorant".

David Rockefeller smiled. He knew that the other party was also a little fox. It would be strange if he had not investigated the Rockefeller family's assets during this period.

But that's how negotiations work. There are some things that you know but pretend not to know.

"In fact, I have been prepared for a long time. These are part of our family's industrial projects."

"Vic, you can take a look."

David Rockefeller handed Li Changhe the documents that had been prepared long ago, which included some industrial projects currently held by the Luo family.

This includes the part that Li Changhe is interested in, the home appliance industry of Westinghouse Electric.

Yes, what Li Changhe was eyeing was the home appliance industry under Westinghouse Electric.

After looking at the information above, Li Changhe closed the file.

"Mr. David, actually, before I came here, I also considered the direction of our cooperation."

"In my opinion, there are three most suitable areas for us to cooperate: petrochemicals, electrical appliances, and home appliances!"

"Of course, in addition to this, I also hope that your family can support me in establishing a high-level hospital in Hong Kong Island."

Ask for a sky-high price and pay it back at the low price, Li Changhe said without hesitation.

(End of this chapter)