The car giant started by marrying the daughter of the king

Chapter 215: Low-key signing, start-up capital in place

"Jiang Hui, have the negotiations been going smoothly these past two days?"

Zheng Haiming and Chen Qi didn't know what Jiang Hui was doing when he went to meetings alone these two days, but Zhu Jiansheng definitely knew.

"It's OK. These people are the most professional in the industry and they all know what they are doing."

"If we don't want to be constrained by others in the future, it is necessary to buy the patent for the integrated wheel hub bearing."

"So I've invited all of them together for tomorrow's meeting, and I'll sell it directly to whoever offers the highest price."

“Time waits for no one. Even if you earn less money, you have to put it in your pocket as soon as possible.”

Jiang Hui knew that this patent was valuable. If he delayed it a little, or tried various methods such as selling the patent in different regions, he might be able to gain greater benefits.

But it takes too much time.

What he lacks most now is time.

Especially since this time we are going abroad for inspection, it is impossible to stay abroad for too long.

In this day and age, not returning within the planned time after going abroad is a very sensitive matter.

You might be considered to have left the group.

In fact, there will be more and more such cases in the next few years.

After all, you only earn a few dozen yuan a month in the country, but washing dishes abroad can earn you several thousand or even tens of thousands of yuan a month.

This huge difference will definitely stimulate many people to take the risk of leaving the group.

It is precisely because of the emergence of this situation that the management of various overseas inspection teams will become very strict in the future.

Individuals basically have no free time.

This situation did not begin to change until the 1990s.

"You are right to think so. Let's make a quick decision and get this done as soon as possible."

"It's best to keep this a low profile and not let Zheng Haiming and Chen Qi hear anything, let alone Yue Rui."

Zhu Jiansheng reminded him again.

For some things, it is better to keep a low profile as much as possible, otherwise, you never know what unexpected things might happen.

This is a situation that Zhu Jiansheng does not want to see.

"Well, no matter how much they bid tomorrow, I will choose a company to cooperate with, and then try to sign the contract within the day after tomorrow."

"I have taken the time today to open a bank account in America, and the funds from the sale of patents can be deposited directly into it."

While Jiang Hui was discussing the progress of the negotiations with Zhu Jiansheng, other manufacturers were also thinking about how to obtain the patent.

"Mr. Yamamoto, the Chinese are very cunning this time. They have called several of our families together for a meeting."

"Integrated wheel hub bearings are an inevitable trend in future technological development. If this patent falls into the hands of SKF or Timken, it will definitely be very detrimental to the development of our Japanese companies."

NTN attached great importance to this negotiation, and its president, Sato Eiichi, came to the United States in person to participate in the negotiations.

Tonight he met with his competitor, Taro Yamamoto, the vice president of Koyo Seiko.

Many people may have heard of NTN, but don’t know Koyo Seiko.

This company is actually a long-established bearing manufacturer in Japan, founded in 1921.

In 2006, Koyo Seiko and Toyota Seiko merged to form JTEKT, a name that is quite familiar to people in the automotive industry.

"Mr. Sato, we understand this principle. People from SKF and Timken must understand it too, right?"

"The best way to get this patent is to pay more money."

"Otherwise, we won't have any better solutions in the short term."

Taro Yamamoto was a little unsure about what Sato Eiichi wanted to do by asking him out for dinner tonight.

After all, the two companies are competitors.

"Yes, but how much should be paid? That is a question."

"I think in order to ensure that this patent can be obtained by our Japanese company, we can consider cooperating and jointly hold this patent."

"This way, we can offer a higher price."

I have to say that Sato Eiichi's idea is quite good.

Although Japan was the richest in the 1980s, NTN's business performance in recent years has been very good.

But this acquisition may involve one or two million dollars, or even several million dollars, which is still a considerable amount.

"Shall we both cooperate?"

Taro Yamamoto quickly weighed the pros and cons, wondering whether this plan would be of any benefit to him.

Although he came to the negotiations very actively this time, he actually knew that his hopes were not particularly great.

Koyo Seiko is not the largest bearing manufacturer in the world, nor is it the richest.

He found this kind of competition that was simply about more money a bit too much to handle.

But there is no better way.

Now that Sato Eiichi has proposed a new cooperation plan, he is naturally tempted.

"Mr. Sato, I wonder how much money NTN originally planned to spend to acquire this patent?"

Although it is a cooperation between two parties, it is definitely not a combination of the highest prices that each party can accept.

A plan like that will definitely be severely criticized by the company later.

Therefore, if we want to cooperate, how to determine the funds for the acquisition becomes a very important matter.

"NTN can accept a maximum price of $200 million to acquire this patent. If we cooperate with each other, I think the price can be as high as $300 million, which should basically ensure that it is higher than SKF and Timken."

"It's like each of us putting out $150 million to jointly own this patent."

There was not much time left for NTN and Koyo Seiko, so Sato Eiichi didn't beat around the bush and directly expressed his ideas.

Feeling the other party's sincerity, Taro Yamamoto began to think quickly.

"Okay, then we will jointly quote the price of $300 million tomorrow, and both parties will jointly own the patent."

After thinking about it for a few minutes, Taro Yamamoto agreed with Sato Eiichi's suggestion.

In fact, he didn't have much choice.

If they don't cooperate, then this patent will basically have nothing to do with Koyo Seiko.

This was definitely not something he could accept.

……

"Jiang, SKF is a traditional cooperative customer of General Motors. Their vice president Lucas and I have known each other for many years."

“When I was still the head of the chassis field, Lucas was the director of research and development, and we had a lot of contact with each other.”

"He came to me this time for help. After thinking it over, I felt that his request was not particularly unreasonable, so I wanted to talk to you."

Early in the morning, Austin came to the hotel to pick up Jiang Hui in person.

Then when we were in the car, I expressed some of my special ideas.

"Austin, I haven't thanked you properly for your hospitality during this period of time."

"As long as the conditions are acceptable to me, I will definitely listen to your proposal."

No matter who Jiang Hui sells the patent to, he is doing it for the money.

Several bearing manufacturers are going to give me quotations today.

As long as SKF offers the highest price, I have no reason to object.

"SKF's proposal is that no matter how much Timken, NTN and Koyo Seiko offer today, they are willing to increase the price by $10."

"And the funds for acquiring the patent will be transferred to your designated account tomorrow."

Austin directly put forward the plan that SKF had discussed with him.

Objectively speaking, this plan is still very sincere.

They didn't just try to get the patent at a low price, but spent real money on it.

The difference is that the money they spend ensures that the patent falls into their hands.

Jiang Hui naturally had no objection to this.

“No problem, I’m happy to work with SKF!”

This plan had no harm to him, so Jiang Hui agreed without any hesitation.

Austin was quite satisfied with this.

Austin attended the meeting that day after obtaining Jiang Hui's consent.

After a brief greeting, several bearing manufacturers submitted their quotations.

This kind of individual-company cooperation plan is not that complicated.

Jiang Hui opened the bids from various companies right on the spot and prepared to announce the bidding results on the spot.

This is the most convenient way, and avoids unnecessary hassles later.

Jiang Hui plans to start his own business in the future, and he may have to cooperate with these companies again someday.

If it is possible to avoid damaging the relationship, then of course we should try not to do so. Timken, the largest bearing manufacturer in the United States, quoted a price of $200 million.

This price is not low.

After all, this is just a patent for an integrated wheel hub bearing and is only used in automobiles.

The value of 200 million US dollars in this era is still much higher than that in later generations.

However, Jiang Hui was quite surprised by the proposals of NTN and Koyo Seiko.

After communicating with the other party last night, this time they directly offered a quotation of 300 million US dollars, and it was a cooperation plan between the two companies.

Jiang Hui was happy to see this happen.

He even looked at Sato Eiichi and Yamamoto Taro with a look of favor and gratitude.

If the two companies had not jointly made an offer, the price of this patent would probably be less than 300 million US dollars.

Now, they have cooperated and earned at least an extra $50, or even $100 million.

And when Jiang Hui was looking at Sato Eiichi and Yamamoto Taro, the other party was also smiling and looked very confident.

NTN and Koyo Seiko are not small companies, and they also have dedicated teams to analyze the value of this patent.

In their opinion, a bid of $300 million is definitely very sincere.

However, when Jiang Hui finally announced that he would sell the patent to SKF, everyone else's faces changed.

"Jiang Sang, what is SKF's offer?"

"We at NTN and Koyo Seiko are very sincere in cooperating with you. I think the price of $300 million is a good reflection of our sincerity."

Sato Eiichi couldn't help but ask directly on the spot.

This result is different from what he expected.

It was a project that was clearly firmly in hand, so how come it suddenly went wrong?
"Yeah, I don't believe SKF offered a price of more than $300 million at the beginning. That's too much."

Taro Yamamoto also chimed in.

They had originally planned to continue drinking celebratory drinks tonight, how come it suddenly turned out like this?

"You actually offered $300 million?"

The Timken representative looked unhappy after hearing what Sato Eiichi and Yamamoto Taro said.

They originally thought that the offer of $200 million was already quite sincere.

Who knew the Japanese were so crazy that they actually offered a direct price of 300 million US dollars.

Is this a case of having money but nowhere to spend it?
"Ladies and gentlemen, we at SKF are very sincere in cooperating with Mr. Jiang Hui. Our bidding proposal is US$310 million."

SKF's vice president Lucas did not directly say that his offer was to add $10 to the highest price on the spot.

Instead, he directly stated the final price SKF needed to pay: US$310 million.

He wasn't lying anyway, so why bother himself?

"310?"

At this moment, Sato Eiichi and Yamamoto Taro felt as if they had eaten a mouthful of shit and were extremely uncomfortable.

If the other party's bid is $400 million or even $500 million, then we'll just have to let it go.

But this time it was only 310 million US dollars, 10 US dollars higher than theirs.

They are a little unwilling.

"Jiang Sang, we, NTN and Koyo Seiko, are willing to offer $320 million. No, we are willing to offer $350 million. Please sell this patent to us!"

After Sato Hideichi said this, SKF immediately stopped working.

Isn't this just destroying their platform?
However, he also knew that this was not the time to argue with Sato Eiichi, so he chose to look at Jiang Hui.

He wanted to wait until Jiang Hui made a decision before seeing how to deal with it.

If Jiang Hui regrets at this time, he will have to consider whether to further raise the price.

Since the rules are broken anyway, let's start over.

"Everyone, I am very happy to see that you all attach great importance to the integrated hub bearing technology patent. This shows that we all have the same good vision and know the value of this patent."

"But the rules were already stated yesterday. You only have one chance to bid, and the highest bidder wins."

"SKF's price of 310 million is the highest in the first round, so I will sign a patent transfer contract with SKF next."

"Austin can also help as a notary for this order."

Jiang Hui is not blinded by money.

Although the Japanese have suddenly raised the price now, you can make more money by cooperating with them.

But this would offend General Motors and make him appear to be a money-grubber.

The ultimate losses brought to various future cooperations could be huge.

And this loss is intangible.

Once you give people the impression that you don't abide by contracts and are greedy for money, you may not have any chance of many big collaborations in the future.

"Jiang Sang, our two countries are neighbors. If you sell this patent to us, you can get more funds."

"Why do you bother with such small details?"

Sato Eiichi directly switched the language to Japanese.

He knew that Jiang Hui knew Japanese.

Before this negotiation, NTN had specially arranged personnel to inquire about Jiang Hui's situation through various means.

Only by understanding the situation of your negotiating opponent can you achieve the best negotiation results.

In this regard, the Japanese have always done very well, which is worthy of learning from many countries.

Of course, this also shows that they have invested a lot of manpower and material resources in gathering various intelligence, and they are a relatively dangerous competitor who deserves vigilance.

"I'm sorry, but rules are rules."

"310 million US dollars, the patent for the integrated wheel hub bearing will belong to SKF from tomorrow."

"If you have any other ideas, you can go and cooperate with SKF representatives."

Jiang Hui said this in a very firm attitude.

"Okay, today's meeting ends here. People from other companies can leave first."

Austin, who had been silent, stood up and began to persuade people from other factories to leave.

He is particularly unhappy with NTN and Koyo Seiko.

Although General Motors also has some cooperation with these two manufacturers, its main cooperation is still with SKF and Timken.

NTN and Koyo Seiko's main customers are Japanese automakers such as Toyota, Nissan and Honda.

These automakers are all competitors of General Motors.

Now that Jiang Hui has agreed to sell the patent to SKF, Austin must of course implement the matter as soon as possible.

Even the people from General Motors who were assisting in signing the contract were already waiting in the next meeting room, waiting for today's process to be completed so that representatives of both parties could formally sign the contract.

Although Sato Eiichi and his colleagues were very unwilling to accept this, they did not dare to make trouble in front of Austin, the design director.

After all, they are not in the right.

"Happy cooperation!"

Soon, under the witness of Austin, Jiang Hui and Lucas formally signed the relevant contract documents.

The other party's 310 million US dollars will be transferred to Jiang Hui's account within tomorrow.

Jiang Hui, a poor boy who once didn't even have enough money to eat, has now become completely rich.

310 million US dollars, which was 1980 million US dollars in 300.

If people in China knew about this, they would go crazy.

"Jiang, if you have any other bearing patents in the future, you can always contact SKF for cooperation. We are absolutely sincere."

During the communication with Austin, Lucas also realized how powerful Jiang Hui was.

Although he didn't think Jiang Hui would produce even more impressive results in the future, there was no harm in saying some polite words in advance.

"must!"

Jiang Hui also exchanged greetings with Lucas for a while.

Considering that he had been acting alone for two or three days, in order to avoid unnecessary trouble, Jiang Hui did not have any meal with the SKF people today.

Even in the process of signing the formal patent transfer agreement, the two parties signed a confidentiality agreement requiring not to disclose various contract details today.

Similarly, when negotiating with Timken and several other companies, confidentiality agreements were signed in advance.

But the one from SKF is considered an enhanced version.

Although this matter will be exposed sooner or later, Jiang Hui would definitely hope it would be as late as possible.

This way you can save yourself a lot of trouble.

If this matter had not spread in China until the 1990s, there would be nothing to worry about.

(End of this chapter)