A century-old wealthy family that rose from Shanghai

Chapter 172 Preparing to Build a Wedding House

The next day, Chen Guangliang came to the Oriental Newspaper and communicated with Feng Ziming, the editor-in-chief of the business magazine "Capital", and others.

Feng Ziming was hired as editor-in-chief from Commercial Magazine (Shanghai 1926). His previous employer was already on the decline and on the verge of closure. So, when Oriental Daily extended an olive branch, Feng Ziming immediately decided to jump ship.

You know, Oriental Daily is one of the three major newspapers in China, with sales exceeding 90000 copies, second only to Xinwen Bao and Shenbao.

More importantly, Oriental Daily has achieved such success in just one year. Many people would say it might even surpass the News.

Moreover, Oriental Daily is well-known for its expertise in "current affairs news" and "business news", so publishing a bimonthly business magazine naturally has more advantages.

"Manager Chen, Assistant Manager Hong, and Manager Huang, Capital, a bimonthly magazine, primarily publishes articles and translations on business economics, research articles on the international business landscape, domestic economic policies, and business organizations. It also features business monographs, business statistics, domestic and international business surveys, business news, business common sense, and biographies of prominent business figures. It also features discussions on specific issues such as business management methods and the relationship between shop owners and employees, and introduces famous entrepreneurs from China, abroad, and Shanghai, and their success stories."

Huang Chunsun glanced at Chen Guangliang, then took the initiative to say, "If that's the case, then we're not much different from the Commercial Magazine (Shanghai 1926)." What's the point of our success?

Get to the point.

Feng Ziming quickly said, "Of course, relying on the information channels and resources of the Oriental Daily, Capital has a more obvious advantage. Furthermore, Manager Chen's achievements and connections in the business world are also a major advantage. Finally, I have already persuaded Yu Qiaqing, Fang Jiaobo, Ma Yinchu, Feng Ziming, Zhang Zhenyuan, Jiang Mengyun, Zhu Jingyi, Shen Tingkai, Huang Qiliu, Shen Weiting, Tu Guangjun, and others to contribute to the team."

Huang Chunsun smiled and said, "Of course, this isn't enough. Capital needs to diversify its content, such as food, drink, and entertainment. We could review a restaurant and explain its strengths and weaknesses to readers. We could also discuss what kind of suits and shoes men are wearing these days, along with other trendy elements. Businesspeople in certain dance halls also need to relax, so we're very interested in articles like these. Furthermore, this also explores business models and how businesses operate."

Feng Ziming took notes seriously, and one could tell from his face that he approved of the new approach. The Oriental Daily really lived up to its reputation, with so many innovative methods.

Chen Guangliang then said, "So this part of the content needs some young and energetic editors, and the wording should be humorous and leisurely, not dull."

"Okay, Manager Chen."

Finally, Chen Guangliang asked, "When is the publication expected to be launched?"

The preparations have been going on for almost two months, and of course before that the main focus was on preparing the editorial team.

Feng Ziming said, "It will take at least a month to fully prepare."

Chen Guangliang nodded and said, "Okay. The newspaper is currently researching a special topic on the 'Great Depression', which could be the theme for the first issue of the magazine."

"it is good"

Chen Guangliang is now predicting the decline of the world economy. This is known to everyone in Shanghai and even in many cities across the country.

This kind of speech is naturally very popular, so it has led to the acceleration of domestic gold imports, which may be a good thing for the economy.

Of course, China did not have much foreign exchange at that time, but it was very normal to exchange silver for gold. Silver was also a precious metal in this era, not as cheap as it was in later generations.

After the meeting at Capital, Chen Guangliang, Hong Yanbin and Huang Chunsun came to the office to talk.

Today, the sales of Oriental Daily have exceeded 90000, with a monthly profit of around 1 yuan, making it a very profitable newspaper.

While Shenbao's sales were around 13 (the newspaper market is improving), its profitability was limited to this level. This was primarily because Shenbao's readership was primarily among intellectuals, making it a slightly lower earner.

At the same time, construction of the Oriental Daily Building also began and it is expected to be completed and put into use in two years.

The Oriental Daily Building is seven stories high, with a construction area of ​​6500 square meters and a total investment of 28 yuan (including land).

With so much investment, including the construction of the headquarters office building and the launch of the bimonthly magazine "Capital", it is obvious that the funds mainly come from loans (with an interest rate of 8%).

"Manager Huang, please refrain from publishing news about the US economic depression for the time being. After all, there's been too much of it, and it's like I'm just speculating on gold!"

"Okay, I'll communicate with the editorial department later."

Hong Yanbin and Huang Chunsun must be saying, aren't you just trying to hype up the gold and create a news story about "America rushing to hell"?

Of course, after this article was published, the attention paid to Oriental Daily News increased, and its sales also increased accordingly.

So, the newspaper then "catered to his interests" and organized a large number of news reports on the US stock market "crash" and "economic depression", which were basically consistent with Chen Guangliang's views. During this period, it was naturally bullish on gold and the US dollar, which really attracted a lot of attention.

Afterwards, everyone chatted about some newspaper matters before leaving.

Currently, Oriental Newspaper has formed a "three-person management" team, with Chen Guangliang as the "soul man," Huang Chunsun as the "executor," and Hong Yanbin as the "flexible assistant." Next in line are the teams for Oriental Daily News and Capital.

As for the two shareholders, Yu Qiaqing and Du Yuesheng, they had long been sidelined by Chen Guangliang and it was difficult for them to interfere with the operation of the newspaper.

Of course, Du Yuesheng also achieved his goal. He and Hong Yanbin had a considerable amount of shares in total. Besides, Hong Yanbin was his most successful disciple, and the Oriental Daily News would never do anything against him.

The car was driving slowly on the streets of Shanghai. Chen Guangliang was sitting in the back seat and finally felt a sense of peace in his heart.

It has been almost three years since he traveled through this era. He has been busy with his career and dared not stop for a moment. Now, his career has finally stabilized, and more importantly, his social status has stabilized.

The article he published in the Oriental Daily News has allowed many people to see the influence of him and the Oriental Daily News, and also confirmed his "power" in the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Compared with Shi Liangcai of Shen Bao, who declared: "Your commander-in-chief has a million soldiers, and I also have a million readers, which are also a million soldiers." Of course, this did cause a lot of trouble to the commander-in-chief at one time, and later when the commander-in-chief stepped down, he even made very rude remarks.

Chen Guangliang obviously will not clash with real "power". He understands the horror of "violent institutions" and is more concerned with "self-protection" so that he will not be easily manipulated and slaughtered.

What's more, the core area of ​​his business is in the "concession", that is, real estate and finance, which is also a relatively good guarantee; finally, he wants to build a "violent organization" - security companies, property security, rickshaw drivers, etc.

Generally speaking, although we cannot say that we can rest easy now, we do have some security.

Arriving at the office building of Changjiang Real Estate, the company already had 28 employees. All of them had at least received a 'high school' education (clerks), and most of them had university preparatory (junior college) or undergraduate degrees. There were no international students at the moment.

Calling Guo Deming and Lu Yuantai to his office, Chen Guangliang said, "Two things: First, I promised to give you 3% of the annual profits as year-end dividends. Your finance department should quickly calculate this, only counting the four 'phased and layered' Yuyuan Road projects." Guo Deming nodded and said, "Okay, thank you, boss."

Chen Guangliang smiled and said, "This is what you deserve. After calculating the total 'dividends', you two senior executives will each take 1%, the remaining management will receive %, and the final % will be distributed to the staff."

He calculated that the profit should be 310 million, which means a bonus of about 93000. Guo Deming and Lu Yuantai each took 1.4%, which naturally meant a bonus of about 2.8 each, for a total of .

There are also nine people in the management team, who received a total of 3.7 yuan, which means almost everyone received a house.

The remaining 17 employees shared the remaining 2.8, which was also very generous.

Guo Deming then said, "Then the management should also be divided into two levels, with department heads having more points and deputy heads having fewer points. Similarly, employees should also be divided into two levels, veteran employees and new employees."

Chen Guangliang said: "You two should come up with a plan. Manager Wu is taking the dividends from the financial manager here, don't forget!"

"Okay, I won't forget. We'll give you the list later."

This is obviously a huge dividend!

Old employees of Changjiang Real Estate can now afford to buy houses.

Of course, Changjiang Real Estate provides dormitories for employees, and it is up to the employees to decide whether to buy them or not.

Next, Chen Guangliang continued, "Secondly, we should start planning for the land on Weihai Road. First, allocate three acres to me. I plan to build a garden villa. As for the remaining land, how do you think we should develop it?"

This piece of land on Weihai Road is right next to the "Sun Apartment" and diagonally opposite the "Zhang Garden". The geographical location is excellent and it is very close to Nanjing West Road.

Chen Guangliang wanted to use three acres of land (2000 square meters) to build a "wedding house" and create a real mansion.

In the past, he always considered leaving Shanghai and not building any commercial buildings or garden houses. Now Chen Guangliang's ideas have changed. Sometimes there is no need to calculate so carefully. After all, his wealth is growing very fast. Even if he did not cash out before 1948, it would not have much impact.

Of course, there is no problem in theory.

Lu Yuantai immediately said: "Building high-end apartments and renting them out long-term is a good investment method!"

Guo Deming hesitated for a moment and said, "Changjiang Real Estate has already invested in the Shangri-La Hotel. They shouldn't build apartments. After all, apartments are not easy to sell on a stratum basis, and if we rent them out, the return on investment will be too slow."

Lu Yuantai immediately retorted, "Land in Shanghai is too expensive these days, and our company doesn't have any new land to buy. However, we have sufficient funds, so we could consider investing in apartments. Collecting long-term rental income would also be a good idea."

They once suggested to the boss to buy more land. After all, Changjiang Real Estate has already established a great reputation and advantages, and it can make a lot of money even if the land is more expensive.

But it is obvious that Chen Guangliang did not adopt it, so Lu Yuantai's point of view was not wrong.

Chen Guangliang said: "Based on the current situation, the residential market in Shanghai should be saturated by the end of this year. If external factors emerge at that time, the real estate market in Shanghai will fall, especially the rental income will not be optimistic."

During this period, "installment and stratification" began to appear frequently in newspaper advertisements, and many real estate companies learned and put it into practice.

Originally, there were 8 residential units in Shanghai, and perhaps more than 2 units will be added in the last three years (including many newly built houses for rental purposes). However, there are only so many middle-class people in Shanghai, so saturation is very easy.

Upon hearing this, Lu Yuantai immediately understood what his boss meant. He said, "If we don't build high-end apartments, we can build a five-story villa. This way, we can sell it in layers and maximize the profit."

The Public Works Department of this era only required buildings to be designed by a "registered architect". There were no specific plans for how many floors you could build or how densely you could build them.

A "Western-style house" can be 2 to 3 stories high, or 4 to 5 stories high, but the highest is five stories high.

Chen Guangliang said, "There's no need for five stories. After all, it's too high. Let's build it as four stories. On 7 mu of land, we can build 22 buildings, a total of 88 stories. If we build it as a high-end villa, we can also make a lot of money."

The location is so good that it is not a problem to sell it for 8000 yuan for one floor or above, so it can be sold for 70 yuan.

The land only cost 10 yuan in the beginning, of course it is at least 20 yuan now.

Even if the construction costs, taxes, interest, etc. are 20, there is still a profit of 30 to 40 (calculated based on the land cost), and more than 3 acres of land can be left free.

Lu Yuantai then said, "Good boss, do you have any requirements for the garden villa?"

Although none of the suggestions were adopted, he did not take it to heart. Instead, he asked the boss about his requirements for the villa.

"Well, I'm more concerned about privacy and security. The building area doesn't need to be too large. A three-story steel-concrete structure with a total construction area of ​​just over 1000 square meters will be enough. The main thing is that the yard can be larger. As for the construction cost, it should not exceed 10 taels."

There is no need to be too luxurious, just a little higher grade will do!

Lu Yuantai nodded and said, "Well, I'll find a famous architect to build it later. It can be very high-end within 10 yuan."

In fact, the construction costs in this era can be said to be a world of difference. If imported materials are used, the construction costs will be sky-high; if a small amount of imported materials are used and local materials are used, the price will be more affordable.

For example, in 1919, Kadoorie's original home on what is now Huangpi South Road caught fire, and his wife, Mokata, died while trying to save the governess trapped inside. Heartbroken, Kadoorie took his two sons to London to avoid the traumatic experience. Before leaving, he commissioned his friend, architect Graham Brown, to rebuild a new house on Daxi Road (now Yan'an West Road). Unbeknownst to him, Graham was a notorious drunkard, often gushing over his blueprints after a few brandy binges. The result was a marble palace transformed from a house designed for four or five people.

When the new house was completed in 1924, Kadoorie returned to Shanghai to find "a palatial building and a drunken Brown lying in the hospital." He also noted that managing the garden house would require at least 100 or 5000 servants. Even more astonishing was the contractor's bill for an astronomical sum of one million taels of silver. At the price of rice at the time, that could have bought 14 million jin (approximately kg) of rice, enough to feed people for a year. The sheer amount of silver used to build the villa left Kadoorie in a state of confusion; but it was a beautiful building, and Kadoorie himself greatly admired it.

Chen Guangliang didn't want to compete with others. After all, it was not a permanent residence and not much money was wasted.

The construction cost is less than 20 yuan, plus the land fee worth to yuan (which will increase), which comes out to an investment of nearly yuan.

The land on Weihai Road alone could bring him a profit of 30 to 40 yuan, so he didn't spend much now.

As a result, Chen Guangliang only had 20 acres of land on Xiafei Road left. If he did not have time to develop it, he planned to sell it next year (1930).

(End of this chapter)