Chapter 660: Placing bets separately

"It is conceivable that consumers are becoming more and more sensitive to prices due to the economic crisis, which will be Costco's biggest opportunity..."

While visiting here, Barron said to the CEO beside him:

"Including the head office of Argos Retail Group and Standard Chartered-Merrill Lynch Group, they will provide financial support for Costco. I hope you will not only develop plans for expansion and opening new stores in North America, but also increase outlets in Asia, and even start considering entering the Chinese mainland market."

The Taiwan region of China itself is one of Costco's most profitable regions, and later Costco was very popular after entering the Chinese Magic City.

Moreover, Argos Retail Group itself has a relatively complete partner system in China, with the help of which, Costco can also establish its own brand authorized manufacturers in China.

From Barron's layout, it can be seen that he attaches great importance to the Asian market, especially the Chinese market.

After all, although people of this era still don’t know what the Chinese market means for the future - even two or three years ago, if someone said in China that they were about to surpass Japan and become the country with the second largest GDP in the world after the United States, they would probably only face a burst of ridicule...

But in 2009, China’s economic output surpassing Japan was already unstoppable - even further, in terms of purchasing power parity, China is not far from the United States.

And Barron, who has the memory of his previous life, understands how important China is in the future!

In terms of the automobile industry, China is the second largest automobile consumer after the United States. It can be said that without the Chinese market, the British Automobile Group would not be able to develop at all.

As for other markets, from consumer electronics to luxury goods, China will also become one of the most important markets in the world.

To be honest, if Barron had no memory of his past life, then with his current identity and increasingly close relationship with Wall Street capital, he would have made the same choice as other European and American capital, that is, to restrict China's technological research and development upgrades and seek the Chinese market.

After all, Ao Guanhai has made it very clear that the West does not want to see 1.4 billion Chinese people live the same life as them, which means that China will reach the top in most industries and block the way for many "developed countries" to make money lying down.

What makes Barron different from other European and American capital tycoons is that he has experience in his past life - he understands that no matter how Europe and the United States block or even target, it has been proved that their goals are unattainable.

In this case, for Barron, becoming an "old friend of the Chinese people" is naturally more effective than struggling in vain.

After all, he is British, and one thing is very clear - that is, if his industry will surpass the other party, then America will "block" it without hesitation, but China will not do so and will still open the market.

For example, in the future, China's 5G products, mobile phones, electric vehicles and other fields will face the ban of the United States and will not be allowed to enter the American market.

As for Apple and Tesla, China still opens the market and does not carry out a reciprocal ban.

This itself is a manifestation of the different styles of the two sides.

Therefore, compared with the North American market, Barron actually pays more attention to the Chinese market-for example, when he acquired the industry of American International Group, he chose AIA Insurance Company, whose main business is in Asia.

In the final analysis, he is capital and does not really need to choose a side.

When Barron was reborn, China and America still did not win or lose, but the trend was still visible.

Even if it is the most cautious choice, Barron can bet on each of the two.

…

"The acquisition of LSI can expand Avago's enterprise storage product line and plan to target data center IP, mobile data traffic and other business opportunities."

Chen Fuyang came to America and said so when he met Barron.

LSI is a leading semiconductor and software supplier headquartered in Milpitas, California. In fact, as early as when Avago just went public, Chen Fuyang valued LSI and hoped to acquire it.

But Barron temporarily stopped him at that time - also because LSI's market value at that time was similar to Avago, and it was not the best time to acquire it.

However, during this process, Chen Fuyang was not idle. Although LSI, which had a market value of more than 5 billion US dollars at that time, was temporarily difficult to acquire, last year, Avago acquired Nemicon to enrich its motion control product line, and bought Infineon's bulk acoustic wave business in October of the same year.

Then at the beginning of this year, Avago acquired CyOptics to consolidate its leadership in the field of optical fiber products, and then acquired Javelin Semiconductor to strengthen its layout in the field of wireless communications.

Of course, these mergers and acquisitions were also made during the subprime mortgage crisis. The prices of these companies were not high, and they were supported by Rich23 Capital.

Now, Chen Fuyang has finally set his acquisition target on LSI again.

The current market value of LSI has dropped to about US$3.5 billion due to the subprime mortgage crisis... This price is really unbearable.

"As I promised you before, Hock, you can do whatever you want and I will support you."

After hearing Barron's words, although Chen Fuyang didn't look too excited, the sparkle in his eyes was still very obvious:

"Okay, Your Highness the Duke, I will try my best to complete this acquisition."

Barron knew that Chen Fuyang was very good at using capital operation methods to carry out large-scale mergers and acquisitions of "She Tun Xiang", and what he required was that in this merger and acquisition, a minimum loss of shares should be paid, and the price should be paid mainly in cash. acquisition.

After all, he knows that the acquisition of LSI can only be said to be a "snack" on the road to Avago's acquisition.

In Barron's previous life, Avago's mergers and acquisitions became larger and larger each time.

"I know, Hock, that putting Avago's headquarters in Lijiapo will have many benefits, but I hope you can consider the feasibility of moving its headquarters to the United States now. After all, it is very likely that this will happen in the future. It will become an obstacle in mergers and acquisitions.”

"I will consider it carefully, Your Highness the Duke."

Avago's current merger and acquisition scale is not large, so even if its headquarters is in Lijiapo, it is not a big problem.

But Barron knew that later on, Chen Fuyang's headquarters in Lijiapo became an obstacle for several key acquisitions, which even caused some of its acquisitions to be vetoed by the United States. In the end, in the original time and space, he still chose to move the headquarters to the United States... …