Vol 5 Chapter 80: Work around

"Cantalupo? McDonald's Jim?" Oprah, who developed in Chicago, naturally knew who the current head of the old company McDonald's is.

Feng Yiping also wanted her to know who it was.

"I'll tell him a few words," Oprah held out his hand.

Feng Yiping hung up the phone neatly and put it in his pocket.

He and her have not yet become so familiar with each other.

If at the beginning of today, a small staff member was not sent to greet him. If Oprah personally approached Feng Yiping instead of those three guys, if Oprah asked questions, he could use less imperative sentences. And really as kind as an aunt... Then Feng Yiping didn't mind being kind to her.

I used to have that attitude before, but now I want to be so enthusiastic and invisible. Why?

Oprah's face was shocked.

Some people are like this. They always treat themselves as different fireworks, and take it for granted that no matter what they do, people around them still have to follow her intentions. May I ask, aunt, why are you? If others say you are the queen, do you really think you are the queen?

Feng Yiping patted Buchanan on the shoulder. He could imagine what the treatment would be when Buchanan came to this company before.

"Ms. Oprah, I'm sorry. Our schedule is very tight. We can only do this today. If you have any questions, you can contact our public relations department at any time. Thank you." Anyway, the courtesy must be sufficient.

"Oh, okay," I saw Feng Yiping, who was the same as the good-achieving Asian students in the past. He touched two nails to himself without being soft or hard. Oprah, who gave Feng Yiping and the three of them a special treat, has changed significantly now.

Whether it was the smile on the face or the words in the mouth, for the first time, it was no longer so stylized, but became distracted.

Her talk show, of course, is a scarce resource, but with Feng Yiping's current achievements, let alone talk show in the United States, she has not even done a news interview, and it is a scarce resource.

"Okay, I'm sorry that today's arrangement is not very thoughtful. You know, we are a program that pays great attention to the quality of the program. There is a lot of preparation work. Every member of the team is running at high speed, including me,"

Such an excuse may seem to her to be equivalent to an apology.

"I understand," Feng Yiping stretched out a hand and shook hands with her to say goodbye. "By the way, it may not be right. From a management perspective, if everyone in a team has been busy all the time, generally In terms of this team, there are some problems, either the team configuration or the essence of'busy'."

"No matter when, the Eighty Twenty Principle is an important principle that a team should always follow," Merbach also said.

Please, are you busy talking about work in front of two billionaires and two founders of listed companies?

Buchanan already understood what Feng Yiping meant, "Goodbye, Ms. Oprah, a member of your team, with my contact information,"

He still hopes to facilitate this interview, especially now that this is indeed a good time.

"Okay," Oprah's cheeks seemed to be put on blush at this time.

She walked out of the conference room and saw Feng Yiping and Merbach in front of them, walking towards the elevator jokingly, and didn't mean to wait for her at all.

She still didn't follow up to see off the guests.

…………

"Are the slightly famous people in the entertainment industry like that?" Feng Yiping asked in the car.

Then he immediately remembered, do you need to ask!

As for the slightly famous celebrities or hosts in China, they always look kind and courteous in front of the public, but in private, aren't they still more pretentious, polite, and temperamental? Moreover, it is a world-renowned host like Oprah.

"Entertainment circles," Buchanan said, "different from the business world, look at the style of some big stars when they appear, they are close to the president of the United States."

"Feng, I would suggest that you are sometimes too gentle, which is not a good thing. It is good for business partners, but it is not necessary to be so polite to these people in the entertainment industry."

Feng Yiping nodded, "Teached,"

It's true. Sometimes, you are too gentle, and some people really think you are easy to handle, so they don't put you in their eyes.

…………

After several days of probing, the two sides met again at McDonald's headquarters.

Because it was at least the second time, the atmosphere was more harmonious than last time. Seeing the smiles on Kantalupo and Charlie's faces, Feng Yiping understood that this matter was quite interesting!

"Feng, you want to be on Oprah's show?" Cantalupo asked.

"Hehe, this is Buchanan's arrangement, because I rarely show up before the American public, so he thinks that I should use this advantage to do more publicity for the company, and I have to obey."

"It doesn't have to be the Oprah talk show. I have contact with the other shows and they have not been finalized yet," Buchanan said.

"However, we are in Chicago and Oprah is also in Chicago," Charlie said. "This is a natural advantage."

Originally we thought the same way, but the previous experience was really uncomfortable.

"Feng, you are always like this," Cantalupo said. "The conditions you put forward are always hard to refuse."

"This is because I always believe that at least a win-win cooperation is necessary for long-term,"

"That is, your company has agreed to our cooperation request?" Merbach was a little excited.

"After accounting by multiple departments of the company and discussion by the board of directors, we accepted Coinstar's proposal for cooperation," said Cantalupo.

Although Feng Yiping believed that this was originally a matter of pinching, but after listening to Cantalupo definitely say that he was not excited or excited, it must be false.

The acquisition of Coin Star is the first step, and cooperation with McDonald's is the second step.

If you are frustrated in the first step, there is not much to lose. At most, some preliminary preparations will be invested.

But if the second step is frustrated, it is that his entire plan has been difficult to complete. Although he will definitely get a high return on the acquisition of Coinstar, this is not the result he wants. How to get Netflix into his own bowl , Is the ultimate goal he planned for so long.

"I believe that in the near future, you will be proud of this decision today,"

"We believe in Feng You's strategic vision and the excellent execution ability of Coinstar," Cantalupo said. "However, the board of directors is not without disagreements on some of the terms you have proposed."

In the following words, it was Charlie's turn to charge into the battle, or if it is hard to say, he has always come, "Regarding the 51% share of the coin star, the members of the board of directors expressed that they did not believe in such a request,"

"This is not the purpose," Merbach naturally replied. "The reason why we made this request is because we are responsible to both parties, including the boards of directors of both parties."

"Oh?"

"I think the two should agree with our point of view. After reaching a cooperation agreement, from all aspects, it is more cost-effective to run Redbox by us," Merbach stated.

"After strict accounting by the financial department, we agree with this point of view," Cantalupo said.

"Then you two, would you accept a boss who is not familiar with the specific business to interfere with your specific work?" Merbach turned to something that seemed unrelated.

"Of course not, and McDonald's has prevented this from happening through the system."

"So, do you think that McDonald's will be more familiar and experienced than Coin Star in cooperating with supermarkets and managing DVD rental machines?" Merbach.

This analogy is indeed very convincing.

If McDonald's is very experienced in this area and has a strong executive team, then how can Feng Yiping and Coin Star be part of Redbox?

"We are making decisions and making decisions, but we do not necessarily understand some of the obstacles in the actual work. For such a combination, if we want to maximize Redbox and gain our popularity in the DVD rental market, we will eventually get a considerable proportion of Market share, this will be quite difficult,"

"When I think of it, the first thing we always have to resolve is all kinds of disputes and all kinds of internal friction? What do you think?"

"Merbach, you are indeed very convincing," Cantalupo said with a smile, "It's just Feng, you also know the history of McDonald's and the strength of McDonald's,"

"Of course, here we did not belittle Feng You and NEXTDOOR, including all your other business meanings,"

"No, I understand,"

In the minds of Chinese people, it seems that McDonald's is not good, KFC is much better than McDonald's, but it is not the case at all.

This is because KFC seized the opportunity when it entered my country. It entered the country in 1987, while McDonald's only started to explore the Chinese market after three years.

Step by step, step by step, the number of KFC stores in China has always been more than double that of McDonald's.

But in the United States, and many other countries, the opposite is true, with McDonald's occupying an absolute leading position.

China's business will later account for more than 60% of KFC's global business. For McDonald's, China's business is not even its main business.

Most intuitively, in recent years, McDonald’s has been hovering around 350 in the world’s top 500 rankings, while KFC’s parent company Yum! has never been a Fortune 500 company.

McDonald's now has an annual revenue of more than ten billion U.S. dollars. All of Feng Yiping's domestic and foreign companies combined are far from others, let alone a coin star with a market value of less than one billion.

Now, if you want to cooperate on a business pioneered by McDonald's, you still want to hold a controlling stake? It is estimated that some shareholders will find it insulting.

"I also understand your difficulty,"

Feng Yiping knows that under such circumstances, if he still insists on exceeding 50% of the shares, Cantalupo’s work will be difficult to do, so he insists on not giving in and puts pressure on Cantalupo. , Is not a good way.

"For the sake of cooperation and the common interests of both parties, I think we can give up the requirement of holding shares," Feng Yiping thought for a while and said immediately.

"Thank you, thank you for your understanding,"

Feng Yiping's statement like this means that the biggest difficulty in this cooperation no longer exists.

"However, it is also for the consideration of cooperation and the common interests of both parties. I have a few additional requirements. The specific operation of Redbox is the responsibility of Coinstar."

"Feng, this is not a problem long ago,"

"I mean, someone from Coin Star, who is also the chairman and CEO of Redbox, I hope this can be clearly written into the agreement.

"Since the specific operation is entrusted to Coinstar, such a request is very reasonable," Cantalupo said. "Are there any other requirements?"

"In order to ensure that this requirement can be implemented, I hope that Coin Star will appoint more than half of the directors on the board of Redbox."

This is the key.

The chairman and CEO are always responsible to the board of directors. Feng Yiping believes that during Cantalupo’s tenure, even if Coin Star is at a disadvantage on the Redbox board of directors, it does not matter.

However, after the next McDonald’s president takes office, can there be such a tacit understanding, who can guarantee?

"I personally prefer a 5-person board of directors,"

This request made Cantalupo frowned again~www.wuxiaspot.com~ Although I understand your concerns, Feng, I have to say that it is not easy to get the board to agree to such additional conditions, I am afraid What you said is exactly what our board of directors must require."

That's why I proposed this additional clause.

Besides, is it really not easy? Feng Yiping found it easy and easy, not easy and not easy, it all depends on what Cantalupo does.

"However, since you have shown sincerity, I will try my best to meet your requirements."

Although it was difficult to say, Cantalupo readily agreed. He also knew Feng Yiping's true thoughts.

"I look forward to your good news." Working with such an experienced person is easy.

…………

Feng, what do you mean is to ensure that in the board of directors, the number of directors appointed by us is the same as the number of directors appointed by McDonald's. For example, there are two. Should we hire another independent director? "On the way back to the hotel, Merbach said.

"That's what I mean. If McDonald's appoints more than half of the directors, future internal friction will definitely be inevitable. What I hate the most is this kind of thing, but independent directors are definitely better than McDonald's shareholders."

Speaking of it, at this meeting, he missed the domestic business environment a bit.

If you are in China, how can it be so troublesome?

If a company takes the lead in launching a business similar to Redbox, Feng Yiping can copy its model and invest on a large scale. Then, it may force the first company to close down.

This is the so-called walking the way of others, leaving others nowhere to go.

More than a decade later, such barbaric behavior is still common in the country.

But in the American society, facing giants like McDonald's, it is really difficult to do so. (To be continued.)