Chapter 968 967 [Golden Rice Bowl]

The negotiation team was hired by Zhang Yuannan, my third uncle, and formal negotiations with Coca-Cola soon began.

I heard that some people wanted to invest. Instead of splitting and diluting their shares, several shareholders of Coca-Cola were clamoring to sell all their shares. The most active among them was Frank Robinson Jr., the son of a veteran Coca-Cola figure.

Robinson Sr. was a poor painter when he was young and worked part-time as an accountant in a friend's drug store. The owner of that drugstore was none other than Coca-Cola inventor John Bomberton. The name and trademark of Coca-Cola were also painted by Robinson, a poor painter.

After two pharmacists adjusted the formula of Coca-Cola, it became more and more in line with public taste, and the elder Robinson also became a powerful figure in the Coca-Cola Company in the 1910s.

But the old Robinson didn't know how to run a business at all, and was gradually ousted by the Gantt family to seize power. At that time, he was discouraged and had already had the idea of ​​selling his shares. As a result, two rebellious sons of the Gantt family rebelled. Coca-Cola was acquired and listed by the Woodroof family. The old Robinson became a millionaire inexplicably.

Over the years, the old Robinson has not been involved in business affairs at all, and only enjoys the company's dividends with peace of mind. By 1940, Robinson Jr., who inherited the shares, was already old, and his sons were also arguing about dividing the family property. Robinson just wanted to sell his shares and enjoy his old age.

Before Zhou Hexuan's negotiation team could reach a conclusion, Robinson Jr. approached him privately and offered to sell his shares alone. But this guy is completely crazy. After many sales, he only has 3.2% of Coca-Cola's shares left in his hands, and he actually dares to ask for $20 million - which is one-third higher than the market price.

Then, the two villains of the Gantt family also contacted Zhou Hexuan privately and were willing to sell their 8.7% and 6.5% stakes for US$60 million and US$50 million respectively.

Everyone regarded Zhou Hexuan as a scapegoat who was willing to take over.

Acquisitions at a premium are normal, but Coca-Cola's shares are already artificially high, and a premium of one-third or more would be excessive.

Zhou Hexuan conveniently disclosed the conditions proposed by the three shareholders in private to Woodruff. Woodruff was extremely angry and paralyzed by this. The shareholders were engaging in private transactions behind the back of the board of directors. Did they take him as the helmsman seriously?

Well, Woodruff's asking price was higher. He offered to sell at a 50% premium, citing Coca-Cola's rising performance.

Woodruff's confidence in Coca-Cola stems from a mistake he once made.

When the economic crisis was about to break out, Woodroof also sensed the danger and decided to cash out. He announced a stock split when the stock price was at its highest point, and then sold 6,600 shares of Coca-Cola. After a series of operations, Coca-Cola's stock price plummeted 60%, but it rebounded against the trend during the Great Depression.

Even during the Great Depression, Coca-Cola's stock price could rise. What else in the world can't I do? From then on, Woodruff became arrogant and domineering.

The two sides talked for half a month, but made no progress at all. Zhou Hexuan finally got serious about it. He compiled the dark materials he spent on Coca-Cola and the situation of Coca-Cola in Europe into a report, and threatened to give it to the Wall Street Journal as a gift.

The black material didn't matter. There were too many lice and Woodruff was already numb.

Coca-Cola has a lot of dark stuff. It was first sold as a headache potion, and later it was claimed to have aphrodisiac properties. In the 1920s, they also joined forces with the Mafia and sold them at high prices in Mafia stores.

Most of the Mafia's shops are just fronts, and the real means of making money is gambling. Almost every shop has a casino in the basement. At that time, Coca-Cola contained the drug ingredient cocaine, as well as caffeine and other stimulant ingredients. Gamblers could gamble for days and nights after drinking it. This made the mafia regard Coca-Cola as a magic water for making money.

In the past, Coca-Cola not only contained cocaine, but also alcohol, and was once visited by prohibition officials. By the 1930s, the government's control over beverages became increasingly strict, and public opinion boycotted Coca-Cola arose from Europe to the United States. Coca-Cola had to develop a new formula, remove cocaine and alcohol, and reduce the caffeine content. Even so, many people still strongly resisted.

An important reason for the anti-Coca-Cola group is that Coca-Cola can bring sexual impulses and is not suitable for children. This is pure nonsense. It was all started by Coca-Cola themselves. Who told them to promote Coca-Cola as an aphrodisiac before?

Zhou Hexuan added new content to the black material he gave. He paid some medical experts to prove that Coca-Cola affects calcium absorption and can easily lead to osteoporosis. Drinking it by pregnant women has serious effects on the fetus.

Of course the content is true, but the experimental data and results are fabricated. Anyone who doubts it can do the experiment themselves.

The most cruel thing is to announce the situation of Coca-Cola in Germany. If investors know that Coca-Cola’s factories in Germany are completely destroyed, and that the occupied areas in Germany are also completely destroyed, then Coca-Cola’s stock price will definitely plummet.

Under the threat of black material, Woodruff finally relented slightly, but still failed to meet Zhou Hexuan's expectations.

While the two parties were continuing to negotiate, Robinson suddenly sold 10,000 shares, perhaps fearing that Zhou Hexuan would expose negative news, or perhaps because he was short of money, causing Coca-Cola's stock price to drop by $4.

Woodroof was furious, but he had no choice but to continue negotiations with Zhou Hexuan's team because of the disloyalty of the shareholders.

The two sides finally reached an agreement as they talked about approaching the Lunar New Year.

First, Robinson Jr. sold all the remaining shares to Zhou Hexuan. Then Woodruff and other shareholders announced a stock split, and Zhou Hexuan injected capital to take over. Wall Street traders were also invited to perform a series of operations to suppress and increase prices. The major shareholders joined forces to harvest the investors.

Anyway, no one suffered losses, except small investors.

Zhou Hexuan invested US$60 million from beginning to end and obtained 11.5% of Coca-Cola's equity, becoming the company's second largest shareholder and making a lot of money while harvesting shareholders.

It stands to reason that Zhou Hexuan cannot afford so much money. What he relies on is that Jieshibon Company has finally gone public.

Just a few days after New Year's Day, James Bond was listed on the market under the control of the Boston consortium. Zhou Hexuan's shareholding is only 17.4% (part of it has been cashed out), but his net worth has increased more than eight times, and is still rising. Sure enough, he can make money faster by playing with capital than by doing business.

For a hands-off shopkeeper like Zhou Hexuan, whether it is Jesse Bond or Coca-Cola, they are golden rice bowls where they can receive dividends. When the United States intervenes in the war, the British pharmaceutical companies will definitely go public. Anyway, they will have nothing to worry about for the rest of their lives.