America's Road to Fame

Chapter 186 Convincing the Hermes Family

Chapter 186 Convincing the Hermes Family

As William Chen said, without keeping the melon-eaters all over the world waiting, the next day, Meta Investment Company announced that it had reached an acquisition agreement with other shareholding institutions for the equity investment of the Hermès Group. The shareholding of Hermes Group exceeds 25%.

Of course, this is also the fault of their deliberate division of shareholding, otherwise, the shareholding will be close to 40% in a short period of time, and fools will know that they are using other means to deceive the regulatory authorities, which is too obvious up.

At the same time, William Chen also took the initiative to contact the Hermes family and the CEO of the Hermes Group, Patrick Thomas, expressing his hope to explain the equity investment of the Meta Investment Company in the Hermes Group, and will visit the other party in person.

Once the news was disclosed, it immediately caused an uproar, because it meant that William Chen had become the largest individual shareholder of the Hermes Group besides the Hermes family.

While the outside world was discussing whether William Chen's acquisition of Hermès would be successful, William Chen had brought Fan Bingbing to the Hermès family and attended a reception held by them.

Chen William's purpose is to relieve the members of the Hermès family, at least some of them, from their wariness of acquiring Hermès in the shortest possible time, and to release goodwill, so that the other party does not really set up a company like LVMH did when it acquired the company. Holding companies, injecting more than 50% of the shares held by family members, would make his acquisitions more difficult.

What he needs to work hard now is to turn the confrontation between himself and the Hermes family into a situation where members of the Hermes family support him and oppose him.If this can be achieved, then his acquisition of Hermes can basically be regarded as a victory.

"Hello, Mr. Patrick, nice to meet you. I have actually watched many of your interviews before, and I agree with your views on the luxury industry."

When William Chen arrived at the reception with Fan Bingbing, it immediately attracted everyone's attention.Today's reception is very private, and only members of the Hermès family, company management, William Chen and Fan Bingbing participated.

At this moment, after seeing the two people walking in, everyone had to sigh. These two people can be said to be the darlings of God just because of their looks. Standing side by side, they can instantly gather all the eyes.

In particular, Chen William and Fan Bingbing are very considerate. The clothing and accessories on their bodies today are all products of Hermès, which can also let everyone experience the respect they have for Hermès.

When Chen William greeted the company's CEO Patrick Thomas and a group of family members in fluent French, he won everyone's favor.From everything he played today, it can be felt that he is indeed very hardworking.

In fact, in William Chen's strategy, Patrick Thomas, the CEO of Hermes, is also one of the people worth wooing. After all, he is not a member of the Hermes family, but just a professional manager.For him, whether the company is controlled by the Hermès family or William Chen controls the company, there is not much difference to him—provided that he is still in his current position and will not be disturbed too much .

But on the other hand, from his point of view, it is more beneficial for William Chen to be in charge of Hermes, because he also understands that he is just a transition in the Hermes family, and wait until they choose the next generation. Successor, then it is time to leave this position.

And if it is said that he is in charge of the company, William Chen may not be more than the Hermes family. The influence of the Hermes family on the company is all-round. Even the CEO, he often has to respect Opinions of family members.

Although William Chen also wanted to win over this CEO outside the family, it was inconvenient to show too much in today's public, so he could only stop.

Next, William Chen met several important members of the Hermes family at this time, including Nicholas Pièche, who is not only an important member of the family committee, but also the person who holds the most shares among the members of the Hermes family. Some Hermes Group stocks account for around 6%.

There is also Axel Dumas, who is the nephew of Jean-Louis Dumas, the previous head of the Hermes family. He is currently the CTO of the Hermes Group. If there is no accident, he may become the next generation of Hermes The head of the family.

After the initial pleasantries, William Chen will face many questions from the Hermes family. William Chen behaved very gracefully and decently, trying his best to express his goodwill and prevent the Hermes family from treating his joining as a threat.

"I appreciate Mr. Patrick and the Hermes family's management of the Hermes brand very much, which is why I want to invest in this company. Therefore, I need to declare that I have no intention of changing the influence of the Hermes family on this brand, even if I The final shareholding ratio is higher, and the acquisition of Hermès will only be completed formally, but in the operation of the company, the Hermès family will always be the mainstay to ensure the independence of the company, just like Gucci joined the development. Same as Cloud Group.”

"I'm not Mr. Arnault of the LVMH group, no, that's not my way of doing things, our situation is completely different, the LVMH group has too many brands, in order to maintain the consistency of the group, they will definitely change the brands they own. , if it is acquired by this company, it will be a disastrous thing for the brand family, but I am different, I have no intention of entering the luxury industry on a large scale. The acquisition of Hermès Group is entirely because of my love for this brand. I personally I will still mainly develop in the film and television media and the Internet industry, so you can rest assured that if you can learn more about my previous acquisitions, you will know that I always respect the rights of the founders to the company's management and will only use my resources to support them, not to interfere with them."

"I hope you don't see me as an intruder, but as the guardian of the Hermès family. Yes, even if I buy the Hermès group, the family will still have a say in the company's operations. In this regard, there will be no difference from now. Any change. The only thing that changes is that when the company encounters difficulties like the subprime mortgage crisis again, it can get more support from me. Not only in terms of funds, but also in the United States and the increasing consumption of luxury goods. Huaguo, an increasingly important market, I will use my resources to help the Hermès Group increase its influence and market share in these places."

"For these aspects, not only the United States and China, but also the broader global market, my entertainment media group and other companies invested in can be helpful to the Hermes Group. For example, in the Japanese market, I and the local giants Softbank has just reached a cooperation agreement. In the Chinese market, I am the largest shareholder of Ali, the monopoly e-commerce giant there. Not to mention in the United States. Not only in China, but in other parts of the world, my film and television media group has able to exert influence over consumers.”

Watching William Chen talking to the members of the Hermès family at the reception, Fan Bingbing's eyes were full of stars. Although she couldn't understand what the other party said in French, she saw those people's suspicion and concern from the beginning. With a slightly hostile expression, he seemed to be convinced later on. When he was talking, he could see people nodding from time to time, as if they agreed. She could already understand that some people had let go of their initial guard.

"How can you guarantee this? Mr. William, after all, we know that Bernard Arnault made such promises at the beginning of the acquisition of those brands, but after he took control of the company, he drove out the founding family company."

It was Axel Dumas, the current CTO of Hermès Group, who asked this question. His words also made many people vigilant again.

"Mr. Axel's question is very good. I know that even if I say something now, it will inevitably be unconvincing. In the final analysis, these things require the establishment of mutual trust between us, which requires us to get along later. When the sense of trust between us is established, these worries will disappear. Although in all my previous acquisitions, I have never had the kind of expulsion of the founding family like Mr. Arnault of LVMH Group behavior, but in order to leave a foundation of mutual trust between us, I can promise that my shareholding in Hermes will not exceed 50% of the relative holding line for the time being. possible."

"I believe that there are many family members who intend to enter other industries and also have the willingness to sell their holdings. Let me guarantee that before we complete mutual trust, my shareholding will account for a maximum of 48%. In this way, plus two The proportion of tradable shares in the primary market may be higher than that of the Hermes family, and the formal acquisition is completed, but in fact, the family can maintain control over the company and ensure the independence of the Hermes Group. When needed, it can Increase your stake."

(End of this chapter)