Return to 1958 and build a century-old giant

Chapter 861 Cashing Out Apple Stock

A counterintuitive economic phenomenon is that some goods are actually more expensive in poor countries.
KFC continues to open stores in Asia, though the density is not as high as in the United States, but the efficiency of each store is much higher. This is because KFC, which is an ordinary food in the United States, takes a high-end route in Asia.
Just like in the mainland in the past, being able to eat at KFC in the early days was a very high-end thing. Some rich people even held their weddings at KFC, which was a symbol of wealth. It wasn't until the economy took off that KFC and McDonald's gradually returned to their normal positioning.
However, for ordinary consumers, eating at chain restaurants like KFC and McDonald's is actually the healthiest option.
"Asian stores?" Sidney thought for a moment and said, "I know a little about this. After you acquired KFC, you also developed in Asia. But as far as I know, the main model you used in Asia was self-owned, right? Why not choose to franchise like in the United States?"

Yang Wendong shook his head and said, "Many people in Asia do business in a way that is more considerate than those in the United States. There are too many uncontrollable factors. Once a quality problem occurs, it can be fatal to the brand. So, I am the only one who is truly confident in Asia."

“But if that’s the case, the development speed will be too slow, which is a bit of a pity,” Sidney said. “Asia’s economy is currently developing quite well.”

Yang Wendong smiled and said, "You don't need to worry about that. Over the past ten years or so, the team in Asia has become very mature. I used to be the sole proprietor, so I bought properties and started developing."
However, with this round of financing, I will divest the property business and transfer it to a professional Asian real estate company in Hong Kong. This company will then work with KFC to expand on a large scale in the Asian market.

Companies that can go public are generally not related to their prophetic abilities; KFC is one of them, but their real estate business is positively correlated.
The Asian real estate market was on an upward trend before 97. Although the specifics are not clear, many Asian cities were vying for Hong Kong's status at the time, which shows that these cities had certain capabilities; by divesting real estate properties, the profits from that would belong to them.

Furthermore, if KFC retains its own properties, this model would become a burden after financing and listing. Now that McDonald's has also begun to internationalize and has even come to Hong Kong, divesting its properties is also necessary.

“That works too. A simple restaurant business is actually more in line with the needs of investors.” Sidney laughed. “I’m also optimistic about the real estate business in Asia, but KFC doesn’t need to get too involved. Just do its own thing.”

"Yes." Yang Wendong nodded;
Talented individuals like the CEO of Goldman Sachs are capable of foreseeing the future rise of the Asian economy; the current "Four Asian Tigers" are indeed very powerful.
They were definitely involved, so whether KFC was involved or not didn't really matter to them.

Sidney nodded and said, "Okay, about 10,000 stores in total, and a valuation of $12 billion is about right. However, I still need some basic financial data of KFC, like the financial statements of a typical listed company. Once we have that, we can take a closer look at the financial data, how about that?"

“Yes, I’ve already arranged for someone to prepare the relevant information, and it will be sent to Goldman Sachs tomorrow,” Yang Wendong agreed.

Since we're preparing for fundraising, we definitely need to provide the other party with the most basic financial data.

Once the other party is satisfied, a memorandum of understanding will be signed, defining responsibilities and obligations. Then, more detailed information can be reviewed, and the amount of financing and percentage will be discussed.
Furthermore, Goldman Sachs could not have been the only investor involved in the financing; whether it was Best Buy's IPO or KFC's financing, they would certainly have sought cooperation from multiple investment banks.

“Okay.” Sidney nodded, then added, “By the way, Eric, you previously commissioned Goldman Sachs to find car dealerships in Europe and America that were willing to sell. We have already found a small chain store for you in Germany.”

We contacted many other stores afterward, but they all said they had no intention of selling. However, we found a chain store in South America that is interested. What do you think?

"South America? Which country?" Yang Wendong asked back.

Sidney said, "Argentina and Brazil."

"I'm not considering it for now, but I'll keep in touch. Maybe in a few years I'll think about it," Yang Wendong replied after thinking for a moment.
In the eyes of many inland countries in the past, South America had a generally low level of economic development, except that it was good at football and had relatively developed agriculture.
Before the 70s, South America's economy was second only to Europe and America. After all, like the United States, it had a unique geographical location, did not participate in World War I and World War II, and even made some money from the wars. Although it was just picking up the scraps of the United States, it was enough.
However, as global trade was gradually driven by the United States, the emergence of containers allowed industrial products from Europe, the United States, and Japan to sweep the globe. South American industry, like that of Britain, relied on its internal greenhouse for development, and thus collapsed.
While the two oil crises did not directly impact South America, the US's massive interest rate hikes to suppress inflation caused a global capital outflow back to the US, forcing other countries to also raise interest rates significantly.

For decades, South America’s development has relied heavily on American capital due to its proximity to the United States. However, as too much American capital withdrew from the dollar, South America fell into a liquidity crisis and its foreign exchange reserves plummeted.

However, because of its strong financial foundation and ability to borrow money, it managed to survive from the 70s to the 80s until 1982 when Mexico became the first country to default on its debt, which triggered the economic collapse of South America.

The Falklands War between Argentina and Great Britain was essentially a gamble by Argentina after its economic collapse, an attempt to divert attention from domestic problems, which it ultimately lost.
That would be the best time for him to invest in South America. There were still many good projects in South America for him to invest in, especially agriculture and animal husbandry. In the 80s, there were still many lands with permanent ownership rights there, which were resources that could never be industrialized.

Of course, the South American market is also quite large, including the automotive industry, after all, it has a population of hundreds of millions.

Sidney nodded and said, "Okay, no problem."

He didn't care much. It's normal for many cross-border investments to take several years to negotiate because there are so many trade-offs involved.
On the contrary, those who act swiftly and decisively with clear objectives, like Yang Wendong, are exceptions. Such an approach would be very dangerous under normal circumstances, as it is easy to incur losses due to incomplete review.
Surprisingly, Yang Wendong's investments have yielded very high returns, even becoming part of courses on Wall Street and in American university MBA programs. This is one of the reasons why Goldman Sachs wanted to befriend Yang Wendong.

Yang Wendong continued, "Oh, right, there's one more thing. You know I bought a car company in England, right?"

“Of course I know,” Sidney said. “Are you planning to acquire other car companies?”

The oil crisis has indeed plunged many car companies into crisis, and now is indeed the best time to acquire them.

Yang Wendong said, "It's not a car company, but a truck or bus company. I'm planning to acquire one. Can you help me look around the world?"

What China needs most in the future is not cars, but trucks and buses, which are the real means of production; it's just that there weren't any very successful cooperation cases in the past, which made him forget about it in the early days.

I only remembered it during my last trip to the mainland;

“Okay, I’ll go find out,” Sidney agreed.
In the days following his meeting with Goldman Sachs, Yang Wendong visited several other top investment banks in the United States. This is one of the great things about Wall Street; it facilitates Yang Wendong's actions. He can get everything done in just a few days, and at the same time, he can build relationships with various investment banks, making it easier to utilize their resources and connections to expand his business empire.

After visiting six investment banks and reaching an agreement, Yang Wendong arrived in Los Angeles.

The first person I met was Huang Baitao, who is now in charge of financial business in Los Angeles;

"Hello, Mr. Yang," Huang Baitao said politely.

Yang Wendong said, "Bai Tao, Apple has been on the market for almost three months, right?"

Huang Baitao replied, "Yes, it will be three months in less than half a month."

“Alright, my agreement with Apple is that I can’t cash out the stock within three months. Now that time is almost up, so let’s prepare to gradually cash out,” Yang Wendong said in a deep voice.

Originally, he wanted to see if his butterfly effect could help Apple avoid the collapse of the mid-80s.
However, after Apple went public, internal problems began to emerge. Jobs' dictatorial and perfectionist personality clashed with the board of directors and even Wozniak. Externally, IBM had risen to prominence, and even Honor's computer company had gained a certain market share.
In this situation, it would be not good for him to be both the owner of a competing company and a major shareholder of Apple. Moreover, the future growth of Apple's stock is unlikely to be high, and his own butterfly effect could even cause problems for Apple prematurely.

In fact, he had roughly guessed that this day would come, so his main purpose in investing in Apple was economic investment, as well as to increase his reputation in the US financial market by leveraging the success of his investment in Apple.
Huang Baitao asked cautiously, "Mr. Yang, how much cash do you want to cash out?"

"Cash out everything, but do it slowly so as not to affect Apple's current market value," Yang Wendong replied.

Regardless, Apple still enjoys a good reputation. Even with many competitors attacking it, the market still has high hopes for it. Steve Jobs himself has appeared on the cover of Time magazine and was invited to the White House by the new president, Reagan. He is riding high.
Apple is unlikely to have any major problems in the next year, but those with some inside information will know something is wrong. In another two or three years, when the conflicts intensify and the market shrinks, it will be completely finished.

A year is enough time for me to sell it off.

Huang Baitao thought for a moment and said, "Mr. Yang, we still have a lot of shares. You are Apple's largest shareholder. According to US law, shareholders must inform the board of directors in advance before cashing out. In addition, every 5% reduction must be announced to the public."

"If we gradually cash out, the Apple board and Wall Street will soon find out that, given your current fame and status as the largest shareholder, you can definitely influence Apple's stock price."

After listening, Yang Wendong nodded and asked, "Then what do you think we should do?"

In the United States, unlike in Hong Kong, there are many restrictions on both acquiring and selling stocks, especially for shareholders holding a large share or directors and senior executives who are familiar with the company's operations.
This also helps to prevent insider trading, unlike in Hong Kong, where investors are often exploited at will.
Even in Hong Kong, Yang Wendong had never attempted to sell such a large proportion of his shares on the secondary market; he had primarily focused on acquisitions. In the US market, the difficulty would be even greater.

Huang Baitao said, "If you want to cash out safely, you can't do it on the stock market. Instead, you should choose a suitable buyer and make a large-scale transaction directly."

Transactions outside the secondary market do not affect stock prices or shareholders, so they are subject to very few restrictions.

A shareholder directly selling their shares to another company or individual does not affect the stock market itself; unless it involves very well-known people, such as Buffett and Soros in the previous life, their selling of a stock will cause the stock price to plummet, and their buying of a stock will cause the stock price to soar.

However, such personal fame cannot be restricted by law. People cannot be treated differently just because they are famous, as this does not conform to the principle of equality for all in the law. Regardless of whether everyone is truly equal, theoretically they should be.

“Okay, then spread the word that a major shareholder of Apple is interested in selling his shares and see who is willing to take them over.” Yang Wendong nodded and said, “Especially large labor union funds, pension institutions, etc., they have plenty of funds and are very likely to take them over.”

The largest fund companies in the United States are not Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley; they simply manage a large amount of assets, but these assets do not belong to them. On the other hand, many industry retirement funds and union funds truly hold billions or even tens of billions of dollars; they are extremely wealthy.

“Okay.” After Huang Baitao agreed, he asked, “Yang Sheng, no matter how we cash out, we can’t hide this from Apple. Should we tell them first?”

Yang Wendong said, "Yes, I do. Come with me to Apple tomorrow. I haven't seen Jobs and Wozniak in a long time."

"Yes, Mr. Yang," Huang Baitao replied.
The next day, Yang Wendong and Huang Baitao arrived at Apple, where Steve Jobs personally greeted them at the door and led them to his office.

This is a luxurious office that is almost a thousand square feet. It seems that Jobs has changed. But that's normal. When you're young and successful, very few people can stay the same.
There's a saying on the internet that if someone in their twenties makes a lot of money, it's often not a good thing, because they can't really control such a huge fortune. Steve Jobs' failure may also be related to his age and experience; his early success made him arrogant.

More than a decade later, in middle age, after experiencing too much betrayal and loss, he succeeded again, creating the era of the iPod and smartphones.
After exchanging pleasantries for a while, Yang Wendong also revealed the purpose of his trip.

Jobs was quite surprised: "Are you really going to sell all your Apple stock?"

PS: Please give me a monthly ticket
(End of this chapter)