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"Mr. Walter Reston, I am slightly interested in the Walmart you mentioned. If it is not too much trouble for you, it would be best if you could provide me with detailed information. It would also be best if you could give me the contact information of the person in charge!" Lin Haoran said with a smile.

In fact, he had already decided in his heart that he must not miss this opportunity to raise funds for Walmart.

Unexpectedly, not only did Citibank miss out on the investment in Apple, but they are actually planning to miss out on the investment in Walmart again?
"Of course no problem!" Walter Reston said, took out a folder from the bookshelf behind the desk, and handed it to Lin Haoran.

“This is all the information we have for investigating Walmart, and it already contains the contact information of Walmart’s founder, Mr. Sam Walton.

We spent a lot of effort to investigate Wal-Mart's information, but now that we have decided to give up investing in Wal-Mart, this information is naturally useless to us." Walter Reston then explained.

Lin Haoran nodded, took the folder, glanced through it, and then closed it.

"I'll go back and take a closer look. As for whether to finance it, I will seriously consider it. However, Mr. Walter Reston, I have a question. If you don't invest, will there be other consortiums that will invest in it?" Lin Haoran asked.

Walter Reston smiled and explained: "Mr. Lin can rest assured that Wal-Mart has no other investors yet.

Their founder, Mr. Sam Walton, is in New York right now. They are very much looking forward to Citibank investing in them. They have come to me several times in the past few days. Given their current situation, it is indeed difficult to find suitable investors. "

Lin Haoran finally felt relieved. This was good enough.

At this moment, he had no interest in staying here any longer.

However, Citibank provided him with a lot of help after all, so Lin Haoran chatted with Walter Reston for more than ten minutes before finally saying goodbye to him.

After leaving Citibank, Lin Haoran asked the driver to drive directly to the building where Huanyu Investment Company was located.

When he got to the office, he greeted Su Zhixue and then directly dialed Sam Walton's pager number.

There is no need to think too much about Walmart's financing.

After all, Walmart in later generations is the world's largest retail company.

But now, it is only the third largest retail company in the United States. As an ambitious retail company, it is obviously not satisfied with its current status. They want to go further and even compete for the position of leader.

Not long after, the phone rang.

"Hello, who is this?" An old man's voice came from the phone, and the other party asked with a hint of doubt.

"Mr. Sam Walton? I'm Lin Haoran. You may have heard of me recently as the guy who just sold his shares in Apple.

I learned from Mr. Walter Wriston, the chairman of Citibank, that you are seeking financing and are currently in New York. If it is not too much trouble for you, could you please visit the Universal Investment Company near Times Square?
I really hope to have a face-to-face communication with you." Lin Haoran politely and directly introduced himself and expressed his willingness, and finally told him the specific location of Huanyu Investment Company in detail.

"Mr. Lin? Okay, I'll be there right away. Please wait a moment, Mr. Lin, I'll be there in half an hour!" To Lin Haoran's surprise, the other party agreed without hesitation after learning the purpose of his visit, and there was a hint of excitement and urgency in his tone.

"Okay, I'll wait for you!" Lin Haoran said with a smile.

After hanging up the phone, Lin Haoran took out the folder he got back from Citibank and started reading it.

The detailed information of Walmart suddenly appeared in front of Lin Haoran.

As a US financial giant, Citibank's intelligence agency is naturally strong.

Therefore, the information they investigate is also very detailed and accurate.

In the 20s, the discount store industry in the United States began to enter a period of development.

Sam Walton's business philosophy is highly consistent with the business model of discount stores: purchasing large quantities of goods at low prices and selling them at preferential prices, while operating a diversified range of comprehensive merchandise with a business area far exceeding that of a grocery store.

With this philosophy in mind, he opened the first discount department store named "Walmart" in July 1962.

在1960年至1966年间，美国的折扣百货店经历了迅猛发展，数量从1960年的1329家激增到1966年的3503家，行业总额也从20亿美元跃升至150亿美元，实现了6.5倍的增长。

At the same time, traditional grocery store giants such as Kmart also opened its first discount store in 1962 and quickly expanded to 250 stores with total sales of $8 million in just five years.

However, Walmart in 1967 was still tiny by comparison, with just nine stores and total sales of $9 million.

Despite this, Sam did not stop expanding.

By 1970, the number of Walmart stores had grown to 38, with total sales reaching US$4429 million.

However, the rapid expansion also brought heavy financial pressure, forcing Sam to borrow millions of dollars. In order to ease the financial pressure, Walmart chose to go public in 1970.

In the mid-20s, the U.S. economy was in crisis and inflation was severe.

Against the backdrop of rising rent, interest and labor costs, the discount store industry is facing unprecedented challenges.

Large companies have been forced to slow down their market expansion due to rising costs.

However, Walmart, located in rural areas, has maintained an accelerated expansion momentum amid the industry's difficulties thanks to its smaller competitive pressure and lower cost advantages.

Although it seems to be expanding, Walmart has not made any profit in recent years and has even been making losses, because all the money it earned was used for expansion, and some of the expanded stores may not necessarily make money.

Therefore, the current situation of Walmart itself is actually not good, which is why Citibank is not optimistic about Walmart.

In addition, Walmart's current total market value is only 1.89 million US dollars. Although it is considered a large company in the U.S. stock market, its presence is not high.

Lin Haoran looked at the document carefully. It was very thick, with more than twenty pages.

Even at the end, there is Citibank's evaluation of Wal-Mart: "The assets are not high-quality, the competition is fierce, the strength is average, and the future development prospects are poor..."

If we look at Walmart's development over the past 20 years, it is indeed a very ordinary company.

If Lin Haoran didn't know that Walmart would become number one in the industry in the future, he would not be optimistic about Walmart just knowing this information.

But things are unpredictable. Who could have imagined that the unpopular Walmart would become the world's strongest retail company in the future!
Lin Haoran does own a supermarket chain, which is Wellcome Supermarket, a subsidiary of Dairy Farm International, a subsidiary of the Hong Kong Land Group.

However, if Wellcome Supermarket wants to enter the US market, it will not have much development in the future.

The reason is simple. The American market is inherently xenophobic, and coupled with interference from the local government, even if he allowed Wellcome Supermarket to enter the American market, it would not be able to achieve good results.

This is also the reason why he wants to invest in Walmart. Now he has already asked Su Zhixue to lead Huanyu Investment Company to secretly acquire shares in Walmart.

The data also shows that Walmart is seeking to issue an additional 10% of its shares and raise $1500 million.
In Lin Haoran's eyes, US$1500 million is not a lot of money. Even if converted into Hong Kong dollars, it is less than million Hong Kong dollars.

But for Walmart, this is a considerable amount of money.

In fact, as a retail company, Walmart has a considerable amount of cash flow every day.

But now Walmart itself is in debt every year. If it continues to increase its expansion efforts, its debt ratio will inevitably increase significantly.

This is also the reason why Walmart Chairman Sam Walton wants to raise funds, so that he can have enough funds to expand while reducing debt.

Moreover, Walmart is now facing a very big opportunity. Once Walmart seizes this opportunity, it will be very helpful to the company's development.

About twenty minutes later, the lady at the front desk led in a bald old man. Obviously, this man was Mr. Sam Walton, the founder and chairman of Walmart.

Lin Haoran stood up, walked forward with a smile and shook hands warmly with Mr. Sam Walton.

"Mr. Sam, it's great to meet you. I'm Lin Haoran." Lin Haoran introduced himself with a smile.

Mr. Sam Walton also showed a sincere smile: "Mr. Lin, of course I know you. I have heard of you for a long time. I am very grateful that you can take the time to meet me. This means a lot to Walmart."

After the two of them sat down, Lin Haoran signaled the receptionist who brought him over to pour a cup of hot coffee for Mr. Sam, and then went straight to the point.

"Mr. Sam, I believe you should know my purpose. I have carefully studied Walmart's information and I admire your company's business philosophy and business model. I believe that Walmart has huge development potential, especially in the current market environment." Lin Haoran said sincerely.

When Mr. Sam Walton heard this, a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes.

He is well aware that in the current economic crisis, many investors are pessimistic about the retail industry, which is why it is difficult for him to find suitable investors now.

Even in the stock market, investors have little interest in Walmart's stock.

Lin Haoran's affirmation undoubtedly gave him great confidence.

"Mr. Lin, your affirmation is very important to me. Wal-Mart has always been committed to providing consumers with high-quality and low-priced products. I believe that as long as we persist, we will be able to win the market." Mr. Sam Walton responded excitedly. (End of this chapter)