Rebirth Tokyo 1986

Chapter 448 The game eliminated a large number of disasters

With the rescue and support of Xinghai Group, Shanyi Securities was able to change its fate of bankruptcy and closure.

Other financial institutions were not so lucky.

In particular, with the attacks by international speculative capital such as Soros on countries like Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, and Indonesia, Japanese financial institutions that were too deeply involved collapsed one after another.

The most sensational event was undoubtedly the collapse of the Hokkaido Takushoku Bank.

This was the only major bank in Japan to go bankrupt after World War II.

However, compared to its previous life, the Japanese financial sector is already quite fortunate.

Although Takushoku Bank is a large bank in Japan, its business is limited to the Hokkaido area, and its domestic and international influence is nowhere near that of Yamaichi Securities.

"President, can we clean up this mess now?"

Hiroaki Kobayashi is sharpening his knives, hoping to acquire stakes in several large lifestyle companies in Southeast Asia and South Korea.

Yes, as the group of speculative investors following Soros continues to grow.

Currently in East and Southeast Asia, only China and Japan, along with Hong Kong which has received Chinese aid, have not yet fallen. The foreign exchange markets of other countries and regions have experienced some degree of decline.

Of course, the severity of currency market declines varies among countries and regions.

Singapore and Taiwan, two of the Four Asian Tigers, saw their currency markets decline by only a dozen percentage points. However, the other four Asian Tigers, led by Malaysia, fared much worse, with none falling below 30%.

Although South Korea is also one of the Four Asian Tigers, it has followed a similar path to Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, and has taken on a large amount of dollar-denominated debt.

And like Thailand, most of the money borrowed by South Korea is short-term loans.

The amount of this loan appears to be as high as over $600 million, but South Korea's foreign exchange reserves are only over $300 billion.

The country's money was insufficient to repay its loans, and it was naturally crushed by the financial crisis, causing the value of the Korean won to plummet.

If it were just the foreign exchange market, the impact wouldn't be so significant. What's more serious is that the stock market also plummeted along with the foreign exchange market.

Soon, the large company that once treated money like dirt and desperately borrowed from banks was on the verge of bankruptcy because it was insolvent and unable to repay its debts.

Among these, Kia Motors Group should be the most affected.

This is the eighth largest conglomerate in South Korea, which was directly brought to bankruptcy by the financial crisis.

It can only be said that South Korean companies have been spoiled by the government.

When the financial crisis broke out, the average debt ratio of conglomerates was over 400%.

The lower-end Samsung has 370%, while the higher-end Hyundai exceeds 570%.

It is safe to say that no other country would so enthusiastically support its domestic companies in expanding and developing through such a high degree of debt.

The bankrupt Kia Group also had extremely serious debt problems, yet it still made large-scale investments in more than a dozen large car factories at the same time.

The world's top two automakers, Volkswagen Group and Toyota Group, wouldn't dare to do this.

Now that the government is out of money and can't support the unlimited expansion of enterprises, Kia, which has been recklessly spending money, can only accept bankruptcy.

And this is just the beginning.

Next, international speculative capital led by Soros will repeatedly clean up East Asian and Southeast Asian markets outside of China and Japan.

Even the top three giants in South Korea will go bankrupt and collapse by then.

Japan has too many investments in Southeast Asia and South Korea, which have been severely affected, with many companies forced to go bankrupt.

The other side of the sea was also affected, leading to a situation that everyone understands.

To put it bluntly, the Asian financial crisis really reshaped the entire Asia, and even countries and regions in better situations still suffered heavy losses.

"No rush, speculative funds won't withdraw so easily. Let's talk about it next year."

Xinghai Group's early entry would not only incur greater costs but also risk offending Wall Street capital groups, making it completely unnecessary.

Instead of wasting this time, it would be better to continue refining the company's equity investment or acquisition plans.

"By the way, how's our new chocolate marketing plan going?"

"The results are fantastic. This year, our company's chocolate sales will rank among the top five in Japan."

When chocolate is mentioned, Hiroaki Kobayashi feels an even stronger sense of admiration for his chairman.

Unexpectedly, simply incorporating flavors like apple and strawberry into chocolate propelled their brand from the bottom of the pack to the top five.

As for China, Hiroaki Kobayashi did not pay much attention to it.

The economic gap between the two countries is too large; even if Xinghai Life's chocolate brand becomes the third largest in China, it won't make much money.

On the contrary, the various flavors of White Rabbit milk candy filled the gap left by Alpenliebe in the previous life, becoming the number one selling candy brand in China and making a lot of money for Xinghai Group in China.

Furthermore, Xinghai Group has expanded its reach beyond China, leveraging channels such as Walmart to promote White Rabbit candy overseas.

Sales skyrocketed, making it one of the top five candy companies in the US and one of the top five in the world.

This year alone, sales are expected to exceed $20 billion, with a net profit of $3 million.

"Great. Now that it has proven successful in Japan, have you expanded it to other markets?"

Fruit-flavored chocolate represents a groundbreaking innovation in the chocolate industry.

Not only Japan, but other countries also have no competitors.

Xinghai Foods needs to seize the time and quickly capture the global market.

"Yes, it's currently developing best in China, and other Asian countries are also doing well. European and American countries are just beginning to make their moves."

"Yes, then we need to speed things up. The barrier to imitation for food products is very low."

"Yes, Chairman, I will speed up the factory layout."

After discussing chocolate and candy, Masato Takeshita steered the conversation to snacks.

"We also need to innovate with more flavors for things like potato chips and shrimp crackers. Since people can accept all kinds of chocolate flavors, they can naturally accept all kinds of flavors for snack foods as well."

"Don't worry, Chairman! Not only snacks, but we also produce large quantities of different flavors of our soft drinks and juices."

Having already experienced the benefits of multi-flavored foods, Hiroaki Kobayashi naturally continues to develop related fields.

The variety of strange and unusual flavors has even earned Xinghai Foods the nickname of the Doraemon of the food industry.

Even many Japanese people have formed the impression in their minds that Seikai Foods has an endless variety of flavors.

There's no flavor that Xinghai Foods can't make, only things you can't imagine.

Of course, this refers to the normal flavor.

Xinghai Foods doesn't offer those overly bizarre or extreme flavors, such as canned herring flavor.

"not bad!"

Takeshita Masato nodded in admiration, then changed the subject with a smile, steer the conversation toward channel development.

“Our sales channels in Japan are still too weak, making us vulnerable to being held hostage by retailers.”

"In that case, you should first gather all kinds of information about Darong Supermarket and prepare for the acquisition of Lawson convenience stores."

711-Eleven is Japan's largest convenience store chain and will soon become Japan's number one retailer.

However, Xinghai Group cannot get involved with this company in the short term.

As a second choice, Lawson, another of the three major convenience store companies, came into the view of young people.

Although this subsidiary of Daiei Supermarket has fewer stores in the Kanto region, it has already established a dominant position in the Kansai region.

After the acquisition, Xinghai Group will be able to immediately gain sufficient influence in the Japanese retail industry for its own food company.

"Rosen is indeed a good target."

Hiroaki Kobayashi was thrilled because he realized that Xinghai Foods could indeed easily acquire Lawson convenience stores. It wasn't that Xinghai Foods was too powerful, but rather that Lawson's parent company, Daiei Supermarket, was on the verge of bankruptcy.

If they can sell Lawson and recoup some of the funds to save themselves, Da Rong Supermarket would be happy to do so.

Daiei Supermarket is considered a legend in the Japanese retail industry.

In its early years, Daiei Supermarket quickly surpassed Mitsukoshi Department Store to become the number one retailer in Japan, thanks to its low-priced goods.

But by the 1990s, Darong Supermarket had lost its magic weapon of low prices.

Not only is the company's decor outdated, but the prices of its goods are also higher than those of other discount supermarkets.

However, this was not the most critical issue. The most critical issue was that Daiei Supermarket continued to expand aggressively by borrowing money during the 1990s, when Japan's economy was in a slump.

Now things are going badly; the Asian financial crisis hit, and the company's profits aren't enough to pay off its short-term loans.

In this situation, the only option is to continue borrowing money from banks and then continue the cycle of borrowing old money to repay new money.

But banks are continuing to tighten credit; let alone loans, not even asking you to repay early is already considered merciful.

Unable to secure loans, Darong Supermarket naturally had to sell assets to save its core supermarket business.

And so, the opportunity to live in Xinghai came.

"Yes, hurry up, we're not the only company that wants Lawson."

Those with foresight can easily see the growth of convenience stores in Japan.

As one of the top three convenience store groups in Japan, Lawson naturally attracts many investors to buy its products.

If Xinghai Life hesitates even slightly, it may be snatched away by large conglomerates such as Mitsubishi.

"I understand, and I will persuade the management of Da Rong and Lawson as soon as possible."

"Yes, that's good to have confidence."

In addition to convenience, Masato Takeshita also wants to enter the high-end department store industry in Japan.

"Take advantage of this economic crisis and find another opportunity to acquire a few well-known department stores."

"We need to have both mid-to-low-end products and high-end retail products."

Masato Takeshita's biggest craving was for Mitsukoshi Department Store, a national brand in Japan, but this department store was originally the company of the Mitsui zaibatsu.

Let alone selling, even if other Japanese companies make large-scale investments, they will be warned by Mitsui.

Masato Takeshita had no choice but to settle for second best and acquire several established department stores, then compete with Mitsukoshi Department Store through mergers and reorganizations.

They don't seek to surpass Mitsukoshi Department Store; they only hope to use this publicity stunt to become a high-end retail company comparable to Mitsukoshi Department Store.

"Yes, President!"

Hiroaki Kobayashi was full of energy at this moment because he had gained far more than he had expected from this trip.

Although he was somewhat disappointed that he couldn't enter the Southeast Asian and South Korean markets, he was able to launch a new round of expansion in Japan, so Southeast Asia and South Korea were no longer so important.

All the other countries in Asia combined did not have a market as large as Japan's at that time.

After Hiroaki Kobayashi left excitedly, Masato Takeshita met with Kenji Ono, the president of Seikai Telecommunications.

"Sit down and have some tea."

"Okay, thank you, Chairman."

Kenji Ono smiled as he accepted the tea offered by his chairman and took relaxed sips.

He really liked his company's chairman, unlike other companies which had a strict hierarchy.

The two chatted over tea for about five minutes before the young man finally got down to business.

"When the economy is in a downturn, people tend to prefer inexpensive ways to travel."

"Xinghai Internet Cafe needs to expand in East Asia and Southeast Asia to meet people's entertainment needs."

The period when internet cafes experienced the fastest growth was definitely during the economic crisis.

Since everyone is broke and can't travel far, they can only watch movies and surf the internet.

In addition, governments around the world have been very supportive of internet cafes during the economic crisis.

The most typical example is South Korea, which vigorously promotes the development of the internet cafe industry in order to prevent unemployed youth from impacting society.

Not only will they offer many preferential policies for establishing internet cafes, but they will also provide StarCraft games to internet cafes free of charge in the future.

In addition, television stations and other media outlets are constantly encouraging young people to play games in internet cafes.

The sole purpose is to get unemployed youth addicted to games, thus preventing more serious social unrest.

The foundation for the development of esports in South Korea was laid at this time.

"Understood. How much expansion do we need?"

"Expanding by 50% in Southeast Asia, 200% in South Korea, and 100% in Japan."

South Korea has the best policies, so Xinghai Internet Cafe naturally expands the most.

Southeast Asia is generally poor, and too much expansion could lead to indigestion.

As for Japan, it was more or less the same, with double the amount being more than enough.

"Yes, President!"

Kenji Ono was delighted that his company's most profitable business would grow even larger.

Since internet cafes are expanding, the corresponding games must also be developed.

This time, he brought Kalinsky to Starsea Games, preparing for a new round of expansion in the gaming field.

"Suzuhara-san, Seikai Games needs to expand its leading position in the PC game market."

"After a brief discussion, Kalinskisan and I decided to acquire Activision and Blizzard in the United States."

Activision and Blizzard were not originally one company. They only merged in 2008 after both companies were acquired by Vivendi.

From then on, Blizzard games gradually became mediocre. They were not only overshadowed by Activision, which they had once looked down upon, but also surpassed by the newly established mobile game company, King.

When Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard, it even admitted that the company valued the Call of Duty series and Candy Crush Saga, a representative of match-3 games, the most.

As for the blizzard, it has become nothing more than a roadside obscure scene.

This is the perfect time for Starsea Group to acquire Blizzard Entertainment.

First, the company that acquired Blizzard engaged in fraudulent activities and has been forced to sell Blizzard to pay off its debts.

Second, StarCraft, the game that made Blizzard Entertainment famous, is still in the development stage.

The cost of Starsea Games is far lower than what will happen after March next year.

"Understood. How much?"

"Blizzard is in a hurry. The company's bottom line is $6 million, and it would be best to complete the negotiations this year."

"Actinopia, no rush, we can take it slow."

After StarCraft, Blizzard games will be at their peak.

Even so, the price was only $8 million. At that time, StarCraft had not yet been released, and the $6 million price was already a premium acquisition.

"Yes, understand!"

Despite the tight schedule, Tetsuya Suzuhara remained confident. He looked down on PC games and didn't think acquiring Blizzard Entertainment would be difficult.

(End of this chapter)