We are all reborn, who wants to be the richest man?

I stayed in Silicon Valley for another two days. In addition to exchanging my ideas with Calder, I also inspected a large number of talents.

These talents are not only Internet talents, but also a large number of semiconductor talents, all of whom are going to return to Hong Kong Island with Luo Nianzhong.

Fortunately, the Western economy is currently in recession, and the beautiful country is the first to bear the brunt, which is convenient for Luo Nianzhong.

Luo Nianzhong gave them a week. A week later, they will take a charter flight from San Francisco Airport to their unfamiliar Hong Kong Island.

Luck is such a thing. Sometimes I just want to pour rain. If heavy rain doesn't work, let alone Luo Nianzhong, who is naked.

This morning, Luo Nianzhong, who was sitting in the car and preparing to take a last look at the company, was attracted by a newly opened furniture store. What attracted him was not the simple opening ceremony and welfare activities, but the simple word above the store door.

HomeDepot. Many people are not familiar with this English name, but his Chinese name is very popular.

Home Depot, the world's third largest retailer in the future, and the world's largest home building materials retailer. Luo Nianzhong knew that this company was founded around the 80s, but he did not expect that there would be a store in Silicon Valley now.

"Mueller, stop at the newly opened store just now, let's go in and take a look."

After hearing Luo Nianzhong's instructions, Mueller just nodded, turned the car around and began to look for a nearby parking space.

The store is not big, with only four or five people working there, and the variety of items is not as large as it was later, but it has everything it needs.

Order, this was Luo Nianzhong's first impression of this store when he entered. It's as if there is an invisible big hand behind the scenes controlling the clerks here. They perform their duties and everything is arranged in an orderly manner.

Home Depot, a company dedicated to DIY furniture renovation. It allows users to choose decorative materials and furniture that they are satisfied with to build their own homes.

Some people may ask, what is so strange about this? When we decorate a house, don’t we all choose our own materials, furniture and appliances?

This is the surprise of thought. In Europe, the United States, and even most countries in the world, when building houses, there is no concept of rough houses.

Generally, when you buy a house, what you choose is actually its furniture and decoration style, which will be sold to you as part of your house price. As for the layout, in the eyes of Westerners, this is not very important, because the house is big enough and has everything it needs.

Why is this happening? Because houses are very cheap in most places, developers find that they cannot make much money, so they choose to contract decoration and furniture together. Furthermore, most people in Europe and the United States think that a house is just a place to sleep, as long as it looks comfortable, it is not that particular.

However, as living standards improve, people spend more and more time at home, and they begin to demand a more satisfactory environment and a more comfortable space. This has made Home Depot a giant in building materials and furniture.

And the most important point is that labor is too expensive.

"Hello, how can I help you? I am the owner of this store. If you need anything, you can tell me."

Luo Nianzhong didn't have to wait for a long time. A middle-aged man in his forties came to Luo Nianzhong and asked if he needed any help. The service was absolutely first-class.

Most retail stores won't respond to you if you don't ask them, and some people may not tell you even if you ask them.

boss? Luo Nianzhong noticed this word. Usually the first leader of a store would call himself the manager or person in charge. This title of boss made Luo Nianzhong think a lot.

"I would like to ask, do you own this store?"

The middle-aged uncle didn't expect Luo Nianzhong to ask such a question, but he still answered him. "Yeah, I created this with one of my co-workers, and we have other locations in Atlanta."

"What about him? Can I see him?"

The middle-aged uncle frowned. "Sorry, he is in charge of our head office in Atlanta, and I haven't heard him say that he has a young Oriental friend."

"You misunderstood. We are not friends. I don't have any ill intentions. I am just very interested in your store and want to meet the founder of this store."

After hearing what Luo Nianzhong said, he looked at the four Vajras behind him. The middle-aged uncle said uncertainly, "Do you want to invest or join?"

Luo Nianzhong didn't expect the other party to be so straightforward, and he didn't hide it, "If I think there are development prospects, I can invest in you."

"Sorry, we don't have the idea of ​​​​financing yet, and we are not lazy in business now, you know."

After saying that, the middle-aged man looked around at the number of customers in the store, and indicated to Luo Nianzhong that the store had a lot of traffic and was doing well.

"What about 100 million?"

"What?" The middle-aged man seemed not to hear.

"I mean 100 million, what if I invest 100 million?"

"Dollars?"

This time Luo Nianzhong did not speak, but looked at the other person with a smile.

The middle-aged man did the same. He looked at Luo Nianzhong for a long time, then wiped his hands on his work clothes and stretched out, "Sorry, I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Bernie Malcom, and I am one of the two founders of this store."

Luo Nianzhong knew from the change in the other person's attitude that the person in front of him was a smart person, "You can call me Luo."

To be honest, Luo Nianzhong was a bit bullying. He shouted out 100 million just to use his power to overwhelm others. The subtext is also telling the other party that if you don't let me buy shares, I will probably use 100 million to support other people to seize the market.

The change in Bernie's attitude made Luo Nianzhong know that the other person was a smart person.

As Bernie came to his office and looked at the various items neatly stacked around him, Luo Nianzhong thought it would be more appropriate to call it a warehouse.

"Sorry, the conditions are simple and there is nothing to entertain." Bernie brought a cup of coffee to Luo Nianzhong. As he said this, he didn't look inferior or embarrassed at all.

"It doesn't matter, I'm not a very particular person." As if to verify that his words were true, Luo Nianzhong took the coffee and sat on a pile of packaged building materials, not caring whether his valuable pants would get dirty.

Luo Nianzhong didn't know that his action had gained Bernie's favor.

"I just heard you say that your main store is in Atlanta. I don't know how many stores you have now."

"Two families". Bernie answered simply.

"You must be wondering, since there are only two stores, why did you choose such a place to open a second store? The two stores are so far apart from each other. From a strategic point of view, the decision-makers are like idiots."

Seeing Luo Nianzhong motioning for him to continue, Bernie took a sip of coffee and said, "Our main store in Atlanta was very successful and the profits were good. We thought this was the right path, so the second store was put on the agenda.

We don’t have the capital in big cities like New York and Los Angeles, and the small cities near Atlanta are not big enough for us to quickly accumulate capital for expansion.”

"It's different here. The rent is relatively cheap and the operating costs are not high. But most of the people here are middle-class people who are exposed to new things and have a lot of personality.

Their philosophy is a natural match with ours, so we made a decision that was not a good one in terms of corporate development and management. Now it seems we made the right bet.”

"I think you are being modest. Your head office in Atlanta is not successful but very successful, isn't it?"

Only when they successfully spread to surrounding cities, the two of them dared to come to the west to open up wasteland and fear the emergence of competitors, which was also a manifestation of hungry marketing.

"One hundred million, I didn't lie to you, I am very optimistic about your model."

Bernie was not happy. After thinking for a while, he said, "To be honest, we don't need such a large amount of funds, or we don't need it now."

"I understand what you mean. You are afraid of losing control and too much equity. But it is undeniable that this capital will allow you to develop rapidly and establish a company covering most cities in the beautiful country."

Seeing that Bernie was silent, Luo Nianzhong continued to add, "And my voting rights can be handed over to you, as long as you are still the managers of this company. I am very optimistic that you can lead this company to take off and create your own glory." ".

Bernie was moved by this promise. They definitely needed financing, but in order not to lose control, they had to do it step by step. Now that Luo Nianzhong has given them an offer they can't refuse, what else is there to say?

The two chatted in some more details. Bernie called his partner Arthur Blanco in Atlanta and told him in detail what happened here.

Arthur did not refuse and said he would take the fastest plane to meet Luo Nianzhong.

Arthur's arrival forced Luo Nianzhong to stay in Yuanjing City for two more days. The talks between the two parties were pretty good, but they could no longer raise funds and should rather be said to be acquisitions.

Luo Nianzhong spent US$3000 million to acquire 90% of the shares of this giant with a future market value of over US$ billion. This investment made him extremely satisfied.

Bernie and Arthur were also very happy. They felt that Luo Nianzhong's generosity gave them a big advantage.

Let alone 1000 million U.S. dollars for the existing two stores, even if they cost 100 million U.S. dollars, no one may take over.

As for the founder's lack of shares, Luo Nianzhong also thought about it. He promised that the company's listing would give them a total of 5% equity incentives. In the future, the two of them can get up to 10% of the shares, but the remaining 5% must be purchased with the current market value.

Luo Nianzhong had no choice. You can't give too little, right? Believe it or not, it won't be long before the two of them run away and start a new business?

Now that Luo Nianzhong has invested US$100 million in cash, there is no need to raise funds before Home Depot goes public. Even if it develops normally, the two of them will almost have these shares left when Home Depot goes public.

Luo Nianzhong had never thought about setting up the same industry on his own to compete with others.

Home Depot needs to rely on the beautiful country's market. It is not easy for a foreign or Asian capital to become big here. Even now, the shares in Luo Nianzhong's hands will be shared when the time is right in exchange for the benefits he needs.

What he really values ​​about Home Depot is not its future market value, but that it is a personnel-intensive enterprise.

In the United States, a country with an electoral system, this huge voting power is Luo Nianzhong's influence.