Almighty painter

Chapter 394 Astronomical Offer (Thanks to RocketRobot’s Alliance Leader)

“The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter. (One of the most effective weapons of mankind is laughter.)”

Ole von Kruger put the last piece of pigeon meat and thyme dumpling on the plate into his mouth in a graceful manner and chewed it slowly, "This is the first lesson I taught when I was taking a business negotiation class at the University of Pennsylvania. , walked into the classroom and wrote a sentence on the blackboard with chalk. I heard it seemed to be said by Mark Twain."

"He said a smile is a great weapon that disarms people."

Aole took a sip of his wine and showed an equally great smile, "Yang, do you know the best thing about it?"

"for free?"

Lao Yang hung up the phone, sat across from him in a dignified manner, scratched his chin casually, and responded with Yang's stingy nature.

"The answer is Free. Wow, it hits the target."

"Has anyone ever told you that you would have a bright future as a banker?" Ole said with amazement, "I rarely see such rich layers on a person's face. His smile, to be honest, makes me a little panicked."

"When I saw you answering the phone just now, I was thinking about the person who can make Master Cao Xuan's most trusted personal assistant smile like this. Either he is very important to you, or his status is very noble, Yang , can you tell me what the situation is?" Ole asked curiously.

"Just a funny guy."

Lao Yang replied vaguely, pulling down the corners of his mouth forcefully, "Mr. Kruger, I think I smiled brightly at you."

He bared his teeth at the unopened champagne bottle in the barrel next to him, and looked at his twisted smile rippling on the honey-colored glass, and held it there for a few seconds.

Lao Yang nodded and commented to himself: "It's really brilliant. If I smile any more, my face will cramp up."

"Just call me Ole."

"That's different. Yang, since we sat on both sides of the table, you have never been completely sincere." Oler was tired of the other party's soft-spoken and indifferent attitude.

His patience finally ran out.

"If you hadn't just spoken in Chinese, I couldn't help but guess that it would have been an olive branch from the Elena family on the phone."

Ole shrugged, and he was going to change his approach and get straight to the point. "After all, this time and occasion is very special. Both of us should be looking forward to reaching a result, right?"

"It was Dom Pérignon 1988. Very good vintage, very good wine."

Ole saw Lao Yang's dazed expression staring at the letters on the bottle with interest, and said casually: "During my coming-of-age ceremony, my father specially gave me a batch. You know, he is usually stingy in life, so A standard stereotype of a traditional Prussian banker. One Christmas, he only gave each of our children a $50 apple gift certificate. And a bottle of this kind of wine costs $15000."

"It's so expensive, it's a robbery." Lao Yang stared at the wine bottle on the table and sniffed hard.

Oler took out the bottle from the champagne bucket on the side and put it on the table. "It is very expensive. It was born for big occasions. The fact that I brought it here today means that I really want to bring it to you." Fire it off. I have always come here with full sincerity, but Yang, with all due respect, I have never felt enough respect from you."

"You guy, why are you spouting nonsense? You're not honest. I answered your call and hurried over to eat. I didn't even send Mr. Cao to the hotel. You're sincere enough."

Lao Yang yelled in dissatisfaction, with that aggrieved expression on his face, as if all his sincerity had been misreceived by the blond heartless man in front of him.

"$3 million, 3000% stake."

The smile disappeared from Ole's face.

He looked directly into the eyes of Assistant Cao Xuan opposite him, supported the table with both hands, and leaned forward, hoping to put pressure on the other party to negotiate. "Such conditions are anything but respectful and sincere."

"$3 million, do you know how much this is? This can directly buy the street under our feet. No painter has ever received a signing fee of this figure, from the Stone Age to today. , Leonardo da Vinci has not won it, and neither has Picasso. This is an outrageous number. Mr. Cao Xuan’s appetite must be too big.”

Oil Painting magazine has big news to announce tomorrow.

They would like to announce by the way that Cao Xuan will be included in the magazine's future development plan. At least the two parties have reached a preliminary cooperation intention.

Yes.

Not a gallery.

Instead, a magazine and an art fund signed one of the most important painters in the world. This is almost a ground-breaking cooperation.

but.

If the news is not explosive enough, how can we light a fire for the already-taken-off Oil Painting magazine and attract media attention from all over the world?

What they originally wanted to do was to do earth-shattering things and make earth-shattering money.

I thought it was a win-win situation.

As a result, the negotiations during this period were not smooth.

The other party didn't refuse, and asked for a signing fee of several hundred million dollars, plus 10% of the magazine's shares.

Although for such a large deal, there are definitely many cooperation details that require negotiation and polishing by the brokerage teams on both sides. But with these two main conditions alone, if Cao Xuan doesn't relent, "Oil Painting" will already feel that there is no need to continue in-depth negotiations.

This is really a dare to speak.

The signing fee alone is almost equal to the total price of all the works of Yayoi Kusama's career combined.

When Ole saw this condition, he was almost crazy.

After having such a long non-nutritious conversation, Oler felt that he had not put the mustard on Assistant Yang's face, which was quite a good self-discipline.

However, Lao Yang was still smiling.

That kind of warm, bright smile with exposed teeth and vegetables that makes people want to punch it. He is the kind of person who would show exaggerated exclamation when faced with a bottle of Champagne King.

When it comes to business negotiations, I chew on figures of hundreds of millions of dollars, but I downplay them as if I'm facing the Happy Beans of Landlords.

It can be considered a rare spectacle.

"That's because Leonardo da Vinci didn't live to this day, and Picasso has caught up with the booming art market today. It's not that they are not worth the money. Otherwise, if you want to sign Picasso today, we won't do it if you don't have a billion." Just open your mouth. It’s only 3 million US dollars. A banker like Mr. Kruger can just show some sand in his fingertips. Your old private bank can easily have tens of billions or hundreds of billions of dollars in savings.”

Lao Yang picked the vegetable leaves between his teeth with a toothpick and commented: "Sprinkle some water."

"Saving money is saving money, the Kruger family's money is the Kruger family's money, and the funds of Oil Painting magazine are the funds of Oil Painting magazine. The three are not the same thing at all."

Oller was too lazy to spread financial knowledge with this guy, and his tone was irritated.

"Even if Buffett is here, believe me, 3 million US dollars is not something that can be easily revealed from under the nails. If Mr. Cao has such a big appetite, he might as well ask for billion US dollars. He can even ask for the entire earth. , anyway, these are impossible negotiations." He said sarcastically.

"You can't give me the earth, and Mr. Cao can't take three billion US dollars."

"But 3 million is different. We all know in our hearts that this is possible. Is this a lot of money? Although few people in the industry can get such a contract, in fact, Hearst can already do it in just two auctions. It was sold for this amount 20 years ago. Andy Warhol, Picasso, it was just two or three paintings."

"You are longing for Mr. Cao to be your savior and cash cow. And this money can only buy half of the face of "The Savior". You are really conscientious." Lao Yang is still as lazy as ever. look.

"It's just a win-win cooperation. If Cao Xuan is not chosen, we will have someone else to replace him. This is his loss. "Oil Painting" does not need any savior, and no one can be a savior for "Oil Painting". Everyone with a right mind Investors all know that the rise of oil painting is unstoppable."

Oller's tone was cold: "On the contrary, the Elena family is a broken ship with patchwork and leaks everywhere. There is even a vote on Reddit, cousin Anna or Princess Leonor, who is more miserable. I am willing to vote for Anna. , although Princess Leonor can barely be regarded as my distant cousin in terms of blood relationship, I am still theoretically one of the top 100 royal heirs in Spain."

Princess Leonor is the next generation queen of Spain, but the reason why she has attracted so much attention on the Internet is that compared to her relatives such as the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Norway, and Sweden, Spain is probably the most precarious European constitutional monarchy.

Maybe wait until this princess grows up.

Suddenly, I found that the parliament began to turn its back on the republic, and the throne of the family was simply gone.

The Spanish royal family itself is objectively one of the poorest and least powerful royal families in Europe. Even if the throne is gone, it is more of an honorary status. Moreover, the royal family has gone through several thrilling crisis moments in the past 12 years.

And Anna seems to have lost the "crown" of "Oil Painting" that has been passed down from generation to generation in her family. It has become a foregone conclusion to lose their right to speak in the art field and the transcendent status created by their ancestors.

She even lost her seat on the board of directors.

"Believe me, even so, I don't think the Elena family has the ability to spend the same amount of money to sign Mr. Cao. Even if they have the money, there is no need."

"Oil Painting magazine can have a chemical reaction with the IP of Cao Xuan and create mutually beneficial value. What is Cousin Anna doing by signing Cao Xuan? She can't drag Mr. Cao to create a Chinese Painting magazine. I can't think of anything. Enough profit points.”

Ole analyzed the current situation in a simple and in-depth way for Lao Yang and clarified the reality, hoping that they could understand the current situation.

"That's absolutely right. That's why I came to meet you first."

Lao Yang kept nodding his head and said, "Come on, young man, I'm very optimistic about you." "I'll make an appointment for afternoon tea with Miss Elena's representative after dinner. You should take it seriously."

"The Irina family is also in contact with Mr. Cao? They have met Mr. Cao." Aole was stunned for a moment.

"Who wouldn't want to try to talk about this unclear matter, Mr. Cao is so popular? Don't worry, Mr. Cao is concentrating on preparing for the annual meeting. He has been tired for the past two days and doesn't want to see anyone. Do you want to see him? Even Miss Elena can’t see you. You are negotiating with me, and Miss Elena’s secretary Elliot is also negotiating with me. The two parties are negotiations between assistants, which is very fair."

"If Mr. Kruger nods on behalf of Sir Brown, I will reject Miss Elena's invitation on the spot. No, call now and announce that Mr. Cao has reached a cooperation with you."

Lao Yang put his mobile phone on the dining table and confidently patted his chest.

Oler was a little annoyed. He wanted to say that he was the director who executed the equity in Oil Painting magazine for Kruger Bank.

We have an equal partnership with Sir Brown, not an errand boy like the other party's assistant.

However, the topic had already reached the key point, and he couldn't care about it anymore.

"Two hundred million US dollars, 2% of the shares, with a few decimal points that can be negotiated later. This is a real bottom price, and it is also an unprecedented price. If you think it is okay, we will immediately connect the remaining details. , if the speed is fast, the first version of the draft cooperation intention can be produced before the opening of the annual meeting. We can announce this news to the world the day after tomorrow. "

"Look, Mr. Kruger, we are back to the original point of the topic. We both have different perceptions of Cao Xuan's value, so the price is not on the same baseline at all."

Lao Yang also slowly faded the smile on his face.

"You said Cao Xuan is not irreplaceable, but I think Mr. Cao is irreplaceable. Who can you invite to replace Cao Xuan? Should you sign Yayoi Kusama, or bring Damian Hirst back? Push it up?"

"why not?"

"Yang, "Oil Painting" magazine needs a landmark painter. He will also become the leader of the future art world. But there is always only one leader, and "Oil Painting" only needs one. We hope that this candidate is Cao Xuan, but It doesn’t have to be Cao Xuan.” Aole said calmly.

"The price you are asking for is enough to impress any living painter in the world. None of these painters have a lower or even higher artistic status than Cao Xuan. I believe their management team will be very interested in contacting us. . In other words, at this moment, contact is taking place all over the world——"

"Haha, art status and market price are always two different things. I don't mean to disrespect masters like Yayoi Kusama, but who among them can replace Mr. Cao's position in the Eastern Xia art market?"

Lao Yang directly interrupted Oler.

"We are talking about the second largest art trading market in the world, a huge market measured in tens of billions of dollars every year."

[Thanks to the leader, I am really busy at the end of the year. I may have to take leave recently, so I will think of a way and try my best to find time to add an update. Thank you again. But I really can’t guarantee the specific time, so I don’t dare to promise it here, sorry for that. 】

(End of this chapter)