game trailblazer

Chapter 338 Futile Resistance
Just as Terry Gilliam hung up angrily and he called the unlucky agent Jim Toth, at the same time, Zhang Lexing's car was not far from the Pennsylvania Hotel, but this distance is not a minute or two. Because he was stuck in a traffic jam again.

I don't know if it was luck or what happened. Zhang Lexing, who had been to New York several times in the past, had never encountered a traffic jam. As for the car he was riding on the road for an hour and still hasn’t arrived at the actual Pennsylvania Hotel, which is only 15 minutes away, if he wasn’t worried about the ubiquitous “paparazzi”, he even considered whether to walk there.

Looking at the endless car queues, Zhang Lexing sighed and thought, "If I knew this, I might as well get a helicopter to come over..."

Three minutes later, the fifteenth floor of the Pennsylvania Hotel...

Thomas Kalinske put down the phone in his hand and said to Mai Jiajun, "Mr. Zhang may not be here for a while."

"Oh, it shouldn't be too far from the airport." Mai Jiajun asked puzzledly as he put down the teacup in his hand.

"Mr. Zhang is stuck in a traffic jam, and it's the kind that won't be resolved for a while." Thomas Kalinske said with a smile. When he just heard the news on the phone, he still felt a sense of relief. This may be because no one likes being stared at by the boss.

"Heh~" Mai Jiajun smiled wryly, today is really a wonderful day...

After 5 minutes, Thomas Kalinske's cell phone rang. He picked up the cell phone and put it to his ear. After saying a few words, his expression changed, and a relieved smile appeared on his face.Mai Jiajun noticed the change in Thomas Kalinske's face, and then a relaxed smile appeared on his face.

When Thomas Kalinske hung up the phone, Mai Jiajun called out and asked, "Hi, Tom, is there any good news?"

"That's right!" Thomas Kalinske shook his phone and said happily: "Dean Acheson has settled the deal, and we have got enough chips now."

"Very good," Mai Jiajun stood up, clapped his hands, and shouted to the staff sitting in front of the computer: "Guys, we can start now and start buying in large quantities!"

"OK!" The staff members agreed, and began to quickly operate on the computer, and occasionally said something to the connected phone, and the luxury suite suddenly became extremely busy.

……

Boring playing the Snake game on his mobile phone, Zhang Lexing missed the convenience of the era of the great development of smart phones. At this time, let alone using the mobile phone to surf the Internet, even playing games on the mobile phone is extremely simple. In this "Snake "In the years when games are considered exquisite, how high can he still have expectations for mobile games? Perhaps in a year or two, the situation will be better, but for the time being, it can only be mixed between monochrome and black and white. Time, just like the early days of computer games, the only advantage is that the battery life is still relatively long.

Let alone the mobile phone now, even a handheld computer with slightly stronger performance is not much worse. There is no better game to play. To be honest, Zhang Lexing thinks it is not as interesting as a GameBoyColor.Unfortunately, limited by the performance of the current portable devices, no matter how great his resentment is, he can only wait slowly.

The car that was moving forward slowly stopped again. Zhang Lexing looked out through the car window, and there was still a car line that could not be seen at a glance, but the legendary Pennsylvania Hotel was still missing, which made him try to walk The idea of ​​going was once again shattered.

Newport Avenue, Pawtucket, Rhode Island…

Half an hour ago, CEO Al Verikhal decisively issued an order to use part of the company's reserves to intervene. With tens of millions of dollars invested in the stock market, Hasbro's stock price miraculously stabilized. Just 5 minutes ago, there was even a rebound phenomenon. Although the recovery speed was very slow and occasionally repeated, Al Verikchar felt that his countermeasures still worked. At least This is a good beginning.

"Okay, let's continue to discuss the next action plan!" Al Verikchar, who received the good news, was in a good mood. He tapped the conference table with his hand and looked around at the conference table. The high-level people said: "Do you have any good ideas?"

Everyone didn't know how to speak for a while. Several people had put forward their own opinions before, but there were some deficiencies in one way or another. Either the demand for funds was too great, or the person who made the suggestion was not sure. For example, one guy came up with a proposal that didn't really work. He actually suggested that the company buy other toy companies to expand the company's capabilities.

If it wasn't for public occasions, Al Vilicchar would definitely "greet" this guy. In the current situation, Hasbro has no money to buy others. It's lucky that no one comes to buy itself.Sometimes when Al Vilicchar thinks of the "Anti-Monopoly Law", he thinks this law is really great. If it weren't for the "Anti-Monopoly Law", maybe the powerful Mattel would have made a hostile takeover Hasbro, the chaser, has dominated the toy industry.

After a while, a trembling voice came: "I...I think the most important thing now is to dispose of the Star Wars toys as soon as possible, even if it loses a part of the money, it is worth it, so that the warehouse can be vacated to reduce storage management costs. , and a considerable amount of funds can be withdrawn..."

Al Vilicchar looked in the direction from which the voice came from. The guy who spoke just now was a guy in a T-shirt and black-rimmed glasses. He had a little impression of this person. He was a newly promoted department head. It was John Frascotti.Although the suggestion of clearing inventory is too common and not expensive, since no one else can say anything now, Al Verikhal decided to listen to it first and see if this guy can tell anything different Come on, so he gave John Frascotti an encouraging smile and signaled him to continue.

After being affirmed by the CEO, John Frasco became bolder, and his words became more fluent and organized: "I have studied the current situation of the company, why is there a loss? The low acceptance of toys is one aspect, but more importantly, the production cost of our toys is too high. If we can transfer the production part to lower cost areas, we will be able to greatly reduce the production cost and obtain a stronger Competitiveness... In addition, I think the company can't just focus on the traditional markets in Europe and America, it's time to try to develop some emerging markets, such as China..."

After John Frascotti was promoted to department head, he spent a lot of energy researching Hasbro, and had a lot of personal insights on the company's current dilemma. Now that he has said it all in one breath, he feels I felt much more comfortable, and looked at the CEO with full expectation, hoping to get the other party's affirmation.

Al Verichal pondered for a while, John Frascotti's proposal cannot be said to be bad, "returning funds", "reducing production costs", and "exploiting emerging markets" are all very good Suggestion, but there is no immediate effect on improving the current predicament. The method of selling at a reduced price in exchange for the return of funds is okay. As long as the necessary direct losses can be borne, it will not be so easy to transfer the production factory. Currently Hasbro has three points The second production capacity is realized through OEM, and the remaining one-third is in the United States. If it is transferred, only the remaining one-third can be moved. The consequence will naturally be that a large number of workers will lose their jobs. The union will definitely will not agree.As for the development of emerging markets, perhaps China is really amazing. If one tenth of the 2 to 3 million children buy Hasbro toys, it will be a huge income, but the policy changes there are really a bit It is puzzling that the Transformers toy authorized by Hasbro encountered such a situation more than ten years ago, and somehow withdrew from the Chinese market.

Al Verikchar still remembers seeing a part of the translated article, which is said to have been published in an official Chinese newspaper, "From 'Transformers', I think of the 'Opium War' that year. 'King Kong' and 'King Kong' Opium is different, it is not poisonous, and it does not use gunfire as a medium. However, the two are also a little similar. Although they cannot be compared, I feel vaguely that this seems to be a 'King Kong War' that is quietly starting..."

As for the meaning of these articles, perhaps because the oriental language is too mysterious, Al Vilicchar didn't fully understand it, and it was also very baffling. It was obviously just selling toys, so how could it be related to "opium"? Commodities are on a par, so he also feels that the ancient and mysterious place in China, even the local people's ideas are so different.That is to say, since then, Hasbro's toys have withdrawn from the Chinese market not long after. Of course, there may still be some that flow in through other channels, but that has nothing to do with Hasbro.

Now some people are proposing to enter the Chinese market. It is not impossible for Al Verikhal to try. After all, he has learned about some changes in China through TV and movies over the years. The situation is different, especially for those who do business, but he is a little worried that if the policy direction changes, Hasbro will not be able to withstand another blow, so even if he wants to enter The Chinese market must also be extremely cautious, and it is better to be slow than to make mistakes. In this way, this has become a slow-acting method.

"Isn't there a good way to make Hasbro make money as quickly as possible without spending too much money?" Al Verikachal couldn't help shouting in his heart, of course this kind of words He can't say it directly, otherwise people will think he is a waste.

……

At the same time, in the trading hall of the New York Stock Exchange, Fred Hart ran out of the bathroom with a sigh of relief, hurried back to his seat, glanced at the pictures on several monitors, everything It all looks quite normal. Although Hasbro's transaction data flashes quite quickly, it is still within the normal range, at least it seems so.The sharp drop at the opening of the market has been contained, and the stock price is slowly recovering during the frequent trading process. Although the speed is very slow, according to this trend, it will not even be able to rise back half of today's decline. In other words, this is at least a good thing, at least it gives everyone more hope.

Just when Fred Hart was thinking this way, Hasbro's stock price suddenly seemed to be on a slide, and began to decline rapidly again. In just a few minutes, it fell by 5%. Not good.A chill rushed down Fred Hart's back, and he quickly picked up the phone and dialed out: "Mr. Terrell, five minutes ago Hasbro's stock price began to drop sharply again..."

……

At [-]:[-] a.m. local time in New York, on the fifteenth floor of the Pennsylvania Hotel...

Accompanied by two bodyguards, Zhang Lexing came to the door of the luxury suite. It was still busy inside, and Mai Jiajun was giving various instructions from time to time.

"Sell 10 shares and keep the price at 11 yuan 1..."

"Start to scan the goods, eat everything below 11 yuan..."

"Pause, act after 10 minutes..."

"Keep an eye on the price and let me know when it reaches 11..."

Thomas Kalinske watched from the sidelines with his hands in his hands. He was not good at things like operating stocks. Strictly speaking, he was basically a spectator here, but this matter had a lot to do with him after all. Well, it's not his habit to sit back and reap the rewards, so he has to help and contribute more or less, such as contacting those small shareholders off the court or something.

A bodyguard stepped forward and knocked on the door, the cat's eye on the door flickered, and the door opened quickly.When Zhang Lexing entered the door, Thomas Kalinske had already stood by the door and said with a smile: "Mr. Zhang, you are welcome. You have worked hard all the way!"

Smiling and nodding towards Thomas Kalinske, Zhang Lexing continued to walk in, came to Mai Jiajun and asked, "How's the situation?"

"Sorry, wait a minute!" Mai Jiajun didn't answer right away, but continued to issue various instructions with a serious face. It seemed that he had reached a critical moment, so Zhang Lexing stepped aside and stood quietly. watching.

"Mr. Zhang," Thomas Kalinske approached Zhang Lexing and said, "The lawyers we sent out have obtained enough voting proxies. Now it's up to Mr. Mai."

"Tom, you've worked hard!" Zhang Lexing smiled at Thomas Kalinske, and turned his gaze to Mai Jiajun again.

After about 10 minutes, a relaxed expression appeared on Mai Jiajun's face, and he turned around and made an OK gesture, which seemed to be a success.

"How's the situation?" Zhang Le walked over and asked again, and Thomas Kalinske followed, with an expectant expression on his face.

"We have acquired 5.7% of Hasbro's shares. According to the law, we must announce this news within 10 days. In addition, we need to notify all shareholders at least 10 days in advance of the general meeting of shareholders, so I believe the other party We will soon realize that someone is trying to acquire Hasbro, and we estimate that we still have about two days before we can fully acquire Hasbro's floating shares in the market..." Mai Jiajun introduced the situation in the stock market: "In order to ensure the success of the acquisition, we have already contacted some small and medium-sized institutional investors of Hasbro, and are preparing to start at the same time. On the one hand, we will acquire tradable shares from the market, and on the other hand, we will buy some more from institutional investors... It is expected that we will have a chance Get about 17% of the shares..."

Zhang Lexing nodded in satisfaction, all the preparations are ready, and the next thing to do is to see the performance in the next few days, but he believes that in the case of mental arithmetic and unintentional, no matter how much Alan Hasenfeld resists, it will be futile after all. .

(End of this chapter)