Reborn Tycoon: Hong Kong's Entertainment Godfather

Chapter 6: One Hundred Million Yuan Stuns Shen Bi!

As he spoke, Gu Yuhan spread his hands and said rapidly, "If we take over Wharf Holdings, it will be a true case of a snake swallowing an elephant. The profits involved will not be a small amount of two or three hundred million, but a huge return of three or four billion. To put it bluntly, even if we reach the threshold of eight or nine billion, it's not entirely impossible. Dad, do you think it's realistic for us to try and swallow such a big piece of meat all at once?"

Gu Zhenguo fell into deep thought: "So, you mean you're going to give Shen Bi a big one?"

"Of course, how could he possibly agree so readily if we didn't completely knock him out?" Gu Yuhan said with a smile. "One hundred million? I don't believe he wouldn't be tempted!"

In the original historical trajectory, Li Ka-shing only used 20 million to accomplish the feat of a snake swallowing an elephant, taking over the entire Hutchison Whampoa in one fell swoop.

His acquisition battle has long been regarded as a classic case in business history.

However, Gu Yuhan thought this was utter nonsense. He didn't believe for a second that there was no private deal between Li Ka-shing and Sir Michael Sandberg. Later, when Sir Michael Sandberg stepped down as HSBC's chairman, Li Ka-shing presented him with a model of the HSBC building made of pure gold.

Either don't do it at all, or if you're going to do it, you have to go all out.

One hundred million in real money, just throw it all in!

Gu Zhenguo gasped sharply, then asked, "What if we can't repay the principal and interest?"

"In America, there is a family called the Donald family!"

Gu Yuhan smiled and said slowly, "Their family's main business is real estate, but later the real estate industry fell into a prolonged slump. Do you know how much money they owed the banks? A full billion US dollars! If you were the head of this family, what would you do?"

"Take stock of all your assets!" Gu Zhenguo pondered for a moment before slowly saying, "Then, do everything you can to repay all your debts!"

"You're wrong!" Gu Yuhan smiled. "Dad, in fact, the patriarch of this family did the exact opposite. He applied for an even larger loan from the bank. He went directly to the bank and said, 'Anyway, I definitely can't repay this money now. Why don't you lend me another loan so I can finish the project I'm working on? Then I can repay your debt with interest!'"

"Guess what happened in the end?" Gu Yuhan asked with a smile.

"Did the bank really lend him the money?" Gu Zhen asked instinctively.

"That's right, of course, the process was full of twists and turns, but there's one thing..."

Gu Yuhan smiled and slowly said, "As long as we owe the bank enough money, as long as that amount reaches a certain critical threshold, the bank itself will be the one most afraid of our collapse. Because once we really go bankrupt, there will truly be no one left to repay this huge debt!"

Gu Zhenguo stood there stunned for a long time. At this moment, he really felt like he had suddenly understood something.

Your words have overturned my understanding of life!

Gu Zhenguo rose from the very bottom of society, which is his advantage, but it is also his biggest weakness. His advantage lies in his cautious nature; even when he takes a gamble, he will leave himself a way out and has a very keen sense of potential risks.

However, this is also his constraint, making him hesitant to invest heavily, because this family business was built up penny by penny and was hard-won. Therefore, at the most crucial juncture, he inevitably hesitates and is somewhat stingy.

What Gu Yuhan needs to do now is to completely change his father's ingrained way of thinking.

We must never again be so hesitant and petty.

Gu Zhenguo fell into deep thought. Then, he looked up at Gu Yuhan and asked, "Son, how much do you think we should borrow? How much should we borrow to secure the entire Wharf Holdings?"

Gu Yuhan subtly clenched his fist, but his smile grew even brighter: "Ten billion? I believe ten billion is more than enough!"

On the surface, they were acquiring Wharf Holdings, but their real goal was to take over Hutchison Whampoa.

Of course, Gu Yuhan hasn't revealed the whole plan yet. The first step is to change his father's preconceived notions and make him willing to accept a large loan, so that he'd be willing to give Shen Bi this substantial gift right away.

Gu Zhenguo immediately stood up and picked up the phone on the table: "Tang Ning, let's not work on the gift we prepared earlier for now!"

Then, Gu Zhenguo sat down again and looked at Gu Yuhan: "Son, tell me, what gift would be appropriate?" Gu Yuhan smiled and slowly said, "No need for anything fancy, just prepare gold, the more the better. Ideally, you could make a book out of pure gold, shaped like the Analects of Confucius!"

Gu Zhenguo was taken aback, and looking at Gu Yuhan, he couldn't help but ask, "To make it into the Analects?"

Gu Yuhan smiled and continued, "That's right, just forge a copy of the Analects out of gold, and then slip a check inside—that would be more than enough!"

"Is it that simple?" Gu Zhenguo secretly gasped.

"What else did you think?"

Gu Yuhan smiled and spread his hands, saying, "The most important thing is that he accepts our gift. As long as he's willing to accept it, that's enough!"

"Alright, I'll have someone make the arrangements right away!" Gu Zhen narrowed his eyes, and countless thoughts rushed through his mind.

To accomplish great things, one must have the corresponding courage and means.

If you're unwilling to part with your chips, you won't be able to catch the prey you want!

Gu Zhen made a quick decision.

"dad!"

Gu Yuhan sat opposite his father and said with a smile, "There's something else I'd like to discuss with you. What do you think?"

"What's wrong?" Gu Zhen asked with some curiosity.

"That's right, I don't want to go to school for the time being. I want to stay by your side and help you with some things. What do you think?" Gu Yuhan said with a smile.

Gu Zhenguo frowned immediately and subconsciously said, "No, you still need to study hard, son. Your father has suffered greatly from a lack of education in his entire life!"

Gu Yuhan smiled and then spoke a string of fluent and authentic English.

Gu Zhenguo was stunned. He could understand a few words of some of the English, but he couldn't understand the rest at all. He looked at Gu Yuhan with a face full of surprise: "When did you learn to speak such fluent English?"

"Dad, you don't really think that I didn't learn anything useful on my trip to Ying, do you?"

Gu Yuhan smiled and said slowly, "The reason I don't want to go to school is because I really feel that what's being taught in school now is useless to me. If I'm going to learn, I want to learn more specialized and in-depth knowledge. At this stage, neither Hong Kong nor England is likely to let me learn what I truly want to learn!"

"It's a good thing for me to help you with some things and familiarize myself with the company's operations in advance, don't you think?" Gu Yuhan said with a smile. "If I stay by your side, you can keep a close eye on me and discipline me, don't you agree?"

Gu Zhenguo was still deep in thought when Gu Yuhan continued, "How about this, first process my leave of absence, it won't be long, just a year. If I behave well during this year, you can let me drop out. If I don't behave well, I'll immediately go back to continue studying, how about that?"

"Alright!"

After a long pause, Gu Zhenguo finally made a decision: "You said it yourself, but what constitutes a good performance?"

Gu Yuhan slowly raised three fingers in front of him.

Gu Zhenguo was stunned for a moment, then asked with a look of surprise, "What does this mean?"

"I'll earn you 300 million. As long as I can earn 300 million, it'll be considered a good performance, how about it?" Gu Yuhan said with a smile, "The 300 million I'm referring to is excluding the 100 million invested in Shen Bi, not counting bank debts, not counting fixed assets, it's purely extra, and I'll still let you earn 300 million!"

"Okay, you said it yourself!" Gu Zhenguo immediately became interested.

"Of course!" Gu Yuhan said with a smile, "Absolutely no problem. However, there are some decisions I need you to make. Also, once we earn 300 million, you must hand over 100 million to me so I can manage and operate it myself!"

Gu Zhenguo hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said, "Okay, if you really help me earn 300 million, I'll give it to you!"

The family business belongs to the father, but one's own abilities belong to oneself.

Ultimately, they cannot be lumped together.

Asking your father for money and taking money from your own account are two completely different things.

……

……

Hong Kong Jockey Club

This is a non-profit, membership-based club organization that provides horse racing, lottery, sports and betting entertainment services.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club is exclusively licensed by the Hong Kong government to operate horse racing in Hong Kong. It is also a well-known local charitable organization, with its annual charitable donations second only to Tung Wah Group of Hospitals and the Community Chest. In addition, the Jockey Club provides its members with exclusive services including dining, entertainment, and social activities.

The 20,000 members figure is from 2023.

In 1978, the membership was much smaller, numbering only about three thousand, with Chinese members making up a pitifully small percentage.

However, given the Gu family's current status and position, entering this horse racing club is more than a matter of course.

Gu Yuhan stayed by his father's side the whole time, observing his father's expressions and trying his best to digest the business rules of this era. Although he was a person who was reborn with his memories and had no shortage of funds, this was Hong Kong after all, and it was 1978. The social environment and business logic were completely different from later generations.

Sir Michael Sandberg is only 51 years old and was appointed chairman of HSBC last year. He will remain in office until his official retirement in 1987. During his tenure at HSBC, the bank's profits have grown rapidly, and its overall business scale has reached an unprecedented peak.

Shen Bi was exactly fifty-one years old that year.

Since he took office as chairman of HSBC, he has truly enabled HSBC's business to achieve a leapfrog expansion, and the core reason behind this is that he has always maintained an open and supportive attitude towards Chinese capital.

In his eyes, the core principle of conduct has always been just two words—interest.

Whether it's Chinese capital or British capital, as long as it can bring HSBC sufficiently substantial profits, it is considered high-quality capital worth cooperating with.

In reality, Sir Michael Sandberg's decision truly accelerated the rise of Chinese capital. In 1979, he sold all of HSBC's ordinary shares in British-owned Hutchison Whampoa to Cheung Kong Holdings for HK$20 million.

In 1980, he allocated a huge sum of HK$20 billion to fully support the shipping magnate in acquiring a controlling stake in Wharf Holdings. He also successively recruited several Chinese businessmen, including Li Ka-shing and Tang Lin-ru, to the board of directors of HSBC.

Last year, when Sir Michael Sandberg took office as chairman of HSBC, he had contact with many Chinese business people.

Shen Bi did not refuse the invitation extended by Gu Zhenguo.

Besides watching the horse races together, the group also rode horses together. Surprisingly, the elderly white British man spoke fluent and authentic Chinese.

The group then sat down and chatted.

At this moment, Gu Zhenguo took out a book made of pure gold, and said with a smile, "Mr. Shen, this is a small gift from me, nothing more!"

"gold!"

Shen Bi's eyelids twitched slightly. Seeing Gu Zhenguo's slightly strained expression when he picked up the book, he could guess that the booklet must be very valuable. It was clear that the other party had really gone all out this time.

Shen Bi smiled and said, "Gu, I really can't accept such a valuable gift!"

"Uncle Shen!" Gu Yuhan smiled and said slowly, "In our China, there is an old saying that has been passed down for thousands of years: 'In books, you will find beauty like jade, and in books, you will find houses of gold.' What my father gave Uncle Shen was not gold, but a sense of self-encouragement and encouragement!"

Gu Yuhan spoke fluent English throughout, fearing that Shen Bi, this elderly British man, might not fully grasp the deeper meaning of "There are beauties in books, and there are houses of gold in books."

"Oh?" Shen Bi looked at Gu Yuhan with considerable surprise. "What self-motivation?"

Read more books!

Gu Yuhan smiled and said, "This book is called 'The Analects,' which I'm sure Mr. Shen knows. 'The Analects' contains the wisdom of our ancestors accumulated over thousands of years. If possible, we hope Mr. Shen can read more of 'The Analects'!"

The Analects consists of 20 chapters and 492 sections, with a total of about 16,000 characters.

Because of the limited preparation time, it was simply unrealistic to imprint the entire text onto the golden book. In fact, only the content of the "Xue Er" chapter was engraved in this golden book.

Even so, it is more than enough.

Shen Bi immediately became interested and reached out to pick up the golden book. He could clearly feel its heavy weight and found it quite difficult to lift.

This book was simply too thick. Immediately afterwards, Shen Bi opened this gold-plated copy of the Analects, casually flipped through a few pages, and his pupils suddenly contracted. He saw a check tucked inside the book, and when he saw the number on the check, he couldn't help but subconsciously swallow.

One, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand, hundred thousand, million, ten million, hundred million!

A full 100 million!

This is a bearer check from a Swiss bank.