Extraordinary GeniusChapter 667 – Beverage wars (Part 1 of 2)
Please support me by using on
Buy me a coffee or tip me on or .
After days later, Feng Yu received a call from Liu Yonghao.There were good news and bad news.
The good news was Feng Yu was welcomed to join the GuangcaiProgram, and the government had granted approval to set up a GuangcaiCommittee. This will be a government recognized organization.
There will be an organizing committee and Liu Yonghaopromised Feng Yu that Feng Yu will be one of the members in the committee. Thechairman and vice chairman of the committee will be selected from the 10founders of this program.
In the future, Feng Yu can also volunteer to take part inthe selection of Chairman. This was fair to everyone. The success of Feng Yu’sbusinesses was more than enough for him to run for the position of Chairman. Hewas more qualify than all the other members.
Although Liu Yonghao did not know how many shares Feng Yuowns in all those companies, those companies were all doing very well. Even ifFeng Yu only owns 10% shares of those companies, his total a.s.sets were muchhigher than all of them.
Feng Yu was satisfied with this piece of good news. He wasnot interested in becoming the Chairman or vice chairman. It was good enough tobe one of the members. He wants to be in charge of education. He knows that noone will vie with him for this role, as even if all of them add up, theircontributions were not more than Feng Yu alone.
Feng Yu wanted to be in charge of education was because heknew how the people outside work. You donated 1 million RMB to build abuilding, but the cost of the project might be lesser than 500,000 RMB orlower.
Feng Yu did not want to donate money to build schoolbuildings, and the buildings collapse in the future. If that happens, it willbe too late to get hold of the one responsible. Lives will be gone!
Feng Yu discussed with Liu Yonghao, and he agreed. He saidthat he will help to convince the other founders.
Feng Yu was delighted with this news. The bad news was alsoacceptable. Feng Yu was not really upset over it.
The bad news was companies which have Hong Kong shares weretemporarily not allowed to invest in Minsheng Bank. Even if the company wasowned majority by Chinese funds, it was also not allowed. So, many of Feng Yu’scompanies were not allowed to invest in the bank as Fu Guangzheng owns sharesin those companies.
The other companies where only one person who owns thecontrolling stake of the company, was also not allowed too.
That means Feng Yu was not allowed to use several companiesto invest in the bank and get a place in the Board of directors. Feng Yuthought back on his companies. Only a few of his companies could partic.i.p.ate inthis venture.
Wind and Rain Logistics should not be investing as Feng Yu’sbrother-in-law was not interested. Tai Hua Agriculture products were eligibleto partic.i.p.ate, but the company does not have a lot of liquid a.s.sets. Tai HuaTrading was also eligible. But if Tai Hua Trading invested in Minsheng bank,then Feng Yu had to change the bank account, and there will be issues withsettling the payments with Kirilenko. After all, ICBC bank had given Tai HuaTrading the green light to do international fund transfer, and the charges werelower. The transactions were also faster as a lot of paperwork were exempted.
Bing City Pharmaceutical was also eligible. But it needs theapproval from the Bing City Government first. Will Zhang Ruiqiang agree toinvest in Minsheng bank? Even if he agrees, the amount invested will also be minimal.
Wind and Rain Battery Factory was eligible, but it does nothave enough funds. The battery factory had used all its profits for its R&D,and its sales were only average.
The next company Feng Yu considered was Lehaha. ZhongQingxian might not be willing to use the company’s funds to invest in thisbank. After all, this bank might not be profitable anytime soon.
So, Feng Yu decided to not invest temporarily. However, LiuYonghao told Feng Yu that he could invest as a private investor. That meansFeng Yu could invest 100 million RMB out of his own pocket in return for 1%shares.
If Feng Yu invested and then disclose his wealth, he shouldhave no problems getting a place in the Board of Directors even when he owns 1%shares.
Liu Yonghao felt apologetic towards Feng Yu. Feng Yu hadshown his interest and his financial capabilities. But Liu Yonghao told Feng Yuthat most of those companies were ineligible.
Feng Yu was okay with it. He was also not interested ininvesting a lot of his money. Minsheng bank would yield no returns for the timebeing. He will increase his investments 8 to 9 years later.
Feng Yu called Zhong Qianxian to tell him that he decided tohalt Lehaha’s investment in Minsheng bank and its better for Lehaha to carry onwith their development plans.
Zhong Qingxian was also relieved. If Lehaha were to invest.i.ts funds into Minsheng bank, his plans for Lehaha would be disrupted. Now, it wasthe best opportunity for Lehaha to grow rapidly.
Lehaha had a compet.i.tor for its tea beverages. Thecompet.i.tor was Xurisheng Group.
In Feng Yu’s previous life, Xurisheng Group was China’smarket leader in tea beverages and was the first company to introduce teabeverages. This company held the number one position until the year 2000.
But in this life, the market leader of tea beverages hadbecome Lehaha. No only Lehaha was the first to introduce tea beverages, itstill owns the trademark for Red Tea.
But Xurisheng Group still introduced their product, and itwas named as Ice Tea. But actually, it was Ice Red Tea.
Xurisheng Group Ice Tea was only sold in two provinces. Itwas because their production was not capable enough and their brand was notestablished.
If it wasn’t for Xurisheng Group Ice Tea was a carbonatedcan drink, no one will buy their products.
In this era, carbonated drinks were extremely popular inChina. Letting out a loud burp after drinking a can of carbonated drink feelsgood. Also, many Chinese felt canned drinks were high-cla.s.s products and werebetter than bottled drinks!
Xurisheng Group was considered an imitator. Lehaha hadgotten the head start and had introduced the Refreshing series of carbonateddrinks. They secured the number 2 position for the beverage sales for thissummer. The number one position was still Jianlibao.
It was easy for Lehaha to suppress Xurisheng Group, but XurishengGroup suddenly introduced a new product. It’s warm tea.
It will be the winter season soon, and carbonated drinks’sales will drop. But Xurisheng Group introduced warm tea beverage now and ZhongQingxian was p.i.s.sed.
Zhong Qingxian was not able to beat Jianlibao, as Jianlibaohad already been exported overseas. Jianlibao was also China’s top beveragecompany for years. But Xurisheng Group was a newly set up company and was nowtrying to s.n.a.t.c.h Lehaha’s market share.
Don’t you know that Lebaishi’s carbonated drinks were alsobeaten by us?!
Lehaha will also be introducing warm beverages. This warmbeverage was Tang, a kind of powdered fruit drink!
Feng Yu had drunk Tang before in his previous life. Also,there was nothing special with the taste, but it felt good during winter. TheChinese were used to powdered beverages in the era because of another popularproduct in China. It was a foreign brand drink. Cola Cao!
Lehaha had been researching Cola Cao’s formula. But theywere unable to replicate the taste. Even if they produced a product that tastessimilar to Cola Cao, it was also useless. Cola Cao had entered the Chinesemarket in 1990 and had set up a joint venture factory. It positions itself as ahigh-end nutritional drink. It will not be easy to beat Cola Cao.
But Zhong Qingxian did not want to give up. If Lehaha wasable to establish their brand in the warm beverage market, then they will beable to rival and even beat Jianlibao.
Translator’snotes:
Cola Cao
chapters
$5 or more per month
Access to 7 Advance Chapters of Extraordinary Genius and 2 Advance Chapters of Power and Wealth.
$10 or more per month
Access to 10 Advance Chapters of Extraordinary Genius and 4 Advance Chapters of Power and Wealth.
$20 or more per month
Access to 15 Advance Chapters of Extraordinary Genius and 8 Advance Chapters of Power and Wealth.
$50 or more per month
Access to 27 Advance Chapters of Extraordinary Genius and 20 Advance Chapters of Power and Wealth.
$75 or more per month
Access to 35 Advance Chapters of Extraordinary Genius and 30 Advance Chapters of Power and Wealth.
$99.99 or more per month
Access to 45 Advance Chapters of Extraordinary Genius and 40 Advance Chapters of Power and Wealth.
Your support is greatly appreciated.