"Isn't the price of 60 billion RMB too expensive?"
"The 60 billion RMB is the demand made by Jiangnan Group to recoup their costs. They are very firm, but we can pay a 20% down payment first, which is 12 billion RMB. The remaining balance will be paid from the ticket revenue of the vacuum high-speed dual-rail magnetic levitation trains that we represent, with a 0.5% share, until the entire 48 billion RMB is recovered. This is actually an important clause to control Jiangnan Group and ensure they cooperate with us. For them to recover the remaining 48 billion RMB, they must obediently listen to us and be tightly controlled by us, never daring to betray us!" the blond man said proudly, clearly very satisfied with this clause.
"No, this contract is too strange!" Hao Jianguo still shook his head, filled with doubt.
"What else is strange about it? Every legal clause in here has been reviewed by over three professional business lawyers, and headquarters has also reviewed it page by page. Don't try to be mysterious here!" the blond man said impatiently. He was extremely eager to report his achievements to his superiors.
If it weren't for the regulation that required the signature of Hao Jianguo, the nominal group leader, the blond man would not have bothered with Hao Jianguo at all. This was why the blond man could patiently listen to Hao Jianguo. However, his patience had almost run out.
Moreover, Hao Jianguo seemed to be deliberately causing trouble for him. He didn't want this deal to go through, and he even wanted to scuttle the already negotiated draft contract.
The reason was simple: this contract was completed through his own efforts and leadership. If this draft passed, wouldn't Hao Jianguo's credit be completely wasted?
Therefore, the blond man decided not to give Hao Jianguo any more chances to speak and said very decisively, "Manager Hao, just tell me whether you are willing to sign this draft contract!"
"It's not a matter of willingness, it's that I believe there's a problem with this draft. You might not know Huang He very well, but I know him too well. Huang He is extremely proud and absolutely refuses to admit defeat. Even if he hits a stone with an egg, he will find a way to shatter the stone."
"If he signed the contract so easily, and they only sold for a combined 10 billion USD, Huang He would never agree to such terms. He wouldn't be able to swallow it. Yet he agreed. This is very strange, there must be something wrong. Please wait patiently. After I'm discharged from the hospital tomorrow, I'll take you to negotiate with Jiangnan Group again. I'm sure I can find their problem!" Hao Jianguo said.
"You want to lead us in negotiations again?" After hearing Hao Jianguo's words, the blond man let out a series of cold laughs, which made Hao Jianguo's heart tremble.
"That's right. If you lead us in negotiations again, all the credit will become yours, and I will get nothing, won't I!" The blond man did not hide his intentions and questioned him with a cold laugh.
"You're worried about that? Don't worry, I won't snatch the credit from you. After all, you are a family member of the boss, and I'm just an employee. The credit is yours. I just think there's a problem with this contract, and we need to clarify the facts!" Hao Jianguo quickly explained.
"Let me say it again, this contract has no problems. What do you mean only sold for 10 billion USD? Jiangnan Group, with its meager assets, selling to us for 10 billion USD is already a huge profit. For this price, the old man scolds me every time I call him. And you still think this price is cheap. What, do you want to buy it from Jiangnan Group for 100 billion USD to feel satisfied and think it's a reasonable price with no problems?" the blond man said angrily, while Hao Jianguo could only keep explaining his thoughts.
But in the next second, the blond man suddenly pulled out a large wrench from behind him. Seeing this large wrench, Hao Jianguo recalled previous unpleasant memories, and his body immediately began to tremble. He even foamed at the mouth, appearing to have an epileptic seizure.
"What's going on? I haven't hit you yet?" the blond man said in surprise. Then several nurses rushed in and began to treat Hao Jianguo.
"What happened to our manager?" the blond man quickly asked in Chinese.
"Why did you bring a wrench in here?" The nurse, seeing the wrench in the blond man's hand, immediately said unhappily, "The patient's injuries were caused by the wrench, so the patient has severe psychological stress trauma syndrome. Seeing a wrench will cause him to have an episode. Don't bring wrenches here anymore. This is insane. I've never seen anyone visit a patient with a wrench!"
"Heh heh!" The blond man gave a dry chuckle. He then remembered that this was a hospital, and if he were to hit someone here, it would cause a lot of trouble. Thus, he stopped his plan of direct violent threat.
However, seeing that Hao Jianguo had fainted from fear, he had a sudden idea. After the nurses left, he picked up Hao Jianguo's hand, dipped it in ink, and pressed his fingerprint onto the document. Only then did he nod with satisfaction. The agreement was considered unanimously approved by the entire delegation.
Of course, the blond man immediately arranged for one of his subordinates to come, ostensibly to accompany Hao Jianguo throughout his stay, but in reality, to monitor him and prevent Hao Jianguo from reporting the issue to headquarters and revealing that he had not agreed to the contract.
As long as Hao Jianguo kept quiet in the hospital, the blond man would have plenty of ways to silence him once they returned to China. After all, Hao Jianguo was just a servant of the family, while he was a genuine family member of the high-scoring group, their identities were fundamentally different.
The methods arranged by the blond man were very effective. After discovering that he was being monitored at all times, Hao Jianguo obediently kept quiet. Meanwhile, after the draft contract was submitted, although Goldman Sachs headquarters had many objections and discussed it many times, they sent many revision suggestions.
For example, they asked Jiangnan Group to lower the price or offer more items.
To this, Jiangnan Group ignored them. The delegation also heard that Huang He was furious and said that if they dragged it out for another day, there would be no signing, and they would just fight to the end.
Boss Huang also uttered a famous quote: even if Jiangnan Group only had the Chinese market, he, Huang, would still be the richest man in China, so why should he be afraid?
With that said, Goldman Sachs had no choice but to abandon its excessive demands. Finally, after a full month and a half of tossing and turning, in October 2006, close to the end of the year, both parties finally signed this historic agreement.
In the agreement, Jiangnan Group sold its entire Android system to Google and guaranteed the supply of materials and parts. However, Jiangnan Group also required that Google not change its suppliers or contract manufacturers for five years and guarantee orders of more than 100 million USD annually. Otherwise, Jiangnan Group could refuse production, as they had to incur significant costs to maintain these production lines.
Furthermore, Jiangnan Group's vacuum high-speed dual-rail magnetic levitation train technology and corresponding agency rights were fully transferred to the American Pacific United Railway Company, the same company that had bought hundreds of thousands of pig heads in China and built the railway that ran through the entire western United States, rumored to have the corpses of ten Chinese laborers buried under every kilometer of track.
As this contract involved a wide scope and many people were coveting it, the contract quickly spread worldwide as soon as it was released, becoming one of the global hot news items.
However, the audience's opinions were vastly different.
In the eyes of ordinary people, Jiangnan Group had definitely made a huge profit this time. They sold two technologies for a massive sum of over 10 billion USD, and the rumored investment cost was only about half of that. How could they not make a profit?
When the Chinese public saw this news, they felt immensely proud. Didn't foreigners say that the intelligence and capabilities of Chinese people were inferior to those of foreigners?
Then why did foreigners have to spend hundreds of billions (domestic media did not calculate in US dollars but converted it to hundreds of billions of RMB) to purchase technologies developed by Chinese people?
This proved that Chinese people were awesome, so the whole nation was jubilant, and Jiangnan Group's reputation soared again.
This was the opinion of ordinary people, and this opinion made the wealthy people all over the world burst into laughter. These wealthy people knew what was going on and knew that Jiangnan Group had not made any profit at all, but had lost so much that their pants were gone.
They had invested billions of dollars and spent several years developing technology that could change the world, only to have it so easily acquired by Goldman Sachs.
Jiangnan Group had at most recouped its research and development costs, but Goldman Sachs had gained control of two massive markets that could potentially exceed trillions of US dollars in the future. Jiangnan Group had truly been severely fleeced by the Americans, peeled almost completely bare.
Therefore, Jiangnan Group immediately became the laughingstock of the entire business world. For a time, employees of Jiangnan Group became the center of ridicule for many of their friends. The prestige that Jiangnan Group had established in the global business world over several years turned into a joke in the blink of an eye with the signing of this agreement.
Of course, Jiangnan Group was not without its benefits, because this cooperation agreement actually had a hidden clause: after the signing of the agreement, Goldman Sachs would not target or hinder Jiangnan Group's business in the United States for any reason.
Even if Jiangnan Group encountered difficulties that did not involve Goldman Sachs' business, Goldman Sachs was required to fully assist Jiangnan Group in overcoming these difficulties. Most importantly, they had to help Jiangnan Group obtain support from the US government to ensure that Jiangnan Group's other businesses in the United States could proceed smoothly.
This clause was the most helpful to Jiangnan Group. It meant that Jiangnan Group had gained at least several years of stable development time in the United States.