Pietro Ferrero is in his thirties. When he came downstairs and saw Hardy, he was a little surprised to hear that this guest was from the United States and wanted to invest in his own candy store.
"Hello, sir. My name is Pietro Ferrero, and I'm the owner of this candy store." Pietro Ferrero took the initiative to extend his hand.
"Hello, my name is Jon Hardy." Hardy introduced himself.
Pietro Ferrero was slightly startled. He seemed to remember something, looked at Hardy carefully and asked:
"I read in the newspaper that one of the members of this US investment delegation is Mr. Jon Hardy, the owner of the American Hardy Group. Not long ago, the Ministry of Commerce also published an advertisement saying that Jon Hardy is going to invest in Italy's fashion industry?"
"Haha, that's me." Hardy said with a smile.
Pietro Ferrero was shocked. The newspaper said that this man was the president of a large group with a net worth of over 10 billion US dollars. He was a super rich man.
But how could such a rich man be interested in my candy store?
Hardy picked up another golden ball and said, "I like this kind of chocolate very much. You used hazelnuts, nut crumbs and wafers in it. This saves a lot of chocolate, which not only saves costs but also makes the taste better. I wonder whose idea this is."
When Pietro Ferrero heard Hardy mention the Golden Ball chocolate, his face immediately became proud, "I invented this myself."
Pietro Ferrero's parents used to run a pastry shop. Later, Pietro Ferrero was more optimistic about the chocolate candy industry, so he changed the family pastry shop into a chocolate candy shop, and the business was indeed much better than before.
He used to run a business in a small town in northern Italy. Later, in order to develop, he invested in opening this store in Rome. The store has only been open for two years.
"Are you interested in expanding this business?" Hardy asked with a smile.
"Of course."
The reason why Pietro Ferrero moved the candy store from a small city to Rome was to pursue development. Now that a big money sponsor was standing in front of him and offering to invest, how could he not be tempted?
"Haha, I also have a chocolate company in the United States. I think we can merge our operations, find some better candies, and make them into world-famous products. Are you interested in joining us?" Hardy made an invitation.
"I do." Ferrero responded excitedly.
Ferrero currently has only two stores, one in Rome and the other in a small town in northern Italy, as well as two candy-making workshops. The scale of the stores is very small, and at best they are workshop-style businesses.
Hardy decided to invest 300,000 US dollars and own 80% of the company's shares. Ferrero can use this money for investment. At the same time, Hardy asked American chocolate companies to cooperate with Ferrero, which could provide Ferrero with sufficient and low-cost raw materials.
From then on, Ferrero entered the fast lane of development.
When Ferrero returned home and told his wife about it, he still found it unbelievable. "Mr. Hardy invested $300,000 after eating only a few hazelnut chocolates. My God, those big capitalists are so willful in their investments."
The wife smiled and said, "Isn't this exactly what you've always dreamed of? Now you have money, and someone can help you get more raw materials, and even help you open up overseas markets. I believe you will become the best candy merchant in Italy."
The man gave his wife a hard kiss on the face.
"Yes, I will definitely work in that direction," Ferrero said excitedly.
The entire trip to Italy lasted 12 days. Many companies in the delegation reached agreements and Hardy also gained a lot. They are preparing to go to France for the next stop.
......
It was October 1948, and there was only one month left until the U.S. presidential election, and the countdown had already begun.
Various election campaigns are in full swing in the country.
Johnson stepped up his speech.
According to a recent poll, his approval rating reached 48.6%, while Dewey's approval rating was only 45.1%, which has been surpassed by Johnson.
But Johnson still did not relax at all. He kept shuttling between cities and giving speeches. He was not discouraged when his approval rating was low, and he wanted to consolidate this advantage when it was high, because only when the final election results were known could he be sure of victory.
Any poll is predictive and has great limitations. It cannot fully reflect the real situation. There is no other way but to work hard on your own.
His rival John Dewey was unwilling to accept defeat, so he also began giving speeches everywhere. However, his results were far inferior to those of Johnson. Wherever he went, the number of people on the scene was often only a few thousand or tens of thousands, which was significantly lower than that of Johnson. The arrogant John Dewey lost his temper several times and even scolded his own campaign team for its incompetent publicity.
......
The two planes landed at the Paris airport one after another.
French Prime Minister Robert Schuman greeted them at the airport, and then French President Jean-Pierre Panthéon Aurier received the aid group at the Elysee Palace, where he hosted a banquet.
The next task will be handed over to French Economy Minister George Bidault.
The United States had previously provided France with $65 million in aid to help it rebuild. France suffered the most during World War II. The country was completely occupied and many cities became ruins, which was a major blow to the country.
Although the country won the Second World War, the domestic economy declined sharply, causing the franc to depreciate, prices to soar, goods to be in short supply, and people's lives to be extremely difficult.
France was in urgent need of assistance at this time.
However, the French are wary of the American aid plan. The Americans' aid to Europe actually has a conspiracy. Many people can see their ambition to become the world's leader, but there is nothing they can do. The top priority now is survival.
Only by surviving can one talk about rights, so European countries surrendered and accepted aid one after another. It was also because of this aid that European countries agreed to many conditions proposed by the Americans. In the end, the European economy recovered, but it also became a vassal of the United States.
France also came up with a list.
The list includes both state-owned enterprises and private enterprises. Similar to the situation in Italy, state-owned enterprises must be controlled by the state, but private enterprises do not need to be controlled by the state, and the state can negotiate with the business owners themselves.
There are also some special companies here, which were confiscated by the French government after the war and sold directly to the outside world.
The investable enterprises that France has proposed include oil, banking, steel, automobiles, machine tool manufacturing, tobacco, insurance, liquefied gas, construction, aviation, and shipping.
Wells Fargo is preparing to acquire a bank in France to continue its European bank expansion plan. Hardy asks Andy to contact the shipping companies on the list to see if he can acquire a stake in the French shipping business.
Hardy has thought it through.
Shipping will also be a very important business in the future. He now has resources and has shipping companies in the United States, Hong Kong, and Italy. If he acquires a few more shipping companies in other countries, he can form a super shipping group covering the world in the future.
Of course, he did not forget to acquire luxury goods industries.
These are mainly small investments.
Paving the way for the future.
Hardy found officials from the French Ministry of Commerce and made the same request as Italy. The Hardy Group hopes to invest in France's luxury goods industry. The French officials could only provide a list of companies on the list. If they wanted to invest in other companies, they had to figure it out on their own.
This service attitude is not even a little bit different from that of Italy.
Hardy found the head of the French branch of the Global Times and asked him to be responsible for placing advertisements in French newspapers, saying that there was an American investment delegation and that the Hardy Group was interested in investing in the luxury goods industry. If anyone was interested, they could sign up with the French branch of the Global Times.
There are many fashion products in France, such as Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Cartier, Lancome, L'Oreal, Crocodile, Dior, Chanel, Van Cleef & Arpels, Boucheron and so on.
During the occupation of France during World War II, the fashion world faced a cold winter. Countless brands were either ordered to close or their assets were forced to move to Vienna. A few extremely valuable luxury brands were retained, but the management was replaced by Germans, and all the profits belonged to the Germans. Even the clothing design majors in various colleges had German tutors to correct values.
Of course, some brands have chosen to join.
Some of these brands were later dealt with by the French government, while others escaped but still had a very difficult time.
Soon after the news was released, the Global Times received a lot of information.
The first person to come over was Christian Dior, and Hardy knew who it was as soon as he heard the last name.
Christian Dior was very tall. Standing in front of Hardy, who was over 1.8 meters tall, he was a block taller than Hardy. However, this middle-aged man with a bald head bent over, stretched out his hands with a smile on his face, and shook hands with Hardy.
"Hello Mr. Hardy, my name is Christian Dior. I am a designer. I opened a clothing store under my own name and hope to get your investment." Dior said respectfully.
Before World War II, Dior was just a tailor. However, he did well during the occupation and made clothes for the German army. Therefore, he was almost liquidated after the war, which made him a little nervous. When he saw Hardy's cooperation advertisement, he immediately had an idea.
He wanted to lean on a big tree, he wanted to survive well.
The liquidation campaign in France has not yet ended. He is really afraid that one day the situation will become serious and he will be picked out again. He does not want to go to a labor camp.
The Americans are investing in Europe, and this is known throughout Europe. The Hardy Group is one of the investment groups. In the past two days, he has learned about the Hardy Group, which is also a very famous large group in the United States.
If he can join such a group, he will have an extra life-saving talisman. I believe the government will have to consider more if they want to take action against him. If that doesn't work, he can just run to the United States.
That's why Christian Dior seemed a little servile in front of Hardy.
Hardy and Dio had a pleasant chat.
It's impossible not to be happy.
Dior agrees with everything Hardy says, so how can he not be happy?
Hardy invested 500,000 US dollars to establish Dior, holding 65% of the shares. Dior used the money for the Paris store and his own business, holding 35% of the shares. Dior will operate in both France and the United States. After arriving in the United States, Hardy will give strong support in the media.
Christian Dior left with surprise.
Hardy then acquired some shares of Lancôme. Lancôme had a hard time during World War II and had stopped production. It had not recovered after World War II and was looking forward to investment, so Hardy acquired 15% of the shares.
As for L'Oreal, it is currently on hold because its boss was arrested for helping the Germans during World War II.
As for Chanel, several stores are still closed. Some people say that Mrs. Chanel had close ties with the Germans during World War II, and now Mrs. Coco has hidden in Switzerland.
Hardy sent a letter to everyone at L'Oreal and Mrs. Coco, asking them to help if they were willing to sell part of their shares.
To put it bluntly, it's all for survival.
Hadi doesn't care what they have done in the past. After all, they are traitors to Germany, not Han.
Besides,
Later, the French government did not deal with them, which shows that their problem was not very serious.
At the same time.
Andy got in touch with the French Bolloré Shipping Company, and the owner Vincent Bolloré came to visit Hardy, and the two had a pleasant chat.
Bolloré Shipping Company is an old French shipping company founded in 1822. They also suffered heavy losses in World War II. Now the company still has 12 ships, which is already very impressive. It has routes connecting the United States, Australia, African countries and Asia. The owner Vincent Bolloré is very interested in Hardy's investment.
In fact, the so-called listed companies from various countries are listed by the Ministry of Commerce after consulting various companies, which means that these companies are willing to accept investment from the beginning.
The other party was willing to accept an investment of no more than 30% of the company's shares. After an afternoon of negotiations, Hardy finally acquired 35% of the shares. Hardy invested 9 cargo ships as an investment, and Hardy Shipping leased 10 cargo ships to Bolloré Shipping.
So far,
Hadi already controls four shipping companies.
Become an absolute global shipping giant.
The Marshall Plan, the United States' aid to European countries, required the transportation of large amounts of supplies, which was a huge stimulus to the trade industry and also a spring for the shipping industry.
The trip to France lasted 15 days in total. The next stop of the inspection team was going to Austria. This time Hardy did not go with them. He sent Andy and the president of Wells Fargo Bank to go with them. If they saw any good projects, they could communicate with him by telegram. Hardy had to rush back to China.
The general election is about to begin.
Johnson reached the final sprint stage, and Hardy had to go back to watch and make sure there were no other accidents.
His private plane had already flown to France a few days ago to wait, and Hardy returned directly to the United States on his own private plane.