Chapter 234 Morgan and DuPont
"Oh?" After hearing this, Pierre Dupont sat down slowly, thinking about the purpose of Morgan's visit. He didn't need to think about this question, and asked directly, "I don't quite understand this. In fact, the two sides rarely have contact."
That was the fact. What Pierre Dupont said was completely true. Old Morgan and Old Rockefeller had only met once in their lives and had never spoken. Even for companies in the same field, many founders had never met in their lives. Before today, Pierre Dupont would not have thought that he would one day meet young Morgan. The chances of meeting Sheffield were even greater.
"The past is the past, but now it is a new era." Morgan said nonchalantly. In the past, many companies could develop in their own fields, which was enough. What they worried about was whether there would be challengers in their own industry. But now it is different. When there are no competitors in the field they are good at, they will think about developing in another field to make their careers go further.
His father, old Morgan, had started earlier in this regard. More than a decade ago, he took advantage of the economic crisis to quietly infiltrate the railway industry, and later surpassed the Vanderbilt family. The Vanderbilt family did not do nothing. The descendants of the railway king just set their sights on real estate and built many buildings in New York.
However, the Vanderbilt family's transformation can be said to have failed. Having accumulated wealth to this point, standing still would be a failure, not to mention that the Vanderbilt family's wealth is slowly shrinking.
"**** and the DuPont consortium have a basis for cooperation. This is the purpose of my visit this time." Morgan Jr. pondered for a moment and spoke in a more moderate tone, "This is the first time in a hundred years that DuPont has been surpassed in the field of gunpowder, which is its specialty. This is the field that DuPont has been operating since its inception."
"Mr. Morgan, although the gunpowder industry has a long history, the DuPont Consortium is a comprehensive company with many other industries and acquired companies." Pierre DuPont interrupted, "The gunpowder industry is only a part of it."
"I know there are also industrial and mining industries, and chemical additives. But people's impression of the DuPont Consortium is that it is a gunpowder company! Now people's impression is that DuPont has been replaced in the field where it should be the dominant force." Morgan Jr. was not angry because he was interrupted by Pierre DuPont, but continued, "Compared with the DuPont Consortium, the Sheffield United Company was established very late, about the same time as the Rockefeller family, just a few years earlier."
"If it weren't for the civil war, when DuPont stood firmly on the side of the federal government and Sheffield United Company supported the Confederacy, DuPont might have been treated the way it is today during General Henry's time." Morgan Jr. smiled. "Now that the old rival has made a comeback, the DuPont Consortium is developing much faster than when General Henry was alive. Business is so cruel. Slow development means standing still, and standing still is a precursor to decline. So now the members of the Vanderbilt family still have a huge amount of wealth, but they are considered to be in decline. You know, the companies and stocks they own are still worth more than $100 million."
Everyone else is running while you are walking, which means you are retreating. People know DuPont as the dominant company in the field of gunpowder and an active participant in the war. Once this impression is gone, DuPont is retreating.
"Although the company's development trend has been a bit slow in recent years, it can definitely not be called a decline." Pierre Dupont said stubbornly, although he also admitted that his competitors were indeed developing faster.
"Mr. Pierre, are you comforting yourself? I'll take that as a given!" Morgan Jr. ignored Pierre DuPont's objection and talked about his own situation. "My father, Mr. Morgan, is trying to actively transform himself in response to the upcoming changes. Needless to say, the railway industry is our main target this year. So, we can cooperate with the DuPont consortium."
Morgan Jr. did not hide his father and son's infiltration into the real economy, and even bluntly stated that the latest target was the steel industry. This made Pierre Dupont alert, and he looked up and asked, "Does **** want to acquire Roland Steel Company?"
Roland Steel Company is the layout of the DuPont consortium in the steel industry. A new company often imitates the pioneers in the industry. When Carnegie just completed the factory layout and manufacturing organization improvement of the steel plant, Roland Steel Plant began to refer to it. Roland Steel Company is not a simple steel mill, although this is also important. Roland's competitors in the field of power generation equipment manufacturing are General Electric and Westinghouse Electric, and now there is another one, Southern Electric, which is based on the efficiency of Chinese workers.
Most of the engineers at Roland Steel Company came from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which was supported by the DuPont family. Pierre duPont also graduated from MIT, and many engineers were considered his alumni.
This steel company can be regarded as an important layout of the DuPont family in the steel industry, but it is obvious that Morgan Jr. did his homework before coming and knew the real owner of this steel company. At least he knew that the DuPont family had a heavy say in Roland Steel Company.
"Eugene will not agree!" Pierre DuPont kept shaking his head. Roland Steel Company was very important to the DuPont Consortium. Morgan Jr.'s conditions were simply a death sentence for the DuPont family, and were no more affectionate than the actions of the Sheffield United Company.
Pierre DuPont could tell it was impossible! Absolutely impossible. This was robbery. It was the first time that the DuPont family was robbed. The last time they tried to do this was the Rockefeller family, but the DuPont family did not compromise.
Morgan Jr. nodded indifferently and said slowly, "What if I can exchange it for some GE stock? I wonder if Mr. Eugene will refuse this condition?"
Huh? Pierre Dupont looked at the little Morgan in astonishment, almost suspecting that his ears had received the wrong instructions.
Morgan Jr. was helpless. His father was determined to expand the family's influence from the financial industry to the real industry, but it was not successful in all industries. Standard Oil, the most powerful trust in the real industry, was not very interested in this. Not to mention that there was another overlord in the steel industry, Carnegie Steel Company.
According to the original idea, after the establishment of the United States Steel Corporation, large and small steel mills would be merged, and finally, after everything was ready, his father would personally go out and talk to Carnegie. But things did not go to that step, and he was almost robbed in the field he was good at.
Morgan had noticed Mexico's public debt problem last year. Earlier, both father and son believed that there was no competitor within the entire United States, and with their influence in the financial industry, if someone wanted to snatch food from the tiger's mouth, they would be discovered while preparing.
But they did not expect that someone would really dare to snatch the food from the tiger's mouth, and it was the Thyssen United Company that had joined forces with the German Empire. Through overseas financial systems, they concealed the eyes and ears of Morgan and his sons in the United States financial market and successfully snatched the Mexican debt away from their hands.
Of course, this matter could not be let go. After failing in the financial industry, which was their best field, they had to find out who was behind this attack! As expected, they found out that it was the Rockefeller family. They had joined forces with the big landowners in the South and the German Empire's Thyssen Union Company to jointly take over Mexico's public debt that was about to default.
This did not humiliate the Morgans, after all, business was like this, and the other party was one step ahead. But from another point of view, these two large companies in the physical industry seemed to be too close. If the Morgan family continued to expand into the physical industry, they might be boycotted.
This is a big problem. In the real industry, Morgan and his son need an ally with strong strength. After the news that Sheffield United Company was going to acquire Loughlin Rand Company came, the father and son knew that once the merger was successful, the DuPont Consortium would be the most uncomfortable. The DuPont family could appear as an ally in the real industry.
The DuPont family has a long history, and a century of accumulation is no joke. Although its expansion has been somewhat sluggish in recent years and not as sharp as it was during the time of General Henry, its foundation is here, which is a strong boost. Facing the Rockefeller and Sheffield combination, the DuPont consortium is a good candidate.
To this end, old Morgan even said that he could cross-hold shares with the DuPont consortium, give up part of General Electric's shares in exchange for ownership of Roland Steel Company, and formally establish an alliance relationship for joint response.
"I just have one question!" Looking at the visiting Lovellingland, Rockefeller Jr. suppressed his inner ups and downs and took a few deep breaths. "Why doesn't my closest friend, William, come to Rockefeller Manor? In fact, with the cooperative relationship between the two companies, as long as he comes in person, I have no reason to refuse."
"Mr. John, I don't know the answer to this question either. William is in Chicago, but he said he has other things to do." Lovelin Rand looked at Rockefeller Jr. in confusion. Why did he feel that the relationship between the two was not like the closest friends that the other party said? At least not just simple friends!
Chicago? When Rockefeller Jr. heard this, he almost couldn't breathe. Isn't Chicago where his sister Edith Rockefeller lives? He swallowed his breath and said calmly, "Can William come over? I want to talk to him about cooperation in other fields! As for what he wants, let's talk about the price first."
(End of this chapter)
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