On November 15th, Tang Yingwu and others finally reached an agreement with West Zeiss, with East Zeiss acquiring West Zeiss for 800 million marks, roughly equivalent to over two billion US dollars. This was considered a premium acquisition; otherwise, West Zeiss's shareholders wouldn't have easily relinquished their shares.
Nowadays, all that's needed is approval from the German government.
The German government.
"Wujiang Group wants to acquire West Zeiss. What do you think?" Roger Bowen asked the other members of parliament.
“I think we should agree. Rather than let West Zeiss go bankrupt, it’s better to sell it to East Zeiss! After all, Zeiss is a German company. Now that East and West Germany are unified, the two Zeiss companies should be merged!” Member of Parliament Noah Doyle suggested.
"I disagree. Zeiss is a century-old German optical giant. If it's going to be sold, it can only be sold to us Germans!" someone immediately objected.
Upon hearing this, Noah Doyle curled his lip and said, "Wujiang Group has already acquired East Zeiss, so what's the point of your statement! As long as Zeiss still has factories in Germany, and as long as the name Zeiss exists, people will always remember that Zeiss was founded by Germans!"
Many people nodded secretly upon hearing this.
Noah Doyle added, “The desire for a merger between East and West Zeiss is very strong, and ordinary employees are extremely excited and looking forward to it. If we do not agree to this acquisition, it may cause a backlash from the public. Now that Germany has just been reunified, it is a clear prohibition on the merger of East and West Zeiss. Does this mean that we are actually against the reunification of the two countries? If the media misinterprets this, it may cause instability among the people in East Germany.”
This statement makes perfect sense.
"Noah Doyle makes a good point. I think we should approve East Zeiss's acquisition of West Zeiss! Furthermore, as far as I know, Wujiang Group controls a large amount of East German marks. Since the exchange rate fluctuations, this money has appreciated fourfold and is now worth at least tens of billions of dollars! My point is, Wujiang Group owns so many marks in Germany, why should we offend a company that controls such vast wealth? Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could persuade Wujiang Group to invest in Germany?!"
After a pause, Congressman Joshua Cowper smiled and said, "And right now, isn't this an opportunity? We can agree to East Zeiss acquiring West Zeiss, but Wujiang Group must first ensure that Zeiss's factories in Germany are not easily shut down, and secondly, we require Wujiang Group to invest all of its East German marks, worth tens of billions of dollars, in Germany! With German reunification and the appreciation of the East German mark, Wujiang Group has come out on top. Wujiang Group should make a contribution to Germany's economic development. What do you think?"
Upon hearing this, everyone chimed in with their agreement.
The following morning, the German side expressed its stance to Tang Yingwu and others.
Tang Yingwu immediately relayed the German government's conditions to Zhao Ye.
Zhao Ye pondered for a moment, smiled, and said, "Okay, I agree to their request!"
In Zhao Ye's view, this is not a loss. It's just investing in Germany, where the economy is booming and the return on investment is high.
If the opportunity arises, we could also acquire some German companies.
Alternatively, they could establish a research and development center in Germany.
Furthermore, it can also import talent into China.
...
Tang Yingwu conveyed Zhao Ye's message to the German government the following day.
The German government readily approved East Zeiss's acquisition of West Zeiss!
That afternoon around 3 p.m., East Zeiss and West Zeiss held a press conference to announce that the two companies had officially merged!
The news caused a sensation as soon as it was announced.
However, most ordinary people rarely come into contact with Zeiss products, so the hype comes and goes quickly. But within the industry, many optical companies have developed a strong sense of crisis.
Even Zhao Ye couldn't help but feel excited at this moment. He had actually acquired the optical giant Carl Zeiss, something he would have found almost unbelievable in his previous life.
After acquiring West Zeiss, Zhao Ye realized that it was incredibly worthwhile. West Zeiss possessed a large number of technical talents and advanced technology patents, which could complement East Zeiss. This was not just 1+1=2, but far exceeded 2.
The fact that Zeiss was able to quickly return to its peak in the 1990s was undoubtedly a result of the merger of East and West Zeiss.
Zhao Ye immediately began writing down Zeiss's future development direction on his computer. He believed that by leveraging Zeiss's technological advantages and following the development path of his previous life, the probability of success would be very high. This involved Zeiss's four major business segments: semiconductor manufacturing technology, industrial quality and research, medical technology, and optical consumer products.
However, Zhao Ye also added some new business segments to Zeiss: one is optical fiber, and the other is specialty glass.
Specialty glass is not just for touch screens; there are many other types of glass with special applications.
Schott Glass, a subsidiary of Zeiss, is an expert in this field, even surpassing Corning in technology.
P.S.: There will be another chapter around midnight. I'm afraid it will be censored, so I'm uploading it now and not including it in a separate chapter.
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