Love Affairs in Melbourne-Chapter 80 - 77: 5% of the Shares

Yan Yan’s return to China this time saw considerable changes at home.

Simply put, Yan Yan had now become a child from a "wealthy family."

Yan Dabang and his wife had left 15% of their shares to the technical team that had been with them since the start-up.

They sold 80% of the shares to another well-known shoe machinery manufacturing enterprise in Wenzhou.

Yan Dabang himself retained 5% of the shares, preparing to start a leisurely role as a non-operational director and technical consultant.

When Yan Yan returned from Melbourne, the production line of Yanlu Machinery had already begun to move gradually from the urban area to the industrial zone owned by the new proprietors.

Yan Yan grew up in the factory since she was young and wanted to visit it one last time before it was relocated.

In the early 1990s, the university-educated mechanical talents recruited by Yan Dabang were the uncles who had watched Yan Yan grow up.

At that time, university graduates were highly sought after, guaranteed employment upon graduation with a "iron rice bowl."

The classmates of the "uncles" were all assigned to large state-owned factories.

Those willing to "debase" themselves by working in the small privately-owned factories in Wenzhou, during the era of guaranteed assignments, were all rather adventurous.

In fact, for these people, their daring was highly successful.

Compared to those who went to state factories and ended up getting laid-off, the technological backbone of Yan Dabang’s company, in Wenzhou—a city with exorbitantly high property prices—each had a house, a car, and savings.

The classmates who once mocked these uncles for being "foolish" would certainly never admit to their once spoken words.

Yan Dabang and his wife would still need to spend around a year finishing the transition of management rights.

Upon completing the handover, they would start to sell the land.

Once the land is sorted out, Yan Dabang and Lu Bingran could begin their leisurely retirement.

As for why it would take a full year to make the transition, anyone who has ever built a successful company and then had it acquired can easily understand.

Many companies acquired by publicly traded companies, or who are themselves publicly traded, lock in the founders for three years, or at least two, once the acquisition discussions are complete.

The most important assets of a company are its personnel and its distribution channels.

Once the founders receive the acquisition money and leave, the team might disperse, and the channels might not have had enough time to integrate properly.

In that case, the buyer is essentially just buying a manufacturing production line.

The value of years of struggle by Yan Dabang and his wife would then be almost nonexistent.

Some who make careers out of starting businesses really don’t care about their "value"; as long as they can turn over the company, get the money in hand, and leave as quickly as possible, they really don’t care about the company’s future.

But this clearly wasn’t the way Yan Dabang and his wife treated Yanlu Machinery, the company they had founded by themselves.

The reason the acquiring company of Yanlu Shoe Machine only needed Yan Dabang and his wife to continue operations for one year instead of two or three is because that company was also in the shoe machinery business.

More importantly, Yan Dabang had proactively and freely given his own 15% share to the technical team.

Under such conditions, the technical team was less likely to leave after the retirement of Yan Dabang and his wife.

Furthermore, since Yanlu Shoe Machine was acquired through a beneficial merger and not through a hostile takeover, those who had fought alongside Yan Dabang wouldn’t have the feeling of needing to leave if Yan Dabang and his wife were forced to leave.

After all, Wenzhou people conduct their business with the belief that harmony breeds wealth and mutual prosperity.

They don’t feel the need to compete viciously with each other just because they are in the same line of business.

Once the domestic market is covered, they move together to the international stage.

Working together to expand the business, making money together, that’s the business philosophy of the Wenzhou people.

Even with something as small as a lighter, Wenzhou people can achieve up to 70% of the global market share.

A lighter, a seemingly inconspicuous item, but achieving 70% of global market share also has a huge business alliance behind it.

Wenzhou people are not afraid of dealing with small items, whether it’s buttons or lighters—they aim to dominate the global market, giving even the smallest items endless vitality.

Yan Dabang and the acquiring party were essentially "brothers."

Yan Yan asked Yan Dabang to keep the European channels for her.

Yan Dabang had said it himself when he sold his company, "If my daughter ever goes to Europe to establish a brand, please look after her." That was all.

In the numerous tumultuous years of development in the domestic shoe machine industry, a simple plea for protection from a "brother company" was enough.

Yan Dabang was not worried at all that his "brothers" would turn their backs when Yan Yan needed channels.

Wenzhou is a small place, where most people are doing business all around the world, and the local culture is incredibly strong.

Even strangers, when in a foreign land, if they meet someone who speaks the same language, they will help as much as they can, let alone when there are no conflicts of interest with a "brother." fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm

In many places, people in business like to fight among themselves, not wanting to see their fellow villagers do better than them—such a small-minded mentality.

Wenzhou people, on the other hand, see the entire world as their market.

If you do well, that’s great. If you take over this market, I will just find another market to venture into.

It was impossible for one person to monopolize all the markets in the world.

If there ever were such a person, it wouldn’t be resentment but absolute admiration that they’d deserve.

If the same business can’t be done, it also wouldn’t result in holding grudges.

If the business you’re doing leaves no opportunity for me, then I just need to think it through and start doing something else.

In places where turmoil had not subsided, where there were no diplomatic relations with China, in any corner of the world, you would find Wenzhou merchants daring to take the lead.

People from other places doing business might at most not fear hardship.

Wenzhou people doing business, though, are those who are not afraid of death.

When Bitcoin first appeared, it was the Wenzhou people who were at the forefront.

Due to the volatility of Bitcoin, its value plummeted badly at the beginning, and many Wenzhou business pioneers lost everything.

After the slump, the price of Bitcoin began to scare high again.

Those with unique insights who first entered the Bitcoin market and ultimately persisted are now all worth a fortune.

Since the economic reform and opening-up, Wenzhou people have always been at the forefront, always the first to respond to any changes.

They have many successes, but many failures as well.

If they fail, they fail. They can always start over.

When it comes to business, Wenzhou people, like Yan Dabang with his conservative approach, are quite rare.

This probably because deep down, Yan Dabang is not really a businessman, but a true technophile.

To-date, the most successful thing Yan Dabang has ever done includes only two things:

First, marrying Lu Bingran and second, buying the land under Yanlu Machinery Factory.

As for the rapid development of Yanlu Shoe Machine over the years, it was greatly due to having Lu Bingran to help him manage things beyond technology.

.........

Xiao Qizi:

Tomorrow, our family factory is relocating, and I will be busy. I might not have the chance to reply to your emails or call you.

Then, the day after tomorrow, I have to get up early, probably around six or seven in the morning.

When I get up, it should already be around six or seven in the evening in New York.

I will give you a heads-up now so you won’t complain that once I return to China, I disappear.

The morning after tomorrow, as soon as I get up, I will call to keep you company during your dinner as compensation.

Anyway, my day after tomorrow is still your tomorrow, right?

You have to be good~

Don’t miss me too much~

I won’t write any questions or answers for today~