Movie: Get Alpha Dog at the start

Chapter 1582 Great Wall Power Supply

"Stop flattering me, take a look at this factory's information."

Qin Hao chuckled and cursed as he handed another document to Liu Yuan.

Liu Yuan quickly took the document, opened it, and frowned slightly. The document contained detailed information about a company called Great Wall Power Plant.

"Great Wall Power Supply Factory," Liu Yuan read aloud as he flipped through the documents. "Annual output of 30,000 units, possessing twelve technical patents, three of which are core technology patents." He looked up at Qin Hao with some surprise: "This factory is quite large; it's considered above average among domestic power supply manufacturers. Are you really planning to make a big splash?"

Qin Hao picked up his teacup, took a sip, and nodded: "When have I ever joked with you about serious matters? This factory is one of the few domestic power supply manufacturers that insists on its own brand, unlike other factories that either do OEM for foreign brands or simply assemble and rebrand products."

Liu Yuan continued reading, his gaze lingering on several key figures: "However, the financial situation isn't looking good."

"That's why this is an opportunity." Qin Hao put down his teacup and leaned forward slightly. "If our finances were sound, we wouldn't even have a chance to get our hands on a factory with its own proprietary technology patents."

"Are you planning to acquire this power supply factory?" Liu Yuan closed the document and asked directly.

Qin Hao shook his head, his expression turning serious: "Don't underestimate this power plant; it's a state-owned enterprise, and acquiring it won't be easy. Acquiring a state-owned enterprise involves interests from all sides, from the factory leadership to higher authorities, from the local government's attitude to employee resettlement—every link could become an obstacle."

He paused, then continued, "You should go and contact them first, and test their attitude. If you can reach an agreement, that would be best, but if it falls through, it's okay. There are plenty of component manufacturers in Shenzhen; acquiring a few and forming a combined company won't be smaller than Great Wall Power."

Liu Yuan nodded, but still had some doubts: "Since state-owned enterprises are so difficult to acquire, why bother with the negotiations? Wouldn't it be easier to just acquire a few small factories?"

Qin Hao smiled, a glint of shrewdness flashing in his eyes: "Because what I truly value isn't this factory, but Du Heping, the factory manager of Great Wall Power."

"You might not know this person, but in the power supply industry, he's a big name." Qin Hao stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the bustling crowds on the streets of Beijing. "He's a power supply expert himself, skilled in both technology and management. Under his leadership, Great Wall Power Supply Factory's technical patents increased from zero to twelve, and the product quality is among the best in the country."

Liu Yuan suddenly realized: "So you wanted me to go talk first to test Du Heping's attitude?"

“It’s not just a test.” Qin Hao walked back to his seat and sat down. “Negotiations for the acquisition of state-owned enterprises involve too many stakeholders, and the slightest mistake can cause them to fall apart. If I directly intervene, there will be no room for maneuver once the negotiations fail. You go ahead and negotiate; even if they fail, I can still step in to salvage the situation, or find another way to contact Du Heping.”

Liu Yuan nodded, indicating that he understood: "When should I go?"

"We're heading back to Shenzhen tomorrow." Qin Hao glanced at his watch. "It's getting late. Go back and prepare yourself. Thoroughly understand the information about this factory. We'll discuss it in detail on the train tomorrow."

The next morning, Qin Hao and Liu Yuan boarded the train back to Shenzhen.

The green train clattered southward, the scenery outside the window gradually changing from the plains of the north to the hills of the south. The carriages were bustling with people: officials on business trips, ordinary people visiting relatives and friends, and migrant workers heading south to find work. Every face was filled with anticipation for the future.

Upon returning to Shenzhen, Liu Yuan immediately began contacting Du Heping.

Qin Hao, on the other hand, started contacting several small factories that produce power supplies through his connections in Huaqiangbei.

Huaqiangbei is a distribution center for electronic components in Shenzhen, with numerous electronics factories and component manufacturers of all sizes. Every day, countless people come here to look for business opportunities.

He inspected seven or eight small factories and finally selected three with a certain foundation to begin acquisition negotiations. Most of the owners of these small factories were early entrepreneurs with weak technical capabilities, but they were flexible and their prices were relatively cheap.

Qin Hao didn't personally intervene; instead, he found several intermediaries to help facilitate the deal, and the acquisition price was quickly agreed upon. The total acquisition cost for the three small factories was less than two million, but the integrated production capacity could reach 50,000 power supplies per year.

Meanwhile, progress on Liu Yuan's side was not as satisfactory.

When he first visited Great Wall Power Plant, Du Heping's attitude was relatively polite, but when Liu Yuan expressed his intention to acquire the company, Du Heping's expression immediately changed.

"Acquisition?" Du Heping frowned, his tone clearly showing dissatisfaction. "Our Great Wall Power Plant is a state-owned enterprise, not some private workshop. How can we just sell it off like that?"

Liu Yuan, having anticipated this, quickly explained, "Director Du, you've misunderstood. We don't want to buy out the factory; rather, we hope to cooperate by investing in Changcheng Power Plant to help it expand its production scale and improve its technology."

"Capital injection?" Du Heping interrupted him. "To put it bluntly, isn't it just an attempt to control our factory? Let me tell you, Great Wall Power Plant is state-owned property, and I am a state cadre. I will absolutely not sell state-owned assets at a low price!"

Liu Yuan was speechless, and could only awkwardly take his leave.

Back at the company, Liu Yuan reported the situation to Qin Hao. Qin Hao wasn't surprised; instead, he smiled and said, "This was expected. Du Heping is a man of principle and has a bottom line; he won't compromise easily. Continue to contact him, but don't rush things. Build trust first."

Liu Yuan nodded, then asked, "Should we raise the acquisition price a bit?"

Qin Hao thought for a moment and said, "Five million! This price is far above the market price. Even if he's not interested, the Great Wall Corporation might be."

Over the next month, Liu Yuan visited Great Wall Power Plant several more times, each time bringing different cooperation proposals, but Du Heping's attitude remained unchanged.

Du Heping's attitude only changed after Liu Yuan offered a purchase price of five million.

"Five million?" Du Heping was visibly taken aback when he heard the figure. He knew that while Great Wall Power Plant possessed the technology patents, its financial situation was poor; according to market valuations, it was worth at most two or three million. Five million was far beyond his expectations.

But he quickly regained his composure and said to Liu Yuan, "Mr. Liu, the price you've offered is indeed very attractive. However, such a significant acquisition is not something I, as the factory manager, can decide on my own. It must be submitted to the head office for approval."

Liu Yuan sighed inwardly. He knew that the decision-making process of state-owned enterprises was complicated, but he did not expect it to be this complicated.

Sure enough, the following days were filled with endless meetings and discussions.

First, the Great Wall Power Plant held internal meetings to discuss the matter, then it was reported to the head office, which then held its own meetings to study it, sometimes even inviting Liu Yuan to attend. Each time Liu Yuan rushed there excitedly, he found that these meetings always ended up as farces of bickering and wrangling.

Some leaders are worried about the loss of state-owned assets, some are worried about the resettlement of employees, some are worried about the change in the nature of the enterprise after the acquisition, and some are simply trying to make their presence felt by deliberately asking all sorts of tricky questions.

Liu Yuan was overwhelmed by these meetings, but he couldn't lash out. He could only patiently explain, communicate, and coordinate again and again.

Qin Hao had anticipated Liu Yuan's predicament, which was one of the reasons he didn't speak directly with Du Heping. Negotiations for the acquisition of state-owned enterprises involved too many stakeholders; a slight misstep could lead to a quagmire. Rather than getting bogged down in these trivial matters, it was better to let Liu Yuan handle it.

Seeing that the acquisition negotiations were still making no substantial progress, Qin Hao said to Liu Yuan, "Since we can't reach an agreement, let's put it on hold for now. Let's focus on integrating the small factories we've acquired; we can't let the resources sit idle."

Liu Yuan nodded, though somewhat unwilling, he knew it was the best option at the moment.

A month later, in the Shangbu Industrial Zone near Huaqiangbei, a power supply factory called "Zeus" officially opened.

This power supply factory was formed by integrating three small factories acquired by Qin Hao. It has three production lines and an annual production capacity of 50,000 units. In order to give the factory a more "international" feel, Qin Hao even spent money to find a foreign company employee working in Guangzhou, and had his family register a company in the United States. Then, the company invested in China under the name of this American company.

During this period, foreign companies enjoyed various preferential policies in China, and "foreign brands" were more convincing to consumers.

After the power plant opened, Qin Hao did not rush to expand production scale, but instead focused on technological research and development.

Power supplies during this period typically ranged from 150W to 220W, with a few reaching 250W, which wasn't considered particularly high. Various components were readily available on the market, making it easy to assemble a power supply.

However, the key technology of a power supply is not in its power output, but in its ability to protect various computer components in the event of an emergency.

Take power outages as an example. A sudden power outage can cause significant damage to a computer, especially the motherboard, which can be rendered unusable. Furthermore, power supplies are also highly susceptible to damage from sudden power cuts; the instantaneous change in current can cause irreversible damage to the internal components.

What's even more troublesome is that the electricity situation in China during the 90s was extremely poor. Besides sudden power outages, voltage fluctuations were common. In some areas, the voltage would fluctuate wildly, and this instability was extremely damaging to computers.

The reason why Japanese appliances sell so well in mainland China is largely due to their excellent power-off protection under extreme electrical conditions. Japanese manufacturers invest a lot of effort in power supply design and research various protection circuits, which is why Japanese appliances often have a lifespan of more than ten years, while many domestic appliances can't even last a few years.

In fact, many power supply manufacturers have not been able to properly address the power failure protection technology by 2026. It would have been almost impossible to completely solve it in 1992.

However, as long as you do better than your competitors, you can capture a large share of the market.

Qin Hao was well aware of this, so he went to Hong Kong and spent a lot of money to hire a power supply expert as a research and development manager to specifically study issues such as power outage protection and voltage fluctuations.

The expert, Zhang Weiming, was in his fifties and had worked at Panasonic in Japan for over a decade, possessing a deep understanding of power supply technology. Qin Hao offered an annual salary of 500,000 yuan, which was definitely a high price in 1992, but Qin Hao felt it was worth it.

Another month has passed in the blink of an eye, and before we knew it, it was the end of 1992.

Winter in Shenzhen isn't cold; the sun shines brightly and the temperature is pleasant. But for Liu Yuan, this winter has been exceptionally busy.

Zeus Power Plant's production is on track, and the first batch of products is about to roll off the line. Liu Yuan monitors the production progress at the factory every day to ensure that there are no quality issues.

That day, Liu Yuan was supervising the production line in the workshop when his mobile phone suddenly rang.

"Hello, who is this?" Liu Yuan answered the phone.

"Liu Yuan'er, it's me, Chen Qiming. How's the job search going?" Chen Qiming's voice was urgent.

Liu Yuan slapped his forehead; he had been so busy lately that he had completely forgotten about it.

"Ahem, well, we've made some progress. I'll ask around for you later," Liu Yuan said somewhat guiltily.

Chen Qiming believed him and said gratefully, "Okay, then I'll wait for your good news. I'll treat you to drinks when I get paid."

"Okay, I have something to do here, I'll hang up now."

After hanging up the phone, Liu Yuan began to think about where to arrange a job for Chen Qiming.

Zeus Power Plant is indeed short-staffed, but Chen Qiming definitely doesn't want to work under Qin Hao. The bosses he knows all have similar problems—either their skills don't match the job requirements, or there are no vacancies at the moment.

"Hey, I've got it."

Liu Yuan's eyes suddenly lit up, and he dialed Du Heping's number.

Although the acquisition negotiations are still at an impasse, his relationship with Du Heping is still quite good. Du Heping is very polite to Liu Yuan, after all, this is the person of the big investor. If the acquisition is completed one day, they may become superior and subordinate.

"Director Du, hello, this is Liu Yuan."

"Oh, Mr. Liu, what's the matter?" Du Heping's voice was somewhat helpless, thinking that Liu Yuan had come to urge the acquisition again.

"Director Du, a classmate of mine is looking for a job. I wonder if you could arrange something for him?" Liu Yuan asked directly.

Upon hearing that it wasn't about an acquisition, Du Heping breathed a sigh of relief: "A college student? That's fine, but our salaries aren't very high, and I'm afraid it might be unfair to you, my student."

Liu Yuan laughed, "The treatment here in Shenzhen is definitely better than in the mainland. If that kid's still not satisfied, I'll slap him across the face!"

Du Heping smiled and said, "Then I have no problem on my end. Just have him come and report directly."

"Okay, then I'll have him come to Shenzhen as soon as possible."

After hanging up the phone, Liu Yuan breathed a sigh of relief, finally managing to get the job done.

However, he did not call Chen Qiming back immediately, but waited until the next day to leisurely have the voice information service send a message to Chen Qiming's pager.

This was also Liu Yuan's little scheme; if he acted too enthusiastically, Chen Qiming might think he had been thinking about this all along.

Upon receiving the news, Chen Qiming bought a train ticket that same day and traveled all the way to Shenzhen on a slow, green train.

He called Liu Yuan from the train station, and Liu Yuan told him to find a place to stay first and they would meet again the next day.

The next morning, Liu Yuan arrived at the guesthouse where Chen Qiming was staying.

Liu Yuan originally planned to take Chen Qiming around Huaqiangbei first, but Chen Qiming asked him to take him to the stock exchange instead.

The atmosphere at the stock exchange was incredibly lively. A group of elderly people were queuing at the windows to trade; some were buying, some were selling, and others were watching from the sidelines. The electronic displays inside the exchange constantly changed numbers, a dazzling display of red and green digits.

This scene thrilled Chen Qiming. He felt as if he were in a huge gold mine, where he could reach out and grab gold.

“Liu Yuan, I should have come to Shenzhen a long time ago. If I had, I might be a millionaire by now,” Chen Qiming said excitedly, his eyes fixed on the electronic display board.

Seeing that Chen Qiming's eyes were starting to look a little off, Liu Yuan couldn't help but remind him again, "Stocks are very risky; don't get involved."

"I know, I know." Chen Qiming nodded perfunctorily, but his mind was completely on the fluctuating numbers.

After finally waiting for the market to close at noon, Liu Yuan took Chen Qiming out to eat at a restaurant.

Chen Qiming was really hungry, and he wolfed down his food, his mouth greasy with oil.

"Slow down, no one's going to take it from you. You're acting like you haven't eaten in ages," Liu Yuan teased.

While stuffing himself with food, Chen Qiming took a moment to say, "Hey, don't even mention it. I've completely offended my dad. He didn't give me a single penny this time. My mom had to give me some money, otherwise I wouldn't even be able to afford a train ticket."

"By the way, Liu Yuan, could you lend me some money? I'll pay you back when I get my salary."

Liu Yuan didn't take it to heart, took out two thousand yuan from his wallet and handed it to him: "Take this first, and let me know if you need more. Don't rush to pay me back, we'll talk about it when you have more money."

Looking at the thickness of Liu Yuan's wallet, Chen Qiming secretly resolved to make something of himself and show Sun Yumei that he was no less capable than Qin Hao!

After finishing their meal, Liu Yuan took a slip of paper from his bag and handed it to Chen Qiming: "This has a phone number and address on it. I've already made arrangements over there, so you can just go and report for duty."

Chen Qiming casually stuffed it into his pocket and patted Liu Yuan's arm: "Thanks, Liu Yuan. If you ever need my help, just let me know."

"Hey, don't be so polite with me."

After Liu Yuan left, Chen Qiming did not go to Great Wall Power Plant to report for duty, but went straight to the stock exchange.

Unfortunately, in early 1993, stock issuance was still done through subscription certificates, and Chen Qiming did not have any subscription certificates, so he could not buy stocks at all.

He stood in the exchange, watching others buy and sell, his heart pounding with anxiety.

Just as Chen Qiming was worrying about how to get stock subscription certificates, he noticed someone selling them in a corner of the exchange. He quickly went over to ask, only to find that a subscription certificate cost 1,000 yuan, and there was no guarantee of winning an allocation.

"This money is too easy to make." Chen Qiming's eyes lit up, thinking he had found a way to get rich.

He remembered that a batch of stock subscription certificates would be listed and issued tomorrow, so he decided to go and queue up to buy them first thing tomorrow morning.

Early the next morning, Chen Qiming arrived at the designated sales outlet.

As a result, a long queue had already formed in front of the store, stretching from the store entrance all the way to the end of the street, numbering at least several hundred people. Moreover, to prevent anyone from cutting in line, people of all ages and genders were holding onto the person in front of them, completely blocking the road from the store to the street.

Chen Qiming was dumbfounded; he hadn't expected there to be so many people.

He tried several different locations, only to find that each one was more crowded than the last. Many locations had just opened for less than half an hour when they announced that the subscription certificates were sold out, leaving those waiting in line to look on with envy.

Just as Chen Qiming was about to leave disappointed, he suddenly noticed that some people who had received stock subscription certificates were immediately looking for buyers.

Although it's still expensive, it's still much cheaper than 1,000 yuan a piece.

Chen Qiming gritted his teeth and spent six hundred yuan to buy one.

Believe it or not, he actually had incredible luck and won the lottery.

Immediately, Chen Qiming rushed to the stock exchange and took out all the money in his pocket to buy a stock.

During this period, most stocks were profitable, and this particular stock quickly brought Chen Qiming a substantial return, turning a little over a thousand into seven thousand.

"Making money is so easy! Why would I need to go to work?" Chen Qiming looked at the numbers in his account, his hands trembling with excitement.

He decided to sell the stock first, then use the money to buy warrants and return to the stock market.

However, the next few times he bought subscription certificates, he failed to win any lottery tickets. Now, not only did he not make a fortune, but he also struggled to afford food and lodging. (End of Chapter)