"Hey, do you have any news about the company's layoff list this time?" At this moment, the entire Vivendi was in a state of panic. Following the outbreak of the subprime mortgage crisis, Vivendi's operating conditions had deteriorated severely, and cash flow issues had emerged. Vivendi had even started to default on many employees' salaries.
In such a situation, layoffs became inevitable. About a month ago, rumors of massive layoffs began circulating within Vivendi, and now it seemed the time had come for them to be implemented.
Starting from the morning of October 25, 2008, Vivendi's HR department became very busy. One by one, they called their targets into their offices and informed them in the gentlest tone possible that the company's financial situation was dire, cash flow was on the verge of collapse, and to ensure the company's survival, they had to ask the employees to leave. They added that if the company's situation improved in the future, they would consider rehiring them first.
While the words were spoken nicely, when the laid-off employees demanded severance pay, Vivendi's HR immediately changed their tune, stating that the company had no money. Severance pay could be offered, but it would have to be reduced, leading to heated arguments.
For the past few days, the entire Vivendi had been immersed in such an atmosphere, and the group had become increasingly desperate.
It was at this moment that some Vivendi employees suddenly noticed a group of people wearing what appeared to be rather peculiar clothing entering the company. They were then personally escorted by Vivendi executives to the floor where the company's president was located.
"Are those Middle Easterners? Did they change their clothes?" someone curious asked.
"Please, that's Hanfu! You don't even recognize Hanfu? How long have you been out of touch with the fashion world?" a female employee nearby retorted.
"This is Hanfu? The outfit you saved up for several months to buy?" another employee next to her said in surprise.
"Yes! Don't you know that last year, Liushangqushui launched their latest collaboration with the Louvre, a Hanfu ensemble designed by Liushangqushui's rising designer, Princess Vivienne, who is also a royal? The entire set has 11 pieces of clothing and over sixty different accessories. It takes two hours just to put them on."
"You don't know, when I saw the models walking the runway wearing this ensemble, I swore to God that if I had the chance to own this ensemble, I would be content even if I had to go to hell!"
"How much does this ensemble cost?"
"It's not expensive, only about 80,000 Euros for the set. It's even cheaper than Liushangqushui's other ensembles. It's definitely the most value-for-money ensemble of the past year. If you also get a Caiwei bag, then you truly won't have lived in vain!"
"80,000 Euros? Wouldn't you have to save for at least two or three years?"
"No, I just need to use my credit card. I originally planned to acquire it in just six months. But now the company has become this mess, my money isn't increasing, it's decreasing. It's hopeless!" the female employee said with despair.
"Then this is even stranger. Are there any companies in the world that use Hanfu as their corporate uniform?" an employee asked, confused.
"Of course, there are. In China, they no longer wear Western suits; they all wear their Hanfu. Although there aren't many companies in France that wear Hanfu, it seems that all companies related to Jiangnan Group wear Hanfu when they are here!"
"You mean those people just now were from Jiangnan Group? Didn't our company have an irreconcilable feud with Jiangnan Group?" Someone suddenly discovered a crucial secret.
This person was not wrong. The group that had suddenly appeared was indeed from Jiangnan Group. However, it was not Vivendi's French branch, but rather from Jiangnan Group's headquarters in China. Leading them was none other than Liu Xiangjiang, the Vice President of Jiangnan Group.
At this time, Liu Xiangjiang was essentially the fifth-ranked figure in Jiangnan Group. His presence in France naturally had its own purpose.
Soon, Liu Xiangjiang met with Errol, the President of Vivendi Group. As for the purpose of their meeting, it had already been made very clear during their prior phone conversations.
"Welcome, a warm welcome to our friends from China!" Errol shook Liu Xiangjiang's hand very enthusiastically, then said with a smile, "Vivendi Group and Jiangnan Group have always had a long-standing friendship, and we have even had a very successful collaboration before. We are also very pleased that Jiangnan Group is willing to purchase quality assets from our group this time!"
"I have specifically prepared a complete information booklet for everyone, which lists almost all the quality assets under our group. As long as your company is interested, we can discuss any of them!"
In Errol's words, Vivendi and Jiangnan Group were old friends who had known each other for many years. However, as the employee had wondered, even a few months ago, Vivendi and Jiangnan Group were in a state of mutual hostility.
Although due to the nature of their business areas, Vivendi and Jiangnan Group did not have direct business conflicts, which meant they did not have direct confrontations, Vivendi had never given Jiangnan Group a friendly reception, and whenever there was an opportunity to annoy the other party, Vivendi never missed it.
The deep hatred between the two parties was naturally due to Blizzard. Vivendi Group always considered the fact that their group would later sell Blizzard, a veritable cash cow, to another company for only 150 million dollars as a huge stain on their corporate history. If they could have, Vivendi would never have wavered even if Jiangnan Group had offered them 1.5 billion dollars at the time.
However, now, the situation was entirely different. Everyone in the world knew that Vivendi was short of money, and Jiangnan Group was probably the company with the least shortage of money in the world. The listing of 0o Network had provided Jiangnan Group with a colossal sum of hundreds of billions of dollars, enough to buy almost the entire Vivendi Group.
Therefore, when Vivendi learned that Jiangnan Group intended to acquire some of its subsidiaries, Vivendi, lacking cash flow, immediately changed its attitude and showed 120% sincerity to welcome the representatives of Jiangnan Group.
Liu Xiangjiang's attitude was, of course, also very good. After some mutual flattery, Liu Xiangjiang picked up the booklet provided by Vivendi.
The booklet was meticulously prepared and contained detailed information on over 40 companies. This included the business scope of these companies, their performance, simplified asset lists, and extensive future planning and forecasts.
Yes, based on Vivendi's predictions for these companies, at least 20 of them were future Fortune Global 500 enterprises.
Furthermore, all these companies were related to electronic products, the internet, luxury goods, and other areas that were more or less related to Jiangnan Group's main business. Vivendi had indeed put in a lot of effort.
Liu Xiangjiang skimmed through the entire brochure and then placed it on the table very frankly, shaking his head and saying to Errol, "Esteemed President, although this may be a bit impolite, we have absolutely no interest in the companies on this list!"
Liu Xiangjiang's statement greatly shocked Errol. This booklet had been compiled by him and his team over three days and nights. He believed that every company listed in it should attract Jiangnan Group's attention.
He had also listed a very reasonable price for each company, which was at most about five times the cost of acquiring them originally... This was very reasonable, wasn't it? After all, Vivendi also needed to make money.
As a result, all of Errol's preparations were rendered useless by Liu Xiangjiang's words.
The atmosphere became somewhat awkward. It took Errol a good ten minutes to regain his composure, and then he asked with a frown, "May I ask which companies your company is interested in?"
"Actually, we also prepared a document before coming, which lists in detail the companies we are interested in. As long as the price is right, we are willing to purchase all the companies on this list!" Liu Xiangjiang said, and then an assistant placed a document on the table. Errol curiously opened this acquisition list. The number of companies listed was even larger than the list Errol had prepared earlier, with the names of as many as 86 companies. According to Liu Xiangjiang's earlier statement, as long as the price was right, they were willing to buy all these companies.
This sheer quantity made Errol somewhat excited. However, after he read the entire list completely, his expression became rather solemn, because all the companies on this list were media enterprises.
Leading the list was Universal Pictures, currently the second-ranked film company in Hollywood.
In addition, there was Canal+, Europe's largest cable television station.
Havas Publishing Group, which included over 60 publishing houses, various newspapers and magazines, and a large number of gaming businesses, including Ubisoft.
These three companies were the most heavyweight enterprises on this list, each with a market value exceeding tens of billions of dollars. The remaining 80-plus companies were mainly media enterprises distributed throughout Europe.
Some were very small, serving only a small town or village, while others were enormous, like The Times, a world-class newspaper publisher.
All these media outlets were included in this list.
"Is your company planning to establish a media group?" Seeing this list, Errol couldn't help but ask.
"We do have that intention!" Liu Xiangjiang nodded with a smile and said, "We do intend to establish an international media group and hope to achieve comprehensive cooperation with Vivendi in this regard!"