Chapter 633
Re-admission
Canary Wharf is London's new financial district and is poised to become Europe's Wall Street.
Since the subway opened in 1998, Canary Wharf has maintained a 98% occupancy rate and is now undergoing a second phase of expansion.
Today, the Canary Wharf Group not only owns commercial real estate in Canary Wharf, but has also become a rising star in European shopping centers, having acquired the site of London's 'White City', the largest shopping center in the world, and is preparing to build it into Europe's largest shopping center.
However, Chen Wenxi's focus at this time still shifted to the 'Harold Group'.
At this time, the Canary Wharf Group adopted a 'professional manager' model, with Chen Wenxi serving as chairman of the board and listing the company in London, where its market value exceeded 10 billion US dollars.
At the same time, Harrods was also listed in London, with a market value of over 10 billion US dollars.
"Brother, Prada has agreed to transfer Fendi's shares to our Harrods Group," Chen Daiyi reported with a happy expression as she entered the chairman and president's office of Harrods Group.
Chen Wenxi calmly replied, "Call me Tenth Brother."
Chen Daiyi's expression changed slightly, then she obediently called out, "Tenth Brother."
What may seem like a simple change in address actually signifies a shift in Chen Daiyi's status among her 15 siblings in the second generation of the family. Years ago, Chen Daiyi defied her father's objections and married into a British ducal family, an act that virtually erased her from the Chen clan.
Even the siblings of the "second generation of the Chen family," who are known for their unity, have developed emotional rifts with her. It's simple: the Chen family prioritizes "filial piety" and "unity," and Chen Daiyi's defiance of her father's wishes has indeed caused some resistance among them.
But Audrey Hepburn was, after all, her mother, and Chen Wen-ou and Chen Wen-west were, after all, her brothers. They had been trying to keep Chen Dai-yi in the Chen family.
As time went on, the father-daughter relationship gradually improved, and Chen Daiyi had the opportunity to join Harrods Group's senior management circle. In recent years, Chen Daiyi was even promoted to executive director in charge of acquisitions, becoming one of Chen Wenxi's key assistants, and her power further expanded.
Chen Wenxi then said with satisfaction, "Last year, when we jointly acquired Fendi, I knew that Fendi's financial difficulties would inevitably drag down Prada, eventually leading to Prada selling its shares to us. Very good, you go and talk to Prada, acquire their shares, and we will truly control Fendi. From now on, we will be in a league of our own in the fur industry."
"Okay, I'll assemble an acquisition team right away to negotiate."
Just as Chen Daiyi was about to leave, Chen Wenxi said, "By the way, Father is coming to Europe for vacation. You must seize the opportunity to accompany him."
Chen Daiyi's face lit up with joy, and she quickly nodded and said, "Yes. I haven't seen my father in a long time, and I miss him very much."
Even though she went against her father's wishes back then, she never complained about him and always respected and loved him.
Chen Wenxi nodded, a smile appearing on his face.
For the children of the Chen family, their greatest support has always been their father and the family. After the younger sister married into the British ducal family, she enjoyed ten years of comfortable life. They also truly understood why their father opposed their sister marrying into the other family: because the children of such families were all useless and promiscuous.
Of course, given her younger sister's looks and talent, she couldn't possibly indulge the other party, so Chen Daiyi has already divorced and won custody of her children.
Given the status of the Chen family's third branch in Europe and globally, they are certainly not inferior to a British ducal family.
Of the three branches of the family, the eldest, Chen Wen-ou, heads Mattel, a global media and toy giant. It owns the fifth-largest television network in the United States, the largest film company, and the world's most valuable toy company. He is also a major shareholder of Pearson, the world's largest publishing group, and Disney. Furthermore, Chen Wen-ou is a supporter of several US presidents and British prime ministers, possessing significant political connections.
Of course, Chen Wen-ou also owns a 'small company' – Red Bull Europe, with assets worth only a few billion US dollars.
Today, the Canary Wharf Group and Harrods Group, which are now under the leadership of the second son, Chen Wenxi, are also developing rapidly, and his influence has gradually expanded from Europe to the world.
Harrods Group, through acquisitions in recent years, has surpassed LVMH Group in turnover, becoming the largest luxury goods group.
In recent years, Harrods has been very aggressive: in 1996, the group acquired Sephora, which not only gave Harrods access to a global retail network, but also built an important platform to provide promotional support for its own beauty brands.
1998 was a pivotal year in the expansion history of the Harrods Group: in that year, the group acquired the Swiss watch brand TAG Heuer, marking its official entry into the watch industry and filling the gap in the high-end watch market;
Later, together with Prada, they acquired a majority stake in Fendi Enterprises, with the remaining stake held by the Fendi sisters and Karl Lagerfeld.
A few days later, Chen Guangliang went to England for vacation.
At this time, Chen Guangliang had been behind the scenes for twenty years. During this period, he had brought his children to the forefront, and he himself naturally received less attention.
In the eyes of some media outlets and individuals, he may no longer be alive.
He has been out of the public eye in Europe and the UK for more than 15 years, during which time he has not attended any meetings or met with political figures.
Of course, when his private jet was parked at the London airport, the intelligence agencies there might have been paying attention, but why would Chen Guangliang care?
His retreat from the limelight meant that he had completed his arrangements for his family, and he simply wanted to enjoy life, so naturally he wouldn't care too much about the power that was eyeing him.
The Rolls-Royce convoy drove out of the airport, attracting the attention of some passersby.
In the car, Audrey Hepburn still came to pick her up personally. Since she started dating Chen Guangliang, her health has greatly improved.
At 71, she remains healthy and elegant, exuding a graceful and dignified air, revealing a beauty that was breathtaking in her youth. Time cannot diminish her beauty; this is perfect proof.
Of course, Chen Guangliang and Audrey Hepburn hadn't had any in-depth communication for three or four years, and now they had truly become 'family'.
"Daiyi is also at the manor with her two children and hopes to meet you!"
Chen Guangliang nodded, patted Audrey Hepburn's hand, and said, "Don't let Daiyi and her children infiltrate our family too much! Of course, we are still their parents and grandparents!"
Upon hearing this, Audrey Hepburn, though somewhat disappointed, still replied, "Yes, I understand what you mean!"
In the Chen family, the husbands of Chen Leyi, Chen Mengyi, and Chen Yingyi are all of Chinese descent, so Chen Guangliang can't help but like his grandsons; on the other hand, Chen Guangliang feels that Chen Daiyi's son and daughter do not belong to the Chen family bloodline.
Of course, when Chen Daiyi got married, she still received a considerable amount of assets as part of her dowry, including a 10% stake in Harold Group, so it wasn't considered a bad deal.
"Father"
Sir Chen
When they arrived at the castle, the grandchildren of the third wife were already waiting at the gate. They all showed happy expressions when they saw their father/grandfather. There was also a butler and servants by their side.
"Weno, Wenxi, and Daiyi, you all brought your families, that's great!"
When Chen Daiyi heard her father call her, tears welled up in her eyes. She now truly regretted not listening to her father back then, and that she wouldn't be estranged from the family today.
"Grandpa," Chen Zelun, the eldest grandson of the third branch of the family, said excitedly.
"Hey kid, how's work?"
"I get along well with my colleagues, and my work is very fulfilling. I will learn from my older brothers and sisters!" Chen Zelun said earnestly, controlling his emotions.
The eldest brother of the third generation, Chen Zerui, is 42 years old this year, 19 years older than Chen Zelun. More importantly, Chen Zerui has already assumed the role of the third-generation head of the Chen family and is close to succeeding as the general manager of Cheung Kong Holdings. Not to mention the eldest brother, the other brothers and sisters from the first and second wives' families have also basically moved into the core management level, with many becoming CEOs who lead their own regions.
Chen Guangliang patted his grandson on the shoulder to encourage him.
He always nurtured his family members with gentleness and encouragement, while his wives and concubines were strict and upheld their husband's authority.
Now that Chen Zelun has been with Mattel Group for a year, it means that the group will be imprinted with a deeper "Chen family gene".
Chen Zelun's grandmother, Audrey Hepburn, was European, and his mother was a blonde, blue-eyed purebred American. Although he already has a Western appearance, Chen Guangliang always believes that he has Chinese genes.
Simply put, Chen Zelun embraced both Western and Eastern cultures.
night.
A banquet was held in the castle, and everyone cherished the gathering, including Chen Guangliang's two foreign daughters-in-law. As for the foreign son-in-law, he had already settled down and was about to become the former son-in-law.
In this respect, Chen Guangliang has many foreign daughters-in-law, and he is very satisfied with their performance, as they have a strong sense of belonging to the family.
Even Julie, Chen Wenhai's ex-wife, who couldn't bear her husband's long-term infidelity and wanted a divorce, first consulted with her mother-in-law and father-in-law. Ultimately, under Chen Guangliang's arrangement, Julie and Chen Wenhai divorced peacefully, and Julie received a $10 billion trust fund.
Although Julie only received a small portion of the wealth, her four children with Chen Wenhai would at least receive the vast majority of Chen Wenhai's remaining wealth, as guaranteed by Chen Guangliang.
Because of this incident, Chen Guangliang was even more respected by his daughters-in-law, as he could guarantee their children's inheritance rights.
Everyone was very happy at the dinner!
Chen Daiyi also took the opportunity to invite her father to dance with her, while she poured out her heart.
"Father, I'm sorry, I didn't dare to be willful back then!"
"Silly girl, you'll get better!"
Hearing her father's words, Chen Daiyi felt very encouraged, making up for her failure in love.
In fact, her strong personality and perfect public image were probably the root cause of her marriage.
"Father, the Harry Potter series will conclude next year, with eight films spanning 12 years and generating billions of dollars in revenue. Next, 21st Century Fox will have the X-Men film."
The next day, the two sons and one daughter were in the study, reporting on their work to their father.
21st Century Fox and Fox Television Network are undoubtedly among Mattel's core assets; Mattel also has two other core assets: Mattel toys (Matteo Comics, etc.) and real estate and investments.
Since being acquired by Mattel in the 1980s, Fox has enjoyed great success and has even become the leading studio among the eight major film studios in the United States.
The Harry Potter franchise alone is worth tens of billions of dollars. Not to mention, box office champions like Ghost and Titanic were also produced by Fox.
Meanwhile, Fox Network and Fox News are also doing very well.
Undoubtedly, Chen Wen-ou wields enormous media influence (he is already the chairman of Mattel Group).
"The development is quite good," Chen Guangliang commented.
He didn't interfere too much, but he did offer some key guidance on a few occasions, including for "Ghost" and "Harry Potter," both of which were his creations.
Of course, he knew that the Pirates of the Caribbean series was very profitable, but since Disney produced Pirates of the Caribbean and some parts of it were incorporated into Disney parks; in addition, Mattel Group held 21% of Disney's shares and was the major shareholder, so he naturally wouldn't interfere too much.
Moreover, Fox is already the most profitable production company; it couldn't be any bigger.
"What's the situation at Disney?"
Chen Wenou immediately said, "I rarely participate in Disney's work affairs. Even in board meetings, I send other directors to participate, which is to avoid any appearance of impropriety."
Chen Guangliang laughed and said, "Why would I need to avoid suspicion? I think that in the future, Disney and Fox may eventually need to merge. Of course, I said possibly, and it would be Disney acquiring Fox."
Chen Wenou was startled and quickly said, "I think the third generation of our family are all pillars of society and can protect these businesses!"
Chen Guangliang waved his hand and said, "Let's talk about it in the future! Besides, if it's worth six or seven hundred billion US dollars, why not take it easy and call it a day? In this world, what family can keep going uphill forever? There's nothing wrong with stepping back from the limelight."
If he lives to around 2019, he will definitely order Wen Ou Chen to sell Fox, Fox Television Network and other assets to Disney, and then Mattel will distribute the profits.
After all, a global economic downturn is inevitable after 2020, and the Chen family needs to hold onto cash and wait for opportunities.
Upon hearing this, Chen Wenou instantly understood his father's far-sightedness. He sincerely said, "If it really has that kind of value, I will definitely listen to my father's advice today."
He and his mother together hold 41% of Mattel's shares, a consistently high stake, making them regulars on the rich list. He would consider cashing out or reducing his holdings if necessary.
Of course, he has four sons and one daughter, so he is not afraid of lacking an heir.
Later, Chen Wenou added, "Red Bull Europe doesn't go public, which allows them to hide some of their wealth. Also, what advice do you have, Father, regarding Mattel's stakes in Disney and Pearson? I've considered cashing out a portion of it at the right time."
Chen Guangliang said directly, "Wait a little longer."
"Ok"
The investments in Disney and Pearson were both aimed at expanding their network of relationships and strategic investments.
The stocks of Disney and Pearson have since multiplied several times over, making it a very successful investment. However, Mattel has never been able to enter the core circles of these two companies, so it might be better to find an opportunity to gradually cash out.
2007 was an opportunity to cash out some of the shares, and the rest could be cashed out in 2019.
When it was Chen Wenxi's turn, he also reported on the 'Harold Group' and the 'Canary Wharf Group'.
Undoubtedly, both of these groups will grow rapidly, especially Harrods, which owns numerous luxury brands such as Gucci, Latour, and Fendi, and has a promising future.
The emergence of Harrods Group weakened LVMH Group and replaced the previous 'Kerring Group'.
Therefore, it is not impossible for Harrods to reach a market value of $3000 billion in the future.
Chen Wenxi currently holds more than 60% of the shares, while Chen Daiyi holds 10%. Chen Wenxi has five children, and Chen Daiyi has two children, all of whom will be able to join Harrods in the future.
As for Canary Wharf Group, it's not publicly listed and can be considered Chen Wenxi's 'hidden wealth'—it's the Wall Street of Europe. (End of Chapter)