Chapter 58 Figures in Corporate History: The Richest Tribe

This is a group of legendary people. They are low-key, calm and round, like gold coins with different shapes but similar functions.They are all incredibly rich, and in the eyes of most people, that wealth can only be consumed in imaginary ways. They are the richest person in a country, and there is only one person in the whole country.In this society where commerce dominates everything, this is not just a concept of monetary figures, but more symbolic and allegorical.Therefore, the interpretation of this ethnic group goes beyond the scope of business strategy, and has the meaning of examining life.

American writer Ehrenburg commented on the Russian poetess Tsvetayeva: "She made every effort to keep herself unknown." This sentence seems to be more appropriate for many richest people. Sometimes, the low-key of the richest people is even unbelievable. In 2004, Germany's Albrecht brothers became the world's third richest with assets of 41.1 billion US dollars, and people found that the latest interview about the two brothers was in 1953, and the newspaper that published their photos most recently was in 15 It was published a few years ago, and the only thing everyone knows is that their elder brother Carl is now 82 years old, and his younger brother Theo is also 80 years old.

Low-keyness seems to be a common trait among the vast majority of the current richest men, especially in continental Europe.Contrary to what many people imagine, they often do not settle in metropolises like London and Paris, but live in some unknown small villages and cities all year round.They also seldom appear in business events such as the "Fortune Forum" and the annual meeting of business leaders in Davos-"unwritten" seems to be an unwritten "tradition of the richest man". In the will, it is strictly forbidden for future generations to write biographies for him.

Along with understatement comes simplicity and frugality in life.At one time it was thought that the wealth was likely to exceed Bill.Gates' Sweden's richest man Kamprad is the founder of IKEA.This is how he was described: Kamprad never lacked a flashy look. He didn't have fashionable clothes, expensive watches or luxury cars, and he always traveled economy class when he traveled.He would be very annoyed if the company booked him something expensive.For working lunches at IKEA headquarters, he would pay with bills from his wallet. Excessive ostentation, celebrity temperament, and enthusiasm for public affairs are often negative numbers for the progressive wealth.According to Berlusconi of Italy, a rare political star among the richest men, since he entered politics, the judiciary has opened dozens of investigations into his business activities and drafted 87 documents against him and his business interests. For this reason, judicial officials visited the offices of his family business more than 470 times, and more than 1,500 court hearings were held just about him.

"A company goes from good to great regardless of whether the industry it's in is trendy," Jim said.The law of corporations that Collins discovered in "Good to Great" is still in effect in the observation of the richest man. Judging from the industries that the richest people are engaged in, it seems that they are not as special as expected by the heavens. There is no high barrier to entry in those industries.Among the 30 richest men, four are chain stores, three are media companies, and two are beer sellers.If there are any business secrets, "globalization under a professional background", "channels are king" and "core resource monopoly" are the three answers to the mysteries that make today's richest man.

A hundred or even decades ago, with the advancement of industrialization and urbanization, land was once the biggest "hotbed" for the birth of great wealth.Li Ka-shing of Hong Kong in Asia, the Kuok family of Malaysia, and the Guo Lingming family of Singapore are all products of this model. Even in the old business empire of the United Kingdom, the Duke of Westminster, who owns hundreds of acres of land in central London, has long been entrenched in the On the throne of the richest man, until two years ago, the mysterious Russian boy Roman was transferred to British nationality.Abramovich over.

But today, the myth of wealth creation caused by land appreciation and sharp increase in assets has become a thing of the past in those commercially mature countries.Among the richest men in Europe and America in 2005, none of them had real estate as their main business.Among the rich Chinese, except for Chen Yongzai, the richest man in the Philippines, whose fortune is not closely related to real estate, the rest are deeply related to real estate. Except for Li Ka-shing, who can be regarded as advancing with the times, and the momentum of wealth growth has not diminished. Hovering around 2 billion US dollars, it is difficult to make an inch.

Except for the Asian region, among the richest people in Europe and the United States, almost none of them is a diversified consortium.On the contrary, globalization in a professional context is a popular trend. In the past two decades, the strategy of globalization has made some traditional companies that are not outstanding leap out of reach. Heineken in the Netherlands, IKEA in Sweden, L'Oreal in France, Zara in Spain, Suntory in Japan, including Samsung in South Korea, have achieved a generation of hegemony because of timely and long-term adherence to the transnational strategy.Allegedly, in L'Oreal, its employees come from 45 nationalities, and among the 48,000 employees, 36,000 are outside France.

Related to the characteristics of globalization, those companies that focus on channel capabilities are exuding unprecedented wealth charm. If the retail giant Wal-Mart founder Sam.If Walton can live to this day, his assets will be Bill, the richest man in the world.Gates twice.In this year's "Forbes" Global Rich List, the Wal-Mart family occupies five seats from eleventh to fourteenth.Ingvar, Sweden's richest man and founder of IKEA.Kamprad ranks sixth, the richest man in Germany and the founder of the Aldi supermarket chain Karl.Albrecht ranked eighth. In this rich list, nine of the top twenty richest people are chain retailers. The proportion is astonishingly high.In the past year, only Ingvar.Kamprad's assets increased by 4.5 billion yuan alone, and this figure surpassed all the assets of Lee Kun-hee, the richest man in South Korea who is unmatched in the business world today. The Samsung Group led by the latter is already the world's best-growing comprehensive electronics company. enterprise.

The unrivaled competitiveness of these chain retailers mainly comes from two aspects: the first is the scale effect produced by modern chain businesses; the second is the innovation ability of rapid response.Ortega.The Zara clothing company founded by Gao Na has never put a penny in advertisements for its chain stores, but has hired 200 designers and launched more than 20,000 fashion styles every year. "Monopoly is the only source of huge profits."This Jewish commercial law seems to have not expired so far, and a little progress is that the meaning of monopoly is becoming more generalized and "commercialized".

Among all the richest men today, the only ones related to resource-based monopoly are probably only two. One is the Oppenheimer family in South Africa, which controls 70% of the world's diamond resources; Stanley Ho, he controlled the local gambling industry. The richest people in other countries, without exception, maintain an absolutely dominant market share in their respective main industries through the means of complete market competition, forming another sense of monopoly benefits.America's richest man Bill.Gates' Microsoft company basically completely controls the desktop system of computers all over the world. The richest man in Italy holds 80% of the national commercial TV market share. The richest man in Australia controls 80% of the country's magazine market. The richest man in Canada monopolizes 70% of the newspaper market. Above, the new richest man in India owns 6% of the world's annual steel production. Surprisingly, among the richest men in 30 countries and regions, only two and a half are IT-based, and one is Bill.Gates, the other is Terry Gou from Taiwan, China. The Hon Hai Group he leads is the world's most profitable electronic professional manufacturing service provider. After the death of "real estate king" and "insurance king" Cai Wanlin, his assets have surpassed Wang Yongqing and It ranks first on the island, and the other half is Carlos, the richest man in Mexico.Salim, a 61-year-old Lebanese immigrant, bought Telemex for $17.6 million two decades ago, and the company has grown dramatically to $20 billion, accounting for 40 percent of the total capitalization of the Mexican stock exchange. . Today in the 21st century, the substantial impact of the richest man on the national economy is no longer comparable to that of the past.In 1901, the richest man in the United States at that time was Andrew.Carnegie, the capital of the U.S. Steel Corporation he led reached 1.4 billion U.S. dollars, equivalent to two-thirds of the U.S. currency in circulation at that time.Today, except for some extremely poor countries, it is very difficult for the kind of "absolute rich" who can monopolize the lifeline of the country's economy to appear. In the past few years, Russian President Putin and Khodorkovsky led The desperate struggle among the "Seven Oligarchs" is an instinctive resistance to this by a state regime with a rudimentary commercial system. How long does it take to become the richest man?This is what many people care about. The conclusion drawn from the research on the richest man in 30 countries and regions is enough to give everyone full confidence: none of the parents of these 30 people is the richest man!Less than 20% of wealthy families have more than three generations, and their family industries are diamonds, beer, clothing, and media, and about 20% are second-generation entrepreneurs.In addition, about 40% of middle-class people are born, they are a model of personal struggle, and another 20% come from extremely humble backgrounds, such as miners, shopkeepers, immigrants, penniless "poor princes", and even smugglers. dealer. That is to say, if the chance is right and the sky is a genius, anyone can become the richest man in a country in his lifetime from now on. Often in some developing or transitional countries, some dramatic wealth explosion events are prone to occur.Mou Qiqi, who was the first to be printed with the logo of the richest man in China, was in a certain sense a trader who wandered on the edge of the law. He sold unsalable light textiles and canned food from Sichuan to Russia, and in exchange for a few planes later—— Falling plane. Abramovich, who is now the richest man in Britain, was still a smuggler at the Moscow airport in 1989. "His bag was full of contraband such as Marlboro cigarettes and Chanel perfume. In order to bring these things on the plane, he It really took a lot of effort, and it took a desperate battle with the police and security personnel for a long time to break through the barrier." Such a story is too crude, but it happens in all countries with system transition.The presence of these richest men has injected a bloody and reckless jungle atmosphere into the richest man list. And some new faces emerge, and their appearance seems to indicate that new wealth concepts are being recklessly generated, and new wealth creation channels are quietly opening. In Europe, no one richer than the 40-year-old Swiss richest man Ernesto.Bertarelli is even more charming. He was born in a wealthy family. At the age of 10, he followed his father to get in touch with the business world. At the age of 17, he helped the company make the annual budget. At the age of 31, he officially succeeded his father and became the CEO of the international company of the entire family business. He is not only rich but also talented, young, Handsome and personable, he has successively obtained an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS from Boston University. A journal called him "the crown prince of the Swiss industrial dynasty"; if it is Ernesto.Bertarelli's story is too dazzling, so Saudi Arabia's current richest man, 48-year-old Alwaleed.Book.Talal is another very unexpected "Arabic story". Talal is a poor boy among thousands of "Emirates Princes" in Saudi Arabia.When he started his business at 23, he had just $15,000 to start with.He foresaw in time that the high welfare policy implemented by the government relying on petrodollars would greatly stimulate the domestic real estate market, so he bought two large pieces of real estate in the capital Riyadh.Today, he is the largest private real estate owner in the Saudi Arabian capital. At the age of 29, after successive successes, he extended his tentacles to the financial world. He became the largest shareholder of United Bank of Saudi Arabia, which has been losing money for years, and made it the most profitable commercial bank in Saudi Arabia a few years later.His shares cover all business fields, and the companies he has participated in include Citibank, News Corporation, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, McDonald's, Disney, Apple, Motorola, AOL-Time Warner, Ford, Amazon, EBay, Kodak, Xerox, etc. Internationally renowned enterprises.At present, Talal's total assets are as high as 23.7 billion US dollars, ranking fifth in the 2005 "Forbes" list.Even the "stock god" Buffett said humbly in a letter, "Sometimes, they call me the 'Talal' of Wall Street." Guo Taiming, who has just become the richest man in Taiwan, is the hope of the rich Chinese.On the new list of the world's richest people, his assets have surpassed that of the 87-year-old Taiwan "God of Business" Wang Yongqing and jumped to the top. Today, publicity has been regarded as unwise by the richest people, and they prefer to live in obscurity outside the spotlight. Since the beginning of the year, there has been constant news about the richest man. In May, Bill Gates announced that he would withdraw from Microsoft's operations to focus on charitable foundations.He also pledged to donate most of his assets.Three months later, Li Ka-shing, the richest Chinese man, announced in Hong Kong that he would donate one-third of his assets to charity. In such a news heat wave, people have a strong interest in the life attitude of the richest man. In the minds of many people, the richest people should be a group of glamorous people who live in resplendent high-rise buildings and hug each other when they go in and out, but this is not the case.Among the current richest people - especially in continental Europe, low-key is their common character traits.Contrary to what many people imagine, they often do not settle in metropolises like London and Paris, but live in some unknown small villages and cities all year round. They almost never attend star-studded parties or carnivals, although many of these extravagant events are organized or paid for by their companies.They also seldom appear in business events such as the "Fortune Forum" and the annual meeting of business leaders in Davos. People seldom hear them preach their wealth wisdom, or write books for themselves-"without words" It seems to be an unwritten "tradition of the richest man". Rockefeller, the richest man in the United States at the beginning of the 20th century, strictly forbade his descendants to write a biography for him in his will.They just accumulated their wealth figures day by day in obscurity, letting those glittering money block any curious light from them. Their understatement is amazing, but the latter is even more incredible than the frugality.Kamprad, the richest man in Sweden who was once thought to be wealthier than Bill Gates, is the founder of IKEA.The son of a farmer and a second-generation German immigrant, he spent his life building a formidable furniture chain empire. This is how he was described: Kamprad never lacked a flashy look. He didn't have fashionable clothes, expensive watches or luxury cars, and he always traveled economy class when he traveled.He would be very annoyed if the company booked him something expensive.For working lunches at IKEA headquarters, he would pay with bills from his wallet.He likes to drink, but it doesn't have to be expensive, a bottle of cheap whiskey makes him more enjoyable, he will drive around in an old Volvo car, or take the bus to the vegetable market for cheap vegetables. Among today's richest people, figures like Aristotle Onassis, who was the world's richest man in the 1960s, have been blown away by the wind and rain.After the assassination of US President Kennedy in 1968, the "world ship king" married his widow Jacqueline very sensationally.When Monaco, a famous casino city in a small Mediterranean country, encountered financial difficulties, Onassis even tried to annex Monaco, which caused an uproar in the world.Today, those legendary figures in the eyes of the media are different in the tribe of the richest man, and more people are willing to live in obscurity outside the sight of the spotlight. Bill Gates is the well-deserved richest man in the world.The darling of the IT industry has created a huge wealth myth in the past ten years.But today, Bill Gates' position as the richest man is constantly being impacted by the newer industries - the threat from the Internet is expanding at an unprecedented speed, and the myth of Google has surpassed Microsoft, at least in terms of attractiveness. But this is only one aspect of wealth.In fact, wealth still follows certain peculiar laws. In 2005, on the mainland rich list launched by Hurun, the top three were Huang Guangyu, Yan Jiehe, and Chen Tianqiao, who came from the retail industry, construction industry and IT industry respectively. On the 2006 Forbes global rich list, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett is the richest person in the world, but if you consider the Wal-Mart family whose wealth has been dispersed, the industries of the richest person in the world are also retail, investment and IT. Therefore, the reason why the richest people become the richest has nothing to do with their industry. If you must find an answer, "globalization in the professional context", "channels are king" and "core resource monopoly" are still the reasons for making the richest people. Even the new economy still follows this rule. Times make heroes, but how long does it take to become the richest man?We researched the richest people in 30 countries and regions and came to the conclusion that everyone is full of confidence: none of the parents of these 30 people is the richest man!Less than 20% of wealthy families have more than three generations, and their family industries include diamonds, beer, clothing, and media.About 20% are the second generation of entrepreneurship. The parents completed the original accumulation, and passed it to the children to climb to the top of the career.In addition, about 40% of them are from the middle class, and they are a model of personal struggle.And another 20% are from humble origins, such as miners, shop clerks, immigrants, penniless "poor princes", and even smugglers. That is to say, if the chance is right and the sky is a genius, anyone can become the richest man in a country in his lifetime from now on. Becoming the richest man is a difficult thing, but how to deal with the huge wealth of the richest man is also sometimes a difficult thing.No one has ever been remembered for a long time because he was rich for a while. On the contrary, his attitude towards wealth and related details are often mentioned. Dr. George Gallup, the founder of the contemporary business research company, once said, "People never forget some historical figures, sometimes not because of their achievements in politics, military exploits, or wealth, but because of some of their personalities. subtle features." The richest people are obviously thinking about these issues too.A Hong Kong reporter once asked Li Ka-shing: "When do you think the happiest moment in your life is?" door, and count the banknotes one by one with my wife under the dim light." There is reason to believe that such an answer is the true voice of the richest Chinese man.In fact, like other richest men scattered around the world, he always turns to thinking about life after acquiring huge wealth.For people living on the earth, life is always the most real, and wealth is just the result, which is the same for everyone. Someone once used Maslow's theory of life needs to explain the charitable actions of the rich.And Max Weber believed in "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" that in countries where the middle class is still very backward, there was once a distinctive feature, that is, it was prevalent to make money for personal gain by any means, which is almost an insurmountable stage.The sign of a mature commercial society is that people break away from the pursuit of material things and start to discover other abstract and metaphysical values ​​in life.This is true of a country, and no individual is an exception. Weber's argument is most vividly and accurately embodied in the richest man.If you want to use the words of Karl Marx, then these richest men have practiced his famous saying all their lives: "Labor is the essence of man, the true essence." In fact, since the Industrial Revolution, the material world has become It is becoming more and more abundant and unbelievable, while the needs of human beings on the spiritual level are facing more and more urgent and severe torture.For more than a hundred years, almost all wealth owners have been forced to face such torture. Andrew Carnegie, the richest man in the United States at the beginning of the 20th century, grew up from a poor boy of a textile worker to a steel magnate. He devoted most of his time to religion and charity in his later years.Throughout the United States today, you can see libraries and museums donated by Carnegie everywhere. Morgan, the American financier who built Wall Street in his own time, bought a large number of artworks for donation in his later years, leaving only tens of millions of dollars after his death.After hearing this figure, Rockefeller said: "Morgan is not a rich man." Rockefeller himself, the richest man known for his stinginess and ruthlessness in the business world, also donated most of his property in his later years.In his will, he actually said: "It is a disgrace to die rich." Carnegie, Morgan and Rockefeller were lucky. They indulged in the money game all their lives, enjoyed the excitement, thrill and pleasure, and finally found the answer to the game before they passed away.