Chapter 183 Tobacco Group
After lingering with Hepburn for a few days, Shen Long returned to Las Vegas and asked Tom Hagen to investigate the distribution of the current status of the world's tobacco companies. Now he prefers to stay here instead of New York.
The results of the investigation were a bit beyond his expectation. The most popular cigarettes in the world today are not the ones he is familiar with in later generations, but Camel, Lucky Strike and Chesterfield. Marlboro, which will be ranked number one in the world in the future, is now just a The lesser-known women's cigarettes, and the products of British American Tobacco companies such as Hilton and 555 are affected by World War II and are now recovering with difficulty.
Among them, camel cigarettes are owned by the Reynolds Tobacco Company in Winston, North Carolina. The old Reynolds is very good at influencing promotion, making the desert camel pattern a household name, and it is the most famous cigarette brand today.
Lucky Strike cigarettes belong to another company in the United States. It is the oldest cigarette brand in the world. Under the operation of the company boss, it has become a special cigarette for the US army. The footprints of American soldiers have traveled all over the world; in the TV series "Band of Brothers", those soldiers draw a lottery.
Chesterfield belongs to Philip Morris Tobacco Company. This company was founded in London and later entered the US market. It survived by taking advantage of the opportunity of the US government's dissolution of the tobacco trust. It gradually developed by launching economical cigarettes during the economic crisis. There was fierce competition in the market with the Reynolds Tobacco Company and the Myers Tobacco Company.
Marlboro is also a brand of Philip Morris. In the future, this company will become the world's number one tobacco company and extend its tentacles to other fields; in 2003, the company changed its name to Altria Group, which holds Marlboro cigarettes, Many well-known brands such as Kraft Foods, Maxwell Coffee, and Miller Beer, and Hedy Beverage were once under the control of this company.
Today, Reynolds Tobacco Company, Morris Tobacco Company, British American Tobacco Company, Imperial Tobacco Company, Calais Tobacco Company, etc. occupy a major share in the U.S. and even the world market, the latter of which are British companies. As a result, the performance of the company has been greatly affected.
In other words, now is a good opportunity to enter the tobacco market. Shen Long knocked on the table, "Tom, go ask Philip Morris if the Marlboro brand is sold? By the way, what is the background of this company?" "He has seen a classic marketing plan of Marlboro, and thinks that it can be used directly, which is much more convenient than re-creating the brand himself.
"They have certain connections with the Boston consortium and the Morgan consortium; Philip Morris is headquartered in Virginia, and Virginia is the sphere of influence of the Boston consortium. At the same time, they have cooperated with Morgan on some mergers and acquisitions." Tom Hui reported, thinking in the United States To make the company bigger, you can't avoid these consortiums, "Do you want to enter the tobacco industry? This is an unfamiliar business, shouldn't you be more cautious?"
"The familiar business has long been occupied,
Companies such as British American Tobacco and Imperial Tobacco are in a period of decline, and now is a good opportunity to enter this field; help me make appointments with people from the Rockefeller Foundation and the California Foundation, and I am going to chat with them. "Since there are shadows of the Boston consortium and the Morgan consortium behind the other party, Shen Long will invite other consortiums to cooperate.
Philip Giannini, a representative of the California Consortium, and George Tormund, a representative of the Rockefeller Consortium, soon arrived. Shen Long took out a cigarette made of Shire tobacco and handed it to them; the filter tip was invented as early as 1925, but It has not yet become mainstream. It was not until 1955 that Marlboro was changed to a filter version.
"It tastes good. It's not as choking as other tobaccos. It's also very fresh. It's very suitable for high-end occasions." George and Philip tried to smoke a few puffs, and spoke highly of this cigarette, "Fredo, this is you Do you plan to enter the capital of the tobacco industry? The Rockefeller Foundation is willing to cooperate with you, and it happens that we have several small tobacco production plants in North Carolina, and we can use these factories to invest in shares, if you can come up with a complete plan."
"If the plan is right, we have some tobacco fields in Kentucky, and I can use these to buy shares." George and Philip quickly made a decision. Since the cooperation started, Shen Long has never made a mistake.
North Carolina and Kentucky are the largest tobacco-growing states in the United States. Before the founding of the United States, some immigrants began to grow tobacco in these two states. Up to now, the tobacco leaf production of these two states accounts for 70% of the total output of the United States. Most of the well-known tobacco companies in the United States gather here, such as Reynolds Tobacco, which ranks first in the United States today.
"I have a report that was made by some professors from Stanford. You can take a look at it first." Shen Long threw over a document, which was commissioned by several experts during his stay in Hollywood. The focus of the research was on tobacco. The harmful substances contained in it, and the research objects are the most popular cigarettes on the market, such as Camel and Lucky Strike.
"According to scientific research, cigarettes contain nicotine, smoke nicotine, tar and other harmful substances, which can easily cause lung cancer and many other diseases." If there is no reminder from Shen Long, in 1950, Reader's Digest would have posted a large number of articles pointing out that smoking Harmful to health, which caused turmoil in the tobacco industry.
"And the new type of tobacco I got has lower levels of harmful substances than all types of tobacco currently on the market, and with the filter, it is much less harmful; I believe that with this, we will You can remain invincible in the competition, the only thing you need to consider is how much cake you can eat.” In the real world, Shen Long can only rely on legal means to protect his own tobacco varieties, but here, who dares to make such a move , his killers will have a good talk with each other.
Don't think that Shen Long is a serious businessman, uh, that's not right, big conglomerates like DuPont and Rockefeller didn't do this kind of killing because of business competition at the beginning of their establishment, but now he is just imitating the example , This is an excellent tradition of the big capitalists in the United States, and it must be maintained.
"After I go back, I will ask our laboratory to conduct relevant research. If it is confirmed, I will help you persuade Morris to transfer the Marlboro brand to the new company we jointly established." George put away the documents, " By the way, Fredo, why does it have to be Marlboro?"
. Sogou