Chapter 2778: Pressing Forward Step by Step

But it seemed that, except for Xu Bin, everyone else was very accustomed to this kind of meeting, including Su Shiming, who was extremely blue in the face. Although it seemed that he was about to explode at any time, in general, he had been very tolerant.

He didn't just walk away. "Affected by the subprime mortgage crisis, Hilton has indeed suffered losses since it was acquired by Blackstone last year,"

Xu Binxin said, combined with the previous remarks of Lauder and the others, Su Shiming's words and attitude seemed to be sincere enough.

"But none of us know that those losses are mainly paper losses..."

Although in Xu Bin's view, Su Shiming was very sincere, Lauder interrupted him without hesitation, "Stephen, no one cares now whether this is a loss on the books,"

"At this time, no one will pay attention to such an explanation. Everyone can only see the falling numbers, and as the falling numbers get bigger and bigger, everyone will only become less optimistic about it,"

Gary Cohn immediately followed up on what his boss said, "Bear Stearns also said that my losses are only losses on paper. As long as there are sufficient funds, we can still operate efficiently."

"Lehman also said that my losses are only paper losses. After all, there are so many commercial properties there. Once the trough in housing prices is over, they will be able to bring us a steady stream of income again,"

He showed a smile that made people feel weak, "But in the end, who cares about this?"

"Not only did no one care, not only did they have to sell, no one even wanted to sell them, and in the end, they were despised by everyone,"

Although the smile on his face made people feel helpless, his words were irrefutable.

It's not because of this market environment, it's not because no one is borrowing money anymore, but just recycling money. Whether it's Bear Stearns or Lehman, even if they lose all their capital, they can't make a comeback based on their ability. Chance.

However, they don't have that opportunity.

Not only that, because they sold themselves and went bankrupt, they were indeed spurned by everyone.

For people in the industry, their results have aggravated everyone's panic, thus making the situation of their peers more difficult.

To people outside the industry, the reason why they can't even save their companies is naturally because of their irresponsible management. Therefore, they naturally believe that their companies must bear greater responsibility for the subprime mortgage crisis.

Su Shiming glanced at the people around him and confirmed one by one that they were still breathing. Then why are you acting like a mute and can't you imitate Gary Cohn?

His three subordinates were also very helpless. Although the other party's words were very stupid, they were not rough.

Moreover, the way this meeting started was completely different from what we expected, so all the preparations we made at home were of no use.

But when the big boss looked at him like this, he could use forceful words and make nonsense. One of them coughed and said, "Behind Hilton, there is something dark..."

As soon as he said the word "black", he heard the boss cough heavily. There was undisguised annoyance in the cough. Did I say the wrong thing?

He looked at the opposite side again. Lauder and the others were looking at him with smiles, and their eyes were full of encouragement. Yes, I said the wrong thing - but he really didn't know what he was wrong about. where.

He shut his mouth immediately.

It's you who makes me talk, and it's you who makes me shut up. Woo hoo, my baby is feeling miserable.

Su Shiming had to take action on his own again. "Although there are indeed some losses on the books, since we took over Hilton, we have made a series of effective improvements to it..."

Lauder interrupted him again, "The result of the fruitful improvements is that cash flow has shrunk by more than 40%, operating costs have increased by more than 30%, and total revenue has shrunk..."

Su Shiming knocked on the table hard, "That's because we have been expanding the scale of Hilton,"

"Even in such a difficult situation, we don't have to stop our expansion..."

"Compared to the time of acquisition, Hilton's scale has indeed increased, right?" Gary Cohn asked Xu Bin on his side.

Although they were equally clear about the data, he remembered that Xu Bin had not had a chance to speak until now.

Lauder doesn't need to care about these. As Lord's deputy, he must pay attention to these small details.

Xu Bin nodded, "Yes, the scale has expanded by less than 3%, but the reason for the expansion in scale is mainly because," he glanced at Su Shiming, "the projects that Hilton had already started before being acquired,"

To put it bluntly, your achievements in these areas have nothing to do with you.

If you insist on talking about contribution, it would be that you did not cut off or suspend these projects after taking over.

"So you see," Gary Cohn smiled and spread his hands towards Su Shiming.

On Su Shiming's side, another person finally spoke to the boss, "But in order to save expenses, we could have cut off these projects..."

His words were also interrupted by Gary Cohn, "Although we at Goldman Sachs have not been in the hotel business, I also know that as a result of cutting off the projects that were originally planned, I am afraid that not only will it be impossible to save expenses, but it will increase a lot. trouble,"

As he said this, the four of them looked at Su Shiming's subordinate with eyes that could be described by a line from Bruce Lee in "Fist of Fury", "I'm not well-educated, don't lie to me,"

Xu Bin took the initiative to speak, "Also, not all of these new projects have increased expenses. As far as we know, some of Hilton's hotel projects in China have not occupied much funds,"

Such things are not uncommon in China.

Now many investment projects say that they will invest so much, but many of these investments are verbal, but the loans provided by local financial institutions are real.

Those capable guys can really spend very little money to get quite a lot of preferential conditions and get operating funds from the bank.

And a well-known international company like Hilton can naturally get such treatment without much difficulty.

Su Shiming sighed, thinking that I have hundreds of thousands of subordinates now, why did I only bring three of you today (Sanlongtai: Isn't it difficult for us to steal your words?).

He had to go into battle again, "Lourde, everyone,"

"Anyway, I believe everyone must agree that Blackstone is good at the hotel industry,"

"Xu," he looked at Xu Bin, "You must also know that Blackstone has a layout in the hotel industry. In terms of high-end hotels, we already have LXR luxury resorts,"

Xu Bin nodded, of course he knew this.

LXR luxury resorts were acquired by Blackstone in 2005 after it acquired Wyndham International Group (not the current Wyndham International Group. Shortly after the acquisition, Blackstone sold the Wyndham brand to Sundart Hotel Group, which has long been ranked among the top three international hotel management groups). After that, they named the original Wyndham hotels and the other 14 high-end hotels acquired during the same period as LXR.

"In 2006, we also acquired the economy hotel La Quinta hotel chain. Now, La Quinta is the best economy hotel in the United States,"

"Hilton Hotel Group is the most important part of our layout in the hotel industry,"

After owning Hilton, Blackstone can be said to have its own brands in the three areas of high, medium and low in the hotel industry.

"We agreed to take out Hilton, which shows our sincerity, but everyone, how do you treat our sincerity?" He picked up the report again, "According to your assessment, its value has shrunk by more than 83% in one year and two months?"

"That is, after we handed over the Hilton Hotel to you, we still owe you a loan of 16 billion US dollars,"

"Lourde, who do you think would agree to such a deal?"

Hearing him say this, Lourde's request was indeed excessive.

But Lourde smiled lightly, "In fact, we don't want to be so troublesome. Look, Stephen, as long as you can repay our loan, why should we talk about Hilton?"

"Yes, in the current real estate downturn, in the current situation of such tight funds, who is willing to use precious cash to invest in Hilton, a project that is closely related to real estate?" Gary Cohen also said.

The meaning of the two of them is very clear, if you have the ability, you can pay back the money!

Su Shiming almost vomited blood at this time. If I can still withdraw 20 billion US dollars now, no, even 10 billion US dollars, then I will still talk nonsense with you?

A strong sense of humiliation surged into the heart of the private equity king of Wall Street.