America 1919
Chapter 1121 - 383, Opponents in the automobile field

Chapter 1121: 383, Opponents in the automobile field

The predecessor of Cadillac was the Detroit Automobile Company, whose owner was actually the current owner of Ford Motor, Henry Ford. However, due to disagreements with two other investors at the time, Henry Ford decided to leave Cadillac Company and start his own Ford Motor.

At that time, Cadillac’s full name was Henry Ford Cadillac Company, but after being acquired by General Motors, Henry Ford was removed from the name, leaving only Cadillac!

As one of the many brands under General Motors, Cadillac is now positioned in the market as providing luxury cars!

This is actually the reason why Donnie wants Cadillac.

Although luxury cars appear to be high-end, in reality, regardless of the time period, the sales of luxury cars are never as good as regular cars. Ford Motor, now the top-selling in the U.S., is the best proof of this.

So Cadillac’s position within General Motors is not comparable to that of Buick.

Now Donnie is willing to exchange his shares in General Motors for the equity in Cadillac, which is attractive to Pierre DuPont.

Since Donnie entered into General Motors, Pierre DuPont has always worried that Donnie would have designs on General Motors. Although Donnie previously assured Pierre DuPont that as long as the DuPont Family is in General Motors, Venus Bank would not take action against General Motors.

But such assurance always places one’s fate in the hands of others, something Pierre DuPont certainly worries about!

Now that Donnie is willing to give up his shares in General Motors in exchange for shares in Cadillac, Pierre DuPont feels he can accept it.

First of all, Cadillac’s market positioning means its sales will not be too high but will still consume a lot of General Motors’ resources. What is most important for General Motors now is to increase revenue and cut costs!

After thinking through all this, Pierre DuPont finally accepted Donnie’s request.

"Alright, I know Block that you have always been very interested in the automotive field, and since we are such good friends, of course, I would be happy to help!"

Hearing that Pierre DuPont agreed with his idea, Donnie was very happy!

"Thank you, Mr. DuPont, then let’s discuss the specific details of the transaction next!"

Donnie wanted to finalize this matter as soon as possible.

However, Pierre DuPont was a bit curious about Tang Fei’s urgency. Although they had reached an agreement between the two of them, and with Donnie also being a major shareholder of General Motors, as long as the two of them agreed to this deal, no one else could interfere with the transaction.

But various interests in the details cannot be explained in a short time.

"Block, if you want to take control of Cadillac, the most important thing is to address Cadillac’s management, which is not an easy feat!"

Pierre DuPont kindly reminded Donnie.

After Henry Ford left Cadillac, the two investors brought in Henry Leland, who became the actual controller of Cadillac. However, by 1917, after Cadillac was acquired by General Motors, Henry Leland left Cadillac and founded Lincoln Motor Company, which he later sold to Ford Motor due to financial problems.

Although General Motors had become the largest shareholder of Cadillac by 1917, at that time, the founder of General Motors, Brown, was busy acquiring other automakers and had no intention to restructure Cadillac’s management.

This led to Cadillac’s management quickly taking control of various departments after Henry Leland left.

When the DuPont Family took over General Motors and wanted to address the issue, Pierre DuPont found that the situation in other car brands under General Motors was actually quite similar to Cadillac’s.

The key concern was that Cadillac was a very important brand under General Motors, and Pierre DuPont worried that acting too hastily might have undesirable consequences.

So this issue was postponed until now!

Donnie nodded and said, "Thank you, Mr. DuPont, for the reminder. Sometimes things must be broken down to be rebuilt. While Cadillac is under General Motors, you have to consider the big picture, but I am different. I have only one brand, Cadillac, and I can dedicate myself fully to this matter!"

Pierre DuPont understood Donnie’s point. Their situations were different. Pierre DuPont had to consider whether targeting Cadillac would affect the overall structure of General Motors, whereas Donnie did not have to, because he only had this one brand!

He could afford to experiment!

Thinking of this, Pierre DuPont looked at Donnie with an envious gaze.

Speaking of assets, the DuPont Family was not weaker than the Venus Consortium, but when it came to cash, the DuPont Family lagged far behind the Venus Consortium. More importantly, within the Venus Consortium, Donnie’s word was law, and no one dared to defy him.

Unlike on his side, where internal family interests and those of various partners had to be balanced!

Even now, selling Cadillac, if it were not Donnie discussing this matter with him, convincing the company might not have been so easy.

Since Donnie had already expressed his stance, Pierre DuPont naturally did not persuade Donnie anymore.

So, Pierre DuPont first used Donnie’s office phone to call General Motors headquarters, asking them to send a professional negotiation team over, and also called the current president of Cadillac, Fred Fisher, to notify him to come to Washington to jointly discuss Donnie’s acquisition of Cadillac.