Chapter 553: Let it go?
As the second biggest sporting goods company in the world, their headquarter wasn’t in a big city.
It was still in the small town from where it originated.
It was in Herzogenaurach located in Nuremberg, Germany.
It was also where the headquarter of another multinational sporting goods was, Puma.
After all, the founders of Adidas and Puma were brothers.
It was already 9am in Germany, in the office of the director boards at the headquarters, CEO Dougen, vice-CEO Kroos and director of operation Schudler were sitting together.
At their opposite was a large screen used for video conferences.
The man on the screen happened to be Watnard, the general manager of the North American branch of Adidas, who also appeared in Chen Huan’s house an hour ago.
It was midnight in Los Angeles.
Watnard was very excited and he said, “Chief, fellow colleagues, today I’ve found someone that can become the face of Adidas! So please listen to my report.”
“Say it!” Dougen said.
Watnard gave a detailed report of his encounter with Chen Huan today and the possible cause and effect.
He described in detail every sentence said by Chen Huan.
The three people looked at each other for a bit.
“If I’m not wrong, you’re saying that Chen Huan is the future face of Adidas?” Schudler asked in surprise, “But he would only play a dozen or twenty something games and even if he’s great and better than Jordan, wouldn’t he become worthless once the limelight shifts away?”
“It’s true for the basketball side. He’ll be famous for a year at most and then the fan will forget about him.” Watnard said, “But what about outside of basketball? I just talked about his popularity in China and his outstanding achievements in mathematics, wouldn’t that last?”
“You mean that we don’t have to limit him to his basketball prowess but promote him into an idol-like endorsement to promote all of our products?” Kroos had some understanding now.
“Yes!” Watnard raised his voice and said, “I think everyone knows how legendary and difficult Fermat’s Theorem is. If we sign Chen Huan and wait until he proves it, then everyone would forever remember him! This is an achievement that couldn’t be done no matter how much he plays basketball or how long he stays as an idol for!”
“But what would happen if someone did it before him?” Dougen asked.
“Even so, he’s a 17 years old who has been able to achieve all of what he did so can’t he be the idol for the young generation around the world?” Watnard said, “I asked my colleagues in China to investigate more about him. Chen Huan is very popular in China and is already the idol of tens of millions of young people. Wouldn’t it be a great return to us even if he helps us sell more products in China?”
“Hmm, that’s true.” The director of operation Schudler agreed.
With a population of 1.5, China was indeed a huge market.
The key point was Chinese people were getting richer and richer so their spending power wasn’t any less than those medium-sized developed countries so Adidas should absolutely get some brand recognition in that country.
“So what do you propose?” Dougen asked.
Watnard explained without hesitation, “I have two plans. If the company feels that it should be prudent, then we can give Chen Huan a three year contract for endorsement. Like this, we can use Chen Huan’s fame from the NBA and a good sale for the sneakers and with China’s market, we won’t lose any money.”
“If the company wants to be ambitious, I suggest putting our trust in Chen Huan, trust in his genius to perform miracles, and signing him to a 10 year contract with a slightly bigger offer, even a lifetime contract is also fine.”
“Nike has several lifetime contracts, why can’t we do it? Did we stop trying after the failure with McGrady? What if Chen Huan is our Jordan and James?”
The three people at the headquarters nodded as they listened.
“Stay in stand by for a bit, we will further debate it here and contact you in an hour!” Dougen decided, “Thank you for your hard work! You did well with this plan,”
“Serving the company by finding talents is my duty.” Watnard affirmed, “I hope that the company will make the right decision, Chen Huan is an opportunity we can’t miss!”
“Alright! We’ll talk later.”
Dougen said and cut off the connection.
After an hour, the connection was reestablished and Watnard could see the three were quite tired.
They obviously had a heated argument.
“Watnard, after our discussion, we felt that the three years contract is definitely the most suitable one!” The first sentence uttered by Dougen put Watnard at a loss.
“Chief…” He couldn’t help but want to retort.
But Dougen put his hand up to signal him to not speak, “But as Adidas the second biggest sporting goods company in the world, we’ve fallen behind Nike in all sectors. This shows that many of our previous strategies weren’t appropriate or not enough! If we want to further develop Adidas and hope Adidas will catch up to Nike, we must make changes!”
Watnard’s spirit was up again after hearing that.
This would be a great turning point!
Yeah!
They saw Nike market value would exceed 70 billion dollars but what about the market value of Adidas?
It was 20 billion dollars!
Not even one third of Nike’s value!
Nike had been crushing Adidas in their home field of basketball for many years.
But now in football where Adidas had a huge advantage, Nike also developed leap and bound in that field the last few years and was able to keep in pace with Adidas, how terrifying was that?
So Adidas was even more urgent to make changes.
Watnard continued to listen instead of speaking.
“We also looked over all the information on Chen Huan just now and learned of all the things he did in China as well as the praise and respect he gets.” Dougen said, “We know that such a genius with great character and enthusiasm for charity would be a great boon to improve the image of Adidas! So we decided to take a gamble.”
“Great!” Watnard clapped once.
“Now we give you the power to negotiate with Mr. Chen Huan for a five year contract with a sum between 100 million to 10 million dollars.” Dougen said, “If Chen Huan can win the NBA championship this year and get the FMVP, the contract will automatically be renewed for another 5 years with the same conditions.”
“If Mr. Chen Huan proved the Fermat’s Theorem during the contract length, it will automatically turn into a lifetime contract and new favorable terms will be given.”
Watnard laughed wryly in his mind.
He thought they were finally going in but they were still so cautious.
The conditions like that weren’t that much different than the three years contract he proposed.
It was just that some clauses were integrated so they could extend the contract if some conditions were met.
But it was definitely not a bad contract as reward would be given if the achievement was done.
The terms weren’t much worse compared to the 10 years contract given by Watnard.
However, the sincerity and boldness was a bit lacking compared to directly giving a lifetime contract.
But in any case, these were much better than the initial contract Adidas planned on giving Chen Huan.
Watnard believed that nobody would be willing to give a better offer if they knew Chen Huan didn’t plan to play in the NBA anymore….
Chapter 553: Let it go?
As the second biggest sporting goods company in the world, their headquarter wasn’t in a big city.
It was still in the small town from where it originated.
It was in Herzogenaurach located in Nuremberg, Germany.
It was also where the headquarter of another multinational sporting goods was, Puma.
After all, the founders of Adidas and Puma were brothers.
It was already 9am in Germany, in the office of the director boards at the headquarters, CEO Dougen, vice-CEO Kroos and director of operation Schudler were sitting together.
At their opposite was a large screen used for video conferences.
The man on the screen happened to be Watnard, the general manager of the North American branch of Adidas, who also appeared in Chen Huan’s house an hour ago.
It was midnight in Los Angeles.
Watnard was very excited and he said, “Chief, fellow colleagues, today I’ve found someone that can become the face of Adidas! So please listen to my report.”
“Say it!” Dougen said.
Watnard gave a detailed report of his encounter with Chen Huan today and the possible cause and effect.
He described in detail every sentence said by Chen Huan.
The three people looked at each other for a bit.
“If I’m not wrong, you’re saying that Chen Huan is the future face of Adidas?” Schudler asked in surprise, “But he would only play a dozen or twenty something games and even if he’s great and better than Jordan, wouldn’t he become worthless once the limelight shifts away?”
“It’s true for the basketball side. He’ll be famous for a year at most and then the fan will forget about him.” Watnard said, “But what about outside of basketball? I just talked about his popularity in China and his outstanding achievements in mathematics, wouldn’t that last?”
“You mean that we don’t have to limit him to his basketball prowess but promote him into an idol-like endorsement to promote all of our products?” Kroos had some understanding now.
“Yes!” Watnard raised his voice and said, “I think everyone knows how legendary and difficult Fermat’s Theorem is. If we sign Chen Huan and wait until he proves it, then everyone would forever remember him! This is an achievement that couldn’t be done no matter how much he plays basketball or how long he stays as an idol for!”
“But what would happen if someone did it before him?” Dougen asked.
“Even so, he’s a 17 years old who has been able to achieve all of what he did so can’t he be the idol for the young generation around the world?” Watnard said, “I asked my colleagues in China to investigate more about him. Chen Huan is very popular in China and is already the idol of tens of millions of young people. Wouldn’t it be a great return to us even if he helps us sell more products in China?”
“Hmm, that’s true.” The director of operation Schudler agreed.
With a population of 1.5, China was indeed a huge market.
The key point was Chinese people were getting richer and richer so their spending power wasn’t any less than those medium-sized developed countries so Adidas should absolutely get some brand recognition in that country.
“So what do you propose?” Dougen asked.
Watnard explained without hesitation, “I have two plans. If the company feels that it should be prudent, then we can give Chen Huan a three year contract for endorsement. Like this, we can use Chen Huan’s fame from the NBA and a good sale for the sneakers and with China’s market, we won’t lose any money.”
“If the company wants to be ambitious, I suggest putting our trust in Chen Huan, trust in his genius to perform miracles, and signing him to a 10 year contract with a slightly bigger offer, even a lifetime contract is also fine.”
“Nike has several lifetime contracts, why can’t we do it? Did we stop trying after the failure with McGrady? What if Chen Huan is our Jordan and James?”
The three people at the headquarters nodded as they listened.
“Stay in stand by for a bit, we will further debate it here and contact you in an hour!” Dougen decided, “Thank you for your hard work! You did well with this plan,”
“Serving the company by finding talents is my duty.” Watnard affirmed, “I hope that the company will make the right decision, Chen Huan is an opportunity we can’t miss!”
“Alright! We’ll talk later.”
Dougen said and cut off the connection.
After an hour, the connection was reestablished and Watnard could see the three were quite tired.
They obviously had a heated argument.
“Watnard, after our discussion, we felt that the three years contract is definitely the most suitable one!” The first sentence uttered by Dougen put Watnard at a loss.
“Chief…” He couldn’t help but want to retort.
But Dougen put his hand up to signal him to not speak, “But as Adidas the second biggest sporting goods company in the world, we’ve fallen behind Nike in all sectors. This shows that many of our previous strategies weren’t appropriate or not enough! If we want to further develop Adidas and hope Adidas will catch up to Nike, we must make changes!”
Watnard’s spirit was up again after hearing that.
This would be a great turning point!
Yeah!
They saw Nike market value would exceed 70 billion dollars but what about the market value of Adidas?
It was 20 billion dollars!
Not even one third of Nike’s value!
Nike had been crushing Adidas in their home field of basketball for many years.
But now in football where Adidas had a huge advantage, Nike also developed leap and bound in that field the last few years and was able to keep in pace with Adidas, how terrifying was that?
So Adidas was even more urgent to make changes.
Watnard continued to listen instead of speaking.
“We also looked over all the information on Chen Huan just now and learned of all the things he did in China as well as the praise and respect he gets.” Dougen said, “We know that such a genius with great character and enthusiasm for charity would be a great boon to improve the image of Adidas! So we decided to take a gamble.”
“Great!” Watnard clapped once.
“Now we give you the power to negotiate with Mr. Chen Huan for a five year contract with a sum between 100 million to 10 million dollars.” Dougen said, “If Chen Huan can win the NBA championship this year and get the FMVP, the contract will automatically be renewed for another 5 years with the same conditions.”
“If Mr. Chen Huan proved the Fermat’s Theorem during the contract length, it will automatically turn into a lifetime contract and new favorable terms will be given.”
Watnard laughed wryly in his mind.
He thought they were finally going in but they were still so cautious.
The conditions like that weren’t that much different than the three years contract he proposed.
It was just that some clauses were integrated so they could extend the contract if some conditions were met.
But it was definitely not a bad contract as reward would be given if the achievement was done.
The terms weren’t much worse compared to the 10 years contract given by Watnard.
However, the sincerity and boldness was a bit lacking compared to directly giving a lifetime contract.
But in any case, these were much better than the initial contract Adidas planned on giving Chen Huan.
Watnard believed that nobody would be willing to give a better offer if they knew Chen Huan didn’t plan to play in the NBA anymore….
