Chapter 259 Jardine's original capital
Jardines, as the head of the four major foreign banks, is definitely not comparable to ordinary companies in terms of capital and background. This time the six major banks joined forces only because of someone behind the scenes, rather than the six major banks taking the initiative to jointly deal with Jardine.
Since the six major banks are not deliberately targeting Jardine Matheson, what is there to be afraid of? Can Xiangjiang still find a second company that is richer than Jardine's capital?
As Jardine's taipan king, Henry. Keswick still has the boldness it should have. Wharf and Gammon can lose, but Hongkong Land and Jardine Matheson must not lose.
Once these two companies are acquired, even if he is a member of the Keswick family, he will not be able to shoulder this responsibility.
At that time, the Keswick family may even lose the right to continue to be in charge of Jardine because of his incompetence.
Jardines is run by the Keswick family for several generations, and family members have served as the chairman of Jardines for a long time, but one thing to remember is that Jardines is not a family business.
Jardines formerly known as "Jardine Matheson", established in the 1830s, was originally founded by two Scottish-born British, William Jardine and James Matheson.
Jardines was not founded by the Keswick family. The Keswick family is only slightly related to William Jardine, one of the founders of Jardines. So seriously, Jardines is not a family business.
The founder of Jardine is mainly William Jardine.
William Jardine is very powerful, he is different from ordinary businessmen.
William Jardine was born in a farm in Dumfriesshire, Scotland when he was young. His family, like the majority of working people, has 18 generations of ancestors, and they are all poor and lower-middle peasants.
Knowledge changes destiny. At the age of sixteen, William Jardine obtained the qualification to enter the University of Edinburgh Medical School.
To say that the profession of a doctor was really awesome in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. People who were engaged in this profession basically did not like to do serious things related to medicine in those days. The big guys always focused on it. On the sidelines...
For example, the Mr. Sun we are familiar with.
Mr. Sun also studied medicine in his early years, and finally transformed from a doctor into a great man of a generation. I have to say that the doctor industry really produced talents in that era.
William Jardine may also be impatient with being a doctor, so he gave birth to the idea of being a businessman, and thus founded Jardine Matheson.
If it is said that Jardine Matheson was in the hands of William Jardine in the early days, its influence should not be underestimated. Everyone should be familiar with the famous "Opium War". The fuse was caused by William Jardine, the businessman who founded Jardine Matheson.
The reason why it is said that the famous Opium War was triggered by the businessman William Jardine is very simple.
During the 19th century, the inland (Qing Dynasty) banned the import of duck slices from the West after realizing the dangers of duck slices.
The famous Humen opium sale, everyone knows this, the early Qing Dynasty banned the harmful things like duck slices from flowing into the inland, but our spears, bows and arrows, in the end, did not dry out other people’s warship artillery, so there is Later, everyone smoked cigarettes in one hand.
Every pore of capital is dirty and bloody.
In that era, this sentence is definitely not a joke.
As a big businessman, William Jardine is engaged in the business of giving birth to children without assholes. When his profitable business is cut off, it is naturally impossible for him to let it go.
For businessmen, if there is a 50% profit, then they will take risks. If there is 100% profit, they dare to trample on all laws in the world. If there is a 300% profit, it dares to commit any crime.
One thing William Jardine did at the time was to unite hundreds of British businessmen engaged in trade with the Qing Dynasty, and persuade the British high-level officials to use cannons to open the door of the Qing Dynasty.
It was precisely because of a group of British businessmen headed by William Jardine who lobbied and persuaded that the subsequent Opium War occurred.
Even though the main cause of the Opium War is no longer William Jardine, its fuse is absolutely inseparable from William Jardine.
Just like the Sarajevo incident, which was the fuse of World War I, an assassination set off the prologue of World War I. Although the main cause of World War is no longer assassination, but without this fuse, will there be World War I in the end? easy to say.
Before the 1830s, the trade between Britain and the Qing Dynasty was always dominated by the East India Company. Many British businessmen wanted to trade with the Qing Dynasty, but in the end they couldn’t get around the East India Company.
After the 1830s, the British ended the trade monopoly of the East India Company to the Qing Dynasty. It was at that time that William Jardine seized the opportunity to change Jardine Matheson from the main agent of the East India Company to Asia's largest British firm.
The "Taipan" of Matheson as we know it, the word "Taipan" first appeared in the founder of Jardine Matheson, William Jardine.
The trade between the early Western countries and the Qing Dynasty was mainly concentrated on tea, silk and duck slices. The Qing Dynasty exported tea and silk to the West and earned a lot of silver from the West. In order to make up for the trade deficit, the West exported duck to the Qing Dynasty. piece.
In the early days, many foreign firms traded with the Qing Dynasty, and most of them were engaged in the business of duck slices. William Jardine's original capital also came from this.
That is to say, the original capital of Jardine Matheson is also bloody, and every pore is dirty from the inside to the outside.
In fact, William Jardine founded Jardine.
He himself has nothing in the end. In our words, he comes naked and goes naked.
Because William Jardine was still single when he died, with no sons, daughters, grandchildren, etc., so Jardine Matheson ended up taking advantage of his nephews and the Matheson family.
At the beginning of the 20th century, with the withdrawal of the Matheson family, the Keswick family, a relative who did not know how many generations of blood relationship with the founder of Jardine William Jardine, officially took over the power of Jardine Matheson.
Although many of Jardine's internal shareholders are relatives, in the face of money, family affection is false, not to mention how many generations have passed, once Henry. Keswick has seriously injured Jardine, so the transfer of power is inevitable.
Moreover, after so many years of inheritance of Jardines, many shareholders of Jardines have almost no relationship with the Keswick family. The Keswick family is now only the major shareholder of Jardines. Hold the power of Jardine.
But prestige is very empty, once it is gone, it will be useless.
So, in the end, what matters is the shares held by everyone.
In the world of capital, no matter how great your prestige is, you can't do money.
So, for the two most important core enterprises of the Jardine Matheson Group, Jardine Matheson and Hongkong Land, Henry. Keswick didn't dare to let go, and he couldn't let go. No matter how high the price was, he would keep it, and there was no room for loss.
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(end of this chapter)