Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
As the name implied, joint warehouse auction was a combination of multiple warehouse companies engaged in auctions.
This was rare at auctions, as warehouse companies did not have as close an organization as the warehouse collectors association, and there was no uniform time of expiration or location of warehouses.
Li Du, who had been in the business on and off for three years, hadn’t come across one yet. Now he finally stumbled upon one.
The scale of joint storage auctions was generally large, and they had many goods in a single auction. It would attract many treasure hunters to attend whenever it was opened.
This auction would be held in Tucson. Because of the geographical location and local cultural environment, there were relatively few people willing to go there, so it was going to be a big event.
The auction was still some days away. Li Du agreed and was ready to remain in Tucson for now.
Until then, he’d have to keep an eye on Seagull Island and the diamond mines from a distance.
Seagull Island was in the process of development, which involved driving away the sea snakes, establishing a small port, building houses, and paving concrete roads.
His old classmate Su Nan was watching over the island construction, and would briefly tell him of the progress every day. There were weekly and monthly reports at weekends and at the end of each month, so everything was under his control.
With the diamond mine ready to produce diamonds, the Harry Winston group helped set up the diamond production line.
However, the production line was not enough. Diamond production and sales was a very complex project. It needed a large professional staff. Li Du could not do this himself.
After some thought, he called Cole and Carlston and invited them to fly over from New York to Phoenix. In late June, the two tycoons landed at the Phoenix International Airport.
Li Du picked them up, and Cole, wiping his forehead, said, “I must be crazy to be in Phoenix at this time of the year. You could cook a turkey on the paving stones.”
“Sweating is healthier,” smiled Li Du.
Twenty minutes later, the special plane of the head of Fitz mining landed, and Li Du and the others went to greet the arrivals.
Cole and Carlston were enthusiastic when they met again, patting each other’s backs and discussing golf and the state of the world’s rare minerals.
However, Li Du could detect that under their warm exterior there was coldness and rivalry. The relationship between the two was not true friendship.
Both of them know the purpose of this trip. Li Du told them explicitly on the phone that he could not manage the Amengda diamond mine himself and wanted to find someone to cooperate with.
The Harry Winston group has been in the diamond industry for a long time, while Fitz mining had more contacts and experience in the production of ore. They knew all about running a diamond mine and wanted to cooperate with Li Du alone.
Therefore, after a brief while of warm greetings, they began to show off their abilities in all aspects related to the trade and tried their best to outshine each other.
Ignoring this, Li Du took the two men to the resort they had arranged and, with a snap of his fingers, Godzilla presented them with an ice bucket containing bottles of vodka.
Opening a bottle, he smiled and said, “These are fine spirits I brought back from the outskirts of the North Pole. Don’t miss them today.”
“You got a lot out of this trip to the Arctic, didn’t you? You’ve hit the mammoth ivory market. You get to make waves in every industry you enter,” Cole smiled as he took the glass.
Li Du shrugged. “You overrate. Mr. Winston, how many mammoth tusks have I put out? How would it affect the market?”
“I’ve read reports that Siberia has produced an outstanding number of mammoth tusks in the last two months. You must have found a burial site that was tens of thousands of years old,” Carlston said.
“I was lucky, but mammoth tusks are of little value,” said Li Du. “We should pay more attention to diamonds, right?”
“You mean the Amengda diamond mine? That is your golden egg, but if you cannot crack it yourself, I can help you. It is very simple,” said Carlston, winking.
“It’s really easy, Li. The Winston group has a development team ready for you. Once the mine starts, they are ready to go,” Cole was not giving up.
Li Du laughed. This was the result he wanted.
He couldn’t manage the Amengda mine alone. He lacked the connections that Cole and Carlston had in mining, certifying and selling diamonds.
However, if he only contacted one of them, it would be difficult for him to gain the initiative. Now that he contacted both Carlston and Cole, who secretly loathed each other and were in fierce competition.
That is to say, the relation of those two people was complicated, and it was hard for them to stand united.
In this case, the two of them could balance each other. Li Du would only need to sit back watching the tigers fighting while he got the maximum profit.
After some consultation, the three parties finally reached an agreement: Li Du opened the mining equity to the companies, which would invest in human resources, each holding 10% of the equity, while Li Du retained 80% of the equity.
If he was willing to work hard, Li Du could open his mine and produce diamonds. He knew that if he just asked Cole for help, Cole would refuse him.
However, he still decided to bring the man into the partnership. A share of 10% represented tens of millions or even hundreds of millions in profits every year.
Fitz mines and the Winston group would both import management teams and sales teams to the mines, and the diamonds would need to be approved by international authorities, which Carlston would do himself.
With a little money, Li Du could save a lot of time.
He had enough time to manage the mine, and he could keep all the shares in his hands, but that wasn’t something he was good at.
He would rather spend his time and energy going to auctions, even if he couldn’t make a lot of money at the warehouse industry. It was something he was good at, and it was fun.
While he worked on the issues related to the mine, Sophie was in no rush as usual to find work. She had a new job, that of being a web celebrity.
She was not actually a web celebrity herself. She was merely the manager, while the little ones were the stars.
Sophie happened to post some photos and videos of their pets on the Internet, attracting a large number of fans. Facebook and Twitter happened to promote her video, and the little ones became famous overnight.
When Li Du was in Flagstaff, someone had given him similar advice after noticing the intelligence and loyalty of his pets. At that time, he took part in the Boy Scout cookie sale. The little ones did a great job and caught much attention.
However, Li Du did not take this matter to heart. In his opinion, posting pet videos was a frivolous activity not worth pursuing. Now Sophie was enjoying great success as a result.
