Zhang Yida smiled. He didn't dare to come to the New York Stock Exchange for listing. Isn't this a sheep entering the tiger's mouth? How can anyone come up and sacrifice his own life?
He admitted that what Ochhausen said made sense. Listing in the United States was more prestigious and more international, but he could not risk the life of the entire Ruixiang Group just for the sake of Musical.ly.
As for the other points Ochhausen said, one or two can be adopted.
But how effective it will be will only be known once it is done, and it also depends on how deep the U.S. government’s hostility towards Musical.ly is.
Ochhausen suddenly said: "Oh, by the way, there is another trick. Do you know K Street?"
Zhang Yida thought for a moment and said, "Are you talking about the 6.4-kilometer-long street outside the White House?"
Ochhausen snapped his fingers and said, "Bingo!"
The old white man continued: "That is the area with the highest concentration of lobbying companies in the US government. There are many successful lobbying companies, and they are inextricably linked to politicians in the US government."
Zhang Yida nodded. He also knew about lobbying companies. There are 12,000 registered lobbyists and more than 300 professional lobbying companies in the United States. Former government officials are the main force in this industry.
The United States is one of the few countries in the world that is open to business lobbying the government, and it was also the first country to begin regulating lobbying.
Due to the obvious possibility of corruption, the U.S. Congress has required all professional lobbyists to register personal information with Congress since 1876 and submit quarterly reports on their lobbying efforts.
Every quarter, lobbyists need to report which government agencies and members of Congress they have contacted, what issues were discussed, which bills were involved, and how much they spent. Lobbyists who fail to comply with the registration and reporting process can be jailed for up to five years.
In some top lobbying firms, there are even top lobbyists who have served as members of Congress or as chairmen of certain committees.
Zhang Yida said: "As far as I know, Chinese technology companies such as Ali, Huawei, and DJI employ lobbying companies, but the results don't seem to be very good?"
Ochhausen nodded, "That's true. It doesn't mean that lobbying will definitely succeed.
If Ruixiang is not a Chinese-funded enterprise, it can still engage in "campaign donations".
In the United States, this is a common method used by many large companies. They often hold charity banquets to bring together congressmen and potential donors.
In this way, congressmen can get the election donations and know which company helped. In this process, no one broke the law.
But U.S. law explicitly prohibits foreign companies from funding domestic political activities.
And if side projects such as charity galas are reported by the media, it will bring huge trouble to both parties.
Even if you want to engage in such activities, probably no congressman would dare to risk their political life to accompany you."
Zhang Yida smiled and nodded. As far as he knew, lobbying companies also had many successful cases.
Especially American companies, not too many are successful.
There are also some success stories from foreign companies.
As far away as Toshiba, it exported military-grade machine tools to the Soviet Union in the 1980s. Originally, the U.S. government wanted to ban the entire Toshiba Group, but the final penalty was only to ban exports to the United States for three years.
At that time, the Cold War showed no signs of ending. At the same time, Japan was still the world's second largest economy and was regarded by American politicians as the biggest economic threat.
Toshiba spent millions of dollars in lobbying expenses to calm the anger of the Reagan administration and Congress.
As recently as 2011, Taobao was called a counterfeit goods market by the Office of the United States Trade Representative, and Ali hired a specialized lobbying agency, the Duberstein Group, to help with the matter.
The head of the company, Kenneth Duberstein, served as President Reagan's last chief of staff and the former general counsel of the Office of the United States Trade Representative, among other important positions.
In 2016, when DJI's drone products were exploring the U.S. market and faced accusations of information security threats, the U.S. federal Department of the Interior, Office of Budget and Management, and Department of Agriculture stated that banning DJI's drone products would affect work and cause losses.
Among them, the Department of the Interior and the Office of Budget Management have also been the main targets of the DJI lobbying team in recent years.
From a certain perspective, Musical.ly is much more successful than Ali and DJI in the United States.
Every day, 30 million Americans open the Musical.ly app, shoot videos, and watch videos.
This is much more successful than other Chinese companies, and it is even more regarded as a thorn in the side of competitors such as Facebook and Sarab.
The US government will naturally be even more wary!
However, lobbying companies still have to hire, and Zhang Yida even wants to hire several former US government officials to join Musical.ly.
Huawei has been hiring American lobbying companies since around 2010. Although it has never been very successful, it has had nearly ten years of development time.
When faced with U.S. sanctions, he also appeared more calm.
Musical.ly must at least ensure that nothing happens this year, let Ruixiang go public first, and raise more funds.
Even if there is any bad situation in the future, you will be more confident when dealing with it.
"Which lobbying company is closer to the authorities now?" Zhang Yida asked.
Ochhausen replied without thinking: "David Urban, he is the president of the lobbying firm Ameriental Group and an adviser to Trump's re-election campaign."
Zhang Yida asked with a smile: "Can you give us a detailed introduction? Are there any successful cases?"
Ochhausen smiled and said, "Okay, then I will introduce the president's guests.
Urban graduated from West Point Military Academy, participated in the Gulf War with the 101st Airborne Division and received the Bronze Star Medal.
In 2016, he helped Trump win Pennsylvania, a state where the Donkey Party has a traditional advantage...
Last year, the U.S. Congress froze billions of dollars in arms exports to the Gulf region from U.S. missile manufacturer Raytheon.
Raytheon CEO went to Secretary of State Pompeo to plead for mercy, but he couldn't even see him.
In the end, Raytheon CEO asked Urban to find Pompeo, his classmate at West Point Military Academy, and arrange for the two parties to have dinner at the State Department.
Two weeks after Urban intervened, the State Department bypassed Congress and cleared Raytheon's arms deal."
Zhang Yida suddenly realized, who said that the United States is fair and just and has no humane society? What the hell is this?
As long as there are people, there will be rivers and lakes. It is the same in European and American countries. No one can be more noble than others.
"Okay, Mr. Ochhausen, can you help me make an appointment with the president's guest?"
Ochhausen smiled and said: "Of course! It's just that Urban has always had a big appetite."
Zhang Yida smiled, "Really? I just like dealing with big eaters.
There is a lot of food, it just depends on whether he has the ability to eat it."
"Big eater?"
Ochhausen laughed heartily, "This metaphor is very vivid, he is such a person."
Zhang Yida pondered for a moment and then said: "Mr. Ochhausen, can you introduce to me some talents who came from the two houses of Congress and have certain government backgrounds?
Musical.ly USA plans to set up a public policy department and is very eager for talents in this area to join.”
Ochhausen smiled and nodded, "That's no problem, I'll take care of it."