In the past few days, the U.S. parent company of the hypermarket Costco (COSTCO) announced that it has completed the acquisition of 45% of the equity of Taiwan Costco from its long-term Taiwanese joint venture partner for US$1.05 billion (approximately NT$31.3 billion). . This news shocked many Taiwanese people, and also brought to light the mysterious joint venture shareholder of Costco in Taiwan, the Wu family of South Taiwan behind the Tatung Group.
The mysterious Wu family of Tatung Group started in Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan. It set up a store in Sankuaochao in Kaohsiung and became a department store family that "made a fortune silently" in southern Taiwan, not counting this sale. The NT$31.3 billion gained from Costco’s equity is said to be more than the Tatung Wu family’s assets can be spent in three lifetimes.
31.3 billion is in the bag! The mysterious Wu family in Kaohsiung withdrew from Taiwan's Costco
Taiwan's Costco store
At 4:15 a.m. on July 1 (June 30, U.S. time), the official website of the U.S. Costco (COSTCO
) announced an announcement. Shocking news for many Taiwanese: It completed the acquisition of 45% of Taiwan Costco's equity from Taiwan's Tatung Group for US$1.05 billion (approximately NT$31.3 billion). At this point, Costco's U.S. parent company has fully owned 100% of Taiwan Costco's shares and fully owns Taiwan Costco.
Costco is a chain of mass merchandisers as famous as Walmart and Carrefour . It entered the Taiwan market in 1997. Taiwan Costco was originally founded by the American company Costco and Taiwan's Tatung Group, each holding 55%. and 45% equity. Costco's first store in Taiwan is located in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan. It currently has 14 branches in Kaohsiung, New Taipei , Taipei, Taoyuan, Chiayi , Taichung , Hsinchu and other counties and cities in Taiwan. , with an annual turnover of nearly NT$100 billion.
Costco has a total of 833 stores around the world. In addition to the 574 chain stores in the United States, Costco has 2 branches in mainland China, 107 stores in Canada, 40 stores in Mexico, 31 stores in Japan, and in the United Kingdom, South Korea, Australia, Spain, and France. There are 29, 16, 13, 4 and 2 chain stores respectively, and one store is also opened in Iceland.
Although Costco only has 14 stores in Taiwan, among Costco’s 833 stores around the world, three of the top 10 most profitable stores are in Taiwan, namely the Taichung store, Taipei Neihu store and New Taipei store. Zhonghe store, among which the Taichung store is the most profitable. Currently, the Taichung store has opened another branch, but its sales have not been affected at all.
Wu Guanwei, General Manager of Datong Group
The Wu family’s Datong Group, known as the “Southern Overlord” of Taiwan’s department store industry, has always kept a low profile. This time, Tatung Group sold its 45% stake in Costco Taiwan for approximately NT$31.3 billion, which shocked the department store industry in Taiwan.
Some people think that the Datong Wu family is neither short of money nor land, so why would they want to sell their shares in Costco?
Costco Taiwan has remained tight-lipped about the acquisition. Wu Guanwei, general manager of Tatung Group, only responded to the media and said, "The acquisition is led by COSTCO's US headquarters, and neither Taiwan Costco nor Tatung Group can disclose relevant matters." US Costco said: "This acquisition It can increase Costco’s earnings per share by approximately 1-1.5%.”
Wu Guanwei is the third generation of the Wu family of Datong Group, the grandson of Wu Yaoting, the founder of Datong Group, and the son of Wu Zhenhua, chairman of Datong Group. He naturally knows the inside story of the acquisition, but the Wu family has always been low-key and may not want to disclose too much information to the outside world!
Zhang Sihan, President of Costco Asia Pacific
In 1997, Costco landed in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan, and opened its first store in Taiwan.Some people may wonder why Costco chose to cooperate with the Wu family of T&T Group, the "Southern Dominant" of southern Taiwan's department store industry?
An insider revealed that Wu Guanwei, the young head of the Wu family in Taitong, and the founder of Taiwan Costco are classmates.
Wu Guanwei, the grandson of Wu Yaoting, the founder of Tatung Group, and the eldest son of Wu Zhenhua, graduated from the Department of Finance and Marketing of Boston College in the United States. While living in the United States, he worked as a clerk at Dunkin Donuts and was later promoted to store manager. He also worked as a mover at COSTCO in the United States and as a purchaser at the headquarters. After returning to Taiwan in 2007, he took over the department store business department and asset development department of Tatung Group and served as general manager. Later, he was promoted to director of Tatung Group and served as general manager.
Chang Sihan, the current president of Costco Asia Pacific, was born in 1963. He was a male basketball player in Taiwan in his early days and later studied in the Department of International Economics at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1994, he worked at the Costco headquarters in Seattle, USA. In 1995, he was sent to Taiwan to organize Costco and served as the manager of Taiwan Costco. At that time, Costco opened the first store in Kaohsiung, which was managed by him.
Costco is the only American-style mass-market store in Taiwan that adopts a paid membership system. It never advertises and rarely actively publishes promotional articles in the media. However, it has maintained a revenue of 100 billion for many years, which is also a miracle in the retail industry.
By the way, Zhang Sihan, who grew up in the United States, his alma mater when he was in middle school was Kaohsiung Municipal Sanmin Family Business. When he was playing basketball in his early days, he worked part-time at a trading company owned by McDonald's . In 1993, he joined Price Club in the United States. Later, the company was acquired by Costco, and he also joined Costco. Zhang Sihan is the current president of Costco Asia Pacific. He founded the first COSTCO stores in Taiwan and mainland China.
The mysterious Taiwanese department store "Nan Batian" can't spend all its assets in three lifetimes
Kaohsiung Dali Department Store
It is necessary to introduce the mysterious Taiwanese department store "Nan Batian" - T&T Group.
Datong Group was founded in 1958. Its earliest department store, Dah Hsin Department Store, was the first department store opened by local Taiwanese. Later, he successively founded the largest department store in Southeast Asia, Taitung Department Store, and cooperated with Japan's Isetan to establish Taiwan's first Japanese-style department store "Tali Isetan". In 1995, Taiwan Costco was established as a joint venture with Costco.
Over the past sixty years, Datong Group has successfully established department store retail brands such as Datong Department Store, Datong Department Store, Datong Boutique, Datong New Century, Datong Wufu Store, and Costco Mass Merchandise, and formed a department store business. , shopping malls, retail businesses, and catering businesses. In the catering sector, there are brands such as Wu Dong Seafood Porridge and Dalue Teppanyaki. Shopping malls include Dalue Shopping Center and Tatong New Century.
This time, Costco of the United States acquired 45% of the equity of Costco of Taiwan, spending NT$31.3 billion, bringing the Wu family of Tatung Group, which has always been low-key and never appeared on the rich list, to the forefront.
A person familiar with the matter said: " The Wu family is very rich and very low-key, and their assets cannot be spent in three lifetimes. " It is said that the Wu family's department store and golf course in Datong are conservatively valued at NT$16 billion. , it is said that if the 150,000 square meters of land owned by the Wu family is included in the realization of this shareholding, the total assets will be at least NT$50 billion.
Wu Yaoting, the founder of Datong Group (middle), his eldest grandson Wu Guanwei (left), and daughter Wu Yunhua (right) of his second wife
Wu Yaoting, the founder of Datong Group, was born on June 20, 1926 in Xidiliao, Beimen District, Tainan City, 2012 Passed away on February 4, 2011, at the age of 85. In his early years, he worked as a construction contractor with his family, and later he was employed by a Japanese-owned construction company in Kaohsiung. At that time, Taiwan was under Japanese colonial rule.
html When he was 317 years old, Wu Yaoting went to the Japanese-owned Yoshii Department Store to help his mother sell mirrors. He was "looked up and down" by the female clerk, which hurt his self-esteem. At this point, he determined to open a department store opened by a Taiwanese himself.
After Japan surrendered, Wu Yaoting opened a store in Sankuachuan, Kaohsiung, named "Xingao Department Store". In 1950, he set up a stall in the Kaohsiung Department Store, which was renamed from Yoshii Department Store after being "looked down upon" by a female clerk in the past, and sold clothing and wool. In 1953, he went to Japan to "learn experience" and worked in a local Japanese department store. He returned to Taiwan six months later to prepare for the establishment of Dah Hsin Department Store. In 1954, the department store broke ground and initially opened three major stalls: "China Shirt Shop", "New High Velvet Shop" and "Daxin Department Store".
In 1958, Wu Yaoting merged these three stalls into "Daxin Department Store Enterprise Co., Ltd.", which was the first department store founded by Taiwanese and the predecessor of today's T&T Group. At that time, because the building was equipped with an automatic elevator that went up and down the stairs, the crowds came one after another to experience it, and the event was unprecedented.
In 1958, Wu Yaoting opened the "Hua Wang Hotel" in Yancheng District of Kaohsiung. In the 1970s, Wu Yaoting invested in the "Daxin Livestock Farm" in Pingtung County in 1972 after visiting the United States, Japan, Hong Kong and other places. Construction of T&T Department Store started in 1973. After its opening in 1975, it established its position in Kaohsiung's department store industry.
Unfortunately, the Dah Hsin Department Store was destroyed by a fire in 1995, burning away the historical memories of many Kaohsiung people. By 1984, when Wu Yaoting founded "Tali Department Store", T&T Group was already the largest department store in Taiwan at that time.
During his lifetime, Wu Yaoting was known as the "Nan Ba Tian" of Taiwan Department Store. He suffered from colorectal cancer. He felt unwell on February 4, 2012 and was sent to Kaohsiung Wing General Hospital for treatment. He died on the same day. The group spring wine originally scheduled to be held on the 13th of that month had to be temporarily canceled.
Kaohsiung Huawang Hotel
Wu Yaoting married a second wife, and his assets under the Tatung Group were also inherited by his three sons. The inheritance layout is division of labor and industry.
Wu Jinyi, the eldest son of Dafang, inherited the Huawang Hotel in Kaohsiung, and Wu Tianyi, the second son of Dafang, took charge of the "Daxin Livestock Farm" in Pingtung. Located on the bank of the Love River in Kaohsiung, the King Hotel has been the common memory of many Kaohsiung people since its opening in 1968. The King Hotel, with its classical Chinese style, is the first star-rated hotel in Kaohsiung City.
In 2019, because mainland tourists did not come, the hotel announced that it would be closed from November 1. However, one month later, this once Kaohsiung landmark hotel was bought by Zheng Qintian, president of real estate developer Fufa Group, for NT$1.51 billion. It is planned to be converted into a luxury home.
The department store business of Datong Group is mainly taken over by Wu Zhenhua, the son of the second wife and the third son of Wu Yaoting. Wu Zhenhua is currently the chairman of Datong Department Store Group. His eldest son Wu Guanwei and second son Wu Guanyu have taken over the whole business in recent years. Datong has entered the third-generation operation.
Although the Datong Wu family is very wealthy, its third generation is not only low-key and pragmatic, but also very frugal. It is said that the cars driven by brothers Wu Guanwei and Wu Guanyu are either MINI Cooper or TOYOTA. At present, Datong Group implements management by professional managers. The third generation of the family basically does not participate in specific management, and they rarely appear in public.
In February 2016, a fire broke out in the Dah Hsin Department Store in Kaohsiung.
The Dah Hsin Department Store founded by Wu Yaoting in Yancheng District, Kaohsiung City in 1958 seems to have an indissoluble bond with the God of Fire "Zhu Rong". The fire in 1997 destroyed Kaohsiung people's favorite Dah Hsin Department Store in more than 10 hours of fire. At that time, founder Wu Yaoting was in tears and heartbroken.
At 4:30 a.m. on February 10, 2016, there was another fire in Dah Hsin Department Store. It may have been caused by aging wires. The fire sent thick smoke straight into the sky. After the fire was controlled, it was restored at 6:30 a.m. The flames can be seen from miles away.
Some people say that the department store run by the Datong Wu family only makes a fraction of the profit. In addition to owning a large amount of land in Kaohsiung, the Wu family also holds many parking lots and other properties. The biggest income comes from land leasing and sales. Since his descendants adhere to founder Wu Yaoting's family management principles of "only in, not out" and "there must be wealth in the land", except for the transfer of equity interests in Taiwan Costco and the sale of the Huawang Hotel in 2020, there are no plans I heard that they also sold some other important assets.
It is said that if they want to sell a piece of land, they will first approve it through the board of directors, agree on the minimum price, and then throw it out to the middleman to mediate and then make the final decision. Since most of Datong Wu's department stores are located in prosperous areas of the city, if they want to activate their assets, they will have to pay a lot of money once they are liquidated. This time, if Costco's U.S. headquarters had not publicly disclosed the acquisition information, many Taiwanese people would not have known that there was a mysterious Taiwanese family behind Costco in Taiwan.
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