Chapter 27: The Idea Of Taking Over Martin
The name Glenn L. Martin Company may be a bit unfamiliar to most people, but the new company formed after two subsequent mergers is the renowned Lockheed Martin.
The Martin in Lockheed Martin comes from Glenn L. Martin Company.
The advantage of facing problems with answers is huge. The reality is that George Arthur is not up to it, and in actual history he wasn’t either. General Electric didn’t make the shortlist and could only be a marginal supplier in NASA’s moon landing program.
George Arthur is not even found in the Apollo moon landing records.
Glenn L. Martin Company is completely different.
Glenn L. Martin Company was not only one of the finalists for the Apollo command module and service module contracts, even though it lost to North American Aviation Company in 1962.
But subsequently in aerospace projects like the Pioneer rocket and Titan series, it played a key role in the space race.
Besides Glenn L. Martin Company being very valuable, with an excellent engineer team and past successful cases of manufacturing a large number of bombers, from a God’s-eye view, Glenn L. Martin Company itself would complete a merger with Marietta Company two years later.
Since you will merge sooner or later, then the Morgan family already has General Electric, which gives an opportunity to strive for such a merger opportunity.
During this time John Morgan has been advancing the independence of the aerospace sector, so he is naturally not unfamiliar with the name Glenn L. Martin Company.
“Glenn L. Martin Company?”
Lin Ran continued to explain: “Yes, General Electric’s existing engineer team is too weak.
Even if our feasibility report passes, in the subsequent specific project processes, we will still have to rely on external suppliers.
Since that’s the case, it’s better to merge possible external suppliers in advance.
In my idea, Glenn L. Martin Company would be the best target.
As for the specific merger, my 30% shares can be diluted proportionally.”
John Morgan hesitated: “I’ll go find out first. Glenn L. Martin Company is not that easy to merge.
General Electric’s aerospace sector as a whole spun off would have only about two thousand employees, while Glenn L. Martin Company at its peak had over fifty thousand employees, and even after the war ended with employee numbers continuously declining, it still has over ten thousand employees.
Their revenue and profit are much higher than General Electric’s aerospace sector.”
Lin Ran looked directly at the other party. He believed even more in the Morgan family’s strength than John Morgan did: “This is certainly a game of the snake swallowing the elephant, but they also need the Morgan family.
What you’re doing is not General Aerospace taking over Glenn L. Martin Company, but the Morgan family taking over Glenn L. Martin Company.”
Every time he met with Lin Ran, John Morgan hoped to take the initiative, but he had never succeeded.
He always wanted to find some flaws in Lin Ran’s suggestions. He couldn’t understand the technical aspects, and General Electric’s engineers were trained like grandsons. Once an engineer retorted a couple of sentences and was left speechless by the questions.
Now he found that even in business operations, the other party’s suggestions were more complete.
If based on the premise of must succeed, then merging Glenn L. Martin Company is indeed a good choice.
Companies more awesome than it won’t sell. Like Boeing, which is a colossus with employee numbers always stable above fifty thousand, and revenue exceeding one billion US dollars in 1960. Glenn L. Martin Company only had fifty thousand employees at its peak.
Don’t talk about him—even if his dad’s dad, little Morgan, came, he might not be able to handle it.
Companies weaker than Glenn L. Martin Company—it’s better to recruit engineers anew and poach teams from competitors.
The more John Morgan thought about it, the more he felt it was a good idea, but it was still very difficult.
John Morgan explained: “Randolph, I need to do another evaluation on acquiring Glenn L. Martin Company. The difficulty is still too great.
Additionally, Glenn L. Martin Company is a key supplier in the federal national defense industry. This acquisition will be strictly reviewed, especially considering the Sherman Antitrust Act and the Clayton Antitrust Act. The Department of Justice might also intervene.
Even if both companies agree to the merger, we still have to face pressure from the federation.”
General Electric is also one of the core suppliers for national defense. It provides engines for the J47 and J79 fighter jets, and also supplies a large amount of airplane electronic equipment.
After thinking for a moment, Lin Ran said: “Um, I understand. After the bidding for NASA’s moon landing at the end of the year, once our proposal beats all competitors and wins the bid, it might be more appropriate to then talk with George Bunker of Glenn L. Martin Company.
But you need to start associating with George Bunker now and reveal General Electric’s intention to acquire Glenn L. Martin Company.”
George Bunker, chairman of the board of Glenn L. Martin Company. Two years later, in the merger of Glenn L. Martin Company and Marietta Company, he was one of the key proponents.
“You need to make it clear to him that merging with General Electric can form complementary expertise in the aerospace field. Additionally, General Electric can provide financial support to Martin Company, enhancing its ability to compete with giants like Boeing and Lockheed in the fiercely competitive market.”
After meeting with Lin Ran, John Morgan immediately took a flight to Huntsville City without stopping. He had arranged to meet Haines here.
That’s right, the NASA engineer Haines, at whose New York home Lin Ran stayed for two nights.
Haines works at Redstone Arsenal, which is southwest of Huntsville City in Alabama, covering nearly forty thousand acres.
Just on July 1, 1960, four months later, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center would be established based on Redstone Arsenal.
Currently Redstone Arsenal is not yet called Marshall Space Flight Center, but because of Redstone Arsenal’s existence, a large number of scientists, engineers, and military personnel have gathered here, bringing initial prosperity to the surrounding Huntsville City.
The hotel where John Morgan arranged to meet Haines, the Russell Erskine Hotel, is one of the most luxurious hotels locally, built in 1930 and renowned for its high-end Southern cuisine.
When he walked into the restaurant wearing a navy double-breasted suit handmade by Chipp, covered in travel dust, Haines had already been waiting for a long time.
“Mr. Morgan, you’re dressed very sharply today.” Haines joked. He had dealt with the man in front of him a few times because of Randolph, and the two already had some tacit understanding.
“You mean this? New York’s Chipp handmade it for me. If you’re interested, I can give you his business card. Compared to the older generation’s favorite Brooks Brothers or the even more traditional Savile Row, I still prefer Chipp’s more modern Ivy League style.”
“By the way, are you interested in coming to work for General Electric?”
