You have $1 million to invest in these companies. You can invest in one, two or even all of them. Which ones would you invest in? How much of the $1,000,000 would you invest? You must hold the investment(s) for five years.
Alibaba Group Holding Limited is a publicly traded Hangzhou-based group of Internet-based e-commerce businesses, including business-to-business online web portals, online retail and payment services, a shopping search engine and data-centric cloud computing services. Since 2012, the Communist Party of China has had a Group Party Committee in place in the company and has over 2,000 party members as Alibaba employees. Alibaba is the world’s largest retailer and e-commerce company, one of the largest Internet and artificial intelligence companies, one of the biggest venture capital firms, and one of the biggest investment corporations in the world. The company hosts the largest B2B (Alibaba.com), C2C (Taobao), and B2C (Tmall) marketplaces in the world. The company primarily operates in China, and at closing time, on the date of its historic IPO, 19 September 2014, Alibaba’s market value was measured as US$231 billion.
Hyundai Motor Group is a South Korean multinational conglomerate headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, and it is the largest car manufacturer in the country. It was the world’s third-largest vehicle manufacturer by production volume in 2017, behind Japanese Toyota and German Volkswagen Group. The group was formed through the purchase of 51% of South Korea’s second largest car company, Kia Motors in 1998. Following several years of rapid growth, the Group sold 8 million vehicles in 2015. In 2017 the Group sold 7.25 million vehicles, the lowest since 2012. The company employs about 75,000 people worldwide. Hyundai vehicles are sold in 193 countries through some 5,000 dealerships.
Kaplan, Inc. is a for-profit corporation headquartered in New York City and was founded in 1938 by Stanley Kaplan. Kaplan provides higher education programs, professional training courses, test preparation materials and other services for various levels of education. Kaplan Higher Education is a group of institutions that offer classroom and online certificate and degree programs in fields such as criminal justice, health care, business, information technology and legal studies. Iowa College Acquisition Corporation, operating under the Kaplan University brand, also offers online programs. At year-end 2013, Kaplan Higher Education had approximately 60,300 students enrolled. Kaplan Professional offers education for licensing, certification, and training purposes, in areas including accounting, insurance, securities, real estate, financial planning, information technology, and architecture. Established in 1938, Kaplan Test Prep sells preparation materials for standardized tests through tutoring, on-site classes, asynchronous and live programs, print books, and digital products. With programs for individuals, schools, and businesses, Kaplan Test Prep offers preparation for more than 90 standardized tests.
Mondelez International, Inc. is an American multinational confectionery, food, and beverage holding company based in Deerfield, Illinois which employs approximately 83,000 individuals around the world. The company manufactures chocolate, cookies, biscuits, gum, confectionery, and powdered beverages. Mondelez International’s portfolio includes several billion-dollar brands such as Chips Ahoy!, Nabisco, Oreo, Ritz, Triscuit, LU, Club Social, Tate’s Bake Shop and Peek Freans; Cadbury, Milka, Toblerone, Trident, Dentyne, Halls, Stride gum, and Tang powdered beverages. The company has an annual revenue of about $26 billion and operates in approximately 160 countries. The company ranked No. 117 in the 2018 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.
Petrobras is a semi-public Brazilian multinational corporation in the petroleum industry headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The company operates in six business areas (listed in order of revenue): Refining, Exploration, Distribution, Gas and Power Transportation and Trading, International Exploration and production of oil and gas, refining, transportation and marketing, distribution and gas and power, and Biofuels. Petrobras owns refineries in Texas, Japan and Argentina. The company also owns exploration blocks in the Gulf of Mexico and through joint ventures has production in Nigeria, Benin, Gabon, and Namibia.
VTB Bank is one of the leading universal banks of Russia. VTB Bank and its subsidiaries form a leading Russian financial group – VTB Group, offering a wide range of banking services and products in Russia, CIS, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the U.S. The Group’s largest subsidiaries in Russia are VTB24, Bank of Moscow, and TransCreditBank. VTB was ranked 236th on the FT Global 500 2011, The Financial Times’ annual snapshot of the world’s largest companies. It climbed to 82nd in the ranking of the 500 largest companies in Europe, the FT Europe 500 2011, and to 38th in the FT Emerging 500 2011, the list of the 500 largest companies on the world’s emerging markets. The Moscow-based bank is registered in St. Petersburg and came 65th in the British magazine The Banker’s Top 1000 World Banks in terms of capital in 2010.
Wyndham Worldwide Corporation headquartered in Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey, operates several hotel brands across the world. Wyndham Hotel Group offers brands in lodging franchising, vacation ownership, vacation rentals and vacation exchange. It is composed of nearly 7,400 hotels under 15 brands spanning 66 countries in six continents, competing in brand markets ranging from economy to upscale. In 2008 it purchased US Franchise Systems, Inc., owner of the Microtel and Hawthorn Suites brands. Its brands include Days Inn, Dolce, Hawthorn Suites, Knights Inn, Microtel Inn & Suites, Ramada, Super 8, Travelodge, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, and Wyndham Grand Collection. It reported 2015 revenue of $5.5 Billion and is listed on the NYSE (WYN)
Xiaomi Corporation is a Chinese electronics company headquartered in Beijing. Xiaomi makes and invests in smartphones, mobile apps, laptops, bags, trimmers, earphones, MI Television, shoes, fitness bands, and many other products. Xiaomi was the world’s fourth-largest smartphone manufacturer in 2018, leading in both the largest market, China, and the second-largest market, India. Xiaomi has recently developed a wider range of consumer electronics, including a smart home device ecosystem. Xiaomi has 15,000 employees in China, India, Malaysia, Singapore and is expanding to other countries including Indonesia, the Philippines, and South Africa. The company prices the phone almost at bill-of-material prices, without compromising the component quality and performance compared to other premium smartphones and profits by selling phone-related peripheral devices, smart home products, apps, online videos and themes. In recent years, they have opened 54 brick and mortar stores to combat the strategies of other low-cost competitors in Chinese markets. It also did away with traditional advertising and relies on social networking services and word-of-mouth to publicize its products.
