MADRID (AP) – The billionaire founder of Chinese conglomerate Tiens Group treated 3,000 of his top salespeople Friday to a traditional Spanish paella dinner during a free Madrid trip that also included a bullfight and a tour of King Felipe VI’s Royal Palace.
The smiling crowds washed down heaping plates of paella with sangria at a massive spread of picnic tables in a riverside park during the event footed by Li Jinyuan and organized by China’s U Tour travel company.
U Tour deputy manager Zhang Xilai said the tour for the group of mostly health care products salespeople cost 7 million euros ($8 million).
The trip came a year after Li took 6,400 employees to France.
Zhang says fewer salespeople went this year because of higher sales targets and stiffer competition in China.