America’s Road To Wealth

  Chapter 291 The 2001 Forbes List Released

  As one of the famous cities in the world, London, the capital of the United Kingdom, has always been known as the city of fog.

   Within the scope of this city, there are more than one hundred days of fog in a year.

  Foggy weather covers the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter.

   Fortunately, August is the best month in London.

  London fog in August is also the best fog.

  In the early morning at No. 1 Garden Street, Kensington Palace, a light mist shrouded the courtyard.

  It looks vaguely invisible, like a flower fairy in the forest dancing a light veil.

  The soft sunlight shines on the flowers, trees, and grass in the courtyard, and the lush leaves have shades of green.

  The garden is full of grass, clusters of well-cared-for famous flowers, bathed in the sun, blooming with smiling faces, and the dewdrops on the petals are shining with colorful lights under the reflection of the morning light.

   In the morning mist, Abel, who had been exercising for a while, returned to the living room.

   It was only after eight o'clock in the morning, and little Laura hadn't woken up yet.

  Abel didn't bother her either. After washing himself, he changed into a more formal set of clothes and left No. 1 Kensington Palace Garden.

  The convoy drove for about ten minutes, and soon arrived in the City of London due to no traffic jams.

  In this small one-square-mile location in the center of London, the most famous financial companies and business giants in the UK and even in the world gather.

  In this place where every inch of land is expensive, there are more than 500 foreign banks and more than 180 foreign securities trading centers.

  More than 300,000 financial elites work here together with British banks and exchanges with a long history.

   Among the world's top 500 multinational companies, 75% have established branches or offices here.

   When the convoy drove in, Abel looked through the car window and saw that there were many people on the road who seemed to be giving speeches so early in the morning.

  David in the co-pilot noticed the gaze of the boss, and he said easily:

   "They're doing a London mayoral campaign speech. It's going to be like this for days."

   "The mayor's campaign speech?" Abel asked curiously:

   "London's mayor run? The current mayor of London seems to be Livingstone? Wait, didn't this guy take office last year?"

   "Yes." David Jones smiled in front: "Livingstone is the mayor of London. But the one who is running for office here is the mayor of London here."

   "What do you mean?" Abel asked curiously, "There is also a London mayor here? Two London mayors?"

  David Jones immediately explained to his boss.

   Simply put, London has two mayors.

  One is the mayor of the "City of London" and the other is the mayor of the "City of London".

  The Mayor of the City of London (City of London) and the Mayor of London are two different positions in the UK.

  The former has a long history and is the head of the City of London in the center of London.

  The latter was founded at the end of the 20th century and is the head of the entire Greater London.

  The Mayor of the City of London has an office separate from the Mayor of London and has a much longer history than the Mayor of Greater London.

  In addition, this square mile of land also has its own court, nearly a thousand police officers, and a strict management system.

  Even according to the provisions of the British Royal Charter, even if the "supreme power" Queen of England enters the city, she must obtain the consent of the Mayor of the City of London in advance.

   At the subway exit of the Financial City, people can see eye-catching signs showing the jurisdiction of the Financial City, and even the unique emblem of the Financial City government is cast on the landmark "fence" of the Financial City.

  It has a very strong taste of a country within a country, as if to say that this place is not owned by London, or even by the British.

  So it is true that modern financial capital originated in London.

  The unique regulations of the City of London are obviously the story that happened when the capital began to override the royal family.

   Otherwise, with the majesty of the feudal kingship, how could this kind of thing be allowed to happen?

   This kind of country within a country was later turned into a tradition, and it has been passed down for so many years.

  After listening to these allusions mentioned by David, Abel can only lament that the democratic countries in Europe and America are too troublesome.

  The normal Mayor of Greater London is only elected once every four years.

  The mayor of Little London in this financial city is elected once a year, and the election takes half a month.

  The term of office is only one year, in other words, it takes more than 300 days to change a mayor.

  What can a mayor with such a short term do? Most of them can only follow Xiao Guicao and can't do anything.

  Abel thinks this is like what Humphrey said—“The advantage of democracy is that no one is responsible.”

   This kind of cooking is obviously the favorite thing of financial capital.

  Xiaozhengfu has gone to the extreme, there is no real right, only obligation.

   This is the favorite government of capitalists.

  After David’s allusion was finished, Abel’s convoy also came in front of a skyscraper in “Square Mile”.

  The location of this building is the Fury Building at 19 Fenchurch Street, London. It is 15 floors high. It looks a bit historical, and it belongs to the middle and late last century.

  The area of ​​each floor of Furui Building is about 1,000 square meters.

  Last month, the British branch of Abel's New Start real estate company purchased the 13th, 14th, and 15th floors here for 18 million pounds.

   Subsequently, the three floors here were leased to two companies, Smith Capital (UK) and Smith Media (UK).

   Among them, Smith Media (UK) occupies two floors.

  Smith Capital (UK) is on level 15.

  Abel came to London, the main office is here.

  But the three-story building has just been rented out not long ago.

  In the past few days, the 15th floor has been rushing to be installed, so as to make room for Smith Capital (UK) to have an office immediately.

  So at this time, the 13th and 14th floors are still being renovated, and Smith Media (UK) has not yet officially settled in.

  The fifteenth floor of the building is the headquarters of Smith Capital (UK).

  This company is jointly controlled by Smith Capital and Abel. Smith Capital holds 60% of the shares, and Abel personally holds 40% of the shares. It is registered in Ireland.

  The company's staff currently has more than a hundred people.

   Among them, fifty people were half recruited and half deployed by Smith Capital, and sent from New York.

  The other fifty people were recruited locally in London, and most of them were hired by headhunters.

  After entering the 21st century, British elites are the same as American elites.

  The smartest people in these two countries have discovered that engineering and science are useless. After graduation, they do the most work and earn the least money.

  However, it and finance not only seem to be easy to work, but the salary is higher than the other.

  In addition, after Mrs. Thatcher carried out financial reforms, Britain established a national policy of building a country through finance at that time, and held finance very high.

  So gradually, the smart people in the UK are squeezing into the financial field.

   Just one "Square Mile", that is, the City of London, has about 300,000 financial practitioners.

   There are several places like this in London. For example, Canary Wharf not far from here.

   In other words, the smartest people in Britain, hundreds of thousands of people, have entered the financial field.

  So can Britain’s finances not be strong?

  So the UK is not weak in other fields?

  So can it not be finished?

   It is easier to recruit financial elites in the UK than on Wall Street.

   After a few days, not all the people from Smith Capital Wall Street have come over.

  All Londoners or Europeans recruited locally have already arrived.

  He has been working here under the leadership of Jed, one of the presidents of Smith Capital headquarters.

  Jed, the president of Smith Capital, has also been appointed CEO of Smith Capital (UK) by Abel.

  As long as nothing goes wrong, Jed will most likely become the main person in charge of Smith Capital in Europe in the future.

  With an office area of ​​more than 1,000 square meters, it is not very spacious to accommodate more than 100 people.

  This makes Abel's office here not particularly spacious, only more than 100 square meters.

  Bringing David and the Four King Kong, Abel came directly to his British office.

  As always, there is always a huge floor-to-ceiling window in his office.

  This is not only Abel’s personal hobby, but also the hobby of most business and professional elites.

  They always like to stand in front of the French windows of tall skyscrapers and look down at all the living beings on the ground.

  This will give this kind of people a sense of sight at a glance.

   It seems to have raised their class.

   Not long after I sat down in the office.

  Jed, CEO of Smith Capital (UK), walked in with a smile after knocking on the door.

   "Hi, Jed, good morning." Abel greeted him with a smile.

  Jed is a Wall Street elite recruited by Smith Capital this year when it expanded its enrollment.

   It turned out to be the head of the futures department of Bear Stone, one of the six major investment banks on Wall Street (with one more Smith).

  After he came to Smith Capital, because of his ability and qualifications, he immediately became the second deputy manager.

   Now he has been promoted even higher and has become the CEO of Smith Capital's London subsidiary.

   "Good morning, BOSS." Jed smiled respectfully, holding a thick thing that looked like a book in his hand, "How about this?"

   "What?" Abel was curious, and motioned for Edward to take it.

   "It's Forbes magazine. The latest issue of "Forbes Ranking" has just been launched globally in the morning."

   "Oh?" Abel also became a little curious, and took the magazine that Edward handed over.

  The "Forbes List" released by "Forbes" magazine is not just a long list of names, plus the wealth figures of these people.

  It may be to show their rigor and professionalism, or it may be to earn more sales.

   Every year, the "Forbes Ranking List" is an additional special issue released outside of "Forbes" magazine.

   is a new magazine that mainly tells about the richest people in the world, and there is only one issue every year.

  In this magazine, it will list in detail the data of each rich man searched by the magazine company.

   It is so detailed that almost every rich man has it. Rather than saying it is a magazine, it is actually a book.

  So it looks relatively thick, with more than 400 pages and more than 200 sheets.

   "Have you read it?" Abel held the latest issue of "Forbes Ranking" and asked Jed instead of opening it immediately.

   "Yes." Jed kept smiling, very happy.

   "Who is the richest man this year?" Abel said with a smile.

   "Please allow me to keep a secret." Jed said to the boss with a smile and respect, "You can find out after just flipping through it. The richest man is on the fourth page."

  The first page is the cover, the second page is the table of contents, the third page is the preface, and the fourth page is the official content.

   Having said that, Abel also wants to know how much money Forbes says he has.

  He directly turned to the table of contents on the second page, which had detailed guidance.

  Abel looked at it.

  1. Financial Moses—Abel Smith

  2. Overlord of the era—William Henry Gates III

  3. The King of Investment and Value—Warren Buffett

  4. Playboy - Paul Allen

  5. The megalomaniac beyond Gates - Larry Ellison

  6. The king of German retail industry - the Albrecht brothers

  7. Desert Buffett-Walid

8

  387. Red Capitalist—Yiren Rong

  452. Asian Gambling King—Hongshen He

  《.》

   Roughly flipped through the directory.

  Even if Abel knew his name, he would definitely be at the front.

   But he didn't expect it either. This year, "Forbes" listed itself as the world's richest man.

   Seeing his name on the first place, Abel felt a little dazed.

  Even if he actually knows, the world's richest man listed by "Forbes" is often not really the world's richest man.

  Those real guys who secretly control the world will never make the list.

  The world's richest man listed in this magazine is at best only on the surface.

   is the so-called richest man in the world used by "Forbes" to increase the sales of the magazine and to attract the attention of the public.

   In front of the title of the richest man in the world, Abel thinks that a prefix of "Forbes" should be added, which means Forbes is the richest man in the world.

  This is the truth about the so-called richest man in the world.

  Although Abel knew this, at this moment, he saw that he was in the first place.

  He still couldn't help feeling a little happy and excited.

   No matter how good it is, the richest man in the world is also the richest man in the world in name.

  Even if the actual financial resources and influence have not reached the level of the planet's number one.

  However, at least 99% of the world's human beings recognize this title and yearn for it!

  In the past, although I said I didn’t care.

  But Abel knew that when he got this title.

  My own influence, as well as my own "momentum", can be regarded as real success!

  Abel took a deep breath, restraining his slightly excited mood.

  He turned to the third page of this thick magazine, the preface.

  The preface of "Forbes Ranking" did not invite any well-known editors, writers, etc. to talk about it.

   Obviously, in front of these people in this magazine.

  No matter how famous the great writers and writers are alive in the world, they will appear to lack confidence in front of these people.

  The preface of this magazine, "Forbes" just listed the wealth data of many of the world's richest people they surveyed.

  For example, in 2001, "Forbes" expanded the selection scope of the world's richest people.

  The number of billion-dollar clubs this year has increased from 482 in 2000 to 539.

  The average age of the 539 billionaires on the list is 62 years old, and 32 of them are under 40 years old.

  The youngest is 21-year-old Abel Smith, the second youngest is Daniel Ziv.

  The average net worth of these 539 individuals is $3.2 billion.

  If you add up their assets, it's $1,730 billion.

  Exceeding last year's GDP of 1.66 trillion U.S. dollars in the United Kingdom, it is truly a "wealthy country".

  Among the billionaires in 2001, the United States had the largest number, reaching 272, accounting for more than 51%.

  Europe 23%, Asia 14%.

  Americas outside the United States 8%; Middle East and Africa 4%.

  Neon lost 14 billionaires, but still ranked second with 29 people on the list.

  Germany ranks third with 28 people on the list; Italy ranks fourth with 17 people on the list; Switzerland ranks fifth with 16 people on the list.

  China has the most billionaires on Hong Kong Island, with 14 billionaires, one more than in 2000.

  This kind of preface is concise and clear, and Abel read it a few more times before turning to the fourth page.

  On the fourth page, a photo of himself came into view.

  This photo Abel has an impression.

  He remembered that this was taken by the best photographer of the New York Observer when he was interviewed for the first time.

   In this photo, he is sitting on the 33rd floor of what was then the Woolworth Building.

   This is the former headquarters of Smith Capital, on the throne of the chairman's office.

  In front of him is a dark wood-colored broad desk, and outside the floor-to-ceiling windows behind him are the bustling skyscrapers of Manhattan and the blue sky and white clouds.

  He was wearing a black suit, sitting upright with a tall and straight upper body, with his hands crossed on the desk, and his eyes looking forward.

  In the photo, his perfect handsome face is expressionless, but full of elite style, he looks like a synonym for the so-called Wall Street elite.

  This photo doesn't capture his aura.

  Of course, Abel didn’t have much momentum at that time.

  At that time, he even felt a little foolish. At that time, senior photographers could only choose to highlight his handsomeness and that elite style.

   It didn't capture that kind of majestic grandeur at all.

  But because his photo is public, he doesn't need to pay copyright fees, and it is the only one.

  So this photo has become a photo that the media will choose when news about Abel is reprinted across the United States, and even around the world.

   Over time, this photo that looks like a still from a Wall Street movie shot in Hollywood has become the first impression most people in the world have of him

  "Forbes" is probably afraid of trouble, or doesn't want to pay copyright fees.

   Obviously Abel has more and better photos in the later stage, which can highlight the temperament of a big guy.

  "Forbes" magazine chose this one, choosing this photo that looks like a still from a Hollywood movie.

  In this photo, Abel is more handsome and Wall Street elite.

  There is also confidence and vitality all over the body.

  The video does not have the temperament of many bigwigs, or financial giants, or business tycoons.

  It looks like a big star in a movie.

  Abel was a little dissatisfied after seeing it.

  Compared with the temperament of a big brother, he doesn't want the temperament of a star.

   "I don't have a big boss temperament at all."

  He couldn't help muttering, and then looked at a number marked next to his name—$70billion+.

  billion is a word in English, which mainly means "billion".

  $ This symbol is the dollar sign.

  $70billion means seventy billion dollars.

  + this symbol, I don't know what the **** Forbes is doing.

  "Forbes" magazine this year's "Forbes List" said that he has a net worth of 60 billion US dollars.

  (end of this chapter)