America’s Road To Wealth

  Chapter 342 An invitation letter

  As the sky gradually darkened, colorful lights shone around Times Square in Manhattan.

  The crossroads of the world vent its prosperity to the outside world all the time.

  On the main roads in Manhattan, the "heart" of New York, cars on both sides are rushing to and fro, like long golden dragons dancing at night.

  The high and low lights are on and off, the traffic flow is endless, the lights are bright and colorful, complement each other, and the clusters are bright.

  In traffic flow.

  George Soros was sitting in the back of his car, spreading out the reception invitation in his hands.

  The material of the invitation letter is very ordinary, just a piece of black printed matter with some golden English fonts printed on it.

   This kind of thing can probably be made by any printing shop on the roadside.

  It feels very rough to the touch. Soros estimates that ten dollars can buy at least fifty copies.

   But it is such an extremely cheap thing.

  In the past month, it has become something that the whole of New York, and even most of the wealthy Americans, are flocking to.

  This is an invitation letter for Smith Capital's investment reception at the end of the year.

  Getting it is, in a way, getting admission to Wall Street.

  This rough little thing, after it was given the surname "Smith".

  It seems that owning it has become a symbol of being a master in this country.

  Tims looked at his boss and at the invitation letter from Smith Capital, the general manager couldn't help but whispered—

   "Too cheap. This invitation is too cheap. Smith Capital is taking it too seriously."

  Invitation letters from almost most of the investment companies, not to mention the most important social occasion like the end-of-year reception.

  Even for invitations to ordinary receptions, they are often printed very beautifully.

   There used to be some investment companies opened by upstarts, and in their invitation letters, they even did gold-plated and diamond-studded flower work.

   It costs thousands of dollars to get an invitation letter.

  Goldman Sachs’ invitation letter for their year-end reception is not that exaggerated, but it usually costs tens or hundreds of dollars per piece.

  Print invitations as cheap as roadside advertisements like Smith Capital.

  Generally, it will only appear on those small street shops that have just opened, and it is the one they customized to attract customers at the beginning.

  Tims thinks it's outrageous. Smith Capital is not short of money, and will only invite a few hundred people at most.

  Even if the cost is a few hundred dollars, it is only tens of thousands of dollars.

   Thrift is a bit too much.

   Soros has saved enough. But the invitation letter for the year-end reception of Soros Fund Company costs tens of dollars.

  Soros did not respond to Tims' words, and the old guy looked at the writing on the invitation letter.

  The English text that looks like a simple print is used on it, and the printed content is very simple—

  【Dear Mr. or Madam, in order to release Smith Capital’s year-end financial report, we will hold a company brand promotion reception. We sincerely invite you and your partners to attend!】

  【Time: 7pm on Thursday, November 15, 2001】

  【Location: New York City, Midtown Manhattan, East Side of Manhattan, 210 East 52nd Street, Golden Banquet Hall of Hilton Garden Inn East Manhattan, New York. 】

  【Remarks: This event is for our company to promote the brand reception with this letter to enter (the company has the final interpretation authority)】

  【$458】

"This guy"

   George Soros, who has always been frugal, after reading this invitation.

  The old guy thinks he likes Abel a little bit.

  Because he felt that Abel was as thrifty as himself.

  In other big Wall Street companies, they would like to hold a reception at the top New York hotels such as the Waldorf Astoria, InterContinental, and Four Seasons.

  This time, Smith Capital chose a very ordinary Hilton Hotel, which will undoubtedly save a lot.

  Soros remembers this hotel, which has even been downgraded to a four-star hotel this year.

   This is too economical, even more economical than him. The old guy suddenly had a feeling of "I am not alone in my way".

   "BOSS. Here we come."

  Soros complained in his heart.

  Seeing the Hilton Garden Inn Midtown Manhattan that had appeared ahead, Timms hurriedly reminded his boss.

  Soros looked up and saw the hotel ahead.

  He nodded.

  It is the peak traffic time in Manhattan at night, and this is the main street in Manhattan, so the traffic flow is naturally a bit congested at this time.

  Soros stayed in the car for more than ten minutes before getting out of the car and walking towards the hotel.

  In today's Hilton Garden Inn, the entrance has obviously been decorated.

  Beautiful flower baskets were set up at both ends of the door, and some beautiful colorful ribbons were pasted. There's even a new red carpet from the doorway to the guest landing area.

   Soros, who got out of the car, looked up and even saw the CEO of Hilton International Hotel Group at the door.

   is also the Hilton family patriarch Barron Hilton.

  He is serving as welcome at the door with Melio, the president of Smith Capital.

  Soros climbed up the stairs, and when he was almost at the door, he saw Baron Hilton and Merio greeted him with smiles.

   "Welcome, Mr. Soros."

   "Welcome, Mr. Soros."

   Soros smiled and shook hands with the two.

  After shaking hands, he looked at Barron Hilton curiously.

  He didn't know that this was obviously Smith Capital's year-end reception.

  Barron, you are a good CEO of Hilton, why did you run to the door as a welcome.

   Generally speaking, this should be the work of Smith Capital’s own senior staff, right?

  See this expression of the oilman financial giant.

  Barron Hilton smiled—"Ha, Mr. Soros. You are the last one to arrive, and we are about to go up. There should be few guests behind. How about we talk while walking?"

  Soros nodded, and then, accompanied by Barron and Merio, walked into the hotel.

   Baron Hilton also explained on the road.

  According to the meaning of the old Hilton, during the September 11th disaster, among the more than 200 companies that Smith Capital invested in, there was Hilton International Hotel Group.

  Smith Capital now holds a 5.9% stake in Hilton.

  Abel Smith himself privately holds 3.1% of the shares.

  These shares add up, and Abel is currently the third largest shareholder of Hilton International Hotel Group.

  As the CEO of the group company, Barron Hilton said that he should do some simple work for Smith Capital, and it should be taken for granted.

  This explanation, Soros is not very convinced.

  Hilton International Hotel Group has so many shareholders, and there are more than 20 shareholders with more than 1% of the shares.

   I've never seen you old Baron being so attentive to anyone, but today you are like this.

  Soros thinks that the high probability is because today's reception may be the highest-level reception that Hilton has ever hosted in New York.

  This kind of wine will greatly help to improve the style of Hilton Hotel in New York.

  Barron Hilton may want to please Smith Capital, so that Smith Capital will put all the receptions in the Hilton Hotel in the future.

  Thus indirectly improving the brand value of Hilton Hotel.

  After all, before this, only Hollywood in the United States would generally choose to hold a banquet at Hilton.

  Because it is cheap

   Soros only thought of this for the time being.

  What he didn't expect was Barron Hilton's granddaughter.

   In Los Angeles, someone exported her to be pregnant.

  Someone put the reception here out of the idea of ​​"compensation".

   Naturally, Soros didn't know about these things. They quickly passed the special elevator and came to the golden banquet hall on the top floor.

At the entrance of the elevator hall in the   lobby, Soros and Tims saw a colorful banner hanging above it.

   What made Soros's heart move was these colorful banners.

   There are a few conspicuous places, with the same number as [$458] at the end of the invitation.

   At first, Soros thought it was a misprint of poor-quality printed matter.

  But there is this number on it now, so this is not a printing error.

  The suspicious old guy couldn't help but guess because of this detail.

   As for the scene of the reception, it was really just like what Merio and Barron Hilton said.

  Most of the guests have already arrived, and in the spacious and huge Hilton golden banquet hall, there are people everywhere at a glance.

  Smith Capital is using the cold buffet mode tonight.

   There are no tables for the guests, but there are sofas, tables and chairs everywhere for the guests to rest temporarily.

   Walking through it, male and female waiters with good looks add drinks, take away glasses, add food and so on for the guests from time to time.

  Soros doesn't care about these, he just wants to find Abel.

   "Over there." Tims, who had been by the boss's side all the time, pointed in one direction and said softly.

  I didn’t wear glasses tonight, but Soros, who was wearing contact lenses, glanced over.

   Sure enough, he was in the crowd and found Abel who was surrounded by a group of people.

  Beside Abel, Soros met Bloomberg, Buffett, and Sullivanston, chairman of PNC Financial Services Group.

   hesitated for a while, Soros didn't go over right away.

   Someone discovered the existence of Soros, and then quickly surrounded him.

   As the top financial boss among the Oilers.

  As long as there are oilmen wherever Soros appears.

  The oil people will be involuntarily attracted to him and gather around him.

  As it is now, some oilman financial capitalists and rich oilmen who attended the meeting came to find them.

   "Here comes George."

   It may really be that people attract each other. Bloomberg, beside Abel, quickly discovered Soros' arrival and pointed out his location for Abel.

  Abel took a look and saw that Soros was surrounded by many oil men.

  Abel smiled and whispered to Bloomberg:

   "I deliberately didn't invite him, and he did come! Warren, hurry up and get a hundred dollars!"

   Hearing what he said later, both Bloomberg and Sullivanston chuckled.

   It turned out that Abel and Buffett made a bet in front of the two of them a month ago.

   Bet on whether Soros will come to Abel's year-end investment reception after the Norwegian krone incident this year.

  Buffett thinks no, Abel thinks it should. And if he still said that he would not send an invitation letter, Soros would most likely come over. If the invitation letter is sent, Soros will not come.

   The two bet one hundred dollars.

   "I owe it first."

  Buffett glanced at Soros' position and said with a blank expression.

   "Calculate the interest." Abel said directly: "Now the Fed's benchmark interest rate is 0.75%. If you calculate your normal inter-bank lending interest, it will be 4.75%."

  Bloomberg and Sullivanston laughed directly, and Buffett didn't bother to talk to him.

   "Hi, good evening, everyone. It seems that everyone is very happy. It seems that Smith Capital is going to shock Wall Street again tonight!"

  A gentle voice sounded beside several people.

   Everyone looked over and found that Paulson, chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, and David Komansky, CEO of Merrill Lynch, came over.

   The speaker is Paulson.

   False and simple mutual greetings and pleasantries, and then again.

   Paulson took a glass of champagne from the plate of a beautiful girl passing by, and took a sip.

  The CEO of Goldman Sachs could not help but say:

   "Mr. Smith, anyway, you will announce Smith Capital's financial report for this year later. Why don't you just tell us right here? I think David is also very curious."

  Beside Merrill Lynch CEO David Komansky smiled reservedly.

   At this time, the CEO of Morgan Stanley came over, and Philip Purcell heard Paulson's words from a long distance away.

  He walked over and immediately smiled and said: "Yes, Mr. Smith. How about alleviating our curiosity in advance?"

  As the CEO of Morgan Stanley approached, more Wall Street giants subconsciously surrounded him.

  Among these people are the heads of the five major investment banks on Wall Street, as well as the heads of large fund investment institutions such as Vanguard Group, Fidelity International Investment Fund, State Street Bank, and Wellington Management Group.

   There are also some rich people in other industries.

  For example, Mr. Ted Lerner of the real estate industry is standing on the periphery with Barron Hilton at the moment.

  Compared with last year's first end-of-year investment reception, Smith Capital invited more guests this year.

   There are more guests who try to come here.

  Last year, there were only more than one hundred people, less than two hundred guests.

  Smith Capital sent out 200 invitation letters this year, and exactly 400 guests came.

   But there are very few guests who bring their female companions, and most of them choose to bring other companions.

   And these companions are either the top elites on Wall Street, or those rich people who came from all over the United States, or the local rich people in New York.

  Compared to last year's Smith Capital reception, the size and specifications of the guests at this year's reception have clearly gone up several notches.

  Like last year, the most famous guest was Buffett.

   There was also George who came later, but George was not famous at that time.

  He hasn't decided to officially take the stage yet.

  And this year, although George did not come this year, Buffett still came, and Soros also came.

  In addition to these people, several other important people came this year.

  For example, not far away, a pair of donkeys and elephants are talking to each other.

  One of these two is the speaker of the Senate this year, and the other is the minority leader of the House of Representatives this year

   In other words, one of the dual cores of power in the country, the two giants on Capitol Hill.

   All here tonight.

  This change was noticed by all the guests who attended last year's reception.

  They all know that this is a symbol that the status and influence of Abel and Smith Capital are no longer comparable to last year.

   The ultimate reason for all these changes is the tall and majestic Abel Smith standing here in front of him.

  He can make money, he can make money for Smith Capital, and Smith Capital can make money for rich people!

   What everyone is most concerned about, after all, is of course how much money Smith Capital has made this year!

   Paulson asked a question, Philip Purcell followed suit, and everyone surrounded him.

   Ultimately it's all for this purpose.

   This change also attracted the attention of other guests at the reception.

  Even the pair of big donkeys and giant elephants, their eyes were cast over.

   Facing the eyes of the real top elites in these countries, Abel smiled calmly, with a calm and calm expression.

   "Eh, it will be announced later. There is no need to say it now, right? The most beautiful thing, shouldn't be announced last, is it the most fascinating?"

  Seeing that Paulson and Philip Purcell were about to speak again, Abel smiled and raised his hands in a sign of surrender.

   "Okay okay. I know how you feel. Let's announce it in advance then."

  Abel beckoned directly to David Jones who was standing not far from him.

   "Let Mellon announce it directly."

  The butler nodded, smiled and turned to leave.

   Seeing that Abel had expressed his position in this way, everyone stopped pressing him, but curiously looked for David Mellon.

  Last year it was David Mellon who hosted the reception, and this year it should be him too.

  Most of the male guests also knew the news.

  Everyone is looking forward to it.

   In contrast, there are not many female guests tonight, so the main focus is not on this side.

  As the hostess, little Laura is responsible for receiving them, and there are only about thirty or so of them.

The ratio of    to the number of male guests tonight is simply incomparable.

   Among these female guests, little Laura, who was accompanied by Li Xinyu, actually cared about only one.

   That is Miss Peggy Morgenthau, one of the rich families on the east coast, the eldest granddaughter of the Morgenthau family.

  According to little Laura's grandfather Herbert, once revealed to her the information about the women around Abel.

  Peggy Morgenthau was once one of the women who had the best chance of marrying Abel Smith and becoming his wife before little Laura.

   At that time, it was the Morgenthau family who hesitated, and Abel himself was very inactive in this regard.

  Finally, under the active promotion of Herbert, who seemed particularly active.

  Little Laura became Abel's future wife.

  According to the threat ranking list given by his grandfather, Peggy Morgenthau ranked first.

  The second is the descendants of the Rockefeller and Morgan families. According to Herbert, those two families also had this idea at the time.

   After all, the people who are optimistic about Abel Smith are not limited to the shrub family.

   It's just that these big families move very slowly, and Abel grows too fast.

  They couldn't bear to take the initiative, and before they said anything, the shrub family charged ahead of time.

   Ranked third are several families in the Texas consortium.

  At the reception last year, if Abel accepted their solicitation.

  Those families will definitely choose to marry Abel. This is a normal practice of the old and big American families.

   Apart from these three parties, Herbert felt that the other forces behind were irrelevant.

  Such as the daughter of the Hearst family, the granddaughter of Hilton, the daughter of Ted Lerner, etc.

   Peggy Morgenthau is the most threatening in Grandpa's eyes. Little Laura is meeting Peggy for the first time tonight.

   This cheered her up. From the very beginning, she was very serious and serious.

   "Miss Morgenthal, hello. I'm Laura Bush."

  Little Laura smiled and stretched out her hand to the other party.

   "Hello. Miss Bush, I'm Peggy Morgenthau." Peggy shook hands with her with a quiet and gentle expression.

  (end of this chapter)