America’s Road To Wealth

  Chapter 351 $120 billion net worth

  Abel’s first contact with the California consortium went smoothly.

   After all, he is no longer the rich man who only had some money last year.

   With the establishment of his relationship with the bush family, there are other allies.

  He can also be regarded as a prince in this country now.

  He is already qualified to contact the existence of the California consortium.

   But it's just a preliminary contact.

  Whether it is Abel or Keira Wilson, both parties understand that it is impossible to mention real cooperation right away.

  Even if both parties have this kind of idea, it's the same.

  This kind of thing concerns two huge interest groups, and there may be some cooperation.

   No matter how careful you are, you can't be too cautious.

   But fortunately through this contact.

  At least it can let both parties know that there is no hostility to each other, and there is no conflict at present.

   That's enough.

  Even in terms of finance, the California consortium has many places to cooperate with Abel.

  Abel is better at investing, or speculating.

  The financial power of the California consortium is retail banks and commercial banks, and the two sides are very complementary.

   After a little chat with Kayla Wilson.

  Abel chatted more deeply with John Stumpf, executive chairman of Wells Fargo.

   While chatting, Abel talked about possible cooperation projects between Wells Fargo and Pacific Bank.

   The consortium and the consortium cannot cooperate immediately.

   But try to make some business contacts.

   If the contact is good, if they really cooperate in the future.

  When it unfolds, it will be smoother and more experienced.

   "Silicon Valley Bank? I remember that most of its shares were acquired by Pacific Commercial Bank?"

  John Stampf spoke softly.

  Abel nodded:

   "It is true. Last year, Silicon Valley Bank was acquired by me. But until now, it is still an independent bank and has not yet been merged into Pacific Bank."

  John Stumpf nodded, quickly calculating the gains and losses in his mind.

  Silicon Valley Bank was established in 1983 and is a subsidiary of Silicon Valley Bank Financial Group.

  95% of the assets of this banking group are in Silicon Valley Bank, and other businesses are not worth mentioning.

  Its total assets reached 2 billion US dollars, which is a small bank in the United States.

  The business of this bank is mainly to provide loans to venture capital companies and Silicon Valley start-up companies.

  Like the early Cisco, Oracle, and even Google, they all took loans from Silicon Valley Bank.

  Since it is related to Silicon Valley, it naturally suffered heavy losses when the Nasdaq bubble burst last year.

  At that time, the entire Silicon Valley Bank financial group had total assets of more than five billion U.S. dollars.

  After the bubble burst, it was cut in half of its value, leaving only about two billion assets.

   At the end of last year, its shares were gradually acquired by Abel, and the economic situation improved a lot.

   Abel bought some Internet company stocks on 9/11 this year, and some of them were also held by this bank.

   This is mainly to avoid tax—

  Super taxpayer, super philanthropist, by no means do not avoid tax at all.

   "So you mean"

  John Stumpf knew something about Silicon Valley Bank, he didn't know Abel's intentions.

   "I mean. We can try to cooperate first." Abel said with a smile:

   "We use Silicon Valley Bank as an experiment, how about the two sides cooperating on Silicon Valley Bank?"

  John Stumpf looked at Keira Wilson, who nodded slightly at him.

  John Stampf looked at Abel again, smiled and said, "So what kind of cooperation model is it?"

   "Wells Fargo paid a billion dollars and got a 49.9% stake in Silicon Valley Bank. The two parties jointly operate Silicon Valley Bank." Abel said.

  In the process of obtaining the Silicon Valley Bank Financial Group, Abel spent a total of about two billion US dollars.

  Following up, another 200 million U.S. dollars was invested in development. Since Silicon Valley is miserable now, its performance is also very average.

  Its total value now is about 2.2 billion US dollars.

  Wells Fargo takes a 49.9% stake for one billion dollars.

   It can be said that the business has not yet been done, and it has earned at least tens of millions of dollars.

  The premise is that Silicon Valley Bank can make profits in the future, instead of continuing to lose money.

   This is Abel's sincerity, the bait he throws to lure Wells Fargo and the California consortium.

   "How about 50%? Wells Fargo is paying $1.1 billion."

  After thinking about it, John Stumpf showed his sincerity.

   Wells Fargo doesn’t make those tens of millions of dollars.

   But we want equal rights and interests, and we will work together in Silicon Valley to build Silicon Valley Bank.

  Abel wants to contact the California consortium, why doesn't the California consortium not want to contact him?

   John Stumpf will be here today if you don't want to contact Abel.

   But Keira Wilson will never show up.

   "Happy cooperation." Abel smiled and stretched out his hand.

  John Stumpf and Keira Wilson, also smiling, shook hands with him.

  Abel's main purpose today has finally been accomplished.

  Bank of the Pacific and Wells Fargo, in cooperation with Silicon Valley Bank.

  In later generations, it is also considered to be the Smith Consortium, the first cooperation with the California Consortium.

  The matter is almost finished, Abel declined Keira and Stumpf's invitation to the reception tonight.

  At the top of the Wells Fargo Building, he was sent off by John Stumpf and Kayla Wilson.

   Wait for Abel's plane to leave the Wells Fargo Building.

  The smiles on the faces of the two members of the California consortium disappeared.

  John Stampf to Kayla:

   "It's as generous as ever. Tens of millions of dollars were given out without blinking an eye."

  His annual salary is only tens of millions of dollars.

  The big beauty Kayla nodded, and she said to John Stumpf:

   "John, what do you think he means? Does he want to cooperate with us?"

   "Of course." John Stumpf replied directly:

"I heard that his father-in-law, Neil Shrub, has been in San Francisco for some time. During this time, the youngest of the Shrub family has been in contact with the AFL-CIO gang. Obviously, this Mr. Smith , There are considerations in this regard. He may need our support in this regard."

  Kayla nodded thoughtfully.

   "Miss Wilson, what do you think of this Mr. Smith?"

  The two continued to talk as they walked downstairs.

   How about Abel Smith?

  Kayla thinks he is handsome first. Tall and sunny, it fits the appearance of the sun **** Apollo in the minds of European and American people.

  Then the way of speaking is not annoying, and it sounds nice.

  The second is the way of doing things, which is very straightforward and very generous.

  Sharp thinking, decisive and straightforward.

  No matter how many things there are, with Keira's experience and ability, she can't see it.

  She removed her view of Abel from the part of appearance.

   Honestly to John Stumpf.

  John Stumpf nodded.

  Actually, if possible, John doesn't want to take this young lady with him at all.

  But Slade Wilson, one of the original shareholders of Wells Fargo. It is obvious to want Keira Wilson to share some of the power of Wells Fargo in the future.

  Even John Stumpf felt a little uncomfortable because of it.

   But he, a senior wage earner, had to take Keira Wilson with him at work.

  John Stampf to Kayla:

   "This Mr. Smith has very terrifying ambitions. We are all analyzing him, or many consortiums are analyzing him."

"He was originally from Texas, but he didn't join the Texas consortium. He married the Bush family, but he cooperated with Buffett in the Midwest. In New York, he had a good relationship with Morgenthau. He is more It also has a deep cooperative relationship with oilmen like Bloomberg and Soros."

  John Stumpf analyzes softly, introducing Kayla to a side of Abel Smith that you don't know.

  These analyzes were partly thought up by John himself.

  Most of it is the analysis of the think tank they raise within the California consortium.

   Abel is not the only one who has a team of think tanks to help.

  Things that the Smith Intelligence Group can do for Abel, and things that cannot be done for Abel.

  These veteran consortiums and their think tank teams can do it.

   After all, the Smith Group has only been established for more than a year now. The shortest period of existence of these consortiums has been decades.

  To be honest, compared with these established consortiums and chaebols, Abel has only two advantages.

  One is that he is a reborn, even if he doesn't specifically remember.

  He still remembers many major events that will happen in the future in parallel time and space.

  This advantage can be large or small, as his influence increases, many things may be changed.

   This advantage may also gradually disappear.

  The second is his unrivaled talent.

   His unsolvable ability in the financial capital market is his strongest point.

   Compare with these two.

   Others are from the Mayflower family, and what Texas senior rednecks are from.

  In the eyes of this level of existence, that is really nothing. .

  Mr. Brain Opening is good enough? Is the family good enough? Is his position high enough?

  It really touched the interests of certain groups, and it still opened up the mind.

   Including the ecological niche that Abel found for himself.

   There is also what he thinks is smart, the future shareholding structure design within the Smith Consortium.

   These things were actually given to those old chaebols and financial groups.

  The group of smart people who are raised by them are very thorough in analysis.

  Maybe the results they concluded after analysis are even more perfect than what Aber himself imagined

  This gap in background is difficult for Abel to bridge.

  The reason why these established financial groups and chaebols have been quietly watching him perform and watch his development.

   To put it bluntly, so far, everyone has no direct conflict of interest.

  Abel is very wise. So far, he hasn’t had much conflict with anyone except Wall Street.

  Even with Wall Street, there is conflict while cooperating.

  In addition, he has grown up really fast, and in the blink of an eye, people already need to look at him squarely.

  He is also constantly adding allies to himself and creating common interest groups.

   Now, he already has a certain ability to protect himself.

   To some extent, it can already be said to be one of them.

  A young, newly joined member.

  Abel is already qualified to discuss cooperation with them.

  You are the chairman of Wells Fargo Bank, the most high-end existence of a wage earner.

  John Stumpf was already entitled to know this, while teaching Kayla.

  John also taught these things to Keira, who was still relatively immature.

  After this "science popularization" by John Stampf.

  Kayla couldn't help being a little surprised.

   "That is to say. Has he already established a Smith Consortium? God, I heard that he is less than twenty-two years old, six years younger than me!"

   Keira couldn't help but said.

  John Stampf smiled wryly.

  The chairman feels that it is really annoying to compare people to others.

   In this world

  There are guys like Keira Wilson who were born directly in Rome.

   There is also Abel Smith, who built Rome on the spot in a very short period of time.

   It really makes ordinary elites like them feel envious, jealous and helpless.

   "It's almost like this." John Stampf nodded and said:

   "In terms of wealth, he and his friends can be regarded as the Smith Foundation."

  Kayla Wilson sighed: "Very powerful, very powerful. In your estimation, how rich is he now? Is it really just a little like Forbes said?"

   According to the Forbes list, Abel's wealth exceeds 80 billion U.S. dollars.

   Stampf thought eighty billion dollars is not much?

   That's an astronomical figure, okay?

   "I don't know. But our analysis does not include the stock price of Smith Capital. His personal net worth may be around 120 billion U.S. dollars."

  John Stumpf said vaguely.

   "Twelve hundred?" Keira exclaimed again.

  In the dialogue between the two.

  Abel's helicopter left here, and soon appeared in Neil Shrub's villa in San Francisco.

"How about it?"

   "What else? It's just a preliminary contact. My bank will cooperate with Wells Fargo and a bank in Silicon Valley. This is already revealing a positive news to the outside world."

  In the living room of the villa, as soon as Neil saw Abel come back, he couldn't wait to ask.

  After Abel answered, he said softly:

   "Dear Neil, the road has been paved. It's up to you how you go. I hope that one day, little Laura and I, as well as our children, can all enjoy Ni's protection."

   "Uh" Neil thought in his heart that if that was the case, then that would be fine.

  Then the first thing I have to do is to keep you away from other women, kid!

   Only be in love with my daughter.

   "I will try my best to do it." After thinking about it, in reality, Neil still made this statement very clearly.

  The next day, November 18, 2001, was Monday.

   That morning.

  As soon as the U.S. stock market opened, the share price of American Express fell below $40.

  From $43.5 at the close on Friday.

   It fell until the market closed that day, and it has returned to the price of 35 US dollars not long ago.

  The Pacific Commercial Bank, which has been resting in the market for more than a week, began to slowly sweep goods again.

  In the case of Soros, the leader of the white knight, "leading the surrender" and "leading the betrayal".

  The stock of American Express has no more waves, and has been maintained at around $35.

  The U.S. Pacific Bank of Commerce gradually attracted funds.

  Wait until Wednesday, November 20th.

   Pacific Bank of Commerce already holds 48.9% of American Express.

  By this time, it has become very difficult for Abel to obtain the shares of American Express.

  Among the remaining shareholders, it can be said that most of them are institutions.

  Most institutions are optimistic about American Express, and they are unwilling to sell at this price.

   Abel is unlikely to raise the price in a short time.

   All that remains is a stalemate, and the two sides will fight on the board of directors of American Express.

   On November 20th.

  The shareholders meeting initiated half a month ago was officially held.

  The venue is in Building 2 of the World Financial Center in Manhattan, in the New York headquarters of American Express.

  The acquisition of American Express. Regardless of the duration, or the context, and the offensive and defensive operations between the two parties that occurred in the middle.

   It can be said that it is a textbook-style "barbarian outside the door" classic hostile takeover incident.

  Because of this, it has attracted the attention of a large number of financial media and reporters from the beginning to the end.

   Readers in this area also particularly like to read this news.

   During this period of time, the sales of financial media and newspapers have increased a lot.

   It is said that it has reached more than 20%, which makes the bosses of these newspapers very happy.

  Today at the gate of Building Two of the World Financial Center.

   Naturally, a large number of financial media and reporters from serious social news newspapers gathered.

  When the shareholders of Express Company appeared at the entrance of the building one by one, and walked to the inside of the building.

  The reporters will gather around and ask the shareholders of these American Express companies some questions loudly.

  Mr. Jim Walton, a member of the Walton family who holds 1.5% of the shares, was asked by the reporters—

  【Mr. Walton! Mr. Smith already owns 48.9% of the shares. I wonder if you still insist on supporting the original board headed by Mr. Kenneth Chenault? 】

  【Mr. Walton, I heard that Mr. Smith wanted to acquire your shares at the beginning, but later you were too greedy and he rejected you, right? 】

  【Mr. Walton, you】

  Jim Walton was black-faced all the time and ignored the reporters.

  Just from that expression, it seems that he knows that he is very unhappy today.

   Some shareholders were interviewed by reporters.

  For example, the representative of State Street Bank said to the reporter with a smile:

   "As a shareholder of American Express, State Street Bank welcomes Mr. Smith to join us. We believe that with Mr. Smith's American Express, we will be able to create greater glories!"

  The president of Fisher Asset Management Group came here in person.

  Facing the reporter's interview, his response was also very clear—

   "Why are you dissatisfied? How could we be dissatisfied with Mr. Smith? Everyone is a shareholder of American Express, and they all hope that American Express can develop better. Mr. Smith's joining will make American Express even stronger. How could we be unhappy?"

  The reporters didn't know if Mr. President was really happy.

   But the reporters at the gate of the building today.

   They were really happy.

  Many interviews today can give them a little bonus.

  What they are more eager to shoot now is Kenneth Chenault or Abel Smith.

  The appearance of these two people will be more dramatic.

   But they waited for a long time, and when the shareholders meeting of American Express Company was about to start, they didn't wait for these two people.

   There is news that.

  Kenneth Chenault didn't leave last night, he stayed in the building and didn't come out.

  So now outside, everyone can't wait for Kenneth Chenault.

  As for Abel Smith, I only know that he was in Los Angeles two days ago.

  Why he, the winner, didn't show up at this time today is unknown.

   Just when the reporters were a little disappointed.

  An obviously lengthened Mercedes-Benz S sedan appeared, and it slowly parked at the gate of Building 2 of the World Financial Center.

  A sharp-eyed reporter recognized who the owner of the car was, and immediately screamed:

   "George Soros! It's Soros's car, Soros is here? Didn't he sell all his stocks to Smith?"

  The reporters all rushed over in a swarm.

  If they weren't blocked by the security guards of the building and Soros' bodyguards, they could have rushed directly to Soros' face.

  Sometimes, let alone Soros. Even George, who lives in the white house, these reporters can be so brave.

   After all, like Abel, there are not many rich people who are willing to spend tens of millions of dollars in lawyer fees to find relationships all over the United States and send those paparazzi reporters to prison.

   What's more, compared to those entertainment media, these reporters are all elite reporters under the big newspapers.

   Some of them are Pulitzer Prize winners.

  In this case, these people are not afraid of Abel Smith.

   Besides, it's not Abel Smith here, it's just Soros.

  The reporters frantically asked, but Soros smiled and raised his hand, "Good morning, everyone. Maybe you are wondering why I am here. Then I will tell you directly."

   “I’m here to represent a friend of mine, to exercise his American Express shareholder duties, to act as a shareholder representative. That’s why I’m here.”

   "Okay. Everyone, I'm a little late. The shareholders' meeting is about to start, and I have to go up first."

   Soros, with a pleasant face, successfully entered Building 2 of the World Financial Center with the help of bodyguards and security guards.

   Kenneth Chenault with a sad face, in the largest conference room where the shareholders meeting was held.

  When seeing Soros walking in with a smile on his face, Mr. Executive Chairman couldn't hide the surprised expression on his face.

  Mr. Chenault, who was still looking sad just now, immediately stood up from his seat and looked at Soros who was coming.

   "Mr. Soros? Why are you here, you"

  The fact that Soros has sold the stock is well known in the United States.

  Only the board of directors and shareholders of American Express are eligible to participate in today's general meeting of shareholders.

   Logically speaking, Soros without stocks should not appear here.

  This kind of unreasonable thing happened, and Kenneth Chenault, who was already desperate, finally had a glimmer of hope in his heart.

   Is Soros going to come back here to fight Abel Smith?

  Even though he knew that the possibility was unlikely, Kenneth Chenault, who regarded this as the last straw, could only force himself to think so.

  Soros looked a little haggard, and saw Kenneth Chenault who didn't sleep well last night.

  The financial crocodile complained about someone's bad taste and narrow-mindedness.

  At this moment, facing the enthusiastic Kenneth Chenault, Soros smiled politely:

   "Mr. Chenault, hello. I am representing Mr. Abel Smith today, as his shareholder representative, to attend today's shareholder meeting."

"what?"

  Kenneth Chenault almost thought he heard it wrong.

  Soros nodded again with a smile: "On behalf of Mr. Abel Smith, as his stock representative in American Express, I will attend today's general meeting of shareholders."

  Kenneth Chenault was sure he heard right this time.

  The little bit of hope that he had just raised was thrown directly into the depths of **** in an instant.

  It can no longer be undone.

  Kenneth's throat squirmed, as if there was a lump of carbon in it.

   Want to say something, but really can't say it.

  The surrounding shareholders and those board members peeked at each other.

   To everyone's surprise, Abel Smith himself didn't come.

  But he called Soros, the leader of the White Knights who resisted him, the "barbarian outside the gate", and came over to be the shareholder representative of him, a barbarian

  This is simply, too Faxeite.

  The shareholders were speechless, and most of them looked at Soros, wondering why he would cooperate with such a thing.

  They don't know. .

  That day Soros asked Abel to buy his shares of American Express for $40.

  Abel agreed, but asked Soros to meet his small request.

  Abel asked Soros, the leader of the white knight, to come and attend the shareholder meeting on behalf of Abel, the "barbarian" who took over the hostile takeover.

  Abel's small request is somewhat bad for Soros.

  For the board of directors of American Express and those shareholders who opposed the hostile takeover, it was a direct slap in the face.

  For Kenneth Chenault, it was a trample on the soul.

   But Soros thought, that's tens of millions of dollars

  What's wrong with embarrassing yourself?

   Losing face can save tens of millions of dollars, so Soros said that he is willing to lose face every day!

   Even Kenneth Chenault seems to have lost his mind.

  The shareholders meeting of American Express was held as scheduled.

  In the general meeting of shareholders, as the representative of the largest shareholder.

  George Soros made the appeal of the largest shareholder:

   Removal of Kenneth Chenault, who will no longer serve as executive chairman of the company and will not be re-elected to the board of directors.

  The number of board members will be reduced from 9 to 8.

  The board of directors will be re-elected, the post of executive chairman will be abolished, and the post of independent chairman will be replaced.

   This request was passed at the general meeting of shareholders, and the voting support rate of shareholders reached 80%.

  All original members of the board of directors will leave the meeting directly on the spot, waiting for re-election by the board of directors.

   After these people are gone, re-elect the board of directors directly.

  Soros once again spoke on behalf of the largest shareholder and voted for Abel Smith to become the independent chairman of American Express.

   This vote again achieved a pass rate of more than 76.5%.

  Anyone with a discerning eye knows that Abel Smith's success is unstoppable.

  Even if his shares are not more than half, it would be meaningless to refuse in this regard at this time.

   These are all going well.

   When the remaining 7 other executive directors are elected, it will not be as smooth as before.

   Soros, as a representative, nominated seven candidates requested by the largest shareholder, only three were approved.

  The remaining four were elected by people supported by other shareholders.

  Since Abe Smith's entry is unstoppable.

  The goal of this group of people is also very clear.

  That is to at least ensure that Abel can't speak his mind on the board of directors.

  Everything is for profit.

   When Abel heard the news, he had already left San Francisco.

  He answered the call from Soros in the mansion at 10410 Bellagio Road in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles.

   This house is usually where Liv Tyler lives.

  Occasionally Cate Blanchett comes in, usually when Abel lives here.

   Liv Tyler has gone to Europe now, and she is more interested in being a model than an actress.

  Elizabeth's back garden is still in Europe and has not returned.

  A few days after she returned to the United States, she followed her to Europe.

  It happened to be noon when Abel received a call from Soros.

  He went to a balcony on the second floor to answer the phone.

  Looking down from the balcony, California seems to have orange-flavored sunshine, illuminating the entire courtyard of the villa brilliantly.

   In splendor, Abel looked into the small garden by the courtyard pool.

  Cate Blanchett, chatting with another member of the Australian gang.

   That member's name is Nicole Kidman.

   "Oh, thank you very much. George, I really couldn't make it back, so I asked you to help."

   "Don't believe me. And I didn't ask you to help for nothing. I did what I said, and it cost me tens of millions of dollars!"

   "Hahaha~ ok ok. Next time if this happens again, I will call you again."

   Hearing Soros say that next time such a thing happens, call him again, provided that as long as there is money, you can make it.

  Abel agreed with a smile, and cared about Soros' Hong Kong Island plan by the way.

   It's just that Soros said that since Abel doesn't join, don't care.

  Abel also hung up the phone with a smile, and looked down again.

   Just below, Nicole Kidman's gaze, looking towards him.

  Abel smiled and raised his hand to her.

  The latter was a little taken aback, and immediately smiled beautifully at him.

  (end of this chapter)