Hollywood Hunter

Chapter 337: Bachelor party

"Fortune" magazine is a biweekly magazine owned by Time. On the day of the new issue, Steve Rose called Simon and said that he didn't know it beforehand. He also congratulated Simon during the conversation. He said he would attend his wedding on March 3 on time.

US$4.5 billion in cash, counted as other assets, Simon has become the first super-rich man in federal history to exceed US$10 billion in assets.

This indeed seems to be something to celebrate.

During the release of "Pretty Beautiful Lady", because it competed with the "Seven Years Storm" starring Steven Seager of Warner Bros., the same time Warner’s "Time" magazine gave a negative review of "Pretty Lady" .

Time Warner is not monolithic inside, but if Steve Ross didn’t know about this, Simon would not believe it.

However, Simon didn't care about these things.

As "Fortune" magazine exposed Simon's overseas assets registered with the IRS, he ushered in more than congratulations, but questions.

US$4.5 billion, the figure that was exposed by Fortune and sparked a heated discussion in the media is certainly not the exact scale of Simon's overseas assets, but just a registered taxable amount.

Moreover, this money is not all in cash, but also includes a large part of short-term convertible financial products in order to obtain a capital return that is slightly higher than bank interest and is very safe.

If you count the assets of Nokia, Gucci, and Simon's overseas real estate, Simon's assets outside the United States are enough to easily exceed US$5 billion.

Of course, most of the media and the public do not pay attention to these.

The focus of public opinion questioning is how did the huge amount of US$4.5 billion in cash come from?

The development of Daenerys Entertainment has a very clear context, however, the operation of Cersei Capital is opaque to most people.

As a result, it is difficult for too many people to believe that a hedge fund can bring Simon a huge fortune of US$4.5 billion in just one year.

You know, this scale of profit is already comparable to the most profitable corporate giants in North America, such as IBM, Ford Motor, and General Electric.

Similar corporate giants all have revenues of hundreds of billions of dollars.

Therefore, the media and the public cannot help but question whether there are some hidden secrets behind the huge amount of US$4.5 billion.

Facing more and more doubts, Simon had to respond.

Pat Kingsley, who still serves as his public relations manager, pointed out at a press conference on February 28 that Simon had already proven his talent in finance during the operation of the S&P 500 index in 1987. The past year The income of US$4.5 billion was obtained entirely from the legal operation of Cersei Capital and related commission income, and there was no inside story.

With that said, people just remembered.

Simon became the youngest billion-dollar man in North America through the operation of stock index futures during the stock market crash in 1987.

Now, through another operation, Simon Westero has completed the progression from a billionaire to a tens of billions, which seems to make sense.

However, 4.5 billion dollars.

This sum of money is too large for a single individual.

You know, last year's "Forbes" North America 400 rich list, apart from Simon Westeros, only John Kruger's net worth exceeded this number.

Even on the list of the world's richest people with a net worth of more than $4.5 billion, there are fewer than 20 people.

What's more, this asset is all cash, not real estate or stock assets that are difficult to cash out.

In this way, Simon Westeros may be the one who holds the most cash among the world's richest people.

Simon's operating methods during the stock market crash in 1987 were completely exposed in the media, and there is no possibility of copying the god-level operations that follow the curve of the market.

What is the inside story this time?

With this mindset, many media outlets have begun to brief federal regulators, requesting these departments to intervene in investigating more details of Cersei Capital's operations.

However, these agitations are doomed to fail.

Cersei Capital has just recently confirmed that it will set up its headquarters in Manhattan. Before that, this hedge fund registered in the Cayman Islands was not under federal jurisdiction at all.

As for the proponent's use of Cersei Capital's operations in the US stock and bond market last year as an excuse, it is still difficult to work.

Unless Cersei Capital is suspected of illegal operations, it is impossible for any regulatory agency to rashly initiate an investigation, let alone request an enterprise to disclose its business information for no reason.

Is there any violation of Cersei Capital's operation?

With more financial institutions in North America secretly watching Cersei Capital last year, if there were any violations, they would have been stabbed long ago. Even if it is not good for themselves, but out of jealousy, too many people want to see Cersei Capital unlucky.

As a result, nothing happened.

If you can grab the handle and stab Cersei Capital with one hand, it will definitely be fine.

If there is no substantive evidence, just because Cersei Capital is too profitable to force an investigation, the results will only be disgraced.

Simon Westeros couldn't fight back.

Since Cersei Capital could not trouble Simon Westeros, some people turned their attention to taxation.

US$4.5 billion in cash is subject to a capital gains tax rate of 28% according to the additional equity income declared by Simon Westero, which means more than US$1.2 billion in taxes.

With more than $1 billion in taxes, no individual in federal history has been able to owe such a huge tax while alive.

Moreover, Westeros obviously did not intend to transfer the money back to the country immediately.

How does this work!

As a result, within a few days of the "Fortune" magazine exposure, a U.S. Senator from Tennessee publicly stated that unless Simon immediately paid the arrears of taxes, Cersei Capital should be prohibited from doing business in the United States.

In order to promote this matter, the congressman also solemnly submitted a proposal to Congress.

You know, there is more than one company or individual like Simon Westero that keeps capital overseas for tax avoidance, but continues to do business in the United States through various means. If relevant bills can be introduced, it will immediately bring a large amount of additional input to the federal finances.

However, the global taxation strategy of the United States has always been controversial.

In order to promote the return of overseas funds to the United States, every few years, the federal government will guide these capitals to return to the country through tax exemptions.

Now, if you want to forcibly pass a more stringent bill to tax the overseas assets of enterprises and individuals, it is definitely not only Simon's interests that are leveraged.

Once it becomes urgent, it is not that there are no countermeasures.

The general idea of the United States for overseas taxation is to collect the portion of the tax that is higher than the taxpayer's paid tax and lower than the domestic tax share.

If the federal government does too much, taxpayers can simply hand over the full amount of taxes to overseas countries without using tax avoidance methods, and this may be able to gain the favor of the corresponding countries and more policy support.

In comparison, if you give it to China, you can't even get a small red flower.

Such a simple truth can be easily understood by a discerning person.

Therefore, as long as the top executives of the federal government do not go crazy, the Tennessee state legislator’s proposal cannot be passed.

Although knowing that this public opinion storm still won't bring much crisis to himself, Simon's pressure has not diminished at all.

In addition to digging inside Cersei Capital and the collection of huge taxes, the media also pointed the finger at Wall Street and believed that financial speculation should be restricted.

The federal junk bond market that broke out at the end of last year has been going on. Someone once again tried to attribute the crisis to Simon, trying to lead others to believe that the short selling of Cersei Capital and other hedging forces caused the junk bond market to become unsustainable. , Countless investors suffered heavy losses.

All in all, a 22-year-old young man has gathered more than $10 billion in assets in just a few years, which in itself is an unforgivable original sin.

Once handled properly, the general public, who is often easily mobilized by the media, is likely to resist all the companies in the Westeros system, especially Daenerys Entertainment.

Even if Simon wants to expand further in the next few years, he will encounter many obstacles.

Therefore, the public relations team of the entire Westeros system has been operating frantically during this period, and James Rebald also specially hired a professional media public relations company to be responsible for public opinion guidance.

Melbourne.

The situation in North America is fierce, and Simon came here a week before the wedding.

Taking into account the recent trend of public opinion, the upcoming wedding will completely cut off media attention. In order to ensure that the huge paparazzi groups from all over the world cannot infiltrate the wedding venues, the Johnston family employs a huge security team of more than 300 people. .

The wedding scene in Yarra Valley Park was completely closed half a month in advance. All the teams and individuals involved in the preparation of the wedding signed a strict confidentiality agreement. No matter before or after the wedding, they cannot disclose anything about the wedding to the outside world. detail.

The Johnston House.

It is already Thursday, March 1.

Simon’s daily rest time is no more than 5 hours these days. Last night, in order to check the details of the wedding preparations, he did not rest until more than one in the morning and woke up again less than six in the morning.

Janet was also quite excited during this time, and also got up early.

For convenience, both of them have lived in a mansion in recent days.

It's six o'clock in the morning in Melbourne and one o'clock in the afternoon in Los Angeles.

It took more than an hour to discuss recent events with the North American side. After the servant reminded him, Simon hung up and it was almost eight o'clock.

When we came to the restaurant, a large family sat at the table.

In addition to Raymond Johnston and his wife, there are Veronica Johnston, who is as cold as ever, David Johnston who has just returned from the UK and his girlfriend Leslie Whitaker, And Patrick Johnston and Sara Keston.

After greeting everyone, Simon sat down next to Janet, and Raymond Johnston asked, "How is it in North America?"

Simon picked up the tableware and said, "It's still very lively."

Raymond Johnston nodded and said: "The achievements you have achieved in recent years are beyond the understanding of most ordinary people. It is not surprising that they will react this way. After the wedding, you and Jenny have a good rest for a while If you reduce your appearance in front of the media, things will cool down quickly. In fact, I suggest that you don’t make too much moves in the next few years and give the public time to adapt."

Before Simon could answer, Janet couldn't help but retort: "You can't just do nothing, right?"

Raymond glared at his daughter: "It's not that you don't do nothing, but you have to keep a low profile and carefully integrate and digest your existing assets."

There are too many people in the restaurant, and Simon can't tell the old man about Daenerys Entertainment's acquisition of MCA this year, but he nodded in agreement.

After listening to her husband, Janet’s mother Trish Johnston looked at Simon and said: “You two had better have a baby soon.”

With this, Janet's face immediately became red, not knowing whether it was true or pretending.

The report of the genetic research institute in the United Kingdom was handed over to Simon last week without any problems. In fact, Simon was not too worried at the beginning, because the matter was not as serious as Simon remembered. Therefore, both of them have decided to have a child as soon as possible. This is Janet's expectation. On the other hand, it can also increase Simon's **** to the world.

After breakfast, Anthony Johnston and Norman Johnston also rushed over

The wedding will take place the day after tomorrow, and there is still much to do in the next two days.

After allocating the schedule, Simon and Janet rushed to the Yarra Valley Park together. The flower maze that the woman was preparing was about to be built today, and she wanted to stare at it herself. Simon will rush to meet people at Melbourne Airport in a moment, some guests will arrive today.

In the enclosed park, Janet discussed with the person in charge of the preparation team, watching everyone get busy, and then said to Simon: "One more thing, Kate and Jenny will come over in the afternoon. We will make a reservation tomorrow to go to Bali. The island has a bachelor party, how about you?"

The farewell bachelor party before the wedding is also a custom of Westerners.

Simon didn't think about it, and said with a smile: "Why don't I go with you?"

Janet rolled her eyes immediately and said, "Take you over, is that still a bachelor party?"

Simon stretched out his hand to embrace the woman, put his arms around her waist and said, "You go and play, I don't have this habit, by the way, don't be too crazy."

Speaking of it, even if Simon wants to have a bachelor party, he can't seem to find anyone his age who can have fun.

Janet turned her eyes, but thought of something, but she looked up at Simon and gave up the thought. She thinks her youngest can help Simon organize a bit, but just think about the last time Simon was in the Pike's boxing ring. She didn't want any changes in her long-awaited wedding.

Looking at the staff around who were busy building a wall of flowers, sniffing the smell of roses in the air, Janet pressed her head to Simon's chest and muttered: "Little bastard, are we really getting married?"

Simon smiled and nodded: "Yes."

"I just want to check again."

"Would you like me to pinch you to prove that this is not a dream?"

"Yeah."

Simon slid his big hand and squeezed it gently on the woman's hip.

Janet grunted, her arms around Simon tightly.

Feeling the woman in his arms getting softer, Simon simply sat down on the lawn with her embrace.

Seeing this situation, the surrounding staff all avoided wisely.

Some shallow humming gradually floated in the air, soft and dumb.

*……

*When I was a little girl, I asked my mother.

*What will happen in the future?