Hollywood Hunter

After getting along for a long time, the couple had already understood each other.

Janet saw what Simon was thinking at a glance, and greeted Aaliyah who had just brought coffee to fetch her laptop. Although there is very little work on weekdays, as the housekeeper of Westeros, no one knows Simon's family better than Janet.

Turning on the laptop, Janet called up a document and said to Simon: "I happened to do some statistics recently. Guess how much money you have now?"

Simon just smiled and looked at the document.

Janet is obviously easier to obtain a lot of accurate data than Forbes, therefore, women's statistics are definitely more reliable than Forbes.

The assets under Simon's name are the easiest to count, or a series of listed technology companies.

Affected by the continuous eruption of the new technology wave, Cisco and AOL, two companies that have great advantages in the industry and show ultra-high growth, have both exceeded the tens of billions of dollars in market value this year. These two companies alone contributed more than tens of billions of dollars in personal wealth to Simon.

Other technology companies, such as Microsoft, Intel, Oracle, and SUN, have also been rising rapidly.

Taken together, as of the last trading day of last week, the total value of all science and technology stocks of listed companies held by Simon's name reached 21.7 billion US dollars.

Just this, it is destined to surpass all existing super rich in this world.

However, for Simon now, this technology stock asset is not the most important.

The most important thing, of course, is still Daenerys Entertainment.

Successfully completed the merger of MCA, not only did not show the predicament after the merger of Time Warner, Daenerys Entertainment is still developing rapidly this year, the 3D animation of Pixar Studios has risen, the complete merger of EA game company, and the holding of Shigekura The rising stock price of Blockbuster, the launch of the Universal Studios Osaka plan, etc., have made Daenerys Entertainment more and more consolidating its position as the most powerful entertainment company in Hollywood.

Compared to Time Warner, which is still hovering at a market value of tens of billions of dollars, Daenerys Entertainment’s current valuation can definitely easily exceed 20 billion US dollars.

Daenerys Entertainment is only one of the "four women" of Westeros system.

The other three women, Cersei Capital, Eaglet Corporation and Melisandre Corporation, have also seen rapid expansion this year.

Among them, the value of Cersei Capital is one of the most difficult to estimate. However, with Cersei Capital's comprehensive strength at this time, if this company goes public, it will be absolutely easy to break through the tens of billions of dollars in market value.

Eaglet, which has an absolute lead in the Internet online field, is more controversial in its valuation.

However, just by referring to Eaglet’s current revenue and the general price-earnings ratio of the new technology company, the Internet company’s valuation has already hit $5 billion.

Melisandre seems to be the least conspicuous of the four women. However, with the continuous increase in Gucci's revenue and the continuous merger of Van Cleef & Arpels, CK and other companies, Melisandre's valuation has also steadily exceeded $3 billion.

Therefore, just these four women can probably bring about 40 billion US dollars of wealth to Simon again.

In addition, the Westeros system also holds a large regional telecommunications operator, the former Bell Atlantic, which has now been renamed Verizon Telecom.

As one of the strongest regional telecommunications companies among the Seven Bells, Simon's bargaining price reached $7 billion when the stock market was at its lowest point. The North American stock market recovered rapidly after the end of the Gulf War last year, and the wave of new technologies also led to the rapid development of the telecommunications industry. If Verizon Telecom is now listed, its market value can also reach tens of billions of dollars.

This is another $10 billion.

Immediately afterwards, the Westeros system also invested in a large number of non-listed companies such as Nokia, Qualcomm, graphics chip development company ATI, etc., plus the property and land under Simon’s personal name, the total value of these two assets , Also more than 5 billion US dollars.

Finally, although the Westeros system has experienced multiple loan mergers or bond financings in the past year, the overall debt of the Westeros system, when calculated, is still only about 16 billion US dollars.

As a result, after deducting liabilities from assets, Simon's net worth this year has risen to 60 billion US dollars compared to the 35 billion US dollars given by Forbes last year.

Janet cuddled up next to her husband and looked through the documents together. She occasionally glanced at the man next to her who had completed a super snowball in just six years. This is her own man.

After reading the information, Janet waited quietly for a while before saying: "I think we need to speed up preparation for some future things."

The next thing is naturally about the inheritance of wealth.

The personal wealth of US$60 billion, even if placed 20 or 30 years later, is enough to squeeze into the forefront of the global rich list, and now in 1992, it far exceeds all other rich people in the world.

For billionaires, the inheritance of wealth is always a difficult problem to avoid.

Although there are occasional thoughts about it after my death, but most of the time, Simon is unwilling to break up the huge business empire he created many years later.

In Western society, a topic that is difficult to circumvent about wealth inheritance is undoubtedly the inheritance tax.

Because of this, when Simon and Janet got married, the woman did not give up Australian citizenship.

There is no inheritance tax in Australia.

With Simon’s current influence over Australia, it is absolutely impossible for this country to restart the inheritance tax in the future.

In addition, the little guy was taken care of by Veronica in Australia. For the past six months, the Johnston family quietly registered Australian citizenship for Melbourne Westeros.

It can be said that in the Westeros family, Simon is American, Janet is Australian, and a little guy has dual citizenship.

This is actually some layout made by the couple quietly.

Of course, although there are still many problems in it, the road is taken step by step.

On the other hand, although he decided to pass on his wealth, Simon did not intend to split up these assets and throw them away to future children, but prefers the model of a family foundation.

The most important reason why American families such as Rockefeller, Morgan, and Ford can prosper for a century is the family foundation. This not only ensures that future generations cannot squander the wealth left by their ancestors, but the unified family foundation also Can ensure the long-term cohesion of the family.

In the original timeline, the doormates and Warren Buffett who were everywhere calling for the rich to donate most of their property after their death were just a blindfold in the eyes of discerning people.

Bill Gates established a foundation in the late 1990s. If the super-rich really uses all his wealth for charity, then it will be impossible for the other party to remain the top of the world's richest list for many years. s position.

So, where is the money of the doormate?

This is the foundation structure established by Damen students.

Externally, what the public often hears is that it is the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is indeed a pure charity fund. However, Damen students gradually sold the shares of Microsoft, but did not put the money into this fund. But another very low-key Bill & Melinda Gates trust fund.

The latter is actually a family trust.

Gate students' charity model is actually to allocate a certain amount of funds from the trust fund every year to the charity fund.

As for this trust fund, you can refer to the Jobs trust fund left after the death of Jobs on the original timeline.

The trust fund of the Jobs family still paid the estate tax after Jobs died.

However, the proportion of inheritance tax is only 15%, which is obviously very low compared to the highest 50% inheritance tax in the United States.

As for why family trusts only need to pay 15% inheritance tax, the main reason is that, according to practice, these trust funds have a charitable nature and must donate a certain amount of funds for charity every year.

Although they will be charitable, these trust funds are also eligible for tax exemption.

It is conceivable that as long as the successor can take good care of these trust funds, even if a donation is required each year, the overall size of the trust is likely to continue to rise. Moreover, many trust funds also have a certain donation period.

After fulfilling the donation period, the remaining assets will all belong to the family of the trust fund.

In this regard, the Ford family has done the best among the traditional American families.

Compared with the more established Morgans and Rockefellers, the Ford family with the same long history, the total asset size of the family foundation has been rising for more than half a century.

All in all, the Bill & Melinda Gates Trust Fund established by Damen students is, in the final analysis, for the inheritance of wealth. However, in Western society, just like racial discrimination, some things can be done, but it is better not to say it, or at least to find a high-sounding reason.

This is a kind of political correctness.

Another Warren Buffett, this veteran rich man, also established the Buffett Foundation very early.

Buffett has long called for heavy taxes on the rich, which is also very false in Simon's view.

Because if the United States really imposes heavy taxes on the rich, it will actually not be able to levy on the rich old man.

Buffett only gives himself an annual salary of $100,000. In addition, Berkshire Hathaway has never had any dividend mechanism. Therefore, Warren Buffett is not theoretically a'high-income earner', so naturally it is not. He needs to pay the'heavy tax' that he personally appealed to the outside world.

Not only that, although it also called on the federal government to raise corporate taxes, but in the original timeline, using tax loopholes in the US insurance industry (insurance reserves do not need to be taxed), Berkshire Hathaway, which holds an insurance company , By turning corporate profits into insurance reserves, it has long owed tens of billions of dollars in taxes to the US government.

Buffett has claimed more than once that Berkshire Hathaway is actually an insurance company.

The reason is self-evident.

The Simon & Janet Westero Foundation has been operating continuously for several years, but it is also a pure charity fund.

If you want to arrange for the subsequent inheritance, at least one trust fund is needed.

Simon is only 24 years old this year, and now he suddenly established a family trust. That goal is actually too obvious.

The laws of the United States are not static.

Now that he is showing the posture of making arrangements for the inheritance of wealth, it is inevitable that any federal member or presidential candidate will find that his support rate is too low during the election process, so he will use him as a target to gain attention.

Robbing the rich and helping the poor is something that most ordinary people like to hear, and even if the'rich' is robbed, the benefits will not fall on them.

This can be regarded as a system defect in Western society.

Sometimes those in power do everything for the sake of votes, and will not consider whether the proposed initiative will harm the long-term interests of a country.

In the original timeline, France's super-high tax on the rich was the most typical representative.

The 70% tax on the rich has directly forced a large number of wealthy French people out of the country, and the French economy has suffered a serious impact.

In memory, this tendency also appeared in later America.

Young female parliamentarians from the bottom have called for a tax of more than 70% of the rich to rob the rich and help the poor.

This society has never been fair.

There is nothing wrong with pursuing fairness, but if this pursuit exceeds a certain limit, it is not a great unfairness to another group of people.

If the pursuit of fairness completely loses temperance, people will starve to death as a result.

With his thoughts flying, Simon nodded and shook his head when he heard Janet's words, and said: "Yes, but not too obvious. At least, it is not suitable for setting up a trust fund."

Janet naturally understood Simon's concerns and said: "I know, I'm thinking, next, we should increase the proportion of overseas investment."

Although the United States levies taxes globally, putting more assets overseas will definitely have more room for maneuverability.

Otherwise, the wealthy Americans will not hide their trillion-dollar wealth outside the United States.

Melisandre is headquartered in Switzerland, Nokia is headquartered in Finland, and Cersei Capital is also registered in an overseas tax haven. This is actually Simon's instinctive overseas layout.

In the days that followed, as long as the couple had time, they would quietly discuss the next development of the Westeros system.

Although plans can never keep up with changes, a plan is certainly better than no plan.

Before I knew it, August passed quietly.

The North American summer file ended completely. Except for Clint Eastwood's new film "Unforgivable", which was released on August 7, no other blockbuster films appeared at the end of the summer file.

In the first week of September, the new issue of Forbes magazine officially announced the 1992 US 400 richest list.

Although not supported by the official data of the Westeros system, the calculation of Simon's personal assets by Forbes magazine is not much different from that of Janet's private statistics.

Of course, this is not much different, but compared to Simon's total personal assets.

65 billion US dollars.

The number is higher than Janet’s private statistics. In the feature article, the extra $5 billion is mainly because Forbes is more optimistic about Igreat than the Simons. At the same time, the valuation of Daenerys Entertainment Also higher than Janet's statistics.

Such a number is even better on the entire list.

The doormate ranked second, although with the continued release of Microsoft's stock price, this year's net worth reached 7.5 billion US dollars, but in front of Simon's 65 billion US dollars, he still can only look up.