America's Road to Wealth

Time never waits for anyone.

The calendar of 2001 was quickly turned to the seventh month.

The sun is shining brightly in New York in July, which in a sense is the most beautiful time of the year.

on the first Tuesday in July.

The New York Post, owned by News Corporation, published a story about Abel Smith.

The headline of the news is "America's No. 1 Real Estate Buyer."

In this news, the New York Post reported on Abel’s massive purchases of real estate and land across the United States.

According to reports, Abel bought one-third of the 300 Malibu mansions in one go.

Of course, this does not mean that there are only these 300 houses in Malibu.

Malibu has a large beach area. If you include the urban area, there are at least tens of thousands of million-dollar houses.

This is a deliberate rhetorical move by the New York Post.

It's just that Abel bought exactly one hundred sets, so they used the quantifier three hundred sets.

If Abel bought 50 sets, the New York Post would probably use 150 sets.

This is the reporting style of the New York Post. It likes to use all kinds of non-startling words, which greatly stimulates readers' reading pleasure.

The report also claimed that Abel not only quietly purchased 100 million-dollar mansions.

12 of them are located in Paradise Bay, known as "Billionaire Beach", with a total value of US$350 million.

The reason why it is surprising is that these 12 mansions are located next to each other on a beach.

In other words, he not only bought the mansion, but also bought the entire beach with it.

He made half of Malibu Paradise Bay his private beach.

In the words of a Malibu real estate manager in the report, “There are only so many front row seats. If you pick the best quality property in the best location, it’s inherently going to be a good investment. That’s what Asia is all about. Is there anyone who doesn’t believe in the opportunities that Bo Smith saw and the investment vision of Financial Moses? So rich people in the United States, take out your credit cards and checks, Malibu Beach is the next Beverly Hills.”

This does not include Abel’s sales in major cities in the United States, including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Miami and other cities.

Sweeping frantically as if the dollar in his hand was a waste of paper.

In addition, he also invested heavily in office buildings, buying the Woolworth Building in New York and a fifty-story building in Hollywood, Los Angeles.

That’s not counting Smith Capital, which is currently using the Smith Building.

In addition to these, the New York Post also claimed that Abel was frantically acquiring downtown commercial real estate in major cities across the United States.

The New York Post didn’t know that this was Abel preparing for the future Pacific Mall.

The newspaper claimed that Abel was a sole proprietor of "New Starting Real Estate Company."

It only took half a year to become one of the top ten real estate companies in the United States thanks to Abel's large investment regardless of cost.

In terms of pure real estate value, New Starting Point Real Estate is more likely to rank among the top three in the U.S. real estate industry.

At the end of the article, a reporter from the New York Post claimed that Abel Smith was definitely “the most enthusiastic buyer of luxury homes in the United States.”

This report increased the sales of the New York Post by more than ten percentage points that day.

Fortunately, Americans have seen too much of this kind of news.

Similar news has appeared countless times since the emergence of Abel Smith, the new bead of the lighthouse.

Ordinary people actually have the same perception of this kind of news as the news of Abel's acquisition of well-known companies such as MGM and DreamWorks.

Just be shocked by Abel Smith's wealth, and then do whatever you have to do.

Beyond these shocking wealth news.

There are usually two other kinds of news that often appear on Abel Smith.

One is Scary News.

It was Abel Smith who was rumored to be having an affair with so and so again, and was photographed.

And these photos all look intimate and ambiguous, but there are no actual intimate photos.

There are no photos of even kissing, at most they are just hugging each other.

In fact, these photos have already been reviewed.

After the paparazzi storm earlier this year.

The only ones who could once again take intimate photos of Abel and women were the privileged reporters with his permission.

The photos taken by these reporters must be reviewed by Abel's team.

The contents of the reviewed photos can of course be seen by ordinary Americans.

This kind of content can not only make Americans talk about Abel Smith's romance and love affairs.

It does no harm to Abel's character.

Except Scary News and Fortune News.

There was another kind of news that appeared on Abel.

Ordinary Americans will see this news.

This will allow them to develop a certain immunity to the first two kinds of news that happened to Abel.

Let them watch the Scary News and Fortune News.

But he has always been able to maintain a very good popularity and reputation for Abel Smith.

A third type of news related to Abel Smith

It's news related to his charity.

Almost every week or half a month, you can see reports in the news.

Report what charity fund Abel donated and how much money he donated.

Or report how much tax Abe Smith paid to the IRS this month.

Or Abel Smith, who wants to report to the government, school, or relevant administrative department in which U.S. region?

Or simply people in a certain area donated some buildings or facilities.

Almost once a week.

This kind of behavior has never appeared in the European and American world, and it looks more like Brother Su than Brother Su.

It has made ordinary Americans feel a little numb.

This kind of news appears occasionally a few times, and ordinary people think it may be true after seeing it.

If it appears many times, ordinary people will become suspicious and suspect that it is fake.

It has happened countless times, and no one has ever come out to crack down on it. , no one came out and said it was false.

Then everyone will guess that this should be true.

There is a huge amount of news support for this.

The scandalous news and wealth news that appeared on Abel were not so dazzling.

At the same time, from time to time, many beneficiaries of Yaboen's favors came forward to speak out personally, and were even interviewed on television.

These appear frequently in reports.

Let Americans know that these are true, at least most of them are true.

Come down with such a combination of punches.

Ordinary Americans feel that way. The more super-rich people like Abel in the United States, the better.

So this New York Post story is like any other news about Abel's wealth.

Many Americans like to watch it, and after watching it, it will not arouse the hatred or other bad emotions of ordinary people like other news about wealthy people showing off their wealth.

This is the personal benefit brought by charity invested with real money.

Of course, the relevant departments have also made great contributions to the public support and promotion of the new lamp beads.

Especially when the person living in the white house is little Laura's biological uncle.

We are sparing no effort in promoting and building momentum in this area.

They are many times more powerful than Buffett and others before.

This is probably the American version of "someone in North Korea makes things easier."

Soon the first Saturday in July came.

At the Merrill Lynch headquarters.

David Komanski got bad news.

That is Smith Capital’s US$50 billion private placement subscription, which is officially full!

Fifty billion in funds have been remitted to the account designated by Smith Capital.

The subscription contract has been officially signed.

Smith Capital has also announced it.

This private placement was a perfect success.

It took seven days and recruited a total of 125 investors. Each investor contributed an average of US$400 million.

The total subscription intention, and the amount of subscriptions signed with the subscription intention letter, even exceeds 100 billion US dollars.

"How is this going?"

In the office, David Komanski questioned Charlie Scharf with a dark face.

"Where's our $1.5 billion quota?" David Komansky shouted loudly.

Charlie Scharf felt a little aggrieved, and he said politely:

"Sir, it's obvious that someone got there first. Someone signed a contract with Smith Capital in advance and established the contractual relationship in advance."

David Komanski certainly knows this.

But he didn’t expect that Smith Capital would raise funds so quickly this time.

So fast that Merrill Lynch wants to wait and see. Before I could even react, all the shares had been taken away.

Charlie Schar actually wanted to say that he had reminded Mr. CEO many times as early as five days ago.

It was David Komanski who kept saying take it easy, wait and see.

Observing and observing, the share that originally belonged to Merrill Lynch was lost under observation.

Investors in private equity funds have signed a letter of intent to subscribe, but they can renege before signing a formal contract.

When you regret it, the most you can do is pay the penalty specified in the letter of intent.

Generally it is not a lot, depending on the amount of funds, it is usually about 0.1% of the subscription amount.

Well now, Merrill Lynch no longer has to pay the 0.1%.

But it has missed out on Smith Capital’s seventh private placement.

David Komanski forced himself to calm down.

He asked Charlie Scharf: "Can you identify the specific investors?"

"Of course." Charlie Scharf said, "Smith Capital has a public list. Of the 125 investors, except for thirty-five are institutional users. The others are all individual investments."

In other words, in addition to the successful subscription by thirty-five Wall Street financial companies.

The rest were purchased by companies outside the industry or by wealthy individuals.

"90 subscribers? With such a large amount of funds, one person must be at least US$100 million, right?"

Charlie Scharf shook his head: "That aspect is unknown."

David Komansky could only sigh, "Then let's end this matter. I will explain it to the board of directors."

Charlie Scharf also sighed, wondering if he would be used to take the blame this time.

In fact, it was not just Merrill Lynch that failed to subscribe due to cautious "observation".

There are multiple institutions on Wall Street, all of which are actually the same as Merrill Lynch.

These Wall Street giants did not expect that so many wealthy people would recognize Smith Capital.

In other words, he recognized Abel Smith's investment ability and dared to invest so much money in him.

This time, many institutions on Wall Street that failed to subscribe successfully made a mistake.

But also because of this incident, Wall Street realized another thing.

That is the name Abel Smith, which has been recognized by a large number of American wealthy people outside of Wall Street!

With this level of recognition, any future private placements conducted by Smith Capital will be as smooth as this one.

Many institutions that cannot grab a share this time are already gearing up.

As long as Smith Capital can earn a lot of profits from this seventh phase of private placement.

Then in the next private placement of Smith Capital, we will grab a share no matter what.

Time continues to move forward.

Mid-July, July 15th to be exact.

This day is the shareholders meeting of US News Corporation.

The headquarters of News Corporation is actually in Adelaide, Australia.

Not quite moved to the United States, where Rupert Murdoch made his fortune.

But the business center of News Corporation has long been no longer Australia, but the United States.

Even the Murdoch family itself is stationed in the United States all year round.

News Corporation's shareholders' meeting this year will naturally not let its distinguished shareholders go to Adelaide.

This shareholder meeting, Rupert Murdoch announced, would be held in New York.

The venue was the headquarters of Fox Television Station, a subsidiary of News Corporation.

is a skyscraper in lower Manhattan in which News Corporation occupies five floors.

Abel originally owned 5% of News Corporation.

2% was obtained from the Desert Stock God, and 3% was obtained from Wall Street.

Later, in order to acquire Pixar Animation, he traded 3% of it to Jobs.

He himself now only has 2% of News Corporation shares left.

However, 2% of the shares are enough for him to attend today's shareholders' meeting.

That is, if you want to hold a director position, this share may not be enough.

At least about 5%.

Of course, if he demands it with his fame and status, News Corporation will most likely give it to him.

For this News Corporation’s shareholders’ meeting.

Originally, Abel didn't want to go. What could he do with 2% of the shares?

Nothing can be done except to make it more valuable.

But then he saw a piece of news on TV.

The beautiful scenery in the news immediately made his heart beat.

In terms of time, it just happened to coincide with this shareholders' meeting.

He came over personally.

At the door of the building where News Corporation is located, Abel met an acquaintance at the door.

It's this acquaintance, and it's actually not easy to deal with him.

It's Steve Jobs.

It's normal for Steve Jobs to appear here. All his shares were bought from Abel.

3% of the shares, plus Jobs’ fame.

It was enough to get him a board seat at News Corp.

"Hey, Steven." Although he was unhappy with this leverage, he was very happy with the Pixar deal.

Abel still waved to him: "I didn't lie to you, did I? News Corporation's stocks are more valuable than MGM!"

When Abel was making a deal with Jobs, Jobs initially wanted shares in MGM.

Abel refused, or said the price was too high.

Jobs was unhappy, so Abel threw out the News Corp. stock.

At that time, News Corporation's market capitalization was approximately $45 billion.

A few months later, it has now reached a market capitalization of approximately US$50 billion.

From this point of view, Jobs, who got 3% of News Corporation's shares, undoubtedly made a profit.

Perhaps it was for this reason that Jobs actually smiled at Abel today and took the initiative to walk over to News Corporation with Abel.

"Steven. Do you want to be a director of News Corporation? If you do, I will definitely vote for you later." Abel said to the boss with a smile.

Unexpectedly, Jobs actually nodded, "Are you sure? If you are really willing to help me, then I will be very grateful to you."

"Do you really want to be a director of News Corporation?" Abel was curious.

He was just talking casually.

In Abel's impression, shouldn't Jobs at this period put all his energy into saving Apple?

"That's right. I mean it." Jobs said:

"I'm different from you. You are the boss of a media group. If I can become a director of News Corporation, it will be of certain help to Apple."

When he said this, Abel felt that it made sense.

Apple is in a terrible situation right now, but there are new products coming soon.

It seems that the iPod is still the success that turned Apple around.

At this time, if we can get help from the media group, let iPod get certain media resources.

Presumably it will have a good promotion effect on the launch of new products.

By becoming a director of News Corporation at this time, there is a certain possibility of obtaining these resources.

Even if you have to spend money, as one of the major shareholders, you will spend a little less than others outside.

After that negotiation with Steve Jobs.

In fact, it has begun to gradually absorb Apple's stock, that is, Abel, who has made little movement.

He simply decided to help Jobs.

"Then let's put it this way. You owe me a favor, and I will support you in becoming one of the new board members." Abel patted Jobs on the shoulder and said.

The latter nodded directly.

Abel said little at the ensuing shareholder meeting, but his presence was noticeable.

Just like Jobs said, Abel is the chairman of Smith Media.

There is no doubt that Smith Media has become one of News Corporation's biggest competitors.

The chairman of today's biggest competitor is sitting in the News Corp. shareholder meeting.

It's inappropriate no matter what.

But no one can expel him. His identity and wealth are here.

And Abel has always been quiet and behaved very gently.

Throughout the shareholders' meeting, they only supported Jobs as the new director.

The rest of the time, Abel could be said to be harmless.

But even so, Rupert Murdoch, who holds 30% of News Corporation's shares, can't tolerate him.

Because of Abel's presence, no one dared to touch upon any of News Corporation's internal secrets at the shareholders' meeting just now.

This also made this shareholders meeting end quickly.

Apart from electing new board members, basically nothing can be done.

After it was over, Rupert Murdoch approached Abel.

This is actually what Abel meant.

Abel came here originally because he wanted to find Murdoch.

In Rupert Murdoch's private office, the Australian received Abel with the utmost sincerity and courtesy.

"With all due respect, Mr. Smith. Now that Smith Media has been established, you are no longer fit to be a shareholder of News Corp."

When there were only two people left and some entourage, Rupert Murdoch did not be too tactful, the Australian guy directly put forward his intention.

"Ah, what a coincidence." Abel's response was like this, "I think so too."

Rupert Murdoch was stunned. The Australian didn't expect Abel to be so easy to talk to.

"Rupert." Abel got straight to the point and called Murdoch by his name. "How about you take over the shares of News Corporation that I hold?"

2%, $1 billion.

Rupert Murdoch thought quickly about whether he should take the shares.

"But there is a premise." Abel continued to smile and said: "I want to use these shares to exchange you for something."

When Abel said this, Rupert Murdoch breathed a sigh of relief.

What if Abel didn't mention any conditions and directly chose to sell the shares.

Murdoch may still be suspicious.

Now that additional conditions are added, Murdoch feels that the credibility will be much higher.

"What conditions?" Rupert Murdoch asked calmly.

“Lanai, Hawaii.”

Abel said directly: "Sell it to me. According to the current market price. Convert the excess stocks to cash and give them to me. Well, other stocks of equal value are also acceptable, but they must be approved by me."

"You want Lanai?" Murdoch asked. "Besides pineapples, there are only seabirds on that island. Are you sure? It's not cheap."

"I'm sure." Abel smiled and said, "Even the reason why I came here today is for this island. Because I want to find a good place for vacation for the models of my modeling agency!"

Lanai Island, Hawaii.

This is the new back garden that Abel prepared for his Elizabethan angels, a paradise island that belongs to him and them alone!