America's Road to Wealth

Abel was "singing" with Britney and Avril Lavigne.

A sub-channel under the AMC Television Group is currently broadcasting its programs.

The name of this TV station is AMC Bloomberg TV.

The reorganized AMC cable TV station belongs to AMC Television Group.

AMC Television Group is part of Smith Media Group.

Today's AMC Television Group is no longer the AMC cable TV station that only had two channels when it started.

As Abel's TV network plans unfold.

AMC Television Group has acquired many independent television stations in a very short period of time.

The seven TV stations that originally belonged to Bloomberg have also become sub-stations of the AMC Group.

For example, Bloomberg TV, which originally had the highest ratings and was the most popular TV station owned by Bloomberg, is now named AMC Bloomberg TV.

The name of AMC Television Group is named on the front.

This TV station broadcasts content programs around the world 24 hours a day.

Due to the strong power of Bloomberg News, it can often invite the most famous economists to conduct interviews.

This makes the TV station's programs and content deeply loved by financial elites from all over the world.

The governments of many countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America even regard it as a window to understand Europe, the United States, or the world economic situation.

The main content of this TV station is naturally more professional compared to mass media.

Professional programs on finance, politics, and economics from around the world, as well as relatively academic content, are the characteristics of this station.

In other words, the worst people in the world who watch it can be considered half elite.

Or have the motivation to work towards the elite.

Otherwise, who would go to see these things?

Movies, TV series, Hollywood, Grammys, NBA and Major League Baseball, aren’t they great?

Aren’t variety shows and talk shows good to watch?

Because of this, that evening, AMC Bloomberg TV was broadcasting domestic business news in the United States.

The latest news broadcast about the battle for American Express was quickly known to most of the business elites in the United States.

The content of this news is very simple. It mainly uses a photo as the core to tell the story.

The photo shows the famous financial tycoon Soros and another financial tycoon Abel Smith smiling and shaking hands.

In this photo, the two people have friendly expressions, as if they hit it off.

In the news, the host said that this photo was secretly taken by a passerby and then sold to the TV station.

The passerby claimed that this photo was secretly taken by him in Manhattan this afternoon and then released freshly.

A passerby said he took the photo at a pizza shop.

The two big guys in the photo seemed to be discussing some business or cooperation at the time, and it seemed to be going smoothly.

The news host added fuel to the fire.

Although the specific content is not stated, it can be heard in the eyes and ears of the audience.

Basically, he is telling everyone that Abel Smith has reached a cooperation with Soros.

Otherwise, how can we explain this photo taken today?

Secretly photographed? Haha, who can take such a candid photo at such a close distance if they are not one of the two of them?

These two are the two people in the United States who attach the most importance to personal safety and security.

With the security capabilities of these two people, no matter how secretly photographed, it was still a secretly photographed at such a close range.

That's funny.

Everyone knows why AMC Bloomberg TV said this.

The broadcast of this news suddenly made the battle for American Express once again a topic on the minds of most ordinary American business elites.

But for the board of directors of American Express, which is in the whirlpool.

The broadcast and appearance of this news made many of them break into a cold sweat.

New York,

Midtown Manhattan.

In a mansion with an indoor area of ​​about two thousand square feet.

After reading this news, Kenneth Chenault broke into a cold sweat behind his back.

Wait for the program host to release all the content.

Kenneth Chenault immediately got up frantically.

He ran to the study and quickly dialed the number of Tims, general manager of Soros Fund Company.

The call was quickly answered.

"Hello?"

"Ah~ Tims it's me, I'm Kenneth Chenault."

"Oh, hello. Mr. Chenault."

Hear the words "Mr. Chenault" from Timms' mouth.

Kenneth Chenault's heart suddenly "gaggled" and sank.

The original time.

That's not what Timms called Kenneth Chenault when he told him to step up and die.

At that time, he was directly called Kenneth Chenault, that is, Kenneth.

Americans are the same as Chinese people. People who are not familiar with each other or are not in the right place will generally be called Mr. So-and-so.

This so-and-so is often a surname.

The relationship is good, or the superior person is against the inferior person. The title will directly become the name.

It turned out that Tims directly called Kenneth by his first name, regardless of whether he was on good terms or treated him as a subordinate.

This is not a bad thing for Kenneth who is desperate.

But after the news was broadcast, it was now Mr. Chenault.

This made the CEO of American Express think a lot for a moment, and he broke into cold sweat.

"That Tims."

Kenneth already had a bad premonition, but now he could only bite the bullet and ask:

"I would like to ask, is the news on Bloomberg TV true?"

Bloomberg TV just changed its name not long ago. And it just adds an AMC prefix.

Everyone still likes to call it Bloomberg TV or Bloomberg Business Channel.

"What news?"

"Uh" Kenneth heard the other party's perfunctory tone, so he had to hold back and said:

"It's the matter of Mr. Soros shaking hands and taking a photo with Abe Smith. This infringes on Mr. Soros's image rights. I think you"

"No violation."

Timms interrupted Kenneth directly.

"I want to say, there is no violation. Mr. Soros gave Bloomberg Television permission to use this photo. Mr. Chenault, I said this, do you understand what I mean?"

Kenneth Chenault was not stupid, and of course he understood what Tims meant when he said this.

But even if he understood, Kenneth still had to continue:

"Tims, I know, I know. What you mean is"

"That's not what I meant." Timms interrupted Kenneth rudely again:

"This is what Mr. Soros meant. Mr. Chenault, I'm sorry. I'm still a little busy. I'll contact you when I have time."

Before Kenneth Chenault could say anything.

Timms has hung up the phone.

"Fake you!"

"Farke! Farke!"

Listening to the busy signal coming from the phone, Kenneth Chenault roared angrily.

This Tims clearly received multiple VIP travel tickets from American Express that he gave away, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

As a result, when the incident happened, he was so ruthless.

Not even helping Kenneth to explain things clearly.

Of course Kenneth was angry.

But after the angry roar, Kenneth knew that there was nothing he could do to Timms.

When Kenneth gave away the VIP tickets for American Express's premium travel services, he gave them away as a "luck draw."

In other words, on the surface, Timms obtained these highest-level VIP tickets through a "luck draw" through his American Express Bank credit card.

Even if Kenneth wanted to take it back, that would conflict with many American Express Bank customers.

Kenneth knew Timms' path wasn't working.

He didn't have Soros's contact information.

At this moment, Kenneth could only shift his efforts to other shareholders of American Express.

He made a few more calls to shareholders who supported him with a larger shareholding.

Like Mr. Jim Walton of the Waltons.

After making a round of calls to these people, Kenneth felt a little more relieved.

At least on the phone, although these people's tone became much more relaxed, their stance has not changed yet.

Kenneth knew he was really in danger this time, but he still had to work hard.

Thinking of this, he started calling other board members of American Express.

How could I still sleep at such a time?

Kenneth couldn't sleep at all, and he didn't give the other grasshoppers on the line a chance to sleep either.

Of course, we all came together for a meeting to figure out how to overcome the difficulties together.

The most important thing is Soros, the most important white knight.

His "sudden betrayal" made Kenneth Chenault suddenly look embarrassed.

The board members were all in New York, and Kenneth Chenault quickly summoned them together.

They went directly to American Express's headquarters in New York for a meeting overnight.

This meeting was held from late at night until early the next morning, when it was already dawn.

The results are still somewhat unsatisfactory, the methods everyone has come up with, or the various strategies everyone has prepared.

They all have flaws in various aspects and seem to have little operability.

This is also normal.

After all, these people are ostensibly directors of the board of directors of American Express.

But except for the two small shareholders, the other seven people are all pure workers or representatives.

If the major shareholders behind it support it, this board of directors can run very well.

When the shareholders behind it don’t support it, or start fighting among themselves.

Then they are the first victims.

Now, it's the time for the victims to sacrifice.

This very bad mood came to its peak later when a company executive reported "bad news" to the directors.

It was only six o'clock in the morning.

Most of the newspapers in the United States have not yet come out, or have just been delivered to newsstands and bookstores.

The "bad news" reported by this American Express executive.

It came from a friend of his who was in a high position in the editorial department of The New York Times.

"Jack is an important editor of the New York Times. He just told me that there was very bad news about American Express in the New York Times today!"

"What news?"

Kenneth Chenault, who had not slept all night, already had a bad premonition.

"It's news about Soros and Abel Smith. It seems to be about Soros officially investing in Smith Capital and selling 6.9% of his American Express shares to Abel Smith."

Snapped--

Kenneth slapped himself on the forehead, knowing that he was doomed.

In fact, this is indeed the case.

When it's completely bright and most American newspapers go to market.

Soros invested in Smith Capital and became the sixth public shareholder of Smith Capital.

And sell American Express shares to Abel Smith.

Along with these American newspapers, they were sent all over the United States.

This caused an uproar among Leeks and investors who were eager for Abel Smith to take over and grabbed a lot of American Express shares.

If it weren't for the fact that today happens to be Saturday and the stock market is closed.

It is estimated that before noon, American Express's stock price will fall to 40 US dollars, or even lower.

But even if the market is closed on weekends, the stock market cannot be traded.

But most of the leeks and investors also knew that this news came after two days of brewing and fermentation.

When the market opens on Monday, the stock price drop caused by it may be even higher than when it breaks out now.

More importantly, today is Saturday.

Tomorrow is another Sunday, and Abel Smith cannot remain indifferent.

He will definitely release news that is unfavorable to American Express's stock price, further suppressing American Express's currently high stock price.

When the market opens on Monday, American Express's stock will definitely plummet as soon as it opens.

Fortunately, Abel's comprehensive tender offer is still there.

It lasts for a month, starting on November 6th and not ending normally until the 5th of next month.

In other words, at least during this time. We still have Abel Smith at $35, which is fortunate among misfortunes.

And when the leeks were in despair, they were thankful that they still had Abel Toto.

Abel has left his pinnacle mansion at Smith Towers and is at JFK Airport.

Then he got on his "Smith" Boeing 747, and the plane cut through the sky and flew to Austin International Airport.

The interior cabin of the Boeing 747 is as spacious as a penthouse.

Abel was sitting in the middle, in the main seat that looked like an emperor's throne. He had a document spread out on his lap and was reading.

David Jones and Alan Baker were standing quietly next to him, waiting for his inquiries at any time.

After browsing for about ten minutes, Abel closed the patent technical specification document on lithium iron phosphate batteries.

He said to Alan Baker: "Professor Hans did a great job. I didn't expect that the research team he brought back from China was really capable of developing simple finished products so quickly."

Allen smiled and replied:

"Who says it's not the case? The boss of the Chinese company that Professor Hans came into contact with is an expert in battery technology. He is a professor who graduated from a well-known university in China and started a company. Maybe it is because of this that It will be so efficient."

Abel nodded slightly.

Shortly after the beginning of this year.

Professor Hans, the chief technology officer of Abel's Tesla company, left the United States and took some students to Neon to inspect technology.

In this era, in terms of lithium battery technology, the United States is theoretically very advanced.

But in actual production and application, Neon is still better.

And Neon’s theoretical research is not bad at all.

Professor Hans went there to acquire some patented technologies.

Or pack up some of Neon’s local research teams and bring them back to the United States.

But during the Neon inspection, Professor Hans discovered some battery products from China.

The technology of these battery products cannot be said to be very good. It can even be said to be a bit backward and not that advanced.

But when Professor Hans inquired, he learned that the cost of these batteries was so low that he could not believe it.

The same battery product costs about one hundred dollars in the United States.

These lithium battery products are produced in Neon, and it costs about fifty US dollars to produce them.

And if these lithium battery products are in China, their production cost is less than twenty dollars.

When there is not much difference in quality and technology, this cost advantage is too huge.

Professor Hans was full of curiosity.

So after reporting to the headquarters, we went to China for inspection.

After a month of inspection, he reached a cooperation intention with a company in China.

What followed was that the Chinese company’s elite research team was packed up and brought back to the United States by Tesla.

Tesla also took advantage of the trend to invest in the Chinese company, holding one-third of the other party's shares, and the two parties share this aspect of battery technology.

With the cooperation between the two parties, the lithium iron phosphate battery proposed by Abel achieved a breakthrough.

At present, laboratory lithium iron phosphate batteries with an energy density of approximately 80-100wh/kg can be produced.

This energy density is more than twice that of the average lead-acid battery of 30-40wh/kg.

Compared with the 160-180wh/kg of ternary lithium recommended by Neon, it is still much worse.

But according to Professor Hans, from an economic point of view, Tesla should study larger lithium iron phosphate with lower energy density.

Professor Hans thinks so for two reasons.

One is that compared to ternary lithium, lithium iron phosphate is safer.

This is actually the reason why professors mainly consider it.

Because this professor is also a scholar after all, and he has some humanistic concerns.

Under such circumstances, if we really want to develop electric vehicles, Professor Hans would consider safety more than performance.

The other was the reason Professor Hans used to convince Abel.

That is compared to ternary lithium batteries that require the use of certain precious metals.

There is no need to use precious metal lithium iron phosphate in the material, which has a very high advantage in terms of large-scale production costs.

The cost is relatively cheap, and this is often the favorite direction of capitalists.

I have to say that the professor is indeed an American and understands capitalists.

As for the Chinese battery company that Professor Hans went to inspect, it now has a certain reputation in China.

But it's not well-known yet, and it's a bit bad because its name is a bit weird.

"BYD" Abel read the name of this Chinese company gently, shook his head slightly and said with a smile: "Then continue researching. This direction is very good."

Abel remembers BYD in parallel time and space, who later became the boss of China New Energy and started to enter the world market.

The battery technology path it chose is lithium iron phosphate battery technology.

When Abel first started working at Tesla, he asked them to research lithium iron phosphate.

Just because he remembered this.

At that time, Abel only knew about lithium iron phosphate, which was relatively safe.

But I didn’t expect that it would have an advantage in terms of cost.

That made Abel feel that there must be nothing wrong with choosing it.

I didn’t look at it later. Did Tesla in parallel time and space also choose lithium iron phosphate batteries?

At first, Abel thought Tesla was doing it for safety.

After all, it seems that there are more news about accidents.

But now it seems that the reason why Tesla takes the initiative to replace lithium iron phosphate batteries is probably due to this cost issue.

Capitalists are capitalists, and burning people to death is nothing.

If the average cost can be reduced by tens of dollars, then we will do it despite all the obstacles.

Abel closed the patent technical description document and threw it to David.

He raised his head and asked, "How long has it been since we set off? How long does it take to get to Austin."

It takes less than four hours to fly from New York to Austin.

The "Smith" departed at nine o'clock this morning, and it was not yet eleven o'clock.

Still half way to Austin.

Abel was bored and said to David, "Then let Mary come over."

David smiled and nodded, taking Alan Baker away.

Soon the charming Ms. Maria, the leader of the Smith's Boeing 747's private flight attendant team, walked in.

Maria was the senior flight attendant selected by United Airlines when Abel took the private flight provided by American Express when he didn't have a private jet.

She looks charming and sexy, and her figure is very perfect.

Later Katherine Jones is now the Hannah Katherine next to little Laura.

After she resigned from United Airlines, she was the flight attendant who served Abel twice on the plane.

She went back and got married halfway through, and after getting married, she went back to work at United Airlines.

Abel thought her harmonica playing skills were good and her service attitude was also very good.

After Abel bought his own private jet, he asked Maria to come here as the head stewardess.

When Abel was traveling without a woman by his side.

He would occasionally ask Maria, who was already married, to come over and play the harmonica for him.

Use art to cultivate your sentiments and kill time traveling in the air.

Shortly after, the Smith arrived at Austin International Airport.

As soon as he exited the airport, Abel saw his father-in-law, the father of little Laura.

Neil Bush stood outside the car waiting for him, and Abel walked over with a smile.

Then they went again to where Herbert lived.

Abel's grandparents are not here this time. They have returned to Houston.

Abel stayed here that night and left the next day.

When he left, he took little Laura's father with him.

In fact, this is also the reason why Abel’s plane chose to stop in Austin.

That was to take along Neil Bush, who had been to the West Coast for a while to familiarize himself with the situation, and returned to Austin to rest.

"...It's such a big plane. Using a Boeing 747 as a private jet, the space is really spacious."

As soon as I got on the plane, the plane hadn't even taken off yet.

Neil Shrub looked at the interior decoration of the super-rich son-in-law’s private jet and said with a smile.

It’s not like Neil Bush has never flown on a private jet, he’s even flown on Air Force One.

But those have nothing to do with him, and this Boeing 747 belongs to his son-in-law, so it has something to do with it.

Neil Bush talks a little more.

Abel smiled and said: "We will study the plane later. Let's sit down first and wait until the plane takes off."

Neil smiled and nodded.

The two of them sat down in high-end airline business seats, fastened their seat belts and waited for the plane to take off.

This is fair enough. Whether it is a private jet or a public flight, there is still some weightlessness and discomfort when the plane takes off.

In fairness to gravity, there won't be much difference just because it's a private jet or a public flight.

There was no silence between the two people, Abel and Neil Bush were talking.

"Neil, what do you think of the West Coast? How does San Francisco make you feel compared to Texas or New York?"

"It's okay. The climate is more comfortable, even more comfortable than Texas. In other aspects, to be honest, I don't really like the situation there."

"Oh? This is not easy. Neil, you know. Many times, for certain things, even if we don't like it, we still have to endure it."

"Of course I understand." Neil Bush was a little unhappy.

This boy has not yet become his son-in-law, yet he is educating himself in this way.

What is the status of father-in-law!

But Neil also knew that Abel was doing this for his own good.

And considering the status of the two of them at this time, excluding the personal identities of son-in-law and father-in-law.

In front of Abel, I was indeed several levels behind.

Abel is still his biggest benefactor and the backer of his development on the west coast.

Talking about matters, Neil Bush would not discuss personal feelings and private matters when discussing official matters with Abel.

"I'm trying to adapt. Don't worry, trust me. Give me a while and I'll be a 'traditional' West Coaster."

Abel laughed.

"If that's the case, then we can start our plans on the West Coast."

"Hahaha~" Neil Bush laughed happily.

The Boeing 747 finally took off successfully.

Start climbing to normal altitude, and then start normal cruising mode until you reach the stratosphere above 8,000 meters.

Looking at the rapidly passing clouds outside the window, Neil Bush felt a surge in his heart.

When he thought about himself, after his two brothers and his father, he could finally start on this path.

There are more people paving the way for him, and the road he has to take looks easier.

Thinking of this, Neil Bush couldn't help but feel better.

This made Neil look at Abel, his playboy son-in-law, even more gently.

This proves that Neil is very much in the bush family tradition.

Shrewd and forbearing.

Many times, for the sake of profit, you can do most of the things you hate.

Just like his second brother Jeb, in order to gain the support of the increasing number of Mexican immigrants in Texas.

A long time ago, he married a Mexican woman as his wife.

This very untraditional, very unblue-blooded approach was done by Jeb, the shrub most like Herbert.

He also received strong support from his family.

At the time, this was laughed at by many wealthy people in other regions.

At that time, marrying Mo Mo was not much different from marrying a black man as his wife.

But Herbert let Jeb marry him, and later gave birth to a mixed-race grandson, the eldest grandson.

It can only be said that the Bush family is really good at adapting in this regard.

The premise is that the benefits are enough for Shrub to be willing to make changes in this regard!

Just like Jeb married a Mexican wife, just like Neil went against tradition and went to the West Coast to develop.

Just like Herbert insisted on marrying little Laura to the playboy.

Chapter 347 has been slightly modified, and the main plot will not be changed. However, if you have read it and are interested, you can go back and read it again. It doesn’t matter if you don’t read it.