America's Road to Wealth

It can be said that 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.

Along with his relationship with the Bush family, there are other allies established.

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

He is already qualified to contact entities like the California Consortium.

But it's just an initial contact.

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

Even if both parties have this idea in mind.

This is a matter of possible cooperation between two huge interest groups.

No matter how careful you are, you can never be too cautious.

But fortunately, through this contact.

At least it can let both parties know that there is no hostility towards each other and there is no conflict at the moment.

That's enough.

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

Abel is better at investing, or speculating.

The financial strength 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 start cooperation immediately.

But you can try to make some contacts in business.

If the contact is good, we may actually cooperate in the future.

Then when it unfolds, it will be smoother and more experienced.

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

John Stumpf spoke softly.

Abel nodded:

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

John Stumpf nodded, quickly calculating the pros and cons 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 reach $2 billion, making it a small bank in the United States.

The bank's business mainly provides loans to venture capital firms and Silicon Valley startups.

In the early days, Cisco, Oracle, and even Google all received 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 US$5 billion.

After the bubble burst, its value was cut in half, leaving only about 2 billion in assets.

At the end of last year, its shares were gradually acquired by Abel, and the economic situation became much better.

Some of the Internet company stocks that Abel purchased during September 11 this year were also held by this bank.

This is mainly done to avoid taxes——

Super big taxpayers and super philanthropists do not avoid taxes at all.

"So what do you mean?"

John Stumpf knew something about Silicon Valley Bank, but he didn't know what Abel was up to.

"I mean. We can try to test the waters of cooperation first." Abel said with a smile:

"Let's use Silicon Valley Bank as an experiment. How about cooperation between the two parties on Silicon Valley Bank?"

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

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

"Wells Fargo paid US$1 billion to acquire 49.9% of Silicon Valley Bank's shares. Both parties jointly operate Silicon Valley Bank," Abel said.

In the process of acquiring Silicon Valley Bank Financial Group, Abel spent a total of approximately US$2 billion.

Subsequently, another US$200 million was invested in development. Since Silicon Valley is in a miserable state now, its performance is also average.

Its current total value is approximately US$2.2 billion.

Wells Fargo acquired 49.9% of the shares for US$1 billion.

It can be said that he has already made at least tens of millions of dollars before starting any business.

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 out to seduce Wells Fargo and the California consortium.

"How about 50%? Wells Fargo offers $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 demand equal rights and interests, and we must work together in Silicon Valley to build Silicon Valley Bank.

Abel wanted to get in touch with the California consortium, so why didn’t the California consortium not want to get in touch with him?

If you don't want to have contact with Abel, John Stumpf will be here today.

But Kayla Wilson will never show up.

"Happy cooperation." Abel smiled and extended his hand.

John Stumpf and Kayla Wilson also smiled and shook hands with him.

Abel's main purpose today was finally accomplished.

Pacific Bank and Wells Fargo collaborate on Silicon Valley Bank.

In later generations, it was also considered to be the first cooperation between the Smith Consortium and the California Consortium.

The matter was almost settled, and Abel declined Kayla and Stumpf's invitation to a cocktail party tonight.

He was seen off by John Stumpf and Kayla Wilson on top of the Wells Fargo building.

Wait until Abel's plane leaves the Wells Fargo Building.

The smiles on the faces of the two California syndicate members faded.

John Stumpf said to Kayla:

"He is as generous as ever. He took out tens of millions of dollars without blinking an eye."

His annual salary is only around tens of millions of dollars a year.

The beautiful girl Kayla nodded and 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 Bush, has been in San Francisco for a while. During this time, the third son of the Bush family has been in contact with the AFL-CIO group. It is obvious that this Mr. Smith , there are considerations in this regard. He may need our support in this regard."

Keira nodded thoughtfully.

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

The two of them continued talking as they walked downstairs.

How about Abe Smith?

Kayla thought he was handsome first. Tall and sunny, he fits the appearance of Apollo, the sun god, in European and American minds.

Then there's the way he speaks, which isn't annoying at all, and sounds nice.

Secondly, the way of doing things is very refreshing and very generous.

Sharp thinking, decisive and straightforward.

No matter how much more it is, with Keira's experience and ability, she can't see it.

She excluded her appearance from her opinion of Abel.

Tell it honestly to John Stumpf.

John Stumpf nodded.

In fact, if possible, John would not want to take this eldest lady with him at all.

But Slade Wilson was one of the original shareholders of Wells Fargo. It's clear that he wants Kayla Wilson to share some of Wells Fargo's power in the future.

Even though John Stumpf felt a little uncomfortable inside.

But as a high-level wage earner, he had to take Kayla Wilson with him at work.

John Stumpf said to Kayla:

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

"He was born in Texas, but he did not join the Texas consortium. He was married to the Bush family, but he also cooperated with Buffett in the Midwest. In New York, he has a good relationship with Morgenthau. He is even more We also have deep cooperative relationships with oil men like Bloomberg and Soros.”

John Stampf's soft analysis introduces Keira to a side of Abel Smith that no one knows about.

Some of these analyzes were thought up by John himself.

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

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

There are things that the Smith Brain Group can do for Abel, and there are also things that it cannot do for Abel.

These old consortiums and their think tanks can do it.

After all, Smith Think Group has only been established for more than a year. The shortest existence time of these consortiums has been several decades.

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

One is that as a reborn person, even if he does not specifically remember it.

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

This advantage can be big or small. As his influence increases, many things may be changed.

This advantage may also gradually disappear.

The second is his unparalleled talent.

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

Compared to these two.

Others come from Mayflower families, or from Texas high-end rednecks.

In the eyes of beings at this level, that's really nothing. .

Is Mr. Brainstorming good enough? Is your family great enough? Is his position high enough?

If you really touch the interests of certain groups, your imagination will still be opened.

Including the ecological niche Abel found for himself.

There is also the future share structure design within the Smith Consortium that he thinks is smart.

These things have actually been given to the established chaebols and consortiums for a long time.

The smart people they raised were very analytical.

Maybe the results they concluded after analysis are more perfect than Abel imagined.

This gap in background is difficult for Abel to smooth over.

The reason why these old consortiums and plutocrats have been quietly watching him perform and develop.

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

Abel is very wise. So far, apart from Wall Street, he has not had any major conflicts with anyone.

Even with Wall Street, there is cooperation and conflict at the same time.

In addition, he grew up really fast, and in the blink of an eye, people needed to take him seriously.

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

By now, he has a certain ability to protect himself.

To a certain extent, it can already be said that he is one of them.

A young, new member who just joined.

Abel is already qualified to discuss cooperation with them.

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

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

John also taught these things to the relatively immature Kayla.

After this kind of "popular science" by John Stumpf.

Keira couldn't help but marvel.

"In other words, has he established a Smith Consortium now? Oh my god, I heard that he is less than twenty-two years old, six years younger than me!"

Keira couldn't help but said.

John Stumpf smiled bitterly.

The chairman felt in his heart that comparing people to others would really make people angry.

in this world

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

There are also people like Abel Smith who built Rome on the same site in a very short period of time.

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

"That's almost it." John Stumpf nodded and said:

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

Kayla Wilson sighed: "Very powerful, very powerful. So how rich do you think he is now? Is it really just a little bit like what Forbes said?"

Forbes lists Abel's wealth as exceeding $80 billion.

Is eighty billion dollars a small amount, Stumpf thought?

That’s already an astronomical figure, okay?

"It's not clear. But our analysis does not include Smith Capital's stock price. His personal net worth may be around US$120 billion."

John Stumpf said somewhat vaguely.

"One thousand two hundred?" Keira exclaimed again.

in the conversation between the two.

Abel's helicopter left here and soon appeared at Neil Bush's villa in San Francisco.

"How about it?"

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

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

After Abel answered, he softly said:

"Dear Neil, the road has been paved. It depends on how you go next. I hope that one day, little Laura, I, and our children will all be able to enjoy the protection of You."

"Um" Neil thought to himself, that would be great if that was the case.

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

Only allowed to be affectionate with my daughter.

"I will try my best to do it." Thinking back, in reality, Neil still expressed his position very clearly.

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

That morning.

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

That's down from $43.5 when markets closed on Friday.

It fell until the market closed that day, and had returned to the price of $35 not long ago.

Pacific Commercial Bank, which has been on the market for more than a week, has begun to slowly purchase goods again.

In the case of Soros, the leader of the white knights, "taking the lead in surrender" and "taking the lead in betrayal".

American Express's stock has no more fluctuations and has remained at around $35.

American Pacific Commercial Bank gradually attracted funds.

Wait until Wednesday, November 20th.

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

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

It can be said that the vast majority of the remaining shareholders are institutions.

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

Abel is unlikely to raise prices in the short term.

What remains is a stalemate, with the two sides fighting over American Express's board of directors.

November 20th.

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

The event was held at Building 2 of the World Financial Center in Manhattan, the New York headquarters of American Express.

The acquisition of Express Company. Whether it’s the duration, the context, or the offensive and defensive operations between the two parties that took place in the middle.

It can be said that this is a textbook classic hostile takeover incident of "barbarians outside the door".

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

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

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

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

The entrance to Building 2 of the World Financial Center today.

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

When the shareholders of Express Company appeared at the door of the building one by one and walked into the building.

Reporters would gather around and loudly ask these shareholders of American Express some questions.

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

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

[Mr. Walton, I heard that Mr. Smith wanted to acquire your shares at first, but later you were too greedy and he refused, right? 】

【Mr. Walton, you】

Jim Walton wore a black face throughout and ignored the reporters.

Just from that look on his face, it looked like he was unhappy today.

Some shareholders accepted interviews from reporters.

For example, a representative from State Street Bank smiled and said to the reporter:

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

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

When interviewed by reporters, his response was very clear -

"Why are we dissatisfied? How can we be dissatisfied with Mr. Smith? We are all shareholders of American Express and hope that American Express can develop better. Mr. Smith's joining will make American Express stronger, how can we be unhappy?"

The reporters didn't know whether the president was really happy.

But the reporters at the door of the building today.

They were really happy.

Many of today's interviews can give them a little bonus.

What they are more eager to photograph 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 Express Company was about to begin, they didn't even wait for these two people.

There is news.

Kenneth Chenault had not left the building since last night and had not come out.

So now outside, naturally no one can wait for Kenneth Chenault.

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

Why he, the victor, did not show up at this time today is unknown.

Just when the reporters were a little disappointed.

A significantly longer Mercedes-Benz S sedan appeared, and it slowly parked at the entrance of Building 2 of the World Financial Center.

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

"George Soros! It's Soros' car. Soros is here? Didn't all his stocks be sold to Smith?"

The reporters all ran over in a swarm.

If they weren't blocked by the building's security guards and Soros' bodyguards, they could have gotten right into Soros' face.

At some point, let alone Soros. Even if George lives in the white house, these reporters can still be so brave.

After all, there are not many rich people like Abel who are willing to spend tens of millions of dollars in legal fees when they are angry, find connections all over the United States, and send paparazzi reporters to jail.

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

Some are even Pulitzer Prize winners.

In this situation, these people have nothing to fear from Abel Smith.

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

The reporters asked frantically, while Soros smiled and raised his hands, "Good morning, everyone. Maybe you are curious about why I am here. Then I will just tell you."

"I'm here on behalf of a friend of mine to exercise his responsibilities as a shareholder of American Express and act as a shareholder representative. That's why I'm here."

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

The amiable Soros, with the help of bodyguards and security guards, successfully entered Building 2 of the World Financial Center.

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

When he saw Soros walking in with a smile on his face, the expression of surprise on Mr. Executive Chairman's face could not be concealed.

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

"Mr. Soros? Why are you here?"

The whole United States knows that Soros has sold his stocks.

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

Logically speaking, Soros, who does not have stocks, should not be here.

This somewhat unreasonable thing happened, giving Kenneth Chenault, who was already desperate, a glimmer of hope in his heart.

Is Soros going to come back here and have a fight with Abel Smith?

Even knowing that it was unlikely, Kenneth Chenault, who regarded this as the last straw, could only force himself to think this way.

Soros looked a little haggard, and saw that Kenneth Chenault had not slept well last night.

The financial tycoon is complaining about someone's bad taste and small-mindedness.

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

"Hello, Mr. Chenault. I am here to attend today's shareholders' meeting on behalf of Mr. Abel Smith, as his shareholder representative."

"What?"

Kenneth Chenault almost thought he had heard wrong.

Soros smiled and nodded again: "On behalf of Mr. Abel Smith, as his stock representative in American Express, I am attending today's shareholders' meeting."

Kenneth Chenault was sure this time that he had heard correctly.

The little hope he had just raised was instantly thrown directly into the depths of hell.

It can't be undone anymore.

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

I want to say something, but I really can't.

The surrounding shareholders and the board members looked at each other.

No one expected that Abel Smith himself did not come.

But he called Soros, the leader of the white knight who was resisting him, the "barbarian outside the door", to come over and act as the shareholder representative of this barbarian.

This is simply, so Faxet.

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 American Express stock for $40.

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

Abel asked Soros, the leader of the white knights, to come and attend the shareholders' meeting on behalf of Abel, the "barbarian" who was hostile to takeovers.

Abel's small request is somewhat bad for Soros.

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

For Kenneth Chenault, it was even more soul-trampling.

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

What's wrong with being embarrassed?

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

Even Kenneth Chenault looked like he was out of his mind.

The general meeting of shareholders of Express Company was held as scheduled.

At the shareholders' meeting, as the representative of the largest shareholder.

George Soros raised the demands of the largest shareholder:

Removing 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 was re-elected to eliminate the position of executive chairman and replace it with the position of independent chairman.

This request was approved at the shareholders' meeting, with a shareholder vote support rate of 80%.

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

After these people are gone, the board of directors will be directly re-elected.

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

The vote once again achieved a pass rate of over 76.5%.

Anyone with a discerning eye knows that Abel Smith's entry into the business is unstoppable.

Even if he doesn't own more than half of the shares, it would be meaningless to refuse in this regard at this time.

These went well.

When the remaining seven executive directors were elected, it was not as smooth as before.

As a representative, Soros nominated only three of the seven candidates requested by the largest shareholder.

The remaining four were elected with the support of other shareholders.

Now that Abel Smith's arrival is unstoppable.

The goals of this group of people are also very clear.

That is to at least ensure that in the board of directors, Abel cannot speak his mind.

Everything is for profit.

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

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

This house is usually where Liv Tyler lives.

Occasionally Cate Blanchett would come in, usually when Abel was living here.

Liv Tyler has now gone to Europe. She is now 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 was just 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's orange-flavored sunshine seems to illuminate the entire courtyard of the villa brilliantly.

In the splendor, Abel looked out into the small garden beside the courtyard swimming pool.

Cate Blanchett, chatting with another Australian gang member.

That member's name is Nicole Kidman.

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

"Don't believe it. And I didn't let you help me in vain. I did what I said, and it cost me tens of millions of dollars!"

"Hahaha~ Okay, okay. If this happens again next time, I will call you again."

I heard Soros say that next time something like this happens, I will call him, as long as there is money to be made.

Abel agreed with a smile and paid attention to Soros's Hong Kong Island plan.

It’s just that Soros said that since Abel doesn’t want to join, then don’t care.

Abel smiled and hung up the phone, looking down again.

Just below, Nicole Kidman looked towards him.

Abel smiled and raised his hand to her.

The latter was stunned for a moment, then immediately smiled beautifully at him.