America's Road to Wealth

Chapter 371 The Turbulent Peninsula·Continued

First, Shilla Hotel.

"So we came here specifically."

Mitsui Suki said with a smile: "We heard that there is such a cocktail party here in Han State. So we asked our friends here to come over to your cocktail party just to see you..."

Abel smiled, "Then you have seen me now. Mr. Mitsui, what do you want to see me for?"

"Sony is willing to cooperate with you, Mr. Smith."

Suki Mitsui continued with a smile: "Whether it's Sony Music or Sony Columbia."

"What kind of cooperation law is that?"

"I wonder, Mr. Smith, are you interested in investing in Sony Columbia?"

Abel couldn't help but raise his eyebrows - buying a stake in Sony Columbia?

He remembered Sony Columbia, which was essentially a wholly owned company of Sony.

Sony holds more than 90% of the shares and fully controls the Hollywood giant.

Even if Sony is allowed to own shares, it is impossible for Sony, which has been supporting itself for more than ten years, to hold more shares than them.

"I'm not very interested." Abel said frankly:

"I already have MGM and DreamWorks. Adding one more Sony Columbia, and not being able to control it, won't be of much help to me."

Mitsui Suki was obviously stunned. He probably didn't expect Abel to refuse so directly.

Replace it with any other Hollywood giant.

If you only have the opportunity to invest in any other giant, you won't hesitate too much.

Even if you can't hold a controlling stake, if you can get a certain amount of shares, you can hopefully get the position of executive director.

After obtaining the position of executive director, you will have certain power in the company.

Even if he is squeezed out, his influence is already there.

This is an irresistible temptation for many entertainment industry giants.

If the other six major Hollywood companies are now willing to invest in Sony.

No matter how expensive the offer is, Sony will consider it and will most likely be willing to take a stake in the end.

Mitsui Suki didn't expect that Abel would refuse so simply.

He couldn't help but said: "Don't you think about it any more? If you buy a stake in Sony Columbia Pictures, then you will have two movie giants in Hollywood. This will be of great help to Smith Media's influence in Hollywood. .”

Hollywood used to have the Big Eight.

Later, there were only six major companies left, with the rise of DreamWorks in the middle, which was once called the seventh major company.

In this era where DreamWorks was acquired and became part of MGM.

There are only six major companies left in Hollywood: Disney, MGM, Paramount, Columbia, Universal, and Fox.

Among them, Neon Panasonic once controlled Universal Movies.

However, Panasonic's resilience is not as good as Sony's. After a few years of losses, it couldn't afford it and had to sell Universal.

France's Vivendi accepted it two years ago, and now Universal is called Vivendi Universal.

And Colombia is Sony Colombia, controlled by Sony.

These six companies, plus more than a dozen other medium-sized independent film companies, are similar in size to DreamWorks Movies.

They form the backbone of Hollywood today.

Currently, there are only six major Hollywood companies with independent distribution channels.

When other film companies distribute movies, they either have to rely on the help of the Big Six or they have to find channels on their own.

When the Big Six in Hollywood face new challengers, they usually tacitly exclude them.

Just like the dream factory of old. When it was at its most glorious, no matter what it did, it would be attacked and hindered by the six major forces.

When it comes to film distribution, the cost is more expensive than others...

This is a tacit understanding among groups with vested interests that do not need to openly suppress latecomers.

Among the six major companies, Sony Columbia has never been very popular because of the particularity of its Japanese capital.

In parallel time and space, if it weren't for the success of Parker's movie.

It's really hard to say how many more years Sony can last. After all, no one’s money comes from strong winds, and we cannot just sit back and watch the black hole swallow up money.

Now Sony Columbia Pictures' Spider-Man has been snatched back by Abel.

Sony discovers Columbia Pictures, and its prospects for future profitability begin to fade again.

In other words, the Sony family has a big business and can afford to support Colombia, a prodigal son.

But it’s not an option to keep it up like this.

No matter how rich and profitable Sony is, it cannot sit back and watch Columbia continue to lose money indefinitely.

After an internal weighing game, Sony finally approached Abel.

The person who came over was Suki Mitsui, a member of the Mitsui family.

Speaking of the Mitsui family, there is another story to tell.

"Sorry..." Facing the enthusiastic Mitsui Suki, Abel still smiled and refused:

"I already have MGM. Another Columbia won't be of much use to me. Instead, it may make Smith Media even more fearful of other giants in Hollywood."

What Abel said was true.

Columbia has it, MGM has it all.

Film library, distribution channels, brand power, and reputation in the industry.

These things, the six giants of Hollywood, are generally the same.

For another Big Six Hollywood studio, the only attractions for any other Big Six Hollywood film company are its film library and copyrights.

Other things are often burdensome.

Especially in terms of distribution channels, many of the six major Hollywood film companies overlap and share with each other.

Regardless of copyright, film library, or brand power.

Having a Hollywood Big Six is ​​a real ticket to Hollywood.

As for admission tickets, one is enough.

Because a ticket is enough for you to enter the inner realm that belongs to you.

If you take another one, others will definitely unite to exclude you.

They would worry about themselves becoming Abel's next target for annexation.

That would make MGM have more enemies in Hollywood.

The benefits have not increased much, so it can be said that the gains outweigh the losses.

Seeing that Abel declined again, Mitsui Suki wanted to say something else.

Robbie Appleby, however, interrupted at the right time and said with a smile:

"Have you finished chatting? Mr. Smith... please, there are a few gentlemen here who want to chat with you."

The envoy said so, Mitsui Suki is not an idiot.

Of course I knew that this meant that Abel would never talk to him again.

Looking at Robbie Appleby, taking Abel Smith with him, he turned around and started chatting with the envoys from China, Neon, Qatar and other countries to South Korea.

Mitsui Suki could only sigh and stop chasing after him.

At this time, Mitsui Fuyuko, who was accompanying him, whispered:

"Father, it seems that he is really not interested. Just like the uncles at home said."

Suki Mitsui nodded, "Why don't I know? But Colombia is in trouble right now. Counting all the 7 movies this year, a total loss of 1.58 million US dollars..."

Mitsui Fuyuko comforted her father: "This is the lowest loss in more than ten years. Isn't it? This is a good result achieved only under your leadership, father."

The CEO of Sony Columbia is clearly named Howard Stringer, not Hisuki Mitsui.

Fuyuko Mitsui now says that Sony Columbia Pictures was able to reduce losses to such a low level only under the leadership of Hisaki Mitsui.

This is because Hisuki Mitsui is the person within the Mitsui family who is mainly responsible for the entertainment sector and US affairs.

Let’s talk about the promise Sony made to the Americans in order to acquire Colombia.

In order to reduce as many obstacles as possible from Americans in the acquisition of Colombia.

Sony once promised the United States that even if Colombia is acquired, it will still be American Colombia.

Sony will not arrange too many neon managers in Columbia.

So now you can find that although Columbia Movies is now called Sony Columbia.

But its president, CEO, and other important management positions have always been American.

Because of this, the imprint of the Neon Man on Colombian films is relatively faded.

But Sony is not a fool. It spent so much money to only buy one naming right.

The key is that after so many years of naming, Columbia Film has always been a rip-off.

Losing money every year keeps Sony losing money.

Over time, Neon people are not stupid either.

While Americans are not paying that much attention, neon people are gradually adding sand to Sony Columbia, allowing more neon people to enter Sony Columbia Pictures.

Of course, I still dare not replace the ones on the head with neon people, such as CEOs.

That would be too obvious and would easily attract the attention of Americans.

The Neon Man’s approach is divided into two steps.

The first step is to add sand to the middle level of Sony Columbia. There are a lot of neon people and ghost guys from Sony headquarters working in Sony Columbia Pictures.

Secondly, a special adviser was placed above the CEO Howard Stringer.

The special adviser has no actual position at Sony Columbia.

But if Howard Stringer and other senior executives want promotions within Sony, salary increases and bonuses.

Then you have to listen to the special adviser.

Hisaki Mitsui is the newly appointed special adviser.

It was after Spider-Man was robbed.

The new person in charge was specially sent by Sony to replace the original consultant who did nothing.

On the surface, Hisuki Mitsui has nothing to do with Sony Columbia.

Secretly, Hisaki Mitsui is Sony Columbia, and even the invisible emperor of Sony Music North America.

As for why Mitsui Suki became the Supreme Emperor and not others.

The reason is also very simple. Who named him Mitsui? Is he an important member of the current Neon Mitsui Zaibatsu family?

From the past to the present, Sony has actually been one of the important subsidiaries of the Mitsui Foundation.

In fact, Sony is not the only well-known company under the Mitsui Consortium.

There are more than 270 direct, affiliated companies and subsidiaries affiliated to the Mitsui Consortium.

Toyota, Toshiba, Sony, Panasonic, etc. that are well known to Chinese people are all owned by him.

Like the Toyota family that controls Toyota cars.

The daughters of this family have always married only Mitsui. The sons of this family have always been able to marry Mitsui.

More than ten years later, Toyota's prince no longer married Mitsui, but was engaged to a theater actress.

This even became news in Neon.

Because Toyota actually doesn’t marry Mitsui.

Marrying a theater actress, what kind of Gray Princess plot...

Then the Neon Man shut up as soon as he investigated.

It turns out that the theater actress is not a Cinderella either.

This theater actress lives in a platinum area in Minato, Tokyo. Those who can live in such a place are either rich or noble.

This theater actress has been studying in the academy where the neon royal family and chaebols gather since kindergarten. She has been classmates with the neon princesses and chaebol ladies since childhood.

She is also a member of the Idemitsu family.

And this family controls Neon's second largest oil company, making them a proper little oil princess.

Therefore, in reality, there are obviously very few plots between the princess and the common boy, or the prince and Cinderella.

Even if they do, they often end in tragedy.

Li Fuzhen, who is standing next to Abel with a big belly, is the best example.

Even without Abel's appearance, Li Fu's married life would still be a mess.

In short, it can be understood that the Mitsui family is the neon Rockefeller or Morgan. Or maybe it's one of the two plus Koch's complete body.

There are several such powerful chaebols and consortiums, and the most powerful ones are Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Sumitomo, and Fuji.

Below these four, there are several other weaker ones.

In addition to being a bit feudal, the land area is small and the influence is low.

In other respects, the situation of the chaebols in Neon is basically the same as that of the consortium families in the United States.

Mitsui Suki and Mitsui Fuyuko are important members of the Mitsui family.

Hisuki Mitsui is the head of the Mitsui family's entertainment business in North America.

So it wasn't someone from Sony who came to Abel, but Suki Mitsui, a man who seemed to have nothing to do with Sony, but was actually the Emperor of Sony, who came to Abel.

Not to mention the father and daughter who were discussing quietly.

Abel's side, under the warm introduction of Robbie Appleby.

He chatted with envoys from three countries in South Korea.

Among them is Mr. Wang, the Chinese envoy to South Korea.

"I am very optimistic about China."

When chatting with the other party with a smile, "China has the largest population in the world, a vast territory and output. It also has a social attitude of hard work and serious work. You will definitely develop, believe me."

Mr. Wang, the envoy to South Korea, privately heard this was the first time that foreigners praised China so much.

Although it is in the media, it is in the media. Privately, Europe and the United States have never had a good attitude towards China.

Especially such an influential and high-status foreigner who is so optimistic about China.

Mr. Wang immediately said: "Mr. Smith, China also welcomes businessmen like you to invest. We will come up with the best attitude and even good strategies to welcome you!"

With Abel in the United States, his influence grew.

The most important thing is that he became the nominal richest man in the world this year.

Countries around the world attach much greater importance to him.

China is in the midst of a frenzy to attract investment and is frantically attracting foreign investment.

Naturally, it is impossible not to see the existence of this person.

A lot of Abel Smith's information has even been put on a stage like that.

If we could lead this man to China and let him invest heavily in China...

There is no doubt that both from a national perspective and from Mr. Wang's own personal perspective.

All can have a great positive significance. The world’s richest man takes the lead in investing in China!

When such news is exposed, no matter how you look at it, it is a great achievement!

Mr. Wang seemed particularly positive.

Abel said with a smile: "As early as last year, I started investing in China. Smith Capital (China) has invested more than one billion US dollars in China."

Mr. Wang was stunned for a moment. He really didn't know about this.

His main job is to take care of Hanguo, and at most he also takes care of Neon.

He did not know very clearly about domestic affairs.

But Rabbit's diplomats, all masters of tact, smoothed over the matter with a chuckle.

Abel also focused his attention on the envoy of Katar next to him.

The messenger had been talking to Abel just now, and now he finally got a chance to be alone.

This messenger, Ben Khalifa, had a long conversation with Abel.

But essentially there is only one purpose, and that is the Qatar Investment Authority, which wants to put a sum of funds into Smith Capital.

At this time, there was actually no so-called Qatar Investment Authority.

This organization will not officially appear until 2005.

But its prototype has been around for a long time, in the late 1980s.

The Emil family of Qatar has already begun to invest part of its investment abroad in order to increase profits.

With the fall of the red bear, the speed of globalization has become more obvious.

Qatar's foreign investment is increasing in value, but it is not yet systematic.

This is a sovereign wealth fund that started relatively late in the desert.

After all, sovereign wealth funds originated in desert areas.

As early as 1953, Kotew established the Kotew Investment Committee, which was the world's earliest national sovereign fund.

At the end of 2001, we are about to move towards the present of 2002.

More than a dozen sovereign wealth funds have emerged in the desert.

So many similar companies have done this, and Qatar’s investment bureau is obviously already in the process of being planned.

For countries in desert areas, sovereign wealth funds are often regarded as necessary financial supporting tools for the oil economy.

What this Ben Khalifa envoy means is that Qatar wants to hand over approximately US$10 billion in funds to Smith Capital for operation.

This kind of thing applies to most private equity funds and even public funds.

These are all great things.

Because the more investors there are, the more funds can be raised.

This means that fund managers can get more benefits.

When financial operations are operating in the market, more funds can also make investments more generous and flexible.

To put it simply, within a certain limit, the more people invest and trust the better, the better.

But what disappointed Ben Khalifa was that Abel declined with a smile.

"Smith Capital has never been short of investors." Abel said with a smile:

"In the United States, there are at least 1,000 billionaires who want to give me most of their wealth for investment. But I refuse."

“Because not everyone can achieve an annualized rate of return of more than 100%.”

Let's put it this way, Buffett started investing in 1958.

By 2001, for a total of 44 years, Buffett's total return was 430,121.43%, an increase of 4,301 times. For 44 years, the annualized return was 21.5%.

This long-lasting achievement has allowed Buffett to instantly defeat 99.9999999999% of the people in the world.

Even Peter Lynch, the stock angel, can't compare to him.

Because Peter only lasted less than 20 years and later retired, he was not as durable as Buffett.

Because of this record, Buffett is called the stock god.

He is a god higher than angels.

Although Abel has not been around for a long time, it has not even been two years.

But the profits he made for investors and clients in two years were almost as much as Buffett's in ten years.

The rate of return is so exaggeratedly high, and there has not been a single loss so far.

Too many people want to give their money to Abel to invest.

Qatar, where Ben Khalifa is based, thinks so. Many sovereign wealth funds in other desert countries have also come into contact with Smith Capital.

Prince Walid, for example, has approached Abel many times, implicitly representing the Kingdom of Tessa, wanting to invest in Abel, and wanting to be Abel's investor.

But like Ben Khalifa today, he was declined by Abel.

It's not that Abel thinks money is too hot to handle, but now Abel wants him to help make money and wants to use him as a cash cow.

There must be a premise, and the premise is that the other party can bring other resources besides money to Abel.

Just like he accepted shares from the Texas consortium, Buffett and others.

Now Abel, he no longer wants a simple monetary figure.

What he wants is the more influence these numbers can bring.

Abel replied to the Messenger of Ben Khalifa as he did to Prince Walid.

"Norwegian Petroleum Fund is the latest investor of Smith Capital."

He smiled and said:

"After Smith Capital's seventh private placement of US$50 billion, it launched its eighth private placement for the Norwegian Petroleum Fund alone. The only private equity investor was the Norwegian Petroleum Fund, and the amount raised was US$15 billion."

"If Qatar and other desert countries also want to be investors of Smith Capital, they can only consider the same as the Norwegian Petroleum Fund."

After Abel became a shareholder of Statoil and Norwegian Hydro.

Norwegian Petroleum Fund’s eighth fundraising investment in Smith Capital occurred at the end of September this year.

As the eighth private placement launched by Smith Capital, Norwegian Petroleum Fund Investment subscribed for the entire quota of US$15 billion.

When Abel said this to Ben Khalifa, he was telling him.

Qatar or other desert countries also want to do this.

Then it can only be the same as in Norway.

Open up its shares in the national oil company and make Abel one of its shareholders.

Even if it is 1% or 2%, it can be slightly negotiated.

But it can’t be without.

Like if it's Qatar, it's Qatar National Petroleum Company.

The company is responsible for its domestic and foreign oil and gas industry activities and performs government functions on its behalf.

In 1995, this company had oil and gas reserves of 480 million tons and 7.07 trillion cubic meters respectively, and oil and gas production of 23.75 million tons and 13.5 billion cubic meters respectively.

In terms of production, especially in natural gas, it ranks second or third in the world all year round.

The ones at the front have always been Mao Xiong or Lang Yi.

This company is also the lifeblood of Catal.

When Abel said this, Ben Khalifa stopped mentioning this matter.

For Kattar, there was only one person in their country who had the authority to talk to Abel about this.

That is their supreme Emil.

The envoys of Kattar died down.

But the messenger of Neon smiled and invited Abel to visit Neon.

Abel directly stated that he would go, but not soon.

It may not be until next year, because he will return to the United States in two days.

Over in the United States, Abel still has a lot of things to do.

Including but not limited to Elizabeth's Christmas Eve show, as well as his life events.

With the help of Robbie Appleby, Abel got to know various people here step by step.

In terms of neon, except for Mitsui Suki of the Mitsui Foundation.

He also met Iwasaki from Mitsubishi, and someone from the other party came to attend the cocktail party.

It was like adding a few more strokes to Abel's blank neon connections, and at least getting to know a few more people.

The reception started at seven o'clock and lasted until after nine o'clock in the evening. Everyone was leaving one after another.

The chaebols on the Han Kingdom side were the last to leave.

After the people were almost gone, Abel called Li Zaixi and others into a small living room.

Li Fuzhen was accompanying her, and Li Xinyu could have participated as well.

But this little princess of the Samsung Group, who has always been a bit artistic, has no interest in this kind of thing.

Unlike the eldest princess Li Fuzhen, what she likes most is this kind of thing.

Therefore, Li Xinyu did not come.

In the small living room.

Li Zaixi and others looked at Abel and talked:

"Soros is now on Hong Kong Island. He originally wanted to attack Hong Kong Island. But on Hong Kong Island, because of China, he was a little scrupulous. But it was different here in Han Kingdom. He wanted to attack Han Kingdom. , that’s nothing to worry about.”

"Does he really just want to take action on the stock market?" Zheng Jiumeng couldn't help but ask in a low voice.

In the shadow of a famous tree, Soros has been doing evil for many years. Who among the people with financial interests in small countries will not be afraid of him when he is mentioned?

Especially the victims of Soros, they hate him even more when they mention him.

During the financial crisis of 1998.

As the largest chaebol in the Han Kingdom at the time, the Zheng family was the family that suffered the greatest impact.

After the impact, the Zheng family fell into a fierce internal dispute between wealthy families.

In the end, the Zheng family, which was originally the number one wealthy family, was divided into three after the impact and internal fighting.

When the eldest son has already passed away.

The second son, Zheng Jiumeng, got the most profitable and important subsidiary of the group, Xiandai Automobile.

The sixth son, Zheng Zhunmeng, controls the current Dai Heavy Industry Group, which is the family's second most profitable and most important company.

The fifth son, Zheng Xianmeng, inherited everything that was left according to his father's will.

Logically speaking, Zheng Xianmengcai should be an important representative of the Xiandai chaebol.

The reality is that after the automobile and heavy industry, the best assets of the Dai Group, became independent.

The other dozen or so companies are quite large, but most of them are heavily in debt, and the group has to bear the burden of foreign investment.

After his father passed away in March this year, the three sons were separated.

Zheng Xianmeng's main line is actually the weakest now.

The first one to become stronger was Zheng Jiumeng.

Zheng Zhunmeng, who got the heavy industry group, was mainly obsessed with his official career.

Zheng Jiumeng, the second son of the modern Dai family, became the first representative of this chaebol family.

When it comes to the interests of the entire chaebol family, Zheng Jiumeng takes the lead in the Zheng family.

This is also the reason why Zheng Jiumeng has always had the loudest voice in this small chaebol team.

Because before this, their Zheng family was the largest plutocrat in Han Kingdom.

It's just that the Zheng family has been hurt by the 1998 financial crisis and the family has been divided. It is no longer as good as the Li family.

In addition, Li Zaixi has two good daughters, so he is naturally the leader of the chaebols now.

Even if Zheng Jiumeng is dissatisfied, he can only resolve the conflicts between the entire Zheng family.

Otherwise, the number one chaebol would no longer be the Zheng family.

"No one can know what Soros is thinking. Maybe not even himself. Because many times, Soros has to do some irrational things under the influence of international hot money."

Abel was not in the mood to know about the turmoil among Han Guo's plutocrats.

Now he just wants to cut leeks and earn some pocket money to give to Li Fuzhen, and he doesn't care about the rest.

"What we have to do now is to continue to urge public opinion."

Abel expressed: "By hyping up the Hanguo stock market, Soros's attention will only be on the stock market. If he is lucky..."

Abel laughed and looked at everyone, "Maybe we can make some Soros money in the stock market."

Hearing what he said, the chaebols looked at each other and saw movement in each other's eyes.

It doesn't actually matter whether you can make Soros' money.

The important thing is that if you do this, there is a high probability that you can make some money.

This "one sum" is at least tens of millions of dollars, maybe even more.

This is very exciting for these high-end workers placed on the peninsula by the United States.

"Then let's do it." Li Zaixi was the first to express his stance, "I have no doubts."

Zheng Jiumeng also rushed to say: "I have no problem anymore."

Several others said the same thing.

It seemed that in an instant, an invisible net facing most Hanguo... Hanguo's stockholders spread from the Shilla Hotel to the entire peninsula.

The 1998 financial crisis is over, and the Chinese leeks who have cultivated themselves for several years have also ushered in the sharp sickle...

It's just the flu, A. He said it was either the school or me who caught it. Why……