America's Road to Wealth

Chapter 351 A $1200 Billion Net worth
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 also be regarded as a prince in this country now.

He is already qualified to contact an existence like the California Consortium.

But it's just a preliminary contact.

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

It's the same even if both sides have a tacit understanding.

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 to each other, and there is no conflict at present.

That's enough.

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

Abel is better at investing, or speculating.

The financial power of the California consortium is retail banks and commercial banks, and the two sides are very complementary.

After a little chat with Keira 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 cooperate immediately.

But try to make some business contacts.

If the contact is good, if we really cooperate in the future.

When it unfolds, it will be smoother and more experienced.

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

John Stampf spoke softly.

Abel nodded:
"It is true. Last year, Silicon Valley Bank was acquired by me. But until now, it is still an independent bank and has not yet been merged into Pacific Bank."

John Stampf nodded, quickly calculating the gains and losses in his mind.

Founded in 1983, Silicon Valley Bank 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 20 billion US dollars, which is a small bank in the United States.

The bank's business is mainly to provide loans to venture capital companies and Silicon Valley startups.

Like the early Cisco, Oracle, and even Google, they all took 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$50 billion.

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

At the end of last year, its shares were gradually acquired by Abel, and the economic situation improved a lot.

Some of the Internet company stocks that Abel bought on [-]/[-] this year were also held by this bank.

This is mainly to avoid tax-

Super taxpayers, super philanthropists, by no means do not avoid taxes at all.

"So what do you mean"

John Stumpf knew something about Silicon Valley Bank, he didn't know Abe's intentions.

"I mean. We can try to cooperate first." Abel said with a smile:
"We used Silicon Valley Bank as an experiment, how about the cooperation between the two parties on Silicon Valley Bank?"

John Stumpf looked at Keira 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 one billion dollars and got 49.9% of the shares of Silicon Valley Bank. The two parties jointly operate Silicon Valley Bank." Abel said.

In the process of obtaining Silicon Valley Bank Financial Group, Abel spent a total of about 20 billion US dollars.

Later, another [-] million U.S. dollars was invested in development. Since Silicon Valley is miserable now, its performance is also very average.

Its total value now is around $22 billion.

Wells Fargo takes a 49.9% stake for $[-] billion.

It can be said that even before the business is done, he has earned at least tens of millions of dollars.

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 to lure Wells Fargo and the California consortium.

"How about 50%? Wells Fargo is paying $11 billion."

After thinking about it, John Stumpf showed his sincerity.

Wells Fargo doesn't make those tens of millions of dollars.

But to demand equal rights, everyone will work together in Silicon Valley to build Silicon Valley Bank.

Abel wants to contact the California consortium, why doesn't the California consortium not want to contact him?

John Stumpf would be here today if he didn't want to get in touch with Abel.

But Keira Wilson will never show up.

"Happy cooperation." Abel smiled and stretched out his hand.

John Stumpf and Keira Wilson, smiling, shook his hand too.

Abel's main purpose today was finally accomplished.

Pacific Bank and Wells Fargo, in cooperation with Silicon Valley Bank.

In later generations, it is also considered to be the Smith Consortium, the first cooperation with the California Consortium.

The matter is almost over, Abel declined the invitation of Keira and Stumpf to the reception tonight.

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

After Abe's plane leaves the Wells Fargo Building.

The smiles faded from the faces of the two California consortium members.

John Stampf said to Kayla:

"It's as generous as ever. Tens of millions of dollars were given out without blinking an eye."

His annual salary is about tens of millions of dollars.

Big Beauty Kayla nodded, and she 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 Shrub, has been in San Francisco for some time. During this time, the third child of the Shrub family has been in contact with the AFL-CIO gang. Obviously, this Mr. Smith , There are considerations in this regard. He may need our support in this regard."

Kayla nodded thoughtfully.

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

The two continued to talk as they walked downstairs.

How about Abel Smith?
Kayla thought it was handsome first.Tall and sunny, it fits the appearance of the sun god Apollo in the minds of European and American people.

Then there is the way of speaking, which is not annoying, and it sounds very good.

The second is the way of doing things, which is very straightforward and very generous.

Sharp thinking, decisive and straightforward.

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

She removed her opinion of Abel from the appearance part.

Speak honestly to John Stumpf.

John Stumpf nodded.

In fact, if possible, John didn't want to take this young lady with him at all.

But Slade Wilson, one of the original shareholders of Wells Fargo.It is obvious to want Keira Wilson to share some of the power of Wells Fargo in the future.

Even John Stumpf felt a little uncomfortable about it.

But as a senior wage earner, he also had to take Keira Wilson with him at work.

John Stampf 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 didn't join the Texas consortium. He married the Bush family, but he cooperated with Buffett in the Midwest. In New York, he had a good relationship with Morgenthau. He is more It also has a deep cooperative relationship with oilmen like Bloomberg and Soros."

John Stumpf analyzes softly, introducing Kayla to a side of Abe Smith that you haven't seen.

Some of these analyzes were thought up by John himself.

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

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

What the Smith Intelligence Group can do for Abel, and what it can't do for Abel.

These veteran consortiums and their think tank teams can do it.

After all, the Smith Intelligence Group has only been established for more than a year now.The shortest period of existence of these consortiums has been decades.

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

One is that he is a reborn person, even if he didn't specifically remember it.

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

This advantage can be large or small, and as his influence increases, many things may be changed.

This advantage may also gradually disappear.

The second is his unrivaled talent.

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

Compare with these two.

The others are from the Mayflower family, or from the Texas senior redneck.

In the eyes of an existence of this level, that is really nothing. .

Mr. Brain Opening is good enough?Is the family good enough?Is his position high enough?
It really touched the interests of certain groups, and it still opened up the mind.

Including the ecological niche that Abel found for himself.

And what he thinks is smart, the future shareholding structure design within the Smith Consortium.

In fact, these things have long been given to those old chaebols and consortiums.

The group of smart people who were raised by them were very thorough in their analysis.

Perhaps the results they concluded after analysis were even more perfect than what Aber had imagined.
This gap in background is difficult for Abel to bridge.

The reason why these old consortiums and chaebols have been quietly watching him perform and watch his development.

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

Abel is very sensible, so far, he has not had much conflict with anyone except Wall Street.

Even with Wall Street, there is conflict while cooperating.

In addition, he has grown up really fast, and in the blink of an eye, people need to pay attention to him.

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

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

In a way, it can already be said to be one of them.

A young, new member who just joined in.

Abel has begun to be qualified to discuss cooperation with them.

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

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

John also taught these things to Keira, who was still relatively immature.

After this "science popularization" by John Stumpf.

Keira couldn't help being a little surprised.

"That is to say. Has he established a Smith Consortium now? God, I heard that he is only under 22 years old, six years younger than me!"

Keira couldn't help it.

John Stumpf smiled wryly.

The chairman felt that it was really annoying to compare people to others.

In this world

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

There is also Abel Smith, who built Rome on the spot by himself in a very short period of time.

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

"That's about it." John Stampf nodded and said:
"In terms of wealth, he and his friends can be regarded as the Smith Consortium."

Keira Wilson sighed: "Very powerful, very powerful. Then in your estimation, how rich is he now? Is it really just a little like Forbes said?"

According to the Forbes list, Abel's wealth exceeds 800 billion US dollars.

Is $800 billion a small amount, Stampf thought?

That's already an astronomical figure, okay?

"I don't know. But our analysis does not include the stock price of Smith Capital. His personal net worth may be around 1200 billion U.S. dollars."

John Stumpf said vaguely.

"Two hundred for one thousand?" Keira exclaimed again.

In the conversation between the two.

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

"How about it?"

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

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

After Abel answered, he said softly:

"Dear Neil, the road has been paved. It depends on how you go. I hope that one day, little Laura, me, and our children can all enjoy your protection."

"Uh..." Neil thought in his heart that if that was the case, then that would be fine.

Then the first thing I have to do is to keep you kid away from other women!
Only be in love with my daughter.

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

The next day, November 2001, 11, was Monday.

that morning.

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

From $43.5 at the break on Friday.

It fell until the market closed that day, and it has returned to the price of 35 US dollars not long ago.

The Pacific Commercial Bank, which has been resting in the market for more than a week, began to slowly sweep goods again.

In the case of Soros, the leader of the white knight, "leading the surrender" and "leading the betrayal".

The stock of American Express, no longer turbulent, has been maintained at around 35 US dollars.

The U.S. Pacific Bank of Commerce gradually attracted funds.

Wait until Wednesday, November 11th.

Pacific Bank of Commerce already holds a 48.9% stake in American Express.

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

Among the remaining shareholders, it can be said that most of them are institutions.

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

It is impossible for Abel to raise the price in a short time.

The rest is a stalemate, and the two sides will fight on the board of directors of American Express.

On May 11th.

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

The venue is in Manhattan's World Financial Center Building [-], in the New York headquarters of American Express.

The acquisition of American Express.Regardless of the duration, or the context, and the offensive and defensive operations between the two parties that occurred in the middle.

It can be said that it is a textbook-style "barbarian outside the door" classic hostile takeover incident.

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

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

During this period of time, the sales of financial media and newspapers 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 of Building Two 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 entrance of the building one by one, and walked to the inside of the building.

The reporters would gather around and ask the shareholders of these American Express companies some questions loudly.

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

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

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

【Mr. Walton, you】

Jim Walton blacked out the whole time and ignored the reporters.

Just from that look on his face, he seemed to know that he was very unhappy today.

Some shareholders were interviewed by reporters.

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

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

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

Facing the reporter's interview, his response was also very clear——

"Why are you dissatisfied? How could we be dissatisfied with Mr. Smith? Everyone is a shareholder of American Express, and they all hope that American Express can develop better. Mr. Smith's joining will make American Express even stronger. How could we be unhappy?"

The reporters wondered if Mr. President was really happy.

But the reporters at the gate of the building today.

They are really happy.

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

What they are more eager to shoot 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 American Express was about to start, they didn't wait for these two people.

Some sources say.

Kenneth Chenault didn't leave last night and stayed in the mansion all the time.

So now outside, everyone naturally can't wait for Kenneth Chenault.

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

Why he, the winner, didn't show up at this time today is unknown.

Just when the reporters were a little disappointed.

An apparently elongated Mercedes-Benz S sedan appeared, and it slowly parked at the entrance of Building [-] of the World Financial Center.

A sharp-eyed reporter recognized who the owner of the car was, and immediately screamed:
"George Soros! It's Soros's car. Soros is here? Didn't he sell all his stocks to Smith?"

The reporters all rushed over in a swarm.

If they were not blocked by the security guards of the building and Soros' bodyguards, they could have rushed directly to Soros' face.

Sometimes, let alone Soros.Even George, who lives in the white house, these reporters can be so brave.

After all, like Abel, there are not many rich people who are willing to spend tens of millions of dollars in lawyer fees to find relationships all over the United States and send those paparazzi reporters to prison.

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

Some are Pulitzer Prize winners.

In this situation, these people are not afraid of Abel Smith.

What's more, it's not Abe Smith here, it's just Soros.

The reporters frantically asked, but Soros smiled and raised his hand, "Good morning, everyone. Maybe you are wondering why I am here. Then I will tell you directly."

"I'm here to represent a friend of mine, to exercise his American Express shareholder duties, to act as a shareholder representative. That's why I'm here."

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

With the help of bodyguards and security guards, the amiable Soros successfully entered Building [-] of the World Financial Center.

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

When seeing Soros walking in with a smile on his face, Mr. Executive Chairman couldn't hide the surprised expression on his face.

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

"Mr. Soros? Why are you here, you"

It is well known in the United States that Soros has sold his stocks.

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

Logically speaking, Soros without stocks should not be here.

This kind of unreasonable thing happened, and Kenneth Chenault, who was already desperate, finally had a glimmer of hope in his heart.

Is Soros going to come back here and fight Abel Smith?
Even though he knew that the possibility was unlikely, Kenneth Chenault, who regarded this as the last straw, could only force himself to think like this.

Soros looked a little haggard, and saw Kenneth Chenault who didn't sleep well last night.

The financial crocodile complained about someone's bad taste and narrow-mindedness.

At this moment, facing the enthusiastic Kenneth Chenault, Soros smiled politely:
"Mr. Chenault, hello. I am representing Mr. Abel Smith today, as his shareholder representative, to attend today's shareholder meeting."

"what?"

Kenneth Chenault almost thought he had heard wrong.

Soros nodded again with a smile: "On behalf of Mr. Abel Smith, as his stock representative in American Express, I will attend today's shareholders' meeting."

Kenneth Chenault was sure he had heard right this time.

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

It can no longer be undone.

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

Want to say something, but really can't say it.

The surrounding shareholders and those board members peeked at each other.

To everyone's surprise, Abe Smith himself did not come.

But he called Soros, the leader of the white knights who originally resisted him, the "barbarian outside the gate", and came over to be the shareholder representative of him, a barbarian.
This is simply, too Faxeite.

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 shares in American Express for $40.

Abel agreed, but asked Soros to fulfill his small request.

Abel asked Soros, the leader of the White Knights, to come and attend the shareholder meeting on behalf of Abel, the "barbarian" who took over the hostile takeover.

Abel's small request is somewhat bad for Soros.

For the board of directors of American Express and those shareholders who opposed the hostile takeover, it was even more direct.

For Kenneth Chenault, it was even more soul trampling.

But Soros thought, that's tens of millions of dollars
What's wrong with losing face?
Losing face can save tens of millions of dollars, so Soros said that he is willing to lose face every day! !

Even Kenneth Chenault seems to have lost his mind.

The shareholders meeting of American Express was held as scheduled.

In the general meeting of shareholders, as the representative of the largest shareholder.

George Soros made the appeal of the largest shareholder:

Removal of 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 nine to eight.

The board of directors re-elected, the post of executive chairman was abolished, and the position of independent chairman was replaced.

This appeal was passed at the general meeting of shareholders, and the voting support rate of shareholders reached 80%.

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

After these people are gone, re-elect the board of directors directly.

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 again received a pass rate of more than 76.5%.

Anyone with a discerning eye knows that Abe Smith's success is unstoppable.

Even if his shares are not more than half, it would be meaningless to refuse in this regard at this time.

These all went well.

When the remaining 7 other executive directors were elected, it was not as smooth as before.

Soros, as a representative, nominated seven candidates requested by the largest shareholder, only three were approved.

The remaining four were elected by people supported by other shareholders.

Now that Abel Smith's entry is unstoppable.

The goal of this group of people is 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 heard the news, he had already left San Francisco.

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

Liv Tyler usually lives in this house.

Occasionally Cate Blanchett comes in, usually when Abel is here.

Liv Tyler is now in Europe, and she's 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 happened to be 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 seems to have orange-flavored sunshine, illuminating the entire courtyard of the villa brilliantly.

In splendor, Abel looked into the small garden by the courtyard pool.

Cate Blanchett, chatting with another member of the Australian Gang.

That member's name was Nicole Kidman.
"Oh, thank you very much. George, I really couldn't go back, so I asked you to help."

"Don't believe me. And I didn't ask you to help for nothing. I did what I said, and it cost me tens of millions of dollars!"

"Hahaha~ ok ok. Next time if this happens again, I will call you again."

Hearing Soros say that next time there is such a thing, call him, the premise is that as long as there is money to make.

Abel agreed with a smile, and cared about Soros' Hong Kong Island plan by the way.

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

Abel also hung up the phone with a smile, and looked down again.

Just below, Nicole Kidman's gaze, looking in his direction.

Abel smiled and raised his hand to her.

The latter was taken aback for a moment, and immediately smiled beautifully at him.

(End of this chapter)