After discussing some details, the matter was finalized and the chief financial officer of America Online was sent away. There were only two people left in the conference room. Leon Black talked to Simon about another matter: "Simon, if my judgment is correct , the Republicans are probably going to win this time, right?”
The operation of this presidential election is the core secret of the Westeros system, and Leon Black is not yet informed.
However, as long as one is keen enough, one can actually make a certain judgment through many clues, such as the operational details of political action committees or other affiliated political lobbying organizations that are required by every company in the Westeros system.
Of course, the premise is that the person who can make a judgment must have a certain status in the Westeros system, roughly like Leon Black, so that he can obtain the corresponding information and draw conclusions. Otherwise, it will be like a blind man touching an elephant and only seeing a speck.
On the other hand, at a level such as Leon Black's, where interests are deeply bound, even if something is discovered, the chance of betrayal is very high. Even if someone betrays, it is still difficult to obtain enough evidence.
Regarding the question that Leon Black looked at him with bright eyes, Simon just smiled and did not answer directly. Instead, he asked: "Leon, do you have any plans?"
Leon Black didn't expect to get a definite answer from his boss. However, looking at Simon's expression, he could roughly tell at this time, and then said: "Actually, it's Chevron. Since last year, Chevron's senior management has had A proposal, hoping to promote a merger with Texaco, Simon, you should have heard the news?"
Simon nodded.
This can be regarded as the result of the collision between the Westeros system and the Mellon family, another established wealthy family in the United States.
After the defeat of the Mellon family, the Westeros system relied on its strong capital strength and subsequent series of capital operations to gradually take over a series of corporate giants that were once heavily held by the Mellon consortium, including the Mellon Bank, which had been merged by the Bank of New York. , the old pharmaceutical giant Warner Lambert, which has merged with Pfizer, Alcoa Company, the largest aluminum giant in the federal government, and so on.
Chevron is one of them.
Speaking of which, this is mainly due to the capital expansion strategy of transferring the Westeros system from the tertiary industry to the secondary industry that Simon personally finalized. The dispute with the Mellon family is just an opportunity.
Compared with film and television entertainment or network technology, Simon still firmly believes that physical industries that can provide tangible products, including secondary industries and more basic primary industries, are the foundation for maintaining the normal operation of human society, even if profits are The rate is lower, but the trick is a long stream of water.
If I have to come up with a theory, perhaps a common saying in my memory can serve as an argument.
Antiques in prosperous times, gold in troubled times.
Of course it is not a literal meaning, it needs to be understood.
Looking back at human history, which period lasts longer, the prosperous times or the troubled times
Apparently it's the latter.
It is easy to be intoxicated by the short-term peace, but it is never eternal. The easiest thing is to draw out a time scale of 70 years, which is roughly equivalent to the life of an ordinary person, and you will know it at a glance.
When turmoil comes, finance, film and television, and the Internet no longer matter.
Just like in some extreme doomsday stories, if you stock up on a warehouse of cans, medicines and fuel, then you are the king. Some people who hoard a bunch of DVDs will starve to death immediately.
In the conference room.
Leon Black continued: "The previous contacts did not go well, and Texaco had a strong voice of opposition. However, there have been some changes recently. Just last month, a person in charge of Texaco's financial business department A vice president was attacked and died mysteriously. The matter has not yet been resolved, but various rumors have caused Texaco's stock price to fall for a month. In addition, the person in charge is also the most determined person within Texaco to oppose the sale. Senior executives have close relationships with several important holding funds behind Texaco. In short, if we start contacting again now, we may have different results."
When Simon heard what Blake said, a strange expression flashed across his face.
Energy companies often have very important financial business departments. On the one hand, they are responsible for investment and securities lending, and on the other hand, they are involved in the futures field, reducing the company's risks in the cyclical fluctuations in energy prices through hedging.
This is second.
The key is that Simon knows very well how the Texaco executive was attacked and killed.
Unexpectedly, things will bring unexpected results.
After Leon Black finished speaking, he saw that his boss did not respond immediately and seemed to be a little distracted. He waited for a moment before continuing: "In addition, if the materials we have about Enron are thrown out, it will definitely cause harm to the energy companies. It will have a big impact, and it will also help us promote the merger of Chevron and Texaco. Oil prices have been depressed in the past few years, and during this period, energy companies will inevitably do some tricks in their financial reports in order to maintain their stock prices."
Simon retracted his thoughts, listened to Leon Black's words, thought about it for a while, and said: "Okay, in addition, according to Pfizer's plan to acquire Warner Lambert, to complete this acquisition, we must also acquire no less than 15% of the new company's shares. .”
The Westeros system currently holds a lot of shares in Chevron. Westeros Corporation and Black Rock Asset Management together exceed 8% and hold two of the nine seats on the Chevron board of directors.
However, there is still a big gap between actual control.
If this merger can be successful, using Pfizer's strategy of acquiring Warner-Lambert, as long as it works properly, it will once again gain actual control of a world-class super energy giant.
Leon Black nodded and said: "The current combined market value of Chevron and Texaco is US$90 billion. Considering the 20% premium, if Enron's insider selling, there should not be much premium. Perhaps, the stock market After turning from the highest point, it is regarded as the acquisition premium. The final merger price may be even lower. To acquire 15% of the shares, the funds we need to use will not exceed 15 billion US dollars. It happens to be short this time. If everything goes well, it will be able to To raise such a fund.”
Simon was a little surprised: "The total market value of the two companies is only 90 billion?"
"Yes"
Leon Black said, understanding why his boss was surprised. After all, the Enron company just discussed is also mainly engaged in energy business, with a market value of more than 70 billion. However, as the second and third largest oil companies in the United States, their total market value is only 900 billion. 100 million US dollars, which is really not high.
Simon also reacted quickly.
For example, Yigrit, which has now exceeded a trillion US dollars in market capitalization, is actually an anomaly in this era and an anomaly in the bubble era. As for Enron, it also achieved a market value of US$70 billion by hyping its own technology stock concept and frantically making false accounts to boast of high income.
However, companies such as Chevron or Texaco are the normal state of global capital markets.
The old industrial giants in the United States, such as Boeing, Ford, Lockheed Martin, etc., generally have a market value of only tens of billions of dollars. Even if the current peak of the American bull market can exceed a market value of hundreds of billions or even higher, There are only a few companies at the top of the pyramid such as General Electric and ExxonMobil.
In the final analysis, what financial markets value is the future and growth.
Just like Tesla in the past, at the peak of its stock price, the market value of a company was directly equivalent to the total market value of all other traditional automobile giants in the world, or even more.
Now, by the same token, if the book-to-market value of an Igret company is calculated, it is enough to buy a dozen well-known traditional industrial giants in the United States. Of course, this is only theoretical and is not feasible in actual implementation.
Simon didn't quite get the idea of a bunch of industrial giants either.
Through leverage, using a small amount of capital to control these established enterprises, and at the same time tying countless other capitals to the chariot of the Westeros system to form a community of interests, is the kingly way.
With this in mind, Simon discussed more details with Leon Black, and the matter was settled.
Saying goodbye to Black, Simon spent the rest of the afternoon meeting with executives from two other Cersei Capital companies to discuss some recent company affairs.
When the day's work ended, it was already past six o'clock in the evening.
Return to the super mansion on the top floor of Westeros Towers.
We made an appointment in advance to have dinner with the Konavs sisters and the little guys of the two women. When we got home, Melania and Inas had arrived in advance, as well as the little guy, Mike, who was going to be 1 year old in two months. Swesterloe and Toby Westeros.
The conversation at dinner naturally revolved around the upcoming birthday.
Although Melania is a younger sister, her child Max is three days older than Toby. He was born on October 16, which is next Monday, and then there is another little guy on October 19.
Since they both had children, the situation where the two sisters were completely dominated by Melania on Simon's side has changed. As the older sister, Inas has been quietly competing with her younger sister for favor.
This time, the small birthday party was no exception. Inas thought that October 19th was a Thursday, which was closer to the weekend, so she could hold the two children's birthday parties together on that day.
Of course Melania disagrees.
The two sisters obviously had their own little plans in private. They hadn't communicated in advance, so things got heated at the dinner table and they almost started to quarrel.
Old God Simon was eating by himself, occasionally taking care of the two little ones on the left and right of the baby seats. The 1-year-old child could already eat something other than milk. The two little guys didn't admit it. Simon handed the spoon over and opened his mouth to eat. At the same time, they looked at the bickering mother and aunt opposite with interest.
After all, the two sisters did not quarrel in front of Simon. They felt that their anger was a little out of control, so they stopped in time and looked at the man across the dining table together.
Simon once again fed Max on his left a spoonful of specially prepared infant nutrition porridge. He watched the waitress who was standing quietly next to her carefully wipe the marks around the little guy's mouth, then turned to the other side and said, "We can't agree. Just hold them separately, there is no need to gather them together.”
Simon's tone was a little calm, which made both sisters regret their previous dispute, thinking that they must have made the man unhappy.
After a moment of silence, Inas did not dare to speak. Melania could only speak first: "Simon, I mean the baby's birthday party, will you attend?"
The two girls didn't have high expectations at first, but to their surprise, Simon nodded: "The first birthday is very important, I will show up. However, it won't be certain in the future, it depends on the time."
The main thing is that there are a lot of people in this group.
We went crazy in Park City, Utah at the beginning of last year. At the end of the year, six little ones got together, almost like a gourd vine. In the end, they were all born in mid-to-late October.
Simon's consideration was that after all, it was his own child, and it was still an important first birthday. Not attending would be too unkind. If you are partial to one or two, it is even more inappropriate, just go through it impartially.
Of course, if this is the case this year, it won’t be the case next year.
There are so many children, and Simon doesn't want to have to travel every month to celebrate the little ones' birthdays.
When the two sisters heard what Simon said, their eyes lit up at the same time, and they looked at each other again. This time Inas rushed to say: "Simon, when the time comes, can I invite some relatives and friends to attend?"
"Well," Simon nodded, watching the little Toby on the right open his mouth towards him like a chick, picked up the porridge bowl and fed it a spoonful, and then ordered: "Remember to communicate with Ange in advance."
The two women nodded at the same time.
I can't help but think that although the man doesn't see anyone on weekdays, he is still very nice to them, and even to the two little guys.
After dinner, the two sisters got together again and were thinking about how to win over the man this night. Simon was already preparing to go out again.
There is also a cocktail party tonight.
A gathering of Wall Street financial circles spearheaded by George Soros and attended by Hillary Clinton, who is running for New York State Senate this year.
Now that it is determined that the right time will be in the future to send Hillary to the White House, the Westeros system will also contribute a lot to the opponent's Senate campaign this year.
This time it was a face-to-face meeting.
In fact, it still has some understanding of people's hearts. People are very forgetful creatures. Simon's absence for a long time may make some people feel that they are out of the sight of Westeros and can fly as high as the sky.
This is not good.
Seeing that Simon was about to go out, the two sisters thought that was the end of the night. It was not until Simon impatiently sent them to change clothes that they became energetic again.
It was after eight o'clock, and the reception there had been starting for more than an hour, before Simon took the Conafus sisters out together.
Taking two female companions at the same time is somewhat out of place for other people, but it seems natural to Simon.
Big people always have privileges.
With Simon's rank, there are no restrictions. After all, Simon has never built himself up as a serious gentleman.
However, the cocktail party that cheered up the two women seemed dull and boring to Simon.
If there's anything worth mentioning, it's probably that Simon didn't expect that a certain golden retriever would also appear at tonight's reception, but he didn't know how he got involved with Soros.
Then, of course, there is the greeting when we meet.
Although a certain golden retriever is also a famous playboy in New York City, he does not dare to treat the two sisters beside Simon any differently, while Melania and Inas also treat the golden retriever without any pretense. Therefore, Simon found the scene when the two parties were chatting very interesting.
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