"Fortune" magazine is a biweekly magazine owned by Time Company. On the day the new issue of the magazine was released, Steve Ross called Simon and said that he had no prior knowledge. During the conversation, he congratulated Simon and said Said that he would attend his wedding on March 3 on time.
With 4.5 billion US dollars in cash and other assets, Simon has become the first super-rich man in the history of the federation whose assets exceed 10 billion US dollars.
This does seem like something worth celebrating.
During the release of "Pretty Woman", due to competition with Warner Bros.'s "The Seven Years Storm" starring Steven Seagal, Time magazine, also owned by Time Warner, gave "Pretty Woman" a negative review. .
Time Warner was not a monolithic company, but Simon didn't believe it if Steve Ross didn't know about it.
However, Simon had no intention of worrying about these things.
As "Fortune" magazine exposed Simon's overseas asset registration materials with the IRS, he received more questions than congratulations.
The US$4.5 billion figure, which was exposed by Fortune and sparked heated discussions in the media, is of course not the exact size of Simon’s overseas assets, but just a registered taxable amount.
Moreover, this money is not all in cash, but also includes a large part of short-term convertible financial products in order to obtain capital returns that are slightly higher than bank interest and very safe.
If you include assets such as Nokia, Gucci, and Simon's overseas properties, Simon's assets outside the United States can easily exceed US$5 billion.
Of course, most of the media and the public don't pay attention to this.
The focus of public opinion questioning is how did the huge amount of US$4.5 billion in cash come from
The development of Daenerys Entertainment has a very clear context. However, the operation of Cersei Capital is opaque to most people.
Therefore, it is difficult for many people to believe that a hedge fund can bring Simon a huge wealth of US$4.5 billion in just one year.
You know, this kind of profit scale is already comparable to the most profitable corporate giants in North America such as IBM, Ford Motor, and General Electric.
Similar corporate giants all have revenue reaching hundreds of billions of dollars.
Therefore, the media and the public cannot help but question whether there are some unknown secrets behind the huge amount of US$4.5 billion.
Facing more and more doubts, Simon had to respond.
Pat Kingsley, who still serves as his public relations manager, pointed out at a press conference on February 28 that Simon had already proven his talent in finance during the operation of the S&P 500 Index in 1987. In the past year, The income of US$4.5 billion was entirely dependent on Cersei Capital's legal operations and related commission income, and there was no inside story.
After saying this, people remembered.
Simon became the youngest billionaire in North America through the operation of stock index futures during the 1987 stock market crash.
Now, through another operation, Simon Westeros has completed the advancement from a billionaire to a tens of billions, which seems to make sense.
However, 4.5 billion US dollars.
This amount of money is too huge for a single individual.
You know, on last year's "Forbes" North America 400 richest list, apart from Simon Westeros, only John Kruger's net worth exceeded this number.
Even on the global rich list, there are less than 20 people with a net worth of more than US$4.5 billion.
What's more, this asset is all cash, not real estate or stock assets that are difficult to cash out.
Based on this calculation, Simon Westeros may be the one with the most cash among the world's richest people.
Simon's operating methods during the 1987 stock market crash were completely exposed in the media. There is no possibility of copying that kind of god-level operation that follows the market curve.
This time, what's the inside story
Along with this mentality, many media began to tip off federal regulatory agencies, asking these departments to intervene to investigate more details of Cersei Capital’s operations.
However, these agitation were destined to fail.
Cersei Capital has just recently confirmed that it will be headquartered in Manhattan. Prior to this, this hedge fund registered in the Cayman Islands was not subject to federal jurisdiction at all.
As for the proposer using Cersei Capital's operation in the US stock and bond market last year as an excuse, it is still difficult to work.
Unless Cersei Capital is suspected of illegal operations, it is impossible for any regulatory agency to launch an investigation hastily, let alone require a company to disclose its business information for no reason.
Are there any irregularities in the operations of Cersei Capital
With more financial institutions in North America secretly keeping an eye on Cersei Capital last year, if there were any violations, they would have been exposed long ago. Even if there is no benefit to them, just out of jealousy, there are too many people who want to see Cersei Capital suffer.
As a result, nothing happened.
If you can get a handle on it and stab Cersei Capital, there will definitely be no problem.
If there is no substantive evidence and a forced investigation is launched just because Cersei Capital's profits are too huge, the result will only be disgrace.
Simon Westeros cannot be helpless.
Since Cersei Capital cannot be used to cause trouble for Simon Westeros, some people have turned their attention to taxes.
With $4.5 billion in cash, Simon Westeros is subject to a capital gains tax rate of 28% on the reported carried interest income, which means more than $1.2 billion in taxes.
With more than $1 billion in taxes, no individual in federal history has ever owed such a huge sum of money while alive.
Moreover, Westeros obviously has no intention of transferring the money back to the country immediately.
How can this work!
As a result, within a few days of the exposure in Fortune magazine, a federal senator from Tennessee publicly stated that unless Simon paid the tax arrears immediately, Cersei Capital should be banned from doing business in the United States.
In order to promote this matter, the congressman also solemnly submitted a proposal to Congress.
You know, there are more than one companies and individuals like Simon Westeros who keep their capital overseas to avoid taxes, but continue to do business in the United States through various means. If relevant bills can be introduced, it will immediately bring a large amount of additional revenue to the federal finance.
However, the United States’ global taxation strategy has always been controversial.
In order to promote the return of overseas capital to the United States, the federal government will guide this capital back to the country through tax exemptions every few years.
Now, if you want to force the passage of more stringent bills to tax corporate and personal overseas assets, it is definitely not just Simon's interests that are at stake.
Once the situation becomes urgent, everyone has no countermeasures.
The general idea of overseas taxation in the United States is to collect a portion of the tax that is higher than the tax paid by the taxpayer but lower than the domestic tax share.
If the federal government goes too far, taxpayers can directly pay sufficient taxes to overseas countries without using tax avoidance means. This may also gain favor and more policy support from the corresponding countries.
In comparison, if you leave it to China, you won't even get a small red flower.
Such a simple truth can be easily understood by anyone with a discerning eye.
Therefore, as long as the top brass of the federal government do not go crazy, the Tennessee congressman's proposal will not be passed.
Although he knew that this public opinion storm would still not bring much crisis to him, the pressure on Simon has not diminished at all.
In addition to digging into the inside story of Cersei Capital and calling for huge tax payments, the media also pointed the finger at Wall Street, believing that financial speculation should be restricted.
The federal junk bond market that broke out at the end of last year is still going on, and some people are once again trying to blame Simon for the crisis, trying to lead others to believe that it was short selling by hedging forces such as Cersei Capital that caused the junk bond market to become unsustainable. , countless investors suffered heavy losses.
All in all, a 22-year-old young man has amassed more than 10 billion US dollars in assets in just a few years. This in itself is an unforgivable original sin.
Once it is not handled well, the general public, who are often easily moved by the media, are likely to become resistant to all companies in the Westeros system, especially Daenerys Entertainment.
Even if Simon wants to expand further in the next few years, he will encounter many obstacles.
Therefore, the public relations team of the entire Westeros system has been running wildly during this period. James Raybould also specially hired a professional media public relations company to be responsible for guiding public opinion.
Melbourne.
The situation in North America was tense, but Simon came here in advance a week before the wedding.
Considering the recent trend of public opinion, the upcoming wedding will be completely isolated from the media's attention. In order to ensure that the huge paparazzi groups coming from all over the world cannot penetrate into various wedding venues, the Johnston family hired a huge security team of more than 300 people this time. .
The wedding venue in Yarra Valley Park was completely closed half a month in advance. All teams and individuals involved in the wedding preparations signed a strict confidentiality agreement. No information about the wedding could be disclosed to the outside world, whether before or after the wedding. detail.
The Johnston family home.
It’s already Thursday, March 1st.
Simon's daily rest time these days is no more than 5 hours. Last night, in order to check the wedding preparation details, he didn't rest until about one o'clock in the morning, and woke up again before six o'clock in the morning.
Janet was also quite excited during this time and also got up early.
For the sake of convenience, the two of them have been living in a mansion in recent days.
It's six o'clock in the morning in Melbourne, but it's one o'clock in the afternoon in Los Angeles the day before.
After spending more than an hour discussing recent events with the North American side, Simon hung up the phone after the servant reminded him that it was almost eight o'clock.
When we came to the restaurant, a large family was sitting at the dining table.
In addition to Raymond Johnston and his wife, there are also Veronica Johnston, who is as cool and cold as ever, and David Johnston, who has just returned from England, and his girlfriend Lesley Whickert. and a couple, Patrick Johnston and Sarah Keyston.
After greeting everyone, Simon sat down next to Janet, and Raymond Johnston asked: "How is it going in North America?"
Simon picked up the tableware and said, "It's still very lively."
Raymond Johnston nodded and said: "The achievements you have achieved in recent years are beyond the understanding of most ordinary people. It is not surprising that they would react like this. After the wedding, you and Jenny take a good rest. , reduce your appearances in front of the media, and things will cool down quickly. In fact, I suggest that you don’t make any big moves in the next few years, giving the public time to adapt.”
Before Simon could answer, Janet couldn't help but retort: "You can't just do nothing, right?"
Raymond glared at his daughter: "It's not that we don't do anything, but we need to keep a low profile and carefully integrate and digest the existing assets."
There were too many people in the restaurant, and Simon couldn't tell the old man about Daenerys Entertainment's plan to acquire MCA this year. He just nodded in agreement.
After hearing what her husband said, Janet's mother, Tracey Johnston, looked at Simon and said, "You two had better have a baby as soon as possible."
When these words came out, Janet's face immediately turned red, and she didn't know whether it was true or pretending.
The report from the British genetic research institute was handed over to Simon last week, and there were no problems. In fact, Simon was not too worried at first, because this matter was not as serious as Simon's memory made it out to be. Therefore, both of them have decided to have a child as soon as possible. This is Janet's expectation. On the other hand, it can also increase Simon's ties to the world.
After breakfast, Anthony Johnston and Norman Johnston also came over.
The wedding is the day after tomorrow and there are so many things to do in the next two days.
After allocating the schedule, Simon and Janet rushed to Yarra Valley Park together. The flower maze that the woman was planning would be built today, and she wanted to keep an eye on it in person. Simon has to rush to Melbourne Airport to pick up people later, and some guests will arrive one after another today.
In the closed park, Janet had a discussion with the person in charge of the preparation team. Seeing everyone getting busy, she said to Simon: "One more thing, Kate and Jenny will come over in the afternoon. We have booked to go to Bali tomorrow. There’s a bachelor’s party on the island, what about you?”
The farewell bachelor party before the wedding is also a Western custom.
Simon didn't expect this, so he smiled and said, "How about I go with you?"
Janet immediately rolled her eyes and said, "I'll take you there. Is that still a bachelor party?"
Simon stretched out his hand to pull the woman over, put his arm around her waist and said, "You guys go and play. I don't have this habit. By the way, don't be too crazy."
Speaking of which, even if Simon wanted to have a bachelor's party, he couldn't seem to find anyone of his own age who could entertain him.
Janet's eyes rolled, and she thought of something. However, she raised her head and glanced at Simon, and gave up the idea. She felt that her youngest could help Simon organize it, but after thinking about what happened last time at Simon's boxing ring at Pike's house, she decided not to do it. She didn't want anything to happen to her long-awaited wedding.
Looking at the workers around her who were busy building the flower wall, and smelling the scent of roses floating in the air, Janet put her head on Simon's chest and murmured: "You little bastard, are we really going to get married?"
Simon smiled and nodded: "Yes."
"I just wanted to make sure."
"Do you want me to pinch you to prove that this is not a dream?"
"Yeah."
Simon's big hand slid down and gently pinched the woman's buttocks.
Janet snorted and tightened her arms around Simon.
Feeling that the woman in his arms was getting weaker and weaker, Simon simply hugged her and sat down on the lawn.
When the surrounding staff saw this, they all wisely avoided it.
Some shallow humming gradually floated in the air, soft and hoarse.
*…
*When I was a little girl, I asked my mother.
*What does the future hold
*Will I become beautiful? Will I get rich
*Mom said.
*let it go.
*Everything in the world is unpredictable, whatever happens is up to him.
*…
Although there is no sound of the piano, the tune is still the same as that warm Christmas Eve.