$35 billion!
This is the 1991 personal net worth figure of Simon Westeros given by Forbes magazine.
Careful people can easily find that the $14 billion in wealth appreciation compared to last year's $21 billion is exactly equivalent to Simon's previous acquisition price of $14 billion for the two previous companies MCA and Bell Atlantic.
However, this is not the explanation given by Forbes magazine.
The US$14 billion increase in wealth is mainly due to the stock price growth of technology companies such as Microsoft, Intel, Oracle, and SUN held by Westeros over the past year, as well as the two companies AOL and Cisco that have just been listed in recent months. personal wealth.
Among them, only AOL, which holds 65.4% of the shares after the IPO, and Cisco, which holds 50.1% of the shares, contributed a total of US$10.3 billion to Simon according to their market value during the statistical period of "Forbes".
Because of the popularity of Windows 3.0 systems, Microsoft's stock price has doubled in the past year.
Westeros' shareholding in Microsoft has also increased from about 10% last year to 21.3%. Based on Microsoft's market value of $12.5 billion according to Forbes, this part of the stock has once again contributed $2.6 billion to Simon's wealth.
Westeros' shareholding ratio in Intel has also increased to 15.6%. Forbes estimates that Intel's market value is US$10.5 billion, and this part of the stock has contributed US$1.6 billion to Simon's wealth.
Taken together, Westeros holds shares in AOL, Cisco, Microsoft and Intel, with a total value of US$14.6 billion. In other technology companies such as Oracle, SUN, and Silicon Graphics, the total book market value of Westeros Company's holdings also exceeds US$2 billion.
This stock wealth, minus last year's basis, represents the appreciation over the past year.
As for MCA and Bell Atlantic, which have been acquired by Simon, they have basically offset the liabilities of the entire Westeros system.
Anyone with a discerning eye can see that with the Gulf War at the beginning of this year as the dividing point, the U.S. stock market experienced a very obvious bottoming out. Simon's precise purchase of MCA and Bell Atlantic before the Gulf War can be said to be an extraordinary move. Exquisite bargain hunting.
Even if the two companies have been delisted now, the value of MCA and Bell Atlantic will definitely not be the US$14 billion at the beginning of the year.
What's more, according to the calculations of "Forbes", the growth statistics of enterprises in the Westeros system in other aspects such as fashion and technology are very vague.
Finally, there is Cersei Capital, which is difficult to get around.
According to some rumors in the industry, Cersei Capital also made billions of dollars in profits again through operations in oil futures and stock index futures before and after the Gulf War.
Although Simon Westeros himself owns only one-third of the share of the hedge fund Cersei Fund Management under Cersei Capital, it is still a very considerable wealth.
In addition, the most critical Daenerys entertainment.
"Forbes" magazine valued Daenerys Entertainment at US$8 billion last year. This year, with the merger of Daenerys Entertainment and MCA, the company's corporate net assets are no less than US$15 billion, although because of Last year's acquisitions added billions of dollars in debt, but Daenerys Entertainment, which is financially healthy, is clearly different from Time Warner, which is in trouble.
No matter how conservative the estimate is, Daenerys Entertainment’s market value will not be lower than the company’s net worth.
All in all, unlike the controversies in previous years, when "Forbes" released the new year's list of the 400 richest Americans, mainstream media in North America and overseas generally believed that this time, Simon Westeros' personal net worth was obviously underestimated. .
Some people even wonder whether Simon Westeros reached some agreement with Forbes Group in order to make his personal wealth less dazzling.
Although US$35 billion is already very dazzling in itself.
Many Western rich people actually like to keep a low profile. However, when it comes to personal wealth, everyone is relatively calm and believes that wealth represents a kind of glory.
Typically, no one can communicate with the media to reduce their wealth estimate.
This is only under normal circumstances.
Simon Westeros is not a normal guy.
Faced with media doubts, Forbes magazine firmly denied it and claimed that the wealth statistics may be controversial because Simon Westeros' personal asset portfolio is too complex, but the overall wealth statistics are relatively accurate.
The Forbes list has been operating for so many years, and its credibility is still sufficient. Other media such as Fortune magazine have also published similar statistics, but they have not posed any threat to the Forbes list.
Therefore, even if there is controversy, now that the number has been released, Forbes will definitely not modify it, and the media and the public will only use this number as a reference.
Probably many years later, someone will look back at the previous lists of Forbes and look at the data from 1991, and they will only see the figure of Simon Westeros’ personal wealth of US$35 billion. The controversy of that year must have long been forgotten.
After Simon topped the list without any suspense, the subsequent rankings on this year's list also changed greatly.
John Kruger, also a media tycoon, still holds the second place on the list, with a personal wealth of US$5.9 billion, basically the same as last year.
Bill Gates occupies the second place on this year's list, with a personal wealth of US$5 billion.
"Forbes" magazine specifically commented on this. After transferring 5% of Microsoft's shares to Westeros last year, Daimon received a huge sum of cash and purchased luxury homes in New York and San Francisco, as well as a Gulfstream private jet. Airplanes finally have the look of a super rich man.
However, a commentator in "Forbes" said that the stocks that Damon sold last year had increased in value by more than 300 million US dollars in just one year.
In other words, Damen students actually lost US$300 million.
If Microsoft's stock price continues to grow, this 5% loss may be even greater in the future.
The same was true for Paul Galen, who also transferred 5% of Microsoft shares.
Following Bill Gates, the entire five positions from fourth to eighth are all occupied by the Walton family, whose wealth has been equally divided. Sam Walton and his four children’s wealth numbers are all 44. One hundred million U.S. dollars.
In the past two years, the media said that the real richest man in the United States should actually be the Walton family. Starting from this year, the media no longer makes similar arguments. The total wealth of the five Walton family members is only US$22 billion, which is US$13 billion less than Simon.
Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, ranks ninth this year with a personal fortune of $4.2 billion.
Pittsburgh steel tycoon Henry Hillman ranked tenth, but his personal wealth dropped directly to $3.3 billion.
Based on this list, it is not difficult to find that, with the exception of Simon and Gates, most of the top ten in this year's Forbes rich list are traditional rich people known for their solid industries. Even John Kruger has made his fortune through many years of experience. It is through accumulation that I have my current net worth.
Affected by the economic downturn and debt crisis in recent years, wealthy people such as Sam Redstone and Ron Perelman, who were on the list a few years ago and are good at high-debt operations, have fallen off the list. Top ten positions on the list.
However, on the other hand, the combined wealth of the 400 richest people in the United States still shows an increasing trend.
The total wealth of the 400 richest people this year is US$317.3 billion.
It is not difficult to see another point. The total wealth of the 400 top rich people is US$317.3 billion, of which Simon Westeros alone holds US$35 billion, accounting for 11%.
Compared with other rich people on the list, Simon's personal wealth, both in terms of asset amount and appreciation rate, is obviously unparalleled.
Because Simon's personal wealth is mainly concentrated in media and technology, with the release of this list, there was an obvious rise in the media and technology sectors of the U.S. stock market.
In the past few years, many investors have been eager to invest capital in the film industry because of Simon's success in Hollywood.
The structure of major Hollywood studios has changed because of Simon alone.
However, after all, the threshold of Hollywood is not easy for everyone to enter.
The emergence and collapse of a large number of second- and third-tier Hollywood film companies in the 1980s has proven this.
However.
In the field of technology, especially the emerging Internet industry, the threshold is no longer so high.
Just a few days after the "Forbes" list was released, the White House also responded to the "Information Highway Act" secretly promoted by the Westeros system. The White House spokesperson stated at a regular press conference that the president had read the relevant bill. , and convened a special meeting to discuss the feasibility of the bill with cabinet members.
Although the White House does not have legislative power, the president can sign executive orders that also have legal effect.
Moreover, if we can get the assistance of the White House, especially the owners of the White House who have a deep background in Congress like the Bush family, many bills will be passed through Congress more smoothly.
However, the media also understand that it is impossible for the White House to help the Democratic Party promote an important bill involving hundreds of billions of dollars in output. If Bush and his team are optimistic about the prospects of the Internet industry, they are more likely to introduce a similar bill drafted by themselves.
George Bush has received too many attacks for not caring about domestic affairs, and he also needs to push for some bills closely related to the domestic economy.
In any case, the White House's response to the Information Highway Act is a very good sign.
The investment trajectory of the Westeros system in new technological fields is also simple and clear. Therefore, within a short period of time, countless capitals began to gear up to target the Internet industry.
Simon was in Italy when this year's Forbes list was announced.
However, North America still shows no signs of stopping due to the announcement of the wealth list.
Over the years, many media have marveled at Simon's sudden emergence, and there has never been a lack of news criticizing and questioning this young super-rich man.
However, probably just as the weak waves caused by Matthew Broderick and others did not affect Simon at all, Simon actually did not know about most of the media's criticism of him and did not bother to pay attention.
With the release of the new annual list, there have been more questions and criticisms as usual.
The most criticized issue should be about how Simon Westeros should spend such a huge fortune.
The Simon & Janet Westeros Foundation has been very active in recent years.
However, because Simon's personal wealth is so huge, some media believe that Simon's investment in charity is still too low. As usual, there are even remarks that Simon's tens of billions of dollars in personal wealth should belong to the entire society.
Many wealthy people have humbly stated in the media that they are just "custodians of wealth" and the like.
Probably because similar views were spoken too often, some people began to believe it, so they began to call on Simon Westeros in newspapers to 'return society's wealth to society'.
Simon doesn't even want to read news like this.
waste time.
As a housekeeper, Janet's private job is also to maintain the public image of her husband.
Therefore, women basically collect negative news about Simon, and occasionally ask George Norman to send out some lawyer letters or indictments.
However, Janet would habitually roll her eyes when seeing similar news.
In addition to those who persuade Simon to give back to society, there are also a large number of people who persuade him to donate.
In the days since the Forbes list was released, Janet, who is in Los Angeles, has been receiving a lot of similar invitations to donate every day.
Most of them are definitely ignored.
Finally, and probably what troubled Janet the most, was the recognition of her relatives.
For several consecutive years, Simon's life experience has been the focus of media attention.
Some people with other ideas even set up an investigation team to help Simon find his relatives, obviously trying to make a fortune after helping Simon find his parents.
Over the past few years, several couples suspected of being Simon Westeros' parents have been repeatedly hyped by the media, and these people generally have not given up their intention to recognize Simon as his son.
With the release of the "Forbes" list, a couple once again jumped out and appeared in the media tearfully hoping for Simon's recognition. They said with fiery words that they did not ask for anything and only hoped to find their son.
The media is also afraid that the world will not be in chaos.
Simon and Janet have already made plans to deal with this kind of thing, which is to turn the matter into a farce.
When someone asked to identify themselves, Janet would privately arrange for someone to do the same.
People's eyes are sharp.
Suddenly a lot of people jumped out and wanted to be the parents of Simon Westeros. Isn’t this a farce or something
Therefore, once this situation occurs, things will basically stop.
This year it hasn’t stopped.
Because a couple arranged by Janet suddenly publicly admitted that they had been paid to do so.
Of course, Janet would not be stupid enough to arrange it herself. She would always do this kind of thing through an intermediary. Even the couple who jumped out had no way of knowing whose money they were receiving.
However, this kind of thing is obviously not difficult for the imaginative media.
If someone takes money, then there must be someone who pays.
If someone paid a couple to become parents in Westeros and then profited from it... Simon Westeros was no fool, and it would have been too easy to be exposed.
Well, people who want to profit from it will not use such stupid methods
There is a motive for everything.
leftover.
Who else has such motivation
This is a question worth studying.