After getting along for a long time, the couple has already understood each other.
Janet could tell what Simon was thinking at a glance, and asked Aaliyah, who had just delivered the coffee, to get her laptop. Although she works very little on weekdays, as the housekeeper of the Westeros family, no one knows Simon's family background better than Janet.
Opening her laptop, Janet pulled out a document and said to Simon: "I happened to do some statistics recently. Guess how much money you have now?"
Simon just smiled and looked at the document.
It is obviously easier for Janet to obtain a lot of accurate data than Forbes, so women's statistics are definitely more reliable than Forbes.
The assets under Simon's name, which are easiest to count, are a series of listed technology companies.
Affected by the continuous explosion of new technology waves, Cisco and AOL, two companies that have great advantages in the industry and have shown ultra-high growth, have both exceeded the tens of billions of dollars in market value this year. These two companies alone have contributed more than 10 billion US dollars in personal wealth to Simon.
The stock prices of other technology companies such as Microsoft, Intel, Oracle, and SUN have also been rising rapidly.
Taken together, as of the last trading day last week, the total value of all listed company technology stocks held by Simon reached US$21.7 billion.
This alone is destined to surpass all the existing super-rich people in the world.
However, for Simon now, this technology stock asset is not the most important thing.
The most important thing is, of course, Daenerys Entertainment.
The successful completion of the merger of MCA not only did not show the difficulties after the merger of Time Warner, Daenerys Entertainment has continued to develop rapidly this year, with the rise of Pixar Studio's 3D animation, the complete merger of EA game companies, and heavy holdings of shares The rising stock price of Blockbuster, the launch of the Osaka Universal Studios plan, etc., have made Daenerys Entertainment more and more consolidated as the most powerful entertainment company in Hollywood.
Compared to Time Warner, which still has a market value of tens of billions of dollars, Daenerys Entertainment's current valuation can easily exceed $20 billion.
Daenerys entertains, but is only one of the 'four women' of the Westeros system.
The rapid expansion of the other three women, Cersei Capital, Ygrit Company and Melisandre Company over the past year is also obvious to all.
Among them, the value of Cersei Capital is the most difficult to estimate. However, with the comprehensive strength shown by Cersei Capital at this time, if this company goes public, it will definitely be easy to exceed the market value of tens of billions of dollars.
The valuation of Yigret, which has an absolute leading position in the online field of the Internet, is even more controversial.
However, based only on Yigret's current revenue and the general price-to-earnings ratio of new technology companies, the valuation of this Internet company has already reached US$5 billion.
Melisandre seems to be the least conspicuous among the four women. However, as Gucci’s revenue scale continues to increase and it successively merges with Van Cleef & Arpels, CK and other companies, Melisandre’s valuation has also steadily exceeded 3 billion US dollars.
Therefore, just these four women can probably bring Simon a fortune of about US$40 billion again.
In addition, the Westeros system also owns a large regional telecommunications operator, the former Bell Atlantic and now renamed Verizon.
As one of the strongest regional telecommunications companies among the Seven Little Bells, Simon's bargain hunting price reached US$7 billion when the stock market was at its lowest point. The North American stock market recovered rapidly after the end of the Gulf War last year. The new technology wave has also driven the rapid development of the telecommunications industry. Now, if Verizon Telecom is relisted, its market value can also reach tens of billions of dollars.
That's another $10 billion.
Immediately afterwards, the Westeros system also invested in a large number of unlisted companies such as Nokia, Qualcomm, graphics card chip development company ATI, etc., plus the properties and land under Simon's personal name, the total value of these two assets , also exceeding US$5 billion.
Finally, although the Westeros system has experienced multiple loan mergers and acquisitions or bond financings in the past year, the overall liabilities of the Westeros system, calculated comprehensively, are still only about 16 billion US dollars.
As a result, total assets minus liabilities, compared to the US$35 billion given by Forbes last year, Simon's net worth this year has once again risen to US$60 billion.
Janet snuggled next to her husband and read through the documents together. Occasionally she looked at the man next to her who had achieved a huge snowballing in just six years. This was her man.
After reading the information, Janet waited quietly for a moment before saying, "I think we need to speed up preparations for some future things."
The next thing will naturally be about the inheritance of wealth.
A personal fortune of US$60 billion, even twenty or thirty years later, would be enough to rank among the world's richest people. Now in 1992, it is far more than all other rich people in the world.
For billionaires, the inheritance of wealth is always a difficult issue to avoid.
Although he occasionally has the thought of not caring about the flood after his death, most of the time, Simon is unwilling to let the huge business empire he created fall apart after many years.
In Western society, when it comes to wealth inheritance, a difficult topic to avoid is undoubtedly inheritance tax.
Because of this, when Simon and Janet married, the woman did not give up her Australian citizenship.
There is no inheritance tax in Australia.
With Simon's current influence on Australia, it is absolutely impossible for this country to restart inheritance tax in the future.
In addition, after leaving the little one in Australia to be taken care of by Veronica, for more than half a year, the Johnston family also quietly registered Australian citizenship for Melbourne Westeros.
It can be said that in the current Westeros family, Simon is American, Janet is Australian, and a certain little guy has dual nationality.
This is actually some layout the couple quietly made.
Of course, although there are still many problems, the road is being walked step by step.
On the other hand, although Simon has decided to pass on his wealth, he has no intention of splitting up these assets and passing them on to his future children. Instead, he prefers the family foundation model.
The most critical factor why American families such as Rockefeller, Morgan, and Ford have been able to thrive for hundreds of years is the family foundation. This not only ensures that future generations cannot squander the wealth left by their ancestors, but also a unified family foundation also It can ensure the long-term cohesion of the family.
In the original timeline, Daimon and Warren Buffett, who were everywhere calling for rich people to donate most of their property after their death, were just a cover-up in the eyes of discerning people.
Bill Gates had established a foundation in the late 1990s. If this super-rich man really used all his wealth for charity, then it would be impossible for him to remain at the top of the world's richest list for many years in a row. s position.
So, where is Damen’s money
This is about the foundation structure established by Daimon classmates.
Externally, what the public often hears is actually the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is indeed a pure charity fund. However, Damen gradually sold his Microsoft shares, but did not put the money into this foundation. family fund, but another very low-key Bill & Melinda Gates Trust Fund.
The latter is actually a family trust.
The charity model of Damen students is actually to allocate a certain amount of funds from the trust fund every year and invest it in the charity fund.
As for this trust fund, you can refer to the Steve Jobs Trust Fund left after Steve Jobs passed away in the original timeline.
The Jobs family trust fund still paid estate taxes after Jobs passed away.
However, the inheritance tax rate is only 15%, which is obviously very low compared to the highest 50% estate tax in the United States.
As for why family trusts only need to pay an inheritance tax of 15%, the main reason is that, according to convention, these trust funds have a charitable nature and must donate a certain amount of funds for charity every year.
Although intended to be charitable, these trusts also receive tax-exempt status.
It is conceivable that as long as the heirs can take good care of these trust funds, then even if a sum of money needs to be donated every year, the overall size of the trust will probably still increase. Moreover, many trust funds also have a certain number of years for donations.
After the donation period is completed, all remaining assets will belong to the family to which the trust fund belongs.
In this regard, among the major traditional American families, the Ford family has done the best.
Compared with the more established Morgan and Rockefeller, and the equally long-standing Ford family, the total assets of the family foundation have been rising for more than half a century.
All in all, the Bill & Melinda Gates Trust Fund established by Damen classmates is, in the final analysis, for the inheritance of wealth. However, in Western society, just like racial discrimination, there are some things that can be done, but it is best not to say it out loud, or at least find a high-sounding reason.
This is political correctness.
Another Warren Buffett, this veteran rich man, also established the Buffett Foundation very early.
Buffett's long-standing call for heavy taxes on the wealthy also strikes Simon as false.
Because if the United States really imposes heavy taxes on the rich, it will actually not be able to tax this veteran rich man.
Buffett only gives himself an annual salary of US$100,000 each year. In addition, Berkshire Hathaway has never had any dividend mechanism. Therefore, Warren Buffett is not theoretically considered a 'high earner', so naturally he is not. Need to pay the 'heavy tax' that he personally calls for.
Not only that, although it also called on the federal government to increase corporate taxes, in the original timeline, Berkshire Hathaway, which owns an insurance company, took advantage of the tax loopholes in the U.S. insurance industry (insurance reserves do not need to be taxed). , by converting corporate profits into insurance reserves, it has long owed the U.S. government tens of billions of dollars in taxes.
Buffett has declared more than once that Berkshire Hathaway is actually an insurance company.
The reason is self-explanatory.
The Simon & Janet Westeros Foundation of Simon and his wife has been in operation for several years, but it is also a purely charitable foundation.
If you want to prepare for the subsequent inheritance, at least one trust fund is needed.
Simon is only 24 years old this year. If he suddenly establishes a family trust now, the goal is actually too obvious.
American laws are not static.
Now that he is making arrangements for wealth inheritance, it is inevitable that some federal congressman or presidential candidate will find that his support rate is too low during the campaign, so he will use him as a target to gain attention.
Most ordinary people like to hear about robbing the rich and giving to the poor. Even if the 'rich' are robbed, the benefits will not fall on them.
This can also be regarded as an institutional flaw in Western society.
Sometimes those in power do whatever they can to win votes, without considering whether the proposed initiative will harm a country's long-term interests.
In the original timeline, France’s ultra-high tax on the rich was the most typical representative.
The 70% tax on the rich has directly forced a large number of French wealthy people out of the country, and the French economy has also been severely impacted.
In my memory, this tendency also appeared in the United States later.
A young female congresswoman from a low-income family called for a tax of more than 70% on the rich to rob the rich and give to the poor. She became very popular for a while.
This society has never been fair.
There is nothing wrong with pursuing fairness, but if this pursuit exceeds a certain limit, it is not a great injustice to another group of people.
If the pursuit of fairness is completely out of control, people will starve to death as a result.
While his thoughts were swirling, Simon nodded when he heard Janet's words, then shook his head and said, "Yes, but don't make it too obvious. At least, it's not suitable to set up a trust fund yet."
Janet naturally understood Simon's concerns and said, "I know, I'm thinking, next, we should increase the proportion of overseas investment."
Although the United States applies global taxation, if it places more assets overseas, it will definitely have more room for maneuver.
Otherwise, wealthy Americans would not hide trillions of dollars of wealth outside the United States.
Melisandre's headquarters is in Switzerland, Nokia's headquarters is in Finland, and Cersei Capital is also registered in an overseas tax haven. This is actually Simon's instinctive layout overseas.
In the days that followed, the couple quietly discussed the next development of the Westeros system whenever they had time.
Although plans can never keep up with changes, having a plan is certainly better than having no plan.
Before I knew it, August passed by quietly.
The North American summer season has come to an end. Except for Clint Eastwood's new film "Unforgiven," which was released on August 7, there are no other blockbuster films at the end of the summer season.
In the first week of September, the new issue of "Forbes" magazine officially announced the 1992 list of the 400 richest people in the United States.
Although there is no official data support from the Westeros system, Forbes magazine's calculation of Simon's personal assets is not very different from Janet's private statistics.
Of course, this is not a big difference, just relative to Simon's total personal assets.
$65 billion.
The number is higher than Janet's private statistics. In the special article, the extra 5 billion US dollars is mainly because Forbes is more optimistic about Ygrit Company than Simon and his wife. At the same time, the valuation of Daenerys Entertainment It's also higher than Janet's statistics.
Such a number is even more outstanding on the entire list.
Although the second-ranked Damen student has a net worth of US$7.5 billion this year as Microsoft's stock price continues to rise, he still can only look up to Simon's US$65 billion.