In conjunction with the high-level actions of Washington in Yugoslavia, apart from a dispensable commission, the biggest benefit gained by the Westeros system is to further closely link its private military power with the US government.
The Military Consulting and Security Services (MCSS), a company controlled by the Westeros family in the United States, is already a contract partner of the CIA.
After this operation, Ukraine’s Ukrainian Front Military Services (UFMS) also achieved this goal in fact.
With this identity, Simon's private military force can avoid a lot of unnecessary trouble.
Because as cooperation deepens, there are more and more secrets that are not humane to outsiders, and no one dares to easily lift the lid. Those who have such an attempt are almost equal to enemies of the US government. With the official recognition of the legal privacy of hiding in the dark, Simon can feel more confident about using these private weapons when necessary.
Saturday morning began with a briefing from Celia Miller, and the afternoon was reserved for two political leaders, Joseph Schlapp and Paul Spaihts.
After last year’s mid-term elections, not counting some of the secret arrangements within Entrainment and the political lobbying departments of various subsidiaries, the Westeros family’s relatively visible head of the political field was split into two, with Joseph Schlapp mainly in charge. In terms of political trends and bill lobbying in Washington, Paul Spaihts is responsible for implementing the intensive cultivation plan of the Westeros system in various states in the United States, intending to penetrate the political influence of the Westeros family into every state and county in the United States in the next few years. and even each specific constituency.
As long as Paul Spaihts' goal is achieved, the Westeros system can more quietly influence the domestic political trend of the United States in the future, and it will not attract too much attention at every turn.
Starting at one o'clock in the afternoon, the meeting time for each person is two hours.
The main purpose is to resolve matters in person that are not suitable for both parties to discuss over phone calls and emails that may be bugged.
After flexing his muscles through last year's midterm elections, what Simon has to do now is to keep a low profile and bide his time as much as possible.
Regardless of whether they are members of Congress who were directly funded by the Westeros family last year or indirectly benefited from the sniper plan, except for some bills that have been pushed earlier, Simon has not mentioned any new requirements to them for several months, and he has fulfilled them as much as possible. The Westeros family, which expressed its stance to several big bosses in Washington at the beginning of the year, only made a promise to arrange Washington for self-protection.
In fact, various bills closely related to the Westeros system have advanced smoothly, as well as the Black Rock annexation case that has just been finalized in recent days. All of these have allowed Simon to recover a considerable return on his investment last year.
After receiving so many benefits, Simon would not be stupid enough to deliberately find something to show the presence of the Westeros system in Washington.
After finishing his afternoon work, Simon took a helicopter to Manhattan.
Tonight I am attending a reception hosted by the Lauder family, mainly to celebrate the Estee Lauder Company's official listing on the New York Stock Exchange at the end of the month.
As the world's largest top cosmetics giant in memory, Simon began to pay attention to Estee Lauder very early, and in 1991, he obtained 10% of Estee Lauder's shares with US$250 million in funds through Apollo Management Company. In recent years, Estee Lauder has also had many cooperations with the Westeros system, and the interests of both parties are very closely related.
Simon initially hoped that Melisandre could take over Apollo's 10% stake in Estee Lauder.
However, after some subsequent operations, Apollo Management Company’s sub-funds holding Estee Lauder shares were all replaced with the Westeros system’s own capital. In fact, the Westeros company was fully controlled, and 10% of the shares could not be held. Sophia was not interested in gaining much say in Estee Lauder, and Simon did not intend to make any further moves.
With the continued recovery of the North American stock market and Estee Lauder's successful expansion in the past few years, after launching its IPO last year, Estee Lauder's final IPO valuation reached US$4.3 billion, with the number of shares issued accounting for 15% of the total equity and raising US$650 million, of which Half of the shares belonging to the Estee Lauder family are sold, and the other half are additional issuances to raise funds for future corporate development.
Based on this IPO valuation, Apollo Management’s initial $250 million investment has increased in value by 72% in less than four years.
And, this is just the beginning.
The industry is generally optimistic about Estee Lauder's development prospects. Many analysts predict that Estee Lauder's market value will easily exceed US$5 billion after its listing. This data is still far from the US$50 billion market value of Estee Lauder in Simon's memory, but it also means that Estee Lauder has huge growth potential in the future.
Because of its optimism, Apollo Management's sub-fund, which is completely affiliated with Westeros Company, will continue to participate in Estee Lauder's IPO subscription this time, and will still maintain a 10% shareholding after the listing. The Estee Lauder family has managed this company very well. Simon will not try to pursue control of this company, but he will try to continue to increase his stake in the future.
After arriving in Manhattan, Simon first had dinner with several people in charge of the Westeros Tower project and discussed the progress of the building's construction until seven o'clock, when he arrived at the party on time. The party was held at the Lauder family's mansion on the Upper East Side. The guests were basically celebrities from Wall Street and the fashion industry, most of whom knew Simon.
After greeting Ronald Lauder, the head of the Lauder family, and his wife, Simon entered the party hall on the first floor of the villa and immediately attracted a lot of attention.
The first person to greet him was Irene Lauder, daughter of Ronald Lauder.
The two parties also had a romantic relationship, and it was the girl's first time at that time, but the two did not contact each other several times afterwards.
When we first met, the young girl who had just graduated from college and seemed a bit sharp and arrogant is now obviously much more stable. Her already outstanding temperament has become more demure and elegant. She is also holding the arm of a young man, who is obviously her boyfriend.
After shaking hands with Simon graciously, Irene Lauder introduced: "Simon, this is my fiancé Eric Hinterhoff."
Simon shook hands with the young man and accidentally noticed that Irene Lauder's eyes still had some... well, it should probably be called expectation. He smiled cooperatively and complimented: "You two are really a good match. Blessings." you."
Eric Hinterhoff was about the same age as Simon, and he didn't seem to be shy in front of him. He smiled and expressed his gratitude, but soon showed his weakness. He introduced that he and Irene Lauder were college classmates with obvious eagerness. It took many years to finally achieve success, Balabala, probably because he wanted to show that the relationship between the two was very stable in front of Simon.
Simon pretended not to notice the small detail of Irene Lauder's slight frown, and chatted with the two for a few words. When he saw Tracy Gauff appearing nearby, he waved to the girl, and when she came closer, he naturally hugged her. With the slender waist of the baby-faced supermodel, he raised his glass to Eileen Lauder and the two of them, and then walked towards Jon Koxin, the head of Goldman Sachs who was already nodding towards him not far away. The two had been together two days ago. I just saw the conference room.
Jon Koshin is the new chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, who took office last year, replacing Robert Rubin and Stephen Friedman who resigned one after another.
Simon also knows that Jon Koshin will not be able to sit in this position for a long time. If nothing else, he will give up the CEO position next year to Henry Paulson, another famous Goldman Sachs executive in Simon's memory. , I only have one title of chairman, and it still won’t last for a few years.
Of course, this does not prevent Simon from talking and laughing with each other.
No one who can climb to the top of the Wall Street pyramid is simple, no matter in terms of personal strength or identity background.
On the other side, seeing Simon walking away, Irene Lauder was about to go elsewhere. She noticed that her fiancé was staring at the slim figure next to a certain guy, and immediately teased: "Isn't it pretty?"
Eric Sinthoff was startled when he heard this. He quickly looked away and explained to Irene Lauder in a flattering tone: "I just, it seems, isn't Westeros married?"
Aileen Lauder still stared at the other person: "Yeah, so, are you envious?"
Eric Sinthoff shook his head quickly: "Of course not, Eileen, I only love you, forever."
As he spoke, he reached over and wanted to hold his fiancée's waist.
She wanted to hide away, but realized that this was a public place. After all, the two were engaged. Refusing on the spot might make her fiancé unable to step down. However, Irene Lauder let him hug her and did not forget to warn: "Remind you, Eli Ke, I will absolutely never tolerate this kind of thing, not even once."
Eric Hinterhoff said without hesitation: "I promise you, Eileen."
Irene Lauder then let her fiancé go, but she still secretly took a look at the back of a guy not far away, and thought to herself, what a troublesome, hateful guy.
Simon didn't know what Irene Lauder was thinking, and was chatting with Goldman Sachs CEO Jon Koshin about the Mexican government's upcoming issuance of a US$20 billion treasury bond, which was used to solve the Mexican economy with the support of the United States after the Mexican peso crisis last year. A distressed batch of bonds.
Of course, this was a bailout that could only be obtained after Mexico signed a series of unequal treaties, so it has considerable repayment guarantees.
The previous head of Goldman Sachs, Robert Rubin, had just been promoted from the president's economic policy assistant to Treasury Secretary at the beginning of the year, and he directly used his power to hand over the issuance rights of these bonds to Goldman Sachs.
Speaking of which, this kind of operation is exactly the same as the operation of Jon Kexin's successor Henry Paulson during the subprime mortgage crisis in the original time and space.
Simon has no objection to this. The Westeros system will not be involved in investment banking business in the short term. The main reason for talking about this topic is because Cersei Capital's Black Rock Asset Management Company, which holds hundreds of billions of dollars in assets, happens to belong to various types of bonds. of the best quality buyers.
Investment banks are responsible for issuing stocks and bonds, and funds purchase stocks and bonds. This is the basic process for the operation of American financial products.
Investment banks and funds therefore have various interests.
If investment banks and funds have a close relationship and have good investment opportunities, the investment banks will definitely think of each other immediately. Similarly, sometimes investment banks need help from funds, such as taking over some stocks and bonds that cannot be sold, and related funds are required to take action. . Overall, this is a mutually beneficial and mutually supportive relationship.
After years of cooperation, the current relationship between Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Cersei Capital on Wall Street is roughly the same, and First Boston can be added in the future.
Lehman Brothers, who originally had the opportunity to achieve close cooperation, have long been completely forgotten by Simon.
Simon didn't stop talking to Jon Koshin until Bill and Grace Spurter came over to say hello.
The scale of Estee Lauder's IPO is very small, at least it is not worth mentioning in front of Igret's IPO. Therefore, Goldman Sachs is enough to absorb it. There is no room for First Boston to intervene this time. Bill Spurter is riding on his wife's side. Come along for the ride.
Grace's client, Tracy Gauff, signed a makeup endorsement deal with Estée Lauder last year. According to Grace in private, this was the result of competition from brands such as Revlon and Maybelline. Tracy Gauff looked baby-faced without makeup. 'Lovely Baby', once put on heavy makeup, immediately transforms into a stunning dark lolita. Coupled with the girl's rising popularity, she is completely the best spokesperson for makeup products.
Not only that, the new media operations department of Elite, headed by Grace, signed a large online marketing contract of US$5 million this year after a trial cooperation with Estee Lauder last year.
What Simon values about Estee Lauder is that it dares to try new things and keep pace with the times.
I remember that in the Internet era, Estee Lauder followed the trend and spent more than 80% of its annual marketing budget online, and achieved very good results. Therefore, even though many brands such as Revlon have almost declined without a trace, Estee Lauder is still Maintained long-term strong growth.
Grace always kept a proper distance from Simon in front of others, knowing that this was a woman thinking about her. Simon was very cooperative, and even took the initiative to ask about the operating status of the new media department, and welcomed the guests at Ronald Lauder and his wife. After joining the conversation, he provided a lot of suggestions for the marketing cooperation between the two parties on the Internet platform.
Everyone was chatting enthusiastically, and it was already past eight o'clock before we knew it.
After drinking several glasses of red wine in a row, Simon had to temporarily interrupt everyone's conversation and said apologetically that he had to go to the bathroom.
Obviously to show that he valued Simon as an honored guest, Ronald Lauder did not ask the waiter to take Simon to the public restroom prepared for guests on the first floor. Instead, he grabbed his daughter who had come over at some point and asked her to take Simon there. upstairs.
Before Simon could refuse, Irene Lauder had already politely made a gesture of invitation, looking extremely decent.
The two of them went upstairs together, and just after turning the corner of the stairs that was invisible to the guests downstairs, a certain girl who seemed to have endured it for a long time stopped pretending to be a lady, and there was a little questioning in her tone: "Mr. Westeros, you But we can really pretend, as if nothing happened to us."
Simon followed the girl slightly, feeling the nice fragrance coming from Irene Lauder and the arrogant tone that seemed to return to that night when the girl was probably still a girl. He smiled and said: "I think this is the right thing to do. Respect from an engaged lady, isn’t it?”
Irene Lauder paused and snorted, seemingly unwilling to do so: "But, you took away my first time."
Simon said: "This is my honor."
Eileen Lauder added: "I mean, after that, you never took the initiative to contact me again, and you still asked me to take the initiative to get in touch."
Simon explained: "You know, I'm married."
Irene Lauder curled her lips: "This is a really poor excuse. Just now, someone was hugging a girl who was not his wife. Moreover, Mr. Westeros, I find more and more that you are not the best in the circle." It’s notorious.”
"That's why I took the initiative to stay away from you. You are a good girl."
"Why doesn't it sound like a compliment?"
"I promise, absolutely," Simon said, seeing Irene Lauder continuing to go up the stairs and reaching the fourth floor of the five-story mansion, he asked, "Are we going to the rooftop?"
Aileen Lauder also discovered something was wrong. It would have been enough on the second floor. However, after hearing what Simon said, he couldn't help but tease: "You want to be on the rooftop... That's so dirty."
“…”
Sensing Simon's depression, Irene Lauder finally made a winning move. Irene Lauder raised her chin slightly, hesitated for a moment, and finally stopped walking up. Instead, she led Simon through the corridor to the door of a room. After a slight hesitation, he still pushed the door open.
Simon just glanced at the room and knew it was Irene Lauder's bedroom. He didn't stop and walked in calmly, while complimenting: "Your room is really nice."
Irene Lauder also thought that men could take the initiative to ignore this point. When he pointed it out, she couldn't change the room temporarily. She stood at the door and pointed in the direction of the bathroom. Suddenly she remembered it and couldn't help but ask: "Are you... That one."
Simon paused for a moment, then roughly understood, and said with a smile: "Of course, girl, you are so 'dirty'."
Simon just said this subconsciously. There is no accurate adjective for 'dirty' in English, so he casually used 'Dirty', which is the same word as Irene Lauder's 'dirty' just now.
However, 'Dirty' in English really has too many meanings.
Like, obscene.
Aileen Lauder obviously had a misunderstanding and was immediately unhappy. She had just called Simon "Dirty", how could this guy describe her in the same way? So he subconsciously reached out and grabbed the man's shirt. Faced with Simon's doubtful gaze, he couldn't help but hide slightly, then turned back again and said aggressively: "You have to apologize to me."
Simon was helpless and raised his hands slightly in a gesture of surrender: "Okay, I apologize."
Feeling Simon's insincere tone, Irene Lauder tightened her grip on the man's hand, and continued to look at each other, seemingly dissatisfied, entangled, and a little eager to try.
Simon waited for a moment, put down his raised hands, reached out with one of them, grabbed the girl's chin, lifted it slightly, lowered his head and kissed her.
However, within ten minutes, the two of them went downstairs one after another.
After rejoining the social gathering, because it hadn't been long, neither Irene Lauder's parents nor the girl's fiancé noticed anything unusual, but Grace looked at Simon meaningfully.
Simon only stayed at the party that started at seven o'clock in the evening for two hours, and left just after nine o'clock. By the way, he took away Qu Si Gauff under the envious eyes of other models in the fashion circle who were present at the same time.
The next day is Sunday.
Still can't relax.
After the New Year, Chen Qing and her two daughters returned from the other side of the ocean. After a period of deliberation, they came up with an investment plan in the hardware field, mainly about the VCD industry. Simon made an appointment to talk to the two women in the morning.