Norman met Yeltsin last week at a reception for foreign investors in the Kremlin, and he brought up your recent pick-up of girls in Russia. ”

Cape Dume Estate.

It's Friday, January 21.

Simon and Anthony Johnston had just taken a seat in the reception area by the Shell Villa's curtain wall with a great view of the sea when Anthony talked about it.

Janet personally brought coffee to her husband and brother, and was about to sit down next to Simon, but when she heard that she lost a 'my brother is angry with me, you should be careful' and walked away.

Simon was not weak-minded, and he was not surprised that Yeltsin knew that he was recruiting Uyghur maids in Russia, and the emaciated camel was bigger than a horse, and if Russia, which inherited the intelligence system of the former Soviet KGB, could not even find out about this kind of thing, it might be worried about complete overthrow.

Simon is also aware that he has been the focus of governments around the world since the early days, both overtly and covertly.

After all, he is the only self-made billionaire in the world.

Taking a sip of the coffee brought by Janet, Simon smiled and asked, "What did Yeltsin say?"

Anthony didn't mean to ask for his sister's guilt, and it was difficult for him to hold up his brother's shelf for his brother-in-law's unusual existence: "Yeltsin said that Russian girls are very good, and your selection criteria are too strict, and in addition, he also invited you to have the opportunity to go to Moscow as a guest." ”

"If you have a chance, I'd like to go to Moscow. ”

Anthony nodded, and couldn't help but say, "What are you going to do with so many girls?"

Simon didn't hide it, and said: "I plan to train some maids for the family, you know, I must be more reliable in cultivating myself." ”

Anthony said, "Sophia Faisi, Alice Ferguson and Claire Gain like that?"

Sophia, who is in charge of Melisandre's company, Alice, who is in charge of Egret's e-commerce business, and Claire, who founded Tinkobar, are all considered waitresses in the Westeros family.

Although these are rarely discussed in the public media, the women around Westeros are still very much talked about in the circle, and there are countless women who want to get closer to Simon for this reason.

Sophia Fercy and these women were only selected by Simon after their personal abilities were basically finalized, and now, her brother-in-law is planning to train them from scratch. When Anthony thinks about his brother Norman, who is in charge of Russia, talking to him about it, and Yeltsin saying that Simon's selection criteria are too strict, he can be sure that these girls will only be better in the future.

I almost couldn't help but ask Simon for one or two to be his assistant, but Anthony still gave up.

As an uncle and brother-in-law, it doesn't seem very solemn to say this.

So he changed the subject: "Speaking of Russia, Dad scolded Norman last Christmas, saying that you were right to remind our agent in Russia, Mikhail Friedman, not to show too much ambition in the political field, and warned Norman to break his leg if he got too close to Yeltsin. ”

In recent years, Russia's collapse has created a large number of capital oligarchs who have seized the opportunity of the country's privatization push to aggressively acquire assets in various fields.

Russia's native emerging oligarchs are unlikely to have much of their own funds, so they rely on foreign capital for blood transfusions, and the Westeros system has not spared this feast.

Simon chose Mikhail Friedman, one of the seven oligarchs of the nineties in Russia in the original time and space, as the spokesperson for the Westeros system, including the Johnston family, in Russia. The reason why it is the other party is because Mikhail Friedman is the only 'survivor' among the old seven oligarchs after the emperor came to power.

And this is no accident.

Mikhail Friedman is a businessman who is very good at judging the situation and actively avoiding too much involvement in politics. Although this made him the lowest in strength among the old seven oligarchs in Russia, however, when other capital oligarchs who interfered in and manipulated the political situation in Russia were taken down one after another, the very knowledgeable Friedman was affirmed by the Emperor.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Westeros system has reached out to Friedman before other capital has been financed to form the Alpha Group, and in recent years has placed more than $500 million on the businessman. This money is nothing for the Westeros system, but it is enough to buy too much in Russia.

Although Mikhail Friedman has no political ambitions, Simon is not sure if the other party is still like this after the time-shifted incident, so he took the initiative to remind the other party more than once.

Listening to Anthony's tone at this time, Simon asked, "Tony, you don't understand either?"

"Norman was always in charge of things in Russia, I was not there that day, and my father didn't explain it to me later. Anthony shook his head and said, "I just think that's not your usual layout?"

Simon has always attached great importance to the political layout of North America and Australia, and Anthony also knows that the Westeros system is secretly funding the affairs of the current President Clinton. Therefore, Russia, which is still in a state of turmoil, is logically the best platform for political layout.

Simon sorted out his thoughts and explained: "Russia is different from us, although it has a federal system, the political genes of this country that have lasted for nearly a century cannot be changed, which is destined to be a country more suitable for strongman politics." In fact, I am very unoptimistic about Yeltsin in this regard, he is more of an opportunist than a qualified politician. ”

Anthony thought for a moment and said, "What do you mean, there is likely to be another strong national leader in Russia in the future?"

Simon nodded: "There is a high probability of this, and once it appears, this kind of person will definitely not allow the existence of business oligarchs who like to interfere in the country's politics, and then it will be the moment when the oligarchs will be liquidated." So, in Russia, as far as possible, we are only doing business, not talking about politics. ”

Anthony probably understood Simon's train of thought and said, "It's impossible not to talk about politics at all, right?"

"Of course, we financed Yeltsin's election campaign, and at the same time expanded our political network as much as possible, but we did not interfere or even manipulate it. I understand that this may prevent us from fully integrating into Moscow's inner circle, and Friedman has not done as well as other oligarchs in recent years, but that is the way to go. ”

Anthony nodded and said, "I'll explain your point of view to my father when I go back." ”

Simon wondered, "Huh?"

Anthony smiled: "Since my father didn't explain it to me last time, he probably didn't understand it himself, and he only warned Norman out of trust in you." ”

Simon laughed too.

With the old man's character, even if he doesn't understand this matter, he really won't ask him directly, and he is even more simple and rude to his son.

Simon also noticed a small mistake when he forgot to explain his intentions to Norman Johnston when he reminded Mikhail Friedman.

Simon has a lot of memories of being a human being, and he lived across the ocean in his previous life, so he understands these joints easily.

In contrast, Raymond Johnston, who has always lived in an open political environment like Australia, has become accustomed to defending his family's interests by exerting influence on the government, so even if he has enough life experience, it is probably not easy to understand the thinking mode of a politician in another system, let alone see the future like Simon.

At the end of the day, Simon is really an outlier.

The world is full of knowledge.

Human life is limited, and even the most shrewd and skilled person cannot be all-encompassing, and it is inevitable that he will have his own insights and thinking limitations.

Simon is equivalent to having someone else's life for more than ten lifetimes, and it is a super bug for the insight into the future.

As he chatted like this, Anthony remembered one more thing: "Westeros's office in Russia is located in St. Petersburg, and the headquarters of Vipert Communications is also there, is there any special arrangement for this?"

Simon didn't expect Anthony to bring up this detail.

The answer, of course, is yes.

Someone is working as an assistant to the mayor of St. Petersburg at this time, and the core of Moscow is basically from the St. Petersburg family, maybe something will change in this time and space, but it will not hurt to build a good relationship at this time. Even, if the Westeros system can help at some critical time in the future, it will definitely be more rewarded.

It's just that this matter is impossible to explain frankly to Anthony anyway.

Fortunately, this question is also easy to answer.

"Westeros' current investment in Russia is mainly in telecommunications, you know, St. Petersburg is very close to Helsinki, and both cities are on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, less than 300 kilometers away, so it's easy for Nokia to cooperate with the Russian side. ”

Anthony nodded, not feeling anything wrong with Simon's explanation.

Vimpel Telecom and two agents in Russia, Mikhail Friedman, established Vimpel Communications two years ago, which is registered in Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, one of Europe's tax havens, and mainly carries out mobile communication services in Russia, including other services such as Internet services, but the PC penetration rate in Russia is too low at this stage, and the focus is on mobile communications in the short term.

Nokia, which also belongs to the Westeros system, is naturally the only supplier of base stations and terminal equipment for Vipert Communications.

Verizon Telecom provides technical and operational support, and Nokia supplies the equipment, and the two companies are now the largest mobile communications operator in Russia, with a considerable number of subscribers in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and are also trying to expand into Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Poland and other countries in Eastern Europe.

In terms of equity, Verizon Telecom and Alpha Group each hold 50% of the shares, and Verizon Telecom is responsible for the operation of the enterprise.

It seems that no one has a controlling stake, but in fact, Westeros still holds 15% of the shares of the Alpha Group, the Johnston family also holds 15% of the shares of the Alpha Group, Mikhail Friedman holds 60% of the shares in name, and only 30% of the shares actually belong to him, and the remaining 40% is only held on behalf of others.

Not to mention the secret shareholding structure of the Alpha Group, through indirect shareholdings, the Westeros system actually has an absolute controlling stake in Vippel Communications. Again, using this indirect shareholding model, the Johnston family also effectively has absolute control over the oil and mining assets owned by the Alpha Group.

According to the Johnston family's estimates, the actual total value of the oil and mining assets acquired by the Alfa Group at a low price is more than $5 billion, while the cash investment in the acquisition of these assets is less than $300 million.

The Westeros system entered the Russian telecommunications market with a degree of simplicity far beyond Simon's imagination, and even 'rashness' is not enough to describe.

The imprudence here certainly does not refer to the Westeros system itself.

For several years in a row, Simon watched an empire collapse and dissipate at the hands of careerists and speculators, and Simon felt a strong sense of pity more than once.

Feel like a crocodile.

Having said that, if it weren't for the layout of the Westeros system in Eastern Europe and Russia in recent years, the selection of the waitress of the Wei family would not have gone so smoothly this time. The team of personnel is ready-made, and Simon only needs to tell him to do it. Otherwise, if it is other nouveau riche who only have a large amount of money and lack the strength of the foundation, it is strange that they dare to play like this and not be eaten and wiped clean by a large number of local snakes.

Simon understood early on that if he wanted to get rid of labels such as 'nouveau riche' and 'fat sheep', the most critical part was to transform the capital he owned into a real voice.

In more than seven years, since 1986, Simon has not only owned more than 100 billion dollars of personal assets, but also successfully transformed these personal assets into the powerful influence of the Westeros system in the fields of media, fashion, entertainment, politics, finance, telecommunications, technology and other fields.

In addition to personal wealth, this transformation of strength is what makes Simon the most satisfied.

Anthony Johnston didn't show up in Los Angeles for no reason.

Preparations began in the middle of last year, the acquisition was officially filed in August, the two sides reached an agreement in October, and then after more than three months of government review, on Wednesday, the Australian authorities officially approved the acquisition of Australian mining giant Billiton by a consortium represented by Johnston Holdings.

The deal also marks a further integration of the Johnston family with the Westeros system.

The transaction is approved, and the next step is to pay the money.

Anthony came to North America to deal with the matter.

Due to the continued downturn of the Australian economy over the past six months and the depreciation of the Australian dollar against the US dollar, the final transaction price of Billiton was 21.6 billion Australian dollars, equivalent to 15.1 billion US dollars, which is lower than the initial cost estimate of 16 billion to 17 billion US dollars.

However, the valuation of Johnston Holdings' own mining assets in the merger was also reduced to $3.9 billion, or $2.8 billion, down from the initial valuation of $3 billion.

The total deal size was $25.5 billion, or US$17.9 billion.

Worldwide, the total size of this transaction is second only to the $33 billion acquisition of Reynolds Nabesco at the end of the eighties and the $18 billion acquisition of Philip Morris and Kraft Foods. Moreover, unlike the previous two leveraged buyouts, which created tens of billions of dollars of debt, Johnston Holdings and its allies will use all their own funds this time, and will basically not incur additional debt, so they appear to be more generous.

Since the two sides reached an agreement in October last year, the acquisition has been receiving intense media attention.

On the other hand, Johnston Holding Group initially only hoped to acquire 35% of the shares of the new company, but due to the continued decline in the Australian economic environment and the downturn in the steel industry, Morgan Stanley and other external capitals that originally intended to participate in the merger and acquisition reduced their investment shares, resulting in Johnston Holdings and Westeros having to bear more funds.

As a result, in the final plan, Johnston Holdings' original mining assets were integrated into the new company, converted into a 15.6% shareholding.

The $15.1 billion transaction price of Rio Tinto is still the original cash-and-stock payment model, with the cash payment being $8 billion determined at the time of the initial preparation of the acquisition, and the remaining $7.1 billion being converted into shares of the new company.

Following the completion of the acquisition, the new company will remain publicly listed.

However, the original plan was that the Johnston family and Westeros would only need to contribute $1.5 billion each, and the rest of the funds would be handled by other shareholders of Johnston Holdings and external capital. Now, with Morgan and other allies reducing their share of the capital contribution, the total amount of cash that the Johnston family and Westeros would have to pay has risen to $4 billion.

$4 billion is not too much for Simon, but the Johnston family is struggling, and even the initial $1.5 billion needs to be partially loaned. After negotiations, it was decided that the Johnston family's share of the capital contribution would remain unchanged, and Westeros' share of the company would be increased from $1.5 billion to $2.5 billion.

This also means that after the completion of the acquisition, Westeros alone will hold 13.9% of the new company, which is already a very high proportion for a large mining group, and the original Billiton as a public holding company, there are few shareholders holding more than 5% of the shares.

The $1.5 billion contribution from the Johnston family and the $1 billion contribution from other shareholders of Johnston Holdings also received a 13.9% stake.

Including the 15.6% of Johnston Holdings' original mining assets into the new company, Johnston Holdings' total stake will reach 43.4%, far exceeding the initial expectation of 35% and not far from absolute control.

In order to prevent monopoly capital from controlling the country's core industries and then manipulating the market to affect the economy, the Australian government reviewed the acquisition for more than three months, and finally reluctantly passed.

And, it's already considered lucky.

Because the World Trade Organization is about to be officially established in April this year.

If it is delayed for a few more months, it will involve a core resource industry such as iron ore, which is very sensitive all over the world, and a huge merger and acquisition with a total transaction size of 17.9 billion US dollars, which will definitely need to be approved by other members of the World Trade Organization, and it will only be more protracted at that time.

After completing this merger, Johnston Holdings wants to go one step further according to Simon's vision and build the BHP Billiton Group in the original time and space, will it increase significantly? Therefore, the first thing to do next is to step up lobbying efforts for the Australian government to formulate a more lenient anti-monopoly regulatory bill for the iron ore industry.

Heavy capital, strong supervision, cyclical.

These are important shortcomings in the energy and mining sector, and Simon would be reluctant to get involved in this field if it weren't for the fact that the Westeros system already has a strong enough capital accumulation and a partner like the Johnston family that can be absolutely trusted.

However, investing in capital-intensive sectors such as energy and mining is a necessity for the Westeros system. Because with the current size of the Westeros system, it is impossible to focus on millions of dollars in petty fights.

In the rough annual financial report, in the past year alone, the net profit of Daenerys Group reached 2.27 billion US dollars.

Verizon Telecom, Melisandre & Company, Cersei Capital and other core companies in the Westeros system, although the current profit scale cannot be compared with Daenerys Entertainment, but they also continue to generate very considerable profits. Even companies such as Egrett and AOL, which are still losing money, do not need Westeros to invest too much money because of the increase in turnover and the development of external equity and debt financing.

As a result, the entire Westeros system will continue to generate more and more surpluses.

Simon continues to sweep the world to buy luxury properties, buy large tracts of land that cannot be developed at all, spend no less than the cost of cultivating a princess to train the maids of the Wei family, and often give expensive gifts worth millions of dollars to vases around him, and so on, in the eyes of some people, it has been extravagant to the point that everyone is angry, but the private expenses in the past year are less than 500 million US dollars, which is only equivalent to the annual profit scale of Verizon Telecom, and it is not even enough to spend Daenerys Entertainment. Cersei Capital and Melisandre and others.

So, what about the massive annual cash inflows across the Westeros system?

Invest in it, of course!

Otherwise, these funds will only continue to depreciate in the inflation of the dollar.

In my memory, Warren Buffett's large-scale purchase of tens of billions of dollars of Apple shares is considered unwise by many people, and the key is that these people ignore one point, Berkshire Hathaway, which has hundreds of billions of cash reserves and a large amount of cash coming in every year, can only invest in Apple, a trillion-dollar corporate giant.

At the beginning of the 90s, the gold content of the US dollar was still very high, and most of the corporate giants generally only had one or two billion US dollars. As a result, the Westeros system, which receives billions of dollars a year, is now facing Berkshire Hathaway's problems two decades later.

After completing the layout of relatively familiar industries such as entertainment, technology, and fashion, the Westeros system wants to continue to expand, and Simon can only expand into other unfamiliar fields.

Moreover, if you still want to seek the right to speak in the investment process, there are not many areas that you can invest in.

For example, Simon really wants to buy Boeing, which is now worth only about $20 billion, but Westeros and Cersei Capital's funds, which continue to absorb Boeing shares, have not yet reached 10% of the stake in the airline and giant, and they have already received a letter of inquiry from the Federal Department of Justice, asking Westeros and Cersei Capital to explain their intention to buy Boeing shares.

After several negotiations between the two sides, although Westeros was not prohibited from continuing to buy Boeing stock, the Justice Department restricted Westeros from receiving a maximum of one seat on Boeing's board of directors. It is conceivable that if Simon wanted to buy Boeing in its entirety, it would only be 100 percent vetoed.