601 Lexington Avenue, Citigroup Center.

Since its inauguration in the late '70s, the 53-story building designed by Stabins has become one of Manhattan's most recognizable landmarks and one of Stabins' most recognizable masterpieces.

The most important reason why this building is so famous, in addition to its tallness, sophistication, and luxury, is that it is a suspended building, without any office space or lobby at the bottom of the building, and only a few pillars support this 279-meter-high skyscraper on the land of Manhattan, like stepping on a few stilts.

Just as the designers of the Leaning Tower of Bizar did not initially design it to be slanted, Stabins had to do so when designing the building.

The site where the Citigroup Center is located was originally a church in Manhattan, the property of the Lutheran Evangelical Church, which has been around for more than 100 years.

Lexington Avenue is adjacent to Central Park, such a good location, Citigroup and other Wall Street chaebols have naturally coveted it for a long time, and over the years have approached the church countless times, hoping to buy the land and build a new skyscraper.

The church has resources in hand, so it naturally waits for the price to sell, but if it takes the initiative to ask for a high price, it seems too greedy and not good for the image.

There were too many smart people in the church, and soon, someone came up with an idea: from a religious point of view, they would find a condition that the buyer could not agree to, and they would inevitably take the initiative to pay a high price in order to get the church to give up this condition, so that the church saved face and made a lot of money.

The condition is that the old church must be preserved, and if it is not preserved, then after the demolition of the old church, the buyer must build a new church on the same site for the church, and the church must be completely independent and without any physical contact with the new skyscraper.

This condition is so harsh that it scared away a large number of buyers at once, this land is not big in the first place, if another church is built, and this church must be independent, how much land can be left to build a building?

To the church's surprise, Citigroup, one of the buyers, agreed. When Citi came up with its own design, the church was dumbfounded.

A few pillars are out of the way of the new church, without any physical contact with the church, and above the church is the 53-story skyscraper.

It is said that what you buy is not as good as what you sell, and it depends on who is the buyer.

Of course, there was a lot of, but anyway, Citi built the Citigroup Center as a new skyline for New York in the '70s and '80s.

Just to the east of the sub-top of the skyline is Sandyvale's luxury offices.

Sandyvale stood in front of the window, looking down at Manhattan two hundred and fifty meters below, whether it was Fifth Avenue or Central Park, the traffic and people were like a team of ants, seemingly aimless, but following some wonderful patterns.

Ever since he moved his office to the Citigroup Center, he's fallen in love with it, and in addition to satisfying his growing desire for control, it's the only moment he really feels like he's been fighting for for 60 years.

I am the king of Wall Street, the king of the world!

"This month, Citi's profits have risen by 10% because of the CDO, haha, father, that old dog of John Reid has no reason to stop me from joining the executive committee. Markwell leaned back on the huge couch in the middle of Sandywell's office, crossed his legs, proud.

Sandievale is equally ecstatic, he is a good businessman, but not a good father, and the way to educate his children is to spoil them. Even if Markwell is out of line, he will rarely criticize his precious son, not to mention that his son has made a lot of dollars for Citi.

"John is just a little conservative, his management skills are still very good, as a junior, Mark, you have to be respectful of him. "Sandiewell, of course, is much more calm, reminding his son.

Mark Well pouted nonchalantly, he had been in a good mood since his dad and Jamie Dimon fell out, and now he was in a better mood: "I understand, don't cause the old John Reid to be wary." However, I'm not afraid of him, compared to Dad, he is like a giraffe, stretching his neck and waiting for us to bite. ”

Sandyvale laughed, and his hearty laughter could be heard outside the office, even through the heavy door.

Nice atmosphere.

On the other side of the same floor of the Citigroup Center, there is no such good atmosphere.

"Twenty billion! Sales in a month is twenty billion eight billion! Who can tell me, what kind of magic does this little rabbit cub use in Mark Well? His derivatives investment and development department has just been established for half a year! It surpasses you old guys who have been doing it for ten years? Okay, no need to excuse it, that's all!" John Reid snapped and hung up the phone, his originally meticulously combed hairstyle was a little messy, and a few gray hairs hung down at the corners of his forehead, dancing with John Reid's anger.

Following the merger of Citi and Salomon Smith Barney, Sandiwell and the former CEO of Citi co-served as co-CEOs of the new Citigroup.

Whether it is Sandyvale who counterattacked by Dick Si, or John Reed who has been smooth sailing, they all know in their hearts that the current intimacy between the two is only temporary, and it is only a temporary balance reached because the merger is more important than everything. As long as this buffer period passes, there will inevitably be a fight to the death between the two.

The people who can achieve this position have fought all the way, and I don't know how many competitors have fallen under the knife. One mountain does not tolerate two tigers, how can others sleep soundly on the side of the couch?

The open and secret battle between the two has already begun.

Frankly, in this competition, so far, Sandievale is still the underdog.

Although Salomon Smith Barney is on par with Citi in terms of total assets and profitability, it is far from the bottom of the story.

As the national bank of the United States, Citi has long been integrated into all aspects of the world's economy, and how can it be compared to an upstart like Solomon Smith Barney?

This is one of the reasons why John Reid was so happy to agree to this merger of reciprocals.

Sandievale is very powerful and strong, but John Reid really doesn't care about him.

Citi or Traveler seems to be a no-brainer for the board.

As soon as the buffer period of the merger has passed, John Reid is ready to have a board showdown and kick Sandievale out of Citigroup, and when the time comes, he will be the sole helm of the world's first financial empire!

But now, John Reid suddenly realizes that the multiple-choice question doesn't seem so simple.

When it comes to the choice of Citi or travelers, the board of directors will of course choose Citi.

But what if those two options became: high profits and he John Reid?

In one month, just one month, just because of the launch of the CDO, Citi's profit rose by $22 million. You must know that before the merger last year, Citibank's profit was only more than $2 billion, and $22 million is almost equivalent to 10% of the average monthly profit before the merger!

For a giant of Citigroup's size, a single point of profit growth is a big event for the board of directors, and now, it has risen by 10% all of a sudden!

And the one who single-handedly directed this performance show was actually the son of his sworn enemy!

It really doesn't get any worse than that.

John Reid is in an extremely bad mood, if this situation continues, and he has no more eye-catching achievements, I am afraid that in two or three years, it will not be that he swept Sandievale out of the house, but the opposite!

First a Sandyvae pro-disciple Jamie Dimon, followed by a biological son Markwell, Sandy Dumpty is also too lucky. John Reid thought to himself with some irritation.

Wait, Jamie, Jamie Dimon?

Perhaps, this is a good breakthrough.

"Elena, inform President Dimon to see if he's available right now, I have something I want to ask him about. John Reid's expression returned to his usual composure, and he pressed the answering machine to inform his secretary outside the office.

(End of chapter)