At this time, the voice recorder was not like a tape recorder, it had a playback function, but with the guarantee of Jay Clayton, a barrister, Carl Lawrence would not be stupid enough to question the reliability of this evidence.

Carl Lawrence said solemnly to Hua Zhongzhao: "Now, I arrest you in the name of the Los Angeles Police Department, and the Constitution requires me to inform you of the following rights: You have the right to remain silent. If you speak, everything you say will be used as evidence in court. You have the right to a lawyer and may request that a lawyer be present during the interrogation. If you can't afford a lawyer, we'll provide you with one free of charge. You may at any time request to exercise these rights during the course of the interrogation without answering questions or making any statements. Do you understand the rights that I have just read to you, and will you confess to me that you know these rights?"

Hua Zhongzhao said sharply: "They are talking nonsense, I want to find my lawyer!"

Carl Lawrence ignored him and continued to say Miranda to the three of them, hard formalities, having to obey, even if it seemed silly, but it was part of procedural justice.

Carl Lawrence called for backup, and not long after, two police cars came and escorted Hua Zhongzhao and several people inside.

Carl Lawrence saw that Zhang Chen and the others had no intention of going to the police station to make a record, and he was not reluctant, and he also got into the police car and returned to the police station.

Several people don't want to delay the business they are talking about for this little thing, after all, they are talking about a big business of nearly a billion dollars, how can they be disturbed by this little thing?

Zhang Chen thanked Jay Clayton and Ajit Jain, "Two, if you are not here today, there may be some trouble. ”

Jay Clayton laughed, "Zack, if it weren't for us, you wouldn't be in trouble if you didn't come here today." ”

Zhang Chen also laughed and said: "There is no trouble, there is no business, business is trouble, but we all like trouble." ”

Several of them let out exaggerated laughter in the style of entertainment.

Ajit praised: "Zack, the awesome eagle hit you just now, you must have practiced hard since you were a child, right? It seems that in China and the United States, the children of rich families are different from other people's classes from birth." You know, I didn't play golf for the first time until I was 28 years old. ”

Tang Miaomiao's eyes were strange, she naturally knew that Zhang Chen was not a rich child, and she had never seen him play before, how could his skills be so powerful?

Zhang Chen smiled and said, "Although you are not, your two children are also the children of the rich, Ajit." ”

Gradually, several people quietly changed each other's names from surnames to first names, which means that the sense of identity between each other has increased.

Ajit laughed, and his head glistened with oil: "This is the American dream, haha." Ajit's eyes flashed, "Just like Zack, if you buy the shares in Berkshire Hathaway and become the largest shareholder of Salomon Brothers, it will be considered the realization of your American dream, right?"

Zhang Chen smiled: "This is a good deal for both parties, Berkshire can get a lot of cash before the end of the fiscal year, and Spark can have more in the bond market." ”

At present, Buffett holds $700 million in convertible preferred stock, and as Buffett, he did not want to invest in Salomon Brothers at first, believing that the company was too risky.

But because John Gutfround, the president of Salomon Brothers at the time, helped Buffett in the 70s, Buffett, in order to repay the favor, in order to enhance the liquidity of Salomon Brothers during the stock market crash of 87, reluctantly bought 700 million US dollars of convertible preferred shares of Salomon Brothers with an annual interest rate of 9%, and the agreed conversion price was 38 US dollars per share, with a term of 92 years.

But Salomon Brothers suffered its worst crisis in history in '91, nearly being banned from bond trading by the federal government due to dishonest bidding and nearing bankruptcy. In order to save his assets, Warren Buffett served as interim chairman of the board of directors of Salomon Brothers.

Even if Buffett can deal with it, he will only save Salomon Brothers from the brink of bankruptcy, and the stock price will never go back. Although Buffett and Salomon Brothers extended the agreement, the annual interest was only paid until 95 years, and since last year, Buffett has not been able to get a penny of interest from Solomon Brothers.

And what about Warren Buffett's stocks? The highest market value of Salomon Brothers exceeded $170 billion, and the stock price was close to $50 at its peak, and now, the total market value of Solomon Brothers is less than $10 billion.

Although Warren Buffett has earned a lot of interest income over the years, it is an indisputable fact that this transaction has caused him to lose a lot of money.

And Zhang Chen is not aiming at the shares in Buffett's hands that are currently worth only $50 million, but many shareholders who act in concert with Buffett.

The total number of shares held by these shareholders is more than $800 million based on the current share price.

In other words, as long as Buffett is done, other shareholders will follow up, and Zhang Chen's plan against the Solomon brothers will be realized.

In the past few days when Blancfin returned to New York, he was not idle. He approached his old colleague at Goldman Sachs, Gretchen Clayton, whose husband, Jay Clayton, had deep ties to Berkshire Hathaway as a Sulliven Cromwell M&A lawyer who had provided legal support for Berkshire Hathaway's numerous acquisitions.

Through Jay Clayton, Frankfin found Ajit Jain again.

Ajit Jain, as Buffett's henchman, has a great say in Berkshire Hathaway and also has a certain influence on Buffett. Ajit knows very well that although the Salomon Brothers' business has won Buffett some fame and once again demonstrated his outstanding management ability to the outside world, it is still a thorn in Buffett's heart as the most failed investment in Buffett's investment career.

Warren Buffett later often used the example of the Salomon brothers to illustrate that he would always only look at the long term. But Ajit knows that Buffett can't find a buyer.

Since the accident in '91, the Solomon brothers have been like a piece of carrion, which people avoid and only those greedy scavengers will approach. And these scavengers, not to mention, always want to eat white food, because of their bad reputation, Buffett, a top rich man who has already achieved fame, does not want to have anything to do with them.

Therefore, when Ajit heard that someone was willing to buy the shares of Salomon Brothers in the hands of Berkshire Hathaway, he was naturally willing to contact him, and if he could pull out this thorn for Buffett, his position in Berkshire would be more stable.

After all, Buffett is old, and there is always a successor.

Both to sell the Solomon brothers and to show their abilities is the bottom line that Ajit Jain has set for himself.

"Zack, the price of $2.5 a share you said is outrageous, we can't possibly agree. This price is no different from a free gift. Ajit said.

Where can anyone remember what happened to Hua Zhongzhao now.

Uh-huh, like trouble

Note: In addition to big business, big deal also means big man and great person in American language, but it is mostly used in irony and derogatory terms.

(End of chapter)