Mark was very happy after getting the job of Su Zhen's driver and bodyguard, and he happily took office the next day, but recently he found that the boss Su Zhen was a little worried, which made him a little uneasy, but he didn't dare to ask more.

SU ZHEN HAS INDEED BEEN IN BIG TROUBLE RECENTLY, AND THIS TROUBLE COMES FROM VENTURE CAPITAL COMPANIES, OR FROM EBAY SHARES IN THE HANDS OF VENTURE CAPITAL COMPANIES.

SINCE EBAY WENT PUBLIC LAST YEAR, THE DEVELOPMENT IS VERY GOOD, THE MARKET VALUE FROM $1.81 BILLION WHEN IT WAS FIRST LISTED, AND NOW IT HAS SKYROCKETED TO $16.6 BILLION, WHICH MAKES THE FOUNDERS OF EBAY, PIERRE OMEDIA AND SU ZHEN, WHO HAVE THE LARGEST STAKE IN EBAY, BECOME THE TOP RICH MAN WITH BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN ASSETS IN LESS THAN A YEAR, WHICH IS A VERY HAPPY THING, BUT THE RAPID DEVELOPMENT OF EBAY HAS BECOME A FAT MEAT IN THE EYES OF SOME PEOPLE.

Just two days ago, Rachel returned to the ranch, and at the same time brought Su Zhen a not-so-good news. DURING THIS TIME, A NUMBER OF CONSORTIUMS HAVE EXPRESSED INTEREST IN RAPELL TO BUY EBAY SHARES, INCLUDING TOP CONSORTIA SUCH AS MELON AND MORGAN.

Su Zhen frowned after learning the situation, these behemoths are not something he can touch, not that he is afraid of security problems, after all, the United States is a place where the law is spoken, and there are rules between the rich, kidnapping and extortion, threats and intimidation are all old-fashioned practices, and it is impossible to use such means among today's big chaebols, because it is not one person or two people who offend such a person, but a whole class, and this kind of behavior is to violate the bottom line. Even the top families in the United States would not dare to do this.

But after all, the United States is a country controlled by big conglomerates, and consortia will use some legal means to carry out it, such as the two peach-colored door incidents this year, which are the result of manipulation by American conglomerates behind their backs.

For example, Clinton's zipper door and whitewater gate, because Clinton represents the California consortium and other left-wing forces in the United States, and some of his economic policies have seriously infringed on the interests of the right-wing conservative forces, so it has led to a strong resistance from the consortium represented by the right-wing forces, although it has not succeeded in pulling Clinton down, but it has also caused Clinton's political prestige to plummet and completely lose the possibility of re-election, and the most important promoter is this Mellon consortium.

In fact, there are many little-known ones in the United States, but their wealth far exceeds that of Rockefeller and DuPont, and the Mellon consortium is such an unknown but terrifying family, as can be seen from its Mellon Bank, which is one of the 25 most powerful banks in the United States.

If Clinton's time is a game between consortiums, then Microsoft is completely a victim of the consortium in order to protect its own interests, it is precisely because of Microsoft's rapid expansion that it has seriously infringed on the interests of the consortium behind many other network companies, so with the support of the consortium, the US government will push Microsoft into the anti-monopoly dock, otherwise the US government will have enough to offend such a large company in its own country? It's too late to protect.

In the end, Bill Gates sacrificed a lot of his interests, sold a large number of shares, and obtained the understanding of major consortia, thus saving Microsoft and escaping the result of being divided into two. In fact, Bill Gates's continuous selling of his stocks later also had a lot to do with this, because he felt that Microsoft no longer belonged to him, and he could not accept it as a personality, so he focused on seeing the charity fund that belonged entirely to him and his wife.

Therefore, it can be seen that the influence of the consortium in the United States is extremely huge, so Su Zhen was at a loss for this, and after thinking for a long time, he couldn't get along properly with him, so Su Zhen had to turn to Carrick, who was also from the consortium family.

"Sue, at present, the most appropriate way for you is to join a consortium, of course, this pit will pay some price, although you may lose some benefits, but this is a matter of time, any new rise of large potential companies can not escape this fate after all, and the benefits after joining the consortium are also obvious, especially most of the consortium have banks, which is beneficial to the development of the company, not to mention, there is also political support, the government is very tolerant of the consortium," Carrick said.

"Then I don't know what your DuPont consortium is?" Su Zhen thought for a while and asked.

"It's a pity, Sue, I can't help you in this matter, after all, I'm just one of the heirs, and from the perspective of a friend, I can clearly tell you that joining DuPont is not a good idea, first of all, we don't have a bank, and our financial business can only be entrusted to the Morgan consortium, which is an extremely sad thing, so although we are also one of the big conglomerates in the United States, we don't have much right to speak, I guess those old stubborn will not risk offending other consortia to help you." Carrick said helplessly, and he didn't want to help, he really couldn't do it, "Hasn't your business been working with Citibank?" You can talk to them, and as an emerging conglomerate, their leadership is much more open-minded."

Yes, Su Zhen suddenly opened his mouth when he heard this, hasn't his relationship with Citibank always been good, he can cooperate with Citibank, and unlike some other old consortia with the family as the core, the Citigroup Consortium and the California Consortium are a collection of many large companies and large enterprises, and the internal environment is much more relaxed, as for the California Consortium Su Zhen never thought that the California Consortium has been getting worse every year over the years, and even the Bank of America as the core has been controlled by Morgan and the Citi Consortium. The control of most of its major companies has gradually passed into the hands of large eastern conglomerates such as Citigroup, and its status has long been less than it used to be.

After hanging up the call with Carrick, Su Zhen immediately contacted his account manager at Citibank and asked him to convey his intention to join the consortium to Citibank's senior management.

The next day, Sandyville, then the CEO of Citigroup, contacted Su Zhen personally.

"Mr. Su, I heard that you want to join us (Citigroup)?" Sandy asked.

"Yes, Mr. Sandy," Su Zhen replied.

"With all due respect, Mr. Su, although you have always been a valued client of our Citigroup, it seems that your assets are not enough to be a part of the consortium," Sandy said unceremoniously.

Su Zhen didn't care, he didn't believe in this kind of nonsense, in fact, he believed that the other party had already figured out the ins and outs, but he was just waiting to see what kind of price he could pay.

"HOW ABOUT A 20% STAKE IN EBAY IN EXCHANGE FOR A 0.1% STAKE IN CITIGROUP?" Su Zhen made a bid and said, "If I don't agree, I have to consider the conditions of the Morgan family."

"Oh Mr. Su, please don't be impatient, I will immediately convey your intention to the board of directors, I am sure that the board of directors will be happy to accept such young and energetic fresh blood as you." After hearing Su Zhen's conditions, Sandy immediately changed his attitude, which couldn't help but make him unmoved. Citigroup's current market value is only a little more than one trillion, and one-thousandth of the shares are only one billion, while EBAY is only 16.6 billion, but 15% of the shares are as much as 2 billion market value, and now EBAY's shares are rising wildly every day, which is also a lot of income for those bigwigs of Citigroup.

However, although it seems that Su Zhen is very bad under this condition, it is still worth it, the most important thing is to successfully become a member of the top ten consortiums in the United States, with this identity, basically in North America, whether it is investment or acquisition, it is basically unimpeded, and it is also a real part of the upper echelons of the United States, and Citigroup's promotion potential is huge, before the subprime mortgage crisis, its share appreciation potential is not huge, and EBAY's equity is good, but it will soon usher in a heavy blow, ALTHOUGH EBAY WILL NOT HURT THE BONES, THE MARKET VALUE OF THE 15% SHARE IS ESTIMATED TO BE LESS THAN ONE THOUSANDTH OF CITIGROUP, AND SU ZHEN CAN BE REGARDED AS A SMALL PIT FOR CITIGROUP.

A few hours later, Sandy called again, hoping that Su Zhen could have a detailed discussion at the headquarters of Citigroup in New York, and Su Zhen readily agreed.

After hanging up the phone, Su Zhen immediately asked Ruolan, who was preparing lunch in the kitchen, to contact the airport and prepare to leave for New York tomorrow, and at the same time asked Rachel to prepare relevant materials with Erica and go together tomorrow.