Why is it called Lynn. Elson Hans instead of the loyal Steve. White? Because Ji Cheng has a bit of a big appetite this time, he wants to buy the Empire State Building, a landmark building in New York.

The property rights of the Empire State Building are now in the hands of Prudential Insurance Company, and he has no business dealings with Prudential Insurance Company, so he has to find an acquaintance to introduce him.

That's right, it's Lynn. Elson Hans, who used to be the chairman of State Street, has a lot of connections and has some business dealings with Prudential Insurance Company, and can act as this introducer.

On the way to Boston. Ji Cheng recalled some information about Prudential Insurance Company in his head. This company will become one of the largest asset management companies in the world in the future, according to statistics, the scale of assets under management in 2018 exceeded 1 trillion US dollars, of course, this is only the assets under management, the market value is certainly not so high, in fact, the company's market value even in 2023 is only more than 30 billion US dollars.

However, this market value is only the market value of Prudential's partially listed market, not the company's assets. In fact, as early as 1985, Prudential acquired the pension fund company Jennison United Capital, with assets of $100 billion.

Today, Prudential has not registered Prudential Financial Group in New Jersey, but Prudential Insurance Company, but its strength should not be underestimated, after all, hundreds of billions of dollars in assets.

Not long after, the car stopped in the parking lot of a skyscraper, and Ji Cheng looked up at the fifty-two-story skyscraper, on which the words Prudential Building were written.

Because Prudential and Prudential have similar names, this building is sometimes mistranslated as Prudential Building, but Prudential has nothing to do with Prudential.

Come upstairs. Because before coming Lynn. Elson Hans called Prudential to get in touch, so they were ushered into a small conference room by the front desk as soon as they came up.

The front desk pushed open the door and said respectfully: "Mr. Ji, Mrs. Elsenhans, please come in, the boss and the directors are waiting for you." ”

"Thank you."

"I'm tired." Ji Cheng and Lynn. Elson Hans thanked him and went inside. There were three or four people sitting, led by an elderly man, and there were two men and a woman next to him, the woman was about thirty years old, Ji Cheng always felt very familiar.

"Haha, welcome Mr. Ji and Mrs. Elson Hans." The old man was the first to stand up.

Lynn. Elson Hans whispered, "He's Brian, chairman of Prudential. Ji Cheng understood, stepped forward to shake hands with the other party, and said with a smile: "Hello Mr. Brian." ”

"I'll introduce you to the others." Brian enthusiastically pulled Ji Cheng to sit down, pointed to the middle-aged man on his left and said, "He's Joe. Plummery, is the Chief Executive Officer of Prudential. ”

"Hello Mr. Plumery."

"Hello Mr. Ji." After the two sides got to know each other, Brian introduced two other people, the other man was Charlie, Prudential Operations Director and Senior Vice President.

As for the woman, Ji Cheng heard it

"Cathy. Wood", only to know that the other party was later called

"Female version of Warren Buffett", the founder of Ark Investment Management, a god in the investment field, previously worked at Jennison United Capital, with the company's acquisition by Prudential. Wood also became a member of Prudential and then became the company's managing director in his own right.

Generally speaking, managing director is not a position, but a hierarchy, and some financial institutions even have thousands of managing directors, such as Goldman Sachs in its heyday.

It stands to reason that it is unlikely to bring someone at the level of managing director to participate in the negotiation of asset sales, but Ji Cheng estimates that Prudential wants to train Cathy. Wood, so come with me.

After a brief acquaintance, the assistant poured them a cup of coffee. Brian didn't have a lake, and asked directly: "I heard Lynn say that Mr. Ji has business and wants to cooperate with us this time?" Ji Cheng took a sip of coffee,

"I can't say business, but I just took a fancy to one of Prudential's assets and wanted to buy it from your company." Brian looked at the others and said with a smile: "Please forgive me, the company has no intention of selling assets for the time being, you see......"

"I'm not interested in Prudential's core assets, it's just the Empire State Building." Ji Cheng put down the coffee cup and said with a smile: "The Empire State Building is only one of your company's investment industries, and it is not a core business, and my Huajin Capital does not have its own office building so far, Mr. Brian, can your company bear the pain and sell the Empire State Building to me?" ”

"The Empire State Building." Brian didn't resist this time, he pondered for a moment and said, "To be honest, our company doesn't care too much about collecting rent, but the Empire State Building has always been a landmark in New York, and I don't really want to sell it." ”

"What if the price is right?" Ji Cheng asked rhetorically. This time, Brian didn't speak, and instead spoke to the company's CEO, Joe. Plumeri,

"How much are you willing to pay?" Ji Cheng remembers that the Empire State Building reached $65 million in 1961 without land ownership, but since then the price has been declining since then. Vane paid only $33 million to acquire ownership of the Empire State Building, which he later sold to Prudential for $29 million, and has remained until now.

Of course, Ji Cheng also knows more, according to the normal historical trajectory, Prudential Insurance Company will sell the ownership of the Empire State Building to Oliver Jr. in 1991 for $42 million. Grace, and Oliver Jr. Grace actually came forward to buy the Empire State Building on behalf of the Japanese billionaire Hideki Yokoi.

The Empire State Building then changed hands several times before it fell to Peter. In the hands of the Marygin father and son. Peter. After regaining ownership of the Empire State Building, the McGinn not only bought the land at a huge price, but also spent $550 million to upgrade the building, and began to eliminate hundreds of small tenants and replace them with large companies that could afford higher rents, such as Sweden's Scandyan Construction, Deutsche Lufthansa, and Neighbor Keyin.

What's more, in 2013, the McGinn couple bundled the Empire State Building with 19 other properties to form a $5.2 billion name

The institution of the "Imperial Real Estate Trust", which in turn went public and made a lot of money. Ji Cheng wants to take this route, so he wants to acquire the Empire State Building and build his own private real estate business with the Empire State Building as the core, which will not be linked to Huajin Capital, so as to facilitate his personal wealth tax avoidance in the future.

Thinking about it, Ji Cheng gave a number,

"I'm willing to pay $35 million to buy the Empire State Building, how about that? Your company was acquired for only $29 million, and now you can make a lot of money. ”

"$35 million is too low." Joe. Plumery shook his head,

"It's true that we spent $29 million at the beginning, but after so many years, the value of the property has already risen, how can it be sold for $35 million?" Of course, Ji Cheng knew that the other party would not agree to this price, but when talking about business, one is asking for a sky-high price and the other is paying back on the spot, he will definitely not be able to come up and quote too high, otherwise he will be slaughtered even more ruthlessly.

"And how much do you need to sell it?" This time Joe. Plumery stopped talking, and turned to discuss with Brian and the others in a whisper.

Ji Cheng drank coffee unhurriedly. Next to Lynn. Elson Hans didn't speak, because this time Ji Cheng was buying the Empire State Building on behalf of an individual instead of the company, and she couldn't interject in this situation.

After about five minutes, the three or four of them had a discussion. Joe. Plumery looked up and said, "We'll sell it for four two million dollars!" "Originally, Joe. Plumery, Brian and the others thought that Ji Cheng would bargain, and even thought about going back and finding some support.

What they didn't expect was that as soon as the price was quoted, Ji Cheng said without hesitation: "Deal!" Brian: "......" Joe. Plumery: "......" Cathy. Wood and others: "......" Nima!

Don't you even bargain? Brian, Joe. Plumery and the others were stunned, and even faintly regretted it in their hearts, looking at Ji Cheng's posture, it seemed that the offer could be accepted even if it was a little higher, why didn't they dare to be bigger?

It's just that the water that is spilled out of the offer is definitely impossible for them to break their promise, otherwise how bad will it be for the corporate image to spread out?

Brian was a little speechless and said, "Mr. Ji, did you already have a psychological price?" Deliberately quoting $35 million to play psychological tactics with us? Ji Cheng laughed and said: "How can there be, how can there be, it's just that I recently made a little money in the stock market and didn't spend it, so I really didn't play tactics with you." "Well, he's just playing tactics.

If the negotiation is normal, who knows if Prudential Insurance will come up with any tricks to raise the price in the future, it is better to make a final decision.

found a lawyer, signed a contract with the other party, and then Ji Cheng took Lynn again. Elson Hans rushed to other places and continued to acquire real estate.

For example, the famous Kresler Building and so on. He even bought land for properties such as the Empire State Building and the Christler Building.

In one day, Ji Cheng spent nearly a billion US dollars, and the value of these properties and land he purchased should reach 10 billion in modern society, of course, the premise is that he wants to renovate some industries, such as the Empire State Building, which needs to be redeveloped.

But no matter what, the news of Ji Cheng's large-scale purchase of real estate spread.

"Huh? Ji Cheng went to invest in real estate? ”

"Could it be that this investment god is optimistic about the rise of the real estate industry in the near future?"

"Shall we follow him and buy some property?"

"Xie Te, what are we waiting for after Ji Chengdu invests in real estate?" For a time, many large companies actually followed the large-scale purchase of real estate, which gave a wave of heating to New York real estate.

…… Night, in the villa. Ji Chengzheng called Airbus to discuss the purchase of a private jet.

"What is the price of your company's private jet?"

"It depends on how luxurious a private jet you need, if it's a regular Airbus A320, it costs $40 million."

"Do you have any new machines?"

"There are no new planes and new goods, if you have a demand, I can contact you with a second-hand private jet to use first."

"Okay, contact me with a second-hand one first, and then you can order a luxury private jet for me, and I will send someone to your company to talk about it."

"Mr. Ji, as the world's leading super-rich, why do you still need to send someone to our company? In that case, how about I go to New York in person and talk to you in person? ”

"Okay, that's bothering you." After chatting about things, hang up. Ji Cheng casually put his mobile phone on the coffee table in front of the sofa, shook his head with a smile, sure enough, his status is not the same, and the treatment he receives is not the same, he wants to buy a private jet in modern society, and he has to go to the beautiful country in person, in this time and space, the senior vice president of Airbus said that he would come over in person to serve himself.

I have to say that it is great to have money and status. Ji Cheng sighed with emotion in his heart. I'm thinking about how to continue spending money.

Suddenly, the phone rang. Ji Cheng thought it was someone from the company calling, but he didn't care, so he connected casually,

"Hello, I'm Ji Cheng."

"Mr. Ji, I'm Perry." A young man's voice came from the other end. Perry? Who's that?

Ji Cheng didn't react at first, but then he thought of who it was. Isn't this the young man I met in a tavern who said he wanted to develop an instant messaging app?

He was suddenly interested,

"Oh? Perry, have you developed instant messaging software for calling me? ”

"It's a semi-finished product, I'm in short supply of funds, and I can't continue to develop, so I want to ask if you can come over and have a look, and if you think it's appropriate, invest a little money in me?" Perry spoke very directly.

Developed a half-finished instant messaging software so quickly? Although Ji Cheng didn't know what the other party's semi-finished products looked like, he already felt that Perry had a rare talent in computer software development, and he must attach great importance to such talents.

"Okay, I'll come over tomorrow." Ji Cheng agreed,

"Where am I going to find you?"

"Come to my apartment, it's not too far from Central Park." Perry said. At first, Ji Cheng thought that Perry was quite rich and could afford to live near the central apartment, but finally heard the other party say the address and knew that it was the Tongcang apartment.

The cabin is the smallest apartment type, there is no obvious partition in the house, the living room, bedroom, and kitchen are all in the same space, and the general rent is relatively low.

Ji Chengdao: "Okay, I'll be at your apartment on time at nine o'clock tomorrow morning." Hanging up the phone, Ji Cheng blinked, thinking that if the instant messaging software developed by Perry was not bad, then he might not be able to invest a little money.

Yes, although he got instant messaging software from modern society, who knows if it will be uncomfortable?

This is one of them. Second, Ji Cheng himself doesn't understand this, he just has a software, if the company is established, who will do the follow-up development work?

He can't play in person, and don't say that he can't develop software, just say that even if he can, doesn't Huajin Capital need him to work?

There's no time to develop software. Third, although he can invest in finding professionals to develop software, it is not good to do so before he occupies a certain market share, otherwise the professionals he is looking for will be poached by other companies that find business opportunities, and he will not be able to cry.

Perry is different, he not only understands software development, but also has an interest in this aspect, isn't there a saying that interest is the best teacher, and it is better for him to develop instant messaging software.

In addition, Perry is a young man, which is relatively easy to control, and more importantly, this guy looks relatively poor, as long as he gives him a little sweetness, he should do his best to sell his life.

The most important point is that the other side has developed a semi-finished product. If Ji Cheng doesn't take advantage of the current grasp and turns back to Perry to find other companies to invest, it may cause huge trouble to his instant messaging software business.

So no matter what, as long as the software developed by the other party is not too bad, Ji Cheng must firmly grasp Perry.

Hope you surprise me. Ji Cheng is still looking forward to seeing excellent software tomorrow.