The first contact between Abel and the California consortium can be said to have gone well.

After all, he is no longer the rich man who only had some money last year.

As he established his relationship with the Bush family, there were other allies.

He can now be considered a vassal in this country.

He is already qualified to have such a presence with the California consortium.

But this is only the initial contact.

Whether it's Abel or Kayla Wilson, both understand that it's impossible to talk about real cooperation right away.

Even if both sides have this kind of thought.

This kind of cooperation is a matter of two huge interest groups, and there may be.

No matter how careful you are, you can't be too cautious.

But the good thing is through this contact.

At the very least, it can let both sides know that there is no hostility between each other, and there is no conflict at the moment.

That's enough.

Even in terms of finance, the California consortium has many places where it can cooperate with Abel.

Abel is better at investing, or speculating.

The financial forces of the California consortium are retail banks and commercial banks, and the two sides are very complementary to each other.

After a little talk with Kayla Wilson.

Abel chatted more deeply with John Stampf, the executive chairman of Wells Fargo.

Chatting and chatting, Abel talked about Wells Fargo and Pacific Bank, a possible cooperation project.

Foundations and foundations cannot cooperate immediately.

But try to make some contact on the business.

If the contact is good, the follow-up will really cooperate.

When it unfolds, it will also be smoother and more experienced.

"Silicon Valley Bank? I remember that most of its shares were acquired by the Pacific Commercial Bank?"

John Staplef spoke softly.

Abel nodded:

"Exactly. Last year, Silicon Valley Bank was bought by me. But until now, it is still an independent bank and has not been merged into Pacific Bank."

John Staplef nodded, calculating the gains and losses in his mind.

Silicon Valley Bank was established in 1983 as a subsidiary of Silicon Valley Bank Financial Group.

Ninety-five percent of the banking group's assets are in Silicon Valley Bank, and the rest of the business is not worth mentioning.

With total assets of $2 billion, it is a small bank in the United States.

The bank's business is mainly to provide loans to venture capital firms, as well as Silicon Valley startups.

Like Cisco, Oracle, and even Google in the early days, they all took loans from Silicon Valley Bank.

Since it is related to Silicon Valley, it naturally suffered heavy losses when the Nasdaq bubble burst last year.

At that time, the entire Silicon Valley Bank Financial Group had total assets of more than $5 billion.

After the bubble burst, it was directly cut in half of its value, leaving only about 2 billion assets.

At the end of last year, its shares were gradually acquired by Abel, and the economic situation was much better.

Some of the shares of Internet companies that Abel bought on September 11 this year were also held by this bank.

The main reason for this is to avoid taxes -

Super taxpayers and super philanthropists are by no means completely tax-avoiding.

"So what do you mean..."

John Staplef knew something about Silicon Valley Bank, and he didn't know Abel's intentions.

"I mean. We can try to test the waters of cooperation first." Abel smiled and said:

"We used Silicon Valley Bank as a trial, how about we work together on Silicon Valley Bank?"

John Staplef looked at Kayla Wilson, who nodded lightly at him.

John Staplef looked at Abel again, smiled and said, "So what's that?"

What kind of cooperation model?"

"Wells Fargo paid $1 billion for a 49.9% stake in Silicon Valley Bank. The two companies jointly run Silicon Valley Bank." Abel said.

In the process of acquiring Silicon Valley Bank Financial Group, Abel spent a total of about two billion dollars.

Later, another $200 million was invested in development, and because Silicon Valley is now miserable, its performance is also very average.

It is now worth a total of about $2.2 billion.

Wells Fargo took a 49.9% stake for a billion dollars.

It can be said that the business has not even been done, and it has already made at least tens of millions of dollars.

The premise is that Silicon Valley Bank can make a profit in the future, rather than continue to lose money.

This is Abel's sincerity, the bait he threw out to seduce Wells Fargo and the California consortium.

"How about 50%? Wells Fargo gave $1.1 billion."

After thinking about it, John Staplef showed his sincerity.

Wells Fargo doesn't make those tens of millions of dollars.

But we demand equal rights and interests, and everyone is working together in Silicon Valley to build Silicon Valley Bank.

Abel wants to contact the California consortium, why doesn't the California consortium want to contact him?

If you don't want to get in touch with Abel, John Staplef will be here today.

But Kayla Wilson will never show up.

"It's a pleasure to work with." Abel smiled and stretched out his hand.

John Stampf and Kayla Wilson shook hands with him as they smiled.

Abel's main purpose today has finally been accomplished.

Pacific Bank and Wells Fargo, a partnership with Silicon Valley Bank.

In later generations, it is also considered to be the first collaboration between the Smith Consortium and the California Consortium.

When things were almost over, Abel declined Kayla and Stampf's invitation to a drinking party this evening.

At the top of the Wells Fargo building, he was greeted by John Stamp and Kayla Wilson.

Wait for Abel's plane to leave the Wells Fargo building.

The smiles on the faces of the two California consortium members faded.

John Staplef said to Kayla:

"It's as generous as ever. Tens of millions of dollars, without blinking an eye, took them out."

His annual salary is only about 10 million US dollars a year.

Kayla, the big beauty, nodded, and she said to John Stampf:

"John, what do you think he means? Do you want to work with us?"

"Of course." John Staplef replied directly:

"I heard that his father-in-law, Neil Bush, has been in San Francisco for a while. During this time, the third eldest member of the shrub family has been in contact with the AFL-CIO gang. Obviously, this Mr. Smith has this in mind. He may need our support in this regard."

Kayla nodded thoughtfully.

"Miss Wilson, what do you think of this Mr. Smith?"

The two continued to talk as they walked downstairs.

How about Abel Smith?

Kayla felt that she was very handsome at first. Tall and sunny, it is very much in line with the appearance of Apollo, the sun god in the minds of Europeans and Americans.

Then there's the way of speaking, which is also not obnoxious and sounds good.

The second is the way of doing things, which is very refreshing and generous.

Sharp thinking, decisive and crisp.

No matter how much it is, with Kayla's experience and ability, she can't see it.

She excluded her opinion of Abel from the part of her appearance.

Honestly said it to John Stampf.

John Staplef nodded.

In fact, if he could, John didn't want to take this eldest lady at all.

But Slader Wilson, one of the original shareholders of Wells Fargo. It is clear that Kayla Wilson wants to share some of the power of Wells Fargo in the future.

Even John Stamp

The husband felt a little uncomfortable in his heart because of this.

But he, a senior wage earner, also had to take Kayla Wilson with him at work.

John Staplef said to Kayla:

"This Mr. Smith has very terrifying ambitions. We're all analyzing him, or a lot of consortia are analyzing him."

"He was born in Texas, but he didn't join the Texas consortium. He married the Bush family, but also worked with Warren Buffett in the Midwest. In New York, he and Morgenthau had a good relationship. He also has a deep cooperative relationship with oilmen like Bloomberg and Soros."

John Staplef analyzes softly, introducing Kayla to the hidden side of Abel Smith.

Part of this analysis was John himself who came up with it.

Most of the analysis is an analysis of think tanks raised by themselves within the California consortium.

Abel is not alone in the help of a team of thinkers.

What the Smith Intelligence Regiment can do for Abel, and what it can't do for Abel.

These veteran consortia, their think tank teams, can do it.

After all, the Smith Intelligence Group has only been established for more than a year now. And the shortest time for these consortia has been around for decades.

To be honest, compared with these old consortia and chaebols, Abel has only two advantages.

One is that he is a reborn being, even if he does not specifically memorize it.

He still remembered the big events that would happen in the future in many parallel time and space.

This advantage can be big or small, and as his influence increases, many things may change.

This advantage may also fade away.

The second is his unrivalled talent.

The ability to solve problems in the financial capital market is what he is most powerful.

Compare to these two.

What other Mayflower family origins, what Texas senior red neck origin.

In the eyes of an existence at this level, that's really nothing.

Is Mr. Brainy Good enough? The family is good enough, right? He's high enough, right?

If it really touches the interests of certain groups, it is still a big brain.

Including the ecological niche that Abel found for himself.

And then there's what he thinks is the clever design of the share structure within the Future Smith Consortium.

In fact, these things have long been given to those old chaebols and consortia.

The group of smart people raised by them are analyzed cleanly.

Maybe the results they came up with after analyzing them were even more perfect than Abel himself imagined...

This kind of gap in the background, Abel is difficult to erase.

The reason why these veteran consortia and chaebols have been quietly watching him perform and watch him develop has been quietly watching.

To put it bluntly, so far, there is no direct conflict of interest.

Abel is very sensible, and so far, apart from Wall Street, there has not been much conflict with anyone.

Even with Wall Street, it was a conflict while cooperating.

Coupled with the fact that he is growing up very quickly, it is already necessary to face him in the blink of an eye.

He is also constantly adding allies to himself and creating common interest groups.

By now, he has a certain ability to protect himself.

In a way, it can already be said that one of them is one of them.

A young, new member who has just joined in.

Able is already qualified to negotiate cooperation with them.

You are the chairman of Wells Fargo, as the highest-end existence of this creature as a wage earner.

John Staplef was already qualified to know this, when teaching Kayla.

John taught these things to Kayla, who was still relatively young.

After this "popular science" of John Stampf.

Kayla couldn't help but sigh a little.

"That is... He has now formed a Smith consortium

Is it? Oh my God, I heard he's less than twenty-two years old, six years younger than me!"

Kayla couldn't help but say.

John Staplef smiled wryly.

The chairman felt in his heart that people were really angry with people than people.

in this world

There are guys like Kayla Wilson, who were born directly in Rome.

There is also the kind of Abel Smith, who in a very short period of time, built Rome in his own place.

It's really made ordinary elites like them envious, jealous and helpless.

"That's pretty much it." John Staplef nodded and said:

"In terms of wealth, he and his friends can be regarded as the Smith Consortium."

Kayla Wilson exclaimed, "It's amazing, it's amazing. How rich is he now, do you estimate? Is it really like Forbes says, only that little?"

According to Forbes, Abel's wealth is more than $80 billion.

Staplef thought to himself, is 80 billion dollars a little?

That's already astronomical, okay?

"I don't know. But in our analysis, we don't count the share price of Smith Capital. His personal net worth may be around $120 billion."

John Staplef said with some ambiguity.

"Twelve hundred?" Kayla exclaimed again.

In the conversation between the two.

Abel's helicopter left the area and soon appeared in Neil Bush, in San Francisco's villa.

"How?"

"What else? Just a preliminary contact. My bank would work with Wells Fargo, a bank in Silicon Valley. This is already positive news to the outside world."

In the living room of the villa, Neil couldn't wait to ask as soon as he saw Abel coming back.

After Abel answered, he whispered:

"Dear Neil, the roads are paved. Now it's up to you how you go. I hope that one day, little Laura and I, along with our children, will be able to enjoy your protection."

"Uh—" Neil thought to himself, if that was the case, that would be fine.

Then the first thing I'm going to do is to keep you, kid, away from other women!

I am only allowed to be in love with my daughter.

"I'll try to do it." Come to think of it, in reality, Neil is still very clear about this statement.

The next day, November 18, 2001, was Monday.

That morning.

As soon as the U.S. stock market opened, the stock price of Amex fell directly below $40.

$43.5 from Friday when the market closes.

It fell until the end of the day, and it had returned to the $35 level not long ago.

The Pacific Commercial Bank, which has been resting in the market for more than a week, has begun to sweep slowly again.

In the case of Soros, the leader of the white knights, "taking the lead in surrender" and "leading in betrayal".

The stock of Amex has no more waves and has always remained around $35.

The U.S. Pacific Commercial Bank is also gradually absorbing chips.

Wait until Wednesday, November 20th.

Pacific Commercial Bank already holds a 48.9% stake in Amex Corporation.

By this time, it had become very difficult for Abel to obtain the shares of the company.

The vast majority of the remaining shareholders are institutions.

Most of the institutions are optimistic about Amex, and they are reluctant to sell it at this price.

It is impossible for Abel to raise the price in a short period of time.

All that remains is a stalemate, and the two sides will fight on the board of directors of the company.

November 20th.

The shareholders' meeting initiated half a month ago was also officially held.

The venue is located in Two World Financial Center in Manhattan, in the New York headquarters of Amex.

The acquisition of Amex was acquired. Whether it is the duration, or the context of the previous situation, and the offensive and defensive operations between the two sides that occur in the middle.

It can be said that it is a textbook "barbarian outside the door" classic hostile takeover incident.

Because of this, it has attracted the attention of a large number of financial media and journalists from beginning to end.

Readers in this area also enjoy watching this news.

During this period, the sales of newspapers in the financial media have increased a lot.

It is said that it has reached more than 20%, which makes the owners of these newspapers happy.

The entrance to Building Two of the World Financial Center today.

Naturally, there are a large number of financial media and reporters from serious social news newspapers.

When the shareholders of Yuntong Company appeared at the door of the building one by one and walked to the interior of the building.

Reporters would gather around and ask the shareholders of the company some questions loudly.

Like Mr. Jim Walton, a member of the Walton family who holds 1.5% of the shares, he was asked by reporters -

[Mr. Walton! Mr. Smith already holds a 48.9% stake. I wonder if you still insist on supporting the original board headed by Mr. Kenneth Chernot? 】

[Mr. Walton, I heard that Mr. Smith wanted to buy your shares at the beginning, but then you were too greedy and he refused, right?] 】

[Mr. Walton, you...]

Jim Walton blackfaces the whole time, ignoring the reporters.

Just by that face, it looked like he was very unhappy today.

Some shareholders were interviewed by reporters.

For example, the representative of State Street Bank smiled and said to the reporter who interviewed him:

"As a shareholder of Amex Corporation. State Street welcomes Mr. Smith to the board. We believe that with Mr. Smith's Amex Company, we will be able to achieve even greater success!"

The president of Fisher Asset Management Group came over in person.

In the face of the reporter's interview, his response was also very clear -

"Why are you dissatisfied? How can we be upset with Mr. Smith? Everyone is a shareholder of Yuntong and hopes that Yuntong can develop better. Mr. Smith joins us to make Amex even stronger, how can we not be happy?"

The reporters don't know if Mr. President is really happy.

But today the reporters at the entrance of the building.

They were really happy.

Many of today's interviews can add a little bonus to them.

They are now more eager to photograph Kenneth Chernot or Abel Smith.

The appearance of these two people will be more dramatic.

But they waited for a long time, and when the shareholders' meeting of the company was about to start, they didn't wait for these two people.

There is news that says.

Kenneth Chernot hadn't left the previous night and stayed in the mansion all the time.

So now outside, everyone naturally can't wait for Kenneth Chernot.

As for Abel Smith, it is only known that he was in Los Angeles two days ago.

It is not known why he, the victor, did not appear at this time today.

Just when the journalists were a little disappointed.

A noticeably longer Mercedes-Benz S sedan appeared, slowly parked at the entrance of the Second World Financial Center.

The sharp-eyed reporter, recognizing who the owner of the car was, immediately screamed:

"George Soros! Is it Soros's car, Soros is coming? Didn't he sell all his stock to Smith?"

The reporters rushed over.

If it weren't for being blocked by the building's security guards and Soros's bodyguards, they would have been able to rush directly into Soros's face.

Sometimes, let alone Soros. Even George, who lives in a white house, these reporters can be so brave.

After all, like Abel,

There are not many rich people who are willing to spend tens of millions of dollars in legal fees and send those paparazzi reporters to prison all over the United States to find connections.

What's more, compared to those entertainment media, these reporters in front of them are all elite reporters under the umbrella of big newspapers.

Some are Pulitzer Prize winners.

In this situation, these people are not afraid of anything Abel Smith.

What's more, it's not Abel Smith here, it's just Soros.

The reporters asked frantically, and Soros smiled and raised his hand, "Good morning, everyone. Maybe you're wondering why I'm here. Then I'll just tell you."

"I came here to represent a friend of mine, to exercise his duties as a shareholder of Amex and to act as a shareholder representative. That's why I'm here."

"Alright. Guys, I'm a little late. The general meeting is about to start, and I have to go up first."

The pleasant-looking Soros, with the help of bodyguards and security guards, successfully entered the second building of the World Financial Center.

Kenneth Chernot with a sad face in the largest conference room for a shareholder meeting.

When he saw Soros walking in with a smile on his face, the surprised expression on the face of Mr. Executive Chairman could not be concealed.

Mr. Cherott, who had been sad just now, immediately got up from his seat and looked at Soros who was walking over.

"Mr. Soros? Why are you here, you..."

The fact that Soros has sold his shares is known throughout the United States.

At today's shareholders' meeting, only the board of directors and shareholders of Yuntong Company are eligible to participate.

It stands to reason that Soros, who doesn't have stocks, shouldn't be here.

This kind of somewhat unreasonable thing happened, which made Kenneth Chernot, who was already desperate, finally have a glimmer of hope in his heart.

Could it be that Soros wants to come back here and fight Abel Smith Dragon?

Even if he knew that it was unlikely, Kenneth Chernot, who regarded this as the last straw, could only force himself to think so.

Soros looked a little haggard, and looked at Kenneth Chernot who hadn't slept well last night.

The financial predator complained about someone's bad taste and cautious eyes in his heart.

At this moment, facing the enthusiastic Kenneth Chernot, Soros showed a polite smile:

"Hello, Mr. Chenort. I am here today on behalf of Mr. Abel Smith as his shareholder representative to attend today's shareholders' meeting."

"What?"

Kenneth Chernot almost thought he had misheard.

Soros smiled and nodded again: "On behalf of Mr. Abel Smith, I will participate in today's shareholders' meeting as his stock representative in Amex."

Kenneth Chernot was sure he heard it right.

The little hope he had just raised was thrown directly into the depths of hell in an instant.

There is no way to get it back.

Kenneth squirmed in his throat, as if he had a lump of carbon in it.

I wanted to say something, but I really couldn't say it.

The surrounding shareholders and the members of the board of directors looked at each other.

Everyone didn't expect that Abel Smith didn't come himself.

But he called Soros, the leader of the white knights who originally resisted him, a "barbarian outside the door", and came over to be the shareholder representative of his barbarian...

It's just, too far faxiet.

The shareholders were speechless, and most of them looked at Soros, wondering why he was cooperating with such a thing.

But they don't know.

That day, Soros asked Abel to buy his shares at $40.

Abel agreed, but asked Soros to fulfill one of his small requests.

Abel asked Soros, the leader of the white knights, to come over to attend the shareholders' meeting on behalf of Abel, a "barbarian" who had taken over hostile takeovers.

Abel's small request is somewhat bad for Soros

。

For the board of directors of Amex and those shareholders who oppose the hostile takeover, it is a direct slap in the face.

For Kenneth Chernot, it was a soul trampling.

But Soros thought to himself, that's tens of millions of dollars...

What's wrong with losing some face?

Losing face can cost tens of millions of dollars less, so Soros said that he is willing to lose face every day!

Even Kenneth Chernot looked like he was out of the world.

The shareholders' meeting of Yuntong Company was held as scheduled.

In the general meeting of shareholders, as the representative of the largest shareholder.

George Soros put forward the appeal of the largest shareholder:

Remove Kenneth Chernot and he will no longer serve as executive chairman of the company and will not be re-elected to the board of directors.

The number of members of the Board of Directors will be reduced from 9 to 8.

The Board of Directors was re-elected and the position of Executive Chairman was abolished and replaced by the position of Independent Chairman.

This appeal was approved at the general meeting of shareholders, and the shareholder vote support rate reached 80%.

All the original board members left their seats directly on the spot, waiting for the re-election of the board of directors.

When these people are gone, the board of directors will be re-elected.

Soros once again spoke on behalf of the largest shareholder, voting for Abel Smith to become the independent chairman of Amex.

The vote again received a pass rate of more than 76.5%.

Anyone with a discerning eye knows that Abel Smith's ascension is unstoppable.

Even if his shares are not more than half, it would be meaningless to refuse in this regard at this time.

These are all going well.

By the time the remaining seven other executive directors were elected, it was not as smooth as before.

Soros as a representative nominated the largest shareholder of the seven candidates, only three of which were approved.

The remaining four were all elected by other shareholders.

Now that Abel Smith's ascension is unstoppable.

The goal of this group is also very clear.

That is, at least to ensure that in the board of directors, Abel cannot do a word.

It's all about profit.

By the time Abel learned of this, he had already left San Francisco.

He was at his mansion at 10410 Bellagio Road in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, and answered the call from Soros.

This house is usually where Liv Taylor lives.

Occasionally, Cate Blanchett would move in, usually when Abel was staying here.

Liv Taylor is now in Europe, and she is now more interested in modeling than being an actress.

Yin Lizabeth's back garden has not yet returned in Europe.

A few days after she returned to the United States, she followed her to Europe.

When Abel received a call from Soros, it was exactly noon.

He went to a balcony on the second floor to answer the phone.

Looking down from the balcony, the orange-scented California sun illuminates the entire courtyard of the villa.

In the splendor, Abel looked at the small garden next to the courtyard pool.

Cate Blanchett is talking to another member of the Australian Gang.

The member's name was Nicole Kidman....

"Oh, thank you so much. George, I really can't rush back to ask you to help."

"Don't believe it. And I didn't let you help me in vain. I did what I said, and it cost me tens of millions of dollars more!"

"Hahaha~ Okay, okay. I'll call you next time if there's something like that."

Hearing Soros say that next time there is such a thing, call him, provided that as long as there is money to be made.

Abel agreed with a smile, and by the way, he cared about Soros's Hong Kong Island plan.

It's just that Soros said that since Abel doesn't join, then don't care.

Abel hung up the phone with a smile and looked down again.

Just below, Nicole Kidman's gaze looked at him.

Able smiled and raised his hand to her.

The latter was slightly stunned, and immediately smiled at him beautifully.