America's Road to Wealth

November 14th.

noon.

Smith Building, fourth floor.

In the office, Abel was sitting on a comfortable leather boss chair, holding his cell phone and talking very seriously.

Playing with Maozi cubes.

A classic mini-game that even the super billionaire Mr. Smith likes.

After a while, there was a knock on the office door.

"Come in~"

Abel said without raising his head.

Having said that, he still puts most of his energy into the game.

The person who opened the door and came in was in high spirits.

Wearing a suit and with meticulously combed hair, he is a white man about forty to fifty years old.

The man's name is Alan Baker, a former senior actuary and business manager of the European division of Mingde Fengyi.

This was the man's previous identity.

He now works for Smith Capital, working in the company's "Special Affairs Department."

This "special department" is uniquely created by Smith Capital.

Its function is to provide salaries and benefits to Abel's think tank.

Alan Baker came in, a representative of the think tank.

After the Katherine Jones incident.

Abel lost interest in the "beautiful secretary" thing.

It's not that I've lost interest in beautiful women.

I lost interest in the secretary.

He felt that rather than setting up a "secretariat" in the company, it would be better to let a think tank take on the role.

I never have a fixed office location anyway.

Except when I like to come to Smith Capital when cutting leeks, I rarely appear here at other times.

Now I start traveling between Los Angeles and New York, and often go to Texas.

From now on, he will probably be running around all over the world.

It would be better to have a secretary in every company.

This secretary is in direct contact with the "Special Department".

This directly allows the think tank to take charge of part of the secretarial work.

There are pros and cons to this.

The disadvantage is that the think tank will become extremely large and powerful.

With great power comes corruption.

This is inevitable, human nature is what it is.

The only thing that can be done is to strengthen internal supervision.

The good thing is that there are representatives from the Think Tank following Abel at all times.

No matter where he is, Abel can know the status of any company under his name at the first time.

Then a rotation system will be implemented.

For example, the secretary of Company A will be transferred to Company B after a period of time, the secretary of Company C will be transferred to Company C, and so on.

Create a promotion system, such as after someone in a think tank has worked for a period of time.

If you have enough ability and experience, you may have the opportunity to be transferred to a company under Abel's name as a manager.

There are also matching benefits and remuneration.

To stimulate the initiative and enthusiasm of the think tank's work.

In doing so, there may be other shortcomings that Abel cannot see.

But Abel feels that no matter what system, there will always be shortcomings and advantages.

Just magnify the advantages and improve the shortcomings.

Abel actually followed the model of the "Military Aircraft Department" of a certain Chinese dynasty and created such a nondescript thing.

As for whether it is useful, that needs to be seen later.

Currently, Alan Baker, the senior manager of the Special Department, temporarily serves as Abel's business secretary.

In addition, David Jones has also been incorporated into this department.

His job is life secretary and Abel's chief steward.

When Alan Baker came in, he saw his boss staring at the phone seriously.

He stood in front of his desk and waited quietly.

Wait ten minutes.

The Maozi cube on Abel's phone failed and the game was over. He raised his head and looked at him later.

"Ah~ Allen, I'm sorry, I was obsessed with playing games just now. I forgot you came in, what happened?"

The representative of the think tank spoke softly:

"BOSS. The information you asked us to collect yesterday about the two AMs has been collected. Do you want to take a look at it now or later?"

"Oh~"

Abel smiled and said, "Bring it over."

In the United States, the English abbreviation is AMC, and there are two main companies with relatively large scale and reputation.

They are AMC cable TV station and AMC theater company.

In the Chinese context, this English abbreviation will make people think that they are the same company.

But it's not.

In the English context, the full name of AMC Theater Company is "American Multi-Cinema", which is literally translated into Chinese as "America Many Cinemas".

The name of amc cable TV station is actually "American Classic Cable TV Station".

The two are not the same thing at all.

AMC Cinemas was acquired by Wanda in a parallel time and space.

But as a TV station, AMC Cable is even a TV station with low ratings and influence.

It is impossible for the United States to allow it to be sold to foreigners, especially the Chinese.

Like what is written in some entertainment novels or Hong Kong novels.

After the male protagonist gets rich, he goes to the United States to acquire Hollywood giants or TV stations.

There's no way it would happen in the United States.

Even if the boards of directors and shareholders of these companies are willing to sell, relevant US departments will stand up to stop it.

Either the Ministry of Commerce or the Ministry of Security.

Just like in China, it is impossible for foreign capital to control domestic TV stations.

A truly sovereign country would never allow something like this to happen.

Only those countries that are ostensibly sovereign countries (looking at you, Britain and France) but are actually semi-puppet countries will allow Americans to buy their country’s TV stations.

The Marshall Plan injected more than just funds to revive the European economy.

At the same time, the American "mind control" chain was also injected.

Abel took the information handed over by Alan Baker. There were two copies of the information.

One is from AMC Theater Company, and the other is from AMC Cable TV Station.

In Abel's previous business plan, it was within his own media territory.

The last two sectors he listed were cinemas and TV stations.

Coincidentally, there happen to be two companies in the United States with the same English abbreviation.

One of them happens to be a theater chain company, and the other happens to be a movie company.

Of the two documents, he first looked at the AMC Theater Company's document that looked thinner.

AMC Cinemas was founded very early, in 1920.

This also happened to be the golden age of Hollywood, and many movie theaters were born during that era.

AMC Cinemas has the second largest market share in the United States. As of 2000, there are a total of 349 cinemas with approximately 5,500 screens.

This data is behind the first-place Emperor Entertainment Company and ahead of the third-place Cinemark Cinema.

According to the data, the valuation of AMC Cinemas is approximately US$1.5 billion, with annual revenue of US$500 million.

The price is wonderful and looks like a bargain.

You know, this is the second largest theater chain company in the United States.

However, the company's market liabilities are as high as more than 3 billion US dollars.

Another insolvent company with debt far exceeding its value.

Regarding this AMC theater chain, Abel remembered that after Wanda acquired it in the parallel time, he was tied tightly.

Apart from fame, I didn’t make much money, and I kept losing money.

Now, if Abel wants to acquire this company.

What was in front of him was AMC's prohibitive debt.

There's also a pain-in-the-ass Paramount bill.

This bill stipulates that American film producers cannot directly control film broadcast channels, that is, movie theater chains.

This bill was originally used to sanction Paramount in the golden era.

Hence the name Paramount Act.

This bill has actually been weakened since the 1980s.

For example, Viacom Group, the parent company of CBS and Paramount.

Its controller, boss Redstone, owns theater companies and film companies like Paramount.

The very existence of these two businesses is a travesty of the Paramount Act.

In addition, if we work in parallel, this plan will be officially canceled in another ten years.

But now, if we really make an acquisition, we should encounter a lot of trouble.

Those Hollywood giants probably don't want to see Abel buy AMC Cinemas when MGM is there.

Because that would greatly enhance MGM's strength in the market.

No one stopped, everyone was worried about the sanctions of the Paramount Act.

If someone interferes, the acquisition will be even more hindered.

What's more, theater companies in the United States have always been an industry that is not very profitable.

Otherwise, most cinemas are in cities, and AMC has always had good occupancy rates.

You won't suffer all kinds of losses, to the point where you are almost sold out.

"Is there a way to bypass the Paramount Act?" After briefly glancing at the AMC Theater Company's information, Abel looked up at Alan Baker.

Alan Baker answered directly: "It is feasible to a certain extent. Before Viacom officially entered the media industry, its main business was movie theaters."

"If you, boss, want to acquire AMC Cinemas. We think we can acquire a small cinema first, and then contact AMC Cinemas in the name of this cinema."

"This method has certain feasibility."

"The premise is that it must be done quickly, and we must find a way to prevent the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Commercial Law from interfering as much as possible. Before other competing companies react, buy most of the shares of AMC Cinemas."

Abel frowned after hearing this.

Alan Baker said there was, but there were too many prerequisites and it was too troublesome.

It also requires background from the U.S. Department of Justice and the Department of Commerce, and the acquisition must be done quickly.

They also need to acquire a small theater chain first. Any step can easily attract the attention of those Hollywood giants.

Once you attract their attention, things can become troublesome.

After thinking about it, he shook his head and said, "Forget it. Let's not watch AMC theaters for now."

The Paramount Act is right there, and it's not going to be easy to get around it.

But it’s not impossible.

In a few years, when Internet streaming media flourishes.

The movie theater chain has been greatly affected, and companies such as AMC will be even worse than they are now.

At that point, the Paramount Act became optional.

In the end it was abolished, also because of the rise of mobile Internet and the Internet.

While talking, Abel opened the information on the AMC cable TV station on the other side.

"AMC Cable TV Station, the full name of American Classic Movie Cable TV Station, was established in 1984. AMC was originally a pay TV station that specialized in playing classic old movies from the 1950s."

"In 1987, AMC joined the basic cable camp."

"By 1989, there were more than 39 million subscribers in the United States."

After turning the page, Abel frowned.

This figure of 39 million is not very outstanding.

In the United States, there are two types of cable television stations.

One is basic cable and the other is premium cable.

Translated into Chinese, it is probably the difference between a basic cable station and a customized cable station.

Among them, AMC is a basic cable, and HBO, which is better known to Chinese people, is a customized cable.

Outside of these two types, there is a limit to wired.

As the name suggests, the latter has a lot of playable content that LSPs like to see.

Some of these limited cable stations aired episodes of Unspeakable Sports for a period of time.

The plot is dispensable. I was very excited when I first watched it, but it became boring after watching too much.

The difference between the three lies in their playback content and charges.

Of course, the most expensive ones are restricted cable stations. The purchasing power of global LSPs is obvious to all.

Secondly, there are customized cables like HBO.

The worst thing is of course the basic cables like AMC.

There are many basic cable channels, the most famous ones are USA, AMC, TNT, MTV, and Disney.

Compared with these similar peers, AMC TV ranks at the bottom with 39 million subscribers.

Because many times, these basic cables are all basic stations in the same package.

Here I have to mention the "cable TV operators" in the United States.

Because the above TV stations are actually just program content providers.

They are commodities.

There also needs to be a "supermarket" and a channel to be able to see them.

CSC, the real owner of the New York Knicks, is this kind of company.

In addition, Comcast, the giant that Abel has always wanted, is the giant among cable TV operators.

Compared with Comcast, any TV station and the media group behind them are scum!

But Comcast is so far out of reach that it's not something money can buy.

amc tv is.

Over the past few years, AMC's situation has gotten worse and worse.

Its original film resources were not good enough. As a result, in the past ten years, its other peers of similar level have been acquired by media groups one after another.

These media groups have all acquired Hollywood giants.

This is equivalent to colleagues having the support of Hollywood giants.

amc no.

This made AMC feel impressed when it comes to movie screenings.

Obviously, it is impossible for these movie giants who have their own brother TV stations to let AMC broadcast the latest movies.

What AMC can obtain are old films that have been released for several years, even more than ten years ago.

AMC can only rely on TV series to survive.

But other peers also make TV series.

When they film TV series, they also have the support of Hollywood giants.

AMC is at a disadvantage here again.

In parallel space and time,

If it weren't for the sudden release of "The Walking Dead", it would have continued its life.

AMC, which no one wants, may go bankrupt around 2010.

"It's valued at US$1.3 billion."

Looking at the information on the AMC cable TV station, Abel fell into deep thought.

Although the ratings coverage of cable TV stations is far less than that of those public television networks.

But those public television networks all belong to companies that are not so easy to get.

If any one of them does not have more than 10 billion US dollars in funds, that is delusional.

Even if you have money, you can't buy most of them. The only one you can buy is NBC.

But if you want to buy NBC, you will need at least tens of billions of dollars in cash.

At the same time, it needs some resources that its parent company, GM, wants in exchange for it.

AMC is much simpler.

There is no big boss behind it, but Rainbow Entertainment Media is the controlling shareholder.

The key is that the business is bleak and makes no money.

Basically, it is a company that can be won if you have money.

After reading the information here, Abel also made up his mind.

The AMC theater chain is currently out of reach and will have to wait a few years.

On the contrary, we can start the Internet streaming business and kill the Paramount Act first.

But when doing Internet streaming media, you need to consider whether the bandwidth of the American Internet in this era can support it.

Just let Silicon Valley worry about this kind of thing, you just need to burn money and invest.

This is not the case with amc cable TV station, after buying it.

One's own media territory is the most important piece to add.

Next, you just need to wait for the opportunity or raise strength. When the opportunity comes, you should be able to buy NBC.

If NBC is acquired, a powerful media empire will be formed.

Public television has nbc,

Cable TV has AMC,

Film production includes MGM,

Entertainment intermediaries have CAA,

Newspapers include ab smith newspapers,

Fashion has Isa show,

Basically complete.

By then, a media giant will be formed that will not lose to Viacom and Time Warner.

If it can also win Comcast at the same time, it can be said to dominate the American media industry.

But...again, Comcast's size is basically equal to that of American radio and television, which is still private.

The complexity of its equity is unimaginable, and it does not have more than ten years of planning and sufficient strength.

Wanting to get it is simply delusional.

"Contact Rainbow Company." Abel threw the information on the table, stood up and said to Alan Baker:

"Within 1.5 billion US dollars, I want AMC cable TV station."

"Understood." Alan Baker silently helped his boss pack up the information and responded immediately.

"Let's go, I'm going to see if David has closed the net. I should be able to leave completely today."

Abel smiled and walked out of the office.

Smith Capital's investment in the pound-based currency exchange had already begun to close its positions the day before yesterday.

Due to the large amount of funds, it takes a long time to close the position.

Fortunately, the US dollar has been going short in the past two days.

This makes the pound, the strongest currency after the dollar, keep going up.

The speed of Smith Capital's closing and exiting has been increased several times, and the difficulty has been reduced several times.

It originally took at least a week, and if it was longer, it might take ten and a half months to exit the market with a guaranteed high profit.

In terms of time and difficulty, it has been greatly reduced and reduced.

So much so that yesterday afternoon, Abel announced that the lockdown in Smith Building had been lifted.

Relevant personnel of the company can enter and exit the company building freely.

After all, at this point, even if you want to leak the secret, it is useless.

Why is the British pound so popular now? Smith Capital is selling like crazy.

Other players on the field, the bulls, are buying like crazy.

With more buying than selling, exiting the market becomes easy.

The former senior actuary of Mingde Fengyi heard about this from his boss.

Alan Baker looked at the back of the figure in front, feeling a little reverence and awe.

As members of the think tank yesterday after the lockdown in Smith Building was lifted.

Alan Baker only knew that his boss and Smith Capital had made such a crazy investment in this week.

The key is.

Such crazy, almost Las Vegas-like investment behavior.

fxxk actually made a profit.

The profits were also extremely exaggerated, which shocked Alan Baker, whose previous main clients were on Wall Street.

This kind of investment-return ratio made Alan Baker feel numb after knowing some inside information.

Wait for Abel and Alan Baker to arrive at the trading room on the third floor.

The trading hall with hundreds of people was buzzing with people at this moment.

As soon as Abel entered,

Alan Baker saw hundreds of people, led by David Mellon, applauding wildly and cheering.

After a few minutes, this kind of fanatical restlessness was finally suppressed by Abel.

Alan Baker got a stat that left him jaw-dropping.

That is the relevant account of Smith Capital this time, after the entire investment cycle officially ends.

The account balance is US$17.159 billion.

Alan Baker remembers.

This time the principal of Smith Capital is US$10 billion.

That extra $7.1 billion.

It is obvious that this is the profit in this investment cycle!

Seven days or so, $7.1 billion profit?

A day's profit of more than one billion US dollars, this figure simply made Alan Baker feel like he was suffocating.