America's Road to Wealth

As the current chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, Richard Grasso is a heavyweight on Wall Street.

The man was known for his short stature and quick wit.

Due to his poor family background when he was young, he did not go to college. After 27 years of hard work, Grasso reached the top position on the New York Stock Exchange.

It can be said that Richard Grasso's life experience is very inspiring.

But this very inspirational big man has been in big trouble recently.

His salary is too high.

A while ago, famous New York newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times disclosed to the public the remuneration of the New York Stock Exchange leadership.

Among them, Richard Grasso, chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, will receive a compensation award this year, excluding annual salary, totaling more than 139 million US dollars.

This level of remuneration has caused huge controversy inside and outside the industry.

Even though the New York Stock Exchange stated to the outside world that this compensation plan was unanimously approved by the board of directors and was completely reasonable, legal and compliant.

However, no matter how you look at it, this compensation, which consists of US$40 million in executive savings, US$51.6 million in accumulated retirement benefits, and US$47.9 million in incentive bonuses, is indeed too much in the eyes of many people.

The compensation plan was immediately controversial when it was revealed.

Some people say this is an unusual number.

In the current downturn in the stock market, Grasso's compensation this time exceeds the total net profit of the New York Stock Exchange in the past three years.

Grasso himself was effectively a regulator, but was paid the equivalent of a corporate leader.

This is very unreasonable.

In fact, Grasso's remuneration situation has been criticized since May of last year.

It was reported at the time that Grasso's salary and bonus income in 2000 exceeded US$10 million, dozens of times higher than Federal Reserve Chairman Greenspan.

This was very outrageous and caused a wave of public opinion at the time.

However, the New York Stock Exchange believes that because of Grasso's contribution to the New York Stock Exchange, he deserves such compensation.

Under the suppression of the New York Stock Exchange, the storm was suppressed.

They also decided to extend Grasso's employment contract for two years to 2007.

His annual salary will remain unchanged at US$1.4 million, and there will be an "annual bonus" of no less than US$1 million.

This figure also greatly exceeds the total remuneration of the two directors of the London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Börse.

These news and reports ultimately caused huge dissatisfaction.

As a result, the New York Stock Exchange and Richard Grasso have been involved in a huge public controversy recently.

If it is not solved well, let alone 2007.

Maybe tomorrow, Richard Grasso will step down and resign.

At this time, Richard Grasso, who was in a hurry, suddenly received a notice from Smith Capital.

Speaking of Abel Smith, when I wanted to invite him to come and talk.

God knows how happy Richard Grasso was.

Almost half an hour later.

The New York Stock Exchange regulator, who was very busy every day, took the initiative to go to Smith Tower.

Take the initiative to appear in front of Abel.

"Oh, Mr. Grasso, good at noon. I didn't expect you to come so early. I thought I wouldn't see you until the afternoon."

In the office, Abel looked at the short CEO of the New York Stock Exchange who came from a working-class family to a top Wall Street player. He smiled and said hello.

"Ha ha--"

Richard Grasso laughed heartily, his short body making a sound that did not match his size.

"It's not far from 18 Broadway. Smith Media may be going public. This kind of thing will be published in the newspaper and will make all stock investors happy. As the chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, of course I want to Implement it immediately so that I can live up to everyone’s trust in me!”

The cunning oil man said it with high-sounding words.

But for Richard Grasso himself, he is indeed in urgent need of increasing the performance and reputation of the New York Stock Exchange through the listing of a star company.

This dilutes the attention in the industry and among ordinary people to his sky-high remuneration.

Richard needs to make everyone feel that the sky-high compensation he receives is worth it.

For the world's richest man, Abel Smith, to list one of his star companies, there is no doubt that this is the kind of performance he has achieved.

So at this time, except for Abel and Abel’s friends.

Among those who most hope that Smith Media can be listed immediately.

There must be the chairman of the New York Stock Exchange in front of him.

Looking at the completely bald old guy in front of him, he looked sincere.

Already know that Richard is now a bag of shit under his butt.

But it's not that easy to let the other party achieve their plan.

After all, the New York Stock Exchange is not Smith Media’s only listing channel.

In the United States, there is more than one stock exchange, the New York Stock Exchange.

In addition to the New York Stock Exchange, there are two other stock exchanges in the United States, the American Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock Exchange.

It's just that in terms of scale, compared with the New York Stock Exchange, the latter two are insufficient.

But if Abel wanted to, he could definitely list his company on the American Exchange or Nasdaq.

Even if Abel's influence is not considered, a star company like Smith Media is a favorite among stock exchanges.

Plus Abel's relationship.

Then it is the number one company that any stock exchange will fight for frantically.

Any stock exchange in the world would be willing to give him the green light.

"To tell you the truth, Mr. Grasso." Abel smiled and said something with a hint of blackmail.

"Before you arrived, I also asked David to notify Mr. Sodano and Mr. Greyfield. Maybe they are on their way to Smith Tower now."

"Maybe they will arrive here in the afternoon."

"But I want to say that the NYSE is not my only option. I hope you understand that."

Mr. Sodano in Abel's mouth is Salvatore Sodano, the current CEO of the American Exchange.

Mr. Greyfield is Robert Greyfield, president of the Nasdaq Stock Exchange.

These two men are often regarded as Richard Grasso's biggest challengers.

The key is that in 1998, in order to compete with the strongest New York Stock Exchange, the American Exchange and Nasdaq merged to form NASDAQ-AMEX Group Corporation.

In other words, they are actually their own people.

After the two major exchanges merged, even the leading New York Stock Exchange fell behind in many aspects.

It's not that Richard couldn't tell that there was a hint of blackmail in Abel's words.

What if the boss of an ordinary company wanted to go public and resorted to this method.

Richard Grasso would definitely quit immediately.

He might even use the connections of the New York Stock Exchange to get other exchanges to block this guy who overestimates his capabilities.

But it was Abel who said these words in front of him, and it was Abel Smith's company who wanted to go public.

Coupled with himself, he really needs such good news recently to increase everyone's optimism about the performance of the New York Stock Exchange.

Even if he knew that Abel was blackmailing, Richard could only make a tearful offer at this time.

"5 percentage points." Richard Grasso gritted his teeth and directly gave the quotation:

"Mr. Smith, as long as I am in office, I will guarantee that the handling fees for Smith Capital's transactions on the New York Stock Exchange will be reduced by 5% on the current basis."

Stock exchanges are generally non-profit institutions.

They are enforcers and regulators, but they also have to make money.

Most of the stock exchanges in the European and American world are private companies, and their demand for profits is also higher.

Generally speaking, there are only a few ways to make money on the stock exchange.

One is transaction fees, which are often the main way for stock exchanges to make money.

Also, when a company is listed, many stock exchanges will also charge a fee.

The other is data services, which provide market information to independent information service providers, such as Bloomberg, Shihua, Reuters, etc., and charge information fees.

Among them, transaction fees account for the majority.

As soon as Richard came up, he directly cut off 5% of the transaction fee.

It can be said that it is full of sincerity.

Because the transaction fees of the New York Stock Exchange are not high to begin with.

Anything less than 5% is even less.

What's more, in fact, this is all the New York Stock Exchange can provide.

"10 percentage points. 10%, I will choose the New York Stock Exchange with a high probability."

Abel bargained.

"But...10% is too much."

"I believe Nasdaq and the American Exchange are even willing to reduce it by 15%, or more."

"Okay, okay...Mr. Smith, 10%! No problem at all!"

Richard Grasso chose to compromise.

What happens next is simple.

As the chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, Richard Grasso has repeatedly promised to open various green channels for the listing of Smith Media.

It is guaranteed that Smith Media can meet Abel’s listing requirements in the shortest possible time.

Therefore, on that night, "Bloomberg", "Wall Street Journal", "American Sun", "New York Observer" and other media, as well as many financial TV stations, published important news for the U.S. stock market and stock market investors. a piece of news.

"Wall Street Journal": [Big headlines! Top five in the United States, top ten in the world, and the media group of the richest man is about to go public! It was revealed that Smith Media will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange in May this year! 】

"Bloomberg": [New York Stock Exchange Chairman Richard Grasso claimed that he had a smooth secret conversation with Mr. Abel Smith that morning. Mr. Smith believes that Richard’s contribution to the New York Stock Exchange is very important and critical. A large part of the reason why Smith Media chose the New York Stock Exchange was because of Mr. Grasso...]

"The New York Times": [Disney, Time Warner, Viacom, and News Corporation, which has been partially listed. Each of these media giants has a market value of tens of billions of dollars. And now a new name is about to be added to this list, which is Smith Media. Smith Media’s...]

These more serious media reported this news in basically the same style.

They are all reported from the perspective of data and impact on the industry and the impact on the American public.

Very serious and serious, more popular than current affairs news.

And headline-makers like the New York Post and the American Sun.

For these more entertainment-oriented media, the titles and content of their reports are much more exciting.

For example, the New York Post used the headline "Mr. Smith and His Oilers Friends" for this report.

In the news content, the New York Post used their usual exaggerated and exaggerated reporting language to report this news.

The bold reporters and editors of the New York Post also compared George Soros, Michael Bloomberg, Richard Grasso and many other Oilers who appeared around Abel in their reports. Described in a subtle and dramatic way.

Because it is too obscure, many ordinary Americans cannot understand it.

But Americans who understood it were shocked in their hearts by the boldness of the New York Post.

Then the next day, all five reporters and editors who wrote and reviewed the New York Post report lost their jobs.

This is the subsequent impact of this news on other aspects, which will not be mentioned here for the time being.

Smith Media, owned by Abel Smith, is about to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

In a very short period of time, it spread throughout the United States.

Shortly after the "attack."

The name Abel Smith has once again become a major hot word in many American media reports.

Many American entertainment superstars who belong to the media industry have expressed their opinions on this matter.

After all, in addition to the stock market and stock investors, peers and practitioners are the most affected by this incident.

Industry giants such as Redstone and Rupert Murdoch have received a large number of interview requests from non-owned media.

But the tycoons ignored all these requests.

Most of these giants said nothing about the news that Smith Media was about to go public.

These people know that the listing of Abel's company at this time is a highly anticipated event.

Since the collapse of Nasdaq and the September 11th incident.

Even though George began to release quantitative easing, the U.S. stock market has been somewhat depressed.

If Abel and Buffett had not jointly rescued the market last year, it is not certain that the stock market crash would have already occurred.

At this special time.

If there is a star company, it can boost the confidence of investors to a certain extent.

Who dares to come out and mess around at this time, let alone those scary guys on Wall Street.

Even the White House would not agree.

Most people who play in the media have good noses and can smell this smell.

What's more, the media has always been the Oilers' advantage.

The listing of Smith Media is a good thing for many Oilers, such as Bloomberg and others.

Oilers Capital Group is also happy to hear about this.

So even though there were many people who wanted to cause trouble, none of my colleagues were stupid, and no one stood up and said anything bad.

Within the entire industry, only entertainment stars are left singing their praises.

There was also jubilation from the investment community.

A large number of stock commentators and experts are calling on everyone to hold the currency and wait to buy.

They said it was the first real listed company under the name of the world's richest man.

They said that just because of this, if Smith Media goes public, its stock price cannot be low.

They also said that if its share price was too low, it would be too discrediting to Mr. Smith as an investing god.

They believe that if the stock price is low by then, Smith Capital will definitely step in to support it.

There are too many positive factors.

This makes Smith Media, which has not officially announced the news of going public.

But its market value in public opinion has far exceeded News Corporation's more than 50 billion U.S. dollars and Disney Group's 60 billion U.S. dollars at the same time...

In the midst of chaos.

Abel continued his life without any interruption from these news and events.

February 27, 2002, in front of the Smith Tower in Lower Manhattan.

In the motorcade, Abel stepped out of the Cadillac Monster and walked into the Smith Tower.

"Good morning, Mr. Smith!"

"Good morning, Mr. Smith..."

There were so many people greeting Abel along the way.

Like the rest of his subordinates.

In Smith Tower, everyone who greeted Abel had enthusiasm and admiration in their eyes.

Abel smiled slightly, his face was calm, and he did not respond.

But this does not hinder the emotions of these people.

In their hearts, Abel is the best interpreter of the American dream in the new century.

It is a beacon, a hope, a goal, and an idol for every American who has dreams of wealth.

Because he relied on his own talents to achieve wealth. He relied on a principal of 50 US dollars to achieve everything he has now in the dream city of New York.

He does not rely on his father or family like other legends.

Even if you know about the Smith family, they are not as bad a group of people as reported by the media.

They also had to admit that Abe Smith was a legend in his own right.

I don’t know when it started.

The name Abel Smith has been remembered and on the lips of every American who has a dream.

This situation has even spread to the whole world through the United States’ strong control and radiation over the world’s media.

From the United States, to North America, and then to the whole world, the name Abel Smith and his "experience" have become the most talked about chicken soup for the soul and inspirational marketing gurus.

There are countless people who use him to inspire themselves.

Wealth, it has such power.

In Smith Tower, on the Smith Media floor.

The elevator door dedicated to the chairman opens.

When Abel walked out of the elevator, two front desk ladies from Smith Media wearing pink and red OL suits were stunned for a moment when they saw his appearance, and then they immediately bowed slightly with sweet smiles.

"Good morning, boss."

Abel nodded slightly and walked in directly.

Along the way, every employee looked at him with eager reverence and awe and said good morning.

Success and wealth can subconsciously increase people's confidence and calmness.

The invisible temperament of a successful person will slowly add to himself. The so-called moving Qi and nourishing the body is nothing more than the accumulation of long-term success or high position, which affects and changes one's temperament.

To put it more bluntly, in fact, in people's interactions, because success brings more confidence than others, if you are confident, your voice will naturally be louder and your influence will be equally great.

Simply put, it is the influence and changes caused by their different experiences, power, and wealth.

Although Abel, who had just become wealthy and free in the early 2000s, looks very similar to Abel now.

But if they have a chance to stand together.

A normal person can tell at a glance that Abel, the core of the financial group, is more eye-catching than Abel, who is wealthy and free.

It can even make people surrender invisibly.

Just like today.

He is invincible in the American media circle.

The senior executives of the media group expanded Smith Media Group by 50% in one year.

After Abel entered the conference hall.

Everyone fell silent for a moment, stood up together in perfect agreement, and greeted him in a low voice in awe: "Good morning, Mr. Chairman."