America's Road to Wealth

What is the significance of the bell ringing ceremony?

The explanation on the NYSE official website is:

"The opening and closing bell ceremonies provide a unique platform for full coverage of your company and its development milestones."

The way of doing business, the focus of the media, is incomparable, and the saying is to put on a show.

The listing of Smith Media today is definitely one of the most important milestones for this new company that has been around for less than two years.

It is also of extraordinary commemorative significance to spread it through newspapers, magazines, and TV stations on the spot.

"Abel, go show your style. Let's not bother."

Following Abel, they came out from the outside together, and Morgan and Rockefeller, who showed up in front of everyone and were considered to be on the platform for Abel, said to him with a smile.

Abel nodded slightly and walked towards the stage that had been prepared for him.

There, Richard Grasso, chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, led the charge, accompanied by a team of NYSE executives.

Followed by the representatives sent by the major underwriters, plus Smith Capital, a total of 11 people were present today, led by David Mellon.

This is why the underwriters of Smith Media, retail investors or other institutions, need to go through them if they want to buy the shares of Smith Media after it goes public in the first place.

Of course, Smith Capital is one of its own, so it must be able to get the most shares.

As for other people, being able to join in is indispensable for connections and scale.

At this time, Abel felt that he was sacrificing a little interest in exchange for future contacts.

In the future, it will be beneficial to both Smith Media and Smith Capital.

Equal interests and an open door are the first global propositions put forward by the United States in order to open up the global market after winning the Spanish-American War.

And this sentence has always been believed and insisted on by Abel.

Relying on this concept, he has attracted a large number of collaborators with common interests.

For the benefit, many people stood firmly with him and helped him fight against his enemies and competitors.

If Abel was a selfish person who was only willing to monopolize benefits.

Then even if he has invincible talent in the financial field, it is absolutely impossible for him to go so smoothly and so fast all the way.

After the representatives of the underwriters, there is Smith Media's own executive team, as well as employee representatives.

There was the second CEO, Michael Levine, and the previous CEO, Robert Iger. Group President Michael Ovitz, Richard Plepler, Dylan and others.

The employee representative is each subsidiary of Smith Media, which sends a person as a representative.

There are a large number of people in this area, a total of 26, which symbolizes that Smith Media now has so many subsidiaries.

After coming out, facing these people, Abel only greeted them politely.

He is the absolute core of today's ceremony, and there are too many guests who need to entertain.

In fact, today's ceremony did not last long, and the link was very simple.

At eight o'clock, Abel entered the bell-ringing ceremony, met with investors, partners, and relevant officials, and accepted media interviews.

At nine o'clock he was to give a speech and pop champagne to celebrate.

Next is the listing countdown.

At 9:30, the bell was officially rang for the listing and trading opened. So this event is only an hour and a half.

At this moment, the gate of the Smith Tower was crowded with more than a thousand people.

Smith Media's staff and guests accounted for half of it. Many people here are not reporters, but they also hold cameras, preparing to record this historical moment.

The remaining half are media workers from all over the United States and even the world.

For the first listed company of the richest man in the world, whether it is financial media, serious social media, or entertainment media that likes to make eyeball reports.

As long as they can enter the scene and get approval, everyone has come.

Among the hundreds of guests, Buffett and Bloomberg, who had been interviewed by reporters just now, actually came here together.

The two just took a few photos with Abel, and they stood in a corner and chatted.

"Michael, to be honest, I kind of regret getting less money."

Buffett said to the Mayor of New York, "At the beginning, Abel was willing to let me hold 10% of the shares. But I was not optimistic about the entertainment industry at the time, but now it seems that this will become a small stain on my career .”

The old man joked: "In the future, those media reports on me will say, "Because of stubbornness, Buffett should have made billions of dollars more, but in the end he didn't make it, and that is a good opportunity that many people can't find in their dreams." "."

Looking at Buffett, who is pretending to be humorous, Bloomberg smiled.

The relationship between the two was originally not very good.

One is a representative of the Oilers, and the other is a representative of the WASP group in the central United States.

Excluding the factors of Bloomberg and Bloomberg, the two even have some vague rivalries.

Fortunately, there was an Abel, because he was also his friend.

Now the relationship between the two is considered good, and they have cooperated in many aspects.

"Actually, I also regret it. I was in New York, and I had an earlier opportunity to contact him. Even when he established the company and recruited for the first time, I had the opportunity to invest in his first company."

At that time, Smith Capital sought technical support from Bloomberg.

At that time, David Mellon joked and asked Bloomberg if he was interested in taking a stake.

Although what David said at the time, there is a high probability that it will not be counted.

Because at any time, Smith Capital still has the final say on Abel.

But that is more or less a thought.

Bloomberg explained Buffett, "But at that time, who would have believed that a young guy from Texas could create all this? Even at that time, he was already very amazing. But, Warren, you You know, Wall Street produces several of those geniuses every year. There are a lot of them, but they just don't last as long as Abel, and they don't exaggerate like him."

Buffett nodded slightly.

Bloomberg is right.

Regardless of Abel's record on Wall Street at the beginning, it was too good.

However, Wall Street has many earlier records than him, and there are exaggerated guys.

In the century-old history of Wall Street, countless legendary masters have left their names, from Vanderbilt to Rogers, from Livermore to Buffett...

These are also permanent.

Those that fell like meteors would be even more numerous.

There's no shortage of geniuses on Wall Street. Attracted by money, mathematicians who study aerospace have come to study numbers related to money.

This is really a gathering of all human beings, the smartest elites.

Who said it is so easy to make money in finance?

"By the way." Buffett said suddenly: "I heard from Abel that he is very dissatisfied with the Zipper couple. Is it true that he wants to target them? If it is true, this matter will not be so easy to do."

Hearing him mention it, Bloomberg gave a wry smile.

"I persuaded him, it's really hard to do this. The couple is very cunning, very lucky, and has a great background. Nuo, one of his backgrounds, is now by Abel's side."

"And then Abel insisted on doing it, right?" Buffett asked.

Bloomberg nodded.

Seeing this, Buffett shrugged in a very American way, "Let's do it. I believe that one of the masters of the Federal Reserve will never lose to a "professional manager". Besides, he is already retired. Just pay attention, Don't mess around. That couple, their methods are notoriously dirty."

"Who says no. No one can change his mind about what this guy decides. It's really annoying."

"Hahaha..." Buffett smiled, "Who has no flaws? As long as he can lead us to continuous victory, even if he has a beard or a moustache, I will firmly support him."

Bloomberg smiled again and didn't bring up the subject.

The head, the core, of the New York Hydra, had to deal with the Zipper couple, only because the couple's habitual greed reached out.

Whether this matter is big or small.

Originally one of the representatives of the Oilers, Bloomberg was actually involved with the couple.

But...Compared with his friendship with Abel, to be precise, compared with the benefits that Abel can bring to him.

That little bit of entanglement, Bloomberg doesn't mind tearing it up.

This is why the other members of the hydra are willing to help Abel.

And huge benefits, whether it is immediate or future.

Those involvements, they can all be discarded.

The owner of Bloomberg felt that if the Zips were smart, they could come to Abel to make peace now.

Otherwise, after the hydra is activated, things will not end so well.

As guests today, there are a large number of rich New Yorkers present at the scene.

Paris' grandfather Barron, who was still in California, and Ikana's father D. Ted Lerner, and two New York tycoons also came.

"Barron, did Abel ring the bell himself?" Ted Lerner had a small business problem some time ago.

Since I came back from California, I have been busy and haven't paid much attention to Abel's affairs.

It hasn't been resolved yet, so I still spare time today to participate in this grand event.

Before coming, he heard some rumors about the bell ringing ceremony.

For example, in the listing bell ringing ceremony of Smith Media, the number of people in charge of ringing the bell may be a bit large.

With Ted Lerner's character, he felt that Abel must do this kind of thing himself, because the scenery is infinite.

How can there be so many people?

"He only stands on the platform, and 26 employee representatives will be responsible for ringing the bell." Old Hilton said with a smile:

"The representatives of 26 important subsidiaries each have different positions. One of them is even a cleaner, and the highest position has only one HR from the personnel department."

"26 employee representatives to ring the bell?"

Ted Lerner looked surprised, which was unheard of.

"What Abel announced to the public is that every subsidiary is an important part of Smith Media. Every employee in the company is also an important part of the company, even the cleaners. Because there are no cleaners who work hard every day. Labor, then there will be no clean and tidy workplace, and the productivity of other employees will also be reduced.”

Barron Hilton laughs: "It's a really weird idea, but it's a very genius idea. It can help Abe show the company's culture and also show his attitude towards the grassroots employees."

"Abel's arrangement is really great!" Ikana's father praised repeatedly: "It's not very good, it's very good!"

In fact, Aknow thinks that Abel is trying to win over people's hearts.

Sending grassroots employees to ring the bell, first of all, they can wear the hat of a "benevolent boss", which is very in line with Abel's usual personality.

A great philanthropist, a generous and benevolent boss, who thinks of the low-level employees even at such important moments.

Such a boss, wouldn't the subordinates want to give up their hearts?

At the same time, it can also take the opportunity to launch a round of recruitment operations, allowing global talents to enter the urn.

The key lies in hype. The capital market is very particular about heat and public opinion.

When the company goes public and the employees ring the bell, this is the focus news, which will help to enhance the company's reputation and may increase the stock price a little bit.

All in all no harm.

Ted Lerner felt that Abel was really good at doing things.

He especially wanted to imitate, but unfortunately there is no company under his name that needs to be listed recently.

And this kind of thing, the first one to do it, or a generous person like Abel, will be praised by everyone.

If the second person does it, it’s okay if they are equally generous, but if they are not generous enough, they will definitely be sprayed to death.

Is Ted Lerner generous? So be it.

So the idea of ​​imitating is just thinking about it.

After talking here, Richard Grasso, chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, who acted as the host of the listing ceremony, came on stage and invited the management team of Smith Media and major shareholders from all walks of life to take a group photo.

The team consists of 16 people, led by the current rotating CEO Michael Levine.

After Smith Media goes public, these sixteen people will all become billionaires.

They are between 30 and 50 years old. Today, they are all wearing suits of the same color, with beaming faces, and they are all in surprisingly good spirits.

They stood on Abel's left, separated by a bronze bell, and on the right were shareholder representatives.

When the time came, hundreds of reporters from different media also started their filming work.

At 8:45, Fox TV's financial program, "Fox Finance" started airing ahead of schedule.

The pictures of Smith Media executives and guests appearing on the stage were spread to thousands of households around the world through TV screens.

Ordinary people don't pay much attention to this kind of thing.

People outside the United States also don't pay much attention.

But in the United States, most of the elites did not miss this important moment.

Zipper couples residence located in Westchester County, NY.

The couple lay on a comfortable sofa, and both of them stared intently at the familiar faces appearing on the TV screen.

The camera is always on Abel, and the voice-over is explaining his information.

When he arrived in New York in 1999 with only five dollars, he traveled to Wall Street, but was attracted by the bulls on Wall Street to stay, and later founded Smith Capital.

Then he became a shareholder of CAA Company, acquired MGM Film Group, announced the super annual rate of return that caused a sensation in the global financial world, and the subsequent crazy acquisitions. Every acquisition is a behemoth in the industry.

Every step of his development is creating miracles.

In just three years, he has developed from only five dollars in his pocket to the current business giant.

His talent in finance is unique in the world, and his ability in business is also remarkable. No one doubts his talent and ability.

The same goes for the zipper couple, who at most question the veracity of the "pocket five dollars" thing.

They are also in the top class, but no one knows that even before Abel Smith made his fortune, the Smith family was a middle-class family in the WASP group in Texas.

Five dollars, who are you kidding?

At this moment, among the couple, Zi Zidun felt very regretful.

In the most critical two years of Abel's rise, as the actual manager of this country.

He hadn't even had any contact with Abel, obviously New York was also one of his most important bases.

According to common sense, at the beginning of 2000, Abel, who had already made a fortune, was still in New York. Then he should take the initiative to get closer to himself in order to seek broader resources from himself, but Abel didn't do that.

In this regard, Zipperton can understand.

Abel is a Texan, and the Texans here are naturally not trusted by people on the east coast.

He was thinking, even if Abel wanted to get closer to him at that time.

But because of his identity as a native of Aberdeen, he probably wouldn't pay much attention to it. Even in order to show his importance to the east coast, he might even alienate Abel.

Just like in the parallel time and space, the future donkey is at the party, teasing and laughing at Ikana's father in front of everyone.

So this is basically an unsolvable situation. The key is that Abel's rise is too fast.

"Stop, dear Diane."

Watching live TV, Zipper sighed.

"If we really want to force it, we really can't touch him. Let's stop now before everything starts."

Diane was his wife's middle name and his nickname.

When Sirani heard her husband's words, she had a tangled and unwilling expression on her face.

"We haven't even fought yet. What will others think if we stop like this? Others will think we are afraid of him!" she said unhappily.

In this regard, Zi Zi shrugged and pointed to the TV screen, which flashed just now, standing behind Abel were smiling David and John Chris.

"Did you see that one of the people who kept saying that he loves you the most is now supporting him on the spot?"

"Between you and Abel, who do you think David will most likely choose to help?"

She opened her mouth, wanting to say that the old guy would help her.

But she knew that in front of interests, the words before the bed were really nothing.

What's more, I am now old and fading.

"Why……"

With the same sigh, she finally nodded and said, "Okay, okay, I'm just not reconciled, I'm just not reconciled..."

Zi Zi thought to himself, you are not reconciled, but everything went so smoothly in the past.

Now that I have encountered a little trouble, I am very unwilling.

Suddenly, he heard his wife say again: "Hey, William, do you think Chelsea and Abel..."

Hearing the names of her "daughter" and Abel, Zizi shook her head before she could finish speaking.

"This guy is a playboy through and through. He only likes good-looking ones. Chelsea...do you think he would like it? What's more, if you let Chelsea approach him, have you considered David's thoughts?"

What her husband said made her choose to shut up.

Neither has a say in the future of their daughter Chelsea.

"So be it. But he's a dandy after all, so there's hope for us. What do you say, William?"

Zizi also has some confidence in this aspect, because the couple are very "professional" in this aspect.

Both husband and wife are lovers, and they will not get tired of it after many years.

"Maybe, it's just that he declined the invitation last time. It doesn't matter, let's continue. This time, by taking this opportunity, we may be able to show his favor to him. In fact, we have no real conflict of interest. What we want, yes It's pretty insignificant to him."

Zipper said.

She nodded beside her, looking at the tall and handsome appearance of Abel on the TV screen.

My heart itch.