1928: The rise of giant merchants

"Nothing good. Mr. Carnegie, $10 million is my highest offer. If you are not willing, I will ask again in a few days."

Ye Luo looked at him with a smile, the subtext was very clear, I will keep asking, but the further back, the lower the price.

Tom Carnegie, who was still trying to show off, suddenly panicked. He glanced at Franklin and found that the governor was obviously facing the Chinese. He was confused in his heart and shouted: "No, no, no, I am not unwilling, I just think this The price is very fair.”

Ye Luo smiled inwardly. Just as he thought, U.S. Steel's financial situation was already very bad.

This will also make it easier for him to handle the largest multinational company in the steel industry.

Steel is a very scarce heavy metal resource in this era, and its value will further increase during war. You cannot make weapons and equipment, tanks, aircraft and other military products without steel.

It has only been eight years since the war officially broke out. Without preparation in advance, there is no point in improvising.

"Then sign the contract. I will send someone to transfer the $10 million to U.S. Steel's YB bank account as soon as possible." Ye Luo pushed the contract forward and reminded, "By the way, Mr. Carnegie, remember to pay it to the workers first." We have stated in the contract that the acquisition funds will be used first for salary payment, payment settlement and company operations."

This regulation will be seen as unnecessary in later generations, but in the United States in 1929, if you did not stipulate this, these big bosses would immediately pay off their debts once they got the money, and then fly non-stop to places like Italy, Canada, and Australia. Run away.

You can't even catch him.

"Ah, I understand." Tom Carnegie's face turned ugly again.

He himself owed a lot of money.

"Mr. Carnegie, if you have personal needs, you can come to YB Bank for a loan. We now accept mortgage loans for various technologies, resources, and industries." Ye Luo did not forget to dig a hole for him before leaving.

Being able to control 45% of U.S. Steel's shares basically takes over this leading company in the industry.

Ye Luo and Franklin left the building in a comfortable mood, chatting about the future situation and arrangements while looking around.

Those workers were still begging for money, just like the migrant workers in later generations who gathered together to beg for wages.

It can be seen that no matter what country they are in, capitalists are unscrupulous and hateful, but a country cannot survive without capitalists.

Behind the group of workers asking for wages stood a man in a straight suit. Next to him was a Mercedes-Benz car. There was a sign on the car: "Mercedes-Benz car for sale at low price, only $100. I graduated from Yale University and am engaged in medicine." After twelve years in the industry, I hope to get a stable job with a monthly salary of US$100.”

Franklin also saw this scene and couldn't help but shook his head and sighed: "A top medical student who graduated from Yale University can't even find a job with a monthly salary of $100. The economic crisis is really coming."

This is a top student who graduated from a top prestigious school in 1929!

Although at first glance, he looks like a poor person whose entire fortune has been trapped in the stock market, under normal social circumstances, as long as such a person is not in debt to the point of being hopeless, he will always be able to turn around.

A job with a monthly salary of US$100 is almost the minimum salary for an ordinary salaryman in the United States, which seriously does not match his academic qualifications.

This was still late 1929, and by next year it would be hard to find a job paying $50 or even $30 a month.

"Hey, man." Ye Luo waved to him, and then said to Franklin, "He is also unlucky enough. The two industries of medicine and steel have been hardest hit by the US stock bubble. People engaged in these two industries are now living That’s enough.”

When I went to Hollywood before, the fat white boss of American Medicine wanted to raise the price, but Ye Luo decisively refused. Now he has come to see him many times, but he has been turned away.

Ye Luo is not used to this kind of capitalist, so he has to give him a good pain before he learns to behave.

Seeing that it was a Chinese man calling him, the man in a suit hesitated for a moment, then quickly ran over: "Sir, do you want to buy a Mercedes-Benz? I just bought this car half a year ago and haven't used it much. I can get all the procedures and certificates." Come out, it’s only $100.”

"What's your name?" Ye Luo randomly took out a hundred-dollar bill from his wallet. The sight of the large bills stuffed inside made the man frightened.

Even before the Great Depression, it was uncommon for someone to have a wallet full of hundred-dollar bills.

And he's Chinese.

"Norman Heatley." The man was gentle and well-spoken, and his identity as a top student at Yale University seemed genuine.

"This name sounds familiar. Are you British? Have you studied mechanics?" Ye Luo looked at him. His memory was inexplicably very good in this life, and he could easily retrieve information from his mind that he had seen in many corners of his previous life. .

This name is very impressive.

"Sir, do you know me?" Norman Heatley was confused.

After graduating from Cambridge University, he came to the United States to continue his studies at Yale University. In addition to studying medicine, he did also major in engineering mechanics. Only his classmates knew this.

Because medicine was very popular when he came out, he decided to work in a pharmaceutical company.

"Oh, that's right." Ye Luo looked at him and felt confident.

Thanks to the large-scale funding for Qian En and others to develop penicillin a while ago, and their inclusion in Ye's medical system, this memory was revived.

The man in front of me is Norman Heatley, one of the Big Three of penicillin. He took over the baton from Qian in 1936 and continued the research on penicillin.

In the past life, the fundamental obstacle that prevented penicillin from seeing the light of day again was that no one had yet been able to successfully produce relatively pure and stable penicillin, even in smaller amounts.

Overcoming this obstacle is no longer a purely scientific problem, but has become an engineering problem.

The man who solved this engineering problem was Heatley.

"Ye, do you really know him?" Franklin was shocked.

Ye Luo couldn't explain, so after a few words of confusion, he asked Heatley to be the driver, drove the two of them in the Mercedes-Benz, and followed Shi Jianqiao and the others back to the state government building.

When he learned that the governor was still in the car, Heatley suddenly became nervous and his hands on the steering wheel were shaking.

After a brief conversation, he realized that the Chinese behind him was Ye Luo, the Chinese stock god who stirred up Wall Street and turned the U.S. stock market upside down.

YB Bank has been gaining momentum recently. Relying on its curious name, strong funds, and flying publicity, it has attracted many customers of bankrupt banks.

Other banks are suffering from bank runs, but YB Bank has a steady stream of customers coming to make deposits and inquire about business.

Heatley was satisfied to be able to earn a living with such a big boss, but he did not expect that he would soon follow the new boss to the far east, and stay there for more than ten years.