America's Road to Wealth

2 o'clock in the afternoon, London Financial Street.

In a conference room at BMW Financial Services UK.

Ferdinand Piech, who was very angry at Abel's childlike attitude, was talking to a German named Joachim Milberg.

Joachim Milberg is the global chairman of the German BMW Group.

His position is equivalent to that of Ferdinand Piech.

However, Ferdinand Piech is an important figure in the Piech family and is equivalent to one of the major shareholders of the Volkswagen Group.

In dealing with group affairs, Ferdinand Piech is more powerful and persuasive in the BMW Group than Joachim, a senior wage earner.

Therefore, the person who served as the leader of the delegation in the morning was naturally Ferdinand Piech.

But for the Rolls-Royce car, Joachim also came to London.

I just didn’t go to the headquarters of Smith Financial Group in person.

"Things are getting very troublesome. The American guy obviously doesn't want to spend money!"

Ferdinand Piech said angrily.

The morning's negotiations broke up unhappily, which made Volkswagen's global chairman very unhappy.

Faced with Ferdinand's complaint, Joachim, who received news from the big boss behind the scenes in the morning, couldn't help but frown.

Joachim thought for a while and said angrily to Ferdinand Piech:

"Mr. Piech, maybe this time we have to accept that American's blackmail."

"What's the meaning?"

"In the morning, when you went to the Yankee's territory, I received a call from Mr. Quandt. During the call, Quandt believed that as long as the conditions are not harsh, then we should give the Rolls-Royce to the Yankee."

After hearing Joachim's words, Ferdinand couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.

As an important member of the Piech family, he is one of the richest tycoons in Germany.

Ferdinand can ignore Joachim, who has the same position as himself.

But Ferdinand had to pay attention to the person, or that family, who stood behind Joachim.

The "Mr. Quandt" in Joachim's mouth is one of the two core figures of the Quandt family, the richest family in Germany. His name is Stefan Quant.

Stefan and his sister Suzanne control more than 50% of the BMW Group.

If that were the case, the Quandt family would be roughly the same as the Porsche family or the Piech family.

But the problem is that the Volkswagen Group is already the most important core property of the Porsche family and the Piech family.

The BMW Group is just one of the many industries owned by the Quante family.

Because the Quandt family is probably actually the richest family in Germany...

They are not only engaged in the automotive industry, but also include textiles, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, etc.

Did you see it?

These industries are all Germany’s advantageous industries!

The companies in these industries controlled by the Quante family all have leading positions.

For example, does anyone know that the backing of Vanlake Fashion is the Delton Company of the Quante family?

Does anyone know that Altana, the Quvant family, is behind the companies Vita Bir Ektidin and Muti Sannostor?

The status of this family in Germany is roughly equivalent to the status of Morgan and Rockefeller in the United States after the merger.

If we trace back to the root, we can even find that this family is actually very related to World War II.

Well... Stefan's father and the second wife of Herbert Quant.

After divorcing Herbert Quandt, she married the third most powerful man in Third Germany.

Relying on this relationship, Herbert Quandt was the chairman of the largest arsenal in the Third Germany...

What's even more amazing is that such a figure actually escaped the post-war liquidation and can continue to be an oligarch.

It can be said that the Quandt family is one of the masters behind the scenes in Germany.

The seemingly glamorous Piëch family is nothing in front of Quandt.

So when Joachim talked about Stefan, Ferdinand couldn't help but cheer up, wanting to know what one of the heads of the Quant family said to Joachim.

"What does Mr. Quant mean?"

"Why--"

Joachim sighed and said in a somewhat indignant tone:

"Rolls-Royce is a conspiracy! A Yankee conspiracy!!"

Ferdinand Piech was a bit confused.

"What do you mean?" Ferdinand said:

"Um...I mean, what does Mr. Quant mean?"

"Why--"

Joachim sighed again, this was the third time he sighed in front of Ferdinand today.

"Mr. Quandt means that if possible, let us give the Rolls-Royce to that American."

Ferdinand's white eyebrows frowned high.

Before he could speak again, he heard Joachim say again: "What I'm worried about now is that this American won't accept it."

"What on earth do you mean? What on earth are you talking about? Joachim, do you mean to give the Rolls-Royce to the American guy for almost free according to his request? No, that is not a gift at all. , that was taken away by him!"

Listening to Ferdinand Piech's indignant tone, Joachim's face was expressionless.

"That's pretty much what it means. But Mr. Piech, I hope you understand that Rolls-Royce is now the property of BMW. In addition, this is what Mr. Quandt meant. Our opinions are no longer important."

At this moment, Ferdinand Piech wants to say who doesn’t know that Rolls-Royce belongs to BMW and has little to do with us Volkswagen.

But this matter happened to involve us, the public.

Coupled with the involvement of the Quandt family, we the public were forced to get involved in this turmoil.

We are the most innocent ones.

Good thing now, BMW is backing down.

It was as if he, Ferdinand Piech, had caused this incident.

Taking a deep breath, Ferdinand Piech made his voice sound as calm as possible.

"Okay. Since it is what Mr. Quandt wants, I won't say anything. Joachim, the Rolls-Royce is yours now. You are willing to let it go and reduce the trouble for the public. It's not too late for me to be happy. .”

"This must be a pleasant thing for us, you, and the American."

Joachim Milberg ignored Ferdinand's slightly sarcastic words.

He has already begun instructing BMW representatives to contact Smith Financial Group again.

night.

Ferdinand Piech and Joachim Milberg are about to leave London Heathrow Airport together and plan to return to Germany.

Joachim received "bad news."

"Yankee refused?"

Joachim was surprised.

The representative he sent to contact Smith Financial Group and the BMW executive who first came into contact with Abel, Bai Ruide, smiled bitterly and nodded.

"That nasty American is not in Financial Street. Smith UK CEO Jess received me. Jess claimed that Smith was tired of this matter and would no longer interfere with us and Rolls-Royce."

Baird said.

"Scheie!!!"

Ferdinand cursed a German curse and felt extremely angry and dissatisfied with Abel's behavior of staying out of the matter, as if Abel was the innocent person.

In the afternoon, Ferdinand was still a little dissatisfied with what Joachim said about the Quant family's requirements.

Now, after exchanges with the country.

Ferdinand Piech also knew what was going on.

Because he understood it clearly, Ferdinand also understood what it meant when Abel refused to give BMW a free Rolls-Royce.

A greater sense of humiliation arose in Ferdinand's heart than when Byrd and John Wieland, the representatives of both parties at the time, were threatened by Abel with a US military base when they met Abel.

Just the same as the original Byrd and John Verlander.

He is one of the richest men in Germany and one of the most influential tycoons in Europe.

Taishan Beidou in the automotive industry, a giant in the global automotive industry.

Facing the threat of the Yankees, Ferdinand was the same as the two senior wage earners.

When faced with humiliation, they all had the same powerlessness to fight back and could only face it with tolerance.

A small country and a prosperous people?

Haha, when the rich people of a small country face the plunder of bandits from a big country, they are no different from fat pigs in a pigsty.

"Go back to Berlin."

Joachim sighed, "This is no longer something we can solve."

"Ferdinand, I suggest you contact Lower Saxony or Berlin. As for me, I can only contact Mr. Quandt for this kind of thing."

Ferdinand nodded, and the two set off for London Heathrow Airport.

It rained again in London on the way.

The clouds were thick and the raindrops were heavy.

The most common weather in the capital of the Great Yin Empire this year is rain.

The patter of raindrops seems to indicate the fate and future of the German people.

The next day, Monday, April 20th.

London.

Mick Desmond walked into his luxurious office as usual.

He handed his trench coat to his secretary, and took a photo of the little secretary wrapped in a tight suit and skirt, which earned her a charming look.

Sitting on the boss's chair that symbolizes power, Mick Desmond, CEO and Chairman of British ITV, comfortably picked up the neatly arranged documents on the table while drinking steaming fragrant coffee. , while looking at the briefings sent by various departments of the company.

ITV is the second largest radio and television group in the United Kingdom, and its full name is the British Independent Television Broadcasting Group.

In the UK, its size is second only to the British Broadcasting Group, and is under the BBC.

The company, founded in 1955, initially provided competition for the BBC.

Lest the BBC become the dominant player and monopolize the entire market.

After decades of development, ITV has become the largest commercial television network group in the UK.

Who said that the BBC is funded by the British government and belongs to the public television network?

Then ITV can naturally become the boss of the British commercial television network, much more powerful than the British Sky TV station controlled by Murdoch's News Corporation.

It was only this year that Mick Desmond gained the trust of shareholders and became the number one person on ITV in the UK.

As CEO, he has been trying to build British ITV into a TV station that surpasses the BBC through reforms.

Lead the British ITV to glory and become a business leader that investors can trust like those famous managers.

This kind of thing is easy to say, but not easy at all to do.

Mick Desmond has been working hard on this since he took over, just like now.

"Dong dong——"

The rapid knock on the door made Mick frown, who was still thinking about the problem.

As soon as he raised his head, he saw Quincy, the company's chief financial officer, pushing open the door and barging in with a livid face.

Quincey is another important figure trusted by the shareholders' meeting.

Seeing that it was Quincy who came in, Mick put away the anger on his face and showed a kind smile.

"What's the matter? Quincy, look, I'm busy. I'm really worried about the ITV Digital thing."

ITV Digital is the name of a paid digital channel owned by ITV in the UK, similar to pay TV stations such as HBO in the United States.

It is one of the major broadcasters of the Premier League, but it has recently been unable to make ends meet and has been losing money, even to the point of implicating its parent company ITV in the UK.

Mick Desmond was able to take over this year because the former CEO of ITV in the UK mishandled the ITV Digital matter.

But now, the chief financial officer is obviously not in the mood to talk to the CEO about ITV Digital's mess.

Quincy has more urgent matters to report to the CEO.

"Sir, something's happened. It's very troublesome."

Mick's brows furrowed even more tightly, and he stretched out his hand to indicate to the other party to sit down before talking. However, Quincy, who had an extremely ugly expression, did not sit down, but said in a bitter and anxious tone:

"Just now, our stock price fell below 16 pounds and began to plummet. The tracking results are that someone is shorting our stock, and the other party is very powerful..."

"Mick, just now, Augusto from News Corp. called us to inform us that News Corp. and Sky TV are willing to provide financial help to ITV."

After listening to a series of bad news reported by Quincy, Mick's eyes widened, "What happened? How come the bad news came one after another. Who is shorting us? Quincy, you are the CFO of the company, you didn't Do you understand?"

"It's been found out." The CFO said with some bitterness: "The person who shorted us is probably a Yankee, Abe Smith."

"Abe Smith is shorting us? Why, we have no conflict with him? And ITV doesn't have much money either!"

Mick was a little confused.

Quincy closed his eyes bitterly, "It's obvious, sir."

He opened his eyes: "Abel Smith has taken a fancy to our ITV. His British Smith Media Group has everything except an influential TV station group. It just so happens that our ITV is such an influential TV station group .so……"

"You mean..." Mick Desmond suddenly felt that something was very wrong, "Abel Smith is shorting us, and his purpose is to acquire us?"

"This is the only possibility. Otherwise, as you said before, we have no money at all and are not suitable to be the prey of financial giants. Otherwise, Murdoch's people will not be so kind as to call us. .”

After listening to Quincy's explanation, Mick was silent for a few seconds, and then suddenly cursed: "This bitch!!"

After careful explanation by the CFO, Mick finally understood that this was a planned and premeditated short-selling behavior against ITV.

The time point they chose made it impossible for them to fight back.

After all, ITV had just gone through internal turmoil and lost £600 million in five years due to ITV Digital.

Even the former CEO resigned due to losses, and the stock market value dropped by 30%.

At this time, even if the British ITV wants to spend money to support the market, it is just a drop in the bucket, just giving delicious food to the greedy monster that has opened its huge mouth.

Mick grabbed the phone with some cold sweat and called Cooper, the controlling owner of ITV in the UK. The latter is one of the top ten richest people in the UK and is mainly engaged in the real estate industry.

The British ITV was a company he acquired with huge sums of money five years ago.

This gentleman was also very unlucky. When he entered the market, the British ITV stock market was at its highest.

British ITV has lost 30% of its total market value in five years, which is equivalent to his investment back then. In a few years, it has also lost 30%...

If you include inflation and the company's losses, it adds up to even more.

Unfortunately, the call to Mr. Cooper did not go through. I only got a reply from Cooper’s secretary, saying that Mr. Cooper was busy and was receiving important partners.

Mick smiled bitterly.

One of the people in the market may disappear, but now is not the time for him to panic.

Grabbing the phone and taking Quincy with him in the office, the two hurried to the financial department.

In the UK, a financial country. Almost any large-scale company, regardless of industry, has a financial department.

Many times, stock trading, or investment, is an important business activity for British companies...

Looking at the red numbers on the LCD wall that kept beating, Mick's face turned pale, his fists were clenched, his veins popped out, and his lips were trembling.

(British stocks are the same as US stocks, rising are green and falling are red.)

15.9

15.4

14.8

…

When the stock price fell to 13.9.

Mick finally lost his composure and said, "Start the repurchase plan..."

This is to use the limited funds of British ITV to avoid a series of uncontrollable chain reactions caused by the company's stock price plummeting.

Buzz——

Suddenly, Mick's pocket trembled.

With trembling fingers, Mick Desmond took out the buzzing cell phone from his pocket.

He didn't look at the display, his eyes stared directly at the beating blood-red numbers in front of him.

"Hello, I'm Mick Desmond..."

"Good morning, Mick, I'm John Cooper and here's the thing, I've decided to..."

"boom!"

"Fake! You sons of bitches who deserve to go to hell..."

Mick, who was still smiling a little, turned off the phone after hearing the other party finish speaking quickly.

His entire face turned completely black, and he threw the phone directly against the wall with a ferocious expression. He roared loudly while trembling all over, and reached out to hold the table beside him to support his swaying body.

Mick knew that they had been abandoned by Cooper, the major shareholder.

I called just now and the important partner Cooper's secretary mentioned was probably Abel Smith!

Ah, when I think about the CEO position that I just took the hot seat, it will soon leave me.

Mick Desmond felt despair just thinking about it.