Mei Man: I drew Superman during the Great Depression

Chapter 174 Securities Manager

"I'm just trying to get a little sense of what's going on in the stock market right now."

Colin did not reveal his intentions.

In fact, even if he told Hughes what he thought, the other party would not believe it.

After all, affected by the Great Depression, the New York stock market was bleak, and the bodies of the securities managers who suffered the most losses had already covered the buildings of securities companies.

Most of the surviving investors and businessmen have already been frightened by the collapse of the stock market in the Great Depression, and the severely declining stock prices have also made them lose confidence in the market.

Today, the entire New York stock market is still active, either with ambitious speculators or outright lunatics.

As for fools, they jumped off buildings as early as the moment of the Great Depression.

"I know a guy."

Taking a sip of the cigar in his hand, Hughes glanced at Colin in front of him.

He could feel that the other party was not telling the truth to him, but so what.

Hughes himself is not a person who cares too much about the opinions of others, he only cares about what he cares about.

Such as movies, such as women, such as airplanes, and of course now there is another sea.

"Ross Stone, he worked for me on the Hughes Tool Company equity acquisition, and he didn't become a bum during the Great Depression, so he should be a good securities manager."

……

The popularity of the radio drama "Superman's Adventure" was quickly reflected in the next day's "Courier".

According to the description of Jimmy the newspaper boy, the sales speed of this issue of the newspaper is much faster than any previous one.

Some readers who didn't seem to buy the "Messenger" would also ask him about the newspaper. When they heard that this was the newspaper that was serialized in "Superman", they immediately paid for the newspaper. .

Apparently, this is the final ad for The Adventures of Superman that did the trick.

On the other hand, after realizing the success of the radio drama, CBS also quickly made adjustments.

CBS not only moved the "Superman Adventure" radio drama to the prime time broadcast, but also informed the audience through the radio that it would rebroadcast "Superman Adventure" at [-] o'clock every Monday night. .

It is obviously quite rare for a radio drama to be rebroadcast after just one episode.

Even, in the short history of radio drama, this is the first time.

From this we can see how popular "Superman Adventure" is with audiences.

Here, Superman's radio play is in full swing, but on the other hand, Colin has already focused his attention on other places.

……

"Good day, Mr. Colin Looper."

Wall Street, in front of the New York Stock Exchange, Colin met the good securities manager that Hughes said.

Luo Stone, a middle-aged man who looks quite professional, wears a promotional suit, and the thinning hair on his head seems to have witnessed his fight in the stock market.

However, under [Super Vision], Ke Lin could clearly see the embarrassing facts behind the glamorous appearance of this securities manager.

Although he has tried his best to protect the suit on his body, it can still be seen from the wear and tear on the cuffs that the opponent's economy is not rich.Even, the suit worn by Luo Stone may be the only one he can wear.

And this is the fact and the most common phenomenon during the Great Depression. A large number of unemployed men lost everything in the economic crisis, cars, houses, and only their suits were left, and they could barely maintain their dignity in society. When you don't have any clothes on your body, then the only way to go is the homeless.

Although Luo Stone's situation is embarrassing, at least there are still jobs to do, although the job of securities managers is not a very good industry in the increasingly depressed stock market.

But at least, he can use this to fill his stomach and support his family.

Instead of becoming a corpse in front of a securities company or a poor man in the 'Hoover' village like other colleagues.

"Hello, Mr. Roe Stone."

Withdrawing his gaze, Colin reached out and shook Luo Stone in front of him.

"Mr. Howard Hughes, you have already told me your purpose."

It is not clear that he has exposed the fact that his life is embarrassing, and Luo Stone tried his best to show the professional attitude of a securities manager.

"At present, the trend of the market is not optimistic. It has been in a downturn since the Great Depression, but there are still a few stocks that still maintain a good momentum and are not affected by the market, such as precious metals..."

During the Great Depression, when the economy was sluggish, Luo Stone's customers had dropped by more than [-]% compared with the peak period.

Therefore, he urgently needs new customers, otherwise, with the current working situation, he will not be able to last for too long, and he will become a member of the wandering army.

Of course, he can also choose to follow the tradition of his predecessors and perform a fall from high altitude.

However, affected by the trend of suicide, the front desk staff of most high-rise hotels in New York now will remind the guests who are staying to ensure that the purpose of the guests is not to jump off the building.

At the same time, Luo Stone's family and children need him to take care of him, and he is unwilling to make such a selfish decision.

Of course, the most important thing is that Luo Stone's beliefs do not allow him to commit suicide.

Although those colleagues who once believed in the same belief as him eventually violated all of this, at least Luo Stone did not allow himself to do so.

"If, Mr. Colin Luper, you plan to participate in the stock market, I suggest buying precious metals, especially gold and other hedging stocks. Although they can't guarantee you a lot of money, at least they won't let you generate too much money. loss."

The long-term decline in the stock market has extinguished the confidence of stock market participants like Luo Stone.

In the broadcast analysis, a large number of experts are pessimistic about the long-term weakness of the New York Stock Exchange, and no one can analyze when the market will rise again.

Colin knew a thing or two about this.

In 25 years, the stock market crashed during the Great Depression fell for 25 years before returning to the pre-Great Depression high in 1954.

No matter how you look at it, it's a pretty long time.

The Luo Stone in front of him, or the vast majority of investors in this period, obviously would not know this.

"How are oil company stocks trading at the moment?"

Keeping himself in mind about the future development of the New York stock market, Colin looked at Luo Stone in front of him and asked in a casual tone.

"Oil company?"

Luo Stone glanced at him in surprise, but he still thought about it and answered: "Oil stocks have been falling almost all the time, especially the stocks of Seashore United Oil Company, which have fallen below 2.5% yesterday. $[-], and everyone thought it would go down, and Seashore United might go out of business.”

Luo Stone could see that Colin seemed to be somewhat interested in oil stocks.

Although he didn't know the reason, Luo Stone still reminded him cryptically: "At present, there is no one optimistic about the future development of oil stocks in the stock market."

Not optimistic about anyone?
The purpose of Luo Stone's words was to persuade Colin not to have any thoughts on oil, a stock that obviously had no future. However, his words made Colin more confident in his decision.

"Mr. Luo Stone, from now on, I need you to buy for me the shares of all oil companies in the market, especially the relevant holdings of Seaside United Oil Company."

It is certainly a good thing that Ke Lin is willing to hire himself as a securities manager.

But the first order given by the other party as the boss was somewhat beyond Luo Stone's expectations.

"With all due respect, sir, isn't it such a good decision to buy oil stocks at this time?"

"Mr. Luo Stone, there is one thing you must remember. I hired you to work, not to listen to your opinions. I just ask you to obey me. If you can't even do this If so, unfortunately, I will not hire you, I believe there should be a large number of managers in the stock exchange who are willing to work for me."

Colin didn't intend to tell Luo Stone what he thought, because during this period, even if he told his purpose, not many people would believe it.

Therefore, he chose the simplest and most direct method, which was to tell Luo Stone to either obey or get out.

"I see, Mr. Colin Looper."

There is no doubt that Luo Stone chose to obey this path.

In fact, for him in distress, this was the only choice.

As Colin said, there were hundreds of people in the stock exchange staring at this job, and the only thing he was lucky about was that he mentioned seeing a client.

"I'm going to start buying oil stocks right away."

Seeing the change in Luo Stone's attitude, Colin nodded and did not stop in front of the New York Stock Exchange.

The acquisition of oil stocks is not just a matter of lip service, even if the oil stocks in the market are now in a mess.But without enough capital, it still cannot be easily swallowed.

Therefore, to buy these stocks, Ke Lin also needs to prepare sufficient funds.

……

At present, the shares released by Seashore United Oil Company in the market exceed millions of US dollars. Although the actual selling price is less than US$0.4, it is not a simple fact to eat so many shares at once.

According to Luo Stone's deduction, if Colin wants to buy the shares of Seaside United Oil Company and become one of the actual shareholders of the ninth largest oil company in the United States, then at least 300 million US dollars of capital is required.

Three million is a lot of money in any era, and it was an unimaginably huge sum during the Great Depression.

Although, he was already prepared for the price of buying oil stocks, but when he heard the estimated price of 300 million from Luo Stone's mouth, Colin's heart couldn't help but beat a few times.

At present, although the sales of the Courier newspaper continued to grow, the funds he could spend were only about 30.

The newspaper industry is a money-burning business, and the Courier needs a steady stream of printed newspapers if it wants to maintain sales growth.

Of course, this is only the funds of the Courier newspaper.

In fact, in addition to the newspaper's revenue, "Messenger Comics", the recently released "Superman" quarterly, and the box office of the animated short film "Superman and Mickey" are all income.

It's just that the proceeds from the movie box office will not reach Colin until the movie theater and Disney share their share, and it will take a while for the process to run.

Therefore, right now, the only thing that can bring him sufficient funds is other industries besides comics and short films.

……

Churchville, Fisher-Price Toy Factory.

"Currently, the fifth batch of Superman dolls made by Fisher has been produced, and the sales volume is still strong. Especially after the broadcast of "Superman Adventure", the radio drama has driven the sales of dolls to increase..."

Herman Fisher's attitude towards Colin was obviously more polite than before.

After all, Fisher's most popular toy currently comes from the Superman doll authorized by Colin.

For such a big client, Herman Fischer naturally did his best to fulfill the other party's request.

Nodded, Superman dolls have always been popular in the toy market.

Especially with the serialization of comics, the release of short films and the broadcast of radio dramas recently, every development will be linked to the sales of dolls.

Today, more than 100 million Superman dolls have been sold throughout New York, and this number is still growing.

The income from the dolls alone has brought Colin a share of as much as one hundred thousand dollars.

This is just a single product of Superman dolls.

"What about Lego?"

Thinking about it, Colin casually mentioned another toy product that he asked Fisher to produce.

"This one……"

In response to this, Herman Fisher hesitated for a moment.

"At present, the market doesn't seem to like this kind of toy figurines and splicing toys very much. Except for Superman's Lego toy, which is accepted by the market, the sales volume of other Lego products is not too high, and the market doesn't seem to like it. products of this type."

The frustration of LEGO products is obviously beyond Colin's expectations.

He originally thought that the launch of Lego building blocks would set off a boom, but he obviously ignored the public's acceptance of toys.

"In this case, let's suspend the development and production of Lego and concentrate on the development of Superman dolls."

At present, limited by the development of technology, the Lego toys made by Fisher-Price are all made of wood. Compared with lightweight plastic, wooden Lego is not only expensive, but also not durable, and the color is easy to fade.

If you want to really mass-produce Lego toys, you just need to wait until the appearance of the injection molding machine to change the history of Lego wood.

Historically, the real development of injection molding machines was in the late World War II.

Obviously, this is not a short period of time.

(End of this chapter)