America's Road to Wealth

Chapter 424 The idea of ​​taking the company public
Manhattan, between Central Park Place and Barclay Street, on Broadway.

In the Smith Building.

Abel meets the long-lost David Mellon.

Once upon a time, David Mellon was Abel's most important subordinate and his most important assistant.

When Smith Capital was first established.

The existence of David Mellon has avoided many detours for Abel.

Avoid Abel and step on various pits everywhere on Wall Street.

It can be said that without David Mellon, Abel's entrepreneurial period would never have been smooth sailing.

Coupled with David Mellon's character and three views, it is very consistent with Abel.

There is also the identity of being born in the Mellon family.

Let Abel have a good relationship with David.

A small part of Smith Capital shares will also be used as an option reward to attract and encourage David to work hard for him.

After all, David was from Goldman Sachs, who switched jobs to the little-known, newly established Smith Capital.

If there are not enough lucrative conditions, it will be difficult for Abel to attract this kind of real Wall Street elite.

You must know that at that time, David's job-hopping was ridiculed for a long time by many Wall Street people who knew about it.

For several months.

What now?Now those who laughed at David at that time all wanted to flatter David.

It's a pity that most of them now have difficulty seeing David again.

Today's David Mellon is the CEO of Smith Capital.

In Smith Capital, under one person, there are over a thousand people.

He holds tens of billions of dollars of capital flow in his hands, and can also affect the decision-making of many banks and financial companies.

In Wall Street, today's David Mellon is undoubtedly one of the big names.

"You're finally back."

Abel's office.

David half-joking and half-complaining: "You didn't come back, those Texans, but you don't listen to me, a New Yorker."

"Ha ha--"

Drinking coffee master David Mellon specially prepared for himself, in the mellow aroma of coffee beans, there is also a botanical aroma of Meixia coffee.

After Abel laughed, he said softly:
"Not at all. What's more, they are mainly in commercial banks and insurance companies."

"That's right. But you also let me control them. The problem is that I don't have that power." David said.

Abel nodded, understanding.

As Abel was in Houston, he signed a large number of equity exchanges and mutual shareholding contracts with the families of the Texas consortium.

The Smith Consortium, which is still in its infancy, has actually been merged into the Texas Consortium.

It's just that in this merger, Abel took the initiative.

While maintaining control over the energy side.

Abel also became the financial core, media core, and the main person in charge of the Internet of the New Texas Consortium.

In these fields that Abel is in charge of, the old fellows of the former Texas consortium don't pay much attention to the Internet and the media.

In this era, the old guys have not yet realized what kind of power will emerge from the combination of the Internet and the media in the future.

So Abel wanted it, and they handed it over.

As for handing over the financial rights to Abel.This in itself is the core factor of their willingness to compromise with Abel.

Who is in the field of finance, just over two years.

Abel's achievements and plundered wealth have surpassed the accumulation of Buffett and Soros himself for decades.

They also hope that Abel, the god of investment, will bring the finance of the New Texas consortium to fly.

Fly them too.

After the merger, the New Texas Consortium conducts all insurance, banking, and investment-related businesses.

Except for Abel's immediate family.

In other respects, Abel had the same right of temperance and dominion.

It is precisely because of this that Smith's financial companies have the upper hand in the merger.

The CEO of Smith Capital, David Mellon, naturally has a certain degree of control over the financial companies of the former Texas consortium in New York.

It's just that the group of Texans in New York are convinced by Abel, a big Texan.

But they were not so obedient to David Mellon, who had "shit luck".

In fact, not only Texans see David this way.

It's the whole of Wall Street, most people think of David Mellon in this way.

Everyone felt that this member of the New York Mellon family was just lucky.

I happened to meet Abel Smith, who started his own business, and he was regarded as important by the other party, so we have everything we have now.

If not for the encounter with Abel Smith.

Then David Mellon is now at most a middle-level and high-level employee of Goldman Sachs.

David himself knew this.

He knows that if he relies on his own ability, in fact, it is true.

Fortunately, David is very self-aware.

David feels that good luck is also a kind of strength.

Since it was him, David Mellon, he appeared in front of Abel when he needed it.

This is his luck, but it is also his strength.

envy, jealousy, hate?
Then let them envy and hate.

In this way, it also made him helpless to those Texans.

Now, David will complain about this to Abel.

"In the future, each subsidiary of Smith Financial Group will operate independently."

Abel thought for a while and told his plan.

"David, you will continue to be in charge of the operation of Smith Capital. This job can only be said to belong to you."

Hearing what Abel said, David was greatly relieved.

All his present glory and status, and wealth.

The main reason is that he is the CEO of Smith Capital.

David valued this position more than anyone else.

Obtaining Abel's words was more important to David than anything else.

"The problem now is Smiths Bank and Smiths Insurance."

"Because of the existence of Smith Capital, Smith Bank will not have an investment department and will only be a pure commercial bank."

"As for Smith Insurance, I'm not very familiar with insurance."

"So I have been thinking about who should be in charge of these two crucial subsidiaries for the group."

Abel was not afraid to say these words to David.

According to Abel's plan, in the future, Smith Financial Group headquarters will not have an independent CEO.

For this most important core enterprise in the hands of the master.

Abel would act as chairman himself, and also as CEO.

All departments within the group, as well as its subsidiaries, only need to be responsible to him and obey his will.

Among the many departments and subsidiaries, the three businesses of banking, insurance and investment are naturally the most important.

Among them, what he attaches the most importance to is not Smith Capital, but Smith Bank.

Because to put it bluntly, as long as Smith Capital is with him, everything will be fine.

However, the operation and expansion of commercial banks need to rely on long-term word-of-mouth accumulation, as well as stable interest and other services.

These things, his talent can't affect him.

Most of them can only rely on accumulation, or continuous annexation.

The four commercial banks of the original Texas consortium, as well as the Pacific Commercial Bank of Smith Capital, and Smith Bank after the merger of the two parties.

It will no longer have an internal investment department.

The operation of the capital will be handed over to Smith Capital in the future.

This aspect is easy to solve, but what is difficult to solve is that Abel finds that he does not have a good person in charge of a commercial bank for the time being.

The original Pacific Commercial Bank had a post of general manager.

But this position is vacant, and most of its original work is concurrently held by senior executives from Smith Capital.

It used to be possible to do this, but now it can't.

So Abel is now looking for a CEO or general manager role for Smith Insurance and Smith Bank respectively.

He doesn't have this kind of talent here, except relying on headhunting companies and Smith Intelligence Group to find them.

He also thought of David Mellon.

Including many core figures of the Smith Intellectual Group, a large number of talents in the Finance Department of Abel's side were discovered by David at the beginning.

Abel felt that maybe David was looking for talents, and maybe he didn't necessarily have any unique talents.

He simply decided to let David recommend a few candidates, and he will consider it again.

Hearing Abel's request, David Mellon nodded and pondered for a while.

"How about Charlie Schaff? I mean the CEO of Smiths Bank," said David.

"Charlie Schaff?"

Abel thought for a while, and he quickly remembered that this person seemed to have been the chief financial officer of Merrill Lynch.

But this one is on the wrong team.At the end of the previous year, with the resignation of Stanley O'Neill, the most influential black president on Wall Street, Charlie Schaff was also forced to marginalize.

David nodded and said to Abel:
"Charlie Scharf used to be the number one nigger on Wall Street. He was also the first person in Merrill Lynch to see the crisis. That nigger didn't listen to him, which led to serious losses for Merrill Lynch. Charlie Schaff was also forced to shoulder responsibilities that were not his, and is now a marginal figure at Merrill Lynch."

Abel had a good impression of Charlie Schaff.

I remember when I was still not famous.

Charlie Schaff is one of the top executives of several major investment banks on Wall Street who has the best attitude towards himself.

"Then temporarily appoint a Charlie Schaff, and I will send someone to contact him."

Abel said with a smile.

"Well." David said, "As for the insurance company, I think Frank Berg might be considered."

"Frank Berger?"

Abel had never heard of this name, and he looked at David.

The latter introduced softly: "Frank Berg is the son of Green Berg."

Frank Berg, the name Abe had never heard of.

Green Berg, the name Abe had heard of before.

This is the famous godfather of insurance in the United States.

It took him decades to successfully develop AIG, an insurance group, from a small company to one of the world's top 500 companies.

He is one of the leading figures in the commercial insurance industry. He is very old and is said to be retiring in the past few years.

"Frank Berg had a bad relationship with his father. So he didn't work at AIG. He is now a general manager of sales at UnitedHealth Insurance, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group."

David Mellon introduced softly: "I think he can be qualified for the work of Smith Insurance."

Abel looked at David, staring at David a little flustered, and he smiled and said, "Tell me the real reason."

"Alright alright……"

David Mellon had no choice but to say: "Frank Berg, he is also my uncle. He married my aunt, the kind of kiss."

"Wait, I remember you said, what state is your uncle in, a senator or a representative?"

"My father has no brothers, but he has three sisters. In other words, I have three aunts."

David shrugged and said, "Besides a congressman's uncle, an insurance company's uncle. I have an aunt whose husband works in D.C. as a broker on K Street."

Abel nodded, thinking it's no wonder he wanted to find someone from K Street.

David Mellon is there when you look for it.It's also very powerful, and it only cost a few million dollars to make Sony movies all kinds of unhappy.

It turns out that there is such a relationship.

"That's right." David suddenly added:
"Frank Berg's aunt, married Robert Morgenthau, is Peggy Morgenthau's grandmother, but has been dead for a long time, Green Berg and the Morgenthau family have a normal relationship. But Frank Berg , and his aunt is said to have a good relationship. Even the current work is influenced by Robert Morgenthau."

Abel nodded after listening.

This group of veteran American giants has this kind of virtue.

After hundreds of years of mutual marriage, even if many people have conflicts of interest, in fact, if you check carefully, you will find that everyone is actually relatives.

This is how the rich and powerful ecological chain came about.

This is the case on the east coast, and it is the same on the other side of Texas.

California, which has only risen in recent decades, looks the same.

Perhaps it should be said that this is one of the nature of human beings.

That is, those with vested interests will use various methods to protect their own interests as much as possible.

Including but not limited to marriages within the same group and within the same class.

It is the same in ancient and modern China and abroad.

"Then add Frank Berger. I'll list him as a candidate," Abel said.

"That's right." Abel suddenly added:
"David, what do you think if I listed Smith Media at this time?"

David Mellon was startled, feeling that he had heard wrong.

He also asked again: "Did I hear correctly? My king, you said you want Smith Media to go public?"

Abel nodded, "I found out that I haven't listed a company until now. This is a bit of a failure. So I think, maybe it's time for my own company to go public and see what happens."

Under the name of Abel, although he now has a large number of shares in listed companies.

He personally occupies a large proportion, and there are quite a few absolute holdings.

For example, California Pacific Electric, which is still in the midst of tossing and has not yet been completely merged with Pacific Energy, is a large listed energy company.

There is also the American Express Company in Smith Bank, which will operate independently in the future. It was originally a listed company, but it was privatized by Abel.

In addition to these, Smith Capital now owns more than 5 listed companies that account for more than 200% of the shares.

It is wrong to say that Abel does not have a listed company from this perspective.

He is the executive director or independent director of more than [-] listed companies.

But from another point of view, this statement is actually correct.

That is, so far, Abel has created or merged companies by himself, not companies he has snatched, and there is really no listed company.

"Storm, that's going to be a storm."

David said excitedly in an aria-like voice:

"I have seen that on Wall Street, in the whole of the United States, and in the whole world, there will be a storm of panic buying in the US stock market."

"I believe in Smith Media. If it really goes public, it will become the world's number one media group in the shortest possible time."

"Of course, it is the world's number one in terms of stock market value alone."

"Of course, its number one has little to do with its own strength."

"We all know that all of this is just because of you."

"Because you are Abe Smith, our king!"

Looking at the excited David Mellon, Abel smiled lightly and shook his head.

He knew why David was so excited.

Because if Smith Media really wants to IPO.

Underwriters will be needed.

If the fat and water don't flow to outsiders, the underwriter must be Smith Capital.

Not to mention the handling fees that can be earned here.

It's just the honor of listing the world's most valuable media company.

It is enough for David Mellon to leave a big fortune on Wall Street.

All financial practitioners are eager for such an honor.

"Get ready. Let the wind out."

Abel stood up, looked at the sky outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, and then looked at the clock hanging on the wall next to him.

Before he knew it, he and David had been chatting for almost an hour.

"Let's talk about Smith Media, which may go public this year. I will ask Robert Iger to cooperate with the report of Smith Media's annual report."

David Mellon clenched his fist excitedly and waved it fiercely.

"no problem!"

Abel smiled and nodded, signaling David to go out to work.

He himself turned on the computer and looked at the latest capital market quotes.

With the advancement of technology, coupled with the close relationship with Bloomberg.

For Smith Capital, the most advanced financial information processing system can be used.

To put it simply, as long as Abel is on the computer, he can check what he wants to see, the latest real-time data of most investment products in the capital market.

Unlike before, you still need to use Bloomberg's terminal, and you have to check them one by one slowly.

The current Smith Capital has also departed from the self-employed look at the beginning.

Abel no longer needs to go through David, he can directly issue trading orders to the operators of the entire company.

Of course, when operations begin.

It still needs David Mellon and several other presidents to keep an eye on the market and prepare at any time.

I looked at the time on the computer, it is now February 2002, 2.

Abel first looked at the market of international crude oil futures.

The Afghan war in Afghanistan has a short-term impact on oil.

Everyone knows there is no oil there.

Therefore, there are not many people who have concerns about the impact of the war in Afghanistan on oil supply.

As a result, in the international oil futures market, except for the few days at the beginning of the war, oil prices began to remain turbulent again.

Under the observation of Abel's talent, he also found that the recent international crude oil market is not big.

Nothing to mess with.

He turned his gaze back to the precious metal.

If there is a war, gold must rise.

Today's international spot gold has risen by almost 50% compared to when Abab was born again.

But this is not the end, it's just the beginning.

After thinking about it, Abel picked up the phone and gave the order:
"I am Abel Smith, and I am entering the international spot gold market. Build positions steadily and hold them for a long time. The goal is... within a year, to reach 500 billion U.S. dollars."

After confirming where it was, he hung up the phone.

Continue to look at the market.

This time his attention is on his favorite international foreign exchange market.

Having said that, compared to the stock market, futures or something.

Abel felt that the terrifying foreign exchange market was the place where he, a big fish, could swim happiest.

"Ok?"

In a large number of currency pairs.

Abel took a fancy to the neon yen system, and its series of currency pairs.

"The small cabinet has discovered the sweetness of quantitative easing. American papas now use this method, so you are also confident and bold to start using it?"

Then don't blame his father for bleeding the dog's son.

(End of this chapter)