From legendary short seller to god of American capital

Chapter 311 Taking Stock of Assets and Starting Anew

Chapter 311 Taking Stock of Assets and Starting Anew

On Monday afternoon, Larry met with Mr. Coster's clerk who was there to handle the acquisition funds provided by Morgan Bank.

The two were taken aback when they met, then looked at each other and smiled.

It turns out the other party was George Whitney, the senior partner who had previously helped Larry access the underground gold storage.

Upon seeing that it was Larry, Whitney laughed and said, "—Oh, I was wondering why Mr. Coster kept insisting that I respect your status, not your age! It turns out you're the young, promising, and handsome gentleman I'm talking about! Coster, you're overthinking it. I've already built my respect for you through the amount of gold coins you have!"

Larry smiled and shook his hand. "Mr. Whitney, it's an honor that Coster sent you with me to Rochester! Is the money in the account ready?"

Whitney, impeccably dressed in a suit, was shrewd and efficient, speaking rapidly. He pulled out a document, laid it out, and explained to Larry, "Mr. Livingston, everything is ready! Your funding account has raised a total of $260 million from four banks. Of this, $128 million is provided by our bank. This is acquisition funding for a fee; you cannot use these funds for anything other than the acquisition company—do you understand?"

"I understand!" Larry nodded.

"Well, one more thing, the acquisition funds account will start accruing interest from May 1st, at an annualized rate of 11.8%. Mr. Coster told you about this, right?" Whitney looked at Larry with bright eyes.

"As I said, all these conditions are fine!" Larry continued.

"Alright, please sign here!" Whitney smiled, handed over a pen, and also handed the account documents to Larry.

Larry carefully reviewed the relevant documents for the aforementioned accounts and only signed his name after confirming that everything was correct.

Whitney tucked the signed receipt into her briefcase and said with a smile, "Very well, Mr. Livingston, my mission is accomplished. You can exchange these funds at any major bank in Rochester or the United States and use them as acquisition funds. From your application to the cash disbursement, it won't take more than a week. You can use it with confidence."

Larry chuckled as he gathered the other account documents to his side, asking, "What? Didn't the bank send anyone to monitor my account usage? I thought you'd be coming with me on this company acquisition!"

Whitney raised an eyebrow. "If you'd like, I could certainly come with you to Rochester. To be honest, I'd like to get away for a change of pace. Being stuck on Wall Street all the time, I feel like I'm turning into a stodgy old man!"

"Let's go! I'll cover your travel expenses! Give me some advice when you get there. It's my first time dealing with an acquisition, and I'm afraid I won't handle it well!" Larry extended a sincere invitation to Whitney.

Whitney's reaction was heartwarming; he was a free spirit who longed for peace and quiet, always looking for opportunities to travel for work and escape the constraints of his job. That's the kind of reaction a normal person would have!

Those two guys at Goldman Sachs, all they think about is work, they're not even human!

Whitney was delighted to hear Larry's invitation, but he waved his hand and laughed, "You don't need to worry about the travel expenses! The company can afford it. On the contrary, I should thank you. Going to Rochester with you will not only help you with your business, but also free me from my heavy workload."

"Do you never take a day off at Morgan Stanley?" Larry joked.

To her surprise, Whitney replied with utmost seriousness, "Of course! Morgan Bank never has a day off, unless someone dies or it's Christmas. Let me think, when I was an employee I could have one day off every two weeks, but since becoming a partner, I haven't had a single day off in the past three years!"

Larry was shocked, thinking to himself, "Morgan is truly a super capitalist! How can he exploit the working class like this?"

Whitney finished tidying up the documents, then turned to Larry and asked, "Is it leaving for Rochester tomorrow? What time is the train?"

"I'll have someone buy your train ticket at 11:30 a.m.

"Oh, that's great! Okay, see you at Grand Central Station tomorrow!" Whitney lifted her hat to say goodbye to Larry.

"Is there something going back?" Larry asked, puzzled. Since they were like cattle and horses, why not take a break when there was a chance to slack off?

Whitney frowned, thought for a few seconds, and then lowered her voice to Larry, "Are you aware that someone jumped off the roof of our bank a few days ago?"

Larry froze, thought for a few seconds, and then suddenly said, "I heard from my brother at dinner yesterday that he was a small member of the exchange. I heard that he went bankrupt because he shorted General Electric, and then, in a fit of anger, he ended his life with a pistol on the rooftop—"

Speaking of this, Larry felt a pang of regret, even a sense of guilt—after all, he was the one who started it all. If it weren't for his involvement, that person might not have died such a tragic and gruesome death.

Whitney nodded and continued, "I need to go back and deal with the aftermath of this—"

Larry suddenly realized and asked, "Oh, I see. Are you planning to provide some humanitarian aid to the victim?"

Whitney paused, then turned to look at Larry as if she had never seen him before.

"What? Isn't that right?" Larry asked.

Whitney hesitated for a moment before saying, "No, Mr. Morgan asked me to sue the deceased's parents and wife because the man's suicide caused great reputational damage to Morgan Bank—Mr. Morgan is demanding a public apology and a symbolic settlement of $1000."

Larry took a deep breath, only then realizing that he had made the same mistake of relying on empiricism from his past life!

This is America, after all.

"But—wasn't that person jumping off the building because of bankruptcy? How could they possibly compensate Morgan Bank for their losses?" Larry couldn't help but ask again.

"They can ask the court to auction off their house," Whitney said, then felt embarrassed to continue, her conscience bothering her.

He then picked up his suitcase and hurriedly said goodbye to Larry.

"See you at the train station tomorrow morning!" With that, Whitney dashed off.

Larry watched Whitney's retreating figure, remembering the floor trader who jumped from the building, and a pang of sadness gripped his heart.

After waiting a while, Mr. K arrived.

"Boss! I've sent the notarized account address for $20 to Mr. Honesty. He can find the account, and after the lawyer's notarization, he knows the money can't be withdrawn. Now he's relieved and ready to start printing the betting tickets for the Justice Bonds!"

Larry nodded, still thinking about the man who jumped from the building—after a few seconds he said, "Didn't I tell him to bet $5 on Cleveland to win? Did he bet?"

"I bought it! I gave him the $5 by check, and after he checked the check, he immediately wrote me a betting ticket—"

"This man is the face of the Dead Rabbit Gang, so he's reliable." As he spoke, Mr. K took out a large stack of gambling tickets from his pocket.

Larry took the betting tickets, frowning as he looked at the thousand $50 tickets in total. Even for betting on the president's victory, these were poorly printed!

Fortunately, the money can usually be redeemed; betting companies make their money by taking a cut, so they won't renege on their promises.

"Boss, do you really think the Democrats can win? I've put all my money on the bets you've made—" Mr. K's face showed a rare serious expression.

"Oh? You bet too? How much?!" Larry turned to Mr. K, who pulled a small stack of betting tickets from his pocket, grinning sheepishly, and said, "I only brought $1300! I've bet it all!"

Larry sneered, thinking to himself, "You really trust me—you've developed a psychological dependence on me by following my bets."

After thinking for a moment, Larry smiled and patted Mr. K on the shoulder, "Let's go! Come with me to the bank, I need to get this morning's—"

Oh no, I'm going to deposit these $5 in gambling tickets in a safe deposit box at the National City Bank in New York. What kind of nonsense is it to carry around this pile of worthless paper?!

Mr. K nodded and gave all his betting tickets to Larry. "Boss! You can save them for me too! We'll make money together after the presidential election results come out!"

The two then went to National City Bank of New York, which is known as Citibank among Chinese people.

Of course, Larry wasn't just depositing gambling tickets; his most important task was to deposit the $300 million bank draft in his briefcase into his own account. But this was something he couldn't tell Mr. K, and no one could—the amount of money was too large.

If Dunbar hadn't already set off for Texas with the Browning brothers, Larry wouldn't have called Mr. K along. Larry always felt that Mr. K wasn't very reliable, and he had to be careful about everything.

Perhaps due to Mr. Stillman's influence, Citibank immediately dispatched a senior partner to help Larry complete the safekeeping of the gambling tickets and deposit $300 million worth of bank drafts into his own account.

Perhaps the hefty sum of money shocked the senior partner. When handling business for Larry, he never dared to look Larry in the eye, as if a servant dared not look up at his master.

After dinner, Larry returned to his room, lay down on the bed, stared at the ceiling, and began to carefully take stock of his assets:

First of all—knowing you can earn $300 million in a short period means you won't need to borrow money from Morgan Bank for the acquisition! But it's all good, since the thrill of getting something for nothing still exists.

Now my finances have improved, but there are also more channels for spending, so I need to keep a good record and summarize them.

The New York bank account previously held $2 million. $50,000 was paid for the purchase of the Dakota apartment and a $3000 deposit from the furniture supplier; $200,000 was also paid for the follow-on investment from Mr. Porter's Fund, leaving $1,747,000 remaining. Of course, a final payment of $27,000 is still owed to the furniture supplier.

Oh no, there's also the $200,000 paid into the betting fair account today, plus the $50,000 I bet on Cleveland to win, that's $1,497,000.

It might be this number, because I don't remember which bank's checks I used for some small expenses.

In addition, he had $43 left in his Paine Weber Securities account. General Electric stock was worth $1.5 million.

10,000 shares have now been transferred to Mr. Porter's fund account, and Rockefeller Jr. still owes him 8000 shares.

In Reading's account, he should have 24 American Tobacco stock, plus the $120 million principal that the Rockefeller family had given him in compensation.

Morgan Bank had $40 in gold coins in his own account, plus £3 in Sovereign gold coins that Mr. Porter had knocked down from Cecil Rhodes, totaling nearly $45 in gold coins. The exchange rate between pounds and dollars was approximately one to five.

My Citibank account already had $10, plus $6.6 in securities trading commission rebates, and now with the $300 million deposited today, it totals $316.6.

Wait a minute, we previously gave Yung Wing $1 to help Wong Mei Tong, and also gave Dunbar $5, all through this account. So, there should be $310 million left in the account.

In addition, I still haven't paid for 300 acres of land!

Larry suddenly sat up as he thought of this.

I forgot today because I was busy! I need to pay that $45 right away! I have to swallow this meat first.

He quickly called King Astor IV, and Larry was relieved to hear that he could hand it over later.

Then, Larry poured himself a glass of whiskey and continued to take stock of his assets while drinking it.

Freeport-Wide and Cornerstone Holdings originally had $51 in their company accounts, but he had already transferred $50 to Kodak, acquiring a 16.6% stake. If the acquisition of Bausch & Lomb is successful, he will receive an additional 5% of Kodak's stock.

Tomorrow, I will use the $260 million provided by the syndicate and Eastman's 19.8% stake in Bausch & Lomb to acquire Bausch & Lomb.

Manhattan United Capital is not yet fully established. This company will invest $100 million in Manhattan United Manufacturing, which is in partnership with General Electric. I need to expedite this matter as soon as I return from Rochester.

Oh, right, there's also the power fund agreement with Tesla. I need to get that sorted out as soon as I get back! Once this fund is established, we can start collecting patent fees from GE for their electric motors, $1.5 per unit! However, I'll also need to invest $20 myself.

He still had $2.5 in his safe in Boston. He had taken out $1 in cash last time to bribe that Irish bastard, but he failed and put the money back.

应收帐款里，布尔人还没有给自己送上2000把手枪的定金，大概2.1万英镑，还有1万把步枪40%的预付款4万英镑————这就是30万美元呢！回头把他们都换成金币存起来————

What's going on with the Boers? Does it really take them this long to gather diamonds and gold?

In addition, FN will also have licensing fees for the rifles, initially $4 per rifle, but this will have to wait until the project is finalized.

In terms of equity, in addition to the convenience store, milk tea shop, and shares in Manhattan United Manufacturing and Kodak that are not yet fully confirmed, he also owns 66% of Progress Partners Fund.

Oh, right, there's also the $30 I gave to Rockefeller Jr. today, to collaborate with him on building a petrochemical research institute.

In terms of real estate, he owns 300 acres of land in New York, a four-story property on Fifth Avenue, and five adjacent shops.

That's about it — Larry felt he couldn't even count how many assets and wealth he had!

Because once you become rich, the specific amount of equity becomes difficult to define, and the number of expenses increases.

Larry's mind raced with thoughts, his lips curving into a smile one moment and his brow furrowing the next.

In short, taking stock of assets is a bittersweet experience, though it can be a bit mentally taxing.

However, he had to take stock! He needed to know how much wealth he had. Now, faced with such a large fortune, Larry suddenly had an idea: he had earned too much recently and really should, as Mr. Porter had suggested, stop and rest, and safeguard his wealth.

Going too fast can easily lead to a crash!

Yes! After finishing the Bausch & Lomb acquisition in Rochester and wrapping up the work, I'll take a break! After dealing with Huang Meitang's case, I should listen to Professor Yung Wing and become a young scholar at Yale.

Larry had always wanted to make money, but his underlying goal was to catch up with the great trader James Keane. Larry remembered that Keane made $900 million in his first two years in the industry.

Although I am not quite as good as him now, I am not far behind.

How can everything go as planned? Forget it, I won't compare myself to my idol.

However, compared to doing business or manipulating the market, I still prefer the battles in the secondary market. I wonder if there will be an opportunity to short the US stock market heavily after the Democratic president Cleveland, whom I have bet on, takes office.

Larry imagined the spectacle of short selling and couldn't help but smile. But he quickly suppressed his smile—

Forget it, let's skip this one!

I'm already quite conspicuous; I can't keep rushing forward, or I'll be targeted.

Be patient and stop rushing to make money. People have to grow up eventually, don't they?

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