Hollywood Hunter

Before Christmas, on December 20, when the nominations for the Golden Globe Awards were also announced, Pfizer's acquisition of Warner Lambert, which had been secretly negotiated for more than a month, was officially finalized.

The two parties reached an agreement that Pfizer will acquire the pharmaceutical giant at a price of US$97 billion and assume all of Warner Lambert's debts. Counting Pfizer’s market capitalization of US$165.5 billion at the close of trading on the day the agreement was reached, the total value of this transaction reached US$262.5 billion, just surpassing the US$257 billion of Exxon’s acquisition of Mobil last year. If the merger can be completed, there is no doubt that It will be the largest merger in history.

At the same time, the new Pfizer will also become the world's largest pharmaceutical giant.

The two parties deliberately chose the time before Christmas to announce the news, as well as the upcoming millennium, all intentionally. However, the announcement of the news has aroused widespread heated discussions in the media, and attitudes are clearly divided into two factions, in favor and against.

In fact, everything seems to be pro and con.

However, this time, it is mainly due to the deliberate guidance of the Westeros system that such an effect can be obtained. Otherwise, for such a super merger, there must be many opponents, and it may even lead to the abortion of the merger.

Furthermore, after the same cautious operation of public opinion, the Westeros system basically took itself out of it. Even the Apollo Management Company under Cersei Capital, which was in charge of coordination, did not have much sense of presence in this merger case. High, mainly the management of both Pfizer and Warner Lambert appeared.

It's not without twists and turns.

The Mellon family, who used to be the largest shareholder of Warner Lambert, tried to expose the matter in the US Congress, and successfully lobbied a member of the House of Representatives who has always been friendly with the Mellon family. The proposals have been drawn up, and the news came Next, the stock price of Alcoa, which is still under the control of the Mellon family for the time being, plummeted. Along with the financial scandal of a spokesperson director of the Mellon family in Alcoa, IRS also began to get involved, investigating Alcoa possible tax evasion issues.

irs, in this case, how could it be possible not to appear?

In addition, the insider trading evidence of a member of the Mellon family who quietly absorbed Warner Lambert some time ago was also sent directly to the Mellon family because of the inside information obtained in advance, and Warner Lambert An executive who tipped him off.

As long as the facts are confirmed, while the person involved is in jail, the Mellon family will also be discredited because of that member's illegal transactions.

Simon got this handle very early, just waiting for this day.

Coupled with the pressure from Congress on that congressman and some exchange of interests, the attempt to prevent Pfizer from Warner Lambert's antitrust proposal ultimately fell through.

Simon didn't intend to chase after him.

It's not good to jump over the wall in a hurry.

In general, the whole thing is the result of the Westeros system becoming more and more familiar with the operating rules of the American political and economic system.

In business, if you want to mess with me, I can also catch you. If you don't compromise, it will hurt both sides. In politics, there is nothing more than compromise and exchange, except for a very small minority who completely ignore their personal interests and really want to serve the voters. A few, even if they are not kicked out of the circle, they will definitely end up marginalized. Others, in the final analysis, must first maintain their own political status. If you can give enough conditions to help politicians ensure something, you are God.

God's priority is of course over the elect.

Of course, the premise is to have enough strength to play with the rules. If the strength is not enough, it will still be reduced to a joke after all.

New York.

Westeros Corporation headquarters in Midtown Manhattan.

After the lively Christmas, it is a new week, which is Tuesday, December 28.

Simon and his wife came here today to attend a year-end meeting of Westeros Corporation. In addition to James Raybould who is in charge of Westeros Corporation, there are also the Big Three of Cersei Capital.

The main content of this meeting is also related to a series of investments next year.

First of all, there are several merger projects that are being promoted.

Pfizer’s acquisition of Warner Lambert basically won’t cause too many surprises. Moreover, although it is a complete stock exchange acquisition, during the transaction, Apollo Management Company will still acquire the Warner Lambert through cash purchase. In addition to the continuous absorption of shares by Black Rock, when the transaction is completed, Westeros Company, Apollo Management Company and Black Rock Asset Management Company will hold a total of about 15% of the shares of the new company, of which Weiss The headquarters of Tello Company holds 8%, Apollo about 2%, and Black Rock Asset Management Company 5%.

For a widely held company with a dispersed shareholding, 15% of the shares, plus the salary of the management, or the same sentence, is basically tantamount to making Pfizer its own.

In addition, there is Skooper's acquisition of Qualcomm, and negotiations have also quietly started in the middle of this month.

Things will not be too big of a surprise.

As for next year, it will mainly be the large amount of assets obtained from this year's stock replacement plan.

December is about to pass, and the last replacement projects have been finalized recently. Throughout 1999, the Westeros system realized a total replacement scale of 237 billion U.S. dollars, of which non-cash assets such as stocks, minerals, and real estate were about 172 billion U.S. dollars, and cash and gold equivalents of $65 billion.

Of the total assets of US$237 billion, the largest one came from Asia, which eventually reached US$53 billion, of which nearly

30 billion, all from the same country in Asia, Indonesia. Furthermore, in this part of Asia, the cash ratio is the highest, reaching 21 billion US dollars, and the rest of the assets are also the most diverse.

Among them, it is only the real estate and real estate that Simon is more interested in. In Asia, there are only 30-story buildings in Hong Kong, Singapore, Manila and other Asian metropolises. There are a total of 21 buildings, including offices and apartments. In addition, there are as many as 7 plantations, mainly in South Asia, with a total area of ​​27,000 hectares, and the planting types involve rice, sugarcane, rubber, coffee, etc.

In short, it is enough for Simon to easily open a copy of the South Asian Landlord.

Moreover, these assets are largely sold at a big sale, with an average discount of about 30% or 30% off, and many of them are directly cut in half. Therefore, the 53 billion US dollars is just the book value. If the full value is calculated, even if it still includes 210 million yuan with little fluctuation. 100 million in cash, the total value can probably reach 70 billion US dollars.

A large reason for some people abandoning these assets is that they have completely lost their sense of security, but these are not a problem for Simon.

Successfully becoming the owner of these assets, if anyone dares to move what they shouldn't have, unlike the original owner who can only let the mermaid go, Simon can not only easily manipulate the US government to impose sanctions, but even deploy an aircraft carrier battle group in the past to exert pressure. not a problem. It would be even better if you play black, your own gangs and private army, and even hidden deeper intelligence networks, are enough to play some people to death.

The content of the discussion at this meeting is to classify this asset and set up a dedicated asset management team.

Those who can be completely controlled, of course, must be completely controlled in their own hands.

Those that cannot be completely controlled are mainly some small-scale share-for-share companies, and they also need to send a dedicated liaison management team, and the next main operation goal is to infiltrate. In the original agreement, the Westeros system was responsible for some small-scale The control rights of the company did not show much intention, and the condition was that the other party could not dictate to the company that got the shares here.

However, now that the stocks are in the hands, what to do is another matter.

Of course, Simon will not let the people below meddle indiscriminately. If he can join the board of directors or install management, it will be justified. If it is not justifiable, then use some methods that are not so justifiable, first make friends with and infiltrate some board members or corporate executives, step by step.

Still the same sentence, what can be controlled in one's own hands is one's own, and only assets that can be transformed into social power.

If not, it's just a sum of money.

What Simon is pursuing now is not just simple asset growth. After all, there are hundreds of billions more on the books. If the power does not follow the increase, it will be meaningless and may even become a fat sheep.

As for whether doing so will cause a backlash?

meeting.

However, it is already planned to suspend next year anyway, and Simon has always believed that human nature is forgetful.

Humans never remember lessons.

Just remember sweet dates.

In second place is the continental United States with $39 billion.

After all, the background of the United States is the deepest. However, relatively speaking, the total assets of 39 billion U.S. dollars ranked second are also the most scattered. There are only six replacement projects with a scale of more than 1 billion U.S. dollars. Tens of millions or even millions of transactions, and, obviously for tax avoidance considerations, this part of the cash ratio is the lowest, only less than 6 billion US dollars, most of which are share swap operations that can be tax deductible.

There is nothing to say about this asset. Most of it is just assets, mainly from many public funds. It is obvious that the technology stocks are taking off again, so the swap operation is carried out.

Of course, there must be room for manipulation after sorting it out.

The goal here is to conduct in-depth research and review, and select companies for further operations. The first goal is not to consider value-added aspects, but political aspects.

For example, is there any company among them that is an important funder for a member of Congress in a certain constituency, or which company is a labor-intensive enterprise that controls many workers who have voting rights? A swing city in a swing county in the state is even more valuable.

In short, when there is a need for the Westeros system, such as Washington, to shut up a congressman who wants to make trouble, or to step down a congressman who is unwilling to shut up, this side needs to have enough chips.

If you don't shut up, you risk losing your constituency's biggest benefactor.

If you don’t step down, hundreds or thousands of workers in your constituency may lose their jobs. Even if they understand that you are fighting for their interests, they can only let you go.

That's how it's played.

Outside the United States, the third part comes from the Middle East, $32 billion.

After all, it is too rich.

Moreover, if someone thinks that the princes in the Middle East only know how to boil eagles and walk birds, they are underestimating each other. The various oil-producing countries there still attach great importance to diversified investment for the future, but investors in the Middle East are often very cautious. It is difficult to gain too much say in the investment objects.

Of course, the Westeros system will not give any right to speak, even if they give up stocks with a total value of more than 32 billion U.S. dollars, if someone thinks they can speak here, that's no problem, you can sell them as you like.

So it's purely a transaction.

The Westeros system has no demands on the Middle East, and there is no way to get anything extra from it.

In fact, it can be seen from the content of the transaction.

In this exchange, in addition to about 8 billion US dollars in cash, most of the other assets are the stocks of many large companies outside the Middle East. Going to oil fields that are too big and too high-quality to make small troubles is not enough for trouble and money.

As for the others, there is nothing else in the Middle East.

Simon is not interested in sand, and it's not river sand.

The fourth part comes from Europe, to be precise, Western Europe, which is similar to the Middle East, about 31 billion US dollars.

Western Europe is of course rich, so $13 billion is in cash.

Furthermore, a very important reason is that Simon is not very interested in most companies in Western Europe. After all, the trend of industrial relocation in Europe is no less than that in North America, which means that most of the physical industries are gradually declining. Those companies, if they cannot further gain control, can only decline along with them.

So, on the European side, it's about the same as the continental United States, or about the Middle East.

Because Simon does not have too strong political appeals to Western European countries for the time being, so he will not pursue operations similar to those in the United States. Of course, it's not impossible, but it's not urgent, and it's still a step by step.

For the future of Western Europe, Simon actually has a certain degree of Cisco.

The best result is that in the next fifty years, Western Europe can be reduced to the same situation as Latin America, and together with the current Eastern European brothers and sisters, they will completely lose their vitality.

According to some information in memory, this possibility is actually very high.

To put it simply, after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the entire Eastern Europe was actually equivalent to China's reform and opening up. China's opening up later proved that the United States benefited the most besides itself. And Eastern Europe should have been an opportunity for Western Europe. If the Western European countries can successfully use them to activate the Eastern European economy through large-scale investment, and even more boldly, to truly accept Russia into the European system, then Europe as a whole will not only have the momentum of further development for at least 30 years, but also directly It has a powerful military system that can compete with the United States.

However, the reality is that, not to mention the further absorption of Russia, Western European countries have not even achieved a certain second-class goal.

This lack of success can even be said to have doomed the future of Europe.

As for why Europe was able to barely keep up with the United States and China, there is no lack of reasons why it was not quickly left behind in the two decades after the millennium. After all, it still benefited from Eastern Europe. A large number of cheap labor from Eastern Europe, without consuming the high social welfare of Western Europe, makes up for the shortage of low-end industrial labor in Western European countries. Not only that, Eastern Europe, like China, is not only a dumping market for high value-added products in Western Europe, It also contributed a large number of cheap commodities to Western Europe.

This delayed the decline of Western Europe by another twenty years.

Then, as the Eastern European region began to develop more or less, the population and cheap commodities in Eastern Europe all passed away, and China no longer allowed the Western world to get what it wanted. refugees from the Middle East, but the subsequent results are undoubtedly disastrous, so there will be no further

In fact, twenty years later, the whole world is basically facing a certain problem.

The solution is actually very simple. Human beings can work together to bring about another fundamental technological revolution, realize controllable nuclear fusion, and realize the large-scale application of solar energy that is sufficient to meet the needs of the entire society. To put it bluntly, it is a fundamental increase in productivity. , no need to worry about the shortage of energy and materials, the automation of production can be realized to the greatest extent, and human beings will enter a new era.

The 3G plan of the Westeros system is precisely this goal.

As for the original timeline, Simon felt that human beings will probably experience another unforgettable catastrophe. If they are lucky enough not to self-destruct due to nuclear war, they will probably make up their minds to go further.

However, this is not what humans are good at.

Just like the history of countless reincarnations, human beings are still better at self-destruction. No matter which continent or race, if there is a vigorous war, enough people will die, and the remaining resources will naturally be enough. The people below use it.

how nice.