hunt hollywood

Simon knew this, mainly from his past memories.

In the past, Westinghouse Electric's "self-defeating martial arts" of continuously selling its core business in the late 90s shocked the industry, so much so that Michael Jordan was satirized as Jack Welch, the head of General Electric, in Westinghouse. commercial espionage.Knowing the results in advance, and then doing a little research based on the huge network of contacts in the Westeros system at this time, Simon can easily learn more inside information.

After hesitating for a moment, Michael Jordan finally stopped pretending to be stupid: "Simon, I'm sorry for some of the criticisms made by CBS against Igret a few days ago. : "In this way, Simon, I will fire all those responsible for related news editing, do you think this is okay?"

"Very well, Mike, I like smart people who can understand each other without too much nonsense," Simon nodded slightly, and then changed the topic: "However, this is just a trivial matter, and I hope you can do me another favor."

"Please say?"

"Westinghouse Electric terminated all deposit and loan settlement business with Mellon Financial Group, and completely drew a line with it."

When Michael Jordan heard this, he was not only shocked this time, but even a chill ran down his spine.

Both Westinghouse Electric and Mellon Financial are headquartered in Pittsburgh, the capital of Pennsylvania. The Mellon family and Westinghouse Electric have a century-long history. During the Great Depression, Westinghouse Electric might not have survived to the present day without the help of the Mellon family.

Let's not talk about these for now.

When Simon Westero mentioned this matter at this time, Michael Jordan immediately had a premonition that this young tycoon was planning to attack the Mellon family.

The many industries that the Mellon family is involved in at this time, such as Alcoa, Chevron, Warner Lambert, etc., are limited to a single field, and after all, the holdings are not many, so the influence can be described as limited.However, Mellon Financial Group's influence covers the entire Pennsylvania and other surrounding areas.Once the control of Mellon Finance is lost, the Mellon family's influence in the federation will not be directly halved, but it will be almost the same.

Speaking of which, Simon's plan to do this was the idea that came to him when he read the Korean government's handling of Hanbao Steel's bankruptcy documents on the plane back from China a few days ago.

Industry is the organ, and finance is the blood.

Simon planned to abolish the "bloodline" of the Mellon family that could influence and control the regional economy around Pennsylvania. At this time, seeing Michael Jordan was shocked and speechless for a moment, he continued: "Mike, this matter is not for Westinghouse Electric. It’s nothing, as long as you promise, I can immediately arrange for a replacement bank to take over Westinghouse’s business, and there will definitely be good discounts. This is one of them. In addition, I also know that Westinghouse’s acquisition of CBS is just the beginning. In the next few years, It is a very good idea that you plan to completely transform Westinghouse and develop into the media field. Now the Seven Big Hollywood, Disney, Paramount, and Columbia are all occupied by foreigners. This is a very depressing thing , if Westinghouse can take over in the future, it will be a good result. As long as you agree, I can promise to help Westinghouse Electric in the integration of the media field in the next few years. You must know that it is difficult to make it big if it is just TV or just movies , the future of Hollywood is the world of diversified media giants.”

Once again, Michael Jordan was a little frightened by the young man in front of him. He forcibly calmed down his guilty conscience, looked at the young man opposite and said, "Simon, the Westeros system and the Mellon family should have little communication, I don't understand." Why are you doing this?"

"If you want an answer," Simon shrugged, "This is a personal grievance."

Simon has never been a person who likes to be preoccupied. Even after two lifetimes, and in his current position, there are not many things in this world that can make him a little angry.

However, this has never been a world where your generosity can be exchanged for others' generosity.

Since the Mellon family provoked him, they must step back.

Of course, it's just an excuse when you get to the bottom of it.

In the final analysis, it is still a struggle for control of this country.

Through the entanglement of intertwined interests, the United States has been controlled by various old money families for a hundred years. Simon, a new money junior who has risen rapidly in the past ten years, wants to gain control of this country that matches his own wealth. We can only bring down the Laoqian family that currently holds these powers.

There is only so much power in this country, it is impossible to win-win, and it is doomed to ebb and flow.

So it's a zero-sum game.

Moreover, in order to ensure the development of the entire Westeros system and the safety of his own wealth, Simon had to do the same.Otherwise, let those old money continue to hold power in this country. The bigger the Westeros system, the more it will become a fat sheep in the eyes of those in power.

Michael Jordan also knew that Richard Mellon Scaife secretly attempted to short technology stocks to attack the Westeros system. As for the deeper inside story, he had no way of knowing.

Simon's personal grievances now can't make him puzzled at all.

However, now that he is sitting in this office at this time, Michael Jordan understands that he has almost no second choice.

Simon Westero just mentioned that he can give Westinghouse Electric all kinds of help. In fact, the subtext is very simple. If he does not agree, these "helps" may turn into "hinders".

On the Chinese side, with the influence of the Westeros system, Westinghouse may lose those opportunities for potential cooperation with just one sentence.

In the media field, when Daenerys Entertainment acquired the Metropolitan ABC Group, it even took the initiative to make a compromise in order to avoid CBS from setting up obstacles in the anti-monopoly review.The powerful Daenerys Entertainment needs to do this. On the contrary, Westinghouse Electric wants to make its media business from small to large, and at any step, it cannot avoid the other party, let alone the Westeros system and Washington. The closer the relationship, the more difficult it is for Westinghouse to make progress, and perhaps it is also just a word from Simon Westeros.

On the other hand, Westinghouse Electric's complete withdrawal from Mellon Financial will completely disappear the century-old friendship between the two parties. Even without the blessing of the follow-up Westeros system, the Mellon family will not be able to cause any harm to Westinghouse Electric.

In the final analysis, it was the fundamental disparity in strength that left Westinghouse with no choice.

After quickly sorting out the joints, Michael Jordan finally made up his mind: "Simon, I can promise you. But, frankly speaking, just ending the cooperation between Westinghouse and Mellon Financial will not cause too much impact on this bank."

Simon smiled: "As long as you agree, the rest is my business. In this case, Westinghouse can prepare and announce this publicly tomorrow afternoon. I will let the Ygritte Portal cooperate to publish a draft."

Michael Jordan was taken aback again.

Tomorrow afternoon, that is to say, even if he has thoughts of favoring the Mellon family, he has no time to turn around.

After the meeting with Simon, Michael Jordan, who still had some things to do in New York, didn't stay too long, and flew back to Pittsburgh to make arrangements.

The next day is Wednesday, September 2th.

Last night he was busy until one o'clock in the morning. Michael Jordan was still in bed early in the morning. Federal Reserve and OCC Launch Joint Investigation of Family Members' Loan Fraud Conspiracy."

The content of the article introduces in detail how Richard Mellon Scaife and other members of the Mellon family have obtained nearly US$6 million in illegal loans with Mellon Financial Group executives in the past few months to speculate in the technology stock market.

It took the Mellon family less than a week from applying to obtaining a loan, and the review process seriously violated regulations.

The stocks and other collateral provided by members of the Mellon family were obviously overvalued, and they were suspected of loan mortgage fraud.

The Mellon family declared that the loan was for industrial investment, but it was actually used for stock futures speculation. The final loss was close to 90%, which brought huge risks to investors and was suspected of embezzlement of funds.

For the above-mentioned violations, Mellon Financial Group executives actively provided various cooperation, and there are also major financial crimes.

Because of this, the U.S. Federal Reserve Board and the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency will set up a joint investigation team to investigate various crimes committed by the Mellon family and the Mellon Group.

Michael Jordan stood by the fax machine in his pajamas and finished reading this press release. For some reason, the first thing that came to his mind was the various operations of Simon Westeros during the 87 stock market crash.According to later disclosures, Simon Westero mortgaged the proceeds of "Run Lola Run" before the stock market crash to obtain a large sum of cash for shorting the stock market. After careful investigation, it also involved serious violations.

However, the result of that time was that Simon Westeros won a big victory.

The winner is not to blame.

This time, the Mellon family did not have such good luck.

In fact, if the Mellon family did not provoke an opponent like Simon Westeros, even though the Mellon family lost a lot of money after months of speculation in technology stocks, it would not be a big deal.

But the problem is that I am afraid that someone will take it seriously.

Even, not only the Westeros system, but also the White House, must have made efforts this time. After all, Mr. President is still caught in various scandals that Richard Mellon Scaife spent money to dig.

Without the support of Simon Westeros, even if they knew about it, the White House could only swallow their anger. After all, the big housekeeper couldn't fight the big boss behind the scenes.

Now there is another big boss with more money and wealth, so of course there is nothing to worry about.

As the "New York Times" article has been reported by the Internet, TV and other media, February 2 is a disaster for the Mellon family that has been passed down for two centuries.

At the opening of the market that morning, the stock price of Mellon Financial Corporation collapsed directly, falling by 5% in just 11 minutes.In addition, the stock prices of Alcoa, Chevron and other companies related to the Mellon family also plummeted, because these stocks were mortgaged by the Mellon family's loan funds. After the incident was exposed, it was impossible for the Mellon family to obtain more Funds make up for the shortfall, and Mellon Bank can only sell those mortgaged stocks to make up for the loss.

This is not over yet.

In the afternoon of the same day, Westinghouse made another stab and announced that it would withdraw from all cooperation with Mellon Financial, which caused a stampede effect for a while.

Chapter 1102

What are banks most afraid of?

It doesn't require much professional knowledge, but ordinary people with a little experience can probably know it, two words: run.

Any bank, once a run occurs, the result is catastrophic.

In just one day on February 2, the investigation by the regulatory authorities and the withdrawal of Westinghouse Electric, the panic caused by the superposition of the two negative factors, quickly caused a run on Mellon Financial Group by customers.

As an old local bank established over a century ago, Mellon Financial Group had a market capitalization of US$139 billion the day before the incident. However, by the end of the afternoon, under the impact of repeated negative news, Mellon Financial Group’s stock price plummeted 21%, the closing market value has only 109 billion U.S. dollars left, and in one day, the book losses of all shareholders of the bank reached 30 billion U.S. dollars.

However, the slump in stock prices was secondary, and everyone knew that the most serious problem was the run.

If this problem cannot be resolved quickly, Mellon Financial Group, a century-old local bank, may collapse even before next week, and will have more chain negative effects.

In the next two days, the incident continued to ferment without any miracles.

The valuation of Mellon Financial Group continued to fall by 13% and 9% respectively in the following two trading days. By the close of trading on Friday, the market value had plummeted from US$139 billion three days ago to US$86 billion.At the same time, for three consecutive days, the bank's customers have accumulatively applied for cash withdrawals and transfers as high as 67 US dollars, and this old regional bank with assets of 430 billion US dollars, according to the federal deposit reserve ratio of about 8% at this time, can take out in the short term. Cash is less than $35 billion.

So only limited extraction.

This instead caused further panic and runs.

pittsburgh.

Inside a manor owned by the Mellon family.

It's Friday night.

Since the death of Andrew Mellon that year, most members of the Mellon family, which had gradually split apart, got together again rarely. The first thing that ushered in was a fierce quarrel. The confrontation was Richard, who caused all this today Mellon Scafe May with her older sister Cordelia Scafe May.

The mother of the two, Sarah Cordelia Mellon, is the granddaughter of Thomas Mellon, the founder of the Mellon family. Because of the inheritance dispute after the mother died that year, the fourth Mellon family, both over 30 years old, The siblings have not spoken much for nearly [-] years.

"It's been like this since childhood, it's been like this since childhood, you arrogant and incompetent idiot, you can do nothing but drink and play with women, you live to be 60 years old, and you can only do these stupid things that hurt the family."

"Bichi, at least I didn't implicate you! Or, don't tell me that you secretly followed everyone and lost a lot of money in shorting technology stocks, then you can only say that you are even more stupid."

"If I knew that you, an idiot, were behind the scenes, I wouldn't have invested a dime if I was killed. Hey, I lost a little, but look at you, you took so much back then, how much can you have left this time? Haha, I'm waiting to see you go bankrupt, idiot."

"I should get more. At least I have done something these years. What about you, besides lying on your mother's inheritance and enjoying life? You didn't do anything!"

"You did something, built a media group, and then provoked the president, poached other people's privacy, hey, what did you get? Clinton is still staying in the White House, but this time, Mellon Financial was suddenly investigated, you Why do you think it is, idiot, why do you say it is?"

"Bichi, shut up."

"idiot!"

When the quarrel between the two was almost reaching the level of physical conflict, Timothy Mellon pushed his father Paul Mellon in. The 90-year-old man in a wheelchair beckoned his son to step forward and swung The crutch hit Richard Mellon Scaife to finally put a stop to the dispute.

After interrupting the quarrel between the two juniors, Paul Mellon scanned all the juniors in the hall and signaled to his son again.

Timothy Mellon didn't talk nonsense. He looked at the people standing or sitting around and said, "Frank Court came back from Washington this afternoon. The authorities wanted the Bank of New York to take over Mellon Financial. Bar?"

Frank Court is the CEO of Mellon Financial Group. He has held this position since 1987 and has been a loyal spokesperson for the Mellon family.

As soon as Timothy Mellon finished speaking, one of his cousins, Matthew Mellon, said: "It's too obvious, this is a conspiracy. I remember that the Bank of New York tried to acquire Mellon Financial last year. "

Another Richard Prosel Mellon, who is in the same team as Richard Mellon Scaife, said: "Timothy, I just want to know what we can get if we agree to take over the Bank of New York, or , to be more straightforward, what are we left with?"

Timothy Mellon looked at his cousin, who was a few years older than himself, and shook his head: "This is just Washington's request for Mellon's finances. Regarding our matter, after making a decision tonight, we still need to cooperate with Washington. touch."

Cassandra Mellon, another middle-aged female member of the Mellon family, said: "If Washington doesn't make promises, of course we can't promise anything."

"Cass, the problem now is that we only have one night to make a decision. You know, the stock market is closed for the weekend, but the run is still there, and we can't afford to delay."

Cordelia, who had just finished arguing with her younger brother, interjected: "Then don't talk about anything. If Mellon Financial collapses due to a run, we will not be the ones who will suffer the most. I don't believe the White House dares to watch this happen."

"It's just as simple as that," said Matthew Mellon just now: "If we don't take the initiative to cooperate, the situation of Mellon Finance will deteriorate to a certain extent, and the authorities have the power to take over by force. At that time, we will completely lose the initiative .”

Cassandra Mellon said again: "Then we can't make a compromise without talking about it. I still insist that Washington must give us promises before we can make concessions."

"The key is time."

"It's better to postpone it until Monday."

In the hall, Paul Mellon, the only surviving son of Andrew Mellon, leaned on a wheelchair and listened quietly to the debate for a while, feeling inexplicably sad.

Thinking about the glory of the Mellon family in the past, and looking at these people at this time, they only thought of retreating and getting out of their words. Even, the children of these families did not even mention the name of a certain young man who caused all this subconsciously. It is conceivable that , let alone fight against it.

Thinking of this, Paul Mellon slightly raised his hand to plan for everyone, and then looked at Richard Mellon Scaife who had been silent just now: "Charlie, why don't you talk about it?"

Richard Mellon Scaife was just slapped by the old man who was supposed to be his uncle. His shoulders were still hurting. Hearing this, he slightly stretched his neck and looked at the chandelier on the ceiling: "I have nothing to say."

Cordelia next to him immediately mocked: "Yeah, he always looks like a rascal when he got into trouble since he was a child, and then waits for Daddy and Mommy to clean up the mess."

Paul Mellon glared at this bitter niece, and then slowly swept towards the crowd. Seeing that these younger generations were all dodging eyes, he felt even more depressed.If the Mellon family can hold together, it may be possible to win with the accumulation of hundreds of years. Now, facing a certain behemoth, people's hearts are scattered, and they have no fighting spirit. Even if he, an old man, still has some ideas, he can't do it. display.

Pursing his dry and old lips, Paul Mellon finally said: "Since you are all undecided, I will let Tim handle this matter. Be mentally prepared, Mellon Finance will definitely not be able to keep it, but, If there is no accident, if Mellon Financial is given up, the other party... will not pursue it. So, Matthew, Cass, and Charlie, do you have any opinions?"

Everyone was silent for a while.

Cassandra Mellon said again after a while: "Uncle, really... Can we end it if we give up Mellon Finance?"

"If you look at the Hearst family, you will know that Simon Westeros is not a person who likes to chase after him. All he wants this time is Mellon Finance," Paul Mellon finally said a certain name , glanced at the expressions on everyone's faces again, and added: "The premise is that you don't provoke him again in the future, and live your life in peace."

The atmosphere was inexplicably awkward, and some family members looked at Richard Mellon Scaife again.

Stared at by a bunch of eyes, Richard Mellon Scaife quickly blushed and said angrily: "Simon Westeros, what is he, an upstart, big deal, Wood two years ago The bombing at Field Manor, I let..."

Before Richard Mellon Scaife could finish speaking, Paul Mellon had already ruthlessly thrown the crutch in his hand on the nephew, who was still unable to see the situation clearly, and said viciously: "Idiot, you now Still can’t see the situation clearly, the Woodfield Manor bombing, hey, why didn’t you reveal the Kennedy assassination case, look at who dared to investigate this matter over the years, and then look at the fate of the Kennedy family’s children, what do you think? kill us all?"

Richard Mellon Scaife was also angry at first, and was targeted by this uncle for a long time. He couldn't help it anymore, and roared: "I won't harm you, just treat me as an outsider. From today on, I will Is it okay to sever ties with the Mellon family?"

Seeing Richard Mellon Scaife blushing and talking nonsense, Paul Mellon became even angrier. His eyes widened, his lips trembled, and his arms waved slightly. Unfortunately, the crutch in his hand had been thrown away, so he could only raise his hand to accuse Schaife Said: "Sever the relationship, heh, everything you have now is given to you by the surname Mellon, you first spit out all the property under your name, and then talk about severing the relationship. Come, as long as you want, I will do it now Call a lawyer, would you like to?"

Seeing the ferocious look of the old man who was about to stand up and pounce on him, Richard Mellon Scaife finally calmed down due to the majesty planted by this uncle since he was a child, and he stiffened his neck again and stopped answering.

Timothy Mellon knelt down to help his father hold his chest, paused, and said softly to everyone: "I called a friend from the FBI, and he said that all the evidence files about the Woodfield Manor bombing , they all disappeared mysteriously last year. Now, even if... Westeros himself jumped out and said that he did that thing, there is no evidence."

After Timothy finished speaking, everyone looked at each other in blank dismay.

Paul Mellon recovered under the consolation of his son, and finally spoke again, with a depressed tone: "That's it, you all go back and prepare. Although the Bank of New York must be a share swap and acquisition this time, the Mellon family Don’t keep any of the shares, sell them all, and we will quit completely.” After saying this, Paul Mellon looked at a disappointing nephew again: “Also, Charlie, your Pittsburgh Tribune, shut down Drop it, anyway, you know, even if you don't close it, this newspaper won't last for a few years, Tim asked, you don't have many advertising orders over there."

Paul Mellon's tone slowed down, and Richard Mellon Scaife, who was already timid, didn't talk back, but he still tentatively said, "I can sell it, right?"

Paul Mellon hates iron and steel: "Who are you going to sell to, who do you think would dare to take it?"