Hollywood Hunter

After getting along with each other for a long time, the couple has already communicated with each other.

Janet saw at a glance what Simon was thinking, and greeted Alia, who had just brought coffee, to fetch her laptop.Although there is little work on weekdays, as the housekeeper of Westeros, no one knows Simon’s family better than Janet.

Turning on the laptop, Janet called up a document and said to Simon: "I just made a statistics recently, guess how much money do you have now?"

Simon just smiled at the document.

Janet is obviously easier to obtain a lot of accurate data than Forbes. Therefore, the statistics of women are certainly more reliable than Forbes.

Simon's assets, the easiest to count, are a series of listed technology companies.

Affected by the continuous outbreak of the new technology wave, Cisco and AOL, which have great advantages in the industry and have shown ultra-high growth, have exceeded the 10 billion dollar mark this year.These two companies alone contributed more than $10 billion in personal wealth to Simon.

Other technology companies such as Microsoft, Intel, Oracle, SUN, etc., have also been rising rapidly.

Taken together, as of the last trading day of last week, the total value of technology stocks of all listed companies held under Simon’s name reached US$21.7 billion.

This alone is destined to surpass all the super rich in the world.

However, for Simon now, this technology stock asset is not the most important.

The most critical, of course, is still Daenerys Entertainment.

Successfully completed the merger of MCA, not only did it not show the dilemma of Time Warner's merger, Daenerys Entertainment has been developing rapidly this year, the rise of 3D animation in Pixar Studios, the complete merger of EA game company, and the holding of shares The ever-increasing stock price of Blockbuster, the launch of the Universal Studios Osaka project, etc. have made Daenerys Entertainment increasingly consolidate the status of Hollywood's most powerful entertainment company.

Compared to Time Warner, which is still hovering at a market value of 10 billion US dollars, the current valuation of Daenerys Entertainment can definitely easily exceed 20 billion US dollars.

Daenerys Entertainment is just one of the four women in Westeros.

The other three women, Cersei Capital, Eaglet, and Melisandre, have also witnessed their rapid expansion this year.

Among them, the value of Cersei Capital is the most difficult to estimate. However, with the comprehensive strength shown by Cersei Capital at this time, if this company is listed, it will definitely be easy to break through the market value of 10 billion US dollars.

Igreat, which has an absolute leading position in the online field of the Internet, has more controversial valuations.

However, just based on the current revenue of Igret and the general price-earnings ratio of new technology companies, the valuation of this Internet company has already rushed to 5 billion US dollars.

Melisandre seems to be the most inconspicuous of the four women, but with the continuous increase in Gucci's revenue and the continuous merger of Van Cleef & Arpels, CK and other companies, Melisandre's valuation has also steadily exceeded $3 billion.

Therefore, just these four women will probably bring Simon about 40 billion dollars of wealth again.

In addition, the Westeros system also holds a large regional telecommunications operator. The former Bell Atlantic has now been renamed Verizon Telecom.

As one of the strongest regional telecommunications companies in the Seven Little Bells, Simon's bargain-hunting price reached 7 billion US dollars at the lowest point in the previous stock market.The North American stock market recovered quickly after the end of the Gulf War last year. The wave of new technology has also driven the rapid development of the telecommunications industry. Now that Verizon Telecom is re-listed, its market value can also reach the tens of billions of dollars.

This is another $10 billion.

Next, the Westeros system also invested a large number of non-listed companies such as Nokia, Qualcomm, and graphics chip development company ATI, etc., and then counted the total value of the two properties of Simon’s personal property and land. , Also more than 5 billion US dollars.

Finally, although the Westeros system has experienced many loan mergers and acquisitions or bond financings in the past year, the overall liabilities of the Westeros system are still only about 16 billion US dollars.

As a result, assets combined minus liabilities, compared with the $35 billion given by Forbes last year, Simon's net worth this year has risen to $60 billion again.

Janet snuggled up with her husband to read the documents, and occasionally looked at the man who completed a super snowball in just six years. This is his own man.

After reading the information, Janet waited quietly for a moment before saying: "I think we need to speed up preparations for some future things."

The next thing is naturally about the inheritance of wealth.

The personal wealth of US$60 billion, even if it is put in the 20th or 30th year, is enough to squeeze into the top of the global rich list. In 1992, it is far more than all other rich people in the world.

For billionaires, the inheritance of wealth is always a difficult problem to avoid.

Although occasionally I have the idea of ​​flooding after my death, most of the time, Simon is also reluctant to create a big business empire that he has fallen apart after many years.

In Western society, the topic that is difficult to circumvent about inheritance of wealth is undoubtedly the inheritance tax.

Because of this, when Simon and Janet married, the woman did not give up Australian citizenship.

There is no inheritance tax in Australia.

With Simon’s influence on Australia now, it is absolutely impossible for this country to reinstate inheritance tax in the future.

In addition, the little guy was placed in Australia to take care of Veronica. For the past six months, the Johnston family has quietly registered Australian citizenship for Melbourne Westeros.

It can be said that in the Westeros family, Simon is an American, Janet is an Australian, a little guy, but has dual citizenship.

This is actually some layout that the couple quietly made.

Of course, although there are still many problems, the road is step by step.

On the other hand, although he decided to pass on his wealth, Simon did not plan to throw these assets apart to future children, but instead preferred the family foundation model.

The key to the reason why American families such as Rockefeller, Morgan, Ford, etc. can prosper for a hundred years is the family foundation, which not only ensures that future generations cannot squander the wealth left by their predecessors, but also that the unified family foundation, Can ensure the long-term cohesion of the family.

On the original timeline, the gate classmates and Warren Buffett who appealed to the rich to donate most of their property after death, in the eyes of the discerning, were just a blind eye.

Bill Gates has established a foundation in the late 1990s. If this super rich really uses all his wealth for charity, then the other party will not be able to remain the top of the global rich list for many consecutive years. s position.

So, where is the gate student's money?

This is to say the foundation structure of the door students.

Externally, the public often heard that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is actually a pure charity fund. However, the door students gradually sold Microsoft shares, but did not put money into this fund. But another very low-key Bill & Melinda Gates Trust Fund.

The latter is actually a family trust.

The model of the door students doing charity is actually to allocate a certain amount of funds from the trust fund every year to invest in the charity fund.

As for this trust fund, you can refer to the original Jobs Trust Fund left after the death of Jobs on the original timeline.

After the death of Jobs, the trust fund of the Jobs family still paid the estate tax.

However, the proportion of inheritance tax is only 15%, which is obviously very low compared to the highest 50% estate tax in the United States.

As for why family trusts only need to pay 15% inheritance tax, the main reason is that, according to the practice, these trust funds have a charitable nature, and each year they must donate certain funds for charity.

Although charitable, these trust funds are also eligible for tax exemption.

It is conceivable that as long as the heirs can take care of these trust funds, then even if a sum of money needs to be donated each year, the overall size of this trust is likely to continue to rise.Moreover, many trust funds also have a certain donation period.

After fulfilling the donation period, the remaining assets will all belong to the family of the trust fund.

In this regard, the Ford family has done the best of the several traditional American families.

Compared with the more veteran Morgan and Rockefeller, the Ford family with the same long history, the total size of the family foundation's assets has been rising for more than half a century.

All in all, the Bill & Melinda Gates Trust Fund established by Damen classmates, in the final analysis, is still for the inheritance of wealth.It's just that in Western society, just like racial discrimination, there are certain things that can be done, but it's best not to say it, or, at least, to find a sounding reason.

This is a political correctness.

Another Warren Buffett, this veteran rich man, has also established the Buffett Foundation very early.

Buffett has long called for a heavy tax on the rich, which Simon sees is also very false.

Because, if the United States really imposes heavy taxes on the rich, it will actually not be possible to levy this old veteran.

Buffett only gives himself an annual salary of $100,000. In addition, Berkshire Hathaway has never had any dividend mechanism. Therefore, Warren Buffett is not theoretically a'high-income earner', and naturally does not It is necessary to pay the "heavy tax" that he personally appeals to.

Not only that, although the federal government is also called on to raise corporate taxes, in the original timeline, taking advantage of the tax loopholes in the US insurance industry (the insurance reserve does not require tax), Berkshire Hathaway, who holds an insurance company , By turning corporate profits into insurance reserves, the US government has long owed tens of billions of dollars in taxes,

Buffett claimed more than once that Berkshire Hathaway is actually an insurance company.

The reason is self-explanatory.

The Simon & Janet Westeros Foundation of the Simons has been operating continuously for several years, but this is also a pure charity fund.

At least one trust fund is needed to plan for the subsequent inheritance.

Simon is only 24 years old this year, and now a family trust is suddenly established, the goal is actually too obvious.

American law is not static.

Now it shows the posture of making arrangements for the inheritance of wealth. It is inevitable that no federal parliamentarian or presidential candidate finds that his support rate is too low during the campaign, so he uses him as a target to gain attention.

Most ordinary people are fond of such things as robbing the rich and helping the poor, even if the wealth is robbed, the benefits will not fall on them.

This is also regarded as an institutional defect in Western society.

Ruling parties sometimes do everything they can to vote, and will never consider whether the proposed initiative will harm the long-term interests of a country.

In the original timeline, France's super rich tax is the most typical representative.

The high tax of 70% on the rich directly forced a large number of French riches out of the country, and the French economy was severely affected.

In memory, this tendency also appeared in later America.

Young female parliamentarians who came from the bottom called for a tax of more than 70% on the rich to rob the rich and help the poor.

This society has never been fair.

There is nothing wrong with the pursuit of fairness, but if this pursuit exceeds a certain limit, it is not a big unfairness to another group of people.

If the pursuit of fairness is completely lost in control, as a result, people will starve to death.

When thoughts flew, Simon nodded when he heard Janet's words, and shook his head again, saying: "Yes, but don't be too obvious. At least, it is not yet suitable for setting up trust funds."

Janet naturally understands Simon’s concerns, saying: "I know, I think, next, we should increase the proportion of overseas investment."

Although the United States levies taxes globally, putting more assets overseas will certainly have more room for action.

Otherwise, the wealthy Americans will not hide their trillion-dollar wealth outside the United States.

Melisandre’s headquarters are in Switzerland, Nokia’s headquarters are in Finland, and Cersei Capital is also registered as a tax haven overseas. This is actually Simon’s instinctive layout overseas.

In the following days, as long as the couple had time, they quietly discussed the next development of the Westeros system.

Although the plan will never catch up with the change, it is certainly better to have a plan than to have no plan.

Unconsciously, August passed quietly.

The summer stall in North America is completely closed. Except for the new film "Unforgivable" by Clint Eastwood, which was released on August 7, there are no other popular movies at the end of the summer stall.

In the first week of September, the new issue of "Forbes" magazine officially announced the 1992 US 400 rich list.

Although not supported by official data from the Westeros system, the calculation of Simon’s personal assets by Forbes magazine is not much different from Janet’s private statistics.

Of course, this is not much different, only relative to Simon's total personal assets.

$65 billion.

The figure is higher than that of Janet’s private statistics. The extra $5 billion in the feature article is mainly because Forbes is more optimistic about the company than Simons and Igrid. At the same time, the valuation of Daenerys Entertainment Also higher than Janet's statistics.

Such a number is even better in the entire list.

The second-ranked door student, although Microsoft's stock price continued to be released, this year's net worth reached 7.5 billion US dollars, but in front of Simon's 65 billion US dollars, it still can only look up.