The journey starts from the Titanic

The era of huge arms profits in full swing is over. Situ Nan began to adapt to the economic rhythm of the postwar depression, looking for opportunities in the crisis, just like a shark cruising constantly, finding delicious food to swallow, and nourishing himself with the carcasses of small fishes. Body.

"All the fresh and delicious food in the sea is your food!" Situ Nan snapped his fingers and walked out.Today he will meet Gudas, who hasn't seen him for a long time.

Gudas has been in Venezuela for a whole year, responsible for the development of Maracaibo oil.His work is excellent. The subsidiaries of Occidental Petroleum Corporation, Caribbean Petroleum and Panama Oil Development Company, withstood Shell’s counterattack, firmly grasped most of the oil fields in the Maracaibo region, and controlled 50% of Venezuela’s Oil production.

In the collusion between officials and businessmen, the Venezuelan dictator Gomez played a vital role. The power of the Gomez family in Venezuela effectively guaranteed the smooth progress of all investments.

The William Consortium made a lot of profits during the war. Now the United States is no longer a good place for investment. Why not transfer the excess funds elsewhere?Venezuela is the first springboard selected by Stuart for the William Consortium to go global.The William Consortium will carry hundreds of millions of funds in the next few years.

The Gomez and his sons have tasted the sweetness from the oil transaction and hope to strengthen cooperation with the William Consortium, introduce the US capital and technology to the country, and promote Venezuela's economic construction.

The two sides hit it off.In addition to petroleum, transportation, iron and steel, mining and other industries are also the focus of investment, building a number of projects such as steel plants, coal mines, and docks.Following Occidental Petroleum, Bethlehem Steel and Equity Energy began to participate in Venezuela's investment.

In order to consolidate the rule of the Gomez family in Venezuela, Guadas donated a batch of arms and ammunition to the Venezuelan government at a friendly price. These arms are all backlogs in the warehouse of Bethlehem. The American soldiers are no longer in use and can just be used. Do business with the Gomez family.

In fact, not only the William Consortium, but other consortiums in the United States have also begun to shrink their investments in the United States, preparing to invest funds in foreign countries.It's just that the areas where individuals invest are different. Like Morgan and Citigroup, they are more optimistic about the prospects of Europe and lend large amounts of US dollars to European countries.

In fact, Situ Nan also wanted to go to Europe, but the William Consortium had no foundation in Europe, and he knew that the established consortiums in Britain and France could not allow the Americans to succeed so easily, so he had to temporarily abandon the European market.

However, Situ Nan also has a leading party, which is Hans, a German who stayed in the United States before the war. He played a key role in the oil refining project jointly constructed by Occidental Petroleum and German chemical companies. However, after the United States declared war, Situ Nan swallowed it. The shares of the German company, Hans was also taken over by Situ Nan, and performed well in Situ Nan's "snap-up of German merchant ships".

With the rise of the William Consortium, Hans has also risen.For the Germans who are now in debt, if Hans can return to Germany, it is estimated that he can do something.

Germany is beyond reach for a while, but South America is close at hand and within easy reach.Situ Nan naturally chooses South American regions where the risk is relatively small and the competition is not so fierce. Among them, energy and minerals are his favorite.

It hasn't been seen for a year, and Gudas has been black a lot.

When I met Situ Nan, he teased: "Is the South American sun so venomous?"

"I don't know if it's poisonous or not, but I've finally seen the mosquitoes in Maracaibo!" Gudas laughed. "The Pratt boy ran back after staying for less than half a year and said he would never go to horseback again. Pulled the wave away."

"Poor Pratt!" Stuart nodded and smiled. Pratt moved his research room to Los Angeles two months ago and now becomes a professor of geology at William University. He said he would concentrate on studying geological sciences and no longer participate in petroleum. Corporate affairs.This great oil seeker has trained a group of reliable oil exploration talents for Occidental Petroleum, so even if Pratt is not there, Occidental Petroleum’s geological team can still continue oil exploration in the Maracaibo area.

"Stoney, this is Miss Crolin Gomez, she is Mr. Gomez's woman." Gudas introduced.

In addition to Gadas, today's guest has a beautiful woman with a slender figure. Her dark skin suggests that she is from Latin America.

"Hello! Beautiful Miss Gomez. Welcome to William Manor." Situ Nan said warmly.

"I didn't expect Mr. William to be so young, I thought it was a bad old man!" Crolin said in unskilled English, but his white teeth and moving eyes seemed a bit playful.

"I heard Mr. Gudas say many things about you, you are really amazing! The William Consortium is a friend of our Venezuela. On behalf of the Gomez family, I welcome Mr. William to visit Venezuela." Crolin looked at Situ Nan with some admiration. .

"Thank you. Miss Gomez, help me greet your father. I think there will be a chance." Situ Nan said, thinking: Venezuela is really beautiful!It's a pity that I don't have this thought anymore.

"Well. Crolin came this time to prepare to study in the United States. I recommended William University to her." Gudas explained.

"Oh! That's great. Miss Gomez, I think you and my wife will have a lot of topics in common. She happened to go to school today." Situ Nan smiled.

Said Cao Cao Cao Cao would be here. As soon as Situ Nan's voice fell, there was the sound of a car at the door, and Laura returned.

"Hello! Mr. Gudas, long time no see. Who is this beautiful lady?" Laura walked in with a smile, looking in a good mood, and took the initiative to smile at Crolin.

"Crowling Gomez. He is the woman of Mr. Gomez, President of Venezuela." Situ Nan said, turning to Crolin, "My wife, Laura William. She is the chairman of William University, so Whenever I have time, I ran to the university under the mountain to go around."

"Really? Great! Madam, I can't wait to visit the new school!" Crolin stepped forward and took Laura's hand.

They started their women’s exclusive diplomacy.

After some greetings, Laura, as the hostess, took Crolin to visit William's Manor and voluntarily gave up the space to Stuart and Gudas.

"I heard that the business in the United States is not good? Many factories have closed down?" Gudas asked about the United States.

"Yes. After the war, the government cancelled most of the orders, so business was not good. However, this did not affect the oil companies. Now the oil market is very hot, and the oil price has risen to $3 per barrel! The increase is more than 50%. , So our career for the Venezuelan team is very important."

Situ Nan looked at Gudas and asked, "Is the business in Maracaibo going well? There is no big problem, right?"

As the first consortium to invest in Venezuela on a large scale, so far, the William Consortium’s investment projects in Venezuela are proceeding smoothly.After seeing the success of the William Consortium in Venezuela, the Mellon Consortium followed in, and the Rockefeller Consortium was not to be outdone, and Mobil Oil Company also focused on Venezuelan oil.

In addition to the return of British and Dutch capital represented by Shell Oil, the world's four major oil giants have gathered in Venezuela, forming a four-nation Romance!So Situ Nan had to care about the Maracaibo project.

"It's okay. We are the largest local oil company. The Gomez family trusts us and has not been embarrassed. But he wants more support from us." Gudas said.

"In what way?" Situ Nan asked.

"Political and economic! He hopes that we can loan him to repay part of the foreign debt, which gives more reasons to persuade the people to cooperate with us." Gudas.

"Okay! The loan problem is not big, as long as you can get the collateral." Situ Nan said.The reason why you can invest in Venezuela with confidence is to know that Gomez will rule Venezuela for a long time, and it is worth the William Consortium to invest in him.

"Yeah. I think so too." Gudas nodded, and then changed the conversation. "However, Gomez hinted that I wanted to distribute arms, a lot! Rifles, artillery, and even warships. You see?"

After speaking, Gudas looked at Situ Nan with some seriousness.

"Don't be so serious, just give it to him!" Situ Nan was amused by Gudas's serious look. "What do you think it is? You don't know how many of these arms wastes are in Bethlehem's warehouse, Bethlehem's. President Eugene is having a headache. How to deal with the surplus arms? It is better to give Gomez on credit than to beat the Russians on credit to the Poles."

"Oh. Then I can rest assured!" Gudas looked at the confident Situ Nan a little strangely. The young man who went to Texas to buy land now has the ability to decide a lot of life and death in one word.

Chapter 4 Aftermath 3 Financial Depression

The stock market is a barometer of the political economy. On the one hand, it reflects the latest information in economic activities. On the other hand, its fluctuations will also affect future economic activities.It responds to important information the fastest.

The US economic depression after World War I first manifested on Wall Street. Since the news of victory in Europe, the Wall Street stock market has been declining, and capital has been withdrawn from the stock market.

Negotiations in Europe did not go well. The 14-point principle that the Americans had high hopes for was castrated. The Americans discovered that they were not yet the saviors, and the European powers that they dreamed of did not seem to have been achieved overnight.

The index published by Dow Jones is always frustrating, and Moody's-Fitch has also downgraded the credit ratings of most companies.

After the war, Moody's-Fitch Company began to conduct risk assessments on the areas where US capital was about to enter such as Germany, France, and the UK, and launched a national sovereignty assessment business.This is a major breakthrough for Moody's-Fitch in credit evaluation. Although it did not receive much attention at first, as time goes by, Moody-Fitch's authoritative position in the credit evaluation industry will become even more indispensable. shake.

The William Consortium evacuated most of its funds from the stock market before the end of the war, so the loss was not large.It is only those small investors who know with hindsight, but if they can hold back, the stocks they hold in a few years will almost increase several times.

However, many people follow the trend. After seeing that the situation is not good, they also reluctantly sell the stocks they bought at a high price not long ago.Only those with discerning eyes and great concentration can hold on to it and laugh at the end.

Robes Securities slowly bought back some of the shares of Bethlehem and Stoney Foods Co., Ltd. taking advantage of the decline in stock prices.At the same time, some potential companies will be selected. These investments are mainly concentrated in the electrical and automobile manufacturing industries.

Although the financial market is sluggish, it does not mean that Robles Securities is also in depression.New York is the financial center of the United States. There is no doubt about this. In addition to New York, there are other regional financial centers in the United States. The financial markets of major cities such as Chicago, Boston, and San Francisco are not small. Enterprises in the region also consider first Financing from the local financial market, after all, Wall Street is really unattainable for most companies.

New financial companies are established on Wall Street every day, and many financial companies close down.In general, most financial companies are in crisis, or even precarious, either waiting to be acquired or going bankrupt.

The same is true for financial markets in other big cities.This is a rare opportunity for Robles Securities. Robles Securities acquired two financial companies and cut some unlucky brokers, and the scale was much larger.

After a small test in New York, Robles Securities turned its attention to other financial markets. It acquired a financial company in Boston that was about to go bankrupt and turned it into the Boston branch of Robles Securities, which is considered to be in the United States. There was an outpost in the financial markets in the northeast.

Robles Securities' expansion in Western California is also very smooth. With the cooperation of Wells Fargo Bank, it acquired several financial companies with little effort, becoming the largest securities dealer on the Pacific Stock Exchange and becoming the first choice for corporate financing in California. .

Coupled with the cooperation of Wells Fargo Bank, the William Consortium has a decisive influence on California's financial markets.Situ Nan has always refused to let Wells Fargo Bank participate in the stock and securities business. He has shown himself as a commercial bank, just waiting for Robles Securities to expand to California.

After a not-so-long wait, Situ Nan's expectations of Robles Securities finally realized partly.