Chapter 289: Keep your word and have good moral character
Ed Curry, a good old man in the Democratic Party and a three-term mayor of New York, received more vicious greetings in just one week than in the previous decades combined, and according to Tommy's idea of institutionalized freedom , New York citizens discovered the truth, that is, there is no freedom at all in New York.
In New York, in addition to gays not being allowed to go to entertainment venues, the Giants, the New York football team, were also not allowed to hold a victory parade in the city when they won the Super Bowl. Mayor Ed Curry vetoed the team's application to hold the tradition in New York. The request for a victory parade, without justification, was simply an exercise of the executive power vested in him by the citizens of New York.
Now reporters are digging up why he refused to approve the victory parade because the mayor was a nervous wreck and didn't want New York City to be flooded with drunken fans all night long.
Newspapers broke the scandal about his holdings of stocks in real estate companies, and reporters continued to dig deeper. They discovered that his stocks were not only in real estate companies, but also in TLTV, a New York cable TV company owned by Murdoch, and The stocks of a CTS parking toll company were implicated in an old corruption case three years ago.
In 1986, Donald Menez, a Liberal Party member and mayor of the Queens borough of New York, committed suicide. The official reason given was that he suffered a mental breakdown and committed suicide after being exposed for corruption and facing prosecution. Now, everyone has discovered that several companies held by the mayor, Exactly the same as the deceased, and questions began to arise as to whether Donald committed suicide.
Because the district chief had a pistol, high-dose sleeping pills, poisonous drugs and other props at home that were sufficient to commit suicide, he chose the most bizarre way to die. He used the large kitchen knife at home to stab himself in the heart with his backhand. His wife There was no stopping or calling the police at the scene. The first reaction was to rush up and pull out the knife, hastening the husband's death. The wife explained to the police that the reason for pulling out the knife was to help her husband stop bleeding. The police found a stranger on the knife. However, because of the wife’s reckless act of drawing a knife to save her husband, the police were unable to capture more detailed fingerprint clues. Of course, the wife insisted that no third person was present at the time.
Moreover, with the suicide of Donald that year, the investigation was quickly concluded. In the end, the police announced that Donald had accepted a bribe of 36,000 yuan from the parking toll company. After the incident was exposed, he was too stressed and chose to commit suicide. The police recovered the bribe. King, the whole case was closed, and then Donald's wife and daughter inherited other estates and quietly moved out of New York.
At that time, there were still countless New Yorkers who regretted that the mayor of the first district committed suicide in shame and anger for thirty-six thousand dollars? The amount of money embezzled is less than the annual salary of the district chief.
But now, people have discovered that the CTS Parking Toll Company, which has contracted all the parking toll business in New York City, paid Donald a real amount of 36,000 yuan in bribes, but it was not the total amount, but once a year, and it has been going on for at least ten years. , and it has been fifteen years since Donald was re-elected as Queens Borough President.
Even Donald is not the only bribe taker. It was revealed that New York Mayor Ed Curry also received a fee of 36,000 yuan. If we count from the time when CTS Toll Collection Company took over the New York parking toll business in 1979, Since then, in the past ten years, Ed Kequn has received as much as 360,000 yuan in bribes from one company.
This completely aroused the anger of New York citizens. One company paid 360,000 yuan. Who knows how many municipal engineering contracting companies paid bribes? Ten or fifty?
Ed Curry's reaction was as good as ever. He withstood all the doubts gently and publicly stated that, firstly, in view of the doubts raised by New Yorkers about him, he would give up seeking re-election. Secondly, he was willing to accept investigation if the court ruled. He is guilty and he is willing to face the consequences.
In the eyes of all politicians, this means that he has acquiesced to everyone's doubts about him and actively ended his political life. You know, this old man is the mayor of New York and the owner of the largest city in the United States. Now, because this good man helped Murdoch speak out After just a few words, countless reporters rushed up to him like hungry strong men and stripped him clean, waiting to be taken to court!
Former President Reagan, who had just received a call from Murdoch and was preparing to arrange for his staff to find an opportunity to express his position, and current President Bush immediately calmed down and realized that there was a misunderstanding in his previous thinking, that is, accepting Murdoch's benefits did not mean that he wanted to help Murdoch. In Ke's defense, silence will not affect the collection of money. They dare not deal with the majority of the people, but they can definitely deal with Murdoch who does not send money.
No one wants to be targeted by countless reporters, and we cannot quietly kill all reporters who try to break the news. The best attitude is to protect ourselves wisely and stay away from Murdoch for the time being.
"Al, your good friend is a bit exaggerated. I mean he killed himself by his own means. I just hope that he will sacrifice his political life and have no intention of putting him in jail." Tommy looked at the New York targets during this period. I called Al Gore to ask about various breaking news about Ed Koch.
He asked Ed Curry to jump in to defend Murdoch, and then used the scandal provided by Ed Curry himself to attack him, causing him to lose his political life, and teaching other politicians who were ready to help Murdoch speak out what it means to be closed. Mouth, but Mr. Ed Curry's methods are too exaggerated. He provided the information about the parking fee company and District Mayor Donald's suicide. If it continues to develop, the other party will lose more than just his political life. To spend the rest of his life in prison.
Tommy couldn't think of any other reason why Ed Curry wanted to go to jail himself, except that the **** mayor had too strong tastes and treated serving time in jail as if he were going to a nightclub.
"Of course, it's a bit exaggerated, but that's what I asked for. I have to charge this guy some interest and let him understand that he has to pay a price for lying to me for so long." Al Gore said with a smile on the phone. : "Ed only collected 36,000 yuan. This is true. The reason why he deliberately made the matter bigger is because I know that all the borough presidents in New York have benefited from the parking toll company, and there are far more than three of them." For 16,000 yuan, several Republican district presidents will go to jail. However, if Democratic district presidents want to continue to hold their positions, they can discuss it to see if they are willing to let the voters in their jurisdictions support a certain person. .”
"As long as you have fun, I just want to make sure that Ed Curry better know the consequences of what he does. I am a kind person and have never thought about sending Mr. Mayor to prison for a party." Tommy said After that, he hung up the phone, and then looked at his angel investor Benjamin Rosen.
Benjamin was spinning a Rubik's Cube in his hand. He waited for Tommy to hang up the phone before he stopped and put the Rubik's Cube back on the table. There was confusion on his wrinkled face: "I just received news from Australia. The Japanese Consortium They withdrew from the Australian short-term money market and went to China. Murdoch's News Corporation previously had a credit line of up to 200 million pounds in the Australian short-term money market. The lenders were mainly Japanese consortiums. They provided terms of thirty days and seven days. Or a day's temporary borrowing of funds. He was once Murdoch's most powerful assistant. With just one phone call, Murdoch could get 200 million pounds immediately without guarantee. Australia's short-term money market was originally Murdoch's flash in the capital market. important venue, but now, his most important source of funding no longer exists.”
"What do you want to say?" Tommy picked up the Rubik's Cube that the other party put down, closed his eyes and twisted it. After about twenty seconds, he stopped moving, and the originally colored Rubik's Cube had been perfectly reset.
“I don’t know what to say. Several banks in California have taken on a bunch of short-term debt left by the Japanese, about 140 million pounds.” Benjamin sighed.
The young man opposite is his Stanford alumnus, SSD brother, an object he is optimistic about and has invested in. Of course, Tommy has performed impeccably in these years, and the investment returns have become more and more generous, but Benjamin has changed from the initial joy to Somewhat creepy.
Others didn’t know what Tommy was thinking, but he and Jim knew it completely. Tommy attacked Murdoch at the right time, as if this **** was a future visitor in a science fiction movie, predicting everything.
He established VOX News Network and a financial television network, and through his connections of Benjamin Rosen working on Wall Street for half his life, he helped Tommy obtain investments and loans from many Wall Street investment banks. In other words, without Tommy’s TV Internet, Murdoch can get 100% of the loans on Wall Street, but because Tommy asked him to operate on Wall Street in advance, Murdoch can no longer get 100% support. Murdoch is a Jew, but he is an Australian Jew. , and he is an American Jew who has worked at Goldman Sachs on Wall Street for half his life.
Then, when the U.S. government tried to slander communism in the country again, Tommy jumped out and used the excuse of attacking communism to slander Murdoch, making him infamous in the United States, and the American politicians who helped him speak out were also His reputation was so ruined that no one dared to speak on behalf of the Australian.
Japan withdrew from Western capital markets and began to pour into the East.
If it were any other person, these seemingly unrelated events might not be worth the fuss at all, but for Murdoch, this is a brutal blow that Tommy has been preparing for years. This crisis seems to be tailor-made for him. Made to order.
Murdoch has been involved in the business world for decades. One of the things he hates most is issuing stocks to finance company expansion. He is unwilling to give up absolute control of the company, and it is also because he has plundered too much with this hand. company, so they don’t want others to use this trick on themselves one day. Therefore, the Murdoch family has always held 45% of the shares of News Corporation, and all expansion funds come from borrowings.
In other words, even if the new loan is obtained, will Murdoch be willing to use the loan to repay News Corporation's maturing debt?
Impossible, because the Sky TV network is about to be launched. Previously, leasing satellites, purchasing licenses, opening up joints, and preparing various European satellite TV associations have cost Murdoch countless funds. It can be called his largest investment since he started business. Small banks lined up to lend money to Murdoch to burn. Everyone who lent him money understood that if the Sky TV network succeeded, all TV viewers in Europe would become Murdoch's believers. In order not to be ignored by those who think highly of him Even if his creditors kill him, Murdoch must hold on until the Sky TV network actually starts broadcasting. Otherwise, taking a step back will mean wasting all his efforts. The British Satellite Broadcasting Company will soon block his way to the throne and he will be crowned, so he cannot stop burning money. And Tommy is now coming to collect the due debts. The consequence is to cause a chain reaction. In addition to the nearly US$500 million in short-term debts held by Tommy through a dozen California banks, Murdoch also has more than 100 other banks holding them. There are nearly 4 billion US dollars in debt, most of which are short-term debts. This is a big mistake made by Murdoch because of greed. He originally hoped to wait until the short-term debt interest rates dropped before converting these short-term debts into long-term debts. Banks are cheap.
But now, with the withdrawal of Japanese funds and capital turning conservative, all loan interest rates will definitely increase sharply, and the process of converting to long-term debt may not be as easy as before. Simply put, creditors now prefer to borrow money. People pay back money promptly to ensure that the principal is in hand and no longer covet the interest.
If Murdoch chooses to issue new shares or sell shares to raise funds to pay off debts, the number of new shares required to be issued and the proportion of shares sold will be astronomical figures for a debt of 4 billion, which is large enough for the Murdoch family to lose its controlling stake in News Corporation. It is absolutely impossible for Murdoch to accept this option. This empire must be his and he will not abdicate.
If Murdoch chooses to initiate debt restructuring negotiations, it means that he needs to find creditors who are strong enough to lend him the maximum loan and have sufficient funds to form a committee to complete the asset evaluation report of all News Corporation subsidiaries and make it public to prepare to reorganize News Corporation. , the most important thing is to persuade more than 100 creditors to allow News Corporation's debt extension. At present, Citibank is the only option, and Citibank will definitely come forward to promote debt restructuring on Murdoch's behalf. After all, it lent to Murdoch 1.1 billion, is the largest creditor.
But this is impossible to achieve, because regardless of whether other people agree or not, the 400 million held by Tommy will never agree to an extension, unless Citibank, which is on behalf of Murdoch, is willing to eat up Tommy's holdings at a high enough price. The debt allowed Tommy to leave with satisfaction, but no matter how rich Citibank was, it would not satisfy Tommy's appetite, because once the hole was opened and Tommy was fed, other creditors would immediately swarm in, making it even less likely to choose debt. postpone.
There are only two options left. First, Murdoch declares that he cannot repay due debts and News Corporation goes bankrupt and liquidates. Second, Murdoch sells some of its high-quality assets to raise funds to tide over this crisis.
These ideas are what Benjamin Rosen gradually saw clearly as the situation developed at this time, but the problem is that as a capitalist who has worked on Wall Street for half his life, he has only now seen it clearly, while Tommy Hawke, who is opposite him, has only seen it clearly from a few years ago. The arrangement started around these two endings before.
You must know that the most critical point here is that the capital of the Japanese consortium has moved eastward. A few years ago, the Japanese were arrogantly announcing that they would buy the entire Western Hemisphere. Even the most astute financial experts would not believe that Japanese funds could be withdrawn. So simply, they pulled away from the United States, Australia, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom and poured into China.
Even a few weeks ago, no one would have dared to judge like this, because the United States had just taught the Japanese a lesson and replaced them with a more obedient prime minister!
But now Japan has given an answer. Obviously, just because the Prime Minister is more obedient does not mean that Japanese funds are also willing to listen to Americans.
Australia is Murdoch's base. It is impossible for him to sell the assets in his hometown, because in addition to newspapers, Australia also holds many high-quality minerals. The British assets are even more impossible. That base is Murdoch's control of British politicians. tools, without which he would not be able to continue to expand in Europe, not to mention the ambition to dominate Europe with the Sky TV network is still burning him.
Only U.S. assets are his best choice. The film and television assets of the Fox TV network and Fox Film Company, and the newspaper assets of the "Washington Post" and "New York Post". Any sale of any group will be enough for him to survive this period. close.
Because Murdoch's News Corporation has not yet formed a true monopoly in the United States, and cannot completely use the media to control the fate of politicians like he does in Australia and the United Kingdom. For Murdoch, he can abandon this part, like Like a poisonous snake, he retreated to the safety of his cave, slowly looking for the next opportunity to land in the United States.
Australia and England are his caves.
The problem is that no matter which group Murdoch sells Fox or the Post, it will be enough to get him through this difficulty, but no matter which group he sells, Tommy Hawke has already made preparations.
He has a TV network under his name, and Stephen has a movie company under his name, which allows them to easily join in the feast of carving up Fox. At the same time, Ted of SSD owns the "Washington Star". If Murdoch chooses to sell these two well-known newspapers, Ted De Neng joined the negotiations to acquire the newspaper and was prepared to take over whatever assets Murdoch sold.
A few years ago, when the boy said to himself that he was going to swallow Fox, Benjamin regarded it as a little joke played by a proud young man.
Now, everything that happened before him told him that Tommy Hawke, this kid, turned an impossible joke into a reality.
"Murdoch must hate me very much. I punched him rudely without even meeting his face. He must think that I, a wild boy from the country, am a bastard." Tommy twisted the Rubik's Cube He put it back, picked up a cigarette, lit one and continued:
“But he’s worse than me. He’s from rural Australia.”
"I think the consequence of him hating you is that even if he wants to sell off his assets, he won't sell them to you. Those American tycoons now share the same hatred as you and will get rid of them as soon as possible...Oh My God..." Benjamin originally wanted to remind Tommy casually. , although he felt that Tommy should have already considered this issue, and that he was just acting subconsciously, but when he was halfway through speaking, he suddenly paused, and his gray-blue eyes locked tightly on Tommy Hawke's calm face. s face:
"Everything you asked Wolfe Tucker, Otilia, and Jim to do was equivalent to providing Murdoch with a rope, letting him pick it up in a panic, put it around his own neck, and then Go and pull the switch of the noose yourself, you are not the person waiting in front of the gallows to search the corpse's pocket for silver coins, you are the vulture waiting to eat the carrion."
Tommy nodded: "The layout of the previous few years is due to the progress of the times. What you said at the end is my original creation. Yes, vulture, eating carrion can also make me stronger."
"Be true to your word and have good moral character." Benjamin Rosen even felt frustrated. As the young man matured, the advice he could give him became less and less. The old guy's life experience seemed to be lost in front of Tommy. So important.
He stood up slowly: "I'm going to talk to Stephen to see if we can discuss it. Choose a good day to knock on Murdoch's door to collect debts. I'd better come to your office less often in the future, because you asked me to I feel like I’m aging too fast.”
"You know I can't live without you, Benjamin. Without you, I wouldn't be where I am today, and what you said is very correct. I like to keep my word." Tommy also stood up and patted the other person's generous back. Walk outside with the other person.
Benjamin took a few steps and suddenly turned his face to look at Tommy: "You must keep your word. You said it in the conference back then. I still remember that it had better be a joke."
"I will not give up this good virtue." Tommy smiled at him: "You will witness it."
Benjamin sighed, recovered from the shock, and continued walking forward: "God, it's better not to let me witness the arrival of that day. You are a madman, Tommy."
(End of this chapter)