Chapter 162: Skyrocketing Wealth

Words : 1537 Updated : Oct 4th, 2025

"Lucas, this movie is of good quality, and quite interesting, with a strong British flavor, it's no wonder the British likes it." "Yeah, luckily the release window is big enough, otherwise it would've been bad. Why did Warner have to provoke him? Doesn't that make things difficult for themselves?" "Haha, that's how big companies think." These two were gloating, though they didn't know Warner had adjusted their strategy. They were good at bullying small companies, but once you got big, they didn't want to start a conflict. Warner's partnership with MTV showed the problem clearly, even if the heads of both companies didn't get involved, that's what it was. Hollywood couldn't afford more internal strife. United Artists was on the brink of collapse, add White Films, lose United Artists, resources remained the same; what was there left to mess around with? ... "Boss, they brought over the finished animated film. It's only in Japanese right now. Do you want to watch it now or wait for the dubbing?" "Let's watch it now. I don't have anything going on these days." His assistant rolled her eyes at him, her gaze a bit resentful. Well, even though his 'gun' wasn't broken, the doctor advised against any activity, so it's best to behave. This won't do, maybe he should practice some yoga. It's good for flexibility. William White was currently relieved. If he hadn't prepared in advance, his company would be left to drift now. Luckily, there wasn't much impact. Speed's crew had been working really hard lately; it's time to let them take a break. People were genuinely curious about how he managed his company, with no visible changes, it's really quite scary. "These episodes turned out well. Send them to the Disney folks but make sure they don't leak." "Alright, boss." "Keep up this quality. We can start planning for next series too." "Will do, boss." Disney didn't really get it; why didn't the boss keep these cartoons in America? Factories weren't even needed. Animated films were William White's cash cows; he wasn't going to let them mess them up. If they were capable, they wouldn't be doing so poorly. Production costs weren't the big deal, it was the merchandise that brought in the big bucks. If that got messed up, he'd really be crying. Besides, his two babies were keeping him busy enough. Better to release this stuff early, otherwise they'd overlap. Turning ideas into creations takes time, and with only a six-month window, William White wouldn't take that risk. ... Using high-leverage to acquire NBC and Disney is considered an extremely risky move. Investment banks on Wall Street predicted that this wonder kid might need to lay low for a while. Too bad, they got it wrong. Not only were NBC and Disney successfully taken over, but the original businesses were also thriving. Legendary World truly lived up to its name. The Japanese were going crazy, expanding their factories again, looking like money was no object. Paying some fees was no big deal for them. If you dared to set a price, the Japanese wouldn't mind buying it all. A bunch of bigwigs regretted it immensely. They had a major error in their valuation judgment. It was obvious that this was a goose laying golden eggs and would keep doing so. At least, that's what the Japanese thought. Back then, a valuation of more than a billion was deemed overestimated and purely speculative. But now, the price on the secondary market had exceeded 2.5 billion. How long has it been since then? If that home video game console really sold well, even a 3 billion valuation might not stop it. And that's not all. Their comic weekly issued new stock, and the circulation had nearly reached 20 million copies. It's such a daunting number. With printing, the more you produce, the lower the cost. They were making a lot of money selling the weekly, and that didn't include advertising value. Raising the price for next year's ad pages was a done deal. If they could earn 200 million dollars this year, giving them a ten times price-to-earnings ratio wasn't excessive, right? That would mean a valuation of 2 billion. For a company growing so fast, a 15 times valuation at IPO would be very reasonable. ... "Boss, that's the situation so far. White Films' value isn't even included yet. If it's valued at 1 billion, it'll be snatched up like crazy." "Tsk, is that guy really worth ten billion already?" "Boss, it was actually reached a while ago. It's just that he's quite the gambler, and his loan ratio is still too high." "Meh, if those stocks weren't in Japan, they'd look pretty bad indeed." This is why they were sighing. Everything they hoped for seemed unlikely to happen. Unless something unexpected occurs, this guy will IPO next year, and they won't get any benefits then. After calculating his assets, a group of bigwigs looked at each other. This wasn't about a small-scale consortium anymore -- he was undoubtedly a top-tier magnate now. Is this the 11th consortium? How come we didn't know about it? This guy is way more formidable than the Hunter family. Don't even mention dealing with him; even taking small advantages is hard enough. Why did the Hunter family get unlucky? They shook the US dollar's international standing. It's a wonder they weren't taken down completely. As for William White, he doesn't interfere in your industries, so there's no basis for oppression. When did entertainment media become so vast? What's really going on in this world? ... Though it's tough, more people are thinking of cunning plans. It's simple: wealth stirs the heart. For a group of greedy old guys, they'd sell the rope to hang themselves. That's just capital's nature. As for what means to use, they each have their plans. But that kid's not easy to deal with. Greed, like wealth, is an original sin -- there's no right or wrong. A business person's nature is to harm others. Without hoarding, where would all this wealth come from? The old folks were just not used to today's world. To them, energy and transportation were the core. Control those, and you control the economy's lifeline. Everything changed with William White. Energy? He didn't need that -- he didn't have factories in the US. Transportation? Well, there was some connection, but not enough to make a big impact. Finance seemed to be William White's only weakness. But don't forget, he had a scary cash flow and didn't care about their petty tricks. If he saw it as provocation, it's hard to say who'd really fall into trouble. ... "Boss, we've found out that William White has his own settlement bank in Switzerland." "Tsk, since when?" "It's been a while. We just discovered it now. The dollars he earns in London are circulated through this bank. It was a coincidence we found out -- a small bank recently had a huge amount of financial settlements, way beyond its original scale." "Eh, where did the funds go? Did any enter the US?" "We can't find out. They're all offshore companies. At first, our people thought it was an international money-laundering group, but later found out it wasn't. The funds were very clean." "Ha, the foundation of a dynasty? Alright, keep an eye on this bank." ... William White didn't need to guess the consortium's actions. None of these guys were any good. Sooner or later, there'd be some conflict, and preparing a backup plan was, of course, very important. As for where the funds went? Haha, if they could figure it out, William White wouldn't need to worry. Swiss banks were known for their strong privacy; that's their core. No one should expect to figure it out. For William White, making money wasn't the top priority now -- capital's safety was. Now wasn't the time to act up; he had to play dumb. He was already known as a fool, so pretending to be an idiot wouldn't raise too much suspicion. Some said, "You're overthinking it. The US generally protects personal wealth." Whoever believes that nonsense is a fool. When wealth hits a certain level, it's not just about money anymore. Don't forget what kind of system the US has. When you have a ton of money, you can naturally find spokespeople. If you also control public media, that's terrifying. The consortiums wouldn't just sit idly by. Of course, now isn't the time for a complete fallout. The economic conditions aren't good, the consortiums' power is weakened, and they are at their most vulnerable in history. ***** https://www.patreon.com/Sayonara816.

Chapter 162: Skyrocketing Wealth

Comments (0)