Chapter 1243: Secret support

Wealth moves people's hearts, confuses people's eyes.

When the profit of a business exceeds 300 percent, capitalists will sell the rope that finally hangs them to the executioner with their own hands.

Now the profit has exceeded 300 percent, this is 1,000 percent, 10,000 percent.

The gentlemen in this room are all capitalists whose blood flows with filth and sin from the moment they are born. Their operation of capital and their greed for wealth are very in line with the persona of people who want to hang them on street lamps.

When these people subconsciously admitted that Lan's expression had no problems and that the project was indeed worth 10 billion, they would definitely be moved by the voice of some devil in their hearts.

The group president swallowed a mouthful of saliva. He used a voice that only the people around him could hear, and squeezed that amazing number out in a blur in his lips.

"10 billion!"

At this moment, he didn't look like a capitalist, a president, but more like a diner sitting at the dining table who was hungry to the limit, browsing that amazing recipe, locking the food he wanted to put into his stomach most on the recipe.

10 billion, Federal Sol.

The eyes of other presidents in the room were also a bit red. The scale of the entire group company of the "Brooks Financial Group" they were in was probably only about 1 billion.

This was because of the war and the victory of the war in these years, the economy of the Federation got the help of a super engine and flew up directly.

They also caught this express train, from a scale of more than 300 million, rapidly expanded to 1 billion, which was considered a very successful case in the west.

But compared to Lan's speed of making money, this was still too slow. He just... opened some relationships, and then invested a little money, a limited amount of money, and made his assets obtain dozens of times of appreciation.

Perhaps he was the person in the Federation, and even the world, who really had the highest conversion rate of "resources" into wealth!

Others wanted to convert resources into wealth, maybe they paid 10 points of resources, and finally could only get 3 or 4 points, 4 or 5 points of income.

But Lan paid 10 points of resources and got dozens of times to hundreds of times of return. This is amazing!

"I have never heard of anyone wanting to do business like this!", the financial director of the financial group, a confused expression appeared on his face.

He knew that it was easy to make money in these few years. It could be seen from the financial statements of the financial group every year. Even if it was a piece of shit, packed in a box and packaged beautifully, someone would buy it back to see because of curiosity.

But he didn't think making money could be so easy, just... simply opening some relationships, could bring a valuation of over 10 billion?

He looked at the supervisor of the risk assessment department responsible for the financial group, "Is this project really that profitable?"

"I mean, is this valuation really reliable?"

A large financial group has to do sufficient work before investing in a project. They have to evaluate the project, evaluate the approximate return rate of the project, the return cycle, the specific benefits they can get from it, and some possible risk problems.

Only when the risk assessment passes the "standard line" within the financial group, will they continue to promote the investment. Of course, the standard line of each financial group is different.

Some investment companies of pure investment nature have less harsh requirements for risk than some financial groups that operate normally. High risk means high return.

However,

The Brooks Consortium has also evaluated Lanse's project, so the CFO's current thought is: can this exaggerated figure actually hold up?

The head of the risk assessment department casually opened the briefcase at his feet, took out a document, and handed it to the CFO, "This is some data we have collected over the recent period regarding the two casinos in Jincheng."

"Just these two casinos alone can provide Lanse White's Wanli Group with approximately 200 to 300 million in net profit annually."

As the CFO looked at the materials, he couldn't help but exclaim, "If the market is doing relatively well, does that mean he can earn... at least 6 to 7 million in net profit from these two casinos every day?"

"This is unbelievable, and impossible!"

The assessment director shook his head, "No, this is the truth."

"The two casinos in Jincheng are the largest and most luxurious on the East Coast, and also the only ones. They have a monopoly there, and it's not like here, where there are small casinos opened by locals everywhere."

"Currently, the only ones on the East Coast to have obtained long-term commercial licenses are Lanse White's Jincheng Casino and Gold Casino, and Jincheng is also a tourist and port city."

"Every day, a large number of tourists from all over the world, including federal tourists, appear there. According to an unofficial statistic, the two casinos receive an average of over 200,000 travelers daily. During peak tourist seasons, such as spring break and summer, this number exceeds 400,000 or even 500,000!"

"Assuming each visiting tourist only exchanges 50 dollars, that's still about 1 to 2 million."

"But, gentlemen, if you spent over 10 dollars to buy a boat ticket to Jincheng, and then after landing, stayed in a room that costs at least 5 dollars a night, would you only exchange 50 dollars in chips?"

The assessment director shook his head, "No, in reality, the amount of chips tourists exchange far exceeds this. Lanse White is very talented at running casinos; I heard an interesting rumor."

"His two casinos consume a large amount of oxygen-generating materials every day. They claim externally that this is to help those tourists better concentrate and improve their thinking ability."

"However, some people say that when the oxygen content in the casino environment is higher, they lose more chips."

"Because of concentration, and thinking."

"The film industry in Xigu City is also becoming the mainstream guiding the federal film industry. Every year, tens of millions of tourists also go to Xigu City to visit local film shoots and the like; they provide over 500 million in consumption to Xigu City annually."

"There are also some other revenues for the Wanli Group that I won't list one by one."

"According to the situation I understand, not including Lanse White's sales of those alcoholic beverages, the Wanli Group's annual legal income, pre-tax, is between approximately 400 and 500 million."

"Of course, if he has to pay taxes, the money certainly won't be this much."

Upon hearing this number, everyone was still shocked by its magnitude.

400 to 500 million in pre-tax net profit annually—this is enough to make everyone's eyes turn red!

The Brooks Consortium's financial statements look very good; their net asset growth over these two years is also 200 to 300 million annually, but this 200 to 300 million is not pure cash.

About 70% to 80% of it is various assets—it could be equity in a certain company, it could be a patent technology with an overvalued appraisal, or even a car on the side of the road.

The actual funds, the cash, only amount to a few tens of millions.

In this era of rapid economic growth, this few tens of millions in cash made them satisfied with such results over the past two years, but at this moment, they suddenly felt they were not excellent enough.

Everyone's expressions were constantly changing. Obviously, taking down the shares of the New City project could bring huge wealth appreciation to the Brooks Consortium, but the problem is, they cannot come up with 1 billion in cash, and they don't want to take out that much money either. There are more than twenty "local consortia" like the Brooks Consortium in the Federation; they are almost all dominant existences in their own states, radiating into all walks of life.

Just like the "Wanli Group" in Likai State now, some other capitalists also rely on the Wanli Group's name, forming a super behemoth that covers the entire field.

Of course, legally they are not a tightly connected whole; this is to avoid being targeted by the "Anti-Monopoly Law," but internally, it is like that.

Just like how they are all sitting in this room right now—they are all in the same group.

This means they have extremely strong control over the local area; this is their strength!

At this time, another company's board chairman spoke up, "How about we push a little harder and see?"

"Right now, it's only the construction workers' union causing him trouble, and some suppliers have also been coerced, so let's find a way to make this momentum even bigger."

"We shouldn't be on the front line; let the people from the workers' union charge for us. Once Lanse's project cannot start because of the boycott, he will definitely have to beg us for help."

"By that time, how to negotiate and to what extent—isn't that up to us to decide?"

As he spoke, he became more and more fluent, and new ideas kept surging up, "Maybe Lanse will even take the initiative to give up investing here, and then we can just happen to drive him out and take over the whole plan."

"Even if the governor has a good relationship with him and those people behind him, I'm afraid he won't make things difficult for us for the sake of this project!"

The faces of the others all revealed thoughtful expressions. After about two or three minutes, they all seemed to have made a decision.

The moment everyone's gaze converged on the group company president, this old man who stood at the top but was related to the daily work and life of half the residents of South Yaan State slowly nodded, "We can try."

"Don't expose ourselves at the very front too early; let the workers' union put in the hard work."

"But I heard they encountered some trouble recently?"

A company member who follows this aspect immediately explained, "Some gang members scattered the protesting crowd of the construction workers' union. The construction workers' union seems to have no follow-up movement now, and the momentum has become much smaller."

The group company president pursed his lips, "They are out of bullets, so you go contact him and provide him with some ammunition."

"Let him have sufficient bullets to be able to hurt Lanse White!"

"Remember, don't expose ourselves; find a... suitable toy to help us complete this matter."

They are professionals at doing these things; in many past contests, they have already become very familiar with the entire process.

It can be said that the Brooks Consortium's control over local commerce is inseparable from the help and assistance of the unions.

In early commercial competition, supporting unions to deal with one's own competitors has always been the most common tactic for these capitalists.

They only need to make the competitor's factory stop production and be unable to produce, and they can very easily kill these competitors off.

Whether it's the high compensation for being unable to fulfill orders or competing to grab new orders, in round after round of competition, those capitalists who are not smart enough will soon sink to the bottom of the sea.

It's just that this time, the one they have to deal with is another behemoth.

At this time, the president of the construction workers' union and the union's top brass were having a headache; their foolproof tricks were not having any effect on the Wanli Group.

Those police officers seemed to have become a bit more diligent these past two days, arresting some gang members who attacked union workers everywhere. These people were actually quite honest in admitting they did so.

And they refused to admit that anyone instigated them; they just purely didn't like those workers, so they beat them.

As for compensation and such, they all indicated they had no money, no savings, had already severed ties with their original families, and the gangs were unwilling to pay for them either; in the end, they could only face a prison sentence of three to six months.

In other words, they had no money to give those injured workers, so this matter still had to be handled by the union.

Seeing that there wasn't much money left in the union's account, as if this battle was about to end just as it had begun, everyone's complexion didn't look very good; this was the most frustrating time they had had in years.

Everyone in the room was smoking, and the smoke was so thick it was choking; once this failure became a foregone conclusion, there was no doubt that the construction workers' union would soon be eliminated.

Regardless of whether people are willing to admit it, the union did indeed help workers strive for their reasonable, fair, and legal rights to a certain extent, so they are the capitalists' partners, but they also loathe each other.

Those capitalists will definitely go to talk to labor agencies about hiring issues, not them; their market here will become smaller and smaller, and eventually, they will be completely eliminated.

By that time, what can they do?

These union top brass who suck blood from the worker group—what can they do?

Go be a worker?

Don't fucking tell jokes!

The president of the construction workers' union doesn't even know how to mix cement mortar; sending him to a construction site would be less simple than just hanging him from the tree at his front door.

Just at this moment, someone knocked on the door, "President, there's a call for you; they say it's urgent."

The president sighed, threw his cigarette into the ashtray, and stood up, "I'll go take a call," he said, turned, and left, leaving the others to continue remaining silent here.

"There shouldn't be any better way to solve these problems," one union official sighed, "If... I really don't know what I'm going to do."

Another person laughed and said, "You can try other unions; after all, we have rich work experience, maybe we can find a position that suits us."

"If that doesn't work... I can also try the construction site."

This sentence seemed to stir up the atmosphere in the room, and people started talking and laughing one after another.

After two minutes, the president suddenly pushed the door open and walked in from the outside, actually still wearing a smile on his face.

He walked to the edge of the table without sitting down, supporting the tabletop with both hands, "We are saved!"