Chapter 148 Forbes Rankings

May 15th, 1996.

On this day, news about Milo Blackburn once again appeared widely in the American media.

And it was even crazier than before, fermenting rapidly, and the influence of public opinion spread rapidly to the whole world, causing his fame to rise sharply.

In European media, Asian and Oceania media, the name Milo Blackburn also appeared in many local mainstream media.

The reason is that the famous Forbes magazine launched its carefully crafted "11th Global Rich List" in the second week of May 1996.

The above list contains 423 super billionaires in the world. Once released, it swept the global media like a hurricane.

These 423 billionaires in the world have a total asset of up to US$1,049.9 billion.

On average, the average assets of each billionaire are approximately US$2.481 billion.

Milo was included in the list, and in the top ten. Although he did not make the top five, Fox made him the cover character of this issue of the magazine. He was not the richest man in the world, and the title given to him by the magazine editorial department was:

"A unique American dream miracle!"

The main text of the internal publication introduced Milo's information in detail and gave a predictive evaluation.

"Milo Blackburn, this name has appeared in the media too many times in the past year, even more than the President of the United States!"

"It's a very complicated question as to what constitutes his wealth."

"We noticed that he still owns more than 60 unlisted Internet companies with great profit potential. The world now knows the potential of Internet companies. For example, Lycos has been listed on the Nasdaq for just two weeks, and its market value has reached US$3.2 billion."

"Mr. Blackburn holds 20% of its shares. This company alone can bring him a fortune of more than $600 million!"

"Mr. Blackburn has a total of 67 such companies. Among them, companies such as Yahoo have value and potential far exceeding Lycos."

"But because they are not listed, we do not use them as a benchmark for Mr Blackburn's wealth."

"This has led to Mr. Blackburn's net worth being obviously underestimated, and his ranking on the Global Rich List does not truly reflect his specific wealth. At the age of less than 25, with his extraordinary business talent, we can be sure that he has the potential to seize the throne of the world's richest man in the future."

“How long is the future?”

“Maybe next year, we’ll be able to see the glory of his coronation!”

On the day this issue of Forbes was released, Minogue was taking a morning swim at his villa in the Bel Air Hills of Los Angeles.

This villa is not 9406 Crest Avenue, but the villa in Bel Air Hills that he just bought when he came to Los Angeles this time.

Bel Air is located in the west of Los Angeles, California. It is known as the Los Angeles Iron Triangle together with Beverly Hills and Holmby Hills. They are also the three places with the most expensive housing prices in Los Angeles.

9406 Crest Avenue As Milo became famous, Zeta-Jones and others who have been living here also gradually became famous.

This old villa is becoming more and more eye-catching.

Almost every day there are a lot of paparazzi surrounding the villa and taking pictures secretly.

Besides, 9406 Crest Avenue is not very big. It was originally bought by Paladin for Milo to live in alone.

After becoming financially well-off, Milo not only bought a large number of luxury houses in San Francisco.

He is now in Los Angeles, and has also consciously bought some luxury houses.

For example, the room Milo stayed in last night is in the Bel Air community.

The privacy here is even higher than in Beverly Hills because the entrance to the community is guarded.

If one drives along the winding roads within the community, the houses inside are often not visible.

Because their gates are hidden by dense branches or trees, they have a high degree of privacy.

However, as you drive upwards, you will find many luxury houses halfway up the mountain or on the top of the mountain.

It is very close to Sunset Boulevard and Hollywood, and many famous actors live here.

For example, Elizabeth Taylor, or retired President Reagan and his wife Nancy Reagan.

Milo's new villa in Bel Air Hills is much larger than 9406 Crest Avenue.

The property covers an area of ​​15 acres and he spent nearly 80 million US dollars to buy it.

It can be said that this is the most valuable property he owns so far.

Oh, the lavender ranch doesn’t count, that place is his private armed base.

Around ten o'clock in the morning.

In a mansion in Bel Air Hills, the water in a crystal clear infinity pool ripples continuously.

Julie Delpy was hungry just now and went in to find something to eat.

She excitedly walked to the edge of the swimming pool with the latest issue of Forbes magazine.

"Hey, Milo! Stop playing around, you're almost breaking Blanchett! She's rolling her eyes, it's only been two months since she last played!"

"Come and have a look! Come and have a look! The latest Forbes rich list is out, and you're on the list!"

In the swimming pool, Minogue is grabbing Australian actress Cate Blanchett.

He pressed her against the edge of the infinity pool, facing the entire city of Los Angeles.

The movement was so large and powerful that it caused the water in the entire spacious infinity pool to ripple.

Blanchett's voice was very loud, but Jolie's voice was not small either.

But Minogue ignored her, and he and Blanchett continued.

I just don't know if it's because of his acceleration.

So much so that the Australian goddess screamed louder and louder.

The water in the infinity pool ripples more and more.

"What did Forbes say?"

On the beach chair next to the infinity pool, Zeta-Jones, who was still catching her breath during the halftime break, cast a curious look at Jolie.

That was probably why the three of them faced Milo at the same time from the beginning.

It may also be because Milo has more and more women.

As time went by, they became more united.

Whenever they were in Los Angeles, the three of them lived together at 9406 Crest Avenue.

Milo found one of them last night, and the other two naturally followed.

In the morning, Julie Delpy was the first to receive the honor, followed by Zeta-Jones.

Now that these two are resting, it's Blanchett's turn.

Jolie looked at Milo and Blanchett, although Blanchett was screaming very loudly.

But it doesn't look like it will end so soon.

So she walked up to Zeta-Jones and handed the Forbes magazine in her hand to Zeta-Jones.

"Look for yourself, our man is about to become the richest man in the world!"

"ah!!"

This news shocked Zeta-Jones so much that she fell off her beach chair.

The richest man in the world?! The man who had just pinned him to the ground without a towel, causing his knees and buttocks to ache.

Becoming the world's richest man so soon?

Zeta-Jones quickly snatched it and began to read hastily.

Actually not, the world’s richest man is still Bill Gates.

With the crazy rise in Microsoft's market value, the world's richest man, who was worth only $20 billion last year, has become the richest man in the world.

His assets have grown to more than $45 billion this year.

"Haha, actually it's number ten!"

Julie Delpy and Zeta-Jones huddled together, her face smiling excitedly, as if she had become the tenth richest person in the world.

Occasionally, when she saw Milo still doing Blanchett, she felt as if there was a golden light shining from Milo, which made her dizzy.

"Twelve billion dollars! So much?!" Zeta-Jones saw Milo's ranking and net worth clearly.

She cried out in shock.

"Yes, that's right. Twelve billion dollars."

Julie Delpy said excitedly, "Keep reading and see what Forbes says about him! They say our man could become the richest man in the world next year!"

Zeta-Jones finished reading it quickly, and the more he read, the more surprised he became. "This, this is too incredible!"

But this is what Forbes said, and they believe it.

Maybe it's not as professional as The Economist or something like that.

But in the eyes of ordinary people, it has absolute authority in the rich list.

Since Forbes said so, others would definitely think that Milo has this kind of potential.

Crash...

There was the sound of paddling, and Julie Delpy and Zeta-Jones looked over.

Milo was seen carrying Blanchett, who was rolling her eyes and whose beautiful white flesh was twitching from time to time.

"Is it about Forbes?"

He went ashore with a smile and gently placed the exhausted Blanchett on the beach chair.

Then he met Zeta-Jones and Julie Delpy who were walking towards him anxiously, and continued, "Their boss called me yesterday."

His name will appear on it only after obtaining his permission.

"Give it here and let me see it." Milo stretched out his hand to the two of them, waiting for the excited Zeta-Jones to hand him the magazine.

He then ordered, "Julie, go get me a cup of coffee. Catherine, find a towel to cover Kate. The wind is a bit cold today."

After the two of them went to work excitedly, Milo lay on another beach chair next to Blanchett, who was still in the afterglow, and watched "The 11th Global Rich List" in detail.

Milo was not surprised by the top ten list, as he already knew it roughly yesterday.

First: Bill Gates, with a total asset value of 45.1 billion US dollars, from: the United States

Second place: Bolkiah, with a total asset value of 32.9 billion US dollars, from: Malaysia

The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!

Third place: Warren Buffett, with a total asset value of US$22.5 billion, from: the United States

Fourth place: The Walton family, with total assets of 22 billion US dollars, from: the United States. Fifth place: Li Zhaoji, with a net worth of 17.2 billion US dollars, from: Hong Kong Island, China.

The sixth... the ninth...

No. 10: Milo Blackburn, with total assets worth $12 billion, from the United States.

Milo couldn't help but take a few more glances at the list of his assets.

Forbes values ​​Paladin Media, which includes Turner Broadcasting Group, at $8 billion.

This is also Milo's most valuable asset according to Forbes.

And Forbes has made the calculations very clear:

Paladin Films is currently the number one independent film company in Hollywood.

Only two movies were released, but the profit was as high as $300 million. This does not include future continued income and copyright income.

Including other films still in production, Forbes values ​​Paladin at $1.2 billion.

Other record labels, management companies and TV production companies are not well-known yet because they were just acquired.

So Forbes directly values ​​all these companies at $100 million.

Then there's the newspaper company, which is valued at the same $1.2 billion as the film company.

These add up to $2.5 billion, with Turner Broadcasting being the most valuable.

Before being acquired by Milo, Turner Broadcasting was generally valued by the market at $6.5-7 billion.

After the acquisition premium and the addition of Milo.

Forbes now pegs its market value at at least $10 billion.

Milo holds 51% of the shares, which is 5.1 billion.

Adding the 2.5 billion, the total is exactly 7.6 billion US dollars.

Forbes later believed that the combination of these companies had formed a complete media group.

The only thing missing is the distribution channel, which is a miniature version of giants like Disney and Viacom.

Huge potential.

So we gave it a valuation of $400 million and thought it was very reasonable.

Finally, the market value of Paladin Media as a whole came to be 8 billion US dollars.

Next is Milo's copyright company, which Forbes gave a price of $400 million.

The main reason is that a lot of the copyright value is attributed to the film companies.

Together with the $600 million of Lycos shares that have already been listed, the total amount is $1 billion.

Finally, there is Milo’s investment company on Wall Street.

Forbes directly valued it at $3 billion.

“Paladin Investments is very secretive, but we got some data from some senior practitioners on Wall Street.”

"A well-known Wall Street fund manager told us that although this company has only been established for less than half a year, it has already made a profit of more than 2 billion US dollars."

"This is an extremely shocking number, because last year Morgan Stanley's annual revenue was $104.5 billion, and its net profit attributable to the parent company was only $9.085 billion."

"In other words, if this is true, Mr. Blackburn's company, which was only established six months ago, has earned a quarter of Morgan Stanley's profit last year in just six months."

“Due to the nature of financial companies, we value Paladin Investments at $3 billion.”

"But in fact, we all know that this company may be Mr. Blackburn's most profitable company and the foundation of his career!"

Eighty plus ten plus thirty, Forbes finally believes that his current net worth is 12 billion US dollars, and it is underestimated.

Because Forbes did not include those Internet companies that have not yet gone public, including Yahoo.

In addition, his private jet and many luxury homes were all purchased recently.

Forbes did not collect the information and did not publish the article.

Milo thinks these analyses of Forbes are both right and wrong.

First of all, he doesn't actually have a net worth of $12 billion now.

Forbes played a trick of double counting.

For example, Milo's investment company did make more than 2 billion US dollars.

But after making money, only a portion of it remains in the company to continue making money.

A lot of it was invested in things like Turner Broadcasting and those mansions.

As for Turner Broadcasting, most of the money Milo used to acquire its 51% stake was borrowed.

Forbes only counted the shares, but not the money Milo owed the bank.

Similarly, Forbes didn't know the details here, or even if he knew, he didn't say it.

Twelve billion dollars...

Milo smiled and said, "Maybe not even half."

So that's not right.

But he felt it was right because Forbes did not include the stocks of those Internet companies.

Especially Yahoo's.

By the time these companies go public one after another, his net worth will definitely not be worth 12 billion US dollars.

So yes.

"Honey, the coffee is ready! Come, let me rub your shoulders."

Julie Delpy came out excitedly, holding a cup of coffee.

Zeta-Jones had already covered Blanchett with a towel, and also covered Minogue who had just come out of the swimming pool with one.

At this moment, the way they looked at Milo was almost tearing up.

They only knew that Milo was rich, but to what extent.

They had no idea until today when they read Milo's profile in Forbes.

Only then did they realize that Milo had become so rich.

The two of them squeezed next to Milo, and Julie Delpy stared at Milo's name in the magazine, unable to look away.

Milo was the cover character, and the inside publication disclosed in detail his entrepreneurial experience and briefly introduced the source of his wealth.

"Honey, you're only ranked 10th, why did Forbes put you on the cover instead of the world's richest man?"

Zeta-Jones asked curiously at this time.

"Because I'm young, because I'm the American dream, because I'm a miracle. Isn't that what it says?"

Milo smiled.

Because there is still the highest political correctness in the United States! Before this Forbes ranking came out.

But it wasn't just Forbes' boss who called him.

A few days ago, it was his father who called first.

Later, my grandfather, old David, and even my grandfather Herbert called.

The words they talked to him were all different, but in the end the content could be summed up as follows:

Milo, the organization has high hopes for you, so come out and become a banner!

(End of this chapter)