A few days later, Mike flew from New York to Las Vegas. Hardy personally went to the airport to pick him up, and the two hugged each other warmly when they met.
"Hardy, thank you for your help to the Corrion Family." Mike expressed his sincere gratitude.
"Mr. Vito has already thanked you." Hardy said with a smile.
"No, this is my thanks. I know how dangerous the family was at that time. If it weren't for your help, I'm afraid other families would not stop to negotiate." Mike said.
Hadi smiled and said, "Let's not talk about that anymore. Let's go and see our Flamingo Casino."
The two came to the Flamingo Casino, which had a luxurious casino lobby, rows of gaming tables, a lavishly decorated hotel, shaded palm trees, rivers and small lakes. It was so rare to have such a lake in Nevada.
"This place is very beautiful, no wonder it costs so much money. How do you plan to run Hardy next?" Mike asked.
Hardy went over with Mike the business strategy he had discussed with Bill.
Improve the ancillary facilities, increase the playability of this place, turn it into a leisure sanctuary, increase publicity efforts, and advertise in newspapers, magazines, radio stations, and television.
Add more flights and buses. Airline and bus tickets can be used to offset chips at the Flamingo Casino. Add more interesting activities to the casino to attract people, such as regular raffles, gambling competitions and other activities.
"I have contacted the construction company. The person in charge came to take a look and said that it can be completed in three months, which means that the casino can be officially opened in early October. The weather in Las Vegas in October is very pleasant, which is a good time to open the business."
"I've called HD Films and asked them to send a team of directors over to shoot promotional photos and videos, and then advertise in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Playboy magazine, radio, and television."
"I just founded an airline and have started trial operations. I am planning to add a Los Angeles-Las Vegas route and buy 20 buses to start long-distance passenger transportation between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, with a half-hour trip."
"I also have an idea, which is to set up a gambling TV channel that broadcasts information about gambling. We can even set up TV gambling in the future, so people can call in to place bets and the prizes will be announced after a while."
......
After hearing Hardy's plan, Mike was shocked and impressed.
Hardy's ideas were very thorough, covering everything he could think of, and he could mobilize so many resources, such as adding routes. This was not something that ordinary people could do, but Hardy had his own airline and could easily arrange it.
Mike thought for a moment and said, "Hadi, have you ever thought about changing the name of the casino?"
Hardy was slightly stunned.
"What do you think?"
"I heard that the name Flamingo was the nickname of the woman that Siegel liked. Now that the casino belongs to us, I think we should change the name." Mike said.
"What name do you want to change to?"
"Hardy's Casino, I think it sounds better than Flamingo." Mike said and looked at Hardy with a smile.
Hardy was stunned at first, then he burst into laughter.
afternoon,
The two went to the industrial and commercial management department of the Las Vegas City Government and confirmed the new shares. The shares of the original three major families were all transferred to Mike, who held 39% of the casino shares.
Hardy originally had 18% of the shares, and Siegel mortgaged 43% of his shares. After Siegel died, the money could not be repaid, and the shares went directly to Hardy. After re-confirmation of ownership, Hardy owned 61% of the casino's shares.
At the same time, the name registered with the management department was changed and officially renamed "Hardy's Hotel".
From then on, the casino officially belonged to Hardy and Mike.
Back at the casino, Mike took out a check and handed it to Hardy, "Hardy, this is the money to buy the shares."
Hardy took the check and looked at it. It said three million. "Then I'll be polite. This money is just right for the construction of the unfinished facilities of the casino and for its opening."
Of course, this money is Hardy's personal property, and the casino is just borrowing it temporarily. After all, the casino belongs to Hardy and Mike, and this money must be repaid when the casino makes money in the future.
The next day.
People from HD Films came, with directors, cameras and lighting, and they also brought dozens of male and female actors who were signed by the HD agency. These actors who had no fame were very excited about the opportunity to appear on camera.
Hardy had called Ava Gardner and Hedy Lamarr specifically beforehand and asked them to come over to shoot the promotional video. The two of them dropped their work and came specially.
Two top Hollywood female stars, wearing beautiful dresses, introduced the Hardy Grand Hotel in front of the camera, selecting the most beautiful shots to make the casino hotel look more luxurious.
night,
Neon lights were flashing, and the casino was full of handsome men and beautiful women. People were gambling and having fun. Someone won thousands of dollars in one go, and the people around him happily joined in the fun.
Beautiful women gamble for money,
These are all elements that make hormones surge.
Two days.
The team took hundreds of photos and more than three hours of video, which were then edited and used in magazines and television advertisements.
Mike has been watching the film these past two days and has become more and more impressed with Hardy. He found that the shots and expressions shot with Hardy's guidance were more eye-catching than what the director had imagined, and he didn't know where he got so many ideas.
If Hardy knew what Mike was thinking, he would definitely tell him that by watching a few videos, even mortals can become gods.
During the filming, Hardy arranged for Ava Gardner and Hedy Lamarr to stay in Hardy's Grand Hotel room, but they were not on the same floor.
The main reason is that they are afraid that the noise will be too loud and disturb the other party.
The filming was over, the two beauties left, Ava returned to the crew to continue filming, and the filming team also returned to Los Angeles.
Hardy was also preparing to go back, but he still had to make some arrangements here before leaving.
Sure:
The person in charge of casino operations, Upton, 42 years old, was formerly the head of the Jewish Gang's McKinsey Club No. 5. He is very experienced in casino operations and is a very versatile person. Hardy asked him to bring people here in advance, one to familiarize himself with the environment, and the other to keep an eye on the project and wait for it to be completed and opened smoothly.
At the same time, let Andy arrange a few accountants and cashiers here.
The casino's security force is Rossi, one of the four military commanders of Los Angeles Company. Rossi has fifty people under him.
Robert Drew, head of HD Security Las Vegas, reserved 50 security personnel and withdrew all others to Los Angeles.
Hardy brought so many people here before in order to expand the territory. Now the situation in Las Vegas has basically stabilized. With fifty people from Los Angeles and fifty people from HD security, it is enough to handle the things here.
If there is a bigger problem, Los Angeles is not far from Las Vegas, only an hour by plane or four or five hours by car, so troops can be sent over quickly to solve any problems.
After everything was arranged, Hardy took Mike, Andy's team, and the security team to fly to Los Angeles. The Los Angeles branch of the TV factory had been under construction for more than half a year, and Mike was ready to inspect it.
The TV factory is located in the suburbs of Los Angeles and covers a large area. Four production lines are already in place and are being installed. The person in charge told Mike that it will take about a month to install these four production lines, which means that trial production can start in mid-August, which is earlier than expected.
The purpose of trial production is mainly to test the machines, so the output will not be too large, but 200 units per day is no problem, which is already higher than the production capacity of the old factory.
Hardy smiled and said, "We can continue to cooperate with banks and sell through installment direct sales. I can find banks such as Bank of America and Wells Fargo to cooperate with."
When Hardy first came up with this sales model, Mike was impressed.
"Well, I have already negotiated with several big banks in New York. They are all willing to develop this business. This will also increase their loan customers, which will be of great benefit to them."
After visiting the TV factory, Hardy took Mike to the Barbie doll factory and Playboy magazine, both of which are now helping Hardy continue to make profits.
Barbie dolls have now become synonymous with high-end toys and there are specialty stores in every major city. Once the doll clothing competition was launched, it attracted countless people's attention. The Barbie doll factory received thousands of design drawings, some of which were indeed excellent and suspected to be from professional designers.
Barbie dolls now bring Hardy about $100,000 in profit each month, or a million dollars a year.
As for Playboy magazine, it is an even greater money-making tool. After several months of development, its sales have grown to 300,000 copies per issue, half of which are sold by mail, so the magazine has higher profits.
The magazine did some calculations and found that its current monthly profit is around $400,000, which means its profit for that year is $5 million.
After Playboy magazine released its quarterly financial report, many people were shocked by the magazine's revenue, and its stock price soared sharply. Now Playboy's stock price has reached $15 per share.
In other words, the market value of Playboy magazine alone has reached 50 million US dollars, and there is still a lot of room for appreciation.
Mike was shocked when he heard the number.
Together with Hardy, he invested tens of millions to build a television factory. This TV factory can be said to be the largest TV factory in the United States, with an annual output of 400,000 units. However, he estimated that if it were listed, its market value would only be tens of millions.
The Corrion family has worked hard for decades, but its total assets, including fixed assets and various stock investments, are no more than 20 million.
Hardy can easily set up a magazine, and now it is worth 50 million. No wonder he told his father that the ceiling of the underworld business is very low, it is difficult to make money and the risk is high. If you want a family to reach a higher level, you still have to take the right path.
The underworld can only serve as an auxiliary.
But business is not that easy to do, and only a very small number of entrepreneurs can truly succeed. To establish a business family, one needs extremely high abilities and a far-sighted strategic vision.
Mike wasn't so confident on this point.
But he felt that Hardy would succeed. He didn't know why he had this idea, maybe it was just intuition.
Hardy warmly entertained Mike for a few days, and then Mike said goodbye and returned to New York, but Hardy still had a lot of things to do.