When Tom came, the old godfather told him that no matter what decision Hardy made, Tom must support it, so Tom was the first to stand up and agree to Hardy's conditions.
The patriarch of the Lucase family also stepped forward and said, "Mr. Hardy, I am also willing to invest and purchase 5% of the shares."
This man has a clear idea, he just wants to make money, he also has an economist by his side, his economist told him that all of Hardy's operations are like a stroke of genius, he can make hundreds of millions of dollars in just two years, and at the same time control a company like ABC TV station which has great voice. He admires Hardy's investment talent very much.
He believed that Hardy would definitely help him make money, so he agreed immediately.
Soon after, several more family heads expressed their willingness to purchase, leaving about ten families. They decided to go back and think about it, and also needed to determine how much they wanted to buy, after all, not every family had that much cash.
Hardy was not in a hurry and took these people to a restaurant for dinner.
In the afternoon, several more clan leaders came to Hardy. The rest were small families. Some bought 4%, 3%, and there was even one family that only bought 2%. It seemed that some families were not having a good time.
There was another family that never approached Hardy. I don't know if it was because of money issues or if they were helping the Basini family to find out the situation.
Hardy didn't care.
At last count, the new casino sold a total of 56% of its shares.
This number of shares suited Hardy's wishes. If he sold too many shares, he would have too small a share and would earn little when the casino was operational.
Hardy let Los Angeles Company hold 10% of the remaining shares, and he himself held 34%.
Holding 34% of the shares, it has the so-called veto power.
However, Hardy is not afraid of shareholder rebellion because he has a management rights agreement. With the management rights agreement, even if he only has a few percent of the shares, he can have complete control over the company.
It's settled.
Hardy signed an agreement with the mafia leaders in the hotel, and a project with an investment of hundreds of millions was officially finalized.
As for the investment money.
Other families said they would hand over the funds gradually after returning, and it would take about one to two months. Hardy said that the Venetian Hotel would set up a construction management team, and all fund usage of the company would have to be approved by the management team. The management team would be accountable to all shareholders and would report the construction status and fund usage details every once in a while.
After hearing what Hardy said, the clan leaders were finally relieved. They were afraid that Hardy would be like Siegel and spend excessively in pursuit of extreme spending, and then their money might really be wasted.
The matter was settled, and the patriarchs of the Mafia families said goodbye one after another. Hardy looked at the agreement and chuckled. These people were already on board, and from now on, the Mafia would no longer be a big threat to him.
After seeing these people off, Hardy also returned to Los Angeles.
The reason why he was in a hurry to come back was because there was a speech waiting for him here.
When he made the deal with Mayer, one of the terms was that he would become the chairman of the Screen Actors Guild, and Mayer agreed.
Now that the union president election is approaching, several candidates have already started campaigning, and Hadi is one of them, but there has been no movement.
Today, the Screen Actors Guild has about 40,000 registered members, including film and television actors, journalists, radio celebrities, recording artists, singers, voice actors and other media professionals.
They are mainly distributed in Hollywood and New York, but don't underestimate this number. Although most of them are ordinary actors and minor actors, the big stars are also here.
Their appeal is very strong. Sometimes in presidential elections, candidates will invite these big stars to endorse them in order to borrow the power of the stars’ fans and increase their own support rate.
Moreover, there are journalists and radio celebrities among them. Their influence is also considerable. Their pens can write about people to death, and their celebrities can talk about people to death.
This is also the biggest reason why Hardy wants to be the president of the Screen Actors Guild, because becoming the president of the union is equivalent to holding a powerful force.
Hardy had just returned to Los Angeles when he received a call from Mayer, "Hardy, I heard that you and others have set up a new casino and invested 100 million?!"
“Yes.”
"Didn't you say you were going to build a new casino with us?" Meyer asked with a frown.
"Haha, there is no conflict. Our new casino will also be built. I am waiting for your news." Hardy said.
“Won’t there be a conflict? A billion-dollar casino will be built and everyone will compete for the business after it’s completed,” said Mayer.
"Mr. Meyer, I told you before that Las Vegas is a big gold mine. One person can't dig it all. And the better we build this gold mine, the more tourists we get, and the more money we make."
"You know what the cluster effect is? If you build a few more casinos, when tourists want to play, they will think of Las Vegas first, not anywhere else."
"I can tell you that even if Las Vegas builds 10 casinos of this size, it still won't be saturated. Tourists are always coming. We have built the casinos, and the only thing left to do is to attract them. It's like after a movie is shot, we still have to do a large-scale promotion before the release."
"And there's another reason why I have to build this new casino." Hardy's voice became a little more serious.
"What's the reason?" Meyer asked curiously.
"The partners I'm working with this time are all big Mafia families, 15 in total, accounting for more than half of the Mafia committee. They originally had casinos in Las Vegas, but they were smaller in scale, about the same size as the underground casinos in Los Angeles."
"Because the opening of Hardy's Grand Hotel attracted most of the tourists, causing their business to plummet, these mafia families have developed hatred. To be honest, I am in Las Vegas, and they dare not do anything to Hardy's Grand Hotel. If there is another new casino built, do you think they will tolerate such a thing happening?"
When Meyer heard this, he immediately realized that this was indeed the case.
They just have money, but they are powerless against the Mafia.
If it weren't for Hardy,
There's no chance they'll even get involved in Las Vegas.
In later generations, Las Vegas was under the control of the Mafia until the 1960s and 1970s. The Mafia was later dealt with by Kennedy, and after several more attacks, the Mafia began to decline. Only then did Wall Street and some big capital have the opportunity to enter Las Vegas and open more casinos and hotels.
Before the Mafia fell, even powerful companies like Wall Street and big capitalists were unable to get a piece of this meat.
There are people and things on Wall Street that are beyond our control.
From this we can see that
The Mafia is indeed a formidable force.
The Wall Street bosses are not invincible. They think that rich people are more afraid of death. If you play dirty with the mafia, they will dare to play hard to you.
At any moment your car might explode, your house might explode, or even your cigar might explode.
Of course,
Later, the Mafia declined. There were many reasons for this, which I will not analyze here one by one. It was precisely because he knew that the Mafia would decline in the future, and Hardy knew the reasons, that he turned himself white from the beginning.
You can't find any problems with him alone.
Even if someone knows that he is the boss behind the gang, so what? You have no evidence, and making random statements without evidence can get people killed.
As long as Hadi becomes powerful enough in the future, comparable to the eight major conglomerates, politicians will not dare to touch him, and no one will care about your past history of making a fortune.
a money-making business.
hd security armed forces.
ABC TV, Global Times and other media.
These are the fortresses that Hardy built for himself.
With money, military force and media discourse power in hand, even the President of the United States would not dare to touch me easily.
That’s getting off topic.
When Hardy told Mayer about the powerful relationship involved, Mayer finally realized that if he pushed these mafia families into a corner and united against them, it would be unknown whether his casino could be built, let alone make money.
When the building was almost completed, there was an explosion and the building collapsed, and all his investment was lost.
"I will build a new luxury casino with them and make money with them, which will eliminate the crisis and expand the influence of Las Vegas. Do you think my decision is wrong?" Hardy asked.
"Yes, I think you did the right thing, Hardy." Meyer said immediately.
Meyer was well aware of the methods and power of these mafia families, and he felt that what Hardy did was indeed right.
"So will our investment continue?" Mayer asked.
"Of course go ahead, I have prepared the land." said Hardy.
Hardy bought a large amount of land in Las Vegas. After several months of acquisitions, he already had more than 20,000 acres. After Hardy's Hotel business became popular, land prices began to soar, and the land he hoarded has now appreciated a lot.
He plans to buy the 100 acres of land for building the Venetian Hotel from his own hands. The price? Of course it won’t be cheap.
The land for the hotel that he cooperated with Mayer was naturally purchased from his own company, because the land he had was the best in Las Vegas.
"I talked to a few friends before, and everyone suggested investing 20 million. Now it seems that the investment may need to be increased," said Mayer.
"I think it can be set at 50 million," Hardy suggested.
"50 million? I need to discuss it with my partners," said Mayer.
"Then I'll wait for your news."
After hanging up the phone, Hardy picked up a speech from the table. This was the speech he would use for the show tomorrow night. He was going to appear on "The Tonight Show with Elaine" tomorrow to campaign for his candidacy for the chairman of the Screen Actors Guild.
This is his first time on stage.
Standing in the spotlight, countless Americans will recognize him in the future.
And he.
It's impossible to hide behind forever.
The next evening.
Hardy came to the ABC TV station's large studio, which can accommodate more than 100 people, and almost all of the people who came today are big Hollywood stars.
Hardy is now the owner of a major Hollywood film company and the largest radio company in the country. Most of the Hollywood movie stars are registered with the Screen Actors Guild. Hardy invited them just to get them to vote for him.
When Hardy entered, many people were standing at the door to greet him.
At a glance, they are all famous Hollywood stars, as well as some directors, screenwriters, and producers.
Hardy saw Li Gen in the crowd. He was standing behind those big stars. Now Li Gen has joined Hardy's agency and become a contracted actor of Hardy's company.
The filming of Ghost, starring Li Gen and Hedy Lamar, has been completed and has officially entered the post-production stage.
Hadi greeted these people. After all, he needed to win their votes. When he walked in front of Li Gen, Li Gen stretched out his hands to shake hands with Hadi. Hadi moved closer and said to Li Gen: "The filming of the movie is completed. What can I do now?"
"Nothing." Li Gen said quickly.
"Are you interested in working for the Actors Union? If I am elected as the union chairman, you can be my assistant." Hardy said.
Li Gen was immediately surprised.
"Of course I would, Mr. Hardy."
Hardy smiled and said, "It's settled then. From now on you will be my assistant in the 'Screen Actors Guild President Election' campaign."
Later, Li Gen started his career in the Screen Actors Guild. While working as an actor, he first joined the union, then became the chairman of the Screen Actors Guild, joined the Republican Party, and then became a California state assemblyman, senator, governor of California, and finally president.
The fact that he was able to rise step by step and do so well fully demonstrates Li Gen's ability, so Hardy thought of him and made him his assistant. He would have a lot of things to do in the future, and the daily affairs of the union would be handed over to him to handle.
It feels good to have a future president as your assistant.