50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 514 "The List of America's 400 Richest People"

After Cheng Damin had prepared the cash, he had someone deliver the money to Sun Zhiwei's temporary villa in a car.

He only made one phone call and didn't go over directly because he was too busy.

During the phone call, Sun Zhiwei also inquired about Cheng Damin's health.

"Brother, you can't keep working like this. How can your body take it? You still think of yourself as a young man."

Cheng Damin is already over 60 years old and was about to retire. If he weren't worried about the newly developed mainland market, he wouldn't be so hands-on anymore.

Especially after adding business in mainland China, his workload increased dramatically, which made Sun Zhiwei a little scared.

Fortunately, his chosen successor, Zheng Jiafa, was quite capable and helped him with many tasks; otherwise, Sun Zhiwei was truly afraid that his health would suffer.

“James, I’m not too comfortable with the new business in mainland China. It’s just starting out there, and the business volume is so large. If there’s a problem with the decision-making, there could be a huge loss.”

"I'm holding your billion yuan, I can't be careless." He said billion yuan, but it wasn't actually that much.
Last time, Sun Zhiwei transferred 80 ounces of gold from the Federal Reserve to Guotai. At the current gold price of $650 per ounce, that's over 5 million yuan.

Adding the $300 million in cash held in the New York branch, the total is only $820 million, and we still need to subtract the amount he spent.

"Hey bro, there's no way there's a billion. Don't exaggerate your situation."

"Jiafa is already capable of handling things on his own, so why don't you let him give it a try? How can he develop if he doesn't try? At most, you can just supervise him from behind the scenes."

"Then let Jiafa try?" Cheng Damin asked uncertainly.

"Give it a try. I'm not afraid of losing money, so what are you afraid of?" Sun Zhiwei thought he was being a bit indecisive. What's the big deal?

The main reason is that he knew Zheng Jiafa would develop and expand Guotai. Being able to foresee this, he naturally wasn't worried about his abilities; at most, he would have to pay some tuition fees in the early stages.

"Alright then, let him try it for a few months and see how it goes."

With the consent of the largest shareholder, it is no longer in doubt that Zheng Jiafa will inherit the positions of chairman and general manager.

After chatting for a few more minutes, the two hung up the phone.

After hanging up the phone, Sun Zhiwei belatedly realized that he seemed to have been tricked by that old man Cheng Damin.

"That old bastard, if he wants Zheng Jiafa to take over, why can't he just say so? He's trying to trick me, he's not even human! Humph!"

Although he was slightly annoyed, the decision coincided with his own thoughts, so he wasn't too angry.

Looking at the ten silver combination lock boxes in the living room, he casually opened one, glanced at the box full of new banknotes, and nodded in satisfaction.

Two years ago, a diamond cutting factory in Tel Aviv attempted to take away De Beers' pricing power by stockpiling diamonds.

A series of struggles ensued between the two sides, involving banks, agents, and buyers, which led to a year-on-year decline in diamond prices over the past two years.

80年3月的时候一克拉无瑕钻石的基准价格为6万3千美元，到去年9月，这个数字跌到了2万3千美元。

Diamond prices have not recovered this year.

In order to recover loans to diamond merchants, Tel Aviv Bank began dumping the diamond inventory that the merchants had pledged to it, causing diamond prices to fall even further.

Sun Zhiwei's entry into the market at this time can be said to be perfectly timed. For De Beers, which had already unified most of the world's diamond mines in its early years, it had two fatal flaws.

First, some people hoard diamonds. When the amount of diamonds hoarded reaches a certain scale, they no longer have enough cash to influence the market.

For example, the hoarding incident in Tel Aviv has not yet been fully resolved.

Secondly, when a country outside their sphere of influence discovers a new diamond mine, they must quickly incorporate the new mining area into their territory; otherwise, their strategy of high diamond prices will collapse.

This kind of thing has happened a few times in previous years, such as the last time when a new diamond mine was discovered in Siberia.

At that time, De Beers, through secret negotiations, brought Russia into the sphere of influence of its diamond monopoly.

A few years ago, a new, huge diamond mine was discovered in the Argyle region of Australia, which is said to be able to produce 5000 million carats of rough diamonds annually.

De Beers wanted to control the diamond mine in order to maintain its monopoly.

Unfortunately, Rio Tinto (the later Rio Tinto) is not grateful at all regarding the mine, and the two sides are still negotiating.

Having received 1000 million yuan in cash, Sun Zhiwei stored all the safes in his spatial storage and prepared to fly to Africa.

On the very day he was preparing to leave, he received another call from Cheng Damin.

"Mr. James, congratulations on making it onto the list of America's richest people."

Chen Damin's words surprised Sun Zhiwei: "What rich list?"

Just now, Forbes magazine released the world's first list of richest people, the "400 Richest Americans" list.

Sun Zhiwei ranks 32nd on the rich list with a net worth of $6 million.

Upon hearing the news, Sun Zhiwei hung up the phone with a grave expression. He quickly found the latest issue of Forbes magazine and saw the rich list.

The list includes 400 billionaires, with Neil Keith Ludwig topping the list with a net worth of $20 billion.

He was a very low-key person who built cruise ships for the United States during World War II and owned 350 million acres of land.

The last person's wealth also reached the $7500 million threshold.

The total wealth of all 400 people on the list is $920 billion, with thirteen of them having a combined net worth of $10 billion.

Through the explanation of this list, he learned that his $6 million net worth was a conclusion reached by Forbes based on his 80 ounces of gold reserves at the Federal Reserve, two gold mines in California, two businesses in Washington and New York, and multiple properties.

However, his shares in Cathay Pacific were transferred secretly and were not included in the calculation. Furthermore, the two overseas islands and mineral resources were also not included.

The amount of wealth he possessed was not his main concern; rather, it revealed information about him. Although many people knew he was rich, his lack of social interaction had kept it from attracting attention.

Once this list is released, people will definitely investigate his identity and wealth. He doesn't know if there are any loopholes in it.

Another problem is that the identity he is currently using, James, was given to him by the state. Whose wealth does this actually belong to?
Money is a powerful motivator. Although not many people in China know about him, there are still a few. Who knows if any of them are envious?

At this point, he couldn't care less about the diamonds in Africa. His immediate priority was to return home and report the situation. He couldn't wait for someone else to report it, or he would be put in a passive position.

(End of this chapter)