50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 578 Target: Guardia Airport
After Sun Zhiwei offered an irresistible salary, the four girls from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., resolutely left their hometown and came to New York to contribute to Sun Zhiwei's career.

After dealing with the jewelry store matter, Sun Zhiwei focused his main efforts on researching information about LaGuardia Airport.

He hired the Pinkerton National Detective Agency to investigate the airport.

The Pinkerton National Detective Agency has been a leader in the American private detective industry since its founding in 1850, and is known for its rigorous professionalism.

In its early days, the Pinkerton Detective Agency was similar to a private army, doing the work of mercenaries, and most of their business came from the U.S. government.

During the westward expansion, the frontier towns relied on them for security services.

Especially in the 19th century, the agency became a guardian of public safety in that era thanks to its professional detective skills and rigorous work attitude.

Of course, in a capitalist society, there are no security companies that can remain unscathed.

In the 20th century, driven by capital, they also became notorious for their involvement in numerous crackdowns on workers.

Later, due to excessive abuse of power and atrocities, the Pinkerton National Detective Agency gradually transformed from a guardian of society into a public enemy.

Many comics and media outlets portray them as villains in their works, thus spreading their fame widely.

Furthermore, with the government beginning to limit its influence, Pinkerton is now just an ordinary private security force.

This once-established detective agency is no longer what it used to be; its staff, equipment, and business volume are all declining.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have taken on such mundane small business as Sun Zhiwei's commercial investigations in the past.

However, even a weakened camel is bigger than a horse; the Pinkerton National Detective Agency's influence and investigative capabilities in the United States remain second to none.

Sun Zhiwei didn't ask them to go to war, so investigating an airport was a very simple task.

A few days later, they had collected all the information that Sun Zhiwei had requested.

He learned from the information that the three major airports in New York, including LaGuardia Airport, are now managed and operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

However, LaGuardia Airport's business volume has declined significantly in the past two years, and it now needs the profits from New York's other two major international airports to offset its losses.

John F. Kennedy International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport have strong opinions about this.

Within the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, there have been calls to subcontract or even sell LaGuardia Airport.

However, as the losses are still manageable, no motion has been proposed yet.

Declining profits or even losses are a common problem for many regional airports in the United States in recent years.

In fact, as long as international oil prices come down, these airports will soon be able to turn a profit.

Therefore, most regional airports are scrambling to find funding to stay afloat and weather the oil price storm, all waiting for oil prices to fall.

But only Sun Zhiwei knew that the Iran-Iraq War would last for ten years.

International crude oil prices did not fall significantly until 86 when the White Turbans' production capacity surged and a price war began.

With two years remaining, it's clear that most regional airports won't last until then, and LaGuardia Airport is no exception.

Historically, LaGuardia Airport will introduce private capital next year.

But Sun Zhiwei doesn't want a partial stake in LaGuardia Airport; he wants the whole thing, and he doesn't want to wait until next year.

Therefore, he needs to add fuel to the already inflated oil prices to accelerate or even amplify this oil price disaster.

It was time to make another move. He called the New York Mercantile Exchange to inquire about the current price of crude oil futures. $28 per barrel, still slowly declining, gave hope to the major airports.

Sun Zhiwei thought for a moment, and then began to mobilize funds.

He first called Cheng Ka-fa, the president of Cathay Bank.

"Xiao Zheng, I need to raise funds. What's the maximum amount you can raise?"

“Mr. James, please wait a moment, I need to do some calculations.”

"Okay, I'll call back in half an hour."

Then came Ryan Clark and Huang Hongxuan, who managed all eight of Sun Zhiwei's gold mines.

The latest data shows that all his gold mines can now produce 15 ounces of gold per month, or 40 tons of gold per year.

This quantity is of course incomparable to the output of those super-large gold mines. As far as he knows, the world's largest gold mine is currently the Serra Perada gold mine in Brazil.

Since its discovery in the 80s, this gold mine has been operated by the military, employing manual labor. At its peak, nearly 10 workers were searching for gold there, and its annual output reached 50 tons.

Gold prices have been relatively stable this year, hovering around $430 per ounce. As a result, his total gross revenue from his eight gold mines this year is $7.74 million.

Of course, mining has costs. On average, the profit margin of his eight gold mines is 65%.

In other words, Sun Zhiwei's net profit from the gold mine this year is approximately $5 million.

These mines have now reached their peak production levels, and the profit margin is declining every year over time.

Sun Zhiwei's inquiry about the gold mine's revenue was actually an attempt to estimate the amount of funds he could mobilize.

A gold mine is money. He doesn't need to sell the gold, but he can mortgage it to any bank to obtain temporary funds.

Half an hour later, Zheng Jiafa called back.

“Mr. James, Cathay Pacific’s entire network of branches can pool $9 million and 40 tons of gold without a massive run on the bank.”

“However, it cannot exceed 3 months.” Sun Zhiwei understood that the bank’s funds were not untouchable, but they could not be used indefinitely.

The 40 tons of gold are now worth $6 million, which means he has a total of $15 billion at his disposal.

This amount is not enough; to shake up crude oil futures prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange, at least $20 billion in cash would be needed.

But he clearly can't raise that much money right now unless he mortgages the gold mine or uses the Federal Reserve's gold reserves in the space.

He had considered seeking support from within China, but this time he was going to speculate in the crude oil futures market.

If it weren't for the 1000 tons of gold in the space as a safety net, he would be taking a risk this time, and the country would never agree to it.

After hanging up the phone, Sun Zhiwei quickly thought things through. Then, he looked at the world map on the wall.

Perhaps there are other ways to increase the leverage of my limited funds. Everyone says to go with the flow, so I shouldn't just force things.

With a clear direction for action, Sun Zhiwei began to plan the battlefield in the United States. First, he needed someone to take his place at the New York Stock Exchange.

This person must not only be trustworthy, but also resolutely carry out every order given to them.

(End of this chapter)