My absurd experiences in North America over the years

In the third week of November, Nashville experienced its first snowfall of the winter.

Li Fu sat in his office on the fourteenth floor of the Forrest Building, with a thick stack of documents spread out on the table in front of him. He had been thinking about Lina's investment plan for the past few days.

He never imagined that a giant like Warner Bros. could be in such dire straits in this era.

This deal is a must. Although he's not that familiar with capital operations, he can learn them and rely on his team, who are professionals.

With his absolute God's-eye view, who can stop them?

In addition, the Tribune Group, a relatively unfamiliar name, also has great value, as it owns 23 television stations and century-old newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune.

Now these have become collateral on the debt chain, allowing people to directly buy junk bonds and become major creditors without spending much money at all.

To avoid further losses, most Wall Street bankers are taking a wait-and-see approach, and even those who do make a move won't be as extravagant as he is.

This is absolutely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

He could potentially bring this century-old newspaper giant under his control through bankruptcy reorganization, exchanging debt for equity, or at the very least, become its major shareholder.

Lina's investment proposals not only cover the East and West Coasts of North America, but also include overseas investment suggestions.

Of course, this research was conducted according to his instructions.

The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong fell from 30,000 points to 14,000 due to the financial crisis, Tencent's stock price fell from over 70 to over 30, and Alibaba's stock price fell from 40 to single digits.

Neither of these giants has entered a period of frenzied expansion yet. Lina's suggestion is to try accumulating shares; short-term investment should yield a substantial profit.

Li Fu shook his head. He knew that for the next ten years, the domestic internet would be dominated by Tencent and Alibaba.

He doesn't make short-term investments; he intends to hold them for the long term.

Li Fu read through the entire stack of materials. Time Warner and Tribune were two unavoidable moves in his strategy to establish media dominance, but they required a huge investment, at least over a billion dollars.

He has now traveled between the East and West coasts twice, investing $6000 million in Musk, $5 million in Twitter, $2 million in the New York Times, and $12 billion in the Trump family...

Nearly two billion was spent in total.

He earned 6.3 million from his first investment, used it to invest 5000 million in the foreign exchange market, leaving him with 5.8 million. After the financial crisis, the euro depreciated against the dollar, and he cashed out 20 billion, bringing his total cash flow to 25.8 billion.

In other words, his cash flow of only about 6 million was no longer sufficient to support his large-scale operations.

Li Fu turned on his computer and logged into his foreign exchange trading account again. He had to close out his euro/dollar position, which he had originally planned to hold for the long term.

As the financial crisis continues to rage and capital flows back to the United States, the euro has fallen to around 1.24 against the dollar.

Without hesitation, he closed out the remaining one-third of his position, turning a profit of 10 billion into 19.3 billion. This 19 billion will be the base for his next operations.

He quickly made a plan and, following Lina's advice, spent $10 billion on the stock market to buy up as much Time Warner stock as possible, aiming to acquire at least 3.5% of the total shares.

They then spent another $5 million to purchase Tribune-related securities in the bond market, becoming one of its major creditors.

Tencent and Alibaba will each invest $100 million to purchase shares at current prices and hold them long-term.

Tencent's current closing price is HK$34, with a total share capital of approximately 18 billion shares. One US$100 million, at the current exchange rate of approximately HK$780 million, can buy approximately 2294 million shares, representing approximately 1.27% of Tencent's total share capital.

Alibaba closed at approximately HK$4, with a total share capital of approximately 5 billion shares. One US$100 million could buy approximately 1.95 million shares, representing about 3.9% of Alibaba's total share capital…

Just as the staff were preparing to buy at the bottom, Li Fu suddenly remembered something.

If calculated by stock price, Alibaba's stock was indeed at an epic bottom. However, two or three years later, Jack Ma made a surprising move and directly privatized and repurchased the B2B business.

In 2012, Alibaba was not yet the behemoth it would become, a global internet giant.

The return on this investment is limited.

He immediately changed his mind and increased his investment in Tencent, putting all two hundred million US dollars into Tencent.

Based on the current stock price, he could acquire approximately 2.5% of the equity.

In any case, this investment will be worth at least several dozen times more in ten years. Even if he goes bankrupt and is liquidated in America, he will still be a wealthy man when he returns home.

His companies, which he previously registered in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, are now operational.

Ten million US dollars in angel funding is enough to provide maximum support to those startup tech companies.

After a series of maneuvers, he set up a massive investment of $1.7 billion, which depleted most of the company's working capital, leaving it with less than $900 million.

Li Fu decided to temporarily halt his frenzied investment spree and turn his attention to the land beneath his feet—Nashville.

The situation in Nashville is not much better than in New York. Tennessee’s official unemployment rate has climbed to 7.0%, but the actual figure is likely to be double.

During the recession, the Nashville area lost 53,000 jobs. Nashville has a total population of 59, and the entire metropolitan area has a combined population of just over one million.

Countless families are struggling to breathe between loan repayment deadlines and depleted relief funds.

Anxiety is pervasive among residents, with some job seekers admitting they are willing to do anything, even jobs paying $6-7 an hour, far below their expected salary.

The landmark Nashville International Airport car rental center project has been indefinitely postponed. This major project, with a total investment of $7000 million, has been delayed indefinitely due to the unstable economic environment and poor bond market conditions.

Meanwhile, consumption and development across the region have almost come to a standstill. The recent closure of Bellevue Mall and weak market demand have also led to a 50% drop in new building permits.

New downtown apartments that went on the market a few months ago are selling very poorly.

Construction of highways and bridges has been completely halted, with a funding gap estimated at at least several hundred million US dollars.

Lucy is currently overwhelmed with work at the city government, which relies on state funding, while the state government is waiting for federal trust funds for public works projects...

As for the federal government, Congress has not yet passed a $7000 billion bailout bill.

Waiting for federal funding is probably going to take forever.

Li Fu saw this as an opportunity; even if it didn't make money, it could help Lucy and Cole establish absolute authority in Nashville and Tennessee.

The further his siblings went in their careers, the more he could achieve his ambitions, or at least the safer he would be.

Just after four o'clock in the afternoon, Li Fu turned off his computer, closed the stack of materials on the table, and stuffed them into the drawer.

Thompson poked half his body in through the doorway, holding a freshly printed settlement statement in his hand.

"Mr. Li, Time Warner has already bought over $300 million worth of stock, and several institutions have agreed to transfer their positions in Tribune bonds to us..."

Li Fu took the delivery slip and glanced at it. "It's still far from what we expected. Let's keep going."

"Okay," Thompson said, taking the transaction slip. "Are you heading out? Do you need me to drive you?"

"No need, you stay here. Call me if anything happens," Li Fu patted him on the shoulder.

The whole team has been working overtime lately, and everyone is working very hard. He plans to give them a five million dollar bonus at the end of the month.

Each person will receive at least tens of thousands of US dollars.

Thompson stepped aside to let the door open, casually picked up his boss's bag, and escorted him to the elevator, pressing the button for the first floor.

Nashville winters are much colder than when he first arrived, not only because of the drop in temperature, but also because of the city's desolation.

Most of the pedestrians on the street were wrapped in old overcoats and walked hurriedly, as if they didn't want to be recognized by anyone.

There are many more homeless people on the roadside now, and the hot dog stall that used to sell them in the square downstairs is gone.

At least a third of the small and medium-sized enterprises in the entire building have disappeared.

While he was waiting for the light to turn red at the intersection, a middle-aged man in faded overalls held up a sign that read, "Unemployed, two young children at home, seeking any job."

Knowing the hardships of middle-aged people, Li Fu took out a hundred-dollar bill from his pocket and handed it over, hoping that at least the family could have a decent meal that night!

Wall Street plundered the high-leverage profits of the financial boom, but ordinary people ended up bearing the consequences.

The man paused for a moment, then took the money and kowtowed three times, muttering "God bless you."

Li started the car and drove towards the municipal government.

The city hall is located in the city center, with a gray-white granite exterior and a state flag fluttering in the wind hanging on the flagpole at the entrance.

There were only a few cars left in the parking lot; most people had already left work by this time, but Lucy's office lights were still on.

Li Fu parked his car and walked into the building. The security guard glanced at him, recognized his identity, and let him in.

Lucy's office was on the second floor, and the door was ajar.

She sat behind her desk, a stack of documents spread out in front of her, a pen in her hand, her brow furrowed into a shallow frown.

From Li Fu's perspective, she was wearing a light gray turtleneck sweater, her hair was casually tied up, and she only had light makeup on her face, with clearly visible dark circles under her eyes, indicating that she had been very busy lately.

He gently knocked on the door frame.

Lucy looked up and saw him, a smile playing on her lips. "What brings you here? Didn't I tell you to wait for me at the company?"

They agreed to have dinner together that evening.

"I finished my work ahead of schedule and came to pick you up," Li Fu said as he walked into the office and sat down in the chair opposite him. "Is there any work you haven't finished?"

"The budget for the entire quarter next year hasn't come from the state government yet, and the city doesn't have any money, so no projects can start," Lucy put down her pen, leaned back in her chair, and rubbed her temples.

Last month, the municipal government's fiscal revenue was 30 percent less than the same period last year. If this continues, next month even civil servants' salaries may be delayed.

This situation is not uncommon in the United States; sometimes even the government and the White House have to shut down.

Li Fu didn't reply. He took out a folded note from his pocket and pushed it in front of Lucy.

The sign lists several projects: the new car rental center at Nashville International Airport, the reopening of the downtown shopping plaza, the renovation of the East Side wastewater treatment plant, the continued construction of affordable housing in the south of the city, and the road surface renovation of several main roads.

Each project is accompanied by an estimated investment amount and the number of jobs it is expected to create.

This was to tell Lucy that he wanted to take on these projects.

Lucy looked down at the paper and remained silent for a long time.

Her index finger stopped on the first project—the new car rental center at Nashville International Airport, a $70 million investment expected to create 300 direct jobs.

"This project was approved last year, but because of the financial market crash, bonds barely sold any," she looked up at Li Fu. "Didn't you invest over a billion dollars in Time Warner and Tribune Media? Where did you get the money for this?"

"There are still eight or nine hundred million in the company account," Li Fu leaned back in his chair. "I want to take out a portion of it to help Nashville recover from this crisis."

Lucy frowned slightly. "You know, some of these projects have long investment cycles, and some have low returns. They're not the high-quality projects you're talking about. If the economic crisis continues, they might even lose money."

Li Fu didn't reply. He stood up, walked to the window, and looked out at the Nashville skyline. In the distance, the Cumberland River shimmered with a dim yellow light in the setting sun.

The abandoned cranes along the riverbank, like frozen arms, stretched motionless towards the sky.

"The economic crisis won't last long," Li Fu said, offering a perspective unique to this era. "The market will fully recover in two or three years at most, and by then these projects will not only break even but also make a profit. Of course, the most important thing right now is to improve the current situation in Nashville..."

Lucy leaned back in her chair, knowing that Li Fu wanted to help her. "What if we lose money? I don't want you to disrupt your plans because of me."

"Trust me, I won't lose money. It's just that the investment period is a bit long," Li Fu said confidently. "Besides, my primary goal isn't to make money."

Lucy frowned slightly. "Then why?"

"For you, for Cole, for the Forrest family..." Li Fu looked into her eyes, "and for myself, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to gain public support."

Of course, it can also help those who are bankrupt, preventing them from ending up homeless.

Lucy looked at him with some surprise.

"Currently, the unemployment rate in the entire state of Tennessee is nearly 10 percent. Nashville has already lost 50,000 to 60,000 jobs. Those projects that have been shut down are not just cold, hard numbers; they represent the mortgages, health insurance, and children's tuition fees for tens of thousands of families," Li Fu said, appealing to their emotions and reasoning with them.

Who can reopen businesses at this time? Who can provide jobs and pay salaries to the unemployed? Who can inject vitality into this stagnant situation?

Then he is the benefactor of this city.

No one is more suitable than siblings Cole and Lucy.

The Forrest family has been based in Tennessee for nearly a century and owns the largest private hospital in the United States. There is also a powerful figure in the family who works in Washington, D.C.

When this city needs heroes to step forward, who is more deserving than them?

North America is a political arena based on electoral votes, and there is no better time to gain massive fame than now, as fame often translates into votes.

Lucy lowered her head, her gaze falling on the sticky note on the table.

The new car rental center at Nashville International Airport is worth $70 million and will create 300 direct jobs.

Downtown shopping plaza reopens, with a budget of $50 million and 450 direct jobs.

The renovation of the East District wastewater treatment plant cost $40 million and created more than 400 direct jobs.

The construction of affordable housing in the south of the city will continue, costing US$35 million and creating more than 600 direct jobs.

The road surface renovation of several main roads cost $40 million and created more than 250 direct jobs.

All projects combined represent an investment of over $200 million and have created more than 2,000 direct jobs.

Once these projects resume operations, they will also drive related industries to start operating simultaneously, indirectly creating several times more jobs.