hollywood billionaire

Chapter 258 TV

“Since the first Monaco Yacht Show in 1991, Port Hercules has been the focus of the global yachting industry.”

“And since the first Monaco Yacht Show, Moran Yacht & Ship has been standing on the center stage of Europe. Although we are from Fort Lauderdale and from another coastline across the Atlantic, we have been in the world for more than 30 years. Our senior experience still makes the ultra-high-net-worth people here choose to entrust us with their full trust. From thirty feet to three hundred feet, we provide different levels of perfect experience for customers with different needs."

Chris Callahan, the marketing director of Moran Yacht & Ship, stood on the main road at the entrance to Port Hercules, turned around, and introduced Han Yi with a bright smile.

The Port of Hercules, located in the La Condamine district of Monaco, has a concave-shaped layout and can be roughly divided into two parts: the outer harbor and the inner harbor.The outer harbor is located at the entrance of the pier. On weekdays, visiting yachts and other ships need to queue up to enter the harbor and berth.During the Monaco Yacht Show, when the dock booths are full, superyachts with longer hulls will anchor directly in the outer harbor area, waiting for VIPs to visit.

"Normally, there are only a few places where you can board ships and berth in the inner harbor of Port Hercules. You see, the outer row on the left is the part leased by Espen-Oino International, which is dedicated to berthing. The ships related to them. The one a little further in is called Swallow Pier, where the headquarters of the Monaco Port Office is located. Yes, it is the pavilion-like building."

"Opposite it is the Marina Rainier, named after Rainier I, the first sovereign ruler of Gremaldi in Monaco. Tourists usually go there when visiting the port, because the cruise ships sailing along the Côte d'Azur are definitely Most depart from Rainier Marina.”

"The area we are in now is the core part of the inner harbor of the harbor - the central T-shaped platform. This is the essence of the entire Monaco luxury yacht scene. There are no cruise ships, no water buses, and no maritime police or customs , visitor center and other service facilities. In addition to an oil storage depot on the left and a ship waste recycling point, you can see that every inch of water is used for berthing of private yachts. "

"The fees here shouldn't be cheap, right?" Han Yi has always been very interested in trivial knowledge in unfamiliar fields.In Han Yi's view, broadening one's horizons and leaving with as much understanding of the universe, the world, and the society as possible is one of the most important main tasks in life. "Should I pay the monthly fee or pay the annual fee directly?"

"Generally it's a monthly fee."

Chris Callahan answered patiently.A well-trained salesperson should be ready to provide satisfactory answers to every quirky and complex question posed by a customer.After all, the more interest a customer shows and the more detailed questions they ask, the greater the likelihood of closing the deal.

"The specific price will fluctuate greatly depending on the length of the hull, off-peak and peak seasons, and hull structure. I just helped a customer buy a yacht berth two days ago. His hull length was converted into metric, which is about 100... ...about 103 meters. We parked here last month, and because it was the peak season, we had to pay about US$40700. When the off-season starts next month, the price will drop back to US$27000. Therefore, we usually advise customers not to stop if it is not necessary. Come to Monaco to park your boat in the peak season. If you have to come here, you can just choose to pay the rent by the day. If the parking here is full, you can park it in Nice or Ventimiglia in Italy. It’s only half an hour’s drive anyway.”

"Is Nice cheaper than Monaco?" Han Yi asked with interest, "I thought the prices in the two places were about the same, and they were both tourist destinations."

"But Monaco is so big after all. The coastline of Nice is almost three to four times that of Monaco." Chris Callahan said, "I don't remember the specific price, but a ten-meter boat in Nice Renting a place for a year costs around 5000 euros, and Ventimiglia is cheaper. But here in Monaco, even in the off-season, it costs at least 1000 euros a month."

"The price is twice as expensive." Han Yi went over the numbers in his mind and sighed softly, "No wonder the people who work here live in France." Following the courtesy car arranged by Chris Callahan, he set off from the hotel. On the way to Hercules Port, Han Yi chatted casually with the driver and was shocked by the high prices in Monaco.

A family of four who wants to live in Monaco must pay at least 7000 euros per month in rent.

In the center of Nice, the cheapest four-bedroom apartment costs less than 2000 euros.

This is why Monaco’s permanent population is only 6000, but its total number of employees exceeds [-].Anyway, there is no customs clearance process, so you can simply earn Monaco wages and enjoy French prices.

"It's like a boxing match, where the guy in the Octagon is the star."

Standing on the right side of Chris Callahan, the silver-haired old man who had not said a word the whole time, wearing sunglasses and folding his hands in front of his body, who looked like he was imitating Robert De Niro, suddenly spoke.

"Not many people can afford it, which shows how precious it is. This is true for the berths of superyachts, and the same is true for the superyachts themselves."

Although there is no resemblance to Chris Callahan, who has thick brown hair, the old man is indeed his father, Kevin Callahan, the second-in-command of Moran Yacht & Ship.

Moran Yacht & Ship is an out-and-out family-owned business. Founder Robert Moran founded this yacht brokerage agency in Florida in 1988.Ten years later, his brother Brian Moran, a private yacht captain, also joined the company and was responsible for the planning, sales and supervision of new yachts from scratch.

After 28 years of inheritance, Robert Moran, who was once in his prime, took a back seat, and the second generation of the family gradually stepped onto the stage.Brian's son Sean Moran serves as managing director, while Robert's son is responsible for the yacht charter business, the most profitable and stable part of the organization.

This trend of sons inheriting their father's business is also reflected in other senior executives of the company. The most typical one is the Callahan father and son who are responsible for the company's overall business docking at the Monaco Yacht Show this time.

Kevin Callahan worked with Robert Moran from the beginning of the company. As he got older, he gave up his position as marketing director to his younger son Chris.Kevin Sr. raised four sons in his life, but in the end only one was interested in taking over his mantle.

Moran Yacht & Ship's corporate structure and corporate culture are, to a certain extent, the best reflection of the hidden circle they serve.

The top rich can own all kinds of bizarre and novel assets, as well as open enterprises that appear to be extremely progressive to outsiders.They can let their hired executives carry out whimsical management experiments within the group.

work from home?no problem.

Prioritize admission to sexual minorities?Whatever you do.

Let Indians, Arabs, or other new generation elites from third world countries serve as CEOs?It doesn't matter, as long as the board of directors is there, these mascots can't bring down the company.

The leaders who are behind the scenes can make anything and compromise to the new era. Only the actual inheritance of wealth and power can never be faked.

Moran and Callahan are playing the lowest-level throne succession game. Those big capitalists who are ten times and a hundred times richer than Han Yi now are dedicated to running family offices and realizing the family's success as a single operating entity. Sustainability inheritance, unity with sustainability.

No one can take a sum of money and run away. If the descendants of the family want to inherit the inheritance, they have to devote their lives to the framework designed by their parents.

"Mr. Han, let me tell you..."

Kevin Callahan's right hand hovered in front of his lips for a moment, as if he was accumulating strength or preparing the next line.After a few seconds, he slowly straightened his arms and swept them in mid-air from left to right.

"There are so many companies that come to the Monaco Yacht Show, and the total number of companies, large and small, is more than [-] every year. But most of them rent a berth in remote corners on the left and right and put a small boat there. , even if the mission is accomplished. Because they don’t want to win the competition in Monaco at all, but they want to go back to their hometown and get bragging rights with local customers for a whole year.”

"But Moran Yacht & Ship is different. Mr. Han, we never look at the seats on both sides. If we want to participate, we will only take the berths on the central T-shaped platform, and we will only look at the quotes for the second row."

Having said this, Kevin Callahan hooked his hand and motioned to the crowd surrounding Han Yi to move forward a few steps.Unlike Han Yi's imagination of a crowded scene, when they arrived at the scene, the staff of yacht brands, jewelry brands, famous watch brands and luxury car brands participating in the exhibition, as well as the invited participants, were all at a glance. There are not as many spectators as there are in one seating area of ​​Future Now: The Tour.

On the one hand, this is because Han Yi and his party arrived relatively early, and most activities at the Monaco Yacht Show start in the afternoon, such as customer meetings of various brands, as well as invitation-only cocktail parties and receptions.Needless to say, celebration dinners and yacht parties are entertainment activities that require privacy and cannot be held in broad daylight.

On the other hand, every year the Monaco Yacht Show is divided into two parts, an invitation day and an open day to the public.The invitation day is usually the first day of the exhibition. At this time, only customers who are invited by each brand and wear a blue visit pass can enter the Port of Hercules.

September 9th is the invitation day of the 28 Monaco Yacht Show, and ordinary tourists are not allowed to enter.

The accumulation of these two factors has resulted in the passage of the central catwalk now being unusually wide.Under the scorching sun, most of the invited guests chose to hide in the white high-top tents of various brands lined up along the pier and sip the free ice-cold cocktails.There were only a few elderly people dressed casually, sitting on the decks of a few small yachts, basking in the sun, chatting and passing the time.

As a result, this small group centered on Han Yi became the most eye-catching sight at the yacht show.

In fact, it was not Han Yi who wanted to be in the limelight, but Moran Yacht & Ship, adhering to the usual American exaggerated style, raising the reception standards to an eye-catching level.

When they came to pick up people at the Monte Carlo Hotel in Paris, the Callahans and their sons took their assistants and drivers in two Maybachs to clear the way, and then Han Yi, Antoine Gachet and the bodyguard Fiamu Derwig It was carried by a convertible Rolls-Royce Dawn, following closely behind.

In a coastal city, the wind is already strong, which made Han Yi's hair messy.Obviously, Port Hercules is less than 200 meters away from the hotel, but during the Monaco Yacht Show, Ostend Avenue was under temporary traffic control, and the team had to make a long circle along Gremaldi Road, which took about ten minutes. Arrive at the main entrance of the venue.

At the main entrance, the remaining six brokers sent by Moran Yacht & Ship to Monaco this time, as well as the four private security personnel they hired temporarily, lined up and surrounded Han Yi to welcome Han Yi to the dock.

Whether it was Leonardo DiCaprio, Novak Djokovic or Lewis Hamilton, there was no such battle when they visited the boat show last year.

"Who is that?"

A young staff member in a suit and tie stuck his head out of the Ulysse Nardin watch display tent and curiously asked his companions around him.Ulysse Nardin, a subsidiary of the French Kering Group, has always been an active participant in the Monaco Yacht Show. Since 2011, this luxury watch brand originated from Glock, Switzerland, has rented one or two display tents at the exhibition site every year to create a In the on-site experience area, huge advertisements will be posted on the boards outside the venue.

These luxury brands that focus on high-net-worth individuals basically serve the same group of people.Anyone willing to spend tens of millions to fly a private jet in Aspen has a high probability of owning a similarly priced luxury yacht in Fort Lauderdale.More importantly, there is almost no obvious competition between different brands of luxury goods. After all, no top rich man will reduce his investment in a private yacht just because he buys an extra watch.Therefore, whether it is a yacht show, a luxury car show or a jewelry show, as long as it is held stably for several times, it will eventually become a "wholesale supermarket" in the luxury goods industry.

This is the case at the Monaco Yacht Show. In addition to more than 500 participating shipyards and brokerage agencies, there are also 36 industry partners such as Richard Mille, Comte de Monte-Carlo, Giorgio Armani and Lamborghini.

"Looks like an Asian... a Thai prince or a Japanese star or something, who knows." His companion used a straw to suck off one-fifth of the Aperol he had just refilled, then smacked his lips and said slightly drunkenly, "There is a China Night every year. Not to mention the celebrities from the other side of the world, even the local dignitaries participating in the event, how many do we know?"

"That's true, but it's too exaggerated." Watching Han Yi and his party go away, the Ulysse Nardin salesperson shook his head and walked back to his display tent.Two years ago, he had the honor of hosting Leonardo DiCaprio who was attending the boat show.At that time, "The Wolf of Wall Street" was still hot, and Leo was in the second spring of his career. The film's advance salary before box office sharing alone reached 2500 million US dollars.

But even at that time, Leonardo's travel arrangements were far inferior to today's Han Yi.He still remembered that Leo brought a security guard and three or two friends.He also dressed very low-key, wearing a peaked cap and sunglasses, and walked freely among the crowd.

Except for a few young people who thought he looked familiar and stopped to look at him, others didn't even pay attention to him.

It’s funny to say that a few months ago the world-class actor who dominated the Cannes red carpet and murdered countless film reels came to Monaco, dozens of kilometers away, a few months later, and no one even wanted to take a photo with him.

But if you think about it carefully, this actually fits the tone of the Monaco Yacht Show, especially the first day of the Yacht Show.Customers who can be invited to participate in non-open house activities are not ordinary people.Don't look at these shambling old men wearing pink shorts with no name. They are hunched and look like they will collapse to the ground at any time without support. They seem to be completely out of tune with the elites. The probability is ten times and a hundred times richer than Leonardo DiCaprio.

In other words, the "Wolf of Wall Street" who controls everything on the screen is not even considered a B-type customer at the Monaco Yacht Show.

In 2016, Leonardo had a total of six properties under his name. The first place I bought for $90 million in the early 200s was halfway up the hillside in Hollywood. I looked to the left from the infinity pool at No. 864 Stradella Road. If I lowered my head and looked carefully, I could see a little bit of the roof.

The second home was purchased in Malibu in 1996 for $180 million.The third is on a private island in Belize, which was sold for US$2005 million in 175.

The fourth is an apartment, located at One Rockefeller Park in Battery Park, New York, with a purchase price of $1010 million.The fifth and sixth homes were both acquired from private sellers in private transactions, one in Palm Springs and the other in Malibu, just further north.Although I don’t know the specific price, I estimate that the two sets combined will not exceed 1000 million.

In other words, since his debut in the 90s, for nearly a quarter of a century, the total amount of money Leonardo DiCaprio actually spent on real estate was only 864 Stradella Road. Only two-thirds of it.

As for other aspects, the gap between Leonardo and Han Yi is even more obvious.Earlier this year, he came under fire for traveling [-] miles from Europe to New York on a private jet to accept an environmental pioneer award.Many people criticize the luxury style of others who do one thing before others and another after others, but in fact, Leo has never really owned any private jet, nor even purchased a partial ownership.He just orders some flight hour packages every year, and then the supplier provides different aircraft models.

Leonardo also has the same consumption concept when it comes to yachts. Vava II, TOPAZ, Impromptu, each of the yachts that Leo held a rave party on is worth over [-] million, but he has never thought about buying them.

Spend $30 to $[-] and drive offshore to St. Barth for a week to experience the experience.

It’s not because Leonardo is thrifty, but because he doesn’t like the things he can afford, and the things he likes are too expensive. Putting aside star battleships like TOPAZ, which are worth US$4.5 million and only Sheikh Mansour can afford, even the Vava II of the Italian wealthy Bertarelli family has a price tag of US$1.5 million that he cannot expect. .

Even if he tries to sell off his property and buys it, the annual maintenance fee equivalent to 20% of the total price will cost Leonardo DiCaprio bankruptcy.

Not to mention him, even Ernesto Bertarelli, who is worth 115 billion pounds, can't stand it.

Otherwise, why would the latter be willing to list his private yacht for rent?

No matter how wealthy and wealthy you are, you should try every means to use your yacht to generate income and make this money-losing thing less money-losing.

But Han Yi didn't care about this.

It doesn't matter to him whether the annual maintenance fee is 20% or 50%.

He just wants to spend the money.

If you spend it, you can earn it back.

There is only one person on this planet who can do this.

Taking this into account, there is nothing difficult to understand about the reception specifications created by Moran Yacht & Ship for Han Yi.

The bottom price is US$5000 million. The more expensive the better. How many Leonardos are it worth to a rich man who only has a current ship?

Flight schedules, aircraft numbers, and private jet transaction records at Nice Côte d'Azur International Airport are all non-confidential information that must be disclosed by the government and cannot be concealed.At the same time, there was only one private plane flying from Los Angeles. Anyone who is careful can distinguish the authenticity of this young Chinese tycoon.

Production serial number 6074.

Former number N652CH.

JPMorgan Chase Bank North America, Inc., White Plains, N.Y. Delivered May 2014, 5.

The current number is N10AH.

N10AH Inc., re-registered on September 2016, 9.

I just bought a G650ER before coming here.

How to handle this kind of customer? Does Robert Moran need to call from Florida to teach him personally?

"The ones placed in the first row are all entry-level yachts with small hulls and shallow drafts. Moran never rents this kind of position because we don't do this kind of business at all. We brought it to Monaco All those on display are big ones that can only be placed in the second row and have a hull length of more than 40 meters.”

Kevin Callahan led Han Yi across the water pontoon covered with royal blue carpets and waved forward in a generous and heroic manner.

"T-32, T-37, T-41, T-42, every prime berth has been transformed into a Moran display room."

"The T-32 SOY AMOR, with a hull length of 137 feet, is the best modern yacht ever built by the Benetti Group in the 42-meter scale, with a price tag of 1840 million euros."

"The T-37, ALLEGRIA, is the proud work of the Hackvoort Shipyard in the Netherlands. It has just completed an extended maintenance and renewal cycle. The generator, SAT system... is basically equivalent to a new ship. 1995 million EUR."

"This treasure, T-41, is called OKTO. It was built by Captain ISA in accordance with the top Nordic shipbuilding standards. It was only delivered in 2014. It is one of the most gorgeous and exquisitely crafted yachts currently on the market. 5450 million euros."

"T-42, the crown jewel of this Moran Yacht & Ship... is on the same level as TV. SOLANDGE, the representative work of Lusen Shipyard in 2013, the hull design of Esban Ernault, Angela Rodrigo Its interior decoration, 8 cabins, can accommodate 16 guests. The price is also very consistent with its class...$1.55 million."

"Why didn't you recommend this ship just now?" Han Yi's eyes lit up when he heard the price, and his tone became a little urgent, "Is it not for sale? It's just an exhibit?"

"Ah, that's right." Even the veteran Kevin Callahan couldn't help but be stunned. He had never seen a customer hear the price of 1.55 million US dollars. The expression on his face was not disbelief, but I couldn't contain my excitement, "It is the property of Mr. Alexander Gilda. Currently, Mr. Gilda only hands SOLANDGE over to us for management and is responsible for daily maintenance and leasing work."

"Okay." Han Yi nodded, his voice obviously darker, "Then... four berths, four ships, why don't you see the TV?"

"Because the things placed here are all public exhibits."

When it came to the important point, Kevin Callahan cleared his throat, glanced at his son not far away, and signaled the latter to be ready to cooperate.

"As long as they make a reservation, anyone can climb them and watch them starting tomorrow."

"And our most cherished series will not be open to the public for tours... There are three ships in total, all anchored in the outer harbor."

"TV is the largest and most dazzling of the three yachts."

"Mr. Han."

Chris Callahan joined the conversation at the right time. He turned sideways and revealed the two small speedboats parked on the far right side of the second row of pontoons.

"Please take our speedboat and board TV to visit."

(End of this chapter)