hollywood billionaire

Chapter 388 Take everything as ordered (Part )

"You want me to convince them?"

The index finger that was so dry that there was only a layer of skin left was pointed at himself. Mick Jagger's pair of gray-blue eyes, which were always hidden under the drooping eyelids, finally looked like they did when he debuted fifty-five years ago. , opened up forcefully.

"Yes." Without any hesitation, Han Yi nodded sharply and said, "If you are willing."

"This matter has nothing to do with whether I am willing or not, Yi."

Mick Jagger clenched his other hand into a fist, lightly hammered his thigh, shook his head, and laughed in a rough voice.

"Let me tell you... no, you are also in this industry. You should know what kind of place Hollywood is." Mick raised the index finger that was originally pointed at him, "First of all, this is a game of favors. , If you don’t spend a lot of time and energy building your network in Los Angeles, no matter how good your music performance is and how high your tour box office is, you will not be able to gain real voice and influence in the circle.”

"I mainly live in the suburbs of London. I go to Florida for vacation in the winter. I am also considering whether to move to New York for my children in the future... Oh, yes, you guys here probably don't read gossip magazines. Let me explain. I The baby with Melanie should be born in December this year, and the due date given by the doctor is around December 10th.”

"Congratulations, Mick."

Han Yi, Dr. Dre and Turki Al-Sheikh successively congratulated Mick Jagger. As Mick said, none of these three busy people have the habit of turning on TMZ every day at work. Mick Jagger and his ballet girlfriend Melanie Hamlich, who just turned 30, are about to give birth to a baby. The news about Ichiko will naturally not appear in their information storage.

"I understand what you are saying. But, Mick, what we value is not how deep your relationship is in the industry, but how high your status is in the industry."

Not interested in knowing either.

"That's because they love you." Andre Yang spread his hands, "Isn't it?"

Mick Jagger, immersed in the joy of becoming a father for the eighth time, suddenly realized that he had strayed from the topic. He gave an apologetic smile to the three people in the talking circle, then raised the glass, took another sip of Tequila Sunrise, smacked his lips, and continued.

His messy emotional life left him with no time to pay attention to other people.

In fact, Han Yi didn’t even know who Melanie Hamlich was.

Han Yi stared at Mick Jagger with burning eyes and explained his point of view in detail.

"Anyways, I said it's too far. Back to topic, I have houses in many places around the world, New York, London, Sarasota, even Tours and Sicily... but I have never thought about buying a house in Los Angeles. I hate it, I hate California in general, and quite a few of my kids live there, and I would visit and spend a few hours in their house, but I never wanted to grow up there. Because I don’t want my life to be just cocktail parties, red carpet premieres, and award shows... I’m a rock musician, not a Hollywood star, and that hasn’t changed in the past half century.”

"More importantly, I'm a private, eccentric, conceited old man. I hate being interviewed, especially when the topic involves anything other than music. Any reporter who wants to sit down with me is twenty-something. Minutes for questions. Also, I basically don’t appear on TV unless there’s a promotional need for the tour. I feel like a clown on Saturday Night Live, and on Letterman, I really do. I really don’t like the audience peeking into my personal life in this way, and they are fanatical about knowing Mick Jagger off the stage.”

"In the field of entertainment investment, especially music investment, we are still students, following in the footsteps of our mentors... Mr. Han, for example, is our mentor."

"Having said all this, what I want to express is that although I have been in this industry for so many years, I am not as big a person as people think. I don't have many friends in the circle. Heck, I even have gay friends. We were hardly friends. Outside of work, we almost never spoke. Paul McCartney called me a 'blues cover singer', the media called me a 'racist and sexist', and even the Queen called me a 'racist'. Not willing to knight me."

"Thank you. Unlike me, Melanie is far from the age of retirement. Her job requires her to stay in New York, and she and I both recognize private schools in Manhattan more. So she is choosing a house there recently. Once I’ve picked it up, I’ll…”

"Listen, I'm a pretty annoying guy. I know it myself, and you should know it too. Let me help you convince other musicians... Hahaha, I'm afraid it will only have the opposite effect. "

Having said this, Mick Jagger opened his mouth again and his smile became brighter.

"Mr. Al-Sheikh represents the most powerful professional investor on the planet. His presence can enhance the trust and security of other investors in this project. Because no one will doubt the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund's Vision, and this kingdom’s determination to turn dreams into reality.”

"Because she doesn't like me getting too close to her sister..." Mick thought for a moment and added, "Well, maybe it's also because I once said that 'anarchy is the only glimmer of hope for Britain', or because I Call her the 'chief witch'..."

"Is she unwilling?" Han Yi was a little surprised.

Amid the laughter of Han Yi and the other three, Mick Jagger shrugged.

Having said this, Han Yi raised his hand and pointed at Turki Al-Sheikh.

"I understand, I'm very aware... of how important the Rolling Stones, myself included, are to people. They have a paranoid obsession with me and want me to be like I was in 1969 every time I'm in front of a camera. Because if I don't do this, their youth will go with me. This is really selfish - understandable, but still very selfish. So my choice is to appear in front of the camera as little as possible. Satisfy them.”

"To turn such a music rights management fund from a romantic blueprint into a high-profile listed company, it needs to be flawless in the construction of the founding team. What I mean by flawless is Every type of potential partner we may come into contact with in the future needs to be able to find names that are familiar to them and talents that resonate with them in our list of executives and board members.”

Turki Al-Sheikh raised his right arm and put his left hand on his chest and said so. This sentence is not only a humble statement made by the director of the Saudi General Entertainment Authority in a public social occasion, but also a cruel reality that Turki must face as the first leader of the cultural and entertainment field in Saudi Arabia after the launch of the Vision 2030 plan.

The Saudi General Entertainment Authority was only officially established on May 2016, 5 in accordance with Royal Decree No. (A/7) issued by King Salman, and it has only been in operation for half a year so far. The goal of this government agency is to help Crown Prince Salman accelerate his Vision 133 plan by developing Saudi Arabia's entertainment industry, so that the kingdom can become a country no longer dependent on a single energy industry in 2030 years, and achieve A modern and powerful country with diversified economy, society and culture.

Although national policies and financial resources are in place, if all the difficulties in the world could be solved by throwing money away, Gulf countries such as Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia would not be in this new era of urgent need for change. It was so difficult to walk. What's the meaning?
Just look at the two forerunners mentioned earlier.

In the United Arab Emirates, most of the oil fields are in Abu Dhabi, while neighboring Dubai did not discover oil fields in its nearby waters until 1966, and its reserves are much smaller than those of its neighboring countries. Dubai officially began producing oil in 1969. By 1990, the total output value of industries related to crude oil extraction accounted for 24% of Dubai's GDP. But at this time, Abu Dhabi still has 920 billion barrels of oil reserves, while Dubai only has 40 billion barrels left.

In an environment where oil and gas resources are about to be exhausted, Dubai has become the first among the emirates to start the process of economic diversification. Sheikh Rashid began to lead the country to implement infrastructure construction and diversified trade and economic policies. After entering the 21st century, magnificent and majestic skyscrapers have risen from the ground, and the tourism and leisure entertainment industry has become Dubai's main source of economic income. Its prosperous real estate market has also become the Nanshen Gold Mine that is talked about by investors throughout the Middle East and even the world.

But it is not easy for a small fishing village with poor resources to develop into an international metropolis that guides the flow of global capital. In this process, Dubai needs to overcome many obstacles beyond money. In order to gain recognition and support from the European and American markets, Dubai has transferred many core interests. For example, since 1985, Dubai has launched the Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA) around its port to facilitate the unrestricted import of labor and export of capital for foreign companies.

Foreign companies in the free trade zone enjoy a 50-year, renewable policy of corporate tax exemption. There is no VAT, no asset tax and no personal income tax for individuals residing in the UAE. In addition, the Dubai government is also actively promoting the policy of expanding the free trade zone, so that all companies registered in Dubai can be 100% completely owned by foreigners - in other words, Dubai's prosperity in recent years has A large part of it is transferred outside the control of the state.

2016年255亿美元的FDI里，有30%来自加拿大、13%来自英国、11%来自法国、8%来自西班牙、7%来自美国，另外还有总计247个海外直接投资项目，25%来自美国，16%来自英国。一旦这些外国资本停止流入，迪拜的经济将立刻陷入崩溃状态。

To a certain extent, Dubai packaged its country and sold it to European and American capital, which gave it the title of "Tiger of the Gulf" and "Capital of the Middle East", which may seem glamorous but are actually as shaky as a castle in the air.

Economic vitality and the lifeline of the country are deeply controlled by Western society. This is also one of the main reasons why in 2020, the United Arab Emirates signed the "Abraham Accords" and normalized relations with Israel, regardless of the opposition of the entire Muslim world.

It has no choice.

Qatar also faced the same situation, but chose a different way to deal with it. In 2008, Qatar released their National Vision 2030, which stated that they would transform Qatar into an advanced society capable of achieving sustainable development. The country has invested US$2200 billion in infrastructure, greatly improved Qatar Airways’ fleet size and service quality, and expanded its visa-free policy to all residents of 88 countries, making it the most open tourism industry in the entire Middle East. The hotel market is one of the most prosperous and developing economies.

However, Qatar, which wants to play a more important role on the global stage, has not opened the country to a group of European and American capital giants, allowing them to feast on the eastern protrusion of the Arabian Peninsula. On the contrary, the government openly advocates the "Qatarization" of all aspects of society, increasing the number of Qatari citizens employed in the public and private sectors, increasing the shareholding ratio of Qatari capital in various industries, and reducing dependence on foreign capital and foreign labor.

According to the Qatari government, they have six times more crude oil reserves than Dubai and the third largest natural gas reserves in the world, second only to Russia and Iran. The great abundance of natural resources gives them the confidence to complete the country's modernization at their own expense. Not only that, they are also trying to extend their tentacles to European and American countries.

The UK is Qatar's number one destination for overseas investment, and the emirate has purchased some of the UK's most prized real estate, including the Ritz Hotel, Harrods, the Canary Wolf Financial Center, and the most coveted areas in central London. of numerous private residences, as well as the Shard, the tallest building in the British Isles. Over the past two decades, Qatar has also been acquiring stakes in key British companies, such as Barclays Bank, Sainsbury's supermarkets, Royal Dutch Shell, Heathrow Airport, British Airways and even the London Stock Exchange. Place. In the first 2016 months of 10 alone, Qatar received nearly $5 million in dividends from British listed companies.

France and Germany are Qatar's second and third largest recipients of investment in Europe. The royal family members wearing white burqas have been acquiring luxury real estate in Paris and have invested in many leading French companies, including media group Lagardere and oil giant Total Energies. , aerospace giant EADS, utility company Veolia, nuclear power producer Areva, fashion brand Balmain, Paris Printemps department store, as well as Paris Saint-Germain football club and French hotel group AccorHotels. In Germany, Qatar is the largest shareholder in carmaker Volkswagen Group and holds stakes in technology company Siemens, Deutsche Bank, shipping company Hapag-Lloyd and construction giant Hochtief.

In comparison, while Qatar's national capital is waving banknotes on the European continent to buy precious assets, the country's FDI is only a pitiful US$7.74 million, which has dropped significantly from US$2015 billion in 10.71.

In other words, European and American capital basically did not get any of the economic dividends after the successful bid for the 2010 World Cup.

You should know that Qatar does not have personal income tax, inheritance tax, value-added tax and asset tax. The reason why there is no influx of large amounts of foreign capital is simply because people are not willing to let this hole open.

This is one of the reasons why U.S. federal prosecutors suddenly began investigating FIFA for wire fraud, extortion and money laundering at the end of 2015. Yes, the United States is indeed dissatisfied that Qatar has snatched their hosting rights through secret operations, but the former, who has never been very enthusiastic about football, cannot tolerate it for five years just to avenge the incident in 2010. rise.

The most likely speculation is that the United States was very annoyed by Qatar's unwillingness to share the World Cup dividends and decided to take a crack at this pocket country. Britain, France and Germany have declined, but the long-arm jurisdiction of the United States is still an extremely sharp one in 2016. of sword.

For a time, the FIFA corruption case caused a stir and had a serious impact on Qatar's national image. There was even news that FIFA would seriously consider whether to hand over the hosting rights of the 2022 World Cup to other countries to avoid "further corruption." Corruption thrives and prevents Qatar’s abuses of workers’ human rights.”

In the end, Qatar had to make considerable concessions. Last year, the Qatar Investment Authority officially established an office in New York and publicly announced on October 10 this year that it would shift its investment focus from Europe to the United States and will inject more than US$5 billion into the North American continent in the next five years. More importantly, unlike the direct acquisition of core assets in Britain, France and Germany, Qatar does not dare to touch a mature project in the United States.

A $7 million new office project in Long Island City, New York, a $2.5 million Conrad luxury hotel in Washington, D.C., plans to open the $86 billion Manhattan West site at Hudson Yards, and talks with Exxon Mobil ’s, total investment of $100 billion, will be placed in Texas natural gas liquefaction and export facilities...

Every investment will create jobs and economic growth points for the United States, and "atone" for Qatar's previous "ignorance."

The two Middle Eastern countries at the forefront have both paid a heavy price for their respective modernization processes. As the leader of the Arabian Peninsula, Saudi Arabia studied the cases of Dubai and Qatar in detail before publicly announcing the Vision 2030 plan, and formulated a complete and detailed plan that would not offend world-class powers and not sacrifice its past. Solutions to complete social, cultural and economic transformation on the premise of multiple national core interests.

Under Crown Prince Salman, Saudi Arabia will not pursue rapid and radical reforms. On the one hand, this is because Saudi Arabia is much larger than Qatar and Dubai. Saudi Arabia's population is 13.5 times that of Qatar, and its territory is 186 times that of Qatar. Any economic innovation, no matter how deep or weak it is, will have unpredictable impacts in different regions. On the other hand, the King of Saudi Arabia is the so-called "Guardian of the Two Holy Lands" and rules over Mecca and Medina, the two most important religious centers in the Islamic world. Any social agenda must be within a larger framework that conforms to the scriptures. conduct.

Therefore, Salman Jr. has adopted a step-by-step gradual opening strategy, from shallow to deep, from easy to difficult, to complete the country's transformation bit by bit. Allow enough time to take care of national sentiment, and also allow enough time to complete negotiations on benefit distribution with international capital.

On June 2016, 6, the Council of Ministers approved the National Transformation Plan, which lists goals and specific targets to be achieved by 7. After three five-year plans, Saudi Arabia vowed to build a highly urbanized country with influence and voice in culture and entertainment, a booming sports industry, a large-scale Hajj, a large number of UNESCO heritage sites, and a long life expectancy. A vibrant society that is above the global average.

Anyone with a superficial understanding of Saudi Arabia can quickly identify the one among these subdivided goals that least touches the core interests and operating rules of Saudi society and is easiest to achieve.

Culture and entertainment.

This is the key to the opening.

This is also the main reason why Han Yi’s music copyright fund received an enthusiastic response from Turki Al-Sheikh.

(End of this chapter)