After divorce, I can hear the voice of the future

Chapter 678 Mysterious Tycoon Acquires Investment Bank
A mysterious Eastern tycoon has staked a billion dollars on the French national team in a gamble of the century!

On the afternoon of the 14th, as soon as Lu Liang's plane landed, the news spread like wildfire in entertainment sections around the world.

When Xiao Wang heard the news, he was completely stunned. It turned out that all his bragging on the plane had been for nothing.

Lu Liang's arrival in New York was no secret, after all, GM had used his name to create hype the day before, booking the Super Bowl venue and inviting many singers, F1 drivers, and rally drivers, all for the launch of the American version of Tian Shu.

However, no sooner had he arrived in New York than news broke that a mysterious Eastern tycoon had wagered a billion dollars on the French team to win the World Cup, clearly an attempt to steer the conversation towards him.

He became the green leaf that made the red flower even more vibrant?

Lu Liang squinted, pondered carefully, and suddenly smiled: "The one who controls the market will never lose."

All probability theory eventually becomes statistics.

Just like before Xiao Wang placed his bet, the odds of France winning the championship were 1.4, but after placing his bet, they became 1.37.

This shows that they have done precise calculations, and even if the French team wins the championship, the betting companies will definitely not lose money.

The exposure of this news also has the advantage of making the outcome of the competition even more unpredictable.

Because conspiracy theorists might think that the bookmakers might choose to take a large loss and give Croatia the title.

Some people might also consider whether to follow suit, since the wealthy businessman from the East actually knows inside information.
A billion-dollar bet, regardless of the outcome, has successfully created a prisoner's dilemma.

This made the already popular final even more popular.

"There were long queues at many betting shops of gambling companies, and even the websites crashed and lagged down multiple times."

Flannery walked over and said with a smile, his gaze toward Xiao Wang extremely strange.

If he wins, all that's fine; at worst, he's just the rich man's foolish son—fools have their luck. But if he loses, he'll truly be the biggest scoundrel in history, bar none.

They spent a billion dollars and got nothing, just to advertise for a gambling company.

Flannery glanced at Lu Liang again, feeling helpless for him. He wasn't afraid of formidable opponents, but rather of incompetent teammates.

The mysterious Eastern tycoon suspects that once the baby is born, the crime will already be established, leaving Lu Liang speechless.

Lu Liang smiled, looking nonchalant: "It seems the press conference will have to be postponed for a few more days."

The hype will cancel each other out. With the World Cup final being so popular, the press conference should at least wait until the hype has died down before being held.

Flannery nodded and said with a smile, "The 17th, two days after the match, the World Cup hype should have subsided a bit. If France wins, there might be a surprise in the pre-sale for the press conference."

If online gambling companies can ride on Lu Liang's popularity, there's no reason why their own people can't.

If the French team wins, then the mysterious Eastern tycoon will either be Lu Liang or someone else.

If the God of Wealth is pointing the way and helping them make money, shouldn't we also support his products?
In case of an unexpected upset, reveal the truth, bring out Xiao Wang as a scapegoat, and let the grievances be settled and the debts be settled, so that Lu Liang has nothing to do with it.

Lu Liang chuckled and said, "You can make the arrangements. I'll be staying in New York for the next few days and waiting for your news."

"Alright, I'll go back and prepare now."

Flannery left first, and Xiao Wang said with a resentful look, "Don't you even care about the people you're ripping off these days?"

Lu Liang couldn't help but chuckle, and put his arm around his shoulder, saying, "If you don't know the truth, that's called a trap; if you do know, that's called cooperating."

"At most, if the French team wins, I won't admit it, and I'll let you show off. Is that alright?"

Just as Xiao Wang was about to agree, he suddenly looked aggrieved: "They'll only see me as your mouthpiece."

"Stop being so dramatic, okay?"

Lu Liang, his face dark, punched Xiao Wang's shoulder a few times. Those few punches instantly cleared his eyes.

The two got up, intending to leave the airport and head to their booked hotel in the city to meet Hilt first.

"Mr. Lu, wait a minute..."

Lin Yan stood at the cabin door, glanced at the scene, and quickly called out to Lu Liang. She took out a wet wipe and helped him wipe the lipstick marks left on the back of his neck, whispering, "You probably didn't see them when you went to wash up."

"I can't bear to look, I'll wait for you at the door." Xiao Wang shook his head as he walked out of the cabin.

Lu Liang, oblivious to everyone else, put his arm around Lin Yan's waist and said, "If you're free tomorrow night, let's have dinner together."

He no longer avoids the other flight attendants, after all, juice is not something that can be spilled all the time, even if clothes need to be changed frequently, and he can spend hours in the lounge.

Lin Yan hummed in agreement, her eyes full of tenderness as she watched Lu Liang leave.

Suddenly, she heard whispers and laughter behind her. She put on a stern face and said, "Do you want to rest?"

"No, Sister Yan, stop threatening us with this!" several pretty flight attendants cried and pleaded.

Forty-five minutes later, Lu Liang and Xiao Wang left the airport and arrived at the hotel that Hilt had booked for them. Hilt was already waiting at the door, accompanied by a thin, elderly man in his sixties.

"Hello, Mr. Thomas, my name is Lu Liang."

Lu Liang looked at him. He was used to seeing old monsters, but it seemed like he hadn't seen an old man whose age and appearance matched perfectly in a long time.

Dan Thomas, a German-American, is 65 years old and the founder of Delime Business Investment Bank.

He was once a trendsetter on Wall Street, but retired at the age of 45 and returned to his hometown to found Delime Bank.

If Delime had continued to develop in rural areas and only provided commercial loans to farmers and farm owners for purchasing farm tools and feed, perhaps it wouldn't have ended up in bankruptcy liquidation.

But even in their twilight years, heroes still cherish lofty ambitions.

Five years ago, he returned from the countryside to the metropolis, hoping to gain a foothold in New York City and then slowly launch an attack on Wall Street.

But he is not Cao Cao. In the past few years, he had accumulated losses of 58 million US dollars due to investment mistakes.

The news leaked out and reached some loan companies. All the companies had the same idea: if they could drag the bank into bankruptcy, they wouldn't have to pay their debts.

After holding on for over a year, I finally couldn't take it anymore.

"Mr. Lu, thank you so much."

Thomas had cloudy old eyes, calloused hands, and many scars; he looked more like a farmer than a banker.

"It's just that DeliMei meets our requirements." Lu Liang smiled, not accepting the offer of goodwill.

Even if they helped Delime assume all of its debts, it would give Thomas an explanation to his family back home, so they wouldn't have to worry about their savings going down the drain.

But this wasn't about doing charity; Lu Liang simply didn't want to wait until the bankruptcy liquidation and auction stage, because that process took far too long.

He paused for a few seconds, then said, "If any procedure fails to meet the standards, even in the slightest way, we will terminate this acquisition."

"No, no, our bank meets all your standards."

Upon hearing this, Thomas quickly took out various licenses and certificates, looking to Hilt for help.

This legend from the East, a man hailed as a financial butcher by Wall Street, is more difficult to talk to than one might imagine.

Lu Liang also looked at Hilter, who nodded and said, "Mr. Thomas has always hoped that someone could take over their debts and help them assume corporate social responsibility. Even though we talked to several potential buyers before, we did not sell out any of the company's interests."

No matter what, Deloitte was a commercial investment bank that once had a scale of two hundred million US dollars.

Although it has reached the point of bankruptcy liquidation, even a broken ship has three thousand nails, and some quality assets can still be sold at a price.

For example, across from their hotel, there is a 15-story office building that is about 80% new, covering an area of ​​about 2800 square meters.

The Queen Street and Third Avenue neighborhood in Manhattan is a prime location. If sold at a normal price, it could fetch over $80 million. If auctioned, the price would be even higher, and it's not impossible for it to sell for $100 million.

This big piece of meat has attracted a lot of attention.

Even more extreme, some promised certain conditions: as long as Thomas was willing to help transfer the office building to his company's name, even if Delime went bankrupt and was liquidated, he would be guaranteed a comfortable life for the rest of his days.

But Thomas was stubborn; if he wanted to buy their building, he insisted that they had to assume all of Delimebank's debts and corresponding social responsibilities, otherwise he would absolutely not agree.

Even if it means bankruptcy liquidation and being auctioned off, we are willing to do it.

However, countless potential buyers have carefully calculated the costs and found that it's not worthwhile no matter how they look at it.

Let's say the office building is worth 90 million, and there are some other miscellaneous assets, let's say they're worth 20 million.

$1.1 million is roughly the current actual value of Delime, but it carries $1.59 million in debt and is listed at $1.89 million.

The minimum loss from the acquisition is $50 million. Apart from a sucker, probably no one would buy it, so everyone is waiting for the auction stage.

If it weren't for this reason...

They probably won't get a chance to 'pick up the scraps'.

Lu Liang flipped through the acquisition contract and couldn't help but show surprise when he saw the amount on the last page: "1.59 million US dollars?"

“I really don’t want more, I just want to give an explanation to those old friends who believed in me back then.”

Thomas gave a bitter, self-deprecating smile. It must be quite absurd for a banker to be so sentimental.

But his initial and current thinking has never changed: if the acquiring party is sincere, he will also show full sincerity.

Anyway, his children have all grown up and have their own children, and he is already quite old, so he has no need for money anymore.

We'll sell whatever amount of debt we have, without making a single penny.

(End of this chapter)