American Comic Dimensional Trading Device

“Wilfred, tell me about your contact with Josh Kahn!” The old man sitting at the head of the table asked Wilfred Malik.

The old man's name was Thomas Gloucester, the most influential leader of Hydra in the present day, a Wall Street financial tycoon, and the head of the First Citigroup.

The First Citigroup is a top-tier American financial group centered around Citibank, which is the oldest bank on Wall Street.

In Josie's previous life, the First Citibank Group declined in the 30s due to the Great Depression and was subsequently controlled by the Rockefeller and Morgan financial groups, only managing to recover in the 50s.

However, in this world, the First Citibank consortium, under the control of the nine-member council, collaborated with Roxon Energy Group and Etherdan Energy Group, becoming the mastermind and the biggest winner of the Great Depression in the 30s.

Conversely, Rockefeller and Morgan suffered heavy losses during the Great Depression and became marginal financial groups... The most significant point is that the Rockefeller Center in this world is not called Rockefeller Center, but Rockxson Center!

In other words, in this world, the First Citibank Group has replaced the Morgan Group, while the Rockefeller Group has replaced the Rockefeller Group.

The Etherdan Group is the core of the California consortium.

As for the Malik family, their prototype in the original world of Josie is the Mellon family—in that world, the Mellon family also began to decline during the Great Depression, and the control of the conglomerate gradually fell into the control of other families and companies.

In other words, if we include Malik, who has not yet regained control of the conglomerate, four of the nine members of the board of directors of the world's top ten American conglomerates occupy four of them, and they are the four most powerful ones.

This explains why Josie values ​​the Nine-Person Council so much.

What's the difference between controlling the nine-member council and controlling half of the United States?

In contrast, the remaining members of the council are relatively weak.

One is newspaper tycoon Mortimer Hayes, who controls half of the media industry in New York and Los Angeles.

The remaining two are in politics.

In contrast, the von Strucker family was actually the worst performer.

In the comics, Strucker, like Red Skull, is one of Mustache's favorites, along with Zemo.

However, in this world that seems to be based on a cinematic universe, the von Strucker family, although they had their glory days, were merely a powerful family in Germany during World War I.

During World War II, after failing to gain power from Hitler and Schmidt, he was driven out of Europe and fled to the United States, where he became a vassal of the Roxon Group.

It wasn't until after World War II, when he returned to Europe and took over the remaining forces after Red Skull's defeat, that he was able to regain some strength. Then, in the Avengers era, he seized power. The one who was killed by Ultron in the movie was Thomas von Strucker's son, the current leader of the Strucker family.

However, it can also be seen from the movie that at that time, Strucker's status was below that of Gideon Malik and Alexander Pearce.

However, in this world, it will be difficult for the Strucker family to regain its former prominence.

Because Josie had already taken over most of the Hydra forces in Europe.

“Yes, Leader, I can confirm for sure that Josh Kahn is one of us!” Wilfred replied solemnly in response to the inquiries from several council leaders.

Chapter 107 I Want to Acquire the Bank

Just as Wilfred Malik was explaining to the Council of Nine how he met with Josie, informing them that Josie had taken control of the remaining Hydra forces in Europe, and praising his abilities to persuade the other council members to include him in the council, Josie herself was not idle either.

To truly gain sufficient influence in the council, Josie's current financial resources and influence are somewhat insufficient.

Despite the huge profits he made from the war in Europe, to be honest, the money he earned from buying and selling supplies was nothing compared to the huge pie of post-war economic recovery in Europe.

After all, the real economic giants haven't made their move yet.

To snatch food from the mouths of these crocodiles, you need a sufficient number of allies.

However, achieving these two goals is not contradictory.

Just leverage the existing momentum.

What momentum should we leverage?

Of course, it's the same powerful conglomerate.

Since Josie's core businesses are in Chicago, it would be foolish not to make good use of the influence of the Chicago conglomerate.

“Josh, you’re a rare guest!” John Leibler said with some surprise as he looked at Josh, who had just arrived, in the president’s office of the Leibler Building.

Even though Josh has been back for over a month, Chicago's wealthy elite know that he made a fortune in Europe and even contributed to the early end of the European war.

However, most people don't really have a concept of how much Josh has earned in Europe, and without any financial entanglements, they haven't made a point of inquiring about Josh's activities in Europe.

Furthermore, after returning to Chicago, Josie spent most of his time with his wife and children, keeping a very low profile. Therefore, even John Leibler, who was quite close to Josie, did not know much about his situation.

However, this also shows that the Chicago consortium is not as sensitive to capital as the other consortiums.

This may also be one of the important reasons why Chicago, in the world Josie lived in before, was gradually eroded by other conglomerates after World War II and became a second-rate conglomerate.

"Haha, Margot just had her baby, so I didn't have a chance to visit you, Uncle John. Now the baby is almost a month old and very healthy. I'm practically superfluous at home," Josie said with a slight self-deprecating smile.

"Tsk, I feel like you've come here to show off? Don't you know how much I want a grandchild? I wish my two brats valued family as much as you do!" John Leibler couldn't help but roll his eyes when he heard Josie's words.

Elderly people, regardless of the country, definitely all love to have a house full of children and grandchildren.

John Leibler is now in his sixties, and his eldest son, Linus, is in his forties. He is quite successful and has taken control of most of the family business, but it is precisely because he is too engrossed in the family business that he has never married, let alone had children.

What about the second son? He's a good-for-nothing playboy who's been married twice, but he's only ever married and hasn't had any sons.

How could John Leibler, who had always longed for grandchildren, possibly be happy about his two sons' current situation?

"Haha, Uncle John, you flatter me. You are my and Margot's elder, and naturally the child's grandfather as well," Josie said tactfully.

“Speaking of which, the two children haven’t been baptized yet, have they? Why don’t we have them recognize Linus as their godfather?” Leibler suggested, having considered this idea after hearing what Josie said.

“If Margot agrees, I have no objection!” Leibler’s words startled Josie for a moment, and then she replied.

Most Bavarians and Austrians are Catholics, and Josie's parents were no exception.

Although Josie herself is not religious as a time traveler, her predecessor was indeed a Catholic.

Although Margot was not a Catholic, she was a Protestant.

So theoretically, their children can be baptized, and baptism naturally requires a godfather—the so-called godfather and godmother are actually the guarantors of the baptized child in Christian liturgy.

Moreover, being a godfather is not just a title; they are responsible for the future of their godsons and godschildren.

Even under US law, godfathers and godmothers often have guardianship rights second only to biological parents.

In other words, if the biological parents die unexpectedly, the godfather and godmother are responsible for raising the children... but they only have the responsibility to raise the children, and do not have the right to dispose of the property of their godchildren.

Therefore, in most cases, the presence of godparents is very helpful to children.

A well-known example from Josie's original timeline in the United States is Gwyneth Paltrow, the actress who played Pepper Potts.

Although her father was a producer and her mother was an actress, their achievements in Hollywood were actually quite modest.

But why is it that Gwyneth Paltrow, who is known in the industry for her bad temper and difficulty in getting along with others, has been able to have a constant stream of resources since childhood, and at the age of 28, she has surpassed a group of incredibly talented actresses to win an Oscar?

It's because she has a great godfather, the top director Spielberg!

It's just that Josh had never thought about this before.

Firstly, he, having been given a new soul, is not a believer. Secondly, he doesn't believe that with his newfound power, his children will need any help from godparents in the future.

But now that John Leibler has brought it up, it seems there's no need for him to refuse.

After all, the Leibler family is one of the core controllers of the Chicago conglomerate.

Having the child recognize the Leibille family heir as his godfather isn't necessarily a bad thing; it can even bring the two families closer together.

However, the target is Linus, the eldest son. If it were the second son, David... well, Josie and Margot would never agree to it.

John Leibler clearly understood this as well, and didn't even mention that spendthrift son of a man.

“Haha, since you don’t object, this is easy. I’ll have Linus talk to Margot later. He’s always treated Margot like a little sister since they were kids!” John Leibler was very happy to see that Josie didn’t object. “By the way, I didn’t know why you came to see me.”

"Actually, the reason I came to see Uncle John today is very simple. I want to ask you to act as an intermediary and help me acquire Continental Illinois Bank!" Josh then revealed his true purpose.

John Leibler, who was still immersed in the joy of having two children, was also taken aback when he heard Josie's words.

Acquire the Illinois Bank in mainland China? Is this kid talking nonsense?

Chapter 108 Share Swap

“Josie, do you know what the Continental Illinois Bank means?” John Leibler asked the young man in front of him with amusement.

In his view, Josh Kahn was undoubtedly an outstanding young man, even far more outstanding than his eldest son, whom he had always considered a source of pride.

It must be said, however, that these young people are still a bit too arrogant.

Do you think you can buy a bank just because you have some money?

Of course, he knew about the fact that Josie had received a large military order in Europe for the Beacon Serum, worth two hundred million US dollars.

Besides this order, he estimated that Josie's other businesses in Europe might have earned him hundreds of millions more.

To be honest, with two or three hundred million, it's not impossible to acquire a top-tier bank in the United States.

The problem is, the Bank of Illinois in the continent is not your average top-tier bank.

In later generations, compared to famous banks such as Citibank, American Bank, American Bank, Mellon Bank, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo, many people may be unfamiliar with the Continental Bank of Illinois.

This is normal, because the bank went bankrupt in the 80s.

But please don't assume that this bank is weak just because it went bankrupt.

In fact, before its collapse, Continental Bank of Illinois was the largest bank in the Midwest and the seventh largest in the United States, with a market value of $23 billion and assets of over $420 billion. It was one of the top ten financial institutions in the United States.

This might not be very intuitive, but comparing it to another bank, Wells Fargo, which was ranked third in the US in 2022, makes it much clearer.

In 1986, Wells Fargo's market capitalization was less than $1 billion, and its assets were only over $20 billion.