American Comic Dimensional Trading Device

However, in 2022, Wells Fargo's market capitalization had reached $1800 billion, and its assets were close to two trillion.

This comparison clearly demonstrates just how impressive the Illinois Bank in mainland China is.

The reason why the Continental Illinois Bank collapsed was precisely because it was too powerful.

The company was so powerful that its management became overconfident and blindly expanded into various high-leverage projects, leading to a debt crisis and a run on bank accounts.

The collapse of this bank ultimately became a classic example in the history of world finance, and for the first time broke the perception that "too big a bank will not fail."

Its collapse was also one of the important reasons for the decline of the Chicago conglomerate in the original world.

The current Bank of Illinois is not as strong as it was in the 80s, but its market value still exceeds one billion dollars, and it is the core bank of the Chicago financial group.

It's no wonder that John Leibler thought Josie was delusional. What made Josie think he could acquire such an important bank, and why did he think the Chicago tycoons would sell it?

“Of course I know what Bank of Chicago means. It’s the core bank of the Chicago conglomerate, with a market capitalization of over $10 billion,” Josie replied.

“You know? Then why do you think you can acquire the Bank of Chicago? And what makes you think we shareholders would sell? Josie, I know you want to join the Chicago consortium, and in fact you are absolutely qualified to join us, but acquiring Continental Bank is going too far!” John Leibler shook his head and said.

“Uncle John, don’t be so quick to deny it. Of course I understand the importance of Continental Bank to the consortium, and I also know that with what I have now, it’s not enough to buy Continental Bank. I don’t intend to acquire it entirely; I just want a controlling stake. Furthermore, I don’t plan to acquire it with cash; I plan to use a swap.” Josie explained with a smile.

It's simply unrealistic to acquire a mainland bank with cash. Although it may seem to have a market value of only a few billion, due to its importance, the other party would only be willing to sell if the price were to be more than 50% higher.

Even if all of Josie's illicit income and all her assets were cashed out, such a high price might not be enough.

However, the situation is different if it's a replacement.

Not only do you not have to spend much money, you can even save a lot of money.

"Exchange? What are you going to exchange?" John Leibler asked, puzzled.

"Austrian National Bank, Austrian Central Bank, Bavarian Bank, BNP Paribas, Lloyds Bank!" Josie rattled off the names of five banks in one breath.

They are all world-renowned banks.

Especially the Austrian National Bank—Johann Leibler was certain he wasn't mistaken, that was the central bank of Austria!!!

There's also Bavarian Bank, which is also a state bank, with very few shares flowing out of the country.

War is war, but who the hell would sell bank assets of this magnitude?

How did Josie end up with these bank shares?

It's actually quite simple. The two French and British banks used goods as a form of exchange. Because of the war, these two banks were having a tough time, and many shareholders were on the verge of bankruptcy. For them, it was far more practical for Josie to exchange goods in kind than to buy them with money.

As for the Austrian National Bank, the Austrian Central Bank, and the Bavarian Bank, those are Hydra's assets...

Well, to be precise, those were originally Schmidt's personal assets.

Although Schmidt was "killed" by Captain America and the Strategic Scientific Corps.

However, these theoretically "state-owned" assets are not yet within the reach of the Americans.

After all, Austria is only cooperating with you, the United States, not being occupied by you.

Since Josie has already gathered Schmidt's remaining forces, it is only natural that these assets would fall into his hands.

Although Josie's stakes in these five banks are not large and their total value is far less than one billion dollars.

However, its significance to the Chicago consortium far exceeds one billion US dollars.

"Are you serious?" John Leibler's expression immediately turned extremely serious.

"Of course I'm serious. Although the number of shares I own isn't large, they're genuine!" Josie nodded. He wouldn't feel any pain about exchanging these shares, because exchanging them wasn't selling them.

In exchange for shares and control of the mainland bank, these shares will still belong to the mainland bank, not to any private individual. In other words, the actual control over these shares will still be in Qiao Xi's hands. What will be shared is only the potential benefits that these shares may bring.

Money is something you can never earn enough of, so compared to money, Josie cares more about having a voice.

“…Josh, let’s set a time for the children’s baptism, and how about the Holy Name Cathedral? I have a good relationship with Archbishop Cody, and I’ll persuade him to personally baptize the two children. Also, I guarantee that all the core members of the Chicago Corporation will be present at the baptism ceremony on that day!” John Leibler said after a long pause.

The Chicago conglomerate may be a little slower to react to capital compared to other conglomerates, but that doesn’t mean they are all idiots.

By offering shares in these banks, Josie was essentially handing half of Europe's huge prize to them. If they didn't take it, the consortium led by John Leibler wouldn't be able to forgive themselves.

However, the specific replacement method and amount cannot be decided by the two of them at will; they will definitely need to negotiate.

However, this did not prevent the Chicago Consortium from using this baptism ceremony to establish Josie's position within the consortium.

“Uncle John, why don’t you come over for dinner tonight? We can discuss the baptism and you can also see the children. Margot hasn’t seen you in a long time!” Hearing John Leibler’s assurance, Josie knew the matter was settled and immediately extended the invitation.

“Of course, I would be more than happy to accept this invitation!” John Leibler was delighted by Josie’s invitation and began to think about what gifts he should bring for the two children and Margot when he visited.

Thank you so much, Kobayashi Munemasa, for the 20,000 coins! (≧≦)/

Chapter 109 The right candidate

“Baptism? I always thought you weren’t a believer!” After saying goodbye to John Leibler, Josie went home and brought up the matter of baptism with Margot, but Margot looked at her strangely after hearing it.

After all, she had known Josh for almost two years and spent every day and night with him, but she had never seen Josh go to church.

It's understandable that she's a Protestant, since Protestants don't place much importance on the formalities of Christianity.

But Catholics almost never go to church, which doesn't make sense.

"Ahem, it's just a ceremony, there's no need to take it too seriously!" Josie said, slightly embarrassed. He couldn't very well say that he didn't actually have any faith, could he?

Here’s something that might seem unbelievable: the United States, which is known as the beacon of freedom, allows freedom of religion, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

It doesn't matter if you believe in some kind of Holy Fire Meow Meow Cult or Cilantro Cult.

But if you have no faith, that's a very serious problem.

Because in the eyes of Americans, people without religious faith have no moral constraints, no ultimate concerns, and no ultimate concerns, so they cannot live a decent life. If they cannot live a decent life, then they are no different from animals.

So if someone wants to integrate into American society, you can be religious in private, but you can't bring it up in public, otherwise you'll be ostracized by mainstream society.

Seeing Josie's appearance, Margot immediately realized that he was not a devout believer at all.

She simply threw away a mothball and didn't take it seriously.

So what if he doesn't have faith? He's still her man!

However, it's not a bad thing for her two children to recognize Linus as their godfather. After all, when her father passed away, apart from the unreliable David, John and Linus did take good care of her.

So Margot readily agreed.

That evening, John Leibler also arrived at Josie's estate with gifts.

Both Josie and Margot were extremely surprised to see the gift brought by John Leibler.

“Uncle John, this is going too far!” Margot couldn’t help but say, looking at the share transfer agreement in her hand.

The shares in the transfer agreement belonged to Margot's father's jewelry store, which was worth over two million back then, and now it's worth more than two or three times that amount.

But this very business has now been split in two, with 90% of the shares given to the two children.

Why not 100%? Because the remaining 10% was already in Margot's own hands.

Of course, the price of this property is nothing to Josie, who has already made a fortune, but it obviously has extraordinary significance for Margot.

“It’s nothing, and don’t refuse. This is a gift for the children, not yours. Even if you want to refuse, the two children will have to refuse me when they grow up. Besides, you don’t need to worry about management. My people will continue to run the business; you only need to pay their salaries!” John Leibler said with a smile.

Josie, standing to the side, nodded to herself. As expected, the old man was shrewd and experienced. With this skillful approach to the wife, she would no longer be able to easily distance herself from the Leibille family in the Chicago conglomerate.

Clearly, during their conversation that day, John Leibler had realized that the European resources Josie possessed were far more powerful than he had anticipated.

If not now, when?

This was a big deal, and Margot was undecided, so she looked at Josie.

“Please accept it, dear, it’s a token of Uncle John’s affection!” Josie nodded, indicating that she could accept it.

It's only a few million; once you get to Europe, you can earn back several times or even dozens of times that amount in no time.

Many of the benefits are meant to be shared with the nominal partners of the Chicago consortium. If that's the case, why not give the lion's share to the Leibler family, with whom they have a better personal relationship?

“Thank you very much for your hospitality. Your chef is excellent, especially the Ferdinand chicken, which I really enjoyed. However, before I leave, I still think I should give you a piece of advice: you still lack capable people who can handle things independently!” John Leibler casually remarked as he said goodbye after dinner.

Upon hearing this, Josie paused for a moment, then nodded.

It must be said that John Leibler did raise a valid point.

Although Josie is now rich, she doesn't have many truly capable people under her command.

The most outstanding one was actually just an old man named Lyndon.

Originally, business in the United States was a piece of cake for him, but things changed after Lyndon went to Europe to expand his business there.

In the Blackwater gang, Dix is ​​good at fighting and killing, and he's also decent at intelligence gathering, but business matters are really a challenge for him.

After Josh sent Lyndon to Europe, he complained to Josh more than once that he no longer had a reliable housekeeper.

As for Josh's own businesses, the heads of the several factories were not bad, but not particularly good either; they were just the best of the best. The relatively outstanding ones were the two managers of the two film companies he later acquired.

Before going to Europe, Josie originally planned to have Brad and Pitt compete for the job.

However, because Angela, the little bitch that Pete was in charge of, was first taken to the front lines to participate in the condolence visits, and later she hooked up with Joseph Kennedy—by the way, according to the information Josie got, after Joseph Kennedy died, this little bitch hooked up with his brother, who came to attend the funeral, after his funeral, who is the future Melody.

Good heavens, they've even started the brother-to-brother succession system.

Under these circumstances, the original plan to make her famous naturally fell through.

On the other hand, the filming for The Sound of Music, starring Sabrina and directed by Brad Pitt, has already been completed and is ready for release during the Christmas season.

Under these circumstances, the two can no longer compete fairly.