America's No. 1 financial conglomerate

Chapter 345 Soaring Net Worth

The saying "paying a lot of money to have a child" is not without reason. If you don't have a lot of money, which woman would ask for a child?

Picking up the freshly printed Forbes magazine from beside my bed, I glanced at the Italian beauties galloping on horseback and exclaimed that this stuff was more effective than aphrodisiacs.

On May 3, YueDong Games went public on NASDAQ, creating an unprecedented and extremely rare spectacle in NASDAQ history.

Investors who initially looked down on the gaming industry were now wide-eyed as they watched the numbers constantly flashing on the screen.

But no one expected that this was just the beginning.

In the two days following its IPO, YueDong Games' stock price continued its strong growth momentum, hitting new highs every day, which made investors around the world fully realize the potential of the gaming industry.

This industry, which many people used to think was just for kids, actually hides a huge treasure trove of wealth.

The global media went crazy, with reports about Leap Games flooding the media, and in-depth analyses and insider exposés of the gaming industry emerging one after another.

Riding the wave of YueDong Games' stock price breaking through the $206 mark, the entire gaming sector took off like it had been injected with a shot in the arm, and the stock prices of related companies rose accordingly.

In this frenzy in the gaming sector, YueDong Games was undoubtedly the brightest star, with its stock price soaring and its market value once approaching $290 billion.

Following closely behind are established giants in the gaming industry, Nintendo and EA. The former's market value surged past the $35 billion mark, while the latter was not to be outdone, with its market value about to break through $10 billion. The entire gaming industry is showing a thriving scene.

A massive influx of capital into the gaming market has further propelled the development of the entire industry.

According to insiders, in the past two days, investment firms on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley have been filled with various game studios' financing proposals, and almost every investor's schedule is packed with meetings with different game entrepreneurs from morning to night.

Meanwhile, astute entrepreneurs sprang into action, and game studios sprang up like mushrooms after rain, their numbers so great that they were impossible to contain. It seemed that overnight, everyone wanted to get a piece of the pie in the booming game industry.

Just as the stock price of Leap Games was gradually stabilizing and fluctuating between $200 and $210, Forbes magazine once again put Ernst in the spotlight.

The latest list of the world's richest people has been released, and Ernst Garfield's name has appeared prominently at the top of the list, igniting global public opinion.

Bill Gates remains at the top of the list, his title as the world's richest man seemingly welded to the spot, unchallenged for many years. This time, with a net worth of $510 billion, he once again retains his position as the world's richest man.

The second place goes to the Walton family, who, thanks to Walmart's strong influence in the global retail industry, rank second in the world with a net worth of $480 billion.

The third place is somewhat surprising. It's not an American, but Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei. With Brunei's abundant oil resources, he has assets of US$360 billion, firmly holding the third position in the world.

Fourth place goes to the renowned investment guru Warren Buffett, who ranks fourth globally with a net worth of $330 billion. His investment legend continues to resonate in the business world.

Ernst's name follows closely behind Buffett's, with a net worth of $258 billion, surpassing the Saudi King to become the fifth richest person in the world and the fourth richest in North America.

When this result came out, North American public opinion was like being hit by a storm. All the attention was focused on Ernst, and major news media outlets went all out to report on him. Newspapers, television, and the internet were full of news about him. It's no exaggeration to say that it was an overwhelming and indiscriminate bombardment. Even taxi drivers on the streets were talking about this tycoon.

Just a year ago, Forbes valued Ernst at only $17 billion, ranking him 139th on the list of North American billionaires.

In just one year, his wealth skyrocketed from 17 billion to 258 billion, an unprecedented and astonishing growth rate. Such a rate of wealth growth is extremely rare even in the entire history of global commerce.

This naturally made him a hot topic of conversation among Americans, and the internet exploded with discussions and complaints, keeping the discussion extremely popular.

"My God! A net worth of $258 billion—is that really wealth created in just two years? I did a rough calculation, and if we calculate it over two years, he could earn $3530 million a day, or $147.2 million an hour. That money comes way too easily! Damn it, I'm starting to hate these capitalists more and more; they make money faster than a printing press!"

One netizen left an indignant comment on the forum, his words filled with envy, jealousy and resentment.

Soon, a netizen commented below, "Brother upstairs, I advise you not to do the calculation. Let me give you another number, and you might hate him even more. If you calculate based on annual growth, 258 billion minus 17 billion, and then divided by 365 days, his daily income is now a whopping 6600 million US dollars, and his hourly income is as high as 275 million US dollars."

Following this, another netizen added, "Following up on the previous comment, let me tell you something even more hurtful. Don't forget, Forbes' wealth list always underestimates assets. The figures they give are generally conservative estimates, so Ernst's actual wealth may be much greater than you imagine."

It is well known worldwide that Forbes magazine has a consistent practice of underestimating the value of assets when compiling asset statistics. They tend to use a relatively conservative calculation method to avoid controversy caused by overestimation.

Take Ernst's asset valuation for example. As a listed company, YueDong Games has relatively transparent financial data. The financial report clearly disclosed that Ernst held 16% of the shares. Based on the stock price at the time, this portion of equity was worth $46 billion, which is not a significant figure.

On the Google side, the differences are much greater.

Forbes values ​​Google at only $120 billion, but this figure is nearly 30% lower than the valuations given by major Wall Street investment institutions.

According to reliable data obtained by Forbes from within Google, Ernst holds approximately 11.7% of Google's shares. If calculated based on Wall Street's valuation of $1500 billion to $1600 billion, this stake would be worth at least $175 billion to $187 billion. However, Forbes still uses its own valuation of $1200 billion, which reduces the value of this stake to only $140 billion, thus underestimating it by several billion dollars.

The largest remaining asset is MGM. In the two years since Ernst acquired it, MGM has achieved comprehensive development, with rapid progress and remarkable achievements in various business segments such as film production, distribution, and music.

Although Ernst's stake in MGM decreased due to a series of acquisitions, it has more than tripled compared to when he acquired MGM for $14.8 billion, becoming an extremely important part of his wealth portfolio.

MGM's two most crucial moves in the past two years have been the acquisition of Playboy Group and the acquisition of global online music copyrights.

These two events not only significantly expanded MGM's business scope and increased its influence, but also led to a substantial increase in Forbes' valuation of MGM, given the enormous commercial value of these two assets and the immeasurable returns they would generate.

What's most frustrating is iTech, a new consumer electronics giant that Wall Street called a company whose valuation could reach tens of billions if it raised funds. Yet, in Forbes' list, it was only given a valuation of $35 billion, which is far from Wall Street's expectations.

Many industry insiders felt that the valuation was unreasonable and spoke out in support of ITech.

Forbes' reasoning was simple: iTech's current product range is too limited, and it will inevitably face fierce market competition in the future.

Besides the four companies that contributed the most to Ernst’s assets—Dynamic Games, Google, MGM, and iTech—there was another somewhat unexpected surprise from Pixar.

Last year, Playboy Spy aired during the Super Bowl halftime show, and this epic show not only attracted the attention of audiences worldwide, but also raised the commercial value of the Super Bowl halftime show once again.

This year's Super Bowl saw a surge in product promotions, and for the first time, film and television advertising became mainstream, with Pixar playing a significant role in this.

Pixar's animated film "A Bug's Life," scheduled for release this November, made its first public appearance at this year's Super Bowl.

The short trailer, lasting only a few dozen seconds, instantly captured the hearts of viewers with its excellent production and adorable character designs. The computer-animated film has received high praise from the outside world, and many film critics predict that it will be a box office hit after its release.

Pixar's success with this trailer has once again demonstrated its top-tier capabilities in computer animation to the world.

Since the Super Bowl in January, Pixar's stock price has been rising steadily, and by the time the Forbes list was published, its market value had reached $37 billion.

Ernst owns a 24% stake in Pixar, which, based on market value, is worth nearly $900 million. While this may not seem like much compared to his other companies, it is still a considerable fortune.

After adding up all his assets and subtracting some of Ernst's debts, Forbes ultimately estimated his net worth at $258 billion.

However, as netizens have discussed, almost everyone believes that Forbes' estimate is too low and does not reflect Ernst's true wealth level.

The difference between Ernst's companies and the financial situations of the top three richest people in North America is quite significant. Bill Gates' wealth is mainly concentrated in Microsoft, the Walton family relies on Walmart, and Buffett's is in Berkshire Hathaway. These are all publicly traded companies with transparent market capitalization, making wealth calculation relatively easy.

Ernst owns too many unlisted companies, such as AI Technology and some startups he has invested in. Once these companies go public, their valuations are likely to increase significantly, and his wealth will take another huge leap.

Therefore, many industry experts and financial commentators believe that Ernst's wealth should surpass that of Warren Buffett, making him qualified to rank among the top three richest people in North America.

"It doesn't matter. Even if Ernst becomes the world's richest man, it won't affect my ranking at all."

""

Immediately, netizens commented jokingly, "If you say that, then my confidence is through the roof! His wealth can't affect you, but I can, so by that logic, am I even more powerful than Ernst?"

Another netizen, who appeared to be a student, shared, "I'm a computer science student at the University of Southern California. Today, my professor used Ernst's example to motivate us in class. He told us that we must study hard, otherwise we won't even be qualified to work for the richest man in the world."

"The professor upstairs is absolutely right! But on another note, Ernst is indeed quite impressive. At least those who initially worked hard with him have all achieved some success now. Take the recent IPO of Leap Games, for example. It created 57 millionaires, and there are hundreds more in the pipeline. It's simply unbelievable. I can't even imagine what kind of amazing wealth creation will happen when Google goes public in the future."

"I have inside information that Google is about to restructure its equity structure in preparation for its IPO. Based on Google's current valuation, there will likely be at least ten people with a net worth exceeding one billion dollars – that would be a true wealth creation myth!"

"A boss who can amass a billion dollars in less than two years—can I find one like that? I promise I'll work for him until I retire, no, until I die!"

Whether online or in real life, there is discussion about Ernst everywhere; he is like a shining star, attracting everyone's attention.

Meanwhile, in Ernst's apartment, the Italian national goddess was clearly also excited by the news of Ernst's sudden wealth. As soon as dinner was over, she couldn't wait to change into a sexy outfit and dragged him into the bedroom without saying a word.

Lying on the soft bed, feeling the passion of the woman on top of me, I couldn't help but feel a little regretful.

If I had known this would happen, I would have eaten less earlier. Now, with this barrage of blows, my stomach feels bloated.