America's No. 1 financial conglomerate

Chapter 470 Win-Win for All

In a private club in Los Angeles, Greg slowly picked up his glass, took a small sip, and put it down before saying in a calm and unhurried voice, "I went to Ernst's place yesterday."

His gaze fell on Green's face across from him. "He's very busy, working with Flashbuy's executives to finalize the website launch plan..."

Craig spoke calmly, as if stating something trivial.

Craig wanted to speak again, but Green had clearly lost his patience. He leaned forward slightly, placed his hands on the table, and stared at him sharply. "What does this have to do with me? You better not be messing with me."

His voice was low but menacing, as if a storm would erupt at any moment if Craig's answer did not satisfy him.

At this moment, Green's mind was entirely focused on the so-called rice laundering channels, and he had absolutely no interest in Ernst's e-commerce company.

If Craig is merely trying to buy time, then he is undoubtedly pushing his limits.

Craig seemed to have anticipated Green's reaction. He showed no panic, instead raising his coffee cup again and gesturing slightly in Green's direction.

However, the faint smile that inadvertently curled at the corner of his mouth had a teasing feel to it no matter how you looked at it.

"To be honest, I prefer beer."

Green's face darkened instantly, his already tense facial features became even more rigid, and the anger in his eyes was almost overflowing.

Seeing that the time was right, Craig finally stopped beating around the bush, his casual expression replaced by a serious tone: "I heard from Ernst that the flash sale company is going to launch a shopping card with a maximum denomination of five thousand dollars."

"Do you want to get beaten up?" Green gritted his teeth and slammed his hand on the table, causing the coffee cup on the table to shake slightly and the brown liquid to almost spill.

"I didn't pay to listen to your Ernst startup story." Green's patience had reached its limit. He felt like Craig was treating him like a fool, leading him by the nose.

Craig was taken aback by Green's sudden outburst of anger. He thought he had made his hints clear enough, but Green hadn't understood at all.

He tilted his head to one side, a look of disbelief and skepticism on his face, and stared at Green, saying, "Haven't I made myself clear?"

"What did you say?" Green's anger had reached its peak. His chest heaved violently, and he glared fiercely at Craig as if he wanted to devour him alive.

He simply couldn't understand what Craig was talking about. What did that information about shopping cards have to do with the rice laundering channel he wanted?

Craig clicked his tongue softly, slowly shook his head, and said with a hint of sarcasm, "With your skill level, how did you even wash rice?"

Seeing Green frowning, Craig felt a sense of helplessness, like talking to a brick wall. He could only patiently explain in detail, like a teacher instructing a student, "A gift card, a face value of five thousand dollars, and it's anonymous. Isn't that obvious?"

He deliberately emphasized the words "anonymous," hoping to enlighten Green.

"Think about it, the flash sale gift cards are anonymous, so wouldn't your funds allow you to buy in large quantities?"

Craig continued to guide Green's thinking, his finger lightly tracing circles on the table, as if outlining a vast network of fund flows.

"Then use these shopping cards to buy valuable items like mobile phones and iPods on flash sale platforms, and then partner with offline stores to sell them to them at a lower price. That's how you launder the money, right?"

"You don't even need to buy anything on the flash sale. After buying the gift card, you can sell it directly on the second-hand market. With a 95% discount, I don't think anyone can resist."

The secondhand market in the United States is very developed, and Craig knows how strong the demand is for discounted goods, especially practical items, which can be quickly sold as long as the price is right.

"Anonymity and high liquidity once they circulate on a large scale also mean that regulation is difficult."

Craig's eyes deepened. He knew that for Xi Mi, regulation was the biggest obstacle, and the features of the Flash Sale gift card perfectly avoided this risk.

"Ernst Asset Management announced that total e-commerce sales will exceed seven billion dollars this year." He then changed the subject, talking about the huge potential of the e-commerce industry, trying to show Green the long-term value of this channel.

"What about next year? Is it possible to double or triple it again?" Craig posed a very tempting question, staring into Green's eyes as the confusion in them gradually gave way to a gleam of light.

Seeing Green's eyes growing brighter, Craig knew his words had worked. He added quietly, "I heard from Ernst that e-commerce sales could exceed $1000 billion within three years, making it a trillion-dollar market in the future."

The words "trillion dollars" struck Green's heart like a heavy hammer.

Craig could clearly sense that when he said the number, Green's breathing became noticeably heavier, his body involuntarily leaned forward more, and his eyes were filled with longing and excitement.

For the forces that Green represents, the implications of a trillion-dollar market are self-evident.

"For a market of this size, laundering one or two hundred billion dollars a year is a piece of cake." Craig spoke casually as if he were talking about a trivial matter, but to Green's ears, his words were like heavenly music.

Green's mind was already racing. If they could really use this channel, they would never have to worry about laundering rice again. They would only need to maintain their existing fundamentals and then adjust through the e-commerce market, and everything would become much easier.

"So, when will my thirty million dollars arrive?"

At this moment, Green no longer harbored the resentment he felt when Craig demanded thirty million dollars.

In his view, the value of this rice-laundering channel far exceeds thirty million US dollars.

He took a deep breath, suppressed his excitement, and said in a deep voice, "I need to see Ernst."

"Impossible." Craig's reaction was unusually strong. He rejected Green's request almost immediately, his tone firm and leaving no room for negotiation.

"This is information I overheard. Do you want to ruin my future?" Craig's face showed an anxious expression, as if Green's request would really plunge him into an abyss.

In fact, Craig's presence here and his secret meeting with Green were all arranged by Ernst.

However, Ernst knew that this matter was far-reaching and that if it were exposed, the consequences would be unimaginable.

He didn't want to get too involved in these dirty deals, so that even if something unexpected happened later, he could shift all the blame onto Craig and distance himself from the situation.

This is a win-win deal for all three parties.

Craig used this news to earn $30 million, instantly becoming a true billionaire.

Green, on the other hand, gained the new channel he had always dreamed of, and from then on, he no longer had to worry about such things.

Ernst, on the other hand, can leverage Green's capital inflow to enable the flash sale platform to expand rapidly in a short period of time, quickly seize market share, and crush the two industry giants, Walmart and Amazon, in one fell swoop.

When the market is flooded with flash sale gift cards, secondhand dealers will definitely smell the business opportunity and try every means to resell these gift cards.

They buy shopping cards from Green at a 95% discount and then resell them to ordinary consumers at a 97% discount. It seems that they can only earn a small profit on each card, but with the huge transaction volume, they can still achieve high volume with low profit and earn considerable income.

For ordinary consumers, especially housewives, buying goods at a 97% discount is certainly not something they can resist.

Don't assume that every American family is wealthy enough to throw away clothes without washing them.

In reality, this situation only exists among a small elite group.

In the United States, there are still a large number of people at the bottom of society who are not wealthy. They collect various vouchers every day and shop in bulk when supermarkets have discounts, living a very frugal life.

When these people discover that they can buy the goods they need at a lower price through flash sale gift cards, they will inevitably choose to shop on flash sale websites.

Seeing Craig's resolute attitude, Green smiled slightly. "Alright, then so be it."

Craig let out a long sigh of relief, a look of relief spreading across his face. He even took a tissue out of his pocket and wiped the fine beads of sweat from his forehead.

But inwardly he sneered: Ernst was right after all; these guys weren't at ease and were afraid it was a trap.

In this matter, although Craig, Green, and Ernst all had a tacit connection of interests, Ernst made it clear from the beginning that he absolutely could not admit to being involved in the matter.

Therefore, Craig had to convince Green that the information about the rice laundering channel was something he had specifically contacted Green to earn $30 million, and that it had nothing to do with Ernst.

Craig knew that once Green confirmed that Ernst was the mastermind behind this and that Ernst was the one who planned it all, then given Green and his associates' style of doing things, they would definitely come knocking on his door.

Since it's a collaboration, it would be best if both sides had something on each other, which Ernst would never agree to.

......

Inside a mansion in Los Angeles, Ernst stands in front of a huge floor-to-ceiling window, gazing at the distant ocean view.

He had just received a call from Craig, informing him that Green believed him, which made Ernst's lips curl into a slight smile of satisfaction.

"Did they believe it?" Wenger asked from the side.

Ernst nodded, turned around, and sat down on the sofa. "Craig has already gone back. We'll talk about the details when he gets back."

"You really don't intend to take a single cent of this thirty million dollars?" Wenger asked with a hint of curiosity.

Thirty million dollars is no small sum, even for someone as wealthy as Ernst, it's not an amount that can be easily ignored.

Wenger was genuinely puzzled as to why Ernst would give all the money to Craig while keeping nothing for himself.

Ernst smiled faintly at this, his tone carrying an air of domineering confidence: "Do I care about this little bit of money?"

It wasn't that he was particularly generous, but rather that the money couldn't be accepted.

If anything unusual happens with this $30 million, given Green's abilities, he will inevitably follow the clues back to him.

In Ernst's view, taking such a huge risk for thirty million dollars was simply not worth it.

What he wanted was to use Green's funds to accelerate the development of the flash sale platform, the benefits of which would far exceed thirty million US dollars.

"By the way, you just said that the Astor family contacted you and invited you to go out to sea tomorrow?"

"That's right, it's Louis Astor from the New York charity gala."

The reason Wenger was called here today is not because of Craig's matter, but because he received a call from Louis Astor today, who said he had arrived in Los Angeles and invited him to go deep-sea fishing tomorrow.

Ernst was a little unsure of the other party's purpose, so he called Wenger over to help him analyze the situation.

Wenger fell into deep thought upon hearing Ernst's words.

"The Astor family's main businesses are concentrated in finance and real estate," Wenger said slowly. "However, there are recent reports that the Astor family is expanding into the West Coast, but no one knows exactly what industry they are in. All that is known is that they have contacted a number of local California officials."

Looking up at Ernst, he asked, "Do you think it's possible they want to enter the technology industry and are seeking cooperation through your contact?"

Ernst nodded slightly. Wenger's analysis made some sense, and this possibility could not be ruled out.

With the rapid development of the Internet, more and more traditional industry giants are turning their attention to this field, and the Astor family is no exception.

"Let's wait until tomorrow." The information is scarce; there's no way to guess the outcome.

"We'll know the details when we meet tomorrow."