After seeing Robert Lehman off, Leo finally had time to take stock of his wealth.First, there was Blackstone Asset Management, which owned 60% of Atlantic Real Estate and 55% of Southern Real Estate.Currently, Atlantic Real Estate Group's market value had stabilized at $30 per share.This meant Leo owned $1.8 billion of Atlantic Real Estate's wealth.Southern Real Estate, now stable at around $20 per share, meant Leo held $1.1 billion in wealth from this group.However, because Blackstone was a private company, its finances were not disclosed publicly, and no one bothered to investigate it, especially since it was based in the Caribbean Islands.In the financial statements publicly disclosed by the NYSE, Leo had no ties to these two groups.After all, the apparent major shareholders of these companies weren't him; they were hundreds of small companies from Central America.
Leo's publicly held shares included:
55% of International Real Estate Group
65% of Western Real Estate Group
60% of International News Group
These groups contributed $1.88 billion to his wealth.When factoring in Atlantic Real Estate and Southern Real Estate, Leo's total wealth had reached an astonishing $4.78 billion.
However, wealth on paper meant little if it wasn't realized. The true top-tier wealthy families valued fixed assets and cash flow.At this moment, the cash flow in the James River Foundation's account had reached $600 million. It was supposed to be $900 million, but Lehman's purchase of shares from Sean and Kevin had cost $300 million. After Leo accepted Lehman, these $300 million would naturally be refunded.Leo's fixed assets were even more valuable, scattered across the U.S., Europe, and Commonwealth nations, valued at $200 million, with tremendous potential for appreciation in the future.
"Edward, disperse the shares of International Real Estate Group and International News Group to Central American companies, and hide my identity completely," Leo said, looking at Edward's puzzled expression.
"The reason I need to appear in these three companies is simple. These companies still need to use my influence to expand their business and suppress competitors.But now, with $1.88 billion in wealth, it's too conspicuous. I might end up becoming the richest person in America, and that's not good. Excessive wealth won't benefit the company's development; instead, it might lead to anti-rich sentiment fueled by malicious individuals.So, let's hide it."
Edward quickly ran the numbers in his mind and said,"Boss, if we hide this wealth, your wealth would only be $455 million. From what I know, this would only put you in the middle of the U.S. wealthy rankings.Wouldn't this image be inconsistent with the public perception of you?"Edward asked.
Leo looked towards the West and said,"No, the special investigation committee should have finished their investigation by now. After the merger of Western Real Estate and Pacific Real Estate, I'll regain control of Pacific Real Estate.At that time, Western Real Estate's market value will rise, and the stock price will depend on how much the public trusts me."
Leo's guess turned out to be correct. With the Eastern financiers' compromise, the protests in Los Angeles had stopped. Earl had used government power to reduce approval processes, and more importantly, any attempts to protest without approval were quickly suppressed by the gang.Under such circumstances, the investigation committee proceeded smoothly and, on July 20th, officially announced the investigation results to the public.
The allegation of Pacific Group misappropriating government funds was unfounded, and the National Housing Act would continue as planned.The public was given a self-soothing reason, and they failed to notice that Western Real Estate and Pacific Real Estate had secretly reached an agreement, with Pacific Real Estate being acquired by Western Real Estate.The acquisition price was $300 million!
And the new CEO of Western Real Estate was none other than Carson Merlin.Leo's wealth grew again, and after the acquisition of Pacific Real Estate, the combined shares were enough to completely control Jesse Real Estate.Many who thought the battle for the Western three countries would last for a long time woke up to find that the three companies had merged overnight.Western Real Estate's stock price soared, and within just one week, it surpassed both International Real Estate Group and Southern Real Estate Group, reaching a stock price of $28 per share, making it the second-largest asset in Leo's portfolio.Leo owned 52% of Western Real Estate, while the remaining 18% was allocated to the Western political powers, represented by Earl.Therefore, Leo's publicly disclosed wealth reached $1.456 billion.
However, for Leo, this was still too high. He chose to sell some of his shares in Central American companies to further disperse his wealth, bringing his net worth down to around $700 million, thus securing a spot in the top ten of the U.S. wealth rankings.
At this moment, the other heads of Leo's real estate empire were:
Austin, CEO of Pacific Real Estate
Charlie, CEO of Southern Real Estate
Rick Tafft, head of International Real Estate Group
Rick had previously been in charge of American Real Estate Group in Ohio. In a previous deal, Robert Tafft had made a request to Leo, suggesting that Rick should be involved in Leo's international operations.Leo guessed that Robert's intention was likely to set Rick up for a future diplomatic post, following the route of "exporting and importing."
Leo's business empire was gradually taking shape. His reach now extended to every American household. From the elites in Washington to the common people, at least 20% of Americans had to look at Valentino's face to get by.Even the name "Valentino" was now tightly associated with this era of America.
President Harry Truman often mentioned Valentino during his visits abroad, citing him as a role model for rising from poverty to wealth in just three or four years, thus demonstrating the superiority of the capitalist system.
Compared to most people, Leo was undoubtedly successful. However, he knew that compared to those truly invincible family dynasties, he still had a long way to go.But there was no rush. Having achieved his initial wealth goals, Leo returned to Menlo Park, California.
Although Leo had been busy with the listing of five companies, he had taken time to return several times, mainly because his daughter and son had been born.Emily had given birth to a girl, and as the first child, she naturally received a lot of attention.Leo named her Luna Valentino, symbolizing the moon.
Soon after, Leo's son was born, and the mother was Evelyn.Ricardo had originally planned to name the child Leonardo, meaning "lion," but Leo firmly rejected the idea, as he didn't want to associate his son's name with a chubby kid playing with a water gun on the grass.In the end, Leo named his eldest son Federico Valentino, meaning peace and wealth.
At the Valentino estate in Menlo Park, the family gathered in the garden near the main building, enjoying fresh fruit while smiling as Leo held one of the children.Luna, full of energy, was kicking her legs and trying to escape Leo's embrace while staring at her mother in the distance.In contrast, little Federico was sleeping soundly in Leo's arms.
Looking at his two children, Leo felt a surge of emotions. In this life, he had finally become a father. Honestly, holding his two children now brought him more joy than when five companies were listed on the NYSE.
However, while Leo was happy, there was someone who wasn't: his mother, Maria. She looked at him with dissatisfaction and said,"Leo, your children are here with you, but where is my son?"
Leo felt awkward at his mother's question, as he knew exactly who she was referring to."Hasn't Luke called you?" Leo asked.
"The passionate Central American beauties have surely kept your brother busy. He's still a kid!"Maria retorted, tossing a stack of photos at him.
The photos showed blue skies, crystal-clear seas, and Latin beauties dancing around an Italian youth.Leo was stunned, wondering how his mother had obtained such photos.
Seemingly sensing Leo's confusion, Maria snorted,"You've probably forgotten who raised that scrawny little Aldo you brought back."
Leo, embarrassed, rubbed his forehead. He guessed that Aldo had sent the photos to reassure Maria that Luke was doing fine, but Aldo, being too young, didn't fully understand the mindset of a mother.
Looking at the photos of Luke surrounded by beautiful women with a grin on his face, Leo realized that Aldo had unintentionally made things worse. He was still too young and unaware of parental concerns.
Maria was upset that Luke was having fun and hadn't bothered to call her. Leo guessed that it had been a long time since Luke last checked in.Meanwhile, Leo frowned. He had sent Luke to Central America to make him experience hardship, but it seemed Luke had managed to escape the difficulty and ended up enjoying himself with Latin beauties.
Still, Central America was one of the tougher regions in Leo's business empire. Any other place would likely have been just a paradise for Luke.Leo's thoughts turned to Joseph's security company, but he wasn't eager to send his brother to work alongside those battle-hardened veterans.
Raising children is truly a troublesome task. Leo looked down at the two very different children in his arms and silently prayed, hoping that these little ones would be more promising.Seeing that Leo was ignoring her, Maria was not about to let him off the hook. She stared at him and said,"Answer my question, Leo."Faced with his mother's relentless questioning, Leo had no choice but to comply. He didn't plan on bringing Luke back, as he had already made arrangements for his brother's future development.At most, he would instruct Aldo to make Luke go through some hardship to toughen him up and prevent him from living too comfortably.But how could he get out of this situation? Looking over at Emily and Evelyn in the distance, who were clearly amused by the scene, Leo knew he couldn't count on his wives for help.Leo gazed at his son, Federico, sleeping in his arms, and a sudden idea crossed his mind."Little one, your dad has built such a vast empire for you, now it's your chance to repay me."With that, Leo gently pinched Federico, who, feeling the pain, immediately burst into loud crying.As soon as Federico cried, Luna, who had already been reluctant to stay in her father's arms, began crying as well.The sound of their two high-pitched cries instantly made their grandmother forget all about her youngest son being away.Leo seized the opportunity to escape.To get away from his mother, Leo took Emily and Evelyn, and the three of them rode horses to a small villa about six or seven kilometers away from the main house on the estate.It was called a "small villa," but it had three floors, a swimming pool, and spanned over 1,500 square meters in Mediterranean style.The next morning, as the Californian sun bathed the area in golden light, Leo looked back at his two daughters sound asleep on the bed and smiled gently.After Leo returned to the West, visitors started arriving one after another.Now that Leo was in this position, not just anyone could meet him.Of course, there were still some matters from the previous event that Leo wanted to handle personally.For instance, Clark Gable, who had been forced into becoming a scapegoat.However, he no longer minded being made into a scapegoat by Leo. In fact, he didn't even want to continue filming that movie, as he felt that being an executive at Thunder Hill Studios made it beneath him to star in movies.That's right—Clark had been hired by Leo as an executive at Thunder Hill, and he was now reporting to Leo on several important film projects Thunder Hill was preparing.
"Mr. Valentino, here are the scripts we've selected for Thunder Hill. They are Sunset Boulevard, Red Dust, Comet Beauty, Heartbroken Flower, and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. We believe these have great potential. Here are the scripts."Clark handed the scripts to Leo.Leo didn't immediately look at the scripts. During his time infiltrating Hollywood, he had spent many nights in lucid dreams, and through countless fragmented memories of scrolling through TikTok, he had captured many of Hollywood's successful films from this era.Almost all the films Clark mentioned were stored in his memory. In fact, he remembered the names of the stars and the studios that produced them.However, in his memory, these films had been produced by different production companies."Clark, are the rights to these scripts owned by Thunder Hill?""We've already secured the rights to Red Dust and Comet Beauty, but the others are still in the script libraries of various major companies or studios.Except for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, which I hear 20th Century Fox has already greenlit, the remaining films don't have clear production plans yet. I think we should try to acquire the rights to these scripts."
Leo nodded and said,"Go ahead and buy them. I trust your professional judgment. And let me know when you're casting."Clark, upon hearing this, gave a knowing smile and said,"Of course, Mr. Valentino. We will definitely invite you to the casting."Leo knew that Clark might have misunderstood him. He wasn't concerned about casting in general—he just wanted to make sure Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn could be involved, as they were his people and shouldn't be overlooked.