Chapter 145 Laying out Manchester United
"So you've already had that surgery?"
"Yes, don't mention this to me again, it's not a pleasant memory."
The Viscountess had mentioned to Barron before that because of some of Viscount Bute's special hobbies, the marriage between her and him was just a formal marriage.
The reason why Ian Butt needs a "wife" like Chris is because this is a necessary prerequisite for him to obtain the right to inherit the family.
After all, it would be impossible to say that his father didn't know about Viscount Bute's hobby.
But because the Bute family has always had a shortage of heirs - for various reasons, the Bute family is passed down from a single line. Even when there are two male descendants, one of them will die early.
According to the principle of British aristocratic succession, only a male heir can inherit the family title. In this case of the Bute family, it is very difficult to find an heir from a branch.
Therefore, Viscount Bute must have his own male descendants before he can obtain the inheritance rights of his father's title. This was the original agreement between the father and son of the Bute family.
It was also because of this that Viscount Bute married Chrissy.
In order to obtain offspring, Viscount Bute found a way with the help of modern technology without being able to "do it personally".
The UK is one of the few countries that legally allows surrogacy, but there are also very strict prerequisites for this - of course, these are not a problem for the Bute family.
Not long ago, the Viscountess had completed this process. It can be said that the biggest suspense next is like opening a blind box, expecting a male heir.
According to the British rules for heirs to aristocrats, only the descendants of their parents' legal marriage have the right to inherit the title. Illegitimate children are not included in this category.
The Bute family could easily handle the legal status of the child born to the couple from Ukraine.
Barron would not comment on this kind of thing. Anyway, if it were him, he would never choose such an approach unless there was no other way.
After all, although Viscount Bute paid a large price for this, the money was really not easy to get.
In addition to the extremely strict conditions for the other party's identity, whether it is health, appearance, body, education, or even skin color, hair color and other external characteristics, this process is also very difficult.
I won’t go into details. Anyway, it is definitely more harmful to the body than natural childbirth.
This does not include the psychological pain of giving up the child in the future - after all, although the seed came from Viscount Bute and his wife, the girl has actually experienced the flesh-and-blood connection during pregnancy.
"So, I'm still recovering and can't..."
Barron, who was already quite interested, couldn't help but lose his interest slightly when he heard the Viscountess's words.
He glanced down, and then placed his gaze on the Viscountess, whose face was already quite rosy:
"Madam, if this is the case, then you still..."
"Hmph, you men..."
The Viscountess's eyes flashed with anger, and then she said a little charmingly:
"There is always a way, my lord, the Duke."
As she spoke, she lowered her body and knelt in front of Barron...
There was a zipper sound, and Barron felt a little coolness, and then the warmth...
"hiss……"
…
"Boss, we have begun to close all long investments in international crude oil futures. The current crude oil price is relatively stable and remains above $35."
Daisy said hesitantly:
"Although OPEC's production increase plan has restrained the rise in oil prices to a certain extent, if a war does break out, I am afraid that oil prices will continue to rise..."
On January 12 this year, OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, referred to as OPEC) held a special meeting in Vienna and decided to increase oil production by 1.5 million barrels per day starting from February 1. That is, starting from this month, The maximum daily production limit for the 10 member countries (excluding Iraq) was increased from 23 million barrels to 24.5 million barrels to stabilize world oil prices.
In the following month or so, although oil prices did not continue to surge, they still remained at a high level of around US$33 to US$34 per barrel.
"Whether oil prices will continue to rise depends on whether the war progresses smoothly, so I am not optimistic that Saddam's government can cause much trouble to the other side."
It can be said that in the early days of the war, the British and American coalition forces went very smoothly and overthrew Saddam's regime in a short period of time. However, the subsequent occupation was not so smooth. It was constantly consumed by various resistances, and Iraq's domestic crude oil production also recovered slowly. This is the main reason why oil prices began to rise after repeated episodes from the end of this year to the beginning of next year.
"In addition, boss, we have acquired 4.9% of Manchester United's shares in the stock market. If we continue to acquire, it will trigger a lawsuit..."
From the beginning of this year, Daisy got Barron's order and began to quietly absorb Manchester United's shares from the London stock market. So far, they have spent about 15 million pounds in funds and obtained about 4.9% of Manchester United's shares. shares.
At this time, Manchester United is different from other top football clubs in that it is a listed company and is not privately held, so it can purchase its shares directly from the stock market.
Although the PE value of Manchester United's stock at this time is relatively not low, and it seems that the stock price is already very high, the club's current market value of approximately 310 million pounds is cheap compared to its valuation when it was later acquired. Too much.
Barron knew that in the original time and space, in March of this year, the Glazer family from the United States would begin to attack Manchester United.
They also started from the stock market. They used about a year to gradually purchase about 14.3% of Manchester United's shares, and then began to publicly acquire Manchester United. It was not until the end of 2004 that they completed the acquisition of Manchester United.
During the entire acquisition process, they spent less than 800 million pounds - compared with this, Manchester United's market value of 310 million pounds at this time is too cheap.
Therefore, in early January, Barron asked DS Capital to start acquiring Manchester United shares in the secondary market before the Glazer family.
Barron decided to acquire the Manchester United club not only because he was a Manchester United fan in his previous life; but also because the Glazer family, known as the "vampires", brought continuous blood-sucking behavior to the club after acquiring Manchester United, which made all fans hate it. Full of hate.
More importantly, buying the Manchester United club will not only give him considerable influence in England and the world, but it is also a very cost-effective deal.
You must know that at this time, Manchester United is actually the most successful club in the Premier League. It won the Champions League triple crown in 1999, is a frequent visitor to the Premier League, and has extensive influence around the world.
And unlike other top clubs, which are mostly privately held, Manchester United is a listed company with relatively transparent finances. In 2002, Manchester United's annual revenue was nearly 200 million pounds and its net profit was 15 million pounds.
Moreover, Manchester United's revenue and profits mainly come from ongoing operations (tickets, sponsorships, TV broadcast rights), not from buying and selling players (buying and selling players is similar to making a movie, which may generate high income, but is extremely unstable and volatile).
Unlike many other European clubs that are the playthings of tycoons, Manchester United is a club that makes good profits and maintains a high level of competition - Manchester United's three main business incomes (tickets, sponsorships, and television copyright income) all have a lot of room for success.
Moreover, as a well-run league with rising overall value, the Premier League's global influence continues to rise - at this time, the Premier League has become the world's largest league, and its influence has expanded globally.
Therefore, the Premier League as a whole, its global commercial value is only in the early stages of development, and the future market space is huge.
As the most well-known club in the Premier League, Manchester United has a very bright future and can take the biggest piece of the Premier League cake.
