Chapter 39 Trade Guild
Among the stock arrangements, in addition to the initial 2 million pounds used to purchase NetEase shares, Barron’s most focused arrangement was Amazon’s stock.
This company went public on May 15, 1997. During the last round of the Internet bubble, the stock price reached a previous high of $113 in December 1999. If the stock splits are included, then Compared with when it was listed, the company's stock has increased approximately 100 times!
But the bursting of the Internet bubble also seriously affected the company's stock price. At its lowest point, Amazon's stock price would even exceed $5, which can be said to have dropped by nearly 95%!
However, starting this year, as Amazon announced that it had begun to make profits, the company's stock price began to rebound.
In early July, Amazon's stock price was hovering around $12, but Barron knew that by early December, the company's stock price would rise to more than $25, more than doubling.
Not only that, if time continues to extend, Barron knows that Amazon’s stock price will still increase more than a hundred times in the future.
More importantly, this stock has a big market size!
It can be said that Amazon and Apple are both super high-quality potential stocks with large market share and an increase of more than 100 times!
Therefore, Barron spent a full 10 million pounds, used 5 times leverage for financing, and invested in this stock.
It's just that Apple's stock price will not start its spectacular rise until the iPhone is released.
Not only will its stock price not rise this year, it will even fall. Therefore, at this stage of Barron's capital accumulation, it is not yet time to start buying Apple stocks.
With the remaining more than 10 million pounds of funds, Barron diversified his investments into the US and British stock markets. Among some of the stocks he selected, there were even stocks that could rise more than five times in the second half of this year, but those stocks The stocks are all small-cap stocks, so for the sake of safety, the amount of money that can be invested is not much. Generally, the maximum purchase amount is only 1 million pounds.
…
"Daisy, please help me contact the headhunting company. I need an assistant."
"BOSS, you didn't say before that I need to be responsible for so much work. The company is registered, the office is confirmed, and the next step is to buy stocks and futures. Your salary is really hard to get..."
After hearing Daisy's complaints on the phone, Barron knew that she was really busy recently and comforted her:
"Beautiful Daisy, you know, everything has just begun now, and there will definitely be more things to do. Don't worry, when the company makes a profit, we will give you a satisfactory bonus."
"I'm afraid that before I get the money, I will be exhausted. What about the tolerance of nobles and gentlemen? Why do I feel that you are becoming more and more like those capitalists..."
"Haha, I take these as your compliments."
"Farewell, well, since you have an assistant, I can get rid of those tedious daily tasks."
She said this as if accepting her fate.
Daisy's words made Barron smile:
"That's right. I hope it can be done as soon as possible. In addition, you should also hurry up to form an investment team. After all, you can't do everything yourself. When the amount of funds becomes large in the future, you will definitely not be able to handle it by yourself."
"Wow, this is the most comforting thing for me today. In addition, do you have any requirements for the assistant? BOSS, is he beautiful? Xiong Da? Or do you need to provide more considerate services?"
Sure enough, Daisy still has the same personality, but Barron is not afraid at all:
"If these are just the requirements, I'm afraid I'll keep you without having to find another assistant... Oh, except that Xiong Da's requirements are too high for you."
"F**K, Barron, you..."
"Just kidding, Daisy, but you should know what abilities an assistant needs to have..."
…
Now that he has the funds, Barron is confident enough and is once again concerned about the situation in King's Cross.
"Dear Ms. Moore, I don't know what's going on over there in King's Cross. How is the investigation going?"
"The situation over there is a bit complicated..."
Her words reminded Barron that Viscount Bute had said something similar that day, which made him a little curious.
Yulia pointed to the map on the table and said:
"King's Cross is located in the center of the Kenton district and is a core area in the entire Greater London. The biggest regional advantage here is the transportation hub - it has King's Cross Station and St. Pancras Railway Station. King's Cross The station is a transportation hub connecting the UK, and St. Pancras Station is the terminal station of the Eurostar in the UK and the gateway station connecting the UK to the European continent."
"I already know all of this. Let's get to the point, Ms. Moore."
Yulia glanced at Barron, bit her lip, and continued:
"Your Highness the Duke, you should know that King's Cross was originally an industrial area, with convenient transportation and dense factories, grain stores, and warehouses. But after the electrification era, coal transportation was gradually eliminated, and the British began to Due to industrialization, the place became a slum, full of drugs, homeless people, low-end nightclubs and dance clubs, and became synonymous with filth and chaos..."
"Even now, land prices in King's Cross are much cheaper than in other areas of London."
"But the problem is that after investigation, very little of the land around that area is currently in private hands. At least 1/3 of the land belongs to coal, grain merchants and cloth merchants trade associations..."
Yulia’s words also made Barron suddenly realize.
In some stall literature, it is inevitable to exaggerate that the entire world is under the control of one or several secret groups, such as the Freemasons and the Papal Knights. This kind of conspiracy theory is very popular among civilians who like to hunt for novels. market.
Well, just like the Duke, in some people's minds, he may be extremely powerful and can use the power of the country at will. His mercenaries or gunmen can go to any country to deal with those who offend them...
But in reality, the Duke of Norfolk, the oldest non-royal duke, had to preside over the funeral of the King of England...and then his driver's license was revoked by a police officer for violating traffic rules.
Another Duke, the Duke of Roxburgh, a member of the London Guilds, was also fined for fare evasion on the Tube.
Speaking of, the London Guild of Traders, according to rumors, claims to control the economic lifeline of England and controls trillions of pounds of wealth...
In fact, the London Livery Company evolved from the guilds, and its history can be traced back to the Middle Ages. In certain industries, craftsmen and merchants formed groups to supervise industry skills and trade transactions.
Today, there are more than 100 guilds of various names in London, some of which are old and new, and some guilds have a history of thousands of years.
Indeed, some trade guilds with a long history not only have prominent members, but also have accumulated a lot of wealth themselves. In particular, some trade guilds that have obtained royal charters have a certain say in their own industry.
Trade associations such as goldsmiths and wine merchants, for example, not only have the qualifications to appraise the quality of relevant products, but also have a great say in the formulation of industry standards.
Many ancient guilds were not even supervised.
Moreover, these guilds own a lot of land. According to a survey by Datscha, a commercial real estate data company, the Cloth Merchants Guild and the Goldsmiths Guild are two of the largest landowners in London, ranking 55th and 73rd respectively in London.
If the land holdings of the two major guilds were combined, they own more land in the City of London than supermarket chains Sainsbury's and National Grid.
As Yulia mentioned, because they were deeply involved in the development of King's Cross, some of the land there has always belonged to the relevant trade guilds.
The data during the new book period is related to subsequent recommendations, so follow-up reading is very important. I beg you not to keep it all the time. If you feel that it is okay, read it every day to help increase follow-up reading. Thank you very much.
