Chapter 550 The Lagardère Family
Ultimately, William Weber Capital is just one part of Barron's short-selling plan throughout Europe related to the subprime mortgage crisis.
Various funds under the DS Group have successively increased short selling in the European market at this time, with a total investment of up to 100 billion euros. However, it will take time for the impact of the subprime mortgage crisis to spread to Europe, so they will gradually increase their short positions. A warehouse will not invest these funds at once.
For example, as mentioned before, Société Générale was bullish on European stock markets due to the private operations of one of their traders, which ultimately caused a loss of 49 billion euros.
The opponent's bullish positions are actually currently being conducted by DS Group...
Wealth will not disappear, it will only be transferred. If there are institutions that are losing money, there must be those who are making profits. This is the truth.
"Hello, Mr. Sarkozy."
"Welcome to Paris, Your Highness the Duke."
In fact, the meeting with Ashley Weber was just by the way. After that, Barron met Nicolas Sarkozy in the newly purchased villa in Paris.
Speaking of which, he and the other party are kindred spirits...
Lao Sar, who previously served as interior minister, won the election in May this year and became the new president of France.
In addition, Bruni, who once served as Barron's French teacher and provided personal guidance, has also secretly dated Lao Sa. The two will make their relationship public in a few months. After that, Bruni will follow the trend of his previous life. She will also become the First Lady of France.
Speaking of which, Bruni's fate was quite tortuous, but she also knew that her relationship with Barron, the British Duke, was destined to be a short-term relationship. Therefore, after meeting Lao Sa, she began to have a relationship with him. The fight was hot.
It was Bruni who introduced Barron and Lao Sa and arranged their meeting.
Lao Sa is very interesting. He was originally on the side of former French President Jacques Chirac. Later, he defected to support Chirac's opponent in the 1995 election, and then returned to Chirac's side in the 2002 election. His campaign was running around...
Of course, he was rewarded and later held the important position of Minister of the Interior.
In this year's general election, Chirac announced his retirement and supported Lao Salvador, which ultimately helped him win the election.
Compared with South Korea, the French presidency can be said to be very safe, but even so, Laos later became the first president of France to go to prison - although he was only sentenced to one year in prison. , and suspended execution.
The current Lao Sa is naturally very proud, having just taken over a high position, and is also very happy in love. However, facing Barron, the young Duke of England, he is still very friendly - after all, he also knows the capital and wealth that the other party has. strength.
In terms of policy, Lao Sa is a hardliner, which can be seen from his tough attitude to quell the Paris riots when he was the Minister of the Interior.
At the same time, he also has a tough attitude towards immigration. After taking office, he proposed a proposal to add French and national values tests to those who want to become French citizens.
Therefore, Lao Sa also strongly supports the previous cooperation between France and Britain in repatriating illegal immigrants.
Currently, a "refugee resettlement area" has been designated on the eastern border of Colo, on the side of neighboring Benin, to accommodate illegal immigrants from Britain and France.
On the British side, the Coast Guard established by the Protector Security Company cooperated with French law enforcement agencies to prevent illegal immigrants from landing, and both parties funded the sending of these illegal immigrants to West Africa.
It can be said that compared with the burden and negative impact caused by these illegal immigrants entering the country on the welfare system and social security, spending some money to solve this problem is still very worthwhile in Lao Sa's opinion. Therefore, after he took office, he This cooperation with the British side has been vigorously promoted, and its scope is not limited to illegal immigrants found at sea and at the border preparing to enter the country, but also includes illegal immigrants found in the country illegally staying in the country.
Barron is also very supportive of this initiative. Currently, more than 1000 British and French "illegal immigrants" have been transported to the Benin resettlement area. Among them, more than 200 people have obtained Kolo's review after review. If they have a residence permit in Los Angeles and perform well within 5 years, they will be able to obtain Colo citizenship.
All of these people have received a certain degree of education or have special skills, and can make up for some of the labor gaps in the country during the current great development of Kolo.
In addition to matters related to the resettlement of illegal immigrants, Barron and Laos also talked about investment in France.
At present, the DS Group's largest asset in France is the Gucci-Hermès Group. This group is composed of two top luxury brands in France and Italy. In fact, in addition to the two brands of Gucci and Hermès, the two companies before the merger , each also owns some other luxury brands.
For example, before the Gucci Group was acquired, it already owned many brands including Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, Boucheron, and Yves Saint Laurent.
Before the merger of Hermès and Gucci Group, in addition to the Hermès brand, it also owned brands such as John Lobb, Saint Louis and Puiforcat.
It can be said that France and Italy have the most luxury brands in Europe. Lao Sal also hopes that Barron can invest more in France to promote the local economy.
All in all, the meeting between the two this time was mainly about "establishing connections". After all, after making a lot of money during the subprime mortgage crisis, Barron will definitely start to take advantage of the low market value of many companies to make acquisitions. , when the time comes, it will be easier for France to have Lao Sa help.
Lao Sa is also willing to establish a good personal relationship with Barron. He even said that he can introduce some local families to Barron to promote cooperation between the two parties.
He didn't just say this, he soon introduced a dear friend to Barron at a banquet...
This dear man’s name is Arnault…
Well, it’s not Bernard Arnault, the chairman of LVMH Group, but Arnault Lagardère, the new head of another French wealthy family, the Lagardère family.
As for why Lao Sa introduced this man known as the "most failed heir" to him, Barron is still not sure - but at least the good thing is that when Arnault wants to sell some property, Barron It's easier to take over.
From now on, the Lagardère family ranks among the top business families in France. Arnaud Lagardère’s father is one of the most well-known and respected businessmen in France, Jean-Luc Lagardère. Gardel, who built empires including missile manufacturer Matra and publisher Hachette.
At present, the Lagardère Group (Lagardère SCA) of the Lagardère family is one of the three largest publishing groups in the world, owning "Paris Match" (Paris Match), "Le Journal du Dimanche" (Sunday newspaper), Hachette Publishing , Europe 1 radio station and some important duty-free chain stores.
The Lagardère Group's businesses include television stations, publishing, media magazines, travel, etc.
They have nearly 7 publications from more than ten countries including "ELLE", "Famous Car Magazine", "Version Femina", "Art & Décoration", "France Dimanche", "Télé Jours", "Ici Paris" and "Public". kind of magazine.