Chapter 280: The Rockefeller Consortium
**1.6 billion pounds!**
This was the total profit Xia Yu earned from his recent gambling spree!
According to the current exchange rate of 1 pound to 8.832 Hong Kong dollars, 1.6 billion pounds equals 1.413 billion Hong Kong dollars!
And this 1.413 billion Hong Kong dollars is pure profit, excluding the funds Xia Yu initially took out. The funds he took out previously have already been transferred back into the account of Jiuding Securities Company.
The 85 million Hong Kong dollars used to purchase the Lide Television Station came from the gambling funds, along with the $500,000 (approximately 960,000 Hong Kong dollars) used to buy the Rubik's Cube patent. The money spent on buying houses, cars, and other expenses amounted to nearly 10 million Hong Kong dollars.
These expenses were all covered by the gambling funds, and the money previously taken from Jiuding Securities was fully returned.
As a result, the amount left in various accounts in Swiss banks, when converted to Hong Kong dollars, is 1.317 billion Hong Kong dollars.
Combined with Xia Yu's previous hidden assets, his personal wealth has skyrocketed to approximately 2 billion Hong Kong dollars after this gambling spree—enough to put him among the top twenty richest people in Hong Kong on the surface!
However, Xia Yu had no intention of exposing this wealth, as revealing it would only bring trouble and no benefits.
With this enormous hidden capital, Xia Yu felt an instant sense of confidence.
If anyone harbored ill intentions against him and judged him based on his apparent strength, they would find themselves up against a formidable force; Xia Yu could effortlessly crush any opponent.
Though the surge in his assets was exciting, Xia Yu quickly regained his composure after a moment of joy.
With 2 billion Hong Kong dollars in assets, even when considering the true strength of all wealthy families and major business houses in Hong Kong and Macau, he might not even make it into the top twenty.
Expanding to all of Southeast Asia, he might not even rank in the top fifty! How could this be a point of pride?
Moreover, Xia Yu's ambitions extended far beyond this!
While 2 billion Hong Kong dollars may seem like a lot, given the current exchange rate of 1 US dollar to 4.6 Hong Kong dollars, it only amounts to about 430 million US dollars.
Is 430 million US dollars a lot?
To ordinary people, it's astronomical. To Hong Kong's elite, it signifies significant power. But on the global stage, it pales in comparison.
Xia Yu, having the memories of numerous elite figures, was aware of many untold secrets.
In the late 1970s, the top ten American consortia each controlled assets exceeding a trillion dollars.
Take the Rockefeller Consortium, for example. In 1974, it once again surpassed the Morgan Consortium, reclaiming the top spot among American consortia with total assets amounting to: **330.5 billion dollars!**
A staggering figure that, if made public, would cause a global earthquake!
Even a lower-ranking Western consortium, such as the California Consortium, had total assets of 167.1 billion dollars in 1974.
As for the Citibank Consortium or the giant Morgan Consortium? Their power was even greater!
And that was just the rough statistics from 1974!
It was now 1978. After years of development, these major consortia had only grown stronger. If someone claimed that the Rockefeller Consortium's total assets had reached 360 billion dollars, Xia Yu would believe it!
When compared to these giants, Xia Yu's 430 million dollars seemed woefully insignificant. If Xia Yu still became complacent, he wouldn't be qualified to aspire to be a major capitalist.
This was why, from the outset, Xia Yu never limited his ambitions to just Hong Kong. In his strategic planning, he always looked at the bigger picture, setting a global framework first and then making detailed initial plans based on Hong Kong's situation.
In Xia Yu's view, a person's growth potential isn't determined by ability but by vision.
The broader one's vision, the more aware they are of their own insignificance, the more they respect the vastness of the world, and the more they push themselves to keep climbing higher.
Human potential is limitless, and ability is cultivated through continuous effort. As long as a person's drive to learn and grow remains strong, they will eventually reach the pinnacle of their capabilities.
But if someone is a frog in a well, satisfied with the tiny sky they see, they'll easily become content and self-satisfied, thinking they're the strongest when, in reality, their well is but a speck in the vast world.
Hong Kong, in Xia Yu's eyes, is like that well, and most of its people are the frogs. Some aren't even as capable as those frogs.
Yet Xia Yu remained clear-headed, fully aware of the vast world beyond the well.
Since his rebirth, Xia Yu has been urgently pushing his development because he knows the value of time.
The 80s and 90s were a time of global upheaval—waves of privatization across Europe and America, the Middle East's relentless wars causing oil and economic crises, financial crises driven by natural or human factors, the reunification of Germany, the formation of the EU, Eastern European revolutions, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the rise of technology—all of which held hidden, enormous wealth.
These historical moments were invaluable opportunities! Armed with memories from those times, Xia Yu was eager to seize them all!
But mere desire wasn't enough. To partake in these opportunities, one must first have the power to enter the game.
And to go further and compete with the global giants, even more power was required! But time waits for no one!
Those giants were already enormously powerful, wielding unmatched resources, while Xia Yu was starting far behind. Following a conventional path wouldn't suffice!
In an era where the global pyramid of power was solidifying, Xia Yu had to sprint towards the top, or he'd have to wait for the unpredictable internet era for another slim chance.
But Xia Yu didn't want to wait decades!
More importantly, without power, even if he reached the future internet era, he'd still be dominated by those behind-the-scenes giants and lose out in the competition!
Didn't Google or Microsoft each have a host of investment firms backing them? Most of those investment firms were just tentacles of these consortia.
Once you reach the pinnacle of power and amass countless resources, no matter how times change, those at the top remain the same. The industries may change, but the ruling hands don't.
The tycoons often showcased in global wealth rankings are almost always mere fronts for the true giants. Though these individuals are seen as top-tier by the public, they never break into the top echelons to divide the real spoils.
Xia Yu aspired to be the latter—to become one of the true giants!
Fully aware of the complexities and challenges, Xia Yu was prepared for the arduous journey ahead.
But with this rebirth, favored by the heavens, Xia Yu wasn't content to merely coast through life with wealth. Instead, he sought to make a monumental impact on the world!
If John D. Rockefeller and J.P. Morgan could achieve such heights a century ago, Xia Yu, blessed with unique opportunities, believed he was no less capable. He was determined to take his shot!
**Thirty years of tumultuous change—who among the world's illustrious figures stands out today?**
430 million dollars isn't much; it's still woefully small!
However, with over a billion Hong Kong dollars in liquid capital, Xia Yu was finally qualified to begin his path to becoming a true tycoon!
Everything would start with the Wharf, and the first target would be the smaller faction of the Jardine Consortium!
**P.S.** Be careful not to mix up concepts like GDP, national assets, total assets, and personal wealth. Just because the US GDP is only in the tens of trillions doesn't mean that the consortia's wealth estimates are exaggerated. Global wealth is estimated at around 550 trillion dollars, and even if US national assets don't make up a fifth of that, they'd still likely exceed 100 trillion dollars. At their peak, the top ten American consortia controlled over 30% of this wealth, and even today, their power remains formidable.