Chapter 1376: A Letter from Old Mellon

The Mellon family had already suffered a sudden and major change, and the shock of Richard King Mellon's illness had not yet subsided.

Now the various companies under the conglomerate were being besieged by numerous powerful enemies.

Every member of the entire Mellon family was feeling a heavy burden in their hearts, and no one could afford to have a smile on their face.

The most they could do was to keep calling to check on the situation of each company and then mobilise all their efforts to raise funds.

The think tank at the family office had to sort out the current volatile situation and come up with a reasonable response plan.

Although Cindy was a member of the family, she had married outside the family and was also a woman, so she could only stay out of the situation and couldn't get involved at all.

She was definitely not aware of the specific situation, but how could she not notice it as an intelligent person?

Therefore, she cannot help but worry about the family.

After visiting her unconscious father again, Cindy, accompanied by Xia Yu, went to the balcony in the corridor and looked out into the distance at the garden.

A trace of sadness was on her beautiful face.

'Cindy, you are pregnant. A negative attitude is not good for your health and will affect the development of our baby.'

'What has happened cannot be undone. All we can do is think positively and everything will be fine,'

Xia Yu gently hugged Cindy and comforted her tenderly.

Cindy leaned against Xia Yu's embrace and said softly, 'Honey, Dad has devoted his whole life to the family. I heard from the other uncles that Dad is the best person in the whole of America, and as long as he is there, the family will be stable.'

'But now Dad has suddenly fallen ill, and the family is in big trouble again.'

'You said that if Dad wakes up, he will be very disappointed, don't you think so?'

Xia Yu was silent.

This is fate!

The trouble the Mellon family is in now must have been predicted by Richard King Mellon a long time ago, and he must have been doing his best to avoid it.

Who can be blamed for this happening?

The family for not training a qualified successor?

Or him for suddenly falling ill and not being able to hold on for a few more years?

In Xia Yu's opinion, the root cause is still in the training of the heir, and no heir has been trained who can take on the responsibility.

But there is nothing that can be done about it.

Although the United States has implemented happy education in order to maintain its rule and avoid the emergence of a new ruling class, the families of major consortia have all implemented elite education.

However, the achievements and ceiling of a person are determined by many factors, such as personality, diligence, interests, innate intelligence, etc. The level of education can only increase the probability of producing elites and raise the ceiling to some extent.

As for whether the top elites can be cultivated, no one can guarantee it.

Therefore, the heirs of each family are ranked according to order, and the best one is constantly selected.

But unfortunately, the heirs of the Mellon family in this generation are not good enough.

So the old Mellon thought of other ways, such as training the younger Leonard and Woodrow, who have greater potential, and marrying his daughter Cindy to Xia Yu...

Xia Yu already knew about the latter point.

That is why he personally accompanied Cindy to the United States and has never left.

He also had the family office conduct research and mobilised resources and funds from all sides, which are still waiting in the wings.

The reason he is standing on the sidelines is that he lacks an opportunity to intervene with justification.

Now, it depends on whether his ailing father-in-law has left any tricks up his sleeve.

He does not want to take the initiative.

After all, these are two different natures.

...

Throughout the day, the constant stream of bad news had almost suffocated every member of the Mellon family.

The plan to increase the stock holdings in Gulf Oil had also been halted.

In the evening, Leonard Mellon returned to Mellon Financial Corporation, exhausted.

Mellon Financial Corporation was the family's core financial platform and was also the company founded by the founder of the Mellon family.

Leonard Mellon worked as the manager of the investment department there, which was considered a senior position.

There was no crisis at Mellon Financial, after all, the Mellon family had always been cautious with the company and had not left any loopholes in the shareholding.

The only way to bring the company down would be for it to mismanage itself, and for a run on the bank to occur, leading to a broken capital chain and bankruptcy.

Therefore, in order to avoid this situation, even though Mellon Financial has now urgently raised a large sum of money, it has not taken any rash actions. Instead, it continues to sort out risks and non-performing assets, planning to dispose of some of them and recycle the funds to ensure stability!

When he returned, he happened to meet his younger brother Woodrow, who had just returned from the Bank of New York.

'Woodrow, how is the situation at the Bank of New York?'

Seeing his brother's pale face, Leonard Mellon's heart sank, and remembering the shareholding situation of the Bank of New York, he took the initiative to ask his brother.

Although the Bank of New York is the second largest financial core platform of the Mellon Consortium, it is fundamentally different from Mellon Financial Corporation, because this company was acquired, and the Mellon family's shareholding ratio is far less than that of Mellon Financial Corporation.

Founded in 1784, Bank of New York is one of the oldest banks in the United States and was founded by Alexander Hamilton.

Alexander Hamilton was a representative of the US Constitutional Convention and one of the drafters and signatories of the US Constitution. He was the first US Secretary of the Treasury and the founder of the US party system. He was George Washington's right-hand man.

In the course of its development, Bank of New York has successively acquired a series of companies, including New York Life Insurance Trust Company, Fifth Avenue Bank, and Empire Trust Company.

It was also during this process of continuous mergers and acquisitions that Richard King Mellon and his father plotted to turn the Bank of New York into one of the financial core platforms of the Mellon Consortium.

The difference is that the Mellon family's stake in the Bank of New York is 28.2%, and then the other companies controlled by the Mellon Consortium together hold a 27.5% stake. This combined 55.7% stake is what the Mellon family can control.

This shareholding ratio is very secure under normal circumstances, but the nature of the 27.5% stake is different from that of the 28.2% stake. Once the company holding the stake in the Bank of New York is out of the control of the Mellon family, then it is hard to say.

Due to age issues, even though Woodrow Mellon started relatively high, he was only a mid-level employee at the Bank of New York and was still in the training stage.

'President Archer has listened to my advice, and the bank has already been liquidating some of its funds to return capital. However, in the stock market, someone is already buying up the company's shares.'

'What's more, some major clients have applied to the bank for large withdrawals.'

'This has led to some tension in the current internal atmosphere of the company,'

Woodrow Mellon said slowly.

'Leonard, what about you?'

Leonard Mellon said slowly, 'Things are fine on my side. Mellon Financial is not a commercial savings bank, and the family's control over the company is very strong. There have been no large withdrawals yet.'

'You've already had problems on your side, and I've heard that the Pittsburgh National Bank has even bigger problems.'

'The enemy is besieging us on all fronts.'

Woodrow Mellon nodded with a grave face: 'Yes, according to the current situation, we really may not be able to withstand it.'

'We have to be prepared to lose part of the company.'

Leonard Mellon felt uncomfortable. He was annoyed and poured a glass of water, gulping it down directly. A lot of water ran down his chin and neck to his chest, wetting his clothes.

At that moment, Leonard Mellon suddenly remembered something that happened half a year ago.

He said to his younger brother Woodrow, 'Woodrow, I remember that a few months ago, after attending Cindy's wedding, Dad called us into his study to give us a lecture. At that time, he said that if the family encountered a crisis and he was unable to handle it, we could open safe number 3 in his study, which contained something he had left for us.'

Woodrow Mellon frowned slightly and thought about it for a moment before remembering the incident.

'Let's go to Dad's study and open it to see what's inside.'

The two brothers immediately headed upstairs.

They soon arrived in the old Mellon's study and found safe number 3.

They knew the combination, as the old Mellon had told them before.

Soon, safe number 3 was opened, and there was only an envelope inside.

The envelope was addressed to 'My dear sons: Leonard and Woodrow.'

The brothers were a little happy to see these words, and then opened the envelope to take out the letter inside.

'Dear Leonard and Woodrow: I actually hope that this letter will never be opened by you, because when you read it, it will mean that I have had an accident and there will be a huge crisis in the family...'

'You two brothers are both very talented, and I have great expectations for you. What you lack is enough time and experience...'

'If no one in the family can step up to support the family, then you can go to Xia Yu for help. He will definitely help. He is more reliable than any of our family's current allies, because only the fully united Mellon Group can help him gain a firm foothold in the United States. Our family's decline will only do him harm...'

'Most importantly, he has sufficient strength. As long as he is willing to help, neither Morgan nor Rockefeller can bring down our family. As long as we do not lose control of the company, I believe that once you grow up, you will be able to revive the family again...'

'You must have this mentality. If you must give up some companies, selling them to Xia Yu is the best choice for our family.'

'If you and the family are unsure about a decision, you can always go and listen to his advice. He is the only person in the world who has ever amazed me. If God were to come to earth, I believe he would be the embodiment of God.'

'Father will always love you.'

'Richard King Mellon, 5 July 1985.'