William was genuinely considering this issue.
He would not enter the stock market to buy and sell short anymore.
Market fluctuations were too severe, and he dared not enter the market to trade futures.
It would be better to wait for over a year and then enter the market to heavily invest in stocks that would soar later.
Not to mention other stocks like Apple, Netflix, Tencent, Amazon, and Google, these five stocks would all increase by hundreds of times in the future.
Even if he didn't follow the investments, they would still have a tenfold or twentyfold increase.
Just buy them and wait to collect the money!
He was only afraid that he wouldn't be able to buy so many low-priced stocks on the market.
Forget it, wait a few more months.
Now is not the time to act.
By the end of 2000, Amazon would be in a mess due to a 29-year-old stock analyst, and its market value would once drop below 2 billion US dollars.
He wouldn't need much; as long as he could buy 5%, he could have a net worth of over 50 billion US dollars just from Amazon.
Moreover, these already listed companies would not be like unlisted companies where the board or founders could kick you out if they wanted to.
Apple's market value was only 6 billion in 2001, and by 2007, it exceeded 113.7 billion, a nearly 19-fold increase in 6 years.
With Netflix and Google, he would definitely become the richest man in the world.
Ah, this is the advantage of a reborn person; you can win by just lying down.
Since futures could no longer be traded, he couldn't let Americans think he was a troublemaker.
This was also why he hadn't bet much against American companies in futures during this stock market crash.
Most of the money was earned in the island nation.
He only earned 400 million US dollars in America, and after taxes, it was only 320 million US dollars.
If he could invest all this money into the stocks he mentioned, he would buy them now.
Anyway, it was impossible to really wait until these companies' market values were at their lowest to buy, because only when prices fell would people sell in large quantities.
Thinking this way, he needed to make some preparations now.
William called Phillips and asked him what kind of social gatherings were happening in America recently.
He hoped to meet some American business people, get to know some people, and after a few interactions, relationships would form.
Phillips checked for a few minutes and then said, "Sir, recent gatherings in New York include Donald's fundraising gala at his hotel.
From what we understand, Donald is almost bankrupt and has to make efforts to raise funds to ease his company's financial pressure.
I heard he has quite a few good New York properties for sale; if you're interested, you can go take a look."
Who doesn't know the big-mouthed Donald?
Forget it, better not look for him, to avoid problems and trouble.
William rejected, "No, I'm not interested in him.
Are there any others?"
"The others are all charity donation galas; are you interested?" Phillips asked uncertainly.
"Interest, my foot!
I have no interest in donating to Americans.
I'd rather donate that money to University College London and Oxford University; at least I'd get a good reputation.
What good would I get from donating to Americans?" William complained.
"Forget it, help me book a ticket for the New York Knicks.
I haven't watched an NBA game yet."
"Alright, sir, I'll book it for you right away.
I just checked, there's a semi-final Game 3 between the Knicks and the Atlanta Hawks tonight.
Tickets are a bit hard to get, sir, but rest assured, we will handle it for you.
Give me half an hour; I'll hang up now and call you back in half an hour."
He was lucky; he wanted to watch a game and encountered a semi-final match.
He wasn't worried at all that Phillips wouldn't get the tickets.
UBS was, after all, one of the top banks globally; although it was only fourth in market value, its influence among the wealthy was number one worldwide.
Buying a ticket was simple; at worst, he'd pay several times the price.
Sure enough, in less than half an hour, Phillips called back, "Sir, we just contacted James Dolan, the owner of the Knicks.
He will arrange a front-row seat for you next to the Knicks players' bench.
We will have a dedicated staff member deliver the ticket to you.
Do you also need us to arrange a car for your pick-up and drop-off?"
William thought for a moment and said, "Yes, send someone to pick me up.
Also, please keep an eye out for houses in New York for me.
I want to buy a house here, preferably near Central Park.
Price is not an issue, as long as the house is good."
"Understood, sir.
I will keep an eye out for you.
Tomorrow, a staff member will bring the information to you.
Then, I won't bother you anymore.
Bye-bye."
"Alright, bye-bye."
After William hung up the phone, the hotel also delivered lunch.
After lunch, William took a nap and slept until 3 PM.
He left the hotel and strolled along Fifth Avenue, bought some change of clothes, and had dinner out.
After receiving a call from the National Bank, William returned to the hotel, changed into a T-shirt, jeans, and a baseball cap, and got into the National Bank's car, heading to Madison Square Garden.
Upon entering the stadium, he saw James Dolan, the owner of the Knicks, chatting with some people in the lobby.
Seeing William enter, Dolan quickly apologized to the people around him and walked towards William with a big smile, extending his hand from afar to shake William's hand.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Devlinshire.
It's truly wonderful that you can come and cheer for the Knicks.
You are the first heir to an earl to come and watch a Knicks game live.
It is my honor to host you."
William looked at Dolan with a big smile, understanding that Dolan was so enthusiastic because he had read today's reports.
An earl's heir, self-made, a billionaire, and all in cash.
William was much richer than him now.
Dolan's money was from his family, and he was only the manager of the Knicks.
This Fat Man (fatty) now wanted to sell some Knicks shares to William.
The stock market had crashed, and even capitalists were short on money.
After William shook Dolan's hand, seeing that he wouldn't let go, he felt a bit annoyed.
"Thank you, I'm also very happy to meet you, Mr. Dolan.
I hope the Knicks win big today and make it to the finals.
If you don't have anything else, I won't bother you with your guests."
After William said this, the fatty still held his hand and wouldn't let go.
Could he be gay?
William broke out in a cold sweat.
Although he didn't discriminate against gay people, he also didn't like having his hand held all the time.
Seeing William frown, Dolan realized he had been too enthusiastic and had misunderstood.
He quickly let go of his hand and apologized, "Sorry, William, I was a bit surprised and delighted to meet you for the first time.
When I was your age, I didn't know anything and only knew how to chase girls and have fun.
My apologies again.
So, I'll get straight to the point: William, are you interested in becoming a shareholder of the Knicks?"
William looked at Dolan in surprise.
In his previous life, this fat man had always clung to the Knicks and refused to let go.
Why was he selling shares now?
"As far as I know, hasn't your family always refused to sell any shares of the Knicks?
And I'm not interested in being a minority shareholder.
If I buy, I buy it all—the Knicks and Madison Square Garden—all cash."
At this time, the Knicks were not the rotten team they would be more than ten years later.
They were still worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
William was not interested in being a minority shareholder; if he bought, he would buy Madison Square Garden along with it.
Dolan heard William's words, thought for a moment, then shook his head, "William, this is a transaction worth over 10 billion US dollars.
Even if you have that much cash, not everyone will sell everything.
No one is a fool; everyone is optimistic about the team market and the Garden.
They just want to cash out some money to get through the stock market crash."
If he could buy it, that would be great; if not, then so be it.
Although New York was the best sports market, it might not be the case for players.
There were too many off-court factors in big cities, and players' minds weren't focused on the court.
I'm offering 1.5 billion US dollars in cash, packaging the Garden and the Knicks team, all cash.
Dolan, you can discuss this with all the companies at the Garden and consider it.
The game is about to start, so I won't bother you anymore.
I'll await your news, Mr. Dolan.
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