The Tyrant Billionaire

Hardy asked Andy to help him calculate his assets. Andy smiled and said, "Boss, there's no need to calculate. I have your tax return from last year. Your assets are clearly listed."

Hardy took the thick document and started to look through it.

HD Security Company: profit of $1.68 million, expenses of $3.25 million, in a loss state, taxed $21,000.

"Paying taxes even when at a loss?" Hardy pointed to the document.

"Federal corporate income tax, California corporate income tax, local taxes, and more. This is the minimum within legal bounds," Andy explained with a shrug.

Fine. In this area, Andy was an expert, and Hardy trusted his tax avoidance skills.

HD Film Company: income of $3.12 million, expenses of $5.82 million, still in a loss state, taxed XXX.

HD Talent Agency, HD Music Company, Andy's Financial and Accounting Firm, Wash Mining, Rocky Mountain Spring Water, 'N.Y.T' TV Factory, Auction Company, Estée Lauder shares, HD Airline.

All of the above were losing money, and many were heavily in debt.

It's shocking to see that despite seeming like a large enterprise, he was actually deeply in debt.

However, there was some good news.

The Barbie Doll Toy Factory was very profitable, earning Hardy $100,000 a month, and the most profitable was Playboy magazine, earning about $400,000 a month.

But these profits were not distributed, they were all kept in the company accounts. If Hardy took out the money, he would have to pay personal income tax, which is very high in the U.S. If Hardy took out all the profits, his tax rate could reach the highest bracket of 39.6%.

If it were $4 million, he would have to pay $1.6 million.

The IRS is really ruthless.

Hardy looked at his legitimate income for the year: $12,652.56. Yes, just over ten thousand, just in the lowest bracket for personal income tax.

Perfect. This is what professionalism looks like.

"My income and expenses are all legal. The IRS can't give me any trouble, right?" Hardy asked.

He knew that Al Capone, with a fortune of over a billion dollars from murder and bootlegging, was ultimately brought down by the IRS because he didn't report gambling income of tens of thousands of dollars and was sentenced to 11 years in prison.

In America, drug dealing is a non violent crime and not too serious, theft is trivial, but tax evasion is a very serious crime.

"There are only two certainties in life: death and taxes."

Hardy didn't want the IRS to come after him, so he made sure to pay the required taxes. However, in this world, there are always two sides. Where there is a tax bureau, there are financial accountants to deal with it.

Andy smiled.

"Don't worry, boss. Andy's Financial and Accounting Firm now has 15 professional financial personnel, 16 accountants, and 3 financial lawyers, two of whom are professional accountants retired from the IRS. With their review, we won't be off by a single cent."

As for the mafia, it has nothing to do with Hardy. There is no evidence linking Hardy to The Los City company. As long as the legitimate business is legal, Hardy is the cleanest person in the world.

According to Hardy's asset statement, he is personally in debt by several million dollars.

"I want to acquire ABC Broadcasting Company. How much money do you think we can get?" Hardy asked again.

"Boss, raising money is not difficult. Playboy magazine alone is now valued at over $50 million. If you use Playboy magazine as collateral, many banks would be willing to lend you over $20 million," Andy said.

"Considering all assets, getting a loan of $40 million is not a problem. We have a cooperative relationship with Wells Fargo, so getting a loan from them is convenient."

Hearing Andy say this, Hardy felt reassured. Now he just needed to wait for the information Henry was investigating.

Two days later, Henry came back.

Hardy specifically called Andy to listen together because the acquisition task would definitely be Andy's job.

Henry handed Hardy a thick document.

Introduction:

"This Edward Noble is the owner of a candy company. He is 50 years old this year, and his candy company is headquartered in Springfield, Illinois. Noble has been running the candy company for over 20 years, mainly producing fruit candies, milk candies, and coffee sugar cubes, with a net worth of two to three million.

Noble's real fortune came because of World War II, when military procurement increased and new suppliers were needed. Noble was chosen as one of the sugar suppliers by the military, and his company's sales reached $6 million that year.

Investing, when he learned that Blue Network was for sale, he thought it was an opportunity, so he put up all his money and took out a loan, finally buying Blue Network for $8 million. At that time, many praised his boldness."

"However, after buying Blue Network, he found that NBC had tricked him. They took almost all the staff, leaving him with just equipment and a networking agreement."

Noble had no clue about running a TV station, so he hired someone to manage it. The current manager, Lyman, had previously run a local TV station.

"Lyman initially gave Edward Noble a lot of suggestions, arranging new programs for various time slots. You know, supporting a TV station's programming requires a huge production team. CBS and NBC each have four to five hundred employees."

Noble would need to invest around $5 million.

"To compete with other stations and gain a market share, continuous investment is required. Noble realized that continuing on this path might drag down his candy company, so he chose to give up. He let Lyman hire about 20 people just to keep the station running. Daily programming involved reading books and having two people chat about current events and gossip, saving money wherever possible."

Noble had to take out a sum of money every year for staff salaries and equipment maintenance.

"Of course, there are potential buyers. According to my information, several companies are interested in buying ABC, but Edward Noble is asking for a high price, causing some to give up and others to keep negotiating."