The Tyrant Billionaire

The next step, of course, was to keep making money and working toward his comfortable little life.

As for the grand affairs of the world—for now, he would leave those for the more accomplished men to worry about.

He glanced again at the documents in his hand concerning Japan. He had already made up his mind. Since he knew Japan’s economy would recover, why not take a piece of the pie?

Europe had the Marshall Plan for investment.

Why couldn’t there be a Hardy Plan?

At this moment, no one had faith in Japan’s economy, not even American financial groups were investing there. He could approach President Johnson and request special approval for a Japan Economic Investment Plan.

After a day and night of flying, Hardy finally returned to Los Angeles.

Andy came to the airport with a team to welcome him, and Hardy gave Andy a hug.

"Boss, you’ve been gone for four months. You didn’t say you’d be away for so long," Andy remarked.

"Hehe, I didn’t expect it to take this long either," Hardy replied with a smile.

"How’s the situation in Hong Kong?" Andy asked.

"I’ve set up a Hong Kong branch of Hardy Group. The branch now manages hundreds of companies, including real estate, auction, trade companies, and industrial parks. It also has assets like HSBC, Wells Fargo, Global Times, and ABC TV. The industrial layout in Hong Kong is basically complete."

"That’s on par with any major corporate group," Andy commented.

After a brief pause, Andy hesitated and asked, "Boss, aren’t you worried that Hong Kong might be taken back? Lately, the Global Times has been reporting frequently on China’s news, and from the looks of it, the CCP victory seems inevitable."

Hardy smiled and said, "We’ve done a lot of analysis and laid the necessary groundwork. They don’t have what it takes to continue supporting the war much longer—they’re already losing popularity among the masses. It’s not worth provoking the U.K. and the U.S. at the same time in their current state."

"Alright, let’s not talk about that anymore. How’s business here in the U.S.?" Hardy asked.

Andy began reporting to Hardy.

The security company had been doing well over the past few months. They opened branches in over a dozen cities and recruited new staff. The company now had a total of 7,000 employees.

The previously planned overseas military bases had made progress. Land was purchased near Penang, Malaysia, and in Singapore, with permanent rights. Bases were being built in both locations simultaneously.

Two escort warships had already been dispatched.

Along with them, more than 300 marines and support personnel had been sent. The total number of personnel at both bases would be around 700.

Construction of the base in the Persian Gulf was also underway, with a warship already dispatched there. Why the Persian Gulf? Because Hardy Group’s oil company had built oilfields in that region of Saudi Arabia, and once the oil flowed, it would become a golden corridor.

Armand Hammer, president of Occidental Petroleum, after arriving in Saudi Arabia, used his connections to reach the Saudi royal family. In the end, they secured the mining rights to the neutral zone at a reasonable price.

Hardy knew that the oil resources in that region were extremely abundant. In the future, ExxonMobil and BP would both build large oil fields there. Hardy had just beaten them to it.

Once the oil began flowing, it would have to pass through the Persian Gulf, making the security of that area a top priority. Another consideration was that Hardy Group had a global shipping company, and the Persian Gulf base could also protect the shipping company’s vessels navigating the Arabian Sea.

As for the other industries—

They were all running normally. The last decade was America’s golden decade, with all industries thriving and developing at a rapid pace. Thanks to Hardy Group’s protection, its branches were shielded from external plundering, making development relatively simple.

Andy further reported that the investment company had made investments in more than a dozen companies over this period. Many of these were businesses Hardy had previously identified, while others were ones Andy believed had potential.

Most of these investments were in traditional manufacturing industries, including automobiles, oil, construction, electricity, gas companies, precision machinery, and pharmaceuticals. These sectors would be the most profitable over the next ten to twenty years.

Their annual profit margins were generally over 8%, with some reaching over 20%.

"How’s the chain supermarket doing?" Hardy asked. Continue your journey on empire

This was one of the reasons he had returned. He wanted to turn Hardy’s chain supermarket into a business like Walmart, so he was particularly concerned about its progress. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Everything is basically in place. Since it’s the first store, Sam has put all his energy into it, and the progress has been very fast," Andy replied.

Hardy nodded.

"Then I won’t go to the office. Let’s go check out the supermarket first," Hardy said.

"You’ve just gotten back. Don’t you want to rest a bit first?" Andy suggested.

"I slept for a day on the plane. I don’t need to recover—I’ve already adjusted to the time zone. Besides, the supermarket is in Hollywood. I’ll go home after I check it out," Hardy replied.

His physical strength was extraordinary, his ability to recover was incredibly strong, and he was always full of energy. This gave him a significant advantage.

Whether at work or in his romantic pursuits.

Without a healthy body—

You wouldn’t even qualify to be a Casanova with a harem!

The convoy arrived at the "Hardy Chain Supermarket" in Hollywood. It covered a massive area, with the supermarket itself occupying 5,000 square meters. The parking lot was even larger, three times the size of the supermarket, spanning 15,000 square meters. It could hold four to five hundred cars at once.

In fact, buying such a large piece of land also had an element of speculation involved.

The parking lot had already been built, with the lines neatly drawn. At the entrance of the supermarket, many people were going in and out, moving goods inside. All of them wore bright red uniforms, which were very conspicuous—they were Hardy Logistics employees.