"I never thought this fellow Cooper would have any good points, but at least he did leave me a rather good set of technologies. Hahaha! And the Jiangnan Group, I have them to thank too!" Professor Parkinson said with a triumphant laugh, clearly very pleased with the recent situation.
Of course, Professor Parkinson's joy was justified, as the stock price of the US United Pacific Railroad Company had tripled following the announcement of the vacuum ultra-high-speed pipeline train.
That's right, it had directly doubled. Previously, the total market value of Pacific United Railroad Company was less than 40 billion US dollars, and its stock price was still falling.
But with the announcement of this news, the total market value of Pacific United Railroad Company, which was now the leading enterprise in the entire project, had broken through 130 billion US dollars and was still rising.
It wasn't just this one company; the stock prices of the other 20-odd railway companies had also risen, with gains of at least double. Among these, 15 were companies controlled by the Goldman Sachs Group.
With just this piece of news, Goldman Sachs had made a net profit of over 300 billion US dollars. And it had only been 5 months since Professor Parkinson took over the company. To achieve such brilliant results, the credit had to go to Professor Parkinson.
Moreover, this was just the beginning. With the power struggles between the behind-the-scenes consortia, once this railway project received congressional approval, it would receive at least 600 billion US dollars in appropriations.
So, this sum was to be used entirely for the railway, but with a little manipulation, not finding ways to skim off another 100 billion US dollars would indicate Goldman Sachs' lack of capability.
At the same time, the entire railway construction process would bring immense business opportunities and profits. As long as this railway could be built, it would be a big hen that could lay golden eggs for decades. Professor Parkinson, who had brought this big hen to Goldman Sachs, would then have the capital and achievements to surpass Dr. Cooper and decisively win this competition.
Of course, Professor Parkinson himself understood that this credit was not his own, but rather Dr. Cooper's legacy. It was just that for various reasons, this plan was not immediately announced but was kept as a technological reserve, hidden within the Goldman Sachs Group, and eventually benefited Professor Parkinson, the successor.
This might not seem like Professor Parkinson's own merit, but my Professor Parkinson never cared about such things. In his view, none of these things were important. As long as these achievements belonged to him, that was enough.
Therefore, after discovering this great treasure, Parkinson had been working tirelessly, trying every means to lobby and build connections, and finally announced this important news on April 1st, April Fool's Day, which caused a stir and attention worldwide. This situation made Professor Parkinson very satisfied, feeling that his goal of surpassing Dr. Cooper and becoming the most outstanding president in Goldman Sachs' history was not too far off.
With this thought, Professor Parkinson couldn't help but summon his secretary and said with a proud smile, "Go and contact your former leader. I want to invite him to dinner tonight and see if he's willing to grace me with his presence!"
"...Yes!" The secretary's expression was slightly awkward, as he was previously Dr. Cooper's secretary.
Originally, as Dr. Cooper's head secretary, he should have closely followed his boss's footsteps. When his boss retreated, he should have gone with him, or at least been transferred to another post, and should not have continued to be Professor Parkinson's secretary.
However, he did not expect that Professor Parkinson would proactively meet him and invite him to stay as his head secretary. The reason was very simple: Professor Parkinson had been a professor all along. Although he had a few secretaries, due to Dr. Cooper's restrictions, these secretaries had hardly participated in Goldman Sachs Group's operations.
Now that Professor Parkinson had suddenly ascended to the position of Goldman Sachs president, it was impossible for the original secretaries to manage the complex affairs of Goldman Sachs. Therefore, Professor Parkinson proactively invited the opponent's secretary to stay and help him.
The secretary agreed without much hesitation. He was not yet 35 years old and had a bright future ahead of him. There was no need to spend his days with someone who had already retired. He also wanted to maintain the position and honor he had hard-earned.
It was a case of mutual agreement. On the first day of Professor Parkinson's tenure, he requested Dr. Cooper to allow him to continue working.
In response, Dr. Cooper was not too angry, nor did he try to keep him. He simply nodded calmly and let the other party stay, then returned to his grand estate alone to enjoy life.
So, when Professor Parkinson suddenly asked him to contact his former master for dinner, the secretary himself felt very awkward.
But he was not from Parkinson's inner circle. If he hesitated at this moment, he would likely be replaced by other loyalists in the future.
Therefore, the secretary did not hesitate and directly dialed Dr. Cooper's number. Especially that evening, Professor Parkinson arrived at Dr. Cooper's estate. The two former enemies were now gathered again, enjoying a delicious dinner.
"Doctor, your place is truly wonderful and beautiful, so enviable! I dream of living in such an estate!" Professor Parkinson had thoroughly admired Dr. Cooper's estate on the way.
The outermost part was a hunting ground, covering an area of 5,000 hectares, with many wild or free-range animals for Dr. Cooper and his children to enjoy hunting for leisure.
In many Chinese dramas, it seems that rich people worldwide like to play golf.
This is actually incorrect, at least in the United States, because rich Americans love hunting the most. After all, golf only requires a few hectares of green space, but hunting requires at least several thousand hectares of wilderness, which determines that hunting is a high-end pleasure.
After passing through the hunting grounds, one truly entered the core area of the estate, a complex of seven large houses.
Among them, two were Dr. Cooper's private museums, housing artworks and antiques collected by Dr. Cooper from various regions around the world.
In addition, there was a standalone movie theater, a stable, and so on. In short, the estate was truly the pinnacle of earthly enjoyment. Staying here for a few days would likely make one lose interest in busy work outside. Professor Parkinson himself felt an irresistible urge to stay for a few more days.
"Not at all. Speaking of shares, my shares are less than one-third of Professor Parkinson's. Your wealth is greater than mine. This estate is just a trifle for you!" Dr. Cooper said with a smile.
"Not at all. My shares are indeed a bit more. But they are all shares, not cash. Unlike you, Doctor, you have managed Goldman Sachs for decades and have various ways to accumulate substantial cash. I was a university professor for decades, and after hard work, I only saved tens of millions of dollars, not enough to buy a small house here!" Parkinson said with a smile. The exchange of witty remarks between the two made the secretary who accompanied them break out in a cold sweat.
"Alright, you can go. It's inconvenient for you to be here while we talk!" Dr. Cooper said calmly. The secretary felt as if he had been granted a general amnesty and quickly left, leaving only Dr. Cooper and Professor Parkinson.
"Hmph!" Professor Parkinson snorted coldly, looking at his secretary's retreating figure, appearing displeased.
However, this was normal. It was indeed unpleasant to have one's secretary dismissed with just a few words from someone else.
"Speak," Dr. Cooper said.
"Speak about what?" Professor Parkinson retorted.
"Professor Parkinson, who is enjoying his success, actually comes to my place for dinner. If you have no request, you can leave now," Dr. Cooper said calmly. Professor Parkinson then chuckled and said, "Actually, it's nothing major. I'm here mainly to thank you for leaving me the vacuum ultra-high-speed train project. Without this project, I wouldn't be enjoying my success today!"
"You don't need to thank me, because I didn't want to leave it to you either. It's just that after acquiring this project, the technology was initially unfeasible and required the railroad company to continue R&D. By the time the technology was developed, the subprime mortgage crisis arrived, making it difficult to proceed with such projects, so it was kept pending."
"If possible, how could I have given such a good project to you?" Dr. Cooper said without politeness. Professor Parkinson also chuckled, and then his expression turned serious. "However, Dr. Cooper, this project has just begun, and the future is a heavy burden. If things go wrong, Goldman Sachs as a whole could stumble severely."
"This project was initiated by you. We are all people of Goldman Sachs and hold Goldman Sachs stocks, so I hope you can help me with this matter."
"How do you want me to help you?" Dr. Cooper was about to laugh.
"First, you have to tell me, can this project succeed?" Professor Parkinson asked. This question sounded very strange. He was actually asking Dr. Cooper if this project could succeed.
As Professor Parkinson, who had driven the vacuum ultra-high-speed train project, he had started it without even knowing if it could succeed. Having to ask his predecessor about it sounded incredible.
However, Dr. Cooper did not find anything unusual about it and said very seriously, "It can succeed, but it is bound to fail."