"Boss, are you making me both a player and a referee! Are you really relieved to leave all these things to me?" Mike Aller asked with a smile.

Regarding the conditions proposed by this mysterious boss, Mike Aller said that it would be a lie to not be moved. Mike Aller knew very well what level he was and worked as an accountant all his life, even if he was responsible for the Cayman Islands branch later, he really did not have enough management skills.

However, in terms of supervision, Mike Aller is not inferior to anyone. The job of an accountant before was not just to settle accounts, but more to monitor funds. Mike Aller, who has been immersed in this area for a lifetime, is very confident.

As for finding people or identifying people, Mike Aller is confident that he can do a good job. He seems to have talent in this area and is very talented. To be honest, sometimes Mike Aller himself thinks that if he doesn't become an accountant, it might be better to switch to a headhunter.

Now, the mysterious boss has made full use of his expertise, which put Mike Aller at all without any pressure, so he started to joke.

"No, Mike, I feel relieved about you." Yang Jing looked at Mike Aller very seriously and said, "We have known each other for more than six years. I also understand what kind of person you are. It is precisely because I am very satisfied with you that I will give you such an important job. If it were someone else, I wouldn't feel relieved."

Mike Aller was stunned for a moment, then said with some emotion: "Boss, I can't bear it when you say that."

Yang Jing waved his hand, "Mike. There is no need to do those stupid things between us. I trust you. You must use your performance to prove my trust in you. I know that you can do the job I have assigned to you. You will definitely do a great job."

Mike Aller nodded.

"Well, I think what Dragon Fund needs most now is a senior manager who can dominate all the work. I need a CEO who is proficient in investment, acquisition and mergers and acquisitions. Mike, do you have any good recommendations in this regard?"

Mike Aller lowered his head and thought for a while and said, "Boss, if you need to invest in and acquire talents in this field, I really have a pretty good candidate here, but I don't know if he is willing to be the CEO of the Dragon Fund."

"Oh? Very good? I can get your evaluation like this enough to show that this person is very good. Mike, don't hesitate, tell me what you know."

"Okay, boss." Mike Aller nodded, "This man's name is David Anderson, a native of Pennsylvania. Before he retired, he had worked on Wall Street. He had worked many jobs, worked as the most basic stock broker, worked as a trader, and worked as a fund manager. He eventually retired as the director of Goldman Sachs' investment department."

"Goldman Sachs? Also the Minister of Investment Department?" When Yang Jing heard that this person had actually served as the Minister of Investment Department of Goldman Sachs, he became interested immediately.

"That's right, before David retired, he did serve as the director of the investment department of Goldman Sachs. In fact, the business he was responsible for was the core business of the entire investment department. Even the senior executives of Goldman Sachs were very impressed by his ability. With David's ability, he would definitely be fine even if he was the senior executive of Goldman Sachs. It's a pity that this person has a weird personality, which is what we usually call high IQ but low EQ, and it's too old-fashioned to do things. In the merger and acquisition case of Standard Oil in California in 1984, as the person in charge of the merger and acquisition, David had some ideological conflicts with a senior executive of Goldman Sachs, which led to Goldman Sachs losing to Chase Manhattan Banking Group in that merger and acquisition, and became the scapegoat for the failure of Goldman Sachs' investment, and was eventually put on hold. David couldn't stand this anger, so he retired and went home to recuperate early."

"Oh? This Mr. David Anderson was actually the person in charge of California Standard Oil's acquisition of Bay Oil the year before yesterday?" Yang Jing asked in surprise.

"Well, boss, you have some problems saying this. David is the person in charge of Goldman Sachs preparing to participate in this merger and acquisition case. He has nothing to do with California Standard Oil, and the one that has something to do with him is Arco. However, the suggestion he made was too radical and was rejected by Goldman Sachs' senior executives, which led to Goldman Sachs' complete failure in that competition."

Yang Jing nodded silently.

Yang Jing is still very familiar with the merger case that occurred in 1984. He studied economics during his college years when he was studying economics.

In January 1901, Captain Lucas discovered the "spindle" oil field in Beaumont, Texas. In May of the same year, the brothers Andrew Mellon and Richard Mellon, one of the eight major consortiums in the United States, invested $1.5 million to establish the Griffy Oil Company, and later discovered the Greenpool Oilfield in Oklahoma. Richard Mellon's son William Larimo Mellon reorganized Griffy Oil and established the Bay Oil Company.

After World War I, Gulf Oil Company entered Central and South America, but the oil fields found in Mexico were later taken back by the Mexican government, which was hit hard. Later, Gulf Oil Company obtained oil leased land in Venezuela, but due to the economic crisis in 1931, Gulf Oil was excluded by New Jersey Standard Oil, and Gulf Oil fell into trouble.

However, Gulf Oil then established Kuwait Oil Company in Kuwait with British British Polish Company, and discovered the Bolgan super-large oil field in 1938, and began its journey of making a fortune. After World War II, because the Iranian government was dissatisfied with the UK, American oil companies were able to enter Iran, and Gulf Oil obtained 7% of Iranian oil production.

However, with the nationalization of the oil industry in Kuwait, Iran and Venezuela, almost all of the upstream oil production of Gulf Oil companies overseas was wiped out; and in the mid-to-late 1970s, Gulf Oil bought some non-oil "diversified" projects and suffered poor management, almost all of them lost money, and had to deal with them one by one; in addition, since 1981, oil prices in the international oil market gradually fell, causing the profits of Gulf Company to decline. Although the total turnover reached US$30.6 billion in 1982, profits continued to decline, with only US$900 million in the whole year. This also caused Gulf Oil Company's long-term stock price to quickly fall to less than US$30/share.

Moreover, at this time, the board of directors of Gulf Oil made an unforgivable mistake. At this time, other oil companies were not feeling well, but other oil companies quickly made up for insufficient reserves and increased oil production by mergers. However, the board of directors of Gulf Oil decided to borrow heavily from banks and repurchase the company's shares from the market, trying to reverse the whereabouts of the stock price. Unfortunately, this wrong approach caused a serious imbalance in revenue and expenditure, which eventually led to the company's debt, poor capital turnover, and into a dilemma.

At this moment, a complete villain appeared, Pickens, the owner of Mesa Petroleum, a small American oil company.

This guy had long targeted the troubled Bay Oil Company. He began to acquire shares of Bay Oil Company in the stock market as early as 1980s, and publicly announced in November 1983 that he had already controlled 13.1% of Bay Oil Company's shares and asked to join the board of directors of Bay Oil Company. At the same time, this guy released a proposal to dismember Bay Oil Company and greatly weaken the power of the company's board of directors, but was flatly rejected by the company's board of directors.

However, Pickens' proposal has gained the favor of most stock holders, so the Bay Company was in a mess first. Pickens' Mesa Oil Company took the opportunity to incite the Dressal Bank to give him financial support, intending to acquire more shares of the Bay Company and gain control over it. The Bay Company's board of directors was shocked when they heard the news. The company was indeed in trouble. The directors believed that it would rather be merged into the Big Oil Company than let Pickens' conspiracy succeed!

The news spread. Mobil Oil took the first move, but its offer was too low. Gulf Oil believed it was an "unfriendly" merger and refused. Later, ARCO received support from Chase Manhattan Bank Group and proposed a quotation of $13 billion in acquisition of Gulf Company; but California Standard Oil, which owns the backend of Bank of America Group, immediately offered a "olive branch" of $13.3 billion. Gulf Oil finally accepted the offer of California Standard Oil. The two sides finally reached a deal like a "blitzkrieg". From then on, Gulf Oil, one of the seven sisters of oil, invested in the arms of California Standard Oil, and an oil giant that once famous disappeared completely!

This merger case was the largest merger case in history at that time, and the decisiveness of California Standard Oil in this merger case has always been praised by future generations.

After acquiring Gulf Oil Company, California Standard Oil acquired another Texaco, one of the seven sisters of oil, in 2001, and eventually became Chevron Texaco, a frequent visitor to the top 10 of the world's top 500s in later generations.

However, in this merger case, Goldman Sachs did not appear, and Mike Aller said this now, which made Yang Jing a little puzzled.

Soon Yang Jing asked the question in his heart. He had to ask, because it involved the CEO of the Dragon Fund, Yang Jing had to be careful.

Mike Aller quickly explained this question to Yang Jing. "Yes, there was no Goldman Sachs in that merger case, because Goldman Sachs was completely eliminated before the merger case really began."

After a pause, Mike Aller continued: "Aco's first contact with Goldman Sachs at that time. As the person in charge of this merger case, David pointed out incisively that the merger price proposed by Aco was too low, and the price of $13 billion was not enough to impress the board members of Gulf Oil. This price should be raised to a minimum of $13.5 billion. If there are competitors, the price needs to be raised further. After all, although Gulf Oil is a bit unfamiliar, the skeleton is there. The name of the seven sisters of Petroleum is not a joke. Even if it uses $13.5 billion or even a higher price for mergers, it is absolutely worth it."

"But David's proposal was considered too radical by Goldman Sachs' senior executives, and Goldman Sachs could only offer Aco a $12.5 billion support. As a result, Aco moved to Chase Manhattan Bank Group because Chase Manhattan Bank Group could provide Aco with at least $13 billion support."

"The facts later proved that David's proposal was not radical at all, but just right. If the senior executives of Goldman Sachs agreed to David's plan and directly provided Arco with $13.5 billion in support, even if California Standard Oil joined, they would probably not be able to get Bay Oil. However, because of the cautiousness of the senior executives of Goldman Sachs, they lost Arco and were completely eliminated in that merger and acquisition case. In the end, David took the blame and resigned in anger."

After this explanation, Yang Jing understood.

"Mike, according to you, David was not at fault in that merger?"

"Boss, you can't say that. If David's personality is a little more versatile and said the same words in different ways, he might be recognized by the senior executives of Goldman Sachs. But unfortunately, although this guy is very talented, his personality..." Mike Aller shook his head.
Chapter completed!