America Tycoon: The Wolf of Showbiz-Chapter 919 - 862 Forever Comrades_2
Chapter 919: Chapter 862 Forever Comrades_2
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Chapter 919: Chapter 862 Forever Comrades_2
The car left the city center, and Alexandrovich received a call.
He wasn’t surprised. After dealing with a few pleasantries, he took the initiative to invite the other party to the subsequent celebration dinner.
The bulletproof limousine arrived at the Ukrainian Grand Hotel where Igor, the power broker of Privat Group, was waiting for him inside.
Taking advantage of the time before the celebration dinner started, Alexandrovich invited Igor into the meeting room he had prepared earlier.
Igor sported a gray beard and looked dapper, a typical older handsome man. He said with a smile, “Congratulations on your election victory.”
But Alexandrovich responded with a smile, “It should be congratulations to us.”
Igor laughed heartily, “How is the formation of your cabinet going?”
Alexandrovich seriously replied, “The personnel have basically been determined.”
Igor nodded, waiting for him to make a statement.
Alexandrovich lowered his voice, “The things we’ve agreed upon will be attended to immediately once I stabilize the situation after taking office.”
Due to recent years of alignment with Damao in the east, Igor had been sanctioned by Western nations led by the United States, and the impact on his business group had been substantial. He had supported Alexandrovich, also intending to use him to ease relations with the West.
There was no alternative; in the eyes of the arrogant Westerners, this Ukrainian tycoon was not considered a person at all. Being sanctioned was easy, but getting the sanctions lifted was difficult.
Igor had seen clearly by now; the democracy and freedom touted by the West were all nonsense. Not to mention ordinary citizens of Ukraine and Russia—even billionaires who went there were merely fish on the chopping board.
It was the kind that delivered themselves to the door.
Alexandrovich added, “This matter is somewhat troublesome. Once I take office, I will need Mr. Igor to provide the necessary data and information, so that I can be more efficient in handling the situation.”
Igor was satisfied with the attitude of the soon-to-be Great Commander, “I’ve already had people compile it; I’ll give it to you later.”
Alexandrovich stood up and bowed deeply, at a ninety-degree angle to Igor, “Thank you for Mr. Igor’s support!”
This gesture greatly pleased Igor, who quickly stood up and helped Alexandrovich to his feet, “We are friends, and comrades in arms. From now on, we will fight side by side.”
Alexandrovich grasped Igor’s hand firmly, “We are comrades in arms forever!”
The celebration dinner began, and Alexandrovich and Orlina, as a couple, mingled skillfully among the crowd.
Since he came from the entertainment industry, his campaign team was also mainly composed of people from this circle.
These individuals were set to take up significant positions.
Alexandrovich would naturally reward them according to their contributions, having drawn up a list of important positions long in advance.
For example, the future Secretary-General was to be the producer Trofimov, the Mayor of Kiev would be his boxer friend, and a TV program producer with whom he had long collaborated would become the head of the security bureau.
In short, this would be the first government to absorb a large number of TV and movie comedians for important roles.
After the dinner, Alexandrovich and Orlina returned to their home.
They entered the study and discussed some matters.
This study, per Bruce’s suggestion, had undergone special modifications to block all electronic signals.
Orlina asked, “What does Igor want someone to do?”
“He wants me to fulfill those promises, to forever be his friend and comrade…” Alexandrovich, of course, knew what that entailed, “He wants me to always be a puppet for Privat Group.”
Orlina was quite indignant, “Martin has helped us so much, and he never made any demands.”
Alexandrovich raised his hand to interrupt his wife, “That was before; who can be sure about the future?”
“No matter what you do, I will support you.” Orlina took her husband’s hand, “But I must remind you, our foundation is in the West.”
Alexandrovich spoke slowly, “I’ve promised the entire Ukraine to fight corruption, to regulate market order, to increase market reforms, to develop the Ukrainian economy.”
He had already considered this, “Even if some promises can’t be kept, I still need to show enough attitude, so I can secure that position. It’s too difficult to develop the economy, to be honest, I also don’t know how to develop it, but the first three items will easily show the Ukrainian people some results.”
Orlina immediately understood, “Going after the oligarchs?”
“Yes, just like I said last time, go after Igor and the Privat Group!” Alexandrovich said, “This will show Ukraine and the whole world my determination for anti-corruption and market reforms!”
Orlina reminded, “We can’t do it alone.”
Alexandrovich said, “I’ll offer the Privat Group to Martin and his allies, the Americans will help us.”
Admiration tinged Orlina’s gaze as she looked at her husband.
Martin’s side had debts to repay, after all, they decided to go the Western route, and while the Privat Group wanted to control them, wanted them to be puppets, they did not want to be puppets.
It was perfect, they could use the power of the Western group to suppress the Privat Group, and with the power they would soon control, the possibility of taking down the Privat Group was very high.
The assets of the Privat Group could also serve as a bridge to the West.
That night, Alexandrovich and Orlina talked nearly the entire time, discussing until dawn.
…
At Los Angeles International Airport, a business jet with silver and red stripes landed on the private tarmac.
Several bodyguards, staying in Los Angeles, drove multiple Cadillacs over for the pickup.
Martin and his group got in the cars, heading straight for Beverly Hills.
Back home, Martin first went to sleep with Lily and Elizabeth.
The two women were probably exhausted from the flight, taking showers and falling asleep as soon as they lay down.
Martin came down from upstairs, where Bruce was waiting in the living room.
The two went to the study.
Bruce closed the door and said, “The results are out from Ukraine, Alexandrovich was elected by an absolute majority.”
Martin replied, “An expected outcome.”
Bruce continued, “Alexandrovich called ten minutes ago, he has very important matters to discuss with us before taking office.”
Martin didn’t hurry, waiting for him to continue.
Bruce’s words didn’t stop, “He plans to consolidate power after taking office, then break through with anti-corruption and market reforms to rally the support of the Ukrainian people, especially the army. His target is the Privat Group; he’s asking if the Western world can help him take down this oligarchic group.”
He paused, then added, “If we can support him, he plans to send Orlina to Paris to meet with our people face-to-face.”
Martin had already discussed this matter with Louise and Kelly; the latter had used a fair amount of political connections that could effectively suppress some of the Ukrainian forces’ backlash.
To put it simply, they could use the Western faction to strike at the Privat Group, which tended to side with Damao and the tsarist Eastern faction.
Martin thought for a moment and said, “Old Cloth, take a trip to Paris, meet with Orlina.”
This matter could involve several billion US dollars, and Bruce didn’t hesitate, “I have an appointment with them, I’ll head to Paris this week.”
Martin then contacted Louise and Kelly and went to meet Louise in person.
The following week, Martin took a vacation for himself, throwing all his work aside, and devoted his time to traveling around with Lily and Elizabeth.
They even made a trip to Hawaii.
Meanwhile, “John Wick: Chapter 3” continued its hot run in North America. After a month of screenings, the pace of harvesting box office revenue visibly slowed, with a North American gross of 456 million US dollars.
Overseas, possibly missing the world’s second-largest movie market, overseas box office revenue was always slightly behind North America, currently at 366 million US dollars.
Negotiations for offline distribution were also ongoing; Netflix proactively approached Davis Studio, wanting to purchase streaming rights for “John Wick: Chapter 3” for a first-year offer of 80 million US dollars.
However, the deal was preconditioned on the film not being released on DVD within half a year of leaving cinemas.
The two parties were still negotiating, as Netflix’s offer wasn’t high enough.
Although since 2012, Hollywood’s DVD income had been declining year-by-year, situations where a DVD could sell over 100 million US dollars a few months before release were bygone; still, for a blockbuster’s first year, DVD sales reaching sixty to seventy million dollars were not a problem.
