The Wolf of Los Angeles-Chapter 379: African Tree Planting Initiative

[Chapter 379: African Tree Planting Initiative]

New York, Park Avenue, BlackRock Headquarters.

Co-President Robert Kapito had read through an investment report from Los Angeles and took it out of his office to meet with the chairman and CEO, Larry Fink. "This just came in from the film investment fund company," Kapito placed the report on Fink's desk.

Fink put on his glasses and quickly looked it over, "At the last board expansion meeting, Ralph and Charles indicated they wanted to dissolve the film investment fund due to the failure of Brokeback Mountain during the Hollywood award season."

Kapito leaned back in his chair and replied, "Anderson and Haas initiated a surveillance operation and successfully installed listening devices within Twitter's upper management. Our tensions with Twitter have sharpened. Given Hawke Osment's approach, do you think our two companies will coexist peacefully?"

"Peacefully? I couldn't disagree more. I need to give Douglas's family an explanation," Fink said after reading the investment report and setting it aside. "Our positions have made it impossible for us to coexist peacefully. I suspect that the series of events during the Hollywood award season is linked to Hawke Osment and Twitter."

Kapito shook his head, "We don't have any evidence to support that claim."

Fink let out a derisive laugh, "Robert, some things only require us to consider the positions and interests involved, not necessarily evidence."

Kapito nodded lightly, "Since our IPO in 1999, the first two years went smoothly, but we faced challenges starting in 2001. I hoped for improvement this year, invested heavily in John Kerry, only for those two fools to ruin it in California, making our anticipated rapid growth over the next four years difficult to achieve."

"Not to mention the growing adversaries we're facing, which complicates matters," Fink reminded him. "From our past dealings with Twitter, Hawke Osment is decisive and unsparing. He may not be exceptionally powerful yet, but once he is..."

Kapito sighed, "Unfortunately, our hacking attempts were ineffective. Twitter's defenses are stronger than expected. According to our tech experts, Twitter's core algorithms are quite advanced, and they have numerous cybersecurity experts internally, making their firewalls hard to breach."

Fink thought of the late Douglas, feeling that Hawke Osment would treat him similarly, he said, "Since Hawke Osment allied with the Ferguson family, things have become particularly chaotic in Los Angeles. The Democrats lost the city because of it. I believe some of these issues are related to Hawke Osment."

Kapito asked, "What do you intend to do about it?"

"On one hand, we'll send people to investigate and see if we can uncover anything useful," Fink said quickly. "On the other hand, we need to increase our hacking efforts to expose Twitter's secrets."

He paused for a moment and continued, "Additionally, we need to take action both commercially and politically. The former involves directly targeting Twitter and Hawke Osment's business investments. The social media market is vast, and Twitter holds the largest share. We can work through the Democrats to see if the Federal Trade Commission might initiate an antitrust investigation."

Kapito added, "Silicon Valley has social media companies as well, although they are smaller in scale. We could invest in supporting them."

Fink agreed, "Let's convene a meeting about this as soon as possible."

Kapito gestured at the investment report, "And this?"

"It's a shame it's not LGBTQ-themed," Fink lamented about the marginal community initiative. "Since it's akin to the Lord of the Rings theme, we can invest, but let them know our focus remains on marginal community films."

BlackRock pushed the investment plan for The Golden Compass into the review process.

---

In Los Angeles, Hawke, representing the newly founded West Coast Investment Fund, called New Line Cinema, specifically sending Edward to pick up some materials regarding The Golden Compass investment.

These tasks came easy to him, and after finishing, Hawke set it aside.

After all, fishing for opportunities relied heavily on luck.

As the new week began, Twitter started moving offices, with each department gradually relocating to Coast Tower. The chairman's office was among the first to be moved.

...

Hawke took the time to meet with Jett Brown, his neighbor from the rental villa in Santa Monica and a senior recruiting manager at Glimmer International Talent Consulting.

Jett arrived at Coast Tower and took the private elevator to the 16th floor. Before entering the office, he tightened his tie, buttoned his suit jacket, and tidied his hair a little.

In the past year, Jett had frequently collaborated with Twitter, making them his top client.

Once inside, Jett quickly approached Hawke for a handshake, complimenting, "Twitter's new office building is fantastic; it's so big! Without a guide, it's easy to get lost."

Hawke motioned for him to sit and got straight to the point: "I brought you in today for recruitment matters."

Having worked together on multiple occasions, Jett had successfully recruited reliable personnel, especially technical talents specializing in firewalls, who merited Twitter's high salaries.

Twitter had faced several hacking attempts, all successfully mitigated by these recruits.

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Jett immediately focused and replied, "As long as you need me, I can travel worldwide to find suitable talent for you."

Hawke elaborated, "After the New Year, I established the West Coast Investment Company via the Cayman Islands, and there will be a series of investment financing efforts ahead. I need a manager with a strong executive ability to assist me with investment matters."

Jett asked, "Is this an independent investment company separate from Twitter?"

"It's my personal investment company," Hawke clarified, giving an example: "Similar to how Blackstone Group and Vanguard International operated in their initial stages, I will inject a portion of personal funds and also raise funds through the market."

He emphasized, "When recruiting, make sure to conduct thorough background checks; no ties to BlackRock."

Jett took out a notepad and meticulously recorded Hawke's requirements: "I will find suitable candidates as soon as possible."

Hawke added, "Ideally, within two months, I'd like it wrapped up."

"I'll get you some candidates as soon as possible," Jett quickly excused himself.

---

The newly appointed assistant to the chairman, Lucat, entered the office then and said, "The chairman of the charity foundation, Pierce Madden, is in the conference room."

Hawke left his office to meet him.

Since taking over, Pierce, chairman of the Osment Charitable Foundation, had been reorganizing the four charity aid stations inherited from the FBI.

Pierce opened his briefcase and handed over two files: "These are the properties and staff lists of the four aid stations. All personnel that originally belonged to the Ackerman Charitable Foundation have left since their closure. I didn't rehire them and instead conducted a complete recruitment, also accepting volunteers. This strategy effectively lowers costs."

Hawke read through the list carefully, responding, "The foundation mandates that five percent of our funds must be used for charitable purposes."

Pierce smiled, "As your income increases, the five percent of donations will more than suffice to maintain the aid stations. We'll soon need new charitable initiatives."

Hawke then inquired, "Do you have any suggestions?"

Pierce pointed to the second file: "This is a tree planting initiative for Africa, aimed at improving the ecological environment for its people. It will require substantial investment and aligns with mainstream North American charitable values."

Hawke reviewed the list of properties and then focused on the proposal.

Pierce continued, "Boss, your income is set to soar. Even if investments provide tax relief, you will still face high tax payments each year. Donating a portion of those funds to the charitable foundation is in compliance with federal law. However, allocating five percent of this money to street homeless would be a waste, especially when our charity aid stations would also receive support from Los Angeles authorities and the state government, incurring minimal expenses."

He further explained, "The African tree planting initiative can be genuinely executed by employing a number of cheap local workers to plant trees. Not too many are needed, as drought conditions in Africa may cause newly planted trees to die off. It is also common for locals to uproot trees for firewood due to lacking food and fuel. Any surplus funds can be redirected to other endeavors."

Hawke perceived this as only a preliminary plan, saying, "You need to prepare a detailed plan for this."

Pierce affirmed, "Sure thing."

Hawke discussed a few more details about the aid stations. The two aid stations in the downtown and Hollywood districts needed to commence operations promptly, which was a municipal requirement.

The two locations in Long Beach and Orange County also needed to be back on track by the beginning of next month at the latest.

---

In the afternoon, Campos approached him, stating, "The Hurricane Mercenary Company is preparing to expand and upgrade their equipment. Bosque has seriously considered our investment proposal and is willing to accept our sponsorship and investment."

Hawke had several hundred million dollars in funds left by Buddy Ackerman at his disposal. This money could be moved freely.

After considering, he instructed, "You go handle this personally, talk to Bosque. Accepting our sponsorship means prioritizing the tasks we assign."

Campos nodded, "I will head to Costa Rica tomorrow."

Hawke asked, "How are Fiona, Rosa, and Solana doing?"

Campos responded, "In the previous series of conflicts, all three played significant roles and managed to secure funding sponsorships. They are now mid-level management, but they still need time to reach senior levels, requiring notable performances in some specific incidents."

Hawke cautioned, "Make sure they stay alert regarding their organization's dealings with BlackRock, especially the Mattachine Society."

"Understood," Campos suggested, "I'm planning to initiate a few small-scale operations to elevate their statuses in the organization and maximize their influence."

Hawke agreed, "Sounds good."

With those matters settled, Campos quickly departed to return to the new headquarters of Butterfly Security Company and called Betty.

He arranged for Betty to connect with Fiona and the other two, and also booked tickets for a trip to Latin America.

*****

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