Hardy asked Andy to help him calcte his assets. Andy smiled and said, "Boss, there''s no need to calcte. I have your tax return fromst year. Your assets are clearly listed."
Hardy took the thick document and started to look through it.
HD Security Company: profit of $1.68 million, expenses of $3.25 million, in a loss state, taxed $21,000.
"Paying taxes even when at a loss?" Hardy pointed to the document.
"Federal corporate ie tax, California corporate ie tax, local taxes, and more. This is the minimum within legal bounds," Andy exined with a shrug.
Fine. In this area, Andy was an expert, and Hardy trusted his tax avoidance skills.
HD Film Company: ie of $3.12 million, expenses of $5.82 million, still in a loss state, taxed XXX.
HD Talent Agency, HD Music Company, Andy''s Financial and ounting Firm, Wash Mining, Rocky Mountain Spring Water, ''N.Y.T'' TV Factory, Auction Company, Estée Lauder shares, HD Airline.
All of the above were losing money, and many were heavily in debt.
It''s shocking to see that despite seeming like arge enterprise, he was actually deeply in debt.
However, there was some good news.
The Barbie Doll Toy Factory was very profitable, earning Hardy $100,000 a month, and the most profitable was yboy magazine, earning about $400,000 a month.
But these profits were not distributed, they were all kept in thepany ounts. If Hardy took out the money, he would have to pay personal ie tax, which is very high in the U.S. If Hardy took out all the profits, his tax rate could reach the highest bracket of 39.6%.
If it were $4 million, he would have to pay $1.6 million.
The IRS is really ruthless.
Hardy looked at his legitimate ie for the year: $12,652.56. Yes, just over ten thousand, just in the lowest bracket for personal ie tax.
Perfect. This is what professionalism looks like.
"My ie and expenses are all legal. The IRS can''t give me any trouble, right?" Hardy asked.
He knew that Al Capone, with a fortune of over a billion dors from murder and bootlegging, was ultimately brought down by the IRS because he didn''t report gambling ie of tens of thousands of dors and was sentenced to 11 years in prison.
In America, drug dealing is a non violent crime and not too serious, theft is trivial, but tax evasion is a very serious crime.
"There are only two certainties in life: death and taxes."
Hardy didn''t want the IRS toe after him, so he made sure to pay the required taxes. However, in this world, there are always two sides. Where there is a tax bureau, there are financial ountants to deal with it.
Andy smiled.
"Don''t worry, boss. Andy''s Financial and ounting Firm now has 15 professional financial personnel, 16 ountants, and 3 financialwyers, two of whom are professional ountants retired from the IRS. With their review, we won''t be off by a single cent."
As for the mafia, it has nothing to do with Hardy. There is no evidence linking Hardy to The Los Citypany. As long as the legitimate business is legal, Hardy is the cleanest person in the world.
ording to Hardy''s asset statement, he is personally in debt by several million dors.
"I want to acquire ABC Broadcasting Company. How much money do you think we can get?" Hardy asked again.
"Boss, raising money is not difficult. yboy magazine alone is now valued at over $50 million. If you use yboy magazine as coteral, many banks would be willing to lend you over $20 million," Andy said.
"Considering all assets, getting a loan of $40 million is not a problem. We have a cooperative rtionship with Wells Fargo, so getting a loan from them is convenient."
Hearing Andy say this, Hardy felt reassured. Now he just needed to wait for the information Henry was investigating.
Two dayster, Henry came back.
Hardy specifically called Andy to listen together because the acquisition task would definitely be Andy''s job.
Henry handed Hardy a thick document.
Introduction:
"This Edward Noble is the owner of a candypany. He is 50 years old this year, and his candypany is headquartered in Springfield, Illinois. Noble has been running the candypany for over 20 years, mainly producing fruit candies, milk candies, and coffee sugar cubes, with a worth of two to three million.
Noble''s real fortune came because of World War II, when military procurement increased and new suppliers were needed. Noble was chosen as one of the sugar suppliers by the military, and hispany''s sales reached $6 million that year.
Investing, when he learned that Blue Network was for sale, he thought it was an opportunity, so he put up all his money and took out a loan, finally buying Blue Network for $8 million. At that time, many praised his boldness."
"However, after buying Blue Network, he found that NBC had tricked him. They took almost all the staff, leaving him with just equipment and aworking agreement."
Noble had no clue about running a TV station, so he hired someone to manage it. The current manager, Lyman, had previously run a local TV station.
"Lyman initially gave Edward Noble a lot of suggestions, arranging new programs for various time slots. You know, supporting a TV station''s programming requires a huge production team. CBS and NBC each have four to five hundred employees."
Noble would need to invest around $5 million.
"Topete with other stations and gain a market share, continuous investment is required. Noble realized that continuing on this path might drag down his candypany, so he chose to give up. He let Lyman hire about 20 people just to keep the station running. Daily programming involved reading books and having two people chat about current events and gossip, saving money wherever possible."
Noble had to take out a sum of money every year for staff sries and equipment maintenance.
"Of course, there are potential buyers. ording to my information, severalpanies are interested in buying ABC, but Edward Noble is asking for a high price, causing some to give up and others to keep negotiating."