Zane Blackwood knew he shouldn't put all his eggs in one basket, especially when it came to buying gold. He still had $440 million in his overseas bank accounts. He knew that as other countries in Europe and Asia got stronger, the U.S. dollar would slowly get weaker. That meant buying gold was just a smart move for the future.
He went to a famous Swiss Bank to handle the purchase. The bank's deputy president, Andreev Milvoskid, met with him personally.
"Thank you, Mr. Blackwood, for choosing our bank," Mr. Milvoskid said with a polite smile. "We promise your money will be safe with us."
"You're welcome," Zane replied with a warm, friendly laugh. "I really didn't expect you to meet me yourself. I mean, my $440 million is a lot, but I know it's not as much as what the really big players have."
Andreev just smiled. "Mr. Blackwood, you are being very modest. I'm well aware of your company's amazing success during the Asian financial crisis. You did just as well as some of the oldest, biggest banks."
Zane just gave a friendly laugh. "Well, I've had a lot of good luck lately." He knew this man was very smart and had his own ways of finding things out. It was pretty impressive.
"Gold," Zane said, his voice full of confidence. "Yes, all $440 million will be used to buy real, physical gold. And of course, I'd like to store it right here in your bank. Your bank's reputation is the best in the world."
Zane knew that buying all this gold right now might look like a bad idea. The internet was booming, and the price of gold was low. It was around $310 an ounce and would probably drop even lower, to $251, in the next two years.
"If the price drops a little, that's okay," Zane thought to himself. "I'm not worried about the next two years. I'm thinking about the next ten years. From a long-term view, this is a fantastic plan."
He knew it was impossible to buy all the gold at the perfect lowest price. It would take a lot of time to buy that much gold anyway. He wasn't in a hurry. As long as he got it all within two years, he'd be happy.
He did the math in his head. He was spending $380 million from his other bank, and now $440 million here... $820 million in total. That would buy...
Wow. Even Zane was shocked. It was enough to buy 80 tons of gold. That was a huge, giant amount! He knew he'd need a big, famous bank like this one to help him pull it off.
On December 6th, at Gale Capital...
Henry Jugenberg, his top money expert, looked a little worried. "Boss," he said, "after you moved that $1.44 billion, we have about $52 million left in the company's account."
Zane saw the worried look on Henry's face and just laughed, patting him warmly on the shoulder.
"Henry, relax!" Zane said with a big smile. "I'm not going to take this money away. That $52 million is all yours to manage. I know there's still money to be made in the Asian markets, even if the biggest wins are over. I believe in you and your team. I know you'll do great things with it."
Henry instantly looked relieved. As long as he could keep working his magic in the markets, he was happy.
Zane was right. The big crisis wasn't over. There were still a lot of smaller chances to make money, and he trusted Henry's team to find them.
On December 7th, at Wald Pictures...
Kevin Fitch, his vice president, came to him with a list. "Boss, the plan to get the comic book copyrights was a big success!"
He showed Zane the list:
"Iron Man" (bought for $200,000)
"Ghost Rider" (bought for $350,000)
"Black Widow," "Hawkeye," "Captain Marvel," and others (bought for $3.2 million)
"Hulk" (bought for $5.9 million)
The "Hulk" rights were the most expensive.
"Boss, the Hulk is a top-level superhero," Kevin explained. "He's almost as popular as Spider-Man."
Zane nodded, looking impressed. "That's great, Kevin! I understand. And getting the Hulk rights from a giant studio like Universal? That's amazing work. You really pulled it off!"
Zane knew this was a huge win. In his old life, Universal had kept the distribution rights for the Hulk, which meant Marvel could never make another solo Hulk movie. Now, he had them.
And Iron Man? He was so cheap because, back then, no one cared about him! He was a third-string hero. His rights had been passed around from company to company. No one knew what a gold mine he was.
"Boss," Kevin asked, his eyes suddenly full of excitement, "do you think it's possible for us to just... buy all of Marvel?" As a huge fan, this was his big dream.
Zane had thought about it, too! But he knew from his past life that the bosses at Marvel were all fighting with each other. They would never agree to sell.
But then... a new idea sparked in Zane's mind.
"Marvel is about to go bankrupt, right?" he thought. "They're desperate for money. And we... we have money."
He smiled. "What if... what if my bank, California Standard Bank, could help them? We could give them a loan to stay alive. And as a 'promise' that they'll pay us back, they could let us use their superhero copyrights, or even some of their company shares, as collateral."
He loved the idea. It was a smart, safe way to invest.
"And if they can't pay the loan back," he thought, a happy twinkle in his eye, "we could maybe get the whole company. But even if they do pay it back, we'd still be helping them... and making a great, safe investment at the same time!"
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