American History 1988
Chapter 379 - 368: Second? First!

Chapter 379: Chapter 368: Second? First!

"I’m planning on building a commercial area here," Dean pointed to a large flat terrain near the highway.

The yellowed pastures swayed like tassels in the breeze of the wilderness.

"The main function of the commercial area will be a reception center, as well as a collection of business venues, including souvenir shops, service halls, and so on."

Dressed in a cowboy suit, Dean pressed down his hat brim, with the vast fields unobstructed all around, even the morning breeze was noisy.

"In addition to the commercial area, the dining and conference area can also be placed here. We’d better build several specialty restaurants, you know, the US is a nation of immigrants."

"As you say, dear," Miranda said, holding little Roy’s hand and wandering around with Dean.

"The hills behind should retain the existing farm planning, which can provide some handmade specialty products and ingredients for the commercial and dining areas."

As soon as Dean finished speaking, the morning sun swept across the magnificent hills, and the entire wilderness was instantly bathed in golden sunlight.

"Such a charming landscape." Having seen the red rooftops of Silicon Valley, suddenly switching to a distinctive central farm, Dean felt much more expansive.

"The farm can serve as the logistical base for the resort, and it can be used for agricultural tourism and some participatory agricultural activities.

People who have lived in big cities for a long time would surely like to bring their families here for a completely different life experience."

Miranda was more meticulous; she intuitively considered issues from a family perspective.

"Well said, Miranda, you have a knack for managing a farm," Dean nodded happily, enjoying the relaxed atmosphere.

"And little Roy, he likes animals, we should build an animal farm at the back of the farm.

The horses, dairy cows, sheep... oh~ I can already imagine him riding horses and milking cows."

Miranda seemed happy for her child to get closer to nature; she believed it would help Roy grow up healthier.

"Hmm~" Dean nodded with approval, pinching his chin, "You should manage the blackberry farm, dear."

"Come on, I’m just making some suggestions," Miranda shrugged, smiling.

"No, I’m serious, we can completely transform this farm according to our own wishes."

Dean pointed to the endless pasture in front of him, "We could even build a sports area here.

There could be golf courses, tennis courts, aquatic sports—all of which sports enthusiasts would love here."

"The sunlight here is nice, maybe we could also develop various health-oriented spas." Miranda said, excited.

"Yeah, let’s go back and discuss writing a plan to develop the blackberry farm," Dean said, snapping his fingers happily.

"It’s incredible that Tennessee has such enchanting scenery," Miranda really enjoyed the feeling of a family vacation.

"I had to pull some strings through ’The Land Report’ magazine to find such a great spot," Dean said with a smug smile.

Indeed, he and Miranda were now at the foot of Big Gulp National Park in Tennessee.

It was originally a private farm, covering more than 4,000 acres.

It had been established in the 1940s and was later bought by a couple in 1976, who had managed it ever since.

Now it belonged to Dean, and because the farm featured extensive blackberry bushes, he decided to keep the name.

Long before Dean bought it, the blackberry farm was famous for its vegetables and fruits, including some rural inns.

Dean had long planned to own a farm, so he chose the relatively mature blackberry farm.

In the US, the price of land and farm prices are two different things; the former is just a piece of vacant land, possibly without any buildings or crops.

On the other hand, farms usually have a mature business state, with prices per acre ranging from thousands to tens of thousands of US dollars.

For example, the blackberry farm Dean was standing on, already quite famous, thus it was priced at $32,000 per acre.

Dean had not only bought the blackberry farm but also included another piece of vacant land nearby, totaling nearly 8,600 acres.

This estate, about 33 square kilometers, was even larger than Stanford University.

But Dean had secured the land for less than 200 million US dollars.

He planned to turn blackberry into a leisure resort—a Hilton of farms, primarily catering to affluent elites.

Actually, not just here, he had also founded a company, Mill Creek Investment.

He then began to buy farm lands across various states, with more than 10,000 acres in Ohio alone currently under negotiation.

And in his home state of California, he expected to secure a piece of farmland covering more than 6,000 acres within the year.

The Mill Creek Investment company, under Dean’s name, managed non-technology sector investments.

The name Mill Creek was also derived from the Mill Creek Park in Youngstown, where Dean often visited as a child.

As for why Dean suddenly started to heavily invest in agricultural production, there really wasn’t much to it.

On one hand, technology was hot, traditional agricultural economics had declined, and land prices had entered a trading low.

On the other hand, Dean wanted to optimize his asset allocation, as the stocks he held were mostly lightweight tech stocks.

To hedge against risk, diversifying into heavy assets was unanimously recommended by his advisory team.

Dean took their advice, as he could be narrow-minded at times.

And land assets were chosen because they are considerate preservers of value and are unlikely to fluctuate greatly.

According to the plan set by Mill Creek Investment Company, the farm acquisition activity was expected to last about ten years.

This was a long-term investment, and in the future, Dean might own land in most states across the US.

The blackberry farm in Tennessee was relatively close to Washington D.C., making it perfect for Miranda to manage.

Besides her personal foundation, she didn’t have much else to do. This new responsibility would help keep her fulfilled.

Moreover, it wasn’t just the farms; Dean also planned to let Mill Creek Investment Company acquire a regional high-end hotel in Virginia.

Although these traditional industries couldn’t offer returns as substantial as those from Silicon Valley tech companies, they were stable investments.

Miranda would receive a share of the investment company’s stocks, which she deserved.

Meanwhile, as Dean helped little Roy onto a pony, Katelin approached with a professionally dressed woman.

"Mr. Plasse, hello. I am Emma Tuck from the Wall Street Journal," said the bespectacled female reporter with a smile, offering her hand.

"Well, I didn’t expect you’d find this place." Dean reluctantly took off his cowboy hat and handed it to Katelin.

"I’m sorry to interrupt your vacation time." Although Emma apologized, her expression seemed somewhat smug.

All the journalists in the US wanted to interview Dean, but only she had managed to find him.

"I hear you’ve been buying up lots of farms lately, is this a new hobby for someone with your wealth?"

"By the way, do you mind if we take a photo?" Emma pulled out a notepad and pen, already getting into work mode.

"Go ahead~" Dean said indifferently, "but make sure to protect the child."

At his request, the photographer following Emma found a good angle and took a cowboy portrait of Dean.

"Buying farms is just a desire I’ve had, as I’ve always wanted to be a farmer since I was a child," Dean smoothly remarked.

"I hope to promote high-yield crops and sustainable development in agriculture through my investments."

"Cool~" Emma nodded, "Anything else you’re planning, now that you are the second wealthiest person in America.

No, actually, as of right now, you might indeed be the richest person on that list."

Okay, Dean knew he couldn’t avoid this topic.

He had come to the sparsely populated Tennessee to avoid being disturbed.

By the end of the first week of October, with the announcement of the Forbes 400 list, Dean became a focal point for the media again.

However, this year’s ranking was a bit special, particularly due to some twists in the full analysis of Dean’s assets.

According to Forbes’s initial report, Gates was still the richest with a net worth of $14.8 billion, making him the wealthiest person globally.

Without a doubt, Microsoft contributed most to his fortune.

With Windows 95’s global sales frenzy, Microsoft’s market valuation had soared to $59 billion.

For the first time, it entered the top 10 of the S&P 500 list, marking the first instance for a software company to be on this list.

In a way, Microsoft joining the top ten most valuable American companies symbolized the golden age of the tech boom.

As for Dean, ranked second, his net interests stood at $14.5 billion according to the list data.

This was just a small step away from Gates’s $14.8 billion — a dramatic near miss.

Bitcoin contributed $9.2 billion, while Netscape contributed $2.4 billion.

The rest, including AOL, Cisco, Intuit, UUNET, and Intel, boosted the stock value Dean held to $2.9 billion due to the generally bullish stock market.

His other tangible assets and investments in Hollywood, which involved significant use of loans, were not counted towards his net worth.

But why did Emma say Dean was already first on the list, and what were these asset calculation nuances?

It concerned the timing of the asset calculations by Forbes investigators for the candidates.

Since the list was published in early October, they usually completed all assessments by the end of September.

However, this timing was "awkward" for Dean because Bitcoin had not yet released its latest quarterly financial report, and Netscape was at a market low.

In September, Bitcoin’s valuation was around $25 billion, and Netscape had seen its stock fall below the closing price on its IPO day due to its announcement of a free browser policy.

So, these coincidences led to a significant "underestimation" of Dean’s net wealth, relegating him to second place on the Forbes list.

But just two weeks later, Bitcoin released its consumer business division financial report, which shook Wall Street.

The viability of Netscape’s app store model was also proven successful.

At this moment, Bitcoin’s valuation had risen to $34 billion.

If the consumer business division’s financial report in the last quarter is as impressive, reaching $40 billion was not impossible.

Netscape’s app store became a representative aspect of the internet economy, and Wall Street was very optimistic about its future potential.

So Netscape’s valuation had also grown significantly since September, with the figure now approaching $8 billion.

Looking back now, what is Dean’s net worth estimation?

$18.7 billion! Undoubtedly the wealthiest person in the world.

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