Chapter 81: Plans

Charles never relaxed his vigilance over Marvel Entertainment. Isaac Perlmutter was now the largest shareholder and CEO of Marvel Entertainment.

Stingy, profit-driven, and embodied the greediness stereotypical of a Jew to perfection.

With Marvel's current stock price hovering around $8 per share and a market value of about $300 million, Charles figured he needed to prepare around $400 million in cash if he wanted to acquire the company.

"Dona, make the arrangements. We're heading to New York the day after tomorrow," Charles instructed. He had money now and could secretly acquire Marvel Entertainment's shares from the market as long as the acquisition was under 5%, it wouldn't need to be reported.

At that time, movie companies only bought the film adaptation rights for characters from Marvel and didn't think about acquiring the whole company, as the rights to adapt blockbuster characters' films had already been sold by Marvel.

After spending two days in Los Angeles with Kate Beckinsale, Charles flew to New York.

Simultaneously, under Charles' direction, Carpe Films formed a subsidiary, Carpe Television, to handle TV and variety show productions.

Carpe Home Entertainment was responsible for DVD, VOD, and other home entertainment businesses.

Carpe Investment Company also became a subsidiary of Carpe Pictures, in charge of acquisitions and strategic investments.

Finally, Charles needed to establish a Consumer Products Department to oversee licensing and the downstream industry chain for Carpe Pictures.

With Carpe Pictures' matters settled, and following the consultants' advice, Charles established a private fund registered in the Cayman Islands, Carpe Foundation, to fully own his companies and assets.

The Carpe Foundation also set up another company, Dawn Investment Fund, similarly registered in the Cayman Islands, to manage Charles' investments in stocks, securities, or other real estate worth betting on.

The consultants advised Charles not to draw a salary or take a minimal salary from Carpe Pictures to avoid paying high personal taxes.

He could mortgage assets and get personal loans from the bank, paying only interest. When the loan matured, he could decide how much dividend to take from Carpe Pictures and other companies to repay it.

Since the company was solely owned by Charles, and he decided on dividends, those dividends could repay the bank loans while keeping Charles' personal income on paper very low.

Otherwise, the 38% high personal income tax rate would have cost Charles a lot.

Charles, being good at listening to advice, followed through. The progressive tax system had the rates at 15%, 27%, 30%, and the higher brackets at 35% and 38%. Even after President Bush took office and lowered all but the 15% bracket by one percentage point, taxes were still significant.

The Reagan and Bush administrations' tax reduction policies had lowered personal income taxes substantially.

Consequently, Charles secured a $20 million loan from J.P. Morgan Bank using Carpe Pictures as collateral and injected it into the Dawn Fund.

This was Charles' personal loan, and he planned to enjoy his time in Europe thoroughly. It could be said that rich had numerous ways of avoiding taxes.

However, accounting firm fees and tax filing procedures weren't cheap, and the next April, after asking them to help file his taxes, the service charges would probably amount to tens of thousands of dollars.

Layer upon layer, it wasn't something an average person could easily understand. Middle-class being the main taxpayers wasn't just an exaggeration.

"Dona, can I use this $20 million to buy a house, a sports car, or a yacht?" Charles asked his assistant, smiling, at the Hudson River-side villa in downtown Manhattan.

"Boss, those are investments of the Dawn Capital Company!" Dona laughed, "But, for stocks or other real estate held for more than a year before being sold, the capital gains tax is only 20%. Of course, there will be some tax reduction policies to cooperate with!"

For stocks, securities, and other real estate held for more than a year before being sold, only a 20% capital gains tax was required, a lot lower than the highest 38% personal income tax, as per the tax regulations.

"In the future, Boss, you'll definitely need to establish a charitable foundation and family trust fund to avoid estate taxes and ensure your descendants don't fall into poverty," Dona Williams continued.

Charles nodded. That was for sure, as all rich people had charitable foundations and trust funds to avoid such situations.

Estate taxes in America were very high, and trust funds ensured that even if descendants were wastrels, they could still stay wealthy.

"Next step, find someone to acquire Marvel Entertainment's shares in the market," Charles couldn't let go of Marvel Entertainment.

"I understand. Henry has already begun contacting Marvel Entertainment, negotiating the film adaptation rights for superhero characters!" Dona Williams said while straddling Charles, "Don't you need me to go with you to Cannes?"

Charles squeezed the girl's waist and laughed, "You're someone I trust. Carpe Investment Company still needs you to oversee it! Besides, Philip will also go. He's familiar with the business."

"Henry has already discussed the No Country for Old Men novel with the Coen brothers; they are interested. Their film is in the main competition at Cannes this year, so I'll talk to them then!" Dona nodded.

"The script for Infernal Affairs has Universal interested in having Martin Scorsese direct. They're negotiating too!"

"It's all in the preliminary stages, it takes time!" And Charles also had the script for The Devil Wears Prada adapted from the novel.

Infernal Affairs was a big production, involving Universal, so it wasn't an independent film. However, the other productions didn't have high budgets and were developed by Carpe Pictures alone.

As they chatted, someone arrived at the front door.

"Alright, is my new car here?" Charles got up and let the girl stand up too.

"Bentley Continental GT?" Dona Williams had heard Charles on the phone.

"Yes!"

Outside, a white Bentley Continental GT was parked at the door, and Charles signed the contract.

"Charles, you like this kind of large luxury sports gran tourer?" Dona Williams didn't understand. The Mercedes SLR McLaren beside it seemed better in every aspect, didn't it?

"It's more comfortable! A bit more imposing," Bentley now belonged to Volkswagen, and the Continental aimed for a slightly more affordable route.

When in LA for work, Charles liked driving his Mercedes A-Class--a sporty executive car, dignified and grand.

The Bentley Continental GT appeared in exhibitions last year and just started selling this year. It wasn't cheap, costing over $150,000.

Bentley was indeed expensive; even this, supposedly the cheapest Bentley made by Volkswagen, wasn't affordable!

Charles was realizing many of his dreams - things he could only dream about before, now attainable like grocery shopping.

*****

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