With a deficit of three billion dollars in liquid assets, it should normally have put his competitor one step behind in all future bids.
As someone who knew perfectly well how to take advantage of such a situation, Mr. Black had been looking forward to watching his long-term rival's face crumble as he watched more and more 'opportunities' being snagged by him right under his eyelids.
Even if they bought themselves some fame in return, what exactly was the point of that? At their level, they didn't have to rely on the news media to solidify their images in the public's mind. All they had to do was pour some money into ad campaigns.
And whatever 'positive image' they managed to get using this event, wouldn't it just fade away a few days later, as people moved on to some other exciting piece of news?
But that turned out to be just a wishful dream.
