Charles Foster Kane - Wealth and Empire

Wealth and Empire

Apart from the New York Inquirer, Kane publishes similar Inquirer newspapers in Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and other major American cities. The "News on the March" newsreel at the beginning of the film also claims that Kane controls two newspaper syndicates and a radio network; it also mentions that Kane has other business interests in real estate, logging, shipping, and food retailing. However, Kane's empire largely collapses at the onset of the Great Depression, and he is forced to sell his remaining holdings to Thatcher. Kane has enough wealth to build Chicago's fictional opera house, as well as his cavernous, unfinished mansion, Xanadu.

The mansion contains Kane's vast collection of classical sculptures and art, and the newsreel claims that portions of Xanadu were taken from other famous palaces overseas.

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