What's wrong with me being a rich man?

Chapter 214 Yaba Crisis
The one-sentence report from Guoshanfeng did not receive a response from any of the parties involved.

In other words, there is no response yet.

However, it is said that both the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and Nasdaq have made inquiries to confirm the authenticity of the news.

It was late at night in New York, and there were still 11.5 hours before the Nasdaq opened, and even before the market opened, there were still 9 hours. Therefore, the other side of the ocean could wait a little longer for the bullet to fly, and the time for Guo Shanfeng to take action was exactly the normal trading period of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Therefore, the capital market responded as soon as the news was learned.

The wind from the mountain peak blew up Alibaba's secondary market.

Before 11 a.m., Alibaba's stock price was rising, but after this point, the stock trend took a clear turn and the stock price fell by 6% in just one hour.

During the one-hour lunch break, from 1pm to 4pm, Alibaba's stock price fluctuated downward.

In the end, Alibaba’s stock price plummeted 11% in most of the day, and its market value evaporated by more than HK$93 billion.

Although there was no response from the company in question, investors had already believed Guo Shanfeng’s information.

Strictly speaking, the Alibaba Network Company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange is only the B2B business of the Alibaba Group, and does not include the now popular Taobao and Taobao Mall. The problems of Alipay are more related to the interests of the entire group.

However, the undisclosed transfer of important assets, the exposure of internal problems and the possibility of more intense struggles have raised concerns.

In addition, it is just B2B after all. Although Taobao and Taobao Mall are in full swing, the growth of Alibaba B2B itself is not surprising because of the strong impact of the financial crisis. This incident has provided many investors with a reason to withdraw.

93 billion Hong Kong dollars were wiped out, and the short selling over the mountain peak was undoubtedly half successful.

However, a question that puzzles investors, institutions, people inside and outside the industry, and Alibaba itself is how did the short seller Guo Shanfeng lock on this transfer event?

Along with such doubts, the problem that arose in the previous two short-selling operations resurfaced - who is behind Guoshanfeng?

Judging from the naming of the mountain, target range, research report, registration location and other factors, it is most likely a domestic organization.

But where did it get this level of information from?

That evening, the editor-in-chief from Caixin Weekly spoke on the Baixiaosheng platform, updating the relevant news and confirming that Alibaba carried out the transfer in June of this year.

It’s June, and it’s been exactly half a year.

Alibaba kept it a secret. Did Yahoo and Softbank, two institutional shareholders, know about it? Did they agree to such a transfer?
Was there any instigation from Yahoo or Softbank behind this move?

Could it be that someone from Alibaba leaked the information?

If the source of the information comes from Alibaba, is it intentional or unintentional?
The five-year agreement between Alibaba and Yahoo is about to expire. Is there a deeper game involved?
The sentence from Guo Shanfeng is too concise. Combined with the issues of Alibaba B2B's separate listing and the expiration of the cooperation between Alibaba and Yahoo, there seems to be more understanding to be explored.

Unlike Alibaba Group, which has thrived in the Chinese market, Yahoo has been on a downward trend in recent years.

The two companies cooperated in August 2005. At that time, Yahoo acquired 8% of Alibaba's common stock with US$6.4 million in cash, Yahoo China's business and Taobao shares purchased from SoftBank, with a total value of US$10 billion.

Although Yahoo was not at its peak at that time, it was still quite powerful, while Alibaba was just emerging and its overall revenue did not even exceed the threshold of 1 million US dollars.

Fast forward to today, in less than five years, and everything seems to have changed dramatically.

Alibaba has become one of the BAT giants in China's Internet, but Yahoo has been defeated in the competition with Google and Facebook. Even its founder Jerry Yang resigned as CEO and was replaced by Bartz.

Last year, Microsoft proposed to acquire Yahoo for $446 billion, but was ultimately rejected by Yahoo's board of directors on the grounds that it "greatly underestimated Yahoo's value."

This year, Yahoo's market value has fallen to $218 billion, and it is impossible to get the same acquisition price as last year.

Bartz, who has been in office for a year, seems unable to improve the company's fundamentals despite high hopes placed on him. Despite reaching a global search business cooperation with Microsoft, restructuring many businesses, and trying to promote the development of Yahoo's online media...

However, investors voted with their votes, did not approve of these measures, and are gradually moving away from Yahoo.

At the same time, the friendly relationship between Yahoo and Alibaba also took a sharp turn for the worse. Unlike Jerry Yang, Bartz had a tough personality and spoke bluntly. It was said that he once accused Ma Dian, who came to visit him, in person, believing that he had damaged Yahoo's brand in China.

She has such a personality, but Ma Dian is not someone who is easy to deal with either. There have been many unpleasant public opinions this year.

The reason is that the conditions of the two companies' cooperation in 2005 put Alibaba at risk of losing control.

Once October 2010 comes, Yahoo, which already holds one board seat, will have the right to add one more seat to the current four seats. By then, Yahoo will have 10 seats, Alibaba will have 4 seats, and Softbank will have 1 seat. The situation will be completely different.

In addition, Yahoo's voting rights will increase from 35% to 39%, Alibaba's voting rights will decrease from 35.7% to 31.7%, and SoftBank's voting rights will remain unchanged at 29.3%.

Even according to the agreement, Yahoo has the right to replace Ma Tian as CEO.

Under normal circumstances, Yahoo would never do this, but what if...

Whether it is the board of directors or voting rights, this is no joke, and Ma Dian absolutely cannot ignore such risks.

The once tender affection between the two companies has long turned into mutual suspicion. For example, Alibaba's core executive Wei Zhe publicly stated that the relationship between Alibaba and Yahoo is like that of a grandson and grandfather who are gradually becoming estranged, but... the grandfather will always die.

Some people have talked about the current situation and bluntly said that "Yahoo is like a diaper attached to Ma Dian, making him feel very uncomfortable."

In such a game with undercurrents, a sudden attack from the top of the mountain inevitably makes people wonder whether there is something behind it.

However, judging from the informal news that has been circulating, Alibaba seems to be innocent. At the Bai Xiaosheng Forum that evening, many people said that Alibaba’s senior executives were frantically inquiring about Guo Shanfeng’s situation.

This kind of action doesn't seem to be directed or performed by oneself.

However, some people also say that the self-torture tactic must be carried out in full, and this kind of thing must be known only to a few people.

The same situation is happening on the other side of the ocean. According to sources on Wall Street who revealed to the media, Yahoo expressed "strong curiosity" about Guoshanfeng.

And at 6: a.m. in New York, half an hour before the market opened, Bloomberg published Yahoo's official response.

First, the restructuring of Alipay was not approved by Alibaba’s board of directors and shareholders, and Yahoo only learned about this recently.

Second, CEO Bartz said that Yahoo had no intention of selling its shares in Alibaba, and she would definitely join Alibaba's board of directors by the end of 2010 to implement the agreement signed by Yahoo and Alibaba in 2005 and get a second seat.

The official statement from Yahoo undoubtedly instantly put Alibaba into the camp of deceivers.

However, such a statement could not save Yahoo's stock price from falling.

From 7 to 9:3 in the pre-market trading period, Yahoo's stock price fell by nearly 10%, and after the official trading, its stock price fell even more. At : a.m. in New York, following Yahoo's statement, Alibaba also responded to the accusation.

Alibaba responded directly, denying the content of Yahoo's statement and directly pointing out that at the board meeting in July this year, the group clearly confirmed that 7% of Alipay's equity would be transferred to an independent Chinese company, and there was no such thing as Yahoo being unaware of it.

As to whether Yahoo will sell its shares in Alibaba, Alibaba did not respond to questions from multiple reporters.

One said they didn't know, and the other said they had already been notified.

Both companies are listed companies. Alibaba has already fallen first, so it is natural for Yahoo to follow suit.

Compared with Alibaba B2B's 11% on the first day, Yahoo did even better, falling 12.5% ​​throughout the day, directly evaporating US$27.25 billion.

Only a part of Alibaba is listed, and its size is limited. Yahoo's loss of this proportion is far greater than that of Alibaba B2B. Even CEO Bartz has been questioned by investors and it is difficult for him to handle the relationship with Alibaba.

For example, The Wall Street Journal commented before the day was over that Bartz was likely to follow in Jerry Yang's footsteps.

The war of words between the two sides over the transfer of control of Alipay and whether they were aware of it is far from being resolved by a single statement from either side. However, Ma Dian's performance at the industry summit and the opacity of this equity transfer caused him to be directly criticized in China.

Public opinion is boiling, market value is evaporating, and shareholders are turning against each other...

The third attempt by Guoshanfeng was undoubtedly an all-round success after Yahoo's stock price clearly fell.

At noon on December 12, Xu Xin had lunch with Yu Xing, with whom he had restored his relationship, and they naturally talked about yesterday's hot topics.

It was hard for her not to sigh: "Guo Shanfeng made two listed companies jump up and down over it with just one sentence. It really has to be said that he did a great job."

Yu Xing was a little surprised: "Boss Xu still thinks this short selling is great?"

Xu Xin explained to Yu Xing, who tends to be either-or, "I'm not talking about its stance, but its style of doing things, or the completeness and efficiency of its work."

She added: "If, crossing the mountain is indeed not instructed by Alibaba or Yahoo."

Yu Xing laughed: "Could it really be a self-torture trick by one of these two families? That's all nonsense."

Xu Xin shook his head and carefully introduced the conflict of interests between Yahoo and Alibaba.

This struggle is already coming to the surface. For example, in its response to the transfer of Alipay's equity yesterday, Yahoo specifically mentioned that it would not sell Alibaba's equity. This actually means that Yahoo will not accept Alibaba's repurchase of its equity.

It’s not that we don’t sell to others, but that we don’t sell to Alibaba itself under certain circumstances.

CEO Bartz had to emphasize this at such a critical juncture, which shows the tension in the relationship between the two sides.

Yu Xing listened with great interest. It was very interesting. It was quite inspiring to see the game between big companies.

He asked a question: "Mr. Xu, which of these two statements do you think is true? Does Yahoo know about it?"

"As for the Alipay equity transfer this time, it's actually not important whether it's true or not. I saw someone on your website saying that Alibaba wanted to obtain a payment license, so there must be this factor." Xu Xin said thoughtfully, "But it's not comprehensive. I think Ma Dian wanted to show off his strength to Yahoo by transferring equity. Even if according to Alibaba's statement, its board of directors discussed this matter in July, the equity was transferred in June."

"Bartz was reluctant to let Alibaba buy back its shares and was very tough, but Ma's move was undoubtedly even tougher. He firmly controlled the entire group and used practical actions to tell Yahoo that the other party could not win control."

Xu Xin couldn't help but shook his head when he said this: "Yahoo is a major shareholder. With tens of billions or even hundreds of billions of dollars of interests at stake, who can back off? Therefore, this game is a game for the brave."

Yu Xing took a sip of tea and raised a fact: "What if there really aren't these two companies behind the mountain? What if it was just an accident?"

Xu Xin thought about it for a long time this time.

Then, she said, "Guo Shanfeng's short selling has made the conflict even more acute. If it was really just an accident and it was really Guo Shanfeng's own intention, then this is like a Cuban crisis. Well, the game between these two companies should be called the 'Yaba Crisis'. Both sides must be very anxious now."

It involves payment licenses, expiration of agreements, equity repurchases, a fight for control, and interests so large that they are frightening...

A Yaba crisis that tests the will of both sides.

Xu Xin lowered his head to ponder, then raised his head again after a moment and said, "I can't see clearly, but this time, Guo Shanfeng really made a big splash at home and abroad. Many media outlets in China, the United States, and Europe have reported on its short selling. Tsk, just one sentence, just one sentence!"

She thought about this incident and the current situation and couldn't help laughing: "Tomorrow is 2010. Crossing the mountain makes everyone involved in this incident greet the new year with a very bad mood."

Yu Xing also smiled: "Boss Xu, now that you put it like that, I can kind of understand what you mean by 'beautiful'."

Xu Xin smiled: "Isn't it?"

Regardless of his position, this short seller is efficient and decisive and is truly a skilled hand.

After eating the food, Yu Xing said sincerely, "I am the winner in this matter."

Xu Xin understood Yu Xing's words and nodded, "Well, Bai Xiaosheng's influence has really gradually expanded. Many media have used your analysis. What is the current user number?"

Yu Xing replied: "216 million."

"You can welcome 2010 with peace of mind," Xu Xin said with a smile. Such user growth can be rated as "excellent."

When Yu Xing heard this comment, he had a subtle illusion that Mr. Xu also knew his identity.

He raised his glass and said, "Mr. Xu, let's put the past behind us in 2009. I hope that Bai Xiaosheng and you will have a more pleasant future."

Xu Xin raised his glass. At this moment, thinking about the bad mood brought by Bai Xiaosheng and Yu Xing, he couldn't help but said unhappily: "It's not the future yet. It's good enough if you can keep it up for a year."

When Yu Xing heard her give a specific time limit, he felt that it was not a good idea. This kind of thing often comes true...

He calmly put down his wine glass, ate some food, and then talked about Bai Xiaosheng's listing prospects. Finally, he casually asked about the listing plan of Today Capital's investment project.

Xu Xin didn't think it was a secret and talked about Tudou naturally: "Tudou will definitely go public earlier than you. It will definitely go public in 2010."

Yu Xing sighed secretly, this time is within a year.

He raised his glass again and slowly changed his address: "Sister Xin, I won't say anything else. I toast to you."

Xu Xin held the wine glass, feeling that after going through the ordeal with Bai Xiaosheng and Yu Xing in 2009, his ability to withstand pressure must have at least become stronger.

She drank the glass of wine slowly. What doesn't defeat me will only make me stronger!

(End of this chapter)