My 1999

Silva James sat in the office and tapped the table lightly, looking a little gloomy.

Until now, he still can't let go of being excluded from Hongmeng International's financing by Xu Liang, especially when his rival Damo picked up the deal, which made him lose face in the head office.

So he always planned to teach the other party a profound lesson.

Picked up the file on the table and read it again.

The above is the transaction between Red Rock Fund and Goldman Sachs. Through Goldman Sachs, they bought a short position of 4 million shares of Enron equity with five times leverage.

Compared with Enron's total share capital of 1 billion shares, 4 million is just a drop in the bucket.

He didn't believe that Red Rock Fund only bought so many short-selling contracts.

After all, the original transaction between Hongmeng and Microsoft made the other party earn US$120 million. Five times the leverage is US$600 million. With Enron's current stock price, it can hold at least 7 million shares.

What's more, the fact that Hongyan Fund took out a mortgage loan from Yahoo Japan's equity some time ago is no secret to Goldman Sachs.

"Red Rock Fund holds at least US$1.5 to US$2 billion in short contracts with Enron or other companies." Silva James thought.

However, he judged that most of Hongyan's funds must be placed on shorting Enron.

Investing, especially short selling, is a very cautious thing to do.

The more detailed the investigation, the greater the certainty.

Red Rock Fund is not an established institution, and its ability to investigate a company clearly is its limit.

This is an opportunity for him. Goldman Sachs is not familiar with the Internet, but for finance, this is a special skill.

However, it would be too difficult to raise Enron's stock price with the power of Goldman Sachs Asia alone, and the headquarters would have to come forward.

After thinking about it, I picked up the phone and called John Thain, now the president and chief operating officer of Goldman Sachs.

Goldman Sachs is now divided into two factions.

One group belongs to John Thornton, and the other group belongs to John Thain. The two of them are the only successors to Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO Henry Paulson.

Everyone wants to overwhelm the other, replace Paulson, and take over the power of Goldman Sachs, so competition within Goldman Sachs is fierce.

Silva James is on good terms with John Thain, so he is on his side, and of course he has to report to him if he has any plans.

The call was answered quickly.

"John, is it me?"

"James, you're not calling for comfort, are you?" John Thain smiled.

"Of course not, I'm not that fragile yet. However, I found a good investment opportunity and would like to discuss it with you."

"Oh? Tell me."

"The information has been sent to your email, please take a look first."

"Wait me a moment."

After John Thain hung up the phone, he called again about ten minutes later.

"James, you want to drive up Enron's stock price?"

"Yes. This could make us a fortune."

"James, you know, it is difficult to succeed with investments that are mixed with too many personal emotions." John Thain said.

"John, I admit that I have taught Liang Xu a profound lesson. After all, no one can cheat us at Goldman Sachs without paying the price. But I want to be long Enron, not entirely because of this.

The California blackout from 2000 to 2001 made Enron a huge profit, with more than 100 billion US dollars in revenue and tens of billions of dollars in profits.

God is my witness, they make too much.

Although there are some losses in foreign projects, the losses can be offset by income from the United States alone. As long as we seize this and publicize it well, we can easily increase the stock price. "Silva James said excitedly.

John Thane listened, with a look of thought on his face.

Ordinary people may not know it, but he knows very well about the California blackout and the inside story behind it.

In 2000, California, which was still in the midst of the Internet stock bubble, suddenly fell into a power shortage.

Wholesale electricity prices in California soared more than eightfold from April to August.

California residents not only have to endure sky-high electricity prices, but are also forced to suffer frequent blackouts. From the San Francisco Bay Area to San Diego in Southern California, millions of residents have experienced more than 30 blackouts.

Businesses and shops had to purchase their own generators to maintain production.

In January 2001, California Governor Davis declared a state of emergency and used government reserve funds to purchase electricity to meet residents' needs.

At that time, California's total installed power generation capacity was 45GW, while peak electricity demand was 28GW. As long as normal power generation capacity was maintained, it was enough to meet demand.

Because of this, the California government rejected the application of power grid company PG\u0026E to purchase electricity at a fixed price from out of state for a long time to hedge market supply risks.

The problem is that the California government passed legislation to strictly limit price increases by power supply companies, but the federal and California governments successively deregulated energy and power companies in the late 1990s, allowing natural gas and electricity supplies to trade freely in the market.

Energy giant Enron took advantage of this space and created artificial power shortages.

It first conspired with power plants to deliberately shut down production for maintenance during peak demand periods, significantly raising wholesale electricity prices and forcing power grid companies to purchase electricity in the spot market.

If you buy more and sell less, the price will naturally rise.

From the first quarter of 2000 to the first quarter of 2001, Enron's "wholesale services" (i.e. power auction business) revenue expanded sharply from US$12 billion to US$48.4 billion.

It lasted until June 2001, that is, last month, when California's power shortage was finally over.

Therefore, many people in the capital market believe that Enron has made a lot of money, which is why its stock price is so high.

Hearing that there was no sound on the phone, Silva James's heart started to rise. He knew that John Thain was considering the feasibility of his plan, and his mind was spinning, and he said again.

“John, if simply raising prices doesn’t make us more money.

We can first spread bad news about Enron to suppress its stock price, and then enter the market at low prices to increase the price. With Enron's current status and profitability, it's just a matter of making more or less, and it's impossible to lose money. "

John Thain said: "I want to investigate Enron's financial situation first and then decide whether to do it or not."

"Okay, but we have to do it as soon as possible. The longer we wait until the blackout in California, the harder it will be for us to use it as a gimmick to boost Enron's stock price."

"Ok, I know."

After hanging up the phone, Silva James showed a smile on his face, as if he saw Enron's stock price rising, Hongyan suffering heavy losses, and Xu Liang groveling in front of him.

——

In an office in the magical city of Pudong.

Dong Dong…….

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in."

Accompanied by the well-spoken Mandarin, the person who was originally buried behind the computer raised his head.

He has short light blond hair, a handsome face, and a very obvious Caucasian appearance.

The door was pushed open, and a female assistant in a black suit pushed the door open and walked in.

"BOSS, this is the information we just collected about Xu Liang's industries."

Hu Run took it and turned it over, with a look of surprise on his face.

"I didn't expect that in addition to Hongmeng, Mr. Richest Man also owns such a profitable company."

"I didn't expect that either."

"Nineteen years old? Are you sure he is only nineteen years old?" Hurun said in shock.

"Yes, I'm very sure. We visited Hongmeng employees and teachers and students of New Dream, and learned that Xu Liang has been admitted to Zhongyang Academy of Fine Arts."

"Zhongyang Academy of Fine Arts?"

"This is the highest institution of art education in China."

"So, his art is very good."

"It should be, but we can't rule out financial reasons." The secretary said.

Hurun nodded. In the West, as long as you have money, you can get into the Ivy League.

Continue to look at the information in your hand.

"It's unbelievable that an 18-year-old student who is still a sophomore in high school can actually create such a successful company, and there are two of them."

Because Hanhua and Hongyan are investment companies, not large in scale, and rarely appear in the media, unless they are people who have dealt with them, they will not know the inside story at all.

Hurun has just started his business a few years ago, and he does not yet have a strong network of relationships in China.

"BOSS, this kind of news can add to the gimmick of our investigative report."

"That's right, Zhang. A 19-year-old richest man in Mainland China. I believe everyone in China will be crazy about him." Hurun said excitedly.

"It's a pity we don't have our own magazine yet, otherwise we could definitely make more money with this news."

The secretary's words made Hurun feel a little regretful.

At this stage, he has not yet created his own capital. He is more interested in cooperating with Forbes and publishing his own list of China's richest people to earn the capital to start his business.

"If we collaborate again this year, we can almost apply for the first issue." Hu Run thought.

"By the way, Zhang, have you found the contact information of our new richest man?"

"BOSS, do you think I will?"

Hurun shrugged. He also felt that he had asked a stupid question.

The phone number of a big shot will not be disclosed to the outside world casually.

The secretary handed over a piece of paper with a phone number written on it.

"This is the contact number of Hongmeng and New Dream. If you are lucky, maybe they will help you pass it on to Xu Liang. However, I am not optimistic that he will accept our interview."

Hurun sighed, "You Chinese people's habit of keeping money is really troublesome."

After he released the China Rich List in the past, not one of the rich people on it was willing to be interviewed by him. It has gotten better in the past two years, and only one third was willing.

It is really difficult to change the habit of "keeping wealth secret" among China's richest people.

"BOSS, you are only talking about one aspect. In fact, Xu Liang has never refused media interviews since his success in starting a business, even the famous CCTV @. This is also the news about him in the market. Why There would be so few reasons.

And our influence is less than that of a city evening newspaper, so it is difficult for our phone call to have any results. "

"Thank you for the reminder. But I'm still going to call and try.

If you try, there is still a 1% chance. If you don’t try, there may not even be 1% chance. "

The secretary nodded noncommittally.

Hurun made a prayer, "May the sincere Lord bless me and I will be able to successfully interview."

The secretary saw this and curled his lips secretly.

In this three-thirds of an acre of land in China, one should worship the Jade Emperor.

After complaining in his heart, he stood aside and quietly watched the operation of his boss.

As she expected, Hurun's call came to the front desk, who reported it to the president's office.

The secretary in the office reported to Lu Hui instead.

Lu Hui immediately threw the interview invitation into the trash can.

The big boss has already given instructions to reject all interviews and invitations that can be rejected.

At this stage, the only things Lu Hui can consider are giants like CCTV and top magazines with global influence like Time Magazine. Others can be rejected.

The same goes for Hurun, of course.