The Birth of Shanghai's First Conglomerate

They talked for more than three hours on the private jet.

Later, I simply went to my room to sleep, where there was a 50-inch high-definition TV where I could watch whatever I wanted.

The room is fully equipped with the finest details, making it feel just like sleeping at home.

This is how comfortable a private jet worth 700 million can be.

I lay there watching TV for a while, then closed my eyes and opened them again; it was 10 a.m. US time.

They arrived in Manhattan, New York.

Tong Zhelan was picked up by her secretarial team. She had established the North American branch of Honglan Capital in Manhattan.

They also bought a separate floor of office space, more than 2,000 square meters, here for their offices.

Manhattan is a gathering place for global elites.

Having your own headquarters here is definitely a symbol of strength; at least one-third of the Fortune 500 companies have their headquarters in Manhattan.

To the south is Wall Street, less than 500 meters away, where employees earn an average annual salary of $660,000.

Nearby are the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, and Manhattan's skyscrapers, each one taller than the last.

Because I had taken a nap, I didn't experience any jet lag.

Tong Zhelan stretched lazily, her chest quite full. Her vehicles here were two Cadillac Escalade Platinum Extended Editions.

Chen Pingsheng naturally went with her to the North American branch of Honglan Capital first. He wasn't very familiar with Manhattan, but fortunately he knew quite a few people there.

For example, Tsai Cheng-hsin, the number two figure in Alibaba, bought a top-tier luxury mansion here.

There are many other wealthy Chinese like this.

Tong Zhelan's headquarters are located in the famous Empire State Building in New York, where she bought the 39th floor at a huge cost.

It is worth mentioning that this building was built in 1931 and has a total of 102 floors.

After Chen Pingsheng followed her to the headquarters office, he first led the team to sit down and have a couple of sips of tea.

Then Tong Zhelan took several documents from her secretary. "Old Chen, take a look at this big house over here. I had my secretary carefully select it for you beforehand."

Manhattan is dominated by luxury apartments, and very few people live in villas; those would have to go to more remote areas.

Two of the three houses are right next to Central Park, so the external environment is naturally excellent.

Now that he's come here, he should at least settle down somewhere.

After a casual look, I finally decided to buy that 7074-square-foot luxury apartment with a landed price of 3.8 million.

Tong Zhelan instructed his secretary to handle the purchase procedures for him; the wealthy have dedicated people to take care of everything for them.

He just needs to wait until evening to move in.

Tong Zhelan knew this was his first time visiting, so she made careful arrangements for him.

At least after the house is purchased, someone will be immediately arranged to clean it and provide a set of the best bed sheets.

In addition, seven or eight top-of-the-line suits and two luxury cars will be prepared and delivered to his building.

Once everything is purchased, you can directly ask him for reimbursement.

Tong Zhelan said, "This house is not bad, it's right upstairs from mine. I'll come to see you tonight, it's just one elevator away."

"It's good to live close by."

Chen Pingsheng asked her, "Didn't you arrange for an investment firm to discuss the share transfer? When are they coming over?"

"Don't rush, it'll be the afternoon anyway."

Tong Zhelan likes to drink coffee; it's refreshing and helps him stay alert. "Are you sure you want to sell your 15% stake in Deer Antler Coffee for 30 billion?"

"Pretty sure."

"Alright, if most of my money wasn't tied up in the stock market, I would have wanted to acquire your company directly. If Deer Antler Coffee continues to develop at this rate, it will be worth far more than 20 billion!"

Tong Zhelan doesn't like trading domestic stocks, mainly because there are too many junk stocks.

It is difficult to make money in the long run due to various factors.

The situation is different overseas. For example, people have held onto their Apple and Facebook shares for many years.

The annual returns are also quite good.

Chen Pingsheng's main reason for cashing out his shares was the random increase in value; otherwise, he wouldn't have been in such a hurry to do so.

Like Bobo Milk Tea and Boiling Sheep, they all ended up holding 5%.

Through layers of shareholding, the company strictly controls the final decision-making power.

The investment institutions that Tong Zelan mentioned are all in the Chinese community, including Cheng Chang, who runs a Chinese fast food restaurant here.

Originally from Jiangsu, he opened a hundred fast food chain stores here in 03.

There's also Yang Zhiyuan, a first-generation internet founder, and Duan Yongping, a well-known investor in China.

These people would not have originally attended the investment conference for the transfer of shares in Deer Antler Coffee at the same time, but it was because Chen Pingsheng is also a top billionaire in mainland China.

That's when everyone came over to get to know him.

You should know that in America, anyone who is Chinese belongs to the same circle.

Within the larger circle, there are also smaller circles formed by various regional divisions.

Thirty billion is nothing to Duan Yongping and his group.

Although he lives in the United States, he still controls several top companies in China.

He also collaborated with Chen Pingsheng on Pinduoduo, and both are investors in Pinduoduo.

A few billion is a small amount; everyone is optimistic about the long-term development of Deer Antler Coffee.

The domestic market is just the first stop for Deer Antler Coffee; in the future, it is destined to expand into the global market.

By then, the stock price will be far more than 20 billion.

This is the real reason why they were willing to jointly fund the purchase.

Chen Pingsheng also heard a lot of news from them that he couldn't hear in China, as well as some secret financial information.

Specifically, Manhattan is the true world-class financial center.

Here you can see the economic development of various regions around the world, as well as national-level gaming centers.

Different perspectives naturally lead to different viewpoints.

Just like Wall Street, it serves as a financing tool for all listed companies, and uses the money raised to better develop future technologies.

Whether it's chips, AI, or artificial intelligence.

The extent of their lead here is not just a little bit.

Moreover, New York has a certain "siphoning effect" on top talents from around the world.

To put it simply, whether they are international students or graduates from top domestic universities, they are all willing to work here.

Putting aside everything else, Tsinghua University alone has over 20,000 graduates here.

Tsinghua University only has a little over three thousand graduates each year.

Just think about how terrifying this data is.

Large companies here place great emphasis on scientific and technological research and development, which has resulted in the United States accounting for half of the world's top 100 listed technology companies.

This simple data reveals the real gap.

It's no exaggeration to say that while companies in China are still obsessed with making money and marketing through various business models, companies here have been focusing on future technologies.

Once a breakthrough is achieved in key technologies, any business model or marketing tactic becomes insignificant.

It's made of paper; it breaks easily with the slightest touch.

You're like Elon Musk with Tesla; new energy vehicles are just one of his entrepreneurial projects.

He also has brain-computer interfaces, a Mars colonization plan, and plans to build a global low-Earth orbit satellite internet service.

The plan is to launch over 6000 satellites into orbit through the Starlink project to provide space-based network services to users worldwide.

Seriously, I've never even heard of these projects in China, let alone actually done them.

In China, wealthy individuals of his caliber, or top internet tycoons, are actually competing with vegetable vendors for business.

That's the difference.

Chen Pingsheng heard from Lao Duan about many of the projects that large companies were secretly developing, some of which were shocking.

I feel a deep sense of the gap.

It must be said that some technology companies are truly dedicated to promoting the great development of all humankind.

In the future era of global competition, the key will definitely not be about how much a house costs per square meter, but about real technology.

His decision to invest over 60 billion yuan in new energy was absolutely correct.

This shows that new energy vehicles have a promising future.

New energy vehicles currently account for less than 3% of the domestic automobile market.

As new energy technologies mature further, this proportion will definitely increase.

……

They chatted until evening before Chen Pingsheng returned to his newly purchased home.

This top-tier duplex apartment, with over 7,000 square feet of floor space, boasts three large living rooms and seven bedrooms, with every detail meticulously designed and equipped.

The large living room, in particular, faces Central Park directly.

Except for Zhang Wanyi, everyone else went to check into the hotel first.

She can stay here to make breakfast and handle some urgent official business.

Today, we cashed out 3 billion yuan from Deer Antler Coffee, and our income is also 3 billion yuan.

This is his starting capital on Wall Street; he'd better try his luck.

"Ding, congratulations host, today's income is $4.35 million. Would you like to activate random multiplication?"

"Turn on."

Chen Pingsheng, sitting in the living room, muttered a sentence to himself.

The golden dice reappeared, shaking incessantly.

It finally stopped at four o'clock. "Congratulations, host, you have received a fourfold random boost."

One second, two seconds, three seconds passed.

"Ding, your Citibank account has received $17.4 billion, bringing your balance to $21.75 billion."

I was really lucky; after arriving in the US, I switched my bank card to Citibank.

The settlement currency naturally became the US dollar.

Manhattan's nights are dazzling with lights, especially compared to the infrastructure of Shanghai.

Manhattan is not as good as that, but in terms of economy and global influence, it is far behind.

If you really had to describe the difference between the two in one word, it would be like how someone who has never been to a big city longs for Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen.

Manhattan is just like that, a premier global city that brings together the world's elite.

What's most noteworthy is that there's no need to work overtime here; the union's role is to strictly protect workers' rights.

"Uncle Chen, I have several classmates studying here."

Zhang Wanyi finished showering and dried her wet hair.

In her heart, Chen Pingsheng was not only a boss but also a caring elder.

"That's great. If you have their contact information, you can try to get in touch with them. I can't, though, none of them went abroad after graduating from junior high school."

"That's because of the limitations."

Zhang Wanyi explained, "My classmates all went abroad to study because their grades weren't very good and they couldn't compete in China. But when they got here, they found that the education methods were completely different. They couldn't compete in China, but they were very good at competing with these people abroad."

This is also true.

Chen Pingsheng himself often said that if he didn't study hard, his son would only be able to go to Harvard when he grew up.

Domestic education is exam-oriented, while overseas education is individualized.

Learning whatever you want is completely different.

Those who can get into Tsinghua or Peking University in China basically won't go abroad.

"Your classmates are quite well-off!"

"No way, their families scraped together every penny and even sold their house to afford their studies here for several years."

Zhang Wanyi's family was of modest means, so naturally they couldn't afford to send her to study abroad.

The cost of studying at a prestigious university abroad, not to mention tuition alone, can be hundreds of thousands of yuan a year.

With all sorts of miscellaneous expenses added up, you'd need at least 800,000 yuan a year just to make ends meet.

"However, they all stayed here to work after graduation, easily earning four or five hundred thousand a year. They work a five-day work week and their work hours do not exceed forty hours a week."

That's true; things are much better here compared to the frenzied infighting.

Zhang Wanyi said with a smile, "I only found out about them from the classmates' group chat."

"pretty good."

Chen Pingsheng said, "We're new to Wall Street and don't know anything yet. You can try contacting them. Also, I'll be looking for suitable office buildings for sale tomorrow."

"Uncle Chen, are you looking to buy an office building here?"

"You're overthinking it. Buying one floor is more than enough."

He has no businesses abroad, so what's the point of spending that money to buy an office building?

Besides, the cost of living here is very high; the starting salary for graduates from top universities is $50,000 to $60,000 a year.

He wasn't going to be the one to get taken advantage of.

Once the industries here are sorted out, we'll consider investing heavily in an office building.

The next day, Zhang Wanyi prepared breakfast at the crack of dawn.

Chen Pingsheng went out and ate something, and then went to the 39th floor of the Empire Building.

Tong Zhelan told him that there were still single-story office buildings for sale upstairs, with an area of ​​more than 2,000 square meters, which would be more than enough to open an investment company.

Chen Pingsheng agreed. He looked into it and found that the company up for sale was a British company that was moving its headquarters to the port of New Jersey.

This place naturally had to be sold, with a single floor fetching a price of up to 1.2 million US dollars.

Chen Pingsheng thought about it and agreed, mainly because there wasn't much room for negotiation.

In prime locations in Manhattan, that's really the price you'd expect.

Everything was in perfect condition; you could just walk in and start working. However, he was busy setting up his new headquarters.

On the other hand, a major incident occurred.

For reasons unknown, the information was leaked, and Deer Antler Coffee was targeted by Muddy Waters, a Wall Street short-selling giant.

At 9:00 AM, Muddy Waters published a lengthy analysis article about Deer Antler Coffee's financial fraud and inflated stock price.

It was then stamped and released by several prominent economists.

The stock price plummeted as soon as the news broke.

When Tong Zhelan came up, he learned that Muddy Waters had borrowed 30% of Deer Antler Coffee's shares from investment banks.

The total market value is around 85 billion.

There is no doubt that Deer Antler Coffee has been targeted by short-selling giants.

Short selling is a stock market tactic that only exists in foreign countries.

For example, currently, each share of Deer Antler Coffee is worth $12, and Muddy Waters borrowed 100 million shares from investment banks.

The agreement stipulated that the debt would be repaid within six months.

If, six months later, Deer Antler Coffee's share price drops to just $6, then...

Then he only needs to return the shares at a price of six US dollars.

The loan was $12 per share, and the repayment was $6 per share.

The difference in the middle is the profit from shorting the giants.

Of course, there is another possibility.

That means the loan amount was $12 when it was lent out, and it increased to $36 when it was returned.

That would mean incurring huge losses.

When the shares were lent out, the actual value of 100 million shares was only 85 billion.

If the 100 million shares are returned and the market value has risen to 255 billion, the short-selling giant will have to make up the difference.

Simply put, short selling means driving down a stock price, which increases the profits for short-selling giants.

If the stock price rises in the opposite direction, then there is a risk of huge losses.

Seriously speaking, if short selling were allowed to generate profits in the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets, it would be a paradise for short-selling giants.

He could hit the bullseye every time with his eyes closed.

The situation is different overseas. Even if the market is flat for a year, it can still rise by one or two times. You can imagine how difficult it is for these short-selling giants.

They try every means to pick out companies with inflated stock prices or poor management from among the quality stocks and then attack them.

After Chen Pingsheng clearly understood the rules of short selling, he didn't care much anymore.

This is different from the case with Xu Pipi, who, along with the so-called Young Master Yan, wanted to seize control of his company through the stock market.

He will definitely retaliate.

Muddy Waters makes money by driving down its stock price.

In other words, the money that Muddy Waters made was entirely borne by overseas retail investors who bought shares in Deer Antlers Coffee.

He can say without exaggeration that this matter was beneficial to him personally.

After all, he had just sold his shares in Deer Antler Coffee at a high price, only to be met with short-selling giant Muddy Waters.

You can't blame him.

Secondly, once the stock price really falls to a certain level, he can simply take out another billion to repurchase it at a low price.

Just like the previous two times he made money, so personally, he hoped that Muddy Waters would drive down the stock price of Deer Antler Coffee.

But I can't tell anyone about this idea.

We still need to put on a show of retaliation, but we can keep quiet about what's happening behind the scenes.

He also planned to drive down the stock price of Muddy Waters and then use a billion dollars to buy back the 15% of shares he had sold.

This single transaction generates billions in profit; only a fool wouldn't do it.

Anyway, everyone is buying from small investors.

As for those big investors, they naturally won't sell their shares at this time, and as long as they don't sell their shares, there will be no cash loss.

It will eventually rise again.

Chen Pingsheng chose to remain still, while Yang Qian, the president in Hong Kong, kept releasing news, angrily denouncing Muddy Waters as shameless.

He secretly prepared a sum of one billion yuan, waiting for the stock price to drop to rock bottom before slowly buying back shares.

The more fiercely the criticism from Hong Kong, the more truthful the investigative report released by Muddy Waters.

Deer Antler Coffee, a milk tea-style coffee, has absolutely no global reach.

It even involves financial fraud and overstating profits, and a large number of economic experts were brought in to release videos to inform these American retail investors.

This is a worthless Chinese company; everyone should dump it immediately.

Chen Pingsheng never expected that his second opportunity to make money on Wall Street would come so quickly.

It will still be achieved by plundering American retail investors.

The more negative news Muddy Waters publishes, the more fiercely they criticize it in Hong Kong, and they don't release a single decent clarification.

Anyway, just keep cursing and swearing, and the stock price is facing its lowest point in the short term.

It's quite normal for domestic companies listing on Nasdaq to encounter short-selling giants.

Nobody really takes it seriously; at least, these things are quite normal on Wall Street.

(End of this chapter)