The Birth of Shanghai's First Conglomerate

Days passed by in a flash, and December arrived in the blink of an eye.

The three kids' school hasn't returned to normal yet, and they're still staying home all day.

Because the situation outside was getting worse and worse, Erpiya didn't dare to go out.

I spend all day fishing on this rooftop and doing a little live stream on the side.

Only her older sister, Chen An'an, is in a similar situation.

However, she still spends most of her time studying.

Even his wife, Michelle Song, hasn't been going to the company much lately, which shows how serious the illness is right now.

As for Chen Pingsheng himself, he still goes to work at headquarters on time every day, but many people at headquarters have chosen to work from home.

At least half of it is gone.

Tang Jing came over and told him that he had arranged to meet two important people today, saying that they had something to discuss with him.

Chen Pingsheng glanced at the list; they were all well-known entrepreneurs in the business world.

One is a true real estate tycoon, and the other is an internet giant.

Real estate tycoons nowadays only meet with people they know well; otherwise, he generally won't see them.

These people may appear to be living a glamorous life now, but they are actually facing immense difficulties.

Take Xu Daipi as an example. He is just one of them. The other companies in the top ten, apart from Vanke which is slightly better, are all heavily in debt.

In the future, it is highly likely that state-owned enterprises will be the main investors in the real estate industry.

Pre-sale properties are difficult to sell, making it hard for the real estate industry to turn over its funds.

Chen Pingsheng asked Tang Jing to invite people over, and the first important person he met that morning was a father and daughter.

The Yang family, father and daughter, are among the top three figures in China's real estate industry.

They came to him this time hoping to sell some of their core assets or to get billions of yuan in funds from him.

The promised interest rate is very high, reaching around 7%.

That is, borrowing 10 billion and paying 700 million in interest over a year.

Lending money to a real estate company at this time is like throwing good money after bad – it's gone forever.

Aside from the fact that state-owned banks couldn't just stand by and watch them go bankrupt, there was nothing they could do.

Who would do that?

Chen Pingsheng would certainly not agree, and the Yang family then approached him with a different form of cooperation. The commercial assets held by the Yang father and daughter were no less than his.

Of course, the debt is even greater.

Since borrowing money isn't an option, then sell commercial assets.

Chen Pingsheng made up a random excuse and chose to refuse.

He only wants to buy Wanda Plaza; he doesn't even look at ordinary commercial assets.

Not to mention hotels and land in county towns; buying these things is a bottomless pit, a pure loss.

As for the second internet giant he met, he was invited to attend a well-known financial conference in Shanghai.

They also hope to reach some strategic cooperation with his Tencent Media.

There are no problems with any of these; just talk to the secretary, Zhang Wanyi.

There's a very important financial summit in Shanghai this month, and he'll definitely be attending. At least half of Shanghai's well-known entrepreneurs will also be there.

He couldn't miss it either.

In mid-December, the Shanghai Financial Summit was officially held.

The first person to speak, besides a few official figures, was Teacher Ma.

His eloquence is well-known.

A sudden and dramatic change also began with his speech.

Chen Pingsheng had to admit that Teacher Ma really dared to speak his mind.

If the banks don't change, he'll change the banks. Don't underestimate these kinds of words; very few people in their positions would actually say them.

This is because it criticizes the entire domestic financial system.

At least Chen Pingsheng himself wouldn't talk about it. Teacher Ma spoke with great passion, as if he were going to use his own strength to really change the domestic financial system.

It must be said that it takes real courage to speak so publicly. The applause from the audience was loud, but such a statement is bound to provoke dissatisfaction among some people.

Even after the meeting ended, countless people still toasted and drank with Teacher Ma, deliberately trying to curry favor with him.

Mr. Ma's commercial standing can be said to have reached its peak.

It's still the kind of peak that's impossible to surpass domestically.

Countless people online are saying that this is the era of Mr. Ma.

His imposing presence can be seen from just this sentence.

Chen Pingsheng had originally intended to go and have a chat with him, but seeing this situation, he was too lazy to go.

What happened next was completely unexpected.

Ant Financial, China's largest lending company, is said to have a valuation of 300 billion US dollars.

The parent company of Alipay.

The IPO was halted at the last minute.

As for the specific reasons, the main reason is that the leverage was too high.

With a principal of only a few billion, it can lend trillions through bank leverage.

This is definitely not normal. If it explodes, it will be even more troublesome than Xu's belt.

That's not all; Teacher Ma's era has become Teacher Ma of the times.

A business legend is destined to fade away.

It's hard to say that all of this was caused by this speech, but it was undoubtedly a trigger.

This made Chen Pingsheng even more vigilant and discreet. In fact, at their level, it was not appropriate for them to be high-profile everywhere.

Unless someone above you is intentionally pushing you forward, you'll really attract unwanted attention.

As soon as the news broke, the stock prices of all companies plummeted, falling uncontrollably from a market capitalization of $800 billion.

This is also why he doesn't like buying domestic stocks; they are influenced by too many factors.

According to his estimate, it would be quite good if Alibaba could stabilize its $5000 billion business this time.

It will lose at least 300 billion US dollars.

Compared to the big penguin, the big penguin is still more powerful.

To some extent, this is also because it has expanded too much.

Chen Pingsheng kept reminding himself that he couldn't get arrogant, otherwise setbacks would be everywhere.

It seems that Teacher Ma is going to settle overseas this time, and it's hard to predict how things will develop in the future.

Although Chen Pingsheng paid some attention, he didn't do it in a special way, because people in his circle discussed these things every day.

Even when Changfu came to see him, his mindset had changed drastically.

He felt that being a carefree billionaire was already pretty good.

I stopped thinking about those billionaires. Even someone as capable as Mr. Ma could collapse so easily.

Although compared to the average person, he is definitely still at his peak.

But people in their circle know that Mr. Ma's peak has passed, and those who are left out are considered lucky to have landed safely.

It's such an exaggeration.

This matter has caused a huge uproar both online and in wealthy circles.

Many people are paying close attention to it.

Changfu, who originally wanted to accomplish great things, has now truly behaved himself.

It's no exaggeration to say that after leaving Tengying Group, he simply didn't have the ability to maintain relationships in all aspects.

Starting a large private enterprise is incredibly difficult, to put into words.

But destroying such a company is a very easy thing to do.

If you don't have the ability to control these things, it's more of a curse than a blessing.

(End of this chapter)