The Birth of Shanghai's First Conglomerate

Chen Pingsheng's decision to invest 720 billion yuan to further increase his stake in Nvidia during its downturn was not entirely agreed upon by his wife.

This is actually quite normal, after all, Nvidia's stock price has been declining for the past year.

Anyone who sees this would think that there is still room for it to fall further.

While everyone else was selling, he used over 70 billion to increase his holdings.

That's quite a daring gamble.

His bets weren't placed at small gambling tables, but on world-class industrial projects.

Losing 70 billion on Nvidia last year is nothing, as long as it can recover.

Also in May of this year, he took his private jet to Singapore.

The project in Hong Kong, which involved a total investment of 1400 billion yuan with Tong Zelan and Shen Nanpeng, has been completed.

Future profits are exactly as expected; net profit is not very high, but it is stable.

As long as there is no war, his project will generate at least five or six billion in net profit every year.

The amount that would fall into his personal hands would be roughly seven or eight hundred million.

Such investments are essential for him; in case something happens in China, these projects will be the foundation for his comeback.

In addition to this, the second phase of the Tengying high-end community, with an investment of 380 billion yuan, will also be completed before the end of the year.

It only took a year and a half from start to finish, which fully demonstrates the speed of China's infrastructure boom.

Of course, he also needs to invest 100 billion here to make up for the last bit of funding.

Billions are nothing to him; he can easily cash out by distributing some shares.

His 3.5% stake in TikTok has recently been valued at $200 billion.

As it turned out, he still made a fortune from this investment.

The development of Douyin Group has exceeded expectations, and it has become the largest unlisted unicorn company in China.

Many people want to buy some shares from him.

He also used 0.5% to cash out $10 billion, and still has several billion left in his family.

Douyin Group has also started its IPO process, but its valuation is too high, and completing such a high IPO will not be easy.

It takes several years of preparation. If he sells some now, it's still like giving up a small profit to outsiders.

After all, everyone knows how profitable Douyin is. To put it simply, no matter how much money you lose, Douyin can make it back for you in a day.

Influencers can use DUO+ to upload their videos; 100 yuan can buy 10,000 views.

Countless other live streaming rooms also purchase DUO+ to drive traffic to their own live streams.

Not to mention corporate advertisements and all sorts of small shops selling goods.

Its daily profit is indeed beyond imagination, and it is entirely worthy of its current valuation of 200 billion US dollars.

After Chen Pingsheng invested this money in the second phase of Tengying Community, the project's funding was fully secured.

Once all the houses are built, he can officially start selling them to his employees.

By then, the investment cost of 38 billion yuan will be recovered.

Once the second phase of housing is completed, he will be able to achieve a 40% occupancy rate for employees at Kingsoft headquarters.

That's right... With the investment of over 40,000 houses, plus the previous phase, only 40% can be completed.

He will definitely invest in the third phase to build tens of thousands more units in the future.

Once we start to break even here, we can use this money to invest.

At the end of June, the group's only major event was the official launch of the Longteng S900, which had been in preparation for several years.

Around this time, Tengde Times is also preparing for its official listing, with a planned market value of 300 billion RMB.

As the largest lithium iron phosphate battery manufacturer in China, and also one of the world's most advanced solid-state battery manufacturers, this valuation is not too outrageous.

Only when the Longteng S900 is officially successful can it naturally ride the wave of success.

Unbeknownst to me, more than two and a half years have passed since the onset of the illness.

From 19 to this year.

The changes in the economic situation have been absolutely dramatic.

The real estate industry has completely turned to ashes; those who bought houses are in tears, and those who didn't are powerless to accept it.

Those who are now willing to buy steel and cement are mainly those with genuine housing needs who are forced to buy a house because they are getting married.

It's already a case of having a price but no market.

As for those tourism industries, including the hotel industry, those that have survived are truly struggling to stay afloat.

The same applies to the catering industry.

In the two years since the outbreak of the disease, Tengying Group's traditional business segment has accumulated losses of more than 4 billion yuan.

Among them, the Boiling Sheep family alone suffered a net loss of over two billion yuan.

Even now, he hasn't reduced employee benefits.

As for Bobo Milk Tea, Tencent Entertainment, Snack Run, and investments in a range of traditional small businesses.

Both are suffering significant losses.

If this were a typical company, it would have gone out of business long ago.

The illness, which has lasted for more than two years, has worn down the person to the point of having no temper left.

Everyone says there will be a wave of retaliatory spending after the outbreak, but that's pure nonsense. People are already broke.

Even if they have money, they dare not spend it recklessly. In the past few years, how many people have ended up driving food delivery or taking Didi (ride-hailing services) in middle age?

Many of the breadwinners of their families have been forced to face pay cuts and unemployment.

There's this illness being used as a cover-up for now; once this is over, everyone will know the truth.

Fortunately, their business has undergone a complete transformation.

Not only is he thriving in the technology field, but his wife's business in the health industry is also doing very well.

Furthermore, their business in Singapore is thriving.

The losses in the traditional sector are insignificant compared to the losses in their other businesses.

Tang Jing also came to report to him that Zhao Liying's ten-year stock options were about to expire.

Based on Tencent Entertainment's current stock price of over 70 billion, her stock options are worth around 3.5 billion.

Tencent Entertainment's value has dropped from a peak of 160 billion to just over 70 billion now.

The decline exceeded 50%.

If Zhao Liying cashes out now, Tencent Entertainment's stock price will plummet again.

To be honest, there needs to be a good solution for her stock options.

Chen Pingsheng said, "Now is not the right time to cash out. If she wants to cash out, then the company should step in and use 500 million to repurchase her shares."

This is the only way to do it now; Zhao Liying's influence alone surpasses the combined influence of the three top actresses.

This is no joke; she's incredibly successful in the TV drama category.

She's truly a queen of TV dramas.

If the news of her cashing out were released to the public, the stock price would easily plummet.

Staying calm and waiting for the illness to completely subside is more important than anything else.

When Zhao Liying arrived, Chen Pingsheng had a talk with her and also took out another 500 million to repurchase 1% of the shares.

Tencent Entertainment has a number of actresses who have received stock options, the earliest being Zhao Liying and Yang Mi.

The agreed cash-out period is ten years, meaning that the equity will only belong to them after ten years.

This is a very normal way for businesses to retain employees, although Tencent Entertainment is far from its peak.

But it can still maintain a market value of over 70 billion yuan, and it remains the undisputed number one stock in the entertainment industry.

This can be considered a reward for ten years of hard work. After the illness is over, the stock price here should rise sharply.

After all, he has gathered half of the entertainment industry's top talents, whether it's box office success or directing commercial films.

Or perhaps the actors in anti-Japanese war dramas are all on his side.

If it weren't for the impact of illness, and the frequent work stoppages over the years, Tencent Entertainment's market value would never be less than 100 billion yuan.

There's no problem with him temporarily spending money to buy back the shares.

……

A short while later, Gao Hu and Chang Fu came to find him again.

Chang Fu played around steadily for over a year, and even lost more than 700 million yuan in the stock market last year.

As for the reason, when a stock market crash comes, no one can escape it.

Last year, domestic stock prices continued to fall, and companies withdrew from the market.

Some companies have declared bankruptcy, but even more shameless are those listed companies that issue statements making all shareholders foot the bill.

The domestic stock market is such a mess that making money through stock trading in China is extremely difficult.

Chang Fu was initially very unhappy, but when he thought about how Chen Pingsheng had lost 80 billion yuan on Nvidia, his internal strife instantly disappeared.

The two of them didn't come together for much; they just chatted.

"Old Chen, you're being too irrational. How could you spend over 700 billion to increase your stake in Nvidia? Isn't that like throwing good money after bad?"

"You've already lost seven or eight hundred billion, do you want to lose even more?"

Chen Pingsheng explained, "Nvidia's stock price falling to this level is somewhat beyond my expectations, but it is undeniable that its AI technology, including chips and computer graphics cards, is among the best in the world. With these technologies, the stock price will eventually rebound."

Chang Fu shook his head. "No matter what you say, I won't buy it. If I get stuck with it, that would be really bad."

"I have something else I'd like to ask you. Is your illness almost over?"

"more or less!"

Chen Pingsheng said, "Overseas, it's already like the common cold. Domestically, it's been going on for more than two years now, and many people have long suggested that it should be relaxed. It should be over in another six months at most, and by then, I estimate that not many people will be able to escape."

"We couldn't avoid it either?"

"It was definitely unavoidable."

Alright... These people are well-informed; they already knew what this thing was all about.

Simply put, it won't kill you, but it will significantly damage your body's immune system.

Later on, it all depended on my own efforts to exercise more and take better care of my health.

"I don't know what will happen after the restrictions are lifted. It feels like everyone has been holding back for years."

At night.

The three of them drove home together again, with Chen Pingsheng driving a customized Range Rover Royal One.

It's particularly domineering and suits his current temperament very well.

There are still many people living in their Jinshan super villa. Chen Fan has divorced again and started looking for a new wife.

Now he's gotten smarter. Since his wife is going to run away anyway, he might as well buy the pretty ones.

As for other relatives back home, cousins, etc., after adapting to life in Shanghai, they basically can't go back to the countryside.

Everything here is so beautiful and vibrant! You can find everything you want to do and eat right here in the villa.

More than 200 service staff are available around the clock, so you don't even need to wash your own clothes.

However, due to the limitations of traditional family education, few of them can become business owners.

Earning tens of millions a year is already quite impressive.

In the 1990s, there was still a chance of an ordinary person becoming a big boss, but now it's really unlikely.

Even with his current abilities, he can only train a few people.

All the people he trains are destined for politics; there's little point in them going into business.

The next day, he made a special trip to the Anle Foundation, founded by Big Fart.

After her wine business failed miserably, her second entrepreneurial project turned to virtual reality (VR) entertainment.

It's basically about opening VR entertainment experience centers in various shopping malls.

This type of project is also a form of AI (Artificial Intelligence). Wearing a VR headset gives you an immersive experience.

It's quite popular in big cities, but not yet widespread in smaller cities.

Playing for five minutes at a time would cost at least several tens of yuan.

It's not a cheap project.

This project was actually proposed by Chen An'an herself. She wanted to do this after visiting the Shanghai IFC once.

Unlike red wine, VR entertainment is clearly a better fit for her.

From initial preparations to recruitment, it will take at least several months.

This type of project is not too complicated and does not require extensive advertising.

Only young people like to play this game.

Chen Pingsheng didn't ask too many questions; he just inquired briefly before leaving.

In any case, these are just trial projects for the big kid.

Whether she succeeds or not will not affect her ability to inherit billions of dollars in wealth in the future.

What we're training her for now is simply to develop her ability to maintain the business.

……

Throughout June, Tengying Group was preparing for the launch of the Longteng S900.

Unlike previous low-key efforts, the pre-IPO preparations have been extensive.

All major online platforms are filled with advertisements for the Longteng S900.

They spent seven years developing a high-end all-electric SUV.

It was highly anticipated long before its official release.

When the day actually arrived, there were an enormous number of media professionals, including journalists, from related fields across the country.

When it was officially released, Xu Dong didn't exaggerate at all; a 10-minute charge would give it a range of 1200 kilometers.

With a full charge, it can travel about 3,000 kilometers, which can perfectly meet the needs of daily travel and long-distance travel.

Similarly, all 100 vehicles underwent a 100,000-kilometer testing period before being truly presented to the public.

The design is particularly imposing.

In terms of driving control, new energy vehicles are definitely a little better than gasoline vehicles.

Whether it's the latest generation of solid-state batteries, the self-developed intelligent driving system, or the chassis tuning, it's all impressive.

From its exterior design to its interior details, it is absolutely worth the price.

Many people suggested that Chen Pingsheng should focus the marketing of the Longteng S900 on patriotism.

This will help boost sales and facilitate future promotion.

How would you describe patriotic marketing?
Tying a company's profitable products to patriotism is simply dishonest.

They are still extremely shameless business thugs.

Patriotism comes from the heart and has nothing to do with any profit-making products.

This kind of binding is very easy to be backfired on by traffic.

This is completely contrary to normal business practices and, to some extent, constitutes brainwashing marketing.

Chen Pingsheng directly rejected this suggestion and even took the initiative to block media marketing accounts that tried to associate Tengfei Auto's products with patriotism online.

(End of this chapter)