What's wrong with me being a rich man?

Chapter 447 Collapse
American time is from evening to morning, while Chinese time is from dawn to late night.

Over the past 24 hours, Yu Xing's sleep has been intermittent, but he has been in a state of high excitement, constantly communicating with Liu Wanying about the sudden changes.

"How damaging do you think the New York Times' exposé is? The source of this pharmacy news looks like it was done by an insider." Liu Wanying noticed the inflow of short-selling funds. She thought the changes would take some time to materialize, but seeing the latest media exposé gave her a premonition that a storm was brewing.

"This report seems to cover a lot of information, but it doesn't actually mention any specific figures. Doesn't that highlight the serious nature of this matter? It's financial fraud. As for the scale of the fraud..." Yu Xing offered his thoughts, "I suspect that this kind of Philidor pharmacy channel can only be a small-scale inflated revenue, which is indeed to make the financial statements look better, but such self-production and self-sales actually makes it difficult to move too much capital."

This level of inflation isn't as exaggerated as that of China Forestry Holdings, but it certainly exists.

Just like when we talked about our views on LeEco during the Chinese New Year, related-party transactions between listed and unlisted companies are most prone to blurring of interests, and Vanya is simply proving this point once again.

As for the potential impact of this exposure...

Yu Xing's view is: "It may not be too much. If there is no further movement, the liquidity of US stocks after hours is already low."

The New York Times updates its reporting online, and the timing appears to be deliberately chosen to be after hours.

“We can add further developments,” Liu Wanying said thoughtfully. “I just feel that this kind of revelation suddenly coming out of The New York Times might be a sign of a shift in the trend.”

Philidor Pharmacy's sales channels were previously overlooked by Guo Shanfeng, and despite being far away, they did indeed obtain more in-depth information.

Liu Wanying still believes more in the omens brought by the flow of funds. Now that a highly credible revelation has emerged, it seems that the limited chips at Guoshanfeng can be pushed up a bit more.

Yu Xing understood the meaning in Xiao Ying's tone, and after thinking for a long time, he said, "If you think it's worth a try, then try it. There's no right or wrong in it; it's all guessing anyway."

Liu Wanying didn't hesitate any longer and placed her limited bets after The New York Times, based on her own feelings.

Therefore, Milberg, a nationally renowned law firm specializing in protecting consumer rights and having handled hundreds of class-action lawsuits, announced in a media interview that evening that it would represent several patients in a class-action lawsuit against Vania Pharmaceuticals.

This was a commission that Liu Wanying had been considering for a long time. Money makes the world go round, and the operation by Vanlia itself also met the conditions for a class-action lawsuit. The relevant agent secretly commissioned the operation and had been waiting for the right opportunity.

She wasn't sure if now was the right time, but she had definitely decided to give it a try.

Just as Yu Xing predicted, the New York Times' revelation did indeed damage Vania's after-hours stock price. The nearly 3% drop was the largest decline since the company's initial public offering, representing a loss of more than $16 billion in market value.

What truly caused the stock price to plummet was the intervention of the SEC. Unlike its previous sluggishness, this time it reacted swiftly, launching an investigation into Vania Corporation based on the New York Times' exposé.

These two changes caused Vania's after-hours decline to widen to 5%, and the class-action lawsuit filed by law firms in the evening further increased the figure to 6%, resulting in a market capitalization drop of over $24 billion, which is already a significant negative factor.

After-hours trading ended, the stock price decline temporarily halted, but more news was spreading rapidly.

Furthermore, more funds are clearly pouring into short positions, as put option prices have been climbing steadily since the New York Times released the negative news, and implied volatility is also soaring.

After adding negative news remotely, Liu Wanying also raised an additional ten million US dollars to support this operation.

However, due to insufficient liquidity, option prices are lagging and asymmetric. Their fluctuations can significantly exceed the decline in stock prices, and may also see a significant correction or continuation after the market opens the next day.

Vania's after-hours decline and related news have attracted widespread media attention.

While waiting for more news, Yu Xing also noticed that domestic discussions had already begun to celebrate Guo Shanfeng.

"We still have to go over the mountain peak! Vania's problems have been exposed!"

"More than two billion US dollars... That's over ten billion Chinese yuan gone! These short sellers... their destructive power is truly astounding! Guo Shanfeng is even stronger than the strongest! Vania has added another victory to Guo Shanfeng's tally!"

"Who is Ackerman? I don't know him. I only know Shanfeng."

"It's just dogs fighting."

Yu Xing saw the "dogs fighting" comments and closed the Baixiaosheng Forum with satisfaction.

His mind was preoccupied with the situation across the ocean, so he was inevitably a little distracted during the meeting. However, even if someone noticed, they wouldn't speak up to correct the boss.

After the meeting, Hu Zhengnan wanted to talk to President Yu about more details, but seeing his heavy dark circles, he felt that today was not a good time, so he only mentioned one additional issue.

"Mr. Yu, our test vehicles have been running around recently, and some friends in the industry have called me."

Yu Xing finished his cup of bitter coffee and looked at Hu Zhengnan: "Why are you calling? What's going on?"

"Nothing much. They have car testing business and said they could do some test scenario design," Hu Zhengnan replied.

Yu Xing's thoughts were a beat slow to process; he was about to agree when he realized, "So you can write scripts?"

Hu Zhengnan felt that the word "script" was very appropriate.

Yu Xing asked with a smile, "You want to do this?"

Hu Zhengnan sensed something amiss in his boss's smile and immediately said, "President Yu, when I came across this, I thought we should remind the company not to touch this. After all, Bai Xiaosheng himself has tests, which can easily backfire."

Yu Xing nodded: "That's good."

Regardless of what the person in front of him was thinking, he mentioned Song Gang, the car company executive introduced by Xiong Xiaoge before the Lunar New Year, and said he wanted to arrange a time to talk about it soon.

Hu Zhengnan recognized Song Gang and knew that the Silicon Carbon Group had recruited him, so he asked with some surprise, "Song Gang is willing to join us?"

"Why don't you just say he's willing to join the Liangshan bandits?" Yu Xing said irritably. "He's definitely very capable. We're still short-staffed for this year's supplier placement and production capacity preparation, and he's actually a very suitable candidate."

Vehicle testing and optimization are ongoing, and production capabilities are gradually being aligned.

Previously, Xu Xin recommended the old factory director Pang Ruiyang, who was actually quite suitable to be in charge of this work. However, he was getting old and lacked energy. After talking with him twice, Yu Xing readily agreed and continued to look for a replacement.

Hu Zhengnan agreed, quite pleased that a talented person in the industry was willing to come to Hong Kong. Yu Xing gave a few more instructions, put away the documents, and returned to the president's office.

I took a short nap in the afternoon, but soon I was still thinking about Vania's situation.

The interplay and dissemination of various information sources caused fluctuations in the price of Vania in pre-market trading. According to Liu Wanying's observation, the trend of further decline was supported, indicating that someone was clearly propping up the market.

Vania has a market capitalization of $400 billion. It is headquartered in Canada, where many funds and even banks hold shares. It previously experienced a long period of growth due to its aggressive strategy, and American funds also like this stock.

The situation facing Vania has suddenly changed, and various funds are certainly unwilling to surrender easily.

only……

When Yu Xing saw Hillary Clinton's scathing interview, he, like many onlookers, was stunned: "Why would Hillary Clinton stand up at such a critical juncture?"

He expressed his genuine astonishment during his phone call with Liu Wanying: "To stir up trouble, to stir up trouble, has this brought out a witch?"
The onlookers, building on their astonishment, expressed even deeper感慨 (feelings of deep emotion): "Why would Hillary Clinton step forward at such a crucial moment? She's incredibly impressive!"

Why would a globally renowned short seller like Guoshanfeng (a famous short seller) venture into Vanilla?

Isn't this a case of having already coordinated with all parties before having to tackle this tough challenge head-on?

Short sellers, especially those who go over the mountain peak, are evil short sellers. These venomous snakes should be colluding with power!

That's it, everything's right!

Hillary Clinton is a well-known figure who once had the hope of becoming the first female boss. She also has a very famous husband. Criticism of her appearances has spread widely in China, but even more so in American public opinion.

In the United States, it's almost an open secret that she'll be fighting again next time. She's using Vanilla's situation to talk about the bill that will be discussed at next week's hearing, which may be aimed not only at Vanilla but also at shaping her public image.

Regardless, Vania is the one to target first.

Five minutes after the market opened in the morning, Vania's stock price, which had been fluctuating pre-market, experienced a panic sell-off, dropping by 7% in a short period of time. At the same time, more short sellers stepped in.

Citron Research, a well-known short seller, released a short-selling report that briefly mentioned Peak's previous arguments, incorporated the negative news of the past few days, and even hinted at the striking coincidence that Vanilla CEO Pearson and Enron's former executive Jeff have McKinsey backgrounds.

Jim Chanos, another well-known short seller, offered a fresh perspective in his criticism, accusing Vania of being "essentially an empty shell company that needs constant acquisitions," a model of maintaining growth through acquisitions that is absolutely unsustainable.

Wall Street analysts are also getting involved, carefully studying the current situation: "Vanlia is currently facing severe criticism and scrutiny. Its financial fraud will inevitably severely damage stock market confidence. Even if the SEC's investigation is completed, Vanlia's frequent price increases will not be sustainable, which is equivalent to the collapse of the business foundation that previously supported its stock price."

The results of Vania's investigation won't be available anytime soon, but its price increases are essentially unsustainable, so its stock price will naturally have to be discounted.

The combined forces of politicians, short sellers, Wall Street influencers, and retail investors panicking amid a series of negative news, which opened up a downward trend in Vania's stock price.

In just half a day, Vania's stock price plummeted from $134 to $103, and the market value lost from yesterday to today has approached $90 billion. What makes things even more desperate is that this panic is bound to continue into the afternoon.

A pharmaceutical company with a market value of over $400 billion!

A hostile takeover bid of $540 billion!

A concerted effort to suppress the virus, involving short sellers, public opinion, regulators, and political figures!
At 2 p.m., a significant piece of negative news added fuel to the fire of panic in Vania.

Moody's, a globally renowned rating agency, has placed Vania on its "negative watch list," focusing on the potential impact of the Philidor scandal and the SEC investigation, and warning that "Vania may face a long-term deleveraging process in the future."

This news further fueled the panic caused by Vania.

Vania is really about to break down...

The giant Vania is really going to collapse after injecting venom into the mountain peak...

"Vanlia's collapse is a foregone conclusion, and the mysterious short sellers have once again triumphed over the mountain peaks. Unlike in the past, this time their short-selling style tends to favor well-known peers in the industry."

"This is particularly regrettable. In the past, the mountain peaks have always been able to produce evidence of precision strikes, but in this attack, Vanya only has a more subjective judgment."

"The mountain peak seems to be turning into an ordinary short seller."

"However, this also means that it is becoming more dangerous."

Wall Street analyst Olson witnessed the collapse of Vania and remarked on Twitter, with some emotion, about the mountain peak that launched the attack.

At 4 p.m., Vania's stock closed at $87.1, down 35% from its opening price of $134, wiping out a market value of $14 billion.

As the company previously targeted by Vania's hostile takeover attempt, Allergan's CEO David watched helplessly as his competitor's stock price plummeted, and he felt a chill run down his spine.

He felt a chill run down his spine as he tweeted to Vania: "Our board has changed its mind. Please come over immediately to discuss the hostile takeover. Pearson, Pearson, where are you?"

David didn't forget another short seller, Ackman, who spent a lot of money to become a major shareholder of the company. He also mocked him on Twitter: "Ackman, I remember you bought our stock because of value investing. I hope you will believe in my abilities. I will try my best to prevent you from suffering losses. You are welcome to attend our extraordinary general meeting of shareholders."

A reporter interviewed the person involved by phone, asking a question that many people had been speculating about: "David, did you contact Shanfeng? Did you invite Shanfeng to short Vania?"

“How could that be? I would never side with short sellers!” David answered resolutely, but added, “However, Over Peak did a good job this time; he truly deserves to be called the most venomous snake.”

The most venomous snake that has committed a $140 billion bloodbath!
It was also an extremely tired snake.

When Liu Wanying arrived at the Silicon Carbon Group's office, she could barely keep her eyes open. While looking at the stock price on her computer, she announced with a mixture of exhaustion and ambition, "This is just the beginning, just the beginning of this year."

The massacre in Vania was just the beginning of a series of short-selling attacks by the mountain peaks this year.

(End of this chapter)