What's wrong with me being a rich man?

Chapter 607 A Sensation (7k)

Over Peak is a very special short-selling firm.

In its early years, it was known as the "Killer of Chinese Concept Stocks". Later, its targets spread all over the world. Last year, it orchestrated the "Mountain Peak Incident", which wiped out well-known global car companies. Since then, it has earned nicknames such as Disaster Short Seller, Short Selling Demon King, Ghost Short Seller, and King of Short Sellers.

A joint team was formed in Europe, the US SEC launched an investigation, and Japan repeatedly froze accounts, yet Guo Shanfeng has remained shrouded in mystery, allowing the most widely circulated title of "King of Short Sellers" to remain active in public opinion and capital markets.

Generally speaking, short-selling institutions are only of concern to the industry, but Guoshanfeng has always been very popular in the Chinese internet sector. The exaggerated harm caused by its attacks on Chinese concept stocks is undoubtedly an important factor, but its suspected Eastern identity and short-selling philosophy have always been sought after.

——One generation passeth away, and another generation comes, but deceit remains forever.

—One generation passes away, another comes, but deception endures.

Whenever this phrase appears, it means that the market value of a listed company is starting to burn dramatically.

From the earliest case of Fenzhong Media to the latest case of Huishan Dairy, from the lowest-valued American battery company A123 to the world's top Volkswagen Group, spanning numerous fields including automobiles, materials, healthcare, and the internet, this analysis dissects financial fraud, lists technological deceptions, details related-party transactions, and attacks on the founders' backgrounds...

A 50% drop in share price is common, delisting is not uncommon, investigations lead to imprisonment, and dreams are shattered.

Such a mountain peak, when it is equated with a name that has never been associated with it...

—A century-level short selling campaign should cause a century-level sensation.

On this morning, numerous media outlets and portals, including Weibo, Zhihu, Douyin, Weishi, Leyin, Sohu, and NetEase, all used extremely prominent logos to report on the event.

The server underwent emergency expansion, the media quickly analyzed the situation, and onlookers both inside and outside the industry turned into internet Sherlock Holmes, joining in the discussion and gossip about "Yu Xing, the King of Short Sellers".

Yu Xing, with a medical background, created a love insurance product in his early years. After selling it to Zhenai.com, he built the industry's most cutting-edge information website, Baixiaosheng.com. After initial success, he incubated WeChat, launching a Don Quixote-like attack on Tencent. He personally pushed the 3Q War to its peak, and then swiftly had Alibaba take over. After that came the car manufacturing dream in Lingang and the software matrix of Carbon Silicon Data. During this period, he also sold Bijia.com, Ad Buster, and WiFi Master Key...

Even after the news broke, CCTV was still broadcasting a personal interview with Yu Xing, who was considered a pioneer in new energy and a leader in the mobile internet industry.

Yu Xing of Lingang is already legendary enough. The achievements of the Silicon Carbon Group this year are enough to be recorded in the history of China's automobile industry. Silicon Carbon Data Company not only competes with giants in China, but is also able to expand into overseas markets in a rare way.

The achievements in just these two areas are enough to be included in textbooks, but...

When Yu Xing was dramatically portrayed as the "King of Short Sellers," everyone realized that his achievements in the field of short selling were actually the highest.

"I've watched it over and over again, and I still can't believe it. Yu Xing is actually a mountain peaker! My God, I couldn't even come up with such a lie on April Fool's Day!"

"It's said that Sohu Games collaborated with Carbon Silicon Data Company on voice-based facial recognition technology. I swear, I will never mock technology empowerment again. Mr. Yu's involvement proves that empowerment can truly be effective!"

"Damn, President Yu is awesome! President Yu is even more awesome than I imagined!!"

"The timing all fits together. It was only after President Yu started manufacturing cars that various car companies started committing fraud. I'm starting to believe in the quality of 'Jiuzhou' now. President Yu must have done in-depth research on car manufacturing processes! How could he discover the problems of car companies if he didn't do in-depth research!"

"They couldn't find Mr. Yu overseas, but they found him through carbon silicon data! Holy crap, it was Mr. Yu who found Mr. Yu!"

"All I can say is, when Guo Shanfeng gets ruthless, he won't even spare himself! He truly deserves the title of King of Short Sellers!"

"I now have reason to suspect that while Mr. Yu is certainly one of the heads of Guoshanfeng, is it a high-profile short-selling institution spanning multiple domestic and international sectors? Are there many other executives who are Mr. Yu's spies or partners? How exactly does Guoshanfeng operate?"

"No need to guess anymore. I'll list a few people who are 100% members of Guoshanfeng: Liu Wanying of Red Falcon Capital, Xu Xin of Today Capital, Xiong Xiaoge of IDG, and Hu Xubo of Qiming Venture Partners. Just look at the shareholders of President Yu's company, and you'll know that these four have always stood with him through thick and thin. They are definitely his partners in short selling!"

"Friends at Carbon Silicon Data, how are you all doing? The person who came up with the voice and character customization is a fucking genius!"

"No, no, I tried the Sohu Games feature, and the character creation isn't that accurate. Was it specially optimized for Yu Xing during internal testing?"

“Something’s not right. Don’t you guys think Yu Xing admitted it too quickly? There was only a short time between the voiceprint analysis and his Weibo post. He might be a member of Guoshanfeng, but he might not be the leader. Is he being made a scapegoat?”

Guo Shanfeng's identity is of great importance. On one hand, it has spread widely due to its immense popularity, and on the other hand, many people want to find out the truth.

Some believe that Yu Xing is the boss of Guoshanfeng, because the recordings left over from the first short selling and the short selling targets after the car manufacturing project have proven this. Others believe that Yu Xing does not have enough energy to complete the business of three sectors, and he may be an important partner, but not necessarily the boss.

As for who the leader is...

Having been involved in the world of capital for many years, Xiong Xiaoge is bound to be a cunning and shrewd man.

Xu Xin, who has risen to the ranks of top investors in recent years, is also ruthless.

With two cunning and ruthless people around, could the inexperienced Yu Xing really be the leader of Guoshanfeng?
And the fact that Liu Chiping jumped ship from Tencent to Lingang is also full of mystery. Tencent has been competing fiercely with Silicon Carbon Data for so many years, but it has never been shorted by Shanfeng. Is there some explanation for this?
Looking at Alibaba, how did Guo Shanfeng manage to obtain such high-level news as the transfer of control of Alipay? Could it be that some of his executives were also members of Guo Shanfeng's group?
As for this revelation, it is highly likely that there was an internal dispute over the distribution of spoils within Guoshanfeng, or that Yu Xing was unwilling to continue shorting after his two major businesses had developed, which ultimately led to the betrayal of the face-pinching technology.

Theories of a leader, scapegoating, conspiracy, and large-scale organization... all sorts of voices filled different media platforms, gradually giving rise to an extremely strong demand—quickly interview the king of short sellers!

Just like the CCTV interview, it would be best to give the King of Short Sellers a super long interview, so that he can talk about how he shorted Fenzhong back then, and how he went from Nantianmen to Penglai East Road!

Faced with such a strong outcry, the media were naturally extremely anxious. However, they had already called the Silicon Carbon Group at the first opportunity, only to be told "no comment." Some reporters had Mr. Yu's WeChat and private phone number, but all attempts to contact him went unanswered. People who drove to Lingang to try to interview him were all turned away.

Clearly, the king of short sellers will not respond at this moment.

The internet is abuzz with discussion, Huishan Dairy's stock price continues to plummet, and rumors are circulating that another group of bigwigs stormed into the president's office of the Silicon Carbon Group to confront Yu Xing, but they can't get any firsthand information right now...

Reporters were at their wits' end, and could only use the existing materials to process and report, yet they still managed to produce articles with extremely high click rates.

"The once mysterious King of Short Sellers has had his veil lifted, and no one could have imagined that the mastermind behind the mountain is Yu Xing, one of the most well-known figures in the domestic business world!"

"This will be the biggest news of the year!"

"Overseas, short sellers are known as 'disaster short sellers' or 'doomsday short sellers.' The fact that they have earned such a fearsome title in just a few years is not due to deliberate media hype, but rather because the total market value of listed companies that have been wiped out by them over the years can be calculated in the hundreds of billions of dollars!"

"The road to success for those companies is the road to despair for those listed companies."

"However, I don't know what words to use to describe this sudden incident. Is it that justice will prevail and nothing will escape its reach, or that there are no secrets that stay hidden forever? Even Yu Xing himself could not have imagined that he would face public opinion, the public, and the supervisory agencies in different regions in such an unexpected way."

"Amidst the celebratory atmosphere, I must solemnly point out that with the exposure of the mountain peak, Silicon Carbon's dream of going public has been shattered, and the United States will absolutely not approve Silicon Carbon Group's listing application!"

“Last month, I praised the Silicon Carbon Group’s pre-IPO stock options in my column as extremely generous. That plan reminded me of Yu Xing’s early days when he was running WeChat and fulfilled his stock option promises to employees, even though he could have pocketed the huge sum of money back then.”

"Yu Xing, President Yu, what kind of two sides has he shown us?"

"What will be the trend of Silicon Carbon Group after its IPO dream is shattered? What impact will the globally notorious short-seller king have on him? Will an investigation be launched against him in China?"

"Objectively speaking, we probably can't even analyze the correct answers to these questions right now, and even Yu Xing himself may be troubled by them."

"Before today, Yu Xing was an outstanding and extremely positive business leader, but at this moment, CCTV has stopped broadcasting his interviews, and websites have removed related reports. He has become one of the most controversial business figures in China and even the world."

"New energy, mobile internet, and the king of short sellers—whether we like it or not, whether he likes it or not, the combination of these three is what makes Yu Xing what he is."

"Finally, I'm glad to see that Huishan Dairy, which committed financial fraud, is still plummeting. It sacrificed itself to usher in the arrival of the king of short sellers, and has probably completed its greatest historical mission."

"I don't wish Mr. Yu well. I wish those companies that committed fraud to enjoy their short-lived happiness. The questions that challenge the truth will never disappear."

As of 11 p.m. on Monday, November 20, the Hong Kong stock market closed. Huishan Dairy, which lost HK$152 billion in market value last Friday, lost another HK$115.4 billion today, with its share price only 11.2% of its peak.

Including the weekend, in just four days, Huishan Dairy plummeted from a Hong Kong-listed company with a market capitalization of HK$301 billion to a fraudulent company with a market capitalization of HK$33.6 billion.

The explosive growth in the market value of Huishan Dairy was also a topic of public attention. It was like fireworks commemorating the birth of the king of short sellers, together forming a footnote to the year's major news.

Huishan Dairy's statement demanding an explanation from Yu Xing this morning was public; now that they've gotten what they asked for, they've truly met their demise.

However, in the afternoon, Silicon Carbon Group received a call from the local authorities demanding that they eliminate the negative impact and clarify the issues for Huishan Dairy, but the employees refused, arguing that they were an automaker, not a short seller.

The request to speak with Yu Xing on the other end of the phone was also refused, on the grounds that the location of the chairman was unknown.

Yu Xing's Weibo account has stopped updating, his WeChat Moments are silent, and he cannot be reached by phone; he seems to have fallen into a deep silence.

However, as people gradually digested his shocking identity as the "King of Short Sellers," many of Yu Xing's old friends came forward at this time.

Tang Jun, who was exposed for falsifying his academic credentials years ago, posted a message on Weibo after a long hiatus, angrily denouncing the "King of Short Sellers": "You've finally met your match, Yu Xing. You deceived the world and stole fame. Can you still stand on the moral high ground now?"

Since losing his academic credentials, Tang Jun has faced difficulties in his career. His past business achievements have also been scrutinized more rigorously. He is not exactly starving, but he is no longer associated with the glamorous world.

Especially as Yu Xing's business flourished and Lingang Dual Carbon Silicon gained a higher and higher status in the industry, he became depressed.

Now, upon suddenly discovering the collusion between Yu Xing and Guo Shanfeng, Tang Jun immediately rushed out to condemn it.

However, his criticism was immediately countered by netizens who had nowhere to find the person involved.

"What the hell is popping up?"

"He's a fraudster? Aren't those fraudulent companies the ones that deceive the world?"

"Oh my, isn't this the 'fake doctor'? Yu Xing was exposed as the king of short selling, what have you been exposed as?"

"Dr. Tang has come out, tsk, what a pity, President Yu can't hear your voice. The king of short sellers doesn't prey on nobodies. Go find him after you go public. Will Dr. Tang be able to build a listed company in his lifetime?"

Tang Jun didn't expect the online reactions to be like this. He had planned to challenge them a bit in the comments section of his Weibo account, but he didn't expect that people would start digging into his current company so quickly. He could only delete the Weibo post and pretend that nothing had happened.

Compared to the voices appearing on social media platforms, Wang Wei, the former founder of Tudou.com who also had a falling out with Baixiaosheng, only commented on the matter in his WeChat Moments.

"President Yu left a deep impression on me back then. Bai Xiaosheng is very sharp. I hope that President Yu can continue to be sharp after Guo Shanfeng's identity is exposed. Don't stop, otherwise I will look down on you."

Tudou.com applied for an IPO, but it was postponed due to the founder's divorce, which allowed its competitor Youku to go public first, indirectly leading to the eventual merger between Youku and Tudou.

After leaving Tudou.com, Wang Wei ventured into the animated film industry and has maintained a low profile in recent years. However, upon seeing such significant news, he couldn't help but speak out. He still regrets what happened back then, believing that if Tudou had been able to beat Youku to it, perhaps things would have been different.

Seeing that the soon-to-be-listed Silicon Carbon Group is struggling to go public, I feel quite pleased.

Wang Wei was in a good mood and interacted with people on his WeChat Moments about the matter, also mentioning the common suspicions of short sellers such as insider trading and market manipulation.

Xu Xin, who had been waiting for Yu Xing at the Silicon Carbon Group in the afternoon but never saw him, suddenly saw the post on her WeChat Moments and couldn't help but leave a very cold comment: "If you're going to make animation, then make good animation."

Capital Today invested heavily in Tudou.com back then and even tried to smooth things over when Bai Xiaosheng exposed the situation, but Yu Xing backed down.

Wang Wei was startled when she refreshed the page and saw Mr. Xu's comment on her WeChat Moments. She wanted to retort sharply like Yu Xing, but after hesitating for a few seconds, she deleted the post.

Forget it, forget it. Yu Xing has definitely taken the blame for Guo Shanfeng this time. Xu Xin, a member who's just a figurehead, will definitely thank him and protect him. It's better not to provoke him.

After commenting, Xu Xin refreshed her WeChat Moments again, but didn't see any more updates from Wang Wei. Instead of easing her frustration, she became even more upset.

One or two comments are acceptable, but now there's a deluge of public opinion.

What should we do?
She wanted to have a formal discussion with Yu Xing, but Zhang Yangxu told her he had other things to do, so she could only go home fuming.

Guo Shanfeng's identity is beyond doubt. As for who the other members are, it is unknown for the time being, and probably will never be known. Judging from the situation at the scene, Xiong Xiaoge's shock seems to be genuine, as he does not appear to be a member of Guo Shanfeng.

However, it's hard to say for sure. These short sellers are all very good actors. Before today, I didn't realize that Yu Xing was the king of short sellers.

Xu Xin sat in the car and helplessly flipped through the main comments. She saw various analyses, some of which agreed with certain possibilities, but most disagreed.

She was almost certain that Yu Xing was the big boss of the short sellers!

No evidence, just intuition!
Liu Wanying may be a mini-boss, an executor, and the peripheral members are probably secretly distributed in different industries.

With a heavy heart, Xu Xin returned home and saw Li Song writing something earnestly at the table as soon as she entered.

She approached with a sullen face and discovered that he was actually writing a diary.

—Wow, Mr. Yu is actually the king of short selling! That's amazing! I must learn from him.

—Damn, before I met Mr. Yu, I was just blindly shorting stocks!
—Guo Shanfeng has been exposed, and he must still have some information that he hasn't had time to reveal. I must bravely take on the responsibility of taking over the baton from my mentor!

Xu Xin was furious when she saw that Li Song had even taken the time to draw a smiley face on his notebook. She tore it to shreds.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Li Song tried to grab it but failed.

"What do you want to do?" Xu Xin shouted angrily. "What are you doing? What kind of dream are you having?"

Li Song retorted, "I want to be a big short seller! I'll go find President Yu after this is all over. I'll short the companies he can't short! I'll criticize the fraud he can't attack!"

Xu Xin grabbed Li Song's arm, her anger flaring: "Are you crazy! You still want to short sell! Didn't you give up?! He's a madman! Do you want to be a madman too!"

Li Song let his wife pull him along, arguing vehemently, "I'm perfectly clear-headed. This is the real opportunity. The exposure of Guoshanfeng was just an accident. Guoshanfeng is just a name. If there's no Guoshanfeng, there's Guohaifeng, there's Guogufeng! President Yu has the ability to discover and verify scams! That's the skill of the king of short sellers!"

Xu Xin, who had been in shock and digesting the news all day, paused for a moment.

Her brows furrowed deeply, her face grim: "He's sick, you're sick, you're both sick. You abandoned a perfectly good company and ruined it, now it's all ruined!"

Li Song shook his head and sighed, "I don't know what others think. I knew how amazing a mountain was when I saw it before, but that was like looking at the moon from the bottom of a well. Now that I've done it myself, looking at President Yu, the king of short sellers, it's like a mayfly seeing the blue sky! I don't believe President Yu can't overcome this calamity!"

Seeing his somewhat manic state, Xu Xin's pent-up emotions from the day finally erupted, and she reached out to scratch his face.

While dodging his wife's fingernails with cries of "Ouch, ouch!", Li Song stepped on the torn notebook to express his stance: "I will follow President Yu's lead! Without Guo Shanfeng, everyone can be Guo Shanfeng!!!"

Xu Xin had only one thought in her mind: she's gone mad, completely mad.

Yu Xing felt he wasn't crazy.

Although Goldman Sachs thinks it's crazy to push for Silicon Carbon Group to go public, it's by no means impossible; all rules serve the interests of the people.

When the company founded the Silicon Carbon Group and entered the new energy field, in addition to the fact that it was a rapidly developing industry, an important consideration was that it was possible that the company's identity as a short seller could be traced to someday.

Industry, location, factory, taxation, employment, and even going global—these are all the overriding, detailed components of development.

Short selling does indeed operate on the fringes of the rules, but the information sources for Guoshanfeng are primarily from public research, or rather, the information it discloses does not reveal any insider information.

Regardless of the specific source of the information, the analysis in the short-selling report is based on publicly available information, which in itself is to avoid serious accusations such as market manipulation and insider trading.

The biggest problem with Guoshanfeng right now is the suspected violation of information disclosure regulations. Considering the size of its funds in the mid-to-late stages, Guoshanfeng failed to disclose its short-selling positions, which is a clear violation.

Furthermore, the fact that the short selling position exceeded the limit should be proven by the regulatory authorities; we'll see if they can find out.

According to existing cases, Morgan Stanley was found last year to have failed to accurately report short positions involving billions of shares for six years. FINRA fined it $2 million and ordered it to rectify its reporting system.

According to the UK's FCA, the maximum penalty for failing to disclose short selling is 10% of the illegal gains or £5000 million, whichever is higher.

Germany's BaFin regulations require violators to disclose their violations in the Federal Register and may impose fines of up to 1000 million euros.

Yu Xing and Huang Guobin of Goldman Sachs engaged in a heated debate over the issue of short selling, with Yu Xing insisting that he had not violated any more serious regulations and that he could file a countersuit to seek a settlement.

He concluded by saying to Huang Guobin, "The problem with the peaks was the disclosure issue; the real reason for those sharp drops was that they were fabricating data."

Huang Guobin was exhausted. He had to regretfully inform this notorious short seller: "Mr. Yu, Silicon Carbon Group cannot be listed. Not to mention Europe, not to mention the United States, no stock exchange in the world will allow you to list. What you should be considering now is the legal issues you are facing, and how to keep Silicon Carbon Group alive. That's all I have to say. Goodbye."

Yu Xing did not try to persuade Huang Guobin to stay.

He sat in the conference room, smoked two cigarettes, and slowly considered the current situation.

As darkness fell, a phone call came in from Zhu Zehui, the director of Lingang.

Zhu Zehui spent the whole day in the city today, mainly discussing the situation of carbon silicon, Guoshanfeng, and Yu Xing. It has to be said that the consequences of the "King of Short Sellers" are still very serious.

It is said that the news had already spread overseas by the afternoon, and even people in Shanghai had received calls about it.

After a day of discussion, the final result was three words.

Zhu Zehui told President Yu these three words: "Make sure it's guaranteed."

Although there have been dissenting opinions, ultimately, Guoshanfeng's moves so far have been 100% successful. Those companies that commit various frauds are the real problem within the rules. Although there are bound to be conflicts of interest, Carbon Silicon Group and Carbon Silicon Data Company can clearly generate greater profits.

Putting past interests aside for now, we add and subtract, and the final result is a positive number, and that's fine.

After a brief conversation with Director Zhu, Yu Xing considered for a moment and then called Goldman Sachs.

He then continued smoking in the conference room.

About twenty minutes later, Huang Guobin reappeared in the conference room with a big smile, offering the highest respect: "Mr. Yu, Goldman Sachs is happy to continue serving you."

……

On Monday evening, Zhang Chaoyang had already returned to Beijing.

After he got home, he kept refreshing the news, and when he got tired of reading, he looked through the photos on his phone.

Zhang Chaoyang is certain that he will never suffer from depression again in his life, and looking at photos on his phone can cheer him up when he's unhappy.

He waited and waited, but there was still no news about the new battlefield in Lingang that morning.

Just when Zhang Chaoyang was getting impatient to step in himself, a video from the scene finally surfaced, showing someone filming the situation from outside.

A group of people stormed into the CEO's office, crowding the entrance. Later, some people were even carried out.

The video footage is somewhat blurry, but the constantly shaky camera work reveals the excitement of the person filming.

Such videos are like a signal, and soon someone confidently provided clues: "Hey, the one who was brought out is the chairman of Qingtian, a Hong Kong-listed company. She said that President Yu hit her, and President Yu pointed his finger at her and said that her company was committing fraud. I don't know if it's true or not."

First the video, then the revelations.

The expansion pack for King of the Short Sellers was finally updated at the end of the day, and the update was clearly a major new piece of news.

Are there also Hong Kong-listed companies committing fraud?

Huishan just set off fireworks today to celebrate the birth of the king of short sellers, and now other listed companies are going to continue celebrating?
"Wow, Chairman Qingtian really has guts, daring to openly retaliate to my face!"

"Holy crap, we'll see how Optimus Prime fares tomorrow, let's see if the King of Short Sellers is really that awesome or just a charlatan!"

"Brave, so brave! Facing the king of short sellers head-on, Qingtian Software, don't be afraid. It's normal to feel pain tomorrow; pain is how you build muscle!"

"The moment the king of short sellers was revealed today, the A-share market plummeted by 100 points. China has finally welcomed a leader in the field of short selling!"

"I suspect that Qingtian may not even get to see Guoshanfeng's official short-selling report. I strongly urge President Yu to follow the proper procedures, and at the very least, provide a supplementary report afterward!"

(End of this chapter)