In Hong Kong, we build a global business empire

Chapter 153 Return to New York, an interview with the chairman of Citibank

Lin Haoran has booked a flight to New York on the morning of December 12th.

The peak price of gold was probably in January 1980.

Therefore, in January, as long as the price is right, he can take action at any time.

When traveling from Hong Kong to New York, due to the time difference, the time in Hong Kong is 13 hours ahead of the New York time during the winter time system.

Therefore, he bought a ticket to New York on the morning of the 29th. After arriving in New York, the time was still December 12th.

After arriving there, you can close the gold futures contracts in hand and cash them out at any time according to market changes.

These operations are naturally handed over to Citibank. As their main business, futures business is definitely professional.

At 12:29 am on December , Lin Haoran, Li Weiguo and Li Weidong appeared at Hong Kong's Kai Tak International Airport again.

This time, he did not bring Su Zhixue with him because there was no need.

Lin Haoran has been waiting for this day for half a year, and now it is finally time to harvest again.

The plane took off smoothly from Kai Tak International Airport.

At around 12 o'clock in the evening on December 29th, New York time, Lin Haoran had successfully arrived in downtown New York City.

This time, he did not book a hotel on Wall Street, but stayed directly near the headquarters of Citibank.

The futures contract has been entrusted to Citibank for operation, so he doesn't need to go to the New York Futures Exchange to pay attention to the price.

For a bank like Citigroup sitting at the top of the pyramid in the financial industry, they know the real-time gold price no later than the exchange.

After resting for a night in the hotel, at around nine o'clock the next morning, after Lin Haoran finished his hotel buffet breakfast, he called John Reed, vice president of Citibank, and told him that he was already in New York.

Today is Sunday, not a trading day for the futures exchange, so he doesn't need to pay attention to the gold price.

"Mr. Lin, where are you? How about I send someone to pick you up?" John Reed was very polite to Lin Haoran.

Today John Reed is just a vice president, and Lin Haoran signed this big contract under his witness, so a good relationship has been established between the two.

"Mr. John, no need to answer the phone. I'm at the Marriott Hotel next to the Citibank headquarters building. I'll go downstairs to your place now." Lin Haoran said with a smile.

Lin Haoran could understand why John Reed's way of addressing him changed, becoming more polite and respectful.

After all, if calculated based on the value of futures contracts, he has more than one billion US dollars in his hands.

In this era, this is undoubtedly a huge amount of money that is eye-catching and enough to attract the attention of any financial institution.

Accompanied by two bodyguards, Lin Haoran walked directly to the Citibank Building next door.

The skyscraper was still breathtaking even on his second visit.

Four towering pillars firmly support this architectural wonder that is over 200 meters high, making people marvel at the wisdom and power of mankind.

As soon as he entered the lobby of the building, Lin Haoran was surprised to find John Reed there to greet him.

"Hello Mr. Lin, welcome to Citibank again." John Reed's face was full of smiles at this time.

"Hello, Mr. John. I'm deeply honored to have you greet me personally." The other party respected him, so he naturally respected the other party as well.

Although John Reed is not yet the person in charge of Citibank, he is at least one of the important senior executives.

"Mr. Lin, our Citibank Chairman, Mr. Walter Reston, is already waiting for you in his office. I'll take you upstairs." John Reed said directly without much greeting in the lobby.

Lin Haoran nodded, and then followed John Reed into the elevator again.

As for the two bodyguards, they just need to stay in the lobby lounge and wait for him.

A few minutes later, the elevator door slowly opened, and two people walked out and walked straight to an office.

John Reed knocked on the door, and a steady and powerful response came from inside: "Come in."

After opening the door, Lin Haoran finally saw the legendary figure of Citibank, Mr. Walter Wriston, the chairman of Citibank.

The office is luxurious yet elegant, with a spacious space of more than 100 square meters, which makes people feel relaxed and happy.

The huge floor-to-ceiling windows are like picture frames, taking in the beautiful scenery of half of New York city, which is refreshing and pleasant.

For Lin Haoran, this was his first face-to-face communication with this financial giant.

Thinking back to the last time I came here, I was not qualified to have a direct conversation with this big guy, and I couldn't help but feel a lot of emotion.

Now, with the passage of time, his investment has grown like a snowball, several times or even ten times more than at the beginning. This financial strength also gives him the confidence and courage to face the world's financial giant in front of him.

"Hello, Mr. Walter! I have heard of your name for a long time. I am honored to meet you in person today!" Lin Haoran smiled and looked at the helmsman of Citibank.

Although Mr. Walter Wriston is over 60 years old and his hair is a little thin, this has not diminished his elegance and charm. As one of the most outstanding bankers of this era, his wisdom and foresight are well-known in the industry, and many of his complex theories have become classics and are followed by the world.

At this time, Mr. Walter Reston had stood up from his seat and greeted Lin Haoran enthusiastically, and the two shook hands cordially.

"Mr. Lin, you are much younger than I thought. It is really touching. Who would have thought that at your age, you have already become one of the super-rich with a net worth of more than one billion US dollars? You are really young and promising. It is admirable!" Mr. Walter Reston's words were full of praise and admiration for Lin Haoran.

Upon hearing this, Lin Haoran quickly responded humbly: "Mr. Walter, you are too kind. This is more of a blessing from luck. When I invested in gold, although I was confident in my judgment of the market, even I did not expect the price to soar so much, especially what happened internationally in November and December, which far exceeded my expectations."

"Luck is often a reflection of strength. Mr. Lin, there is no need to be too modest." Mr. Walter Reston invited with a smile, "Come, please sit on the sofa over here, and let's have a good chat."

Lin Haoran nodded.

So, the three of them came to the sofa, and Lin Haoran sat opposite the two Citibank executives facing each other.

"I wonder what Mr. Lin's plans are after he sells this batch of gold futures? Our Citibank is a very good financial management and investment financial company. Mr. Lin can cooperate with us for a long time. In the future, he can continue to cooperate with our Citibank in the field of financial cooperation." Walter Reston said with a smile.

A big client with more than one billion dollars in cash is too tempting.

Lin Haoran wants to establish a good relationship with Citibank, and Citibank also wants to retain this super big customer.

For both parties, the other party has real value.

Just like the transaction between him and Lin Haoran this time, once the futures positions are closed, Lin Haoran will naturally get the lion's share, and Citibank, as a brokerage company, will also be able to make a lot of profit this time.

In other words, Lin Haoran ate the meat and they drank the soup.

“It’s mainly for investment. Mr. Walter should know that I am from Hong Kong, so if nothing unexpected happens, I will invest in Hong Kong companies in the future. I hope to acquire several high-quality companies that will be helpful to my future development.

In addition, I also plan to invest in some high-quality companies in the United States. I am very satisfied with the cooperation with Citibank this time, so I am willing to have long-term cooperation with Citibank." Lin Haoran also expressed his opinion.

There are only a few international financial giants, and Lin Haoran cannot have good relationships with all of them. However, since he chose Citibank for the first cooperation, this relationship must naturally be maintained.

Cooperation is based on interests. Lin Haoran is attracted by the power and connections behind Citibank. At the same time, Lin Haoran also has interests worth exploring with Citibank.

"The price of gold has risen to a very high level. I wonder when Mr. Lin plans to close his position?" The person who asked this question was Vice President John Reed.

"Next, on the trading day of the futures exchange, I will consider when to close my position based on the gold price. By the way, Mr. John, if I close my current gold futures position at once, will it have any impact on the price of the gold market?" Lin Haoran asked back.

Previously, when he bought in, John Reed advised not to exceed US$5 million. Obviously, the value of the gold futures in his hands now far exceeds this number.

"The futures contract in Mr. Lin's hands is already a super-large contract. A large one-time liquidation will cause the supply or demand of the futures contract in the market to change significantly in a short period of time.

If Mr. Lin chooses to sell all his positions at once, it will increase the supply in the market, which may theoretically put downward pressure on futures prices.

However, this effect is not absolute, as prices are also affected by many other factors.

Large one-time liquidations often attract the attention of market participants and may trigger a series of market reactions. If the market generally believes that this behavior is a manifestation of investors' pessimism about the market outlook, it may trigger more selling, further exacerbating the price decline.

On the contrary, if the market believes that the behavior is due to technical adjustments or capital management needs, the impact on prices may be relatively small.

At the same time, it is also related to a very important factor, that is, market liquidity!
In a market with sufficient liquidity, large one-time liquidations can be easily absorbed by the market and have relatively little impact on prices. However, in a market with poor liquidity, large one-time liquidations may cause large price fluctuations.

Just like the gold futures held by Mr. Lin, the liquidity in the market is now very large. Compared with half a year ago, the current gold trading volume has increased significantly by more than several times, and a large number of investors buy gold futures every day.

Therefore, considering the current gold market trading situation, although Mr. Lin's gold futures contract is large, a one-time closing will not cause much impact. If the price is right, I suggest Mr. Lin to close the position directly. We will provide the best operation service and will not let Mr. Lin suffer any losses. After all, your losses also mean that Citibank will also suffer losses!" John Reed introduced in detail.

After hearing what he said, Lin Haoran understood.

It would be best if there was no impact.

But thinking about the current gold market, he understood that with the influx of so many investors, his gold worth more than one billion US dollars would be digested quickly. How could this have much of an impact?

Next, after Lin Haoran chatted with the two Citibank executives for another half an hour, John Reed took him to meet his futures brokerage team.

With the large gold futures contract that Lin Haoran now holds, it is obvious that he needs at least a team to serve him.

After getting familiar with the brokerage team, Lin Haoran left the Citibank headquarters building.

Next, before the futures positions were closed, he planned not to go anywhere. He would usually stay in the hotel or go to the Citibank headquarters building.

In the blink of an eye, one day passed and it was the last day of 1979, December 12st!
Today is Monday and the New York Futures Exchange is open.

At nine o'clock in the morning, Lin Haoran couldn't wait to come to the headquarters building of Citibank and went to the office of the brokerage team responsible for operating his futures.

Last Friday, the international gold price had risen to more than $600 per ounce.

If nothing unexpected happens, this will set a new record.

More than 600 US dollars per ounce is far from reaching its peak level.

I just don’t know how high the price of gold will go today?

(End of this chapter)