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Citigroup headquarters, John Reed's office.

Lin Haoran took a stack of Manhattan building information out of his bag, handed it to the other party, and said with a smile, "John, I'm interested in all these buildings. Could you please have your people help me negotiate the price and do some due diligence?"

John Reed took the thick stack of documents, flipped through them casually, and his expression became increasingly animated.

"Lin, are you going to buy up Manhattan?" he said with a smile, but his tone was serious. "These buildings combined must be worth over a billion dollars, right? Are you sure you want to take on so much at once?"

Lin Haoran sat down on the sofa in his office, crossed his legs, and said with a smile, "These are not all the buildings I want to buy. I plan to buy more than ten more like these buildings, but I haven't finalized some of them yet. I'll bring them over to you once I've finalized them. Please help me negotiate these first."

Upon hearing this, John Reed paused slightly in his work of flipping through documents, looked up at Lin Haoran, and his eyes held a hint of disbelief.

Buying dozens of buildings at once, including Manhattan commercial buildings, this person is really on a shopping spree!
"Lin, are you so optimistic about New York's future housing prices?" John Reed closed the documents, his eyes filled with serious inquiry.

Lin Haoran picked up the coffee cup on the coffee table, took a sip, and said with a slow and steady smile, "John, it's not that I'm optimistic about the future housing prices in New York, but that I'm optimistic about the future recovery of the American economy."

Since the Reagan administration took office, although the economy has not yet shown significant improvement, inflation has been brought under control and interest rates are declining, as can be seen from the US stock market. These are all signs of economic recovery.

He put down his coffee cup and continued, "Commercial real estate is a barometer of the economy. When the economy is good, businesses need office space, rents rise, and the value of buildings naturally increases."

Currently, apartment prices in prime Manhattan locations have fallen by 20-30% from their peak a few years ago, with some even dropping by 40%. This decline far exceeds the extent of the deterioration in fundamentals.

John Reed leaned back in his chair and nodded thoughtfully.

Although he is not directly in charge of commercial real estate business, as the future head of Citigroup, he is no stranger to these basic economic principles.

Lin Haoran's analysis is theoretically sound.

The problem is that theory is theory, and the market is the market.

The market is unpredictable, and theoretical knowledge is often not reliable.

This is similar to the previous performance of the US stock market. Major investment banks on Wall Street were wrong, believing that Reagan's economic policies would inevitably lead to a surge in the US stock market.

The result was quite the opposite; the market fell for more than half a year, causing heavy losses to countless investors, investment banks, and institutions.

John Reed recalls that Citigroup's investment department, following traditional economic models, heavily invested in US stocks after Reagan's tax cuts were introduced. However, the market did not rise but fell, resulting in alarming paper losses.

Besides the heavy losses suffered by Citigroup's investment banks, which other investment banks, such as Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Salomon Brothers, Lehman Brothers, and Bearston, did not also suffer heavy losses?
During that period, Wall Street was in turmoil, and almost no institution was spared.

The only exception was Lin Haoran.

At the time, he directly expressed the opposite opinion at a Citigroup board meeting, believing that the US stock market would fall for a long time.

He even persuaded John Reed to use his Foresight Capital to short-sell US stocks.

As a result, Foresight Capital achieved a great success in that short selling, not only making back the funds lost by Citigroup's investment banks, but also earning an extra sum.

This battle not only solidified John Reid's position within Citigroup, but also made Lin Haoran a household name on Wall Street.

John Reed still remembers that everyone was questioning Lin Haoran's judgment at the time.

Not a single person, including all the top executives at Citigroup, Wall Street analysts, and economists from major investment banks, believed that the US stock market would fall.

But Lin Haoran was right.

He bet real money on his judgment, and even brought along John Reed as an ally, and ultimately won.

If it were merely a prediction of a decline in US stocks, it could just be good luck or a coincidence.

Prior to this, Lin Haoran and Citibank had collaborated on numerous investments. Each time, Lin Haoran had accurately timed the market's rhythm and had never made a mistake—not just almost never, but absolutely never!

Since the gold futures crash of 1979, John Reed has watched Lin Haoran grow step by step, always making early moves when the trend was about to begin, and always operating against the market when it was in a frenzy or panic!

This almost supernatural ability to judge cannot be simply explained by luck.

While many institutions predict a full recovery in New York's real estate market, and the market is indeed trending in that direction, Lin Haoran's plan to buy dozens of buildings at once is simply outrageous!
At first, John Reed thought Lin Haoran would only buy one or two buildings, but now it seems he was being naive.

John Reed took a deep breath, picked up the stack of documents again, flipped through a few more pages, and then closed it.

He looked at Lin Haoran and smiled, "Lin, what I'm curious about is that even if real estate prices rise sharply, they won't increase several times over, and the investment period is long, so the returns are far lower than those in the financial market."

With so much cash, why not continue operating in the financial markets? With your judgment, wouldn't you be making money much faster than in real estate?

The building containing this stack of documents alone is worth over a billion dollars, and that's not even the whole picture of what the other party is planning, which is why John Reed can't understand it.

A few billion dollars is nothing compared to the hundreds of billions of dollars Lin Haoran currently holds, but that doesn't mean it's a small sum.

After all, based on the current exchange rate of HKD 6.8 to USD 1, it means that USD 10 billion can be exchanged for HKD 68 billion, which is a considerable sum even for a top global bank like Citibank.

Lin Haoran would certainly not say that he had too much money and planned to diversify his investments instead of putting all his eggs in the financial basket.

After all, his investments in Latin American debt crisis were a secret, and he had no intention of revealing them even to Citibank.

He made a profit of over 40 billion US dollars. Once the news gets out, he won't be able to stay in Latin America anymore.

To Latin American countries, Lin Haoran is a harvester, a vampire.

Although his investments were legal and compliant, for politicians and people in those countries, without Lin Haoran, their countries would not have had so much wealth "plundered".

This emotion is irrational, but irrational emotions are often more destructive than rational logic.

He doesn't want to one day become a "financial aggressor" on the front page of a Latin American newspaper.

Therefore, the money he made during the Latin American debt crisis must be handled discreetly and not publicized. He will not disclose the true size of this wealth for a long time to come.

The only people who truly know how much money he has earned are Lin Haoran himself and Su Zhixue.

He was very confident in Su Zhixue's 100% loyalty.

As for those teams, although they participated in the operation, they didn't know exactly how much money they made; they only knew that the boss made a lot of money.

Moreover, the loyalty of the members of those teams was all above 90%, so he was quite at ease with them.

Lin Haoran smiled easily and said, "John, although the financial market has a higher rate of return, it is also more volatile and riskier, and there is even a possibility of losing everything. My past success in investing in finance does not mean that I will be successful in the future."

Although real estate offers much lower returns, it is stable. Even if prices fall, you won't lose everything. Moreover, rental income provides a continuous cash flow, unlike the dramatic ups and downs of the financial market.

At this stage, my focus is no longer on how to make more money, but on how to preserve it.

Moreover, as the world's largest city, I believe New York's real estate market still has great potential for appreciation in the future! John Reed nodded thoughtfully upon hearing this.

Lin Haoran's words were very insightful.

Many people can remain clear-headed and rational during the wealth accumulation phase, but once their wealth reaches a certain level, they begin to become arrogant, believing they are invincible, and start pursuing higher returns and greater risks, ultimately losing all the money they have worked so hard to earn.

It is truly remarkable that Lin Haoran can maintain such clarity in the face of a net worth of hundreds of billions of dollars.

Lin Haoran's assets, which are publicly verifiable, amount to tens of billions. For example, the assets of the major groups in Hong Kong alone are worth more than two hundred billion US dollars.

What John Reed didn't know was that Lin Haoran actually had hundreds of billions of dollars in cash on hand—cash, not assets!
If he knew, he would probably be even more shocked.

However, in John Reed's mind, it was normal for Lin Haoran to be able to mobilize tens of billions of dollars. After all, the other party not only owned his own assets, but also steered the Hengsheng Group, a super financial tycoon in Hong Kong that was almost a monopoly. The funds that the major banks under its umbrella could mobilize were a huge number. Although it was far less than Citibank, it was not to be underestimated.

John Reed put the documents away and said, "Lin, I'm relieved that you think this way. Most people, after they get rich, think about how to make more money, and very few people think about how to keep their money. I think your idea is right because I've been on Wall Street for decades and have seen many ups and downs, and many buildings rise and fall."

Many of those once-glorious tycoons collapsed in a market downturn because of their insatiable greed and excessive leverage.

A typical example is Mr. Soros, who, due to his insatiable greed, tried to manipulate public opinion to short Mexico, but unfortunately failed. His judgment was excellent; he accurately predicted that Mexico would inevitably fall into a debt crisis. Unfortunately, he was too hasty. If he had waited two more months, he wouldn't have ended up bankrupt!

John Reed spoke with some emotion about Soros.

After all, Soros had a considerable reputation on Wall Street, but he ended up going bankrupt because he offended Lin Haoran.

Mentioning Soros, Lin Haoran asked with some curiosity, "John, what's the current situation with Soros? I heard he's still on Wall Street?"

John Reed shook his head, his tone tinged with emotion: "He's not doing well now. The Quantum Fund lost everything in the Mexico deal, and with Middle Eastern financial groups chasing him for debts, he finally had to file for bankruptcy. The last lawsuit wasn't even finished until the end of last month."

Although the bankruptcy of Quantum Fund relieved him of a significant amount of debt, all of his personal assets were liquidated, and he is now said to owe more than $100 million in personal debt, which is an unavoidable debt under the betting agreement he signed with the Middle Eastern consortium.

Now he advises several small hedge funds on Wall Street. Although his income is quite good, most of it goes to paying off debts each month, leaving him struggling financially. He's reportedly moved to an ordinary neighborhood in Queens, sold his car, and now commutes to work by public transportation every day.

Upon hearing this, a complex expression flashed in Lin Haoran's eyes.

If Soros hadn't provoked him, he might still be that infamous financial tycoon, continuing to wield power on Wall Street.

Unfortunately, there are no "what ifs" in this world.

Why did the other party want to drag him into this for no reason?
John Reed continued, "Lin, to be honest, every time I think of Soros, I feel that the financial market is too cruel. Yesterday you were an investment genius admired by thousands, and today you may be penniless. Risk control is more important than making money. In this industry, the person who survives to the end is not the one who earns the most, but the one who survives the longest."

Lin Haoran nodded and smiled, "John, you're right. So all the real estate investments I'm making now are essentially doing one thing: transferring the money I earn in the financial market to more stable and safer assets."

For me, the financial market will always be my ATM, but I can't keep all my money in the ATM!
By the way, given Mr. Soros's influence on Wall Street, after the Quantum Fund collapsed, didn't any major investment banks invite him to join?

Upon hearing this, John Reed laughed and said, "Although Mr. Soros is exceptionally talented, the top investment banks on Wall Street all agree that his investment philosophy is too aggressive. Inviting him in would be a double-edged sword, and could very well bring incalculable losses to the group if we are not careful."

Therefore, he is no longer favored by top investment banks and can only seek opportunities with smaller fund companies.

Lin Haoran laughed and said, "John, if I were the head of Citibank, I would invite him to join Citibank. Of course, not as a senior executive, but to manage a fund company, similar to the one you manage, Qianzhan Capital."

Give him a certain amount of funding and let him try his luck. If he succeeds, Citibank will take the lion's share; if he fails, the losses will be within a controllable range. This model can both utilize his talent and control the risk.

Lin Haoran knew all too well how great Soros's future achievements would be.

Although the other party is indeed notorious in the financial world, it is undeniable that their ability to make money is truly remarkable.

If a large platform like Citibank were to back him up and have a mature risk control system to set boundaries for him, Soros's talent could be fully utilized by Citibank instead of becoming a ticking time bomb.

As for Lin Haoran himself, he had no intention of personally recruiting him.

After all, given the other party's investment style, he was destined not to become a loyal subordinate, and Lin Haoran didn't need such a notorious financial tycoon because he didn't have enough powerful backers.

If the other party makes huge profits by shorting sovereign currencies, triggering national financial crises, and reaping the wealth of the entire population, coupled with long-term funding of radical political movements and interference in the internal affairs of other countries, and is regarded by governments and people of many countries around the world as a "financial robber" and "crisis arsonist," then it will inevitably implicate his boss.

But Citibank is different. Citibank has the US government as a strong backer, so even if Soros makes a huge mess, the US government can cover for him.

As one of the flagship banks in the United States, Citibank is backed by the credit of the entire nation.

No matter how much trouble Soros causes, he wouldn't dare do anything outrageous on Citibank's platform, because that would mean going against the US government.

This is the value of a platform.

Although Lin Haoran's current wealth far exceeds that of many Wall Street tycoons, he is well aware of his shortcomings, namely that he is just a Chinese businessman and does not have a deep political foundation in the United States.

He can make money, but he can't cross the line. A player of Soros's caliber needs a powerful backer to control him, and he doesn't have that.

Moreover, he is already an executive director of Citibank and a close ally of the future Citibank CEO, wielding considerable influence within the company. Soros joining Citibank is essentially a way of working for him.

This method of using someone else's strength against them is much safer and smarter than getting involved yourself.

Talented individuals like Soros are extremely rare globally. It would be a great pity to let him continue down this path, or for him to be lifted up by other major investment banks in the future.

Moreover, Lin Haoran has really offended him this time. If he has a chance to turn things around in the future, he might be targeted by the other party again.

It would be better to let him join Citibank; that way, the other party would be completely under his control!

John Reed pondered Lin Haoran's suggestion.

He tapped the table lightly with his hand, and after a while, he said with a smile, "Lin, your idea is very interesting. I wonder what Soros would think if he knew that you suggested that he join Citibank. He can be said to have done this to him!"

Upon hearing this, Lin Haoran shook his head and said, "John, you know that the business world is like a battlefield. It's all about the winner and the loser. If I hadn't been decisive back then, I would have become the sinner of the entire Latin America because of him. He was the one who provoked me. I never provoked him on my own initiative."

Therefore, I believe Mr. Soros will not hold a grudge against me for this. On the contrary, if he really has the opportunity to get back on his feet, he will be grateful to me, because on Wall Street, no one will lend a hand to a loser, but I am willing to give him that opportunity.

John Reed paused for a moment, then slowly nodded.

He had to admit that what Lin Haoran said was true.

That's how ruthless Wall Street is: if you win, everyone is around you.

You lost, and you won't even leave a trace.

What Soros needs most right now is not sympathy, but a platform where he can prove himself again.

And Citibank can provide this platform. (End of Chapter)