Debuted right after graduating from high school

Last year, they were envious of Goldman Sachs' massive $10 billion haul.

As the financial crisis truly arrived, Fan Wumian, who had begun his strategic planning early on, also achieved the feat of making a fortune of tens of billions of dollars.

Unfortunately, most of the principal was money entrusted to him by clients for management, and Fan Wumian could only extract performance-based commissions and management fees. Even so, in the month or so before and after Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were taken over by the US government and Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy, his total profits still exceeded $50 billion.

When a trend emerges, describing it as "carrying a sack full of money" seems a bit petty.

Fan Wumian made a fortune from this speculation, with his total assets and influence skyrocketing. As a result, WM-Rogers hedge fund and Hong Kong Mountain Bandit King fund became highly sought after by investors, raising another 70 to 80 billion Hong Kong dollars in a short period of time.

Bosera Funds and Shanzhaiwang Fund in mainland China also benefited from this, and the hot topic of "following Fan Wumian to buy at the bottom" dominated the trending topics on Tencent Weibo for two consecutive days before being pushed down by another news about him.

After the birth of his daughter, Fan Wumian's ideas changed. He chose to "donate" 25% of Tencent's shares to his family trust charity foundation and publicly promised not to sell these shares for the next 20 years.

He also "donated" some of his overseas assets.

This includes a 51% stake in Valentino, 40% stakes in WM-Rogers hedge fund and Mountain King Fund, and 45% stake in Phison, among others. The media has exaggerated the value to HK$1000 billion, but it is actually not that much at the moment.

The reason for choosing to cultivate a philanthropic image is partly because he made too much money speculating on the financial crisis, which has attracted too much hatred. Another reason is that if he doesn't seize the opportunity to "donate" money now, the growth of his personal assets will be particularly high in the future, making him a target of envy and hindering his own development.

Because he controlled a group of "money-printing machines," his personal wealth snowballed faster and faster, forcing Fan Wumian to start applying the brakes.

For example, this time he "donated" tens of billions of dollars in assets, which suddenly reduced his net worth and his ranking on this year's rich list will drop.

Super-rich individuals like Li Ka-shing, Warren Buffett, and Bill Gates also employ similar methods to reduce their public net worth. Besides legally avoiding taxes, they are also affected by the negative factor of "people fear becoming famous, just as pigs fear becoming fat."

If it weren't for the fact that he gradually liquidated his positions and cashed out in late September, and that he actually had 11 figures of Hong Kong dollars in cash in his bank account in Hong Kong—more extravagant than a phone number in mainland China—Fan Wumian would never have been able to imagine what kind of idyllic life those tiny people at the very top of the pyramid of human society were living.

When the idea that "problems that can be solved with money are no longer problems" took hold in Fan Wumian's mind, his perspective on many issues changed. At the same time, he lost interest in doing business and began to spend his time traveling and sightseeing.

The Olympics have quietly ended, and people's focus has shifted to the financial crisis. Faced with a rapid decline in economic growth, negative export growth, a large number of migrant workers returning to their hometowns, and the risk of a hard landing for the economy, the government has begun to release information that it will launch an unprecedented mega-economic stimulus plan.

Before the dust had even settled, the market was not buying it at all, and the Shanghai Composite Index fell below 2000 points, leaving it at around 1900 points.

While on a road trip in a luxury RV worth millions of dollars in Northwest China, Fan Wumian heard rumors about the "4 trillion yuan stimulus plan" and was even asked by higher authorities to help prop up the market. He finally took his time to make his move, first contacting a group of listed companies in dire straits to discuss acquisitions, share issuance financing, private equity investments, and other matters.

He is focusing on sectors such as liquor, healthcare, real estate, consumer goods, finance, technology, and manufacturing. He plans to invest 2000 to 3000 billion yuan in the next year. If he invests all of this money in the secondary market, he might be able to pull the Shanghai Composite Index back to 3000 points.

However, Fan Wumian was not stupid, and of course he would not absorb high-priced shares from retail investors. Among them, the Yangtze River Hydropower Group project, which holds the Three Gorges Dam project, is expected to require an investment of about 700 billion RMB. Companies such as Luoshi Cement, Sanyao Heavy Industry, Meidi Home Appliances, Haier Home Appliances, Guodian Ruinan, and Wuniangye also have the opportunity to obtain financing ranging from several billion to tens of billions of RMB from him.

Countless small and medium-sized listed companies either have low returns or limited development potential and too much competition, so Fan Wumian directly ignored them and prepared to buy up a batch of leading stocks at the bottom and hold them as core assets for the long term.

One such bottom-fishing opportunity is enough; you won't need to frequently adjust your portfolio allocation for the next few years.

Having delegated all the tasks he could to his employees, Fan Wumian settled down to focus on his travels, arriving in Hemu Village in a motorhome.

This place is called "God's back garden" by some tourists. It is beautiful in all four seasons. In autumn, the grass and trees turn yellow and the hillsides turn a charming gold under the sun. It is indeed so beautiful that Fan Wumian felt refreshed and happy.

However, having seen beautiful scenery everywhere he went, he had begun to develop an immunity to it, only visiting the set of "Your Name".

Filming for this movie started in April of this year, and they even went to Xiqing to film for more than half a month. The male lead, Ou Hao, fell down the stairs and broke his leg, which forced the filming to be postponed for more than three months.

Filming has been ongoing intermittently and is still not finished. Fan Wumian is not in a hurry. His only requirement is to ensure quality, and he has made preparations in advance to use it to compete for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Having been signed by Fan Wumian for over a year, Dilraba has grown quite a bit taller. Having avoided the sun for years, she has become fair-skinned and beautiful, finally developing a star aura and standing out in a crowd.

After a brief visit to the set and a two-day stay, I headed to the nearest airport and then to Yunnan, a land of year-round spring-like weather, to continue my relaxation by Erhai Lake.

During the trip, some tourists bumped into Yang Mi, while others saw Feng Ying'er and Guo Biting. Fortunately, the area is a popular tourist destination, and celebrities often come here for vacation, so no one thought of Fan Wumian.

On November 15th, Fan Wumian also took Pu Jiajing with him to participate in the recording of the second season of "A Bite of China". The route they chose was from Dali to Lijiang, then to Xishuangbanna, and then to Macau and Taiwan.

It was supposed to be a food program, but after the 41-day filming period, Fan Wumian lost more than 9 pounds. He made excuses to help him with his work, and Pu Jiajing would sneak into his room whenever she had the chance. It would be strange if he gained weight.

This made Fan Wumian even more detached from worldly desires. Even when he encountered Jay Chou's future wife, who came specifically to ask him for an autograph, and Sister Zhilin, who came to act as his guide, he would only glance at them a few more times and behave as a very upright gentleman.

I also visited a few semiconductor factories in Taiwan and delayed my return to the mainland for a few days. During this time, the Shanghai Composite Index first plummeted, then rose slightly due to the official launch of the 4 trillion yuan stimulus plan. In addition, Fan Wumian finally started to buy at the bottom, and one big move after another prompted the Shanghai Composite Index to start to recover and was pushed up to around 2000 points.

After a busy period leading up to the Spring Festival, Fan Wumian went to the United States again after the holiday. While managing the Myth+ video website in Hollywood, he also took the time to spend more time with his daughter. During this time, he unexpectedly learned that Pu Jiajing was also pregnant. Having been there before, Fan Wumian simply told Pu Jiajing to choose a place she liked and go abroad to recuperate for a while.
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He idled away his days, living the kind of life that countless people dreamed of, and Fan Wumian felt that he had almost achieved perfection.

Since its launch, the Myth+ platform has accumulated over 6 million active users in just a few months and has finally announced a series of original series plans, including "House of Cards," "Money Heist," "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.," "2 Broke Girls," and "The Vampire Diaries."

Meanwhile, during his trip to Hollywood, Fan Wumian also had frequent contact with renowned director George Lucas, planning to complete the overall acquisition of "Lucas Films" for around $18 billion. This acquisition would include not only the rights to classic film series such as "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones," but also the industry-renowned visual effects studio Industrial Light & Magic and Skywalker Mixing Studio.

The need for a special effects studio is only one aspect. Another aspect is that Fan Wumian plans to produce a series of Star Wars spin-off series. Taking advantage of the downturn, the project is quite cost-effective.

The Federal Reserve has already cut interest rates. If only 20% or even 10% of the acquisition price is paid, and the rest is financed through bank loans, the return on investment may not necessarily be lower than investing in Apple stock once Lucasfilm's valuation rises.

Once Industrial Light & Magic is acquired, Mountain King Media, Myth Film Studio, Myth+ video website, and Marvel Studios will no longer have to worry about being controlled by others. Even from the perspective of long-term strategic planning, Fan Wumian believes it is necessary to try the acquisition.

Initially, George Lucas was not interested in the sale. He had contacted Fan Wumian a few times, but was warned by Disney. This only provoked George Lucas's rebellious mentality and prompted the two sides to formally discuss the acquisition. It was not until March 1, 2009, that the news was publicly revealed that Lucasfilm had been sold to Mythology Film Studios for $18.9 billion.

Fan Wumian had his own money and a huge amount of client funds under management, so he continued to throw money around, but he wasn't exactly happy.

So after a long period of idleness, he finally turned his attention back to the entertainment industry and began directing and starring in "Monster Hunt".

Unlike the script in his previous life, Fan Wumian commissioned an artist to design hundreds of little fairy characters, along with different skills and character biographies, to facilitate adaptation into anime and games.

The purpose of all this grand effort is simply to try and incubate a potentially big IP, just like Pokémon.

After spending three months completing this project, he began preparing for a Cthulhu fantasy film he named "Tarot Club," in which many people and objects in the world are corrupted by a strange phenomenon, and humans can gain superhuman power through an ascension sequence, eventually becoming gods.

Before the movie even started filming, a spin-off TV series was already in preparation, and Fan Wumian devoted almost all his energy to it, leading a very fulfilling life.

In late October 2009, while filming in the ancient Italian city of Matera, Fan Wumian was assassinated for the first time. An old man suddenly accelerated and drove his car into him. One of his bodyguards suffered a broken rib, while Fan Wumian only fell and suffered minor abrasions.

Subsequent investigations revealed that the old man's son lived in New York and had finally managed to buy a house, but was forced to default on his mortgage due to plummeting prices and unemployment. He then became self-destructive and addicted to illegal drugs.

The Italian man believed some of the claims he found online, and when he learned that Fan Wumian was there to film a movie, he became furious and blamed him.

Although real estate values ​​in New York have plummeted, they are expected to rise to new highs in a few years. In reality, as long as one grits their teeth and perseveres, the losses are not that great.

Fan Wumian couldn't say he was completely innocent, but he certainly didn't have the intention of exploiting ordinary people for money. After understanding the whole story, he only used his connections in Italy to cover up the case and prevent the news from getting out and causing a big fuss.

As for that old man who wanted him dead, he definitely needs to be severely punished. He's not so saintly as to forgive everything, let alone the fact that the other party wanted to kill him. If he's released and continues to cause trouble, it will definitely be a lot of trouble.

The bodyguard who was injured during the incident was given a million dollars in cash and a luxury mansion near Kowloon Park for pushing Fan Wumian in time.

Although the other bodyguards didn't say it outright, their work enthusiasm was incredibly high. They were eyeing everyone around them with predatory intent, secretly hoping to save Fan Wumian's life and earn millions.

You can cut corners on other things, but you really can't skimp on your bodyguards. The benefits of training them for so long will become apparent in crucial moments.

Fan Wumian only told the public that the old man's car had gone out of control and it was just an accident. He quickly composed himself and continued filming.

Because of his business dealings, he has made quite a few friends. Zovin Rogers went to Washington, D.C. for a while, attended parties of all sizes, and made hundreds of prominent clients for Fan Wumian.

Fan Wumian used the funds raised from these clients to invest in the stocks with the highest returns. He believed that after a period of time, his situation would become safer.

It was similar on Wall Street. Several of the most powerful companies became shareholders of WM-Rogers hedge fund, the international version of Tencent Weibo, and the Myth+ video website. Through giving away money, he made a group of friends. One all-knowing real estate businessman even wanted to introduce his daughter to Fan Wumian, hoping to become Fan Wumian's father-in-law.

Fan Wumian naturally declined.

After the Forbes Global Billionaires List was released in 2009, even though Fan Wumian donated tens of billions of dollars to his family trust fund, his net worth was still estimated at $280 billion, mainly due to the success of his asset management and internet businesses. Tudou.com was valued at $15 billion, Myth+ at $45 billion, and the international version of Tencent Weibo at $100 billion.

Because of his influence, Alibaba Group was less affected by the financial crisis and began to recover from the beginning of the year. It increased its investment in logistics, rural online shopping and other areas, and also entered the fields of food delivery and group buying. Its stock price and the valuation of companies such as Taobao and Jifubao soared.

Valentino also made a fortune, benefiting from increased brand influence, double growth in revenue and net profit, and a valuation of $40 billion, becoming one of the most popular brands among female celebrities in the entertainment industry.

(End of this chapter)