The unparalleled talent of the country started from Harbin Institute of Technology

July 2008, Manhattan, New York, Wall Street, Morgan Stanley headquarters office building.

As a squid man, Naftali Benzvi is a very successful super-rich man.

In the United States, the threshold for being a super-rich person is $50 billion in assets. Globally, there are only a handful of people who can possess such a large amount of wealth.

However, as more and more people in the United States now possess enormous wealth, the threshold for becoming a super-rich individual is also soaring.

However, the global economy is currently in turmoil, with Lehman Brothers' stock price plummeting, Freddie Mac's self-proclaimed sound finances riddled with loopholes, and many investment banks involved in collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) all essentially teetering on the brink of collapse.

Morgan Stanley isn't having an easy time either.

In March of this year, Bear Stearns, one of the six major investment banks on Wall Street, collapsed, leaving a huge hole in its books that it could not cover.

In order to prevent the entire system from collapsing, the Federal Reserve both provided funds and took measures, and finally came up with a solution: Maple Tree Capital acquired Bear Stearns for a "dirt cheap" price of $2 per share, which was cheaper than a roadside boxed lunch.

This scene is a textbook example of a big fish eating a small fish, with established conglomerates starting to pick up bargains.

Even now, the mainstream opinion on Wall Street is that this subprime crisis is just a minor adjustment. This is the view held by the blindly arrogant Wall Street bigwigs, including Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan Chase.

But Maple Capital doesn't think so.

They even start planning ahead of time.

The acquisition of Bear Stearns was just the first step in the plan.

The cutthroat world of Wall Street began with the acquisition of Bear Stearns, and now Lehman Brothers, a company with pure Jewish roots, is on the verge of collapse.

Last month, Lehman Brothers CEO Richard Fuld went around begging for money, hoping to get some life-saving funds.

However, Naftali Benzvi, CEO and President of Morgan Stanley, rejected Warren Anderson outright.

It wasn't that Naftali was unwilling to help; in reality, Morgan Stanley was also in a precarious situation.

In the original timeline, after Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, AIG finally got a chance to breathe after receiving a government bailout of $180 billion.

It was precisely at this time that Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, two pure squid companies, quickly applied to become bank holding companies in order to survive.

With this change in status, they can legitimately borrow "life-saving money" from the Federal Reserve, but this money is particularly risky, and their reputation is completely ruined.

If Naftaliben hadn't been in dire straits himself, he would certainly have been willing to lend a helping hand to Lehman Brothers.

However, the situation on Wall Street is currently extremely unpredictable, and Naftali has a bad feeling that his old rivals may be about to make their move.

This story begins more than a hundred years ago.

In the late 19th century, the American financial world consisted of two main circles. One group consisted of white Anglo-Saxon Protestants, generally referring to European Americans who adhered to Protestantism.

The term was popularized in the 1964 book, *Protestant Authority: America’s Aristocracy and Social Class*.

This group consists of elites from established financial groups, who control railroads, steel, and top-tier political connections. The Morgan and Rockefeller families are the leading figures in this circle.

This group of people were not only wealthy, but also controlled all the high society clubs at the time, and even looked down on outsiders.

At that time, Morgan & Co. was synonymous with stability and security. They were known for their impeccable business acumen and had an exceptionally high social standing.

Therefore, these established financial groups view Wall Street as if it were their own backyard, and it's harder than climbing to heaven for outsiders to get a share.

Another circle consisted of Jewish families who fled from Germany in the 19th century. They found themselves in a very awkward position in early America, as they were severely marginalized by established elite financial groups due to religious and identity issues.

So after failing to break into the industrial and traditional banking circles, these Jewish families began to study investment banking with all their might, focusing on flexibility.

Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Kuhnlob Corporation, and others emerged during this era.

The Jewish community has created a closed circle called "We are a family" through family marriages and close business ties.

This strategy of banding together for mutual support allowed them to quickly establish themselves on Wall Street, but it also left the outside world with a bad impression of a 'closed conspiracy'.

Of course, by the end of the 19th century, the squid circle had no choice but to band together; otherwise, they might have been devoured by established financial groups like Morgan and Rockefeller long ago.

At that time, the Jewish community had a unique skill: they were able to bring in European money to help the United States with large-scale infrastructure projects.

Nineteenth-century America was desperately short of money due to the construction of railroads and the opening of mines everywhere.

The squid took on all the odd jobs that the white Anglo-Saxons and other big men disdained to do.

To consolidate his power, Jacobshiff even married his daughter to the Warburg family; such a marriage was more effective than signing a contract.

Jewish finance, easily bound together by blood ties, rose rapidly on Wall Street and quickly became a major player in the financial world.

Since the turn of the millennium, the U.S. housing market has been like a rollercoaster that just won't stop, constantly surging upwards.

Collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), a type of subprime mortgage that was extremely detrimental, were touted by investment banks such as Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers as a great invention in the history of human finance.

Jewish investment banks like Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs rushed in, fearing they might miss out on a single penny.

This kind of false data is circulating every day, making ordinary people envious, and companies such as Morgan Stanley, Bear Stearns, and Merrill Lynch all follow suit.

Even companies like Maple Tree Capital, which are part of the Want Want Group, entered the market, but not as aggressively, and began to withdraw before the end of 2006, completely exiting before the end of 2007.

It is now July 2008.

Freddie Mac is in dire straits and is undoubtedly heavily indebted, which is why it urgently held a press conference to say that its financial situation is good.

Lehman Brothers' stock price has hit rock bottom.

The situation is very bad.

Naftaliburn now needs to consider that established white Anglo-Saxon financial groups like JPMorgan Chase might make their move at this time.

Even if they don't make a move, emerging conglomerates like Maple Capital will certainly do so.

Yes, after so many years on Wall Street, the European conglomerates represented by Want Want Group simply cannot be hidden.

Although no leaks have yet confirmed that Wang Duoyu is the true head of this so-called "European consortium," the financial groups led by Maple Tree Capital, Raptor Fund, Sun Capital, Quantum Technology, Atlantic Investment Company, Horizon Capital, and Saxo Bank are clearly emerging conglomerates, and are exhibiting a more assertive stance.

Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, and other Jewish financial groups weren't short of money; they were simply badly ripped off.

Currently, they are trapped because of debt-backed bonds, with almost all their funds tied up in these bonds. They want to withdraw their funds, but there is no one willing to take them on.

The problem is that Want Want Group is still shorting stocks, especially during the Lehman Brothers stock crash, where Maple Tree Capital was the biggest winner.

This major short seller clearly intended to stage a "snake swallowing an elephant" scenario, hoping to devour Lehman Brothers through short selling.

That's why Naftaliben was so worried; he didn't know what Morgan Stanley should do now.

In 1933, with the passage of the Glass-Steagall Act, J.P. Morgan, a vast financial and business empire, was split in two: Morgan Stanley became Morgan Stanley, while JPMorgan Chase became JPMorgan Chase.

Originally, there were no Jewish members among Morgan Stanley's shareholders. However, in the 1950s, after World War II, the banking industry developed rapidly, and Jewish members gradually entered the industry and became one of Morgan Stanley's shareholders.

If Want Want Group can become a shareholder of major investment banks such as JPMorgan Chase, Citibank, and Morgan Stanley, there's no reason why the Jewish community can't do the same.

After all, the Rothschild family, of renowned Jewish descent, holds a transcendent status.

Naftali only became the CEO of Morgan Stanley six years ago.

But even becoming such a high-ranking executive is nothing more than being a bigger pawn.

The real power lies with the Morgan Stanley board of directors, while Naftali only holds 1.8 percent of Morgan Stanley's shares.

The most crucial thing is not shares, but power!

Morgan Stanley uses an AB share structure, which does not mean that whoever holds the most shares is the one in control of the company.

The key factor is how many high-voting-right shares one holds.

For example, Maple Tree Capital holds 17.5% of Morgan Stanley's shares, but these are all low-voting-right stocks. This amount of shares is actually less than the voting rights held by the Morgan family, which holds 2%.

Naftaliben was in a similar situation; he held low-voting shares, so his voice was weak in the large board of directors.

In fact, under normal circumstances, in a dual-class share structure, shareholders usually have one vote per share, while a few senior executives can have one share with multiple votes.

Because senior managers have a better understanding of the company's value, they often act as defenders in negotiations with acquiring companies, which can lead to higher acquisition prices and benefit the target company's shareholders.

Ironically, in a century-old financial giant like Morgan Stanley, the CEO is merely a puppet; the real executives are those who hold the majority of voting rights on the board of directors.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have designed this dual-class share structure in the first place.

For example, right now, Lehman Brothers' stock price has plummeted, and Morgan Stanley's financial situation is also not good. If the former's stock price were to plummet, Naftaliben would likely be used as a pawn and become a scapegoat.

Nobody wants to be the scapegoat, but Naftaliben had no choice at all. Even if he was a super-rich man, so what?

He had considered resigning from Morgan Stanley to run his own small company.

But in a place like Wall Street, how easy is it for a small company to grow?
Maple Tree Capital and other companies were able to develop because of the support of European financial groups. It took them more than ten years to slowly climb up and experience many risks during that time. Naftali knew some of these risks because Morgan Stanley had taken the plunge dozens of times, and he himself had personally been in charge of related projects in the 1980s and 1990s.

The goal was to set a trap for Maple Capital, or even to destroy Maple Capital's cash flow.

Ding Ding!

Just then, Hua Chen's cell phone on the desk suddenly rang.

Naftali had two cell phones. One was a Motorola, which he used for work because it was inappropriate for a squid to use a cell phone from another country.

The other one is the Huachen mobile phone, which is currently ringing. This is my personal mobile phone for daily use.

Huachen mobile phones are the undisputed top representative of global mobile phone technology.

Its performance in all aspects is extremely cutting-edge, and it is the industry leader in camera, CPU performance, battery, software ecosystem and other aspects.

So Naftaliben followed the trend and got one of these phones.

The caller ID showed Hela O'Brien from Maple Tree Capital.

"O'Brien, what's up?"

“Naftaliben, don’t be so harsh. You’re over sixty years old, it’s not good to still have such a temper.”

On the other end of the phone, O'Brien laughed:
"I just received a new batch of top-quality chrysanthemum tea for reducing internal heat. It's guaranteed to cure anything. How about I have my assistant send you two boxes later to help you cool down?"

“No need!” Naftaliben said coldly, “You’re like a weasel offering New Year’s greetings, you’re definitely up to no good. So what is it? If there’s nothing else, I’m hanging up. I don’t have time to chat with you.”

O'Brien laughed:

"Are you Morgan Stanley really that busy right now? Oh dear, look at me, I completely forgot you hold a lot of collateralized debt obligations, didn't I? Damn it, I totally forgot. By the way, are you going to sell these bonds now?"

"Fake!"

Naftali said angrily:

"If you're calling to mock me, then congratulations on your success. Is there anything else?"

“Naftali, you’re too hot-tempered. I’m not mocking you. I’m now formally proposing a proposal to you regarding the acquisition of collateralized debt obligations. As the CEO of Morgan Stanley, I wonder if you would consider it?”

The phone fell silent for a long time. Naftaliben's mind raced, and at least hundreds of thousands of brain cells died in a short period of time.

Because he really couldn't figure it out. After all, the situation is now quite clear: perhaps the subprime crisis that started last year was not just a simple financial crisis.

Instead, it could very well trigger a global economic crisis.

"What exactly does Maple Capital want in this transaction?" Naftaliben finally asked after a long silence.

O'Brien said:
"Simple. We'll spend a symbolic dollar to acquire all the collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) that Morgan Stanley holds, how about that?" (End of Chapter)