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

In the study of the villa on the lakeside island of Harbin Institute of Technology in Harbin, Wang Duoyu is answering a phone call.

It was Hela O'Brien calling. He was giving a work report, mainly about the acquisition plan proposed by Wang Duoyu for the collateralized debt obligations held by investment banks such as Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and Lehman Brothers.

Without a doubt, Naftaliben and the others all rejected this highly insulting proposal.

Because O'Brien didn't really want to buy these bonds; it was more of a preparation for something else.

"Professor, they've all refused. What's our next step?"

Wang Duoyu pondered for a moment and said:
"Wait!"

"We'll send acquisition offers to these companies after some time, but the next step is to directly contact their shareholders to acquire their shares. There's no need to go all the way and provoke a strong backlash from them."

O'Brien said:
"Which companies should we acquire? Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers, and Merrill Lynch?"

There are six major investment banks in the United States. In addition to the four mentioned above, the remaining ones are Maple Tree Capital and Bear Stearns.

The latter was acquired by Maple Capital in March of this year.

Lehman Brothers is currently experiencing a stock price crash, and Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and Merrill Lynch are struggling to stay afloat, with their financial situations nearing insolvency.

Maple Tree Capital, one of the six major investment banks, successfully sold off its collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) at the peak of their profits, and then made a clean getaway.

It was a precise escape, with impeccable timing.

"Yes, if the opportunity is good, we definitely hope to secure these three investment banks."

Wang Duoyu's voice was gentle and calm:

"But Maple Capital has already made a name for itself, there's no need for it to acquire these three investment banks. Let the investment bank under the Raptor Fund take the lead in a 'David and Goliath' scenario, and Sun Capital and Atlantic Investment Company can each take over one of them."

"Furthermore, we must be wary of JPMorgan Chase and their group of white Anglo-Saxon Protestants in this process. They have always considered themselves the masters of America and have always discriminated against us 'European outsiders'."

Before the rise of the Want Want Group, New York was merely the domain of established white Anglo-Saxon Protestant financial groups and Jewish circles; others were just major consumables and leeks in the vegetable garden.

However, starting in the 1980s, a group of "European maverick consortia" formed by subsidiaries of Want Want Group, such as Maple Tree Capital, Sun Capital, and Raptor Fund, rose rapidly and then faced strong backlash from the two circles mentioned above.

Wall Street giants such as Citibank, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley, Bear Stearns, and Merrill Lynch have all tried to block financial companies affiliated with the Want Want Group.

It can be said that at the time, both the old white financial groups and the Jewish financial groups were frantically trying to prevent the rise of the Want Want Group.

Unfortunately, in 1987, Want Want Group taught these two circles a lesson in how to behave, and at the same time laid the foundation for Want Want Group's basic position on Wall Street.

Later, they established tech-driven financial companies such as the Velociraptor Fund, which left many Wall Street giants humiliated.

Then came the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s and the emergence of super dollar factories. With ample cash flow, Want Want Group's financial companies embarked on a buying spree.

Before the turn of the millennium, the "European consortium" formed by the Want Want Group faction had already gained a foothold on Wall Street and was even called the "European outlier consortium".

After the turn of the millennium, the US real estate market experienced rapid growth. At this time, investment banks such as Goldman Sachs were investing heavily in mortgage-backed securities, earning enormous profits each year.

Now, the time has come to reshuffle the deck.

It is clear that old financial groups like JPMorgan Chase are still dreaming, still believing that the current subprime crisis is just a minor adjustment like before, but they did not expect that this crisis would be more ferocious than the one in 1987.

If Wang Duoyu remembers correctly, in the original timeline, the largest single-day drop during the 2008 financial crisis was 7.87%, with a total drop exceeding 57%. The total market capitalization loss in the United States exceeded eight trillion US dollars, and the global market capitalization loss exceeded 30 trillion US dollars. The global recession was severe, and the unemployment rate soared, requiring five and a half years to recover the economy.

However, the largest single-day drop in the 1987 US stock market crash was 22.6%, with a total drop of about 33%, resulting in a loss of about $500 billion in US market capitalization and about $3 trillion in global market capitalization.

Judging solely from the drop in market value, the global losses in 2008 were devastating, even though there was a 20-year gap between 1987 and 2008, and prices and other factors were vastly different.

However, the US market capitalization loss was $500 billion compared to $8 trillion, a difference of sixteen times.

Before the old Anglo-Saxon white financial groups realized the severity of the crisis, they acquired those investment banks as quickly and cheaply as possible.

Two years later, the United States will pass the Dodd-Frank Act, which will impose heavy restrictions on the behavior of banks, preventing them from playing with fire and getting burned as they have done before.

Giants like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase will have to spend huge sums of money every year on compliance checks, putting a lot of pressure on their profits.

In other words, after the Dodd-Frank Act was enacted, it became virtually impossible for Wall Street's financial giants to double their assets, and even their profits were squeezed to the extreme.

More accurately, with the Dodd-Frank Act, the era of getting rich quick through high leverage and speculative means has temporarily come to an end.

In the original timeline, established financial groups like JPMorgan Chase doubled their strength by acquiring bargain assets after the 2008 financial crisis.

It's worth noting that in 2020, JPMorgan Chase's assets had surged to $3.4 trillion, firmly establishing it as the top bank in the United States.

“Okay, Professor, I understand. I’ll keep an eye on this plan.”

Wang Duoyu nodded, and O'Brien took his leave, hanging up the video call.

Afterwards, Wang Duoyu checked on the situation of other financial companies under the Want Want Group before finishing his work for the day.

Whether it's Maple Tree Capital, Atlantic Investment Company, or other financial companies, their most important task right now is to keep a close eye on this financial crisis.

The financial crisis this year did not just begin now; it was foreshadowed by the bankruptcy of New Century Financial Corporation, the second-largest subprime mortgage lender in the United States, last April.

It was only because Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy that the subprime crisis officially evolved into a full-blown financial crisis, and this financial tsunami eventually spread globally, which is why the outside world considers this the beginning of the 2008 financial crisis.

Want Want Group started its strategic planning a long time ago, and of course it wouldn't just stand by and watch established financial groups like JPMorgan Chase pick up these high-quality assets at a bargain price.

But they are, after all, an established conglomerate, and they might have some tricks up their sleeves that Wang Duoyu doesn't know about. So, he should be cautious and keep a close eye on them.

"Dad, you're off work! That's great!"

On the living room sofa, Bai Doufu saw her father come in and immediately jumped up, quickly went to his side, and started chattering about the investment.

However, Wang Duoyu had no interest in this.

After giving a few perfunctory replies, Wang Duoyu was about to make an excuse to leave when Liu Xiaoli came out of the kitchen.

"Dinner's ready!"

As soon as she shouted that, Wang Duoyu immediately got rid of the white tofu.

At the dinner table, Wang Junxian suddenly asked:
"Oh right, second sister, are your college entrance exam results coming out soon?"

There are seven siblings: the eldest brother, the second brother, the third brother, the eldest sister, and the second sister. The sons are ranked in one order, and the daughters are ranked in another order, rather than according to the children's birth dates.

On the contrary, Wang Junhong and his siblings usually shuffled the order of their birth years, so they would sometimes call Wang Yifei "fourth brother" and Bai Doufu "fifth brother." Even Wang Duoyu and Liu Xiaoli sometimes called Wang Junxian "sixth brother" and Wang Sixin "youngest brother."

"Yes, we can check the scores tomorrow." Bai Doufu suddenly became nervous.

Because we'll know the results tomorrow.

Her family comforted her for a while, but she didn't expect that she would quickly forget about it.

The next day arrived in the blink of an eye. In the living room of the villa on the island in the heart of Harbin Institute of Technology, after breakfast, Bai Doufu played video games non-stop.

She even stopped doing what she used to enjoy: checking the US stock market and news.

She plays video games because she is nervous, and only by playing games can she relieve her nervousness.

The college entrance examination results can only be checked at 10:00 AM, and there is a high chance that the phone lines will be busy and there will be network delays, so it may not be possible to check until after 10:00 AM.

In fact, given Wang Duoyu's status, it would be easy for him to find out Bai Doufu's college entrance examination results in advance.

However, he never resorted to such methods. Firstly, it was unnecessary, and secondly, both Bai Doufu and Wang Yifei had performed quite well in their mock exams before the college entrance examination, and their performance on the day of the exam was also excellent.

So, in this matter, there's absolutely no need for it.

Ding Ding!

At 9:30, Wang Meifeng suddenly made a phone call, directly to Liu Xiaoli.

"Xiaoli, have Yueyue's results come out yet?"

When Wang Meifeng spoke, Liu Xiaoli was momentarily stunned, because she was still thinking about who Yueyue was.

Her family never called Wang Chuyue "Yueyue." They always called her "White Tofu," "Fifth Sister," or "Second Sister." They didn't even call her "Little Yue."

On the contrary, Wang Duoyu's eighth sister, Wang Meifeng, prefers to call Yueyue.

However, Bai Doufu has a relatively low presence at home. Well, it's because the four siblings, Wang Junhong, Wang Junan, Wang Junkang, and Wang Yifei, are too outstanding, causing Wang Meifeng and the others to pay more attention to the four older children.

On the contrary, Bai Doufu receives less attention, and naturally, even fewer people call her by her name.

The next moment, Liu Xiaoli realized what was happening.

"Eighth Sister, the college entrance exam results will be available at 10 a.m. today, it's not that soon yet."

"Oh, I see. I'll call you back later."

"No need, Eighth Sister. I'll post a screenshot of the results to the family group later, and you can all see it."

Overwhelmed with shame, Bai Doufu immediately objected:

"Mom, no, you can't post this in the family group chat!"

She was very worried before the results were released.

Even though Gong Yao was already a student at Harbin Institute of Technology and it was confirmed that she had not taken the college entrance examination, Bai Doufu's worries did not lessen much.

The pressure from her four older brothers and sisters was immense.

At the very least, they were all top scorers in the college entrance examination. What's even more crucial is that Wang Yifei had already achieved the status of a superstar before the college entrance examination. In other words, she didn't fully dedicate herself to preparing for the college entrance examination. Otherwise, she definitely wouldn't have needed to take the exam and could have been directly admitted to university.

My eldest and second eldest brothers are even more outstanding, and my third brother is also a top scorer in the college entrance examination.

As the fifth child, Bai Doufu (White Tofu) must have been under immense pressure.

There are seven siblings in her family, and she doesn't want to be the one ranked last.

At the very least, she should be like her third brother and eldest sister, right?

In any case, you have to get at least one top score in the college entrance examination, otherwise you're guaranteed to be at the bottom.

Liu Xiaoli rolled her eyes, then said to Wang Meifeng on the other end of the phone:

"Eighth Sister, don't listen to Bai Doufu's nonsense. I'll send out the results after I check them."

"Okay, I understand. I'll hang up now."

For the next half hour, Bai Doufu found it extremely difficult to endure.

Suddenly, I realized that games weren't so fun after all, as if they couldn't provide her with dopamine to make her happy.

Wang Duoyu was not in the living room, but in the study of the villa next door.

Last night, which was during the daytime in the United States, something happened there.

JPMorgan Chase still arranged for someone to investigate Morgan Stanley's financial situation.

These two companies are related; they used to be the same entity. Even if Morgan Stanley were to go bankrupt, it would be JPMorgan Chase that would take over.

Of course, JPMorgan Chase would never hand over its weaknesses to its competitors.

In the United States, a capitalist nation, JPMorgan Chase has many friends, but even more enemies.

In particular, the Jewish financial groups, which had been competing with the old white Anglo-Saxon financial groups for more than a century, could not possibly let go of the current favorable situation.

Although Jewish groups don't have that much money right now, even if individuals had money, they wouldn't give it up.

Furthermore, it was impossible to raise so much cash in a short period of time; otherwise, given the unity of the Jewish financial groups, it would have been impossible for Lehman Brothers to turn a blind eye when it was seeking help everywhere.

Maple Capital's actions could not be concealed at all, and JPMorgan Chase quickly figured out the former's intentions.

However, to everyone's surprise, Maple Capital did not participate in the acquisition itself, but instead let other companies under the European consortium make the acquisition.

Upon learning of this, JPMorgan Chase immediately began discussing countermeasures and how to deal with the situation.

Should we bail out Morgan Stanley?

While Wang Duoyu was busy dealing with this matter, it was already ten o'clock. Bai Doufu went online and entered his admission ticket number and other information to check. (End of Chapter)