Reborn in America, I am a legendary short seller on Wall Street.

Chapter 154 Selling Colt, Making a Huge Profit (Part 1)

March 12, Saturday, 8:3 AM.

Larry and Wallace arrived at the New York branch of Paine Weber Securities, located on the Upper East Side of New York City.

This area is located between 59th and 96th Streets in Manhattan, bordered by Fifth Avenue to the west and the East River to the east. Due to its proximity to Central Park, it is one of New York City's wealthiest neighborhoods.

The Paine Weber Securities branch, located just across the street from Central Park, is one of New York's largest and most luxurious branches. Its business primarily consists of orders from wealthy individuals on the Upper East Side.

Being a sales manager here is no easy job.

The most basic point is that the transactions here are large-scale transactions of tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of shares. If there is even a slight mistake, it can easily lead to a loss of tens of thousands of dollars. This requires the practitioners to have a high level of professionalism.
In addition, managing relationships with the wealthy is extremely important. If the sales department accidentally offends any powerful figure, their "dirt" will spread throughout the wealthy circle in an instant.

Therefore, the headquarters must find someone who is both professional and conscientious in their work, and extremely knowledgeable about interpersonal relationships to oversee the work.

That's how Mr. Potter was selected by headquarters.

The two arrived outside the branch office and stopped simultaneously, first paying their respects to what was arguably the best brokerage branch in the United States, and perhaps the world, in this era.

Larry looked up at the reddish-brown sandstone building—unlike the imposing bank towers of Wall Street, it had colonial-revival style red brick walls, symmetrical arched windows, and carved copper canopies. In the Upper East Side, where the wealthy congregate, this flagship branch, built at great expense, was practically a work of art with a distinctive architectural style.

As soon as the two reached the entrance of the sales office, waiters dressed in red opened the door on either side.

The moment Larry stepped inside, he took a deep breath—this was no ordinary brokerage office; it was a temple built by capital.

The 12-meter-high main hall completely overturned Larry's perception of a brokerage firm's branch office. The Brazilian white rose quartz floor gleamed like a mirror, and the Tiffany glass chandeliers hanging from the dome filtered the sunlight streaming through the skylights into a golden hue, which then shone on the bronze reliefs around the hall.

The most stunning feature is the entire glass curtain wall on the east side—the green trees and lawns of Central Park outside the windows have become a "dynamic mural" for the business office.

Although it wasn't yet opening time, Larry was certain there wouldn't be any noise from other brokerages here, because twelve stock ticker machines with brass casings were hidden behind the price charts like a precision ceremonial guard. The clicking and clattering of the ticker machines would be largely drowned out by the teak wall panels and wool carpet.

The VIP seating for customers wasn't on the first floor, but behind the second-floor walkway. There, a dozen rows of sofas were arranged, each with a coffee table in front of it, upon which rested a special customer code reserved exclusively for VIPs. A dozen waiters in red uniforms stood at attention, ready to serve at a moment's notice.

This is only the regular area for ordinary customers.

The three-story "family office," which accepts only internal referrals, features an oak fireplace, a handwritten market data board from the European Exchange updated hourly, and even a separate telegraph room directly connected to London's Lombard Street and the City of London.

This location is just across Central Park from Wall Street. You don't need to send a telegram to place an order; you can simply make a phone call, which guarantees that your trading orders will be executed immediately.

Looking at this enormous branch that exceeded their expectations, Mr. Wallace thought, "Sooner or later, I'll replace Mr. Porter as the branch manager here!"

Larry, however, thought, "A real man should trade in an exchange like this!"

After sighing for a while, the two beckoned to a young man and asked him to inform Mr. Porter, the general manager of the sales department, that a colleague from Boston was visiting!
The young man hurried to the first-floor office area, and soon Mr. Potter's familiar, slightly plump figure appeared at the entrance of the corridor.

When Mr. Potter saw that it was Larry and Wallace, he frowned, smiled, and waved his finger at them, as if to say, "You finally thought of coming here!"

Larry and Mr. Wallace quickened their pace, took Mr. Potter's hands on either side, and greeted him with smiles.

Mr. Potter exchanged a few polite words and led the two into his office.

Upon entering the office, Mr. Wallace's eyes widened in astonishment. He stared blankly at the luxurious room, twice the size of the Boston general manager's office, and exclaimed in amazement.

“My God! Mr. Potter, I was so excited when I sat in your office in Boston, thinking I had inherited your castle; now it seems I’ve only occupied what used to be your bathroom!”

Mr. Potter laughed heartily and then had the two of them sit on the large leather sofa.

The three had barely sat down when a waiter in red brought out black tea. Mr. Potter waited until the waiter closed the office door before giving the two men a meaningful look, pointing at them with his finger and saying,

"Wow! You two actually did something so big behind my back, securing $2800 million in financing for Colt Company. That project is incredibly impressive. Now the entire Paine Weber Securities Company is buzzing about how you two received tens of thousands of dollars in bonuses!"

Larry forced a smile and turned to look at Mr. Wallace, who looked slightly awkward but still smiled and said...
"It was an opportunity introduced by a friend. As for making this happen, it was the result of the team. Larry's ability to speak directly with Mr. Morgan was crucial. The bond underwriting team did most of the work, and I just connected the links."

Mr. Potter nodded, though his eyes still held a hint of something unusual, and sincerely said, "Congratulations! That's truly a remarkable achievement. I expect the president will transfer you to headquarters soon."

After hearing this, Mr. Wallace protested with a worried look, "No, no! Mr. Porter, I don't want to go to an investment bank or a bond underwriting team. I just want to be a good general manager of the branch office. If possible, I'd like to take over your job when you retire. To be honest, I've already got my eye on your new desk!"

All three laughed when Wallace said that.

Mr. Porter then turned his gaze to Larry and said with a smile, "Good! When William comes to New York, you'll sit in the office of the general manager of the Boston branch in his place."

Larry smiled, nodded sincerely, and said, "Mr. Potter, I have formally resigned from my position with Mr. Wallace."

Wallace straightened up and chimed in, "Yes! He was going to leave two weeks ago, but I told him to wait until Colt's bonus came in before he left."

Mr. Porter nodded, looking at Larry, and said, "Alright! If you're planning to come to New York, I wouldn't mind saving you a position as a data clerk, $5 a week!"

The three of them burst into laughter again after hearing Mr. Potter's joke.

After exchanging pleasantries, Mr. Wallace subtly got down to business: they had bought some Colt stock, and today, with Colt's market resuming trading, they planned to sell the shares to cash out.

Mr. Porter nodded. It was quite normal for industry insiders to make money through insider trading at this time. He waved his hand and told them to make themselves at home, saying he would arrange for a trader to accompany them.

Larry explained that he didn't have an account with the company's branch at the time, so he had to go to Reading to trade.

Mr. Potter glanced at the grandfather clock and reminded him, "It's already 8:40. Reading Securities is two blocks away. If you want to go, try to get there early!"

Larry nodded to indicate that he understood.

At this moment, Mr. Wallace suddenly turned his head and asked.

"Larry, do you think Colt will continue to rise? Should we sell it immediately?"

Larry thought for a few seconds and replied, “Mr. Wallace, we cannot confirm the price at which Colt resumes trading today, but I think the price before the trading halt was $127.25, and based on current information, Mr. Morgan should have also been accumulating the stock. I personally believe that Mr. Morgan will not be satisfied without a 100-point margin.”

Although Mr. Wallace had anticipated a surge in Colt's stock price after its reopening, Larry's prediction of a "100-point" gain still startled him.

Wallace himself owns 1500 shares! If the price goes up 100 points, wouldn't that be $150,000?!

Oh, God!
Wallace was already very excited about making nearly $8 on the Colt project. If he could make another $15, he would suddenly become rich!
Mr. Porter nodded and said, "One hundred points is about right. If Mr. Morgan takes advantage of the stock price to accumulate, the cost price will be around $100. Then it is possible for it to reach over $200 today."

Larry smiled and continued,

"Gentlemen, there's another issue worth noting. If Colt opens higher, there will definitely be a surge of selling pressure. However, Mr. Morgan will undoubtedly have a large position to manage. Therefore, I expect the stock won't open lower; instead, it will continue to rise before slowly declining. This will create room for more speculative buying to absorb Mr. Morgan's large position..."

Mr. Wallace's eyes lit up, and he slammed his right hand heavily on the sofa, exclaiming, "That makes sense! For large positions, the most important thing is to generate hype for the stock, otherwise there's no way to unload on a large scale... Sigh, speaking of which, with Colt's price already so high, who can drive up the price of this stock so that the followers are not afraid of Colt's high price and are willing to take over?"

Mr. Porter laughed, pointed to the ceiling with his finger, and said, "Besides God, I know only one person with this ability—James Keane, the greatest trader on Wall Street today!"

Upon hearing the name, Larry straightened up abruptly, clapped his hands, and laughed, saying, "Oh, you're right, just like I was thinking. I also believe that only Mr. Keane could do it. You know what? Mr. Keane is my idol, I'm his fan! And a die-hard fan at that."

(End of this chapter)