A perfect life begins with changing the timeline.

Chapter 115 Let's Go Take a Look

To be honest, Chu Jiwei's words really touched on Li Mu's blind spot in knowledge.

What is private equity?

He doesn't understand at all.

However, some people understand.

Fan Bing, who was standing nearby, suddenly asked, "Brother Wei, they shouldn't be lacking money, right? Private equity is ultimately a form of fundraising. Since their stock is already suspended from trading, what's the point of raising funds?"

"Bingbing, do you understand?"

Chu Jiwei's eyes lit up.

Fan Taobing shook her head: "I don't really understand, but I've attended some private equity conferences and have a general idea of ​​what's going on. Now that they've already suspended trading, isn't the next step delisting? What's the point of starting a private equity fund at this time?"

"That's why I said it was a support group. It's like this, Xiao Li, you probably don't know—Bingbing, do you know anything about their company?"

"Hmm—I only know one free email service, 126."

"I see—then let me briefly explain. First, NetEase's listing on the US stock market was indeed facilitated by my previous company in Hong Kong. However, after the successful listing, their stock price wasn't actually that good. They initially offered 450 million American Depositary Shares (ADSs) on the NASDAQ market, priced at $15.5 per share. Their listing coincided with the bursting of the NASDAQ dot-com bubble, so their stock price plummeted from $15.5 to a low of $0.48, a drop of 97%. Their market capitalization also fell from $4.7 million at the time of listing to less than $2000 million. It was a disaster—"

'

"1

"6

Li Mu and Fan Taobing both looked speechless.

Even though Li Mu didn't understand the stock market, just hearing about the magnitude of the drop made him think it was pretty bad.

"Before I left, several Hong Kong companies, including my former company, were negotiating acquisition agreements with him. However, because of issues with their financial statements, the agreement was terminated, as I specifically inquired about before returning. It was completely terminated this month. You could say that, literally speaking, this company is almost dead."

"Then why did you go to his place, Wei Ge? Were you trying to—what's that word again?—buy—buy at the bottom?"

""

I guess so.

Faced with Li Mu's question, Chu Jiwei nodded without any concealment: "Didn't Brother Hai already tell you how I made my fortune?"

"I know, we're buying Yahoo at rock-bottom prices."

"Yes. In my opinion, NetEase is also a company worth buying at a low price."

Why?

"There are two reasons. First, its business nature is very similar to Yahoo's; both are doing wireless services such as portal websites and email, focusing on communities, communications, and e-commerce. As for the second point—the SMS function, the SMS service we use now, which costs one cent per message, they are also doing. Last year, China Mobile launched Mobile Dream Network, you know? It's that thing that puts a network access license on your phone label."

"I know, it's available on mobile phones now."

"Yes, that's what they're doing. Each message costs 10 cents, they get 8 cents, and the operator gets 2 cents. Xiao Li, do you understand? Actually, they're not short of money. Every time you send a 10-cent text message using China Mobile's mobile network, they get 8 cents of the profit. Almost everyone sends text messages these days, and this continuous cash flow is what I'm after, and of course, it's also their source of confidence."

"Then why are they still suspended from trading on Nasdaq?"

As Fan Bing expressed her doubts, Chu Jiwei shrugged: "There was a problem within the company. To put it simply, you can understand it as them forcibly including money they hadn't received yet in this quarter's financial report to boost the stock price. As a result, it was discovered, and Nasdaq imposed penalties."

Did Li Mu understand?

I could only say I understood the gist of it.

This involves knowledge of finance and stocks, which is far beyond the grasp of someone like him who is an outsider.

After thinking for a moment, he asked, "So, Brother Wei, what do you want me to do?"

"It's not you, it's the three of us."

Chu Jiwei shook his head: "You, me, and Hai-ge, the three of us will go together. As for the reason—have you heard of Sun Dedi?"

Seeing Li Mu and Fan Bing shake their heads simultaneously, he said, "He held a high-ranking position at Bear Stearns, an investment bank in the US, and is quite famous. Sun Dedi's highest position at Bear Stearns was Managing Director of Asian Investment Bank, and he's currently the acting CEO of NetEase. This guy has deep connections on Wall Street. I also have some connections on Wall Street; we just met and chatted last week. He's currently lobbying on Wall Street and has even brought in the CFO of KPMG to help NetEase resume trading. I can only say, Li, the success rate of NetEase resuming trading is very high."

Li Mu was even more confused, but still nodded subconsciously: "Um, and then?"

"But even if they successfully resume trading, it's still very dangerous. Their stock price is too low; before the suspension, it was already at 0.64 cents per share. On Nasdaq, if it falls below one dollar per share, it's very risky, and they could face delisting at any time. Especially for companies that have suspended trading, they desperately need to get their shares circulating again to avoid delisting. And that's the main reason they're holding a support meeting tomorrow—"

Li Mu still didn't understand, but Fan Bing did: "So, NetEase hopes that you, Brother Wei, or those who will be visiting tomorrow—people who have the ability to buy NetEase stock—will buy their shares to help them circulate?"

"That's right."

Chu Jiwei glanced at the big star with some surprise, then nodded: "Sun Dedi sent me the invitation directly. After learning about NetEase's current situation through my own channels, I think it's profitable, so I plan to go check it out tomorrow. Are you interested? If so, come with me to listen. Of course, it's just to listen; whether you invest or not is up to you."

After he finished explaining the reason, Li Mu looked at Wang Hai.

Wang Hai nodded directly: "I plan to go with him to take a look. I actually have a lot of confidence in Ding Lei. I've dealt with him before when I helped with the company's renovations, and he seems like a pretty good guy. Plus, your brother Wei said they're a bit like Yahoo, so I've decided to join in the fun. As for whether to invest or not—that's still up in the air."

Li Mu understood.

After thinking for a moment, I subconsciously glanced at Fan Bing.

But Fan Bingbing is clearly also thinking about it.

So he thought for a moment and said, "Tomorrow morning or afternoon?"

"morning."

"Well—I'll go join in the fun too. I don't really know much about this stuff, but I can at least add some people to your group, Wei-ge."

Hearing Li Mu's words, Chu Jiwei smiled and nodded, "Alright, let's go together then. What about Bingbing? Are you interested?"

"Uh—this—I'm fine with it too. Brother Wei, please don't mind that I joined halfway through."

"Haha, no way."

Chu Jiwei shook his head: "You're Xiao Li's friend, right? We've talked about Xiao Li before; he's interested in the stock market. I happened to be here to handle this matter, so I invited the two of you. Of course, let's make it clear first, this isn't a mandatory investment. The stock market is risky, so invest with caution. Since you're interested, just go and join the fun. Besides, I'm going to assess it myself; if the risk is too high, I probably won't invest. We're mainly going to learn more."

"clear."

Li Mu nodded, then picked up his glass: "Come on, Brother Wei, let's have a toast—"

The four of them drank less than three bottles.

The dinner party ended a little after 9 p.m.

Before parting, Chu Lin took many photos with Fan Taobing, and finally asked the waiter to take a group photo for everyone.

In the group photo, Fan Bing stands next to Li Mu, smiling radiantly with rosy cheeks.

It's breathtakingly beautiful.

After agreeing on a time for tomorrow, everyone parted ways.

-

Li Mu and Fan Bing got into the Audi driven by Xiao Mi.

It must be admitted that Fan Taobing's alcohol tolerance seems to be better than Li Mu's; the half-jin of liquor she drank didn't seem to have any effect on her.

"Xiaomi, turn the music up a little."

After getting in the car, she gave an order.

A fragrant breeze followed, and she tilted her head towards Li Mu: "Brother Li, is Brother Wei reliable?"

Li Mu knew what she was asking, and nodded slightly, saying, "The person is definitely reliable, but—when it comes to investing, it really depends on your own judgment and vision."

What's your opinion on this?

"To be honest, my trust in NetEase isn't very high. They can even falsify financial statements, so it's only natural that they were suspended from trading. It's like a person with a criminal record; no matter what they are like, that record is always there."

"Then why did you agree to go?"

"Didn't you agree first? You already agreed, what can I say?"

"Well—"

Savoring the slightly woody aroma wafting through his nose and mouth, Li Mu said softly, "Since Brother Wei invited Brother Hai and me, it's not easy to refuse. Besides, we can just go through the motions. But—Fan Ye, you have to admit that the future definitely belongs to the internet age. Although the internet economy has already experienced a bubble, I still believe in its potential."

On the other hand, there was one point that Wei Ge mentioned that really attracted me—their ability to plan and deploy networks.

Think about it, NetEase is currently one of the leading companies in China, alongside Sohu and Sina. Add to that their email and SMS services—that shows they have considerable potential. That's why I'm planning to check them out.

He paused, then added, "Perhaps after attending that support meeting tomorrow, I won't invest in NetEase, or maybe I'll think they're all unreliable—but that's not important. What's important is that I'm very optimistic about the internet, and I can even say for sure that the future will be the internet era. So, my future investments will all be in these areas. NetEase can fail, but there's no reason not to try and navigate the red ocean of the internet, right?"

"I see—"

Hearing his words, Fan Bing thought for a moment and nodded slightly: "Okay, then I'll go with Brother Li to take a look tomorrow. Just so you know—don't be impulsive."

Li Mu laughed: "Ha, don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

Inside the Audi, music played softly: "My heart will follow love, we promised not to break up—"