The Great Sage Returns from Ten Years of Imprisonment

After two hours of negotiations, Yuanda Investment made some concessions and finally reached a preliminary agreement with Goldman Sachs on the debt-based agreement.

Goldman Sachs has acknowledged that it lost out on its previous stock index options bet, admitted the resulting debt, and is prepared to actively repay part of the debt agreed upon with Yuanda Investment.

The portion of debt mentioned here refers to only 65% ​​of the original debt under the performance-based agreement, not all of it.

Repayment can be made through various equity assets, bonds, and fixed assets held by Goldman Sachs, but not through cash.

Having just weathered a bankruptcy crisis, Goldman Sachs is desperately short of cash and naturally cannot afford to use it to pay off its debts.

As for other assets, they are not easy to liquidate in the current global liquidity crunch, so they can be used to repay debts.

For Goldman Sachs, this presents an opportunity to dispose of these assets indirectly.

For example, Goldman Sachs' controlling stake in Globe Television Network and eleven local television stations in North America is completely unrelated to its main business, and Goldman Sachs has no intention of operating these news media outlets.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Goldman Sachs can get rid of these media resources at a premium, reducing debt and getting rid of a burden at the same time, which is a win-win situation!

Goldman Sachs can extend the repayment period for this huge betting debt to two years.

The best outcome would be if Goldman Sachs could repay its debts within two years, maintaining a repayment ratio of 65%.

If Goldman Sachs fails to repay this debt within two years, the repayment ratio will increase to 70%.

For each year that is delayed, the repayment ratio will increase by 5% until the full amount is repaid!

However, this is only a preliminary agreement. Specific details, such as which assets Goldman Sachs can use to repay debts and how they will be valued, still need to be discussed further.

Ling Yun was very satisfied with the outcome of the negotiations.

Unlike Goldman Sachs, Barclays' negotiations ended badly because the vice president was invited for questioning by the Hong Kong Island police, and the atmosphere became tense.

Ling Yun wasn't worried at all; he was very certain.

Before long, Barclays will proactively approach Yuanda Investment to resolve this problem.

After finishing the call with Chairman Zhao, it was already lunchtime.

Ling Yun tidied up quickly, then called Zhong Tao and the others to go to the designated restaurant for dinner.

Before we knew it, it was already past three in the afternoon.

Stock markets in various countries and regions across the Asia-Pacific region closed one after another, and without exception, they all closed with sharp declines.

For example, the Japanese stock market closed down by about 11.5%, hitting a new low.

The South Korean stock market closed down nearly 10%, and the South Korean government was just a hair's breadth away from announcing a stock market shutdown.

The situation in other Asia-Pacific stock markets is basically the same, each one worse than the last.

After 3 p.m., stock markets in various European countries gradually opened.

As Lingyun predicted, all stock markets plummeted upon opening.

The German stock market opened about 3% lower, the French stock market opened about 4% lower, the British stock market opened 3.5% lower, and so on, before plummeting further!

In European stock markets, bank stocks have generally fallen by less than 10%, and many financial stocks have fallen by more than 20% or 30%.

Compared to financial stocks, mining stocks experienced an even more dramatic decline.

For example, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, which are listed in the UK, Australia, and New York, have both seen declines exceeding -20%.

Seeing this, Ling Yun laughed even more heartily.

While I was busy, Mr. Lou knocked on the door and entered the office.

As soon as he entered the door, he excitedly said:

"Your prediction was absolutely accurate, Lingyun. Black Wednesday has indeed arrived as expected, and global stock markets are collapsing across the board."

"To be honest, seeing the crazy crashes in Asia-Pacific and European stock markets really terrified me, and I'm filled with lingering fear!"

People work incredibly hard to create wealth, but that wealth can vanish in the financial markets like magic, disappearing without a trace in an instant.

"The financial market is a truly terrifying monster. We can't control what happens outside, but we must put a bridle on the domestic financial market..."

Ling Yun stood up from his seat and greeted Chairman Lou with a smile.

Then he nodded and continued in response:

"The surge in the past two days is a normal reaction of the financial market to the global joint rescue efforts to resolve the liquidity crisis."

"Today's global stock market crash reflects a return to fundamental pricing, indicating that people are realizing this financial crisis is far from over."

"The plunge in Asian and European stock markets is just the first half of this Black Wednesday; the real drama will unfold after the US stock market opens tonight."

"Today, the US government will release September retail sales and PPI data. They've been delaying for several days, and they can't delay any longer; they must release it today."

"If these two data points are strong, the US government won't keep delaying. It's conceivable that once these two data points are released, an even more frenzied plunge will follow."

As they were talking, Chairman Lou came over and sat down in the chair opposite him.

Ling Yun emerged from behind his desk, analyzing the international financial market situation while brewing Lou Dong a cup of Longjing tea.

Then he returned to his desk and continued his discussion with Chairman Lou.

After chatting about international financial markets for a while, Mr. Lou changed the subject.

"Just after the German stock market opened, our company's investment team continued to secretly acquire Volkswagen shares, and we only bought, we didn't sell."

"From yesterday to today, the amount of Volkswagen stock we have gradually acquired has reached 0.6% of its total market value."

"But even with this small trading volume, someone was secretly competing with us for shares, pushing up Volkswagen's stock price by more than ten euros."

"Our investment team has studied the situation and is basically certain that the market price of publicly traded shares is likely lower than we anticipated."

Upon hearing this, Ling Yun chuckled.

"This is normal. The people secretly competing with you for Volkswagen stock are probably Porsche's front companies; they've been doing this all along."

"As I said before, Porsche is secretly acquiring Volkswagen stock options through stock subscription options."

"According to Germany's Securities Act, if Porsche adopts this method, it does not need to disclose its shareholding until it approaches or exceeds 75%."

"Once Porsche's stake exceeds 75%, their announcement will mean that Porsche has completely taken control of Volkswagen."

Upon hearing this, Chairman Lou couldn't help but express a few words of emotion.

"These foreign devils are too cunning. It's just an internal power struggle within the same family, yet they'll stop at nothing. They really only care about money, not people!"

"You're right, these damned foreign devils only care about profit; they have no concept of blood ties or family affection!"

Ling Yun smiled and agreed, then continued to analyze the situation.

"Now that we're secretly entering the fray and causing trouble, Porsche's attempt to swallow the giant will be incredibly difficult. We don't need a large stake in Volkswagen; even more than 1% would be fatal!"

"This 1% stake in Volkswagen is enough to make Porsche and Volkswagen scramble to beg us for shares. If a short squeeze occurs, countless short sellers will beg us to release their shares."

"Based on what you just said, there are very few mainstream stocks on the market. This short squeeze, which is destined to be incredibly exciting and incredibly bloody, should be coming very soon."

"In light of this, once Porsche releases its holdings announcement, we can follow suit and release our own holdings information, adding fuel to the fire of this historic short squeeze..."

As he listened, Lou Dong suddenly felt a chill run down his spine, and then gave a thumbs up.

"Good! You're ruthless. Now countless short sellers will know that there are very few publicly traded shares left on the market, while their naked short selling volume is several times greater!"

"I can't even imagine what that scene would be like! All the short sellers who were shorting Volkswagen stock would absolutely go into a frenzy instantly!"