Chapter 1854 Greedy Wall Street

The most well-informed people on Wall Street are always those financial predators.

Small and medium-sized investors want to find the pulse, it is almost as difficult as climbing the sky.

Usually, the famous fund managers you can see are all inextricably linked with major investment banks.

Like Soros.

Do you really believe that he caused the Asian financial turmoil in 1997?

There is no Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Jr....and a series of giants behind it. Do you think he can withstand the counterattack of so many countries? Does he have the capital and strength?

After entering 2008, the harm of the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States gradually emerged, which can be described as shocking.

First of all, at the beginning of January, Merrill Lynch and Citigroup announced together that they both lost more than 9.8 billion US dollars due to the subprime mortgage crisis in the fourth quarter of last year, which shocked the whole world!

Then at the end of January, UBS also announced that it had lost US$11.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2007, and then Commerzbank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, BNP Paribas...and a series of giants announced their huge losses. loss matters.

Therefore, in January and February, global stock markets plummeted.

But what is a little strange is that after February, everything seems to be getting better. The US stock market continues to improve, and the operating conditions of various companies have also greatly improved.

Even Bank of Merrill Lynch's huge loss has dropped sharply from US$9.8 billion in the fourth quarter of last year to US$1.96 billion in the first quarter of the current year. Although it is still losing money, it is still a lot less, isn't it?

In Xiao Qi's view, of course it is not like this.

In fact, the financial crisis has always been imminent and may break out at any time.

The reason why it is so calm now is the confrontation between Wall Street and the US government.

In early February of this year, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives jointly passed a $168 billion rescue stimulus package, aiming to save U.S. economic growth through tax rebates and stimulating consumption.

And the giants of Wall Street. It is to unite and initiate the relationship that they can initiate, and finally the Republican Party proposed a rescue plan of 700 billion U.S. dollars.

Please note that the rescue funds for the national economic recovery are only 168 billion US dollars. The 700 billion US dollars, which is four times larger than it, is not enjoyed by the people of the whole United States at all, but is all allocated to Wall Street, to these financial giants, so that they can get rid of their own crisis! !

Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Citibank, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers... and more than a dozen large and small investment banks and financial companies are the beneficiaries of this 700 billion US dollars.

But Bush Jr., known as "IQ is only higher than animals", didn't even look at this rescue plan, and in the House of Representatives and Senate of Congress, even most of the members of the Republican Party opposed the plan proposed by the Republican Party . Therefore, during the several consultations in April, May, and June, there was no sign of any agreement on the $700 billion fund.

Think about it, they were the ones who started the whole subprime mortgage crisis, which caused countless Americans to go bankrupt, but in the end they still have to pay the taxpayers to save them, a group of greedy financiers? !

Who dares to vote for this kind of thing. Anyone will be under tremendous pressure, and if they fail to do so, their position will have to be lost.

But Wall Street is also working together this time. They are not asking the government for money in vain, but have many means.

Will you give it?

If you don't give it, then Wall Street will come to everyone to die together - the largest insurance company in the United States, AIG, Lehman Corporation, Merrill Lynch... a long list of famous names, the result of direct collapse. It is not something the U.S. government can bear, and it will easily lead to the collapse of the U.S. financial order.

The U.S. government is not saying that it will not provide aid, but the US$700 billion bailout plan, not to mention that Bush Jr. has only a few months in office, even if he is still in the middle of his term, it is absolutely impossible to agree.

So did Congress. Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke criticized these financial giants for their "greediness" several times in the hearings, and many congressmen even showed up when they rejected the proposal.

Now everyone is competing for patience, and whoever can't bear it will lose.

Therefore, it seems to the outside world that the subprime mortgage crisis is gradually showing signs of calm, but in the eyes of these senior people, if the US government does not take action. A financial crisis is imminent.

In order to allow themselves some ability to deal with risks in a crisis, many people have already begun to look for a way out.

Among them is Bobby Li, CEO of Green Pine Capital.

Green Pine Capital is indeed one of the best angel investment funds in Silicon Valley. Both Google and Google it participated in have achieved super rich returns and become the most dynamic and legendary angel investment fund in Silicon Valley.

But the problem is that since Google went public in 2004, Green Pine Capital has not had many classic cases that can be obtained. The investment of 11.5 million US dollars in YouTube has turned into a return of 495 million US dollars, which is not very brilliant. .

However, in 2007 last year, Green Pine Capital continued to invest in two major companies. One was to buy 5% of the shares of Dream Pad, the king of smart electronics, for US$6.5 billion, and the other was to buy the global The 25% stake in the largest group buying website Chose Girl cost a total of 9.625 billion, which shocked Silicon Valley and Wall Street all of a sudden, and became famous all at once.

But the results of the two big investments are completely different.

Up to now, 5% of Dream Pad's shares have almost doubled in value, reaching a market value of around 12.6 billion US dollars; while Chose Girl's 25% shares have fallen 50% of their market value, and are only worth about 5.5 billion US dollars. , A full loss of 4.1 billion US dollars! !

Not only the huge loss in value, but also the continuous loss in chosen girl's operating costs, with a monthly loss of 200-300 million US dollars. As the largest shareholder, Green Pine Capital has to invest more than 6,000 yuan a month Ten thousand dollars go in.

What about changing to a dream pad?

From May of last year to May of this year, 5% of the shares brought a huge profit of 1.15 billion US dollars to Green Pine Capital, which surpassed the return of venture capital investment in the entire Silicon Valley. I don’t know how many people are envious!

With such a comparison, chosen girl is simply the most loss-making business!

The financial turmoil is about to hit. In addition to the investment of chosen girl, many companies that Green Pine Capital invested in before have also experienced serious crises. It is time to continue to invest urgently, otherwise the previous investment will be completely lost. lost.

Therefore, Green Pine Capital urgently needs a large amount of funds to revitalize its investment. Otherwise, at the end of the year, if the performance drops sharply, investors will definitely demand redemption of the fund, and then the entire Green Pine Capital will collapse!

Now Green Pine Capital has no choice. The only choice is where to cut the meat to get the greatest benefit.

Of course, if they are willing to sell 5% of the shares in dream pad, all the crises will be solved, and some people are rushing to buy it.

But the problem is that the dream pad has become the signature of Green Pine Capital. If it is sold hastily to deal with the crisis, Green Pine Capital will definitely be questioned, and the possibility of investors redeeming the fund is not low. ——You even sold your most valuable assets, who knows if you still want to continue doing business? If the donation escapes, will I lose everything?

At this time, Xiao Qi sent him an invitation to repurchase the shares of chosen girl. How could Bobby not rush to Xiao Qi's side quickly?

Not far from the manor villa area, in a high-end restaurant near the sea in Long Island, New York, you can see the blue sea opposite, and there are countless people who come here for vacation. The scenery is infinitely beautiful.

Xiao Qi deliberately asked for a seat near the floor-to-ceiling windows. He originally agreed that Bobby would be at 12:00 noon, but he was waiting at the door at 11:30, and it would take six or seven hours to fly from Silicon Valley. As you can imagine, Basically, from yesterday afternoon to now, Bobby Li has hardly had a rest.

Waiting for someone early is an attitude, and it is especially unfavorable when negotiating, but Bobby can't take care of it anymore, he is almost gone, so why care about face?

Before coming here, he had obtained the authorization of several other senior partners. If he and Xiao Qi can negotiate successfully today, it will become a formal decision of Green Pine Capital, and the contract can be signed immediately.

In ordinary venture capital firms, Goldman Sachs' power structure - the partnership system - will be learned.

Everyone works together to contribute money, people and effort, and form a group to do business. Several partners or dozens of partners cooperate to operate a project, which is the so-called partner system.

Of course, the partnership system does not mean that everyone is in the same group at all times. Maybe in some businesses everyone has the same interests, but in more aspects, the partners do their own things, and even fight each other. All the time.

Well, this kind of fighting happens a lot in investment banks, but it rarely happens in angel investment.

The partner system of Goldman Sachs is junior partner-general partner-senior partner-senior partner.

Being able to become a junior partner is already at the operating level. As for the final senior partner, it is basically their CEO and the chairman of the board of supervisors.

Therefore, the senior partners of Green Pine Capital can naturally decide all the company's affairs, and they can also authorize Bobby Li to reach the sales agreement as quickly as possible.