Chapter 2771: Heartbroken

Su Shiming nodded with a sullen face.

He did not speak, because he thought to himself that if he spoke, he would probably curse.

These... bastards who only cheat their own people!

Not to mention the losses in mortgage-related securities, like Lehman, the company he founded is now facing huge losses due to the high investment in commercial real estate.

All the commercial real estate in hand that has not been dealt with seemed like a hen that lays golden eggs last year. Not only will it bring fixed income every year, but this income will also increase every year.

But now, it is a pile of rotten eggs. Not only does everyone avoid it, but they also have to pay the corresponding taxes and maintenance costs for it.

But now it seems that the greater deficit comes from what he thought was his masterpiece at the time, that is, the acquisition of Hilton Hotels Group.

His original idea was also very good. Not to mention the brand value of Hilton Hotels, just say that the hundreds of Hilton hotels around the world can not only become a stable source of cash flow, but the assets of those hotels, mainly the properties they own, will also appreciate year by year because they are generally located in the prime locations of their locations.

Those rooms bring in cash every day, and on the other hand, they themselves appreciate in value...

Feng Yiping said that his Tesla is a project that brings both fame and fortune, and Su Shiming also believes that the Hilton Hotel he acquired is a good project that can bring double benefits.

Not to mention that it actually cost him only a few billion dollars to acquire the Hilton Hotel.

But who knew that the financial crisis would come so quickly and have such a widespread and profound impact?

Because of the impact of the subprime mortgage crisis, many companies in many countries have been forced to cut back on business travel expenses. Compared to before the acquisition, more than a year later, Hilton's cash flow has dropped by more than 50%.

On the other hand, except for a few countries, mainly China, Hilton's own assets have depreciated significantly this year.

But the greater burden comes from the employees employed by Hilton Hotels.

Since they saw that the momentum was not right, they have successively dismissed many people for various reasons, but now, Hilton still has more than 50,000 employees worldwide.

More than 50,000 people, with the current sharp drop in income, Su Shiming has a headache just thinking about it.

While the revenue has dropped sharply, they now have to continue to increase investment, because before the acquisition, Hilton had many new hotel construction plans in many countries.

Most of those plans have signed agreements with a series of contractors, so they are not like employees who can find a reason to fire a group of people.

Considering the special features of the hotel industry and the influence of those contractors in the local area, they have no intention of suspending or stopping work.

Originally, bank financing could solve part of the investment in this area, but the problem now is that in many countries, not only can they not get new financing from banks, but banks are also asking them to repay the loans they borrowed before.

But all of the above are not the biggest problem. The high leverage of more than 30 times used when acquiring Hilton last year was a big problem.

Considering the various difficulties faced by Hilton, they originally had a plan to discuss debt restructuring with the bank group that provided financing at the time - in essence, they hoped that those borrowers could reduce part of their debts and delay their debt repayment time.

And the reduction of part of the debt is not just the debt, but also the corresponding interest.

In the past year or so, Hilton Hotel has been discounted by at least 40%. If you don't reduce or forgive part of the debt, then Hilton Hotel's operation will be difficult to continue. To put it bluntly, Hilton may go bankrupt.

This is actually the idea of ​​taking advantage of the fire. If you don't consider debt reduction, it is very likely that all your debts will go down the drain.

He originally believed that with the help of the subprime mortgage crisis, this plan was likely to be achieved. However, after hearing that Goldman Sachs and Feng Yiping had set their sights on Hilton, he instinctively became alert and had to suspend the plan immediately.

But he didn't expect that he stopped, but the other side didn't.

On Monday, he received a letter from Goldman Sachs. The content was not short, but it can be summarized into two points. First, considering the current situation and the actual difficulties faced by each company, Goldman Sachs, which has been authorized, on behalf of all creditors, requires that Blackstone Group repay the debt immediately.

If Blackstone cannot repay the corresponding debt, then they accept Blackstone's debt repayment with Hilton Hotel. For this purpose, they have prepared an asset evaluation team.

After seeing the letter from Blackstone, Su Shiming had only one thought: This is taking advantage of the fire!

We acquired Hilton Hotel when the real estate price was at its peak, but you want to buy it back when the real estate is at its lowest point. Is there any better plan than this?

But the problem is that at this time, they can't come up with more than 20 billion US dollars to repay the debt.

Compared with the listing last year, Blackstone's stock price has fallen by more than 50%. It is good enough not to fall. How can it raise more than 20 billion US dollars?

So from Monday to now, they have not made a clear answer.

At this time, time is very critical, because for some reasons, it can really be said that time is money.

Thinking of this, he picked up the phone and called the CFO, "How is the situation?"

The situation is not very good.

Even though Paulson has announced a huge rescue plan of up to 700 billion US dollars, many of their clients still withdraw their investments without hesitation and turn to safer government bonds.

The same is true today. Even though they have repeatedly guaranteed the safety of their investments, many clients still proposed to withdraw their funds, and even gave up some of the profits that could be obtained soon.

When Su Shiming called again, his attitude was obviously much more respectful, "Tom, what new progress is there about Paulson's plan?"

Congressman Tom replied, "The White House and the caucus representatives are still negotiating on the rescue plan."

Still just negotiating?

"Tom, when do you expect the plan to be voted on at the earliest?" Su Shiming asked again.

"You should have heard that the presidential candidates of the two parties will also negotiate on this issue. Therefore, it should take some time for this plan to gain a preliminary consensus. According to comprehensive estimates, it is unlikely to be voted on before the end of this month."

Su Shiming frowned. Can't vote before the end of the month?

"So, Tom, what do you think is the possibility of the vote being passed?"

The other side pondered for a while, and finally whispered, "From the current situation, there is great resistance to the vote being passed,"

Su Shiming then called a few old friends, both Republicans and Democrats, but the conclusions were similar to Tom's. Even if Paulson's plan can be voted on Capitol Hill, at least in the House of Representatives, there are still many people who oppose his plan.

This shows that in the short term, he and his Blackstone should not be rescued.

In fact, they already know the outline of Paulson's rescue plan. Even if they can get rescued, they obviously cannot pay the more than 20 billion US dollars in loans owed for the acquisition of Hilton.

Last year, they not only acquired Hilton, but also acquired other real estate projects like Lehman. They owed far more than 20 billion US dollars.

Goldman Sachs, no, Feng Yiping, you really know how to choose the time.

"Sir, the meeting time is up," the secretary knocked on the door and suggested.

On the way to the meeting room, two sentences suddenly floated into Su Shiming's ears, "... So miserable!" "Haha, but it's so refreshing!"

He looked up and saw that many employees looked very happy, but combined with the two sentences he heard, Su Shiming was a little puzzled. What on earth was going on?

The people in the meeting room were also discussing something, but their faces were a little ugly.

Before he asked, someone took the initiative to tell him, "Have you heard that Fuld was beaten? Just now in the Lehman building, oh, in the Barclays building, in front of many people, several former Lehman employees attacked him without warning, and those who were watching not only did not stop him, but many of them took the opportunity to attack..."

Su Shiming's heart sank. Fuld, who was arrogant and aggressive, ended up like this?

He quickly put this unpleasant news behind him, "Okay, how is the market today?"

"According to accurate information, Washington Mutual Bank seems to be unable to hold on,"

Su Shiming's heart sank a little when he heard this...