Chapter 509: Cooperation with Xiao Ma Ge and Preparation for the Decisive Battle
"Hi there, F1 Lee!"
Back then, Li Xiaofan's online name was "F1 Lee" when he was on the Huiduo.com BBS. Xiao Ma's name is "PonyMa". Two years ago, he spent his own money to create the Huiduo.com BBS Shenzhen station called ponysoft.
This is Li Xiaofan’s first time meeting offline netizens, Brother Xiao Ma.
The little Ma in front of me looks like what Li Xiaofan saw in the media and on the Internet in his previous life. He is gentle, low-key and humble, and even a little shy and young.
At present, Li Xiaofan is also well-known in Huiduo.com BBS. Everyone only knows that he is a manager of Yahoo! Yahoo shareholders.
But in those days, even being a manager at Yahoo Singapore was considered a big deal.
After Li Xiaofan greeted Xiao Ma, he handed him a beautifully packaged box labeled "Microsoft Frontpage 97".
"Pony, here's a little gift for you, genuine FrontPage 97."
When Xiao Ma saw the gift Li Xiaofan handed him, he blushed and declined with embarrassment: "Mr. Li, I can't accept such an expensive gift..."
Before Li Xiaofan came to Shenzhen, he saw a post by Xiao Ma on the Huiduo.com ponysoft BBS station. Brother Xiao Ma excitedly wrote a long post to share with everyone his experience of going to Hong Kong to participate in a software development training at Oracle, and listed in detail the latest computer technology books and software CDs he bought on the streets of Hong Kong. Finally, he said that he was not willing to spend 1,100 Hong Kong dollars to buy Microsoft's latest FrontPage 97 web development tool. He planned to wait until the pirated software came out...
The Microsoft FrontPage97 mentioned by Xiao Ma is the latest web design and production software launched by Microsoft, which can help users design and produce web pages.
Li Xiaofan smiled and said: "Pony, you don't consider me a friend. Doesn't your signature file say: 'A world without strangers'! I really like to share those software development experiences and red alert skills with you on BBS." , which brought me a lot of benefits.”
Currently, Xiao Ma is still working in a software company. He likes to call himself "I" on BBS and is keen on sharing red alert techniques while studying and developing software.
"No, Mr. Li, this gift of yours is too valuable, and I deserve it!"
"Pony, this gift of mine is not given to you for free. I have something to ask of you."
Hearing this, Brother Ma relaxed and smiled: "Mr. Li, if you have any questions, just ask."
"Do you know ICQ?"
"ICQ, I know there is such a software. The Pacific Online Bookstore in Singapore also used it to develop the PICQ software..."
"It seems that you are quite familiar with this software. Pony, in this way, our company is planning to set up an industrial base in Shenzhen High-tech Zone recently. I have purchased the license rights of ICQ in mainland China, and the source code is in my On hand. Do you have time? Let’s develop a Han Of course, I will pay you the initial development costs in advance. Is it enough to give you 500,000 yuan in advance? You can tell us how much you need if the development is successful. Can cooperate to create an Internet company..."
Li Xiaofan's proposal aroused the interest of Xiao Ma Ge. He is a software fan and has a strong interest in exploring ICQ, which is currently becoming popular overseas.
"Mr. Li, I can help you try it in my spare time, but the development cost of 500,000 yuan does not seem to be that much for the time being."
"It doesn't matter. I'll give you the 500,000 yuan first. I'll refund the excess and make up for the excess..."
It was as if a big piece of pie suddenly fell from the world. It was the first time that Brother Ma met such a generous and generous netizen.
Regarding Xiao Ma and the future QQ empire, Li Xiaofan’s current strategy is: invest money in Xiao Ma, become his angel investor and founding partner, and enjoy the huge returns in the future...
After seeing off Brother Ma, Li Xiaofan received Dr. Zhang Chaoyang from Beijing in the hotel lobby bar in the evening.
Li Xiaofan adopted the same strategy for Zhang Chaoyang, who was holding the "Souhu" business plan: invest in him!
"Hello, Director Li. I'm honored that you can spare your precious time to meet with me. This is my latest revised business plan for the Search Arc project. Please take a look at it."
Zhang Chaoyang came to hand over the plan with excitement. The current Li Xiaofan is a legend and a god-like existence to Zhang Chaoyang.
…
On Christmas Day in 1997 and New Year's Day in 1998, the whole of Asia seemed to lack the prosperity and joy it had in the past, and the haze of the financial crisis still hung over it.
Just after New Year's Day in 1998, and after July last year, Soros and other international speculators came back to Hong Kong Island again.
In early January 1998, Li Xiaofan had just sent Tang Xinyi away for the holidays and returned to San Francisco, the United States. Wang Danrong came in and reported to Li Xiaofan: In the past few days, the Hong Kong dollar has been subject to a large amount of speculative selling by Soros and other international speculators. The Hong Kong dollar exchange rate has been affected. The Hang Seng Index and The futures market index fell by more than 4,000 points, and the market was extremely panicked.
Hong Kong Island seems to have become a "cash machine" for international speculators.
Wang Danrong reported that facing the offensive of Soros and others, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority seems to be forced to take only one measure: when these international speculators come to kill, the only way for the HKMA is to raise interest rates, increase the cost of financial speculation, and maintain the linked exchange rate.
But the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's method is essentially a poison to quench thirst, because it has a huge impact on the property market, enterprises and stock markets.
Wang Danrong explained: When international speculative capital uses Hong Kong dollars to exchange for US dollars in large quantities, the Hong Kong government will raise bank interest rates to prevent ordinary people from following the trend of speculation and running on US dollars. Because of the increase in interest rates, the cost of some people who want to borrow Hong Kong dollars from banks to run on US dollars will be high; because of the increase in interest rates, some people will deposit their money in banks and not run on US dollars.
Due to the increase in interest rates, many people who borrow money to buy houses have to pay more interest every month, and ordinary people can no longer afford to buy houses, which will eventually lead to a sharp drop in housing prices.
In addition, due to the increase in loan interest, the cost of enterprises obtaining loans has also increased, and some enterprises with large loans have to repay the amount of loans every month, which has increased the burden on enterprises.
Housing prices fell, corporate burdens increased, economic development deteriorated, and the stock market fell again!
It can be said that every time the Hong Kong government resisted a speculative attack, it would spit blood.
Li Xiaofan knew that the current bubble in Hong Kong Island had already formed. Housing prices rose four times in the seven years before 1997, and the Hang Seng Index hit a high of 16,673 points in August last year.
In his previous life, in Li Xiaofan's memory, the decisive battle between Soros and other international speculators would be in August this year, and now January should be just a tentative attack.
So at the moment, Li Xiaofan asked his traders to short sell some Hong Kong stock futures contracts to make money, and be a "slippery" first.
Another task was assigned to Zhou Xiaoqing, who pledged more of the shares of listed companies such as Yahoo and Pacific Networks to American banks, exchanged more US dollars for cash, and prepared for the decisive battle in Hong Kong Island in August!