Chapter 617 Dilemma
Watching short videos when you have nothing to do may be a waste of time for others.
Given Fan Wumian's special situation, it became a huge advantage.
He had long forgotten where he had seen it, but he vaguely remembered that when reviewing the Hollywood movie "The Big Short", a blogger who was reposting and editing videos mentioned that Soros made billions of dollars from the subprime mortgage crisis, while other companies generally suffered losses, but he made a huge fortune from the disaster.
Fan Wumian had only a vague impression of this and was not sure whether this figure was the total profit of the fund company or Soros' personal income.
Anyway, with this memory as confirmation, it can basically be proved that the financial tycoon Soros did not miss the opportunity and also set his sights on the subprime mortgage market.
Speaking of Soros, his achievements in the field of financial investment are simply outstanding. Although his net worth is not as high as that of Buffett, his influence in some aspects is slightly higher than that of Buffett.
Even if he is just traveling to certain countries on vacation, his appearance will cast a cloud over the financial market, with people wondering if another country is being targeted.
He successfully shorted the British pound in 1992, making about $10 billion and becoming known in financial circles as "the man who broke the Bank of England."
During the Asian financial crisis in 1997, Soros also successfully shorted the currencies of Thailand, Malaysia and other countries. During this period, he also tried to short the Hong Kong dollar. With the counterattack of the Hong Kong government and the mainland, he successfully defended the exchange rate, but the stock and property markets plummeted and it took a long time to recover.
With the title of "financial killer", wherever Soros stands in the "air force camp", he will immediately gain the following of countless international hot money. This kind of market appeal is exactly what Fan Wumian currently lacks.
Look at it from another angle.
Rather than saying that Soros is capable of bringing down a country on his own, it is better to say that he is particularly good at seizing opportunities, identifying bubbles in various markets, and exploiting them.
In the future, there will be another "Muddy Waters" company that adopts a similar strategy.
If Warren Buffett is good at finding potential stocks in the stock market, then Muddy Waters is good at finding bubbles in listed companies, then short selling them to expose negative information and profit from the falling stock prices. It seems that more than a dozen Chinese stocks listed in the United States have been defeated by Muddy Waters.
Upon unexpectedly learning that the person behind the trouble was Soros, Fan Wumian quickly put his heart at ease.
After all, although Soros is notorious and ruthless, he is, after all, just the boss of a well-known asset management company. He is worth billions of dollars and has long achieved absolute financial freedom. He is different from many vicious "desperadoes".
It is better to mess with him than with the people behind the Federal Reserve. At least Soros is just one of many speculators, not the real ones.
Early the next morning.
Zuo Ziyan received the news and hurried to the Repulse Bay mansion again. She was full of energy and her eyes were shining. She exclaimed:
"Oh my god! That's Soros! A few years ago, in order to stop him, the Hong Kong government spent hundreds of billions of Hong Kong dollars to compete with him. His business is so successful that it's enough to be included in any financial textbook."
Fan Wumian glanced at her sideways, poured cold water on her and said:
"It's just to block the transnational hot money led by Soros. In fact, the funds he controls are not that much. He is just bullying small countries and places. If you have the guts, you can let him go head-to-head with the mainland and beat them all."
Zuo Ziyan asked:
"He also targeted the British pound. Is Britain not a small country?"
"I'm sorry, I really don't see it in my eyes. The sun that never sets has already set. When did you ever hear me mention that I wanted to invest in the UK? Ah Yan, you finished your studies in Cambridge and came back early. There is no future there. It is only suitable for poor people to work and earn some money to support their families."
Fan Wumian's vision has indeed broadened. He has a lot of high-quality assets in his hands. Apart from the lucrative luxury goods industry in Europe, it is difficult for him to gain much interest in other businesses.
Drinking coffee to refresh himself, he continued:
"Knowing that the warning came from Soros, I was in a dilemma." "On the one hand, there are some benefits to cooperating with him, such as attracting international hot money to my hedge fund company, and maybe I can make more money from it."
"On the other hand, I don't want to be used as a pawn by Soros. He is greedy and wants to buy 40% of the shares of WM-Rogers Hedge Fund, but he only agreed to pay me $1 million. The company that bullied me has just started to run smoothly and has not yet started to make a profit."
"I tossed and turned last night and couldn't sleep until about 10 a.m. I decided to reject his proposal and give him % of the shares at most. I will take the rest to Wall Street, Silicon Valley and Washington, and make friends everywhere. This will be more beneficial to me."
"Eventually I will hold 50% to 60% of the shares in the WM-Rogers hedge fund, making money for myself while minimizing the risk. This is to prevent me from being attacked by the media and affecting other businesses if a financial crisis really occurs."
If Fan Wumian is determined to have the most profit alone, he is not completely without a chance. However, after making this profit, he will definitely be under tremendous pressure. Countless Americans who have suffered heavy losses will blame their anger on him.
If he finds some powerful allies to cooperate with, although he will still encounter some troubles, at least there will be someone to help him shelter from the wind and rain, so that all the blame will not be put on his head, and he can thus save the international version of Penguin Weibo, Myth Film Studio and some other investment projects.
In addition, with the help of John Paulson, Jorgen Rogers and others to disperse the firepower, Fan Wumian hopes to do his best to make others think that he is powerful, but avoid being regarded as the culprit who triggered the subprime mortgage crisis. This will be of great benefit to his asset management business in both sides of the Taiwan Strait and in overseas markets.
Zuo Ziyan had never had the opportunity to come into contact with an international financial tycoon of Soros's level before. She was so excited that after calming down and thinking about it carefully, she felt that Fan Wumian's considerations were more comprehensive.
She smiled and said:
"Ami, you are so great now. If my dad knew that even Soros agreed with your investment views, he would definitely be glad to give you the 3 million Hong Kong dollars for investment. Originally, a friend wanted to borrow his funds for turnover and promised to pay 15% interest every year, but my parents still believe in your vision more."
Fan Wumian replied:
"It's easy to borrow money, but it's troublesome to get it back. Now the one who owes money is the boss. The news that Huifeng Bank is about to write down tens of billions of dollars in assets will be announced at any time. I have to prepare today and build some short positions in advance, so as not to be caught off guard and waste the opportunity to make money in vain."
Zuo Ziyan suddenly remembered something and asked:
"The auction date for the 48% stake in Mainland China's Boshi Fund is today, right?"
"Well, I was planning to go there in person. The auction starts at 10 a.m. It will take more than an hour to get there by car, so I can just make it in time."
Fan Wumian changed his shirt in front of Zuo Ziyan, and was touched by her. He continued:
"There are a lot of assets being auctioned today. In addition to the 48% of the shares of Boshi Fund, I am also interested in another item."
"There is a coal mine with an estimated value of more than 7 million yuan that will also be sold today, but it owes the bank more than 6 million yuan in loans. If we can negotiate with the bank to renew the loan or postpone the repayment, I feel that with the speed of economic development in the mainland, the demand for coal should be huge, and I am afraid the price will rise."
"With the rapid economic development, the demand for electricity is increasing. Coupled with steelmaking, heating and so on, this industry has a bright future."
He actually didn't understand much about things like subprime mortgages because he didn't have the opportunity to come into contact with them in his previous life.
However, Fan Wumian understood too well the "black gold era" of domestic entertainment created by the surge in coal prices. Even more than ten years later, many older generations in the entertainment industry often lamented how comfortable life would be if the investors were still those coal bosses.
Zuo Ziyan said:
"If you are optimistic about the coal mining industry, you don't have to open a mine and dig coal yourself. Wouldn't it be better to buy stocks directly?"
As soon as she finished speaking, she came to her senses and suddenly realized:
"Oh, if the bank agrees to postpone the loan repayment, it means that we can acquire the coal mine at a very low cost, which is almost the same as leveraging investment, right?"
Fan Wumian nodded:
"Let's see what happens before making a decision. I've asked someone to help me get some information, and it seems like there are a lot of people eyeing this coal mine. If the auction price of Boshi Fund shares is lower than I expected, and I can squeeze out some idle funds, then I'll try to bid and see if I can take over this coal mine." (End of this chapter)