Reborn since 1993

Chapter 1309 Taking the Blame

Mo Gaoliang's prediction of the Southeast Asian financial crisis made him an instant celebrity, especially in the academic field where he was almost deified!

The Southeast Asian financial crisis was so devastating that Siam, South Korea, and other countries were almost breached in a different form.

The so-called IMF bailout of South Korea and other countries is actually nothing more than a piece of paper that completes the division of South Korea and other countries, which is almost no different from a defeat agreement.

It was precisely because the tragedy was so devastating that Mo Gaoliang's prophecy appeared prescient, cementing his status as a "master."

Since the Southeast Asian financial crisis, Mo Gaoliang has been invited to give speeches, attend academic forums, and serve as a consultant for various companies.

After all, the rumors that Mo Gaoliang predicted the Southeast Asian financial crisis, allowing Dongling High-Tech to successfully avoid disaster and even prepare cash flow in advance to expand against the trend are well known to the outside world!

Which company doesn't want to be like Dongling Hi-Tech, able to anticipate crises and prepare in advance, so that when its competitors face crises, it can climb to the top by stepping over the corpses of its peers?

After the Southeast Asian financial crisis, Dongling Hi-Tech was practically bloated with profits!

It's not just companies; many organizations and institutions also want Mo Gaoliang's ability to predict good and bad fortune.

When these companies, schools, units, and institutions all have something to ask of Mo Gaoliang, he naturally becomes a hot commodity!

Despite invitations from various parties, including exorbitant appearance fees offered by overseas companies such as Japan Benzene, Mo Gaoliang remained unmoved.

On the one hand, Mo Gaoliang is now teaching at two prestigious universities, Hanxi Jiaotong University and Pingyang University, and is living a very comfortable life.

On the other hand, Mo Gaoliang now has another identity, namely an advisor to the Dongling High-Tech Advisory Committee, and Dongling High-Tech pays him a considerable salary every year.

Mo Gaoliang has both fame and fortune, so he naturally cherishes his reputation even more and is unwilling to easily go elsewhere.

More importantly, although the outside world has praised Mo Gaoliang to the skies and labeled him a globally renowned economist long ago, there is another point to note.

But to be honest, when Mo Gaoliang reviewed the situation afterward, he always felt that something was amiss. Was he really that capable, able to help Dongling High-Tech avoid risks and even expand against the trend?
This matter went incredibly smoothly. For Mo Gaoliang, it was all too easy. He proposed a risk assessment, and Dongling High-Tech immediately and decisively carried it out without any hesitation.

Rather than saying Mo Gaoliang is a genius strategist, it's more accurate to say that Dongling High-Tech acted incredibly quickly.

Mo Gaoliang even had the feeling that Dongling High-Tech was waiting for him to make a decision, rather than him guiding Dongling High-Tech, as if he was being pushed along by Dongling High-Tech.

After finishing the lesson, Mo Gaoliang tidied up and went downstairs. There, an Audi was already waiting. When the driver saw Mo Gaoliang, he immediately got out of the car and opened the door for him.

This car and driver were provided to Mo Gaoliang by the logistics department of Dongling High-Tech. Dongling High-Tech's treatment of Mo Gaoliang is not just empty praise; it's top-notch.

After all, Dongling Hi-Tech still needs Mo Gaoliang as a shield, no, as an industry forecaster for Dongling Hi-Tech, so he naturally deserves some compensation.

The car headed towards the global headquarters of Dongling Hi-Tech, which was Mo Gaoliang's first time visiting the newly opened global headquarters of Dongling Hi-Tech.

Sitting in the car, Mo Gaoliang was also speculating about why Li Dongling had asked him to come here this time.

During his years as a consultant at Dongling High-Tech, Mo Gaoliang truly experienced what it means to have a "chosen working job": little work, high pay, close to home, and no overtime. He only needed to come to Dongling High-Tech a few times a year to produce a few economic analysis reports. Dongling High-Tech provided him with all the benefits he was entitled to.

Mo Gaoliang wasn't sure how long this kind of life could last.

At the beginning of this year, Dongling High-Tech began to formulate the Dongke 2.0 management system with great fanfare, and also announced the reorganization of its advisory committee.

Mo Gaoliang was uncertain about his place on the reorganized advisory committee, and he was actually quite worried.

Mo Gaoliang always felt that the salary he received from Dongling Hi-Tech over the past few years was disproportionate to his efforts. Mo Gaoliang even felt guilty towards Dongling Hi-Tech for paying him such a high salary...

……

Li the Great Philanthropist had no idea that Dongling High-Tech was using him as a shield, yet he still had such thoughts; otherwise, he would definitely have stopped him.

Dongling High-Tech has finally managed to create a reputation for a master who can predict future risks. What's wrong with giving him some benefits? As long as this master who can predict risks is around, no matter how outrageous Dongling High-Tech's actions are, they will all be traceable and can be explained to the outside world. They will all be doing what Master Mo instructed them to do!
All they need to do is shift the blame onto Master Mo. As for whether the outside world will believe this explanation, that depends on just how prestigious Master Mo's reputation is.

Li Dongling flipped through the list in his hand, looking at the strings of names and their backgrounds, which gave him a headache.

This list is for selecting a suitable leader for the reorganized advisory committee. The requirements for the new leader of the advisory committee are actually very high.

Mo Gaoliang will remain a member of the new advisory committee, but he will serve more as a mascot and idol. His fame can be used, but we cannot really expect him to take charge of the department.

Among this long list, Li Dongling first circled a few names, then reviewed them again, and finally drew a thick horizontal line over one name.

After pressing a button on a phone on the table, Du Qishan, one of the chief assistants, pushed open the door and entered, "President Li!"

"Please have this person come to Dongling High-Tech!" Li Dongling handed the list to Du Qishan.

As soon as Du Qishan left, Mo Gaoliang arrived at Dongling High-Tech.

"Professor Mo, thank you for coming all this way!"

As usual, Li Dongling was very warm towards Mo Gaoliang, and personally brewed him a cup of tea.

"Having received the emperor's bounty, I am obligated to serve him and naturally bear his worries; these are my duties."

"As long as I remain an advisor to Dongling High-Tech, I will naturally do my utmost for Dongling High-Tech's affairs!" Mo Gaoliang said to Li Dongling.

Li Dongling was quite satisfied with Mo Gaoliang's words. If a scapegoat could be so self-aware, what kind of blame couldn't he take?!

Li Dongling took a slightly thick document from the table and pushed it in front of Mo Gaoliang.

"This is an analysis and forecast of the Internet industry by Yale University economist Robert Shiller, Boston Consulting Group co-founder Grantham, Barron's editor-in-chief, and others."

Li Dongling, holding the documents in his hand, said to Mo Gaoliang, "Professor Mo, as you know, Dongling High-Tech has numerous industries and investments in the internet sector."

I'd like to know your views on the future of the internet industry, and whether the industry is facing risks.

Mo Gaoliang raised an eyebrow. He hadn't expected that Li Dongling would ask him to make a prediction about the booming internet industry.

Over the years, there have been those who were pessimistic about the internet industry, but without exception, they have all been whipped into spinning tops by the internet's powerful influence. The internet is the ultimate weapon against all dissent.

The most famous of them are Warren Buffett and Julian, the founder of Tiger Fund.

The former believed that the internet was a castle in the air and could not possibly continue to rise, so they refused to invest in it.

As a result, Buffett's performance in recent years has lagged far behind his peers, to the point that people have started asking him if he is still capable of performing well despite his advanced age.

Julian is in an even worse situation. He has been shorting the internet for years. Any seasoned investor would see that the current internet business model is not profitable at all, yet its market value is tens or hundreds of times higher, and its price-to-earnings ratio is practically a bubble.

To put it bluntly, for conservatives, even a dog would shake its head at the current market value of internet companies.

Therefore, Julian's shorting of internet companies is reasonable. However, Julian underestimated what fanaticism is, and there is another word: extreme fanaticism.

Forget about performance, market capitalization, price-to-earnings ratio, revenue, etc., nothing compares to the overwhelming optimism surrounding the internet industry!

When countless people around the world are optimistic about the internet, and when retail investors believe that as long as they open a Nasdaq account and buy internet stocks with their eyes closed, they can make a fortune, it means that the entire internet has reached the extreme of frenzy!
Julian's attempt to single-handedly confront the utterly fanatical global institutions and retail investors is nothing short of a futile endeavor.

In fact, Julian's Tiger Fund was right about the internet industry, but it still failed just before the dot-com bubble burst.

On the very day Tiger Fund went bankrupt, the Nasdaq index reached a historic high of 5132 points, and then the bubble burst!

Looking at the documents in his hand, and then at Li Dongling, Mo Gaoliang hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but couldn't.

"Mr. Li, I need to study these documents and Dongling High-Tech's internet business before I can make a decision."

However, I personally believe that we still need to be more cautious about internet businesses.

The internet may be the future, but right now, it is quite immature.

Although before every stock market crash, some people will say, "This time is different," history progresses in a spiral, and each historical event repeats itself. However, many people fail to remember history!

Mo Gaoliang had actually already subtly expressed his views to Li Dongling, but the internet was too frenzied and involved too many people, so Mo Gaoliang didn't dare to speak up easily and say that the internet bubble was about to burst.

However, Mo Gaoliang himself actually has some concerns about the internet.

Li Dashanren was waiting for Mo Gaoliang's words. With these words, Dongling Gaoke would have a theoretical basis for its future actions on the Internet.

"I, and Dongling High-Tech, both believe in Professor Mo!"

Regardless of Professor Mo's conclusion, Dongling Hi-Tech's plans in the internet industry will be primarily based on his findings!

The philanthropist Li has firmly welded a black pot onto Master Mo's back.

This isn't Dongling Hi-Tech trying to fleece investors; it's Master Mo who made Dongling Hi-Tech do it. Dongling Hi-Tech is also quite helpless and can only harvest investors with tears in their eyes...

(End of this chapter)