The Red Era: Living in Seclusion in a Siheyuan as a Boss

Chapter 789 Five hundred million US dollars is no problem!!!
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhang Lei's phone suddenly vibrated.

The screen displayed an emergency alert from the Tokyo branch: "A large-scale sell-off has occurred in the Nikkei index futures market, suspected to be a coordinated action by hedge funds."

Zhang Lei calmly put down his napkin: "Mr. Stone, you seem to have forgotten the resilience of the Asian market." He tapped his phone lightly and sent a pre-set command: "In 1997, we were able to use our foreign exchange reserves to defeat Soros, and today we can do the same to Blackstone."

Meanwhile, central banks from mainland China, Singapore, Tokyo, and Seoul have reached a joint action agreement.

Stone's face instantly turned ashen.

His headset crackled with a panicked report from a trader: "Boss, our short positions in all Asian markets have been precisely targeted!"

At this moment, Liu Shudong was in charge of the transaction command center in Central, where the global capital flow was displayed in real time on a large screen.

When he saw the mysterious buy orders suddenly appearing on the London Metal Exchange, he smiled victoriously: "Zhang Lei did a good job, using the methods Stone is best at to counter him."

The following morning, the Financial Times' front-page headline shocked the world: "Asia's financial defense wins a major victory, Blackstone suffers more than $80 billion loss in a single day."

Three months later, at the Davos Forum in Switzerland, Zhang Lei delivered a speech as a representative of "Liu's Financial Investment".

When he spoke about the “new financial security concept,” Mark Stone, sitting in the front row, quietly removed his conference badge.

After the speech, Liu Shudong handed a glass of champagne to his disciple in the lounge: "Ten years ago I taught you how to defend, now you've learned how to attack. Next, it's our turn to set the rules of the game."

Zhang Lei accepted the champagne, gently swirling the golden liquid in his glass, his gaze drifting through the floor-to-ceiling windows towards the snow-capped Alps.

“Teacher, this victory is just the beginning.” He took a sip of champagne. “I planted a seed on the London Stock Exchange, and now it’s time for it to sprout.”

“The LME nickel contract has been settled, and the acquisition agreement for the nickel mine in Borneo by Liu’s Mining Group has just been signed.” Zhang Lei smiled slightly as he looked at Liu Shudong.

"Good, well done!" Liu Shudong suddenly burst into laughter upon hearing this, drawing the attention of the surrounding guests.

"What a brilliant move to feign an attack on one front while secretly advancing another!" Liu Shudong patted his beloved disciple on the shoulder. "Using financial warfare to cover up real-world business development—that's the real game-changer."

Under the crystal chandelier in the banquet hall, Liu Shudong noticed several members of the Middle Eastern royal family walking towards them.

He straightened his tie and said in a low voice, "The Dubai sovereign wealth fund secretly injected capital into our 'Spring Rain' mutual fund last week."

In order to secure a stable supply of crude oil, we need to make some concessions, and relations between the two sides should continue to be strengthened…

Stone, watching from afar through his champagne glass, noticed this and a tiny crack suddenly appeared in the glass in his hand.

His assistant rushed over and whispered a few words to him, and the financial tycoon's face immediately turned ashen—news had just come from Wall Street that Xia Guo Rare Earth Group had suddenly announced the implementation of an export quota system.

Liu Shudong keenly noticed Stone's loss of composure and gave Zhang Lei a wink.

The young student knowingly raised his glass and walked toward the Middle Eastern guests, his fluent Arabic catching everyone's eye.

"It seems we played our 'rare earth card' at the right time." Liu Shudong took a sip of champagne and glanced around the room.

He noticed that representatives of the Japanese Mitsubishi Group were talking quietly with a German industrial giant, while the head of the Indian Tata Group kept glancing in their direction.

At that moment, Zhang Lei's phone vibrated, and an encrypted message from the London branch caught his eye: "LME nickel inventory data has been modified, and Goldman Sachs' short position has been locked." He calmly deleted the message, and as he turned around, he met his teacher's meaningful gaze.

“Teacher, do you remember our conversation in Zurich ten years ago?” Zhang Lei said softly, “about the idea of ​​global commodity pricing power.”

A hint of approval flashed in Liu Shudong's eyes: "Now the time is ripe. The nickel mines in Borneo, the cobalt mines in Africa, and the lithium mines in Chile are the strategic resources for our mining group for the next thirty years."

On the other side of the banquet hall, the French Minister of Energy was walking briskly toward them.

Liu Shudong straightened his cuffs and said in a low voice, "The EU's new energy bill will be voted on next week. It's time to show our sincerity."

Outside the window, the twilight of the Alps gradually enveloped the town of Davos.

But the power struggle within the venue was just beginning to reach its climax. The crystal chandelier illuminated everyone's expressions with exceptional clarity—some were smug and self-satisfied, some were feigning composure, while many more were secretly reassessing the new players in this global capital game.

Just as the French Minister of Energy was about to approach, Zhang Lei's phone vibrated again.

He quickly scanned the screen, his pupils contracting slightly—Borneo had suddenly announced a suspension of nickel ore export approvals.

“It seems our Borneo friends are very trustworthy.” Liu Shudong raised his glass knowingly and clinked glasses with the Energy Minister who was walking towards him. “Mr. Minister, perhaps we can discuss more favorable terms regarding the EU’s battery supply agreement for new energy sources.”

In a corner of the banquet hall, Mark Stone was urgently summoning his staff.

His chief analyst said, trembling, "Boss, I just received news that the Liu Group's acquisition of the cobalt mine in Congo Silver in Africa has been completed. They now control 23% of the global battery-grade cobalt supply."

Meanwhile, Zhang Lei was already having a pleasant conversation with the Middle Eastern guests.

“Your Highness,” Zhang Lei smiled and turned to the Crown Prince of Dubai, “our newly established ‘Hong Kong Commodity Exchange’ looks forward to cooperating with your country’s sovereign wealth fund.”

Especially in the area of ​​crude oil RMB settlement, Liu's Bank can provide a complete solution.

Liu Shudong joined the conversation at the opportune moment, taking a cup of Arabic coffee from the waiter's tray: "Just as our ancestors connected the East and the West through the Silk Road, now it is our turn to reshape the rules of trade in the 21st century."

Suddenly, the sound of shattering glass came from the other end of the banquet hall.

Everyone turned to look and saw Stone's assistant frantically wiping the champagne spilled on Stone.

Zhang Lei and his teacher Liu Shudong exchanged a knowing glance.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, the last rays of the setting sun painted the snow-capped peaks gold, as if crowning this war without gunpowder.

Duan Yongping, who was far away at the headquarters of "Jingxi Capital" in Beijing, did not attend this year's Davos Forum.

Duan Yongping is warmly receiving a rising star in the internet industry.

He is Wang Zhidong, the founder of New Wolf.

Duan Yongping personally poured Wang Zhidong a cup of pre-Qingming Longjing tea. Amidst the fragrant aroma of the tea, the electronic screen on the wall was displaying live footage of the Davos meeting.

“Old Wang, you’ve come at the perfect time,” Duan Yongping said, pointing to the screen showing Liu Shudong clinking glasses with a Middle Eastern crown prince. “Our ‘Jingxi Capital’ and Hong Kong’s ‘Liu’s Overseas’ are of the same ilk. Believe in our strength. With both of us stepping in to support the market, ‘Sina’ will definitely be able to hit its peak and rebound.”

Wang Zhidong understood and put down his teacup. He took out a document from his briefcase and said somewhat urgently, "President Duan, our 'New Wolf' has completed the deployment of its six newly built data centers in the Asia-Pacific region."

The company is currently short of funds and urgently needs financing. We hope your group can provide assistance…

"Approximately how much funding do you need?" Duan Yongping asked in a deep voice.

"It will probably cost around 5 million US dollars, the more the better..." At this moment, Wang Zhidong was no longer acting like an internet tycoon. Because he needed Duan Yongping's help, he lacked confidence.

Wang Zhidong is no nobody; on the contrary, he is a well-known figure in China's internet industry. Born in the late 1960s in Dongguan, Guangdong Province, he was a "tech prodigy" from a young age—he taught himself programming in junior high school, wrote games in assembly language in high school, and was admitted to the Department of Radio Electronics at Yenching University with excellent grades in the college entrance examination.

At Yenching University, he became obsessed with low-level computer technology, participated in the development of a domestic operating system, and dreamed of "making chips and operating systems of our own."

However, upon graduation, Wang Zhidong discovered that China's information technology foundation was weak, and hardware research and development was restricted by foreign technology blockades, making it difficult to realize his "chip dream" in the short term.

After graduating from university, Wang Zhidong joined Yanda Fangyuan Group, where he was responsible for developing the Chinese typesetting software "Fangyuan Feiyang".

He led his team to overcome the compatibility challenges of Chinese character laser typesetting systems, making the Fangyuan system the mainstream tool in the domestic printing industry.

This experience made Wang Zhidong realize that "technology must be combined with market demand, otherwise even the best invention can only be locked in the laboratory."

A few years later, Wang Zhidong was sent to the United States for further studies, where he came into contact with the rudiments of the Internet in Silicon Valley.

"When I saw Americans communicating via email and BBS, I realized that this was the way information would be transmitted in the future." Wang Zhidong resolutely gave up his doctoral degree, returned to China to start a business, and was determined to "bring the Internet to China".

Wang Zhidong founded Batong Lifang Information Technology Co., Ltd. with the goal of developing Chinese web software.

In the early days of his business, he and his team lived in a rented room in Zhongguancun, Yanjing, and built one of the earliest Chinese forum systems in China, "Lifang Online," using a second-hand server.

This forum quickly attracted a group of technology enthusiasts and overseas students, becoming one of the earliest internet communities in China.

That summer, a sudden typhoon swept through the Pearl River Delta.

Wang Zhidong stood in the simple office of Batong Lifang, looking out at the streets washed by the torrential rain. On the computer screen, a celebration page for surpassing 10 users was displayed.

His partner suddenly burst through the door, clutching documents he had just retrieved from customs: "Old Wang, Sun's servers have arrived!"

This $20 Sun Enterprise 450 server was purchased by Wang Zhidong using funds from his first round of venture capital.

When the engineers unpacked it, everyone held their breath—the silver-gray chassis gleamed coldly in the dim office, like a sword about to be drawn.

“Migrate Lifang Online to the new server.” Wang Zhidong stroked the Sun Microsystems logo on the chassis and turned to his team. “What we want to do is not just a forum, but a portal for the Chinese Internet.”

His gaze pierced through the torrential rain, as if he could see the future—at that time, no one could have imagined that this decision would give birth to the "new wolf" with a market value of hundreds of billions of dollars.

In the mid-to-late 1990s, the Chinese internet experienced a boom, with portal websites becoming the hottest trend.

Wang Zhidong astutely observed that pure technology companies are unlikely to grow large and must shift to a "content + platform" model.

He overcame opposition and pushed for the merger of Octopus Network with Huayuan Information, the largest Chinese website in North America, to form SINA.

The merged "New Wolf" integrated Huayuan's overseas resources with Batong Lifang's local technology, becoming Xia Guo's first portal website spanning China and the United States.

After the establishment of "New Wolf", Wang Zhidong made two key decisions:
First, there's the "news supermarket" model: "New Wolf" pioneered the "editor's picks + massive information" model, aggregating domestic and international news, sports, finance, and other content onto one platform, allowing users to access comprehensive information without having to switch between multiple websites.

The concept of "news supermarket" has overturned the traditional media distribution method, making "New Wolf" the preferred entry point for netizens to obtain information.

Secondly, it cooperated with "Mobile Dream Network": On the eve of the bursting of the Internet bubble in 2000, "New Wolf" seized the opportunity of China Mobile's launch of "Mobile Dream Network" and took the lead in launching a mobile WAP version of news service.

Users subscribe to news via SMS, and "New Wolf" charges a share of the revenue per message.

This model not only allowed the "new wolf" to survive the harsh winter, but also pioneered mobile internet value-added services in Xia Kingdom.

On April 20, 1999, "New Wolf" successfully listed on NASDAQ in America, raising $200 million and becoming the first portal website in China to be listed in the United States.

On the day of its IPO, "New Wolf" stock price soared from its offering price of $20 to $39, and its market capitalization once exceeded $20 billion.

Wang Zhidong, only 33 years old, along with Zhang Chaoyang of "Sohu" and Ding Lei of NetEase, were known as the "Three Musketeers of the Internet" and became benchmark figures in China's Internet industry.

After its IPO, "New Wolf" accelerated its expansion and its media influence increased dramatically.

During last year's "building collision incident," "New Wolf" became the first media outlet in China to report on the incident thanks to its global network of reporters and real-time update mechanism, with daily visits exceeding ten million.
In the sports and finance sectors: launched the "New Wolf Sports" channel and signed rights to top sports events such as the NBA;
Establish "New Wolf Finance" to cover stocks, funds, wealth management and other fields, and become a leading platform for financial information services;

Wang Zhidong also emphasized technological investment, developing an "intelligent recommendation algorithm" to push personalized news based on users' browsing habits, a full ten years earlier than Toutiao.

However, the decline that followed its peak came unexpectedly.

The bursting of the dot-com bubble that began last year has caused Newwolf's stock price to plummet to below $1, and it is now facing the risk of delisting.

Faced with increasingly severe financial pressure, "New Wolf" Company is planning to introduce multiple investment institutions, a move that will make the company's equity structure more diversified.

Although Wang Zhidong, as the company's CEO, still maintains a leadership position, his influence on the company's strategic decisions is gradually weakening.

At this critical juncture, Wang Zhidong chose to personally visit "Jingxi Capital" to seek cooperation opportunities with Duan Yongping.

Duan Yongping is known in the industry as a "timely rain in the investment world," and his professional competence and business reputation are highly regarded.

After weighing the pros and cons, Wang Zhidong preferred to transfer the shares to "Jingxi Capital" rather than sell them to other investment institutions.

In stark contrast to the steady and professional investment style of "Jingxi Capital," other institutions often adopt more aggressive investment strategies.

Wang Zhidong, who is well-versed in the ways of the business world, naturally understood what was more important and made the best choice.

Duan Yongping was fully aware of the purpose of Wang Zhidong's visit.

Duan Yongping picked up his teacup, his gaze sweeping through the rising steam as he examined the legendary figure in the internet world before him.

Outside the office's floor-to-ceiling windows, the neon lights of Victory Avenue gradually illuminated in the twilight, as if witnessing this meeting that could potentially change the landscape of the leading portal website, "New Wolf."

“Mr. Wang, we all understand the value of ‘New Wolf’.” Duan Yongping gently put down his teacup, his fingertips tapping out a steady rhythm on the solid wood table. “But in today’s market environment, we need a more pragmatic valuation method.”

Wang Zhidong took out a blue folder from his briefcase, the gold-embossed "SINA" lettering on the cover shimmering slightly under the light.

"This is our list of technology patents and user data reports, including the prototype of the intelligent recommendation system that we just developed." He opened the document, and a number circled in red on a certain page showed that NewWolf still maintains an average of 800 million daily active users.

Wang Zhidong calmly turned to the last page of the folder: "This is our renewed mobile value-added service contract with the three major operators, guaranteeing a minimum revenue share of $1.2 million over the next three years."

He paused, "More importantly, New Wolf possesses the most complete news gathering and editing qualifications in the country, a threshold that newcomers will find difficult to overcome within the next five years..."

“Five hundred million US dollars is no problem, we’ll invest…” Duan Yongping said slowly.

"Our future plans... What did you say? I'm so sorry, I didn't hear you clearly..." Wang Zhidong said in disbelief.

(End of this chapter)