What's wrong with me being a rich man?

Chapter 554 Impact (4k)

Toshiba employees performed seppuku!
But a cesarean section won't solve the problem!
The internal auditor, Shimaoka Sei, used a decisive approach... I don't know what he was trying to do, but he probably just wanted to show his attitude. However, Toshiba's stock price seemed to rebound in shock before it was hit by an even bigger sell-off.

Everyone figured it out: why perform a cesarean section when everything is fine? This very act proves that there is indeed a serious problem.

In particular, Shimaoka Satoshi is in charge of the company's internal audit, so he must know more inside information.

Throughout the morning, Toshiba's stock price fluctuated and struggled, but it had already fallen by 28% from the opening price of 420 yen. The stock price of 302 yen also meant that its market value had evaporated by more than $70 billion.

Meanwhile, more and more related and unrelated information was exposed amidst the chaos.

What is most surprising is that, due to the temporary restrictions imposed by the Japanese Financial Services Agency, US institutions such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley disclosed their short positions, not against Toshiba, but against several listed companies including Nissan, Mitsubishi, and Hiroshima Bank.

This caused an uproar in public opinion.

No wonder no one from the mountain peaks came out to talk about the changes in Japanese rules; instead, it was Wall Street institutions that came out to criticize. It turns out they were hit directly by the stone!

Secondly, according to sources close to Toshiba's top management, Shimaoka Satoshi, who committed seppuku to express his determination, had repeatedly reported to CFO Kubo Makoto that the PC division's accounts were irregular, especially that it inflated profits by pushing inventory onto sales.

As a result, CFO Makoto Kubo refused to launch an investigation, citing concerns about the impact on the release of financial statements, and warned Satoshi Shimaoka.

Finally, the Japan Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission has launched a secret investigation into the Toshiba issue. The investigation has uncovered problems involving unrecorded losses from multiple projects, but the final results have not yet been released.

Within half a day, the news was flying everywhere.

At 2 p.m., Toshiba's press conference finally arrived, albeit belatedly.

President Hisao Tanaka admitted to some irregularities in financial operations in front of the media and said that a third-party committee composed of former judicial professionals would be established to conduct an independent investigation. At the same time, CFO Makoto Kubo, who was also present at the meeting, agreed to take responsibility and announced his resignation on the spot.

However, the resignation of a single CFO is clearly not enough.

Although the press conference did not include a Q&A session, reporters from several prominent Japanese media outlets surrounded the two Toshiba executives, with one question being particularly targeted.

"President Tanaka, why haven't you resigned?"

After finishing the press conference, Hisao Tanaka tried to leave without saying a word. Hearing this question, his face darkened even more. He tried to turn around to answer the reporter's question, but was immediately overwhelmed by more pointed questions.

The Toshiba president will probably still have to resign.

Following Toshiba's press conference, the stock price stabilized somewhat, barely falling by 30%, which can only be considered a small 50% drop.

However, just as the Japanese stock market was about to close, Goldman Sachs, not one to be outdone, once again voiced its opinion, pointing out that there might be bigger problems with a key Toshiba acquisition.

In 2006, Toshiba acquired a 77% stake in Westinghouse Electric for $54 billion, which was considered an astronomical price that far exceeded industry expectations at the time.

它在2007年追加投资16亿美元，持股增加至87%，又在2013年用16亿美元收购剩余的13%股份，实现100%控股。

However, Westinghouse Electric's business is already in a downturn, and coupled with the impact of the Fukushima disaster in 2011, according to Goldman Sachs, Toshiba will have to write down at least $20 billion in impairment losses on Westinghouse Electric this year, which would be the largest single asset write-down in Toshiba's history.

Goldman Sachs has clearly conducted research in this area, listing four Westinghouse reactor projects in Georgia and South Carolina that have been severely over budget and delayed. Among them, the Vogtle project in Georgia has been delayed for three years and has been over budget by $30 billion.

In short, Westinghouse Electric, which is now wholly owned by Toshiba, is a huge financial black hole.

Goldman Sachs offered the worst-case scenario analysis, suggesting that Westinghouse Electric might face bankruptcy in the future. After all, its parent company, Toshiba, is also experiencing a significant deterioration in its financial situation and is unable to provide further support. Westinghouse Electric alone would struggle to bear the enormous expenditures.

At 3 p.m. Tokyo time, Toshiba's stock price, which had already stabilized after a decline, suddenly plunged again before the market closed, but stopped only halfway down, leaving the market with room for imagination the next day.

Goldman Sachs, which had been hit by the rock, then threw a very heavy rock at Toshiba, which was also experiencing a landslide.

This time, it was officials from Japan's Financial Services Agency who issued harsh criticisms of Goldman Sachs.

Yu Xing observed the changes on the Japanese side in Lingang with great interest.

Guo Shanfeng also mentioned Westinghouse Electric's decline, because as an important asset of Toshiba, the delays in its projects were a given, but he did not provide a detailed analysis of the specific losses and trends. Goldman Sachs, which was alarmed, filled in this gap well.

Yu Xing believes that, including the man who underwent cesarean section, his actions clearly accelerated the exposure of the internal situation at Toshiba, putting greater pressure on those involved.

This is perhaps what is meant by "just start a group, and people will naturally follow."

He then couldn't help but think for a few minutes about Xiaoying's goal from last night—whether the Indian market could achieve the same results…

By 3 p.m. in Shanghai, almost all the authoritative information from Japan had been released, followed by a variety of rumors. The most widespread rumor was that the attack was launched after being tipped off by someone inside Toshiba.

As for who the whistleblower is...

It is said that it was precisely because Guo Shanfeng leaked the whistleblower's name that this person ultimately committed seppuku.

The rumors were so detailed and convincing that Yu Xing himself almost believed them.

dong dong dong.

There was a knock on the door of the president's office.

Liu Chiping walked into the office and saw the smile that hadn't faded from his boss's face. He asked, "President Yu, is there good news again from the Silicon Carbon Group?"

“The Silicon Carbon Group is doing normally, and its normality is good news.” Yu Xing didn’t hide anything and laughed, “I was looking at Toshiba’s situation. Many people are talking about the appearance of that mountain peak, and I happened to have some free time to take a look as well.”

Liu Chiping nodded slightly and commented, "Guo Shanfeng is quite an oddball."

Yu Xing believes that the word "奇葩" here should be a positive term.

He smiled, but didn't continue the conversation. Instead, he asked, "Chiping, do you have any new ideas about Mus?"

This was a time that Liu Chiping had specifically arranged before flying to Singapore, so his attitude was very serious.

Liu Chiping paused for a few seconds before making his request: "President Yu, you can actually just call me by my name, or my English name is fine too. If that's not possible, you can give me a nickname, like Ali, I'll be more used to it."

“You’re a senior, how can I call you by your first name?” Yu Xing laughed. “I definitely can’t use your English name either, otherwise you might not be able to tell if it’s me or Pony calling you. Nicknames don’t fit our habits. Mr. Liu, you go ahead, you go ahead.” Liu Chiping was already somewhat used to Mr. Yu sometimes using the nickname Pony. Seeing that the way he addressed him was normal, he said, “Mr. Yu, you just said that as long as the Silicon Carbon Group is operating normally, that’s good news. I agree. I just hope that MusVid can also operate normally.”

Yu Xing countered, "Do you think MusVid is malfunctioning right now?"

Liu Chiping nodded in confirmation without hesitation; this was the first time he had shown such a resolute attitude and stance since arriving in Lingang.

Yu Xing filled his teacup to the brim, indicating that he was listening.

“I’ve been learning about and studying Mus these past few days. Xing Hongyu has helped me a lot, and President Zhong and President Lü have also given me a lot of help. As a software that has gone from China to the world, Mus is undoubtedly successful, but it can actually be even more successful,” Liu Chiping said. “I don’t mean that it will be more successful if I come here, but that whoever had given Muss a free pass earlier could have scaled it up to a much larger scale.”

“I know that Mr. Yu is considering the issue of carbon silicon data repurchasing MUS shares, which is why the financing has been slow, but this is unfair to MUS.”

"It should launch a new round of financing as soon as possible. The carbon silicon data platform already has substantial influence over it. We can also use super voting rights in the financing to ensure control. Even if the valuation is high in the future, that should not be a problem."

Liu Chiping raised a question that no one had ever discussed with Yu Xing before.

The development of MusVid has been artificially slowed down.

“Mus considers many factors, but…” Yu Xing wanted to explain his thoughts, but he was not the stubborn type. After thinking for more than ten seconds, he said, “But what you said makes sense. Investors don’t really care about the silicon carbon platform.”

Investors don't care much about the importance of product and team structure; what they care about are users, scale, data, and story.

MusVid can showcase more of what investors like.

Liu Chiping was pleased to see Mr. Yu make such a statement, and said with a smile: "I believe that both IDG and Capital Today will be happy to invest."

“If we want to push for Mus to raise funds, I hope it will focus more on acquiring resources beyond just funding. Both of them are much weaker in this regard overseas,” Yu Xing commented fairly. “Actually, Facebook contacted Mus at the beginning of the year, hoping to negotiate an acquisition price.”

Liu Chiping was surprised, as this was news he hadn't heard at all since arriving in Lingang recently.

For a moment, he felt that he hadn't yet integrated into Lingang, but then he realized that neither Zhong Zhiling nor Lü Haiying needed to hide such information. Therefore, this contact indicating an intention to acquire must be a more secretive channel.

As expected, Yu Xing's next words proved Liu Chiping's keen insight.

“This was through Jimmy’s contact. He, a Facebook board member, was quite happy to see Facebook acquire Mus,” Yu Xing said. “Facebook’s offer was also quite sincere, willing to negotiate on a $3 million basis, but I rejected it.”

MusVid's initial valuation was only $3000 million. Later, as its product logic was validated and its user base grew, although it did not continue to raise funds, its valuation more than doubled.

Even so, Facebook's prices are still quite generous.

Jimmy Breyer Capital was still annoyed that Yu Xing refused to be acquired by Facebook, while Yu Xing reassured him that "it can be worth ten or a hundred times more in the future."

Liu Chiping was not shaken by Facebook's price. He was a worldly man, or rather, someone who had been in charge of worldly affairs. He simply commented, "Facebook has always had a good eye for acquisitions."

Yu Xing laughed and said, "I also think so. Hmm, if Mus promotes development, it might be able to go public in the future, and then directly use Carbon Silicon Data to backdoor list. That would save a lot of trouble."

Liu Chiping had not considered this aspect, and after a brief moment of thought, he did not offer any ideas.

Having secured Mr. Yu's support, he then smoothly moved on to another question: "Mr. Yu, does the Silicon Carbon Group really have plans for a rapid IPO?"

Yu Xing nodded and said, "Yes, the Carbon Silicon Group needs funds to expand its development. The market for new energy electric vehicles is still huge, far beyond what it is now. The next stage will be intelligent driving, which is linked to data and will become a carrier of innovation."

After thinking for a moment, Liu Chiping said, "Carbon silicon data can indeed provide assistance in this regard, and its expertise in data will become increasingly profound."

Yu Xing said with a smile, "President Liu, this is a good idea. Everyone is talking about 'Lingang dual carbon silicon' now. If there is more business cooperation between the two sides, it may become Lingang's carbon silicon in the future. This is the ultimate killing move I have thought of, called carbon silicon fusion."

Liu Chiping remained silent. He was not an expert in the new energy industry and intuitively believed that intelligent driving was still a long way off, and that the value of data in new energy should be further explored.

However, if the day ever comes when carbon and silicon are fused...

Liu Chiping joked, "President Yu, if you put it that way, I'll have to ask for more stock options."

“If Mus does well, its options can also be injected into silicon carbide,” Yu Xing said thoughtfully. “But for now… let’s work together and see how far we can go. I think the overseas market is very suitable for you to make your mark.”

Liu Chiping felt the same way, otherwise he wouldn't have come here.

The two chatted for a long time in the office, only stopping when it got dark.

"eat together?"

Yu Xinggang had just finished preparing dinner when he received a call on his phone from Cai Haoyu of Zhejiang Investment Group.

He answered the phone: "Mr. Cai, what's up?"

Cai Haoyu's tone was a little excited: "President Yu, do you have plans to look for factories outside your company for your new factory?"

Yu Xing remained silent, lost in thought.

“President Yu, we’re all on the same side. You said last time that you would prioritize your hometown. You can’t keep this from us!” Cai Haoyu brought up the topic they had just discussed.

"Whose mouth was so quick to speak? We don't have any concrete plans; we just discussed the future briefly at today's meeting." Yu Xing said somewhat helplessly, "It was purely an internal discussion; we're not seeking any external contact."

Cai Haoyu sighed, "President Yu, you don't seek contact with the outside world, but the outside world wants to contact you."

He said earnestly, "President Yu, Brother Yu, the provincial leaders want to come to Lingang for an inspection in the next couple of days, and we hope you can host them."

Yu Xing asked, "Who came?"

Cai Haoyu said a name.

Yu Xing was even more helpless: "It's not that bad. Given our situation, we still need to stabilize our production capacity and advantages. The new factory plan is not in the near future. Even if the leaders come, I can't give a definite answer."

"President Yu, you should have known about the impact when the monthly carbon and silicon rankings came out," Cai Haoyu said solemnly. "Whoever is in charge of the liaison is the right person to do it."

(End of this chapter)