What's wrong with me being a rich man?

Chapter 602 The Portrait of the King of Short Sellers (4k)

On the first morning of the Internet Conference, only two influential companies, Alibaba and Silicon Carbon Data, gave speeches. In the afternoon, Baidu, Tencent, and Yu Xing, who was to fulfill his duty as host, took the stage.

Taking advantage of the change of speakers, Yu Xing changed his seat and sat next to Ma Chuan, who had just stepped off the stage.

He had just received another WeChat notification from He Xiaopeng, so he decided to lend a helping hand immediately.

Hearing Yu Xing's polite compliments on his speech, Ma Chuan asked first, "You and Bi Sheng seem to have a good relationship. Pinduoduo's foray into the lower-tier market is interesting."

“Bi Sheng and I used to record shows together and run our own shows, so of course we’re good friends. Now that my brother is successful, I’ll give him a hand if I can.” Yu Xing didn’t expect Ma Chuan to bring this up. Unsure of Ma Chuan’s attitude and observations about Pinduoduo, he said with a smile, “I think his Pinduoduo can still achieve some success.”

Ma Chuan commented condescendingly, "Hmm, it's similar to how we run Taobao villages."

Hearing this tone, Yu Xing felt much more at ease and, pointing at the other party's smugness, asked, "Your Taobao village is developing very quickly. How many are there now?"

Ma Chuan smiled slightly and gave a very accurate number: "About 830 nationwide."

The definition of Taobao Village comes from Alibaba's own research institute and is determined based on data such as annual transaction volume and the proportion of active online stores to households.

In 2009, three Taobao Villages were identified, and this year the number has reached 830, which is quite rapid.

Alibaba is also working on lower-tier markets, which gives it the confidence to examine and position Pinduoduo as a supplement. As for actions such as diverting traffic from Taobao's homepage and upgrading consumption on Tmall, these seem to be harmless.

"That's really impressive. Your business is sure to grow faster and faster. You should have mentioned this when you went on stage. With the right wording, you could say that your business is an emerging force that cannot be ignored in rural economic development." Yu Xingxian praised, then pondered, "It seems that Bi Sheng's Pinduoduo still needs to consider its prospects more carefully."

"What kind of sweet talk are you trying to give me?" Ma Chuan laughed. "You're trying to trick me into investing in Pinduoduo, aren't you? Was that what you were talking about when you went over there to see Pony?"

He was also curious about the exchange between President Yu and Pony.

"Hey, don't mention it. I wanted to talk about Liu Chiping's non-compete agreement." Yu Xing was telling the truth. "This has become too ugly. How should I put it? Even if I poached CEO Cai from Silicon Carbon, Alibaba shouldn't have been so ruthless."

Upon hearing the deliberately raised voice, Joseph Tsai quickly said, "I support taking drastic measures against Joseph Tsai, who has fled to Lingang!"

Ma Chuan controlled the volume of his laughter and then said, "You poached Liu Chiping, no wonder he came straight to Lingang to deal with you."

“It’s two different things. He’s actually working on the overseas market. Mr. Ma, think about it, that would directly get rid of the president’s position. I actually wanted him to work in the domestic market, but he wants to go abroad. This is quite a dilemma.” Yu Xing shook his head repeatedly.

Ma Chuan thought about it again and agreed with this point.

Yu Xing chatted for a couple more minutes before getting down to business: "But Mr. Ma, I really want to poach someone from your Alibaba."

"Fine, pay the breach of contract fee." Ma Chuan said directly without even asking who it was.

"You're the richest man in the country, why would you care about such a small amount?" Yu Xing feigned dissatisfaction, frowning as he said, "Besides, it's not like we're digging up carbon and silicon data, we're digging up data to work with me on building cars."

Ma Chuan was surprised: "Build cars? Who are you going to poach?"

Yu Xing said seriously, "It's He Xiaopeng, the CEO of your UC."

Ma Chuan suddenly realized, then exclaimed in surprise, "His interest in building cars has reached this level?"

He knew that He Xiaopeng was interested in new energy vehicles and had even made investments, but he really didn't expect it to have come to the point where he had to ask Mr. Yu to act as an intermediary.

Upon further reflection, Ma Chuan realized he had indeed been slow to catch on: "No wonder, that Orange Cars and XPeng Motors, no wonder."

He had also heard that Orange Auto had changed its name to XPeng Motors, and he didn't think this would be the final brand name. After all, in addition to He Xiaopeng's investment, there were also people from the internet industry such as Cheetah Mobile investing. Now it seems that their attitude is really firm.

"I'm really puzzled by why you guys would leave the internet industry and insist on getting into new energy vehicles." Ma Chuan said, somewhat bewildered. "Do you think the internet is a sunset industry? Or do you think Alibaba can't realize your dreams?"

"Is Alibaba going to build cars? If Alibaba builds cars, then the dream can probably be realized. What's the point of talking about dreams that are different?" Yu Xing laughed. "President He has a lot of insight into new energy vehicles. President Ma, how about it? If your heart isn't with you, there's no need to force it."

Ma Chuan found it somewhat absurd. He turned his head and exchanged a glance with Cai Chongxin, then asked incredulously, "You've already succeeded in building cars, but he's never built cars before. What could he possibly do to help you in the past?"

“Well, there’s not much for him to do here. After UC was acquired, there are other people to do the work. He’ll just be doing some peripheral businesses, like film and entertainment or games.” Yu Xing put it bluntly, “He can gain experience here and then go out and work on his own cars. That’s not a bad thing. It’s not a waste of his talent and life.”

That's very direct.

As a co-founder of UC who was acquired, He Xiaopeng will indeed find it difficult to reach a core position within the Alibaba system. Even Ma Chuan himself has not really considered such an arrangement. It is highly likely that he will work on derivative or ecosystem businesses in the future.

Ma Chuan pondered for a moment and said, "He should come and tell me himself."

Yu Xing laughed and said, "I just mentioned it since we're in Lingang. Alibaba doesn't lack talent, but our new energy industry is really short of talent. Jiuzhou's sales are good this year, but next year we will face the reduction of subsidies. The whole industry needs more projects and funds. If it weren't for this, I wouldn't have come to talk to you."

“I quite like Kyushu, but Mr. Yu can’t use your industry’s affairs to hold you hostage,” Cai Chongxin interjected. “If He Xiaopeng really wants to leave, then follow the procedures.”

“It’s not that I want to kidnap him, it’s that I believe that at Mr. Ma’s level, he’s not just looking at one industry.” Yu Xing said seriously. “After thinking it over, I think it’s a rare situation where everyone is happy, unlike what we’ve gotten into with Pony.”

Ma Chuan joked, "President Yu is putting another compliment on my head."

Yu Xing countered, "How many people are willing to flatter me?"

Ma Chuan smiled slightly: "This is ultimately a matter between He Xiaopeng and us, let him talk about it himself."

“That’s for sure, but Mr. Ma, give me a discount, give me a discount.” Yu Xing laughed, “Don’t leave them with nothing. We in the automotive industry are really afraid of not having money. The Carbon Silicon Group is in a hurry to go public because it wants to raise funds for projects. Otherwise, I would rather wait another two years.”

Ma Chuan turned around and looked at He Xiaopeng in the two rows behind him, then turned back when they met eyes: "Let him talk it out himself."

Alibaba wouldn't let him go, so He Xiaopeng couldn't leave, but now that he's agreed to talk, it's a good sign that things have improved.

Yu Xing felt that this was all the help he could offer, and the other party had already given him face.

He nodded and then started talking about the DT era that Ma Chuan had mentioned. After a few words, Ma Chuan asked about the DLF Foundation with interest.

The DLF Foundation conducts cutting-edge research in deep learning, but this is not currently given much attention in China.

When Yu Xing heard Ma Chuan ask about it, he felt that Ma Chuan had good judgment, so they chatted briefly.

After listening for a while, Tsai Chung-hsin wasn't very interested and found the speeches on stage boring. He took out his phone and scrolled through it for a bit. Suddenly, during a break in their conversation, he interrupted with a news report: "The big short sellers are shorting again."

Ma Chuan: "Hmm?" "This time, Guoshanfeng shorted a domestic company, Huishan Dairy, which is listed in Hong Kong," Cai Chongxin said. "Its market value is HK$300 billion, which is not a small amount. In just a short while, HK$40 billion has been lost, leaving HK$260 billion, oh no, HK$258 billion, um, HK$255 billion, HK$252 billion..."

Before he could finish speaking, Huishan Dairy's stock price plummeted.

Ma Chuan was slightly taken aback by this way of expressing it: "Good heavens, hundreds of millions per second! The destructive power of something like a mountain peak is truly immense."

Tsai Chung-hsin sighed, "If he weren't the king of short sellers, he would be. They say there are no wrong nicknames, only wrong names. The one who swept through the automotive industry last year was truly the king of short sellers."

Last year's short selling in the automotive industry triggered a chain reaction, and many well-known automakers are still embroiled in investigations and legal proceedings.

Compared to previous actions, today's move against Huishan Dairy is just a drop in the ocean.

Alibaba also has a deep impression of the mountain peak. When the transfer of control of Alipay was exposed, it was in a panic and had to negotiate with Yahoo.

Upon thinking of this, Ma Chuan frowned and asked, "Who exactly is this Guo Shanfeng?"

Cai Chongxin, recalling Guo Shanfeng's achievements, nodded and said, "Yes, who was it?"

Yu Xing added, "Yes, who is it?"

The three of them were each lost in their own thoughts.

Ma Chuan and Tsai Chung-hsin quickly gave up on this question that even the international investigation team couldn't answer. However, behind them, there was a faint whispered discussion about "over the mountain peak," indicating that the internet industry was also very familiar with the king of short selling.

Yu Xing also heard a comment that left him both amused and exasperated.

"The year is almost over, and Guoshanfeng should be coming out soon. I guess he needs to meet this year's KPI."

Guoshanfeng seems to be trying to meet its KPIs, but Huishan Dairy, which was stabbed in the back, is really suffering. The entire company, from top to bottom, never expected to meet the king of short sellers, especially on such a crucial issue...

Alfalfa.

Why would the king of short sellers pay attention to something like this?

When Yang Kai, the richest man in Liaoning Province, received the report, his heart sank. Seeing the rapidly evaporating market value, he felt as if he had fallen to the bottom of the abyss.

The alfalfa fraud by Huishan Dairy did not begin this year.

Yang Kai had seen news reports of Shan Feng's actions in previous years and felt uneasy about them, but he never expected that the opponent would actually come to him.

He forced himself to remain calm, read the short-selling report from the "King of Short Sellers" twice, and immediately demanded that the company issue an announcement to deny the allegations, at least to cool down the plummeting stock price.

Alfalfa...

Soon after, Huishan Dairy issued a statement refuting Guoshanfeng's short selling and downplaying the damaging nature of their data, acknowledging that while their alfalfa is not 100% self-produced, their self-production rate is as high as 85%.

As for the foreign alfalfa manufacturers mentioned by Guo Shanfeng, they filled the 15% gap.

The reason for this discrepancy is twofold: firstly, the Liaohe River suffered a disaster that reduced production; and secondly, the company's development speed was too fast.

Is it fake? Yes, it is fake, but not a major fake, just a minor fake.

Moreover, this short break was caused by the company's rapid growth.

Huishan Dairy's statement attempted to mitigate the impact by combining denial with countermeasures, and even presented multiple certificates from local departments to help corroborate its claims.

The stock price is still falling, but it has slowed down. The market doesn't really understand the true situation of alfalfa. The explanation from Huishan Dairy seems to hold up, at least logically.

By the end of the morning session of the Internet Conference, Huishan Dairy had successfully countered the short sellers in terms of stock price.

This incident became the most talked-about topic of conversation at the luncheon.

“Wow, Huishan Dairy is really something.” Zhou Hongyi, who has been harassed by short sellers many times in recent years, praised Huishan Dairy for its tactful response. “It only dropped by 50%, wiping out only HK$150 billion, which is already very impressive.”

"Hey, Mr. Zhou, that's not precise enough," Sohu's Zhang Chaoyang corrected. "It's 48.5%, a loss of HK$145.9 billion. It's only close to being halved, not halved yet. It's encountered a setback after reaching its peak."

Despite its market value nearly halved, Huishan Dairy is riding high.

The stock price didn't even drop by half, and the king of short sellers suffered a setback.

Yu Xing ate and drank with a serious expression.

Zhang Chaoyang nudged President Yu, who was engrossed in eating, with his elbow: "Hey, hey, look at Jiang Nanchun over there. His face looks so serious, like he's been shorted by Guo Shanfeng."

He said this, then suddenly pretended to realize something: "No, no, he really was shorted by Guo Shanfeng."

Those who heard this burst out laughing.

Yu Xing couldn't help but laugh, but still stopped him, saying, "Hey, Mr. Zhang, don't be so harsh. Abandon evil and do good."

Zhang Chaoyang was discussing cooperation with Carbon Silicon Data, and he gave President Yu a lot of face. Upon hearing this, he raised his glass and said, "I'll punish myself with a drink, punish myself with a drink. I went too far, so please don't talk about it in front of him."

He took a drink as punishment, and after putting down the glass, he brought up his collaboration with Silicon Carbon Data, promoting an interesting new feature: "By the way, we've teamed up with Silicon Carbon to create a game where you can sculpt a face using your voice. We listen to your voices and sculpt your faces. Come and try it out later to see if it looks like you!"

Just yesterday, the game "Sword Immortal" launched its closed beta test and opened up its audio-visual features.

On the very first day of the Internet Conference, an ordinary gamer named Pang Ze remembered the call recordings he had downloaded from a forum on his old phone. He first tried to customize his voice and avatar, but found the effect unsatisfactory, so he dug out his phone again.

He uploaded the recording and saw the face generated in the game. Hmm... it looked quite realistic, it even had an Eastern face. Hmm, maybe the game developers didn't design any Western faces at all.

Pang Ze thought and thought, feeling that it seemed somewhat familiar but he couldn't figure out why.

He casually took a screenshot, captioned it "Portrait of the King of Short Sellers," and posted it on Douyin.

(End of this chapter)