In Hong Kong, we build a global business empire

Chapter 446: Could the mastermind behind this be Jardine Matheson?

As for the outside world's reaction, Lin Haoran is currently unclear about the specific situation.

However, from some negative reports in newspapers, Lin Haoran has vaguely realized that this may spark a widespread controversy.

Even if these media outlets don't dare to offend him in person in the future, they will dare to say anything behind his back for traffic.

Perhaps this incident will really cause fluctuations in the entire Hong Kong real estate market.

Even so, he does not plan to take any direct action at this stage.

Lin Haoran sat on the sofa in the villa, his fingers gently running across the words on the newspaper, his brows furrowed from time to time.

He has always been indifferent to outside speculation and discussion.

After all, the ups and downs in the business world can never be influenced by a few words.

He gently put down the newspaper and looked out the window. Hong Kong was slightly warmer today. Even so, the temperature in the early morning was still only around 10 degrees Celsius.

He inspected all the companies under his control yesterday, and had nothing to do today, so he did not plan to go out in the morning.

Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, it is already noon.

After lunch, Lin Haoran returned to his study, picked up a business book, turned to the bookmarked part, and was about to continue reading.

At this moment, the telephone in the study rang.

Lin Haoran could only close the book again, put it on the desk beside him, stood up, picked up the phone and answered the call.

"Boss, I'm Cui Zilong. I have something to report to you." After the call was connected, Cui Zilong confirmed that it was Lin Haoran's voice and spoke.

"Well, go ahead." Although Lin Haoran didn't know what Cui Zilong was going to say, he didn't think much about it and let Cui Zilong continue.

"That's right, Boss. You should have seen the report in the newspaper this morning. According to our people, the whole of Hong Kong is now talking about you instructing your company to sell off real estate projects and land.

Under the guidance of some newspapers, many people began to worry whether you are pessimistic about the future of Hong Kong's real estate industry. Therefore, many people are now worried that Hong Kong's real estate will plummet as a result.

In addition, there is another important feedback. As of noon today, the number of customers received by major sales offices has dropped by at least 90% compared with usual times. There are almost no customers. Even some properties that were originally extremely popular seemed particularly deserted this morning.

In addition, we learned from the Land Registry of the Hong Kong Registrar General's Office that out of the more than 800 owners who had made appointments to transfer property this morning, less than 100 people finally showed up, and most of them chose to suspend or terminate the transaction.

Based on the above information, this media report may have a significant impact on the real estate industry." Cui Zilong reported the current market situation to Lin Haoran in detail.

After listening to Cui Zilong's report, Lin Haoran couldn't help but frown.

These unscrupulous media outlets are really hoping for chaos in the world!
He had never expected that these media outlets could cause such a stir with just a few reports.

He originally had the rumor spread in order to mitigate the possible negative impact of selling off the real estate project.

But now that the incident has been hyped up by the media, citizens will no longer bother to delve into the reasons behind it.

In this case, wouldn't he be labeled as the sinner of Hong Kong's real estate industry?
There are really a lot of people who have been offended.

In recent years, Hong Kong's real estate industry has been booming, with daily transaction volumes remaining high. It is common to see thousands of houses sold in a single day.

After all, housing prices continue to rise, attracting almost all middle-class and above people to join in.

"Is there a powerful force behind this that is deliberately guiding this?" Lin Haoran pondered in his heart.

Although he is now quite powerful in Hong Kong, it is still in the colonial environment after all.

No matter how strong he is, he is just a businessman after all.

In this complex and ever-changing society, if someone wants to deal with him, it is not impossible.

Thinking of this, Lin Haoran couldn't help feeling a little worried.

"Mr. Cui, do you think there is someone behind this who wants to deal with me?" Lin Haoran asked straight to the point.

"Boss, it is indeed possible. I have carefully studied those newspapers that led the public to believe that you have lost confidence in Hong Kong real estate, and found that they all have one thing in common - pro-British.

Daily reports by newspapers like Sing Tao Daily, Chinese Daily News, and Commercial Daily tend to support the British Hong Kong government and reflect Britain's interests and position.

Combining these clues, I guess if there is someone who really wants to harm you, boss, it is likely to be someone from the British financial group. Only they have the ability and influence to instruct these mainstream media to create public opinion at the same time. "Cui Zilong answered without hesitation, obviously he had already made this guess before calling.

After listening to Cui Zilong's words, Lin Haoran couldn't help but think about the topic.

If it is British capital behind this, it should be easy to rule it out.

In fact, there are only a few British financial groups in Hong Kong that can afford to offend him.

Huifeng Bank?

This can be ruled out directly.

After all, banks are the beneficiaries of the booming real estate market.

The high loan interest and the continuous mortgage business have made banks lucrative in the real estate boom. Therefore, it is unlikely that Huifeng Bank will be the black hand behind the incident.

"Then the remaining possibilities are concentrated on several other British financial groups." Lin Haoran thought to himself after pondering for a moment, "Financial groups such as Jardine Matheson, Swire, and Wheelock all have strong power and influence. It is entirely possible that they will instruct the media to create public opinion."

However, he has no personal grudges against conglomerates such as Swire and Wheelock.

Whether it is Swire or Wheelock, they are all involved in the real estate industry and it is impossible for them to ruin their own jobs.

Especially Wheelock. The Hong Kong Land Group is now one of the important shareholders of Wheelock and a member of the board of directors of Wheelock. If they really wanted to get him, he would have known it long ago.

Then, the biggest suspect is Jardine Matheson.

After all, he has done a lot of damage to Jardine Matheson during this period. Not only did he snatch away the Hong Kong Land Group, he even took away most of Jardine Matheson's assets in Hong Kong.

Even now, Jardine Matheson has been forced by him to withdraw from the Hong Kong market.

In this situation, if Jardine Matheson wanted to take revenge on him before leaving, it would really be possible.

Could it be that Jardine Matheson was really trying to retaliate against me by instructing the media to create public opinion in an attempt to disrupt the market order and create problems for me?
At this moment, Lin Haoran could only think of this.

"Boss, are you listening?" Cui Zilong asked when he saw that Lin Haoran had not spoken for a long time.

"Mr. Cui, please help me investigate whether this is Jardine Matheson's revenge against me." Lin Haoran thought for a moment and said directly.

Even if it was certain that Jardine Matheson was targeting him, it would be useless, but at least he knew what was going on.

Moreover, having a single target would make it easier to investigate Cui Zilong.

"Okay, boss, I will find out as soon as possible!" Cui Zilong responded.

After hanging up the phone, Lin Haoran couldn't help rubbing his forehead.

Sure enough, even if he became the richest man in Hong Kong, he could not become arrogant.

Those people showed respect to him, but who knows what they were plotting against him behind his back.

This incident undoubtedly sounded a wake-up call for him.

Lin Haoran stood up, walked to the window, and overlooked the prosperous and complex Hong Kong outside.

It seems that even with his current achievements, he cannot be arrogant and must remain cautious in order to gain a foothold in this volatile business world.

"Jardine Matheson, if you are really doing this behind my back, even if you move away from Hong Kong, sooner or later I will teach you a profound lesson," Lin Haoran murmured.

Jardine Matheson?

Now he doesn't take it seriously.

This is just a defeat.

Even if the Rothschild family joins Jardine Matheson today, so what?
Sooner or later, his wealth will surpass that of the Rothschild family.

He is very confident about this.

Just when he was worried, the phone in the study rang again.

Lin Haoran shifted his gaze back and moved to the phone again.

I looked at the number and it was a relatively unfamiliar phone number.

However, since he knew his home phone number, it was obviously someone he knew, so he picked up the phone without hesitation: "Hello, this is Lin Haoran."

"Mr. Lin, this is Chen Songqing. I hope I did not disturb you?" On the other end of the phone, Chen Songqing's voice was filled with a hearty smile.

"Oh, it's Mr. Chen. Why are you disturbing me?" Lin Haoran responded, but was secretly surprised in his heart.

He and the boss of the Jianing Group don't have much in common.

At most, we would occasionally do some one-off business, such as selling the shares of Aigo to him, selling the International Building to him, selling some projects under the Swire Group to him, and so on.

These one-time transactions are still very good. Anyway, he has already got the funds. It is not easy to find such a good sucker.

"Mr. Lin, it's like this. You should have read the reports in the newspapers. There are a lot of bad media now. Although I know that you really encountered financial difficulties when selling the real estate project before, this is understood by the upper class in Hong Kong, but the citizens obviously don't believe it. In this case, it is not good news for the real estate development trend in Hong Kong." Chen Songqing said with a wry smile.

"So, Mr. Chen, what exactly do you want to do?" Lin Haoran had probably guessed the purpose of Chen Songqing's call.

The chairman of the Jianing Group may seem to be in a very prosperous position on the outside, but in fact he is just a facade on the inside.

The billions of market value of the Jianing Group is nothing but a castle in the air built on a mirage of false debts.

Once the real estate market changes suddenly and a crisis occurs, this tycoon who built the Jianing Empire with his own hands will probably face the situation of being ruined.

(End of this chapter)