In Hong Kong, we build a global business empire

Chapter 701 Soros Wants to Short Motorola
As night falls in Hong Kong, dawn is just breaking in New York on the other side of the world.

On Seventh Avenue in New York, the golden rays of the rising sun are shining on a 40-story skyscraper, illuminating a medium-sized conference room on the 38th floor.

Inside the conference room, a middle-aged man of about fifty years old was having an important meeting with several of the company's core executives.

This is the headquarters of the Quantum Fund, and the middle-aged man presiding over the meeting is none other than George Soros, the world-renowned financial tycoon.

However, unlike the future, famous Soros, the current Soros can only be considered a rising star in the financial world, with some fame in the industry, and is not yet a financial tycoon.

The Quantum Fund was founded in 1973, but at the time the company was simply called Soros Fund Management Company. It wasn't until 1979, two years ago, that Soros changed the company name to Quantum Fund Company.

In the eight years since the company was founded, Quantum Fund has grown by a staggering 3365%, while the S&P 500 Composite Index grew by only 47% during the same period, which has gradually increased his reputation in the industry.

At this moment, Soros sat in the main seat, holding a report in his hand.

Moreover, all the senior executives sitting at the oval conference table had the same document in front of them.

If Lin Haoran were here right now, he would definitely be very surprised by what the report showed.

This report comes from Hong Kong, a city in faraway Asia, announcing the official launch of mobile communications commercialization jointly by Motorola and a local Hong Kong company.

"The first batch of mobile phones launched will consist of 3,000 units, each priced at HK$50,000. The network access fee is HK$10,000, the monthly basic service fee is HK$500, and the call rate is HK$2 per minute..."

It was this news that prompted him to convene this crucial high-level meeting.

The shrewd George Soros never misses an opportunity to make money.

Setting down his report, Soros turned to the Quantum Fund executives present and asked, "Gentlemen, do you think Motorola's high-priced mobile phone will ultimately be successful?"

As soon as Soros posed his question, the meeting room immediately split into two factions.

The chief analyst spoke first: "George, I think this pricing strategy will be successful. Hong Kong is one of the world's financial centers, with a high concentration of high-net-worth individuals. A price of HK$50,000 is not difficult for them to afford."

Moreover, mobile phones represent the future; they are not merely communication tools, but also status symbols. Barring unforeseen circumstances, the first batch of three thousand units should sell out quickly.

The investment manager nodded in agreement: "That's right. Motorola's technological barriers are extremely high. No competitor will be able to provide the same product in the short term. Even if the price is high, corporate executives, the wealthy, and politicians will still buy it because what they need is efficiency and exclusivity."

The risk control manager disagreed: "I disagree. HK$50,000 is equivalent to nearly US$10,000, which is far beyond the affordability of ordinary people. Even if the first batch sells out, the market may quickly become saturated."

Moreover, the high activation fees and call charges will deter users. Besides the activation fee of up to HK$10,000, there's also a HK$2 per minute charge, making long-term usage too costly and significantly limiting the customer base.

Another fund manager, Richard, added: "Technology is iterating too fast. Motorola currently has a monopoly on the market, but once the technology is launched, similar alternatives will soon appear. Once Japanese or European manufacturers launch cheaper alternatives, the high-price strategy will collapse."

Soros listened to his men arguing in two opposing camps, but a smile appeared on his face.

At that moment, an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone came to mind.

Soros's lips curled slightly upward, and his fingers tapped rhythmically on the table.

As the arguments in the meeting room gradually subsided, all eyes turned to him.

He spoke calmly and slowly: "Ladies and gentlemen, the points you are arguing about are all quite reasonable, but they are all focused on only one dimension."

After saying that, he got up and walked to the window, looking down at the dazzling New York skyline, and continued, "The fascinating thing about the market is that the truth is often not as important as expectations."

Upon hearing this, everyone focused their attention and listened attentively.

For those present, this was undoubtedly a rare learning opportunity.

Over the years, Soros's unique vision and the Quantum Fund's repeated victories in financial battles have won the hearts and minds of everyone present.

He turned to face his team, a shrewd glint in his eyes, and said, “Since you are all divided into two factions with different opinions, the market will inevitably have differing views on this technology. We should make good use of this difference in understanding.”

In Hong Kong, their first batch of mobile phones used a lottery system, and the results wouldn't be available until the third day. By utilizing this three-day time difference, I didn't see a simple either-or choice, but rather a perfect two-way arbitrage opportunity.

The chief trader immediately understood: "You mean we can short first, then go long?"

“That’s right.” Soros walked back to the conference table, picked up the report, and said, “Motorola’s press conference has been generating buzz for some time now, even in the United States, but Motorola’s stock price has neither risen nor fallen significantly during this period.”

The main reason is the current differing opinions in the market regarding the prospects of mobile phones, which presents our opportunity. Our first step today is to aggressively sell Motorola stock, while simultaneously amplifying negative factors through the media, emphasizing the risks of overpricing and market saturation.

The risk control manager frowned: "But what if the product actually sells well?"

“Then let’s move on to the second step,” Soros interrupted. “When we drive the stock price down, we quietly accumulate shares. Once the pre-sale data confirms the product’s success, the stock price will inevitably rebound sharply, and we can then complete our perfect harvest.”

The meeting room fell silent; everyone was stunned by this audacious plan.

Investment manager Sarah quickly calculated: "Based on Motorola's current market capitalization of $48.3 billion, if we can create a 10% or even 20% fluctuation..."

“At least $5000 million in profit potential.” Soros continued, his eyes gleaming with confidence. “And that’s a conservative estimate. More importantly, we can use this to test how the market reacts to emerging technologies and gain experience for future planning.”

Soros's words immediately caught the attention of everyone present.

They fought countless financial battles alongside Soros, winning more often than losing.

Therefore, everyone present had great faith in Soros.

Since Soros is so confident, then this matter can definitely be done.

Soros looked around at everyone and, seeing that no one objected, began to assign tasks: "Act immediately. We don't have much time left. Taking into account the time difference between Hong Kong and New York, we only have three days to use."

David was in charge of contacting brokerages to borrow stocks, Mark was responsible for contacting reporters at the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times, and others were tasked with spreading rumors about a bearish outlook on Motorola mobile phones at major stock exchanges. James was responsible for preparing hedging strategies. Remember, the first phase was to create a market atmosphere where "everyone is pessimistic."

They were very familiar with this tactic.

As the top executives hurriedly left to carry out the plan, Soros stood alone in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, gazing at the ships coming and going on the Hudson River in the distance.

He muttered to himself, "Rumor has it that Motorola's Hong Kong partner, Lin Haoran, not only made a fortune investing in Apple, but also predicted that gold prices would surge, thus earning a large sum of money in advance through high leverage on gold futures via Citibank."

Investors like him are far superior to even Buffett and myself. With his investment acumen, he must have seen the enormous potential of mobile phones to partner with Motorola.”

Soros's eyes deepened, and he tapped his fingers lightly on the window frame.

"If Lin Haoran really predicted market trends so accurately, then... Motorola's mobile phone project may be more successful than we imagined."

Last year, Apple went public, and Lin Haoran, as an investor, earned a return of up to 21 times on a mere ten million US dollars investment, thus gaining fame and becoming a legendary figure in the American investment world. Although Lin Haoran is not American, it does not hinder his reputation in the American financial investment circle.

Although Lin Haoran's investment in gold futures in the early 1980s did not become widely known, Soros, as an industry insider, was aware of it, though he was unaware of how much money Lin Haoran had actually made from it.

However, it is said that even Walter Riston, the legendary chairman of Citibank, was very polite to Lin Haoran and even invited him to become a member of the Citibank board of directors.

Furthermore, considering Lin Haoran's numerous acquisitions of companies in Hong Kong, with the source of his funds remaining shrouded in mystery.

All of this led Soros to speculate that Lin Haoran must have made an astonishing profit during that gold price surge.

Moreover, after learning about these things, Soros even had someone investigate Lin Haoran's rise to prominence in the business world.

Do not check, I don’t know, I’m scared.

From orchestrating the Wharf Holdings scheme to using Hongkong Land to gain control of Jardine Matheson, to making a profit of over 200 billion yen by strategically positioning itself in Japan to invest in Toyota Motor, and then shorting HSBC Bank to make billions of Hong Kong dollars.

These incredible business maneuvers filled Soros with admiration for this young tycoon from the East; he could only express his respect through admiration.

Therefore, Lin Haoran was unaware that George Soros, the future infamous and ruthless financial tycoon, now regarded him as a mentor in his career and kept a close eye on his every move.

It was precisely because Lin Haoran chose to cooperate with Motorola in the field of mobile communications that Soros believed that mobile communications must have great potential; otherwise, Lin Haoran would not have invested!

Soon, Soros's orders were carried out in an orderly manner.

When the opening bell rang at the New York Stock Exchange, a large crowd had already gathered inside.

However, at this moment, a rumor was circulating in the market that Motorola mobile phones had begun to be sold in Hong Kong at prices far higher than expected, and the market response was lukewarm.

The news spread like wildfire, quickly triggering panic among investors.

Less than an hour after the market opened, Motorola's stock price began to fluctuate abnormally.

A large number of sell orders suddenly appeared, and the stock price began to plummet.

Inside the trading floor, brokers paced nervously, and phones rang incessantly.

“This isn’t right,” a veteran trader frowned at the electronic screen. “Motorola’s fundamentals have always been solid, so why is there suddenly so much selling?”

Meanwhile, in the Quantum Fund's trading room, Soros was closely monitoring the stock price movements. He glanced at his watch, a slight smile playing on his lips: "Excellent, even better than expected."

“George, we have completed the first phase of our short position,” the chief trading officer reported. “The stock price has now fallen by 10%.”

“Continue to apply pressure,” Soros calmly instructed. “Contact our reporters at the Wall Street Journal and have them publish an analysis about the bleak outlook for the mobile phone market.”

Today is not the best time to buy. Soros knows that tomorrow will be the best time, because tomorrow all the major newspapers will definitely report on Motorola's news release, and market sentiment will be amplified further.

He needs to wait for the perfect moment to quietly enter the fray when the panic reaches its peak.

……

In Hong Kong, at a villa on Shi Xun Road, Lin Haoran and Guo Xiaohan enjoyed a wonderful bath together. Guo Xiaohan emerged from the bathroom with a flushed face, clearly having been thoroughly "pampered" by Lin Haoran.

She was wrapped in a bathrobe, leaning lazily against the sofa, looking at Lin Haoran who was drying his hair with tenderness in her eyes.

Ever since she and Lin Haoran experienced the pleasures of love, Guo Xiaohan has been completely absorbed in this sweetness.

Sure enough, after being called back by Guo's mother to keep her company a couple of days ago, he couldn't resist returning to the Shi Xundao villa just two days later.

At this moment, her fair skin was flushed with a faint blush, her long legs were crossed, and the curves of her body, faintly visible under her bathrobe, exuded an alluring charm.

"Brother Haoran," Guo Xiaohan called softly, her voice carrying a hint of coquetry.

Lin Haoran casually draped the towel over the back of the chair, walked over and sat down beside her, gently running his fingers through her damp hair, and said with a wicked smile, "What, didn't you get enough in the bathroom?"

Guo Xiaohan playfully punched him, but her face was beaming with a happy smile: "You're so naughty. I just wanted to spend more time with you."

Just as the two were deeply in love, the phone next to the sofa suddenly rang.

The caller was Su Zhixue, who was in New York, USA.

"Boss!" Su Zhixue's voice on the other end of the phone was unusually urgent. "After the official release of Motorola's new mobile phone product, the stock price not only did not rise as you expected, but it actually plummeted by 10% at the opening."

Currently, a large amount of negative news has suddenly appeared in the market, saying that Motorola's newly released mobile phone is priced too high, the market response is lukewarm, and it is unlikely to succeed!

Lin Haoran was slightly taken aback when he heard Su Zhixue's report.

In its previous life, Motorola's stock price soared after the release of its first commercial mobile phone.

Could it be that my intervention changed this trend?

Even though it was released two years ahead of schedule, it shouldn't have been like this.

He gently patted Guo Xiaohan's hand, signaling her to wait a moment, then walked into the study and asked in a steady voice, "How much exactly did it drop? How has the market reacted?"

"The stock price plummeted 10% at the open and is still falling!" Su Zhixue said urgently. "There are many rumors circulating in the market questioning the market prospects of mobile phones, saying that the high price means they are destined to be toys for the rich and won't generate much profit for Motorola."

Lin Haoran's lips curled into a cold smile: "Interesting. Looks like someone's playing a hedging game."

He walked to the window of his study, gazing at the night view of Victoria Harbour, his mind rapidly analyzing the situation.

They quickly guessed the reason for the incident.

The pricing is indeed high, but if Hong Kong Mobile Communications Company releases the pre-order information, those who question the prospects of the mobile phone market will naturally shut up. At that time, Motorola's stock price will surely soar!
"Boss, should we sell our Motorola stock immediately?" Su Zhixue asked.

Currently, Huanyu Investment Company holds 5.23% of Motorola's shares. This acquisition was made after Lin Haoran partnered with Motorola, naturally because Lin Haoran believed that Motorola's stock price would definitely surge after the mobile phone was released.

After all, I had read related articles in my previous life.

"No, quite the opposite." A glint of light flashed in Lin Haoran's eyes. "Immediately mobilize funds and begin secretly building a position today, continuing to increase holdings. Don't buy too quickly today, accelerate tomorrow."

But the stock price is still falling.

"We need to wait for it to bottom out," Lin Haoran said confidently. "It's obvious that some institutions are shorting the stock, creating panic to drive down the price, and then buying in at the bottom. Zhixue, you need to arrange for the traders to closely monitor market movements, buy on dips, and try not to agitate the market."

"Okay, boss, I know what to do!" Su Zhixue replied immediately.

After hanging up the phone, Lin Haoran sat in his study and began to ponder.

American capital is far more complex than that of Hong Kong.

However, he was very confident.

After all, if even a groundbreaking invention like the mobile phone couldn't propel Motorola to success, what else could drive the soaring of tech stocks?

Most importantly, as the owner of Hong Kong Telephone Company, he now knows the reservation data for all the business halls today.

For the first time, the total number of reservations at more than 20 Hong Kong telephone service halls exceeded 5,000!

It's important to know that those who make reservations need to pay a deposit of HK$10,000.

In other words, they could sell out their first batch of 3000 mobile phones in less than a day.

He simply created a lottery system for it.

Their plan is to draw only 100 people each time in the future.

That's how you persevere.

Anyway, once these 3,000 units are sold out, it will be more than half a year before the second batch arrives.

The addition of base stations and technological upgrades all take time.

Prior to this, Hong Kong's mobile network could not handle the usage of too many customers.

Therefore, the first batch of 3,000 units is already quite a lot.

That means the odds of winning the lottery will be less than one in fifty!

At that time, scalpers will definitely drive up the price of mobile phones, making it hard for the market not to boom.

Therefore, Lin Haoran was not worried at all that Motorola's stock price would continue to be sluggish.

What interests him is who exactly orchestrated Motorola's scheme.

However, the US capital market is too large, and there are countless financial tycoons. If you asked him to guess which tycoon was behind it, he really couldn't guess.

Suddenly, Lin Haoran had an idea.

Perhaps, this could lend a helping hand to the bigwig who orchestrated this scheme behind the scenes.

"According to the reservation rules, customers who make reservations on the same day will know the results on the third day. What if I postpone the announcement of the first lottery results by one or two days? I can just find a suitable excuse then, and being a day or two late won't have any impact."

The delay of one or two days would be enough for Americans to mistakenly believe that the reason for the delayed release of the lottery data was that the number of people who had made reservations was too small. As a result, shareholders would lose even more confidence in Motorola, causing Motorola's stock price to continue to plummet.

"This will give Huanyu Investment Company more time to make strategic plans and reap greater profits!" Lin Haoran's eyes lit up as he thought about this.

He didn't know who was behind this scheme against Motorola, but that didn't stop him from making a fortune from it.

Since the losses will be borne by American stockholders anyway, why not make some money while we can?

If Lin Haoran knew that this was actually the work of George Soros, the famous financial tycoon from his previous life, he would be very surprised.

After careful consideration, Lin Haoran felt even more strongly that this method was feasible.

As for how to explain it to Robert Galvin, the president of Motorola, that was even simpler.

Simply say that because there are too many people making reservations, the lottery results need more time to be tallied.

This reason is perfectly reasonable, and Robert Galvin would never doubt it.

Moreover, Robert Gollman's plane will return to the United States tomorrow afternoon.

Including the flight layover time, by the time he returned to the United States and learned about this, it would be the day after tomorrow.

Now that there's such a great opportunity to make money off the Americans, Lin Haoran naturally wouldn't miss it.

Anyway, he didn't cause the incident in the US, so even if they investigate, they won't be able to trace it back to him.

Thinking of this, Lin Haoran didn't hesitate for a moment and immediately called David.

David, the general manager of Hong Kong Telephone Company, was in charge of the entire lottery process. Therefore, if you need to delay the lottery results, you can simply call David.

As for Ma Shimin, David would explain to him that it was Lin Haoran who gave the order.

Since all of his senior executives have been equipped with mobile phones, Lin Haoran has found it much easier to contact his capable subordinates, no longer needing to worry about whether they are at the office or at home.

Sure enough, David answered the phone shortly after it was dialed.

"Mr. David, the original plan was to announce the lottery results on the third day, but now you can postpone it to the fifth day. As for the reason, you can come up with your own!" Lin Haoran gave the order directly.

David, who was on the other end of the phone, was still at the company at the time.

Although he didn't understand his boss's intentions, he quickly replied, "Okay, boss, I'll handle this properly!"

After hanging up the phone, Lin Haoran felt increasingly happy and relaxed.

Back in the lobby, he saw that Guo Xiaohan had just dried her hair, so he walked straight up to her and easily lifted her up with both hands.

Guo Xiaohan couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, while Lin Haoran strode towards the bedroom, intending to celebrate in advance.

(End of this chapter)