The penniless son of the penniless ...

Chapter 330: Crazy Gerry Winter (Updated)

"Marefaq, why did Hutchison Whampoa suddenly sell its shares in Orange to Mannesmann? Hadn't they been waiting for a good price before?" Gerry Winter, the president of Vodafone, was almost going crazy.

The two sides had been in a stalemate, so how did the situation suddenly change so drastically? I didn't receive any inside information at all!
The trusted subordinate who was questioned looked at his furious boss and had to bite the bullet and explain, "We really didn't receive the news before. According to the news from Hong Kong, Mannesmann went crazy for some reason and actually offered 140 billion euros and 6% of Mannesmann's shares as the price for acquiring Orange. Li Ka Shing agreed..."

"Watfake?! Are Mannesmann's president Ethel and those shareholders crazy? Aren't they afraid that doing this will cause huge losses to the company?!" Gerry Winter felt it was unbelievable when he suddenly heard such an outrageous acquisition price.

You have to know that before they went to war with Mannesmann, the market value of Orange, the third-ranked company, was at most 30-40 euros. Now they are spending so much money to acquire nearly 40% of Li Ka-shing's shares. Only a madman can do this!

“…Maybe they think this deal won’t be a loss. Judging from the current surge in Mannesmann’s stock price…”, the subordinate wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and explained with gritted teeth.

"...Oh, shit! Only a madman would do such a thing!" Gerry Winter continued to curse and vent his anger. Hearing his subordinate say this, he probably understood the other party's plan.

According to the current situation, it is clear that those crazy people in Mannesmann intend to use the huge benefits brought by the acquisition of Orange to boost the company's stock price and thereby make up for the losses caused by excessive spending during the acquisition!

To be honest, although this operation took some risks, they succeeded, and now they are in trouble! If Vodafone had a certain advantage before, the situation has changed significantly now. Mannesmann, which has taken over all the resources of Orange, has surpassed them in market share!
"...No, we must come up with a practical solution. Otherwise, our previous plan to dominate the European market will inevitably collapse completely due to the rise of Mannesmann, and even our plan to enter overseas markets will be greatly affected!"

Gerry Winter, the president, calmed down and made a decision quickly. As a competitor, he would never allow Mannesmann, which was behind them, to overtake and become the leader of the European telecommunications industry.

"BOSS, do you want to..." The subordinate looked at the other party in surprise. He vaguely felt what the other party was thinking. If it was true, it would be crazy!
However, Gerry Winter did not give any explanation. Instead, he looked at him meaningfully for a long time, and then asked him to contact the company's directors as soon as possible, as they needed to hold an emergency meeting to deal with the current situation.

……

In the office of Comet Capital Chairman in Seoul, Korea.

"Boss, I just received news from Europe. Mannesmann, a telecommunications company, has successfully acquired the majority of Orange's shares. The day before yesterday, they held a press conference to announce that they had successfully acquired Orange and that their businesses will soon be integrated. Mannesmann's stock price has also risen by more than 35% in the past two days!"

"Boss, your previous predictions were too accurate, weren't they?" Wu Xiuying was quite surprised. In her opinion, Zhang Junfeng was almost a charlatan. He seemed to have predicted the current situation a few months ago, otherwise why would he have placed a heavy bet on Orange and Mannesmann, two companies that were extremely unfamiliar to them? Zhang Junfeng just smiled at Wu Xiuying's sigh and did not make any response. Thinking of AOL, which loved to stir up trouble before, Zhang Junfeng quickly changed the subject, "How is the progress of Director Wu (Wu Mingxi)?"

"...He has confirmed that those things can serve as strong evidence to sue the other party, and the chances of winning are very high. Before 11 o'clock tomorrow morning, he will formally submit the materials to the court to sue the other party for spreading rumors and slander, which seriously affects the reputation of Nexon!"

"By the way, Director Wu thinks that if the evidence can be released in advance, public opinion will reverse in a short period of time, and their chances of winning will be higher. And the impact on Nexon will also be reduced a lot..."

After hearing Wu Xiuying's answer, Zhang Junfeng smiled and said, "If those things are released now, at most they will eliminate some negative public opinion in China, but they will not have much impact on AOL. After all, their headquarters is in America, not Asia."

"However, passive response has never been my style. Since they want to cause trouble for Comet Capital, if we don't show them what we can do, I'm afraid that the guys hiding in the dark who covet us will continue to jump out and cause trouble for us!"

"I will ask my friends in America to help me spread the copied audio and data in mainstream newspapers and media in America, and completely ruin AOL's reputation in one fell swoop!"

Wu Xiuying was also quite surprised to hear that Zhang Junfeng was planning to "declare war" directly on the other side in the United States. Even though Comet Capital is now in its heyday, in the minds of many people, most of these European and American companies are relatively powerful and difficult to deal with. They only need to thwart the other side's conspiracy to achieve a great victory.

"Will the boss's actions lead to official intervention from the United States? After all, this kind of scandal..." Wu Xiuying was a little hesitant. In her opinion, a long-established American company like AOL must have a lot of connections behind it.

If the other party can get the American government to help them clean up the mess, then their actions may be in vain, or even counterattacked by the other party. At that time, let alone making the other party pay a price, it is still unknown whether they can get away with it!

"Don't worry! Comet Capital is no longer something that can be easily manipulated or dealt with by anyone! Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase will become our supporters at critical moments!" Zhang Junfeng said confidently.

His current identity is a senior executive of a Wall Street financial giant. Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase can be his backers, and the old fox Henry Paulson still owes him a favor. It is relatively easy to persuade the important officials of the U.S. Treasury Department to help express their stance and take a stand.

(End of this chapter)