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Chapter 588 The True King of the World

What are your thoughts on mainland China's telecommunications industry?

One sentence caused Ernst's relaxed brows to furrow suddenly, and the calm in his eyes was replaced by a clear displeasure.

He made no attempt to hide his emotions; his displeasure was written all over his face and clearly conveyed to Skillin across from him.

"What?" Ernst's voice was icy as he stared directly at Skilling. "Has Enron's business empire expanded to this extent? Have they set their sights on me, this juicy piece of meat?"

"It seems that Enron's large-scale gas-fired power plant project in Maharashtra, India, has taken a turn for the better, giving you extra energy to prepare for venturing into the telecommunications sector?"

When Ernst mentioned the power plant project in Maharashtra, India, Skilling visibly stiffened. Although he quickly regained his composure thanks to his years of experience, Ernst still keenly noticed the fleeting awkwardness.

This project, once a source of pride for Enron Group as a model of multinational investment, has now become a hot potato.

The Dabor project, invested in by Enron in India, is the largest foreign investment project in India.

Enron held 65% of the shares, e and the well-known American multinational construction company Bectel each held 10%, and the Mabang Power Authority held the remaining 15%.

The project was prepared and launched in 1992, with a total investment of US$29 billion. It was planned to be constructed in two phases, and the total installed power generation capacity would reach 2184 megawatts upon completion.

According to the original plan, the Dabor power plant, once operational, would supply more than half of Maharashtra's electricity resources, boosting the state's industrial development. However, while the first phase of the project has been completed and the second phase has begun, it appears to be an unfinished project.

One of the problems was the cost overrun of the first phase of the project. The original cost budget of $11.26 billion was pushed up to $15.8 billion, an overrun of more than 40%.

The huge cost overruns put Enron under increasing pressure to recover its capital. In order to recover its investment costs as soon as possible, Enron proposed to raise electricity prices, hoping to make up for the cost gap by adjusting electricity rates.

But Maharashtra simply wouldn't budge. Not only did they refuse to raise prices, but after numerous agreements, they even lowered electricity prices multiple times, or they would simply render your investment completely useless.

But this is India! Even after the electricity price was lowered, Maharashtra still refused to pay the electricity bill, citing excessively high costs.

When the Indian government approached the guarantor, they stated that they had changed leadership and did not recognize the previous contracts.

Moreover, even if I wanted to get involved in things in Maharashtra, they wouldn't listen to me.

The Dabor project is currently a bottomless pit of money losses.

The key issue is that this bottomless pit was financed and built. The fact that Maharashtra did not provide Enron with funds does not mean that Enron can default on the money it financed.

This is a bad debt that Enron dares not disclose.

What alarmed Skilling was why Ernst would suddenly bring up this almost forgotten project at this moment.

Was he simply using this project to subtly criticize Enron, or was there something else going on? Just how many secrets about the Enron Group did he know?

Is it merely a superficial understanding of the Dabor project's predicament, or have we already uncovered the financial secrets behind Enron?

Skilling's thoughts, like a wild horse, continued to spread.

Besides the Dabor project, are you aware of the investments in the UK, Brazil, and Southeast Asia?

These investment projects around the world all have similar hidden dangers to the Dabor project to varying degrees, only the severity of the problems and the ways in which they are covered up differ.

At the heart of all these issues lies Enron's long-standing secret of using financial fraud to embellish its financial performance.

Skilling's biggest concern was whether Ernst had already obtained evidence of Enron's financial fraud.

He thought about it a lot, but he quickly realized that there was no point in worrying about it now.

No matter how much the other party knows, he wouldn't dare gamble on just the Dabor project.

If the media knew the true data, he could imagine how disturbed Enron's investors would be by it.

There are other overseas investments, which will definitely be thoroughly investigated by the media one by one.

"The Dabor project has indeed encountered some problems, but they're minor. We're currently negotiating with the current Indian government to try and reach a new contract agreement." Ernst chuckled at Skilling's probing. "Is that so?"

"It just goes to show that Enron is really rich. Not only are they investing in large-scale gas-fired power plants, but they are also investing in hydropower stations in India."

Ernst felt that Enron's management was out of their minds. If they only wanted to play the financial game, they shouldn't have been investing in real industries all over the world.

Look at the projects they chose; they've spent nearly four billion US dollars in India.

Given India's tradition of going back on its word, the high degree of autonomy within its states compared to those in the United States, and its inherited history of electricity theft, trying to recoup costs by collecting electricity and water fees in India is simply ridiculous.

"Enron is not only searching for investment all over the world, but now they've even set their sights on China Telecom." Ernst's gaze sharpened, fixing on Skilling. "Is this Kenneth's idea, or some kind of internal consensus within Enron?"

"Don't misunderstand." Skilling quickly waved his hand to calm Ernst down.

No matter how much he knows about An Ran, what he has revealed so far is enough.

"In fact, Enron meant well."

"Kindness," Ernst sneered. "Then I'd like to hear it."

"I won't go into too much detail about Leap Games," Skilling said, his tone much less forceful. "What I want to say is that Anran can help you solve this problem."

"Not only YueDong Games, but also China Telecom, Enron can help them get the license and start operating smoothly by the end of this month." Ernst understood this time, because his recent conflict of interest with Wall Street gave Enron an opportunity to take advantage of him.

Compared to him, Enron, although its company valuation is not as high as Google's, or even if iTech or Flashbuy go public, it may surpass Enron's valuation.

However, in terms of influence in the government, Enron is definitely one of the top entities in the United States.

Even established Wall Street financial giants or tech behemoths like IBM cannot compare to Enron in terms of influence on US government decisions.

This company is a product of a political and business alliance that has amassed wealth through corruption.

Wall Street can only influence donkeys, and Enron isn't afraid of them; it has the whole elephant standing behind it.

Given the lack of conclusive evidence from relevant authorities and the fact that everyone understands the shady dealings behind this, if Anran were to take full action, it could indeed resolve the crisis facing Mainland Telecom and YueDong Games at the official level.

Therefore, Enron wanted to see if it could use these events to gain a foothold in the internet industry and further boost Enron's stock price.

It turns out they weren't after China Telecom; Ernst had misunderstood.

Ernst, whose complexion had improved somewhat, thanked the waiter who brought the red wine, raised his glass in acknowledgment, took a sip, and said, "Thank you, but I think it's alright. I can handle this."

Skilling wasn't surprised by this answer.

Anran had guessed it; she had guessed Ernst would have a backup plan. Skilling's visit this time was merely a gamble, an attempt to find further opportunities to penetrate the internet industry.

Even if rejected, Enron would not suffer a significant loss.

But if successful, it will pave a new growth curve for Enron.

Skilling put down his wine glass, looking at Ernst with a complex expression, a sudden wave of daze and emotion washing over him.

He clearly remembered that less than two years ago, when he first met Ernst, although Ernst had already made a name for himself in the technology industry, he still had to lower his profile in front of giants like Enron and was invited by Enron to Houston for cooperation.

However, in less than two years, the positions of the two sides had undergone a complete reversal.

Ernst's business empire, with its series of highly influential companies such as Google, iTech, and flash sale platforms, has grown into a force that even Enron can only dream of.

According to authoritative financial media statistics, if all of Ernst's companies were to go public, their combined market capitalization would reach at least $600 billion.

This figure not only exceeds that of Microsoft, currently the world's most valuable company, but is also equivalent to the combined market capitalization of approximately nine Enron companies.

From this perspective, he is the true king of the world in the open.

It's truly unimaginable that such a massive business empire could be built in just over two years.

And this wealth is a conservative estimate.