The American Kill Line: I Can Predict the Future

Elizabeth, wrapped in a bathrobe, came to Ron's side as he looked out the window at the night view and rested her head on the man's shoulder.

A gentle evening breeze blows, and the vibrant Manhattan skyline shines brightly at night.

Ron is on the phone with Marc Andreessen of a16z to discuss funding issues for his previous projects: Twitter, Airbnb, and Instagram.

Twitter, needless to say, is currently the most popular project in the social media field besides Facebook.

It completed its Series D funding round as early as September last year, at which time its valuation was $1 billion.

In July of this year, the number of registered users officially exceeded 100 million.

The next round of financing is scheduled for October, with a valuation of $37 billion and a financing amount of $200 million.

The valuation seemed high, but Ron knew the company would be listed on the NYSE in three years.

On the day of its listing, its market capitalization was $245 billion.

It has increased more than sixfold.

Ron couldn't possibly refuse such a good deal.

So he immediately asked for $1 million.

"That's impossible. This time it's Kleiner Perkins leading the investment, not us at a16z. The most I can offer you is $5000 million, that's the highest I can go."

Mark was genuinely envious. Although he was quite wealthy now, he wasn't at the level of Ron, who could casually talk about $1 million.

"Fifty million it is."

Ron knew he was late for this project, so he didn't insist.

"What about Airbnb and Instagram?"

"Airbnb is very popular right now. From what I've heard, Sequoia Capital valued them at over $6000 million in their Series A funding round, and they raised $500 million."

"Is Sequoia Capital so stingy, only $6000 million?" Ron, like a nouveau riche, not only looked down on Sequoia Capital but also uttered arrogant remarks:

"Tell their team that Hunter Ventures valued them at $1 million and offered $2000 million in funding, with the option to raise more if needed."

Ron would invest in a project with a future market value of over $80 billion, let alone a valuation of $100 million.

"You have money, so you call the shots."

Mark was truly exhausted; he couldn't fathom Ron's thoughts.

After thinking for a moment, he tentatively said, "Instagram only launched on iOS this June. To be honest, I just randomly recommended it to you last time; I didn't even read their project proposal in detail."

Since Facebook became popular, there have been too many social media projects like this.

Even with Mark's keen eye, he couldn't see where the startup's strengths lay.

So he wanted to find out why Ron was interested in this company.

"Damn it..." Ron's hand had somehow landed on the bowling ball, and his fingers unconsciously applied a little pressure.

Elizabeth, nestled in his arms, winced in pain, then glared at him fiercely.

Ron chuckled and coughed lightly, saying, "Tell me first, Mark, what's the current valuation of this company?"

"Nobody's giving them a valuation because nobody's optimistic about it. If you're really interested in investing, I'll have my team evaluate it tomorrow."

"OK, I'll wait for your reply before making a decision. If it's too high, then forget it."

Ron spoke casually, but in reality, he was so excited he almost shouted it out.

If he didn't have a strong belief in his "prophetic" abilities, he would have doubted whether they had failed.

A hundred billion, that's just the valuation.

Of all the projects Ron has looked at so far, only Tesla has the potential to exceed $100 billion in the future.

Of course, Instagram's later valuation of hundreds of billions was largely due to its acquisition by Facebook.

The call has ended.

Ron tossed his phone onto the coffee table.

Elizabeth flipped over and straddled him, chuckling as she did so.

"I came here to borrow money, but I never expected to end up mortgaging myself."

"That's called interest," Ron said, gently stroking her back with his fingers.

Elizabeth was tempted, but pressed her forehead against it: "But I didn't manage to borrow it."

"Are you sure?" Ron's fingers traced a line, and his bathrobe slowly unfurled, revealing his voluptuous figure. "Then what was that hundred million I just spent?"

Elizabeth was slightly taken aback, then remembered her own madness.

She never imagined she would have such a... promiscuous side.

Surprisingly, he agreed to eat it at the last minute.

Feeling her skin tremble, she bit the man's shoulder: "You're a bastard, a scoundrel."

Ron gripped his waist, bracing himself against the gate, and said in a stern tone:

"Tell me, my dear actress, would you like to borrow another hundred million?"

Elizabeth's eyes were unfocused, and her lips were tightly pressed together.

She didn't want to answer, and she didn't want to repeat what had happened before.

But the emptiness that prevented her from progressing, like a demon's seduction, gradually eroded her reason until it was completely overwhelmed, leaving her with a pleading murmur:

Please…

Release your hands.

The body slowly fell.

A sense of fulfillment instantly filled me.

A soft murmur and a long whistle echoed in the room.

……

Blackstone Group.

As usual, Schwarzman arrived at his business empire early.

More than 30 years ago, after graduating from Harvard Business School, he joined the mergers and acquisitions department of Lehman Brothers on the recommendation of the dean.

Thirty years have passed since then. That once unknown junior employee at Lehman Brothers, after leaving Lehman, used only $40 to build Blackstone Group into the world's largest alternative asset management company with over $1000 billion in assets under management.

During the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis, he personally orchestrated the acquisition of his former employer, Lehman Brothers.

But Schwarzman's ambitions extend far beyond finance. After the subprime crisis, he acquired a large number of properties that had been foreclosed on by banks.

Starting from this year, Blackstone Group entered a phase of rapid expansion, establishing a global presence and acquiring high-quality industries worldwide at bargain prices.

Now, Schwarzman has set his sights on the distant East.

Unlike other Wall Street investors who were pessimistic, he had a premonition that the real explosion of that mysterious and ancient country had only just begun.

Therefore, after integrating assets in EU countries, Schwarzman quickly adjusted the group's strategy.

If possible, he plans to visit that ancient continent in person next month.

The strategic plan for this investment was named Columbus.

dong dong dong.

A few faint knocks sounded on the door.

The assistant brought in several documents that required his personal signature and gently placed them on the table:

"Sir, you have a multinational video conference with Germany at nine o'clock."

Stephen Schwarzman did not stop his work, but simply gave a soft "hmm".

The assistant noticed that the coffee on the boss's table had gone cold, so he brewed a fresh cup.

A moment later, Schwarzman realized that his assistant had not left, so he looked up at him.

The assistant lowered his head and said, "The net asset value of Hunter Capital, which you asked me to keep an eye on, was released in August."

"Hunter Capital?" Schwarzman quickly realized who it was.

He chuckled softly, shifted to a more comfortable position, sipped his coffee, and listened to his assistant's report:

According to Hunter Capital's financial report released at 8:15 a.m., the cumulative profit for the entire month was 33.76%, the net asset value of the two hedge funds was $81.65 billion, the three-month drawdown was 0.1%, and the monthly drawdown was 0.08%.

Upon hearing that the profit was 33.76%, Schwarzman nodded slightly in affirmation.

This profitability is considered quite good among high-frequency hedge funds.

However, upon hearing the drawdown rate, Schwarzman's pupils involuntarily contracted.

He asked, "What was our drawdown rate last month?"

"0.3%," the assistant replied.

Drawdown rate generally refers to the net asset value drawdown.

In layman's terms, it refers to how much a fund's net asset value has fallen after reaching a certain high point; it represents the extent of the loss during that period.

For example, if the fund's net asset value reaches a high of 1.4 within the month, but falls back to 1.2 during a certain operation, then the drawdown rate is 20%.

Generally speaking, for high-frequency funds that focus on intraday short-term trading, a monthly drawdown of 1.5%-2.5% is within the normal range.

Excellent results will be below 1.2%.

Only the top-tier monthly drawdown rates will be below 0.5%.

August is a relatively mild season, and Blackstone's high-frequency hedging achieved a return of 0.3%, which is enough to prove its top-notch operational capabilities in the industry.

However, the cumulative drawdown rate of 0.1% over three months and the drawdown rate of 0.08% this month are surprising even to Stephen Schwarzman.

After a long silence, he suddenly laughed: "It seems we've all underestimated this kid. Tell Tony to get to know him when he has time."