Reborn in Russia as a Big Shot

Chapter 118 Hostile Takeover

The US economy began to decline at the end of last year.

Faced with shrinking demand in the world's largest consumer market, South Korea's economy has also been severely affected, with the financial market experiencing a double whammy of stock and currency losses.

The Korean won is depreciating, stock indices are declining, and foreign capital continues to flow out.

SM Entertainment's revenue mainly comes from the domestic market, so the impact was relatively small. However, its stock price has fallen from its previous high, with a maximum drop of nearly 40%.

Seoul Hanyang Country Club.

Lee Soo-man has been getting close to Lee Jae-hwan, chairman of the CJ Group, and they play ball together every weekend. However, he always loses more than he wins, so he sneaks in some practice time whenever he has a spare moment.

"Can't you just play properly? Why are you always looking at your phone?" Li Xiuman played well today, but unfortunately her opponent wasn't Li Zaixian.

"Let's check the stocks." Kim Young-min put his phone away.

Li Xiu said nonchalantly, "My net worth was 200 billion last year at its peak, but now it's only 120 billion. That's just how the market is. It'll keep falling whether you look at it or not. Just relax."

Kim Young-min frowned slightly and said, "I do find it a bit strange. In the past few trading days, our company's stock price has suddenly started to move independently, rising with the market but not falling with it."

"I didn't notice, has it bottomed out yet?" Li Xiuman took out her phone and checked the stock trading software, saying with a surprised look, "The turnover rate is so high."

"Yesterday it was even higher, at 4.2%."

"Major funds are flowing out, and the buyers are all retail investors." Li Xiuman was also a little confused. "Why are they suddenly so optimistic about us?"

"It's probably someone's fan." SM's valuation has been high for a long time, with many individual investors, which is also related to fan support.

"How do you view options? I saw in the comments section that some big players are buying call options."

Kim Young-min leaned over and glanced at the brokerage software Lee Soo-man was using. "You use Yuri too? You need to use a computer webpage to view it."

""

Li Xiuman put her phone away, suddenly losing her appetite for playing ball. "The stock price is rising because of options? It shouldn't be falling much, so something feels off."

When it was Kim Young-min's turn, he hit the ball, and his performance was also good. "Maybe it's a sector rotation to speculate on entertainment stocks, and the big players are accumulating shares."

"Could it be Li Zaixian?" Li Xiuman suddenly asked.

"Probably not," Kim Young-min analyzed. "CJ isn't having an easy time either. Big ships are hard to turn around, and nobody dares to bet that the subprime crisis can definitely be controlled by the United States."

"Even if he wanted to spend money to become a shareholder for his own private matters, his uncle wouldn't agree at this time."

Lee Soo-man, the founder of SM Entertainment, is the company's largest shareholder, holding 430 million shares, which is approximately 26.8% of the total share capital.

If we also include the core team members with vested interests, the figure approaches 60%.

With such a solid shareholding structure, a hostile takeover was completely impossible, so Lee Soo-man and Kim Young-min didn't even consider that possibility.

Natasha is seven months pregnant, so Li Xiang stayed in the US to spend a few more days with her.

"Li Xiang! Li Xiang!" Natasha called Li Xiang over as if summoning a ghost.

"What's up?" Li Xiang walked in yawning. He had been keeping to South Korean time for the past few days and trading Korean stocks at night.

"What are you hiding from me?" Natasha asked angrily.

"No." Li Xiang's heart skipped a beat. How did you know Zhang Baizhi was pregnant? Who had such a sharp tongue?

Li Xiang wasn't afraid that Natasha would find out; it was just that the timing wasn't right.

Natasha pretended to be angry and said, "Let me remind you, about money."

"What money? To buy a house? House prices have been falling, let's talk about it at the end of the year." This time, Li Xiang wasn't pretending to be confused; he was genuinely a bit bewildered.

"The money my dad gave me, three million pounds, you're really something, you managed to steal such a huge sum of money without a word."

Natasha was referring to the commission from selling the oil paintings, but Andrei refused to accept it.

"Who told you that?" Li Xiang remembered.

Natasha raised her chin and said, "I have plenty of informants; I know everything."

Li Xiang corrected him, "That three million pounds isn't for you, it's for the child. If you don't believe me, go ask Andrei."

"Never mind who it's for, where's the money?"

"I'll borrow this money temporarily, and at the end of the year, I'll give it to you along with the money for buying a house. You can manage it for the child."

"That's more like it," Natasha pouted and complained. "You have to tell me about these things right away from now on. If my dad asks and I don't know, I'll have to cover for you."

"The phone's ringing, I'll go answer it." Li Xiang tried to leave.

"Your phone didn't ring."

Li Xiang held up his phone screen for Natasha to see.

"Tatiana? Who is this woman?"

Li Xiang explained, "This is the phone number for Tatiana Bar, a gathering place for Russian-American gangs in Miami. Oleg took me there, and they were collecting my phone."

"Go get on with your business, don't keep them waiting." Natasha's emotions have been somewhat unstable at times since she became pregnant, but she can still control them overall.

The call had already ended. Li Xiang returned to his room and dialed back.

Tatiana Bar.

"Mr. Li, your friend came to see me. He wants to find a marriage partner to obtain residency, which isn't difficult. But I need to know what your relationship is with him?"

Besides Tatiana, there was another girl in the private room.

Li Xiang didn't answer directly, but said in a serious tone, "You've made so much money from me, and you can't even help me with this little thing?"

Tatiana explained, "If it's just a fake marriage, I have plenty of candidates: alcoholics, drug addicts, promiscuous women, criminal records. The conditions aren't great, but as long as you pay, it's fine."

"Just think of it as finding a girl. You can have her for two years and play around with her as you please, plus a U.S. green card. Isn't this more cost-effective than the EB-5 investment immigration program?"

"But I think your friend is quite naive. He lied about the identity, but he actually wants to grow old with her."

"So I wanted to ask you, what's the relationship like between you two? If you have a good relationship, and there's a chance you can help him out in the future, I can introduce him to some good people."

As Tatiana spoke, she reached out and touched her good friend Lillian Chiverra's long blonde hair.

"Don't drag me into this," Lillian mouthed.

Li Xiang was silent for a few seconds before selectively revealing, "His mother worked in my family's garment factory for several years, and we hadn't been in touch for many years. We suddenly bumped into each other in the United States. We're from the same hometown, and since she's asked me for help, I'll help her if I can."

Tatiana said meaningfully, "I didn't expect you to be so sentimental. Because of this friendship, I have to help you get this done."

Tatiana chatted with Li Xiang for a few more minutes, then hung up the phone, raised an eyebrow, and said to Lillian, "Think about it?"

"What are you considering? That black-haired illegal immigrant?" Lillian swirled her wine glass and said, "Stop joking. Don't you know my family situation? Even if I were to get married, I could only marry an Italian."

Lillian glanced at Tatiana and said with a wry smile, "Didn't I tell you how Adam broke up with me? He's Irish, and my father had two of his fingers broken. We haven't been in contact since."