wavenovel Chapter 489 Final Review and Global Landscape
Chapter 489 Final Review and Global Landscape
Sofia arrived in Jinan on the afternoon of January 3, 2008. Zhao Hu picked her up at the airport. After getting in the car, she placed her briefcase on her lap, leaned back in her seat, and closed her eyes for a while. When they arrived at the Xinghuo Group building, she didn't go to the hotel first, but went straight to the top floor.
Ling Yun was waiting for her in the office. Two cups of freshly brewed tea sat on the table, still steaming. Outside the window, Jinan's winter was gloomy and gray, and in the distance, the boom of a tower crane slowly turned in the cold wind.
"Mr. Ling." Sophia placed her briefcase on the table, unzipped it, and pulled out a thick stack of reports. "As of December 31st last year, the financial assets managed by IceCloud have already reached the threshold of the top ten global hedge funds. We've conducted stress tests—if these assets continue to be entirely placed in the financial market, given their current size, every operation will cause severe market fluctuations. The U.S. SEC has already sent two letters inquiring about our holding intentions. Not only will we not make more money, but we will also attract regulatory attention."
Ling Yun took the report and flipped through a couple of pages. It was densely packed with the balances, positions, and leverage ratios of various offshore accounts, the zeros following the numbers forming a continuous string. He closed the report. "How did you make that judgment?"
"I suggest gradually withdrawing from the US market and shifting to safer assets. In the short term, increase holdings of gold and short-term US Treasury bonds. In the medium to long term—you'll need to make a bigger decision." Sophia pulled another document from her briefcase, the cover of which read "Spark Technology Charity Foundation Charter." "Mr. Ling, I've followed you for eleven years. From when you had me set up that shell company in Bangkok in 1997, to now, IceCloud's assets have multiplied many times over. Today, I want to hear the truth from you—how exactly do you plan to use this money?"
Ling Yun stood up and walked to the window. All the trees in the park were bare, their branches swaying in the wind. He turned around.
"I've arranged to meet with Li Ziyu and Zheng Bin this afternoon. We'll talk when they arrive."
At three o'clock in the afternoon, Li Ziyu and Zheng Bin arrived on time. Li Ziyu was wearing a dark blue cashmere coat, and Zheng Bin was still wearing his old leather jacket, the collar worn shiny. The four of them sat in a circle in Ling Yun's office.
"Over the past decade, finance has provided us with tremendous capital accumulation." Ling Yun cut to the chase without any preamble, "Shorting the Thai baht in 1997, buying Hong Kong stocks at the bottom in 1998, accurately timing the top of the dot-com bubble in 2000 and shorting again, and the reversal of the bull and bear markets after 911 in 2001—we made the right move every single time. Now, the real value of this money is not that it has turned us into financial tycoons, but that it has given us the confidence to do things that others dare not do."
He stood up, walked to the whiteboard, picked up a marker, and wrote three lines.
"We have a few things to do next. First, we will gradually withdraw financial assets from the US market and shift them to safer allocations. The hole in the US subprime mortgage market is getting bigger and bigger, and I predict it will burst by the second half of this year at the latest. At that time, a lot of Wall Street will die, but we will survive and have plenty of cash on hand."
"Secondly, we will allocate a portion of the funds to establish an industry investment fund. This is not financial investment—it is strategic investment. We will support strategic industries in China, such as semiconductors, new materials, and new energy. We will invest in small and medium-sized enterprises that have strong technology but lack funds, helping them to turn their technology into products and their products into industries."
"Third, establish the Spark Science and Technology Public Welfare Fund." Ling Yun circled the third line, "Specifically to fund basic scientific research and education. Making lithography machines requires optical talents, making baseband chips requires communication talents, and making operating systems requires software talents. These talents don't fall from the sky; they are cultivated one by one in universities. This fund is specifically used to pay their tuition, provide scholarships, and build laboratories."
Li Ziyu leaned back on the sofa, twirling the teacup in his hand. "Ling Yun, can I tell you the truth?"
"explain."
"You're the least financier-like financier I've ever met." Li Ziyu put his teacup on the table. "I've been in Hong Kong's financial circle for so many years and have seen countless people. Some make money and gamble it away, some make money and buy private jets, some make money and go to America to buy wineries. You're the first one I've ever seen who makes money and throws it into lithography machines."
Zheng Bin chimed in from the side, "I think the same way as Ziyu. To put it bluntly, if you weren't Ling Yun, I would definitely think you're out of your mind."
Ling Yun smiled. "Because my battlefield has never been the financial market."
All three fell silent. A breeze picked up outside, rattling the glass. Sophia looked at Ling Yun, her finger hovering over the laptop's touchpad.
After the meeting, Ling Yun stood alone by the window. Dusk had fallen, and a long row of streetlights illuminated the park. He knew the subprime crisis would soon sweep the globe—Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch—those once-invincible names would collapse one by one within months. But he also knew that every crisis was a reshuffling of the deck. The bubbles built on leverage and speculation would burst, while those companies with real technology, products, and moats would rise from the ruins, stronger than ever.
He recalled 1997 in Bangkok when he first told Sofia they were going to make a fortune during the Southeast Asian financial crisis; Sofia looked at him like he was a madman. Back then, they only had tens of millions of dollars in their accounts, and their rented office consisted of just two rooms. Eleven years later, that madman was still standing there, but now no one thought he was crazy anymore.
Zhao Hu knocked and entered. "Mr. Ling, the car is ready. Sister An called to ask what time you'll be home."
Ling Yun turned his gaze away from the window and picked up his coat. "Tell her to leave now. And tell my daughter I'll tell her a bedtime story tonight." He opened the door, and the hallway light streamed in, illuminating the platinum cufflinks on his shirt sleeves.