Chapter 623
Monopolizing the World's Game Industry
Late March.
After arranging his affairs at Barings Bank, Chen Wensheng returned to Hong Kong and immediately visited his father, Chen Guangliang.
"Father, the new CEO of Barings Bank has taken office and will be overhauling the bank's operations, learning from the lessons of this bankruptcy."
This acquisition was at his father's instruction. He never intended to acquire Barings Bank. In his father's words, Barings Bank could become the 'flagship' of Ping An Financial Group's investment business in Europe and the United States.
Chen Guangliang was looking at stocks on his computer at this moment. With the advent of the Internet era, the securities market has also entered this era.
Starting January 25th, the long-awaited Automatic Matching System (AMS) officially went into service. From then on, stock trading could be conducted electronically, in a so-called "paperless" manner, through the trading terminals in the offices of member firms (brokerage firms or banks) and the terminals of the exchange. As for the products and symbols of the era of physical trading, such as stock certificates, trading halls, loud bidding, and "whiteboard" quotes, they have become relics of the past.
For him, stock trading is more of a hobby.
"Yes. Now that we've acquired Barings Bank, we need to restore its prestige. With the advent of the internet age, investment directions are clear. Barings Bank can invest in telecommunications, such as European telecom companies like Vodafone and Mannesmann, as well as some internet companies. On the other hand, we must get back up where we fell. The Nikkei index's recent sharp drop from nearly 20000 points is only due to the impact of the earthquake, so it must have a bottom. I think when it reaches 15000 points, we should have Barings Bank buy back into the Nikkei index to regain its dignity."
Yes, Father.
Chen Wensheng became excited; his father's investments had never had any problems. If Barings Bank could profit from these investments, this 200-year-old bank would shine brightly once again.
He continued, "In terms of asset management, we will further strengthen our investments in European and American real estate and securities portfolios, and manage more funds."
"Well, let's take it slow. In short, Ping An Financial Group has already successfully established a global presence, so there's no need to worry about not having ways to make money."
"Yes"
In June, Hong Kong's property and securities markets began to rise again.
Hong Kong citizens can clearly feel that Hong Kong's economic prosperity is unstoppable. Even during periods of decline in real estate and finance, Hong Kong's technology, culture and other industries continue to grow rapidly.
Therefore, after a brief year-long adjustment, Hong Kong's real estate and securities markets quickly recovered and rose again. Newly opened properties once again saw long queues of speculators, and the stock market also surged from a low of over 9600 points to over 10000 points.
at the same time.
The Nikkei index fell to 14500 points at one point due to the earthquake, but ultimately settled at 14600 points at the end of June when the futures contracts were settled.
After the settlement of the Nikkei 225 futures contract between Li Zhi and Zhang Min, they earned a profit of US$280 million, equivalent to more than HK$2 billion. This increased the two women's net worth by almost 70%.
Of course, the two women also participated in this round of bargain hunting in Hong Kong properties and securities, but they weren't as aggressive as Kwan Ka-wai and Lee Ka-yan.
at this time.
Barings Bank, Singapore branch.
This is the site of the original Barings Bank collapse, but it remains magnificent today, though most of the staff have been replaced.
Chen Wensheng personally visited this branch to inspect its work.
“Mr. Chen, the purchase of $1000 million in the Nikkei 225 index is underway. The counterparty is very excited, and we have no shortage of shares!” A Chinese investment manager reported the situation immediately.
Chen Wensheng nodded. He noticed that the staff in the hall were a mix of Chinese and foreigners, but the branch manager had indeed been replaced by a senior financial professional from Ping An Investment.
How many chips do we have left?
The Chinese manager immediately stated, "Starting in mid-June, when the Nikkei index fell below 15000 points, we began buying futures contracts with a margin of $6 million daily. As of now, 14 trading days have passed, and we have purchased $14 billion worth of futures (with 1000x leverage)."
“Great, keep buying until the index rises to 15000 points. For the next year, we will only go long and maintain the corresponding contracts. I don’t believe the Japanese economy will collapse.”
"Okay, Mr. Chen."
Back in his office, Chen Wensheng asked curiously, "Manager Zhang, are there any particularly impressive people trading Nikkei futures contracts in Singapore lately?"
Zhang Yaowen has been a senior financial talent at Ping An Investment in Singapore, and has now been promoted to manager of Barings Bank (Singapore) branch.
He was very familiar with Singapore's financial market. After a moment's thought, he said, "There are some impressive figures, but the two women who truly generate buzz in the industry are the ones who are famous. It's said that these two women also immigrated to Singapore from Hong Kong, and their surnames are..."
"Miss Li, Miss Zhang"
Zhang Yaowen asked in surprise, "You know Mr. Chen?"
Chen Wensheng said with a smile, "Yes, we collaborated in Hong Kong."
After saying that, he stopped talking, but he already knew in his heart that his father had been trading Nikkei index futures. For a period of time, his sister, Chen Daiyi, was trading them and made seven or eight hundred million US dollars. In the first half of this year, it was probably his father who entrusted his two mistresses to trade them, and they probably made hundreds of millions of US dollars as well.
As for Li Zhi and Zhang Min, Chen Wensheng was naturally familiar with them, as they had cooperated extensively with Ping An Bank and received preferential treatment on loans. Needless to say, they were also his father's mistresses.
Chen Wensheng did not see anything wrong with this.
In the early 1980s, our father handed over almost all of his business and assets to his fifteen children and retired to enjoy life. Therefore, his siblings have always only provided him with cash flow and never felt that he needed anything more from them.
As for Barings Bank's renewed speculation on Nikkei futures, it's likely that the father hopes Barings Bank will get back up from where it fell, and there's no other intention behind it.
After all, Chen Wensheng is already very satisfied with his current wealth.
Just a month and a half later, in mid-August, the Nikkei index rebounded strongly to over 18000 points.
Barings Bank invested $20 billion in futures contracts and immediately made a profit of $4 million, instantly redeeming itself in the industry and becoming a classic case study.
At this time, the exchange rate of the US dollar to the Japanese yen had fallen to 80, which was equivalent to the yen appreciating by nearly 100% from more than 150 in 1990.
When the Chen brothers, Wenying and Wensheng, cashed out their assets worth tens of billions of dollars, they only spent $14 billion on overseas investments to purchase a technology publishing business, and at that time the yen had already appreciated to over 100.
Simply put, the brothers' initial $100 billion cash flow, without actually doing anything, has increased in value by more than 80%, reaching a wealth of nearly $200 billion.
The brothers' total assets have now reached over 300 billion US dollars. This day...
Chen Wenying arrived at Yahoo with great interest and met with Yahoo's founder, Jerry Yang.
At the end of last year, Chen Wenying invested $500 million in Yahoo, which was just starting out, acquiring a 10% stake. So, the two sides are quite familiar with each other.
"Jerry Yang, how much investment would Yahoo need to establish itself as the dominant global internet portal?"
To get straight to the point, we're old friends.
Yang Zhiyuan said without mincing words, "President Yutian, it will require at least 5000 million US dollars."
At this point, he lacked sufficient confidence, so he was actually in a 'weaker' position.
To everyone's surprise, Chen Wenying waved his hand and said, "Judging from what you've said, Yahoo needs more money to win a larger market share. I'm willing to invest another $1 million, plus the previous $500 million investment. Our Chiba Investment will only need to hold 35% of the equity, and we will give you the voting rights."
Upon hearing this, Jerry Yang and his partners were pleasantly surprised.
Yahoo is burning through cash because it's free, and now that there are competitors, this funding is extremely necessary.
"Really?"
A gentleman's word is as good as his bond.
Yang Zhiyuan was somewhat puzzled. This Japanese man seemed to know a lot about Chinese culture, and appeared to be a Japanese businessman who liked Chinese culture.
"Great, this investment is very timely!"
In less than 30 minutes, Yahoo completed its second round of venture capital funding, with Japan's Chiba Investment Bank once again taking the lead.
Blizzard Entertainment, California.
Chen Wenhai, the youngest son of the second wife of the Chen family, is currently talking with Mike Morhaime, the founder of Blizzard Entertainment, and others.
Since the beginning of the 1990s, Chen Wenhai's "happy days" were interrupted. He followed his father's orders and first spent $18 million to acquire MAXIS game studio, whose main works are "The Sims".
Then last year (1994), it spent $5000 million to acquire Blizzard Entertainment. The studio's main works include: Warcraft, Diablo, and the future StarCraft IP.
This amount of money is nothing to Chen Wenhai, after all, he has a net worth of over 80 billion US dollars (Apple director, Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco investor).
Chen Wenhai visited the Diablo development team. The development engineers present showed great respect to their boss because Chen Wenhai was the "master" of video games in the 1970s and the "founder of Atari." He also had a very keen eye for business, selling Atari for a high price before EA's Famicom game console was launched in North America.
Back in the conference room.
Chen Wenhai said, "Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness was launched amidst a bleak market, and it sold 500,000 copies worldwide in just four months, which is a great achievement. In addition, the multiplayer online game mode made me feel that it was necessary to do something!"
Will Wright, president of Blizzard Entertainment, then asked, "What is it?"
At this point, Blizzard Entertainment had become a game company, not just a studio.
Of course, Blizzard Entertainment has two major studios: Maxis Studios, which mainly develops simulation games; and Blizzard Entertainment, which mainly develops games such as Warcraft and Diablo.
Chen Wenhai said with a smile, "Battle.net, which is a game battle platform, is mainly designed to support the battle modes of games like Warcraft and Diablo, and aims to develop into the world's largest game battle platform."
This suggestion immediately garnered the approval of Mike Morhaime and others, and the group then discussed the details.
During the meeting, Chen Wenhai reiterated, "Blizzard Entertainment will continue to acquire game studios. If you have any ideas, please feel free to contact me. Furthermore, once Diablo's development is on track, I also hope the studio can develop a science fiction game."
One big move after another stunned everyone; the key point is that the boss is very professional and capable.
Although Blizzard Entertainment's founder had already sold the studio, Chen Wenhai still offered high salaries and bonuses to recruit these people.
He kept throwing money at the company, seemingly understanding his father's meaning: regardless of whether the company could make him money now, what mattered was how much the company would be worth in the future.
During this period, the company's profits can be distributed to the team to the maximum extent possible, allowing him to be a 'generous boss'. As long as he holds the equity, the future value of the company will essentially belong to him.
Back in Japan, Chen Wenying sat in Electronic Arts' office.
He was following news about the global gaming industry. The Chen family practically monopolized the world's gaming market—Electronic Arts (EA) earned over 600 billion yen annually, equivalent to $8 million at today's exchange rate. The EA platform boasted classic games like *Super Mario Bros.*, *The Legend of Zelda*, *Final Fantasy*, and *Dragon Quest*, along with the huge success of *Pokémon* in its first year.
In addition to its classic games such as Hong Kong Blocks, Super Contra, Street Fighter, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and Need for Speed (acquired a Canadian studio), Hong Kong's Midea Games Entertainment also released a series of new titles in 1994, including Resident Evil and Age of Empires, which were very successful.
In addition, Blizzard Entertainment, an American company now controlled by his brother Chen Wenhai, owns a series of works such as The Sims and Warcraft.
The iron triangle, Chen Wenying smiled.
Although his business has now spread across many industries and he has become the most powerful among his brothers (mainly due to the appreciation of the yen), he still values EA as his "base camp" the most.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong-based Midea Games Entertainment began to develop its online gaming business.
Of course, for online games, the most important thing is graphical characterization, and Hong Kong is clearly not well-suited for leading development in this area. However, in recent years, Midea Games Entertainment has acquired multiple studios in Canada and the United States, establishing a global presence.
Therefore, Midea Games Entertainment's 'online game' development started with studios in the United States and Canada. Of course, this was just a preliminary step in entering the field of research and development; in reality, it was only feasible after graphics card technology and network technology had matured further.
Entering 1996, Hong Kong's securities and real estate sectors took off simultaneously, showing impressive performance from the outset.
举例说，在1月份的首3个交易日，平安指数合共便升了接近620点。之后，虽然出现轻微回吐至1月10日的12504.63点，但1月11日起又持续攀升至1月31日的13359.70点。
Within one month, the index rose by 12.8%, a rather impressive performance.
In the real estate market, luxury homes are once again driving the upward trend.
The market was in a frenzy, even more frenzied than in my previous life. (End of Chapter)