Chapter 630
Hearing
Chapter 630 Hearing (4k)
The interview from Phoenix TV was not released immediately, but Zeng Jingyi's article and the on-site footage circulated widely and were carefully studied in a small circle, especially Yu Xing's discussion of three areas where business competition is becoming increasingly fierce.
Is it reliable? Or is it just nonsense?
Following these three directions seems to make a pretty good sense of it.
Since it's reliable, then it should...
Should we short-sell listed companies across all three sectors, or should we focus our short-selling efforts on the company that appears to have the worst prospects?
Does this involve insider trading? What is the definition of market manipulation? Shouldn't I be using my own account to trade? Won't my relatives' or friends' accounts be tracked?
At this point, a few people seemed to suddenly understand the offshore tactics rumored by the "King of Short Sellers," and were caught in a dilemma. After all, the big short seller hadn't explained things clearly, and if they misunderstood, the money they lost would be their own.
Yu Xing was unaware of the subtle commotion behind this interview, and even if he had, he wouldn't have cared. He was just a little surprised that the interview hadn't been published for the next two days, and thought that it might have been postponed due to considerations of some impact.
The delegation from Silicon Carbon Group has been in Hong Kong for over a week. Apart from facing the media, their main task these days has been responding to the feedback from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange's Listing Department regarding Silicon Carbon Group's listing application.
Because of Yu Xing's special status, Silicon Carbon Group submitted an additional "supplementary report on the founder's background" when it submitted its application, which described his short-selling experience and regulatory compliance. Goldman Sachs also provided a "regulatory risk assessment report".
Regardless of whether it's Silicon Carbon Group, Yu Xing, or the sponsor Goldman Sachs, they all provide explanations for the compliance of their short-selling actions based on the current legal situation.
Similarly, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange also needs to question this explanation.
In the first round of feedback from the listing department, 80% of the comments were related to Yu Xing's short selling activities, such as "whether the founder is still involved in short selling activities," "how to ensure that information about car companies is not used for short selling after the listing," and "whether there is a conflict of interest between the short selling business and the new energy vehicle business." The remaining 20% of the comments about the Silicon Carbon Group were just general inquiries.
The listing team at Silicon Carbon responded to each of the listing department's questions, which also required some revisions and supplementary information to the prospectus.
Yu Xing himself submitted a written commitment during this process.
Goldman Sachs believed that the best course of action in response to the IPO department's opinion would be to promise the founder that short selling would be suspended after the IPO. However, Yu Xing did not accept this and instead made a promise to establish a firewall mechanism to isolate conflicts of interest.
As an independent third-party research institution, Guoshanfeng will establish a dedicated fund to conduct its financial operations. This clear information will be subject to oversight by institutions in different regions around the world.
The funds that crossed the mountain peak were undoubtedly transferred secretly through offshore means, as has been disclosed by the European joint investigation team. The past is the past. Lawsuits will still be filed, investigations will still be conducted, and compensation will be paid as required after the process is completed. However, there will be a clear and transparent account of the fund movements in the future.
Yu Xing calls it "funds in the sunlight".
The Goldman Sachs team privately referred to it as the "external account."
As for how the closely guarded internal accounts operate, Goldman Sachs has even hinted at its interest in collaborating.
It doesn't have to be under the name of Guoshanfeng; it could be an organization completely unrelated to Mr. Yu in terms of structure and management. As long as this organization can provide the views of the "King of Short Sellers," then a very pleasant cooperation can be carried out.
Yu Xing politely declined, declaring himself from then on a "short seller in the sunlight."
There's nothing wrong with the business of the Silicon Carbon Group, or rather, it's better to discuss things face-to-face.
The Hong Kong Stock Exchange's process is faster than expected, with a listing committee hearing scheduled for January 22, where 28 professionals will ask questions of the silicon carbon team.
This hearing is the Hong Kong Stock Exchange's substantive review of the core issues of the Silicon Carbon Group's listing compliance, information disclosure, and business rationality, and then a final vote to decide whether to approve the listing.
Closed-door meetings, internal deliberations, on-the-spot voting, and independent confidentiality.
This is the format of the listing committee hearing.
At the same time, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission will also conduct a concurrent review and decide whether to approve the listing of Silicon Carbon Group. It has the final veto power.
After the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the Securities and Futures Commission both approve the listing, a listing approval letter will be issued, which means that Silicon Carbon Group has obtained listing approval and can proceed with the IPO and pricing. If the process goes smoothly, the listing will not be possible until after the Lunar New Year.
Yu Xing has already prepared for the worst-case scenario of the failure of the listing of Silicon Carbon Group. There are also such rumors within the company. If it cannot be listed in Hong Kong, it is not a listing. Silicon Carbon Group can still operate, or it can be listed on the A-share market when it meets the requirements.
However, it would be best if things could proceed as originally planned, as both the Ningbo factory and the Ningde joint venture factory are still in the process of getting their projects started.
"Cui Zhiyu, do you think we can successfully go public this time?"
After inspecting the team's preparations, Yu Xing looked down at Victoria Harbour and asked Cui Zhiyu this question.
Cui Zhiyu's minor facial injury had healed, and he replied nonchalantly, "President Yu, if you don't want us to list, then you don't want us to list. Anyway, we'll definitely be able to list on the A-share market in the future. LeEco was able to list, so why can't we?"
Upon hearing this, Yu Xing sighed and advised, "Spend less time on the Baixiaosheng Forum."
Cui Zhiyu chuckled. The scenery at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel was indeed beautiful, but after a day, two days, or three days, it would get boring. So, after finishing his work, he would naturally read the rumors and analyses about his boss.
Don't be fooled by the fact that the boss is right next door; he might not know as much as netizens do.
The numerous analyses of the mountain peaks online make it seem like there's an inside leak.
As for LeEco, which has been in the spotlight recently, it has been temporarily suspended from trading due to Sunac's investment. However, Jia Yueting's furious outburst using his personal account has increased netizens' interest, and they are even using past cases like Guo Shanfeng's to analyze and uncover the true situation of LeEco.
Among them, the anonymous Li Song played an outstanding role.
One of his slogans resonated with many: "Think about what the king of short sellers would do."
What are the successful cases of LeEco's rise to prominence? What is it like for the "King of Short Sellers" to publicly demonstrate his short selling in Hong Kong? If we systematically analyze LeEco based on those examples, isn't that enough?
Cui Zhiyu didn't know that the words were shouted by Li Song, who was always around the boss, but he was very interested in everyone's digging.
On January 21, the Hong Kong team of Silicon Carbon Group was basically making final preparations, waiting to see what kind of voting results they would get the next day. However, a report published by Sohu at 1 pm successfully attracted everyone's attention.
Since the exposure of Guoshan Peak, official media have remained largely silent, only mentioning the achievements of the Silicon Carbon Group in new energy, as if founder Yu Xing were an invisible person.
However, portal websites and local newspapers were not idle at all, and new content kept emerging before and after Yu Xing's trip to Hong Kong, which led to everyone basically starting a series of special reports on "Crossing the Peak".
Sohu's latest report summarizes the public and private opinions of a group of business leaders regarding Yu Xing's exposed identity.
Even though Yu Xing was already desensitized to media reports, he still took a look at the content with great interest. — Lei Jun: I was shocked!
—Zhang Chaoyang: Mr. Yu is a really interesting person. He dares to do what others don't. Look at the early days when he created Guiai.com, there are still small companies running it now. In the middle, there was an insurance company that offered love insurance, but it was shut down. Later, he created Baixiaosheng, which also faced pressure from many sides. And look at the competition between WeChat and Tencent, he dared to go even further. This time, he exposed Guoshanfeng. Tsk tsk, I thought about it again and again afterward. Among all these people, it really is him who could do such a thing. No wonder!
—Jiang Nanchun: A fraudster who steals fame!
—Zhou Hongyi: It's hard to say. Whether it's compliant or not depends on the final lawsuit, but President Yu shouldn't be afraid of this. He's the kind of person who can afford to play this game.
Ding Lei: Unexpected, surprising, awesome.
—Wang Xing: No wonder Mr. Yu can fight against Alibaba and Tencent; they are the same kind of people.
— Robin Li: This doesn't seem right, let's wait and see.
—Pony Ma: It was him! It was him all along! It really was him.
—Ma Chuan: Take this move, White Crane Spreads Wings!
Sohu offered no comment whatsoever, but instead leveraged its established portal status to compile a long list of names. Zhang Chaoyang's comments were public, while those of Jiang Nanchun and others were private, shared on social media. As for Wang Xing, Li Yanhong, Pony Ma, and others, their statements were reportedly summarized during company meetings.
Ma Chuan is different. He did not make any statement. His "White Crane Spreads Wings" statement was confirmed by many people who went to the president's office of Silicon Carbon that day. He did have physical contact with the big short seller. However, whether it was really "White Crane Spreads Wings" remains to be verified.
Yu Xing noticed that there were even comments from Lingang's own employees, such as "President Yu is the best" and "Kill those liars." He really didn't know how to comment on Sohu's joining in the fun.
“Sure, that’s quite comprehensive, Mr. Yu. What I’m most looking forward to now is having the media interview all the victims of the mountain pass incident and hear their stories,” Liu Wanying said, browsing the reports alongside him.
“There are still quite a few foreign media outlets stationed here in Hong Kong.” Yu Xing shook his head. “If I asked for an exclusive interview, maybe it would actually work.”
Liu Wanying's eyes lit up: "Then let's do the interview. Let's refuse to demonize it and make the interview a regular thing. Anyway, Phoenix TV is already here, so one more won't make a difference. Hmm, I think we shouldn't use European media."
She has been paying attention to the tone of media in different regions recently. The tone in Europe and Japan is relatively negative, and the tone in the United States is also negative, but relatively better.
Yu Xing glanced at her twice: "Let's wait for the results tomorrow."
Liu Wanying took a deep breath: "If the results are approved tomorrow, the Hong Kong Growth Enterprise Market will be very lively."
She has already seen some short sellers in the US making moves, mentioning their intention to target Silicon Carbon Group on Twitter or Facebook. Some of these posts seem like jokes, but others are clearly serious.
The anonymous "King of Short Sellers" was given this title by top American short sellers after he decimated global automakers. However, when Guo Shanfeng truly became a tangible figure from the East, the title "King of Short Sellers" actually displeased some of his peers.
Before going to sleep, Yu Xing expressed his heartfelt hope: "I truly hope for peace throughout the world."
The following morning, Liu Wanying gave her evaluation of Yu Xing's expectations from the previous day.
"Sure enough, wishes don't come true if you say them out loud."
At 9:00 AM, Phoenix TV released its first exclusive interview with Yu Xing, almost without any cuts, featuring Yu Xing's responses to various questions after his identity was revealed.
This is an interview that immediately garnered attention upon its release.
Whether they were industry peers, financial institutions, or just casual observers, everyone browsed and shared the content out of curiosity.
The most legendary thing about the mountain peak is its track record; the title of "King of Short Sellers" also stems from its immense destructive power. When Yu Xing mentioned his views on competition in certain fields in such an interview...
Fans of the Baixiaosheng Forum immediately commented: "As expected of the King of Short Selling, it even has an upgrade. Before, it was single-target damage, but now it has been upgraded to area-of-effect damage!"
SaaS, wearable devices, gene sequencing.
The major short sellers are clearly pessimistic about the prospects of listed companies in these three sectors.
This time, no company names were mentioned, but the performance of the three market segments immediately became a hot topic of discussion both at home and abroad. Many analysts and institutions on Wall Street also began to include the performance of the relevant listed companies in their urgent research.
It's common for short sellers to chat with fund managers about business competition, but the King of Short Sellers is different.
At 9:30 a.m., the car carrying the group from Silicon Carbon Group arrived at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The reporters who were already waiting became even more enthusiastic because of the newly released exclusive interview, and they bombarded the air with all sorts of questions.
Yu Xing, dressed in a suit, made no response and simply walked calmly into the Hong Kong Stock Exchange hearing room.
He hopes that all the employees of Silicon Carbon will receive generous compensation as soon as possible, and today's performance is very important.
However, despite Yu Xing's concern, the first question he heard when he and his team arrived at the venue was related to the latest interview.
"Mr. Yu, is the content of the Phoenix TV interview true?"
"Yes."
Why don't you have a positive outlook on SaaS, wearable devices, and gene sequencing?
"It's basically what I answered in the interview, those are the reasons."
"Okay, then which specific companies do you not have a positive outlook on?"
Before Yu Xing could answer the question, he heard Chen Muxian, who was in charge of the hearing, expressing his dissatisfaction.
Chen Muxian tapped the table: "Zheng Yongyi, please watch your question. Is this related to today's listing?"
Zheng Yongyi, head of Morgan Stanley's Hong Kong investment banking division, nodded and said righteously, "Of course it's relevant. I need to know whether Mr. Yu has already built a position in companies he doesn't have a positive outlook on, as this is related to my compliance judgment."
Chen Muxian warned, "This is an inappropriate question."
Cheng Wing-yee shrugged: "I think it's appropriate. In that case, I'll keep this part of the question open."
The Hong Kong Stock Exchange's Listing Committee covers seven areas: regulation, investment banking, legal, accounting, industry, investment, and independent professionals, in order to ensure a comprehensive perspective in the review process.
However, Yu Xing felt that Mr. Zheng Yongyi's open and aboveboard questioning seemed too comprehensive and urgent, given the deliberation's opening.
(End of this chapter)