Chapter 636
Funds
Chapter 636 Funds (4k)
Compared to his interview with Phoenix TV, Yu Xing was more cautious this time, and avoided discussing areas where he was optimistic or pessimistic when faced with similar questions.
He has now discovered a situation.
Just like the SaaS market mentioned earlier, it was only used as evidence for Guo Shanfeng's research on the fundamentals of different companies and markets. He thought that even if there was some impact, it wouldn't be too far-reaching. However, some listed companies jumped out and chose to detonate the bomb directly.
Liu Wanying's summary of this situation is: the bomb exploded, all the bad news was out, and it was all over.
Yu Xing's experience shows that the world is indeed not isolated and static, but universally interconnected and in motion.
The bullets were fired well, and the opponent caught them well too.
The current situation is that the entire SaaS IPO sector has collapsed. Tableau, which triggered the collapse, is the worst off, with its market value halved in three days. Splunk has fallen by more than 4%, Workday by nearly 4%, and Zendesk and Salesforce by 3%.
Whether it's a leading HR SaaS provider or a customer service SaaS platform, both have suffered heavy losses in this wave.
Fitbit and GoPro, companies in the wearable device sector, have been relatively quiet, but they have also been quietly enduring the decline, which is approaching 2%. Illumina, the leader in the gene sequencing sector, has fallen by nearly 10%, which is considered relatively resilient.
Such a collective downturn has forced Yu Xing to reassess his influence at this stage, and he has no choice but to remain silent.
However, this interview with the car owner reporter was not without its memorable moments. Shih Kai-jui specially invited the big short to the garage to see his top-of-the-line Max Kyushu, and the result... it did indeed have two license plates, but the logo had actually changed from a lightning bolt to a snake.
Yu Xing had previously seen videos on Douyin of car owners in mainland China making similar modifications, but seeing it up close was truly both funny and exasperating.
Taking the opportunity, Shi Kairui asked, "President Yu, it's said online that when you designed the car logo for Silicon Carbon Group, the 'winding' of the lightning bolt was similar because there were mountain peaks there. Is there really such a factor?"
Yu Xing clarified this claim: "It's irrelevant, completely irrelevant. There's no need to spread rumors. Also, we do not support car owners changing their badges; that's not compliant with regulations."
The head of the carbon silicon company, who opposed the logo change, eventually posed for a photo with the reporter who owned the car that had the logo changed in front of this Kyushu vehicle.
This group photo is seen as a visual representation of the "One Qi Transforms into Three Purities" product, especially since the reporter is holding a mobile phone.
This interview did not create a new stir in the capital market like the one on Phoenix TV, except for... Xu Xin's questioning response.
Xu Xin: "?"
Xu Xin: "If you're going to deny it, then deny it completely. Why are you being vague when it comes to me?"
Xu Xin: "You short sellers are really bad!"
Faced with multiple messages from President Xu, Yu Xing only replied with one: "Your husband is with me."
Xu Xin stared at the text message, vaguely thinking that the other party had misspelled a word—"Your husband is in my hands."
Not long after, she received another app from Yu Xing, but it was a software used for internal communication in the carbon silicon industry, named CC, and internally referred to as Carbon Chat, a carbon-based biological chat software.
The software is similar to WeChat and Wechat in terms of usability. Due to increasingly fierce competition with Alibaba and Tencent, it is also a product that was planned long ago for information security. In addition to the familiar functions, CC also has commercial functions such as online meeting rooms.
Xu Xin had just registered and hadn't even had a chance to study it carefully before Li Song added her as a friend and then pulled her into an online meeting room.
She looked at the name of the conference room again, and it was "Over the Peak".
Xu Xin thought of the General Office of the Silicon Carbon Group, and said irritably, "Li Song, you really are hanging out with him, aren't you? And you're even holding an online meeting room? Who else is there? Who else?"
Soon, another familiar profile picture lit up.
Liu Wanying opened her microphone and greeted, "Hi, President Xu, long time no see."
Xu Xin's tone unconsciously turned sarcastic: "Yeah, long time no see. The beautiful investor has become a beautiful short seller. It's been too long, hasn't it?"
"I was just curious to take a look," Liu Wanying said. "He said that Guoshanfeng is short of people and was thinking of asking President Xu for recommendations."
“Li Song, I recommended my husband.” Xu Xin sneered. “He’s always dreamed of being a big short seller, and this time his dream is about to come true.”
Liu Wanying said after careful consideration, "Boss Yu said he wasn't perceptive enough."
Li Song had to make his presence felt: "President Liu, I'm still here."
Liu Wanying hummed in agreement: "There's no need to be so perceptive at this time."
Li Song: "..."
Xu Xin then launched into another sarcastic remark before bringing up a more serious matter: the listing process for the Silicon Carbon Group.
“The Hong Kong Stock Exchange hopes to complete the formal listing by the end of next month. The finalized prospectus after the hearing has been submitted to them,” Liu Wanying replied. “Yesterday, we signed the listing agreement with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and paid a listing fee. Next, we will have a two-week roadshow.”
This year, Lunar New Year's Eve is February 7th, so it's definitely too late to celebrate before the New Year.
Xu Xin couldn't help but sigh: "No matter what, the Silicon Carbon Group was still able to go public, which wasn't easy."
This unexpected turn of events, which should have been relatively easy, has surprised everyone.
“He always says just four words: ‘Things have come to this.’” Liu Wanying said calmly. “The liquidity of the Hong Kong GEM board is not strong enough. After listing, you still have to consider maintaining the stock price. Today Capital doesn’t need to consider selling for the next two years. Wait until the carbon silicon transfer to the main board and then see how the market performs.”
Xu Xin has no plans to sell her shares in Silicon Carbon Group in the near future, just like Capital Today holds shares in JD.com. She believes that from the perspective of the long-term development of the domestic market, as long as Silicon Carbon can continue to focus on new energy products, its stock price still has great growth potential.
She had just finished chatting when she saw Liu Wanying's profile picture go dark. Then she noticed Xiong Xiaoge's name appearing in her friend recommendations and pulled him into the online meeting room as well.
One minute, two minutes, three minutes.
Xu Xin waited for three minutes, but Xiong Xiaoge neither spoke nor left.
She couldn't help but ask, "Mr. Xiong, what's going on? How do you feel?"
Xiong Xiaoge's brief reply, much like his recent actions, was: "I have no feelings, I'll remain silent."
Because of IDG's investment in Lingang Silicon Carbon in recent years, he has faced a lot of questions after his exposure, including questions from many investors and interviews from reporters.
Xiong Xiaoge believes that the more you say, the more mistakes you make, and things will eventually pass.
He also believed that given Silicon Carbon's development in Lingang, the authorities would likely handle the matter quietly. Sure enough, although the founder of Silicon Carbon Group didn't have much exposure on official mainstream platforms, several of Silicon Carbon Group's vehicles were recently spotted in Beijing being filmed for a CCTV promotional shoot.
People are people, cars are cars, and matters are matters.
This may be the positioning at this stage.
Xu Xin then asked a question: "Did he try to get you to short sell?"
"No," Xiong Xiaoge answered decisively, then asked, "Did you pull me?"
Xu Xin wasn't sure if pulling Li Song counted as pulling herself, but she answered, "No."
Xiong Xiaoge concluded by saying, "His matter is different from what I do, and I will not invest any money in it."
Xu Xin thought the words were very decisive, but when she thought about her own family, she hesitated for a moment.
Although Mr. Yu did not extend such an invitation, Li Song is reportedly working with him and is also setting up a hedge fund. Considering Guo Shanfeng's track record, this is theoretically a good opportunity.
After much deliberation, Xu Xin felt that putting her own beliefs into practice was something she should persist in, and if short selling was indeed going to be successful in the future, Li Song had already taken over the task.
On the other side, Xiong Xiaoge finished the brief communication in the online meeting room, studied the new software on his mobile phone for a while, and guessed that Silicon Carbon would not launch a new offensive in instant messaging software. First, the window of opportunity in this market has passed, and second, Silicon Carbon has an established leading position in the short video field.
That evening, he browsed several more news articles about Guo Shanfeng. Although he was already very familiar with the story of the short-selling king mentioned above, he still couldn't help but click in to take another look.
The short-selling tactics employed by investors who have been exploiting the market for years are constantly evolving, especially with the recent addition of a group attack by Mr. Yu. The cooling of the three major sectors is a perfect illustration of the ruthless style of a century-old short seller.
Just as Xiong Xiaoge was about to switch to a different portal website, she suddenly received a call from Yu Xing on her phone.
Yu Xing hasn't been communicating much with Mr. Xiong recently. The last time he met with Sun Hongbin in Hong Kong was when he exchanged greetings. Today, since he has some time, he's been thinking about the Peak Hedge Fund.
The more enthusiastic the media is about tracking and reporting on the mountain peaks, the more enthusiastic international funds are about the Short Seller King Foundation.
Yu Xing had already met with representatives of different funds when he was in Lingang, and he met with them again in Hong Kong these past two days.
There's nothing wrong with the formation of the hedge fund. Short selling in Hong Kong is legal and legitimate, as it's Asia's financial center. The main issue that has been the subject of investigation and criticism against Yu Xing is whether his funds are operating in compliance with regulations.
The fight against counterfeits is certainly justified, but the problems in the process are the work that the legal team needs to address.
Yu Xing's purpose in calling President Xiong was to discuss the situation regarding domestic funds.
International funds reacted quickly and directly. In contrast, domestic funds also sought to profit, but were cautious and tactful due to a lack of understanding of the situation. Now, with the Silicon Carbon Group passing the dual review in Hong Kong, the interpretation of the relevant signals is gradually becoming clearer.
Although Hong Kong has its unique features, it is still part of the mainland, and the outcome of an event can often be analyzed in a connected manner.
Just like Wanda, which held a board meeting last July and decided to apply for an A-share listing and consider delisting from the Hong Kong stock market, on the grounds that the valuation logic of the Hong Kong capital market could not truly measure Wanda's value.
It is said that Wanda is currently seeking institutional funding for its delisting and privatization, but on the condition that it achieves a domestic listing within a certain period of time through a performance-based agreement. If it fails to list successfully, it must repurchase the shares with interest.
Some people are very optimistic, while others have big doubts. Whether Wanda can go public is not determined by Wanda itself, but by other factors.
The fact that Silicon Carbon Group was able to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange even after the exposure of the "King of Short Sellers" is seen as a signal.
Yu Xing was in a dilemma regarding the domestic funds that had come to him again after interpreting the signals. So he thought of Xiong Xiaoge's IDG and planned to have IDG act as a filter. Guoshanfeng Fund could accept domestic funds, but these funds would be invested in the name of IDG. As for how the funds entered IDG and how they operated within its system, that was none of his business.
Xiong Xiaoge understood what President Yu meant.
"Mr. Xiong, it's not convenient for us to talk on the phone. I'll be back in Lingang in a few days, and we can meet in person to discuss the details." After explaining the situation, Yu Xing didn't intend to finalize the cooperation so soon and would schedule another time.
Xiong Xiaoge's reply was as brief as ever: "Okay!"
Yu Xing thought for a moment and then said, "We can invite President Xu out as well."
Xiong Xiaoge said, "President Xu just talked to me. She feels that what she does is different from what you do."
Yu Xing thought for a moment and said, "Okay, I'll see. Funds don't need to be too big; it's just a side business."
His attitude was to give it a try and see how things went, and to consider it further after observing the subsequent litigation in Europe and the United States.
Xiong Xiaoge ended the call, put down her phone, and silently considered cooperation channels from Guo Shanfeng.
He is skilled in capital operations, not just investment. Overall, there shouldn't be too many problems in this situation. Even though foreign judicial institutions have ultimately banned the Mountain Peak Fund, what really attracts those funds is Yu Xing's personal influence.
If crossing the mountain peak is not allowed to be done openly, it is simply a return to the old practice of operating funds in secret.
Xiong Xiaoge pondered for a while, wondering what the fund would ultimately look like, and also wondering which listed companies Guo Shanfeng still harbored doubts about.
He opened Sohu's portal website, still pondering Mr. Yu's words, and it took his eyes a few seconds to catch the latest news from Sun Hongbin of Sunac.
Sun Hongbin of Sunac has returned from Hong Kong and has given an interview to the media, in which he mentioned that Yu Chengdong (CEO of Sunac China) was not optimistic about LeEco.
"Oh dear, I met with Mr. Yu in Hong Kong a few days ago. It's not as bad as you guys are making it out to be. Mr. Yu doesn't have that many problems."
"LeEco's car manufacturing is a non-listed business, and Mr. Yu himself has made that very clear."
"As for LeEco, which is listed, I should be able to reveal some good news now. LeEco is also planning to cooperate with Alibaba. The future of mobile internet is all about ecosystems."
"Mr. Yu is not pessimistic about LeEco. In fact, Mr. Yu is busy with the listing of silicon carbon. I talked to him about the situation of LeEco and asked him to take a look at LeEco's plans when he had time. He agreed."
"Mr. Yu definitely doesn't know as much about LeEco as I do. I really put money in my pocket."
LeEco, which was temporarily suspended from trading, is about to resume trading. As a new shareholder, Sun Hongbin came out to support LeEco and clarify misunderstandings in the public opinion. Putting aside the issue of LeEco's car manufacturing, the listed company is definitely fine.
Sun Hongbin cheerfully told the media, "Even Mr. Yu himself said not to blindly believe in authority. Besides, Mr. Yu is an authority, and Mr. Ma of Alibaba is also an authority."
The following day, LeEco resumed trading, and its stock price indeed rose slightly, ending the continuous oscillating decline before the trading suspension.
However, this made a fan who had studied the mountain peak for a long time feel indignant. He analyzed and investigated LeEco according to the ideas revealed by the king of short selling, and insisted that there were problems with it. Seeing Sun Hongbin's attitude, he simply sent an email to LeEco executives in the name of "passing through the mountain peak".
(End of this chapter)