Chapter 639
You've Disturbed the King of Short Sellers
Chapter 639 You've Disturbed the King of Short Sellers (4k)
Jia Yueting had once shown goodwill towards Yu Xing and praised the Silicon Carbon Group on different occasions, but after being repeatedly met with a cold shoulder and hearing his negative views on LeEco's car manufacturing, he was concerned about Lingang's leading position in the new energy field and had no choice but to back down.
To everyone's surprise, the other party suddenly revealed a side business involving climbing mountains, raising the already high threat level even further. Looking at his actions over the past two months, he was simply ruthless and heartless.
Taking advantage of this wave, Baixiaosheng Forum conducted research on LeEco, and some Hong Kong and mainland media also followed suit by nitpicking. Despite securing a cooperation with Sunac, LeEco is still in danger of collapse at any time.
Even a rabbit will bite when cornered. Jia Yueting once had a wide circle of friends and was the top influencer on the ChiNext board at the peak of LeEco, which was also one of the leading internet companies in China. Now, he tosses and turns every night, unable to sleep. How pathetic he is.
Deep down, he was somewhat resentful. He had previously decided to confront Yu Xing head-on. The other party was just a short seller, and his insider trading and market manipulation were also dishonorable. They were all at odds, so how could he bully him like this?
However, Jia Yueting was not a reckless person, and with the dissuasion of Jia Yuemin, Liu Hong and others, and later the optimistic mediation of Sun Hongbin, in the end there were only a few minor actions by a few victims such as Tieniu Group and Qiantu Motors.
The Iron Bull has exploded, and the situation demands caution. Now, there are imitations of the crime committed on the mountain peak, and collapse is almost imminent.
Jia Yueting now has only one thought: Is it really true that no one can control the Yu family?
At least, he's not the only one who can influence the market.
As long as LeEco gets through this hurdle, there may be opportunities for them to clash openly or covertly again in the future. For example, he has been paying attention to the listing of Silicon Carbon Group recently, and he heard that international short sellers are already getting restless.
Jia Yueting believes that pushing for the listing of silicon carbide was a bad move, which is equivalent to setting up a target for attack.
This time, he brought his team to Lin'an first. In addition to seeking some kind of endorsement and support from the Alibaba leader, he also carefully prepared a PPT for LeEco's car manufacturing and changed the positioning of its mass-produced models.
Not only that, Jia Yueting also brought his own concept car, which he had been working on, directly to Lin'an.
"Mr. Ma, this is the super electric sports car we're going to make. It will have 1000 horsepower and accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in less than 3 seconds!"
Jia Yueting pulled Mr. Ma to the window in the conference room to look at the concept cars displayed downstairs.
Ma Chuan asked with interest, "This is what you announced last month, right?"
LeEco unveiled the FFZERO1 electric supercar concept at CES on January 5.
"Yes, Mr. Ma, we are still working on signing a strategic cooperation agreement with Aston Martin this month, which will be a trial for a high-end new energy vehicle project," Jia Yueting said enthusiastically. "However, considering the development of the domestic market, we have put this direction as a second priority. At present, our priority is to learn from the Silicon Carbon Group and create a mid-range six-seater SUV for family use!"
Ma Chuan unconsciously frowned.
"Regardless of Yu Xing's personal reputation, his ability to build cars with such achievements is something that all domestic car manufacturers and new energy entrepreneurs should learn from," Jia Yueting said earnestly. "However, the success of the Kyushu model from the Silicon Carbon Group has created a crisis for it."
Ma Chuan withdrew his gaze from examining the concept car downstairs and returned to his seat: "What do you mean?"
"Jiuzhou is operating very well, and there is even a backlog of orders. The focus of the Silicon Carbon Group going forward will be on dealing with supply issues," Jia Yueting said confidently. "Yu Xing achieved success with cars priced around 30 yuan, and he will be focusing on this positioning for quite some time to come. However, is a spacious six-seater SUV for family use limited to only 30 yuan? Do families with a budget of 20 yuan have this need?"
He asked himself and answered, "I think so, and even higher than the 30 level. This is a very simple market rule."
"Since there are already successful players in the market, LeEco has decided to learn from silicon carbide and start by making mid-range products with better cost performance, thus limiting the downward space of the silicon carbide group."
Ma Chuan remained noncommittal: "You think you can just do it like that?"
"Mr. Ma, if Yu Xing can do it, so can we," Jia Yueting said confidently. "Why is Yu Xing making range-extended vehicles? It's because the technology has a low entry barrier. As for those refrigerators, color TVs, and large sofas inside the cars, can't others make them too?"
It must be said that this logic has a good chance of being put into practice.
Silicon Carbon Group achieved astonishing results last year, and even now there are still many discussions about its sales figures. How can it sell so many cars that are so expensive?
If such expensive models can still sell so many, given the huge domestic market, wouldn't a cheaper similar model sell even more?
Ma Chuan doesn't understand car manufacturing, but he understands domestic supply and demand and industrial development. He also doesn't think that refrigerators, color TVs, and large sofas are exclusive products of the Silicon Carbon Group.
The new energy industry is showing great promise, and Alibaba wouldn't mind making an investment.
Looking at Jia Yueting in front of him, Ma Chuan knew that his backer had fallen. He then said, "I heard that President Yu is not optimistic about LeEco's car manufacturing."
Jia Yueting was furious. "You Alibaba and Lingang are already competing so fiercely in the short video field, why do you care what your competitors say?"
He smiled and made his point clear: "Indeed, Yu Xing was not optimistic about LeEco's car manufacturing, which caused us quite a bit of trouble. After all, you could say he was bad, but no one thought he was incompetent."
"However, who would willingly be led astray?"
Jia Yueting shook his head, mixing in a lie: "LeEco originally positioned itself as an ultra-high-end D-segment sedan, but this was our first time making cars, and we weren't really confident about it. So I made a special trip to Lingang to visit them and even talked to Yu Xing about the idea of switching to the mid-range segment, and then..."
He shrugged: "It's strange, then he suddenly stopped being optimistic about LeEco's car manufacturing."
Ma Chuan looked at Jia Yueting, who returned the look helplessly.
"Moreover, to be honest, Yu Xing has a lot of influence in short selling." Jia Yueting sighed. "Everyone now thinks he's a saint without any selfish motives, and we at LeEco are also very bothered by him."
"How could Yu Xing not have selfish motives? Were all those short-selling attacks in the past completely without fault?"
Jia Yueting became much more indignant at this point: "Just like when he shorted Fenzhong, taking advantage of the company's plummeting stock price and reputation, he quickly reached a cooperation agreement with Fenzhong at a low price. Once the current public opinion storm passes, all of his past actions will be thoroughly exposed sooner or later."
Ma Chuan nodded almost imperceptibly, the movement so slight it was almost an illusion.
Alibaba was shorted by Guo Shanfeng with a single sentence back then, and the leak of the information has no trace to this day, so it can only be left unresolved.
Ma Chuan dismissed the current praise for the so-called "King of Short Sellers," saying that even if he made money, he would get into a lot of lawsuits and how much he could actually earn. He figured it was better to focus his energy on the company.
Perhaps if Yu Xing had focused his energy on the carbon silicon data company, it wouldn't be a scene of being besieged now, but rather a situation of being far ahead of the competition.
Ma Chuan aims to make Alibaba a company with a market value of trillions of dollars in the future. How could short selling possibly achieve that?
As he listened to Jia Yueting continue his eloquent speech, he knew what the other party wanted: nothing more than Alibaba's and his own support. However, he was now concerned about additional factors.
Finally, Jia Yueting seemingly casually mentioned, "Although there is a lot of pressure, we also have many good and new friends supporting LeEco, such as Mr. Sun from Sunac. Our current situation is very stable."
“It took you a lot of effort to bring this car here,” Ma Chuan said casually. “Then you can start working on it and see what happens. I’m not very interested in cars, but Mr. Cai seems to like it quite a bit. You two will definitely have something in common.”
He was referring to Joseph Tsai, who is not in Lin'an today.
Jia Yueting was overjoyed, but remained composed on the surface, and earnestly invited Mr. Ma to come down and take a look at LeEco's concept car. Ma didn't think much of it, but as he and Jia Yueting walked around the car, members of the LeEco team took pictures of the scene from different angles, and by the afternoon, they had added music and uploaded it to various short video platforms.
Just as the king of short sellers wields influence, the head of the country's top conglomerate naturally possesses extraordinary influence as well.
LeEco's rapid matrix marketing campaign across various social media platforms, subtly hinting at future cooperation between Alibaba and LeEco, did indeed have an immediate and slight effect on its stock price.
More importantly, Jia Yueting gave an interview to locals in Lin'an at the close of trading that day, mentioning the major changes in LeEco's car manufacturing, praising the achievements of Silicon Carbon Group in the field of new energy, and believing that LeEco's research and development of 20 mid-range products would be much more efficient.
Following this statement, related stock forums have already begun to hype up LeEco's stock price, predicting it will hit the daily limit tomorrow.
The story's logic is sound; whether it can be implemented is a matter for the future.
That evening, Jia Yueting met up with Sun Hongbin, who was visiting a leader. After exchanging ideas, they immediately headed to Shenzhen, intending to take advantage of the existing consensus with Alibaba to persuade Tencent.
However, during their trip to Shenzhen, they did not meet Pony Ma, but only CEO Ren Yuxi.
Similar statements, similar mix of truth and falsehood, but unlike Ma Chuan's cautious remarks, Ren Yuxi seemed much more enthusiastic, and after learning that he had filmed a short video on Weishi, he commented on the prospects of LeEco's new car manufacturing positioning.
"Mr. Jia's concept of the ecosystem of electric, intelligent and internet-connected vehicles is excellent."
“I know that current new energy vehicles emphasize refrigerators, color TVs, and large sofas. LeEco is going to make a family-sized SUV, which already gives it an advantage that others don’t have.”
"When it comes to televisions, who can be better than LeEco's Super TV?"
LeEco already had a TV business, which was a very convincing explanation after LeEco adjusted its positioning. In fact, LeEco also ventured into the mobile phone business.
From mobile phones and home appliances to electric vehicles, this ecosystem looks quite complete.
Alibaba only discussed potential investments by individuals, while Tencent indicated that it was in talks to make a company-wide investment.
Jia Yueting was pleasantly surprised by this.
He privately remarked to Sun Hongbin, "Yu Xing is a very easy card to play; it seems that both Alibaba and Tencent are quite wary of him."
Sun Hongbin shook his head: "Who doesn't care? Don't you care too?"
“I’m different.” Jia Yueting was self-aware at this point. “How can I compare to Alibaba and Tencent? They’re powerful. LeEco still has a lot to learn from them.”
LeEco still has a lot to learn, and its ecosystem needs to be implemented.
Sun Hongbin has gained more confidence in LeEco's future ecosystem lately, but it's a bit strange that Brother Jia hasn't talked much about learning from Silicon Carbon Group's positioning in the car market before.
“This Douyin is also a good thing.” Jia Yueting couldn’t help but say again, “The influence of new media on public opinion should not be underestimated. Among these three products, I feel that Douyin is the best.”
Sun Hongbin didn't pick up on the topic. After seeing the message on his phone, he frowned and said, "Yu Xing won't see us."
Jia Yueting was taken aback: "Huh?"
He quickly added, "He has a problem with me, so it's fine if he won't see me, but why shouldn't he see you?"
Sun Hongbin shook his head, got up and dialed a friend's number, still trying to get to know Yu Xing from the perspective of an investor, wanting to see him again.
However, after making several phone calls, the reply was that "President Yu is very busy and cannot spare the time recently."
Sun Hongbin looked displeased, feeling that Yu Xing was being too arrogant, considering himself a well-known figure in the country.
He called Yu Xing directly but got no answer.
Jia Yueting was stunned. He had gone to great lengths to first target the Baixiaosheng Forum, then push media resources to report on LeEco's 2.0 car manufacturing plans, and even create public opinion that Alibaba and Tencent were implicitly supporting and optimistic about the company, only to end up like this…
If we can't even meet each other, wouldn't that be a joke?
Sun Hongbin made a few more phone calls, then shook his head and said, "Forget it, just go to Hong Kong and find him. He's doing a roadshow there. We'll meet him at the banquet tonight. They can't just kick him out, can they?"
Jia Yueting was determined to meet Yu Xing in person and then use the current matrix marketing strategy to dispel the threat of shorting Guoshanfeng. When he saw that Sun Hongbin had an idea, he immediately agreed.
On the afternoon of February 4, Jia Yueting and Sun Hongbin flew to Hong Kong and arrived at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Kowloon in the evening.
As is customary, the roadshow dinner for the Silicon Carbon Group is being held here today.
However, because the big short seller had offended too many people, the security in the banquet hall was very strict, and entry was only permitted with an invitation and verification of the number of people and their identities.
Sun Hongbin couldn't get his face scan to work, and he never expected to actually be stopped at the door.
He focused his energy in his dantian and shouted directly into the room, "President Yu, President Yu, it's me! It's me!!"
At that moment, Jia Yueting, who was standing next to him, suddenly felt inexplicably nervous. His throat moved involuntarily, and his gaze drifted into the banquet hall. He immediately saw a group of people chatting animatedly in front of him automatically separate as if they had been disturbed.
The king of short sellers in the middle of the crowd heard the sound in surprise, his gaze passing through the banquet hall and heading straight for the door.
Sun Hongbin, unaware of anything amiss, immediately waved to signal upon seeing this.
When Jia Yueting finally saw the king of short sellers whom he had gone to great lengths to communicate with in person, he suddenly felt that the other party's gaze turned to lightning, and the cases of market value turning to dust flashed through his mind.
Market value burns, company collapses, and the king of short sellers is watching.
Jia Yueting made two "uh-uh" sounds, and when he saw the king of short sellers signaling to release the people from a distance, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.
Sun Hongbin took two steps, then turned back curiously: "Old Jia, come on."
Jia Yueting swallowed hard, feeling his legs go slightly weak, but he had no choice but to face the king of short sellers head-on.
(End of this chapter)