Chapter 782 Thank You for the Invitation (Two in One)

The conference room on the 21st floor of Hang Lung Building fell silent as Fang announced his shorting of Lehman.

As the first Chinese stock to be shorted in the United States, its press conference today was worth the money for the journalists!

Shorting? Anti-shorting?

Let’s not talk about whether Fang’s data and logic are correct, his move was beyond the expectations of most people!

However, in Zhihu’s “Pointing to the River”, there are indeed answers suggesting that Fang short Lehman, but these few sporadic answers are more like playing tricks and did not attract much attention.

At this moment, the journalists who shouldered the first-line experience officers of Zhihu all flashed the answers they had seen in their minds - was it really guessed? Was Fang too emotional?

No, it was not completely guessed. Fang did not want to short Lehman alone. According to his meaning, he wanted to bear the losses himself and let more people short together!

The attendees thought about the "AAA priority" that Mr. Fang had marked and reminded. Although they were still not clear about the mystery, if it was true as Mr. Fang said, then it would not be impossible to "try out" short selling Lehman. Anyway, it has the highest default exemption.

"Thank you for your attention to Yike. I believe Yike can bring more popular products to consumers."

Fang Zhuo's routine last sentence ended the press conference.

This also means that it is time for the question-and-answer part that the media on the scene like most.

Mr. Fang raised his hand to drink tea, and all the reporters in the audience raised their hands and asked questions enthusiastically.

"Everyone is very enthusiastic. I really don't know which media to choose." Fang Zhuo put down the cup, glanced at the conference room hesitantly, and said easily, "Just this friend from Sina."

Tsk...

The voices of most people on the scene turned into smiles on the faces of Sina reporters, and they didn't even look at whose company Mr. Fang was from!

He stood up and said without any politeness: "Mr. Fang, do you think your short selling of Lehman will have the same impact on its stock price as Lehman's short selling of Yike?"

From the current situation, neither of Lehman's two reports has played a big role.

Even the Wall Street giants can't short sell, so how much impact can Fang's act of being angry have?

"Words are not enough, the stock prices of the two companies are there, let's see." Fang Zhuo changed the subject, "If Lehman is capable, let's see if the stock price goes up and see if my principal can be blown up."

There are many ways to short sell US stocks. This time, through Bank of China, it is directly linked to the stock price, borrowing stocks from securities companies to sell and then buying them back at maturity.

Currently, Lehman's stock price is around US$81, which is at a relatively high level since its listing. Even if it can rise in the future, the loss of principal is unlikely to reach the level of a blow-up. This is the difference between short selling individual stocks and futures with built-in leverage.

The answers to the questions raised by Sina reporters made everyone feel that this was Fang's move after he was angry. The bottom line for ordinary people to lose money is absolutely different from Fang's.

The second question was from China Securities News. The reporter asked about the compliance of this method: "Mr. Fang, you said that you launched financial products through Bank of China to face a wider group of financial management users. Is this suspected of violating regulations?"

You said launch, so launch. Bank of China is your family?

Oh, is it the Bank of China where Mr. Fang is a director?

Let's ask about violations.

Faced with such an inquiry, Fang Zhuo answered seriously: "It is definitely compliant, otherwise I would not say it on such an occasion. In general, this is a cooperation between Bank of China and Bank of China. I personally think it is quite meaningful."

He has repeatedly communicated with Bank of China and Bank of China in the past few days to ensure that there will be no problems in this regard.

In fact, the country is gradually relaxing the restrictions on QDII investment entities, investment products, investment markets and foreign exchange purchases. As a bridgehead, Hong Kong is also encouraged to cooperate with mainland banks in its business development.

This is an encouraged method, but it is still quite trendy to be used in shorting Lehman.

Today, the trend is not just this. The unfamiliar US housing prices, CDO in the subprime market, and the development and cooperation of smartphone systems... all of these were put on the press conference of the "short selling incident" and it really seemed that the information was too dense.

Some of the reporters from well-known media and major newspapers were not related majors, but many financial reporters who were confident and knew about the short selling of US stocks in advance were also a little timid. After being called by Mr. Fang, the questions they asked were more conventional.

It was the "Apple Daily" from Hong Kong that had the guts. After being called, its reporter immediately asked a question that was more closely related to today's theme, asking aggressively: "Mr. Fang, did Yike commit financial fraud?"

"Strange, even Lehman's short selling did not mention the four words financial fraud, why do you ask this?" Fang Zhuo wondered, and gestured, "Oh, which media are you from? How did you get in?"

Soon, the reporter was forked out in the midst of the half-sentence of "Of course it's because Yike's financial report is about..." and the half-sentence of "What are you doing, I'm a media reporter" that was suddenly forked out.

Only two Hong Kong media outlets were approved for today's press conference, one is the Hong Kong Wen Wei Po and the other is the Oriental Daily. I don't know how this one with the Apple Daily badge got in.

This small change made many reporters unhappy.

Fang Zhuo explained kindly: "Since the rules have been set, they must be followed. There should be no media friends present who are not invited, right? I am not angry about his question, but today's press conference is for Lehman's short selling. If I have time another day, I will hold another 'some Hong Kong media hear the wind and rain press conference' and answer his questions at that time."

The reporters of "Hong Kong Wen Wei Po" and "Oriental Daily" looked at each other, not knowing whether to identify "some Hong Kong media" as such. After hesitating for a while, they remained silent and did not express their opinions. The reputation of "Apple Daily" is not very good.

The reporter from Sohu.com lifted the slightly awkward atmosphere with a question: "Mr. Fang, I heard that Lehman shorted Yike. There is some grudge between you and Lehman's head Fuld. Whether it is Lehman shorting Yike or vice versa, is it more of a personal grudge?"

"I met Fuld in New York. At that time, we disagreed on some opinions, but it seems not to be a personal grudge." Fang Zhuo replied, "As decision makers of enterprises, our views on things and judgments on trends often determine the actions of our enterprises."

"You know Fuld, of course because he is Lehman's Fuld. I don't mind Lehman's shorting, and I believe Fuld won't mind my shorting either."

"Fold is a good person, wish him well."

The sudden polite answer from Mr. Fang made many reporters feel uncomfortable. He had just asked someone to fork the reporter out.

And, what's the matter with this kind of condescending blessing?

Time is tight, and today's extra doubts are suppressed in my heart.

Another reporter stood up and asked a rather vague question: "Mr. Fang, short selling is used to counter short selling. What do you think of short selling as a financial means? And what is its impact on Chinese concept stocks in the future?"

With the first Chinese concept stock being shorted, there will definitely be a second one.

This short selling incident has a certain historical significance.

Fang Zhuo took a sip of tea and pondered: "Shorting can bring profits, which will inevitably lead to more Chinese concept stocks being targeted. For Chinese concept stocks, legality and compliance are of course necessary. They cannot be justified just because they are labeled as 'Chinese concept', but in fact..."

"The US stock market does not understand distant Chinese companies. They are likely to believe whatever the institutions with the right to speak say, because there is no more convincing contact channel. This is an objective unfairness."

"Yike has many global businesses, including the services provided by our iMusic abroad, which are also familiar to many consumers and institutions. Therefore, the actions of giants like Lehman have only brought not much impact. If it is other companies, it is not necessarily the case."

"It can only be said that it is necessary to regulate itself and speak out properly."

Fang Zhuo said these words, and suddenly he wondered whether this would lead to the emergence of short-selling institutions targeting Chinese concept stocks in China. This is actually a blank area that few people have set foot in, and there are indeed problems with the business of Chinese concept stocks.

Compared with American institutions, the understanding of domestic enterprises by institutions from China may be more convincing in the US market.

Oh yes, there are also mainland funds suspected of cooperating with Lehman, but we don’t know which one it is yet.

There were several routine questions one after another, including inquiries about the Yike mobile phone project.

“I am full of confidence in Yike’s mobile phone. I think it is not inferior to Yike’s decision to choose Sony at the beginning.”

“If nothing unexpected happens, everyone will see our mobile phone next year.”

“I hope to bring surprises to everyone.”

Fang Zhuo actually hopes that everyone will ask more questions about mobile phones, but unfortunately the media’s interest is not as strong as he imagined.

He showed his friendliness to the media: “For the last two questions, I won’t pick anyone. One of them you can discuss what you want to ask, and the other one is left to Sina.”

The question that everyone discussed was raised, which was quite unexpected by Fang Zhuo and a little interesting: “Mr. Fang, if you really make a profit by shorting Lehman, what do you want to do with the money?”

Invest in mobile phone research and development? Conventional charity? Improve your life like a rich man?

Fang Zhuo thought for two seconds in everyone’s eyes and answered: “I want to buy an office building, I don’t know if it’s enough.”

Well, the question and answer that neither of them guessed.

Finally, the press conference ended with a question from a Sina reporter.

"Mr. Fang, what is your most intuitive feeling about the move of Lehman Brothers, a well-known investment bank on Wall Street, to short Yike?"

Fang Zhuo sighed, spread his hands, and gave the last answer, which was also his most real and intuitive feeling: "Lehman is crazy!"

Then, the president of Yike stood up, laughed, and waved goodbye.

Yike's press conference ended here.

I don't know if Mr. Fang's laughter is too charming, many media used Mr. Fang's last sentence as the title or subtitle.

--"Mr. Fang: Lehman is crazy!"

--"Lehman Brothers shorted Yike, Fang Zhuo called for anti-shorting!"

--"Who is right and who is wrong? Lehman VS Yike?"

--"Fang Zhuo's view on the US real estate market is analyzed!"

--"Yike joins the three major operators and the foreign giant Google to jointly form the Open Mobile Alliance!"

--"A confusing press conference!"

--"Why is Mr. Fang laughing? 》

The press conference was very compact and contained a lot of information. For a while, except for "Mr. Fang's opposition to shorting Lehman", which occupied the most reports, it was difficult to distinguish the reports in other directions.

Is Yike going to enter the mobile phone market? No, it is the richest man in the Mainland who wants to join the competition.

Is Mr. Fang trying to short Lehman Brothers? No, it was Mr. Fang who invited everyone to join us.

Did Mr. Fang ask people to expel reporters from the venue? No, ah no, yes, it’s Mr. Fang.

Major media outlets have reported one after another. The mainstream newspapers have described the incident in a relatively objective manner, while the financial media have stayed up late and worked overtime to analyze foreign real estate and CDOs.

As for the Internet media, the tone is relatively free and enthusiastic.

Zhihu, which was not invited to the scene but has the largest number of part-time reporters, posted several related questions as soon as the press conference ended.

Among these issues involving "mobile phones", "real estate" and "short selling", the most heated debate is the response method of "Mr. Fang's short selling".

Can such short selling work? Is it because of anger?

Except for the Lezi people, the two sides have very different views.

On the one hand, "Why are you shorting Wall Street giants?" "Even the richest man in the Mainland is not enough in front of such giants." "This is a show for the domestic media and audience." "This is a press conference used by Mr. Fang to divert attention." etc.

The other side is "Lehman can do it, but Mr. Fang can't?" "Because he is Mr. Fang" "I think Mr. Fang's data is true" and so on.

Discussions on Zhihu issues are intense, and are gradually heating up with the increase in media coverage.

Substantial investment was born when the two sides got into a real fight.

——"I dare to invest with Mr. Fang and short Lehman. Do you dare to short Yike?"

——"People in New York are short on Yike and have already borrowed securities to go short."

It is difficult to distinguish between high and low by just arguing with words. Different applications of different data can often lead to opposite conclusions. In the end, the real story comes down to investment returns.

As the co-founder of Zhihu, Xiong Xiaoge paid close attention to the popularity of the website and carefully read various answers. In the end, he couldn't help but quit.

"Friends, I have always admired Mr. Fang's vision. I discussed the real estate situation in the United States with several friends and I also believe that there are many bubbles in it."

"Mr. Fang jointly launched financial products with the Bank of China and the Bank of China this time, and the threshold was set very low. I even think this is an extremely meaningful testimony of short selling. This is Mr. Fang's invitation to us. Anyway, it is his capital that will be compensated first. gold."

"Thank you for the invitation. I will invest the 100,000 yuan in my pocket first. From today on, I will post the investment status every month."

"See you in half a year."

A sincere invitation from the richest man in the Mainland to all the fun-lovers and financial managers. This is a real invitation to losers and your gains.

A well-known investor spent all of his 100,000 yuan to live-stream the short-selling process on Zhihu. Suddenly, there was a wave of posts expressing thanks for the invitation and live-streaming the short-selling process.