2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 464 Ahri? Even dogs wouldn't buy her! (Seeking monthly votes)

Does it matter whether you get in or not? If I wanted to, it's not like I wouldn't have the chance. These days, celebrities' worth hasn't inflated to the level it was in later generations.

Speaking of this thing, the two horses deserve a lot of credit. If they hadn't entered the entertainment industry, driven away the coal bosses, and incidentally spoiled these celebrities, things wouldn't have come to this.

The era of coal bosses was truly the most beautiful era for the entertainment industry.

With the current strength of Flash and Orange Technology, Tan Jincheng could easily become a bulldozer if he put his mind to it, but he had no interest in getting into trouble.

What made him happiest today was that Sun Tongyu expressed her disappointment. Sure enough, everyone is at their most vulnerable when they are most vulnerable, whether it's men or women.

For Sun Tongyu, the listing of Ali is just a countdown to being kicked out of the company. Now, apart from the cold, hard numbers in his account, Sun Tongyu has nothing left.

For a founding member who single-handedly built the group's largest and most core business and has been with the founder since the company's inception, it would be fine if he voluntarily withdrew, but this kind of forced departure and listing is torture for him.

If it were me, I would probably feel disappointed too.

When you reach a certain stage in entrepreneurship, it's not just about making money. The sense of accomplishment in your career is far greater than the experience brought by money. Sun Tongyu built Taobao from scratch, and there were subsequent rules. His ruthless exit disrupted his future plans.

It even affected his life, but no one cared about him at the moment. Everyone only saw the glory of Jack Ma and Ali. The market value on the first day of listing was the sum of the two giants.

Since last year, the three internet companies BAT have been frequently discussed and are widely recognized as the three most promising companies in the future internet industry. However, there are many aspects to evaluating a physical enterprise, and market value is not the most important factor.

However, when evaluating an internet company, market capitalization or even valuation is absolutely the most important reference point; an internet company without market capitalization is worthless.

Old Ma's glory days began from that point on.

"Cold, hard numbers in an account? Mr. Tan's way of putting it is novel and quite interesting. I wonder if Mr. Tan's ByteDance Engine participated in the subscription of Ali's shares? I remember that ByteDance Engine's securities department was quite successful not long ago."

The Shanghai Composite Index reached a historical high of 6124.04 points on October 16th, and has since fallen to around 5500 points. On the same day that Ali went public, the Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.74% to 5536.57 points, a drop of nearly 600 points from its highest point.

ByteDance's trading platform, Ocean Engine, aggressively bought into the A-shares market when it was around 3000 points this year. Although it frequently appeared on the list of top traders in the early stages, it did a good job of keeping its information confidential. However, nothing stays secret forever.

In less than a month, this newly emerged speculative trading seat was found to be a seat of ByteDance's advertising platform, ByteDance, which was no longer the small company with little reputation in the capital market since Huang Ming joined the company.

After joining the company, Huang Ming has been assisting Orange Technology in setting up the Orange Products Club project. ByteDance Engine has not made any major moves in terms of investment, leading people to misunderstand that Huang Ming's joining ByteDance Engine was fake and that he was actually preparing to work at Orange Technology.

No one expected that ByteDance's advertising platform, which had been relatively inactive in the primary market, would become so successful in the secondary market. The data from the stock exchange's daily trading records shows that ByteDance has made a lot of money.

When Qilu Securities Beicang Hengshan Road branch first appeared on the list, the amount of money listed was not large. A month later, not only did the amount of money listed increase significantly, but the number of stocks listed on the list per day also continued to rise. It has grown into a large speculative capital institution in a short period of time.

The exposure of ByteDance's seats also stunned the leaders of Beicang District. As a key enterprise in the district, FlashDrive is well aware of what the heads of each subsidiary do.

After Huang Ming joined ByteDance's advertising platform, although he was the primary person in charge, Cheng Linfeng was still in charge of all investments in the secondary market. He did not interfere. When did such a cautious person like Cheng Linfeng make such a big move?
In addition, Xiao Tan borrowed 4000 million yuan some time ago, and then the ByteDance stock seat frequently appeared on the Dragon and Tiger List. Could it be Xiao Tan's doing?

The district's initial impression of Tan Jincheng was that he was good at everything except stock trading. He bought some stocks and was stuck with them for a year. He was just lucky to catch the bull market. When did he become so good at judging the stock market?

Stock market investors have their own circle, with many retail investors who are easily taken advantage of. However, news spreads incredibly fast. ByteDance's stock market manipulation tactics have caused a stir in the A-share market, and once the news is exposed, it spreads widely among retail investors.

As the original parent company of ByteDance's advertising platform, Flash Group, owned by the same person, has seen its popularity among investors rise rapidly. It sells clothing and electric vehicles, both consumer goods.

GXG clothing is positioned as mid-range menswear, while Flash Technology's electric vehicles cover low, medium and high-end markets. Consumers have some money and tend to admire the strong, so it's undeniable that this has boosted sales of some of Flash Group's brands to some extent.

Especially GXG, which is currently being heavily promoted, has a novel and stylish design. As an international brand, it is also reasonably priced during the promotion period, making it a very suitable choice for men.

With Ali's IPO approaching and Sun Tongyu no longer having a specific job, and given the booming A-share market, he would occasionally keep an eye on stock and fund information. When he learned about the ByteDance Engine trading seat, he even confirmed it with Tan Jincheng. Tan Jincheng readily admitted it, boastfully claiming that he had orchestrated everything, and that the initial 4000 million yuan in additional investment funds were borrowed—behaving like a shrewd investor who had profited handsomely.

However, since the stock market reached 6000 points, Sun Tongyu has not seen any of the ByteDance's trading seats appear on the list of top traders. Investors have also noticed this, and the market generally believes that Tan Jincheng has withdrawn from the market.

Some retail investors who had already placed their bets on the stock market tried to stop following the lead of the massive stock market engine, but then the stock market rose by more than 100 points, causing them to rush in again.

The result was predictable: the index plunged from its high point and then fell by nearly 600 points. For individual stocks, the damage was enormous, and those who mocked the massive engine for missing out on the rally also felt the pain of the stock market correction.

Whether ByteDance's advertising platform has withdrawn from the A-share market is something Tan Jincheng didn't boast about to Sun Tongyu, but having chatted with Tan Jincheng for several months, Sun Tongyu still has some basic understanding of him.

According to Sun Tongyu's understanding, Tan Jincheng should have already withdrawn from the A-share market. Although this kid seems crazy and uses some bizarre methods to attract his attention, and his style of doing things is unpredictable, every step he takes is aimed at making a profit.

Beneath its eccentric and unpredictable exterior lies a sophisticated business logic; its bizarre methods are merely a means to mislead its competitors.

Ali's popularity in the capital market, as evidenced by its performance on the first day of listing, suggests that the capital market's enthusiasm for Ali is evident. According to Sun Tongyu, Juliushi, which exited the A-share market in a timely manner and holds a large amount of funds, must have participated in Ali's offline subscription.

"No, ByteDance's advertising platform did not participate in Ali's offline subscription."

Inside the room, Tan Jincheng and Gu Qingqing were dressed casually. Gu Qingqing was curiously watching the newly downloaded pornographic film. She had watched many pornographic films with Tan Jincheng, but she had never seen one with big stars.

Well, in Gu Qingqing's eyes, "The Ring" is just a short film. Tan Jincheng has watched the uncut version many times, and it's not very interesting, so it's just so-so.

Gu Qingqing's curious expression was somewhat adorable in Tan Jincheng's eyes. Haha, wait until Teacher Chen debuts next year, then you'll see what truly shocks the entire entertainment industry.

Damn it, this PC-based internet era is so much better. People like Teacher Chen can just look at anything. In later generations, all you see are some gossip, chat logs, or a few vague pictures, nothing at all.

The scene was somewhat comical: a scantily clad young man and woman were watching a pornographic film in a closed room, while the man was chatting on his phone with a middle-aged man in another location about business.

"No subscription? Why? You can make a fortune once it goes public." Sun Tongyu was somewhat surprised by Tan Jincheng's answer.

Tan Jincheng holds Tencent shares, and ByteDance's advertising platform has also purchased some shares of hog farms. These are not secrets. Now that Tan Jincheng is making a name for himself in the A-share market, how could he not have subscribed to Ali's shares?
"Isn't this to pledge allegiance to President Sun? Old Ma treated you like this, how could I possibly use real money to support his IPO? He's dreaming."

"Stop talking nonsense, is it true that there was no subscription? Can you give me the specific reasons?"

This reply left Sun Tongyu both amused and exasperated. If he actually believed it, then he would have been bewitched by Tan Jincheng. However, he was still quite pleased with himself, thinking that this kid understood him.

"Haha, I really didn't subscribe. There's no reason for me to lie to you about this. As for the reason, even a dog wouldn't buy Ali's stock!"

The sensation caused by Ali's IPO was known even to Tan Jincheng, who sells boxed lunches. He recalled that the stock price surged on the first day, but plummeted on the second trading day. Investment institutions that had previously been bullish began to collectively turn bearish on the second day.

Even Old Ma's urgent appeal to institutional investors to make long-term investments before the market opened had no effect, and the stock price plummeted.

Of course, this is only a short-term fluctuation. In the long run, Tan Jincheng is unwilling to hold any shares in Ali. Their investment style is to drive traffic to their own business, and the returns of the listed companies they invest in on the secondary market are very limited.

It's not worth wasting money on such a bloodsucking company. Besides, Tan Jincheng also knows that Ali will eventually be delisted from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and listed in the United States. That's the benefit of being a shrewd person.

Another issue is that the timing of Ali's IPO was also unfavorable. It was already November, and the global financial crisis was already showing signs of coming, with stock markets in various countries experiencing varying degrees of decline.

As the saying goes, "ducks are the first to know when the river warms in spring," or perhaps Ali (the company behind Ali) knew the financial market was in trouble, which is why he chose to go public at this time to fleece investors.

"You won't even buy a dog? What do you mean?"

(End of this chapter)