2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 521 Plan B
2008 was a magical year, not only in Tan Jincheng's opinion, but also in the opinion of normal people.

Especially for retail investors who are easily taken advantage of in the stock market.

On February 26, the Shanghai Composite Index closed down for the fifth consecutive trading day, falling to around 4200 points. This trend looks extremely alarming.

However, despite the stock market having fallen 2000 points from its peak, there seem to be few desperate investors. Many still believe in a major rebound, with the common view being that such a big event as the Olympics will definitely boost the stock market.

It must be said that holding this view is really nonsensical, but upon closer examination, it is quite reasonable.

In the days when information dissemination was not so advanced, it was quite easy for certain media outlets and experts to exploit their established advantages in information dissemination and use various rhetoric to trick those who were being exploited.

"That's strange, Changfeng hasn't fallen much these past few days. This trend is a bit abnormal," Tan Jincheng asked curiously.

The person asking the question was Cheng Linfeng. The stock price of Changfeng Group seemed very strange. Although it had experienced a sharp drop before the Lunar New Year, its stock price had miraculously remained stable during the recent sharp decline.

Currently, the price is hovering around 14.5 yuan. To be honest, the drop is already quite significant compared to the high point of over 5 yuan per share, but in Mr. Tan's opinion, it is far from enough.

It's worth noting that Moutai has plummeted today, falling from a high of 230 yuan to around 187 yuan, which is much lower than the average price at which our boss, Mr. Tan, sold his shares.

Cheng Linfeng clearly knew what his boss wanted to ask: "It is indeed a bit strange, but it should just be a normal attempt to ship goods, and it has little to do with us."

At a price level around 14 yuan, the profit margin for the major funds involved is still huge. By creating a small resistance trend during a period of continuous market decline, it can attract the attention of many retail investors.

Stocks that go against the market trend are always worth paying attention to, especially since Changfeng Group previously hit a new high due to research from ByteDance's research arm, reaching an all-time high of 19.8 yuan during that period.

"So this means that as long as the stock market experiences some volatility again, it will return to its normal trend, right?"

Lin Feng knew far more about the ins and outs of this than Tan Jincheng did. Besides, even if he knew some inside information, it wouldn't make any difference to try and grab Changfeng Group's stock at this point; it was still far from certain.

"That's true. Once the annual report comes out, the price will still fall. Let's wait until it drops to around 7 yuan before starting negotiations. Also, let's proceed with our Plan B at the same time."

Changfeng Group has a total share capital of 4 million shares, and its current market value is around 56 billion yuan. If the price drops to 7 yuan, it will lose half of that value.

In fact, Tan Jincheng didn't need to think too much. A price of 7 yuan was definitely not the end for a company facing bankruptcy and a major stock market crash. The A-share market is such a magical place. Even if your valuation is already very reasonable, it can still halve your value when it falls.

Therefore, the lowest valuation of Changfeng Group within ByteDance's advertising platform is around 15 billion yuan. Based on this valuation, plus the premium income from Xiangcheng City Investment's more than 45% stake, the total valuation is roughly 700 to 800 million yuan.

This price is perfectly acceptable for Flashpoint in its next phase, and it won't be a problem even during this year's financial crisis; in fact, it can even operate without using the entire group's funds.

Currently, with the funds held by ByteDance Engine, plus the 1 million yuan that Tan Jincheng lent to ByteDance Engine after cashing out last time, the cash in ByteDance Engine's account alone is close to 5 million yuan. The acquisition can be completed by using the capital of just ByteDance Engine.

If it weren't for the surge in 2007, the market value of listed companies would be really cheap these days. Even a giant like Kweichow Moutai has a total market value of less than 1800 billion yuan, which is nothing compared to its future market value of trillions.

“Okay, then we’ll go prepare now,” Cheng Linfeng replied.

The so-called Plan B is actually quite simple. The biggest difficulty for Flash Technology to go public through a backdoor listing is secrecy. How to keep it secret and do it to the extreme?

Frankly speaking, there are no secrets in this world. Trying to keep something secret by using secrecy is simply impossible. The only way is to attract the market's attention with other hot topics.

And Weilai Auto is the best hot topic generator.

Plan B still involves researching car companies, this time focusing on Shuguang Auto, a long-established car company located in Northeast China. It is currently also struggling financially, but it is also a listed company.

Shuguang Auto's stock price has also remained around 14 yuan. However, its total share capital is only 2.2 million shares, and its market value is around 30 billion yuan. In fact, it is much cheaper than Changfeng Group. But Shuguang Auto's equity is too dispersed, with the largest controlling shareholder holding only 14.9% of the shares.

With the equity stake too dispersed, acquisitions would be too troublesome. Besides, investments don't cross the Shanhaiguan Pass, so Mr. Tan really didn't dare to go there to discuss investment and acquisition matters.

This is not about regional discrimination, but rather a business perspective. As the eldest son, the three northeastern provinces have played a very important role for Guo Jia, but the economic center has now shifted to the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta region.

Trends cannot be stopped.

“Okay, then you and Huang Ming should get ready to go to Liaoning Province to conduct some research. Flash will also cooperate with you.”

Cheng Linfeng nodded, feeling somewhat excited. If last year's scheme to fleece investors was just an appetizer, then this year's backdoor listing plan was the main course, truly stirring up the capital market.

The more the stock market falls, the more the secondary market misses the days when ByteDance's stock price surged and dominated the list of top-performing stocks. ByteDance's brief appearance in the secondary market has become a legend.

On the evening of May 26, news broke online that the State Trademark Office had registered five new trademarks for Flash Group, all in Class 12. "Wow, Flash registered five trademarks in one go, four of them are in the 'Chi' series. Are they about to launch new products? Is Boss Tan preparing to make a big splash?"

"This is an Olympic year, and Flash is the exclusive sponsor of electric vehicles for the Olympics, so we're definitely going to make a big splash."

"But what does '尉来' mean? And why is this trademark so strange?"

"It must be some new product category."

FlashChe acted quickly. As soon as the news was released, online trolls jumped in and started stirring things up. Although Teacher Chen's popularity has not diminished these past few days, FlashChe Group, or rather Tan Jincheng, has also been generating considerable buzz.

Orange Technology announced two appointments a few days ago. The first appointment was that Tan Jincheng, the largest shareholder who had stepped down as president, would once again serve as president of Orange Technology.

This is not surprising to outsiders.

However, the second appointment announcement was quite explosive.

"Mr. Sun Tongyu officially assumed the positions of Vice President of Orange Technology and CEO of Orange Products on March 1, 2008, reporting directly to President Tan Jincheng."

Both appointments were announced to internal employees, but they quickly spread to the internet. Sun Tongyu, the former CEO of Taobao who had disappeared for three months, reappeared in the public eye by joining Orange Technology!

Vice President is probably just a title; CEO of Orange Products is Sun Tongyu's official position. It's clear from this that he's here to take charge of the Orange Products project.

Many people in the industry know that Sun Tongyu has joined Orange, but the outside world doesn't know. This news is still very shocking to the uninformed public. No one expected that Sun Tongyu, who built Taobao into a huge company, would go to Orange Products Club.

It is said that Old Ma's face darkened when he saw the news.

Knowing in advance is one thing, but for the public to actually find out is a slap in the face for Ma.

If it weren't for the sheer number of photos taken by Teacher Chen, the incredibly sensational content, and the huge social impact across both sides of the Taiwan Strait, Sun Tongyu's appointment as Vice President of Orange Technology would undoubtedly have topped the newly launched Weibo trending list.

Speaking of which, Mr. Chen's photography works have also brought a lot of boost to the internet. According to the data, the number of new netizens in the past two months is far higher than the normal number, especially on the first website, Tianya Forum, where the popularity is simply booming.

Many celebrities also gossip in private. For example, Liu Yifei didn't want to download these things in private, but she couldn't resist her curiosity, so she indirectly asked Tan Jincheng about them.

Ultimately, she's a 21-year-old girl who's been relatively well-protected. Tan Jincheng had previously helped her resolve a major crisis in her career, so she trusts him quite a bit, especially since it involves a colleague.

"Do you want to see it? Look for Qingqing. There are uncensored videos on Kaixin.com, but they're not very interesting. She's about the same size as you."

The sharp-tongued Boss Tan is back online.

What do you mean by "someone with a similar figure to you isn't worth looking at"?

This one sentence alone infuriated Liu Yifei, whose curiosity was overflowing. What girl could tolerate someone she trusted criticizing her figure?

"There's really nothing to see here. Apart from Miss Zhang's nice figure, the rest is really just average. If you want to see it, find Qingqing. I can't send it to you; it's too revealing, haha."

"Couldn't you have left out the second half of the sentence?"

"Haha, it just slipped out, I couldn't help it."

Gu Qingqing can also get jealous. Although she knows the previous rumors weren't true, she still gets a little jealous when she talks about Liu Yifei with Tan Jincheng, because she was genuinely flustered back then.

To comfort her, Tan Jincheng could only say that he didn't like her figure, because he really preferred someone with a broad chest to someone plain-looking.

"Honestly, it's like you've seen my body before. Don't say that next time."

"Okay, okay, go find your Qingqing sister. I have other things to do and don't have time to talk to you about this."

Gossip is truly human nature, but celebrities during this period really dare to do anything, with many treating Weibo like their personal social media feed.

Tan Jincheng shook his head, picked up the phone and dialed Zhou Ao's number: "Release the information that I am the legal representative of Weilai Automobile, to increase the news's popularity."

(End of this chapter)