In Hong Kong, we build a global business empire

Chapter 707: Lin Haoran earns 55 billion, while Soros drinks the soup!
At Motorola headquarters, in a medium-sized conference room, the room was filled with laughter and cheerful conversation.

In the past few days, Motorola's stock price has been falling lower and lower, marking its worst drop in recent years.

If we're talking about who's under the most pressure, it's definitely the Motorola executives.

Who would have thought that Motorola's market value would now exceed 10 billion US dollars, making it the 13th largest listed company in the United States.

Whether or not this market value can be maintained is another matter, but this does not change the fact that Motorola's market value has exceeded 10 billion US dollars.

In the conference room, the executives raised their glasses in celebration, their faces beaming with long-lost smiles.

President Robert Galvin, beaming with pride, raised his champagne glass, looked around at every executive present, and declared in a loud and confident voice: "Ladies and gentlemen, we did it!"

A burst of enthusiastic applause and cheers erupted in the conference room.

The day before, he had been under pressure to have the company repurchase $100 million, which naturally drew a lot of criticism.

After all, everyone in the United States knows that Motorola's cash flow is not very abundant. They have to support multiple laboratories and research and development centers, which are burning money every day.

One hundred million US dollars is a considerable sum for Motorola.

But Robert Galvin defied all opposition and insisted on implementing the buyback plan.

He decided to follow Lin Haoran's advice.

"Our decision has proven to be correct!" Robert Galvin's voice was filled with passion. "The market has regained its recognition of our value, and investors have regained their confidence. This is not only an affirmation of our technology, but also a reward for the beliefs of our team!"

"Of course, most importantly, we must thank our new board member, Mr. Lin Haoran!" Robert Galvin added at the end.

When they repurchased shares yesterday, Motorola's market value had already fallen to the range of $30 billion to $32.5 billion.

The $1 million investment enabled their company to repurchase approximately 3.3% of Motorola's shares.

If they sold these shares today at their peak market value, they would be worth $3.35 million, netting them a profit of $2.35 million!
$2.35 million! That's an enormous sum, even for Motorola.

This means they can use this windfall for further R&D investment and market expansion.

Although the shares are currently still in the company's books and have not yet been cashed out, they can be cashed out at any time as long as the company's stock price does not fluctuate too much in the future.

Robert Galvin, beaming, raised his voice slightly with excitement: "Gentlemen, this $2.35 million profit can be perfectly invested in our next-generation analog mobile phone network, making our signal more stable and our coverage wider!" He turned to the R&D director, "David, hasn't your team been complaining about insufficient R&D funding? Now, that problem is solved!"

David stood up excitedly: "This funding is just in time! Although we are a world leader in mobile communications, other companies are rapidly catching up by reverse engineering our products as they launch them. So, our most important task now is to continue developing the next generation of products and maintain our leading position!"

The meeting room erupted in enthusiastic applause once again.

"Mr. Galvin, your decision to cooperate with Mr. Lin Haoran in Hong Kong was absolutely brilliant. Now that he has become a member of our Motorola board of directors and an important shareholder, I think we made the right move. A genius like Mr. Lin deserves our attention at Motorola!" a senior executive exclaimed.

This statement was agreed upon by everyone present.

Without Lin Haoran's involvement, their Motorola DynaTAC 8000X product would not have been officially released until 1983.

Motorola's market capitalization is rather lukewarm, hardly befitting its status as a technology giant.

But now, the booking results have far exceeded their expectations.

It's important to understand that Motorola was the biggest beneficiary of the successful launch of the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X.

After all, mobile communications in Hong Kong are now handled by Hong Kong Mobile Communications Company, but in reality, they make the most money from the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X handset. The joint venture only earns the middleman's profit and the monthly communication fees.

“Yes, Mr. Lin is a true business genius. His money-making skills are too good. He is worth trying to win over. It’s a pity that Mr. Lin is in Hong Kong. Otherwise, I think that if we could bring Mr. Lin into our Motorola management team, it would definitely be of great use to Motorola!” another senior executive said with some regret.

A glint of insight flashed in Robert Galvin's eyes as he suddenly had an idea: "Distance shouldn't be an obstacle. Since Mr. Lin is so valuable, we can create a special position for him—Vice President of Global Strategy, based in Hong Kong, to oversee Motorola's Asian operations."

A murmur of discussion immediately filled the conference room.

CFO Mary quickly flipped through the documents: "According to the company's bylaws, there is indeed no requirement for senior executives to work in the United States..."

“Mr. Galvin, as far as I know, Mr. Lin owns several large companies, one of which, Landsea Group, is no less powerful than Motorola. We have this idea, but they may not agree,” a senior executive said with a wry smile.

This time, Lin Haoran's reminder truly won over all the high-ranking officials present.

The repurchased shares yielded a net profit of over US$200 million, which translates to over HK$1 billion.

“We’ll discuss this later. I’ll talk to Mr. Lin about it next time we meet,” Robert Galvin said after a moment’s thought.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

"Please come in," Robert Galvin said after everyone quieted down.

At this time, unless something important happens, no one will bother them.

The conference room door was opened, and Robert Galvin's assistant entered.

"Mr. President, senior executives, we have just received news from New York: Quantum Fund claims that they have made a total profit of $2.5 million during the recent surge in Motorola's stock price."

It is understood that as early as when the stock price was still at a normal level, they borrowed our company's shares from multiple securities firms and then quickly sold them; when the stock price fell to a low level, they bought back a large amount; now, taking advantage of the stock price rising to its highest point, they sold all of them again, turning themselves into the biggest winners of this surge in Motorola's stock price.

Based on this information, we have reason to believe that the previous sharp drop in Motorola's stock price was very likely manipulated behind the scenes by Quantum Fund! The assistant said quickly and clearly to all the senior executives present.

Upon hearing this, the high-ranking officials present were immediately in an uproar.

They had noticed something was off about the recent media coverage and even suspected that Lin Haoran was the manipulator behind it all, since it was Lin Haoran who extended the draw results by two days.

Unexpectedly, the truth has now come to light, revealing that Quantum Fund was the one stirring up trouble behind the scenes.

In this way, everything makes sense.

Quantum Fund is notorious in the financial world for its consistent practice of manipulating stock prices and futures to reap huge profits.

"These vampires in the financial world are the worst of the worst!" A senior executive, his face ashen with rage, gritted his teeth and shouted angrily.

He was particularly indignant that Quantum Fund not only made a fortune in this turmoil, but also made more than them.

At the same time, they were also extremely envious of how quickly financial capital could generate wealth.

Those of us who are in the manufacturing industry, who work hard to develop new products, will surely be rewarded.

However, institutions like Quantum Fund, which can manipulate the financial market, can amass huge wealth in a short period of time by skillfully controlling capital and having a keen market sense. This stark contrast left many executives present with mixed feelings.

In fact, if Quantum Fund Management Co., Ltd. had not had to return a portion of its shares to the securities firm, and if it hadn't leveraged some of its funds, the profits they would have earned would have been even more astonishing.

These past few days, they've been suffering terribly from Motorola's plummeting stock price, with shareholders calling almost daily to demand answers.

Fortunately, Robert Galvin was in Hong Kong a few days ago and then spent the rest of his time on airplanes, so he didn't experience too much pressure.

Everyone understood why Quantum Fund dared to make this public; the reason was simple: to raise their profile.

Institutions like Quantum Fund, which are used to stirring up trouble in the financial market, have never been afraid to expose their shady practices. They even use these "achievements" as a source of pride to attract more investors who seek high risk and high returns, thus accumulating more capital and resources for their next "hunt."

Moreover, the Quantum Fund has not claimed to be behind the manipulation, and without evidence, no one else can do anything about it.

"Quantum Fund is so unscrupulous, are we just going to let them do whatever they want?" A hot-tempered young executive slammed his fist on the table, stood up with a face full of indignation, and his eyes seemed to be spitting fire.

Robert Galvin slightly raised his hand, signaling him to calm down.

He then slowly began to speak: “Anger will not solve any problems. Although they have profited greatly this time, it has also served as a wake-up call for us. Motorola can no longer be as unguarded in the financial market as it has been before.”

We need to assemble a professional financial team to monitor stock price dynamics at all times, analyze market trends, and prepare in advance for various risks.

However, to be honest, we also have to thank Quantum Fund. Without them suppressing our stock price, Motorola wouldn't have been able to take this opportunity to buy back shares and make a fortune, right?

The atmosphere in the meeting room eased slightly thanks to Robert Galvin's slightly sarcastic yet meaningful words.

"Mr. President, although our company's market value has now exceeded 10 billion US dollars, can we really maintain this market value?" a senior executive asked with a skeptical attitude.

After all, even at their peak, their market value didn't exceed $50 billion, barely approaching $50 billion.

Today, its market value has more than doubled from its previous peak.

It's understandable that they don't have much confidence in this.

"Don't worry, the success of the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X will increase shareholders' confidence in Motorola, and our market value will only continue to rise!" Robert Galvin said confidently.

His confidence stemmed from the "hunger marketing" that Lin Haoran had mentioned to him.

He believes that with this marketing strategy, the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X will definitely become a phenomenal blockbuster product, continuously bringing huge profits and high attention to Motorola, thereby stabilizing or even increasing its market value.

“However,” Robert Galvin’s tone shifted, his expression turning serious, “we cannot rely solely on this one product. Although the current situation is very favorable, the unpredictability of the financial market and the watchful eyes of our competitors require us to have a more comprehensive plan and response strategy.”

While Motorola was holding its meeting, the Quantum Fund in New York was also holding its own meeting.

At this moment, George Soros was in high spirits. The huge profit of $2.5 million directly broke the record for the highest single investment profit since the establishment of Quantum Fund.

In the conference room, the core executives of the Quantum Fund all had excited smiles on their faces.

This time, they were not greedy. When Motorola's market value reached eight or nine billion US dollars, they began to gradually sell off Motorola stock.

Quantum Fund Management has never bothered with long-term investments; their goal is to maximize profits in the shortest possible time.

Whether Motorola's stock price will continue to rise is no longer their concern.

Because they never focus on just one company.

Soros sat in the main seat, his face slightly turned to the side, and he could take in the picturesque sunset over Seventh Avenue in New York.

Just an hour ago, they disclosed the details of their profits to the public without reservation. This news was like a bombshell, instantly causing a huge uproar on Wall Street.

And he, George Soros, once again became famous for this achievement, his name resounding throughout every corner of Wall Street.

$2.5 million! Looking back on his decades-long career in finance, he had never fought such a resounding and lucrative "battle." It's easy to foresee that after this victory, their fund company's capital will snowball dramatically, reaching an astonishingly large level. After all, this resounding success will undoubtedly solidify the trust many investors have in their Quantum Fund Company, leading them to confidently entrust their funds to them for management.

Quantum Fund Management Co., Ltd. will also take advantage of this glorious "battle" to leap from being a little-known company to becoming one of the undisputed giants in the fund industry!

At this moment, he couldn't help but think of that young Chinese man again.

"When I have some free time, I must personally visit Hong Kong to pay a visit to this Mr. Lin Haoran and see who he really is," Soros murmured.

While it may seem that Quantum Fund Company reaped the biggest rewards this time, only Soros knows that if the force that had been secretly accumulating Motorola stock in the past few days was Lin Haoran, then Lin Haoran would be the real big winner.

However, he had no evidence to prove that Lin Haoran was the one who did it.

Everything is just speculation.

Although it was just speculation, Soros was quite certain about it.

“Boss, after this incident, our company will be even more notorious on Wall Street,” an underling said, frowning.

This time, they did make a lot of money and became famous throughout the financial industry, but their reputation suffered even more.

Soros laughed heartily, crossed his legs, and said, "Reputation? On Wall Street, profits are the best reputation." He glanced around at the executives present. "Do you think those seemingly respectable investment banks are clean? They're just better at disguising themselves than we are."

Lead analyst Mark Schwartz immediately chimed in, "The boss is right. Since this operation, seven pension funds have contacted us, wanting to entrust us with managing their funds, totaling over $5 million." He glanced at the data.

Trading director Jack Peterson whistled, "Looks like those seemingly respectable institutions are secretly craving high returns too."

"Hahaha." A hearty laugh echoed from the conference room.

Unsurprisingly, many investors hated them for this, and they became the biggest scapegoats.

However, Soros didn't care at all.

Even if everyone knows that he was manipulating things behind the scenes, there is no evidence whatsoever. They weren't doing this in the name of the Quantum Fund to stir up trouble and badmouth Motorola.

They were simply making "reasonable" investment decisions at the right time.

Even the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority could do nothing about him.

After all, in this world, everything needs to be based on evidence.

Even though everyone knows that the plunge in Motorola's stock price was caused by the Quantum Fund's manipulation behind the scenes after the fund announced its profits, there's still nothing that can be done about the Quantum Fund unless solid evidence is presented.

At that moment, the hearty laughter of his subordinates echoed in the conference room.

Soros stood up, walked slowly to the floor-to-ceiling window, and looked at the New York City that was gradually being illuminated by dazzling lights.

He crossed his arms over his chest, gave a meaningful smile, and muttered to himself in a voice so low that only he could hear, "This has always been the rule of the game on Wall Street. Those who criticize us are just jealous of our success."

At this moment, Soros thought again of that terrifying profit, $2.5 million! He had never fought such a rich battle before. Even though he had already made a name for himself on Wall Street, he couldn't help but tremble slightly with excitement.

That felt amazing! Absolutely amazing!
The moment the thought crossed his mind, Soros could no longer contain his elation and burst into laughter.

That hearty laughter instantly mingled with the laughter of the other subordinates in the conference room, echoing in every corner of the room.

……

At this moment, Lin Haoran is still fast asleep due to jet lag.

As for the US, he knew that no matter how much Motorola's market value rose, it wouldn't fall like this again.

After all, with the increasing popularity of mobile phones, Motorola will further solidify its position as a tech giant.

Therefore, he was not in a hurry to sell the stock and had already informed Su Zhixue in advance that he only needed to pay close attention to the stock price and did not need to take any other action.

That is why, even with Motorola's stock price soaring today, Universal Investment Company has remained unmoved and has not sold a single Motorola share.

Unless there are special circumstances, Su Zhixue would not specifically call his boss late at night in Hong Kong.

The morning sun shines on a luxury villa on Shi Xun Road.

When Lin Haoran's biological clock woke him up on time, the sunlight outside the window had already illuminated the entire bedroom.

He stretched, got up, and drew back the curtains. In the distance, the blue waves of Victoria Harbour shimmered with tiny golden lights in the morning light.

Guo Xiaohan wasn't by his side, because she hadn't come back here last night; instead, she had obediently gone back to be with her mother.

"Looks like it's going to be another nice day." Lin Haoran smiled slightly and turned to walk towards the bathroom.

After washing up, the maid had already brought out breakfast and newspapers.

Lin Haoran picked up a fried dough stick and was about to open a copy of the Oriental Daily News when the landline next to him rang.

"Huh?" Lin Haoran glanced at the landline. Who timed it so precisely? How did they know he was right next to the landline?
Although somewhat surprised, he put the fried dough sticks and newspaper on the coffee table, went over to pick up the phone and answered the call.

"Boss, it's me, Su Zhixue." Su Zhixue's voice came from the other end of the phone.

Lin Haoran suddenly realized, no wonder.

"Is it about Motorola's stock price? Let me guess, Motorola's market value has more than doubled?" Lin Haoran said with a smile.

"Boss, you guessed right! Motorola's market value not only surged, but it also broke through $100 billion. At the close of trading, its market value reached $101.6 billion, propelling it to 13th place in the ranking of market capitalization among US listed companies. The entire US stock market is in an uproar!" Su Zhixue said with a smile.

"$101.6 billion?" Although he knew Motorola's stock price would definitely soar, it was still a bit unexpected to hear that it had reached this figure in just one trading day.

After all, Motorola's market capitalization was only $32.5 billion the day before.

"In addition, there is a piece of news that has been making a lot of noise in New York. I think you will definitely be interested in it, boss. These past few days, haven't you been guessing who is manipulating public opinion behind the scenes, making everyone say that Motorola is going to fail?"

Sure enough, shortly after the stock market closed today, Quantum Fund announced that they had successfully made $2.5 million by shorting Motorola's stock and then buying the dip during the recent stock price fluctuations.

"Today, Quantum Fund has caused a sensation in the entire American financial circle and has become one of the most sought-after fund companies on Wall Street," Su Zhixue continued in his report.

"Quantum Fund? Is that the one with Soros?" Lin Haoran's heart skipped a beat as he recalled the famous financial tycoon from his previous life.

“That’s right, the owner of the Quantum Fund is none other than Mr. George Soros,” Su Zhixue said directly.

"Okay, I understand," Lin Haoran replied thoughtfully.

"Based on our current holdings of Motorola stock, this 16.51% stake is worth approximately $16.77 billion. If this gets out, it will definitely cause a huge uproar in the United States once again."

Compared to this, Mr. Soros's $2.5 million is nothing. Boss, you are truly a cut above the rest! Su Zhixue couldn't help but exclaim.

Although amazed, Su Zhixue, who had followed Lin Haoran all along, was already used to his boss's foresight in market trends.

Lin Haoran chuckled softly but remained silent.

"By the way, boss, after the market closed today, I noticed that the number of buy orders for Motorola was still quite considerable. So, based on the analysis of these orders, if there are no unexpected events, Motorola's stock price will most likely continue to rise slightly in the next trading day," Su Zhixue reported.

"Okay, thank you for your hard work. Go ahead and do your own thing!" Lin Haoran said with a smile.

After hanging up the phone, Lin Haoran fell into deep thought.

These past few days he'd been trying to figure out who was pulling the strings behind the scenes, and he never expected it to be the renowned George Soros.

But upon closer reflection, it makes sense.

After all, isn't this exactly Soros's style?
"I never expected that the mastermind behind this was Soros! But speaking of which, I really have to 'thank' this Mr. Soros. If it weren't for his meddling in the United States, Motorola's stock price wouldn't have plummeted so much, and I wouldn't have had the chance to make a fortune, haha!" In the living room on the third floor of the villa, Lin Haoran suddenly burst into laughter.

Previously, Su Zhixue had given Lin Haoran a detailed report that Huanyu Investment Company had spent a total of $6.13 million to acquire the 16.51% stake in Motorola.

Although these shares have not yet been cashed out, based on their current market value, as Su Zhixue said, the value of these shares has soared to $16.77 billion.

After deducting the initial purchase cost, he made a net profit of approximately $10.64 billion!
Hey, this feeling of making money is so exhilarating and awesome!

At the current exchange rate, 1 US dollar can be exchanged for approximately 5.2 Hong Kong dollars.

If he could sell all these shares at their current market value, he could make HK$55 billion, which is a considerable fortune.

Unfortunately, Soros's actions were too sudden, giving him no chance to plan ahead.

Otherwise, he could have joined in shorting Motorola and might have made even more money.

Even so, he had no regrets and was quite satisfied with his current earnings.

Lin Haoran is undoubtedly the biggest winner in this Motorola stock investment.

In contrast, although Soros also made a fortune of $2.5 million, he was clearly destined to be the biggest scapegoat in the Motorola stock crash.

With such a shield, naturally no one would follow the clues to trace it back to Lin Haoran.

Moreover, the difference between $2.5 million and the $10 billion Lin Haoran earned is not small.

This situation is like Lin Haoran feasting on meat while Soros can only drink some broth on the side.

The most ingenious thing is that Soros did all the trickiest and most troublesome work in this "show," and even took the initiative to publicize it.

As for Lin Haoran himself, although he deliberately postponed Motorola's lottery time by two days, it was to cooperate with Soros's actions.

But to outsiders, this is a perfectly normal operation and would not arouse any suspicion.

After all, he had no connection with Soros whatsoever; this whole thing was just a complete accident!

Thinking of this, Lin Haoran's smile deepened.

(End of this chapter)