Reborn in 1999: Starting as a black marketeer

When Wang Feiyang took over the office space from Liu Jianjun, there were still ten months left on the lease, with a monthly rent of four thousand US dollars, totaling forty thousand US dollars. According to the exchange rate that day, it should have been 1:25.8, but Wang Feiyang paid directly in rubles at a rate of 1:26.

Forty thousand US dollars is equivalent to 104 rubles. All of them were 20 stacks of 500-denomination bills, plus some loose change. After all, you can't exchange rubles for US dollars at the official exchange rate.

Liu Jianjun packed the 20 stacks of bills into his backpack, leaving the remaining 4 rubles untouched. He smiled and said, "I'll use this money to treat your company's beautiful female employees to lunch. Let's all go to that restaurant for a get-together at noon."

"How can that be? I promised to treat you to dinner today," Wang Feiyang quickly shook his head.

"That won't cause any problems. You treat me to dinner, and I'll treat your company's employees to dinner. We'll each keep our own accounts, haha," Liu Jianjun said generously.

Unable to persuade him otherwise, Wang Feiyang had no choice but to agree. When he went out to announce it, the employees cheered. Who wouldn't be happy to get a free meal?

It was almost noon, and since no customers were coming to the company, the entire group of about ten employees, along with Wang Feiyang and Liu Jianjun, closed the company gates and headed to the upscale Western restaurant on the first floor.

Wang Feiyang has eaten here several times during this period and is quite familiar with the place.

We found a huge, long wooden dining table, sat down, asked the waiter for menus, and each of us ordered what we wanted to eat…

…………

During the meal, Liu Jianjun told Wang Feiyang that he had been buying shops in ACT recently and suggested that if Wang Feiyang had any spare money, he could also buy a few shops to rent out, which would be a good investment and should make money.

ACT Market has only been open for less than two years. Although the planning and environment are very good, it is not as popular as the old and new Sun Market yet, so the shop prices and rents are not as high.

Of course, the footwear section is an exception, since most of the big, established footwear manufacturers are now concentrated in the footwear section of ACT, but other product categories are much less developed.

According to Liu Jianjun, shops in the ACT (excluding the footwear and leather goods area) are priced at around $12,000 to $15,000 each. If rented out, the monthly rent ranges from $1,500 to $2,000. In addition, a management fee of $700 to $800 must be paid to the market management.

The management fees for the two old markets, New Sun and Old Sun, are similar to those in ACT, but the shop prices and rents are double. Moreover, it is not easy to rent a shop, and you have to pay the previous tenant or owner a so-called "tea money," which is another considerable expense.

Therefore, the costs at the big market are not cheap. A container shop, with an area of ​​only about 20 square meters, costs about the same as Wang Feiyang's 100-square-meter office every month, or even more.

If it's in the ACT, it's cheaper, but the monthly rent plus management fees are still over two thousand US dollars, except for the shoe and leather goods areas.

Liu Jianjun recently bought eight shops in the clothing and department store area, choosing popular locations, so the average price was $15,000 each, costing him over $100,000.

Moreover, he continues to buy because he believes that the environment and management of the ACT market are much better than those of the old and new Sun markets. As time goes by, the popularity of ACT will increase and the prices of shops will rise. Buying now at a low price will definitely make money.

Wang Feiyang remained outwardly calm, but inwardly he was overjoyed, because he would have almost forgotten about it if Liu Jianjun hadn't brought it up!

In his previous life, Wang Feiyang started as a middleman in Lyublino, so he didn't know much about things in ACT. However, before he started doing business, he had worked as a translator here, so he knew a little about the situation here!

Now that Liu Jianjun reminded him, Wang Feiyang suddenly remembered that in his previous life, the popularity of ACT had grown rapidly. Later, the two markets, New Sun and Old Sun, experienced major events such as fires and closures, while ACT remained unscathed. As a result, more and more merchants moved from New Sun and Old Sun to ACT, which quickly drove up the prices and rents of shops in ACT.

There are only so many shops in ACT, but the number of new and old shops flocking to the area far exceeds the number of shops here, so prices have started to skyrocket.

At its peak, shop prices in the ACT reached an outrageous two to three hundred thousand US dollars!

Compared to the current price of over ten thousand, it has increased ten to twenty times!

And this happened in a very short period of time, to be precise, around 2002, which is only two years ago...

It has to be said that Liu Jianjun is a very insightful person. Just the shops he has accumulated will bring him huge wealth in two years!

"Okay, when I have some extra funds, I'll ask Brother Liu to help me buy a few shops so we can try collecting rent, haha." Wang Feiyang said with a smile.

"Well, if you really want to do this, do it as soon as possible. I feel that shop prices will be driven up very quickly," Liu Jianjun said with concern.

Wang Feiyang was also helpless. He had many things he wanted to do. Speculating on shops was nothing compared to what he could do. If he had enough money, he would have countless ways to invest and make big money.

Putting aside other things, just look at the recent investment Tencent received from IDG and PCCW. If Tencent had enough money, it would have invested directly itself.

Isn't that more profitable than speculating on commercial properties?!

Furthermore, the global internet winter is just around the corner. Those internet giants that were once world-renowned are having a tough time right now; their stocks are dirt cheap. If Wang Feiyang had enough money, he could easily buy some Amazon, Apple, Microsoft...

Oh, let's forget about Microsoft. In January 2000, Microsoft's market value had already reached $1 billion, and the subsequent growth was not significant.

If Wang Feiyang really had to choose, he would put all his money into Amazon, because in 2000, Amazon was practically a "monster stock".

In January, Amazon's stock price hovered around $13, but by the end of the year, it had broken through $75!

It increased sixfold in one year...

Moreover, this happened amidst a global internet winter, which has shocked countless people.

…………

After having dinner and seeing Liu Jianjun off, Wang Feiyang returned to his office and seriously considered whether he should go and speculate on ACT shops with Liu Jianjun.

Or, instead of rushing to build a brand chain after saving up some money, they take the money to the US stock market to make a quick buck.

However, after careful consideration, he finally decided not to participate in property speculation, including temporarily giving up the opportunity to "make money" in the US stock market.

This involves a choice between making quick money or making money slowly.