In front of the dressing table, Ying Xin was tying a tie for Li Yuan. She was still complaining: "You have been saying, don't be a crow's mouth, don't be hated by others, why are you talking nonsense at the shareholders' meeting? Did you see it? Now
Why can’t you learn that silence is golden when everyone is shouting to beat you?”
Li Yuan chuckled: "A man is a boy until he dies, am I not the little boy in "The Emperor's New Clothes"?"
"Don't be so playful. Do you still want to be in the IT circle in the future? You are ruining other people's financial opportunities. Do you understand?"
"Hey, has my Xinxin learned how to be humane? Where is that big girl from the capital who always went forward?"
"You don't have a serious word to say." Ying Xin spat with a smile, "Don't move around, it's wrong again."
"If it's crooked, it's crooked. What does it matter?"
"Hey, didn't you say that? Today's interview needs an image? Don't move! I'll take it apart and call you again!"
"hehe."
"..."
Li Yuan's speeches at the shareholders' meeting undoubtedly caused more and more trouble. In the end, even the company's board of directors couldn't stand it anymore and quickly arranged for Li Yuan to accept an exclusive interview, hoping to save some things.
"It's an honor, Li. I've been looking forward to interviewing you." The one who came to interview today was Hannah, a female columnist for the Los Angeles Times.
The reason why we chose the Los Angeles Times is that Parallel Line Technology is a star company in Los Angeles. The United States also has local protectionism, and Parallel Line Technology is one of the few Internet companies outside Silicon Valley and one of the pride of Los Angeles.
So the elbows are turned in somewhat... right?
"Hello, Anna. I'm also happy to be interviewed by the Los Angeles Times."
"Let's get started! Li, first of all, I heard that you have become the richest man in China. When you were a teenager, your family was still one of the poorest families. So what is the secret of your success?
"
"Good luck! I have answered this question before, mainly for three reasons..."
Li Yuan has long been familiar with such commonplace issues. Not only can he talk eloquently, but he can also talk in a humorous way, as if he is telling a very inspirational legendary story.
Anna chimed in with a few compliments: "Li, I feel a little strange. Since you already have so much wealth, don't you have such wealth in your country... Hmm, do you understand what I mean?"
Li Yuan smiled and nodded: "Thank you, Anna. Here, I will tell the truth. It may not sound nice, but it must be the truth?"
"Uh-huh."
"I find that you have many misunderstandings about us in China. For example, the issue of personal wealth. In fact, it won't take long for the whole world to see that there will be many people from our country on the rich list. It is nothing more than my Parallel Line Technology
It was launched relatively early, so I’m just paying more attention to it.”
"Are you saying that there will be many rich people in the future?"
"Not only will there be many rich people, but there will also be many middle class people. Yes! According to the standards of your European and American countries, there will be a large number of middle class people."
"No way?"
"Haha. Let's wait and see! So I am here to make a prediction. For many commodities, including cars and luxury goods, our Chinese market will become the largest market in the world."
“Including being able to surpass the United States?”
Li Yuan nodded without hesitation: "Of course. That's for sure. And it won't be very far away, at most... more than ten years!"
In his heart, Li Yuan was actually not very happy with such an interview.
Although the words spoken at the shareholders' meeting seemed a bit... crow's mouth, right?
But what can Crow Mouth do? I don’t rely on fans for my livelihood. It doesn’t matter whether I lose fans or have negative fans.
Since this Anna didn't ask those questions, Li Yuan fell into what he wanted and also chatted with her.
"...Li, listening to your introduction just now, does your country seem different from what I heard?"
"Haha, it's not that exaggerated. First of all, it's personal preference. As human beings, what ordinary people in the United States like, we Chinese generally also like; what we hate, we also hate. In fact, there is no difference. There must be customs and habits
There are differences, but generally we can understand each other. For example, the customs and habits of Los Angeles and New York are different. Sometimes they will laugh at each other, but not to the extent of incomprehension."
"So that's it? Then what do you think is the biggest difference? For example...the biggest difficulty that needs to be overcome when understanding it?"
"You're talking about this...it should be due to demographic factors!"
"Demographic factors?"
"Yes! We all know that the United States is a very large country, and there are fifty states. It is particularly troublesome to govern, and there will be all kinds of incredible and strange problems. You Americans should be used to it, right?"
"Right, that is it."
"So, even you Americans can't understand how much trouble a superpower with a population of more than one billion has. This is not a problem of the same level, but an order of magnitude beyond. For example, opening up the market? You always
It is impossible to imagine that the methods and difficulty of opening a Luxembourg market are the same as opening the British market? And opening the US market is definitely more complicated? And opening the Chinese market is even more complicated."
"It does make sense. But I think you are implying that the Internet bubble is too big and a financial crisis may happen soon?"
Finally continuing the topic, Anna returned to the topic of the interview.
Li Yuan laughed: "No, no, that's not what I meant."
"Isn't it really true? Let me remind you - I have got the recording of your meeting of shareholders?"
To be honest, since today's exclusive interview is for crisis public relations, Li Yuan will definitely not tell the truth: "Anna, you must have misunderstood what I meant."
"Misinterpretation?"
"Yes! First of all, regarding the Nasdaq bubble, it definitely exists. Many Wall Street experts should have analyzed it, right? And it must comply with economic laws - Internet companies are also a type of enterprise, and it is impossible to deviate from this
It is an economic law. It is impossible to keep rising and maintain this exaggerated degree of rise. Therefore, there must be a period of correction. At the shareholders' meeting, I mainly reminded of such risks; secondly, the profit model of Internet companies
, there are indeed no very mature cases at present, and every company is in the stage of self-exploration. This is also an objective reality. Therefore, saving operating costs and ensuring sufficient cash flow is what every successful company will do..."
"Oh? According to your point of view, what do you think of the future of the Internet? Haha, Li, I hope you don't use those diplomatic words, it's better to make your views clear to our readers?"
"No problem. I can tell you clearly - the future of the Internet will be at least 10 times the current scale!"
"Ah? Are you really that optimistic?"
"Of course. One is a short-term business strategy, so we have to avoid bubble risks; the other is the long-term trend. I can say with certainty - the Internet is the future!"
"Huh? Then what evidence is there for your view?"
"Of course. Have you heard that I just acquired three clubs - Sheffield United Football Club, Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche? The acquisition of these three clubs is for my layout in the Internet industry. Because I am very optimistic about the future development of the Internet, such as live broadcasts of football games. I can lie about what I say, but will I lie about the money I spend? Haha."
"Huh? Although...that's the case, why did you say that at the shareholders' meeting? I'm sorry, Li, but the content of the recording is really misleading?"
"Okay, okay! I forgot to mention the last point - trade secrets!"
"Ah? Trade secrets? Are you misleading...?"
"No, no! Don't explain casually. That's a secret. I'm only responsible to our shareholders and don't need to be responsible to the public. As for some criticisms from the outside world, I can only say - no comment! Haha!"
"..."
…
As one of the most influential media outlets in the United States and around the world, the Los Angeles Times' report also attracted widespread attention.
Regarding Li Yuan's "trade secret" statement, many people are completely confused and cannot judge whether it is true or false. They can only... let it pass slowly!
After all, there are too many hot news every day, so it is impossible to hold Li Yuan down.
The popularity of the Internet remains unabated. Not only has the Nasdaq index hit new highs repeatedly, but also various start-up companies have been listed one after another and have sprung up in countries around the world.
The same ones include China, where the top three Internet companies: Sohu, Sina, and NetEase were listed on Nasdaq, triggering waves of domestic Internet booms and a large number of first-generation Internet upstarts. At the same time, The last three: BAT, they were also officially founded at about the same time.
However, in this bustling scene, a few dark clouds slowly appeared...
In February 2000, Federal Reserve Chairman Greenspan felt that the situation was not right. He felt that the bubble was a bit big and the risks seemed too high. Which central bank could tolerate a price-to-earnings ratio of 200? So he began to discourage investment and announced a substantial interest rate hike. Increase to the level before 1995, increase the cost of capital flow, and encourage people to be more cautious when investing.
However, as soon as this news was released, although the stock market fluctuated to a certain extent, it was not enough to attract attention.
One month after the interest rate hike was announced, the Nasdaq reached its highest point of 5,048 on March 10. On March 13, the news that the Japanese economy had entered a recession again caused a sell-off in technology stocks in the international market, and investors began to worry.
heating up.
So, little devils never do anything good. (laughing and crying)
Finally on March 20, the famous financial magazine "Barron's" published a cover article called "Burning Up", revealing the current poor status of these Internet companies:
Among the 207 Internet companies surveyed, 71% had negative profits, and 51 companies would run out of cash within 12 months. Even the Internet idol unit Amazon’s cash flow can only last for 10 months. Many Internet companies have negative profits.
The founders and early investors of the company are doing their best to cash out. The funds flowing from the old economic system to the new economic system are about to be exhausted. Internet companies with no money to burn and no money to make are about to fall from the altar...
This time, it is not a crow-mouthed person like Li Yuan, but a very influential professional financial media in the world.
The market finally began to panic, and stock prices began to free fall.
Investors began panic selling, and less than a month later, the Nasdaq index fell by more than 25%, and fell by 9% on April 14 alone.
In this atmosphere of stock market crash, two-thirds of the entire stock market value has evaporated. Many star companies have plummeted in market value or even closed down...
As many Internet companies went bankrupt, the market value of most Internet companies fell by 75%. Even Amazon and Ebay, which were operating well, saw their market values drop by half.
Communications companies and hardware companies were also implicated. Cisco and Sun Microsystem lost almost 90% of their market value. The market value of AOL Time Warner after the aforementioned merger also fell to US$120 billion, and AOL (America Online) also lost 90% of its market value.
) was deleted from the company's name. Scape, the originator of the free software model, also lost most of its market share in the confrontation with Microsoft. More than 400,000 IT practitioners lost their jobs and were forced to change careers.
There was a leak in the house, but it rained all night, and what followed was the Enron incident.
Many people should be familiar with the Enron incident. The most famous one is Arthur Andersen's false accounting incident, which directly killed one of the Big Four accounting firms.
But to be honest, the Enron empire at that time was indeed a master of speculation, and even had the new concept of Internet futures. This led to the market's fanatical pursuit and continuous successful financing.
All right!
The "Internet concept" during this period was so popular that Disney even made a homepage and called it an Internet entertainment company? (Laughing and crying)
Against this background, the stock price has certainly hit new highs, and Enron has been able to continue to increase leverage.
There is a saying that in the future, Internet securities trading and Internet futures platforms will eventually be successfully realized.
Even Disney, an "Internet entertainment company". The portal concept of this period made Disney so popular that even my mother didn't know it. But in the future, Disney's online on-demand platform will be quite successful.
In one sentence - it was too advanced, and the technical conditions were simply not met, resulting in a bottomless pit of money.
Therefore, when the Internet bubble burst, it immediately triggered a chain reaction, and Enron's capital chain was instantly broken. In the end, it had to resort to falsifying accounts.
Moreover, the outbreak of the Enron incident also triggered a crisis of financial trust. Through the investigation of Andersen, many people were surprised to find that many Internet companies are also suspected of false accounting, including many well-known Internet companies.
It turns out to be Jiang Zi! Are you making false accounts all day long just to defraud us of our investment in the Internet?
In the end, it immediately triggered greater panic. The stock price of the Internet plummeted!
