The Magician’s Memorial - Chapter 321



Only Krnovel

321. At the end of the wait (5)

6 a.m. the next day.

I went to work just in time for the Nasdaq market to close.

CEO Han Jeong-hoon, who had stayed up all night in the office of Taewoo Securities, ran straight to the chairman’s office.

“It closed at $24. It rose by a whopping 40% in one day. It even broke the $25 mark for a time.”

“This momentum will continue for a while. By the way, how many shares did you sell in Tesla?”

“More than 11 million shares were sold, of which 1.4 million shares that Musk threw were received by the fintech bank. And more than 1 million additional shares were purchased through a paper company.”

The reason why Tesla was not blocked from listing.

It was a great opportunity to raise Tesla shares, so there was no need to stop it.

It would have been best to increase the stake before listing, but since the company had already reached its limit, purchasing listed stocks now was the cheapest way to increase the stake.

“We probably own about 60% of the shares.”

“A little over 60%. Fintech, Taewo Group, Faker Company, etc. It was purchased in installments under various names, so it will take some time to accurately figure out the shareholding structure.”

“Don’t buy any more stocks. Wouldn’t there be some price fluctuations if stocks were released into the market?”

There were other reasons as well.

This was because the financial power of Taewo Group and Fintech Bank had actually reached its limits.

It took over one global company after another, and the money that seemed to never dry up was running out as it continued to invest in large-scale businesses.

“I think the same thing. Tesla’s corporate value is highly evaluated, but putting too many eggs in one basket is too risky.”

“It’s an egg made of steel, so there’s no risk of it breaking. If I acquire more shares now, I’m afraid it will hinder the stock price rise, so I’m stopping.”

“With the current stock price alone, you have earned at least twice the return on your investment.”

“Would you have invested so much just to double the business? You have to make at least 100 times more to be able to say you did a decent business.”

“Do you think Tesla’s stock price will rise more than 50 times from what it is now?”

It’s not like I’m seeing it, I’ve already seen it.

Of course, with the advent of the Apple Car, the stock price increase may be lower than before the regression.

Even if it fell by half, the stock price could have risen more than 50 times the current price.

“Now stop worrying about Tesla and focus on Taewo Group. There are less than three months left until the Apple Car is released.”

“Taewoo Securities is developing financial products related to the Apple Car.”

We immediately erased all thoughts of Tesla.

There were more than one problem facing the Taewo Group, so it was not possible to spend more time on it.

However, before even a month had passed, an incident occurred that made us pay attention to Tesla again.

* * *

About a month after Tesla went public.

David arrived in Korea without any contact, and President Han and I welcomed him to Captain Kang’s office.

“What happened all of a sudden?”

“I came to Korea to see the president’s face.”

“You’re saying it’s a combination of both. You’ve seen enough of my face, so get to the point.”

“We have secured information that short sellers are targeting Tesla.”

David didn’t come to Korea for nothing.

If Tesla’s high-flying stock price falls, the value of my shares will also fall.

And it was something that would throw cold water on the electric vehicle market, which was continuing to have a good atmosphere.

“Who is leading the short selling?”

“James Canos, known as the king of short selling on Wall Street, is making moves. There are also a significant number of hedge funds sympathizing with him. It seems that those who lost money in the Lehman crisis are trying to make large-scale moves this time.”

I had also heard a story about James Canos.

It was a name that could not have been known because the story was spreading on Wall Street that the stock he selected would inevitably fall.

“What is the expected short selling size?”

“It is analyzed that it could move at least $30 billion to up to $100 billion.”

“You mean hitting Tesla with an amount exceeding 100 trillion won. It won’t be easy to defend.”

“That’s why I came to Korea myself.”

A CEO who was quietly listening to the story tapped on his calculator.

He quickly finished calculating and opened his mouth with a stern expression.

“If we use all of the capital of fintech banks and Taewo Group, we can defend ourselves, but if we do that, we will have to withdraw many of the businesses we are currently running.”

“Is Kanos preparing to short sell the entire electric vehicle market? Following Tesla, is it also targeting Taewoo Motors and Kai Motors?”

“It is known that the target is only Tesla. In the case of Taewo and Kai Automobiles, they also collaborated with Apple, and because they are aware of Taewu Group’s strong capital, they seem to have excluded it from short selling.”

He was not called the king of short selling for nothing.

Kanos was able to rise to his current position because he only threw punches in fights he could win.

“You probably don’t know that Tesla has a relationship with Taewoo Group, but it’s strange that they made such a decision.”

“It seems that the connection with Taewoo Group was judged to be weak.”

“If a big short occurs, they will proceed with short selling on the premise that Taewo Group will not help Tesla.”

Kanos’s thoughts were correct to some extent.

Taewo Group was currently out of money and did not have enough funds to prevent short selling worth over 100 trillion won.

Of course, you can take out a loan by putting the group’s assets as collateral.

Although I could raise funds by selling affiliates or divisions, I did not want to do that.

Therefore, Kanos had to accurately understand the situation of Taewo Group and attack Tesla.

“When do you think short selling will start?”

“The rumor is likely to spread throughout Wall Street soon. If that happens, hyenas who smell the money will gather like a pack of dogs. It is highly likely that the short-selling operation will begin in the middle of this month at the latest.”

“There’s about 15 days left.”

“Isn’t there only 15 days left? To prevent short selling, we need to inject at least $50 billion in funds. It is not at all easy to obtain such a large amount of money in 15 days.”

David and CEO Han are anxious.

I smiled brightly at them.

“The way to win in short selling is simple. As long as Tesla’s electric car is released and records high sales, the short selling forces will naturally lose.”

“We need to defend ourselves against short sellers during that period.”

“There is no need to completely defend yourself. Like all sporting events, the stock market also requires fierce competition to attract a lot of attention.”

Once short selling began, it could attract several times more attention than it does now.

Of course, if the stock price falls overwhelmingly, damage that cannot be recovered could be suffered due to the high level of interest.

But what if you can defend yourself and counterattack a little?

A supporting fan base was created, and interest could continue to be received until the end of the year when the electric car was released.

“You said there is no need for a complete defense, but even if you want to defend to a certain extent, you will need at least tens of billions of dollars in funds. It is difficult for Tesla to secure that amount of money on its own, and it is difficult for the Taewo Group to help.”

“Then all you have to do is recruit one more ally.”

“Are you planning to ask Berkshire or Quantum Fund for help? But even if those two come as allies, it’s not enough.”

“There is no need to ask for two allies. If you can accept just one as an ally, you can deal a blow to the short-selling forces on Wall Street.”

I kept smiling.

It was David and CEO Han who looked like they had no idea what I believed in or why I was so confident.

There was no need to explain.

You will find out in just a week.

* * *

two days later.

A president hurriedly rushed into the chairman’s office.

“Now I think I know which ally the Chairman was talking about. Isn’t it Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund?”

“It looks like you got a call from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.”

“I received a call that they would be entering Korea tomorrow and would like to collaborate with Taewoo Securities. Did you receive the call first?”

“I heard a tip from a member of the Saudi royal family. He is coming to Korea earlier than expected.”

A CEO with a foolish, bright smile.

Then, with a helpless smile, he sat down on the sofa.

“I only thought about Wall Street investment companies or funds. I never expected that you would use the Saudi sovereign wealth fund.”

“It’s still too early to like it. It’s true that the sovereign wealth fund is investing together with the Taewo Group, but they say this investment is just a taste of it.”

“When you say it’s a taste, do you mean the investment amount is small?”

“If you look at Saudi Arabia’s scale, even if it is just a taste, it will be quite large, but if you want to reach an amount that can defend against short sellers, you have to change the tone to active investment rather than just a taste.”

From what I remember, the size of the Saudi sovereign wealth fund is about $600 billion.

It was worth approximately 780 trillion won in Korean money.

However, it was only after Bin Salman became crown prince that Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund became huge.

Still, since it was a Saudi sovereign wealth fund that was likely to be managing funds worth at least $100 billion, it was possible to sufficiently prevent short selling if they could be properly appeased.

“I understand that the Chairman has deep ties to the Saudi royal family. How about using your connections?”

“First, we have to meet, and if we can’t decide, we should use all the available methods.”

We began a 24-hour strategy meeting to appease the Saudi sovereign wealth fund.

The future of the electric vehicle market, Tesla’s corporate value, surging interest in environmental issues, etc.

Various methods were studied, and at the end of the meeting, Saudi sovereign wealth fund officials visited the Taewo Group headquarters.

“Chairman, Saudi sovereign wealth fund officials are coming in through the front door.”

“It’s rude to wait here. I’m going down now.”

Accompanied by President Han, I went down to the main gate.

And a few minutes later, Saudi sovereign wealth fund officials came rushing in through the front door.

However, it was very different from the image I had in mind.

A black suit, not traditional Saudi clothing.

The figure holding a briefcase in one hand looked just like Wall Street bankers.

Unlike the royal family who wanted Saudi Arabia to develop, they were fund officials who had to extract as much profit as possible, so the smell of Wall Street was coming out strongly.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Kim Min-jae, Chairman of Taewo Group.”

“I’ve heard a lot about the story. This is Faid, the deputy head of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund in charge of overseas investments.”

I made eye contact with the vice president of PAID and shook hands.

It was an action to find out his details, and it was discovered that he was a collateral relative of the Saudi royal family.

Prince Pied.

It was his information in the details, but I wasn’t really surprised.

In the case of Saudi Arabia, even collateral families were given the titles of prince and princess, and it was known that there were over 7,000 princes alone.

“Please come inside. We have prepared a lot for collaboration.”

“I have heard of Chairman Kim Min-jae’s investment skills. I have very high expectations.”

Prince Paid confidently walks ahead.

I looked at him from behind for a moment.

It was to think about how to bake and boil it.