The Magician’s Memorial - Chapter 322



Only Krnovel

322. If you hold on, you will win the fight (1)

Saudi sovereign wealth fund employees were elites.

Most of them had experience working at investment firms on Wall Street or were trained as economic experts in Saudi Arabia.

Is that why?

Everyone gave me friendly smiles.

“When I first found out that the actual owner of SAVE Investment Company was Chairman Kim Min-jae, I was really shocked. I never imagined that the successor to a large Korean company would be playing around with Wall Street.”

“I was even more surprised by Vice President Pied. I know that even though he is a member of the royal family, he did all kinds of dirty work at a Wall Street investment company for over 10 years.”

Praise time for ice breaking.

While moving to the conference room, the planning office collected information and brought it to me.

If there was insufficient information, the puzzle was completed by checking the detailed information.

“Did you even know I was on Wall Street?”

“Isn’t Wall Street smaller than you think? I also know that the rate of return was very high.”

“I was lucky to be able to get out of Wall Street before the Lehman crisis broke out. If I had stayed on Wall Street until now, I would have been broke and would not have been able to become the vice president of a sovereign wealth fund. And a president of Taewoo Securities also came and went several times. “I’ve seen you before.”

Most of the employees of the sovereign wealth fund, including Vice President Paid, were from Wall Street.

Therefore, not only I but also President Han Jeong-hoon, who led SAVE Investment Company, knew it well.

Some people even looked at us as if they were looking at famous sports stars.

I think things will go easier than you think.

There was no need to worry about how to cook it.

Because it was a Saudi sovereign wealth fund that came to the table already cooked.

“Then do you know the person who was called the king of short selling on Wall Street?”

“Are you talking about Kanos? I have heard rumors about it.”

“This time, we have a big fight against Kanos.”

“I know that Kanos never fights a losing battle. There is no way he would attack the Taewo Group, right?”

Perhaps because I came from Wall Street, I was very interested in things happening on Wall Street.

I continued speaking secretly and in a low voice to elicit anticipation.

“Instead of directly attacking Taewoo Group, they say they are short-selling Tesla, which is related to us.”

“Speaking of Tesla, isn’t it a company in which Taewo Group holds a part of its shares? Hmm, well, Tesla is not a direct company of Taewo Group, so it is understandable that Kanos is trying to attack.”

“They seem to think that Taewo Group will not actively defend itself because it is not a direct company. That decision will be a huge failure for Kanos.”

I said with a repentant smile.

It was the vice president of Pied who just saw my smile and realized what I was trying to say.

“Are you planning to defend Tesla by mobilizing all of Taewoo Group’s capital?”

“In fact, there is no need to actively defend. As long as we somehow succeed in defending by the end of the year when electric vehicles are released, we will win the battle.”

“You are confident in the success of electric vehicles.”

“It would have been difficult to succeed with Taewoo Group and Tesla alone, but thanks to Aramco’s active investment in infrastructure, we had no choice but to succeed.”

There was no one who didn’t like praising their country.

Since Aramco was a Saudi state-owned company, it was no different from praising Saudi Arabia itself.

“The king of short selling will experience major failure for the first time.”

“It is very likely that that will happen. I am actually happy about this short selling, as it has earned the title of winning against the king of short selling.”

“I won against the king of short selling. It’s an enviable title.”

“If you want, you can participate in this war together. Taewoo Group is not particularly interested in the title. It is also thinking of giving up the title to the Saudi sovereign wealth fund. Saudi Arabia helped build electric vehicle infrastructure, so of course we should do that.”

Vice President Paid looked around with a flushed face.

He quickly made eye contact with the sovereign wealth fund staff, and when everyone nodded in agreement, he quickly accepted my suggestion.

“I have already come to do business with Taewoo Group. How could I refuse when you offer me such a great opportunity? Especially, isn’t Chairman Kim a friend of the Saudi royal family? The Saudi royal family pretends not to see their friend’s danger. Do not.”

“It may cost more money than expected, is that okay? Of course, if you fall in the middle, I won’t hold you responsible at all.”

“As long as Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund moves, I will never give up midway. If it is said that I gave up on the game midway because of lack of money, I can’t live in Saudi Arabia with both feet on the ground.”

Saudi Arabia’s power was the enormous amount of money derived from black gold.

However, giving up because of lack of money was equivalent to giving up one’s pride.

“Still, isn’t stability the most important thing for sovereign wealth funds?”

“The entire royal family recognizes Chairman Kim’s investment skills. That’s why I came all the way to Korea. Is there a safer product than the financial product guaranteed by Chairman Kim?”

Rather, it almost seemed like I was trying to stop him.

The Vice President of Pied is obsessed with the thought of defeating the king of short selling.

It may seem like a good situation for us, but if you look at it, it was not a good situation at all.

What if you make a huge investment without risk management?

There was bound to be an opposing side, and if so, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund could have lost its direction.

“I’ll give you a little more guarantee.”

“What warranty are you talking about?”

“If the price of the Tesla stock purchased in this short sale is still low three years from now, I will buy all Tesla stock at the current price.”

Minimize leaks.

Anyone who has invested will know this.

You probably know how sweet the principal guarantee is.

Even if you fail to defend against short selling, you can keep the principal, and if the price rises, you can keep all the profits.

There couldn’t be better conditions than this.

It was a condition that I was able to present because I had confidence in Tesla.

“You don’t have to go that far. Just saying that Chairman Kim guarantees it is enough.”

“Not everyone is like Vice President Pied. So, I will guarantee risk management at the Taewo Group level.”

“If the Taewoo Group guarantees risk management, we can jump into the defense of Tesla short selling without any disagreement.”

Vice President Paid also finally came to his senses.

As someone who worked on Wall Street, there was no way he didn’t know the importance of risk management.

But as I continued talking, he lost his temper again.

“We will support the Saudi sovereign wealth fund as much as possible so that it can become the main character. If forces including Kanos start short selling, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund will move first. We will quietly provide support behind the scenes.”

“You are saying that you will set the stage for a showdown between Khanos and the Saudi sovereign wealth fund.”

“They say Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is finally coming out into the world. Shouldn’t we set a precedent like this?”

Vice President Pied clenches his fists.

He even slightly closed his eyes and seemed to be imagining victory over Kanos.

“The Saudi royal family will definitely remember this. If this is successful, let’s do a bigger business together next time.”

“If it were to be a bigger business than this one, it would be on a scale that would fight the entire Wall Street. If that happens, I will look for the Saudi sovereign wealth fund first.”

“I’ll be waiting!”

Negotiations went very smoothly.

We also drew up a contract related to risk guarantee for Vice President Pied, and ended up spending the remaining time stopping by Captain Kang’s restaurant and eating delicious food.

* * *

A week later.

Kanos, who had been noisily growing in power, finally began to move.

A CEO who was watching Wall Street quickly caught the movement and reported it.

“After appearing on the air and pouring out disparaging remarks about Tesla, he finally started short selling today.”

“If it’s Kanos, it’s clear that he will try to give his strength from the beginning.”

“As soon as the market started, short selling worth $500 million poured in.”

“Your hands are smaller than I thought. It’s only 500 million dollars.”

At 500 million dollars, it was equivalent to 600 billion won.

Although it was not a small amount of money even on Wall Street, what Canos had to deal with was Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.

From the perspective of a sovereign wealth fund, isn’t 600 billion won the price of gum?

“The Saudi sovereign wealth fund has been waiting impatiently for a week, so I think it will launch a strong counterattack.”

“Now that we have confirmed that Khanos’s hand is worth about $500 million, it is time to see how big the Saudi sovereign wealth fund’s hand is.”

We watched stock charts in real time with interest.

Meanwhile, a message arrived on the cell phone placed on the desk.

[GO!]

One very short word.

Although it was a text message whose sender information could not be confirmed, I was able to find out who had sent the text.

“It looks like Vice President Pied is making his move now.”

“They are buying stocks thrown up by short-sellers at a scary pace!”

Tesla stock chart began to change rapidly.

The stock price, which had been falling due to short selling of $500 million, began to rise at an incredible rate.

“It looks like they’re planning on sweeping it up.”

“More than $100 million has already been invested. If this pace is maintained for just 30 minutes, more than $1 billion will be spent.”

Every fight was not going to be an all-out battle from the beginning.

After having a power struggle and figuring out how strong each other was, they would engage in all-out fighting.

However, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund did not pay attention. Since it was not another battle but a battle with money, they were buying Tesla stock as if they were trying to press the initial trading price.

“The short sellers are also starting to move again. They are throwing huge amounts.”

“Please provide support from time to time. Use a shell company to make several people think they are buying Tesla stock. That way, the ants won’t follow suit, right?”

“We will mobilize all the paper companies. And David has also started making moves. Soon there will be reports on Wall Street and in the media that the Saudi sovereign wealth fund has become Tesla’s angel.”

In the end, short selling was a fight over who was better at keeping the balance.

Since Kanos is at the center of the short selling power, many powers have joined.

However, if the center of the defense force is said to be the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, a force will naturally be formed.

“It seems that the short sellers are also trying to launch an all-out war. They have started dumping quantities at the same time.”

“Is Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund doing well?”

“So far, we are taking it smoothly. It seems more likely that this will be a longer game than expected.”

I was looking for a long game.

Starting today, the front page of economic news will be dominated by the Tesla short-selling war.

How thankful are we that they are spending tens of trillions of won to promote electric vehicles?

All I had to do was throw firewood to keep the embers from going out.