The Magician’s Memorial - Chapter 323



Only Krnovel

323. If you endure, you will win the fight (2)

Hedge fund Canicos.

It was a company founded by Canos, known as the king of short selling, and was one of the leading hedge funds on Wall Street.

It was also the company at the center of this Tesla short-selling operation, and was also used as a meeting place for short-selling forces.

“Representative Kanos! What happened? Didn’t you say that Tesla has no defense capabilities? But why is the Saudi sovereign wealth fund acting?”

“It was unexpected. I heard that the Saudis were interested in various businesses these days, but I didn’t know they were also interested in Tesla’s shares.”

“Aren’t you being too relaxed? Saudi Arabia is also spending a large amount of money to build electric vehicle infrastructure. This means that there is a lot of interest in the electric vehicle market, and it is highly likely that Tesla’s share acquisition will continue.”

Hedge fund representatives were overcome with anxiety.

The hunt I had started with the intention of catching a rabbit turned out to be a hunt where I had to catch an elephant.

“Don’t worry too much. Even if the Saudi sovereign wealth fund pours all the money, we will win.”

“What do you mean? If the Saudi sovereign wealth fund mobilizes all its money, it may have more money than we have.”

“If Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund were sane, would they invest more money here? It doesn’t matter what they invest. It’s a game where the winner or loser is already decided anyway.”

“Are you saying we will win?”

Kanos smiles.

He took out profit structure data from various car companies around the world and showed it to hedge fund representatives.

“Tesla has a structure that can never make a profit.”

“There is a story that the electric vehicle being released this time was chosen quite well. Then, wouldn’t we be able to record a profit?”

“Honestly, I don’t think Tesla’s electric vehicles will deliver similar performance to internal combustion engine vehicles. Even if they miraculously achieve similar performance, a surplus is absolutely impossible. The automobile market is dominated by economies of scale more than any other market.”

Even though Kanos said this, investors were still anxious.

To reassure them, I brought up one more indicator.

“To see a surplus in the automobile market, you need to sell at least 1 million units a year to realize profits.”

“The government is providing subsidies. And if we share infrastructure with Taewo Group, wouldn’t we be able to realize profits even if we don’t sell 1 million units?”

“Even so, we have to sell half of them, 500,000 units, to avoid a deficit. But Tesla’s factories cannot even produce 500,000 units in a short period of time.”

Everyone nodded at Kanos’ words.

Due to the nature of the automobile market, operating profit was bound to increase as sales volume increased, and Tesla’s infrastructure seemed to need at least 10 more years to see operating profit.

“You are saying that as soon as electric cars are released, individual investors will realize Tesla’s situation.”

“So it’s not that bad if it goes into a long-term war. Of course, it would be cleaner to end it with a short-term war, but it just takes a little more time because of the variable of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.”

“So what can we do now?”

“All we have to do is keep the price in check to prevent it from rising higher. Let’s release the amount received from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund.”

Kanos said with a smile.

No matter how much money the Saudi sovereign wealth fund has.

They were nothing more than a fund operated by the state, and they were investors risking their lives on Wall Street.

Will Wall Street lose to the Saudi sovereign wealth fund?

And the variables were not necessarily bad.

It could have been a better opportunity to steal funds from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.

* * *

There are 20 days left until the launch of the electric vehicle.

Many reservations were still coming in through internet reservation sites, and electric vehicles that had already been produced had begun shipping to each country.

But there are still many things to worry about.

We called in the CEO and the head of the planning department and held a meeting.

“Now it’s time to start thinking about it. How many reservations have been canceled?”

“So far, there have not been many cancellations. In fact, there is even a phenomenon where people who pre-ordered early are selling their numbers for more money.”

“I’ve heard of apartment sales rights being sold, but this is the first time I’ve heard of car reservation rankings being sold.”

When there was a lot of demand, expedients were rampant.

There was no need to take any special action because it would disappear when supply and demand became parallel.

“More than 70% of the installation of electric vehicle charging stations has been completed. In the U.S., more than 85% of the installation has been completed, possibly due to Aramco’s active support.”

“This will only be true in major cities in the United States. Outlying areas may not yet have the infrastructure to use electric vehicles.”

“We will accelerate the distribution of personal electric vehicle chargers.”

In the case of the Apple Car, things were going very smoothly.

Now the remaining problem was Tesla, which took on the role of Apple Car’s running mate.

“How is Tesla short selling going?”

“The short sellers are passively attacking, and the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, which is supposed to be defending, is aggressively buying stocks. The stock has not risen as much as when it was listed, but it is moving sideways around the $27 level.”

Tesla started at $24 on the first day of listing.

However, even though the short selling force took hold, rather than falling, it rose by another $3 to $27.

“President Han, have you found out why the short sellers are moving passively?”

“After researching through an information source on Wall Street, it was said that Tesla is moving passively in the expectation that its stock price will fall on its own once it is launched.”

The short sellers are also hoping for a long game.

It was a strategy that made some sense.

Tesla had a structure that made it difficult to see a profit in the first few years.

“It looks like they are planning to pour out the remaining bullets to coincide with the launch date of electric vehicles.”

“It looks like only small-scale battles will continue until the release date.”

“They will come out to the media and attack Tesla with negative nuances, wasting time. We can just wait and see until the electric car is released.”

The battle wasn’t as exciting as expected.

The King of Short Selling vs Saudi Arabian Sovereign Wealth Fund.

Since it was the match-up of the century, I thought there would be an unprecedented battle between money and money, but it was only lukewarm.

Of course, when 20 days pass and the electric car is released, the situation will change.

Short sellers will attack Tesla with all their funds.

In order to realize profits without at least incurring losses, an all-out offensive had to be launched.

But will the short-selling forces get their way?

As the Saudi sovereign wealth fund was waiting with its eyes open, realizing profits would not be easy.

* * *

The launch of electric vehicles is just around the corner.

Affiliates unrelated to electric vehicles were conducting business as usual, but employees at the headquarters were living at the company 24 hours a day.

The security team did the same.

Even if it was not a security issue, they were working in shifts to prevent situations such as site paralysis due to a sudden increase in traffic.

“Everyone is having a hard time. Please at least have a cup of coffee.”

Professor Hal Finney personally brought in coffee for the security team members.

When Professor Hal Finney, who not only holds a professorship at the university but is also a key figure in several projects, came late at night, the staff greeted him with thrilled expressions.

“Professor, what are you doing at this hour?”

“As you get older, you lose sleep. Drink your coffee later, and take a nap first.”

“no!”

“Hehe, it’s okay. Our security system won’t be breached if you leave for an hour or two.”

Professor Hal Finney patted the staff on the back and said,

At that moment, a red warning light appeared on the security team monitor and a beep! The sound rang out.

“Hacking detected!”

“It looks like a bored hacker is messing with Taewo Group’s firewall again.”

“This hacking is a little different. The first firewall has already been breached.”

“I guess I’ll have to lend a hand too. Let’s see if we can get through the secondary encryption firewall.”

Hacking defense began with Professor Hal Finney at the center.

It was a security team that prevented all hacking that was carried out through various methods for over 3 hours.

“Is it over already? It’s been a while since I tried to have some fun, but it ended so dullly.”

“Still, this was the first hacking attempt that almost broke the secondary firewall.”

“What’s the point in breaking through the second level? Taewoo Group’s firewall has up to five levels.”

It was the security team talking over cold coffee.

They looked happy, like people who enjoyed a fun game.

They had more fun spending time defending against hacking than sitting idle and doing nothing.

* * *

next day.

As soon as I got to work, the head of the planning department gave me a very interesting report.

“Last night, there was an attempt to hack the Taewo Group headquarters network.”

“It didn’t break through, did it?”

“They say it was very easy to stop it because Professor Hal Finney was on the security team.”

“It looks like the attack was carried out by a hacker with poor skills.”

Taewo Group was attacked by hackers at least 20 times a year.

Since most of them were hackers who hacked for fun, their skills were not that great.

“It is said to be the work of an outstanding hacker. Taewoo Group was successful in defending itself, but 24 companies excluding us were reportedly hacked.”

“If you normally manage security, how would 24 companies be robbed overnight?”

“To be honest, Taewo Group is paying a lot of attention to security, to the point where it may seem excessive.”

It is true that a lot of attention was paid to security management.

In reality, the Bitcoin development team had nothing to do, so they played with the security system like a toy, resulting in an excellent security system.

“But how did you get the information that 24 companies were robbed? I don’t think the companies were bragging that they were robbed.”

“We have secured the process by which hackers sold information from 24 companies to China.”

Korea does not yet consider personal information very important.

If you look at the high school yearbook, there are cases where names, addresses, and even resident registration numbers are listed.

“Well, we didn’t suffer any damage, so there’s no need to worry.”

“That’s right. There are only two days left until the launch of electric vehicles. But a strange phenomenon is happening.”

The planning director took out a tablet and played a video.

It was a video showing a huge crowd of people gathering and creating a festival-like atmosphere.

“Are you having a festival somewhere?”

“This is a crowd gathered at the Taewoo Motors LA dealership. They are lining up like this to receive the Apple Car first.”

“You’re waiting in line to sell Apple Cars anyway?”

“Approximately 20% of the quantity is sold on a first-come, first-served basis, which is why there is such a long line.”

20% of reservation quantity.

Actually, it wasn’t that much.

At most, he must be under 50.

However, a strange phenomenon was occurring where more than 100 people were waiting in line.

“You’re probably not doing this to resell, right?”

“It seems like some people are lining up with that thought in mind. They are selling reservation numbers for money, but wouldn’t it be possible to sell the actual Apple Car for a higher price?”

The reaction gets hotter and hotter.

Two days later, I was already looking forward to how explosive the response would be when the Apple Car was officially released.