The Magician’s Memorial - Chapter 393



Only Krnovel

393. Counterattack (3)

Canos Company, the center of short selling power.

Even today, several hedge fund representatives were gathered in the office and holding a meeting while watching stock charts.

“I threw away all the supplies, but it didn’t move. Doesn’t that mean that the Taewo Group received 5 billion dollars worth of supplies on its own?”

“We may be able to get it right away, but time is on our side. Don’t fret too much. If you still can’t calm down, try this.”

Kanos threw a thick newspaper.

These were Korean newspapers supplied from Korea.

All three major Korean newspapers had similar content on their front pages, and there were faces that hedge fund representatives were familiar with all over the page.

“I can’t read the article because it’s in Korean, but seeing that the head of an activist fund was on the front page makes me think the atmosphere in Korea is unusual.”

“This is not an unusual situation. The number of people who agree with the activist fund is increasing, and articles criticizing Taewo Group’s self-righteous management policies are published every day in the media.”

“Have you even moved the Korean media?”

“Isn’t the media obligated to publish an article if there is a good source? If we just pour in a little bit of lubricant, it is no problem to publish the article we want.”

The mind that had been drowsy due to the stock price not moving at all was relieved.

They acknowledged that it was now a race against time, and they firmly believed that time was on their side.

However, time was not on the short sellers’ side.

Less than 30 minutes after I calmed down, ExxonMobil came out with a huge breaking news.

[Large-scale oil field discovered in Guyana waters!]

[The collaboration between ExxonMobil and Hess bears the fruit of 10 years of effort.]

[Hess, who was under attack for short selling, a reversal!]

Breaking news was constantly generated in real time.

In addition, ExxonMobil Vice Chairman Rayman was interviewed on the news.

[Thanks to the efforts of the exploration team that has been working hard for 10 years, we were able to discover a large-scale oil field. Oil production is possible within 5 years at the latest, and more than 100,000 barrels can be produced per day! This is thanks to Hess, who made bold decisions even in difficult situations.]

Vice President Layman gives all the credit to Hess.

As soon as the news ended, the hedge fund representatives simultaneously looked at the stock price chart.

Hess’s stock price, which had shown no movement at all, began to soar.

“Representative Kanos! Hess’ stock price has risen by more than 20%.”

“Shouldn’t we buy stocks now?”

“Tsk, tsk, why are people in the know making such a fuss! If we start buying stocks in large quantities now, the stock price will skyrocket.”

Representative Kanos raised his voice.

To others, he didn’t seem to have any emotional changes at all.

In fact, the person whose heart trembled more than anyone else was the representative of Kanos.

A completely unexpected and large-scale oil discovery.

Why was a large-scale oil field that had not been discovered for 10 years discovered now?

“You can’t just watch in silence like this.”

“We need to get the media involved. If the news is published that a large-scale oil field is not as large as expected and is not profitable, so even if it is produced, the stock price will fall again on its own.”

“Are you saying we should create and spread fake news?”

“Isn’t it true that no one knows whether something is fake or real until it starts production? If the media starts talking about it, people are bound to believe it for five years.”

Kanos and hedge fund representatives quickly took out their cell phones.

They were trying to resolve the current situation by mobilizing all their connections and creating fake news.

However, in the meantime, Hess’ stock price continued to rise, and in less than two hours, the stock price rose by nearly 35%.

In the case of the Korean stock market, price limits existed.

It is said that up to 30% is possible from the second half of this year, but the upper limit is currently only 15%.

However, there were no price limits in the U.S. stock market, and in theory, stock prices could rise infinitely.

“CEO Kanos! The stock price is strange. No matter how good the news is, the stock price is rising as if there is some manipulation.”

“That’s right! The stock is being sold at high prices, as if it were not enough. Everyone is buying Hess stocks as if they had been waiting.”

Although the stock price could theoretically rise indefinitely.

It was very rare for stock prices to rise by as much as 35% in one day, and even when they did, illegal methods were used in most cases.

That’s why they had hope.

If the stock price rose through illegal means.

If this fact became known, the stock price was bound to fall again.

“Let’s call the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) and find out.”

“I also have several connections in the SEC.”

They were busy making phone calls again.

Because they were their last hope, their hands were shaking as they dialed the phone number.

* * *

Korea Financial Hub Tower.

I looked at Hess’s stock price with a CEO in the office used by Taewoo Securities.

“Large-scale oil fields are definitely a good thing. They are rising much faster than I thought.”

“Wasn’t this what the Chairman had planned?”

“What did I plan?”

“I thought that when we sold stocks, companies and people who aligned with the chairman were buying stocks at high prices.”

“I have never made such a plan. Why do something that will cause criticism?”

Of course, there was no plan, but there were people who had doubts.

First of all, George, the CEO of Quantum Fund, was someone who would unconditionally follow my business.

And Dimon, a fintech banker, must have been active in purchasing shares because he was well aware of Hess’s value.

However, the rise was impossible with just those two people.

It is said that individual investors also followed suit, but it was only possible for one large player to follow suit.

“I am relieved to hear that the Chairman himself did not make the move. But first, I think we need to find out who is buying Hess’ shares. I will find out through David and sources on Wall Street.”

“It’s not a big deal, so take your time and find out. What is the reaction of the short sellers?”

“It looks like they are planning something very interesting. They are the type of guys who will never sit still and die.”

It was a CEO who spoke with only one corner of his mouth slightly raised.

Just by looking at his expression, you could tell that the short sellers were doing something despicable.

“No matter what you do in the current situation, it will be difficult to turn it around. It looks like you are using a lot of effort.”

“They are making up and spreading fake news. They are spreading the news to the media and Wall Street that Guyana’s oil fields are small, not large, and that they are not profitable and will suffer losses.”

In the end, fake news only worked if there was a loudspeaker.

In the case of large media outlets, only information confirmed through fact checking is included in the news.

Of course, there are many cases where this is not the case, but in the United States, people who spread fake news were sued and there were cases where the media company received a settlement amount that was enough to collapse, so it was not easy to report it as news.

“The media received it and reported it?”

“Media that are close to Kanos are only reporting suspicions, but no media outlet is reporting extensively. However, there are rumors floating around that fake news is being spread through social media.”

Are you using SNS?

It’s not like wrinkling in front of a chrysalis.

More than 80% of SNS used in the United States were closely related to me.

“You’re trying to use SNS, right?”

“There are stories going around that he paid video production experts and other economic channels to film videos.”

“I guess I’ll have to call the representatives of social media for the first time in a while.”

“But it’s moving so massively that it will likely take quite some time to capture it all.”

“Director Cheon will solve that problem. If we create an algorithm, we can cut it out as soon as it is uploaded.”

“Are you talking about the fake news algorithm?”

I nodded.

It would take several days for a person to catch them one by one.

This could be solved in 1 second by creating an algorithm and automatically deleting it.

“However, if it is deleted all at once, you may face backlash or even file a lawsuit.”

“Tell them to file a complaint. It’s actually a good thing. We can also file a counter-complaint. It’s difficult to obtain personal information through a social media company and file a complaint, but once a complaint is filed, the personal information is automatically transferred to the police or prosecutors, so it’s easy to file a complaint. .”

It was a matter worth trillions of dollars.

So, the settlement amount will be quite large.

It was something that could make those who created fake news for a small amount of money penniless.

Of course, they also have some faith.

Famous hedge funds on Wall Street are known as short sellers.

But the short sellers won’t help them.

To be precise, I guess I can say that I don’t have the resources to help. Because you will be kneeling before me because of your short selling failure.

* * *

As expected, Center Director Cheon’s algorithmic skills were outstanding.

The moment a huge amount of fake news was uploaded, it was all deleted.

On the contrary, we made it possible for the news about Guyana’s oil fields produced by us to spread widely.

A few days passed like that.

Every day, CEO Han came to the office with an uncontrollable smile.

“Today, Hess’ stock rose by more than 10%. It has risen by more than 70% from the lowest point. Even if short sellers buy the stock right now, they will suffer a loss of more than billions of won.”

“It’s still a long way off. Wouldn’t you come to your senses only if you lost billions of dollars, not billions of won?”

It was very common to lose billions of won.

Financial companies do not blink an eye at losses of that magnitude.

But when it comes to billions of dollars, it’s a different story.

No matter how rich a financial company is, if it loses trillions of dollars, it will be a huge blow.

It was an amount that would have put a small or medium-sized hedge fund into bankruptcy.

In the case of large hedge funds, even if they avoid bankruptcy, they face great difficulties in supplying funds due to rapid withdrawal of customer money.

And what’s even scarier.

It’s not the end yet.

The real fear was that I could control whether I would lose billions of dollars or tens of billions of dollars.

“Oil prices are also rising, so Hess’ stock price is expected to rise further for the time being. However, it is close to impossible for the stock price to rise more than five times the current price.”

“Wouldn’t it be possible to use a slightly illegal method?”

“Are you thinking about trading in treasury? Wouldn’t that be too risky?”

“There are many ways to raise stock prices other than tradable transactions.”

“It is possible if we invest the financial power that Taewoo Group has. If we also use the secret funds held by the Chairman, we may be able to raise the stock price further.”

In the end, stock prices were bound to rise if money was poured into it.

And the fewer stocks are released on the market, the steeper the rise.

Currently, only about 20% of Hess’s shares are available on the market.

Thanks to the short sellers selling stocks at very low prices, they were able to secure a large amount of shares without spending a lot of money, and they could raise the price as much as they wanted as long as they had money.

“First, let’s try to increase the stock price by 200%.”

“You can raise your stock by just buying and selling some stocks repeatedly. Taewoo Securities has quite a few employees who are very skilled in that field.”

“Get to work right away.”

The short selling force was never a tight-knit organization.

When losses began to occur, divisions were bound to occur quickly.

The quick-witted hedge fund would fly to Korea to meet me as soon as next week.