Before booking the ticket, Dong Qiangqiang called Du Lan and inquired about her location. On the one hand, he wanted to pretend to be concerned and then suddenly show up to surprise her. On the other hand, he was also worried that Du Lan would not be in Munich at this time. Then his trip would have been in vain.
Fortunately, Du Lan is not only in Munich, but also seems to be leading a group to participate in the Munich Oktoberfest.
It seemed that Lao Bai had tipped him off on purpose, and Dong Qiangqiang couldn't help but be secretly grateful. I placed the order immediately without saying a word. Half an hour later, they were already on the high-speed train bound for Munich.
The track from Hannover to Munich is more than 500 kilometers long, and even the fastest German high-speed train, ICE, takes 4 hours to run.
Dong Qiangqiang had no intention of admiring the scenery along the way. He took out his laptop and the thick book "International Financial Reporting Standards" and "U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles" from his bag and laid them on the table. Since he had checked all the new words in the second report last night, he only had to do a good job in reading comprehension today to complete the task.
Probably because he put enough effort into the first article, the definitions of many accounting terms are still in his mind. Along with the regular bumps of the train, Dong Qiangqiang spent three and a half hours reading all the articles bit by bit.
He leaned tiredly on the back of the train seat, slowly rubbing his temples with his thumb and middle finger while slowly sorting through what he had read this week in his mind.
Enron was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Houston, nicknamed "Space City" on the east coast of the United States. In addition to Enron, there are 21 other major companies in the U.S. Fortune 500 and the famous Johnson Aviation Center.
Enron's main product was a global platform that brokered transactions in electricity and natural gas. Energy suppliers and energy purchasers around the world can find the right Party A or Party B through its platform. When business is concluded, as an intermediary, Enron will naturally charge a platform fee in return, and platform income is its main source of income.
According to Dong Qiangqiang, according to public market information, Enron in its heyday was ranked seventh among the Fortune 500 companies in the United States. In 2000, the company's total revenue reached the peak of the company's revenue history - US$101 billion. Its business areas cover more than 50 countries and regions around the world, with more than 21,000 employees worldwide. It has received many honors since its listing. It has won the reputation of "America's Most Innovative Company" for four consecutive years.
If one were to judge based on the information on paper, Enron should be a high-quality company that would have no problems. However, at the beginning of the year, a partner of a well-known American investment institution publicly questioned its revenue and profit figures. Since then, more and more institutions have paid attention to Enron.
Enron was put under a magnifying glass and then financial reporters discovered that the company's CEO, who was still a member of the company's board of directors, had sold off his company's shares through an offshore financial company's curve, which was expressly prohibited by the U.S. Securities Act.
The company's third quarter financial report is scheduled to be released on October 16, but things are adding fuel to the fire one after another. Almost all investment institutions that own other stocks or bonds are selling frantically, and the company's market value It is evaporating at an even rate every day, and few investment institutions in the capital market are optimistic about it. Rumors that its billions of dollars of huge bonds that are about to mature will soon face default are even more rampant.
Watching him build a Zhulou, watching him entertain guests, and watching his building collapse is the most realistic portrayal of Enron at this time.
After learning more about Enron, Dong Qiangqiang called Duanmu and shared his understanding with the other party.
"I never thought that American listed companies would dare to act so blatantly." Dong Qiangqiang sighed and concluded, "It's really enlightening."
Duanmu was working overtime at home. After hearing Dong Qiangqiang's emotion, heheheyile: "You have only read two articles. You will definitely have more ideas after you read them all. In fact, it has long been nothing for American listed companies to play tricks on revenue and profits. It’s news, but you’ve never noticed it before. The reason why the market reacted strongly this time is mainly related to Enron’s huge size. The impact of scandals on ordinary listed companies and scandals on Fortune 500 listed companies on the capital market is There’s no comparison. Of course, Enron is not the first, and it certainly won’t be the last.”
"You said there was such a fraudulent company before?" Dong Qiangqiang became more energetic, "Quickly educate me on your illiteracy."
As soon as he heard Duanmu raise his head, "Let's talk about the first thing first...", the signal on his cell phone immediately disappeared.
The train roared into a tunnel, and the carriage suddenly became dark. Dong Qiangqiang vaguely heard the roar of the train traveling at high speed in the tunnel through the car window.
Dong Qiangqiang originally thought that he could pass through the tunnel in ten seconds, but it took him more than a minute to see the sky again. The sunny sky before entering the tunnel turned cloudy and overcast after exiting the tunnel. As far as Dong Qiangqiang could see, he could already see a malicious dark cloud approaching him from the southeast direction of the sky.
"U.S. listed companies have a long history of falsifying financial reports. Enron was unlucky this time, and in addition to encountering 9/11, the U.S. capital market really cannot handle any negative news for such a giant listed company. Under the combined effect of multiple factors, this nearly $4 billion bond that is about to mature is likely to be the straw that breaks the camel's back for Enron." Duanmu said.
But Dong Qiangqiang just passed through the tunnel and heard nothing. He asked unwillingly: "I didn't hear what you just said clearly. Can you say more?"
"I said, this kind of thing is not only numerous, but also endless. The earliest financial fraud can be traced back to before World War II, in 1938 at Michelson Pharmaceuticals in New York, USA, and in the 1980s, ZZZZ Best, which shocked many financial institutions on Wall Street. Co., Ltd. financial fraud case, and America Online was fined last year for fabricating advertising revenue. What is particularly ironic is that not all fraudulent companies will be forced to delist due to fraud, and some of their leaders are still capital occupy a niche in the market.”
"Can you still stay after being found to be cheating?" Dong Qiangqiang felt unbelievable, "Do Americans not care about these fraudulent companies staying in the stock market?"
"It's in charge, why don't you care?" Duanmu cleared his throat and said in a deep voice, deliberately arrogant, "But if someone is in charge, someone will interfere. As the saying goes, if the road is higher, the devil is higher."
"Why is this happening?" Dong Qiangqiang couldn't understand.
"Because there are more or less interest groups behind every listed company. In order to protect their own interests, they will do anything they can." Duanmu paused, "Do you still remember the sentence we often heard when we were children? What did you say? 'Once there is an appropriate profit, capital will become bold. If there is a profit of 50, it will take desperate risks. If there is a profit of 100, it will dare to trample on all human laws. If there is a profit of 300, it will dare to trample on all human laws. profit……'"
"'It dares to commit any crime, even risking being hanged.'" Dong Qiangqiang continued following Duanmu's words, "This is a golden line from Marx's Capital, right? I have memorized it too."
"Hey, you're only half right." Duanmu said proudly, "I went to read the original German version. This is a line in the annotation of Chapter 24 of Capital. But this sentence is not Lao Ma's. It’s not original, but he’s quoting someone else’s words.”
"Isn't this what Marx said?" Dong Qiangqiang was surprised when he heard the station announcement coming from the loudspeaker above his head.
"Passengers, please note that we will arrive at the Munich train station in twenty minutes. Passengers who want to get off the train are asked to bring their luggage. The parking time is short. Passengers who are not getting off the train are asked not to stay in the passage. Thank you for your cooperation."
"Yes, the copyright owner of this sentence is the British economic critic Toyodenin," Duanmu said humorously, "Even if it is used by Marx, he must respect intellectual copyright."
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