There are still nine days until Christmas, so there is plenty of time to prepare for the dinner. As for the guests, Lu Fei and Xu Xin split up. She is responsible for inviting Wall Street giants.
For example, Merrill Lynch's talking head Sean O'Neill.
In comparison, Lu Fei was much busier and hired more important people. No matter what, he had to pay attention to strategy.
The first wave of phone calls were made to rising stars in Silicon Valley.
Google's Larry Page, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, and Microsoft's Ballmer, these Internet "new money" have both connections and money, but what they lack is investment channels.
The second wave of calls was to Bill Gates first.
It was said that Buffett would participate, and Bill Gates agreed.
I called Buffett again and said that Bill Gates would attend, and Buffett agreed immediately, because with such a large group of rich people, the level of the Christmas party was instantly raised.
Not only can it attract old money like the Walton family, but it can also persuade giants like Belair, and its style has reached a new level.
Naturally, in the last wave of political circles, both New York congressmen and retired senior officials accepted the invitation.
After the core guest list was established, Lu Fei no longer cared about this aspect and left the finishing work to Xu Xin with confidence. He left the hotel and returned to his home in the Central Park Building.
Along the way, there are high-rise buildings.
Big banks, exchanges, insurance companies, and numerous group companies of various kinds are all lined up.
Carlson Bullock hitchhiked and sat across from him, flipping through the data and saying:
“The Commerce Department’s annual report showed that U.S. housing starts fell 2.5%, the largest decline in two years.”
"There are also real estate-related construction, cement, steel and other industries, and all indicators have hit a record low in the past three years."
"..."
"Lu, the whole myth of undefeated real estate, no, the whole myth of the mortgage bond bubble, is about to burst just as you predicted! Why can you predict so accurately!"
"Why! Are you God!"
"Wrong, even God wants to call me God."
Seeing Carlson Bullock's excitement, Lu Fei looked calm, waved his hand and said: "These supporting evidences alone are not enough, we need more strong evidences, please work hard and visit Moody more often." , Standard & Poor's and Fitch."
"You don't suspect that the subordinated bond ratings are fake, do you?"
Carlson Bullock's eyes widened.
"I don't have a say whether there is fraud or not. Without investigation, we have no say. But one thing we have to wonder is, can there be so many 3A, 2A, or even A-rated bonds in subprime mortgages?"
Lu Fei stared at Carlson Bullock and saw him take a breath of cold air. He couldn't help but feel horrified when he thought that the bonds rated A and above rated by the rating agency might be a bunch of junk bonds.
Suddenly, it was like falling into an ice cellar.
"Brother Ben, raise the temperature a little higher."
Lu Fei warned, and then changed the topic: "How are the preparations for the banquet? Have the venue been decided?"
"Um."
Carlson Bullock nodded dullly: "But the budget was a little overrun, 180,000 US dollars, because it was Christmas Eve, and we made the reservation a little late, so we only had the most expensive room left, which happened to be sandwiched between Lehman and American. In the middle of the woods.”
"So be it."
"By the way, Boss, remember to bring a female companion on the day of the banquet. Do you have anyone chosen? If not, would you like me to introduce you to a few Victoria's Secret models and let you choose one?"
"No, I have it"
Lu Fei turned his head and looked out the window.
From the dark sky, white snow like salt grains fell, slowly turning into small snowflakes, flying one after another like catkins.
"Wow~"
Yin Fankara opened the bathroom door, walked out naked, and glanced at the muddy bed. It was already empty.
The man had his back to the floor-to-ceiling window and was reading documents under the lamplight.
"I used the toiletries in the bathroom. If your girlfriend knew about it, she wouldn't be angry, right?"
What Yin Fanka said was naturally Zeng Li.
"Don't worry, this guest bedroom is specially used for guests to stay overnight. Two cleaning companies will come to the door every day to clean it morning and evening. Don't tell me that you use this body lotion that she doesn't know about. Even if you are missing a box of small She doesn’t know about umbrellas, what’s more, she doesn’t live here at all, and we both have another love nest.”
Lu Fei put down the paper and stood up.
"Asshole~"
Yin Fanka was mumbling, but with the example of his father, Wang Wang, he had long been accustomed to it. He walked straight forward, naked like Lu Fei, standing in front of the window and staring at the falling snow.
"So, at the Christmas party, you didn't ask Zeng, but you chose me to be your female companion. Will she be angry if she finds out?"
"For such an important banquet, the first person I think of is you. Besides you, you are the only one."
Lu Fei was completely duplicitous, and the first thing he thought of was naturally Zeng Li, who had completed her studies in the United States. But on Christmas Eve, she had agreed to be a guest at her divorced father's house, and the father and daughter reunited.
Ever since, the spare tire can only be enabled.
Yin Fanka wouldn't have guessed that his co-authorship was a spare tire, but she didn't believe the man's words either, "No way? I don't believe it unless you also give my dad an invitation letter."
"Yes, as long as he is willing to come." Lu Fei said.
"Really?!"
Yin Fanka grinned, picked up the cigarette case from the table, took out a cigarette from her red lips, lit it, snuggled into his arms, and put the cigarette to his mouth at the same time.
“How long does post-production of ‘Iron Man’ take?”
Lu Fei blew out a smoke ring.
"About 6 months or so."
Yin Fanka thought for a moment and said, "It can be completed in early June at the earliest, but Sayin and I have discussed the release time, and we agree that it will be at the end of the summer season in August."
"There were many strong rivals at the same time?"
Lu Fei controlled the ball with one hand and held a cigarette with the other.
Yin Fanka pursed her lips and said intermittently: "The six major Hollywood studios have announced their annual film lists. In June there will be "American Team", in July there will be "Transformers" and "The Incredible Hulk", and in August there will be "The Incredible Hulk". "Pirates of the Caribbean 3", "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix", "The Bourne Supremacy"..."
"Marvel made Captain America?"
Lu Fei blinked, Captain America was a bargain.
"What, you want to compete with Marvel?"
Yin Fanka nuzzled into his arms, "I don't think it's necessary. It will be released in late September, followed by a logical press conference, which perfectly matches the publicity and momentum, isn't it?"
Lu Fei looked into her eyes and nodded gently.
Yin Fanka took the cigarette from his mouth and took two puffs: "At this banquet, do you want to attract other people to invest and continue to short subprime mortgages?"
"Your family is engaged in real estate, what do you think?"
"I don't know. I only know that many newspapers said that real estate in 2006 was a 'long-lost hot scene' and that it will continue to prosper in 2007. Moreover, my father also said that the macroeconomic fundamentals of the United States are good and there are only a few structural problems. , but there is absolutely no problem with subprime mortgages. It’s still too late for you to withdraw your stop loss now.”
"If I want to cut my losses, why should I bother to hold this banquet?"
"Okay, then, can I sell you my portion of the John Paulson Fund, Lu?"
"You want to sell, are you sure?"
"This money is my private money, is that okay?"
"Of course, but I won't pay the original price."
"No problem. When I bought it, the total was 2 million U.S. dollars. How about selling it to you now for only 1.82 million U.S. dollars?"
"Well……"
Lu Fei put out his cigarette in the ashtray and looked at her.
Yin Fanka put on a "please" expression.
"Don't regret it then." Lu Fei said with a smile.
"I will never regret it!"
Yin Fanka vowed: "In the name of God."
"One price, 1.8 million, and transfer it!"
Lu Fei didn't give Yin Fanka any time to bargain, and pushed her to the floor-to-ceiling window, where a strong wind blew.
"Dongdongdong~"
The frost-covered glass is covered with white mist from time to time.
Snow particles fell from the sky, and a blizzard covered the entire city of New York for almost a week.
Fortunately, on Christmas Eve, the snow stopped and the wind stopped.
The banquet hall of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel is magnificent. Under the crystal lanterns, there stands a Christmas tree wrapped with neon lights and hung with gifts, which complements the surrounding decorations.
In the evening, guests arrived one after another.
Wearing a red scarf, the king of understanding strode forward and ran into a group of heavyweights whom he had only heard of or only met a few times. He couldn't help but take a breath.
Lu Fei's connections are so terrifying!
He held his head high, took a glass of red wine from the dinner plate brought by the waiter, pretended to sniff it gracefully, and heard not far away——
“Is this wine Romanée-Conti?”
Signornier took a sip of wine and smacked his lips.
"Yes, it tastes quite mellow."
Michael Bloom is in charge of Merrill Lynch's entire subprime debt department, including CDOs and CDSs. He couldn't help but sigh: "I didn't expect that Lu did such a large amount of CDS for us and was still so rich."
"Haha, how come he has no money? He only has investments in soybeans, oil, gold futures, as well as Google, Amazon, Netflix, and Monster. He can fully afford this little drinking money!"
"Yes, the fact that Trisolaris Fund has gained such a high reputation on Wall Street in just a few years is inseparable from Lu's vision. He has never missed a single move, except for this subprime mortgage."
"What's the point of winning so much? On Wall Street, if you make one mistake, you can lose everything you won before."
"O'Neal, you are right. It was Lu who gave us this opportunity. We just borrowed CDS and vomited back every cent of the money Lu earned from Merrill Lynch in gold futures."
"How can this be enough? I have to find a way to sell him more CDs, otherwise why would I come! Otherwise, why do you think Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Bear Stearns would come!"
"Are you saying that you are all eyeing Lu's prey?"
Michael Bloom looked around and saw hungry wolves everywhere.
"Cheers." Signor O'Neill raised his glass.
"cheers!"
Watching Michael Bloom and the two collaborating together, I was excited and helpless to understand the king. What was exciting was that Lu Fei was defeated miserably and completely. What was helpless was that Yin Fanka was so close to him that they were inseparable. Couples, rather than lovers.
No, the relationship must be severed!
Just as he set his sights on Lu Fei and Yin Fanka, they were reminded by Carlson Bullock and greeted people from all walks of life from the political, financial, business and Internet circles with smiles.
"Olsman, the former deputy finance minister, is from Goldman Sachs. He is now retiring at Harvard University. We can develop him into a fund."
"Lei Wenkai, former Deputy Minister of Commerce, although he is no longer active in politics, he is interested in economy and trade, especially e-commerce."
"..."
"James Caan, the CEO of Bear Stearns and Paulson's immediate boss, has always been optimistic about subprime mortgages."
Lu Fei and James Caan briefly shook hands to get to know each other, and then saw Larry Page following closely behind.
Since Google went public in 2004, its stock price has increased eightfold, and this year it hit a record of over $700, ranking 17th behind him on the world's richest list.
Typical of having money and nowhere to spend it!
After hearing Lu Fei's call, he agreed without hesitation and took advantage of the opportunity of purchasing real estate in New York to bring his female companion to the meeting.
"Hey Lu, congratulations!"
He said from the bottom of his heart: "It is really unimaginable that iPhone 3G has sold 10 million units worldwide."
"So you should speed up the Google package in LMS. At this year's conference, I will release a new Android system and app store."
Lu Fei took Larry Page and chatted for a while.
The cooperation between Google and Logic is very important. It is related to the global layout and future development of the Android system. Both parties must cooperate with each other and have a lot of busy things.
We continued chatting until Bill Gates and Ballmer appeared. Microsoft and Google were life-and-death enemies.
So, Larry Page casually found an excuse to leave.
"Lu, what are you looking for me to invest in? YouTube? Line? Or Facebook?"
"Gates, how about Spotify? Goldman Sachs came to discuss with me. They want to take advantage of the current momentum of the stock market and find an opportunity to go public after completing the 'pre-IPO'. Lu, what do you think?"
"As long as Lu agrees, I will invest in Spotify and Facebook. The current development momentum is very good. Lu, can you help Microsoft introduce Zuckerberg?"
"Lu, why are you selling Amazon shares?"
"..."
Facing Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and others, Lu Fei shuttled between them with ease, changing glasses and talking and laughing.
"Lu, why don't you invest in subprime mortgages with them?"
John Paulson saw that he talked about investment in a few words, but almost never mentioned subprime mortgages. When he mentioned subprime mortgages, he would beat around the bush and try his best to ask them about their attitude towards short selling.
One by one, they showed intriguing smiles.
"Look at you, you're in a hurry."
Lu Fei rolled his eyes and looked around Xu Xin, Carlson Bullock, and John Paulson: "If there is a person carrying a rare treasure today, how will we find a buyer who knows the goods?"
"Of course, we will announce the goods and give the prices according to the truth."
John Paulson blurted out.
"What if the buyer doesn't know the goods?" Lu Fei said.
"Continue to publicize it, and there will always be buyers who know the goods."
"Do you need to sell rare treasures on the street? Just like shorting subprime mortgages. We all know that it is a golden idea that will definitely make us rich. But we ask one by one, is this idea still gold? It is bronze. No one will be rare. Believe it or not. ?”
"Then what should we do?"
“So the secret to choosing a discerning buyer is to show off the bad goods first, then the treasures, and only those who are willing will take the bait.”
“What if inferior goods are released first and scare away buyers?”
"If you don't know the goods, how can you deserve to make a fortune with us?"
Lu Fei has secretly taken over Jeff Bezos, Ballmer, Larry Page, and Google’s other founder, Sergey Brin, who did not attend, all out of trust in him.
As for Bill Gates, he clearly follows Buffett.
At the moment, Buffett is talking and whispering with Wall Street giants such as Bear Stearns, Wells Fargo, and Morgan Stanley, especially Jewish capital, forming an invisible small circle.
There are countless circles like this throughout the banquet hall.
They seem to be a harmonious group, all wearing suits and ties, but there is an invisible gap dividing the scene. A group of people gather in their own comfort zones, drinking and chatting with familiar people, but not talking to strangers.
The king of understanding was so lonely in the corner, unable to integrate into any circle, so he could only look for Yin Fanka's little cotton-padded jacket in frustration.
At 7:30 in the evening, the guests basically arrived on time.
Goldman Sachs wasted no time and was the last one to arrive.
I saw John Thornton leading David Solomon into the gate and saying with a smile in Chinese: "Lu, I finally fulfilled my mission."
"Thanks Thornton."
Lu Fei took the initiative to reach out and said, "Long time no see, David."
"Yeah, long time no see. I really didn't expect you to invite me to your Trisolaris Fund's Christmas party, and also invite so many colleagues who used to work together at Goldman Sachs?"
David Solomon shook hands and glanced around.
"Goldman Sachs and I are friends!"
What Lu Fei said was truer than the truth: "Penguin is listed by you, don't you still want to list Spotify as well? I have this plan, and even Feigou, Sogou, etc., there will be many opportunities to cooperate with you in the future. Isn’t it?”
"Okay, how do you want to work together?"
David Solomon was extremely vigilant.
"Before the big cooperation, let's do a small cooperation first. Just think of it as a Christmas surprise from me to you and Goldman Sachs, as long as you are willing to accept it." Lu Fei raised a mysterious smile.
"What surprise?"
The emergence of David Solomon not only attracted the small circle of Goldman Sachs, but also attracted other giant talkers and court leaders, one by one, focusing their attention on this.
"Sister Xin, translate for me."
Lu Fei didn't know, but asked Xu Xin to do it for him.
She said: "We plan to buy $50 million in Class 2a subordinated bond CDS from Goldman Sachs. Are you willing to trade?"
"watt?!"
James Caan, Sean O'Neill and others were all anxious. They were eyeing Lu Fei's prey!
Goldman Sachs, you bastard, don’t even think about eating alone!
We also want such a Christmas gift!
"Lu, I heard that you are selling the stocks of many companies such as Google and Amazon. It must be very hard to maintain CDs, right?"
David Solomon was already happy in his heart, but he pretended to be worried on the surface, "From my experience, the asset allocation of the Three Body Fund is too unhealthy. Why don't you buy some of our Goldman Sachs stocks, or some of the newly launched stocks?" This CDO product has a very good yield and is very suitable for hedging..."
Tmd, this is definitely here to cause trouble!
John Paulson couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth. Doesn't this reveal Lu Fei's investment losses and lack of financial resources?
Another time, another occasion, forget it, tonight in front of so many potential customers, how can you attract people to invest in short-selling funds?
If we can't attract investment, this banquet will be in vain!
At this moment, a voice came from the periphery of the crowd:
"Lu, Goldman Sachs, stop trading with him, come to us at Lehman, we will give you as many CDs as you want!"
Suddenly, all eyes turned to the source of the sound.
"Lehman's Richard Fuld was known as the 'Bulldog of Wall Street' because of his ruthless style and ruthless approach to his work."
John Paulson quietly introduced Lu Fei.
Lu Fei raised his eyebrows. The more he looked at him, the more familiar he felt. He was the one who bankrupted Lehman Brothers and Silicon Valley Bank!
Before they could say anything, Richard Fuld launched an attack to accuse him:
"Lu, why didn't you invite Lehman to your Trisolaris Foundation's Christmas party? Was it intentional or accidental?"
