Ch. 1971..1980
Life at the Top Chapter 1971
In the Andes Mountain Range, a loud falcon call cut through the high atmosphere. While it sounded extremely penetrating, it also gave people a sense of wildness and boldness in the face of the primitive and wild nature.
A gray falcon could be seen zooming across the sky, creating a stunning arc in mid-air. Then, it turned downward and dived at a speed of over 100 kilometers per hour. Once those sharp claws hidden under its feathers clamped down on one’s body, it would surely leave a few bloody holes.
A bearded middle-aged man who looked slovenly dressed and mannered raised his hand. He had put on special protective bracer on his arms. When the falcon flew near to the man’s head, it spread its wings and slowed down before firmly gripping on the bracer to perch on it steadily.
This falcon perched on the man’s arm as i t looked left and right. Its extremely sharp eyes could spot prey smaller than a mouse more than ten kilometers above the sky. Itwas one of the top nature predators be it i n appearance or function.
The bearded man obviously liked his pet very much. After feeding it a piece of fresh beef, he turned to his companion and said with a laugh, “Jesse, I spent a lot of time and effort getting this gyrfalcon from Raydon province in Somerland. It comes from the purest bloodline of the king, and its parents once hunted a snow leopard. I a m willing to bet you 100 bucks that my gyrfalcon can kill your ferret in 10 seconds.”
The man named Jesse had a big cigar in his mouth, but compared to the boorish bearded man, his clothes were more delicate and decent. Even in such a desolate wilderness, he was dressed for hunting, which revealed his upper-class taste.
Jesse shrugged and raised his double barreled shotgun with both hands. He said, “No matter how powerful an animal or person is, it can’t stop a single bullet from this thing.”
When the bearded man was about to
speak, another slender woman with a height of 1.9 meters walked out from a mountain pass not far away. She was carrying a porcupine covered with spikes o n her back.
The porcupine was dribbling blood along the woman’s footsteps as it hung on her back.
“What are you two waiting for? My spoils are here, can’t you help me take the porcupine away in a gentlemanly manner?” The woman shouted.
The bearded man and Jesse laughed and waved their hands. Immediately after, someone trotted forward from behind them to pick up the porcupine on the woman’s back.
The tall and slender woman walked to the bearded man carefreely, glanced at the gyrfalcon on his arm with some envy, and said, “Noe, you really don’t want to give that gyrfalcon to me? I told you that you can name any price you want.
“Do you want 100 million or 200 million?”
The bearded man named Noe said with a grin, “As the eldest Rothschild princess, you don’t care about this money, while I, Morgan’s fourth-in-line heir, don’t care too much about this money, either. Am I right, Jesse… DuPont, vice president of DuPont?”
The woman snorted softly and said, ” Don’t care about money? There are no people in this world who don’t care about money. Didn’t your family, my family, and so many people work so hard for generations for money and power? Of course, you men have another reason to fight hard and that is women, while we women have another reason to fight hard, and that is not to be ruined by men like you.”
Noe shrugged and said, “I’ve never ruined any woman.”
The woman narrowed her eyes slightly, glanced at the gyrfalcon on Noe’s arm, and suddenly said, “How about you make a bet with me for this gyrfalcon?”
“What is it? I don’t bet on normal things,” Noe said with interest.
“It’s definitely not an ordinary gamble. Jesse, are you interested in joining us?”
Life at the Top Chapter 1972
Jesse fiddled with the double-barreled shotgun in his hand as he faced the woman’s question, and said, “I’m fine with anything.”
When the woman saw the two men nodding in agreement, the corners of her mouth rose slightly and she said, “Since it’s a gamble between the three of us, of course, it can’t be in the United States or even in the Western world, otherwise we will all have the ability to influence the game. On the other hand, this matter can’t be too small, otherwise it will be boring.
“Why don’t we bet on whether JW Foundation can take down the third largest investment bank, Morgan Investment Bank?”
After these words came out, Noe immediately smiled bitterly.
“Bella, you know that my family is having a fierce dispute over this matter, and now the war hawks and the doves are divided equally, such that no one can persuade the other side. I’m not in the mood to take this as a gamble at this moment in time.”
“Morgan Investment Bank is just one of the many assets of Morgan Financial Group. What’s there to dispute about?” Bella said in dissatisfaction.
“You can’t say that.”
Jesse interjected, “Let’s not talk about our respective families. JW Foundation, JW, and that Jasper Laine behind them have already entered the sights of the
Freemasons a long time ago. At present, the Freemasons have a lot of different opinions about Jasper. Some people think that he can be roped in or they can even allow him to join, but others think that he is challenging the global economic system which has been dominated by Western countries for hundreds of years, which is unforgivable.”
“What a group of antiques.”
Bella’s expression was full of sarcasm as she said, “I never interfere with these things. I have a headache when I hear about them, but if Jasper really can overturn them, then color me impressed.”
After she said this, Jesse and Noe both laughed.
There was no sarcasm or negativity in their laughter, but they felt that this was just as funny as hearing an ant moving al mountain.
“Alright, we can only guarantee fairness t o each other in this kind of bet. As for my stake, I’ll just use 18% of the stocks from the De Beers company that my family gave me when I was coming of age.”
“De Beers? The world’s largest supplier of diamonds? 18% of this company’s stocks i sa lot,” Noe said in surprise.
“I still have a lot of similar industries. I can’t even count how many things I got, but I only have one such baby.” Bella did not care. Instead, she glanced at the gyrfalcon in Noe’s hand with envy. She then asked, “How about it? Your stake will be your baby, do you want to do it?”
As if the temptation was not enough, Bella added, “Whether you win or lose, I can still give you those stocks.
“Come on, what are you waiting for?”
Noe laughed and said, “No matter if I win or lose, I can get 18% of De Beers’ shares.
I won’t be able to get Morgan Investment Bank’s shares anyway, so I’ll be more practical and ensure I have some shares o n hand. Alright, I’ll give you my baby if I lose then.”
“Okay, you can pick first. Do you think JW Foundation can take down Morgan Investment Bank?”
Life at the Top Chapter 1973
No.”.
Noe’s answer was fairly straightforward.
“Although the proportion of Morgan
Investment Bank in Morgan Financial Group is gradually getting decreasingly, it was still, at the end of the day, the face of Morgan Financial Group. Many businesses within the financial group rely on investment banks, so its status within the financial group is not only as simple a s the property ratio, and that’s why Morgan Financial Group is not going to let anyone take them down.”
Bella smiled when she heard the words. She turned to look at Jesse, then asked, ” Jesse, how about you?”
Jesse shrugged and said, “I think he can either. In fact, my reasons are stronger than Noe because as far as I know, not only the Morgan Financial Group, but many people from the ten major financial groups, including the Freemasons, are against Jasper and his JW Foundation because he has affected the interests of more and more people. Apparently, the reason why they did not deal with him before was that everyone needed him to remove the economic bubble in the United States.
“Now that his task has been completed, then his ending…”
Jesse raised his shotgun and put it behind him. Then, he chuckled. “It’s like this gun of mine. It is naturally put away when not i n use, but if it’s disobedient, then it can only be destroyed.”
“Jesse, didn’t you just say that war hawks and doves are still arguing about him?” Noe asked.
“Arguments are arguments, but you know, war hawks have always been tougher than doves. Be it externally or internally, some important war hawk members have already planned to take action. Maybe they are already doing it, so who knows? After all, we’ve been busy hunting here and can’t get the latest information.
“What’s more, who would really start an internal power struggle for the sake of a Somerlander?”
Noe laughed and said, “You are already
the vice president of your financial group, and you are much better informed than those of us who are just the heirs.”
Jesse slowly took out a cigar and said, You just don’t want to be in the same position.”
The two men looked at Bella and Bella still looked nonchalant. She said, “Since you all said no, then I can only choose yes.
“Don’t say that, Bella. We are best friends. If you regret it, we can just pretend this bet never existed in the first place,” Noe said with a smile.
“You know this is not who I am, plus, I really believe that man named Jasper can d o it.”
When Jasper asked Jake to investigate the source of funds in the account behind the abnormal fluctuation of the stock price, and he did not get a result for more than half an hour, Jasper knew that he had run into a difficult opponent this time.
Whether it was technology, experience,
the judgment of the situation, or power, this fund that Jasper did not even know the approximate amount or source of was absolutely terrifying.
Jasper could vaguely feel that the other party was warning him in this way.
They seemed to be saying, “I’ve seen through your intentions, so you’d better stop early.’
“Mr. Laine, Weresoft, Apple, Amazon, and Qualcomm’s stock prices have entered the buy line you set before. Shall we execute it now?” Jake asked carefully.
Jasper’s expression was solemn, and he did not make a decision right away.
“Jake, if you’ve been doing something for a long time and it seems that you’re about to succeed, but at this time, an enemy who may be too powerful for you to fight suddenly shows up and doesn’t want you t o continue, what would you do?” Jasper looked up and asked.
Jake was stunned for a moment, then he immediately understood what Jasper meant.
He pondered for a while, then gritted his teeth and replied, “I will continue, Mr. Laine. You said that if we want to develop, then the vested interest of external parties will inevitably be affected. Unless we dissolve the company immediately, it will be impossible to avoid the emergence of new enemies. If this is the case, we have long been prepared to die, so why should they withdraw when they start to threaten us? In this case, it would have been better to just disband immediately.”
Jasper said with a smile, “Yes, you are right.”
Life at the Top Chapter 1974
Letting out a sigh, Jasper’s gaze regained its steadiness.
“Yes, what am I afraid of?
“During this journey, have I not overcome difficulties one by one with the determination to cut off all means of possible retreat? If that’s so, why should I be afraid now? Is it because JW is getting bigger or is it because my status and wealth are growing by the day? These things will not shackle me, but rather, they will only make me stronger.
“Execute the plan and buy all the stocks that enter the buy line. I want to buy the United States twenty years into the future!”
After Jasper said that, Jake immediately replied in the affirmative.
Then, Jake turned and left Jasper’s command room. After that, he said in a low tone to all the team members, ” Execute the purchase plan!”
Everyone was shocked.
Although Jasper had not disclosed anything to them, the people here were already an insiders even among insiders. The United States stock market was almost smashed to pieces, and at this time, Jasper wanted to execute a buying plan. Wasn’t this bottom-fishing those truly exceptional assets?
If it was said that the previous hundreds o f billions of profits in the subprime market were able to make people rich in a n instant, then the bottom-fishing this time could guarantee that any person or family would be able to enjoy the benefits of this for generations, if successful.
This kind of good thing could only happen once in a lifetime, and it was impossible for many people to even encounter.
Weren’t they waiting for this moment after all the hardships in the past as well a s pulling nearly 100 all-nighters?
With the issuance of orders by the trading team, the turmoil in the United States stock market resumed.
JW Foundation seemed to have suddenly changed its nature and began to buy some high-value technology and Internet companies with large sum of money.
This information could not be concealed from the outside world who had been keeping an eye on JW Foundation’s actions. Moreover, Jasper had no intention of concealing it.
It had to be said that there were always smart people in this world, and there were a lot of them.
When JW Foundation started to buy, those hot money and institutions rushed forward in packs, like hungry wolves who had been starved for long time.
They understood everything Jasper understood, and some even had more experience than Jasper.
It was just that Jasper was the dealer of this market. If Jasper did not buy, they would be courting death if they entered without thinking. However, now that the dealer, Jasper, had taken action, it proved that their long-awaited opportunity had finally come.
As soon as the winds turned, the stocks of several companies that Jasper chose to buy began to soar.
Even the market started to rise.
A fierce wave of funds soon entered the market.
Granger flew into a fit of rage when
Weresoft was the first to be bought.
“Damn it, damn it, damn it!”
After cursing three times in a row, Granger did not have the grace and refinement of the richest man in the world anymore. At this moment, he was like a violent and aggressive lion.
“I want Weresoft’s share price to go up, but if it is caused by JW Foundation buying it! Buy back as much stocks you can! Weresoft must not fall into the hands of someone from Somerland, not even if it’s 1% of the shares!”
Life at the Top Chapter 1975
Granger’s rage caused the other high level executives in the same office to shudder.
The CFO said embarrassedly, “Sir, our funds are already in danger. If we continue to buy shares back, we must get the approval of the board of directors…. and we need more capital to inject into the market as well.”
“Where’s the money I invested before?” Granger asked with a grim look.
“We have already used up all of them during the previous repurchase period. Unfortunately we didn’t get many shares, as most of it was swallowed up by the hot money.” The CFO lowered his head, not daring to look at Granger’s face at all.
With a bang, Granger slammed his hand down onto the table. He was trying to suppress his anger.
Even if he was rich, most of this money was reflected in the Weresoft stock he owned. He did not have much in terms of cash, and even if he was willing to continue to invest in the company now, it is
not something he could do just because h
e wanted to.
The company had a board of directors and many shareholders. Any additional investment by a single shareholder would cause the corresponding dilution of other shareholders’ shares, which was something they abstained from.
His last investment was only forcibly passed after a lot of hard work and also because of his authority and identity as the founder of Weresoft. If he continued t o invest this time, the other shareholders. would definitely disagree.
“Sir, do you want to discuss this with the other shareholders and have everyone inject capital together?” The CFO could see Granger’s dilemma and offered this suggestion.
Granger shook his head and said, “It’s too late, not to mention other shareholders… Heh, Layman Investment Bank was our fourth-largest shareholder, but it is now going through bankruptcy proceedings. Without its vote, there will inevitably be problems even if we forcefully pass it.”
The CFO and other high-level executives looked at each other. Everyone felt a little lost as they were faced with such a situation.
Granger waved his hands in dismay and said, “Alright, all of you should leave now. I’ll find a way to resolve this matter.”
After everyone went out, Granger took a few steps around his office. Then, he picked up the phone and dialed a number.
“It’s me. JW Foundation is now acquiring the stocks of all Internet and high-tech companies, including Weresoft. Are you just going to watch him steal our achievements?”
A calm middle-aged man’s voice came from the other end of the phone, “Mr. Billionaire, my darling, don’t worry. We already have a whole set of plans to deal with him. He won’t succeed.”
Granger raised his eyebrows and asked, ” What plan? Why hasn’t anyone notified m e?”
“Mr. Billionaire, you are already very busy. You can’t weigh up and make decisions on everything, right?” Although the person on the other end of the phone kept calling Granger Mr. Billionaire, it was obvious from his attitude that he was not taking Granger seriously.
Granger obviously sensed this. Thus, he took a breath, suppressed the restlessness and anger in his heart which cam result of Jasper’s actions, regained his composure, and chuckled lightly. After that, he said, “You’re right, I was too anxious. as a
“Then, I hope you can start as soon as possible. With every passing minute, countless stocks are flowing into Jasper’s hands. He is from Somerland, and this is not good for us.
“Of course, Mr. Billionaire, we’re on the same page. Don’t worry, we have already started to make some arrangements.”
After hanging up the phone, Granger walked to the French window, raised his hand to the glass, looked at the bustling crowd and traffic under his feet, and suddenly sneered. After that, he murmured, “A billionaire? Heh, what the
hell is a billionaire in front of that capital? Nothing.”
Just as Granger murmured with mixed emotions, there was a shocking reversal i n the United States stock market.
Originally, as the dealer, JW Foundation was starting to actively buy a large part of the stocks of leading companies, which gave the stock market a clear trend of recovery, but just as all the international hot money rushed forward and everyone was ready to ruthlessly enter the United States stock market to take a bite of this huge cake, a huge amount of money appeared without warning and began to wildly raise the stock price.
From technology stocks to Internet concepts, from energy to commercial enterprises, it seemed that all of the stocks that had been sniped by JW Foundation before were included in this mass push.
This set of funds seemed to have no limit a s all of the stocks that it targeted were swept away.
It was like a local tyrant walks into a shopping mall and buying all the products on the counters that he took a fancy to
Who could resist this?
Those daring and ruthless retail investors were the first to be swept out of the game. In the face of wildly rising stock prices, these retail investors had no right to hold the gambling chips at all. Subsequently, they were kicked out in the blink of an eye.
The second group to exit was a part of the international hot money that was not that strong. Although this portion hot money was huge in general, its sources and make up was complex, so it was impossible to command them in a unified and effective manner. In the face of major changes, the part with insufficient strength would meet the same fate as the retail investors a s they would be scared off by the wildly rising stock price.
In such a large-scale acquisition, the funds unsurprisingly collided head-on with JW Foundation, which was acquiring stocks in companies such as Weresoft, Qualcomm, and Apple.
“Mr. Laine, the market has soared by 800 points. In particular, the stock prices of several companies we are acquiring have exceeded the acquisition line we set, but the other party is still raising. What should we do?”
Facing Jake’s request, Jasper pursed his
lips. His eyes were bright like two lights in
the night.
However, he did not give any response
because, at this time, his brain was
frantically thinking.
The first thing he thought about was who the source of the funds was, and whether i t would be from a big consortium hidden behind United States society, or possibly even the Freemasons themselves as he had initially guessed.
The second thing he thought about was what the other party’s goal was.
Was it as straightforward as just raising the stock price so that it would not be easy for him to acquire them?
It was obvious that many companies were not within the scope of his acquisitionplan, yet the other party had also acted on
them.
Time passed slowly, and with every
passing second, the points of the market
and individual stocks were rising.
At this time, it had reached a dividing line for JW Foundation, and their next step was crucial.
At this moment, the analyst of the trader team suddenly reported.
“Morgan Investment Bank has made an announcement!”
Life at the Top Chapter 1976
Without saying a word, Jake immediately found the announcement for Jasper and displayed it on the screen.
“Morgan Investment Bank has obtained a total of 100 billion US Dollars of interest free loans from the United States Central Bank with a loan period of one year. In addition to that, Morgan Investment Bank has obtained a total of 300 billion US Dollars of short-term loans through the World Bank. Morgan Investment Bank will use this 400 billion US Dollars for venture capital. This very large investment has been approved by the United States Ministry of Commerce.”
After Jake finished reading this, his face darkened.
“Who doesn’t know that the World Bank i s run by people from the United States? It’s really shameless to play this game like this.
“They want to do bad things and at the same time keep a good reputation. Why don’t they just say it’s the government’s investment in the United States and it’s also an interest-free loan? F*ck them, they’re so shameless!”
Compared to the furious Jake, Jasper
seemed much calmer.
“It’ll be easy as long as it’s them.”
Jake was stunned when he heard these words, yet he did not quite understand what Jasper meant. So, he asked anxiously, “Mr. Laine, will this still be easy to handle? The 400 billion is enough t o drown us as all the money we have on hand is not as much as what they got in one go. Not to mention that Morgan Investment Bank is the third-largest investment bank in the world so they have all the money in the world.
“The problem is too big now.”
Jasper leaned back on the chair and said, ” Yes, any problem that can be solved by money is not a problem, but the biggest problem is that there is not enough money.
“Since Morgan has at least 400 billion US Dollars in cash flow and wants to fight with us, it is definitely unwise to fight them back. The United States government gave Morgan Investment Bank
government funds in the name of market rescue, but there’s also a deadly question hidden within, what if Morgan Investment Bank took that money and bought their own stock?”
Jasper’s words dumbfounded Jake.
Jasper did not bother to explain to Jake, he said, “Temporarily suspend all acquisitions. Let Morgan Investment Bank and international hot money fight to their deaths while we will just ignore them. We will do one thing now, and that i s to crash Morgan Investment Bank’s share price.”
At this time, Morgan had not yet grown into a behemoth with a market value of 470 billion US dollars that it would be in the future, as its total market value right now was only 100 billion US Dollars.
For 99.999% of the companies on this planet, this was already the ultimate limit, but right now, Jasper had 300 billion US Dollars, which was theoretically enough to buy 3 Morgan Investment Banks.
Under such circumstances, the retaliatory strike launched by JW Foundation against
Morgan Investment Bank was as powerful as a nuclear bomb.
Ever since the storm in the subprime market, Layman, the fourth largest investment bank, became the first victim and was still going through bankruptcy proceedings, the stock prices of all bank stocks had also slumped.
Among them, Colossal’s foundation was the strongest, which was why they were able to support themselves.
The reason why Morgan, the third largest investment bank, could endure this was that Morgan’s investment style had always been stable. They managed trillions of dollars in assets around the world and they preferred putting the money the customers invested in them into projects that could generate long term returns. This was very similar to Benett’s style, so Morgan Investment Bank once offered 15% of the company’s shares as a signing on bonus to invite Benett to be a global joint partner, but Benett rejected them.
Yet, this did not prevent Morgan from continuing their stable investment style. Furthermore, it was this investment style. that made them the investment bank that suffered the least loss among the four major investment banks in the financial crisis caused by this subprime market explosion.
Even so, a small loss did not mean no loss. The stock price of Morgan Investment Bank still fell from a high of 34 US Dollars to an annual low of 22 US Dollars.
Jasper’s attack on Morgan Investment Bank’s stock price this time was a violent attack from the very beginning as he did not intend to go easy on them at all.
100 short orders with an overall value of more than 100 million US Dollars hit Morgan Investment Bank’s share market without warning. It was causing an uproar like a huge stone smashing into an already turbulent lake.
This scene stupefied all investors.
Originally, everyone was thinking that they would take advantage of Morgan Investment Bank getting a 400 billion interest-free loan to invest in the stock
market. Then, they would get on this ride together so that even if they could not get the cake, they could still get the icing so that they would at least have something t o eat after JW Foundation caused them to brave a chilling economic winter.
However, even though they had seen retribution, they had never seen such a quick one before.
As soon as the stock price was raised, they were crushed into a daze in the next second.
For some reason, when all investors saw this, they felt as helpless and powerless as a scholar encountering a rogue.
Looking at the stock price of Morgan Investment Bank again, the stock price that was already rising rapidly due to the stimulus of good news was smashed by some tens of billions of orders from JW Foundation, which directly broke it down t o the lowest point in a single day. Moreover, it was still plummeting.
This was really like diving. It would be hard for them to come up again once they started plunging.
“It opened at 22 US Dollars per share. After being influenced by the positive stimulus, it rose to 25.8 US Dollars, and now it has fallen to 21.1 US Dollars.”
Jasper sat in front of the screen, thinking carefully.
At this time, Morgan Investment Bank’s market was full of short orders issued by W Foundation. As long as there were buy ins on the market, they would immediately be swallowed up by the short orders from JW Foundation. Now, it was unknown whether Morgan Investment Bank had not yet reacted in time, or if they were simply organizing
countermeasures. In short, Morgan’s stock market right now seemed to be as topless woman and she was allowing JW Foundation to do whatever they wanted with her.
Even so, Jasper was still not satisfied.
“Morgan’s bottom support level should b e at 20 US Dollars. We should take down this 1.1 US Dollar space as soon as possible.”
Jasper told Jake, “Now is the best time to knock down the 20 US Dollars support level while Morgan is still undecided Once we have done that, there will be no more obstacles.”
Jake immediately stepped up his attack without hesitating
At this time, despite having a lot of money, Morgan Investment Bank was nominally restricted by the market rescue funds, so on the surface, they could not use the funds to acquire the shares of its own company.
However, JW Foundation was different. All executive power existed to implement Jasper’s will. With Jasper’s order, all funds could be used without restrictions.
This was the biggest advantage of JW
Foundation when facing an international
investment bank like Morgan.
This was also one of the reasons why Jasper never delegated his core power to others. What Jasper wanted was to have a high degree of centralization.
“Jake, report on the use of funds.”
Life at the Top Chapter 1977
Jake immediately ran to Jasper to report t o him, “The total capital we can use is 298 billion US Dollars. In the early stage, we spent 50 billion US Dollars on the Nasdaq and the Dow Jones Index, and in the later stage, we used 40 billion US Dollars to execute the acquisition major company stocks. Then, we invested 18 billion US Dollars in Morgan Investment Bank and have 190 billion US Dollars remaining now, ”
“Continue with the plan.”
They still had enough funds, which was better than Jasper expected.
The headquarters of Morgan on Wall Street.
In the chairman’s office at the highest level, Ford Morgan, a core member of the Morgan family, was sitting in his seat. His hands and fingers were folded under his chin while his eyes flickered with a hesitant light.
In front of him was the group’s think tank and consultant, Alice.
Alice, who was over 40 years old, still had her feminine charm. The annual salary of tens of millions of US Dollars and stock options as dividends allowed her to enjoy the most expensive beauty procedures in the world with peace of mind. Therefore, she looked like she was still in her thirties while her figure was still as graceful as ever.
In fact, half an hour ago, Alice was still sitting naked on top of Ford as she shook her body, but now the situation had unexpectedly changed and they had to go t o work.
They were not the only ones in the office, but the chief investment advisor, chief operating officer, and chief executive officer of Morgan Investment Bank were also here.
“Sir, we must make a decision as soon as possible, JW Foundation’s offensive is very aggressive. We are incurring huge losses with every passing minute and the stock price is plummeting. If this trend continues, the analysis team expects the stock price to break the 20 US Dollar support level soon.
“Once this support level is broken, Morgan’s share price will fall directly into the 18 US Dollar range. At that time, Morgan’s market value will be lower than before Layman’s bankruptcy and Citibank will surpass us as the third largest investment bank. Most importantly, investors will lose confidence in us and it will affect the entire business of our group.”
After the COO finished speaking, Ford
looked up at the chief investment advisor
and asked, “What do you think?”
The chief investment advisor bowed
slightly to Ford and answered, “I totally
agree.
“You must know that we have just obtained a total of 400 billion US Dollars i n interest-free loans. However, our stock price has broken through a record low even with such a big stimulus in hand. In the eyes of customers around the world, w e have so much money, but we can’t even protect our stock price, so how can they trust us with their assets?
“But the biggest problem with this matter is that this money is nominally an interest -free loan, but in reality, it is a market rescue that the government is trying to do through us. The government has carried out market rescues several times before and they have taken out a large amount of money, but under the current law and stipulations, there are too many restrictions. Hence, they’re giving the
money to us in the form of loans, so that
they can borrow the identity of our
investment bank to carry this out on their
behalf.
“But if we buy our own stocks using their money, it will spell trouble for us.”
Narrowing his eyes, Ford looked out the window in the southeast direction, where Citibank was located.
“I think Citibank will be very happy to seize our position, and as the second largest investment bank, Merrill Investment Bank will not be happy that we’re taking this opportunity to threaten their status, so we will inevitably be affected by a joint attack by both Merrill Investment Bank and Citibank at the same time ”
The COO and the chief investment advisor looked at each other and did not speak.
This already touched on the game of upper management in the United State’s capital world, and they were not allowed t o intervene.
Ford looked at Alice and said, “Alice, you have helped me a lot at many important times over the years and now I once again. need your advice.”
Ford and Alice were not just superior and subordinate, and they were also not just lovers, but more importantly, they were both important partners in each other’s careers. It was this relationship that allowed them to remain intimate for ten years without change.
In this world, love would deteriorate, and one would get bored of their partner’s body. Only interests were the closest and most reliable bond between two people.
Alice had thought about this issue for a long time, and she did not hesitate too much at this time. She said, “We must take countermeasures.
“Two things.”
Alice raised a confident smile and said, ”
First, Layman’s bankruptcy is a huge
opportunity for us. Although we do not
have much overlap with Layman in terms
of investment style and field, it is precisely because of this that those who have suffered heavy losses in Layman will reconsider or even directly change their investment strategy after experiencing this incident. Therefore, we are their best choice because our investment strategy is the opposite of Layman’s.
“Also, we have a greater advantage than other investment banks regarding this. Therefore, we can’t let any negative news about us get out at this time. After all, the stock price is also the most important thing because the stock price is the most valuable and precise measure of a company’s value.
“Secondly, JW Foundation’s action against us this time can be regarded as a retaliatory strike, but it also proves that w e have hit his most sensitive spot. According to our previous calculations, the funds that JW Foundation now control
are between 260 billion US Dollars and 310 billion US Dollars. The error rate in calculating this won’t be too large.
“Adding in the funds occupied and consumed by his previous actions, we won’t have much difficulty fighting them.
“As for what you are considering, sir, 1 think this is precisely the least problematic issue. The government wants us to rescue the market, and what other market rescue measures are simpler and more effective than directly defeating the enemy who caused all this?
“You have to understand that what we are doing now is not to using the money from the market rescue to raise our stock price, but to use the money to directly deal with the culprit that caused all this.
“I’m done speaking.”
After Alice finished speaking, she stood
silently by the side and did not say a word.
Meanwhile, there was a relieved smile on Ford’s face.
He looked at his executives and asked, “D o you have any other things you want to add to this?”
When they saw this, no one dared to say o r do anything. Then, with the CEO’s lead, everyone said in unison, “We all agree with Ms. Alice.”
“Okay, let’s act now. I want to see the stock price of the investment bank return t o the opening price of 22 US Dollars within the next 10 minutes.”
Life at the Top Chapter 1978
Morgan Investment Bank’s counterattack came violently and swiftly.
In just a few minutes, the influx of large sums of money almost immediately hedged the short position of JW Foundation.
With the intervention of this capital, the share price of Morgan Investment Bank began to rebound rapidly.
At this time, it was only 0.1 US Dollars away from breaking the support level of Morgan Investment Bank’s share price of 20 US Dollars.
Everyone watched Morgan Investment Bank’s share price rise from 20.1 US Dollars to 20.6 US Dollars. Although the gap was only 0.5 US Dollars, it meant that the market was starting to rise.
This was a very bad sign for JW Foundation.
Jake slammed his hand down on the table heavily and said with a grim face, “I have obtained the authorization of Mr. Laine to continue to sell short orders. Continue to short!”
After speaking, Jake immediately ran to Jasper’s command room.
However, as soon as he entered the door, Jake saw Jasper on the phone.
When he spotted Jake coming in, Jasper motioned to Jake not to go out or speak. Instead, he simply had him stand there and wait.
“I definitely have no problem with this, but Mr. Paulson, have you thought about i t clearly?”
Paulson chuckled softly from the other end of the lind. He said, “I understand what you mean, but we are businessmen. A s long as there are interests for the businessmen, we can do anything. Besides, our cooperation is limited to this.”
“Okay, then I’ll wait for your good news.”
After Jasper finished speaking, he hung u p the phone.
He looked at Jake and said, “Right now, Colossal Investments will help us short Morgan Investment Bank’s share price together.”
Jake was immediately stunned.
That expression similar to if he had just seen aliens descending on earth.
“But wasn’t Colossal Investments still on the side that was besieging us before?” Jake asked, dumbfounded.
“Capital is like a wh*re. Anyone can have a go at her, but only if you can make her spread her legs for you.”
Jasper made an unprecedented vulgar metaphor while he was in a good mood.
Although this metaphor was vulgar, it was very vivid.
“Get back to work.”
After Jasper sent Jake away, he returned to his seat. Although his eyes were on the screen, his mind was somewhere else.
He could not understand this. If Morgan rose to a towering position, Colossal, who was sitting firmly on the throne, would not be the first one who would feel the most sense of danger. However, Merrill, who was positioned in front of Morgan, and Citibank, who was a place behind Morgan, were both doing nothing. Even s o, Colossal was the first to jump out to cooperate with them to suppress Morgan. Jake could not wrap his head around this.
If Jasper could see the scene in Mr. Paulson’s office right now, he would understand everything.
A 1.9-meter-tall woman was wearing an eye-catching camouflage uniform in the tall commercial building and she was sitting in the seat of the chairman that originally belonged to Paulson.
“Miss Bella, I have completed your orders,” Paulson said helplessly but respectfully. He was standing at the position where his subordinates usually reported to him, that was, in front of the desk.
“Yeah, I heard.”
Bella lowered her head and trimmed her nails as she casually agreed.
“Miss Bella, with all due respect, you are indeed harming the interests of the investment bank and your family by doing this,” Paulson said softly.
Bella raised her eyelids and glanced at Paulson. Then, she replied helplessly, ” (( Uncle Paulson, you know I don’t like to consider interests in everything. In my opinion, the interests of the so-called investment banks and the interests of the family are not as important as my personal enjoyment.
“Noe, that despicable bastard. He knew that the Morgan Financial Group was about to take out this 400 billion US Dollar interest-free loan for Morgan Investment Bank to save the market, but h e didn’t reveal anything about it before and even made a fake bet with me. I don’t care about that bet, but I want that Gyrfalcon.”
Bella’s words left Paulson at a loss.
He had no idea about the bet on the Gyrfalcon.
However, this did not prevent him from understanding that there was an unknown transaction between the eldest princess of the largest shareholder family of Colossal Investments and the heir of Morgan Investment Bank, and thistransaction probably involved something that he did not know.
The most important thing was that Paulson, who had worked for the Rothschilds for most of his life, knew very well that the eldest princess in front of him had never been a woman who played according to the rules.
Everyone in the world knew that the Hiltons had a rambunctious daughter who showed off her naked body in public, but they did not know that the eldest princess of the Rothschilds was number one when i t came to acting unreasonably.
The reason why it was not known to the world is that the size and power of the Hiltons were completely incomparable to the Rothschilds.
The Hiltons might not be able to stop what the media wanted to report.
However, no media dared to publish what the Rothschilds did not want the world to know.
Paulson, who gave up his attempts at persuasion, continued in a low voice, “If
there is another situation with Morgan Investment Bank after what happened to Layman, this may cause JW Foundation to completely anger the consortiums in the United States, and also… the Freemasons.”
“Whatever.”
Bella’s answer was even more casual. ” What does that have to do with me?
“That’s the business of that Somerland man named Jasper Laine. Whatever consequences and costs he bears has nothing to do with me.”
As she said that, Bella walked to the door and said lazily, “I’ll go get some sleep. Wake me up when that Somerland guy named Jasper beats Morgan Investment Bank to the ground. When that happens, I’ll go to Noe’s place to get my Gyrfalcon.”
Paulson smiled wryly as he looked at Bella’s back.
Once Colossal Investments and Miss Bella were involved in this, it would be difficult t o hide her involvement.
However, so what? Miss Bella was always Like this.
It was all based on her preference and nothing else.
Only the Rothschilds could accommodate and raise such a woman.
With the intervention of Colossal Investments, the stock price of Morgan Investment Bank, which originally started to rebound, underwent dramatic changes.
It was just like a roller coaster ride. If JW Foundation’s short-selling at the beginning was going down, then Morgan. Investment Bank’s large-scale capital entry was a rebound. However, right now, after Colossal Investments joined, Morgan Investment Bank immediately faced an extremely embarrassing situation.
“The stock price of Morgan Investment Bank is 20.2 US Dollars and it is still fluctuating. Now our confrontation with Morgan Investment Bank has reached the most intense period. The trading volume i s doubling and the situation has reached a stalemate,”
Jake spoke quickly and tensely.
He was a little flustered. Even with the cooperation of Colossal Investments, Morgan Investment Bank’s resistance was still incredibly strong. From this they could observe that if JW Foundation had fought this alone, something terrible would have happened.
Life at the Top Chapter 1979
At this moment, the stock price of Morgan Investment Bank was oscillating endlessly. It was creating a curve on the screen that went up and down at anytime and anywhere, making people unable to predict what would happen next.
Meanwhile, Jasper’s fingers tapped lightly on the table.
He had come out of the command room and walked to Jake’s seat outside.
Jake stood straight behind him.
The big boss was interested in doing this himself. So, naturally, Jake did not dare to say anything about the matter. He recalled the time in Harbor City when Jasper taught him a lesson and that was why no one would doubt Jasper’s decision right now.
“The current price is 20.2 US Dollars and you will be short 50 million lots at this position.”
The rules for the United States stock market were the same as in Somerland.
The minimum trading unit was a lot, and one lot would contain 100 shares.
Therefore, Jasper’s order directly meant
that the funds of 1 billion US Dollars were
spent.
“Mr. Laine, Morgan has devoured 50 million of our lots and the stock price is still fluctuating at 20.2 US Dollars,” the trader immediately reported.
“Short another 50 million lots. We’ll see.
what Morgan has hidden up their
sleeves.”
Immediately after Jasper gave the order, J
W Foundation invested another 1 billion U
S Dollars.
Yet again, Morgan Investment Bank still
devoured the 50 million lots.
Narrowing his eyes, Jasper chuckled
lightly. “Short 10 million lots.”
The trader immediately executed Jasper’s order subconsciously, but he did not react until after the execution was completed. Why did he only short 10 million lots the third time after the first two 50 million lots were devoured?
What would something like this prove?
However, the market situation changed suddenly. The 10 million lot of short orders survived longer than the previous two 50 million lots. After more than ten seconds, Morgan Investment Bank devoured the 10 million lots.
At this moment, Jasper did not issue any further instructions.
However, the market continued fighting internally.
Then, everyone saw that 10 consecutive 5 0 million lots with a total value of 10 billion US Dollars fell from the sky.
This was not made by JW Foundation and there were no other short-sellers in the market with such great strength, so this short order naturally belonged to Colossal.
After Morgan Investment Bank took 8 empty orders, they did not take the remaining 2 lots.
“Morgan is out of breath. Short 20 50 million lots, right now!” Jasper ordered immediately.
These 20 50 million lots and a full 20 billion US Dollars were sold, causing thestock price of Morgan Investment Bank to drop.
19.9 US Dollars!
It was a breakthrough!
Jake watched the whole process. When the eye-catching number of 19.9 US Dollars jumped out of the screen, Jake only had one word in his heart, and that was: amazing
The real master would not rely on their techniques and skills, but instead, they would play with people’s hearts.
Jasper’s one big and one small trial confused Morgan. At the same time, it also sent a sufficiently clear and strong signal to their partner Colossal Investment Bank. Meanwhile Colossal Investment Bank obviously also had experts in charge, and they immediately understood what Jasper meant, so they immediately put in large orders to keep up.
With this combination of attacks, Morgan seemed to be facing two sides at the same time and the complex chain strategy was already overwhelming them. With that, JW
Foundation only needed to invest 22.2
billion US Dollars to break through this important support point. Jake knew that if he went at it by himself, he would not be able to successfully break
through without spending 50 billion.
At this moment, the chief trader at Colossal Investment Bank turned his head to Paulson and said, “JW Foundation’s style has changed. They are more treacherous but also cleverer now. They must have changed their commander.”
Paulson said lightly, “Don’t underestimate these people from Somerland. They have a saying that tells u s to never underestimate people because they might have special hidden talents.
“Continue.”
Patting his most trusted chief trader, Paulson looked down at the ringing mobile phone and said, “I’ll go take care o f something. Feel free to contact me if anything comes up.”
After speaking, he grabbed his cell phone
and went out.
The breakthrough of the support point symbolized the staged failure of Morgan Investment Bank’s resistance.
Although Morgan Investment Bank had al lot of money and was still struggling, everyone could see that it was only a matter of time before Morgan Investment Bank completely lost its position under the attack from both sides.
The headquarters of Morgan Investment Bank
“Sir, JW Foundation and the mysterious funds that we don’t know the source of have begun to short with large amounts of money. After our support point fell, the market confidence was completely lost. As of now, our book loss is 140 billion or so.”
The head of the trading team said to Ford as he sweated profusely.
Ford nodded expressionlessly and said, “I see,”
The person in charge did not dare to say more. He did not know if he should have continued standing there or if he should have left.
At this time, Ford answered a call.
When the call was connected, he did not
speak. Instead, he kept listening to the
person on the other end of the phone.
After a long time, Ford said to the phone, ”
Okay, I got it.”
After hanging up the phone, Ford had a relieved expression on his face. He said to the person in charge, “Stop buying large sums. It doesn’t matter as long as the investment bank’s stock price doesn’t drop to 15 US Dollars.”
Under the look of disbelief from the
person in charge, Ford left without
looking back after saying that.
In a way, this matter had nothing to do with him anymore as it had risen to another higher level.
At this time, Bella, who was taking a nap, was woken up by Paulson.
“Miss Bella, Sir has called me. He hopes this matter will be over with now,” Paulson said.
Bella, who was about to get angry, heard
the word ‘Sir’ and immediately stopped
insisting. She asked, “What about my
Gyrfalcon?”
Judging from her attitude, it seemed that i
f she did not get the Gyrfalcon, she would
not give up even if ‘Sir’ came forward.
Paulson smiled bitterly. “Morgan
Financial Group has contacted Sir and
they said that the Gyrfalcon will be
delivered to you this afternoon.”
Bella laughed and said, “Alright, stop all
this then.”
Paulson said with an embarrassed
expression, “There is one more thing….”
“Uncle Paulson, just spit everything out at
once,” Bella frowned and said in
dissatisfaction.
“Sir said that since this matter has escalated to this point, a lot of people are unhappy. Since all of this was brought about by your own willfulness, he asks that you solve it and hopes that you can talk to Jasper and ask him to stop snipping Morgan.”
Life at the Top Chapter 1980
Bella frowned at Paulson’s request.
“Why me? I’m not familiar with that Somerland businessman,” Bella said reluctantly.
Paulson said mildly, “Miss Bella, you know, most people don’t know what Sir is thinking. I think perhaps Sir wants you to solve these little troubles that you caused.
“If necessary, I have previously contacted that Somerland businessman a few times s o I can give you some advice.”
Bella sat on the chair with her legs crossed. She raised a bottle of champagne and filled half of the glass. After she took a sip, she said casually, “Let’s hear it.”
Paulson recalled everything about Jasper i
n his memory and said, “In reality, Jasper is a person who is difficult to be summarized with one sentence or one word. From my decades of experience and countless interactions with people, I think Jasper is a very complicated and contradictory person.
“One will often feel that he is a very polite person, and it feels that he won’t be angry even if you do something impolite or rude to him. Instead, he would use a very gentle attitude to have the most intolerable bully feel ashamed of their impoliteness and rudeness.
“I know that Somerland has a term called ” modest gentleman’, and I like to think that it’s the best term to describe Jasper.
“However, once a person starts to take action, such as making a certain business decision or investment decision, he will instantly become extremely strict, like a sharpened knife. He will be cold shining light in all directions such that anyone who touches him without asking will get cut.
“Miss Bella, if I remember it correctly, you are the youngest international chess player with a master rank, right?”
Bella, who was listening to Paulson
eagerly, was stunned for a moment when
he asked her this question. Then, she
nodded and said, “I am.” Paulson smiled slightly and said, “I feel that Jasper is like a very strategic chess master. Every time he moves a piece, he can only see the strategy he made to deal with the current situation on the surface. I f you watch him from the side, you will feel that he thinks at least 2 moves ahead of f the opponent, but if you sit opposite him and become his opponent, you will feel the pressure that he had blocked at least 3 of your moves.”
“How interesting,” Bella said with renewed interest.
“I’m not finished yet.”
Paulson smiled bitterly, “Although there are not many people like this, I have seen a few, but the most terrifying thing about Jasper is that when this chess game is over and when we go to review the game, we will find that every move he makes has already taken into account at least the next 4 moves he and his opponent will make.
“Every time he thinks about a problem, he
seems to consider the worst and the best outcome, as well as the moderate outcome. Plus, he will also consider the most likely and the least probable
outcome. After he takes these into account, he will then make the choice that is best for him.
“I can only use one word to describe
someone like him.” Paulson was interrupted by Bella, who
replied, “Terrifying.”
Paulson nodded with a smile and said, “In fact, I have instructed the investment bank’s senior think tank team to collect a lot of information about him to make a professional analysis.
“In the end, we got the opinion that this person seems to have multiple personalities and he will show completely different temperaments in different scenarios. The most unimaginable thing i s that he seems to be able to control all his personalities perfectly and uniformly.
“You must know that in a country with a completely different political system and ideology from ours, it is inconceivable that a businessman could develop to such a level.”
Bella’s eyes became brighter as she listened. She raised her head and drank
the champagne in her glass and said, “Let
me handle this.”
Jasper was in a good mood when he
received a video call request from Paulson.
Morgan’s stock price had been
plummeting. Especially just now, Morgan
seemed to have given up their resistance,
which made his road to harvest
completely stress-free.
He thought that Paulson wanted to
celebrate with him.
However, when Paulson told him that
someone else wanted to see him, Jasper
raised an eyebrow.
“Mr. Paulson, when did you start pimping?”
Upon hearing Jasper’s words, Paulson was
stunned for a moment.
Even if he was from the United States he
knew all about the Somerland culture, he
would never understand what was the
meaning of the word pimping if he did not
have more than ten years of experience living in Somerland.
“I mean, why are you still acting as a
middleman? Does someone from Morgan
want to see me?”
Paulson suddenly realized what Jasper meant and he said, “If it’s what I think you mean, then I am indeed pimping, but i t is not someone from Morgan. Instead, it’s the representative of Colossal’s largest shareholder.”
Jasper was amused because of what
Paulson said about pimping, but his smile
gradually faded after hearing the second
half of the sentence.
“Okay, I’ll meet them, but I don’t have
much time.”
Paulson smiled bitterly. “She’s coming soon.”
The two communicated in English so
Jasper could tell the gender of the person
from Paulson’s words. Jasper keenly
grasped this point.
A woman?
Soon, Paulson moved away from the camera. After that, a tall and slender woman sat in front of the screen.
As Jasper observed this woman with a freckled face, he figured she was not good -looking, but she was definitely not ugly. The most important thing was Jasper’s first reaction when he saw the tall and impressive woman. The image of a cheetah appeared in his head when he saw the woman; both in terms of appearance and temperament, she gave him the impression of a powerful wildcat.
“Hello, Jasper Laine from Somerland, let me introduce myself first. I’m from the United States and I’m Jewish. My full name is Bella… Rothschild, you can call m e Bella.”
A Rothschild!
This surname was not unfamiliar to
anyone who had read modern business books.
Not to mention that Jasper was half a
bookworm in his last life.
This family really did exist in reality.
Although their status was not as exaggerated as the rumors claimed, and they could not control the global economy, it was undeniable that this family was truly a huge family that could influence the economic operation of an entire country.
A family that could not be avoided in the entire modern economic history of the West.
A family that brought Jewish shrewdness. and business talent to the extreme.
The Rothschilds!