Extraordinary Genius
Chapter 1147 – One man’s meat is another man’s poison
Feng Yu called Fu Rongqi to apologize for the delay.
But Fu Rongqi advised Feng Yu to take note of those investment institutes, especially those who like to invest in internet companies.
Feng Yu remembered many financial institutes and bankers were involved in creating the internet bubble after hanging up.
For example, JPMorgan Chase, Citibank, and several banks are the ones behind the Enron scandal. Of course, the banks involved were punished with heft fines ranging from 500 million to 2 billion USD.
But compared to the banks’ profits, the fines are nothing. For example, these banks are the issuing banks for eBay, and they also bought some of them.
When eBay share prices shot up, the banks dumped their shares, and the returns were several folds. These banks did not only handle one internet company. They handled a few hundred internet companies.
Feng Yu immediately told Ralph to look into this.
Very soon, Ralph told Feng Yu that one of the minor shareholders is a relative of a Citibank top executive. During this period, they have been in close contact with each other.
That top executive had flown from New York to Seattle to meet that shareholder.
After Feng Yu knows about this shareholder, he told Ralph to stop the investigation and fix a meeting with them. Feng Yu told them to bring the person behind them along or not get a single share from this direct funding.
Ralph passed Feng Yu’s message to those minor shareholders. Those shareholders deny at first, but when Ralph mentioned that shareholder and Citibank’s top executive’s relationship, they admitted they were promised by some bankers a sum of money to help them acquire Amazon shares.
These shareholders had only received some shares and salaries in Amazon. They were tempted by the offer from those bankers.
Ralph told the shareholders that Feng Yu wants to meet those bankers. Although Amazon is a shareholding, Feng Yu is the main shareholder and has the controlling stake! He can easily kick those minor shareholders out of Amazon.
Whoever tries to do such things again in the future, Feng Yu will not let them off!
Those minor shareholders had only wanted to make some money but did not want to sell their shares. They immediately apologized and promised to inform the bankers behind them.
Anyway, these shareholders will get commissions if those banks manage to acquire Amazon shares even without through them.
……
Feng Yu looked at the four middle-aged men in suits sitting in front of him. They are all well dressed, but the expression on their faces made Feng Yu feel like punching them.
Citibank, JPMorgan, American Express, and Wells Fargo are the four financial institutions behind those minor shareholders. They are also the top ten banks in the US during this period and claim to own over a trillion assets.
This shows the fines imposed on these banks for involving in the Enron scandal are nothing to them.
Someone said that the US economy is controlled by these banks. Although this claim is exaggerated, these banks do have an influence over the US economy.
Feng Yu sat in his chair, enjoying his tea with a smile, and did not say a word. The representative from Citibank finally cannot stand the silence and said.
“Mr. Feng, I know what we did is abrupt, but we do have an interest in investing in Amazon. We will not interfere with the company’s operations and can assist the company if it need help. We had contacted Mr. Bezos before, but he rejected our offer. That’s why we had to use this method.”
The rest of the banks’ representatives agreed.
Feng Yu knew what is going on. These banks can see Amazon’s online transactions.
From the transactions, the banks know the potential earning power of Amazon. They know Amazon’s transactions and profits had been increasing in the past few months.
Amazon will not be inferior to eBay in the future, and might even be better than eBay because Amazon’s major shareholder is Feng Yu.
Other companies had to raise funds for their development, but Feng Yu does not need Amazon to do that. He can afford the investments, and the reason Amazon is not listed is that Feng Yu believes Amazon will bring in high returns in the future.
These banks can tell the expected earning of Amazon and want to invest in it. However, Amazon does not need their investments.
Finally, the banks got an opportunity when Feng Yu agreed to direct funding. They immediately contact the minor shareholders of Amazon to acquire Amazon’s shares through them.
The bankers knew Amazon will eventually be listed. They will see Amazon’s performance at that time to decide if they will sell their shares or hold on to it for the dividends.
“I understand what you all are talking about. You all want to invest in Amazon but have no way to do so, right? What do you all think if I use such underhand methods to invest in your banks?”
Feng Yu has never wanted to sell these shares openly. Even if he has to sell these shares to the public, he will also not sell to these banks. He is sure these banks will find ways to force Amazon to be listed early if they own Amazon’s shares.
Getting listed will guarantee these banks’ profits. These greedy bankers will not care if the company will suffer any losses. After this company closes down, there will be other companies for them to invest in.
These banks will know the companies’ performances through their transactions. They can even find out which company is fabricating their accounts if they want to find out.
If not, how can these banks survive so many financial crises and grow their assets?
“Mr. Feng, there are many benefits to cooperate with us. You should know how powerful we are, and we, Citibank, can also give you a Director position as an exchange.”
Feng Yu took a glance at Citibank’s representative. Are you an idiot? I don’t even want to manage my own companies, and you are asking me to be a Director at Citibank?
This offer might be very attractive to others, including Warren Buffet, but not to Feng Yu. One man’s meat is another man’s poison!
Translator’s notes:
JPMorgan Chase
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JPMorgan_Chase
Wells Fargo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wells_Fargo
American Express
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Express