Henry Paulson's words were like a bomb that stunned everyone in the conference room! Could it be that his boss was just trying to pass the buck and run away?

Now, the funds that Goldman Sachs Group has invested in the Internet industry have been locked up for more than 4 billion US dollars, and the initiator of all this is Henry Paulson!

But now this old fox has resigned and fled. Although he said that he would resign after this matter was resolved, we are all smart people. How could we not know the trick? The stocks of companies related to the Internet industry have fallen so badly. It is probably difficult to turn losses into profits! ...

"The dedication that Mr. President has made to Goldman Sachs over the years is obvious to all. Without his strong support, Goldman Sachs would not have been successfully listed."

"Although this investment in the Internet industry failed, who could have predicted such a thing? As far as I know, even Tiger Fund and Quantum Fund did not withdraw in time, and a large amount of funds were trapped in the Internet industry..."

Seeing Vice President Mato Walls take the initiative to speak, other people in the meeting room nodded thoughtfully.

Before this, Henry Paulson's leadership ability and achievements were indeed quite good. It would be too inhumane to wipe out all his contributions just because of this investment failure.

Henry Paulson, who was sitting at the top, looked at Matto Walls with a complicated expression. He had never expected that at this moment, the person he regarded as a competitor and a "potential threat" would actually stand up and support him. The world is really unpredictable! ...

Afterwards, Henry Paulson remained rational and issued instructions to his subordinates to sell off and clear out the remaining shares of the Internet company as soon as possible, and not to hesitate even if the losses were greater.

After the meeting, Mato Walls returned to his office in a good mood, while his assistant was confused.

"Boss, didn't you always think that Mr. Paulson was your competitor and obstacle? Why did you take the initiative to speak up for him this time?"

Leaning back in a soft and comfortable chair, Matto Walls said with some pride, "The current situation is significantly different from the past. If we agree to Henry Paulson's resignation proposal now, do you think he will still go all out to deal with this mess?"

"Let him deal with these bad things and leave, and I will take over the severely damaged Goldman Sachs Group and lead it to glory again. That is the 'script' I want!"

After hearing what Matto Walls said, the subordinate suddenly realized that his boss felt that the current Goldman Sachs Group was too hot to handle and he didn't want to take the blame! It would be much easier to stabilize President Henry Paulson first and let him deal with those messes before taking over than for him to take over now.

…

As the crisis in the Internet industry continued to ferment, it soon spread to Asia.

The first company to bear the brunt of the impact was NetEase, which had just completed its IPO on NASDAQ in early February this year. At the beginning of its IPO, NetEase's stock price was rising steadily, and its market value once reached an astonishing valuation of 500 million US dollars! The top management of NetEase was also very encouraged by the good news. Ding Lei, the general manager of the company, was also very generous and said that he would hold a celebration banquet in the evening, and then increase the salary next month. This move also made all the employees of the company very happy.

…

But not long after this beautiful day, such "terrifying bad news" came, which completely stunned all of them! However, as shareholders of a company that had been listed for less than a year, they could not only not sell their shares, but also had no other way to deal with such a bad situation. Every day when they woke up, their company's stock price plummeted/plummeted, and the market value dropped by a lot. This was really too torturous!

…

After suffering for nearly a month, Ding Lei, who saw no hope, looked haggard and ordered his subordinates to hold an internal high-level meeting, hoping that these subordinates who had shared the joys and sorrows with him could come up with useful ideas to help them overcome the current difficulties.

After understanding the purpose of this meeting, the subordinates who attended the meeting fell silent. Normally, there would be no problem for them to follow the instructions of their superiors. But now the company's situation is so bad, how dare they easily speak up and make suggestions?

If they succeeded, it would be fine, but if they failed, wouldn't they be asking for trouble? Being reprimanded by their superiors would be the least of their worries.

After a long while, no one in the meeting room took the initiative to speak. Just when Ding Lei was about to give up, the manager sitting next to him tentatively suggested, "Boss Ding, our NetEase company has suffered a lot from this Internet crisis. Comet Capital, as a major shareholder, has been hit the hardest."

"...Perhaps we can contact Comet Capital. As long as Mr. Zhang agrees to help, we should have no problem getting through this crisis."

Seeing someone take the lead, others began to tentatively express their own opinions. "Yes, the stock prices of Cisco, Yahoo, Microsoft and other companies have fallen more sharply than ours. They have no way to cope with it. It is definitely unrealistic to expect us to overcome the difficulties on our own."

…

"...Based on the current situation, the crisis for Internet technology companies has already arrived. If we want to survive this crisis safely, should we seek help from Comet Capital in Korea?"

"If we can get help from Comet Capital, we will put the more expensive projects on hold and cut back on expenses. We should be able to survive this 'industry winter'..."

…

Seeing that someone took the initiative to propose to seek help from Comet Capital, which coincided with the proposal that Lei Jun had made to him privately before, Ding Lei, who had been numb, showed some hesitation in his eyes.

He still remembers how high-spirited he was when he submitted his application to Comet Capital for listing in the United States, and how he made bold statements. Now the situation is so bad that he doesn't know how to explain it to Comet Capital. Could it be that he didn't expect such a serious industry crisis to break out when he went public? This reason is untenable! But he knows it very well in his heart. He can avoid this hurdle for a while, but he can't avoid it forever. He will have to face it sooner or later. He also wanted to ask Lei Jun, Qiu Bojun and Ma Huazhuo for help before, but when he contacted them, he didn't have the courage to say it when the words came to his lips.

After all, he had known those people for many years, but they didn't have much to do with each other. If he asked rashly, it was still unclear whether they were willing to help. He would definitely not be able to stand up straight when he saw these friends in the future!

…

"Manager Shen is right. This is the only way we can do it now. Otherwise, based on the company's current financial situation, we can only hold on for a few more months at most. The previous listing and financing plan now seems to have completely failed..." The speaker was the director in charge of the company's finances.

Her words also sounded a wake-up call for everyone. Wasn't it because the company's profits were far below expectations? Even after developing software such as search engines that could carry advertising plug-ins, the revenue did not increase much. It was just a drop in the bucket.

Hearing the discussions of his subordinates, Ding Lei, who was unwilling to sit and wait for death, finally made up his mind and planned to bite the bullet and go to Comet Capital for help. As for how the other party would reprimand and punish him as the head of the company, he would accept it! These subordinates have been with him for so long and have paid so much. If the company goes bankrupt, all their efforts for several years will go to waste, and the promise of a good life for them will be completely shattered. He, Ding, can't do such a thing.

…

Apart from NetEase, the worst sufferer was Li Yanhong, who just returned to China in early January this year and used all his family assets to establish Qiandu Company! He never expected that such an accident would happen despite his detailed investigation and planning. This dealt a heavy blow to the ambitious Li Yanhong and made him depressed for a long time.

Penguin and Kingsoft, which were preparing for IPO, urgently stopped their IPO plans after hearing the news. Now that so many Internet companies in the United States have collapsed, why would they join in the fun?

Especially for Penguin, since its own chain of Internet cafes and computer games were linked, the company's turnover has continued to improve. Even if the market value of Internet companies around the world plummeted, the impact on them is undoubtedly minimal.

As for Kingsoft Software, its main business scope is still in Longguo and neighboring countries, and the funds in the company's account are quite considerable. In addition, the other software bundled with the free antivirus software also brought them considerable profits.

Although many netizens complained that Kingsoft's approach was a bit rogue, their high-performance antivirus software is really free! And the performance of other paid software is also really good.

…

Of course, Lei Jun and others also expressed deep regret for the miserable experiences of Ding Lei and NetEase, who had explored the way for them. After all, the sudden collapse of the Internet industry was beyond their expectations, and the timing was quite coincidental. They were slow in preparing for the listing, which is why they luckily missed the possibility of stepping on the thunder.

Of course, as good friends who have known each other for many years, they did not forget to care about each other, and even said that if they needed help, they could just ask.

It's just that Ding Lei, this stubborn guy, didn't mention that he needed help in front of his friends, so they didn't know how to help this old friend for a moment.

In the end, Lei Jun called Ding Lei privately and told him that if he encountered a difficult problem and couldn't talk to his old friends, he could seek help from Comet Capital and its big boss Zhang Junfeng. The other party had also said before that as long as NetEase asked, they would definitely lend a hand.

However, Ding Lei obviously didn't listen to him at that time. He just thanked him for his kindness and didn't hear any movement afterwards. This made Lei Jun a little regretful, but he could do nothing about it. After all, it was someone else's own choice, and he couldn't say much even if he was a friend.

…

As for Ma Yun’s team at Alibaba in Lin’an City, they were also quite helpless.

Their previous development model was mostly based on Amazon in the United States. Now Amazon, as a model, has not been able to withstand the fierce Internet crisis and suffered heavy losses. They have also lost their motivation and direction for a while and don’t know how to face such an industry environment?

Fortunately, their Alibaba company not only did not go public, but also adjusted the company's development direction last year, abandoning Amazon's previous logistics and warehousing strategy and instead cooperating with a number of shopping malls and large supermarkets, saving a lot of capital expenditure, so the funds in the account are still sufficient.

——————Dividing line——————

In the president's office of Korea Yuetian Group.

Xing Gehao looked at his trusted subordinate who had been beaten up with a gloomy face, and only then did he calm down a lot.

"If you hadn't instigated me, how could I have used so much of the group's funds to buy Daum's shares?! Now Daum's share price has plummeted. If you can't think of a solution, then you'd better do it..."

Before Xing Gehao could finish his words, his trusted subordinate who had helped him with the plan knelt down and said with a wronged look on his face, "President, no one expected this Internet crisis! Internet technology companies in Europe and the United States have suffered heavy losses..."

Hearing his subordinate still defending himself, Xingehao's face darkened. He knew that what the other party said was right, but so what? Just a few words would make him accept the cruel reality of losing hundreds of millions of dollars? This is absolutely impossible. Someone must take responsibility for this matter!

There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!

"You still dare to quibble? Take him away and teach him a lesson..."

"Wait! This won't solve the problem...", the person who suddenly interrupted was Shin Dong-byeong who had just returned from America. However, he had already lost his ability to move and could only move in a wheelchair.

"I think the situation of Daum has a lot to do with Comet Capital, which promoted the second round of financing. Zhang Junfeng must have received some information in advance, so he transferred so many company shares near the end of last year. It must have been premeditated!"

Listening to his second son Xin Dongbing's words, Xin Gehao looked at him with a complicated expression, and then said, "Such a reason is too far-fetched. It has been several months since the financing. How can it be so easy to use this to shift the responsibility to Comet Capital?!"

"…But the companies that have suffered setbacks due to Daum at least have a target to vent their anger on. Even if our Yuetian Group doesn't do anything, other institutions that have lost money on investments will not give up. If they can unite, they may be able to create some big trouble for Comet Capital!"

Xin Dongbing smiled grimly and said, "Don't you want to take back those subsidiaries that were taken away by Comet Capital? If Comet Capital doesn't have any troubles, I'm afraid there will be no chance in this life..."

Although he was rescued in time in America, he was left with half-body paralysis. What annoyed Shin Dong-bing the most was that he had never been able to find out who was behind the incident.

He only knew that an anonymous person had placed a high reward on the dark web in the United States for his life, but he never found any clues about the other party's identity.

After he calmed down and thought about it again and again, he still locked the culprit on Zhang Junfeng. After all, in the period before the incident, only Zhang Junfeng had a huge conflict with him, and the other party also had the ability to issue a high reward.

Therefore, after returning to China, he wanted to use the power of Yuetian Group to cause trouble for Zhang Junfeng and vent his hatred. But he never expected that such a big thing would happen to him in America, and his biological father would not say anything.

He actually found the boss Xin Dongzhu to take over behind his back, which hit him hard and also angered Xin Gehao and Xin Dongzhu. He also swore silently in his heart that he would make these people pay the price if he had the chance! Now is undoubtedly a great opportunity to create some trouble for Comet Capital and let the old man Xin Gehao go against the other party. It would be best if they could both lose. I am afraid that he will wake up laughing in his dreams in the middle of the night!

…

Hearing what Xin Dongbing said, Xin Gehao, who was originally a little disdainful, was slightly moved. After all, the reason why they took the initiative to give up the management rights of those companies was, on the one hand, they were in the wrong, and on the other hand, they were afraid of the strength of Comet Capital.

After all, at that time, their Yuetian Group had just emerged from the quagmire of the financial crisis and had no spare energy to fight the other side.

But now the situation has changed significantly. The financial situation of their Yuetian Group has improved significantly, and there are many institutions that have the same experience as them. If these institutions can be organized, even if this hateful Comet Capital is not severely damaged, it will be enough to make them suffer!

"... In that case, let's do as you say!" Xingehao thought for a while and finally decided to follow his second son's suggestion. After all, it was definitely good news for them to have the opportunity to cheat Comet Capital and get back the lost subsidiary.

As for the loss from investing in Daum, it has become a foregone conclusion and it is unlikely to recover the investment in a short time.

Fortunately, there are many people who have suffered greater losses than them. For example, the ones who invested the most in financing were several securities companies in Japan and investment companies controlled by the Shigemitsu family. The number of shares in Daum held by their Yuetian Group is only about 1/2 of that of the other party.

Even if they are unlucky, the guys in Japan will suffer greater losses, and the losses of their Yuetian Group are still within an tolerable range!

…

With Yuetian Group fanning the flames behind the scenes, many domestic media began to follow suit, and the content of their reports also extended from the crisis of Daum and the global Internet industry to the exploration of the causes of the crisis.

There were even small media companies that had benefited from the Yuetian Group and pointed the finger directly at Comet Capital, which was driving Daum's new round of financing, in their reports, causing considerable public opinion and criticism in Korea.

Seeing that someone was going to make a fuss about Daum, and even used Comet Capital as the target, those Japanese investment institutions and some domestic companies were also eager to try. Although the reason was a little far-fetched, it didn't stop them from finding a culprit to take the blame! If everything went well, maybe they could make Comet Capital bleed a little and make up for the losses of these companies! ...

However, Comet Capital did not sit idly by in the face of such "moral kidnapping" and forced blame-shifting, but showed its usual strength.

In particular, after Zhang Junfeng got the news, he quickly called his company's legal team to consult Wu Mingxi on the key parts of this smear campaign. After confirming that there was nothing wrong with their previous practices, Zhang Junfeng also made a prompt decision and asked Wu Mingxi to be the representative of Comet Capital to explain their position at the press conference the next day.

When the news was announced, many people were curious about what Comet Capital would say. Although everyone knew that the reason why Daum's stock price crashed was completely affected by the market in the United States, although Daum's upward trend had slowed down, it was still okay overall.

However, investors who have suffered losses will still subconsciously implicate others. For example, Daum was restructured and launched a new round of financing by Comet Capital! …

At the press conference the next day, Zhang Junfeng, Wu Mingxi and other senior executives of Comet Capital attended the press conference. After Wu Mingxi finished clarifying the matter, he also expressed their dissatisfaction with the rumors and slanders spread by certain media, and said that they would take legal measures to protect the reputation of Comet Capital.

However, many media reporters present did not seem to buy it and continued to question Zhang Junfeng and others. A reporter from one radio station even boldly asked them why Comet Capital reduced its shareholding ratio a few months ago. After all, they were very optimistic about Daum before. Is there any "special" reason?

Hearing their colleagues say this, several other reporters boldly followed up with further questions, as if they were determined to dig out the truth thoroughly before they would give up.

Zhang Junfeng looked meaningfully at the reporters who were making trouble, then took the initiative to turn on the microphone and express his own opinions.

"We are Comet Capital, an investment company that mainly explores potential and currently undervalued companies. Daum was in that situation at the time. The reason why we supported financing later was that we hoped to cultivate top Internet technology companies in Asia that are comparable to those in Europe and the United States. We also hope to get more investment institutions involved and share the dividends brought by Daum!"

"However, we did not expect that after the financing was completed, the upward trend that had continued for more than two months would come to an abrupt end due to the collapse of the Nasdaq index. We are deeply regretful about this. Of course, Comet Capital is still optimistic about the future of Daum, and will formulate a plan to gradually repurchase Daum's shares in the future..."

…

Zhang Junfeng's speech not only completely cleared up the previous criticisms, but the subsequent plan to repurchase Daum's shares completely blocked the doubts of those dissenting investors and investment institutions. (End of this chapter)