Legends always come to an end, and that's how the world goes, nothing lasts forever, just as Bear Stearns never imagined that he would be reduced to this.

Founded in 1923 and headquartered in New York City, Bear Stearns is the fifth-largest investment bank on Wall Street in the United States, one of the world's top 500 companies, and a leading global financial services company with approximately 14,500 employees worldwide. The 85-year-old Bear Stearns has survived the Great Depression and many economic ups and downs in the 30s of the 20th century in the United States, but this time it will be acquired.

However, it is still early, Bear Stearns will not be acquired until next year, and now Lin Fan needs to have a good talk with Xie Ai, who just flew from New York to San Francisco yesterday, and this meeting will determine Lin Fan's actions in the next few months.

"Xiao Xie, hard work. ”

Xie Ai didn't have much pride, and after taking a sip of coffee, he couldn't help but say, "Mr. Lin, I'm not tired, anyway, you have already grasped everything, I'm just in charge of the specific operation." Xie Ai couldn't help but think of what Lin Fan said to himself before he left for the United States, taking 200 million US dollars to short Bear Stearns.

At that time, Xie Ai's heart was broken, Bear Stearns? This is a company with a market value of more than 60 billion dollars, go short him? An economic monster, a behemoth, isn't this a joke?

But Xie Ai still remembers the depth and profundity in Lin Fan's eyes at that time, "Short Bear Stearns, the short price is seventy dollars per share." Lin Fan must be crazy, Xie Ai thought of it, he came to the United States with deep suspicions, Lin Fan is his employer, he can't oppose the employer's choice, he only has the right to suggest.

But for the first person who values himself so much, Xie Ai decided to help his employer a little, after all, Lin Fan handed over all the operation rights to himself, so Xie Ai took the lead in shorting the price to $120 with 200 million US dollars, you must know that the peak price of Bear Stearns is 159 US dollars, and the current stock price is hovering around 130 US dollars, and these giant companies, without major changes, will not have too many price fluctuations at all.

Xie Ai bought it at 129 per share, but a week later Xie Ai got 1.8 billion US dollars, and Xie Ai was stunned at that moment. He made a phone call to Lin Fan that night, and then stayed awake all night, but Lin Fan still calmly told him to continue shorting. But in order to be safe, and in order not to attract the attention of the stock market crash and financial institutions, Xie Ai took out 300 million US dollars except for the first time, and the remaining two times were 300 million US dollars, and the price of each short sale was about 10 yuan.

Now that he has $13 billion in money, and he can get one percent of the money this time, it can be said that his dream of becoming a billionaire has been realized.

Lin Fan couldn't help but smile when he looked at Xie Ai's expression, "Are you saying that I didn't give you a chance to play?"

"Maybe it's hypocrisy, I do things according to Mr. Lin's instructions, everything goes well, but I want to play my ability, I dare to guarantee that if I rely on my own ability, I will never earn so much money. ”

"This is the way it is in this era, as long as you have vision, as long as you have insight, you can easily succeed. Lin Fan looked confident, "This time, I will arrange for you to preside over a company and become a CEO, and you will have the opportunity to show yourself." ”

Xie Ai's face was very precious, "I know that the commission this time is enough for me to have no worries about food and clothing in my life, as long as Mr. Lin tells me, I can do anything." ”

"Don't worry, it won't be difficult for you, what is the situation at Bear Stearns now?"

"Now that Bear Stearns' stock price has stabilized at $70 per share, I don't dare to continue to operate, and that's why I went to Mr. Lin. ”

Lin Fan nodded, indicating that he understood, the reason why he asked Xie Ai to short Bear Stearns was because he knew that Bear Stearns would fall sharply, and the financial report of Bear Stearns in his previous life showed that Bear Stearns lost 43 billion market value in the three months from May to August 2007, and now Lin Fan has taken more than 10 billion US dollars, which is not bad.

And Lin Fan didn't dare to make another move, in his previous life, he remembered that Bear Stearns' stock price should be lower than 70 per share, but Lin Fan couldn't remember how much, Lin Fan felt that it was necessary to stop, and if he fell into it, he would trap himself.

There are high benefits in shorting, and naturally there are high risks. Short selling is similar to trading on credit, for example, the current stock price is $10 per share, and you think the stock will fall to $8 per share, and you don't hold A shares, then you can borrow a certain amount of A shares from the person who holds A shares, and sign an agreement to return these borrowed shares to the original holder within a certain period of time.

Suppose you borrow 100 shares of A stock and sell it at a price of 10 yuan to get 1,000 yuan in cash, if the stock really falls to 8 yuan within the specified time, you buy 100 shares of A stock at 8 yuan, spend 800 yuan, and return the 100 shares to the original holder, the number of shares of the original holder remains unchanged, and you earn 200 yuan in cash.

However, if the stock rises to $12, you have to buy 100 shares of A stock at $12 per share, spend $1,200, and return the 100 shares to the original holder, the number of shares of the original holder changes, and you lose $200 in cash.

Since he is no longer sure, but Lin Fan does not want to make more money in Bear Stearns, otherwise he will be noticed by the stock market, this subprime mortgage crisis is not only the end of Bear Stearns, Lin Fan can make money on other companies, this credit crisis is a great opportunity for Lin Fan.

"Bear Stearns we can give up and wait until March next year for us to do it. Naturally, Lin Fan plans to wait until next year, when the stock price of the fifth-largest investment bank on Wall Street will fall to two yuan per share, and it will eventually be acquired by JPMorgan Chase for $236 million.

Xie Ai didn't understand Lin Fan's plan, but he also knew that it was not wise to continue to short Bear Stearns, "Then what should I do next, do I return to China now?" Xie Ai was actually full of excitement when he asked this sentence, he hoped that Lin Fan could bring him new stimulation and bite off a large piece of meat from these behemoths, which made him full of interest as a top trader.

Lin Fan didn't disappoint him, and gently spit out a name: "Merrill Lynch Securities." ”

Merrill Lynch has assets of more than 100 billion yuan, far larger than Bear Stearns, one of the world's largest financial management consulting firms, with more than 700 offices and 17,000 financial advisors around the world, employing more than 60,000 people, and managing $1.7 trillion in client assets.

But Lin Fan's gaze was no different from that day, okay, Xie Ai chose to agree again.