"Mr. Tian Guodong, please go this way."

Los Angeles, the city of angels in the United States, is home to the headquarters of East West Bank.

Tian Guodong has been to the United States many times in the past, but this is the first time that he has been able to observe the core business area of an American bank so closely.

The design of the American bank emphasizes a sense of heaviness, and in the architectural form and decoration style, it gives people a restrained and deep feeling. This alone made Tian Guodong aware of the difference in concepts between the two sides. At this time, the style of banks in China is still practical, and they don't care too much about the creation of brand and reputation, and of course they don't care about the mood of customers when they handle business.

Founded in Los Angeles in 1973 with the aim of helping and serving the Chinese American community and new immigrants, East West Bank is the nation's first federally registered savings and loan bank.

Over the past 20 years, the bank, which was originally a mutual aid institution, has become a financial giant with assets of tens of billions of dollars.

Especially since Yu Qiong joined the 100 Club, Zhou Shuo has put a large amount of investment and wealth management business mastered by Pang Zhou in East West Bank.

This is not only because of East West Bank's Chinese community background, but also because of the face of the Committee of 100. As long as there is not too much of a problem, the 100-member association is still very willing to support each other. Wang Jianming, the current president of East West Bank, is a member, and will even become the president of the 100 Association in the future.

In the past three years, Zhou Shuo's billions and billions of dollars in cash have been flowing through East West Bank. Wang Jianming watched with his own eyes how the hundreds of millions of dollars in the creek turned into a rushing river step by step.

It also relies on this increasingly large cash flow. East West Bank has also achieved far more than its predecessors.

In order to better serve East West Bank's important customers, there is even a dedicated team to handle customers in China. Tian Guodong is the manager of the foreign exchange department of the Bank of China. But it was the first time I saw a Bank of America entertain him in Chinese.

"Mr. Zhou Shuo is in the conference room in front, which is a place I can't enter. That's all I have to do to get you here. ”

The reception staff pointed to a closed heavy wooden door in front of Tian Guodong, glanced ahead with a rather eager gaze, and said respectfully.

"I don't need to send it, I'll just go over myself." Tian Guodong looked polite, thanked the Chinese who received him, took a deep breath, and walked forward with his chest held high.

"Mr. Zhou, Manager Tian Guodong of the Bank of China is here."

Behind the heavy wooden doors, this is a rather luxuriously furnished conference room. On the floor is a whole strip of dark oak flooring. In the center of the room was a long conference table. On both sides of the heavy conference table, the silent traders were seated.

And Zhou Shuo was sitting in front of the conference table at this time.

Zhou Shuo wore a simple white shirt today, the sleeves were rolled into a half-arm style by him, and two buttons were opened on the collar, which looked sunny and uninhibited.

Compared with Zhou Shuo, who is full of young vitality, Tian Guodong's every move is quite old. Even in July, he still takes care of his clothes meticulously. The Bank of China's overalls fit him like those specially tailored by top Italian tailors.

"Hello Mr. Zhou. I am Tian Guodong, the manager of the foreign exchange department of the Bank of China. ”

Tian Guodong stood in front of Zhou Shuo in a regular manner, without the slightest posture of an important department manager of the Bank of China, but a little low and a small wing.

Other departments in China may not know why Zhou Shuo is here, and what he is doing here. But Tian Guodong knew. Not only do I know, but I know it in a very specific and detailed way.

12 billion US dollars, converted into hundreds of billions of yuan. Such a huge sum of money. Even if he was replaced by the president of the Bank of China, it was enough for him to show a smile.

"Manager Tian has worked hard from afar. Please be seated. ”

Zhou Shuo shook hands with him lightly and asked, "Manager Tian came just in time." I wonder what the current opinion is in China? ”

Tian Guodong sat down under Zhou Shuo's head, and said with some hesitation: "The leaders feel that at this time, my country is not suitable for falling into the trap of neighboring countries. But this is only an official attitude, and it is not up to the public to know how private capital works. ”

"And what about my request? Foreign exchange loans, does the Bank of China agree? Zhou Shuo then asked.

Tian Guodong twisted and nodded slightly: "In principle, I agree, but we hope that Mr. Zhou will be able to accept some constraints on the amount of funds and the way the funds are used." ”

"Constraints?" Zhou Shuo is not much surprised by this, foreign exchange is now the lifeblood of China. Generally, it is Pixiu, and it is easy to put it in your pocket, but it is difficult to take it out again.

Zhou Shuo pledged a series of industries such as the entire Panhan Group, Huajing Group, BOE, and Xiucheng Commercial Bank in China, hoping to borrow at least 10 billion US dollars from the Bank of China. Whether this loan can be approved smoothly depends on the news brought by Tian Guodong.

"Mr. Zhou asked for a loan of $10 billion, which is too large and definitely not good. The head office means that with the assets of Huajing and Fanhan Optical Manufacturing, we can lend you $3 billion by ourselves. But the use of funds is under the supervision of the Bank of China, and once the investment loss exceeds $100 million, we will recover the loan......"

To be honest, Tian Guodong was a little weak when he said this, he has worked in the bank for so many years, and a high-quality customer like Fanhan Group has never heard of a situation where he is afraid to take out a loan.

Not to mention the latter one, recovering the loan after a loss of more than $100 million - this is simply insincere to the extreme. Typical want to eat fish, but don't want to get fishy.

However, Zhou Shuo doesn't have much affection for this, and being able to pluck the feathers from the iron rooster is already a very proud thing, and supervision is also a matter of course. Since the Bank of China does not want to take risks, it is better to use the funds with absolute certainty. Anyway, others still need to worry about it, and he does believe that he will never lose money.

"No problem, although 3 billion is a little less, I feel more confident with this backup." Zhou Shuo smiled and asked, "When will the 3 billion be in place?" ”

"Early this morning, that is, before 17 o'clock tomorrow in the imperial capital time." Tian Guodong looked at the table below and said cautiously.

"Hehe, then we still have some time. Manager Tian should be the person responsible for directly monitoring this money, right? In my opinion, it is better for you to go back to the jet lag first, so that you can better perform your duties. ”

Tian Guodong didn't seem to be sluggish, shook his head and said, "Mr. Zhou doesn't have to worry about me, it's common for me to stay up late in China." Stick with it a little longer, and if you wait until the night to go to bed again, you won't have to worry about jet lag. ”

"That's good, but I have a lot of things here, and I may not be able to take care of Manager Tian for the time being, please ten million Haihan."

"What Mr. Zhou said, I'm just worried that I'll cause you trouble......"

Zhou Shuo is not lying, as the date of the outbreak of the financial crisis in Thailand approaches, his work has become more and more intense. Pang Zhou is no longer in the United States, but has left for Singapore, where he will prepare for Soros's launch and then go straight to Thailand.

On the side of the United States, although time is running out, Zhou Shuo still has not stopped raising money. The $12 billion he received from repeated mortgages and the $3 billion loan from the Bank of China, which was about to arrive, made him the first to get his hands on the huge sum of $15 billion in cash. He doesn't dare to say that he is the richest man in the world now, but the world's "negative" may really be a strong competition.

However, since the debt ratio has reached 500%, it is not a matter of several times. Through a variety of financial derivatives, Zhou Shuo can still continue to raise some funds with difficulty.

As soon as he finished talking with Tian Guodong here, Tang Ya, Zhou Shuo's liaison secretary on the other side, trotted over: "Mr. Zhou, this is Oracle's offer for 15% of the shares of Smith Brothers in our hands. ”

"How much of the shares of Liuer IM that we still hold in our hands, how much is Microsoft willing to lend?"

Zhou Shuo asked casually while signing the sales contract.

"Because Microsoft continues to issue additional shares, our stake has been reduced to 30%. Microsoft, on its part, was very interested in our pledged shares in Liu'er IM, but was only willing to lend $500 million. ”

Tang Ya secretly glanced at Zhou Shuo and said angrily: "On the contrary, it was an acquisition, but Microsoft quoted a price of $2 billion." ”

"Okay, 500 million is 500 million." Zhou Shuo glanced up at her and said with a smile: "At most, wait until next year at most, and see if I take back the shares of Liu'er IM from Microsoft." ”

Six-ear IM is now a big trend, and there are many users in the United States, Europe, and even Japan and China. In the world's IM software, the market share is as high as 75%, and it is almost a monopoly. Whether it's $500 million or $2 billion, a 30% stake is a bit too underestimated. Since he didn't want to let go of Liu'er IM at all, Zhou Shuo naturally wouldn't sell the shares in his hand.

Today's Six Ears Software Company, even with Microsoft's strength, don't want to ignore it. Besides, now Microsoft is competing with Netscape, and the combat effectiveness of Netscape in this world is much stronger, which has caused a lot of trouble for Bill. Zhou Shuo is in the Six Ears Software Company, and he is still like a fish in water for the time being.

But it is conceivable that as long as Bill Gate leads Microsoft to clean up Netscape, it will definitely be the turn of Six Ears Software. In the past, he didn't see the prospect of IM software clearly, which gave Zhou Shuo the opportunity to grow. But now that the situation is becoming clearer, Microsoft's appetite is not so easy to fill. (To be continued......)