The complete outbreak of the subprime mortgage crisis was triggered by the collapse of New Century Financial Corporation, the second largest subprime mortgage company in the United States.
The complete outbreak of the financial crisis was triggered by the collapse of Lehman Brothers, one of the five largest investment banks in the United States, and the acquisition of Merrill Lynch.
After that, the trigger for the European sovereign debt crisis was Greece's debt default.
Of course, the other two have no substantial role now. What Xiao Qi can best take advantage of in a timely manner is the second financial crisis, the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the acquisition of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America.
Xiao Qi has no good opinion of all investment banks and fund companies. Even his old friend Citibank, he did it right away. He made a fortune of 1 billion US dollars in Citibank in one go without showing any mercy.
Because Xiao Qi understands that these investment banks and banks are giant crocodiles that eat people but never spit out their bones. If you talk about feelings with them, they will not talk about feelings with you. The best way to get along is to cooperate with vigilance.
But Xiao Qi doesn't dare to eat any money.
Last time Tong Wencong asked Xiao Qi if he wanted to buy Greek CDS, which is also called credit default swap insurance, but Xiao Qi flatly refused and asked Tong Wencong not to get involved.
.
When you deal with financial institutions and win against them, it is an honor. It is something that will make others feel powerful and cool. Winning money is safer and more transparent than winning in a casino.
However, using financial means to harm a country, no matter how unsatisfactory the country is, is still a very dangerous thing, not to mention that these European countries have gradually become a main body and have always advanced and retreated together.
Therefore, Xiao Qi will not be such a greedy fool, he will only make money when he should make money.
For example, Lehman Brothers, which collapsed five months later, and Merrill Lynch, which was acquired by Bank of America, also had CDS bond default swap products in several investment banks. Xiao Qi only needs to go to the financial derivatives market to buy these products.
Then once Lehman Brothers collapses and Merrill Lynch is acquired, these bond default swap products will have to be redeemed, and the more you buy, the more you will lose.
Let us give a simple example to illustrate, that is, Lehman Brothers issued 10 billion US dollars of bonds to the market, and then it found Merrill Lynch and paid a certain price. Let Merrill Lynch issue the 10 billion US dollars of bonds.
An insurance covers the risks that may exist on this $10 billion bond. The name of this insurance is credit default insurance.
For example, if Goldman Sachs purchased this insurance, if the $10 billion in bonds did not default and could not be delivered, then Goldman Sachs would need to pay premiums at certain intervals.
If Lehman Brothers collapses, these 10 billion US dollars of bonds will naturally not be delivered. At this time, Merrill Lynch will have to compensate Goldman Sachs for its losses. This compensation amount is not as simple as the small premium paid by Goldman Sachs. At least
They are all ten times or dozens of times.
Under normal circumstances, banks and investment banks such as Lehman, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, etc. all control each other's bond default swap insurance products, that is, they endorse each other, rather than relying on this to make money.
money.
So far, just on the surface, the scale of credit default swap products reported by commercial banks to the Federal Reserve has exceeded 62 trillion U.S. dollars. If you count the private ones, it is at least 100 trillion U.S. dollars. From this
It can be seen how huge this market is, and how deeply Americans are worried about financial derivatives.
Precisely because of such a large scale of credit default swap products, Americans are promoting these products to the world all the time.
For example, Mochiyev, who had just assumed the post of President of Citibank Asia Head Office, called Xiao Qi and asked him if he had any thoughts on purchasing these insurances.
Xiao Qi refused the first time, saying that he was not interested.
But Mochiyev had just taken up the post of President of the Asia Head Office and was eager to make some achievements to consolidate his position, so he kept calling Xiao Qi and emphasized the purchase of these bond default swap insurance products.
the benefits of.
"Qi Shao. We are friends, please believe me. We estimate that by the end of this year, these investment banks will definitely be in a big crisis. Although the US government will not let them collapse by then, bond defaults are certain.
Just by relying on these insurances, I can guarantee that you can get at least 5 to 10 times the return!”
Mochiev said swornly, but he didn't know that Xiao Qi was snickering in his heart.
What does it mean to give a pillow when you want to sleep?
Isn’t that what Mochiyev is?
Xiao Qi originally wanted to make a lot of money in this area, but he didn't expect that he would come to his door automatically.
Someone asked Xiao Qi to buy it, and Xiao Qi took the initiative to buy it, which has completely different meanings.
At least when it comes to covering people's eyes and ears, there is a lot of room for leisure.
So, after "considering it again and again," Xiao Qi finally agreed to try buying some bond default swap insurance products.
Of course Xiao Qi is not that stupid. He only buys Lehman Brothers' bond default swaps. This would be too magical. Coupled with Xiao Qi's achievements in oil futures, it is difficult not to make people wonder whether Xiao Qi has some kind of
some special abilities.
Therefore, among Mochiyev's recommendations, the boy chose to buy the remaining four major investment banks: Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.
Just in the first few days of April, he used his own funds in Citibank to purchase credit defaults of US$4 billion from Lehman Brothers, US$2.5 billion from Merrill Lynch, and US$1.5 billion each from Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.
For swap products, the time is almost to the end of January 2009.
For this reason, from April to January next year, Xiao Qi paid more than 160 million U.S. dollars in monthly premiums, and the total premiums exceeded 1.6 billion U.S. dollars.
However, according to the previous history of Lehman Brothers announcing that it had filed for bankruptcy protection on September 14, and Bank of America acquiring Merrill Lynch for nearly US$50 billion on September 15, Xiao Qi only invested in Lehman Brothers’ credit default swap insurance.
It can earn a conservative profit of more than 8.5 billion U.S. dollars, and Merrill Lynch has at least about 4 billion U.S. dollars.
Compared with the profits that must exceed 12 billion US dollars, the expenditure of only 1.6 billion US dollars is simply a drop in the bucket.
Although the profit was large this time, it did not exceed the bottom line of Americans.
Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and even Citibank must have earned more than Xiao Qi.
In addition, Mochiyev's diligent sales promotion is well documented, so Xiao Qi does not have to worry about the consequences. It is only possible that outsiders think Xiao Qi has a good eye, and he has once again hit the jackpot.
Compared to this deal, which would take several months to show its power, Xiao Qi has been questioned and ridiculed a lot in recent days.
The reason is very simple. Silver Lake Capital is already excited about it. It spent 2 billion US dollars to purchase 80% of Foursquare's shares from Xiao Qi, chairman of Fairy Company, at a total valuation of 2.5 billion US dollars.
Became the largest shareholder of the most popular geographical location sharing and geographical review software in North America.
Foursquare's user growth rate and valuation rate in its previous life far exceeded that of many companies. It is the same in this life. Foursquare has more than 50 million registered users and 18 million active users. From its inception to the present, Foursquare has only
After about half a year, I can’t help but say that everyone’s expectations for it are very high.
I originally thought that Xiao Qi would continue to invest and then IPO to make money, but I didn't expect that Xiao Qi would sell the golden hen before it was fully mature.
Therefore, many European and American critics who could not understand Xiao Qi immediately began to do their best to satirize and ridicule Xiao Qi on TV and in newspapers and magazines.
"Haha, the genius boy has some fantastic ideas, but his eyes can't keep up with his clever head!"
"If I were Xiao Qi, I would definitely make it worth 10 billion U.S. dollars and then slowly sell it. Perhaps the Chinese people's caution made Xiao Qi feel that it would be better to take it easy!"
"It's a pity that Xiao Qi gave up the 2 billion US dollars acquisition of Star Electronics Network Company, which may be the second Facebook, and Silver Lake Capital made a huge profit! I wonder if Xiao Qi will regret it and cry today.
Woolen cloth?"
"As far as I know, Xiao Qi was disliked by the founding team of Foursquare, so they strongly asked Xiao Qi to sell his shares. How can Chinese people understand American thinking? Xiao Qi's previous success was just a fluke! From now on
The sale of Foursquare is the beginning of Fairy Company’s decline!”
"..."
Looking at these remarks, Xiao Qi's only action was to shrug, as if they were farting.
Not to mention that they don't know what Xiao Qi is thinking, just to say that this is hated by the Foursquare founding team is to tell lies with open eyes.
After Xiao Qi received 1.82 billion US dollars excluding taxes, he directly gave a 120 million bonus to the Foursquare founding team. The least one could get about 2 million. Even Hoffman also received a big red envelope of 5 million checks. Those
No one knows how grateful I am to Xiao Qi.
Silicon Valley is a place where secrets cannot be kept.
Once others know how generous and forthright Xiao Qi is, then if Xiao Qi wants to summon them to do any business in the future, he will definitely come by calling them!
This is why Hoffman asked Xiao Qi to share bonuses and dividends with the Foursquare founding team!
I have to say that for being able to come up with such a clever trick, Hoffman is indeed the cunning king of connections in Silicon Valley!