Wednesday, July 2, 1997.
Chen Yangzhe was signing documents in the office when suddenly the office door was pushed open forcefully.
The three brothers, Chen Yongji, Chen Dongji, and Chen Huaying, appeared at the door panting.
"What's going on? They're all frizzy, what do they look like?"
"Dad, something big happened"
Chen Yongji didn't care. explained above and turned on the TV directly.
A financial news was being broadcast on the TV screen, and the picture showed the Thai Stock Exchange in chaos.
"The Thai Baht has collapsed"
Chen Yangzhe's face was also pale at the moment. After experiencing "Black Monday" and "Japanese Economic Bubble", another financial tsunami is about to hit. And this time it will no longer be just a wave like before. The whole of Asia will be in the center of the tsunami, and the consequences are simply unimaginable.
The three of Chen Yongji looked at each other with fear on their faces. If they had not received the news in advance, shrunk their business and reserved a large amount of liquidity, I am afraid that Shunyang Group would also have suffered in this financial tsunami. , or even die directly.
In the Thai financial market, after two consecutive tentative attacks, Soros’s third attack can be said to be a desperate move. He combined with other international capital to spend nearly 20 billion U.S. dollars, and finally defeated Thailand. The remaining 30 billion U.S. dollars were completely consumed, and then rumors spread in the market. Unable to withstand the multiple pressures, Thailand made a blind move and announced the implementation of a floating exchange rate system for the Thai baht. On that day, the exchange rate of the Thai baht against the US dollar plummeted by 18, the foreign exchange and other financial markets were in chaos, and the financial crisis in Thailand officially broke out.
In fact, Thailand, which is at the end of its rope, has no other response plan. It can only watch the Thai baht pouring down, gradually becoming like a waste paper.
All things related to finance, whether stocks, bonds or currencies, are originally worthless. What makes them valuable is confidence. Once confidence collapses, they will lose value. The value also collapsed.
This is undoubtedly a bolt from the blue for Thai companies that rely on foreign capital for production and use the baht to repay foreign debts. The common people in Thailand were also frightened. The run caused 56 banks to close down, the Thai baht depreciated by 60%, the stock market plummeted by 70%, and the Thai people's assets shrank like a building.
During the financial crisis, Thailand collapsed along with its stock market and its already fragile industrial system. After more than ten years of hard work, the shadow of industrial society finally disappeared at this moment.
I saw it building tall buildings, watching it entertain guests, and seeing its buildings collapse.
Crisis and opportunity have always been twins. For Asia, it is a financial crisis, but for international capital headed by Soros, it is a gluttonous feast for making money.
While attacking the Thai baht, these international capitals are also attacking everywhere.
August,Malaysia abandons efforts to defend ringgit. The Singapore dollar, which has always been strong, was also affected, depreciating by more than 8 in one day. Although Indonesia was the last country to be "infected", it was the most severely affected.
In late October, international speculators moved to Hong Kong, the international financial center. The Taiwan authorities suddenly abandoned the exchange rate of the New Taiwan dollar, devaluing it by 346 in one day, increasing the pressure on the Hong Kong dollar and the Hong Kong stock market.
On October 23, the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index fell sharply by 121,147 points; on the 28th, it fell by 162,180 points, falling below the 9,000 point mark. Faced with the fierce attack of international financial speculators, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government reiterated that it would not change the current exchange rate system, and the Hang Seng Index rose to reach the 10,000-point mark again.
As of the end of October, the whole of Asia is in mourning. Except for Xiangjiang, which has its back to the mainland and has restrained the malicious short selling of international capital, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand have almost been wiped out. .
Faced with such a tight financial environment, Korea is also frightened. The stock market is falling every day, prices have also risen sharply, and the people are complaining.
However, the real test has just begun.
In mid-November, after international speculators searched South Asian countries, they turned their attention to East Asia. Korea was naturally the first to bear the brunt. The main reason why they chose Korea instead of Japan was that Japan’s foreign exchange reserves were too large. There is enough. Those international speculators are not stupid. They must be looking for weak persimmons.
It is obvious that Korea is a soft persimmon in their eyes, and this is exactly the case. Under the repeated attacks of these international speculators, on November 17, the exchange rate of the Korean won against the US dollar fell to a record high of 10,081.
You must know that the exchange rate of the Korean won against the U.S. dollar has never fallen below the 900:1 mark before. Such a large drop caused the people of Korea to frantically want to convert their Korean won into U.S. dollars, further triggering the the depreciation of the Korean won.
Some banks even directly canceled the exchange of Korean won into US dollars. Many Korean people gathered in front of the banks and held up banners to express their protest.
"Dad, should we too?"
Before Chen Yongji finished speaking, he was directly interrupted by Chen Yangzhe: "Idiot, canceling the exchange business at this time is undoubtedly a mistake." Tell the people across the country that our Shunyang Group’s foreign exchange reserves are insufficient, and the stock price of Shunyang Group will fall to the bottom tomorrow.”
“But Dad, if this continues, the US dollars we have accumulated with great difficulty will be lost. , they will all be exchanged," Chen Dongji reminded.
Chen Yangzhe also frowned when he heard this. After thinking for a long time, he said to Chen Dongji.
"In this way, from now on, you ask the bank to issue an announcement saying that it is suspected that international speculators are using our bank to consume the country's foreign exchange reserves, so each account has a weekly exchange limit of 1,000 US dollars. In addition, the latest Users who apply for savings will need three months before they can use the U.S. dollar exchange business."
Chen Dongji's eyes lit up. As expected of an old man, he could actually think of it.Come up with such a way to get the best of both worlds.
"What are you still waiting for? Why don't you go quickly?" Chen Yangzhe glared at his second son and sent him away without even giving him a chance to flatter him.
Seeing that there was no joy in solving the problem on his father's face, Chen Yongji cautiously asked, "Dad, are you worried about whether Korea can withstand the offensive of international capital?"
Chen Yongji Yangzhe sighed, "The attack of international capital is not the decisive factor. You have to know that the entire Asian economic circle is interdependent. Our Shunyang Group also has various investments in other countries, and we can't finish the eggs even if they are overturned." ”
“Fortunately, we withdrew a lot of investment in advance, at least there should be no problem with self-protection. After this financial tsunami, Shunyang Group should be able to secure its position as the first conglomerate in Korea.” Chen Yongji said flatteringly.
When Chen Yangzhe heard this, he thought of his grandson again. Although he did not predict the exact time, he predicted the financial crisis one year in advance. Such a keen sense of the market is simply amazing.
"Fortunately, this kid was born in my family, otherwise he would be a troublesome opponent."
Under Chen Yangzhe's operation, Shunyang Bank has no Because the run consumes a lot of foreign exchange and has won the support of users, although it is a bit small to only exchange 1,000 US dollars a week, it is better than other banks directly stopping the dollar exchange business, and some banks even went bankrupt directly because of the run.
There is no harm without comparison. Shunyang Bank was originally a marginal business in the entire Shunyang system. After this time, it became the only company in the group whose performance rose against the trend. A large number of people took advantage of it from other banks. The money was transferred to Shunyang Bank, and the share price of the entire Shunyang Group also increased slightly.
However, in the context of the financial crisis, Korea as a whole is in a situation that may collapse at any time.
On November 21, Korea had to seek help from the International Monetary Fund and temporarily controlled the crisis. But on December 13, the exchange rate of the Korean won against the US dollar dropped to 173,761.
Such an exaggerated exchange rate is equivalent to the assets of all Goryeo people having shrunk by half, and for a time the whole country was in mourning.
And this is just the beginning. The first negative consequence of the collapse of the exchange rate is the collapse of the stock market.
The crash of the stock market has caused a large number of companies to dry up their cash flow. Banks cannot collect loans and can only apply to freeze the company's accounts and assets. Companies go bankrupt and workers are laid off. The vicious cycle is like a snowflake. The ball rolled down from the top of the mountain, and everyone was dragged down, and it seemed to never end.
Not only that, the collapse of Goryeo also impacted Japanese financial companies, because many Japanese financial companies had large investments in Goryeo. This made Japan, the only country that did not suffer much losses in this financial crisis, Suddenly, something happened, and the stock market plummeted. That is to say, Japan held a large amount of foreign exchange reserves, and those international speculators did not dare to move against Japan.Otherwise, Japan will probably follow in the footsteps of other Asian countries.
On New Year's Day in 1998, Qin Hao was invited to the Blue House to attend an economic restructuring meeting as a representative of Samsung Group.
This is also the first time Qin Hao has participated in such a high-level meeting. The reason why he was able to receive such courtesy is partly because Samsung Group's performance during the Asian financial crisis was outstanding.
In an environment where a large number of old Korean companies have closed down and gone bankrupt, Samsung has bucked the trend with its mobile phone and computer business. Not only has it not laid off employees, but it has created many new jobs.
On the one hand, Qin Hao still holds a large amount of US dollars, which are very precious foreign exchange reserves for Qingwa Dae. Inviting Qin Hao to participate in this meeting is equivalent to official certification. established his status as a plutocrat.
"Grandpa." As soon as Qin Hao arrived at the door, he saw Chen Yangzhe chatting with another chaebol. He couldn't help but chuckle to himself. The old man probably didn't trust him, so he waited here. Just show it off.
Chen Yangzhe glanced at Qin Hao arrogantly, and then said to the chaebol next to him, "Let me introduce to you, this is Chairman Chen Haojun of Samsung Group, and this is Jin Hui of Hanwha Group President Jin smiled and said to Chen Yangzhe, "Okay, stop holding on. With such a good grandson, if it were me, I would like to hang a sign on my body every day." Come show off."
"You're still the same, and you won't be able to change your mouth for the rest of your life," Chen Yangzhe said with a smile.
"President Jin, I have heard of your deeds a long time ago. I hope to learn more from you in the future." Qin Hao said politely.
President Jin waved his hand, "I have nothing worth learning from you. It took me decades to be qualified to hold a meeting here. You did it when you were less than twenty years old. What a terrible future." "
"Oh, you said it as if you were going to retire. I don't accept old age."
"Haha"
After a while of greetings, the three of them said it. People come to the conference room.
Not long after, many chaebols came in, the youngest of whom was over fifty years old. Qin Hao stood out among them.
Of course, there are many plutocrats who are polite and complimentary. It’s not that Chen Yangzhe is very popular, but that everyone is having a hard time at the moment. Chen Yangzhe’s Shunyang Group and Qin Hao’s Samsung Group They seem to be doing well, and these old silver coins just want to get some benefits from them.
However, just as everyone was chatting heatedly, a familiar voice came from far away, with a tone full of disdain.
"If you want to show off, old guy, don't hide it. It's so coy and disgusting."
Qin Hao doesn't even have to look back if he dares to confront Chen Yangzhe directly. He knew that it must be Zhu Rongyi from Daying Group, who could be said to be Chen Yangzhe's lifelong enemy.
If it had been before, Chen Yangzhe would have been furious and would have had a fight with this old guy, but this time he seemed unusually calm.
"Humph, you have to show off. Unlike someone who gave birth to five sons, he is not as capable as my grandson."
"You"
The two were facing each other and were about to start fighting. Before anyone could stop the fight, someone from the Blue House arrived. The person presiding over the meeting this time was a deputy minister in charge of finance.
The deputy minister looked to be in his fifties. He praised everyone as soon as he opened his mouth. There was nothing nutritious about it. He just praised them for their contribution to the Korean economy.
After the official talk, we finally got some dry stuff.
The central idea is to require chaebols to shrink their business scope, cut off some unimportant businesses, and fully develop their main businesses in order to obtain government loan support.
It is obvious that the chaebols present are not satisfied with this request. This is equivalent to cutting off one's own tentacles, and it will be even more difficult to develop other businesses in the future.
The conference room was a little quiet for a while.
Seeing this, Qin Hao was the first to say, "Then our Samsung Group, with its abundant funds, can we get some preferential policies for new business?"
"Well, this theory It is possible, but the specific type of business that Samsung Group wants to develop still needs further communication."
This is like saying nothing.
Chen Yangzhe also asked dissatisfiedly, "How to distinguish this unimportant business? I think all businesses of Shunyang Group are main businesses."
"Yes, Our Daying Group is also the main business, so we can’t give up.”
Zhu Rongyi of Daying Group also chose to side with Chen Yangzhe at this moment, despite the fight to the death in private. When facing the authorities, the chaebol are still very united.
Other chaebols also expressed their dissatisfaction. Please remember to bookmark the website, the latest, fastest and free to read without anti-theft