Chapter 91: Let's do it together

At 5 pm on Wednesday, September 5th, Zhou Ming finished class and came to the villa in Cambridge that Tong Gang and the others had bought. Lin Muqing came with Zhou Ming, accompanying him from Harvard to the villa.

Since the first day Lin Muqing accompanied Zhou Ming to the beginning of the semester, she has accompanied Zhou Ming to class and after school for the past two days, just as when they first arrived in Harbor City. And except for the first day when they met Jie La, they haven't encountered anything else in the past two days, but that's normal. After all, Harvard is the world's top university, and everyone who can get in here is a highly qualified talent. Everyone takes pride in their status, and people like Xiao Brook are ultimately just a minority.

'Guys, have you found any high-tech companies that are good investments?'

Zhou Ming asked directly as soon as he entered the room. After all, he and Tong Gang, Li Cheng and Yerbeldiev were old acquaintances, and it didn't matter whether they said hello or not, so Zhou Ming just got straight to the point.

In response, Tong Gang, Li Cheng and Irbedov didn't mind at all. On the contrary, the topic that Zhou Ming mentioned was what they wanted to know most. Tong Gang waved enthusiastically for Zhou Ming to come over and said, 'We have found a few quite good companies, and that's why we asked you to come over today.'

Zhou Ming nodded and sat down. Tong Gang handed Zhou Ming a document. Zhou Ming looked at it while he introduced, 'Dell Computer Corporation, it is a computer company that was established less than five years ago. The company president is Mr. Michael, 24 years old. Five years ago, he used one thousand US dollars to establish Dell Corporation, and its assets have now exceeded ten million US dollars. The young Mr. Michael hopes to take advantage of this computer technology stock boom to promote his computer company to go public.'

Facing Tong Gang's introduction, Zhou Ming was a little dumbfounded. Although he had a previous record with Lin Muqing, Zhou Ming had thought before coming that he might hear some familiar names, but he didn't expect Tong Gang to give him such a familiar feeling right away.

Okay, since it's a familiar feeling, just come right out and say it.

Zhou Ming thought to himself, while saying, 'I know about this Dell computer company. It uses a direct business model that eliminates inventory, which is a way of directly communicating with customers and having customers place orders directly with the company.'

Tong Gang gave Zhou Ming a thumbs-up: 'You're right, Zhou Ming, you even know about Dell. It seems you've done a lot of research.'

Zhou Ming smiled awkwardly, thinking to himself, how could I not know? In my previous life, I used Dell computers the most, even if they were called stupid Dell. So naturally, I know about Dell's development model.

'So Chairman Tong, are you going to take control of Dell?' Zhou Ming asked.

Tong Gang nodded and said, 'Dell's development has been rapid. Even though it has not yet been listed, its stock price has already been inflated, so there is room for someone to take control. Of course, there is another point. His direct sales model can provide the company with high profits in a short period of time because it eliminates intermediaries. However, this approach itself goes against the market, and in the future, it is likely to be squeezed out by intermediaries joining forces. It also has short-term conditions.'

Zhou Ming did not rush to express his opinion, but first asked Li Chenghe and Yerbedov, 'Is that what you think?'

Li Chenghe and Yerbedov both nodded, and Zhou Ming shook his head and said, 'But I think exactly the opposite. I think Dell is a company with great investment value. Its stock will rocket after it goes public and it will grow into one of the world's top 500 companies within a few years. And what supports all of this is its direct sales model.'

Tong was about to say something, but Zhou Ming spoke first: 'Chairman Tong, I know you think that his direct sales model will lead to conflict with the middlemen. But this is the computer industry, and judging from the development of recent years, the future development of computers will become faster and faster, and the pace of upgrading will also become faster and faster. Therefore, long-term inventory is unnecessary, which happens to be in line with the business philosophy of the direct sales model.'

'There's another point, and that's his problem with the middlemen. I know that this kind of job-stealing is as unforgivable as killing one's father, but everything can be turned around,' Zhou Ming said, "Who says that a middleman must be a middleman and can't become a customer?'

After listening to Zhou Ming's explanation, Tong Gang, Li Cheng, and Yerbeldiev suddenly understood. Zhou Ming concluded, "So if you want to invest in Dell, I agree, but to sit here as the boss, I personally don't agree.'

Tong Gang nodded and then directly helped Zhou Ming turn the page on Dell. He then continued, 'Apple Inc., an old computer company in California, has also risen in the personal computer revolution in the past, but its current business situation is deteriorating day by day. The sales of its latest products are very poor, but it still has its own foundation and can be packaged a bit.'

Zhou Ming still shook his head and said, 'Like Dell, this company also has great development potential. If you want to invest or even become a shareholder of Apple, I fully support it, but if you want to take control of Apple, it is not a good choice.'

Facing Zhou Ming's objections one after the other, Tong Gang, Li Cheng, and Yier Bieduo were not angry. On the contrary, they were all very happy. After all, Zhou Ming was really doing things with all his heart. Imagine if Zhou Ming hadn't looked into these companies, it would have been impossible for him to calculate the gains and losses in the middle and analyse things so thoroughly. Of course, in addition to being happy, they also felt shocked.

You have to know that it took the three of them two days to find these companies in the stock market, but Zhou Ming had already analysed them. This is just too abnormal, isn't it?

But in fact, Zhou Ming himself also felt very distressed. He knew very well that he was not as knowledgeable as he pretended to be, but they were talking about companies that he had heard of before, so what could he do? He couldn't pretend to know when he didn't. More importantly, there was also a part of his own money in the funds that would be sitting in the future, and Zhou Ming didn't want to lose his own money as well.

Tong Gang then pointed out the next company to Zhou Ming: 'Yineng Company is a company registered in Virginia that was established just two years ago. It was also listed along with the high-tech stock market bubble at this moment. It is mainly engaged in the computer game business. The company's business looks very good, and there are no problems with the financial statements. However, the company's innovation is very poor. Perhaps this can become the company we sit on.'

An entertainment company?

Zhou Ming searched his mind for a long time but had never heard of the name of this company. He then glanced at Lin Muqing again, who shook her head at him, obviously having never heard of it either.

Although he had never heard of it, it was possible that the company had just not yet broken out of the United States, and he still needed to be cautious.

With this in mind, Zhou Ming nodded silently and then asked Tong Gang, 'Are there any other companies?'

Tong Gang replied, 'There are. They are Quincy Computer Company and Taylor Software Company in Brighton. They are both computer software companies that have risen thanks to this high-tech stock bubble. Their financial situations are not bad compared to other companies, but they lack core competitiveness. At the same time, their CEOs are not that capable, so I think these mediocre companies can be used as stooges.'

'Okay, I understand. I will take all the materials of these companies back and take a closer look. However, I think we can forget about Quincy Computer for now. After all, he is based in Cambridge and was founded by a few Harvard graduates. If we take him over, I'm afraid it will cause trouble,' said Zhou Ming.

Tong Gang thought for a moment and replied, 'That's true. Then we can cross Quincy off the list and choose between Yile and Taylor.'

Zhou Ming, however, asked in return, 'Why choose one or the other? Wouldn't it be better to go for both? Since neither company is very big, I think we are perfectly capable of manipulating both.'

This was a very simple question, but it shocked Tong Gang, Li Cheng and Yerbedov.

Indeed, if choosing one or the other was so troublesome and a headache, wouldn't it be better to simply do both? After all, they were not incapable.

It is very easy to say, but how many people can actually say it and make the decision? After all, sitting on two banks at the same time is not as simple as one plus one equals two. It requires more energy to accurately grasp the movements on both sides. For this reason, even those large consortia will not sit on two banks at the same time unless it is absolutely necessary.

'Zhou Ming, are you really sure you want to do this? I know you're very ambitious, but this is not the way to do things,' Tong Gang advised tactfully.

Zhou Ming smiled and said, 'Chairman Tong, of course I understand the problem of sitting on two fronts at the same time, but our situation is different. First of all, our targets are all very small businesses that we can fully control with our funds, and then there's the manpower.'

Zhou Ming looked at Tong Gang, Li Cheng and Yerbedov before continuing: 'Chairman Tong, you are all tycoons in your respective business circles. I think you must all have a group of your own traders under you, right? So if the three of you join forces, can't you take control of the market?'

'And as long as you take control of the market, there will be one left over, and I believe my finance team and I can handle it.' At the end of his speech, Zhou Ming asked, 'Are you planning to let me handle it all by myself?'

Hearing Zhou Ming's words, Tong Gang, Li Cheng, and Yerbedov all felt ashamed, because they had never thought about division of labour and cooperation. In their minds, it was Zhou Ming who would handle everything alone.

However, no matter how ashamed they felt, they still had the nerve to ask, 'Little brother Zhou Ming, but in that case, won't we be splitting up?'

Zhou Ming smiled to himself. He knew very well that Tong Gang, Li Cheng and Yerbedov would say that because they were used to just sitting back and making money, and used to having people make money for them. But it didn't matter, after all, in the current situation, he did need to rely on them.

So Zhou Ming said, 'Of course not. With the stable growth of the military industry sector, we don't need to withdraw all our money. Since we still have a sum of money to invest together through the investment model, it can't be considered splitting up, can it?'

In the face of Zhou Ming's argument, Tong Gang, Li Cheng and Il'deyev exchanged glances with each other. In the end, Tong Gang said, 'Okay, let's do it as you say, little brother Zhou Ming. We'll each choose a company to study first, but if there's any news, we must tell each other first.'

Zhou Ming shrugged and said, 'Of course.'

'In that case, there's no time to lose. After all, the bubble of high-tech stocks has already formed, and no one knows when it will burst. Time is running out,' Tong Gang said.

Li Cheng and Yilbedov agreed with Tong Gang, but as they were about to leave to prepare separately, Tong Gang's phone suddenly rang. Tong Gang answered it and then revealed a very puzzled expression.

'It's the stock brokerage company calling. He said there's a problem with my account. I think I have to go to New York,' Tong Gang said.

'Well, I hope it's not a big problem, otherwise without the funds from Mr. Tong Gang, our position as the market maker may not be able to be completed properly,' said Il'bedov.

Compared to Il'bedov's banter, Zhou Ming's brows naturally furrowed slightly, and he had an ominous feeling in his heart.

Leaving the villa, Lin Muqing asked Zhou Ming what was wrong, and Zhou Ming sighed and shook his head, saying, 'I hope it's just my own illusion, but I always have a bad feeling.'