Chapter 1136: Crisis Erupts!
Seeing Wrinkles Huai's seemingly obsessive behaviour and his complete mental collapse, He Guanchang's brows furrowed.
He gathered his thoughts and shouted,
"Wrinkles!'
Wrinkles Huai woke up, looked at the serious and solemn He Guanchang, and asked, 'Lao He, what's wrong?'
He Guanchang's expression did not change, and he said loudly, 'You have to pull yourself together. You are the backbone of the company. If you lose your fighting spirit, the company is finished!'
'Galaxy Studios and Universal Cinema are very powerful, and the gap between us and them is very large, but that is not a reason for us to completely admit defeat!'
'The film markets in Hong Kong and Asia are big enough for everyone, and even Galaxy Studios can't eat them all up. We still have a chance, but we just won't be able to make as much money as we used to.'
'Come to think of it, we're still the second-biggest studio in Hong Kong, but what about the smaller studios? Are they just going to quit the film industry?'
'We've been in the film industry for most of our lives, what else could we do if we left?'
'And think about it, twelve years ago, Shaw Brothers Studios wasn't the dominant studio, was it?'
'You had the courage to drag me and Liang along with you, rising step by step from nothing, even pushing Shaw Brothers Pictures below us. We are not lacking in the spirit to fight against adversity!'
'Now the company is making money, and you and I have a good fortune, but we must not forget our original intentions and lose our most precious wealth!'
Ho Koon-cheong's words resounded, leaving Wrinkles Wai stunned.
After a long while, Wrinkles Wai, with a complex expression on his face, came back to his senses and looked at Ho Koon-cheong, whose gaze was as piercing as ever, and then at Liang Feng, whose eyes were sincere and full of encouragement.
He took a deep breath, nodded firmly, and said, 'Ho, you are right. After living too comfortable a life, I have gradually forgotten the fighting spirit of never giving up and fighting tenaciously.'
'I was wrong and let everyone down!'
He Guanchang smiled, extended his hand to Wrinkle Huai, and said, 'Lao Zhen, let's consider this as starting a business again. Galaxy Pictures is strong, but movies don't just rely on promotion and capital. We were able to make a hit movie despite a lack of money, and we can make a classic in the future!'
'Our goal is to surpass Galaxy Pictures!'
'Work together!'
'Work together!' Wrinkle Huai's heart was surging, and his palm tightly gripped He Guanchang's hand.
'Of course I can't be left out, let's work together!'
Liang Feng's hand also went over, and the three hands were tightly clasped together, as if a torch, igniting a raging fire of fighting spirit.
'Hahaha...'
After a hearty laugh, the negative mental state of the three was swept away, and they exuded hard work and energy.
'He, let's analyse the situation properly now, reformulate the company's development strategy, and brainstorm together.'
'Good.'
...
Two days later, Golden Harvest Pictures held a press conference, announcing a series of strategic development plans without any reservations. Wrinkle Wai spoke eloquently from the podium, exuding the aura of a tycoon.
When faced with the reporters' caustic questions, Wrinkle Wai responded with tact, expressing in his words his recognition and praise for Galaxy Pictures and Universal Studios, while also demonstrating his own and Golden Harvest's determination to never give up and dare to catch up.
After the news spread, it caused a heated debate, with both positive and negative comments.
But there was no denying that Wrinkle Huai's press conference had a stabilising effect on the film market, at least dissipating much of the panic that had spread throughout the industry.
Wu Siyuan was also happy to see this attitude from Golden Harvest Films. With Wrinkle Huai's attitude, at least the company's employees would be on their guard, and it would also be convenient for him to manage and operate the company.
Amidst the hustle and bustle, the time came to August 1st.
On this day, the Federal Reserve did indeed raise interest rates as scheduled.
The capital market is always the quickest to react.
After the Fed's interest rate hike policy was officially implemented, the US stock market began to rise.
At the same time, the US dollar continued to strengthen and appreciate.
However, the Galaxy Fund was losing money.
Apart from Li De's team, which had made a profit of more than 60 million US dollars on the dollar exchange rate, the other seven teams had all suffered losses to varying degrees.
The team that had suffered the most losses was Tang Yong's team, which had shorted the banks involved in the US and Canadian incidents.
Overall, the floating loss that day reached more than 90 million US dollars, nearly 100 million US dollars!
Not only that, as the impact of the subsequent US Federal Reserve interest rate hike continued to ferment, and global capital continued to pour into the United States, the losses of the Galaxy Fund would be even greater.
But it wasn't without its benefits.
That is, as the US stock market soared and the US dollar appreciated, the progress of Tang Yong's team shorting large banks in the United States and Canada took another leap forward.
On August 2, the floating loss of the Galaxy Fund expanded to more than 230 million US dollars.
On August 3, the floating loss of the Galaxy Fund expanded to more than 360 million US dollars.
On August 4, the floating loss of the Galaxy Fund suddenly broke through 500 million US dollars, reaching more than 520 million US dollars.
On August 5, the floating loss of the Galaxy Fund reached more than 690 million US dollars, almost reaching 700 million US dollars!
The pressure on the major teams within the Galaxy Fund was increasing.
Fortunately, Liu Yao, Wang Gang and the others firmly believed that their boss's judgment could not be wrong, and they trusted Xia Yu implicitly. They continued to maintain the morale of their respective teams and firmly implemented the plan as usual.
Xia Yu, on the other hand, was unmoved and even became more and more excited.
It's coming soon!
It was August 6th!
At 10 o'clock in the morning, the Mexican government suddenly announced that due to various reasons and a shortage of financial resources, it could not fulfil its obligations to repay the principal and interest on the government's US$87 billion in external debt as agreed!
After this news broke, the entire Mexican financial market instantly went into chaos. The heads of the major international bank branches in Mexico immediately reported the news to their headquarters in the country and at the same time asked the Mexican government for an explanation.
Chaos!
The entire northwest of Mexico instantly became a mess!
The default on 87 billion US dollars of debt was unexpected, and it was Mexico, one of the leaders in Latin America, that had defaulted!
The major European and American lending banks were in a state of panic, and they all gathered to discuss emergency plans.
The major media outlets around the world also reacted immediately. Those with news gathering points in Mexico immediately told them to gather news, and those without news gathering points sent their editorial teams to Mexico.
At the same time, the capital markets also hurried to respond.
The most volatile was the Mexican peso, and the exchange rate of the US dollar against the Mexican peso instantly plummeted.
This in turn triggered a sharp fall in the Mexican stock market.
The Liu and Ma teams were filled with excitement.
As for the banks that had lent money to Mexico, the share prices of all listed banks plummeted, and the shareholder institutions fled in droves.
Citibank, in particular, the leader of the pack, in just one hour, saw its market value evaporate completely, losing US$800 million in market value over the past five days, and still falling.
The global financial industry was on edge.