"What? You want to buy this company? Are you crazy? This company is over $3 million in foreign debt, are you idiots?" Little Swift asked incredulously when Leng Zhiruo told him they wanted to buy this Western Mustang Investment Company.
"Of course!" Huang He nodded, offering no explanation.
The reason was actually very simple. Huang He urgently needed an investment company. It was difficult to acquire a company with complete procedures, a very clean financial background, and one that could be bought out by dealing with just one person in a short period.
Therefore, Huang He was very satisfied with this Western Mustang Company.
"I can give you $50,000 as the purchase fee for this company. Of course, I will also assume the company's debts, and you will have no further relationship with it!" Huang He said. "You can only choose to agree or refuse. If you agree, I'll sign the contract with you now. If you don't, I'll walk away. How about that?"
"I'll sign!" Little Swift said without hesitation. It was a good deal to earn $50,000 for free and avoid the risk of going to jail. Little Swift agreed without a second thought.
"Come to the company tomorrow morning. I have something to tell you." After all the procedures were completed, although it would take time to take effect, Huang He was already the de facto owner of the company. He said indifferently.
"But I've already sold the company to you, and this company has nothing to do with me anymore. Why should I come?" Little Swift asked, puzzled.
"Although you have indeed sold it to me, legally speaking, these procedures are not yet complete, and you are still the president of this company. I need to use this company to acquire the stocks of another company tomorrow, so you must appear!" Huang He smiled. "Don't worry, just follow my instructions tomorrow. Do whatever I tell you to do, and I'll give you an extra $2,000 bonus after it's done!"
"Thank you, boss!" Little Swift said gleefully. $2,000 was more than he could earn in several years. It was awesome.
As for whether Huang He would trick him, it was impossible. No one would trick a poor nobody like him.
Thus, Little Swift left happily, leaving Huang He and Leng Zhiruo in the office.
Next, Huang He used the company's phone and name to register with Netflix for the investment banquet the following evening, while Leng Zhiruo curiously looked around the company.
"Zhiruo, let's go back to the hotel. It's too dark here!" Huang He urged.
"Wait, brother-in-law, I think I've found something. This company seems to have some stocks left in the innermost part of the cabinet, untouched!" Leng Zhiruo had opened the cabinet while looking for customer data and accidentally found a batch of stocks.
"Those must be stocks of companies that have gone bankrupt. Otherwise, given the former boss's personality, he wouldn't have left these stocks behind before fleeing!" Huang He said indifferently.
"Brother-in-law, you were right. These stocks seem to be from bankrupt enterprises!" Leng Zhiruo brought these stocks to Huang He.
These were old paper stocks, as the US stock market had stopped issuing paper stocks since 1997 and had all transitioned to electronic archiving. Therefore, these stocks should be from companies issued before '97.
"Take them back to the hotel and see if there are any overlooked ones?" Huang He asked Leng Zhiruo to take all these stocks to the hotel. Then, using a laptop connected to the hotel's network, they queried the stock codes on various stock exchanges and discovered that they were indeed all from companies that had gone bankrupt and delisted.
Moreover, these companies had basically gone completely bankrupt and ceased operations. These paper stocks were just a pile of waste paper. No wonder the former boss had left them in the cabinet without touching them when he fled.
Because these stocks were unsellable.
"Brother-in-law, how should we handle these stocks?" Leng Zhiruo asked curiously.
"Just keep them. Although these stocks can no longer be sold, they are at least a testament to a period of history and have some collectible value!" Huang He said idly while flipping through the stocks.
When he was halfway through, he was surprised to find that the remaining stocks were all from the same company, accounting for more than half of all the stocks.
"Zhiruo, check which company this stock belongs to?" Huang He didn't recognize the English on it, and Leng Zhiruo didn't either. After all, the names on the stocks were the company names, which couldn't be memorized by reciting English words; they had to be checked online.
"Found it. It's a stock from a game company called Atari. This company declared bankruptcy and closed down in '94 and hasn't been heard from since!" Leng Zhiruo said.
[PS: Although Atari has gone through multiple bankruptcies and closures, it has been acquired multiple times later and is still alive today, albeit with no presence. This is another world, so Atari's setting is different from reality. Special note here.]
"These are Atari stocks!" Huang He showed a surprised expression and then began to count the paper stocks in his hand, finding that there were quite a few, as many as over 2 million shares.
"Zhiruo, how many shares did Atari issue in total?" Huang He asked again.
"Brother-in-law, Atari announced its delisting in '92. At the time of delisting, the total issued shares were 40 million shares!" Leng Zhiruo said.
"Meaning there are 5% of Atari's stocks here!" Huang He was a little surprised. 5% of Atari's stocks were worth tens of millions of dollars back then!
"No, more than 5%!" Leng Zhiruo exclaimed. "These stocks were issued in '86. At that time, Atari's total shares were 20 million. Later, Atari issued an additional 20 million shares in '89, making it 40 million. These stocks were not exchanged for the batch issued in '89, meaning the actual value of these stocks is equivalent to 10% of Atari's equity."
"10%!" Boss Huang was surprised. He never expected such an unexpected gain at this company, although this gain was actually worthless.
Speaking of Atari, many Chinese people find it unfamiliar, but Atari was actually the overlord of the first generation of game consoles, and its dominant position was even more secure than Nintendo's back then.
Nintendo still competes with Sony's PlayStation and Microsoft's Xbox, but in Atari's era, no competitor in the world could match Atari. They dominated the entire market.
Atari's first game console was released in 1972, a game that simulated ping pong. Although only 12 units were sold, it was the first arcade machine in history, the progenitor of all arcade machines.
In 1974, Steve Jobs, then only 19 years old, joined Atari as a proud programmer responsible for developing video games.
In 1976, Steve Wozniak, another founder of Apple, also joined Atari, and together they developed the classic Breakout game.
In 1982, Atari entered its most glorious era, with annual sales exceeding $1.3 billion and a total market value exceeding $2 billion, surpassing Intel and Microsoft to become the most valuable electronics industry stock globally.
In 1984, Atari released the video game with the highest IP cost in history, "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial." This game, expected to sell over 15 million copies and hailed by Atari as the strongest game ever, ultimately sold only 1.5 million copies, with 1 million being returned.
At this point, Atari experienced an unprecedented turning point. Within a month, its value plummeted from $2 billion to $100 million. Then, Nintendo stepped on Atari's remains to become the overlord of the gaming industry.
There's not much more to say about what happened next. Although Atari kept trying to struggle, it ultimately lost public confidence and went bankrupt and closed down in '94, becoming a laughingstock of an era.
But regardless, Atari was the overlord of an era, a brand that once held the same status as Apple and Microsoft in the hearts of Americans.
Now, 10% of Atari's stocks were lying in front of him like waste paper. Even someone who had gone to Las Vegas to gamble didn't pay attention to them, which was truly sorrowful!
However, why would this Western Mustang Company have so many Atari stocks?
Huang He was curious and then had someone investigate all the remaining company documents. He learned that this Western Mustang Company was established very early, in the early 1980s, when Atari was at its peak. This investment company initially wanted to invest in some stocks, as no one would refuse the opportunity to make money from money.
As a result, they bought some Atari stocks, which were few at first, only about 0.03%.
But before 1984, these stocks were gradually increased to 0.12%. Although it was a tiny fraction of stocks, their actual value was equivalent to $2.4 million.
$2.4 million in the early 1980s was comparable to $24 million today.
Then came Atari's collapse, and its stock price plummeted to about 1/20th of its previous value.
At this point, investors had two choices: either cut their losses and sell their stocks promptly, or buy more stocks to average down the total cost of their holdings.
For example, if you bought 100 shares at $20 per share, and then bought another 100 shares when it fell to $1 per share, your average cost per share would be $10.5.
As long as the stock price could rise back above $10.5, you would recover your cost.
The investment company at that time held this idea. After all, it had already fallen to 1/20th, and selling now would only mean a complete loss. It was better to spend more money to buy more stocks, hoping that Atari's stock could rise again in the future.
As a result, the stock price continued to fall. Although the cost was indeed being diluted, the company's losses also increased. By the time Atari announced its bankruptcy, this company had already acquired 10% of the stocks.
At the same time, because the entire company was insolvent, after repaying some of its debts, these stocks did not even have the opportunity to be repurchased after delisting and became a pile of waste paper.
It was precisely because of such losses that the former family patriarch's prestige was severely undermined, causing a series of internal chaos within the family. Finally, by chance, these stocks miraculously fell into Huang He's hands.