The performance of United Hypervacuum Railway Pipeline Company after its IPO clearly showed that it had attracted a large amount of investment from investors. They weren't really expecting the company to become profitable, as that would take at least ten or even decades. What they truly anticipated was that the company's stock would continue to rise, allowing them to cash out at a suitable time.
Unfortunately, this beautiful fantasy lasted less than a day. That evening, while Americans were asleep, China's High-Speed Rail Development Company appeared on the famous 7 PM news program.
Under the host's passionate introduction, the groundbreaking news of China's first ultra-high-speed vacuum maglev pipeline construction was revealed to everyone, complete with footage of the groundbreaking ceremony. xxs1
A large shovel, tied with a red ribbon, was held by three men simultaneously as they dug the first scoop of earth at the construction site. One of them was our Boss Huang.
While foreigners might not have grasped the implications behind this news, Wall Street, with its acute sensitivity to commercial intelligence, understood it perfectly.
A news story featured on this program, with three prominent figures jointly holding a shovel, signified that China's high-speed vacuum maglev pipeline had truly commenced construction, and it wasn't just a fabricated story to bluff people.
Of course, this didn't mean the pipeline would definitely be built. In fact, most people still didn't believe that China's technology could construct such a sci-fi-like pipeline. However, at least China had truly begun, transforming the plans on paper into reality.
In contrast, what about America's own United Hypervacuum Railway Pipeline Company?
Well, in a situation that most Americans were unaware of, but Wall Street knew crystal clear, was that despite the United Hypervacuum Railway Pipeline Company having secured over 2 trillion US dollars in massive funding, the route planning for the first phase of the pipeline hadn't even been finalized.
Although the entire project was led by Goldman Sachs Group, and the related technology was also provided by them, such a project was clearly not something Goldman Sachs Group could handle entirely on its own. It required the introduction of other collaborators to steadily absorb the entire railway project.
Therefore, Goldman Sachs Group initially sought out companies under two other large financial consortiums as key partners, ceding a portion of shares in exchange for their support. However, Goldman Sachs still maintained absolute control of the company.
But after the company began its roadshow, more and more investment institutions and their behind-the-scenes powers became interested in this pipeline railway. They forcefully waved their money and joined the project, making it difficult for Goldman Sachs to refuse.
If a project only involved a specific region, Goldman Sachs could indeed refuse strongly. But if the project spanned the entire United States, and consensus couldn't be reached by addressing everyone's interests, it would be very difficult for the project to proceed.
So, in reality, for almost all the time before the IPO, the company had not completed any professional work and was constantly arguing about how to form the board of directors.
To accommodate everyone's interests, Goldman Sachs had to compromise on the board of directors system, not determining voting rights by the amount of shares held in the company, because this way, control of the company could be gained by simply acquiring a large number of shares in the market.
Therefore, Goldman Sachs chose to determine control of the company based on board seats. Under Goldman Sachs's arrangement, the entire board had a total of 223 seats, comparable to the number of members in a state legislature, with each director holding one vote.
Goldman Sachs directly allocated 90 board seats for itself. This was acceptable to everyone, as Goldman Sachs was providing the technology and the project, and sharing it with others was understandable.
However, for the remaining seats, other investors engaged in a fierce struggle and competition, as the number of seats on the board determined their voice within the board and also the amount of profit they could receive.
Thus, the allocation of board seats alone caused these parties to argue for over half a year before reaching a consensus and barely completing the personnel arrangements for the company's board of directors before the IPO.
Frankly, if a company had not completed its personnel structure by the time of its IPO, it would be too outrageous and would severely impact ordinary shareholders' investment desires and expectations. Otherwise, these individuals would likely continue to argue over trivial interests.
However, although the issue of board seat allocation was resolved, it did not mean the company could commence normal operations, as the most crucial element for railway construction, the route itself, had not been decided.
Therefore, while the United Hypervacuum Railway Pipeline Company had blueprints for the entire track, those who understood knew that the nearly straight line depicted on the blueprint was fundamentally impossible to implement, as it did not align with the interests of the majority. It was merely a tactic to attract investor funding.
In fact, the newly formed board was currently in heated debate over the specific planning of the route.
Professor Parkinson's money-making strategy wasn't particularly sophisticated, and the people on Wall Street were all astute. Therefore, everyone realized that the most profitable and justifiable way to distribute this 2 trillion US dollars was to have the route planning fall within the territories they controlled, thereby charging exorbitant demolition fees.
Consequently, the division of the route became exceptionally contentious. Every member of the board wanted the railway to pass through their land as much as possible. Thus, even though 36 versions of the route plan for the first phase had been proposed, causing over 60% of the planning staff to resign, it still hadn't been finalized.
Now, it turned out that with their own route not yet decided, China had already announced the commencement of excavation and construction.
As a result, on the second day of trading, the stock price of United Hypervacuum Railway Pipeline Company, which had only been listed for one day, began to decline. Within an hour, its market value had dropped by over 200 billion US dollars.
This was inevitable, as many shareholders of United Hypervacuum Railway Pipeline Company were Wall Street institutions.
Therefore, while everyone on Wall Street knew how chaotic the United Hypervacuum Railway Pipeline Company was, they also knew that the technology the company possessed was real, and they did have plans to build the entire pipeline. The intention was merely to extract more money from shareholders during the construction process, which was normal and without issue. The company itself was still a company with significant investment potential.
Hence, major Wall Street institutions purchased a considerable amount of shares in United Hypervacuum Railway Pipeline Company, collectively holding around 30% of the total shares.
But precisely because of this, those who had invested in the United Hypervacuum Railway Pipeline Company and were also on the board knew how chaotic the current board was. They suddenly realized that with the speed and efficiency of the Chinese, it was not impossible for them to complete the first operational pipeline ahead of United Hypervacuum Railway Pipeline Company.
If that happened, the stock of United Hypervacuum Railway Pipeline Company would plummet, and they would need to get out early!
Therefore, some companies took advantage of the stock price increase on the first day to sell off some of their holdings and exit, leading to the sharp decline of United Hypervacuum Railway Pipeline Company's stock on the second day.
This situation immediately caused chaos in the stock market. Many investors who felt it was unstable began to flee, and within a few hours, the stock price of United Hypervacuum Railway Pipeline Company had plummeted by another over 100 billion US dollars.
This predicament startled Professor Parkinson. If the company's stock plummeted too much on the second day, it might trigger a chain reaction, causing market expectations for the company to drop significantly, thereby making it difficult for the company's valuation to return to its current level of 2 trillion US dollars.
It's important to note that in Professor Parkinson's original plan, United Hypervacuum Railway Pipeline Company would undergo several more rounds of share issuance in the future. Each issuance would bring him substantial financial returns, and this capital would also serve as the source of funding for the pipeline's construction. Relying on Goldman Sachs's own investment to build the pipeline was impossible; using shareholder money was much more lucrative.
But now, the stock price was starting to fall, and Professor Parkinson would not allow such a situation to occur.
In his helplessness, Professor Parkinson had to use some of Goldman Sachs's funds to buy shares in the market, thereby stabilizing the stock price of United Hypervacuum Railway Pipeline Company. He then urgently released an announcement stating that the company had also completed the route planning for the first phase and expected to start construction in a few months.
Simultaneously, in the announcement, the company pointedly criticized some "friendly competitors," stating that they were forcibly pushing ahead despite immature technology, just to seize the superficial honor of being the first to commence construction. They challenged them to actually be the first to complete it!
With this combination of actions, the stock price of United Hypervacuum Railway Pipeline Company was barely stabilized. Unfortunately, this did not resolve the divisions within the board, as everyone was still arguing heatedly over the route division, causing Professor Parkinson much headache.
In reality, let alone starting construction in a few months, it was a monumental question whether the first route division could even be decided in a few months.
He was having a very difficult time.