Reinventing the Millennium.

Chapter 770 Dinner Party (Two in One)

The charity gala takes a week to prepare.

There is a special person in charge of this aspect of the organization, and the two former financial stewards Rubin and Xiao Sa have already raised the style of the guests. When Geithner of the New York Fed received a call from Fang Zhuo, he also readily agreed.

In addition, Susan, a member of the board of directors of Northern Trust, and Phipps, vice president of Bessemer Securities of Bessemer Trust, both accepted the invitation when they heard the names of Lu and Sa.

Power and money.

Fang Zhuo thought about it, and invited Stringer, the head of Sony in the corporate world, and Larry, the founder of Google, so that he had both business relationships and rich people on the list.

Finally, he personally called and invited Michelle, a director of Deutsche Bank, who is in charge of Deutsche Bank's global market and investment banking business in the United States. He is well-known in the financial circle because of his "big shark" style. reputation.

MIGA Fund is now gradually cutting off its cooperation with Deutsche Bank in the CDO market, but considering the New York Fed's interest in Deutsche Bank, it would be great to have someone like Michelle on the scene.

The guest lineup for the party had a basic foundation, so Fang Zhuo no longer cared about this aspect, and instead walked around New York City twice.

New York is a financial center and an international metropolis.

In the past few years, the average annual growth rate of housing prices in New York has exceeded 11%. The price of the same property in 2006 was almost 2000 times that of 1.9. Sell ​​6 million.

This is a realistic basis for the prosperity of the subprime bond market and related securities.

However, in the just-concluded June, the high-end real estate market in New York seemed to usher in a change, and many properties quietly lowered their prices in search of a faster sale.

On the contrary, the low-end real estate market still seems to be booming.

Accompanied by Zhao Zhishan, Fang Zhuo observed the real estate situation.

When he chatted with Xiao Zhao about what he had seen and heard in the past few days, the latter talked about what she knew about the Washington market.

"Mr. Fang, when I was in Washington in May, there were more and more house buying advertisements, price reduction promotions, and gift certificates in a slightly remote neighborhood there, but the number of customers was getting smaller and smaller."

"Many newly completed real estate projects have not received a good response, so they can only put up the sign of 'Temporarily Lease'."

"Washington is not as good as New York, but..."

What Zhao Zhishan is in charge of in the United States is not fund work, this is because he remembered what he saw with his own eyes.

Fang Zhuo nodded slightly. Samples in different places have different situations, but judging from contacts and some investigations, the U.S. real estate market has indeed reached an inflection point following the Fed’s interest rate hike.

Relatively speaking, the situation in New York is better.

In some cities and some small and medium-sized banks, a down payment of 100 million real estate can be obtained with a down payment of only 7 US dollars.

Unlike the reality of the real estate market, although there are some different voices in the CDO securities market, it is still prosperous overall.

Different conclusions can be drawn from the same data from different angles.

If neglect, fluke, paralysis, guidance, and profit-seeking are added, the market will only believe the conclusion that it is more willing to believe.

On July 7, the New York Institute for Economic and Social Development Charity Dinner was held at the Plaza Hotel in New York.

On the bright side, this charity dinner is to brighten the signboard of "New York Economics Institute".

Secretly, this is to celebrate the re-employment of Teacher Xiao Sa after being laid off.

In the evening, guests came to the banquet hall one after another.

At 06:30 in the evening, Zhao Zhishan, who was in charge of the dinner, hurriedly looked for the boss who hadn't shown up from the banquet hall where he was watching the situation, but found that he was reading a newspaper with his legs crossed in the room.

"President Fang, Stringer has been here for a while, and Geithner has just arrived."

In the past few days, Zhao Zhishan has had a deep impression on himself. The name "Gethner" is very useful.

The cost of this one-night charity gala was about 30 US dollars, including the accommodation suites prepared by the Plaza Hotel, all of which were originally covered by the MIGA Fund. Unexpectedly, the name of "President Gai" was mentioned, and people rushed over to sponsor it.

The cost of the plan is not only useless, but also a little more.

Also, several financial institutions inquired about the budget of the charity dinner auction in advance, and they were quite enthusiastic.

It doesn't take Summers and Rubin much to name it.

"The old jazz came quite early." Fang Zhuo asked after reading the last half page of the newspaper, "How's the atmosphere?"

Zhao Zhishan hesitated for a few seconds, how to describe the atmosphere at the scene?
She organized her words and replied: "The atmosphere is not bad, and different people seem to be somewhat distinct."

Fang Zhuo nodded, this is normal.

He drank the remaining half cup of coffee and said to the secretary, "Help me put away the newspaper, as a souvenir."

After Zhao Zhishan took two steps, he couldn't help but look back at the newspapers organized by the secretary, and saw that it was a copy of "New York Times". The headline on the page was very conspicuous - "New York housing prices are far from reaching their peak".

She looked back, quickened her pace, and reported the situation as she walked: "There should be more people attending tonight than planned, because almost all of them brought their girlfriends and friends, and some are more influential."

"Among them were two city councilors from New York and a New York auditor general."

Fang Zhuo smiled and said: "Very good, it seems that our retired old man's activity center can indeed have some influence."

Zhao Zhishan smiled, Retired Old Man Activity Center... People like Rubin and Summers have extraordinary influence, and they can also switch between retirement and employment.

Soon, Fang Zhuo and his party arrived at the banquet hall downstairs. The security assistants only brought one in and let him wander around the edge.

Fang Zhuo greeted Geithner first, and then met the auditor general, city councilors and others who attended the charity dinner under his recommendation.

Then he met old Sir Stringer and got to know a circle of his friends.

At the charity dinner tonight, popular singers Kelly Clarkson, Gwen Stefani and others in the United States in the past two years will sing for free. This is the resource directly pulled from Sony Music.

Fang Zhuo walked around twice, and some people and information did not match, so Zhao Zhishan followed to remind him.

"The vice president of Time Warner has a good reputation."

"The head of Morgan's investment banking business has just taken office and is said to be relatively low-key."

"There are peachy rumors about this."

"He is from Alcoa, and there is no information."

"Lehman's Fuld, with his relentless approach and fierce style, was nicknamed the 'Gorilla' in the industry."

When Zhao Zhishan introduced more and more, another guest who was in her brief comments walked into the banquet hall, which actually needs no introduction.

Richard Fuld, the head of Lehman, has been in charge of this famous investment bank for more than ten years, and today he took the initiative to come here to support Summers.

Teacher Xiao Sa resigned as the president of Harvard, and his dynamics are worthy of attention.

The chief economic advisor of a new research institution is actually nothing, but Rubin showed up, and a special charity dinner was held, which shows that Mr. Sa still values ​​NYE.

So here comes Fuld—many of us for similar reasons.

Fang Zhuo and Fuld briefly shook hands to get to know each other, and then they saw Larry, the founder of Google, following him.

Larry's trip was actually a coincidence. He was about to fly to New York when he received a call from Mr. Fang, planning to buy a villa property. He happened to hear about the characters in the New York Institute, so he spared one night.

With the soaring price of Google, Brin and Larry became the youngest of the top 100 richest people in the United States this year, ranking 12th and 13th respectively.

In fact, a considerable part of the MIGA fund's profit income also comes from the purchase of Google stock.

After all, the low-level opportunities for Chinese concept stocks such as NetEase and Sina are only in the early stage. There have also been gains in the past two years, but the momentum has been relatively stable. Overweight in U.S. real estate stocks.

Compared to other people in the banquet hall, Fang Zhuo had a good chat with Larry for a while.

The cooperation between Google and Yike is very important. There are many things to be busy on both sides. There will be a closer connection based on the Android system in the future.

Larry still praised the mobile phone design that he saw at the Yike R&D Center that day, but he also raised a small problem that he encountered recently - the Android system has not yet found a US operator willing to cooperate...

Fang Zhuo: "?"

Larry saw the big question marks that Mr. Fang posed, and said seriously: "The progress of this matter has encountered problems. For example, AT&T clearly rejected us, and other companies' attitudes are not positive."

He frowned and said, "After all, it's the first time for us to develop a mobile phone system, and operators don't trust Google and Android."

"Should the priority of this cooperation be in the front row?" Fang Zhuo was a little helpless.

Looking at Mr. Fang's expression, Larry suddenly found it interesting, and said with a smile: "We are in the queue, we are in the queue, there are twists and turns, but we are still confident, and we are already poaching executives who have jumped out of the operator. This matter We still have to talk about it.”

Google has deep pockets, and in order to promote a cooperation, it can spend a lot of money to poach executives with connections.

Fang Zhuo heaved a sigh of relief when he heard this approach. Google is willing to use the money to work hard, but he is afraid that he will waste time.

He led Larry to Geithner's small circle. The two knew each other, but they hadn't had much contact with each other.

Larry didn't like the more bureaucratic atmosphere around President Guy, so he chatted politely and left to pursue freedom.

However, Fang Zhuo noticed that when Summers and Rubin appeared together, Larry quietly returned to the reception area near the president, giving freedom to the worship of economists.

At 07:30 in the evening, the guests of the charity gala are basically all present.

Fang Zhuo memorized most of the faces, and Zhao Zhishan made up for the rest.

The singer sang, the guests socialized, and the charity auction had not yet been carried out. Everyone was relatively comfortable in their respective circles.

Summers, Rubin, Geithner and their friends have the strongest influence radiation, and the ones who talk with them are Northern Trust, Bessemer Trust, Lehman, Deutsche Bank, Bear Stearns, Morgan, etc. well-known institutions.

Those located a little further away are differentiated according to the company's size and identity background.

It's just that the dinner scene, which looks like it's all in suits and leather shoes, has an invisible gap, and there are also some people who don't follow the invisible rules.

This is the case with a billionaire like Larry.

Not only was he not wearing a formal suit, but a simple and casual T-shirt, he also only maintained respect for a limited number of people. Others chatted if they wanted to, and would not be polite if they didn't want to.

Fang Zhuo's positioning is somewhat similar to Larry, but his wealth is not as good as the Google founder.

According to the ranking of the world's richest people given by Forbes this year, Larry is the 21st with 140 billion US dollars, and the next 22 is Xiangjiang Lijiacheng's 135 billion. No. 93 with $64 billion.

Last year, Fang Zhuo ranked 165th in the world's richest list by Forbes, and this year he has improved a lot.

In addition to his wealth, Fang Zhuo also has a little need to promote the MIGA fund today, which makes things smoother.

However, when Kong Yu, the president of MIGA Fund, was talking about the fund's income from a further position, an uninvited guest made MIGA Fund semi-forced to show some sense of presence.

A Chuan, a real estate tycoon in New York, is a rich man with an exaggerated style.

He didn't receive an invitation to the New York Institute's charity gala, but he came to the scene easily after knowing that there was such a thing.

A Chuan did not bother the small circle of bosses at the scene, and approached the spokesperson of the MIGA Fund with a clear purpose, claiming that he wanted to become a client of the fund.

Fang Zhuo was quite surprised to see someone like A Chuan here and now, and his emotions were very complicated.

And Achuan started chatting from the Empire State Building rented by New York Times, and talked about his relationship with the Empire State Building. He had the right to operate there two years ago, and it was just these days when he chatted about the brand settlement of the Empire State Building. After organizing such a charity gala, the goal was to make money.

He didn't plan to find people like Rubin and Summers to make fun of himself. He wanted to do business today and invest in a private equity fund.

In principle, Fang Zhuo would not refuse investment from a client like Achuan, but in terms of specific negotiations, he still recommended him to Kong Yu, who was sharpening his sword, without much communication.

It was also this scene that made Lehman, Bear Stearns and a group of drinking people talk about MIGA Fund, a private equity fund that is becoming famous.

Phipps of Bessemer Securities has decided to invest in MIGA Fund, and he admires its investment strategy in words: "It is not without reason that MIGA Fund has gained so much fame in just a few years. Mr. Fang is very discerning. Google and Amazon chose decisively."

Susan from Northern Trust also conducted research on MIGA Fund as detailed as possible before coming here, but her perspective is more biased towards the activities of this private equity firm and its series of institutions in the CDO market.

In her opinion, with people like Rubin, Summers, and Geithner in front, MIGA Fund has a very high probability of making money.

Susan also boasted a few words about MIGA Fund, thinking that investing money in it is a wise choice.

Both Phipps and Susan are quite well-known figures. When they spoke, the circle of people also praised Mr. Fang and his foundation.

"I heard that MIGA Fund is selling the stocks of companies such as Google and Amazon. Presumably it also knows that the prospects of these companies have reached a bottleneck. Without such lucky investments, how can this private equity maintain its high returns?" Lehman's Fore De listened for a while, somewhat disapproving.

"MIGA Fund has also cooperated well with Bank of Washington and Goldman Sachs in the CDO market. Even if the follow-up is not as high-yield as before, there must be good opportunities." Susan said.

Fuld laughed and said, "Then you might as well just buy our Lehman securities directly. We have launched several very good products this month, which will definitely be more stable and safer than private placement with a distribution status."

He is sincere. Lehman is a Tier [-] player in this market, while MIGA is at most a Tier [-] or Tier [-] player. The gap between the two levels also represents the gap in profit.

Geithner, who was walking over, was a little displeased when he heard this. Why is this gorilla so shameless?Are you slapping Mr. Fang in the face?

No, you are preventing me from making money!

Change the time, change the occasion, that's fine, tonight, in front of potential big clients like Northern Trust and Bessemer Securities, you really don't betray anyone at all!
I really finished eating the meat and didn't let others drink the soup!

(End of this chapter)