Chapter 249: The Scent of Money

"Chairman Su, this is a research report that just came from the research department."
Liang Haiyuan's voice carried a hint of utter exhaustion.
Su Hao looked up from the pile of complex charts, rubbed his throbbing temples, and asked in a hoarse voice:
"Did they work overtime all night to write this?...What time is it in China now?"
"Five in the morning."
"Ha, I really am a sinful capitalist." Su Hao chuckled self-deprecatingly.
"You flatter me," Liang Haiyuan immediately interjected,
"Chairman Huang has already given a strict order: the research department must work 24/7 in three shifts, on standby at all times.
Don't even mention a document; even if you wanted to watch the sunrise over Shanghai in the middle of the night in New York, we could get you a live stream signal immediately!"
Su Hao didn't reply. He opened the document, and a photo of a man popped up, his eyes arrogant, a faint sneer playing on his lips.
When Su Hao saw the photo of the man named "Musk," his intuition told him only one thing:
This guy was an absolute madman!
Yes, a madman!
That manic energy was exactly the same as the smell he had when he first saw Bitcoin—that "god or be a lunatic" madness.
But this familiar scent didn't make him want to stay away; instead, it excited every cell in his body.
Having spent so many years navigating the bloody battlefield of finance, Su Hao only believed in one irrefutable truth:
Madness is often equated with money.
Don't believe it? Just look at Bitcoin.
To be blunt, fundamentally, it doesn't represent equity in any company, nor is it some kind of tangible currency. At its core, it's just a bunch of data sitting on servers.
The most interesting thing is that most of the players worldwide, who pretend to be ignorant, are perfectly aware of the situation.
But so what?
So-called "value" has never been about whether it's real or fake, or whether it's gold or iron.
It's about whether it has value, as long as people believe in it, as long as countless people are willing to give it meaning.
And how much that value is ultimately worth, the invisible hand of the market will provide the answer.
Thus, under the collective "ritual" of countless fervent believers, the price of Bitcoin was artificially pushed to a high of $20,000.
This is the madness of the masses.
"Tesla's initial market capitalization was only around 1.7 to 1.8 billion US dollars, almost like a joke.
But after catching the electric vehicle bandwagon, it skyrocketed, and its market capitalization has now reached 60 billion US dollars.
This growth rate is faster than a rocket launch."
Elon Musk, this eccentric CEO, is like a missionary on steroids, preaching in the media every day, claiming that electric vehicles are the future of humanity, and then frantically launching various new models.
He not only solved the long-standing battery range problem to some extent, but also delivered a bombshell to the world with a simple and brutal performance metric:
0-100 km/h acceleration!
Not long ago, major traditional automakers were fighting tooth and nail over whose gasoline engine could be a fraction of a second faster.
But Tesla, instead, simply pulled out an electric motor and, with an unreasonable, crushing force, utterly crushed all gasoline cars, single-handedly ending the decades-long "0-100 km/h war."
This slap was so resounding that many stubborn old fogies who had previously scoffed at electric cars began to rethink their lives.
The end result was that Tesla's market capitalization soared to 60 billion US dollars!
That's roughly 400 billion RMB.
"But... Tesla's stock trend seems to be turning downwards now?"
Su Hao looked at the bright green candlestick on the screen.
"Yes. There are two main reasons. First, Tesla's latest Model 3 encountered a major production mishap.
CEO Elon Musk is a complete 'automation fanatic,' insisting on a 'fully automated, unmanned production line,' and the Model 3 became his test subject.
This project became his Waterloo, demonstrating to the world just how unreliable full automation is at this stage."
Now, the hungry wolves on Wall Street are smelling blood.
On Wall Street, there's an open secret.
Tesla is practically the most beloved toy of Wall Street's seasoned veterans, something they constantly scrutinize.
Mainly because the company's stock price is ridiculously inflated, the bubble is so big it could practically raise fish.
So, Wall Street hedge funds use it for practice, frequently shorting it.
Currently, Tesla's stock price is $360.
Tesla hasn't demonstrated overwhelming production capacity, nor is it far from dominating the electric vehicle market. So why is it worth $360?
This stock price is clearly full of bubbles and lies!
"Many experts have publicly stated that Tesla is essentially a Ponzi scheme.
But the most ironic thing is that Wall Street itself is partly to blame for its stock price being inflated to this level."
Those short-selling fund managers, while repeatedly opening and closing positions and frantically shorting, were also locked in a fierce battle with another wave of bullish investors.
This battle between the two giants created such a commotion that a large number of retail investors, eager for excitement, rushed in, like dumplings being dropped into a pot, artificially pushing the stock price up.
"Furthermore, this Mr. Musk is more enthusiastic about appearing on social media than any other company CEO; he's practically a natural topic generator."
"To put it bluntly, he's a master of creating drama, exceptionally good at stirring up controversy?" Su Hao summarized.
"Exactly. With this skill, Tesla's reputation soared, but the side effects were obvious.
However, regardless of the process, he undeniably created a $60 billion market capitalization myth; from the result, he's undoubtedly successful."
The problem is, even the bigwigs on Wall Street can't resist the hype he creates, getting dragged into it every time, leading to frequent battles between bulls and bears.
In the stock market, Tesla is less a publicly traded company and more like Wall Street's Disneyland.
"..."
Su Hao silently flipped through the analysis of Tesla's future stock price trend.
The report clearly pointed out that another large-scale short position was gathering on Wall Street.
"As mentioned before, Musk's dream of a 'fully automated factory' has backfired spectacularly.
Production line bugs are rampant, resulting in production falling short of even half of the target.
Moreover, vehicles already manufactured are experiencing a series of quality issues."
In short: Tesla is facing an unprecedented crisis.
And this news was like a godsend for the Wall Street wolves who were bored out of their minds after the "VIX doomsday" incident.
Isn't this obviously a piece of meat delivered to their doorstep?
Strike while the iron is hot!
Just place a huge short order here, and the profits will be pure cash!
"...!"
Just then, a familiar intuition suddenly surged up.
Su Hao could almost smell the thick, irresistible scent of money mixed with the smoke of battle and the promise of opportunity emanating from the name "Tesla".