Tech Giants: Starting from Bankrupt Companies

230: Chapter 230 The Capital Market: A Tale of Two Extremes9:00 AM New York time (9:00 PM Beijing time), at a short-selling firm on Wall Street.

The person in charge, Karl Jenkins, 50 years old, bald, with eyes as sharp as an eagle’s, stared at Spark Power’s announcement on the screen, his fingers tapping rapidly on the table.

Twelve traders sat in the office, all staring at him.

”Have you all seen the data?” Karl asked, his voice low.

”We have, boss,” the chief analyst replied. ”86 billion in licensing fees, 739.8 billion in orders, 30 car companies.”

”Good,” Karl stood up. ”Now, I order you: short all battery companies that haven’t received authorization with everything we’ve got. A123 Systems, GS Yuasa, SK Innovation... all of them on the list, max out the leverage!”

The traders operated quickly.

Karl walked to the window, looked at the Wall Street streetscape, and said to his assistant: ”Remember, in the face of a technological revolution, old giants don’t die slowly; they evaporate overnight. Today is evaporation day.”

The assistant asked in a low voice: ”Boss, will we... be too ruthless?”

”Ruthless?” Karl laughed. ”That’s the capital market for you. Winner takes all, losers get wiped out. Spark Power has already won; those who didn’t get on board deserve to sink.”

He paused: ”Also, we’re not just shorting the losers, we’re going long on the winners. CATL, BYD, BMW... go long on all those that received authorization.”

”But CATL is already up 48% today...”

”It will keep rising,” Karl said confidently. ”I predict that within three months, CATL’s market value will exceed one trillion rmb. Because it is a core member of the Spark Power ecosystem, equivalent to Apple’s Foxconn.”

Just as he finished speaking, a trader shouted: ”Boss, A123 opened down 32%!”

”GS Yuasa is down 28%!”

”SK Innovation is down 25%!”

Karl smiled: ”Look, the evaporation has begun.”

At the same time, at Goldman Sachs headquarters.

Chief New Energy Analyst Emily Chen, 35, ethnic Chinese, was hosting an emergency conference call. On the other end of the line were over 500 institutional investors from around the world.

”Everyone, Spark Power’s data has exceeded our most optimistic expectations.” Emily pulled up a chart. ”We have recalculated the valuation model for Spark Power.”

The big screen displayed:

Old Model (Yesterday): Annual revenue expectation: 80 billion rmb; Net profit margin: 15%; Valuation: 1.2 trillion rmb.

New Model (Today): Licensing fee revenue: 86 billion (one-time); Annual royalty revenue: estimated 20 billion/year (potentially 50 billion/year after five years); Battery sales: estimated 300 billion/year; Total annual revenue: approximately 350 billion; Net profit margin: 25% (technology premium); Annual net profit: approximately 87.5 billion; Reasonable P/E ratio: 30x (growth tech giant); Valuation: 2.6 trillion rmb.

”2.6 trillion!” someone exclaimed on the other end. ”That exceeds the combined total of CATL + BYD + LG Energy Solution!”

”Yes,” Emily said calmly. ”Because Spark Power is not a manufacturing company; it is a technology standard setter and an ecosystem platform. Its business model is a dimension higher than simple manufacturing.”

She added: ”More importantly, with this order list, Spark Power has locked in 80% of the global electric vehicle battery supply for the next five years. This means that any new entrant must first ask if Spark Power allows it.”

”Then what is your investment advice?”

”Buy all Spark Power concept stocks. Especially the A-level authorized companies: CATL, BYD, BMW. Hold long-term, for at least five years.”

After the conference call, Emily’s team began writing the report overnight.

Title: ”Spark Power: The ’Intel + Microsoft’ Combination of the New Energy Era”

Subtitle: ”Technological standard hegemony has formed; growth is secure for the next decade.”

This report would be released in two hours and become the bible of Wall Street.

London time 1:00 PM (Beijing time 9:00 PM), London Stock Exchange.

Today is Black Thursday for the European stock market—but the meaning of ’black’ is different for different companies.

Surge camp: BMW: +18%, creating the largest single-day gain in a decade. Volkswagen: +12%. Mercedes-Benz: +9%. Audi: +5%.

Plunge camp: Renault: -8%. Fiat: -7%. Unauthorized battery companies generally fell 15-25%.

In the trading hall, two emotions were intertwined.

At the BMW trading desk, traders were popping champagne. ”Spark Power A-level authorization! We are the only one in Europe to get A-level! This means that for the next five years, BMW electric vehicles will crush Mercedes-Benz and Audi!”

While at the Renault trading desk, the trader’s face was pale. ”Why aren’t we on the list? What is headquarters doing?”

A veteran trader smiled bitterly: ”Because Renault wanted to push prices down, wanted to wait for Spark Power to lower prices. The result... they waited for doomsday.”

Even more dramatic was the oil sector.

Shell: -5%. BP: -6%. Total: -7%.

Analyst comment: ”If electric vehicles have a range of 1,200 kilometers and charge in 10 minutes, the advantage of fuel vehicles will only remain in ’sentiment.’ The peak of oil demand may arrive ten years early.”

At 10:00 PM, global financial media went into a frenzy.

CNBC live connected with three experts:

Energy expert John Hopkins: ”I just got back from Houston. The oil company executives there can’t sleep tonight. Spark Power’s orders mean that the replacement of fuel vehicles by electric vehicles is no longer a question of ’if,’ but ’how fast’.”

Political analyst Lisa: ”30 car companies have collectively turned to Spark Power, and America’s sanctions have become mere empty shells. I have inside information: the German car company alliance has sent a letter to the White House, threatening to cancel investment plans in America if they continue to sanction Spark Power.”

Tech commentator Mike: ”The scariest thing is not the order numbers, but the technological standard hegemony—in the future, the battery specifications, charging interfaces, and electronic control protocols of electric vehicles will all have to follow Spark Power’s standards. This means Spark Power not only sells products, but also sells the ’rules of the game’.”

The host asked: ”Then what about America’s companies?”

Mike replied: ”Tesla has already secured a partnership. Other American car companies... either beg Spark Power for authorization or exit the electric vehicle market. There is no third path.”

This connection was played repeatedly.

And on social media, the jokers started to revel.

Twitter trending: #StarFireBatteryDomination (12 million discussions) #RIPOilCompanies (7 million) #ByeByeGasCars (5 million).

The hottest tweet came from an anonymous account: ”Wall Street tonight: Traders who went long on Spark Power concept stocks: popping champagne to celebrate. Hedge funds that shorted oil companies: popping champagne to celebrate. Oil company executives: popping sleeping pills. CEOs of unauthorized battery companies: opening windows to consider jumping. Spark Power employees: opening computers to prepare to continue working tomorrow #NormalWorkDay”

This tweet was retweeted 2 million times.

The Chinese microblogging platform was also exploding: #XinghuoPowerBatteryOrders500Billion (800 million views) #CATLHitsLimitUp (600 million) #DoFuelVehiclesHaveAFuture (500 million) #RiseOfHuaxiaTechnology (400 million).

On Douyin, financial blogger ”Financial Little Prince” produced a short video overnight titled ”Three Minutes to Understand How Spark Power Harvests the World,” which exceeded 100 million views within an hour of release.

In the video, he explained in layman’s terms: ”Spark Power did three things: First, made the best battery (technology crushing). Second, sold the technology to all car companies (ecosystem monopoly). Third, made companies that don’t use its technology unable to survive (market cleansing). Simply put: I’m not targeting anyone, I’m just saying that everyone here is... my customer.”

The top comment in the comment section: ”It used to be Huaxia companies begging foreign companies for technology, now it is foreign companies begging Spark Power to sell technology. Thirty years on the east bank, thirty years on the west bank.”