Typically, the purposes of listed companies buying back shares are diverse.
These primarily include enhancing investor confidence, optimizing capital structure, improving capital utilization efficiency, market value management, and so on.
For Renren to do this now is undoubtedly to declare war on short sellers.
If you want to be tough, I'll fight you to the end.
It is also a message to the general investors: brothers, don't be scared by these big short sellers.
We at Renren are particularly bullish on our own company, so buy with us. The current stock price is definitely not the end for Renren!
As market sentiment heated up, short sellers had no choice but to temporarily retreat.
Ultimately, by the close of the day, Renren's stock price had risen by 5.3%, closing at $161.10.
Although it did not successfully recover the ground lost the previous day, it did successfully halt the decline, partially defusing today's offensive by the short sellers.
After the market closed, Chen Pingjiang also breathed a sigh of relief.
"That's enough for today. Everyone go home, get some good rest, and recharge your spirits. This battle won't be won in a single day."
Indeed, the long-short battle cannot be concluded in a day or two.
When it ends depends on whether Renren's stock price crashes to the short sellers' psychological expectations, or whether Renren's stock price can rise against the trend.
Guan Yifeng walked over at this moment and asked with concern,
"Chairman Chen, President Li, I've had the kitchen staff prepare some late-night snacks. How about eating them as breakfast before resting?"
Chen Pingjiang waved his hand, looking a bit tired.
"You all eat. I'll go back and catch up on some sleep first. It's been almost thirty hours since I came out."
Li Xi also nodded.
"I'll also go back, take a shower, change clothes, and then rush back."
Logically speaking, Chen Pingjiang was still young, and occasionally staying up all night, going without sleep for thirty-odd hours, wasn't a big problem.
But the problem was the immense pressure from the long-short battle.
Every transaction had to be carefully considered, and every piece of positive news had to be released just right.
Coupled with the opponents' relentless attacks, giving no breathing room, how could the psychological pressure not be great?
This was more thrilling than gambling; in Macau, playing cards, you might win or lose tens of millions in one night, but in the stock market, you could win or lose billions of dollars in one night.
"Chairman Chen, we're home."
Li Fu called out several times before Chen Pingjiang woke up.
"Huh? We're here so fast."
"You fell asleep."
"Oh, thank you. You should go back and rest early too."
After giving instructions to Li Fu, Chen Pingjiang went straight into the villa, not disturbing anyone as he returned to his room to rest.
He didn't wake up until noon the next day. When he went downstairs, he unexpectedly saw Yan Yan.
She had taken off her usual professional skirt suit and changed back into a white T-shirt and jeans, just as she looked when they first met years ago.
Yan Yan, who was chatting with Xu Fangjuan, smiled sweetly when she saw Chen Pingjiang come downstairs.
"You must have woken up hungry, right?"
Seeing Yan Yan, Chen Pingjiang's heart also stirred. Today was still a workday, so she naturally hadn't gone to the company dressed like this. She must have come specifically to see him.
Chen Pingjiang smiled.
"I am a bit hungry."
Xu Fangjuan saw the fatigue on Chen Pingjiang's face and said with some concern,
"I've heard about it. Although I don't understand stocks, I've heard people say that it's normal for them to fluctuate. Don't put too much pressure on yourself. You've already made enough money for dozens of lifetimes for ordinary people."
Sometimes, a mother's nagging can truly make one feel inner warmth.
Chen Pingjiang made a funny face. "What pressure do I have? The people we beat yesterday night were scared senseless. Hurry up and eat, my stomach is rumbling from hunger."
After the meal, as Chen Pingjiang stretched, he heard Yan Yan say with a smile,
"Shall I take you somewhere this afternoon? It won't interfere with your work."
Chen Pingjiang nodded and asked curiously,
"Where to?"
"Just come, you'll know when we get there."
About half an hour later, Chen Pingjiang looked at Yan Yan with a mix of emotion and amusement.
"You brought me here just to see this?"
Yan Yan thought Chen Pingjiang didn't like it and said a bit flustered,
"Ah, didn't you say before that when you're in a bad mood, you come to ride the Ferris wheel?"
"No, I love it, let's go."
Chen Pingjiang took Yan Yan's smooth, cool little hand and walked towards the Ferris wheel, feeling a smile in his heart.
This girl was simply too introspective.
Yan Yan, who had never been in a relationship, actually didn't know how to please a man.
She would only quietly accompany him and do things she thought would make him happy.
Just like years ago.
She seemed to always quietly contribute from behind, acting according to her heart, asking for nothing.
Sometimes she seemed a bit clumsy, but this was the most sincere expression of emotion.
Just like when Chen Pingjiang got drunk years ago, when they didn't have much of a relationship yet, she would silently stay awake all night, guarding him.
She was still her.
When with Yan Yan, Chen Pingjiang never felt any pressure.
She didn't have Cong Nini's coquettish charm, Ge Mengshi's tender affection, or Zhang Xinyue's willful pride...
But so what?
She was just her, her name was Yan Yan.
The small cabin swayed and eventually reached the top. Unlike last time when they sat face to face, this time they sat embracing each other.
Yan Yan leaned on Chen Pingjiang's shoulder, gazing blankly at the side profile of her beloved and the clear blue sky outside the window.
...
At four in the afternoon, a refreshed Chen Pingjiang reappeared at Renren headquarters.
Seeing the tired-looking Li Xi, he reached out and patted his shoulder.
"Why are you here so early? Judging by your appearance, you didn't sleep at all, did you?"
Li Xi's secretary Liu Yu nodded.
"Yes, Chairman Chen, President Li went back, took a shower, and then returned because there were still some routine group affairs to handle during the day."
"You don't have to stay up all night with us; it's not a big deal."
Li Xi disagreed.
"I'm young, I'm fine. I'll just sleep for a while in the lounge after work. The market doesn't open until 9:30 anyway."
"Alright."
Chen Pingjiang saw that his persuasion had no effect, so he stopped trying.
After all, he was a stubborn one.
"Let's start the meeting."
It was the same office, and Bu Housheng was still online.
For Bu Housheng, it was also tough. After the market closed yesterday afternoon, he quickly took a nap.
He woke up at night to watch financial programs on time, then caught a few more hours of sleep after the programs, and now he had to attend Renren's board meeting in China.
In principle, Bu Housheng was not affiliated with Renren; he was only the head of Tianyuan Capital, Chen Pingjiang's private company. But Chen Pingjiang was the boss.
"Last night, I switched between several TV channels, and without exception, every program was bearish, expressing similar views. That is, Renren's share repurchase can only temporarily maintain the stock price, and in the long run, it cannot guarantee that Renren's stock price will not fall."
Chen Pingjiang nodded, then turned to Guan Yifeng.
"Was the program recorded?"
Guan Yifeng quickly replied,
"It's already recorded and translated. We can play it now."
"Do you have CNBC's 'Mad Money'?"
"Yes, I'll find it now."
A moment later, the program was projected onto the large screen.
After watching for a while, everyone in the meeting room had unpleasant expressions.
According to the financial host, Renren's stock almost met all the conditions for short selling.
One, the larger the previous increase, the better. Stocks that have surged rapidly often also crash rapidly. [√]
Two, it's best if it was a leader in a previous bull market. If there are a lot of institutional holdings, it will turn into significant selling pressure later on. [√]
Three, trading volume should at least exceed an average of 1 million shares per day. Do not short sell illiquid stocks, as they can easily rebound significantly, causing losses. [√]
Four, the smoother the previous rise, the better. It's best not to have large consolidation zones, which can form support lines and hinder declines. [√]
Five, it's best not to short stocks in strong sectors; instead, short weak stocks in weak sectors. [√]
"Change the channel."
"Okay, Chairman Chen, this is PBS's 'Nightly Business Report.' They invited Carson Block, the head of Muddy Waters Research, which published the short-selling report on Renren, to their program last night."
Chen Pingjiang's interest was piqued when he heard that.
Carson Block on TV, slick and shiny, vowed with spittle flying,
"Believe me, a crash in Renren's stock price is inevitable. We've already talked too much about Renren's internal reasons; there are external reasons as well."
"Everyone knows that the trend of the US stock market in 2011 was extremely unstable. The unrest in Libya in February, the Fukushima nuclear power plant leak in Japan in March, the US debt ceiling crisis and the downgrade of the US sovereign rating in August, and the escalating European debt crisis, among other events, frequently impacted the US financial market.
After the US stock market experienced successive violent fluctuations in August, there has been no decent rebound until now; instead, it has maintained a volatile trend. The VIX suddenly jumped from around 20 to around 45 and has maintained high volatility for nearly four months."
"The nominal yield on 10-year US Treasuries fell to a low of 1.72%, a 54% decrease from the year's high of 3.75%. The real yield on 10-year US Treasuries fell from the year's high of 1.08% to a low of -0.13% in August."
The host then asked,
"Carson, even elementary school students know that when US bond yields fall, money flows into the stock market, so isn't it a bull market right now? Is there anything wrong with that?"
Carson Block shook his head.
"Believe me, Jenny, the bull market has lasted long enough, and a bear market is coming. With US bond yields falling this much, won't the government act?"
...
After the program finished, Chen Pingjiang shifted his gaze to Bu Housheng on the other side of the screen.
"Old Bu, what do you think? Do you think he's right?"
Bu Housheng thought for a moment, then finally said in a deep voice,
"It's hard to refute. It's still possible."
Chen Pingjiang sighed and nodded.
"The other party has clearly done their homework; they came prepared."
Global stock markets performed poorly in 2011.
Affected by the European debt crisis and the slowdown in domestic economic recovery, the US stock market maintained a volatile trend throughout the year.
The three major stock indexes basically treaded water for the entire year, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining 6.13% in 2011, performing the best.
The S&P 500 had a slight increase of 0.43%, while tech stocks performed poorly, with the Nasdaq falling 1.48%.
Chinese concept stocks listed in the US had an extremely dismal year; in March 2011, the US stock market launched the US China Concept 30 Index, which tracks US-listed Chinese concept stocks, and that index cumulatively fell 33.60% in 2011.
In addition, the market was affected by many factors such as natural disasters, trade scandals, sharp fluctuations in commodity prices, and the Arab Spring.
This made the European and Asian markets extremely bleak.
The UK FTSE 100 index fell 5.6% annually, the German DAX fell 14.7%, the French CAC 40 fell 18%, China's Shanghai Composite Index fell 21% annually, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 19.7%. The Singapore Straits Times Index fell 17.5%. Australia's S&P ASX 200 fell 14.5%, and South Korea's Kospi fell 11%.
The poor overall environment was visible to everyone.
This was also Carson Block's insidious point, using objectively existing facts to scare people.
It was tantamount to shouting at investors,
"A bear market is coming, why aren't you all running away quickly? Chinese concept stocks have fallen so badly, why are you still buying? Believe it or not, Renren's stock will be the same."
After the meeting, Chen Pingjiang remained in deep thought.
Today, other means were needed to counteract the downward pressure on the stock price.
Of course, due to Renren's buyback plan yesterday, the downward pressure wasn't that significant.
After thinking for a moment, he pulled out his long-unused Twitter and Facebook accounts.
He still needed a channel to voice his opinion.
Otherwise, due to time differences and channel limitations, letting those people spout nonsense wasn't a good idea.
Imagine, would this even be an issue in China?
Chen Pingjiang could simply post a message on Weibo and Renren, and the information would be disseminated.
After a brief test of his account passwords, Chen Pingjiang successfully logged into Facebook and Twitter. These two accounts were registered when he last visited the US.
At that time, Tianyuan Capital had just invested in Twitter, and Renren had just begun its cooperation with Facebook.
He checked them and was surprised to find that even after such a long period of disuse, both accounts still had blue checkmarks.
After thinking about it, Chen Pingjiang posted two tweets consecutively.
[Carson Block's performance on TV was terrible, unbelievable, did this guy not graduate from college?]
[The biggest short burn of the century is coming, flamethrowers are arriving on site. @Carson Block @Einhorn, I've sent someone to deliver each of you a box of shorts, tell me how they fit after you put them on.]
In English, "shorts" can refer to both underwear and short sellers. He was essentially trying to disgust these two guys.
Of course, the shorts were torn.
This was practically a war of words.
These American short sellers all liked to use Twitter to express their views and stir up public opinion.
This move was something Chen Pingjiang had long mastered.
That morning, Chen Pingjiang called both Twitter and Facebook directly, asking them to drive traffic to his accounts so that more people would see them.
Neither of the two would, of course, refuse.
Twitter was currently cooperating very happily with Renren, making a fortune every year from the social games Renren provided.
Moreover, Twitter couldn't afford to offend its second-largest shareholder.
Starting at 8 AM, Chen Pingjiang's account prominently appeared on the homepages of Twitter and Facebook.
Fearing that foreigners wouldn't know Chen Pingjiang's identity.
The description box simultaneously stated: Chairman of Renren, Chairman of Orange, Chairman of Renrengou, China's richest man.
Chen Pingjiang's follower count could be seen climbing at a visible speed.
Carson Block, an early riser, opened Twitter as usual and saw the mentions directed at him, only to find Chen Pingjiang's tweet lambasting him.
[Carson Block's performance on TV was terrible, unbelievable, did this guy not graduate from college?]
Carson Block cursed in anger,
"Bullshit! What an impolite guy!"
(End of Chapter)