The Chaebol Who Flies From Space - Chapter 91



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The Tycoon Who Flies Into Space Episode 91

Episode 91 Iraq War (4)

As the situation progressed smoothly, the crude oil market became a battlefield.

Those who had bet on a rise quickly threw away their positions in an attempt to get out of the market.

The rate at which oil prices are falling has become increasingly steep.

Harry, who was watching the investments in the trading room, lost his mind.

As the rising oil price collapsed to the floor without exceeding $40, Herishgal could not hide his anxious expression.

A portfolio built by investing all the spare money available for investment resulted in huge losses.

“Hey, why don’t you reorganize some of your investment positions now? They are exposed to too much risk.”

Harry Segal snapped back harshly at MacDougall’s words.

“That’s ridiculous! Do you know how much damage has been incurred so far? Over 10 billion dollars! 10 billion dollars!”

Harry, who rarely speaks loudly, reacted sharply.

“I know, but even now, you should close the position according to the rules and confirm the loss. Or, you can just keep the current position.”

“It can’t be! If we leave it alone, the price will definitely go up again. No, no, the price will go up anyway. There is something wrong with this.”

Harry, who had bet on rising oil prices and suffered unexpected losses, was not in his right mind.

Her hair, which was always neatly combed like a picture, was disheveled, her eyes were bloodshot, and the smell of alcohol was strong even when she got close.

Maybe it’s because I stayed up all night checking the oil prices, but I still haven’t made the right decision.

As the price of oil fell to $30, Harry gave nervous instructions.

“Are you making a profit from the puts you bought for hedging?”

“Yes, we made a profit of $2.2 billion.”

“Sell it.”

“Hey, I’m holding that for hedging. It’s good to sell the puts you bought, but you should also close out the rest of your positions.”

“Nonsense! Oil prices won’t fall like this. No! This is the bottom. It is the bottom. Of course it is. So, close out your profitable puts right now and buy as many call options as possible.”

“Heri, this is against the rules. I will report it to the higher-ups.”

Harry’s face turned cold at MacDougall’s repeated dissuasion.

“If you don’t listen to my orders, you’re fired! Pack your bags and get out now!”

The already cold atmosphere in the trading room became arctic as the unexpectedly huge losses were seen.

MacDougall couldn’t continue speaking after hearing Harry’s unexpected words.

“What are you guys doing? Get MacDougal out of here! He’s not an employee here anymore.”

As the hesitant employees approached, MacDougall waved his hand.

Harry screamed as he was kicked out of the trading room.

“What I’m saying is, quickly liquidate the put options you have and buy call options.”

After being kicked out of the trading room, McDougall Park felt something was seriously wrong.

Harry, Goldman’s East Asia head, is sharp but smart.

But things started to go wrong last year.

Some of the funds invested in the small country of Korea disappeared. We were working to target Cho Yong-won, the mastermind behind this, but there was no opening.

From then on, Heri had deep ill feelings towards Jo Yong-won.

Although it was an unusual loss, it was something that happened often when working at an investment bank, so McDougall didn’t pay much attention to it.

Harry Siegel, the East Asia headquarters director, was paranoid. He would lose his temper at the prospect of an unexpected loss.

Looking at his appearance, he was a cold and indifferent person who didn’t seem like he could even put a needle in. In fact, his personality was like that. However, when he made an unexpected mistake, he lost his reason.

Because he is so capable, no such personality problems have been revealed until now.

It was Harry’s shortcoming that only MacDougall, who had worked with him for a long time, knew.

It was at this very moment that Harry’s problem was revealed.

The intensity of the work required to rise to a high position in an investment bank is beyond imagination.

Not only must the workload be enormous, but performance must also be supported. Therefore, psychiatric treatment was a daily routine for the employees.

As I returned my employee ID and packed my bags to leave, all sorts of thoughts crossed my mind.

Anyway, I checked the investment performance through insiders at the bank where I opened the account. I was speechless when I saw the enormous investment returns of the accounts that had made huge profits.

So, I personally did not neglect to check Cho Yong-won’s investment accounts through insider information.

Are those accounts also reporting losses?

As soon as MacDougall got out of the office, he made a phone call.

“Thomas, this is MacDougall. The account I checked last time, the investment position is still the same. What? Reverse?”

After the brief and simple call, MacDougall was left in shock.

As we have seen, such a huge investment position cannot be easily changed.

This meant that they knew in advance that oil prices would fall sharply.

How can that be?

Oil prices plummeted to the floor.

The downtrend seemed to have stalled as buying pressure came in at $30, but eventually it fell below $30. Once it broke through $30, buying pressure disappeared from the market.

We have entered the fear zone.

There was a flood of orders to sell, but almost no orders to buy.

Occasionally, when a buy order comes in, sell orders pour in as if they had been waiting for it.

Eventually, the price fell to $18 before the market closed, the lowest since 1997, before rising to $20.10 at the end.

If he had held his investment position as is, he would have made huge profits.

Ian, his confidant, comes to see MacDougall, who is drinking whiskey alone at his regular shop.

“Please give me a drink too.”

“What happened?”

“The trading room was turned upside down. When oil prices fell below $28, Harry lost his temper and started throwing tantrums.”

“What was the profit margin?”

“It was $28.50. If I had just held the position, I would have made close to $10 billion. Damn it!”

Ian drank the whiskey the bartender brought him gulps after gulp, as if he was angry just thinking about it.

It was worth it. I went from heaven to hell in one day.

It was an investment that would have been profitable even if it had just been held, but the head of the headquarters stepped in and made a series of mistakes, and in the end, it resulted in a huge loss.

Not only was the bonus I was hoping for absurd, I had to start looking for a new job.

“What about the chief?”

“He was locked in his office and wouldn’t move. No matter how I looked at him, he seemed out of his mind. He was completely out of his mind.”

Making large investments can be a huge burden.

Most people who can’t handle the extreme stress of investment banking end up dropping out within five years.

Even those who lasted a long time had one screw loose.

Although Harry has held up well in the chaos so far, he has failed to overcome the pressure at a crucial moment.

“What do we do now?”

“Now that I’ve been laid off, I guess I’ll have to look for another job.”

“If that’s really the case, please take me too.”

“Think about it.”

The next day I had a headache from a hangover from how much I drank.

I forced myself to take an aspirin and came to my senses.

MacDougall cleared his throat, checked the time, and made a call.

“Henry, it’s MacDougall.”

“What’s going on?”

“Herri was going crazy. She lost all control as her investment positions started losing money.”

“How much loss did you suffer?”

“We lost $8.7 billion. The fact that the price of oil fell below $30 was fatal. If we had kept the original position, we would not have incurred a loss. The structure was such that we would make a profit if the price fell below $28. The biggest blow was that we liquidated the put option we had in the middle and bought additional calls to change it into a long position.”

“… … .”

As soon as I got to work, I heard something so absurd that I was speechless for a while.

“… … Why wasn’t it reported to me immediately when such a huge loss occurred?”

“I was supposed to report, but I was fired yesterday.”

“Who fired you? Was it Harry? You’re really out of your mind. Okay, I’ll call you back later.”

After ending her call with Goldman CEO Henry Paulson, McDougal let out a deep sigh.

Let’s wait a moment, the phone rang.

“I’ve confirmed the situation. Damn it… … From now on, you’re the temporary head of the East Asia headquarters. Get back to work and finish this up.”

“Me?”

“Okay, you do it. Sending someone else would take a lot of time just to figure it out. Get this resolved quickly. If you handle this well, the job is yours.”

It was an unexpected story.

When I arrived at work late, the atmosphere in the office changed.

Yesterday, the security guard who had so rudely kicked me out came over and handed me my employee card.

“A personnel order has come down from headquarters. What happened yesterday… … .”

The security chief was surprised when the fired employee showed up as a top-level employee in just one day.

“Okay, Harry?”

“He’s locked in the director’s office and won’t budge. Should I open the door and drag him out?”

“… … Let me have a conversation.”

When he went up to the chief’s office, Henry Segal was a complete wreck. He hadn’t washed up properly for days and had been drinking all day, so the chief’s office was a mess.

“This is ridiculous, what’s wrong with this? This is ridiculous.”

Harry, who sat there muttering endlessly to himself, was obviously not in his right mind.

I closed the door I had opened and went outside.

“It’s completely gone”

Although the inside of the building is non-smoking, I felt an unbearable urge to smoke.

* * *

“Where did your child get the nerve to rush in and buy something?”

When an order to buy came in like catching a mole, I grabbed it.

After doing this a few times, the oil futures price went down to $20.

After the market closed, the WTI index rose to $20.1, but that was because I sold off my holdings.

“Hehehe, how much profit did you make from this investment?”

It was quite exciting to see how much profit could be made by switching between buy and sell positions.

[A total of 128 billion won was generated in profit.]

“How much?”

[128 billion.]

Wow! It was a thrilling sound just to hear.

With 126 billion, a lot of it would be lost in taxes, but now he was truly the richest man in the world.

“What happened to him? He jumped in when I told him to bounce back from $30?”

Harry Siegel, who was on Iriel’s watch, made a crazy $30 bounce. I wondered if the stupid fish took the bait.

[Yes, I converted to a long position by selling the put and buying the call.]

“It must have been terribly broken.”

[lost $8.7 billion]

It was the end of a fool who took the bait. No, it was probably because he was blinded by greed.

This is something that happens often when investing.

Later, when time passes, you may wonder how you made such a stupid investment, but when you become a party to it, you will understand why you made such a stupid investment.