Li Dong still had 300,000 shares of Baidu.
In 2007, Baidu shone brightly.
On July 10th, 2007, Baidu's share price exceeded 200 USD.
On September 18th, 2007, Baidu's share price exceeded 250 USD. Just six days later, it exceeded 300 USD on September 24th.
Then in November, it broke the 400 USD mark, shocking many people.
But in 2008, due to the financial crisis, Baidu's share price did not rise strongly. Of course, it did not fall much either.
Now, Baidu's share price hovered between 350 USD to 400 USD, unable to create miracles.
Even with the highest price of 400 USD per share, 300,000 shares were only worth 120 million USD. After deducting taxes, Li Dong could only get 800 million USD at most.
Compared to Li Dong's initial investment, Baidu's shares had increased dozens of times over the past few years.
Also, he had sold 200,000 shares previously and recovered his capital.
But seeing that the situation was not looking good, and Li Dong wanted to sell his shares, Sun Tao said regretfully, "General Manager Li, I think Baidu's share price will definitely rise. I don't dare to say more, but 500 USD is a sure thing … "
Li Dong shook his head and said, "It's the same. Let's not talk about how long it will take for Baidu to reach 500 USD. Even if it takes a year, it will only increase by 30 million USD. But we are short of money now. Do you think we can generate 200 million USD after a year with 800 million USD? "
If someone else said this, Sun Tao would not be so sure.
But since Li Dong said this, Sun Tao felt that it made sense.
With 800 million USD in Li Dong's hands, it might even double in a year.
When would Baidu's share price reach 800 USD?
Sun Tao did not try to persuade him anymore. He nodded and said, "If you insist, we can sell it. But even so, it will only last for a short period of time. According to CEO Yuan's budget, have you thought of a way to raise the remaining 2 billion? "
"We have to take it step by step. There's no rush. It's already mid-March. The company's current funds can last until April. When we get the money from Baidu's shares, we can last until May. There's still a two-month gap in between. Maybe money really will fall from the sky. "
Sun Tao didn't know whether to laugh or cry. This time, he didn't continue to speak. After saying goodbye to Li Dong, he quickly left.
As soon as he left, Li Dong continued to calculate in his mind.
When he decided to sell his shares, he had actually done some calculations.
10 years ago, when Baidu's shares were split by 10 shares, its share price was more than 700 USD. Now, it is almost double.
In other words, in another two years, the value of the shares in Li Dong's hands might reach more than 1.6 billion.
However, Li Dong had also thought about it. He was in need of money now, and with 800 million in cash, it wouldn't be too difficult for him to double it in two years.
Especially in 2008, it might not even take two years. It might even double in one year.
Since that was the case, there was no need to continue holding onto it.
As for the rest of the gap, he would take it one step at a time. Li Dong did not have much of a solution now. If all else failed, he would have to wait for the stock market to withdraw.
Moreover, if the financing was successful, he wouldn't have to worry about these things.
…
Everything in Jiangbei was progressing as usual.
Hsu Shengzhe and the rest of his friends came to visit Li Dong.
Everyone was relieved to see Li Dong alive and kicking.
Hu Xiaorui was the one who stayed the longest. On the day Li Dong got into trouble, she had prepared to go to Sichuan. But when she was about to leave, Li Dong held a press conference to announce that he was fine. That's why Hu Xiaorui did not rush over.
… …
The plains were calm and tranquil.
But other places were not calm.
In Beijing, Du Anmin had been preparing for more than a month, and he had finally defeated some of his opponents.
Li Dong did not publicize this news, and he only saw some changes in the people in Beijing.
A Deputy Mayor of the City Government had been transferred to a higher position. He was now a Deputy Minister.
Of course, this Deputy Minister was one of the lowest-ranking Deputy Ministers. His position was about the same as Chen Rui's father.
As for this Deputy Mayor, the treatment he received was like heaven and earth.
In addition to this Deputy Mayor, another member of the Standing Committee was also transferred. He was now a Deputy Governor.
As for the people below him, Li Dong did not care.
The change of the two Standing Committee members was enough to show some things. It could also show the attitude of the higher-ups.
If it weren't for the higher-ups supporting Du Anmin, Du Anmin himself would not have the ability to get rid of the two Standing Committee members.
… …
In Beijing, Du Anmin won a landslide victory.
In Sichuan, the progress was also good.
In the end, Liu Tang did not escape this disaster. He was finally caught in Shu Du City.
There was a saying that the most dangerous place is the safest place. Liu Tang obviously understood this.
During the time when he was being hunted, he ran back and forth. In the end, he ran back to Shu Du City.
However, the strength of a single person could not be compared to the strength of a group. On March 18th, Liu Tang, who had been on the run for a week, was secretly captured.
The reason why it was said to be secretly captured was because not many people in society knew about it.
The reason why Li Dong knew about it was because Shen Qian called him and told him. She also got the news from the leaders of the Sichuan Provincial Party Committee.
Compared to Li Dong, Shen Qian had more connections in Sichuan.
Especially after Du Anmin won a landslide victory in Beijing, some people wanted to give face to Shen Qian. Liu Tang's arrest was related to Li Dong, so the Sichuan Provincial Party Committee did not mind revealing some information.
As for how Liu Minghua would shuffle the cards, it was not something that Li Dong should care about.
However, Li Dong was very clear that this matter would only be limited to Sichuan and would not spread further.
In other words, the person behind Liu Tang would be fine this time.
Moreover, maybe Liu Minghua had reached a tacit understanding with someone.
Li Dong did not think that what Liu Minghua did was wrong. At least for now, this was the best result.
If Liu Minghua really went crazy and wanted to implicate the higher-ups, Li Dong could only silently pray for him and hope that he would not fall too soon.
Liu Tang was arrested, and Li Dong also had one less problem.
Although back in Jiangbei, Li Dong did not care about Liu Tang's revenge. But there was no need to leave a thorn in his side.
Now, this thorn had been removed. Although it had not entered the trial stage, Li Dong knew that even if Liu Tang did not die, it was hard to say whether he would have a chance to come out in this lifetime.
…
After Liu Tang was arrested, the progress of the school review in Sichuan also accelerated.
99 schools moved one after another. At the end of March, except for a few schools that had not moved because of special reasons, the rest of the schools had moved to new schools.
At this time, it was almost April.
Li Dong had been calling Shen Qian to come back, but Shen Qian said that they were still finishing up in Sichuan and had to wait for a few more days.
Li Dong looked at the calendar almost every day, thinking that if Shen Qian did not come back by mid-April, he would go and kill her.
He did not want to wait until the last moment to save the damsel in distress. If there were any changes and the earthquake happened one or two days earlier, he would regret it to death.
Of course, while he was concerned about these things, Li Dong did not forget about the company.
Baidu's shares were sold much faster than he had expected. Although the financial crisis had affected the stock market, and the US was no exception.
But Baidu was still quite popular in the US, and many people felt that it was worth investing in.
At the end of March, Li Dong got the money for Baidu's shares.
It was less than he had expected. It was less than 800 million, slightly more than 700 million.
After spending 700 million on the company, Li Dong still had tens of millions.
These tens of millions were not for enjoyment. In March, there was an outbreak of hand, foot, and mouth disease. By the end of March, there were already children who died.
Li Dong could not do anything about the spread of the virus.
The only thing he could do was to donate some money. This time, he donated 10 million in his own name. Although Li Dong did not ask for anything in return, he did not want to be a nameless hero.
If he donated 10 million, he could still check where the donation went after.
If he donated anonymously, he would not even know how the money was spent.
However, Li Dong rejected the media's interview. There was no need for him to be in the limelight at this stage. Although the 100 schools in Sichuan and Sichuan had some flaws, Li Dong's reputation was not damaged.
In China, Li Dong was already second to none as a philanthropist.
Donating 10 million at this time would not help much in improving his reputation. Li Dong did not expect to get many benefits from this.
Also, he thought that he should hide his strength and bide his time.
When the earthquake happened, he would probably be in the limelight again. It was better to keep a low profile now.
Li Dong wanted to keep a low profile, but every time he wanted to, he would cause trouble.
…
On March 24th, the Olympic flame was lit in ancient Greece.
On March 30th, the flame was handed over in Athens.
On March 31st, the flame arrived in Beijing.
Li Dong did not notice it when he was overseas. When the flame was handed over to China, Li Dong suddenly realized that something big was about to happen!
A big event that he had personally participated in in his previous life!
It was no wonder that Li Dong did not think about it before. He had too many things to do during this period. In addition, he was just joining in the fun in his previous life, so he did not pay much attention to it.
However, it was different in this life. When the flame arrived in Beijing, Li Dong suddenly realized that this matter might be related to him.
In his previous life, in April, the restless Li Dong did something that surprised even himself.
At that time, the transmission of the flame was blocked, and there was a wave of boycotts against foreign companies.
And Ping Chuan brought this wave to its climax.
Li Dong still remembered that day when he and his roommates went shopping at Longhua Square after he had finished his graduation project.
Of course, it was still called Longhua Square at that time, and the supermarket there was not Far away, but Tesco.
There was also a Carrefour not far away from Tesco.
What did Li Dong do at that time?
He saw people holding up banners saying "Long live Hua Xia" and "Boycott Carrefour" at the entrance of Carrefour.
He was young and hot-blooded.
In addition, Li Dong was a pseudo-nationalistic youth. When the crowd gathered, he became hot-blooded and started shouting slogans like a fanatic.
Even now, Li Dong could still feel the apprehension, excitement, and hot blood coursing through his veins.
It was many years ago. If Li Dong had not been in the retail business in this life, he might not have remembered it.
But in this life, he was in the retail business!
More importantly, now that Ping Chuan's Carrefour had been defeated by Li Dong, there was no longer a Carrefour.
Since that was the case, would there still be boycotts in Ping Chuan like in his previous life?
Probably not. This was not what Li Dong was concerned about. He had no intention of continuing to be a hot-blooded youth and shout slogans with the crowd.
However, Carrefour being boycotted might be an opportunity for them.
Li Dong's mouth was dry. He could not make up his mind. Should he stand up for them now?
To be honest, being boycotted by a country that had always been known as the capital of romance, where the rule of law, democracy, and freedom prevailed, many people felt cheated.
Even the Americans did not set up any obstacles on this matter. The people did not expect that they would be trampled on by this country of romance.
This was also one of the reasons why the incident had blown up. Everyone felt cheated and insulted, and the backlash was even more intense.
And Carrefour was only one of the political victims.
Carrefour was famous in China. Luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, French wine, and French perfume might be famous, but they were too niche.
Carrefour was the only one that was popular.
At this time, Carrefour had more than 110 stores in China, and its sales in Hua Xia in 2007 was close to 30 billion RMB.
A tall tree catches the wind. Carrefour had earned money from the people, and the people felt cheated by the country it was from. They were not soft on boycotting Carrefour.
The reason why Li Dong thought of this incident was not because he was an angry youth. He felt that he could get more benefits from this incident.
Nowadays, in the Hua Dong region, Distance had already become the well-deserved leader.
Even China Resources was slightly weaker than Far away in China.
Other than China Resources, other large supermarket chains like Bailian had also taken up a portion of the market.
After that, it was the major foreign supermarket chains.
The world giant Wal-Mart did not focus on China. Among the foreign investors, the leader happened to be Carrefour.
In China, except for Jiangbei and Sunan, Carrefour had more than 40 stores with annual sales of more than 10 billion RMB.
This figure could not be underestimated. Except for Jiangbei and Sunan, Faraway Supermarket's sales in China were only slightly better than Carrefour.
The same was true for China Resources. Especially after Su Guo was seriously injured, her strength was only comparable to Carrefour.
Li Dong secretly pondered whether he should do something big this time.
If he did it well, he might really be able to defeat Carrefour in China.
The reason why he hesitated now was that he was worried that he was not strong enough to defeat the opponent in one go.
On the other hand, he was worried that China Resources would take advantage of it and expand its influence in China.
As for the higher-ups, Li Dong was not too worried.
In fact, the Hua Xia government was sometimes very interesting. It was not convenient for them to come forward, but they did not oppose the people's boycott, and even covered up.
Li Dong remembered that in his previous life, the foreigners protested during the boycott.
As a result, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs came forward and sent them away with a few words.
As long as the matter did not cause trouble and did not violate the law, the Hua Xia government did not have any concerns.
Thinking of this, Li Dong murmured, "Should I do it or not? If I do it, I won't be able to keep a low profile. "
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