Rebirth of wealth and freedom starts from the World Cup

Chapter 207 The capitalist who never earns the last penny!
In Zhao Zixuan's eyes, Li Chaoren is a complete profit-seeker and a ruthless capitalist.

In this tycoon's world, there is no right or wrong, no prosperity and development of the city, no future of the country, and no well-being of the citizens.

The wealth he controls is as boundless as the ocean.

He endlessly bought and hoarded land, pushing up housing prices and rents, like a greedy beast, devouring the vitality and vigor of the city. He continued to buy energy and telecommunications systems in major cities, and then exploited the lives of citizens by raising prices.

His way of making money may seem complicated, but it is actually simple and clear.

——Buy low and sell high, monopolize price increases.

Li Chaoren's calculations were jingling loudly, but anyone with a little insight could see through his thoughts.

However, despite all the calculations, Li Chaoren did not expect that Britain would leave the EU in the future.

This incident caused his British assets to depreciate instantly, and his monopoly plan was strongly resisted by European and American countries.

Whenever he tried to acquire an industry, Europe and the United States would issue a statement to criticize him and warn him not to monopolize the market.

Under such circumstances, it became extremely difficult for Li Chaoren to continuously acquire companies in the same field.

In the future, due to the economic downturn caused by Brexit and pressure from the government, he will choose to take drastic measures and sell off more than 100 billion worth of British assets.

Zhao Zixuan still remembers this incident.

Although Li Chaoren performed very well in protecting his own interests, Zhao Zixuan thought he was too selfish.

In contrast, although those brainwashed banana people and public intellectuals also show characteristics of selfishness, they lack the shrewdness and decisiveness of Li Chaoren.

They are often bound by their own ideas, unable to see clearly how the situation changes, and ultimately can only passively bear the consequences.

Li Chaoren is different. He can keenly perceive the change of wind direction and adjust his strategy in time. Once he finds that the situation is not good, he will take action without hesitation and protect his interests at all costs.

This can be foreseen from his decisive sale of mainland assets and his escape.

Although people keep their distance from Superman Li, they have to acknowledge his unique position and influence in the business world.

In this era full of competition and change, perhaps it is this shrewdness and decisiveness that makes him invincible.

Sometimes, Zhao Zixuan felt that Li Chaoren’s cautious character was quite similar to Han Paopao, the character created by Wangyu.

——Li Chaoren frowned, realized something was wrong, and retreated behind the crowd.

When it comes to the ability to perceive danger, Li Chaoren and Han Paopao are on par with each other, so it is no exaggeration to call him "Li Paopao".

"Don't you agree with my grandfather's investment strategy in Britain?"

Li Yanning was an extremely intelligent girl. She keenly caught the hidden meaning in Zhao Zixuan's words, even though he did not express his opinion directly.

Zhao Zixuan is not optimistic about the Li family's business layout of withdrawing from the mainland and investing in the UK.

why?
Facing Li Yanning's curious eyes, Zhao Zixuan only responded briefly: "It's easy to get it out, but it's hard to get it back."

Li Yanning frowned upon hearing this and asked, "What does Run mean?"

Zhao Zixuan just remembered that the meaning of the word "Run" has not yet been popularized.

But he was too lazy to explain. He had already given the answer and reminded everyone who needed to be reminded.

If the Li family insists on buying British assets and selling them high, it is not something that an outsider like him can veto with just a few words.

That’s Superman Li!
Why would a business tycoon who has been in power for many years listen to the comments of a young boy?

Looking back at Li Chaoren’s legendary operations, it seems like a business epic is slowly unfolding before our eyes.

Starting from July 2013, the situation suddenly changed. Li Chaoren announced the sale of the ParknShop supermarket chain in mainland China in a high-profile manner. This move shocked everyone and caused an uproar in the business community.

Immediately afterwards, in April 2014, Li Zekai sold the Imperial Capital Yingke Center to someone else for a huge sum of 4 billion yuan, which once again caused a stir in the market.

In November of the same year, Li Chaoren sold Sichuan-Chongqing Metropolis worth 11 billion yuan. His quick decision-making and decisive action were astonishing.

……

In just over a year, Li Chaoren, like a business magician, cleverly converted his assets into huge funds of more than 700 billion Hong Kong dollars.

While many netizens were still abusing and slandering him for his "short-sighted" operations, the mainland real estate market quietly changed.

With falling housing prices and upgraded regulatory measures, the entire industry has fallen into a slump.

It was not until early 2017 that the capital implemented the strictest purchase restriction policy in history, and the real estate market cycle reached its peak.

From the perspective of a reborn person, this series of decisions made by Li Chaoren was simply a stroke of genius, allowing the Li family's business empire, which started out in real estate, to avoid the Evergrande-style tragedy in advance.

However, the story doesn't end there.

In February 2024, Hong Kong officially abolished the "tough measures" in the property market that had been implemented for 2 years and fully lifted purchase restrictions.

This news was like a spring breeze, awakening the vitality of Hong Kong's real estate market. A large number of wealthy people from the mainland flocked to Hong Kong to buy real estate. For the bigwigs engaged in real estate development in Hong Kong, this was undoubtedly a godsend opportunity to make money.

However, Li Chaoren once again did the opposite. He chose to sell the house at a 30% discount in this hot market!
Is this charity?

Obviously not.

Li Chaoren's family business is different from real estate companies such as Vanke and Wanda. His companies have always had ample cash flow.

Even if its performance fell by more than 2023% in 20, Cheung Kong still achieved a profit of more than HK$170 billion, had HK$400 billion in cash, and its net debt to total net capital ratio was as low as 3%.

The cash flow scale of the entire Cheung Kong Group is staggeringly large, with huge amounts of funds amounting to hundreds of billions of yuan sitting in its bank accounts all year round.

Zhao Zixuan speculated based on his own experience that Li Chaoren at that time might have had two considerations.

First, Hong Kong may gradually implement the policy of "home ownership for all" and gradually open up land for house building.

Second, with the gradual integration of the Pearl River Delta region, Hong Kong's status as a city with the highest housing prices may be weakened.

However, most importantly, Li Chaoren also knows that cash is king. In the context of a downward economic cycle, it is undoubtedly safer to hold a large amount of funds in hand.

……

During this meeting, Zhao Zixuan chatted with Li Yanning for an entire afternoon.

In keeping with the principle of hospitality, Li Yanning took him to visit her school, the Dickson Poon School of Law, King's College London.

The college is located on the banks of the picturesque Thames. It is as famous as other famous universities such as Oxford and Cambridge and is known as the "Golden Triangle Famous Universities".

The so-called "Golden Triangle" refers to three prestigious universities in the southeast of the UK: Oxford University, Cambridge University and University of London (UCL, KCL, IC, LSE). The academic research funding of these three schools occupies an important position in the UK, hence the name "Gold Triangle".

In mainland China, many international students are often influenced by various rankings when choosing schools, and they are entangled and confused. They will repeatedly compare universities of different levels and eventually fall into the dilemma of choosing. However, King's College, a charming institution, is underestimated because of its expensive tuition and strict language requirements.

In fact, King's College started late in its international recruitment strategy. Compared with other prestigious London universities, it recruited relatively few mainland students, so its influence was weakened.

However, in terms of admission difficulty, the four universities in London are undoubtedly the most difficult universities in the UK except Oxford and Cambridge. The difficulty of their advantageous subjects is even comparable to that of Oxford and Cambridge, requiring candidates to pass all IELTS subjects with a score of 7 and an average score of 85 or even above 90.

Although the tuition fees and living expenses of the four universities in London are expensive, these have not become their disadvantages.

On the contrary, these high fees only serve to highlight their elitist nature.

The setting sun was as red as blood, sprinkling on the sparkling water of the Thames. Zhao Zixuan and Li Yanning sat side by side on a bench by the river, having a pleasant conversation.

She is surrounded by a group of bodyguards in black. Like He Jieyu, Li Yanning, who is also the daughter of a wealthy family, is almost inseparable from her bodyguards. Whenever there is any disturbance around them, these bodyguards will sensitively notice it and rush forward.

"You have so many bodyguards following you every day when you go out. Don't you feel that you have lost your freedom in life?"

Zhao Zixuan stared at the beautiful face beside him and asked casually.

Li Yanning doesn't like to wear makeup very much. After meeting her several times, she is basically without makeup. Even if she wears makeup, it is light makeup to cover blemishes. She is rarely seen with heavy makeup.

But she seems more feminine this way.

At this time, facing Zhao Zixuan's question, she pondered for a while before responding: "Freedom and safety, which one do you think is more important? And I don't think I have lost my freedom. You should have heard about my father's affairs, right? Since that incident, Grandpa has attached great importance to the safety of everyone in our family."

Zhao Zixuan naturally knew that she was talking about the shocking case of the century thief who kidnapped Li Zeju.

If I remember correctly, the amount of extortion seemed to be as high as 10 billion?

But it is obviously not easy to discuss this matter directly with Li Yanning, after all, this is the other party's family's dark history.

Zhao Zixuan changed the subject and continued, "You are always surrounded by so many people. Do they report your every move to your grandfather?"

Li Yanning shook her head slightly, with a bit of helplessness in her eyes: "When I was a child, he would, but since I became an adult, grandpa let me live on my own and no longer asked about my daily life."

She was halfway through her words when she suddenly stared at Zhao Zixuan and said half-jokingly, "Are you afraid that my grandfather will know about your meeting with me today, so you have been hiding it?"

Zhao Zixuan shrugged. "I am not afraid of my own shadow, so why should I be afraid? But then again, I actually want to meet your grandfather. Is he in London now?"

Li Yanning stared at him, trying to read his true intentions from his eyes: "If you want to see him, I can help you pass the message, but I can't guarantee that grandpa will see you. He is usually very busy. Even if I want to see him, I have to make an appointment in advance."

Zhao Zixuan smiled and waved his hand, "Forget it, I was just kidding. Your grandfather is already old, and I probably won't be able to have a conversation with him even if I meet him. It's more comfortable to chat with you."

"...I also think we get along very well." Li Yanning smiled and looked into those deep eyes with distinct black and white.

At this moment, both of them vaguely discovered a slight glimmer in each other's eyes.

next second.

Zhao Zixuan smiled cynically and said, "Could it be that Miss Yan Ning has fallen in love with me?"

Li Yanning: “…”

(End of this chapter)