Extraordinary Genius

The three of them chatted for a while more before Feng Yu leave.

In the car, Feng Yu sighed. He had told them what he can, and it’s up to them if they are willing to believe him.

Lunar New Year is around the corner, and Feng Yu returned to Bing City. His family had returned before New Year Day because Feng Yu wanted them to avoid crowded places.

From the end of 2002 to early 2003, a pandemic might happen and affect the whole world, especially Southeast Asia.

This virus might not be fatal, but the treatment cost is high. Of course, the treatment course is nothing to Feng Yu, but Li Na is pregnant and doesn’t want to take any risks.

During this period, all sorts of rumors appeared on the internet. For example, vinegar can kill this virus, and isatis root can prevent people from getting this virus.

These are fine as vinegar and isatis roots are cheap items and can be bought with a few RMB.

But some people took advantage of the situation and start to push up the prices of these two items, including face masks and other preventive medical products.

Feng Yu could foresee this happening and asked all of his companies to try their best to stabilize commodities prices. At the same time, he asked Sina, Sohu, Baidu, and other companies to stop the online rumors and helped the authorities to track these people’s IP addresses.

When Feng Yu’s companies got back to him, he is speechless. Only a handful of those who spread rumors is doing it for benefits. The rest are doing it for fun and attention.

This fake news is spread among the people, and the situation becomes worse.

Some people have nothing to do and thought they can say whatever they want on the internet.

Feng Yu dislikes such people.

These people must be dealt with. They did not think of the consequences of their actions, and it’s against the law!

The current laws on online rumors are not comprehensive. This is happening around the world, and it’s not just China alone.

Korea and Japan have the most comprehensive laws regulating the internet. Because their countries are small, their internet had developed earlier. Such incidents happened much earlier, and they had implemented countermeasures.

But China’s internet development is not considered late. At least it is much earlier than Feng Yu’s previous life. No matter how comprehensive the laws are, it still boils down to the nation’s education system.

Governing the nation through law and governing the nation with morals are the same. An ideal society should be using morals to govern the nation. But this target cannot be achieved soon. Many people felt this will not happen even when humans are extinct because humans are selfish. It will not happen even in a communist society.

Feng Yu does not want to interfere in this as it is the Government’s job. He only wants his companies to do their part. At the same time, he asked his companies to issue orders to the staff, asking them not to believe or spread rumors.

This pandemic is not that serious. It’s because of the rumors, people become paranoid. In history, sudden outbreaks had not caused any significant impacts. For example, the AIDS virus is not as deadly as Tuberculosis.

People are afraid of this virus because not much is known about it, and it is contagious.

Scientists around the world will soon find a cure and treatment methods for it.

Very soon, people will regain their senses and know this outbreak is not that scary. Those countries that did not want to see China rising up will secretly start to use dirty tricks.

For example, the <Times> magazine published an article that there’s a cover-up on patients’ numbers.

After that, much international news media spread this article and calls for people to avoid traveling to China for holidays and work. They even call for the foreigners investing in China to withdraw their investments.

Under normal circumstances, the WHO will help and not question when a new virus appeared.

That means they will think of ways to treat and prevent the virus from spreading and not looking for someone to bear responsibility.

One of the rumors claimed that the virus was leaked from China, which is doing biochemical tests. This rumor is started in Japan, which had conducted biochemical tests in the past.

Every country’s media are trying to tarnish China’s reputation, and China had to explain herself while fighting this virus.

Of course, this virus had been contained in Feng Yu’s previous life without significant damages. But Feng Yu is not paying any attention to this as it is about time to delist Sina.

Delisting from the stock market is not a big deal. Around 8% of the companies listed on Nasdaq got delisted every year. The number of delisted companies on NYSE is around 6%. In London, it is as high as 12%.

There are many conditions for companies to get delisted. If a company can fulfill one of the conditions, it can apply to be delisted. Furthermore, Sina’s share prices had fallen below its IPO prices for over a month. Even when it did not apply to be delisted, NASDAQ will also ask Sina and the other companies to be delisted.

Feng Yu wanted this to happen. Although it will tarnish these companies’ reputations, it’s alright. These few companies are Chinese websites, and the US market doesn’t really make a difference.

Feng Yu’s plan is to list these companies in Hong Kong or China, and what’s there to be afraid if he is not going to list the companies in the US stock markets again?

The Americans might be used to companies getting delisted from its stock exchanges, and too many companies had been delisted in the past two to three years. Some had been acquired, and some have financial issues. Some volunteered to buy back their shares and get delisted too.

Buying back the shares and delisting is better than being delisted for financial issues.

Of course, investors love companies that are delisted after being acquired. The acquiring company will buy back the shares at premium prices, and the share prices will rise slightly before the buyout. All the investors will get to make some profits.

Feng Yu made changes to the number of shareholders in the companies to speed up the delisting process. A listed company must have a certain number of shareholders. If the number of shareholders falls below the requirement, the company will be forced to be delisted. Of course, a grace period will be given to the company.

Feng Yu’s target is to be delisted, and he doesn’t care about the grace period. The number of shareholders of these companies had just met the requirements. After some amendments, the number of shareholders falls short, and NASDAQ issued a warning to them.

Warning? Feng Yu and the rest didn’t care about the warnings. The shares are suspended from trading, and the delisting procedures started.

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