"Boss, what should we do? Should I keep selling stocks or...?" Little Swift tossed the question to Huang He.
"Simple, just issue a public announcement!" Huang He said calmly.
The next day, Western Mustang Company, through financial media and its various channels, released a report.
Little Swift first stated directly in the announcement that Western Mustang Company currently held 50% of Apple's stock (after the additional issuance, Little Swift acquired another share of Apple stock). Within the next month, Western Mustang Company planned to sell 40% of its Apple stock, retaining only 10%.
Why would Western Mustang Company do this? Little Swift explained straightforwardly that the company anticipated settling outstanding claims from the first round of fund sales in late June or early July.
Upon completion of the liquidation, all users would be able to collect their principal and profits from the company, and simultaneously, the company would launch the second round of fund sales.
Users would have the option to directly receive all their principal and profits, or to reinvest both into purchasing the second round of funds.
The second round of funds would offer a total of $20 billion, and users who purchased the first round of funds would have priority in buying into the second round.
The second round of funds would only be publicly offered to other users in the market after the first-round fund users had made their choices.
In summary, the reason Western Mustang Company chose to sell 40% of its Apple stock, cashing out $10.8 billion, was to prepare for paying users their principal and profits, a measure to maintain normal company operations. This did not signify that Western Mustang Company was bearish on Apple, as it retained 10% of its Apple shares, which it absolutely would not sell.
[PS: I am unsure if this policy complies with the regulations of the US stock market in this world, but it does in Huang He's world.]
Concurrently, Little Swift also clearly stated his belief that Apple's reasonable stock price should be around $25, and therefore, he would choose to sell at a price no lower than $22.
Western Mustang Company would absolutely not sell its Apple shares at a price below $22 the following day. In other words, do not expect Western Mustang Company to continue to suppress Apple's stock price; instead, they would sell at a stable price of $22 or higher, refusing to sell at any lower price.
Finally, Little Swift announced that a normal fund would invest in various different products, and Western Mustang Company was a very normal fund. The company had also explored second and third investment projects, namely US Priority Group and an enterprise currently undergoing business negotiations.
As for which specific enterprise, it would only be announced to the public after the contract was signed. However, Western Mustang always remained optimistic about Apple, believing that Apple had a high probability of breaking through a market size of one hundred billion US dollars in the future. Western Mustang would definitely hold its ground in the Apple battlefield.
Upon the release of this announcement, the entire market buzzed with discussions.
Such a public announcement was rarely seen in the market. Fund companies would release announcements to stabilize the market, but not in the manner of Western Mustang Company, directly stating the amount of shares they intended to sell, or even the price at which they would sell them, all in black and white on the announcement.
After all, once it was written, it could not be changed, otherwise, Western Mustang Company's credibility would be utterly ruined.
However, it was precisely because of this convincing announcement, and the market's quick discovery that although tens of millions of Apple shares were listed on the stock market, the price of these shares was all $22 per share. Even with many shares available at $18 per share on the market, this price remained unchanged.
Thus, many believed Little Swift's words.
After all, at this time, Little Swift carried the weight of 8x profit and the new title of "Black Financial God," and such achievements commanded respect and trust.
Furthermore, Apple had urgently updated its sales report, indicating that nearly 100,000 iPod 3 units had been sold in the past three days.
This solid sales performance rapidly restored investor confidence, causing the stocks that were originally priced at $18 per share to be either quickly snapped up by other investors or withdrawn by their holders.
Apple's stock price quickly rebounded to around $21. However, whether to buy Western Mustang Company's shares at $22 was a matter of widespread debate.
Individual investors were mostly still fearful, but institutional investors in the market began calculating with their various calculators.
They compiled various sales data for Apple's iPod 3 and ultimately found that there was a high probability that the iPod market sales for the entire year would exceed $3 billion. If other products were included, sales exceeding $4 billion were a certainty.
Apple's total market capitalization was only $25.2 billion at the time, with a price-to-earnings ratio of less than 7. In contrast, most stocks in the market had price-to-earnings ratios exceeding 10, which was the typical valuation for a listed company.
Therefore, after this calculation, institutions immediately concluded that Apple's actual market value should exceed $40 billion, and at $22 per share, it was incredibly cheap.
Western Mustang Company must have lost its mind to be selling Apple stock at this time just to settle profits for investors; it was utter folly.
Thus, institutions began to directly sweep up shares, and the 50 million shares that Western Mustang Company had listed were instantly swept clean.
Subsequently, Western Mustang Company attempted to list another 50 million shares at $22.5, causing institutions to curse Western Mustang for its greed, yet they were once again swept clean.
Before shareholders could even react, Apple's stock price had already climbed back to $22.5.
At this point, individual investors had no choice but to believe, and Apple's stock price began to rise again. Western Mustang Company simply dropped the pretense and listed its remaining shares at $23 per share.
By the end of the day, Western Mustang Company had sold all 40% of its Apple shares, leaving only the 10% as stated in the announcement. Western Mustang Company ultimately cashed out over $9.2 billion, a figure that made countless people in the market envious.
However, the most excited were likely the shareholders who had purchased Western Mustang Company's stock.
A week later, Western Mustang Fund once again issued a new announcement. They stated that according to calculations, the first round of Western Mustang Fund's $2 billion fund had now appreciated to $16.975 billion, an annualized return of 748.75%.
According to the fee structure released by Western Mustang Fund, when a fund's yield exceeded 200%, the profit exceeding 200% would be charged at a 50% management fee.
This meant that from $16.975 billion, $2 billion in principal would first be deducted, followed by $4 billion in profits (200% of principal). The remaining $10.975 billion would be split, with 50% going to investors, who would receive $5.4875 billion. The remaining $5.4875 billion would be the management fee charged by Western Mustang Company.
However, this was not absolute.
For yields between 100% and 200%, the profit exceeding 100% would be charged at a 25% management fee. This meant a $500 million management fee on $2 billion in profits.
For yields between 30% and 100%, a 12% management fee would be charged. This meant a $168 million management fee on $1.4 billion in profits.
In fact, for yields between 15%-30% and 5%-15%, management fees of 1.5% and 0.5% respectively would also be charged. However, at this time, Western Mustang Company generously stated that considering the exceptionally generous returns this year, these management fees would be waived and no fees would be charged.
Finally, Western Mustang Company presented the final profit distribution results.
Out of the absolute profit of $14.975 billion (excluding principal), Western Mustang Company would collect a total management fee of $6.1555 billion, while investors would receive $8.8195 billion in profits.
The final actual return ratio was 440.975%.
In other words, if an investor bought the minimum $1,000 fund unit, they would now receive $4,409.75 in profit, which, including the principal, would total $5,409.75.
Of course, this profit was before tax, and a stamp duty would certainly be deducted. However, this was still an extraordinary return that would make anyone kneel in awe.
On the second day after the announcement was released, users who purchased the fund with cash could redeem their funds at Western Mustang Fund's offices set up in 20 major cities across the country.
For users who had left their bank account details, Western Mustang Company would directly transfer the funds into their accounts.
If you wished to use these funds to purchase the second round of $20 billion in funds, you could either visit the branch offices in person to handle the business, or log in to the company's website to do so.
Following the release of this announcement, the entire market was in an uproar. All those funds that boasted loudly on a daily basis but actually yielded less than 3% annualized returns, or even negative returns, were rendered speechless, only able to exclaim "Oh my God!" at the functional announcements of Western Mustang Fund.
Of course, some fund companies also felt that Western Mustang was too foolish, not understanding how to use accounting methods to reduce its yield, and giving away so much money to shareholders, which was incredibly stupid.
However, some smart individuals recognized that Western Mustang Company had actually done this intentionally.
This was because the first round of funds was originally sold in November of the previous year. According to the original rule of liquidation at the latest within one year, they should have waited until November for redemption, another four months.
However, Western Mustang Fund chose to redeem four months early. The reason was simple: seeing that the fund's total yield had reached over 200%, and the excess portion could be charged at a high 50% management fee, Western Mustang Fund directly chose to redeem early to secure this income.
Although fund companies could transfer investor returns through various means, this direct collection of over $6.1 billion in management fees was far more profitable and satisfying than any other transfer method, which was both fair and legal.
This $6.1 billion was Western Mustang Fund's own legal profit. The boss behind this fund company could use this money for whatever they wished, and transfer it to any account without any problems.
This was their pure profit, the money of their behind-the-scenes boss, and it had nothing to do with the investors anymore.