The next day, Feng Yu took Ralph to the Sotheby's auction house in New York.
After Ralph paid a deposit on behalf of Feng Yu, he received an invitation and entered the Sotheby's auction house with Feng Yu.
While in the parking lot, Ralph leaned into Feng Yu's ear and said that he saw two familiar license plate numbers. If these two cars were not sold, then these two cars should belong to Bill respectively. Gates and Paul Allen.
The arrival of these two people surprised Feng Yu. According to Feng Yu’s understanding, Bill Gates has indeed purchased a lot of works of art to decorate his mansion, and Bill Gates also owns the most expensive book and document in the world, Leonardo da Vinci’s "Hamer Manuscript" , in 1994, the price exceeded 30 million US dollars, which shocked the world!
As for Paul Allen, it seems that he also collects some art, but Feng Yu estimates that, like Bill Gates, he doesn’t understand art at all and only uses it for decoration. Just like when you go to the offices of many rich people, you will always see a bookshelf full of books, but most of the books in the bookshelf are new and have not been read at all.
People who have little education like to pretend to be educated people, and people who have no artistic talent also like to pretend to be artists.
When entering Sotheby's, Feng Yu saw Bill Gates and Paul Allen. They were sitting next to each other in the first row, whispering, and there were two consultant-looking people sitting next to them. .
Under the guidance of Ralph, Feng Yu walked to the right side of the aisle in the first row. Paul Allen happened to be on the left.
When he saw Feng Yu, Paul Allen snorted from his nose, and his smiling expression instantly turned into a look of displeasure.
When Bill Gates saw Feng Yu, his expression was neither happy nor sad, as if he was seeing an ordinary acquaintance.
Feng Yu deliberately pretended to have just seen them and walked over enthusiastically: "Hey, aren't these Bill and Paul? What are you two doing here? Are you like me, buying some art to put in the office to show off? "
Originally, when he saw Feng Yu coming to say hello, Bill Gates even managed to put on a smile, but after hearing Feng Yu's words, the smile on his face disappeared instantly.
What does it mean to buy some art to put in the office? I appreciate it! You can say that my level of appreciation is not high enough, but how can you say that I am pretending? !
Paul Allen's lips twitched, he didn't want to talk to Feng Yu! This country bumpkin!
But when Feng Yu saw that they were silent, he seemed to have concluded that they were just buying it to show off. He pushed the consultant next to Bill Gates away and sat there: "Bill, Paul, what do you have your eyes on?" Just for a moment, so that we don’t get into fights among ourselves.”
"Who is your friend?" Paul Allen couldn't help but say.
If you didn't sell your Microsoft shares, we could still call you one of our own. You can sell it, but you can’t keep nothing at all. Microsoft's stock price started to fall when you started selling Microsoft stock!
Good guy, you made a lot of money. You sold it at the high point of Microsoft's stock price. As for us, our net worth is constantly shrinking. All of this is not thanks to you. Now you tell us that you are one of our own.
Don't you say hello to your own people before selling stocks? If we had known the news in advance, would we have been so passive and embarrassed
Feng Yu still smiled and said: "We are still friends, right? By the way, do you have enough cash? If not, you can tell me and I can lend it to you without interest."
The main assets of these two people are still Microsoft stocks. During this period, they also cashed out a little bit, all for the purpose of investing in other areas. In fact, they just saw that Microsoft's stock price would fall, and they just wanted to cash out to preserve their value.
Anyway, what they cash out are non-voting shares, which does not affect their status in the company. In fact, many people who held Microsoft stocks at this time cashed out some. Bill Gates himself cashed out, and Feng even sold them all. Now that the situation on Nasdaq is not good, it is better to hold on to the money. Relatively safe.
Although Bill Gates and Paul Allen have both cashed out part of their stocks, together they are not as much as Feng Yu. Therefore, the cash of these two people is far less than that of Feng Yu. It can be said that except for banks, no one currently has more cash than Feng Yu. This is not counting that Feng Yu has made some investments recently.
This time, even Bill Gates' breathing became rapid. Bill Gates, the richest man in the world, would need to borrow money from others? Feng Yu's words are so irritating!
The two of them stopped talking, and Feng Yu returned to his seat, the art consultant of Bill Gates, before sitting down again.
Paul Allen looked at Feng Yu and sneered. With Feng Yu's level of appreciation, how dare he come here to buy art? He doesn’t even have an art consultant. He probably doesn’t even know the history of those artworks. Maybe he just bought them to show off!
When Ralph saw that Feng Yu had gone over to stimulate the two giants of Microsoft, he knew that the art he bought today might fetch some astonishingly high prices.
After a while, the auction started.
An auctioneer walked to the front desk, and the first auction item was displayed on the big screen next to him, which was a manuscript of a supposedly great writer. Unfortunately, Feng Yu had never heard of this great writer.
Bill Gates began to increase prices without hesitation. He bought many works of art, but he did not put them in his home, but in Microsoft. He said that he wanted to provide a good working atmosphere for Microsoft employees.
But Bill Gates is not as great as he said. He said that after he photographed the "Hammer Manuscript", he had people make VCD discs, and then sold them at 50 cents each. He sold several copies. Not only are there millions of copies, but everyone in the world who loves this type of art knows that the most expensive manuscript in the world is in the hands of Bill Gates.
In Feng Yu's opinion, this is the marketing of a showman. It's purely because Bill Gates wants to increase his reputation. When he sold the "Hammer Manuscript" CD, Microsoft's stock price was rising rapidly. Everyone has seen Bill Gates' economic strength and Microsoft's profitability.
These works of art are actually an investment, and they are an investment loved by Western aristocrats. It can not only appreciate steadily, but also make others envious.
Others don't know, but Feng Yu, who has worked with Bill Gates for a period of time, knows very well that Bill Gates is a showman and never likes to keep a low profile.
After several price increases, the manuscript easily fell into the hands of Bill Gates.
However, Bill Gates and Paul Allen looked at Feng Yu curiously. They originally thought that Feng Yu would raise the price, but now it seems that Feng Yu has no intention of doing so.
… (To be continued.)
(End of chapter)