I'm back in 1990

Chapter 585: The Great Dao Group That Shocked the World

We wholeheartedly recommend this book to you: "1990, I'm Back". You can read it here.

A week later, Hong Kong's Hong Kong Economic Journal launched an unprecedented special edition with the Dadao Group headquarters building on the cover and an eye-catching title: "The Journey of Dadao! The Rise of an Invisible Business Empire - An Exclusive In-Depth Analysis of Dadao Group's Business Landscape".

The contents of this special issue were like a super bomb dropped on the global economic and media landscape.

The article is the first to systematically reveal that Dadao Group is not a simple investment and trading company, but a super business empire spanning dozens of key sectors, including real estate, trade, retail, port logistics, energy and mining, healthcare, biotechnology, and financial investment.

Detailed charts reveal that Dadao Group effectively controls more than 37 listed companies across Asia, as well as an even larger number of unlisted core assets.

The article also specifically points out how Haoran Capital, a subsidiary of Dadao Group, went against the tide during the Asian financial crisis of 97-98 by making accurate judgments and leveraging its strong capital to acquire a large number of high-quality companies on the verge of bankruptcy at extremely low prices, and successfully integrated and operated them, making them an important cornerstone of Dadao's business empire today.

Only then did everyone realize that Haoran Capital, renowned throughout Asia's financial and capital markets, was actually a subsidiary of Dadao Group. Due to the complex shareholding relationships, outsiders had never known that the two were related in this way. This revelation undoubtedly demonstrated Dadao's true strength.

This section also strongly corroborates the legitimacy of the Dadao Group's wealth accumulation and its strategic vision.

The Hong Kong tycoons who saw the report were all stunned, and a chill ran through them.

This special report also uses publicly available market data and reasonable valuation models for non-listed companies to conservatively estimate that Dadao Group (including all equity held by its wholly controlled offshore entities) has total assets exceeding US$510 billion. The article also emphasizes that this is only the assets that Dadao Group can openly estimate, and does not include its securities and real estate throughout Southeast Asia, because those assets are hidden and numerous, and cannot be counted and confirmed in a short period of time.

The Dadao Group has also been deeply involved in and led several large-scale infrastructure projects (such as ports and transportation), and has invested in numerous high-tech startups and mineral resources through related offshore funds. Its overall asset size far exceeds the most optimistic expectations from the outside world.

Almost simultaneously with the release of the special edition, the public relations department of Dadao Group issued press releases and key data summaries to major global financial media outlets (Bloomberg, Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, and China's financial news).

And so, the world was shocked!

"A hidden billionaire has emerged! The total assets of Hong Kong's Grand Gateway Group are valued at over US$510 billion!" -- Bloomberg headline.

"Asia's New Richest Man Emerges? Mysterious Scholar Huang Xiaochuan Reportedly Controls a Vast Business Empire!" -- The Wall Street Journal (Asia Edition)

"The other side of the Clark Medal winner: one of the biggest winners of the Asian financial crisis, with a business empire worth tens of billions!" -- Financial Times.

"A Deep Dive into Dadao Group: An Asian Business Supercarrier Built from Offshore Companies and Cross-Shareholdings!" -- Reuters In-Depth Analysis.

"Academic Giant and Business Tycoon! Professor Huang Xiaochuan's Wealth Shocks the World!" -- Headline from Chinese portal websites, led by Soso.com. (Financial media headlines)

Forbes and Hurun's team reacted extremely quickly. They reassessed the data overnight, combining it with information disclosed by the Hong Kong Economic Journal and publicly available data, and released an emergency update the following day:

The Hurun China Rich List (urgently revised version): Huang Xiaochuan's name tops the list with an overwhelming wealth figure (approximately 4023 billion RMB at the current exchange rate), leaving all previous names on the list far behind. The headline is also quite direct: "Clark Prize winner Huang Xiaochuan tops the list of China's richest people, with wealth exceeding 100 billion!"

"Asia's richest man!" "Second richest in the world!" "A billionaire!" These explosive headlines instantly swept across global media. Huang Xiaochuan's name stepped from the altar of the economics world to the pinnacle of global wealth and power. The shock brought by his cross-industry achievements is unparalleled.

He can be considered the richest economist, or even the most academically capable among the wealthy!

Huang Dahai, who was far away in mainland China, was so shocked by the news report that his jaw almost dislocated. He knew that his younger brother had started a business a long time ago, but he never expected that his brother would be the richest man in Asia.

After realizing what had happened, he really wanted to call his elderly mother to confirm, but when he thought about discipline, he had to give up the idea. As an active-duty military officer, he could not make calls to Hong Kong at will.

After watching the news report on TV, Huang Erhe was dumbfounded and sat there in a daze for a long time.

Fan Yingrong sat there, stunned, her expression shifting between jealousy, regret, and lingering fear. Asia's richest man's brother-in-law? She recalled what she had done before, and now felt a chill run through her body. She dared not harbor any further improper thoughts, only deep fear and a fleeting desire to cling to him remained.

Zeng Hong, Tang Jianhua, Zeng Xia, Huo Miao, and Yu Minyue and his wife all saw the television news report one after another, and their eyes were filled with disbelief.

After class, Ma Yifeng strolled back to his office with a teacup in his hand, casually picking up a newspaper. He spat out the large mouthful of tea he had just drunk after seeing the headlines and content on the front page.

At that moment, Sang Weihong rushed into his office: "Old Ma! Huang Xiaochuan, he..."

Ma Yifeng wiped his mouth in a flustered manner: "Don't make a fuss, I saw it!" He stared at the huge asset figures on the newspaper again, speechless for a moment: "My God, when did this kid quietly create the 'Dadao Group'?" He muttered, his mind flashing back to the person who used to grumble and complain about him not installing air conditioning in his dormitory while sweating profusely as he cooked garlic lobster. Comparing this to the calm and profound business tycoon in the newspaper photo, the huge contrast was so shocking that he almost couldn't sit still.

"This kid... he's practically brought the printing press home!" In the end, Ma Yifeng could only manage to utter this one sentence.

Ding Yi's call came first: "You, Huang Xiaochuan! You kept this from me for so long! Let me tell you, you owe me a big meal!"

Wu Duo's congratulations were concise: "I underestimated you; you kept it well hidden. But well done, truly impressive!"

Zhang Gaolei's phone call was marked by his signature bluntness: "Damn! I knew you were rich, but I didn't realize you were this rich! Hurry up and invest some more in the wafer fab!"

Chen Zhe didn't call, but sent a brief email congratulating him on becoming Asia's richest man.

Huang Xiaochuan's classmates and friends called in droves, and even Zhang Yun called to congratulate him. However, on the phone, she also mocked Huang Xiaochuan for not daring to make Changhong Capital public, otherwise he would not be the richest man in Asia, but the richest man in the world.

Zhang Xiangguang not only called, but also specifically instructed his subordinates to pin this news article to the top of the screen.