I'm back in 1990

Chapter 475: A New Topic

Author Four Seasons Leeks presents "1990, I'm Back" on Cola Novels.

An Cheng quickly completed his resignation procedures. Although the process was still underway, he had already handed over his teaching duties to Ji Shaojie, who was taking over from him. Sang Weihong told him to wait at home for further notice and to come to the school to complete the resignation procedures after the approval from the Municipal Personnel Department and the Education Department was issued.

The school is like a giant machine that won't stop just because someone is missing, so An Cheng's departure didn't cause any ripples, and his desk was quickly taken over by a new teacher.

"Professor Huang, there's an international package for you in the mailroom. I brought it back for you."

A young woman, her face flushed, struggled to drag a rather heavy package into the office. This was Yin Danxuan, the new teaching assistant, who had taken An Cheng's old desk.

Because the school offices were in short supply, and Huang Xiaochuan didn't want to share an office with other professors, he told the general affairs office that he would stay in this office.

Huang Xiaochuan quickly got up and took the package from Yin Danxuan.

"You could have just asked a student to carry it for you, why did you have to bring it back yourself? Thank you so much, Teacher Yin!"

"Hey! It was just something I did, but I didn't expect this package to be so heavy, it's exhausted!"

Yin Danxuan was panting heavily, but she still waved to Huang Xiaochuan to indicate that she didn't care.

Huang Xiaochuan carried the package to his desk and began to open it with scissors.

This is data on over 300 NASDAQ-listed internet companies that he asked Zhang Yun to collect for him. Since January of this year, Huang Xiaochuan has had Zhang Yun collect and organize the data monthly and send it to him.

In addition, as per Huang Xiaochuan's request, Zhang Yun would also inform him of the latest news from the Federal Reserve and major investment banks so that he could obtain first-hand information.

After drinking a glass of water, Yin Danxuan recovered and curiously went to look at Huang Xiaochuan's desk.

"Professor Huang, what is this?"

Huang Xiaochuan was looking through the financial report and disclosure information of a listed internet company when he heard Yin Danxuan ask him a question. He casually replied, "Oh! Some data and information."

Yin Danxuan pointed to the large pile of documents on the table: "Professor Huang, may I take a look?"

Huang Xiaochuan thought that Yin Danxuan had dragged this package back for him from a long way, so if she wanted to see it, then let her see it!

"Of course, do as you please!"

Yin Danxuan's English skills seem to be quite good; she could tell at a glance that this was a data report from a Nasdaq-listed company.

After briefly glancing through it, she asked, "Professor Huang, do you have a new research topic?"

Huang Xiaochuan glanced at the new girl and smiled, "We don't have a direction yet, we're just getting to know her first."

"I see!" Yin Danxuan put the documents back where they were. She was a professor of advanced mathematics and had no interest in economics.

Ma Yifeng rushed into the office, first looking for a teacup on his own desk, but not finding it, he slapped his forehead, then immediately ran to Huang Xiaochuan's desk, grabbed Huang Xiaochuan's teacup and drank from it, looking as if he was extremely thirsty.

Huang Xiaochuan glared at him, annoyed: "Damn it, don't you have a teacup?"

Ma Yifeng wiped his mouth: "You're a professor now, you need to be mindful of your image, you can't just swear at people like that!"

"Screw you! Insult you? I'd rather hit you!" Huang Xiaochuan glanced at the teacup that Ma Yifeng had drunk down to just tea leaves, and the veins on his forehead throbbed.

However, with Yin Danxuan standing beside him, Huang Xiaochuan patiently asked, "Where's your teacup?"

"Don't even mention it, I fell." Ma Yifeng looked utterly dejected.

"The two students were chasing and fighting. One of them bumped into me, almost knocking me flat on my back. Luckily, I reacted quickly and dodged it, but I couldn't avoid the teacup."

"Damn it, without a teacup, my throat felt like it was on fire after the whole class."

After venting his frustrations, Ma Yifeng asked, "Old Huang, do you have any extra teacups?"

"Do you think I sell teacups? When you came back just now, why didn't you buy a can of food, eat the food, wash the jar, and use it as a teacup? I think you've been knocked silly."

Ma Yifeng slapped his forehead in frustration: "Really, why didn't I think to buy a can of food?"

At this moment, Yin Danxuan ran back to her desk and pulled out a large cup of Nestlé instant coffee: "Teacher Ma, I have a cup of coffee here, which is almost empty. I'll pour out the coffee and give you the cup."

Ma Yifeng's eyes lit up. As he walked towards Yin Danxuan's desk, he feigned politeness, saying, "Oh, how could I possibly accept this!"

Huang Xiaochuan looked at this guy's face, shook his head speechlessly, and then lowered his head to continue looking at the information Zhang Yun had sent.

In fact, the bubble began to appear from the day the Internet became popular. Due to major technological breakthroughs, technologies originally used for national defense and military purposes were transferred to civilian use and were rapidly commercialized.

The emergence of this technology has sparked wave after wave of entrepreneurial enthusiasm, with entrepreneurs flocking to fields such as e-commerce, search engines, and portal websites in an attempt to disrupt traditional industries. For example, Amazon has the idea of ​​replacing physical bookstores.

These entrepreneurs naturally received a frenzy of investment from the capital market. Venture capital (VC) firms competed to invest in internet startups, even ignoring profit models. According to data obtained from Zhang Yun, in 1998 alone, total VC investment in the United States reached $540 billion, a full 15 times that of 1995. This figure also included contributions from VC firms under Huang Xiaochuan. The Nasdaq index soared, and company valuations deviated from fundamentals, resulting in a phenomenon known as "market dream rate."

The term "market dream ratio" is a humorous stock market term used to describe the practice of some companies whose valuations are significantly detached from traditional financial indicators, relying on market expectations of their future prospects to support their high stock prices.

In short, it's about "promising the moon" to investors.

During this period, as long as a company went public, regardless of its actual business performance, as long as it had a concept, its stock price could double. This phenomenon attracted even more investors to this sector, leading to an ever-growing bubble.

The loose monetary policy in the United States during this period further stimulated such behavior.

In 1997, the United States introduced the Taxpayer Tax Cut Act, which lowered the capital gains tax. This act spurred speculators to invest in Internet startups.

The media and public opinion also fueled the flames, even creating the idea that the Internet could change everything and a sense of panic that non-participation meant falling behind. At that time, almost all conversations among people revolved around the Internet. In some situations, if you didn't understand the Internet, you would be embarrassed to strike up a conversation with someone.

In Huang Xiaochuan's view, this is a completely unhealthy model with significant business flaws, but of course, it is also an excellent opportunity for Huang Xiaochuan.

So his next new topic is warnings about the internet bubble.