Chapter 136: Chapter 136 Sniping

"Alright, I'll contact General Manager Edward and Miss Lamarr right away. But boss the company has been losing money. The magazine hasn't paid salaries for two months. Can you...?" Hafner looked at Hardy and stammered.

"I've already arranged for Andy to take out a $100,000 loan from the bank in the magazine's name. That should be enough to pay salaries and produce the first Volume." Hardy said.

Hafner was delighted.

"Thank you, boss. I'll get to work right away."

He left Hardy's office, feeling incredibly relieved because he no longer had to bear the burden of debt.

He was very optimistic about the "Playboy" magazine his boss mentioned. As an old editor, he believed other men would find it irresistible, if even he wanted to read it.

Now, he was full of energy and passion.

Los Angeles Stock Exchange.

Hardy came here for the second time.

The last time was to buy shares of the toy factory. This time, Hardy wanted to see how Andy manipulated the rise and fall of a stock.

"Boss, I had the newspaper publish an article officially confirming that the boss of HD Company is preparing to acquire GNC Health Products Company. When the market opens, it should be quite a show," Andy said with a smile.

The stock market opened.

Seeing the news in the newspaper, many investors had an idea. Previously, the boss of HD Company had acquired a toy factory, whose stock price jumped from $0.22 to $1.25.

Almost a 5 fold increase.

A few days ago, they acquired a magazine company, which has been officially renamed Playboy Magazine Company, as announced in the newspaper.

The stock price of the original magazine company had fallen to a few cents. After being acquired by the HD boss, it skyrocketed to $0.33, an 8-fold increase.

Now, the HD boss had his eyes on GNC Health Products Company. Many people realized this was a chance to get rich. If they bought GNC stock now, they'd make a lot of money once the acquisition was completed.

So as soon as the market opened, investors started frantically buying GNC stock, causing it to surge.

It quickly rose from $0.21 to $0.36. At this point, Andy began to act, having the operators place buy orders.

Many investors saw the price soaring and realized a big buyer had appeared. The upward trend had begun, and many joined in the frenzy.

GNC had a small market cap, and Andy had already completed the shakeout phase. With less than 40% of the shares in circulation, any slight movement significantly impacted the stock price.

This made many people green with envy.

By the end of the first day's trading, GNC's stock price had risen to $0.56.

The next day saw more action.

Another news report was released.

GNC's major shareholder confirmed that a financial company had approached them, offering to buy all the shares. The shareholders felt the offer was a bit low and demanded a 20% premium. The financial company said they would consider it.

The newspaper also interviewed someone from the financial company, who said that the HD boss was very optimistic about the future of the health products market and wanted to enter the market because he saw great potential in GNC.

This news confirmed the HD boss's determination to acquire GNC, a positive signal.

Buy, buy, buy.

Pushed by both retail investors and Andy, the stock price rose to $0.84, four times its lowest point.

But human nature is greedy.

People believed it had much more room to rise.

Some financial experts in the newspapers said that if the HD boss completed this round of acquisitions, the stock price of the health products company would definitely match or exceed that of the toy factory.

In the past two days, the toy factory's stock has risen again, reaching $1.37.

In other words, the health products company's stock might rise to over $1.4, so there was no reason to hesitate. They continued buying.

Even some small institutions couldn't resist participating in, hoping to have a share of this cake. They only intended to make a quick profit and leave

Due to the collective push from various forces, the health products company finally broke through $1 on the third day and continued to rise steadily.

On the fourth day, news spread again that the financial company had contacted the health products company for the second time with a significantly higher offer. Some shareholders were tempted, but the major shareholder felt it wasn't the right time and decided to wait, hoping for a higher offer.

Because of this news,

The stock price of the health products company rose to $1.27.

Many people were still rushing in, but they couldn't buy any stock, accumulating a large number of buy orders. At this moment, some began selling.

Due to the large number of sell orders, the stock price quickly fell back to around $1.1, causing some panic. Was the main force about to escape? Searᴄh the NôvelFire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

But they were mistaken.

The next day, news spread that the HD boss was negotiating with the bank to borrow $2 million, possibly to acquire the health products company.

This news was true.

Hardy was indeed borrowing money from the bank. He approached Bank of America, intending to use the toy factory and Wash Mining Company's stocks as collateral to borrow $2 million.

As for the use of the funds,

He still owed Meyer $800,000.

The toy factory needed upgrading, Playboy Magazine Company needed improvements, money was promised to Elena's auction company, and the mineral water plant needed construction.

There were too many places to spend money.

As for the rumors about raising funds to buy shares in the health products company, Hardy could only say they were overthinking it.

Who spread the rumor? Who knows.

Friday. The last trading day of the week. As soon as the market opened, the stock of health products quickly rose, forming a huge bullish candlestick.

This was due to Andy's operation and other funds and retail investors, jointly pushing up the stock price, breaking through the previous high to around $1.4.

By noon, the market showed some tug of war.

There were both sellers and buyers, and the trading volume was enormous. Some suspected the main force was selling, while others thought it was a second round of shakeout, anticipating another big rally.

But half an hour before the market closed,

GNC's stock surged, with a flood of orders eating up everything on the order book. Before many could react, the week's trading ended.