CHAPTER 211: 209, ULTIMATE TURNAROUND! A COMPLETE VICTORY!

In Sakura Country Japan, the stock market opened. Trading hours were from approximately 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM Capital City time, with a one-and-a-half-hour break, before resuming from 11:30 AM to 2:00 PM.

Following the information Luofeng provided, professionals from his investment company had entered the stock market there, armed with 4 billion in funds. Naturally, their target this time was Shiseido.

The market had just opened for the morning, and Shiseido’s stock immediately soared.

Because Daxia University’s military training promotional video had been released a few days prior, sales volume at Tengu Mall’s Flagship Store had increased dozens of times over within just the previous day. This trend continued today, with an even more exaggerated increase.

Given Tengu Mall’s brilliant success the day before, Shiseido immediately launched global promotions, which also achieved remarkable results.

Such booming sales and positive conditions naturally boosted Shiseido’s stock price significantly. The original price of 7,000 yen per share shot up by ten percent.

However, Luofeng was shorting Shiseido’s stock. This meant he would only profit if the company’s stock price fell.

Just after the opening, with the stock price surge, Luofeng and his team faced a ten percent loss. That’s equivalent to a loss of forty million.

But Luofeng wasn’t anxious at all because the information from Luo Feng’s System indicated the trend over the next three days.

The current situation was unfolding as expected: the promotion of the military training had indeed boosted their sales, which in turn led to the stock market rise.

An hour after the market opened, the stock had increased by around fourteen percent. Now, Tong Tianlong, the investment director of Luofeng’s company, couldn’t sit still. He urged Luofeng to reconsider and cut their losses promptly.

But Luofeng was not in a hurry. By the morning trading break, Shiseido’s stock price had risen by about twelve percent.

Although it had fallen slightly from its peak fourteen percent increase, it was only a minor dip.

However, at this moment, Luofeng, who had been closely monitoring American social media, finally saw the information he was waiting for at 10:30 AM.

Luofeng immediately sent this information to Tong Tianlong. It was a post by Mixon:

"Shiseido’s latest global promotional video is severely involved in racial discrimination. There’s a lot of such content in the video. For instance, the male lead explicitly values whiteness as superior. He expresses relief at not being tanned by the sun after the military training. The entire theme of the promotional video is about valuing whiteness as superior, and it’s far too apparent. I call on everyone to stand up, firmly resist Shiseido’s actions, demand the withdrawal of the promotional video, and issue a public apology."

This message immediately garnered widespread response in America, which has a significant Black population. It also quickly received support and thumbs up from many netizens in Africa.

Shiseido was immediately plunged into a crisis. When the morning trading break ended, Shiseido’s previously soaring stock price began to plummet rapidly and continued its descent.

Around 1:40 PM, Shiseido’s stock price had dropped from its initial 7,000 yen to around 6,200 yen per share.

In this situation, if Luofeng’s investment company liquidated its position, they would reap a ten percent profit.

The initial loss of forty million had now turned into a forty million gain.

However, Luofeng did not liquidate.

He knew the incident would continue to ferment; after brewing in America overnight, it would have an even greater impact.

Shiseido was actually in a tough spot.

They were just promoting a sunscreen, weren’t they?

Yet they were labeled as prizing whiteness excessively?

Who could they even complain to about this?

The senior leaders at Shiseido were hopping mad. But there was nothing they could do; this was clearly a case of business competition, and someone else had simply crafted a damaging public narrative.

Yet these people were shamelessly demanding Shiseido apologize?

If Shiseido did apologize, wouldn’t that just be admitting guilt for discrimination?

Therefore, Shiseido decided to resist at first and attempt to manage the public relations by offering explanations. They couldn’t just yield; otherwise, they might face even more shameless defamation from competitors in the future.

However, when Shiseido tried to hold their ground, they realized they couldn’t withstand the pressure, as wave after wave of negative press attacked them.

「The stock market at 8:00 AM the next morning.」

When the market opened, Shiseido’s stock plummeted. At yesterday’s close, the stock price was 6,200 yen; now, it was only 5,200 yen.

A 1,000 yen drop in just the first minute? Was that even possible?

After this plunge, Shiseido’s stock price stabilized, fluctuating around 5,200 yen. Of course, this was also because Shiseido wasn’t some junk stock; it wouldn’t keep falling indefinitely.

Luofeng had set a bottom line: when Shiseido reached 5,100 yen per share, they would liquidate completely. Although 5,200 yen wasn’t the absolute lowest point, it was better to exit fully and secure their gains.

Once Luofeng’s company had completed this, he began to execute the second phase of his plan.

At 1:50 PM, Luofeng’s company bought Shiseido stock with all their capital at a price of 5,050 yen per share.

After the market closed, Shiseido held a global press conference. Their global operations manager bowed deeply in apology and announced that Shiseido would withdraw the military training promotional video globally.

After the public apology, Shiseido’s tricky operation began. Despite the official announcement withdrawing the promotional video, vast quantities of it started appearing online, seemingly impossible to remove, sprouting like weeds after a spring rain.

Especially in Daxia, such a promotional video wasn’t considered discriminatory at all. On the contrary, it was seen as showcasing the product’s effective sun protection.

In the Asian region, hardly anyone cared about such controversies surrounding the video. Shiseido’s promotion thus morphed from an official campaign into one driven by netizens.

More critically, Shiseido also released data on the promotional video’s effect: the surge in sales. In just a few days, sales of Anessa at Tengu Mall had skyrocketed 200-fold.

And that was just in the morning sales.

For the entire day?

One could only imagine the total.

Such sales figures brought in substantial customer traffic. A significant portion of customers who bought the sunscreen also purchased other Shiseido products. Shiseido continued to publicize its impressive sales figures.

Although they only disclosed sales data from Tengu Mall in Daxia, this single piece of information acted like a reassuring pill for the stock market. Shiseido’s stock price soared to an estimated 6,500 yen.

It was incredible!

Nearing the end of the morning trading session, Shiseido’s stock price rose again, reaching 7,300 yen per share. This was 300 yen higher than its price before the controversy.

At 1:30 PM, it climbed further to 7,600 yen. Luofeng’s team eventually made a perfect exit at an average price of 7,630 yen per share.

Luofeng also liquidated his entire position at this price point. The profit from this second phase exceeded fifty percent.

This time, Luofeng had emerged completely victorious.