When a Tech Stock Soars
Squeezing the short sellers
The hum of the bar was just a whisper beneath the nervous drumming of Marcus’ fingers on the polished mahogany.
“Another round?” His friend, Rick’s voice was a low rumble.
“Sure. Make it a double.”
Rick smirked, raising an eyebrow, “Rough day at your hedge fund, Marcus?”
“FutureAI was meant to be a dumpster fire of a stock,” an exhausted Marcus said. “And we shorted it, hoping it would crash. But… but the stock is now soaring.”
Rick, a man of diverse talents, sounded almost bored. “Lisa Jillian, the 28-year-old CEO of FutureAI, is a wunderkind. Some whiz-bang tech, investor hype, the usual. Your short’s getting squeezed.”
Marcus groaned. “Squeezed? We’re bleeding out! Down 300 million already.” He took a shaky breath, then leaned in, his voice dropping low. “Listen, Rick. How hard is it to keep someone out of action… for a month?”
“You mean, lying in a hospital bed for a month?”
“Yeah… something like that.”
“I don’t do CEOs, Marcus. High profile, messy.”
“Nothing extreme, Rick. Just a small accident… We need the FutureAI stock to tank. If their golden girl gets hurt and out of action, investor trust flies out the window.”
There was a long silence. “Investor trust, yeah… that has a price,” Rick finally said.
Marcus rubbed his forehead. This was spiraling beyond anything he’d expected. “Look, the job’s worth… let’s say half a million. A million if the stock takes a nosedive.”
Rick let out a low whistle. “A million, huh? Not bad. Alright, I’ll make some arrangements.”
Marcus felt a sick mix of relief and dread as he got up. He’d crossed a line, a big one.
Lisa had intended to tie the knot in a modest ceremony. However, her plans took a drastic turn when a bizarre freeway accident landed her in the hospital with severe injuries. She spent the next twenty-one days recovering at the hospital. The news of the accident hurt the FutureAI stock, sending it down 18%.
Upon discovering that the accident had left her unable to conceive, Lisa made the difficult decision to call off the wedding. Redirecting her efforts towards her career, she poured all her energy into work, sending the FutureAI stock up 950% over the next six months.
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