Frauleinstein

Chapter XIV: Cloudy with a Chance of Death, Part II

"...some cloud and possibly some rain to the north of us, but close to town tonight will be clear and cool. Perfect weather for staring up at that big, beautiful full moon with that special someone. Just remember that the temperature will be dipping down into the low teens, so you will definitely want to bring along a jacket." The beautiful blond woman finished gesturing at the symbols on the screen behind her and said, "Back to you, Stan."

"Thank you Jill," said the handsome man seated behind the desk. "That was Jill Tanner, our resident meteorologist. Jill, do you need anyone to keep you warm under that moon tonight?"

"Not in this lifetime," she was heard to reply from far off in the studio.

Stan chuckled. "You know I'll keep trying. Okay, it's a quarter to the hour and time for our business report. Today we are fortunate to have in the studio Jack Trent, Chief Correspondent for the European Business Network. Jack, it's good to see you."

"Thanks Stan. It's good to be seen." The two men chuckled at their banter.

"I understand there was some excitement in the markets recently," said Stan. "What can you tell us?"

"Well Stan, most people by now are aware that Valeria Engel, the German billionaire and CEO of Strong Angel Industries, died unexpectedly this week. The standard market response to bad news is to sell, and the traders at the banks jumped on this stock, causing it to fall by more than ten percent."

"We heard about this earlier in the week," Stan said. "So what's been happening today?"

"Quite a lot Stan," Jack told him. "Strong Angel held a press conference in Bistritz this morning to introduce Valeria Engel's heir and successor, and it couldn't have been a bigger disaster. Strong Angel's new majority shareholder, President and CEO is nineteen-year old Mila Stein, an American community college student."

Trent presented several photos from the press conference, showing a lost and confused Steve.

"Stein seemed to be completely overwhelmed, and one had to feel sorry for a young girl thrust into the spotlight in this way. But she is the CEO of a powerful, global corporation, and people deserve answers. Unfortunately this girl didn't even know what her own company sells."

"So how did investors react?" asked Stan.

"The banks and institutional investors, who are prepared and can react within seconds, began dumping the stock as fast as they could. By the time the conference was over the stock had fallen almost twenty percent. On a seventy billion dollar company, that represents a loss of almost fifteen billion dollars."

"But that's not the end of the story, is it?"

"No Stan, that's just where it begins. Just when things looked like they couldn't get any worse, Fräulein Stein decided to tell off her own major shareholders, the very banks who held the value of her company in their hands. She told them that their own faulty reasoning made them responsible for their own losses. The banks, of course, reacted by selling more, driving prices down further, and incurring deeper losses.

"But then, the video of the press conference got out on the internet and it went viral. People who saw it heard this girl's message, and her direct and honest view of the world resonated with them. They liked the idea that a young girl would risk everything in order to school the big banks. And nearly everyone who saw the video picked up a phone, called a broker, and put in an order to buy Strong Angel.

"By the closing bell, the stock had regained all its losses plus ten percent. This represents losses to the banks of almost five billion dollars, almost all of that wealth transferred to individual investors. And Fräulein Stein, the girl who risked everything, increased her own personal net worth by over ten billion dollars and is now the richest woman in the world, a title not even Valeria Engel herself ever achieved."