Firms are bound by rules to secure the best price for customers, and proponents say the practice has supported zero commission trading. But opponents argue there are hidden costs embedded in payment for order flow, partly due to how the segregation of the market reduces competition. Even in the US, regulators have mused on the informational advantages players such as Citadel Securities gain from the order flow.

“They will tell you that you can trade for free on Robinhood or Ameritrade, but as Milton Friedman always said there is no such thing as a free lunch,” said the head of a rival trading firm.

Signs that the slump has further to run are multiplying. Sales people at Hermes, whose Birkin bags could easily sell for tens of thousands of dollars, reduced how much shoppers need to spend to be able to buy the iconic products in a rare move, according to people familiar with the matter.

黄子伦 | 亏尽公家钱，看透资本玩家的游戏规则

2024年11月4日财经

最近，财政部透露国库控股（Khazanah）和国民投资机构（PNB）在本地知名时尚品牌dUCk的控股公司FashionValet（以下简称FV）共投资了4,700万令吉，而最后只能以310万令吉出售他们的股权。

此消息一出，可说是激起千层浪，让人再次对这两家机构的投资决策是否公允和透明提出质疑。而两家官联投资机构反复强调，这部分亏损和其他投资收益相比是微不足道，但他们依然坚持这出售决策只是投资组合上的调整。

其实在这则消息被报道之前，早在2022年就有媒体报道并提出质疑，FV作为一家累积亏损至少8,000万令吉的公司（FV在2020年的保留亏损高达8,344万令吉），究竟怎么拿到官联投资机构的投资。而我也曾听过从事时装零售业务的老板提及FV这家公司，他们知道官联投资机构正在寻求买家，该老板原本有意投资或收购，奈何估值上被狮子开大口而只能作罢。

那么，这是怎么一回事？是不是官联投资机构的投资都极度糟糕？

要回答这道问题，我们首先需要搞明白资本市场在这类投资的运作逻辑。

说到投资，许多人马上想到的就是股票投资。而股票原本就是公司股份的一部分，股票交易所也只是提供一个场所供大家买卖上市公司的股票。当公司尚未上市之前，就被称之为私人企业，里面的大股东往往都是创办人以及一些在公司创立初期提供融资的投资者。

投资者为何愿意投资未上市企业？由于这类公司的股权交易成本极高（反之，上市后可能转变为溢价），加上许多资讯并不公开，只有当事人知道，因此，使得公司估值被大打折扣。此时入资，在未来上市后有翻数倍，甚至十余倍，乃至数十倍的潜力。

在这领域，有两种常见的投资机构，分别是风险资本（Venture Capital）和私募股权（Private Equity）。这两者虽然在一些投资细节上有些不同，但都是专注在企业早期阶段的投资（只要是还没有上市的企业）。由于我们会反复解释这两种投资的角色和思维模式，以下我们简称他们为VC/PE。

那么，VC/PE怎么赚钱？

VC/PE有两个主要收入，第一个自然是投资。在金融的角度来说，很多VC/PE都是玩这一个概率游戏。假设你把10个投资项目介绍给这些VC/PE，每个项目要100万令吉，共计1,000万令吉。VC/PE投出去1,000万令吉之后，心知肚明大部分的项目都会惨淡收场。不过，只要当中有一个项目能够赚到钱，而且是赚到10倍，那么他们就能够收回1,100万令吉。这笔收益就已经能够抵消其余9个项目的亏损。

当然，这一切都只是理论上。现实生活会更加复杂，例如有可能这10个项目都亏钱、或者是赚钱的项目所提供的收益无法抵消全部亏损、或者VC/PE在亏钱项目投入更多钱而赚钱项目投入更少钱、又或者VC/PE不断给已投资的亏损公司继续注资，希望能够转亏为盈。这些都会让许多VC/PE蒙受亏损。

而VC/PE的第二个主要收入则是管理这些投资项目的管理费（management fee）。假设管理费是1.00%，而VC/PE旗下的投资项目估值为100万令吉，那么一年的管理费则为1万令吉。严格来说， VC/PE和管理投资的团队是分开的，前者负责找客户筹钱，后者负责投资项目，但很多的VC/PE机构会同时处理这两项工作。

有些读者可能会发现，既然VC/PE可以收取管理费用，那么岂不是有强烈诱因把这些私人企业的估值给吹上天？

是的，这就是这行业的道德风险。

假设A公司在第一轮融资时，以200万令吉卖出了20%股权，那么其估值就是1,000万令吉。在第二轮融资时，A公司以1,000万令吉卖出5%股权，意味着公司估值已经是2亿令吉了，第一轮的投资者就握有价值4,000万令吉的股权，账面盈利为3,800万令吉！而公司创办人则通过出售股权，拿到了1,200万令吉，身价也涨到了1.5亿令吉，然后开始策划各种...

Any idea wat is this?

Luckin teaches SBUX how to do coffee business...

Bloomberg Opinion

by Shuli Ren, Columnist

China’s Luckin Shows Starbucks How to Sell Coffee
Is a Frappucino an expression of individualism or a habit? The Chinese chain is betting on the latter.

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/...-to-sell-coffee

dunno man about usa... trump in office... anti china strong...

Luckin is cheap... Americans vote for Trump because they feel the heat from inflation... with 2 USD coffee, that save their budget... like 5 USD McD meals...

Can't resist... not sure how they taste though... You try before? 

The Birkin bag, in particular, by French luxury house Hermes, is the gold standard when it comes to luxury bags as investment assets (Forbes has even called the bag a better investment than gold).

The Himalayan Birkin Diamond 30, made from Nile crocodile leather and studded with about 250 diamonds, sold for US$450,000 (S$595,700) at a private Sotheby’s auction in 2022. Its retail price was said to have been more than US$100,000 in 2021. (The numbers in the bag models indicate their size in centimetres across the top.)

Even the less flashy and more common style in calfskin leather, which costs about $15,100 in stores for the Birkin 25, will get you a profit of at least $9,900 on the resale market.