We have received a number of e-mails, asking if we cut a deal with Alibaba to dominate the Chinese financial marketplace. I do not know who starts these rumors, but it is not true. Yes, in 1999 we were going to provide economic forecasting for the Chinese government and over 1,000 of its agencies. Yes, I was invited by the central bank in 1997 during the Asian Currency Crisis. However, our expansion into China back then was shutdown by the U.S. government. We were expanding into China in 1999 – as we do follow our own forecasts – which predicted in 1999 that China would overtake the U.S. within 25 years.
We were setting up in China in a big way back then. The head of HSBC at the time retired and joined Princeton in our London operation to head up China. However, we have no partners at this time and what we do is entirely self-funded by myself. I have said before, the markets were always like an ATM machine for me, so I never needed money.
I promised our clients that we will go public and allow everyone to participate so that the company can continue beyond me. We will probably go public in Hong Kong. We have not cut any deals with anyone as of yet.
