Chapter 1055: Big Business

"Mr. James, hello."

"Zhao, my friend, hello."

In the meeting room of Future Investment, Zhao Fusheng and James shook hands with a smile.

Unexpectedly, Zhao Fusheng saw seven or eight assistants behind James.

Clearly, this time he came prepared.

"Please have a seat." Zhao Fusheng gestured for James and his team to sit down. Dong Chenxi waved her hand and also led the Future Investment team to take their seats.

The two sides sat facing each other in two rows, looking quite serious.

"Zhao, my friend, I think it's time to restart our negotiations," James said seriously, looking at Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng frowned and looked at James: "Mr. James, to be honest, I'm a bit surprised that you suddenly showed up with a negotiation team."

He was telling the truth; no matter what, James's move was unexpected for Zhao Fusheng.

Originally, he thought James would communicate with him privately, but unexpectedly, the other party came straight to the point, adopting a negotiating stance.

"That's normal, Zhao. I think for us, time is money, isn't it?" James smiled at Zhao Fusheng, answering the question indirectly.

But clearly, Zhao Fusheng had already gotten the answer he needed from his words.

James couldn't wait any longer.

"First, we need to confirm whether your company owns Shengda Technology..." At this moment, a young man sitting next to James adjusted his glasses and looked up at Zhao Fusheng and the others.

Obviously, the other party was officially entering the negotiation rhythm.

Zhao Fusheng shrugged, said nothing, and looked at Dong Chenxi. At this time, she and her team naturally needed to step forward.

The subsequent negotiations naturally got on track. Dong Chenxi led her team in a war of words with James's team, which truly opened Zhao Fusheng's eyes.

Time passed quickly. In the blink of an eye, two hours had gone by. Zhao Fusheng felt the atmosphere in the meeting room was somewhat suffocating. Taking advantage of no one paying attention to him, he simply left the meeting room and went outside.

"So damn tiring."

Zhao Fusheng let out a rare curse.

He meant it—this kind of business negotiation involving hundreds of millions of dollars was sheer torture.

Almost every detail had to be meticulously discussed, with both sides going back and forth, neither willing to yield an inch. The atmosphere in the meeting room was suffocating.

Fortunately, after such a long confrontation, the people inside were also tired. Dong Chenxi took the initiative to propose a break, with Future Investment hosting a banquet for their friends from Red Mountain Capital.

James readily agreed, and Dong Chenxi immediately arranged for a table of food to be ordered at a nearby restaurant.

Watching the group who had just been locked in fierce debate at the negotiating table now cheerfully clinking glasses, Zhao Fusheng shook his head helplessly but had to admit that this was perhaps the nature of business.

"Zhao, I sincerely hope we have the chance to work together again," James said, raising his glass to Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng smiled slightly. "Mr. James, I think we will definitely have opportunities to cooperate."

This was true; after all, the market was only so big, and as the head of Sequoia Capital's Asia-Pacific region, there would certainly be intersections between their two companies.

But whether they would be rivals or friends at that time remained to be seen.

...

...

Zhao Fusheng did not participate in the afternoon negotiations. He had never been interested in such things anyway. Although James called him an investment genius, he himself knew it was merely the advantage of foresight.

"Don't rush. Our bottom line is one hundred million dollars," Zhao Fusheng whispered to Dong Chenxi before leaving.

In Zhao Fusheng's view, fifteen percent of Shengda Technology's shares were definitely worth one hundred million dollars.

After all, Shengda Technology's IPO price was eleven dollars, and within a week of listing, Chen Tianqiao's net worth exceeded sixty billion RMB. Zhao Fusheng felt that while he might not be as extravagant, he certainly shouldn't settle for too little.

Dong Chenxi nodded, indicating she had taken note.

In fact, she had previously had someone calculate, and the final conclusion was not far from Zhao Fusheng's requirement.

"Mr. James, regardless of the outcome of this cooperation, I hope that Red Mountain Capital and Future Investment can maintain a long-term partnership," Zhao Fusheng said to James with a smile that was neither calculating nor sinister, speaking sincerely.

For such an established venture capital fund, Zhao Fusheng hoped to maintain a friendly relationship. Doing business is like being a person—try to make more friends and fewer enemies. Even if they ultimately cannot be friends, there's no need to be at daggers drawn, determined to destroy each other.

Unless there is a conflict of interest so irreconcilable that it cannot be eased, no businessman will truly regard his opponent as an enemy.

SoftBank and Hongshan were examples of this.

Initially, there was quite a bit of cooperation between the two sides, but as Hongshan Capital tried to enter the island nation market, which SoftBank regarded as its own turf, a major battle ensued. Hongshan suffered heavy losses and was squeezed out, naturally harboring deep resentment toward SoftBank. SoftBank, having killed a thousand enemies at the cost of eight hundred of its own, also bore a grudge against Hongshan.

As for Future Investment, it was not yet capable of wrestling with such giants, so it naturally had to keep a low profile.

James was naturally willing to befriend an investment genius like Zhao Fusheng. Upon hearing this, he smiled and said, "Zhao, I'm happy to make friends with someone like you, because I believe you will definitely bring me more investment opportunities, won't you?"

Zhao Fusheng smiled, noncommittal, and naturally did not respond to James's words.

Both of them knew very well that in such a situation, words spoken were just to be heard, not taken seriously.

Businessmen, after all, still have to talk business; pleasantries are at most just talk.

...

...

Many people actually have some misunderstandings about business negotiations, thinking that they are like what is shown in TV dramas, with back-and-forth exchanges over several rounds.

There is nothing wrong with that understanding per se, but the problem is that normal business negotiations never start rashly. Even when acquiring a company, thorough research must be conducted beforehand before proceeding formally.

Simply put, once formal negotiations begin, the preparatory work is basically done, and both parties have already reached a consensus on the major issues.

What remains is essentially the amount and the details.

In the end, Future Investment and Hongshan Capital reached an agreement, with Hongshan Capital acquiring 15% of Shengda Technology's shares held by Future Investment for $95 million.

At that moment, it was less than a month before Shengda Technology was listed on the NASDAQ in the United States.

The transaction was very low-key because neither company was listed, so there was no need to issue a public announcement. They only sent a fax to Shengda Technology after the agreement was signed.

At the same time, good news also came from the negotiations between Future Investment and SoftBank.

$10 million.

Dong Chenxi neatly sold off all of Future Investment's shares in Xiaonei.com.

The buyer was naturally Ono Masao.

At Aipu Mobile, the Han father and son, after much consideration, agreed to Ono Masao's proposal for a joint controlling stake in Xiaonei.com.

Zhao Fusheng had no objection to this. On one hand, the Han father and son surely had their own considerations; on the other hand, since he had decided to sell Xiaonei.com, he naturally had no right to interfere in others' decisions.

After this series of dazzling maneuvers, Future Investment finally had a large sum of freely disposable funds.

Including the idle funds previously on hand, Zhao Fusheng was surprised to find that he could control $110 million.

This was no small amount. Even George Soros and Jim Rogers, who co-founded the Quantum Fund, started with a fund size of only $12 million.

Although it was the early stage of entrepreneurship, the concept of this figure was already an astonishing amount.

Even as times have changed to the present day after the millennium, this $110 million, if managed properly, would be enough to take Zhao Fusheng's development to the next level.

Of course, the prerequisite was that Zhao Fusheng's decisions must be correct.

It should be noted that Future Investment had already made a name for itself in the domestic investment circle, but many people had been on the sidelines watching.

After all, although the projects invested in had promising prospects, the actual returns were still unknown.

But now, with the completion of these two deals,

Zhao Fusheng knew that within the industry, he would inevitably be thrust into the spotlight.

All kinds of people—those wanting a piece of the action, those trying to fish in troubled waters, those forcing his hand, those dragging him down—would eagerly jump out.

People often say that the bird that sticks its neck out gets shot first.

Zhao Fusheng did not want to be that bird, but the problem was that sometimes, people cannot decide their own fate; they are always pushed forward by fate.

"Keep a low profile recently," Zhao Fusheng said into the phone to Dong Chenxi. "Aren't you going to attend Tencent Technology's listing ceremony soon? Then go to Hong Kong for a while. Over here, don't pay attention to anyone."

Dong Chenxi naturally understood what he meant and laughed. "What's this? Sounds like you have a big plan?"

"Not really a big plan," Zhao Fusheng shook his head. "I still need to think it over."

Investment itself requires careful consideration, and now that the ship is getting bigger, one must be even more cautious.

"Alright, you're the boss, you call the shots," Dong Chenxi laughed.

Zhao Fusheng was about to speak when his phone vibrated. He glanced at it and laughed. "Alright, I have to go. Someone's looking for me."

Dong Chenxi was momentarily startled, then laughed. Figuring the timing, that person should be calling Zhao Fusheng about now.