Chapter 1079: The Bet

Zhao Fusheng's exchange with Evan Williams was generally pleasant. Unlike Zuckerberg, who was a pure tech geek, Evan Williams had a stronger commercial bent.

For Zhao Fusheng, this was not a bad thing; at the very least, the other party could understand his plans.

Unlike Facebook, Zuckerberg already had a complete idea at the time, and Zhao Fusheng only needed simple communication with him. But Evan Williams was different; what Zhao Fusheng discussed with him was still just a concept, one that would only become reality after the official launch of smartphones.

Indeed, the reason Zhao Fusheng sought out Evan Williams was to target Twitter, which would officially launch in March 2006.

He did not look for the other founder because he simply couldn't remember the person's name, only knowing that person was an employee of Evan Williams.

According to the information Zhao Fusheng obtained and the content of an interview he remembered, Evan Williams was known as a pioneer of blog technology. He left Google in 2005 to start his own company and launched Twitter with his employee in 2006. In the initial phase, the service was only used to send text messages to friends' phones. By the end of 2006, they upgraded the service, allowing users to send and receive messages via instant messaging and personalized Twitter websites without entering their phone numbers.

Compared to Facebook, Twitter had relatively fewer active users, but the problem was that Twitter had a lower barrier to entry; users only needed to send content within 140 characters.

Twitter was the logical next step in the development of blogging sites and the initial stage of blogging. Netizens found it more convenient to type 140 characters and send them to the web, so Twitter streamlined information. As Williams said, 'It is another step toward the democratization of information. I firmly believe that if we can make it easier for people to share information, the future will be better.'

In Zhao Fusheng's view, for a company with a future market value exceeding ten billion dollars, it would be a disservice to the memory in his mind if he didn't profit from it.

There was no help for it; he could actually remember only a few things, and over time, they became increasingly blurred. That was human nature. Unlike movies or TV shows, where seeing something might trigger a related memory, he had little exposure to such economic memories, and only a few stuck.

And coincidentally, he remembered this memory about Twitter very clearly.

"Zhao, I think the video playback market is actually bigger than the instant sharing market..." Evan Williams said to Zhao Fusheng.

Clearly, he was very interested in Zhao Fusheng as a potential backer.

But unfortunately, Zhao Fusheng had no intention of investing in that project.

"Evan, I respect your dream," Zhao Fusheng said with a smile. "But I'm sorry, my plans do not include investing in the blog company you just mentioned."

"Alright." Evan Williams nodded somewhat disappointedly and did not dwell on the topic.

Both were smart people. Although the other party valued him, he clearly wasn't going to casually shell out a large sum of money for his project, no different from those cunning old foxes in Silicon Valley.

That said, Evan Williams was willing to deal with someone as direct as Zhao Fusheng; at least he wouldn't hide his true thoughts.

They chatted for a while longer, and Evan Williams warmly invited Zhao Fusheng to tour Google. Though tempted, Zhao Fusheng politely declined.

"Evan, do you like football?"

Just as they were about to leave the café, Zhao Fusheng noticed a betting shop nearby with a banner for the European Championship. Struck by an idea, he asked Evan Williams with a smile.

Evan Williams was taken aback, then laughed: "I liked it a lot as a kid, but now I don't have time."

"What do you think of this year's European Championship?" Zhao Fusheng asked casually.

"Just a few teams, I suppose?" Evan Williams, clearly not ignorant of football, shrugged. "Dark horses are rare; it's like doing business—miracles usually have a low probability of happening."

"How about we make a bet?" Zhao Fusheng suddenly said.

Evan Williams frowned, looked at Zhao Fusheng, and said in surprise: "Zhao, what are you up to?"

Zhao Fusheng chuckled: "Nothing much. I just think this year's European Championship might bring us some surprises. Don't you think?"

Evan Williams laughed: "Zhao, you probably really don't know football. Let me tell you, although football is round, on the pitch, especially in big tournaments like the Euros, dark horses never make it to the end."

Clearly, he didn't believe Zhao Fusheng's words at all.

Zhao Fusheng glanced at Evan Williams and said: "How about this: let's make a bet. I predict a dark horse will emerge this year. If I'm right, you have to promise that when you decide to leave Google and start a new company, you'll choose me as your investor."

Evan Williams laughed heartily: "Alright, I agree. Let's make that bet."

Without further ado, Zhao Fusheng walked into the betting shop and pulled out a thousand dollars from his wallet: "Help me pick which team has the highest odds to win."

Since the group stage had been going on for several days, the strength of many teams had already been revealed, and the odds were naturally different from before the tournament started.

Evan Williams shook his head: "It doesn't make much difference. Zhao, I sincerely advise you not to bet on upsets; the probability is too low."

In his view, Zhao Fusheng's thousand dollars would easily become waste paper.

After all, in such a world-class tournament, upsets might occur in the group stage, but in the knockout rounds, the strong teams would inevitably unleash 100% of their strength. The probability of a dark horse getting through was simply too low.

"Come on, Evan, you pick one for me." Zhao Fusheng, seemingly unfazed by Evan Williams' words, said with a smile.

Evan Williams looked helpless, pointed randomly, and said: "Uh, Greece, Croatia—take your pick."

Zhao Fusheng's smile remained unchanged as he nodded: "Alright, let's go with Greece. Shorter name."

Thus, with Evan Williams' 'help,' Zhao Fusheng bought a thousand dollars' worth of lottery tickets. If Greece won the European Championship that year, he would get a return of one hundred thousand dollars.

Of course, in Evan Williams' view, that thousand dollars no longer belonged to Zhao Fusheng.