Chapter 1116: A Good Opportunity

Zheng Yao was certainly not crazy; she was perfectly clear-headed.

"Why can't we cooperate? We're businesspeople. As long as there's profit to be made, I believe they'll be willing to cooperate." Zheng Yao looked at Zhao Fusheng and said.

Frowning slightly, Zhao Fusheng was noncommittal about Zheng Yao's words. Although he was reluctant to admit it, he had to say that Zheng Yao's words actually made a lot of sense.

Since they were businesspeople, naturally, as long as it was for profit, anything could be negotiated.

In other words, as long as they could make money, SoftBank wouldn't mind any past grudges. This was something not only he understood but also, he believed, Ono Masao understood clearly.

The idea of "business is business, friendship is friendship" only existed in ancient times; modern commercial competition was always cold.

"The problem is, we don't have enough bargaining chips to trade with them." Zhao Fusheng was silent for a moment, then said to Zheng Yao.

To cooperate with the other party, the most important thing was to have bargaining chips to negotiate with. For example, if Future Group wanted to acquire SoftBank's shares in Alibaba, then at the very least, Future Group needed to have something that could attract SoftBank Asia.

If it were before, perhaps they could use shares in Shengda Technology to swap.

But now, it was clear to Zhao Fusheng that the chips in his hand were not enough to attract them.

They couldn't just throw cash at it, could they?

If they did that, on one hand, SoftBank might demand a sky-high price and fleece them. On the other hand, SoftBank wasn't short of money, so there was no need for them to give up Alibaba shares for cash.

Therefore, in Zhao Fusheng's view, Zheng Yao's proposal was essentially meaningless.

Or rather, the idea was good, but achieving it was not so easy.

You see, in business negotiations, keeping the initiative in your own hands and maximizing your advantage were essential skills.

But the problem was that this time, Zhao Fusheng felt he didn't have the initiative.

Zheng Yao shook her head: "I don't think so."

"What do you mean?" Zhao Fusheng was a bit puzzled.

Clearly, Zheng Yao's words confused him.

"I think we can use the group company's shares for a swap." Zheng Yao looked at Zhao Fusheng and slowly offered her suggestion.

"What!"

Zhao Fusheng's brow furrowed immediately as he looked at Zheng Yao: "You mean, use my shares to trade with SoftBank?"

Zheng Yao nodded: "That's right. Based on our current valuation, I believe any investment firm would be willing to join in. Then we can completely..."

"No need to say more." Zhao Fusheng didn't give Zheng Yao a chance to continue, directly waving his hand: "Don't even think about it. If I wanted to raise funds, I would have done it long ago. No matter how promising the e-commerce industry is, I won't sell my shares."

As he spoke, Zhao Fusheng looked at Zheng Yao and slowly said: "And I can assure you, the company will not go public."

Zheng Yao was stunned. She had imagined countless possibilities but never expected such an outcome.

This guy Zhao Fusheng had never even considered taking the company public!

You see, nowadays, the goal of many large enterprise groups was to go public and raise funds, expand their industrial scale and capital. How could Zhao Fusheng have no such idea at all? What was he thinking?

Clearly, she had never anticipated that Zhao Fusheng would have such thoughts.

Seeing Zheng Yao's reaction, Zhao Fusheng knew she must have been thrown off by his words.

Smiling, Zhao Fusheng said: "Your thinking is not wrong; Alibaba's development is indeed promising. But we can't cooperate with SoftBank, or rather, swapping shares is meaningless. Do you think Future Group's future development will be worse than Ma Xiaoyun's company?"

Zheng Yao was taken aback, smiled, and shook her head: "Of course not. I just think the future of the e-commerce industry is bright, so I hope we can get a piece of the pie."

"Right direction, wrong method." Zhao Fusheng evaluated Zheng Yao's plan and said flatly: "Contact SoftBank and ask if they're willing to sell some of their Alibaba shares. No matter how many, we'll take them. Price is not an issue."

Zheng Yao frowned slightly. Zhao Fusheng's method was essentially the same as hers, except it was a cash purchase instead of a share swap. But according to his own earlier statement, a cash purchase might mean greater losses for Future Group, since the other party might demand a sky-high price.

Seeing Zheng Yao's reaction, Zhao Fusheng sighed: "What, you think it's not appropriate?"

Zheng Yao nodded honestly: "Although it's the only way, I really don't think it's appropriate. Like you just said, apart from having plenty of cash, we have no bargaining chips to attract them. Negotiations will be very difficult."

Competition in the business world rarely involves warmth. In other words, as soon as you show a slight weakness, your opponent will seize it without hesitation.

At the very least, Zheng Yao was one hundred percent sure that once SoftBank realized Future Group was very optimistic about the e-commerce industry's prospects and was determined to acquire Alibaba shares but had nothing substantial to offer except cash, they would definitely demand a sky-high price.

By then, the amount involved might be a shocking figure.

Zhao Fusheng smiled bitterly: "There's no way around it. Who told you to target Alibaba? That guy Ma Xiaoyun is desperate to get rid of SoftBank's control, but it's not easy for us to step in now."

Zheng Yao nodded helplessly, sighed, and was about to speak when she suddenly froze, staring at Zhao Fusheng in surprise: "You, what did you just say?"

"I said it's not that easy." Although a bit confused, Zhao Fusheng patiently tried to persuade Zheng Yao: "I think you should consider other companies."

At this point, he was already considering whether to suggest Zheng Yao look into that guy who couldn't tell if his wife was pretty and loved big breasts—Matcha Dong.

After all, although Brother Dong had some personal moral issues—having a flat-chested wife but always liking big-breasted beauties—overall, the development of Jingdong Mall was still promising, and Zhao Fusheng himself was optimistic about the company.

"Why consider other companies?" Zheng Yao shook her head and said to Zhao Fusheng: "Not that. You just said Ma Xiaoyun is desperate to get rid of SoftBank?"

Zhao Fusheng was startled and nodded: "Yeah, didn't you know?"

Zheng Yao was full of surprise: "Of course I didn't know. Where did you hear that?"

Zhao Fusheng gave an awkward smile but didn't answer Zheng Yao.

In his mind, he was cursing those self-media accounts on WeChat Moments. Those bastards said that after Ma Xiaoyun's successful financing, he had been trying to free Alibaba from SoftBank's control. How come Zheng Yao had never heard such news? What now?

The next moment, Zhao Fusheng heard Zheng Yao say: "If this news is true, then maybe we don't need to negotiate with SoftBank at all."

Zhao Fusheng was a bit confused, then heard Zheng Yao continue: "We'll go directly to Ma Xiaoyun. Since he wants to part ways with SoftBank, he'll definitely need a partner. This is our chance!"

Zhao Fusheng was dumbfounded, standing there speechless for a long time. He never expected Zheng Yao's imagination to be so wild. He had just casually mentioned it, and she came up with this idea.

And indeed, the path this woman had thought of was actually quite feasible.

Thinking it over carefully, Zhao Fusheng suddenly realized that he had been overlooking Ma Xiaoyun. This guy wasn't one to be controlled by others. SoftBank had taken nearly a third of his shares for twenty million back then. Now that Boss Ma had money, with over eighty million in financing, how could he still swallow that?

Zhao Fusheng suddenly realized that perhaps his opportunity had really come!