Chapter 1329: Finalized

The business world is like a battlefield—this was a truth Masao Ono had understood clearly from his first day in investment. So he could actually understand the tactics Zhao Fusheng had used before, because he himself had employed the same methods on others.

But that did not mean Masao Ono would accept Zhao Fusheng playing dumb in front of him.

What did he mean by a misunderstanding? That guy had screwed SoftBank over repeatedly—was that a misunderstanding?

Masao Ono felt that Zhao Fusheng's understanding of the word 'misunderstanding' might be vastly different from that of normal people.

Seeing Masao Ono's reaction, Zhao Fusheng couldn't help but laugh. There was no helping it—it was just too funny.

"Mr. Ono, in business, one acts as a businessman. Although we are destined never to be friends, I think SoftBank Asia and Future Investment can be good partners. What do you think?" Zhao Fusheng looked at Masao Ono and said sincerely.

After hearing Zhao Fusheng's words, Masao Ono suddenly dropped his stern expression and laughed.

Although he had indeed been somewhat angry just now, in truth, Masao Ono had to admit that what Zhao Fusheng said was correct.

Businessmen, no matter how they posture, ultimately care most about profit.

Just like that national husband—when the live-streaming industry was at its hottest, he chose to invest in a live-streaming site, signing Korean groups and Korean female anchors. But when he discovered the industry was no longer profitable, he immediately withdrew his capital and left.

Only a fool wouldn't make money when they could. Anyone who knowingly does business at a loss is either an idiot or has ulterior motives.

"Chairman Zhao, since that's the case, why don't we have a frank discussion? How about it?" Masao Ono looked at Zhao Fusheng and said word by word.

Zhao Fusheng shrugged. "As you wish."

James was different from Masao Ono. It's often said that character determines destiny, and there are inherent differences between Americans and Japanese. With James, Zhao Fusheng could lure him into cooperation with future benefits, but with Masao Ono, he had to offer solid substance to attract him; otherwise, the old fox would never take the bait.

After all, Masao Ono had been tricked by Zhao Fusheng before.

So Zhao Fusheng simply told Masao Ono the entire content of his conversation with Ma Xiaoyun, and finally said bluntly, "The situation now is that Yahoo is determined to acquire Alibaba's shares, Ma Xiaoyun wants to play both sides, and my idea is simple: since we're dividing the cake, we might as well all share it together."

"What do you mean?" Masao Ono frowned, puzzled.

Clearly, he didn't quite understand Zhao Fusheng's words.

Zhao Fusheng didn't waste words. He said frankly, "It's actually very simple. I'm just asking Mr. Ono whether SoftBank Asia is interested in participating in this cooperation. By the way, Mr. James of Sequoia Capital has already met with me, and we had a very pleasant exchange."

As soon as these words were spoken, the expression on Masao Ono's face instantly became interesting.

This scene felt familiar to him, as if he had encountered it before.

During the acquisition of Xiaonei.com, Zhao Fusheng had pulled the same trick on him—making a big show that Sequoia Capital might get involved, even arranging for him to 'bump into' James, which made him panic and rush to sign the contract.

Later, he found out that Zhao Fusheng had been bluffing all along.

But now, another difficult problem lay before Masao Ono.

This time, should he believe Zhao Fusheng?

……

……

Masao Ono left with a head full of doubts. Zhao Fusheng knew very well that Masao Ono was genuinely hesitating.

After all, this was no small matter—it involved investments worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and also involved Yahoo and Sequoia Capital. Plus, having been tricked by Zhao Fusheng before, Masao Ono was now in a state of distrust toward him.

"Will Ono refuse to cooperate?"

Dong Chenxi asked Zhao Fusheng after he had seen Masao Ono off.

After all, Ono was different from James. SoftBank Asia had relatively few investment projects in China, unlike Sequoia Capital, which cast a wide net everywhere.

In fact, this also reflected the different investment strategies of the two firms. SoftBank Asia had previously made large-scale investments in the US market, pouring hundreds of millions of dollars within a year and reaping huge returns.

Now, with their US market布局, they naturally paid less attention to the Chinese market.

Conversely, Sequoia Capital had been focusing on expanding in the Asian market in recent years, so they were quite interested in Zhao Fusheng's proposal.

It's often said that one's position determines one's perspective. That's exactly it—a company's core interests determine how its management will make decisions when faced with a situation.

"I don't know," Zhao Fusheng shook his head and said.

He meant it, because he really couldn't guarantee that Masao Ono would be as interested in cooperation as James. The only thing Zhao Fusheng was sure of was that SoftBank still had high hopes for Alibaba as a company.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have invested tens of millions of dollars in Ma Xiaoyun shortly after the millennium.

Back then, tens of millions of dollars was no small sum in China.

Hearing Zhao Fusheng's answer, Dong Chenxi's brows furrowed slightly, clearly worried.

Seeing her expression, Zhao Fusheng laughed. "No need to worry."

"How can I not worry?" Dong Chenxi shot Zhao Fusheng a glare. "Ma Xiaoyun is now bold enough to play the game of showing his true colors. He's clearly fully prepared. If he really sells his shares, Yahoo will become Alibaba's largest shareholder. If they then dilute the equity, what will we do?"

Her concern was understandable. Currently, Future Investment held the shares that previously belonged to SoftBank, but the problem was that Alibaba's IPO was inevitable. Once Yahoo became Alibaba's largest shareholder, if the company issued new shares after going public, Future Investment would either have to inject more capital or face equity dilution.

Even worse, if Alibaba and Yahoo reached an agreement, they might start doing that right now.

And that was a scenario Dong Chenxi absolutely did not want to see.

Zhao Fusheng waved his hand. "Things haven't reached that point. There's no need to be so timid."

Then he smiled and said, "At worst, we can set up a private equity fund. How many people do you think would be willing to join?"

Hearing this, Dong Chenxi was stunned, staring at Zhao Fusheng in disbelief. She hadn't expected him to have such a plan.

But on second thought, Dong Chenxi had to admit that if it really came to that, as soon as the news got out, people would come knocking, eager to entrust their funds to Zhao Fusheng for management.

After all, Zhao Fusheng had proven his investment acumen with his previous stellar track record.

Of course, this would only happen if Masao Ono refused to cooperate with Future Investment, giving Zhao Fusheng the opportunity to showcase his skills.

……

……

Contrary to Zhao Fusheng's expectations, Masao Ono gave his reply after just one day of consideration.

"Chairman Zhao, I think we can cooperate on this matter."

Masao Ono said to Zhao Fusheng over the phone.

Clearly, he had made this decision after careful deliberation.

Zhao Fusheng smiled. "Mr. Ono is right. A union of strengths is the right path."

From then on, Zhao Fusheng didn't need to worry about the rest. Dong Chenxi would personally handle the tripartite talks, inviting James and Masao Ono.

It was almost July, and Zhao Fusheng's mind had to be on his wedding. As for other matters, as he said to Zheng Yao, "I have so many people under me. If I have to solve everything myself, what's the point of running this company?"

Zheng Yao was speechless and had to admit that Zhao Fusheng was absolutely right.

Indeed, if Zhao Fusheng had to handle everything himself, why bother with all these subsidiaries? Might as well shut down the Future Group.

As for Ma Xiaoyun, Zhao Fusheng gave Dong Chenxi a plan: either the three parties jointly invest $1.2 billion to acquire 40% of Alibaba Group's shares,

or the three parties join forces to negotiate with Yahoo, bringing them into the acquisition consortium.

The biggest advantage of this plan was that it cut Ma Xiaoyun out of the picture.

Originally, Ma Xiaoyun had hoped that Yahoo's capital injection would dilute Future Investment's equity, expand Alibaba's influence, increase Alibaba's visibility, and allow him to maintain control of the company.

But now, if Zhao Fusheng's plan went through, Ma Xiaoyun would be dismayed to find himself becoming an employee.

That's right!

An employee!

Because no matter which plan was adopted, once the acquisition succeeded, Future Investment would inevitably become Alibaba Group's largest shareholder, followed by SoftBank's return and the new entrant, Sequoia Capital.

With these three players in the picture, Ma Xiaoyun would have no advantage in equity, only in voting rights.

Zhao Fusheng was looking forward to seeing Ma Xiaoyun's expression when he learned the news.

To be honest, Zhao Fusheng had once admired Ma Xiaoyun, but after getting to know him, he felt that these big shots of the era were actually just so-so.

The reason big shots are called big shots is often not because of how legendary their rise was, but because they weathered the waves of the market and ultimately stood firm in the ups and downs of business.

And now, Zhao Fusheng himself was striving to become a big shot.