Chapter 1429: Big Boss Liu

Since a decision had been made, it naturally had to be followed through.

Zhao Fusheng was never the type to be capricious. Having decided to integrate the company's resources, he would see it through to the end.

Of course, the specific operations would be handled by Dong Chenxi, Zheng Yao, and the others.

As the boss, Zhao Fusheng only provided a direction.

Not long after that meeting, Zhao Fusheng suddenly received an invitation from Lenovo Group.

Liu Chuanzhi is inviting me to dinner?

Somewhat surprised, he looked at Zheng Yao with a bewildered expression. "Why?"

As far as he could recall, he had no connection with Liu Chuanzhi. The cooperation between Future Group and Lenovo Group was limited to advertising planning. In fact, because he disliked some of Lenovo's practices, Zhao Fusheng hadn't even done the planning himself; Zheng Yao had assigned it to another advertising agency under her.

But now, Liu Chuanzhi was personally inviting him to dinner. What was going on?

If time moved forward ten years, what would Liu Chuanzhi's status be in the Chinese business world?

A towering figure!

The most mysterious business leader in legend, the leading brother of the Taishan Society, the supreme of the Five Great Mountains.

In comparison, whether it was Ma Yun or Ma Huateng, the clubs they created were mere juniors before Boss Liu.

Of course, as Alibaba and Tencent grew in scale, these people were soon pulled into the Taishan Society. Whether it was genuine or perfunctory could be seen from Ma Yun's consecutive years of absence from the Taishan Society's annual meetings.

Mind you, Comrade Ma Yun never missed the annual meeting of his Jiangnan Society.

But regardless, from this alone, we can see that Ma Yun still feared Boss Liu.

Of course, the wealthy have their pride, especially successful people like Ma Yun. They wouldn't willingly become someone's underling in the true sense, so they naturally had other ways of dealing with it.

Simply put, keep a distance, don't disturb each other.

Moreover, according to Zhao Fusheng's knowledge, the later Wuzhen dinner party was also a kind of power division in the business circle, but that involved issues between the two big bosses, Ma Yun and Ma Huateng.

But Zhao Fusheng never expected to have caught the attention of Big Boss Liu. After all, although Future Group was developing well, in terms of scale and corporate influence, it was still far from the standards of the Taishan Society.

"I don't know, probably Zhu Yushi helped arrange it." Zheng Yao was equally puzzled but patiently explained, "Actually, I think having a meal is fine. Since you rarely appear in public anyway, just take it as getting to know him."

In her view, even if they didn't cooperate with a business tycoon like Liu Chuanzhi, they should try not to offend him. More friends mean more paths; even if they couldn't become close friends, at least they shouldn't become enemies.

Zhao Fusheng naturally understood this reasoning and nodded. "Accept it for me. I'll go when the time comes."

Regardless, since the other party had extended an olive branch, it would seem ungrateful if he hesitated.

Publicly, the other party was a partner of Future Advertising; privately, Liu Chuanzhi was a senior in the business world. No matter what, as a junior, he had to meet and interact with him.

...

...

Unexpectedly, the place where Zhao Fusheng and Liu Chuanzhi met was not some upscale restaurant but an ordinary eatery.

There were few customers, only two or three tables. Seeing the restaurant filled with the entourages of Zhao Fusheng and Liu Chuanzhi, they soon chose to leave.

"When you get old, you tend to be nostalgic." Liu Chuanzhi smiled at Zhao Fusheng. "I used to come here; the food is delicious. Think of it as accompanying an old man like me in reminiscing."

Zhao Fusheng respectfully nodded. "You're too kind, President Liu. It's my honor to dine with you."

Although this man had a low reputation in later generations, one had to admit that Liu Chuanzhi was quite capable in turning Lenovo into a global top-tier enterprise.

And precisely because of this, Zhao Fusheng became even more vigilant in his presence.

After all, although this man had stepped down as chairman of Lenovo's board last year, leading people to think he planned to retire, a few years later he would make a comeback and once again become Lenovo's helmsman.

Such an old fox, even if lying low now, no one dared to underestimate his existence.

Zhao Fusheng dared not either. Even though he was a reborn person, he knew very well that Lenovo's status was by no means low. Despite the later online criticism, in the selection of figures for the forty years of reform and opening up, Liu Chuanzhi was listed alongside the two Mas.

What did that mean?

It meant that in the eyes of the higher-ups, even if Lenovo was widely denounced as a traitor, it was still a representative of Chinese enterprises.

After all, earning foreign currency from foreigners couldn't be bad, could it?

Giving a deep look at the respectful Zhao Fusheng, Liu Chuanzhi chuckled but said nothing. Instead, he called over the nervous restaurant owner to order.

Although it was a small restaurant, as Liu Chuanzhi had said, the taste was good, and Zhao Fusheng found it acceptable.

Liu Chuanzhi didn't order many dishes—four dishes. Including the two assistants, himself, and Zhao Fusheng, they ate with relish.

"I'm old and don't like drinking." Liu Chuanzhi smiled at Zhao Fusheng. "At your age, I had just joined the Chinese Academy of Sciences as a researcher. Back then, computers were still a novelty, let alone the internet. People didn't understand what the network was all about..."

Zhao Fusheng didn't speak, just listened. He knew very well that the man before him was no pushover. In 1988, Liu Chuanzhi and a few others went to Hong Kong with only 300,000 Hong Kong dollars. There, they started with trading, just like in the mainland, accumulating funds and understanding overseas markets. In 1988, they established Lenovo Hong Kong, and Liu became its chairman.

Around 1990 was a period of rapid development for Lenovo. Besides managing internal company affairs, Liu Chuanzhi had to painstakingly find more funding for Lenovo. Financial costs were very high. Starting with 300,000 yuan, Lenovo relied entirely on profits for rolling development, which was very difficult.

In 1996, Lenovo took the lead in launching a price war, under the banner of a national brand, defeating all competitors and securing the top spot in the domestic computer market, a position it maintained.

But even so, Lenovo still faced development difficulties. Liu Chuanzhi secretly planned to turn Lenovo into a joint-stock company. He united a group of people and eventually facilitated the merger of Beijing Lenovo and Hong Kong Lenovo. Liu Chuanzhi became chairman of Lenovo Group, successfully transforming Lenovo from a state-owned enterprise into a joint-stock company.

Of course, in public propaganda, Liu Chuanzhi was clever enough to position Lenovo as a state-owned enterprise.

The waters here were deep. The biggest advantage of a state-owned enterprise was access to national policy support. It was no exaggeration to say that without national policy support, there would be no Lenovo today, nor would there be the successful entrepreneur Liu Chuanzhi.

China's information and electronics industry started late, initially without its own brands. Under such circumstances, the country urgently needed to promote its own enterprises and products. Lenovo seized this opportunity and received strong policy support, including financial and sales support.

To this day, Lenovo still enjoys considerable support in this regard, such as government procurement and government technology support. In fact, this was the reason Lenovo sought ties with the Chinese Academy of Sciences from the start and voluntarily gave shares to the Academy. That was Liu Chuanzhi's cleverness.

Facts proved that a blank enterprise, a poor enterprise, an enterprise unclear about its future direction, with government support, could avoid many detours and save much effort!

From Lenovo's development, every rise and every difficulty involved the government. Even Lenovo's listing in Hong Kong was personally recommended and guided by government officials. Liu Chuanzhi himself had faced life-and-death situations, nearly ending up in prison multiple times. Each time, government officials, focusing on the bigger picture, pulled him back from the brink. During the Liu-Ni conflict, which escalated to a life-or-death struggle, an official once said that China did not lack scientists like Ni Guangnan but lacked outstanding entrepreneurs like Liu Chuanzhi. Under such circumstances, the government chose to protect the state-owned enterprise and the entrepreneur rather than the scientist. Imagine if Liu Chuanzhi had been just a private entrepreneur—what would the outcome have been?

Of course, history proved that Liu Chuanzhi's game was essentially collusion between officials and businessmen. Following his approach, Lenovo eventually became what Zhao Fusheng saw in his original timeline—engaged in assembling computers and sales agency businesses.

Why is Lenovo considered inferior to Huawei? The most important reason is that Lenovo lacks core technology, while Huawei has it.

Of course, this had nothing to do with Zhao Fusheng. Whether Liu Chuanzhi or Ren Zhengfei, neither was on the same path as him. In Zhao Fusheng's view, it was best to keep to oneself, each going their own way—that was the right path.

But apparently, Liu Chuanzhi didn't think so.

With a knowing smile, Liu Chuanzhi slowly said, "Chairman Zhao is young and promising, especially in the internet sector. I think Lenovo and Future Group should have deeper cooperation. What do you think?"

Frowning slightly, Zhao Fusheng sneered inwardly. He finally understood why this old fox wanted to see him and invite him to dinner.

So after all this, although it was a small restaurant, it was still a Hongmen banquet.

But this time, Liu Chuanzhi had picked the wrong person to play his game with.