Chapter 1552: Hold One's Troops

Zhao Fusheng naturally understood what Tan Kaixuan meant.

But he was even more aware that if he actually agreed to Tan Kaixuan's proposal, it would only cause him trouble.

After all, Brother Capital was different from Future Investment. The former had a more complex structure, consisting not only of Tan Kaixuan's own funds but also other shareholders. He was the decision-maker, true, but he still had to consider the ideas and suggestions of other partners.

Future Investment was different. As the major shareholder of Future Investment, Zhao Fusheng's words were decisions. Including Dong Chenxi, some might question him, but no one would ever cause trouble.

According to Tan Kaixuan, if Kevin Feige didn't intend to cooperate with Future Investment, Zhao Fusheng could transfer funds into Brother Capital and then use it as a shell to carry out the acquisition.

But in reality, the risk of doing so was truly too great.

Moreover, Zhao Fusheng didn't think this approach could really fool Kevin Feige.

"Don't overthink it."

Zhao Fusheng smiled and shook his head at Tan Kaixuan: "Let me meet with Kevin Feige and have a chat. If I need your help afterward, I'll let you know. How about that?"

"Alright."

Tan Kaixuan nodded. He was indifferent about it.

Although the focus of his career was now shifting back to China, Tan Kaixuan also knew that sooner or later he would have to return to the United States. Not because of the economic situation, but because he enjoyed maneuvering in the financial markets and the thrilling sensation of walking a tightrope.

At the hotel, Tan Kaixuan went to rest first, but Zhao Fusheng chose not to rest. Instead, he directly asked Dong Chenxi to bring the Marvel materials and began reading them.

"Don't you want to rest a bit?" Dong Chenxi asked Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng shook his head: "No need. It's not that tiring. Let me look over the materials, and we can talk."

Seeing this, Dong Chenxi didn't insist and began to brief Zhao Fusheng on what she had learned.

After a while, Zhao Fusheng finished reading and said to Dong Chenxi: "What do you think of Kevin Feige as a person?"

Dong Chenxi was taken aback, hesitated, and then said to Zhao Fusheng: "He seems like someone with strong ideas and opinions."

Zhao Fusheng nodded. If he weren't someone with ideas and opinions, how could he have supported Marvel's grand vision for the next decade?

He was not surprised by this.

"Someone like that isn't easily swayed."

Dong Chenxi hesitated, then said to Zhao Fusheng.

She had dealt with Kevin Feige and knew how tough he was. Winning him over would not be easy.

Zhao Fusheng laughed: "No matter how tough he is, don't forget—he's broke right now!"

As the saying goes, a lack of money can stump even a hero. Although Kevin Feige hadn't reached that point yet, the problem was that Marvel was indeed in a predicament. Even the cleverest housewife can't cook without rice. No matter how ambitious Kevin Feige was, if Marvel had no money, the problem was huge.

In the original history, Kevin Feige had to scrape together funds to finance the production of Iron Man, and the film's main actors all took pay cuts. It's no exaggeration to say that Kevin Feige was gambling—betting everything.

Looking back at history, if Iron Man had failed at the box office, Marvel would undoubtedly have gone bankrupt.

Of course, it hadn't reached that point yet, but even so, Marvel's days were not easy.

That was also why Kevin Feige had started contacting various venture capital firms on Wall Street.

"So when will you meet him?"

Dong Chenxi thought for a moment and asked Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng smiled: "No rush. Let's wait and see."

"What? Aren't you worried he'll meet with other investors?"

Dong Chenxi raised an eyebrow, clearly surprised that Zhao Fusheng wasn't in a hurry to see Kevin Feige. After all, Kevin Feige had said earlier that he wouldn't discuss anything with Future Investment unless he met Zhao Fusheng first.

"It's nothing. I'll first drop by Facebook and Twitter," Zhao Fusheng said to Dong Chenxi with a smile, looking relaxed, as if he hadn't taken her words seriously.

Dong Chenxi thought about it but said nothing.

Even if she didn't know what Zhao Fusheng was up to, she understood the principle that haste makes waste, especially in business. Particularly in commercial negotiations, the more eager you are, the easier it is for others to see your cards.

True to his word, Zhao Fusheng didn't go to see Kevin Feige. Instead, after staying in New York for a day, he headed to Silicon Valley.

Evan Williams had officially launched Twitter, and the response was decent. Some saw it as a low-end version of Facebook, and it quickly became popular in the United States.

As for Facebook, with the involvement of Red Mountain Capital, it was developing even faster. Some time ago, someone in the United States valued Facebook at over five billion US dollars.

"Dear Zhao, what brings you here?"

Seeing Zhao Fusheng, Mark Zuckerberg was quite surprised. After all, Zhao Fusheng rarely appeared in Silicon Valley. Although many people were very interested in this mysterious Eastern investor and even worried that the major shareholder of Facebook might interfere with the company's operations, only Zuckerberg knew that Zhao Fusheng had no interest in Facebook's operations—he only cared about the growth of Facebook's value.

In other words, for Zhao Fusheng, Facebook was a business. As long as Facebook kept increasing the value of his shares, he would continue to support him.

Zuckerberg was happy about this. An investor with no ambition for operational control, who only hoped for dividends, was certainly better than those with strong control desires who aspired to become company managers.

He was very clear on this point.

"I have some business to discuss," Zhao Fusheng said to Zuckerberg with a smile. "Passing through, I thought I'd come see you. Dear Zucker, how have you been lately? Is there anything at Facebook that needs my help?"

"Not for now."

Zuckerberg shook his head: "But I'd really like you to hear about the company's recent developments. There are some things I hope you can give me advice on."

Zhao Fusheng was taken aback but nodded and walked into a coffee shop with Zuckerberg.

Neither Zhao Fusheng nor Zuckerberg ever mentioned what they talked about, but many years later, Zuckerberg always publicly claimed that Zhao Fusheng was the smartest person he had ever met.

Zhao Fusheng remained silent about it as well. The outside media even speculated that Facebook's rapid later development and its entry into the Chinese market were largely due to this meeting.

"Boss, do you really trust Zuckerberg that much?"

As they left, Wu Sijie asked Zhao Fusheng with some confusion.

He didn't quite understand. In fact, there had been people who secretly approached Future Investment, hoping Zhao Fusheng would join forces with them to oust Mark Zuckerberg, but without exception, Zhao Fusheng had refused them all.

Zhao Fusheng's trust in Zuckerberg was beyond ordinary imagination.

Hearing Wu Sijie's question, Zhao Fusheng smiled: "I don't trust him; I trust his ability as a businessman."

A businessman?

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

"Zuckerberg is a very ambitious person. In other words, he's never been a philanthropist. To achieve his goals, he can sacrifice many things, including his friends and himself. Profit is his true pursuit. So as long as I don't infringe on his interests and demonstrate my value, he won't become my enemy." Zhao Fusheng seemed in a good mood today and decided to say a few more words to Wu Sijie.

"Remember, no matter when, in business, you can't trust anyone, and there's no need to trust anyone. Because everyone cares about their own interests."

Zhao Fusheng said earnestly to Wu Sijie.

Wu Sijie nodded emphatically, keeping Zhao Fusheng's words in his heart.