Chapter 2355 Sitting on the Fence

"Give up?"

Dong Chenxi looked at Zhao Fusheng in surprise.

She hadn't expected that, because of a Wall Street tycoon's interest, Su Xinghe would actually want to abandon the idea of going further.

"That's Facebook! Even if we only increase our stake by one percent, that's billions of dollars."

Dong Chenxi said to Zhao Fusheng somewhat reluctantly.

It wasn't that she was particularly greedy; she also understood that for Zhao Fusheng, the wealth he had now was certainly enough for several lifetimes, even for generations to come.

Including herself, after Zhao Fusheng gave her one percent of the future investment shares, Dong Chenxi knew she wasn't short of money.

But this was a way to prove one's own value!

The more successful Facebook was, the more shares of Facebook Future Investment owned, the more it proved that her and Zhao Fusheng's judgment was correct.

That was what truly mattered to Dong Chenxi.

Zhao Fusheng glanced at her twice, then asked back, "In your opinion, can we fight against that guy?"

Dong Chenxi nodded: "Of course."

This was her honest opinion. Although the other party was a Wall Street tycoon, Future Investment was no longer the pushover it once was. In terms of available funds alone, Dong Chenxi was confident she could withstand any attack.

In short, she was very confident now.

Zhao Fusheng sighed, looked at Dong Chenxi, and after a long while said, "Sometimes, doing something isn't just for a single purpose; purposes don't necessarily conflict with each other. It's like our approach—seemingly a retreat, but from another perspective, it's also to protect our own interests."

Dong Chenxi frowned slightly, looked up at Zhao Fusheng, and said, "You mean, retreat in order to advance?"

Zhao Fusheng nodded: "Let's wait and see. I think Zuckerberg might be more worried about this than we are."

Dong Chenxi smiled; she naturally understood what Zhao Fusheng meant.

As Zhao Fusheng said, indeed, Mark Zuckerberg was more worried than they were.

"Go ahead, spend time with your boyfriend."

Zhao Fusheng waved his hand, signaling Dong Chenxi to leave: "By the way, don't make any rash inferences without sufficient intelligence support. Maybe the other party's goal is something we don't understand."

He said this, naturally, as a friend and boss advising Dong Chenxi.

She had no other faults, except she was too competitive.

"Got it."

Dong Chenxi waved her hand, indicating she remembered Zhao Fusheng's words.

In fact, she also knew that Zhao Fusheng meant well for her.

After all, by now, although her position was very stable thanks to Zhao Fusheng's support, there were also those who were eyeing her covetously. If something went wrong, even Zhao Fusheng couldn't easily protect her.

Watching Dong Chenxi leave, Zhao Fusheng sat on the sofa, silent for a long time.

Carl Icahn was no easy character. From the moment he entered this industry, Icahn skillfully used leveraged buyouts, hostile takeovers, proxy fights, boardroom attacks, media manipulation, and inciting minority shareholders—various capital and non-capital means—frequently hunting on Wall Street.

Icahn greatly admired Napoleon. He thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of making opponents collapse or submit after one battle after another.

His list of prey included giants such as Yahoo, Time Warner, Viacom, Apple, Motorola, MGM, Texaco, Nabisco, Western Union, and many others. Wherever he went, he stirred up a storm.

Moreover, Icahn disliked Buffett very much; the two had clashed more than once.

And their conflict stemmed from a clash of two investment philosophies.

Buffett represented value investing. He always chose valuable companies for long-term investment, obtaining excess returns through company growth and compound interest. He had a win-win relationship with management, thus often reaching a tacit understanding.

Icahn represented aggressive speculation. He liked to choose undervalued companies, using hostile takeovers and other means to force the company to change rapidly according to his intentions to boost the stock price. He always stood on the side of shareholder interests, often coming into direct conflict with management.

And Zhao Fusheng happened to belong to the value investing camp.

That was exactly what he was worried about.

In fact, Buffett's early investment philosophy was very close to Icahn's. Influenced by his mentor Graham, during his money management phase and the early days of Berkshire, Buffett advocated 'cigar butt' (undervalued companies) investing. After buying cigar butts, if they didn't rise, he would keep buying until he joined the board or even gained control, ultimately driving the company's value realization and exiting with profit.

However, this investment method required hard work for companies that weren't exactly high-quality, and such cheap stocks later became hard to find. Therefore, starting in the 1970s, Buffett gradually abandoned this investment model.

Icahn was like another Buffett in a parallel universe.

He chose to stick with this investment model and took it to the extreme.

This brought him astonishing returns.

Over the forty-three years from 1968 to 2011, Icahn's company achieved an annual investment return rate of 30%, while Buffett's Berkshire only achieved 20%.

What does that mean?

It means that if someone had entrusted $10,000 to Icahn in 1968, by now that money would be over $1 billion.

There is no best investment method, only the best investor. Even if they took completely different investment paths, that didn't prevent him from becoming a Wall Street legend on par with the Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett.

And now, such a person expressed interest in Facebook. How could Zhao Fusheng not take it seriously?

Of course, to be honest, Zhao Fusheng actually admired his approach.

That was under the premise that Zhao Fusheng was not clear about Facebook's market value.

After all, according to Icahn's modus operandi, he would maximize benefits for shareholders, not for the company or its managers.

But now, Zhao Fusheng knew clearly that after Facebook's IPO, its market value would not only exceed $200 billion but could even reach $1 trillion.

Under such circumstances, unless Zhao Fusheng was crazy, he would absolutely never side with Icahn.

This was like becoming a puppet soldier in 1945 or cutting off one's queue in the early 20th century.

Making a choice at the most inappropriate time, and especially a very wrong one, in Zhao Fusheng's view, was undoubtedly a very foolish act.

Under these circumstances, Zhao Fusheng could not easily choose sides.

Whether it was Zuckerberg or Icahn, it was the same.

Therefore, quietly hiding his sharp teeth and sitting on the fence watching the tigers fight was what Zhao Fusheng most wanted to do.

Because no matter which side ultimately won, they would need him.