Chapter 1031: Rich and Willful

Masao Ono actually admired Zhao Fusheng quite a bit; this young man's vision was far better than most of his peers.

As a professional investor, among the recent projects Softbank Asia had invested in, the one Masao Ono was most satisfied with was Shengda Technology.

Barring any accidents, this investment would bring returns beyond imagination for Softbank.

And precisely because of this, Masao Ono paid even more attention to Zhao Fusheng, who had placed his bets on Shengda Technology early on. After all, this young man might well become the youngest billionaire in China thanks to this investment.

But after a careful investigation, Masao Ono was startled to discover that Zhao Fusheng didn't even need to wait for Shengda Technology to go public; the shares held by his Future Investment in several companies were already enough to make him a standard billionaire.

"He's a genius! A genius of investment!"

Masao Ono gave this assessment.

It was also for this reason that Ono's attention to Zhao Fusheng increased significantly.

He gradually discovered that Zhao Fusheng seemed to have a particular fondness for the internet industry, from the earliest virtual community spaces to navigation web pages, and now to Xiaonei.com.

After carefully studying the situation of Xiaonei.com, Ono made a decision: he wanted to acquire this social networking site.

Thus, today's meeting came about.

But Ono hadn't anticipated that what he thought would be a surprise had already been guessed by Dong Chenxi.

Frowning slightly, Masao Ono looked at Zhao Fusheng: "Mr. Zhao, I think you may not have understood my meaning. Softbank Asia intends to acquire Xiaonei.com and its R&D team in full."

Zhao Fusheng chuckled and looked at Dong Chenxi, clearly not intending to answer Ono's question.

Everyone's personality has aspects that are hard to accept, even the most wonderful people. Zhao Fusheng's character was actually quite good, but he was someone who yielded to softness rather than hardness. If Ono had taken a lower posture, he might have chatted with him a bit. But Ono came in with an air of superiority, which made Zhao Fusheng quite反感, and he naturally couldn't be bothered to respond.

He never considered whether doing so might offend the behemoth that was Softbank Group.

If you're not outstanding enough, connections are worthless; they aren't pursued but attracted. Only through equivalent exchange can you get reasonable help—though it sounds cold, it's the truth.

Talking about friendship with a businessman is as ridiculous as talking about love with a courtesan.

Dong Chenxi wore a smile as she looked at Masao Ono: "Mr. Ono, Xiaonei.com is a social networking site we invested in, but we are very optimistic about it. In today's booming internet, social networking sites are the trend. Whether it's the rise of instant messaging tools or people's deeper use of the internet, it all indicates that for young people, online socializing will become mainstream for some time to come and even far into the future."

Dong Chenxi's meaning was simple: Xiaonei.com was not for sale. If he wanted to acquire it, he'd better show some sincerity.

When we were kids, we wouldn't throw away a scratch-off ticket that revealed the character 'Xie' (thanks); we had to scratch off all four characters of 'Xie Xie Hui Gu' (Thank you for your patronage) before letting go. It's the same with many things later in life.

People are like that: they won't shed tears until they see the coffin; they only admit defeat at the very last moment.

Masao Ono was that kind of person. In his worldview, no deal was considered a failure until the moment everyone walked out of the conference room.

A qualified businessman does not give up easily.

And any so-called 'not for sale' item is just an excuse; it only means the price hasn't reached the seller's desired level.

With that thought, Masao Ono smiled, glanced at Zhao Fusheng, then at Dong Chenxi, and said, "Mr. Zhao, Miss Dong, I come with sincerity. Please don't misunderstand. Our Softbank Group has always been very focused on the development of the internet industry and is very willing to help Chinese internet companies get on the right track..."

It had to be admitted that Masao Ono was quite eloquent, or rather, someone who had reached his current position naturally had real skills.

Zhao Fusheng thought to himself that if he were to confront the man head-on, he probably wouldn't hold up at all.

It wasn't that he lacked ability, but that he really wasn't good at this sort of thing.

Even Dong Chenxi found it quite challenging facing Masao Ono, but fortunately, the other party needed something from them, so she could still manage the situation.

The issue had now shifted from whether Xiaonei.com was for sale to how far this type of social networking site could go and what its true value was.

Clearly, in steering the negotiation topic, Dong Chenxi and Zhao Fusheng were no match for a wily old fox like Masao Ono, who had been steeped in business for years.

"Miss Dong, Mr. Zhao, if I may be blunt, Xiaonei.com has considerable potential, but Future Investment lacks experience in running internet companies. Our Softbank Group is the true expert in this area." Masao Ono spoke with ease, clearly confident he had Zhao Fusheng and Dong Chenzhen figured out.

Masao Ono felt that this was what the art of war called an 'open strategy.'

The terrifying thing about an open strategy is not that it's complicated or cunning.

The most important point is that you know the other party is scheming against you, yet you can't change anything or break the situation.

An open strategy is not a scheme; it's momentum!

Create momentum, use momentum, borrow momentum—you can see it but cannot break it, you can understand it but cannot resolve it.

Guide according to the situation, cater to the trend, follow people's hearts. Everyone knows that human hearts are greedy; the purpose of an investment company is to make money. Ono believed that no matter how much Zhao Fusheng liked the internet industry, he would find it hard to control himself in the face of money.

In other words, in the face of easily obtainable profits, Masao Ono didn't believe that the two heads of Future Investment could still control themselves.

Moreover, Masao Ono's words just now, besides the carrot, also concealed a certain threat.

After all, the name Softbank, though claiming to be an angel investor in the internet field, also had a less-than-stellar reputation.

"If you don't sell to me, I'll invest in your competitors!"

That was the bold declaration of the former world's richest man, Masayoshi Son.

Yes, if Softbank's investment in a company is rejected, as long as they are bullish on the industry, they will choose to invest in that company's competitors.

When you're rich, you can be this willful.