Chapter 1149 Doubts

Tan Kaixuan had to admit that most of the time, he couldn't understand Zhao Fusheng's business acumen.

For an ordinary person, after investing in a project, even if they didn't care about the returns, they would at least pay some attention to the project's progress and see how it was developing.

But Zhao Fusheng seemed completely indifferent to such matters.

Regarding the things he invested in, whether it was NetEase stocks or Facebook, Zhao Fusheng always appeared unconcerned, letting nature take its course. Yet, under this very attitude, the money he invested kept increasing at a visible rate.

To be fair, Tan Kaixuan could only attribute this to the guy's incredible luck.

Of course, he would never admit that he was actually somewhat envious.

"Do you think it's a good idea for me to increase my investment in Facebook now?" Tan Kaixuan asked Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng smiled and shrugged: "As long as Zuckerberg is willing to accept, I think you can give it a try."

This was his honest opinion. Investing in Facebook at this time was undoubtedly a surefire deal, but the problem was whether they would accept Tan Kaixuan's investment.

Times had changed. Mark Zuckerberg, in the early days of his startup, might have needed financial help, but now Facebook was on a strong development trajectory, and with Zhao Fusheng's capital already in place, he was no longer the Harvard boy in need of assistance.

In other words, Facebook was now a rising sun, already attracting the attention of a large number of investment funds. For Tan Kaixuan to get in, he would have to pay more than Zhao Fusheng did when he first invested.

"Yeah, I wish I had invested with you back then," Tan Kaixuan said with a wry smile.

After all, when Zhao Fusheng invested, he had asked Tan Kaixuan and even offered to transfer some of his shares to him if needed.

But Tan Kaixuan was riding high at the time and had completely disregarded Zhao Fusheng's suggestion.

Now, it had been proven that Zhao Fusheng was right.

Tan Kaixuan naturally had analysts around him acting as advisors, and according to their analysis, Facebook had promising development prospects, at least reaching a scale of one billion US dollars.

An internet technology company of that scale was certainly worth investing in.

But as Zhao Fusheng said, in investment, the earlier the better; the first mover gains the advantage, and the later you are, the more competitors you face.

This was exactly the situation Tan Kaixuan was facing now.

"I remember when you helped me invest, I should have mentioned that the contract should include a clause giving me priority rights if Facebook conducts financing," Zhao Fusheng frowned and said to Tan Kaixuan.

If he remembered correctly, that was indeed the case.

Hearing Zhao Fusheng's words, Tan Kaixuan felt a bit embarrassed. After hesitating for a moment, he said: "Well, at the time, my assistants thought the project had limited prospects, so I didn't include it in the contract."

Zhao Fusheng was taken aback, then looked at Tan Kaixuan speechlessly, too exasperated to even criticize him.

"Don't scold me. I just thought there was no need to take advantage of you," Tan Kaixuan quickly explained, seeing that Zhao Fusheng seemed about to curse.

Zhao Fusheng sighed. He could vaguely guess Tan Kaixuan's thoughts, but the problem was that this wasn't a business worth ten or twenty million; it was a business worth tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars in the future.

The biggest taboo in business is acting on impulse.

And that was precisely Tan Kaixuan's greatest flaw. Sometimes he judged things solely based on his own preferences, without considering the actual situation, which was truly exasperating.

But Zhao Fusheng also knew that if he weren't like this, he wouldn't be the Tan Kaixuan he knew.

With that in mind, Zhao Fusheng said to Tan Kaixuan: "How about this: I'll find time to meet with Zuckerberg and discuss this issue with him."

The concept of closeness and distance had existed since ancient times. Given Zhao Fusheng's relationship with Tan Kaixuan, he naturally had to speak in Tan Kaixuan's favor.

As the de facto largest investor in Facebook, although Zhao Fusheng didn't hold as many shares as Zuckerberg, Mark still had to listen carefully to his opinions.

"Alright, I'll wait for your news," Tan Kaixuan nodded to Zhao Fusheng.

He naturally trusted Zhao Fusheng. Since Zhao Fusheng said he would step in to help, he would definitely do it.

Tan Kaixuan had no doubt about that.

"By the way, does your company's legal department need people?" Tan Kaixuan suddenly asked Zhao Fusheng.

Legal department?

Zhao Fusheng was a bit puzzled: "I'm not sure. What's up?"

Tan Kaixuan was somewhat embarrassed but still explained: "It's like this. Kaixin is about to start an internship and wants to find a company. I don't have any suitable places to recommend back home. What do you think..."

Zhao Fusheng was instantly speechless. The moment he thought of Tan Kaixuan's sister, Tan Kaixin, and her cold, poker-faced expression, he felt a headache coming on.

But frowning, Zhao Fusheng then thought of something and asked curiously: "Isn't she from Renmin University? Shouldn't she be interning at a government agency?"

Tan Kaixuan shrugged: "How would I know why? Anyway, she asked me to find her a company."

"Alright, then give her my phone number later and have her call me," Zhao Fusheng nodded to Tan Kaixuan.

Given their relationship, not to mention finding an internship for Tan Kaixuan, even if he asked her to work at his own company, Zhao Fusheng would agree. He was just afraid that Tan Kaixin wouldn't agree, after all, she was destined to become a high-ranking official in the Discipline Inspection Commission.

"Just arrange an intern position for her. Look after her and don't let anyone bully her..." After all, she was his own sister. Tan Kaixuan said Zhao Fusheng didn't need to worry too much, but he gave a long list of instructions.

Zhao Fusheng listened and nodded to show he understood.

"About the subprime mortgage crisis you mentioned last time, I looked into it," Tan Kaixuan said, looking at Zhao Fusheng. "Are you overthinking it?"

Zhao Fusheng glanced at Tan Kaixuan, smiled, and then said calmly: "I've said before that regarding unknown and uncertain things in this world, no one has the right to make premature judgments. To avoid certain bad possibilities, we must not cut off the development of good possibilities, because the future is composed of a collection of countless possibilities."

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

"Look, the US economy is doing well now. Both the stock market and the futures market are thriving," Zhao Fusheng slowly explained to Tan Kaixuan. "Since you can make money at this time, you naturally want to participate. Even though we know it's a bubble, and it might burst like the internet bubble did, with a bang, right?"

Tan Kaixuan nodded: "You mean, as long as we find the right time to pull out, it's fine?"

Zhao Fusheng smiled: "What I predict may not happen; it's just a possibility. If you think what I'm saying makes sense, you can completely withdraw from the US market by mid-2006 and invest domestically instead. Or you could go to Hong Kong and wait and see for a while. At most, within a year, if nothing changes here in the US, you can come back. It won't cost you much capital anyway."

This was the best idea he could come up with. Zhao Fusheng was neither an economist nor a prophet; he couldn't determine when the US subprime mortgage crisis would actually break out. After all, the financial market was too complex, and a seemingly insignificant change could trigger a massive storm.

Tan Kaixuan had worked hard to get where he was today, and Zhao Fusheng didn't want him to repeat past mistakes.

Hearing Zhao Fusheng's words, Tan Kaixuan's eyes lit up, and he nodded: "Good idea. I know what to do."

He was smarter than Zhao Fusheng thought. Since Zhao Fusheng had mentioned this matter before and now brought it up so seriously again, Tan Kaixuan naturally understood that Zhao Fusheng truly had little faith in the future of the US economy.