Chapter 1253: Poaching Ma Xiaoyun's Corner

April 1, 2005, April Fools' Day.

On this day, many people like to play harmless jokes. Although it is a Western holiday, it doesn't stop today from being a day for everyone to tease others.

However, this year's April Fools' Day, the financial and e-commerce circles were blown up by a piece of news.

"Future Group's subsidiary Future Investment Fund and SoftBank Asia Investment Company, after friendly consultations, decided on March 25, 2005, that the six million shares of Wangyi Technology Co., Ltd. and other company stocks held by Future Investment Fund will be sold to SoftBank Asia Investment Co., Ltd. SoftBank Asia Investment Company will sell its 20% stake in Ali Network Co., Ltd. to Future Investment Fund. This transaction is valued at 400 million US dollars..."

A media report quickly ignited the entire financial world.

400 million US dollars, 20% stake?

Almost everyone was shocked by this news. For a time, the phones of Zheng Yao and Dong Chenxi were nearly blown up by reporters.

There was no way around it—this news was too unexpected. Although Taobao had developed rapidly in recent years and become one of the top e-commerce platforms in the country, no one expected Future Investment to make such a big bet. 400 million US dollars for only 20% of the shares meant that the entire valuation of Ali exceeded 2 billion US dollars?

More importantly, when did Future Investment have so many stocks? Enough to attract SoftBank Asia to exchange with them.

This series of news was truly astonishing, and it drove countless people to want to know what exactly happened and why such a transaction occurred.

As the doors of Future Group headquarters and SoftBank Asia headquarters were about to be trampled by reporters, Zhao Fusheng leisurely stood by and watched from the sidelines.

He spent every day at home with Fan Baobao, and when he had nothing to do, he took Fan Beibei to kindergarten. After a session of 'love education' from Fan Baobao, the little girl, though still not fond of school, had gotten used to it.

Of course, this transaction still surprised those around Zhao Fusheng. Zhao's parents, Old Jiang, Yu Feihong, and others called one after another. Even outsiders like Chen Tianqiao, Ma Huateng, and Zhu Yushi called, some out of concern, others to probe for information.

Also, the most bewildered was Ma Xiaoyun.

Originally, Dong Chenxi had been in contact with him, and even at the end of the year when he established the third-party online payment platform Alipay, Future Investment had contributed capital to acquire 20% of the shares and 15% of the voting rights.

Now, Future Investment suddenly became one of Ali's shareholders, holding a full 20% of the shares. Ma Xiaoyun was dumbfounded.

What was going on?

Recalling his meeting with Zhao Fusheng, Ma Xiaoyun felt a 'MMP' in his heart, unsure whether to say it. So that was it—back then, that guy Zhao Fusheng was already eyeing Ali. No wonder Future Investment had stepped in to cooperate with him on Alipay. After all this fuss, they were waiting for him here.

Thinking of this, Ma Xiaoyun felt quite sad. This was probably the helplessness of entrepreneurs. Many times, as the company grows, he would gradually find his control over the company weakening. But there was no choice; for the company's development, he had to bring in more investors. Among these investors, not everyone was willing to just put in money and wait for dividends. Many aimed to gain control of the entire company.

A magpie occupying a dove's nest—this was very common in the business world.

Ma Xiaoyun now only hoped that Zhao Fusheng and his Future Group were not coming with such intentions.

...

...

"Of course I'm not."

Zhao Fusheng looked calmly at Zheng Yao in front of him and said seriously, "First, Alibaba's CEO and even its leader must and can only be Ma Xiaoyun. If it were anyone else, I would not choose to support them. Second, regarding Alibaba's decisions, whether we think they are right or wrong, we should not interfere. The voting rights, I think, are not important to us; what matters is the shares."

Zheng Yao looked bewildered, thinking, What kind of move is this?

Giving SoftBank Asia nearly four hundred million worth of stock in exchange for twenty percent of their shares, and not even caring about voting rights—to be honest, if it weren't Zhao Fusheng making this decision, a guy who had hardly ever made a mistake, Zheng Yao would have thought she was dealing with a rich fool.

There was no way around it; this move was just too much of a display of questionable intelligence.

Seeing Zheng Yao's expression, Zhao Fusheng knew she hadn't grasped his meaning. But he could understand; after all, not everyone knew, like he did, the future scale of Alibaba Group. Even if it were four billion US dollars for ten percent of the shares, Zhao Fusheng would still agree.

You have to understand, by the end of this year, Yahoo would exchange ten billion US dollars in cash plus all of Yahoo China's assets for forty percent of Alibaba Group's shares and thirty-five percent of the voting rights, and would cede control of Yahoo China, with Ma Xiaoyun becoming the chairman of Yahoo China's board.

For Zhao Fusheng, he knew very well what his greatest advantage was. So what he had to do now was to strengthen himself as much as possible, hold more shares of companies, and earn more cash. This would ensure his shares weren't diluted. Once 2010 arrived, Zhao Fusheng felt he could completely rest on his laurels and enjoy life.

After all, in the era Zhao Fusheng was reborn into, starting from 2010, the country's economy was developing faster and faster, and the value of internet companies was getting higher and higher. With just the shares of these few companies, Zhao Fusheng could cash out and start enjoying life.

Although money is known as the dirtiest thing in the world, its magic is also well known to all.

You have to understand, in the era Zhao Fusheng was reborn into, money could turn black into white, make a sinner a hero, turn evil into charity, and make scum into idols. As for silencing people, that was nothing.

Not to mention anything else, try posting a post cursing a certain celebrity on Sina Weibo, and it would disappear in minutes. The reason was simple: because they had money.

It's often said that money can make the devil turn the millstone. Although this saying sounds a bit ridiculous, it's actually true. After all, life is not the news broadcast; there are always things that people can see and experience for themselves.

"So we just put up the money?" Zheng Yao asked Zhao Fusheng with a puzzled look. She didn't understand what he meant. According to him, Future Group would just provide the funds and let Alibaba develop freely?

Where did Zhao Fusheng get such confidence?

To be honest, if Zhao Fusheng hadn't sounded so confident, Zheng Yao would have even considered having Dong Chenxi keep an appropriate eye on Alibaba's operations.

There was no helping it—e-commerce was simply too cash-burning.

Zhao Fusheng chuckled lightly: "Don't worry. Although we're putting up the money now, it won't be long before our investment pays off."

He still had that much confidence in Ma Xiaoyun. Although that guy wasn't much to look at, when it came to business acumen, even as a reborn man, Zhao Fusheng wouldn't dare claim certain victory.

Back when he read novels, the big shots in them would effortlessly trounce Ma Xiaoyun and Ma Huateng. Now Zhao Fusheng really wanted to ask them, on what grounds?

A bunch of losers reborn, at best they were programmers in their past lives. He had no idea where they got the audacity to stomp on Alibaba and punch Tencent, as if doing business was child's play.

It's often said that Zhuge Liang was cautious his whole life, and there's truth to that. For a leader, the greatest enemy is often not something else, but precisely how to control oneself. After all, once you reach a certain position, every move you make affects not just one or two people's fates, but the lives of many.

Take Zhao Fusheng now: if he made a wrong decision, all the people following him would be implicated. That's why Zhao Fusheng was becoming more and more cautious and wouldn't take risks lightly.

Even if only for the sake of those around him, he would be a little more careful.