Chapter 1325: Seeking Allies

Every book on corporate management clearly notes that different enterprise managers must adopt different management styles to run their companies.

On Zhao Fusheng's side, he was not stingy about sharing the power in his hands, letting his subordinates share his workload while enhancing their own abilities.

In comparison to those bosses who personally attend to everything and permeate their authority into every detail of the company, Zhao Fusheng's management method was not necessarily more brilliant. What was truly unique was that Zhao Fusheng's subordinates, especially the heads of various branches, maintained quite good personal relationships with him.

This greatly increased the company's fault tolerance. Perhaps they might fail this time, but that was okay—as long as they didn't repeat the same mistake next time.

In Zhao Fusheng's view, true friendship is revealed in times of adversity. As long as his subordinates did not betray the company or him, he could tolerate their slight lack of ability.

Take Dong Chenxi, for example. Ma Xiaoyun had secretly contacted Yahoo, such a big matter, yet she hadn't received any wind of it beforehand, leaving their side very passive in today's negotiations. In another company, the boss would have directly lost his temper, and she might even have lost her job.

But on Zhao Fusheng's side, there wasn't even a reprimand.

Because Zhao Fusheng knew very well that if he were in charge of Future Investment, a similar situation would likely occur. Both were amateurs in the field; on what grounds could he demand others to do what he himself could not?

As the saying goes, do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself. Even if he was the boss, he couldn't be unreasonable.

After all, besides being the general manager of Future Investment, Dong Chenxi was also one of his few friends.

"Help me arrange meetings with James of Sequoia and Ono Masao of SoftBank Asia," Zhao Fusheng said to Dong Chenxi indifferently.

At that moment, the two were already sitting in the car heading back to the company.

As for Ma Xiaoyun, Zhao Fusheng couldn't be bothered with that guy. Perhaps at this moment, he was feeling proud and complacent.

After all, quietly contacting Yahoo and finding a big financier for Alibaba was indeed a skill of Ma Xiaoyun's.

Truth, sometimes like a beautiful woman, is always in the hands of a few. As a smart person, the best approach is to silently watch these fools make mistakes, not disturb them, and only clean up the mess after their errors are made, reaping the benefits.

That was Zhao Fusheng's current thought.

Hearing Zhao Fusheng's words, Dong Chenxi gasped. She had thought Zhao Fusheng intended to trade TB's shares with either Sequoia Capital or SoftBank Asia, but now it seemed he was clearly trying to cause trouble for Ma Xiaoyun.

"Got it, I'll arrange it right away," Dong Chenxi nodded repeatedly, saying to Zhao Fusheng.

She naturally knew how urgent the situation was and dared not delay. Even before returning to the company, she was already in the car calling to arrange meetings with James and Ono Masao.

As luck would have it, Ono Masao was not in the country recently, but James of Sequoia Capital had plenty of time and happened to be in the capital. Hearing that Zhao Fusheng wanted to meet him, James agreed to have dinner with Zhao Fusheng that evening.

"James has agreed to meet you tonight," Dong Chenxi said slowly, looking at Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng nodded: "Good, I'll talk to him tonight. You send someone to contact Ono Masao later and tell him I have a big business deal to discuss with him."

Things had reached this point; he had to and must teach Ma Xiaoyun a lesson, letting him know that some things could be done and some could not.

...

...

In the evening, at a coffee shop near Guomao.

Zhao Fusheng and James sat facing each other, neither bringing bodyguards or secretaries—just the two of them.

"Mr. James, long time no see," Zhao Fusheng said with a light smile, showing a seemingly polite expression to James.

James laughed and said meaningfully, "Yes, dear Mr. Zhao, my old friend, we really haven't seen each other for a long time."

Since their cooperation on Shengda Technology, they had indeed not met for a long time. But even so, James paid close attention to Zhao Fusheng, watching as his capital grew increasingly雄厚 and powerful. More importantly, James was shocked to discover that none of the projects Zhao Fusheng had invested in earlier had lost money!

Future Investment might have invested in some unprofitable projects, but those were not decisions made by Zhao Fusheng. Every project he personally selected had not lost money.

This left James somewhat horrified.

Venture capital, in the end, tests one's vision. It's like gambling: some people always win and never lose. If it were just luck, it would be impossible.

So, he must have his own tricks.

That was inevitable.

In James's eyes, Zhao Fusheng was like an enigmatic genius, seemingly favored by God. Any project he valued, even with a small investment, would yield substantial returns.

This was truly admirable.

And now, it was clear that the other party had something to discuss with him.

James's mood was naturally excited.

But after all, having been in the investment world for so many years and now a senior partner at Sequoia Capital's US headquarters, coming to Asia to develop the market and oversee the entire Asian region, James's composure was undoubtedly excellent.

So, without revealing anything, he glanced at Zhao Fusheng and decided to wait and see what this young man was up to, what his intentions were.

Zhao Fusheng, however, had no intention of hiding anything.

Or rather, in Zhao Fusheng's view, there was no need to hide it, since Ma Xiaoyun would eventually announce the news publicly.

Since that was the case, he might as well use this news to gain some benefits for himself.

So, looking at James, Zhao Fusheng smiled and said, "Mr. James, what do you think if we cooperate to acquire Alibaba?"

Huh?

James was stunned, looking bewildered, and instinctively asked, "What did you say?"

"I said, if possible, Future Investment and Sequoia Capital could join forces to try to acquire Alibaba," Zhao Fusheng said word by word, looking at James.

At that moment, James felt as if he were hallucinating.

"Dear Zhao, if I remember correctly, Future Investment is currently a shareholder of Alibaba, right?" James said, looking at Zhao Fusheng.

Moreover, if he remembered correctly, Future Investment was the second-largest shareholder after the company's founder, Ma Xiaoyun.

Could it be that Zhao Fusheng and Ma Xiaoyun had fallen out?

This thought flashed through his mind, and James looked at Zhao Fusheng: "Zhao, I hope you can explain this matter more clearly. You know, Sequoia Capital and Future Investment have always been close friends."

Foreign devil!

Zhao Fusheng sneered inwardly.

It was often said that those not of our race are of a different mind, and Zhao Fusheng firmly believed this. Although James now acted like a good buddy, it was only because there was profit to be made. Once he lost his value to James, the guy would certainly turn around and sell him out.

But that was business. If it were him, he would probably make the same choice.

Calling each other brothers on the surface while cursing in their hearts—that was probably the true portrayal of most businesspeople.

With that in mind, Zhao Fusheng looked at James and slowly recounted the matter of Yahoo's impending acquisition of 40% of Alibaba's shares and 35% of its voting rights, finally smiling: "Ten billion US dollars for just 40% of the shares, and Ma Xiaoyun will become the chairman of Yahoo China's board. Mr. James, would Sequoia Capital consider joining this game?"

James sat there, silent for a long time, his expression changing constantly, and a storm raged in his heart. At that moment, he finally realized that Zhao Fusheng's meeting with him was indeed for another purpose.