Chapter 1330 Unwilling to Accept Defeat

A person's maturity consists of two parts: half is the pursuit of beauty, and the other half is the acceptance of imperfection.

The reason is simple: the starting point of our social interactions is equivalent exchange, which doesn't necessarily refer to money. For instance, if you can bring the other person the pleasure of showing off, that works too.

Zhao Fusheng was well aware that his existence was a source of pride for many people to flaunt.

For example, former college classmates, when occasionally mentioning Future Advertising, would proudly say, 'That was founded by my classmate and our advisor,' and then someone nearby would opportunely ask for details, and they'd chatter on and on.

Once upon a time, Ma Xiaoyun was also a pride of the advertising industry. After all, he had dabbled in advertising back then and was considered a senior in the field. The boss of the company Zhao Fusheng worked for in his previous life used to boast that he had once met Ma Xiaoyun at some exhibition.

Although everyone knew it was utterly useless—Ma Xiaoyun continued to live happily in Hangzhou, while their own boss kept struggling in Ninghai—

sometimes, this kind of verbal bragging could indeed bring spiritual satisfaction.

As for the remaining matters of Future Investment, Zhao Fusheng had no intention or desire to get involved. He had already charted the path for them; how far they could go was up to them.

Moreover, Zhao Fusheng believed that his plan would be readily accepted by both James and Ono Masao. James was eager to get a foothold in the e-commerce industry, while Ono Masao was happy to make a comeback, earn money, and also screw Ma Xiaoyun over.

After all, back in the day, Ma Xiaoyun's cooperation with Future Investment had cost SoftBank once.

These days, it's not just women who are petty and hold grudges; men are the same.

It's just that everyone is a good actor, wearing masks in life, not easily revealing their true selves to others.

When men talk, they often tease each other, but they don't really mean it; when women talk, they often compliment each other, but they don't really mean it either.

They say life is a play, all about acting, and even more so in the business world.

…

…

In a strict sense, Zhao Fusheng didn't really understand finance. But he clearly remembered that when he was in Mingzhu, Tan Kaixuan had told him that global currency or liquidity泛滥 was the most fatal chronic disease in today's world finance and economy, and China was a standout in this regard. The problem with China's economic development model lay in the severe depreciation of its currency.

This was no joke. After his rebirth, Zhao Fusheng had specifically looked up some economics materials and was shocked to find that Tan Kaixuan was right.

Take the present as an example: a 'ten-thousand-yuan household' in the 1980s would have purchasing power equivalent to about two million yuan today.

Even Zhao Fusheng found it surprising, but data doesn't lie. The facts were clear: over the past twenty-plus years, money had become so much less valuable over time.

So why did currency depreciate so severely?

The reason was simple: excessive money supply.

People usually use the ratio of broad money supply to GDP to illustrate the quantitative relationship between money and the real economy, reflecting the degree of financial deepening in an economy. Generally, the larger this value, the more severe the currency overissue.

In China, the broad money supply balance exceeded GDP by 43 trillion yuan, an increase of 46 times compared to the early 1990s, while the US only increased by 1.5 times. If we look only at broad money supply, China's money supply had clearly far exceeded that of the US. Of course, the growth rate of China's money supply was even faster than that of the US. It's no exaggeration to say that over the past 25 years, we have driven rapid economic development with excessive money supply. The consequence of overissuing currency was also very直观: a decline in purchasing power and rising prices.

The massive injection of money in China was mainly absorbed by the real estate and stock markets. Once the absorption capacity of these two sectors was limited, money would inevitably flow into areas like agricultural products. Therefore, to avoid strong public reactions to rising agricultural prices, the state would carefully seek some balance.

It was also for this reason that more and more people, driven by the need for risk aversion and value preservation, invested their funds in real estate, making the metallic属性 of housing increasingly prominent and conspicuous. Driven by fear of currency depreciation, the public flocked into the market, pushing already畸高 housing prices even higher.

China's housing prices had always been driven by this fear psychology, completely脱离 from traditional supply-demand theory. More frighteningly, China's financial market was also developing畸形ly. It took the US stock market 100 years to expand to 800 stocks, an average of 8 per year; the Hong Kong stock market took 33 years to expand to 800 stocks, an average of 24 per year. But China had issued over 2,000 stocks in just 20 years—this was also a bubble, a横向 expansion bubble accumulated from excessive financing. Due to excessive financing, by 2010, the A-share market performed only slightly better than the Spanish stock index among major global indices, ranking second from the bottom.

For this reason, no matter how short of money he was, Zhao Fusheng never touched those financial products. So he never thought about starting a private equity fund, even though people had repeatedly suggested he do so.

…

…

July 7th, clear skies.

Ma Xiaoyun sat in Alibaba's branch office in the capital, his expression quite vivid.

"This, this, what do we do?" One of his confidants, later known as one of Alibaba's 'Eighteen Arhats,' He Yibing, sat opposite Ma Xiaoyun with a conflicted expression, muttering to himself.

Ma Xiaoyun gave a bitter smile, his face equally helpless.

To be fair, he really hadn't expected that Zhao Fusheng, who seemed so mild, would strike with such thunderous force.

Just this morning, he officially received news that Future Investment, Sequoia Capital, and SoftBank Asia had formed a consortium to acquire Alibaba's shares.

Along with this news, Ma Xiaoyun also learned that people from SoftBank Asia and Sequoia Capital were contacting Yahoo's headquarters.

Ma Xiaoyun could even conclude with certainty that this matter was definitely related to the usually low-key boss of Future Group, Zhao Fusheng, and that he might be the one pulling the strings behind the scenes.

At the thought of this, a chill ran down Ma Xiaoyun's spine.

He knew very well that if things continued to develop as they were, all that awaited him was being sidelined.

Yes, sidelined.

Associating with this possibility, Ma Xiaoyun felt terrible.

As an entrepreneur who regarded Alibaba as his everything, becoming an outsider was something he could hardly accept.

"I didn't expect this," Ma Xiaoyun sighed bitterly after a long while. "It seems I underestimated that young chairman."

Now, he had to admit that he was in a dilemma.

He had hoped to play both sides, but never expected the other party to pull a 'cut the firewood from under the cauldron' move.

Now, he was the most被动 party among the three. Both Yahoo and the consortium of three investment companies were more powerful than him.

Ma Xiaoyun was well aware of the power of capital; the other shareholders of the company might not accept his ideas.

"How about we go to Future Investment and offer a humble apology?" He Yibing hesitated before saying to Ma Xiaoyun.

He had been with Ma Xiaoyun for many years and naturally had a deep understanding of his old friend and boss. Ma Xiaoyun was good at assessing the situation. Now that circumstances were stronger than people, and the other side was too powerful for them to抗衡, it was most appropriate to submit obediently.

Although it might be a bit embarrassing, at worst he could take the initiative to propose it, helping Ma Xiaoyun find a way out.

Ma Xiaoyun gave a bitter smile, noncommittal to He Yibing's words.

He knew well that the problem was exactly that, and the best choice was to主动 apologize.

But the problem was, even if he wanted to offer a humble apology, he had to have the capital to do so.

What does 'offering a humble apology' mean?

First, we need to know the historical background: at that time, the State of Zhao was relatively powerful, and Lian Po and Lin Xiangru, as pivotal figures among civil and military officials, needed such a political show to demonstrate their stance.

To put it metaphorically, 'offering a humble apology' at least requires the two parties to be relatively equal in status.

But now, between Ma Xiaoyun and Zhao Fusheng, it was no longer a matter of 'offering a humble apology.' He could only hope that if he主动 went to apologize, Zhao Fusheng might, considering his usefulness to Alibaba's development, give him a way out.

Letting out a long breath, Ma Xiaoyun felt he could still be salvaged.

With that thought, he looked at He Yibing: "I plan to go to the United States."

"The United States?"

He Yibing was momentarily stunned, a bit puzzled, then understood: "You're going to Yahoo's headquarters?"

Obviously, Ma Xiaoyun wasn't going to see Zhao Fusheng at Future Group's headquarters in the capital; he wasn't ready to admit defeat just yet. It seemed he still hoped to persuade Yahoo's people for one last fight.

Ma Xiaoyun nodded: "No matter what, I still want to try. Even if I fail in the end, I can always come back and beg Zhao Fusheng."

He Yibing looked at his old friend and sighed inwardly. He knew that Ma Xiaoyun wasn't one to give up easily; he truly wanted to keep Alibaba in his own hands.

But the problem was, many things in this world couldn't be achieved through effort and desire alone.