Chapter 1402: Zuckerberg's Game

In history, many great events happen in an instant.

It didn't take long for Redwood Capital's senior management to make a decision and notify Dong Chenxi, but that decision led to a $600 million deal.

Not only that, after Redwood Capital's decision was exposed, Tan Kaixuan's side quickly responded, directly offering $300 million.

Even Dong Chenxi herself didn't expect the turn of events to come so quickly.

Truly, after endless mountains and rivers that leave doubt, there is a village with bright willows and blooming flowers.

Perhaps even Zhao Fusheng, the person involved, didn't expect that Tan Kaixuan's entry would indirectly spur Redwood Capital to make up its mind to secure a stake in Facebook at all costs and get a piece of the feast.

"Overall, we're definitely at a loss in the long run," Dong Chenxi said slowly, looking at Zhao Fusheng. "But from a short-term perspective, it's undoubtedly a successful investment. After all, we've invested only tens of millions of dollars in Facebook, but the return is 15% of an internet company valued at $6 billion."

Zhao Fusheng smiled and nodded in agreement with her assessment.

In fact, this was the problem facing the entire Future Group now. Because of Zhao Fusheng's own foresight, many of his previous investments had yielded results, but they also faced difficulties.

Like Facebook, earlier investments had secured a significant stake, but to maintain that stake, additional investment was needed—and that was no small sum.

In fact, if Zhao Fusheng continued like this, most of the money he earned would have to be poured into Future Investment.

That was not a good choice.

So Zhao Fusheng made the decision he did.

Sometimes in life, you have to learn to let go. If you don't know how to choose and always want the best of both worlds, you'll end up with nothing.

"Arrange a meeting with Zuckerberg," Zhao Fusheng said to Wu Sijie, giving him an order.

No matter what, he had to discuss this matter with Zuckerberg.

"Yes, Chairman," Wu Sijie quickly agreed.

As the chairman's assistant, that was his job. Simply put, Wu Sijie was Zhao Fusheng's chief steward.

"By the way, you've dealt with Mark Zuckerberg here in the US. What do you think of him?" Zhao Fusheng turned to Dong Chenxi and asked with a smile.

"He appears foolish but is wise," Dong Chenxi said after a long silence, giving a four-word assessment.

Zhao Fusheng was startled, then laughed.

Mark Zuckerberg was often called a genius boy by the media in later years, and because he repeatedly showed goodwill toward China, many Chinese netizens had a good impression of him.

But in fact, this Facebook CEO was no saint. Like the richest man Bill Gates, this young billionaire with social coldness often made headlines in newspapers or websites.

Only, they weren't good news.

In the era Zhao Fusheng came from, Zuckerberg was a worshipped legend, unattainable. The wealth he possessed—even one percent of it could crush several people.

To be fair, how could people of the same age as him bear that? They could only beat their chests and wish they could crawl back into their mothers' wombs, and before crawling back, say to their mothers, 'In ten months, you must give birth to a genius! Definitely!'

But in fact, Mark Zuckerberg was not that simple.

Although the movie 'The Social Network' claimed it had no intention of attacking Zuckerberg, discerning people could see that the dark side Zuckerberg displayed rivaled that of political elites.

As everyone knows, Facebook wasn't created by Mark alone. He had a few friends who helped with public relations, fundraising, or data processing. In the movie, Eduardo Saverin represented those friends. They worked day and night together until 2008, when the website's prospects were soaring. But Zuckerberg's friends left one by one, and no one knew why.

Later, his best friend said something revealing: 'In the end, it became Mark's personal show,' he said.

Some classify him as a social idiot, but in Zhao Fusheng's view, Zuckerberg was not only astonishingly intelligent but also had impressive social and scheming skills. His unique dressing style and bland language were just smokescreens before the hunt.

If one had to explain why he did these dark things, one could only borrow a line from the 'Aeneid' he recited at a future product launch: 'Fortune favors the brave, empire without end.'

With such a person, Zhao Fusheng didn't expect to become true friends, but he didn't want to become his enemy either.

In fact, Zhao Fusheng was sure that there would be further struggles over the 15% stake he held in Facebook's future.

But he didn't want to become Eduardo Saverin.

……

……

Meeting Zuckerberg wasn't that complicated.

At this time, Mark wasn't yet the super-rich man surrounded by bodyguards and wearing a shirt that said 'keep away.' He was still a startup success, a young man in the development stage.

So Zhao Fusheng and Zuckerberg simply met at a coffee shop near Silicon Valley.

"Zhao, thank you for everything you've done for Facebook," Zuckerberg said solemnly, looking at Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng smiled: "Mark, don't be so sad. I'm still a shareholder of Facebook. Even though I'm no longer a major shareholder, more investors are coming in, which shows the company's development is getting more attention, isn't it?"

To be honest, Zhao Fusheng really couldn't understand Zuckerberg's reluctant attitude.

Didn't this guy know he was from China?

If he wanted to put on a show, his acting would be a hundred times better than Zuckerberg's.

Any discerning person could see that Zuckerberg was in a great mood now. The largest shareholder Future Investment's stake was diluted, Redwood Capital and Brother Capital entered Facebook's board, Mark Zuckerberg held the most shares and had an absolute advantage in voting rights. Without exaggeration, at this moment, Zuckerberg was the true master of Facebook.

Under such circumstances, he actually felt sad? Hah.

Only a fool would believe that!

"You're right. As you Chinese say, within the four seas, all men are brothers..." Zuckerberg struggled to say a sentence in Chinese, making Zhao Fusheng laugh.

In fact, Zhao Fusheng understood that Zuckerberg's biggest problem was that he cared too much about Facebook.

This was a common ailment among entrepreneurs. In their hearts, the website they founded was like their own child, and they didn't want to give it up.

Even more, they didn't want others to touch it.

"Your Chinese is pretty good," Zhao Fusheng said to Zuckerberg with a smile.

Zuckerberg blinked, then smiled and said, "I've been working hard to learn Chinese. Zhao, what do you think are the chances of Facebook entering China?"

Entering China?

Zhao Fusheng was startled, then laughed.

He had to admit that Zuckerberg was extremely ambitious. Facebook had just opened up the Asian market, and he was already thinking about entering China.

No wonder this guy kept showing goodwill to China in later years, almost kneeling and calling 'daddy.' It turned out he was coveting China's huge market.

But thinking about it, it was normal. Even Hollywood movies started adding a lot of Chinese elements to please Chinese audiences, let alone a businessman like Zuckerberg.

Yes, by now, Zuckerberg was no longer a pure tech geek programmer but had transformed into a complete businessman.

At this moment, his suggestion to Zhao Fusheng was clearly a test to see if Zhao Fusheng was willing to contribute to Facebook's entry into China.

And how would Zhao Fusheng answer?