Chapter 1547: Marching into America

To be fair, Zhou Jianmin's main impression of Zhao Fusheng was that the man had risen very quickly.

After all, in less than seven years, Zhao Fusheng had accomplished what many people might never achieve in a lifetime, amassing a vast fortune.

Even Zhou Jianmin himself had to admit that, in terms of business acumen and investment vision, the gap between him and Zhao Fusheng was like that between a firefly and the bright moon.

If he had been in Zhao Fusheng's environment and family, he would undoubtedly have been unable to perform as excellently as the other man.

The main reason Zhou Jianmin had such a good reputation in his circle was that he was never the type to force himself.

Honest, low-key, and reserved.

That was the evaluation of Zhou Jianmin in the capital's circles.

In a sense, that was also why, despite having only one deputy-minister-level figure in his family, Zhou Jianmin's business was far from small.

It was worth noting that even someone like Xue Yuanfang held Zhou Jianmin in high regard; otherwise, he wouldn't have personally acted as a mediator.

But for some reason, facing Zhao Fusheng this time, Zhou Jianmin felt that he truly couldn't see through this young man.

"What, Brother Zhou doubts my words?"

Zhao Fusheng smiled and glanced at Zhou Jianmin.

"No, no, absolutely not."

Zhou Jianmin shook his head repeatedly and said to Zhao Fusheng, "To be honest, I just don't understand why you have such great confidence in the American market."

Zhao Fusheng shrugged: "To be honest, it's not that I have confidence in the American market; I just trust my own judgment."

Zhou Jianmin was startled and looked at Zhao Fusheng in surprise.

Clearly, Zhao Fusheng's words had confused him.

"Fusheng, what's going on?" Xue Yuanfang interjected.

He was also a bit confused; Zhao Fusheng's words were so vague that no one could guess his meaning.

To be honest, if it weren't Zhao Fusheng saying this, Xue Yuanfang might have thought he was dealing with a madman.

After all, the American market was now almost completely collapsing, with the entire U.S. economy on the verge of bankruptcy, and even the Detroit city government had declared bankruptcy. Under such circumstances, Zhao Fusheng actually believed the American market still had great potential—wasn't he talking nonsense?

Thinking carefully, it was possible: Zhou Bing had offended Zhao Fusheng, and while he couldn't settle the score with her openly because of his own face, he could certainly find another way to screw Zhou Jianmin.

"Don't overthink it."

Zhao Fusheng rolled his eyes, too lazy to retort to Xue Yuanfang.

What kind of person did this guy take him for? Was he the type to mess with people for no reason?

"Ahem..." Xue Yuanfang felt a bit awkward and looked helplessly at Zhao Fusheng. How could this guy always read people so accurately? He could detect what he was thinking with just a hint, leaving no way to hide anything from him.

"Fusheng, to be honest, if I go all out, I can probably mobilize no more than 1.6 billion RMB. In U.S. dollars, that's about 200 million."

Zhou Jianmin looked at Zhao Fusheng seriously.

Two hundred million dollars?

Zhao Fusheng nodded, thought for a moment, and said, "That's a bit low."

Huh?

Zhou Jianmin was dumbfounded, staring at Zhao Fusheng with wide eyes: "You, you're not joking, are you?"

Two hundred million dollars, and Zhao Fusheng called it a bit low.

What was this kid up to?

Zhao Fusheng smiled: "Do I look like someone who likes to joke?"

"No, what exactly do you want to do?" Xue Yuanfang sat up straight and looked at Zhao Fusheng seriously.

A partner with 200 million dollars, and he complained that the investment was too small—Xue Yuanfang had to take Zhao Fusheng's upcoming plan seriously.

"I plan to acquire Marvel Entertainment."

Zhao Fusheng looked at Xue Yuanfang and Zhou Jianmin, speaking word by word.

Marvel Entertainment?

The two exchanged glances, clearly unfamiliar with the company.

Zhao Fusheng smiled and explained.

Marvel Entertainment was currently the largest comic book company in the United States, owning the rights to over five thousand comic book characters. In other words, if acquired, just the film and television adaptations alone would be a massive treasure trove.

"Not long ago, Disney announced the acquisition of Pixar Animation, co-founded by Apple founder Steve Jobs and others. According to the acquisition agreement, Jobs, who owned 50% of Pixar, would receive 7% of Disney's shares and a large sum of cash."

Zhao Fusheng said to Xue Yuanfang and Zhou Jianmin, "I suspect that Disney's next target is Marvel."

"But what does that prove?"

Xue Yuanfang asked in confusion: "What does Disney's acquisition of Pixar have to do with your plan to acquire Marvel? Do you intend to buy Marvel and then sell it to Disney?"

Zhao Fusheng laughed: "I plan to buy Marvel and adapt their works into movies."

What?

Zhou Jianmin was stunned, and Xue Yuanfang was completely bewildered.

They had never imagined Zhao Fusheng had such a plan.

And on top of that, he intended to invest so much money.

"You mean you plan to buy a comic book company, costing perhaps over a billion dollars, and then adapt these comic characters into movies and TV shows?"

After a long pause, Zhou Jianmin summarized, looking at Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng nodded: "Yes, according to the information I've received, Marvel is currently in financial difficulty and has been selling off the rights to its comic characters. The popular film 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine' originally belonged to Marvel, but because of the company's困境, they sold it off."

"No, Fusheng, this is too risky."

Xue Yuanfang hesitated but still spoke to Zhao Fusheng.

In his view, spending a billion dollars on something like this was something only a madman would do.

Zhao Fusheng smiled slightly: "In business, there's never a venture without risk. I said I won't force anyone. If Brother Zhou wants to cooperate with me, he can invest in this project. If not, that's fine too; we can still be friends."

Though he said that, both Xue Yuanfang and Zhou Jianmin understood clearly what Zhao Fusheng meant.

There was only this one chance to get on board; miss it, and don't think about boarding again.

Looking at Zhao Fusheng's calm demeanor, Zhou Jianmin felt as if he were standing at a crossroads.

Whether turning left or right, his heart pounded with anxiety.

After a long time, Zhou Jianmin let out a long breath, as if he had made a great decision.

Looking at Zhao Fusheng, he slowly said, "Fusheng, I hope you won't let me down!"

Xue Yuanfang was startled and looked at Zhou Jianmin in surprise: "Jianmin, you..."

"Yuanfang, don't say anymore."

Zhou Jianmin shook his head and said seriously, "Since I took the initiative to propose cooperation with Fusheng, and now he has told me the project plan, if I back out because I'm afraid of losing money, wouldn't that make people laugh at me for being a man who starts strong but fizzles out?"

Then he said to Zhao Fusheng, "I'll try my best to raise funds; by the end of the year, I'll prepare 300 million dollars for you."

Xue Yuanfang gasped, looking at Zhou Jianmin in astonishment, speechless.

Zhao Fusheng was also somewhat surprised, raising an eyebrow, and smiled at Zhou Jianmin: "Brother Zhou, you've really surprised me."

To be honest, Zhao Fusheng hadn't expected Zhou Jianmin to choose to support him so firmly.

His plan to acquire Marvel had been on his mind for a while, but he hadn't intended to bring Zhou Jianmin in.

After all, adapting Marvel's superheroes was a real goldmine, and a huge one at that.

Even though Marvel had already sold off the adaptation rights to some superheroes, relying solely on the remaining superhero rights, Marvel had earned a whopping 14 billion dollars in box office revenue over ten years just from superhero movies.

Remember, that's only movies, not including TV series or other merchandise.

Zhao Fusheng had no reason to give up such a goldmine.

And most importantly, Marvel was on the verge of bankruptcy, at its weakest point.

Strike while the iron is hot!

Zhao Fusheng felt he had to beat Disney to acquiring Marvel, thus building a vast super-empire.

The main purpose of revealing this plan to Zhou Jianmin was to test whether he truly wanted to cooperate.

If Zhou Jianmin had other ideas or was interested in other projects of the future group, Zhao Fusheng would have rejected him without hesitation and never had any contact with him again.

But this seemingly dull man not only didn't refuse but, after hesitating for a long time, made a decision that even surprised Zhao Fusheng.

That was 300 million dollars, not 300 million ghost money. Zhou Jianmin had unhesitatingly staked his entire fortune on Zhao Fusheng. Wasn't he afraid of losing everything?

"I've always been good at evaluating things."

Facing the questioning looks from Zhao Fusheng and Xue Yuanfang, Zhou Jianmin's expression was quite calm as he said to Zhao Fusheng, "Since I trust you, I'll trust you to the end. If we win, we'll feast together; if we lose, we'll just start over."

Hearing this, Zhao Fusheng was silent for a long time.

He had to admit that Zhou Jianmin was truly courageous.

He might not understand what Zhao Fusheng wanted to do, and he had probably heard the name Marvel for the first time today, but out of trust in Zhao Fusheng and sensitivity to business opportunities, Zhou Jianmin had decisively chosen the right path.

Even Zhao Fusheng had to admit that some people were destined to succeed.