Chapter 1580: Each Airs Their Own Views

"Don't contact Ono Masao and James for now."

Zhao Fusheng slowly said to Dong Chenxi, "Call Ma Xiaoyun. I want to see him."

Huh?

Dong Chenxi was startled, frowned, but finally nodded: "Okay, I understand."

Although she didn't know what Zhao Fusheng was up to, Dong Chenxi was well aware that even he had to think carefully before making a decision on this matter.

In fact, even Zhao Fusheng himself was still somewhat conflicted.

After all, in his impression, Alibaba's market value was extremely high.

In other words, even a one percent change in equity would have a huge impact.

Not to mention that Zhao Fusheng was essentially a young nationalist at heart, harboring strong wariness toward both Americans and Japanese.

Comparatively, although Jack Ma wasn't great, at least he was Chinese.

Moreover, as Alibaba's largest shareholder with 27% voting rights, no matter how Ma Xiaoyun jumped around, he would ultimately need to win Zhao Fusheng over.

For Zhao Fusheng, this was the best outcome.

Of course, the prerequisite was that Ma Xiaoyun had to be obedient and sensible enough.

Hanging up the phone, Zhao Fusheng got into the car and said to Hu Donghai beside him, "Tell Old Jiang's assistant that I have something to attend to and am leaving first."

Hu Donghai nodded: "I understand."

He got out of the car to find Jiang Wen's assistant, while Zhao Fusheng sat in the car and started making phone calls.

Such a big matter naturally couldn't be decided by just him and Dong Chenxi alone; they needed to discuss it thoroughly.

And the people to consult were, of course, the senior executives of the Future Group.

Soon, Hu Donghai returned and told Zhao Fusheng that he had notified Jiang Wen's assistant.

Zhao Fusheng nodded and let the driver start the car.

The car moved slowly forward. Zhao Fusheng sat there, half-closing his eyes, trying to recall a report he had read.

By 2018, when he was reborn, Ma Xiaoyun's wealth mainly came from Alibaba and its subsidiary Ant Financial. At that time, Alibaba's market value had reached three trillion RMB, making it the most valuable company in China.

Ma Xiaoyun held only about 6.4% of Alibaba's shares, but that alone was worth over two hundred billion RMB. Additionally, Ant Financial had completed a ninety billion RMB financing round, with a valuation of one trillion RMB, making it the world's most valuable unicorn.

Of course, because Ma Xiaoyun had transferred his Ant Financial shares to his former colleagues, documents showed that his stake in Ant Financial would be limited to 8.8%. In other words, Ma Xiaoyun's total assets were around three hundred billion RMB.

That guy really had something going for him.

...

...

"What's wrong? What happened?"

Zheng Yao, summoned by Zhao Fusheng, hurried to the company's meeting room. As soon as she entered, she asked Zhao Fusheng in surprise.

Zhao Fusheng nodded: "There's something. Come to my office to talk."

As the group's CEO, he had to communicate with her about this matter beforehand.

The two went to the office one after another. Zheng Yao frowned deeply and looked at Zhao Fusheng: "What's going on? Why all the secrecy?"

She was genuinely puzzled. When she had spoken with Zhao Fusheng on the phone earlier, he had been cheerfully telling her that he was visiting the Spring Festival Gala backstage with Jiang Wen. How could he be so serious and calling everyone for a meeting just a few hours later?

"It's like this. I received news from Dong Chenxi that SoftBank..."

Zhao Fusheng didn't joke around. He directly told Zheng Yao the news he had gotten from Dong Chenxi, and finally said, "I have an idea now, but I'm a bit hesitant, so I wanted to call everyone together to discuss it."

Hearing his words, Zheng Yao frowned slightly, hesitated for a moment, but didn't speak immediately.

Seeing her reaction, Zhao Fusheng was startled: "What's wrong?"

As his most important partner, Zhao Fusheng didn't want to have a difference of opinion with Zheng Yao, because if that happened, the people below would also become confused.

Zheng Yao sat there, not speaking for a long time, her head lowered, lost in thought.

After a long while, she slowly raised her head and looked at Zhao Fusheng: "I think this matter shouldn't be discussed in a meeting."

"Why?"

Zhao Fusheng was startled and asked in surprise.

"The fewer people who know about this kind of thing, the better." Zheng Yao looked at Zhao Fusheng seriously and said, "And to be honest, I really don't think you have much chance of success by allying with Ma Xiaoyun and Yahoo against SoftBank and Sequoia."

This was her honest opinion. There was no helping it—SoftBank and Sequoia Capital were too powerful. Relying solely on Yahoo and Future Investment's strength to push them out was undoubtedly insufficient.

"So what do you suggest..."

Zhao Fusheng thought for a moment and looked at Zheng Yao.

Zheng Yao gritted her teeth and said solemnly, "Go to James. We'll push SoftBank out!"

What?

Zhao Fusheng was stunned, looking at Zheng Yao in surprise. He never expected her to make such a proposal.

After all, neither Sequoia Capital nor SoftBank could be easily shaken by Future Investment. Zhao Fusheng knew this well, which was why he had thought of allying with Yahoo. Yahoo was now wealthy and, having been outmaneuvered by SoftBank and Sequoia before, was surely eager for revenge.

With Ma Xiaoyun and himself, Zhao Fusheng believed they had a chance to settle this.

But now, Zheng Yao was actually telling him to go to James.

Allying with Sequoia Capital!

Just thinking about this proposal made Zhao Fusheng feel it was utterly absurd.

"What, you don't think it's appropriate?"

Seeing Zhao Fusheng silent, Zheng Yao took a deep breath and asked him.

Zhao Fusheng didn't hide it from her and nodded: "I don't think Sequoia has no ambitions for Alibaba."

To be honest, he didn't trust any of these foreign capitalists. If only he had enough funds, he would even drive them all out.

But the facts were clear; some things don't change according to one's will, even for a time traveler like Zhao Fusheng.

The principle that a lack of money can stump a hero applies equally in business.

Even if you have countless brilliant ideas that could make a fortune daily, without the first pot of gold to start a business, you can turn a genius into a fool.

"Sequoia Capital has ambitions, SoftBank Investments has ambitions—doesn't Yahoo have ambitions too?"

Zheng Yao disagreed with Zhao Fusheng's words and said calmly, "Actually, regarding Alibaba's equity, the management team including Ma Xiaoyun is one side, and our four companies are another side. Isn't that right?"

Zhao Fusheng thought for a moment and nodded: "Generally speaking, that's correct."

Her words were fair. Alibaba's management, Ma Xiaoyun's founding team, held some shares and voting rights; Zhao Fusheng's Future Investment held some equity and voting rights; and the remaining majority of equity and voting rights were shared by SoftBank Asia, Sequoia Capital, and Yahoo.

In this situation, these five parties formed the main body of Alibaba.

So, everyone knew that conflicts over the company's equity were inevitable sooner or later.

The only question was who would make the first move.

That was why Ono Masao had been running around trying to persuade Zhao Fusheng to cooperate with them.

But Zhao Fusheng hadn't expected that Ono Masao had actually convinced Sequoia's James. Now the situation was that if Future Investment agreed to Ono Masao's request and joined forces to push Yahoo out...

...would they be the next target?

To be honest, Zhao Fusheng knew the Japanese way of doing things all too well.

In fact, whether Americans or Japanese, they were all untrustworthy in his eyes.

But there was no choice. Business was like that—even if you knew you were facing a pile of dog shit, you had to smile and say, "Dear, please pay up."

Zhao Fusheng was not a saint; he was just an ordinary person.

And now, Zheng Yao's proposal left him conflicted.