Chapter 1626: Fox and Fox

The meeting between Zhao Fusheng and Lee Kun-hee was not as dramatic as Park Sun-young had imagined.

In Park Sun-young's mind, a meeting between two big shots should at least create some atmosphere.

But in fact, Zhao Fusheng politely greeted the business elder Lee Kun-hee and expressed his respect, while Lee Kun-hee kindly said he was glad that Lee Boo-jin could make a friend like Zhao Fusheng. He hoped that in the future, the Future Group and Samsung Group could strengthen exchanges and cooperate with each other.

The atmosphere was incredibly harmonious!

The meeting lasted about an hour, with Park Sun-young and Lee Boo-jin serving as translators for Zhao Fusheng and Lee Kun-hee respectively, acting as bridges for communication.

In the end, because Lee Kun-hee was somewhat tired, the meeting concluded. Lee Kun-hee had his son Lee Jae-yong personally escort Zhao Fusheng out of the villa.

"Here's my business card. We can have a drink together sometime."

Lee Jae-yong said to Zhao Fusheng with a smile, handing him a business card.

Zhao Fusheng was also very polite to this Samsung crown prince, giving him his own business card and saying he would invite Lee Jae-yong to China sometime.

Watching Zhao Fusheng get into the car, Lee Jae-yong and Lee Boo-jin returned to the villa.

Sitting in the car, Park Sun-young let out a long breath.

"What, nervous?"

Zhao Fusheng asked his translator with a faint smile. He could tell that Park Sun-young was genuinely nervous.

"Chairman, I don't understand. What exactly did you and Lee Kun-hee talk about?"

Park Sun-young asked, somewhat puzzled. In fact, during the meeting between Zhao Fusheng and Lee Kun-hee, they talked about everything—from bilateral relations to the international financial situation, and even the impact of the US subprime mortgage crisis on the global economy. But in her view, the two hadn't said anything substantial.

What was the point of this meeting?

Zhao Fusheng smiled slightly: "Simple. We were actually testing each other."

"Testing?"

Park Sun-young was confused and wanted to ask more, but Zhao Fusheng just smiled and said nothing.

She had to suppress her doubts and silently ponder.

Meanwhile, Zhao Fusheng, though wearing a smile, sighed inwardly, feeling somewhat disappointed.

He had originally had some expectations for Park Sun-young, hoping she could glean something from his conversation with Lee Kun-hee. But now it seemed she could only play the role of a secretary.

If it were Wu Sijie, he would have already figured it out.

Back at the hotel, Zhao Fusheng called Dong Chenxi.

"I met with Lee Kun-hee today."

Zhao Fusheng said bluntly.

Dong Chenxi was startled on the other end of the line, then asked in surprise: "What did he say?"

"A sly old fox."

Zhao Fusheng snorted: "Having Lee Boo-jin approach me earlier was indeed a test. That old guy clearly wanted to find another way. After all, in the past two years, Roh Moo-hyun's knife has been hanging over the chaebols. Samsung's days haven't been easy either."

"What does he want?" Dong Chenxi continued asking.

"Greed, of course."

Zhao Fusheng said irritably: "The old guy saw that our goal is to get Samsung involved. His terms are simple: he wants three percent of Facebook's shares."

Three percent?

Dong Chenxi's expression changed slightly, and she said solemnly: "Impossible. That's too much."

She and Zhao Fusheng had estimated that if Facebook went public, its market value could exceed two hundred billion US dollars.

In other words, even one percent of the shares would be worth at least over twenty billion US dollars.

In fact, if Zhao Fusheng sold three percent of Facebook's shares to Samsung as Lee Kun-hee requested, he would lose at least over two hundred billion US dollars in the end.

Yes, in Zhao Fusheng's memory, Facebook's market cap once reached over nine hundred billion US dollars. So even one percent, let alone three percent, was a painful concession for him.

But Alibaba's situation was clear; to break the deadlock, he had to pay a price.

"Yeah, I can accept at most two percent. That's my limit." Zhao Fusheng said solemnly.

"Honestly, sometimes I wonder where you find these high-quality companies."

Dong Chenxi said helplessly: "Others might worry about how to get returns on their investments, but our worry is that these companies are worth more and more..."

That was her true feeling.

Not to mention others, just Alibaba, Jingdong, Facebook, and Twitter—according to the valuations by Dong Chenxi's team—were already staggering numbers.

In other words, it was a multiple-choice question.

Four companies destined to be worth over ten billion US dollars, and Zhao Fusheng had invested in all of them and was a shareholder. For Dong Chenxi, who managed Future Investments, this was undoubtedly a happy problem.

"Let it be. I believe Lee Kun-hee, unless he's a fool, will know how to choose."

Zhao Fusheng said calmly, then hung up.

...

...

In the villa of the Lee family mansion, Lee Kun-hee sat there, with Lee Jae-yong and Lee Boo-jin on either side of the sofa.

"So, impressive, isn't he?"

Looking at his son, Lee Kun-hee smiled and asked Lee Jae-yong.

Lee Jae-yong thought for a moment and nodded: "I have to admit, if it were me, I might not be as good as him."

"Not 'might,' but 'definitely.'" Lee Kun-hee shook his head and said seriously: "Even at his age, I didn't have that composure and demeanor. As for cunning and scheming, needless to say. What do you think he wants?"

"It should be cooperation." Lee Jae-yong thought for a moment and said to his father: "I just don't understand where he gets the confidence that we will definitely care about those Facebook shares."

"Because he believes that once Facebook goes public, its market value will be very high."

Lee Boo-jin spoke slowly from the side: "That's probably where his real confidence lies, right?"

Although her father and Zhao Fusheng had talked in a freewheeling manner, she had vaguely understood.

This was where Park Sun-young still needed to learn.

The reason was simple: although her academic background was good, her family background truly determined a person's vision and perspective. The biggest gap between Park Sun-young and Lee Boo-jin was in their mindset.

And mindset undoubtedly determines how far a person can see when looking at problems.

"Yes, he is very confident."

Lee Kun-hee heard his eldest daughter's words and nodded: "In his eyes, the market value of Facebook is conservatively estimated to exceed one hundred billion US dollars."

One hundred billion US dollars?

Lee Jae-yong gasped.

Although Samsung's value was certainly higher than that, the problem was that Samsung was a company built over many years, not to mention its status in South Korea.

But what was that internet company called Facebook?

It had been established for less than five years, had only a few hundred employees, and its current valuation, though not low, was only a few billion US dollars. Saying it could develop into a company worth hundreds of billions of US dollars—Lee Jae-yong wouldn't believe it even if you beat him to death.

But now, it was clear that Zhao Fusheng was using this as a bargaining chip, laid out plainly before Lee Kun-hee.

And what puzzled Lee Jae-yong even more was that his usually very wise father seemed quite interested.

What was going on?

Lee Jae-yong increasingly felt that the development of this matter had exceeded his understanding.

Even Lee Boo-jin was now looking at her father with some surprise.

Clearly, neither she nor Lee Jae-yong believed Lee Kun-hee's assertion.

A market value of one hundred billion US dollars!

That wasn't a hundred billion won, but US dollars. The value was so high that even as chaebols, they couldn't underestimate it.

Lee Kun-hee smiled, his expression calm: "You only see the issue with Facebook. Haven't you considered that Alibaba, which SoftBank Asia and Sequoia Capital are scrambling for and Yahoo is willing to spend a billion dollars on, is no small company?"

The siblings exchanged glances. They suddenly found themselves unable to keep up with their father's train of thought.

"What Zhao Fusheng has placed before me now is actually just bait."

Lee Kun-hee looked at his daughter and son and slowly explained: "Alibaba has good development prospects, but its equity structure is complex. He wants us Samsung to get involved and make the situation more chaotic, so he can fish in troubled waters. As for Facebook, its future value is even higher, which is why he haggles over every fraction of a percent. Understand?"

Lee Boo-jin looked at her brother, opened her mouth as if to say something, but didn't speak.

Lee Jae-yong frowned, lost in thought.

After a long while, Lee Boo-jin finally asked her father: "Father, so what do you think? Should we cooperate with Zhao Fusheng or not?"

At this, Lee Jae-yong also looked at Lee Kun-hee, since the choice was his.

Lee Kun-hee was silent for a long time. Finally, he slowly stood up and said to his children: "Samsung has come this far. Do you know what I worry about most?"

Neither spoke, but they both had an answer in mind.

Internal strife!

Yes, trouble within the family was the biggest cause of problems for South Korean chaebols.

"That president is now holding a knife, waiting for me to make a mistake." Lee Kun-hee stood there, speaking word by word: "So, I'll wait and see how long he can stay in that position!"

A revolving door of presidents, but an ironclad chaebol—that was Lee Kun-hee's true confidence.

"Boo-jin, you and Jae-yong negotiate with Zhao Fusheng. We want two percent of Facebook's shares. As for the Alibaba shares, they can be swapped for equivalent shares in our companies."

At that moment, both Lee Jae-yong and Lee Boo-jin were stunned.