Chapter 1627: The Clatter of Wishful Thinking

Plans never keep up with changes!

When Lee Boo-jin and Lee Jae-yong proactively contacted Zhao Fusheng the next day at noon, wanting to meet with him, they were told that Zhao Fusheng had already returned to China.

Returned to China?

The siblings exchanged bewildered glances, and Lee Jae-yong looked especially confused. What was going on? Why had he suddenly returned to China without any reason?

Sister, this...

Looking at Lee Boo-jin, Lee Jae-yong asked in a low voice.

Lee Boo-jin put down the phone, her expression somewhat frustrated. To be honest, she couldn't figure out what was happening either.

For no apparent reason, why had Zhao Fusheng returned to China?

In fact, not only she, but even Liang Jingyu and Park Sun-young didn't understand why Zhao Fusheng had left South Korea. Could it be that he didn't intend to cooperate with Samsung anymore?

Chairman, you...

Sitting inside the plane, Hu Donghai asked Zhao Fusheng with some surprise.

He hadn't expected that after thinking it over for a night, Zhao Fusheng would directly return to China, not even attending the Baeksang Arts Awards.

Zhao Fusheng smiled slightly: "Nothing much, I have matters to attend to."

Oh, oh.

Since he said so, Hu Donghai naturally nodded repeatedly.

After all, the boss had his considerations, and as a subordinate, it was his duty to carry them out.

The plane flew slowly through the air; Zhao Fusheng closed his eyes and feigned sleep, but his mind was racing.

Leaving South Korea was a decision he made on the spur of the moment.

It wasn't because he really had something to deal with, but because Zhao Fusheng felt that to negotiate with Samsung, he needed to seize some initiative.

In Zhao Fusheng's mind, Lee Kun-hee, that old fox, was definitely a big boss-level existence.

This wasn't self-deprecation; after all, the man was the helmsman of the mighty Samsung Group. Having overcome other family members to become Samsung's chairman, he was certainly no pushover.

More importantly, Zhao Fusheng needed to carefully sort out the entire matter and ensure everything was foolproof.

Many things in this world are not as simple as they appear on the surface. Zhao Fusheng didn't believe that a strongman like Lee Kun-hee would easily yield to a junior like him.

After all, although Future Group was developing well, compared to Samsung, it lagged far behind.

It was like the gap between a child who might grow to be two meters tall and an adult who was already one meter ninety.

Therefore, Zhao Fusheng felt it was better to be cautious.

...

...

Two hours later, at Beijing Capital International Airport.

You came back pretty quickly.

Dong Chenxi looked at Zhao Fusheng and said with a smile.

What, you're not happy I'm back? Zhao Fusheng sat in the car and teased her: "Tell me, what do you think of my proposal?"

Dong Chenxi shook her head: "I have no objections. I just think we could negotiate with Lee Kun-hee's side and conduct the transaction with a combination of cash and equity."

Hmm?

Zhao Fusheng was taken aback and looked at Dong Chenxi in surprise.

He didn't quite understand what she meant.

Dong Chenxi looked helpless and casually tossed a stack of documents to Zhao Fusheng: "Take a look."

Zhao Fusheng nodded, took the documents, and began to read. After a while, his expression turned strange.

He had to admit, this was the first time he learned that the real major shareholders of Samsung were not the Lee family.

Ninety-eight percent of the shares of the entire Samsung Group were held by foreign capital!

Impressive!

Unbeatable!

Zhao Fusheng was dumbfounded.

Didn't expect that, did you? Dong Chenxi asked from the side.

Zhao Fusheng nodded, looked up at Dong Chenxi: "How did you get this?"

By spending money, of course. Dong Chenxi said irritably.

Zhao Fusheng smiled wryly and began to read the documents carefully again.

The documents showed that the Lee family held less than two percent of the total shares in the entire Samsung Group, yet they firmly controlled the voting rights, cash flow, and personnel appointments, steering the development lifeline of the entire Samsung.

In fact, it could be said that without the contributions of Lee Byung-chul and Lee Kun-hee over two generations, there would be no Samsung today. Many people would think that the Lee family, as the founders of Samsung, should hold more than half of the group's equity; two percent seemed pitifully small.

But that wasn't the case. Take Samsung Electronics, for example; it was listed in the United States, with over fifty percent of its shares held by foreign capital, mostly American capital.

Wall Street financial capital, represented by Citibank and Morgan Stanley, were the main controllers of Samsung Electronics, providing Samsung with capital, market, and technological support, paving the way for Samsung's globalization. Lee Kun-hee, as the head of Samsung Electronics, only held 1.59 percent of its equity.

Samsung was a typical chaebol group. Over the past decades, the South Korean government's support for chaebols allowed conglomerates like Samsung Group and Hyundai Group to rapidly modernize. These chaebols not only lifted South Korea out of poverty after the Korean War but also made it one of the Four Asian Tigers.

Although the 1997 Asian financial crisis made the government aware of the threat of chaebol power, given Samsung Group's outstanding contributions to South Korea, the government still adopted a relatively tolerant attitude toward Samsung.

Taking advantage of this, chaebol groups used pyramid or cross-shareholding structures to ensure that the controlling family's voting rights were usually greater than their cash flow rights.

Within Samsung, the flagship company Samsung Electronics' largest shareholder was Samsung Life Insurance, holding 7.7 percent, while Samsung Life Insurance's largest shareholders were Lee Kun-hee and Samsung Everland, holding 20.8 percent and 19.3 percent respectively.

Samsung Everland's largest shareholder was Lee Jae-yong, holding 25.1 percent. Samsung Electronics held 37.5 percent of Samsung Card, and Samsung Card held 8.6 percent of Samsung Everland. Through this cross-shareholding structure, Lee Kun-hee and Lee Jae-yong became the actual controllers of Samsung Group.

Besides Lee Kun-hee and Samsung Everland, the third-largest shareholder was Shinsegae Department Store, holding 11 percent, belonging to Lee Myung-hee, daughter of Samsung founder Lee Byung-chul.

Thus, the Lee family, by merely controlling Samsung Life Insurance and Samsung Everland, grasped the control and management rights of the entire Samsung Group.

Under such circumstances, cooperation between Samsung and Future Group had to be approached with even greater caution.

Zhao Fusheng didn't want to be used as a pawn by that old fox Lee Kun-hee.

Although, in reality, he was also thinking of using Samsung as his own pawn against SoftBank and Sequoia Capital.

Business, after all, is a process of mutual scheming within cooperation.

After a long while, Zhao Fusheng looked at Dong Chenxi again and said with a smile: "What do you think about us becoming shareholders of Samsung?"

Shareholders?

Dong Chenxi frowned slightly, then laughed: "Then they'll have to bleed a lot."

That was her honest opinion. Given Alibaba's current development trend, it was bound to become a super group like Samsung in the future—a consensus among Future Investment, Sequoia Capital, and many other companies.

If they really conducted a share swap with Samsung, it would have to be an equal exchange, otherwise, it would be a loss.

Zhao Fusheng nodded: "No rush. Negotiations can proceed slowly. I think maybe that old fox Lee Kun-hee is more anxious than we are."

Although Future Group also faced difficulties, Samsung's situation was not optimistic either. Zhao Fusheng didn't believe that Lee Kun-hee wasn't tempted by the development of Facebook and Alibaba.

The old fox was shrewd enough and his cunning was terrifying, but there was one drawback: he was too calculating.

The more calculating a person is, the more likely they are to fall into certain misconceptions.

Take Zhao Fusheng himself, for example. He now somewhat regretted his earlier behavior of casting a wide net. Perhaps it was because he was getting older that such a situation arose; he hadn't anticipated the limitations of his own abilities.

Now, he couldn't bear to give up any company, which was the most frustrating thing.

Wait and see. They'll probably contact us soon once they find out you've returned to China. Dong Chenxi nodded to Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng smiled: "Yeah, Lee Kun-hee probably didn't expect me to come back directly."

With that, he waved his hand and said to Dong Chenxi: "I'm going home to see my daughter. You go ahead with your work."

Huh?

Dong Chenxi was dumbfounded, suddenly realizing that her boss seemed to be a bit shameless!