Chapter 1643: An Irresistible Bait

In a sense, the cooperation proposed by Zhao Fusheng was a win-win for Samsung and Future Investment.

Although Future Investment would give up Twitter shares, losing stock worth billions of dollars, what they could gain was keeping their Alibaba shares intact.

On Samsung's side, though they would pay with Samsung shares, what they would get was Twitter with a relatively clean equity structure.

You know, the entire Lee Kun-hee family held less than two percent of Samsung's shares, yet they were worth over twenty billion US dollars.

Of course, that was already the peak of the Lee Kun-hee family's wealth.

Now, the opportunity Zhao Fusheng offered could potentially increase the Lee family's total wealth, so he naturally wouldn't refuse this cooperation.

Few people have the courage and determination to refuse food delivered right to their mouth.

Lee Kun-hee was not a deity; he was just a shrewd businessman.

"But seriously, Lee Boo-jin thinks highly of you."

Zheng Yao suddenly teased Zhao Fusheng with a smile.

Huh?

Zhao Fusheng was startled, then saw Zheng Yao's half-smiling expression and immediately understood what she meant. He shook his head helplessly: "Don't talk nonsense. If my wife finds out, it'll be a disaster!"

Zheng Yao burst out laughing but didn't say anything more.

In fact, both she and Zhao Fusheng knew it was just a joke between them. Not to mention Lee Boo-jin's status, given Fan Baobao and Zhao Fusheng's relationship, the situation she described could never happen.

"Keep negotiating, and we'll communicate on specifics at any time."

Zhao Fusheng instructed Zheng Yao: "I have only one requirement: don't give Samsung the chance to act as a white knight. They are absolutely not allowed to enter Alibaba's board of directors."

For Alibaba, a company with a market cap comparable to Samsung's entire group, Zhao Fusheng would never give that old fox Lee Kun-hee an opportunity.

People are different. Someone like Lee Kun-hee, even if given a one percent chance, would try to do something. It's not that he has bad character, but profit-seeking has become his instinct. No matter what he does, he always aims to maximize his own interests.

As for whether it would harm others?

Heh, a man who would scheme against his own father and ruthlessly drive his siblings out of the company—what wouldn't he dare to do?

"By the way, you had Dong Chenxi invest in SF Express earlier. Do you think SF Express has a promising future?" Zheng Yao asked casually.

Zhao Fusheng nodded: "As the internet develops, e-commerce will become more prosperous, and the express delivery industry will thrive. This has been confirmed in the United States."

"Well, you really are..."

Zheng Yao shook her head helplessly. She asked because her subordinates had submitted a report outlining the prospects of e-commerce and the express delivery industry, hoping the company would get involved.

Only after discussing it with Dong Chenxi did she learn that Zhao Fusheng had already begun laying the groundwork.

"By the way, how's the real estate business going?" Zhao Fusheng asked Zheng Yao.

"Fairly smoothly," Zheng Yao replied with a wry smile. "But seriously, I feel like housing prices are rising too fast. I hope it doesn't turn into a bubble..."

Zhao Fusheng was taken aback, then shook his head: "How could that be? Let me tell you, the rise in housing prices is an inevitable trend."

He didn't tell Zheng Yao that China's real estate industry was about to become a highly profitable sector from now on.

As a child, he watched Adam Cheng's "The Greed of Man" and still remembered many lines vividly.

"I work my ass off! Earn so little! But those people, they just put out a little money, spend a little time, drive up housing prices, and keep making big money! Is that fair?"

"An ordinary person just wants a very ordinary house! Why do they have to spend their whole life paying for it!"

"If you walk a step faster, no one will mind. But if you walk a step slower, you'll be looked down on forever!"

Back then, Zhao Fusheng didn't fully understand, but now he realized that in the eyes of real estate developers, homebuyers were just like leeks in the stock market.

"Well, I hope it's as you say."

Zheng Yao shrugged and nodded to Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng nodded: "Get busy. Leave work early, don't stay too late."

With that, he left the company.

…

…

The next morning, Zhao Fusheng received a call from Dong Chenxi. The content was similar to what Zheng Yao had said earlier: Samsung showed great enthusiasm for the cooperation and hoped Future Investment would speed up the negotiations.

"Speed up?"

Zhao Fusheng laughed: "Alright, tell them: twenty billion US dollars in cash plus Samsung shares worth fifty billion US dollars, and I'll give them all of Twitter's equity. Otherwise, don't bother negotiating—I can find someone else."

Hiss!

Dong Chenxi gasped.

She really hadn't expected Zhao Fusheng to have such an appetite.

Or rather, he was bold to such an extent.

"Wait, are you really going to do this?"

Dong Chenxi thought it over for a long time and decided to try to persuade Zhao Fusheng. This was simply too crazy!

After all, Twitter was on a good development trajectory. Its market cap might exceed five hundred billion or even more in the future. If Zhao Fusheng sold all his Twitter shares now for tens of billions of dollars, he might regret it if Twitter took off later.

At that moment, Dong Chenxi even considered whether to keep a few shares.

"Of course."

Zhao Fusheng laughed: "Don't worry, we definitely won't lose out."

As for whether Samsung would profit?

Heh, none of his business!

Zhao Fusheng had never been a kind person, especially when dealing with foreigners.

Whether it was Samsung or Twitter, in his eyes, they were just tools to make money.

He was always polite to anyone who could help him make money, but if a conflict arose between his interests and these people, he would not hesitate to abandon them.

The reason was simple: these people were neither his friends nor his family, so he didn't need to consider their feelings.

Although this might seem cold, remember, Zhao Fusheng wasn't running a charity; he was doing business.

"Alright, I'll follow your lead."

At that moment, Dong Chenxi felt the same as Zheng Yao. There were many things she couldn't change just by wanting to. Since Zhao Fusheng had made his decision, whether as a friend or a subordinate, all she could do was support him.

"Don't worry, there won't be any problems."

Zhao Fusheng smiled, looking completely relaxed.

Unlike Dong Chenxi and Zheng Yao, who were tense, he wasn't worried at all.

The bait he had laid was so tempting that Lee Kun-hee couldn't refuse.

As for Lee Boo-jin and Lee Jae-yong, with their father Lee Kun-hee around, they had no decision-making power.

That was the tragedy of family businesses.

Often, family businesses could make top management more united against external threats, but more often than not, in such patriarchal enterprises, once the top decision-maker made a decision, those below couldn't change anything.

That was exactly the situation with Samsung now.

In such circumstances, if the decision-maker was capable and made the right decisions, it would naturally bring immense benefits to the company.

Conversely, if the decision-maker made wrong choices, the damage to the entire company would be enormous.

Many companies, both domestic and international, went from glory to collapse for this very reason.

That was also why Zhao Fusheng had always been so cautious.

Caution never hurts—Zhao Fusheng always reminded himself deep down.