King of Capital

Chapter 62: Stay in the ICU for a few more days

"Terminate the cooperation? Man, with a loaded gun against your head, you say you want to terminate the cooperation?"

Bill Gates' tone on the other end of the phone sounded a little unbelievable: "Perhaps you should pay attention to the news from China. Half an hour ago, they released a list of information security companies. Microsoft and Apple are on the list."

Cook immediately thought of the news that the two Asian employees had just said, and then thought of a series of news such as Alibaba's business monopoly, the New York Chinese Chamber of Commerce's march, etc.

"So this is a threat?" He frowned.

Bill Gates sighed helplessly from the microphone: "No, this is indiscriminate shooting from the resentful woman of a dying man."

"This is crazy and ridiculous." Cook laughed angrily.

Under his wise leadership, Apple has always maintained an absolutely obedient positioning towards the Chinese market, doing whatever it is told to do without any ambiguity. It was about to launch a special castrated version for the mainland, but it was unexpectedly used as a target for venting anger.

Bill Gates pondered for a few seconds and said, "She is pretending to be crazy. Her real purpose is to make us behave ourselves and wait for her man to wake up. Bezos agrees, I agree too, and Tencent has no objection. What do you think?"

"Did you do the shooting?!" Cook looked extremely angry.

"Don't test me. I'm a retired old man, but I still have to pimp for everyone like a brothel owner. Do you know why?"

Bill Gates gave an impatient answer: "Because we are businessmen, and the father of the woman surnamed Zhou is a politician, the politician with whom Hussein visited the Forbidden City in China and took photos."

"Can you imagine what would happen if the son-in-law of a certain big shot was attacked and killed in China? Everyone will have the greatest understanding of her pretending to be crazy now. If you really want to give up the Chinese market, then please feel free to do so."

Bill Gates hung up the phone without hesitation, and Cook stood there in a daze hearing the busy tone.

A few minutes later, he quickly left the cafeteria and returned to the office, and sent another text message to Bill Gates: [We should move this deal forward as soon as possible. Don’t we have a better intermediary guarantor? ]

[I have to say you are much better than Steve Jobs in this regard.] Bill Gates replied with a sarcastic tone.

Cook didn't care, adjusted the legs of his glasses, and typed excitedly: [Let this all end as soon as possible. I think Tencent will give us the greatest help when we encounter the same trouble in the Chinese market in the future.]

In addition to using Tencent as a super thug against Facebook, the purpose of the collusion between the parties is also unclear due to political considerations. After all, who does business in a foreign country without kneeling...

No wonder Bill Gates actively participated in the transaction from the beginning and even invited him to Microsoft headquarters for an interview. It turned out that he had already known the true identity of the intermediary.

Even if the two countries enter a state of all-out war, bullets on the battlefield will try their best to bypass intermediaries with such status. Even if they are captured on the battlefield, they will be well fed and well provided, and when the war is over, they will be escorted out of the country with courtesy, and may even be given a sum of travel expenses free of charge.

As a result, an intermediary with such a status is now lying in the ICU. It is indeed as Bill Gates said, everyone will show the greatest understanding and tolerance for all subsequent actions.

Obviously, although it seems that all parties are unsettled at the moment, it is an excellent opportunity to advance the transaction, and Cook does not mind being proactive.

…………

Manhattan, hospital.

The female clerk who was specially transferred from the embassy with the national emblem on her chest walked slowly to the outside of the ICU ward, leaned down and whispered: "Teacher Zhou, Mr. Xie's colleague is here."

"Sit down and talk."

Zhou Fenglan casually put away the disassembled pistol and gestured to Liu Chih-Ping and Su He to sit down.

She organized her words and said slowly, "In principle, I have no right to interfere in your business, so I am just giving you some suggestions. It is up to you to decide whether to listen to them or not."

"Don't be polite at this time, just tell me what you want to say, Mr. Zhou." Liu Chih-ping's temples were throbbing with pain.

Tencent reported Alibaba's commercial monopoly under real name. Less than half an hour later, the investigation team from Beijing directly entered Alibaba's Yuhang headquarters. Jack Ma rushed back to China in a hurry.

Countless evildoers who were waiting for Alibaba's IPO to make a fortune remained silent. You know, cutting off someone's financial resources is like killing their parents. No one said anything about this... just because Alibaba was suspected of hindering Tencent's acquisition abroad...

The princess in front of him obviously wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to show off her invincibility and clear all obstacles for her man. Can Tencent really take her words as advice?

And this is under the premise that Xie Jingxing can survive. If he really can't wake up, it will not only be a matter of removing obstacles.

"To be honest, I don't know if Jingxing can survive the critical period. I feel uncomfortable."

Zhou Fenglan tilted her head to look into the ward. "My father was busy with work and only had me when he was in his thirties. He is about to retire and enjoy his old age. My son-in-law is lying in the ICU and we don't know whether he is alive or dead."

"As the old saying goes, if you cut off your descendants, you will have no descendants. Could it be that my father has been a man of bad character for most of his life?"

Mr. Liu's head was getting more and more painful and sweat was appearing on his forehead. Saying such words could be fatal. However, Su He remained calm and had not yet recovered from the life-and-death experience.

"Teacher Zhou, please don't say that. Some Americans are really too bullying. We must be firm and demand a result on this matter!" He said while gritting his teeth.

Zhou Fenglan nodded lightly, his aura changing unconsciously, and ordered as a matter of course: "Your public relations strategy needs to be adjusted. Since you have shown great sincerity, why not be more proactive."

"Cooperation with Microsoft and Apple is the foundation. In the future, 90% of WhatsApp's management will be Americans. This is an American company. Don't worry about domestic public opinion pressure."

She continued without question: "Make WhatsApp's algorithm public and work with Apple to achieve end-to-end encrypted communications to protect user privacy from information security issues such as 'Prism'." "Mr. Zhou, do you have any suggestions on the legal compliance risks of mergers and acquisitions?" Mr. Liu asked sincerely.

The princess's actions have brought Tencent to its knees, and she has also confronted the US officials' so-called "information security" doubts head-on. This seems to have no benefits at all as it is not popular with both sides.

At least the Overseas Investment Committee will have a harder time.

Zhou Fenglan took out a few rolled-up A4 papers and handed them to him, saying calmly, "An article written by experts from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences just came from China, which discusses the far-reaching impact of the industrial chain expansion of American agricultural giants in China."

"COFCO has taken the lead in organizing an inspection team to come here for the inspection. The first stop will be New York tomorrow. In the future, we may consider increasing imports of soybeans, corn and other grain crops from Australia and South America. At the same time, we will consider lifting the ban on imports of American beef."

Mr. Liu couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when he saw the "Cargill" mentioned by name in the article. The root of the carrot and stick issue is indeed agriculture.

If Microsoft and Apple do not cooperate with the transaction wholeheartedly, they may not really get out of the Chinese market. But with Yunshan Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, Cargill has made great efforts and earned US dollars. If they don't make great efforts, they may really get out of the Chinese market.

If the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States doesn't want to be blocked at home by farmers in the Midwest with Stinger missiles protesting, then the legal compliance obstacles to the WhatsApp acquisition will be cleared away.

Mr. Liu inexplicably had a subtle thought - Xie Jingxing should stay in the ICU for a few more days.

He was lying in the IUC, and his fiancée was having a tantrum outside. As long as it wasn't exposed, everyone would just accept it. If he woke up, there would definitely be people in China who would immediately jump up and down and curse. It's better to cry all the way than to cry all the way...

Although this solves the problem at the legal level, it is still hard to understand why we have to confront the US officials in terms of public opinion. At this stage, "Prism" is a taboo that no one wants to mention.

"Boss Su, I haven't had time to say thank you to you since the incident happened. You have been wronged."

Zhou Fenglan did not intend to answer Mr. Liu's doubts, and changed the subject to gossip.

Su He forced a smile and looked into the ward through the glass window: "Is he okay?"

"The dangerous period is very difficult to endure." Zhou Fenglan was reluctant to say more.

Su He wanted to ask something else, but Mr. Liu tactfully took her away.

Zhou Fenglan stood up and moved closer to the glass window, quietly looking at Xie Jingxing lying on the hospital bed for a long time, her soft red lips slightly opened and she blew a breath onto the glass, then stretched out a finger and drew a face.

I played by myself for more than ten minutes when my cell phone started to vibrate.

It was a message from Yu Tong: [Have you got the cards from Yan Wenhua? ]

【Evidence that Facebook and Google stole WhatsApp's trade secrets. 】

[Have you found out who hired the killer? ]

[No, I don’t want to check, just treat it as Facebook. ]

[Let’s get started, I’ll be going to Silicon Valley soon.] Yu Tong sent the last message.

Zhou Fenglan turned off his cell phone, turned around and left quickly.

…………

On July 7, the day after Xie Jingxing fell unconscious in the ICU, Forsan signed a formal merger and acquisition agreement with WhatsApp. The US Foreign Investment Committee skipped the routine review stage and went directly into a 24-day in-depth investigation.

Microsoft's three partners made efforts. Su He, as the assistant to the director of Forsan, was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal and repeatedly emphasized that Forsan is a pure American company. If the United States needs it, Forsan can be handed over to Congress at any time.

We will never compromise with the slander of competitors and the hostility of relevant US departments. If the Overseas Investment Committee refuses to approve the transaction application, we will consider taking the US officials to court.

At the end of the interview, a shocking statement was made: through the tripartite cooperation between WhatsApp and Microsoft, the privacy and security of the American people will not be at risk from the "Prism Project."

This sentence completely ignited public opinion, and the "Prism Project" once again made headlines.

The next day, on July 7, WhatsApp filed a lawsuit against Facebook for industrial espionage. Facebook's stock price fell again, and people knew that it had completely lost the qualifications to compete with WhatsApp.

At the same time, Facebook's high level of cooperation with relevant intelligence agencies in the "Prism Project" was brought up again, and then a group of vulture lawyers filed a class action lawsuit against Facebook on behalf of Facebook users for violating their privacy rights.

The American civil organization Citizens Union filed a lawsuit against relevant US intelligence agencies in the Manhattan District Court on the grounds that the protection of civil liberties is seriously insufficient...

At the same time, a large number of Internet giants involved in the "PRISM Project" heard the news and took action, and stood up to cut their positions, actively or passively fanning the flames and making Facebook the only live target, attracting all the public opinion triggered by the "PRISM Project".

President Trump had to defend the PRISM program, claiming that the Internet and email program does not apply to American citizens or people living in the United States.

German woman Merkel claimed that she had been monitored for 11 years and cursed the espionage behavior.

The President of Brazil, who had not yet received any soybean orders, also joined in the fun, clamoring for a public apology from the United States.

For a time, the "Prism Project" and Facebook monopolized all news pages, quietly overshadowing the attention paid to the WhatsApp acquisition case.

(End of this chapter)