King of Capital

Chapter 66 Only the sun makes me bow my head

The press conference was still going on enthusiastically. Bezos took a few group photos and left first. Xie Jingxing also walked out of the office accompanied by Pony Ma and Zhou Fenglan, and strolled and chatted on the street.

His skin has become a lot whiter due to staying in the ward recently, which goes well with his black suit and gives him the look of a young man with kidney deficiency, so he tries to go out and bask in the sun as much as possible.

"This is just the beginning. There will be various inspections waiting for us in the future," he said.

Xiao Ma Ge smiled easily: "Take your time. You need some time to digest it."

"That's good. From the perspective of a Forsan shareholder, I would like to say that WhatsApp is not suitable for launching mobile payment business in the short term." Xie Jingxing made a sincere suggestion.

Next, WhatsApp will face business investigations in various countries including the European Union, South America, India, etc. It is too easy for problems to arise if it touches the financial field during this period.

Moreover, WhatsApp’s user base is far from reaching its limit. The original timeline showed that the number of users would reach 15 billion, and it was only under Zuckerberg’s cautious leadership that it entered the payment field.

Xie Jingxing seemingly got 7% ​​of Forsan's equity for free, which is worth nearly US$20 billion according to the valuation. In fact, the money will not be released for trading until four years later, and the four partners other than him are subject to cumbersome restrictions such as priority investment rights.

How much the giants can finally get after circumventing the anti-dilution clauses depends entirely on whether they have the shamelessness to do so.

So now he is like Liu Bei who went to get something for free from Zhuge Liang. He came up with nothing but "I have a plan". Only when the Dragon and the Phoenix sincerely restored the Han Dynasty from darkness to light can he make more money.

Pony Ma didn't intend to discredit the benefits he had given to Xie Jingxing. The ability shown by this kid during the merger and acquisition process was worthy of attention. Both parties agreed to return to China and cooperate again to target Alibaba. Why should they damage the relationship because of money?

The two chatted for a while about the development of WhatsApp, and he turned to talk about the situation in China: "Cheng Wei is almost unable to hold on. When do you plan to return to China?"

"Does Tencent still have money?" Xie Jingxing asked bluntly.

Pony Ma thought for a while before replying: "We also have our own promotion plans related to mobile payment. We just need to let Didi stabilize first."

"...It doesn't cost much. Teacher Ma has already left, so we have to give him some face." Xie Jingxing's tone was slightly instigative.

Ma felt what Lao Liu had said on the phone about the headache he had when facing Princess Zhou. He originally believed this guy's lies and thought he could grit his teeth and acquire WhatsApp for US$150 billion, but in the end, the price soared to more than US$ billion.

This does not include M&A service fees, public relations fees, and various miscellaneous costs that cannot be put on the table for calculation. We can only say that fortunately, the cooperation between Microsoft and the three major companies has shared half of the pressure.

Xie Jingxing secretly laughed. He knew about Tencent's Spring Festival Gala red envelope "sneak attack on Alipay" plan, but now that the butterfly effect has occurred and Mr. Ma has started the war in advance, what can he do? He can only accompany him to the end.

Brother Ma sighed, "Let's talk when you return. I need to have a meeting to discuss this."

"I will return to China in three days." Xie Jingxing said nothing more.

He has agreed to an exclusive interview with Time magazine tomorrow. The previous plan to invite Professor Stiglitz to join Forsan as a strategic consultant has to be changed. It would be more appropriate for him to join Grapefruit Capital (USA).

Because he needs to borrow money from the professor's connections, he plans to first use the shares of Forsan he holds as collateral for a loan of US$10 billion, and then return to China to compete with Professor Ma in spending money longer.

This includes a chat with Jim Goetz of Sequoia, whose $235 billion acquisition made him a well-deserved "Silicon Valley rainmaker" and booked him the No. 1 spot on this year's Forbes venture capitalist list.

Thanks to this, Xie Jingxing and Jim have established a good friendship. In the next ten years, Sequoia will be indispensable in the global Internet venture capital circle. Therefore, he wanted to ask Brother Jim when he could become the Godfather of Silicon Valley.

If the pressure feels too great, both sides can move forward hand in hand. Greatness belongs to Sequoia and glory belongs to him.

Xie Jingxing had to do all the trivial things himself, and Xiao Ma Ge was almost the same. After a tough battle, everyone had to clean up the mess, and that was the way it should be.

The two of them were talking about business and had had enough sun. Zhou Fenglan turned the steering wheel and drove the wheelchair back...

"What a coincidence."

As soon as I turned around, I saw Zuckerberg, who looked like a bionic robot, leading a large group of business elite men and women to appear in front of me. I greeted them expressionlessly.

Xie Jing Xing leaned back against the wheelchair: "To be honest, I never thought that we would meet for the first time in this way. It seems like it was deliberately arranged."

"I think so too. Just like when you ran into Jan Koum in the dew at 4 a.m. in California, I could see that you are very good at keeping your head down, just like you are holding your head up now. I thought you were Kobe." Zuckerberg learned the idiom "a villain succeeds" from his Chinese wife.

Now the media are saying that he is going to be finished. The shitty Microsoft and Apple have launched public opinion to mock him for walking around K Street like a lizard man every day, trying to lobby Congress to intervene in the WhatsApp acquisition case, and at the same time hoping that the White House will come forward again to seriously clarify that Facebook has nothing to do with Prism.

Everyone knew he was on K Street, so he saw today's meeting as a provocation.

Zuckerberg, who only wore a suit for his wife, was now wearing a pair of white casual pants, which looked a bit dazzling and flickering in the sunlight.

Xie Jingxing looked up and squinted at the sun, then lowered his head and slowly took off his cufflinks and threw them to Zuckerberg: "Do you know what this is?"

"Knights of the Cross"

"Yes."

"Oh, a duel of honor from the Middle Ages?" Zuckerberg sneered, pinching his cufflinks.

Xie Jing Xing shook his head: "No, it's just hype. For the sake of business, we can arrange a global live broadcast of the octagon cage battle. Of course, I have to win."

“…I would say there is no better place for you in this world than Wall Street.”

Zuckerberg forced himself to comfort himself that he was not angry. All the bastards on Wall Street are like this. They are willing to do anything for profit. Losing to such people at least proves that he has a bottom line.

“You can always email me when you have thought it through.”

Xie Jingxing waved his hand to signal for him to make way: "Today's sunbathing time is over, I have to go back to bed." "Oh, by the way, I forgot to say that I like to raise my head, because only the sun can make me bow my head."

He finally added that Zhou Fenglan smiled politely to express his apology, pushed his wheelchair past Zuckerberg, and many business elite men and women automatically moved to the sides to make way.

Pony Ma, who was following behind, suddenly remembered something, and thoughtfully stretched out his hand and shook hands with Zuckerberg.

"Do you mind if I talk about the details of our cooperation when I am interviewed by the media?" he asked on the way back to the press conference.

Xie Jingxing was confused: "For example?"

"Moses divided the sea, the promised land."

Xiao Ma Ge has a good impression of him and it can be seen that he likes to be in the limelight and is willing to help with commercial hype and public praise.

"Thank you very much. If it's convenient, please mention Juntai Securities. If it's convenient, please settle their M&A consulting fees as soon as possible. Don't pay with Q coins."

"..."

Xiao Ma Ge finally took back the favorable comment he had made, and left angrily with his face flushed.

Because of the official U.S. government, Juntai had almost no involvement in the second half of the entire merger and acquisition case. Even if Zhou Fenglan turned the situation around, Juntai's leadership team carefully considered and decided to withdraw from the transaction for the sake of the overall situation.

In this case, Tencent doesn't even want to pay the "success fee" and the deposit and travel expenses paid in advance, let alone the "success fee". It may not even lose the lawsuit.

In any case, domestic securities firms are far inferior to Wall Street in debt collection and recovery capabilities. However, if Wall Street were to do such an operation, it would most likely not feel comfortable collecting the money. Are Wall Street institutions that are afraid of Congress still Wall Street institutions? Is Congress going to rebel?

In fact, Xie Jingxing was not impressed by Juntai Congxin's strategic determination, but he planned to poach people from the entire Juntai team, so he had to give some decent breakup fee to part ways amicably.

If he gives the money directly, the situation will change. I'd like to trouble Brother Ma to find a way to compensate me later.

"Should we also discuss our breakup fee?"

After the press conference, Zhou Fenglan returned to New York and casually raised the ultimate question.

At night, the Hudson River flows quietly, New Jersey on the other side of the river lies at your feet, and half of Manhattan on the other side is shining with neon lights right in front of you.

The price for viewing such a beautiful city night view was 3500 million US dollars. The price four years ago has now risen to nearly 5000 million.

Xie Jingxing propped up his chin and said listlessly: "You can move in here. Your name was originally written on the will."

"What else?" Zhou Fenglan asked again.

Xie Jingxing had already prepared: "Next year, when the situation of WhatsApp stabilizes, I will transfer the shares of Forsan to you. As for the antiques in other houses, you can move them yourself. I will rent a plane to transport them to you."

"And more." Zhou Fenglan took small sips of red wine.

Xie Jing Xing was in agony: "Are you really not going to return to China?"

"I quite like being a teacher." Zhou Fenglan answered simply.

Xie Jingxing was not surprised. It was the same answer as in his previous life. He smacked his lips and said carefully, "That's it. We'll break up after two years. During this period, I won't take the initiative to disturb you and Yu Tong. If she graduates with a Ph.D. early and returns to China, it has nothing to do with me."

"It would be a blessing if her IQ doesn't exceed graduation." Zhou Fenglan smiled contentedly and complained sarcastically.

Xie Jing Xing was speechless. They had all taken an IQ test together. Yu Tong had the highest IQ while his good brother Yan Wenhua had the lowest. He had no idea who ranked third among the four.

Zhou Fenglan looked at him with a smile: "Are you craving for wine?"

"I listen to the doctor."

Xie Jingxing was very reluctant. He hadn't had a drink for more than ten days and was really craving for alcohol.

Zhou Fenglan ignored him and went to the wine cabinet to get a bottle of Macallan whiskey and opened it: "You have liked this kind of sissy wine since you were a child. Yu Tong is an unlicensed black doctor. It's okay to drink less."

"Don't...it's okay to drink a little..."

Xie Jingxing was halfway through his refusal when he saw Zhou Fenglan taking a sip of wine and moving closer to him with slightly moist red lips. The faint smell of alcohol mixed with the fragrance of the cold fir tree made him feel tipsy and intoxicated.

Until the soft body in his arms left, he pursed his lips and closed his eyes greedily.

"tasty?"

After listening to the voice for more than ten years, it was still so pleasant. Xie Jingxing couldn't help but laugh: "This is how Dr. Hei secretly brought wine into the hospital to drink with me last night."

"Oh, did Doctor Hei say that your current body can speed up your heart rate?" Zhou Fenglan squatted down with his head tilted and his eyes moving.

"No."

"That's it."

“But I think I can do it.”

(End of this chapter)