Chapter 502 SoftBank
In the first month of the millennium, Lu Yiming's photo appeared on the cover of Forbes magazine. His investment in VA Linux made him famous again, and he was even called a magician from the East by many American stock investors.
After all, Lu Yiming's way of making money is too magical. He can always choose the most suitable target at the most suitable time. If he doesn't make a move, it's nothing. But once he makes a move, it's a thundering strike, which is even more magical than magic.
In the office, Li Yiwen said to Lu Yiming cheerfully, "What do you think now? Forbes wrote that you are now one of the 20 most influential business tycoons in Asia."
Lu Yiming crossed his legs on the table, and sank into the large and comfortable boss chair. He threw the Forbes magazine in his hand on the desk and said leisurely: "If someone is too nice to you, he is either a traitor or a thief. Don't have any illusions about the Americans. When they praise you, you should think about whether you have done something wrong. Forbes is just a false reputation."
These days, the image of the United States in the world seems to be quite positive, especially for the relatively backward Xia country, the light of the lighthouse is still very dazzling, and the air is full of sweet smell. Therefore, everyone still feels honored to be praised by the Americans. Even Li Yiwen felt proud to see Lu Yiming on the cover of Forbes.
But Lu Yiming's eyes have seen too much. So he knows very well that all crows are black, but the butt determines the head. Given his current environment, it is not a good thing to be praised by the United States.
Li Yiwen said seriously, "Fame can often bring real benefits. Otherwise, where would so many people in this world be striving for fame?"
Lu Yiming remembered something funny and started laughing.
"That's true. Because I was on the cover of Forbes, the city has invited me to several official tea parties. The implicit meaning is that they hope I can bring the money I made in the United States back to invest in China. The three connections and one leveling are absolutely guaranteed. If you want to get land, the price is also negotiable."
This was the first time Li Yiwen heard Lu Yiming talk about this matter, and he was immediately surprised: "This is a good condition. It seems that the authorities are sincere this time."
Lu Yiming naturally understood why the government was so active. After all, if domestic industries wanted to develop, they had to have people invest, so attracting investment was a top priority these days. As a Xia countryman, he could naturally resonate more emotionally.
Lu Yiming raised the corners of his mouth slightly and said, "It is indeed very sincere."
Li Yiwen asked: "What do you think? I remember you were against transferring yourself to China."
Hearing this, Lu Yiming smiled coldly, thinking of the land auction, and said, "This is a different time. At that time, I had no power to protect myself. If the money was transferred back to China and was stolen by someone, I would have no place to cry. But now, as long as I don't commit suicide, who dares to touch me?"
Reputation has its pros and cons. With the halo of the richest man, Lu Yiming's every move will be scrutinized under a magnifying glass. If he makes even the slightest mistake, he will be attacked by the crowd immediately.
But on the contrary, as long as Lu Yiming himself does not fall into the trap, many shady methods cannot be used against him.
Lu Yiming's decision was beyond Li Yiwen's expectations.
"So, you want to shift the focus of investment to the mainland?"
Lu Yiming said solemnly: "Didn't I tell you before? The Internet winter is coming soon, and the entire US stock market will be affected. If I don't run away, am I just waiting to die?"
Although Lu Yiming had said this many times before, Li Yiwen, who was in the middle of the situation, still found it hard to believe: "The U.S. stock market is doing very well right now, how could it fall in the blink of an eye?"
"Nothing in this world can last forever. Moreover, Wall Street has played too big a game in the US stock market. Internet stocks have been hyped up wildly, and it has completely become a game of passing the parcel. It has deviated from the original intention of supporting the Internet industry. Such a situation is obviously unsustainable."
Lu Yiming, who had experienced this scene before, would naturally not be dazzled by the colorful flowers in front of him. He had made up his mind to withdraw from it in advance.
Just when Lu Yiming was busy transferring funds from the United States back to China, Jack Ma, who had not been in contact for a long time, called him.
He first complimented, "Mr. Lu, you have made great efforts in the United States and even challenged Microsoft's hegemony. You are really a role model for our generation."
Lu Yiming was both familiar and unfamiliar with Jack Ma. After hearing this voice that he seemed to have heard countless times, Lu Yiming couldn't help but smile knowingly and said, "It's just a trivial matter, not worth mentioning. What about you? How have you been recently?"
With sufficient financial support from Lu Yiming, Jack Ma's life became much better. At least his followers no longer had to only receive 500 yuan a month. He said gratefully, "Thanks to your help, Mr. Lu, our team is now living a comfortable life."
Then, he changed the subject and said, "I almost forgot, Mr. Lu, I called you today to tell you that a senior analyst from Morgan Stanley Asia Branch found me and said that an investor has taken a fancy to my company and wants to invest."
"What?"
Lu Yiming was very unhappy. Jack Ma was a potential stock that he had invested in, and now someone wanted to get a piece of the pie?
Is this reasonable?
This is unreasonable.
"What's the analyst's name? I'll go talk to him."
“Masayoshi Son.”
“…”
Lu Yiming couldn't help but take a breath.
He is very familiar with the name Masayoshi Son. Before his rebirth, this guy was everywhere. In particular, Jack Ma searched all the businessmen and institutions across the country but couldn't get investment. Finally, he turned to Masayoshi Son. Son invested in Jack Ma without saying a word. After Jack Ma's Alibaba became popular, Masayoshi Son made a fortune.
This is bullshit.
If you think about it carefully, isn't this the standard format of public intellectual articles? It is to highlight that foreigners are smart and bold and can judge people accurately, while the more than one billion people in China are all brain-dead and cannot see the potential of Alibaba.
If we look deeper, isn’t this a typical packaging of the theory of racial superiority and inferiority?
There are so many rich people in China, but all of them made the wrong choice. Only Masayoshi Son invested. Are all the rich people in China better than Masayoshi Son? How did these people make their money?
In fact, Son only made a little money in college, and other businesses were almost all losses. It was not until ten years after he founded SoftBank that his fortune turned around.
The truth of the story is that after Masayoshi Son worked hard to turn himself from a billionaire into a multi-millionaire, he invested in Alibaba by chance and became successful thanks to Alibaba .
In 1981, at the age of 24, he founded Software Bank. Within half a year of its establishment, he had transactions with 42 specialty stores and software practitioners in the island country, and persuaded Toshiba and Fujitsu to invest and expand the scale. However, due to poor management, he suffered losses and returned the original investment funds of the consortium a year later.
In 1982, Masayoshi Son founded two magazines, Oh! PC and Oh! MZ. Two months later, the return rate was as high as 85%, and the piles of magazines were cut into pieces.
In 1984, with the help of Goro Hashimoto, Masayoshi Son founded a shopping guide magazine - "TAG", but it failed and eventually closed due to poor sales. It lost a total of 600 million yen in the past six months, and it cost 400 million yen to deal with the aftermath, which added up to a debt of 1 billion yen.
It can be said that whatever you do, you lose money.
Later, he didn't dare to play by himself. In 1991, he hooked up with Borland, a company famous for its C language compiler. In the same year, he persuaded the American local area network professional company NetWell to open up a new market in Japan. In order to spread the risk, he invited Disney to join again. In 1994, the NetWell system became one of the main local area network standards, with an annual turnover of 130 million US dollars.
In 1992, Masayoshi Son obtained the agency rights of Cisco Systems in Japan and suggested that Cisco use routers as a trial to test the feasibility of Cisco's Japanese branch. One month later, he invited 14 companies to jointly invest 40 million US dollars to start the project.
In the same year, 70 percent of the island's software sales channels were controlled by SoftBank.
In November 1995, it invested US$2 million in Yahoo. In March 1996, it injected another US$100 million and acquired 33% of Yahoo's shares.
In 1998, it invested US$400 million in the famous American online brokerage ETrade.
From these experiences, we can see that this guy has never succeeded in doing things on his own and has always been led by others.
If you really want to brag about how awesome he is, you can probably only brag about his ability to judge people.
Now Masayoshi Son has set his sights on Jack Ma and his Alibaba.
This left Lu Yiming completely puzzled.
Logically speaking, even if he only drank half of the chicken soup, it was because Jack Ma had no other options and turned to Son Masayoshi for help, and Son Masayoshi invested in him. How come Jack Ma didn't go to Son Masayoshi for help, but Son Masayoshi came to him on his own?
Is it possible that the world line is about to converge?
This is unscientific.
On the contrary, Jack Ma didn't think too much about it. He felt that Masayoshi Son's investment in him was a recognition of his current career, so he talked a lot on the phone about the future prospects of e-commerce.
"Okay, stop talking."
Lu Yiming interrupted him rudely and asked, "How much money does grandson plan to invest?"
Facing the financial sponsor, Jack Ma, who is flexible and adaptable, was not displeased at all and immediately said, "Forty million US dollars."
Lu Yiming couldn't help but feel a toothache.
This guy is coming with great force.
Lu Yiming snorted coldly.
Can you also get involved in my Alibaba?
He immediately said, "It happens that there are still a few days before the Chinese New Year. I feel bored at home. I want to go to your place to have some fun. Are you still in Hangzhou now?"
"Okay. I'm here."
After the call, Lu Yiming said to Li Yiwen: "Call the crew and apply for a temporary route. We will go to Hangzhou."
Li Yiwen frowned: "Going to Hangzhou? What happened?"
Lu Yiming did not hide it and said, "Someone is eyeing my meat. I have to go to Suzhou and Hangzhou in person to talk to Jack Ma to prevent him from being fooled."
Li Yiwen had also heard of Jack Ma, and he sneered, "With his mouth that can talk the dead back to life, are you still worried that he will be fooled? It's good enough that he doesn't fool anyone!"
After a pause, he added, "I think you ran over this time because you were fooled by him."
Li Yiwen still looks down on Jack Ma and always feels that he is very unreliable.
They have received tens of millions of investment from Lu Yiming, but have not achieved any results so far. All they do all day is to cheer up and brainwash their employees, which is more like a pyramid scheme than a MLM.
What Li Yiwen couldn't understand the most was that Lu Yiming actually let this guy do whatever he wanted and was now afraid that Jack Ma would be kidnapped. This was simply like jumping into the sea, extremely outrageous.
In response to Li Yiwen's judgment, Lu Yiming just smiled and did not explain.
"Anyway, there are still a few days until the New Year, why don't you come and have some fun together? See if he's fooling me or I'm fooling him."
The next day, Lu Yiming and Li Yiwen landed in Hangzhou.
At the airport, Jack Ma and his 18 Arhats came to greet them.
Looking at the private jet behind Lu Yiming, Jack Ma drooled with envy.
He thought that when he became successful, he would definitely buy a private jet of his own.
"Mr. Lu, long time no see. Hello, Manager Li."
Jack Ma greeted him warmly.
Lu Yiming also greeted him with a smile: "It's been a long time since we last met. How are you doing recently?"
Li Yiwen nodded slightly and said, "Hello, Mr. Ma."
Jack Ma reported: "Thanks to you, everything is going smoothly. Mr. Lu is tired from the journey, and now is the restaurant, why don't we go to the West Lake to taste the West Lake vinegar fish and chat while eating?"
Lu Yiming smiled and said, "I've heard that West Lake vinegar fish is a specialty. It seems I'm in for a treat today. Let's go."
They drove to West Lake, found a high-end restaurant, and ordered West Lake Vinegar Fish.
After a while, the West Lake vinegar fish was served. Jack Ma asked the boss to serve a bottle of rice wine and said enthusiastically: "Many places in our area produce rice wine, such as the very famous Nv'erhong and Zhuangyuanhong . This bottle is Zhuangyuanhong aged for 15 years. It has a rich taste and a long aftertaste. Mr. Lu, you must have a good taste."
While talking, Jack Ma poured wine for Lu Yiming and Li Yiwen.
The unique aroma of rice wine wafted around. Although Lu Yiming was not a heavy drinker, he smelled it and felt it was very good. He immediately said, "Good wine, good wine."
Jack Ma picked up the wine glass and said, "Come on, Mr. Lu, Manager Li, I'll toast you and welcome you to Hangzhou."
"Gosh, I wish Mr. Ma a prosperous business and a meteoric rise."
A few people were enjoying the wine and delicious food while chatting about random things.
Soon, everyone started talking about Masayoshi Son's investment in Alibaba. Lu Yiming asked a question that had been in his mind for a long time.
"This Masayoshi Son is far away in an island country now. How did he know you and how did he contact you?"
Jack Ma said: "We met at a business exchange event not long ago. I talked to him about my entrepreneurial ideas and he appreciated them very much and insisted on investing 40 million US dollars in me."
Lu Yiming knew very well that , this was probably half true and half false, but it didn't matter. The main fact now was investment, and he didn't need to care about other details.
"Forty million dollars for 40% of my shares is too much. I think it should be cut in half. Twenty million dollars is an acceptable price."
Obviously, Jack Ma was tempted, after all, that was 20 million US dollars!
According to the current exchange rate, this amount of money is 160 million RMB!
As long as you sign your name, you can instantly become a billionaire. This kind of temptation is not something that everyone can resist.
Based on the course of history and Lu Yiming's understanding of Jack Ma, Lu Yiming felt that if he did not stop it now, it was very likely that a software bank would be added to Alibaba's major shareholders.
This was something Lu Yiming could not accept.
The meat has been shoveled into the bowl, and someone is still trying to grab it. No one would be happy about this.
Lu Yiming said without hesitation: "I think that accepting Masayoshi Son's investment will be very detrimental to Alibaba's future development."
Jack Ma was puzzled and asked, "Why? Masayoshi Son is the richest man in the island country, and he has a good cooperative relationship with Morgan Stanley Group in the United States. This is a deep network of contacts, which will be of great benefit to Alibaba's future listing in the United States."
Lu Yiming said righteously, "You think too simply. You must know that it is easier to invite a god than to send him away. Masayoshi Son is from Japan. Although Xiaguo is now reforming and opening up and is enthusiastic about foreign investment, once it involves sensitive areas, foreign forces will definitely not be allowed to get involved, unless you want to give up Alibaba's base in Xiaguo. For many things, the economy is the foundation and politics is the superstructure. If your base shakes the will of the upper level, what do you think will happen?"
When Jack Ma heard this, he was shocked.
He admitted that he had never thought about it in that way.
Lu Yiming's words were like a wake-up call to the dreamer.
He quickly asked: "Mr. Lu, what do you think I should do?"
Seeing that Jack Ma finally got nervous, Lu Yiming immediately analyzed the pros and cons for him: "If you want to do e-commerce, then it will inevitably involve the issue of online payment. And what is online payment? Isn't it a kind of virtual bank? At that time, you will definitely have to apply for a financial license. So tell me, has our Xia country ever opened this field to foreigners?"
After Lu Yiming's reminder, Jack Ma reacted immediately.
Finance is a country's core interest. How can it be opened to foreign capital?
