The world is in trouble

Chapter 328 Godhood! Facebook goes public!
Miracles seem to be contagious.

Just as the huge success of The Last of Us and Stranger Things was still going strong.

It was as if countless miracles were surging forth.

First, there's the summer movie season in China, where Flash Entertainment's "Detective Chinatown" raked in 1.2 billion RMB at the box office.

Although no records were broken, this achievement is still astonishing.

Although the film market is already very large, one billion RMB is still an insurmountable threshold for most film companies.

Only Flash Entertainment seems to be able to overcome it with ease, as if it were a piece of cake.

That wasn't all; the next two sets of data released sent shivers down the spines of the entire industry.

This data was not released by Lightning Group itself, but rather by authoritative external sources.

Dungeon Fighter Online's peak concurrent users worldwide have surpassed 550 million.

League of Legends has surpassed 630 million peak concurrent players worldwide.

While the peak number of concurrent users for "Zhu Xian" was slightly lower than the two mentioned above, it still surpassed 350 million.

This data is simply astonishing.

This is no longer a money tree, but a gold mine and a sea of ​​silver.

If it were just the huge success of these online games, they would be criticized for being pay-to-win, lacking ambition, and having no class.

However, Lin Xiao's system also possesses the most radical AAA game development strategy, always standing at the forefront of the ninth art.

Therefore, no one says that Blizzard is the dream team of global games anymore. Everyone agrees that the Blizzard and Blizzard systems are the top warships in the world of games.

It was at this time that two people from the Japanese game developer From Software came to the United States to visit Lin Xiao.

President Naotoshi Kamiya, and future president Hidetaka Miyazaki.

This company was founded in the 1980s and had some successes, but since the beginning of the new millennium, its situation has been declining, and its works have not been successful for many years.

This year, the company released the highly anticipated Demon's Souls, but the response was still very poor, with major media outlets giving it only around 5 points and sales being even less than ideal.

Of course, everyone will surely be familiar with this company's works in the future.

Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and Elden Ring.

This company even created a completely new series of games.

After the release of "Elden Ring", the company continued to rise and almost achieved god-like status.

Of course, after the two expansion packs for the Elden Ring were released, this golden statue became much dimmer.

It seems that Elden Ring has exhausted the love of gamers worldwide for Soulslike games.

Of course, even Lin Xiao was getting a little annoyed. Especially since domestically produced single-player games were all Souls-like.

While Black Myth: Wukong is undoubtedly excellent and very successful, the subsequent rush of domestic games to adopt the Souls-like style is, to some extent, not just opportunistic, but also a form of laziness.

Because the narrative of Soulslike games is fragmented, a typical riddle, requiring players to fill in the gaps with their imagination, making it mysterious and cryptic, saving a lot of logical trouble and emotional impact.

But... none of this prevents Hidetaka Miyazaki from being one of the world's best game producers, and FS from being one of the world's coolest game companies.

And now, this should be the most difficult moment for From Software, the darkest moment before dawn.

Demon's Souls is now progressing towards becoming Dark Souls, but what will the outcome be? Nobody knows.

At this difficult time, through a friend's introduction, Shinji thought of Er Gou, an angel investor in the gaming industry.

In front of Lin Xiao, both Naoto Shinichi and Hidetaka Miyazaki acted as if they were meeting their idols.

Today, Er Gou's success in the gaming world is not just a success, it's practically legendary.

To countless game enthusiasts around the world, he is practically the emperor of the gaming world.

Naotoshi Kamiya handed over a very, very thick game plan.

Lin Xiao: "Do I need to sign a confidentiality agreement?"

Shinji quickly waved his hand: "No need, no need, it's our honor that you can see our game design."

Lin Xiao opened it and saw that it was indeed the complete Dark Souls project.

Actually, the game is already more than halfway done, but they just don't have the confidence. And recently, the sales of The Last of Us have been so incredible that it has caused such a sensation.

So they couldn't help but come to the United States to ask Lin Xiao for guidance.

Lin Xiao looked very carefully.

"Oh, do whatever you like."

"Watching movies, playing games, looking at your phone are all fine," Lin Xiao said. "I'll probably be looking at things for a very long time, so don't be shy."

So the two of them actually turned on the TV and watched a pre-recorded episode of "Stranger Things," and quickly became engrossed in it.

Then, the two of them watched TV.

Lin Xiao read through the detailed information about Dark Souls, occasionally asking questions every ten minutes or so.

Several hours passed like this.

Midway through, they even ordered food to be served.

The two game producers discovered that Lin Xiao was not at all like a top global billionaire. He wasn't busy with countless affairs, but actually dedicated his time to the two of them.

At any given time, he truly only does one thing.

It went straight from morning to afternoon to evening.

Lin Xiao finally finished reading the thick Dark Souls design document.

Then, Naotoshi Kamiya and Hidetaka Miyazaki looked at Lin Xiao with a mixture of anticipation and trepidation, like students waiting for exam results.

“I think it’s great, I really like it.” Lin Xiao: “It may not be a huge surprise in terms of sales, but... it will become a new benchmark for games.”

Upon hearing this assessment, the two were overjoyed.

Naoto Shinichi: "Lin-san, if I may be so bold as to ask, would you be willing to invest in From Software?"

Lin Xiao: "Sure, how much money do you need?"

God was taken aback.

The person in front of me was indeed exactly as the legend described—an angel in the gaming world.

He will only ask you how much money you want, not demand a lot of power.

Naoto Shin: "We need $1000 million, and we... are willing to give it up..."

The company president couldn't even say how many shares he owned.

Because this company might not even be worth $1000 million now.

In 2014, Dark Souls had already achieved a certain level of success, yet Kadokawa still only spent $1700 million to acquire approximately 80% of From Software's shares.

Later, after the company became successful, its market value reached a peak of $20 billion.

Of course, even this market value was no longer of much concern to Lin Xiao. For him, the most important thing was to expand his gaming empire.

“How about 80% of the shares?” Shinji said. “I know our company isn’t worth much, but we have to retain some management shares.”

Lin Xiao knew that the president in front of him was already thinking about retirement, so he wanted to find a stable way out for the company.

“Okay…” Lin Xiao nodded and said, “How about $1200 million?”

The other party was taken aback. Is there such a thing as reverse negotiation?

And that's how it was settled.

"If there are no objections, I'll have the legal team draft the contract?" Lin Xiao said.

Naori Kamiya: "Lin-san, don't you...shouldn't you send someone to Japan to investigate our company? Shouldn't you hire a consulting firm?"

Lin Xiao shook his head and said, "No need. I'm not investing in your company, I'm investing in people, geniuses who love games."

Now, let's not get down to business.

The three of them instead started playing a game with great enthusiasm, namely The Last of Us, which had recently created a sales miracle.

After a while, a very beautiful woman in uniform walked in and handed over a not-so-thick contract.

Miyazaki Hidetaka glanced at it, as if it looked somewhat familiar.

"Why did you deliver it yourself?" Lin Xiao asked.

Lian Yi: "I just want to ask, are you just going to keep feeding your customers takeout?"

Lin Xiao: "Is it okay to order takeout?" Then, he introduced the two people.

"This is my lover, Lian Yi."

Naotoshi Kamiya and Hidetaka Miyazaki quickly stood up and bowed: "Madam."

Lian Yi: "This is the draft contract. You can submit it to your lawyer for review."

Naoto Shin took the contract and read it very carefully. He was supposed to have it reviewed by his lawyer, but for some reason, he just didn't want to.

Moreover, the terms of this contract are extremely lenient.

Then, he signed his name directly on the agreement.

Lin Xiao was taken aback: "Don't you need to hold a meeting to decide?"

Naoto Shinichi: "We've already gained more than we imagined; there's absolutely no need for meetings anymore."

Lin Xiao: "Then I'll sign it too?"

Shen straightened up, bowed, and respectfully handed over the contract with both hands.

Lin Xiao picked up the pen and signed his name on the contract.

Of course, there are still many procedures to go through, and even many documents to sign.

But this matter is already a done deal.

"Master, it is a great honor to join your spiritual empire!"

Lin Xiao extended his hand to shake hands: "Welcome to our spiritual empire."

Next, the three of them even completed the game level before them. Then, Naotoshi Kamiya and Hidetaka Miyazaki realized that it was already 11 p.m., so they quickly said goodbye and left.

When they left Lin Xiao's game room...

They found dozens of people already sitting neatly in the living room outside, chatting idly.

The two men were slightly taken aback, then their bodies trembled violently. They immediately recognized the four bigwigs: Wu Lingxi, Masayoshi Son, Yang Zhiyuan, and Kazuo Hirai, the new chairman of Sony Group.

Then, they were horrified to discover.

Mr. Lin Xiao is actually very busy tonight; dozens of people are waiting for him to start a meeting.

The combined assets controlled by these four tycoons exceed several hundred billion.

However, Mr. Lin Xiao spent more than ten hours on these two unknown people, whose combined net worth was less than ten million US dollars.

Less than one ten-thousandth of what these big shots have.

But Lin Xiao still treated them with the same seriousness.

"Wait a moment..." Lin Xiao said, "I'll see you two gentlemen out."

"Of course, let me introduce you. This is Mr. Naotoshi Kamiya of rom Software, and this is Mr. Hidetaka Miyazaki, the genius game producer."

The two people were trembling.

These tycoons, worth hundreds of billions or even billions of dollars, warmly shook hands and chatted with the two men.

Lin Xiao saw the two people into the car before returning to the house.

Inside the car, the two of them still couldn't stop trembling.

Because, without realizing it, they seemed to witness a gathering of the gods of the global technology world.

To them, the lineup inside was nothing short of a celestial palace.

“I remember now, that white man was the number two person in Microsoft Group.” Shinji said, trembling. “Mr. Lin Xiao made these people wait for so long just to receive us. I can’t even imagine what we have that makes him treat us like this.”

Miyazaki Hidetaka said slowly, "Mortals should not presume to know the gods."

Although this was an exaggeration, Shinji said slowly, "At this moment, in my eyes, Mr. Lin Xiao really seems like a god."

Miyazaki Hidetaka said, "Now I truly understand the old Chinese saying, 'A scholar will die for one who understands him!'"

..........................................

Inside Lin Xiao's villa.

Although it was supposed to be a meeting, it felt more like a gathering or casual chat.

"It's been dragging on and on, for two whole years, but now it's hard to keep delaying any longer."

Facebook's IPO is a done deal.

"At $43 per share, a total of 3 million shares will be issued."

This number sounds like a lot, but it's actually quite stingy.

Neither Facebook's management nor the shareholders present were willing to issue too many shares; in fact, they preferred to wait two more years before going public.

Even if it goes public now, even if it has been given an astronomical valuation, people are still reluctant to let it go.

It has been three years since smartphones became intelligent, and the trend is now very clear: those who follow the trend prosper, and those who oppose it perish.

Facebook is the most successful product in the history of smartphones, bar none.

From the PC era to the mobile internet era, its advantages and monopoly position have not weakened, but rather strengthened.

Moreover, it is not fighting alone, but an entire system that spans more than a dozen business formats, including traditional media, games, platforms, instant messaging, and more.

It is backed by the entire empire, but it occupies the most central position within the empire.

WeChat, which will be crucial for the future, is also entirely within the Facebook Group.

After two years of relentless marketing, WeChat has over 300 million users worldwide, but it is still not the most popular instant messaging software.

However... it has already demonstrated a certain degree of dominance.

At least for those who use smartphones, it seems to have become an essential and indispensable core software.

So even though it went public about a year and a half earlier than in history, Facebook's market value still soared to the same level, or even higher than in history.

Because Facebook in history did not have such a powerful system.

This IPO will raise more than $120 billion in cash.

Facebook's market capitalization will directly exceed $1200 billion.

In this feast of wealth, everyone present, even the smallest shareholder, can obtain astronomical sums of money.

This is probably one of the largest IPOs in global history.

As the leader, Wu Lingxi will become a true global internet queen, and her net worth is likely to exceed that of her entire family.

It's truly a sigh-inducing situation.

The Wu Lingxi family worked hard for decades, and it took two or three generations of effort to accumulate a fortune of tens of billions of dollars.

Wu Lingxi only took less than six years.

What's even more astonishing is that Xia Xi's Lightning Group is also a self-contained system, making it difficult for anyone there to force it to go public.

However, if the country or the port market needs it, Lightning Group may also be duty-bound to help.

Once Lightning Group goes public, Xia Xi's net worth may once again exceed the total wealth of the Wu family.

In other words, each of the two women who betrayed their families had a net worth exceeding that of the entire family.

So, it's hard to say whether their family should feel proud or sad.

Because her family received nothing from this feast of wealth.

Wu Lingxi guarded against this family as if they were thieves.

Ironically, the more this is the case, the more the entire family needs to curry favor with this internet queen.

"I can't imagine the global upheaval that would occur once this astronomical fortune is made public."

Microsoft's second-in-command couldn't help but say, "Mr. Lin, you keep saying that Microsoft is a global giant and Google is a global giant."

"It may seem like you're winning against all odds, but don't forget this."

“You have now become true global giants.”

"Gentlemen, welcome to the Throne of Capital!"

……

Note: That's all for now. My benefactors, please keep sending me your monthly votes!

(End of this chapter)