Those Years When I Was Forced to Top the Forbes List

Chapter 153 The Marshall Plan

The "Shenzhen Bay," which later represented the peak of housing prices in China, reaching 40 yuan per square meter, was built by filling in the sea.

So far, approximately ten square kilometers have been filled, located between Futian, Nanshan, and Hong Kong.

The yellow land was bare and unobstructed, with a clear view of the sea. Not far away, the bridge connecting Nanshan District in Shenzhen and Yuen Long in Hong Kong was nearing completion and would soon be open to traffic.

The two walked along the beach.

The place and time of the meeting were chosen by Cai Zhijian.

This place is now a remote area with beautiful scenery. The wind was strong in the afternoon, so even with recording equipment, the recording was unclear.

It's only natural that a promising senior executive at Citibank should be cautious.

"Mr. Chen, could you wait for me for another three months?"

Cai Zhijian is of medium build, wears black-rimmed glasses, and is impeccably dressed in a suit. His short hair is slightly combed back. Although he is young, only 28 years old, he has a kind of arrogant and condescending look when he looks at the boundless sea.

Jiang Yunzhou said he was a banker and a young man who had been praised by Mr. Li Ka-shing.

Chen Xuebing looked at the profile with curiosity.

He had always felt that the name Cai Zhijian sounded familiar, and when Jiang Yunzhou mentioned Lao Li from the Yangtze River, he finally remembered the man's background.

AMTD Group!

In 2022, it briefly reached a market value of over $4700 billion on the New York Stock Exchange. With only fifty employees and annual profits of two to three hundred million, its market value surpassed Alibaba, making it the runner-up among Chinese companies listed in the US. This caused a sensation in the global business community at the time.

The most volatile stock in US stock market history, with a price-to-earnings ratio of 1.3.

However, market capitalization is ultimately virtual, merely a betting tool.

This company was originally an asset management solutions company. It was initially established by Li Ka-shing's CK Hutchison Holdings. Later, Cai Zhijian introduced capital to restructure it and established an investment bank, serving as its largest shareholder and chairman. It assisted more than a dozen leading companies, such as Xiaomi, Meituan-Dianping, and Meitu, in successfully going public and was known as "Asia's No. 1 private investment bank".

Its listing itself was a pinnacle of capital manipulation of stock prices, involving countless wealthy families in Hong Kong and Singapore.

It's suspected of being a scam, or more accurately, a fraud.

However, someone who can go to the US and reap such a huge harvest of profits must be someone important.

Based on these judgments, Chen Xuebing developed a strong interest in him, even more so than in Liu Chiping.

When he heard that the other party wanted him to wait three months, although he was in a hurry to hire people, he did not immediately object.

"Wait three months, is something wrong?"

"Temasek's strategic investment in China Minsheng Bank is still in the final stages, and there are several other investment deals... It's not convenient to disclose them at the moment."

Cai Zhijian's answer was nonchalant, but it contained a considerable amount of pretentiousness.

Temasek, the name itself is an alternative name for Singapore. Temasek Investment is also the sovereign wealth fund of the Singapore government and an Asian giant.

China Minsheng Bank is the first joint-stock commercial bank in China initiated by a private enterprise.

Even a small corner of these two companies seems to exceed the size of the Gu'an Group.

However, Cai Zhijian is just a clerk who knows some inside information. What's so great about him?

For Chen Xuebing, most of this world is decrypted.

"Is it AFH, a subsidiary of Temasek? Are there other investment deals, including investments made before China Construction Bank's IPO?"

Chen Xuebing casually raised an eyebrow, which earned him a shocked look from Cai Zhijian.

"Mr. Chen... do you know anything about this?"

Chen Xuebing smiled and said, "Mr. Cai, you're joking. I work in the fund industry. If I didn't know about something as big as China Construction Bank's Hong Kong and Shanghai listings, I would have worked for nothing. It's no secret that the strategic investors brought in from abroad include Citigroup, Temasek, and Bank of America. Bank of America subscribed for 9%, Temasek is a foreign partner, and Citigroup is the weakest partner, only giving a verbal commitment to 'purchase a portion of CCB's overseas listing shares if necessary.' The negotiations weren't difficult; they were all interested. This matter shouldn't hold Mr. Cai back, should it?"

Now, Cai Zhijian behaved himself, and his gaze towards Chen Xuebing became more serious.

This CEO, who is even younger than him, can casually say these things; he's definitely not simple.

But unwilling to be outdone, and not wanting to be seen as a braggart, he coughed lightly and explained in a mysterious tone:

“Although we are not a major participant in this investment deal, Temasek has an important figure involved, their CEO.”

Chen Xuebing suddenly realized.

"Alright, such an opportunity should be seized. But from what you're saying, you want to join Temasek?"

“Yes.” Cai Zhijian said frankly, then looked at Chen Xuebing and smiled, “However, the possibility is very small. I would be very satisfied as long as I can get in touch with He Jing’s team. Such connections will surely be helpful for my work after I join the company.”

Chen Xuebing also smiled.

"Mr. Cai, with such lofty ambitions, why would you join a small company like ours? Just for the salary?"

"Um... Mr. Chen, I'd like to discuss something with you. Let's change the contract to a performance-based agreement. Within three years, I'll help you complete the financing process, up to the pre-IPO stage. Within five years, we'll complete the listing on the Hong Kong or US stock exchanges. If it's successful, I'll want 10% of the shares you hold, and the company will repurchase them for me at 80% of the market price after the lock-up period. If it's unsuccessful, I won't want the shares."

Cai Zhijian proposed a ratio and conditions that he believed the other party would definitely agree to.

After all, this is a IPO bet. If it can help the company go public, the founder's gains will undoubtedly be huge, possibly dozens or even hundreds of times. His 10% stake in Chen Xuebing is not high.

Chen Xuebing's lips twitched.

Does my future still require a gamble?
10%? Even if Li Ka-shing himself came to help me go public, I wouldn't get that much, let alone a young person whom he praised.

"Mr. Cai, you're probably overthinking it. I can't give you 10%, and I have no plans to list overseas. I'm not worried at all about meeting the listing requirements within three years. If you want to get some startup capital through my company's listing, let's just name a number. How much do you think my 10% stake should be worth in five years? If there are no major mistakes in your work during that period, I can pay you directly."

"Hiss..." Cai Zhijian gasped. "President Chen, you want to list on the A-share market? I'm afraid..."

"Just name your price," Chen Xuebing waved his hand.

“The financing plan must be based on my instructions.” Cai Zhijian was afraid that Chen Xuebing wouldn’t be able to come up with the money.

"Impossible. You must listen to me in all matters concerning the company. Just name your price."

Cai Zhijian remained silent.

After a long pause, he said, "Then let's sign the contract for two years, and double the annual salary."

"Don't want shares?"

"No."

"No regrets?"

“Mr. Chen, 1% of the shares are worthless if you don’t go public to realize your profits. Even if your company has a second major shareholder, no one will be interested in that 1%.”

Cai Zhijian's words confirmed that Chen Xuebing's company was unlikely to be listed on the A-share market.

Chen Xuebing laughed and said, "It seems you intend to earn 30 million in these five years."

Cai Zhijian paused for a moment and said, "Actually, according to my listing plan, it should be 50 million. Capital companies are still very popular in the international market, but not necessarily in the A-share market. The A-share market doesn't see concepts, it only recognizes the real economy and profits. Mr. Chen, you might as well reconsider. I think you dare to offer an annual salary of 3 million to recruit a president in the early stage of your business, so you should have the ambition to go public."

He himself felt that asking for a six million annual salary was a bit outrageous, and even three million was too high for Chen Xuebing's company's situation. What he wanted was a pie in the sky, a pie he might have in the future. But Chen Xuebing really did have that pie.

And it's much bigger than Cai Zhijian imagined.

"How about this, Mr. Cai? We'll go with your terms. Salary will be paid upon joining the company, every six months. After two years, we'll negotiate a three-year term. If I'm still willing to hire you then, I'll make up the 20 million you didn't expect, and you can start your own business in five years."

Cai Zhijian was stunned.

"Six million...annual salary?"

The 50 million yuan equity stake is an expectation, but the annual salary is a tangible reality.

Chen Xuebing smiled and said, "Yes, you have to remember that this annual salary and the 20 million compensation I promised you were given to you at the beginning of the business. It was to buy your expectations. If the company grows big during this period, don't feel resentful... This is actually a betting agreement."

“…No.” Cai Zhijian understood what Chen Xuebing meant: “If I join the company, I will do my best to create value for the company. No matter how much or how little value the company has, I will work hard. Mr. Chen doesn’t need to worry about that. I think it meets my expectations that you are willing to pay six million a year for my time.”

“Alright.” Chen Xuebing glanced at him with his hands behind his back and said, “But I will have someone send you a detailed information about our company. Do your homework. Right now, you don’t even know what kind of company we are. I don’t think you can handle the job.”

Cai Zhijian frowned: "Isn't the company's main business... investment?"

"It's an investment; we're investing in this era."

As Chen Xuebing spoke, he looked around, swept his finger across the wasteland, and laughed:
"How about we buy this place before your first contract expires in 2008?"

……

……

Investing in Shenzhen Bay is a story for another time.

But after leaving Shenzhen Bay, Chen Xuebing canceled his flight from Bao'an Airport to Chongqing the next day and instead departed from Baiyun Airport. Then, under the cover of night, he took Ren Ying to Guangzhou to prepare for the company's first investment.

The next morning, a meal was hard to find.

Target: Duowan Games Network.

The address of the company behind this website can be found online; it's in Tianhe Software Park. But that's all the address says. They had to ask security guards on several floors after entering the software park to find out the exact building and floor.

This company is called YY Inc.

The company's founder is already somewhat well-known; his name is Li Xueling. He graduated from the Philosophy Department of Renmin University of China, worked as a reporter for China Youth Daily, and served as the editor-in-chief of Sohu and NetEase.

He's a troll.

Why don't you search for those who criticized Zhang Chaoyang?

Why is Kingsoft, which once criticized Lei Jun, not as good as Symantec?

However, both of the people who were criticized were magnanimous. They were not angry at all, but rather admired him. One recruited him and the other invested in his startup.

This year marks the first year of World of Warcraft's entry into China. The Chinese server opened on April 26th, and in just six months, Duowan Games has become the most popular gaming portal website for World of Warcraft players.

However, Chen Xuebing didn't come for Duowan, but for another product of this company in the future.

YY.

YY Voice and YY Live are pioneering products, traffic kings during the transition from PC Internet to mobile Internet. They rank second only to QQ in the category of communication software, and their online activity time and spread have reached viral levels.

Chen Xuebing realized early on that before the mobile internet era arrived, he still needed to do something on the PC side to have the strength to compete with major software.

He simply lacked money and motivation, didn't understand the industry, and found it difficult to monetize his internet business these days, so he was somewhat resistant to PC internet.

Tencent's provocation, which served as a warning to others, dispelled his last bit of hesitation. With his fighting spirit ignited, various strategies immediately came to mind.

Tencent's rise was driven by its strategy of suppressing user traffic and acquiring companies with capital.

He chose to attack on the same track as Tencent.

The essence of the American Marshall Plan was to contain the Soviet Union by funding postwar Europe and then control European resources.

The internet industry today is in a rebuilding phase following a period of stagnation in IPOs.

He's a seasoned user of communication software for over twenty years; he knows exactly which ones will become popular, how they will become popular, and when they will become popular.

If QQ is number one, then he'll aim for second through tenth!
Among them, YY Inc., which was established almost at the same time as the Chinese version of World of Warcraft, was undoubtedly the best opportunity, offering benefits without cost.

Chen Xuebing went to the seventh floor and pulled the glass door of the company outwards.

With a click, the door shook.

Someone immediately ran in, waving their hands and shouting:
"Push! Push it inwards! Zhang Yunfan, can you find a repairman to change the door to open outwards? Everyone who comes in pulls on it, the doorknob is worn out! The bedroom door only opens inwards!"

An impatient voice came from inside.

"Replacing the door is too expensive! Just put up a sign to remind people!"

Chen Xuebing was very pleased to hear this.

Even something as simple as changing a door exudes a sense of shabbyness.

"Hello, what's up?"

The fat man inside opened the door, frowned, and sized up Chen Xuebing and Ren Ying behind him, who was wearing thin-rimmed glasses, stockings, and had a strong OL (office lady) vibe.

When he saw Ren Ying, his eyes lit up slightly, revealing a hint of the lewdness of a fat otaku.

Chen Xuebing's flight was at 4:30 PM, and it was already past 10 PM, so he got straight to the point: "Hello, is Mr. Li here?"

"What do you want with him?" The fat man looked back at Chen Xuebing and scanned him up and down.

"Let's talk about investment."

"We're not short of money, we're just a little busy right now, sorry."

The fat man decisively took a step back, preparing to close the door and refuse customers.

A voice came from inside at the same time: "Li Xueling! The Molten Core is about to open! Are you going in or not?!"

"Get in! Get me in, I'm coming right away!" the fat man roared.

Chen Xuebing thought to himself, "Holy crap!"

The employees were playing games, and the boss came to open the door. Unbelievable!

"You're Li Xueling?" Chen Xuebing stuck his foot in, blocking the door.

Then he swept his finger up and down across the glass door, and said with a hint of mockery:

"Your company isn't short of money?"

(End of this chapter)