Chapter 46: Robot Zuckerberg Faces a Grim Future

Jian shot Brian a look of utter disappointment, causing the latter to immediately shut his mouth. Seeing this, Yan Fei pressed his advantage and said, "Jian, Brian, how about twenty million US dollars for a forty percent stake? This will ensure you don't need any financing for at least the next two years."

After a brief silence, Jian let out a helpless sigh and said in a deep voice, "Mr. Yan, we can cede at most thirty percent equity for fifteen million US dollars. This is our bottom line. Otherwise, we cannot ensure that the founding team retains control of the company during subsequent financing rounds."

Looking at Jian's firm and unyielding expression, Yan Fei sensed that this was likely his limit. He then said in a resolute tone, "Pleasure doing business with you. The non-Chinese mobile social networking market will be handed over to WhatsApp, and I will authorize WhatsApp to use WeChat's creative concepts and patented technologies."

"That's fantastic! Thank you, Mr. Yan!" Brian jumped up and shouted in excitement. A happy smile also broke out on Jian's face, and the atmosphere in the meeting room grew harmonious and friendly once again.

The subsequent signing of the agreement went smoothly. After appending both of their signatures, Yan Fei successfully acquired the future world-class mobile social networking application, whose value would eventually reach at least twenty billion.

Recalling how WhatsApp would later be sold to Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook for nineteen billion US dollars, Yan Fei felt that this deal was practically a massive loss. He therefore said to Jian and Brian, "I want WhatsApp to remain an un-sellable asset. In the future, we must steer WhatsApp toward an independent public listing. We need to sign a consensus agreement on this point."

Neither Jian nor Brian had any thoughts of selling WhatsApp at the moment, nor could they foresee the future, so they readily agreed to Yan Fei's proposal. The three of them signed a supplementary agreement stipulating that WhatsApp must pursue an independent IPO.

After finalizing the WhatsApp investment, Yan Fei hugged Jian and Brian to say goodbye. Upon returning to his hotel in San Francisco, he threw punches in the air inside his room in celebration. Blas also hugged Yan Fei excitedly and couldn't help planting a kiss on his cheek.

After pulling away, Blas looked somewhat shy. Fearing he might hurt Blas's feelings, Yan Fei generously explained that such displays of affection between good friends were entirely normal, which quickly dispelled Blas's embarrassment.

Seeing Blas return to an easygoing demeanor, Yan Fei asked in a deep voice, "How is the contact with Tiny Speck going?" Tiny Speck was the predecessor of Slack, having just been established not long ago and currently working on an online multiplayer game called Glitch.

Blas responded immediately, "Tiny Speck replied that they are not short on money, don't need financing, and therefore declined to meet with us."

After a moment of contemplation, Yan Fei said, "We'll go over there directly tomorrow. Since they're also in San Francisco, it'll only take an hour out of our day."

The next day, Yan Fei took Blas straight to Tiny Speck's offices. Blas took the initiative to approach the front desk and soon managed to persuade the receptionist to inform the boss of their presence.

Before long, the receptionist returned and smiled at Blas, saying, "As it happens, the boss is free and willing to grant you a meeting."

Yan Fei and Blas immediately followed behind the receptionist into the CEO's office. A man in his mid-to-late thirties stood up, walked over with a smile, and addressed Blas, "Dear Ms. Blas, I'm very glad you've graced our company with your presence."

Blas smiled softly and replied, "Hello, Stewart. Please forgive our abrupt intrusion. This is my boss, Mr. Yan, a trading genius from Wall Street who has won the recognition of heavyweights like Jester and other Wall Street elites."

Yan Fei immediately smiled, reached out to shake Stewart Butterfield's hand, and said, "Hello, Stewart. I founded an investment firm in New York, and my abrupt visit today is simply because I want to invest in you."

Stewart gestured for Yan Fei and Blas to take a seat and smiled. "Mr. Yan, I previously read the New York Times report about you—a massive twenty-fold return in a single year. You certainly live up to the title of a Wall Street trading genius."

Yan Fei laughed heartily. "Thank you for the praise, dear Stewart. I happen to think so myself. Back in the day, you founded Flickr, pioneering online photo sharing and leaving a profound mark on internet history. A year later, it was acquired by Yahoo for thirty-five million US dollars. You are a role model for our generation, and I hold you in high esteem, Stewart."

Hearing Yan Fei recount his proud past put Stewart in a great mood, and he looked upon Yan Fei with increasing favor. He laughed loudly and said, "My dear Yan, your vision is quite impressive. True to your reputation as a Wall Street trading genius, what is your view on Flickr's future?"

Yan Fei smiled faintly, knowing inwardly that Stewart was testing his caliber to see if he was qualified to invest in him. He calmly replied, "Although Yahoo is very strong and massive in scale, it is already showing signs of decline. Today's Yahoo is utterly devoid of innovation and is destined to be eliminated by history. It's just a pity that within Yahoo's ecosystem, Flickr is bound to lose its drive for innovation over time and ultimately be weeded out by the internet."

A look of agreement appeared on Stewart's face. He gazed earnestly at Yan Fei as if he had found a kindred spirit, and said with emotion, "To be honest, I somewhat regret selling Flickr to Yahoo. They smothered Flickr's vitality. In the span of just five years, Flickr's share of the photo-sharing market has plummeted to less than twenty percent—and this was the pioneer!"

"Indeed, Stewart," Yan Fei nodded, saying, "It truly is a regrettable state of affairs."

The two men chatted happily about the internet for a while, finding themselves increasingly intellectually aligned. Stewart dropped his previous reluctance toward Yan Fei's investment proposal and said in a firm voice, "My dear Yan, I completely agree with you. Even though Tiny Speck isn't short on cash, I am still willing to cede a portion of equity to you, and I hope you will become my co-founder."

"My dear Stewart!" Yan Fei said with a smile. "Thank you for your recognition. I would love to invest in Tiny Speck, but I believe that Glitch—the online multiplayer game you are currently pursuing—is not a good idea. Compared to companies like Blizzard and Ubisoft, you lack experience and technological advantages in this field, making success extremely difficult. It would be best not to sink capital into this sector."

Upon hearing this, Stewart's expression grew serious as he replied earnestly, "My dear Yan, while we may lack the experience and technological edges of Blizzard or Ubisoft, massively multiplayer online role-playing is a great gaming track. I believe that as long as we maintain high quality, we will surely succeed."

"I don't think so!" Yan Fei said gravely. "While MMORPGs are indeed a great gaming sector, Tiny Speck currently lacks top-tier technical talent. Furthermore, this track requires massive investment with limited potential, making it very difficult to attract venture capital favor."

As their conversation deepened, no matter how Yan Fei tried to persuade him, Stewart stubbornly stuck to his guns. Seeing this, Yan Fei could only let out a helpless sigh. However, this head-to-head discussion did not diminish Stewart's favorable impression of Yan Fei.

The two exchanged contact information and concluded the meeting. On the way back to the hotel, Yan Fei thought about how Stewart would begin developing enterprise communication and collaboration software in 2010 for internal use at Tiny Speck. By 2012, the Glitch game would fail completely, prompting a pivot into the enterprise communication and collaboration software market, leading to the official launch of Slack in 2013, alongside the company renaming itself Slack.

Naturally, Yan Fei had no intention of missing out on Slack, a future thirty-billion-dollar enterprise. He planned to wait until 2011, when Stewart fully realized that the Glitch game path was a dead end and his funds were nearly exhausted, before stepping in to persuade him to pivot into enterprise communication and collaboration software, while simultaneously investing in Slack to secure a stake in the equity.

After lunch, Yan Fei looked at Blas and asked with a smile, "Blas, do you know Stewart?"

Blas smiled faintly and replied, "I've met him a few times. Stewart attended my last birthday party."

Yan Fei smiled without probing further and asked, "Is Square still unwilling to meet with us?"

Blas nodded and answered in a low voice, "I've spoken on the phone with both of Square's founders, Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey. They just secured ten million US dollars in funding from Khosla Ventures and don't need capital right now. They indicated that we can participate when they open their Series A round."

Realizing that he had missed out on the angel round of Square—a company destined for a forty-billion-dollar market valuation in the future—Yan Fei felt a deep sense of regret. With a serious expression, he asked, "Are Jack and Jim planning to kick off their Series A financing this coming January?"

Blas looked at Yan Fei in shock and asked, "Boss, how did you know? Jack did indeed tell me that their Series A starts in January and asked me to get in touch with them then."

Nodding, Yan Fei said gravely, "Blas, I am extremely bullish on Square. Help me keep a close eye on them; I want to be the very first person to approach them in January."

That afternoon, Yan Fei stayed in the hotel managing his trades until it was time for his flight back to New York. He then departed San Francisco, bringing his investment trip to a close. Though things hadn't gone entirely according to plan, he had still managed to secure two out of four exceptionally promising future companies. Yan Fei estimated that these two investments would yield a return of over forty billion US dollars a decade later.

Upon returning to New York, Dawson had already successfully established Minxin Company's first private equity fund. Everyone sat excitedly in the conference room, waiting for Yan Fei to issue directives on their investment direction.

Seated at the head of the table, Yan Fei swept his gaze over the room and stated in a deep voice, "The financial crisis has passed, and economic recovery has arrived. The technology and financial sectors, as well as commodity prices, are bound to experience a rise. Additionally, the Federal Reserve will roll out loose economic policies, and the US dollar will weaken—this is our window to enter the market."

Hearing this, Dawson asked, "Boss, should we directly buy tech and financial indices? Go long on commodities? Short the US dollar in the forex market?"

Yan Fei shook his head and replied, "Our first private equity fund only has forty million US dollars—the scale isn't massive, so there's no need to scatter our bets. We'll buy stocks of some leading enterprises in the tech and financial sectors, and then hold the positions while we wait."

Upon hearing this, everyone looked utterly shocked. Dawson asked with a bewildered expression, "It's that simple? Boss, isn't this a bit hasty?"

"No harm in it!" Yan Fei smiled. "Trading is actually very simple: buy at the right position, wait, and sell at the right price. There's no need during this period to look at other sectors or freakish individual stocks, because no matter how pretty they look, they aren't our women—they are only for observation, not to be touched."

Dawson didn't entirely understand, but he still executed Yan Fei's orders, leading the team to continuously purchase shares of various companies in the US stock market in a mindless, repetitive fashion.

After the meeting adjourned, Yan Fei recalled how the US stock market would march steadily upward following the economic recovery for over a decade, during which the market caps of the four tech giants—Microsoft, Apple, Google, and Amazon—would multiply over tenfold. A sense of urgency regarding his need for capital welled up inside him.

Opening his US stock account, the market value of the Apple shares he held had already reached three hundred million US dollars, a fifty percent increase. The funds in his futures account had also climbed to four hundred million US dollars, though the growth rate was beginning to plateau.

Yan Fei did some math. Based on the four-hundred-million-dollar balance in his futures account, he could generate fifty million US dollars in weekly returns. Using those fifty million to purchase shares of the four tech giants was still just a drop in the bucket.

Thinking of the explosive growth rate of the four giants' stock prices, Yan Fei felt he was missing out on immense wealth. He had to figure out a way to acquire at least a two percent stake in the four giants within the year. The advantage of doing so was that it would yield a two-hundred-billion-dollar return in the future, while also allowing him to become an honored guest of the giants, secure a certain degree of voting influence, and break into the upper echelons of American society.

Given that the combined market capitalization of the four giants was currently around seven hundred billion US dollars, a two percent stake would require fourteen billion US dollars in capital. This astronomical sum left Yan Fei feeling a profound sense of powerlessness.

After pondering for a long time, Yan Fei decided to return to China first, secure a loan of at least two billion US dollars from his prospective father-in-law, use those funds to buy Apple stock, and then use the Apple stock as collateral to take out further loans to buy Microsoft stock. By repeating this loop, he could solve his massive capital requirement.

The next day, Yan Fei arranged everything and caught a flight back to Shen'an City. After resting for a single night, he immediately went to see his prospective father-in-law, Liu Zhe. At Liu Zhe's private club, Yan Fei took a sip of tea and said, "Uncle Liu, I need two billion US dollars. Can you step in as a guarantor to help me secure this funding from a bank?"

Liu Zhe abruptly spat out the mouthful of tea he had just swallowed. He stared at Yan Fei in profound shock and asked incredulously, "How much? How much did you say?"

"Two billion US dollars!" Yan Fei stated with a firm expression.

Liu Zhe immediately shook his head and said seriously, "Two billion US dollars is over thirteen billion RMB. Even if I sold every company under my name, I might barely scrape together that much. To be frank, I don't have that much pull. Even if I step in as a guarantor, the bank won't grant you a loan of that magnitude."

Yan Fei pondered briefly and asked, "Uncle Liu, what credit limit would the bank extend with your backing?"

Liu Zhe thought for a moment and replied in a low voice, "Even with my guarantee and collateral pledged from the assets under my name, the absolute maximum credit limit would be five hundred million US dollars."

Yan Fei agreed with Liu Zhe's assessment, but with such a massive gap, his subsequent strategy would certainly be severely hindered. He therefore said, "Uncle Liu, WeChat Technology currently has fifteen million registered users and a valuation of at least two hundred million US dollars. In the future, reaching ten billion is a sure thing. If I use WeChat Technology as collateral, how much of a loan limit could I secure?"

After a brief meditation, Liu Zhe shook his head. Domestic banks had zero interest in the valuations of internet companies; as long as WeChat Technology wasn't publicly listed, banks simply wouldn't recognize its value.