"Go to the United States?"
When Akanishi Ken and his subordinates heard that their President Aoki was about to embark on a "card-hunting journey" to the United States, they were all stunned.
President Aoki…
What kind of dedication is this?
Can't you give up a year or two and let us rest for a while?
Do you have to get this thing done?
Akanishi Ken was not young anymore; his daughter was already several years old. He had cultivated himself well in recent years, but at this moment, he had an urge to curse Aoki Haruhi.
It's been five years!
Do you know how we've lived for five years?
Ever since a certain day in 1990, President Aoki, this tormentor, always liked to mess with a bunch of novel things, either tormenting programmers or being on the way to torment programmers.
He originally thought that after the Sony PS was released, there wouldn't be much commotion until the pokémon 3d world game was completed.
He didn't expect Aoki Haruhi to make such a big splash as soon as he made a move.
Everyone had finally analyzed the situation thoroughly, combining it with reality, and concluded that "this is an impossible mission," but they didn't expect President Aoki to be so stubborn.
No graphics card support, so he's really going to find a graphics card to support it?!
Uh~
Akanishi Ken clutched his chest, feeling exhausted, and his whole body felt unwell.
However, as a father, and most importantly, as a subordinate, Akanishi Ken ultimately held back.
Is a 3D graphics card something you can just have?
And why would a Japanese company president go to the United States to find a graphics card company? Why would they pay attention to you?
The most crucial thing is—
"Why have none of us heard of this Nvidia?"
In fact, everyone couldn't quite understand President Aoki's determination to develop for the PC end.
Compared to console game, PC game at that Time was just a small fry.
What was even more terrifying was that no one had ever heard of this Nvidia.
...
In short, once Aoki Haruhi made up his mind, basically no one could persuade him.
However, before his trip, pokeni unexpectedly welcomed an uninvited guest—
Masayoshi Son.
When HR-chan informed Aoki Haruhi, he was still a little disbelieving.
But this name was too special.
So special that even Ayase Akane felt a bit awkward when she pronounced Masayoshi Son's name.
Aoki Haruhi peeked through the blinds in the President's office.
It really was Masayoshi Son.
A small man of 150 cm, now in his 30s, but his hair was almost receding to the back of his head.
With a round face, if it weren't for his rather old-fashioned appearance and balding, he would look like a child.
Holy cow, why would Masayoshi Son come here to me?!
Speaking of Masayoshi Son, the first related term that popped into Aoki Haruhi's mind was Alibaba.
Masayoshi Son can be said to be an internationally renowned, out-and-out investor. Sometimes, his foresight is so accurate that it makes people wonder if he is a Time traveler.
He invested in Yahoo, and then in Alibaba. When he invested in Alibaba, Masayoshi Son said there was no special reason, he just felt that Ma Yun, this young man, had bright eyes, light in his eyes, and was very infectious, so he invested.
By 2000, SoftBank owned important joint ventures or wholly-owned enterprises throughout the United States and Europe:
Over 300 American companies, over 300 Japanese companies, and all assets under its jurisdiction, including related businesses, venture capital funds, and strategic alliances, totaled 40 billion US dollars, making it one of the top ten companies in Japan. Masayoshi Son finally became a true "global player."
Moreover, he was once the richest person in the world for a day.
So, he is often called Sun Richest Man.
Such a person has terrifyingly accurate foresight, even more so than Aoki Haruhi, like a Time traveler.
Just doing investments, he could become the world's richest man, even if only for a day, which is already very impressive.
Furthermore, Masayoshi Son's personality is very straightforward; he is a standard man of action. Peter Clark, head of Cisco's business unit, even said that Masayoshi Son doesn't resemble the slow-paced Japanese, but rather a man of swift action. The Internet Age was just budding, but SoftBank was already eagerly embracing the new era.
He's quite bold, just showing up without an appointment.
What if I wasn't here?
Wouldn't you have made a trip for nothing?
The key is—
Aoki Haruhi felt that he wasn't yet at the point of getting involved with Masayoshi Son; he wasn't in the game business.
...
However, although Aoki Haruhi was puzzled, he still invited the visiting Masayoshi Son into the President's office.
After they exchanged business cards, Aoki Haruhi shook his hand and invited Masayoshi Son to sit on the sofa.
"President Sun, welcome to pokeni.
However, why did you suddenly decide to visit our company without making an appointment call beforehand?"
Aoki Haruhi served him a cup of tea.
Masayoshi Son sat on the sofa, with his legs crossed, a sunflower-like smile on his face, and he was more than a head shorter than Aoki Haruhi.
He might even be about the same height as Guo Xiaosi.
Though small, Aoki Haruhi didn't dare to underestimate this person.
Some say Masayoshi Son is of Chinese descent, while others say he is of Korean descent.
In reality, Masayoshi Son's ancestral home is Putian, Fujian, but after multiple migrations, his ancestors settled on the Korean Peninsula, and then moved to Japan.
You wouldn't be wrong to say he's a descendant of Chinese people, nor would you be wrong to say he's a descendant of Koreans, and it's even more correct to say he's a native-born Japanese.
However, Masayoshi Son himself prefers to be considered a Japanese person with Chinese blood.
When he was a child, Masayoshi Son actually had a Japanese name, "Yasumoto Masayoshi," but he always disliked this surname. He loved reading "The Art of War by Sun Tzu" and insisted that he was a descendant of Sun Wu, the famous military strategist from the Spring and Autumn Period, so he insisted on the surname "Sun."
But this lineage isn't necessarily a good thing for Masayoshi Son, because in Japan, for crucial votes or channels, your bloodline limits the possibility of others allowing you to advance.
Masayoshi Son's achievements today are mainly due to his own exceptional abilities.
His foresight that transcends his Time, and his Time machine theory, similar to that of a Time traveler, are all key to Masayoshi Son's success.
"President Aoki," Masayoshi Son took a sip of tea, then, getting straight to the point, revealed his signature smile and said, "I want to invest in pokeni, and I hope President Aoki can transfer a portion of the equity to SoftBank."
"Eh?" Aoki Haruhi was stunned.
He suspected he had misheard.
Masayoshi Son, SoftBank, wants to invest in me?
What kind of operation is this?
Aoki Haruhi thought back and estimated that this year should be the Time when Masayoshi Son's first big move would appear.
SoftBank, having initially accumulated capital, was eager to invest the money in its hands, according to Masayoshi Son's sand table deductions, to realize his great ambitions.
However, coming to pokeni was something Aoki Haruhi hadn't expected.
Pokeni's total assets are currently around 120 billion Japanese yen.
1995 can be said to be one of the years with the highest Japanese yen exchange rate in history, reaching an astonishing 79.75 to 1.
Roughly 80 Japanese yen to 1 US dollar.
This means that Aoki Haruhi's company has now grown to a scale of over 1.5 billion US dollars.
This was a very impressive achievement in that era.
How much did SoftBank, which went public last year, have?
1 billion US dollars.
Pokeni has half a billion more than them.
What was Sun Richest Man thinking?
Oh, right, pokeni is not listed, so its financial reports are not public. Masayoshi Son cannot accurately know pokeni's current valuation; he can only make judgments based on some market research.
But...
Aoki Haruhi wasn't sure if it was his illusion, but he felt that even if Masayoshi Son knew that pokeni's size was larger than SoftBank's, he would still want to try to get a piece of the pie.
"Did you invest in the wrong person?" Aoki Haruhi asked, puzzled.
Yahoo next door is your target, right?
"No, I didn't invest in the wrong one." Masayoshi Son's eyes sparkled, "I just want to invest in pokeni."
"If I had to say what we're investing in, we're actually looking at pokeni's potential for future internet development."
Masayoshi Son's goal was very clear: for the past few years, he had been single-mindedly focused on the internet.
Yahoo was actually within his hunting scope as well.
It's just that he did come to find Aoki Haruhi today.
"Eh?"
Aoki Haruhi was even more flustered now.
You can even see our development potential on the internet?
My Steam hasn't even started planning yet; it only exists in my mind, not to mention other internet-related industry content.
Masayoshi Son, this guy, can see all this.
Do you have mind-reading abilities?
Or the ability to predict the future?
"I really like the game forum you created," Masayoshi Son explained. "It's the first forum I've seen in Japan, and its design is so complete and advanced. It allows many people to interact and communicate, which is actually a very impressive product."
"The internet is a very magical thing. Look, the messages we send here can be transmitted hundreds of kilometers away in less than a second through the internet."
"The internet has narrowed the distance between people and also accelerated the entire Time."
"When I saw pokeni's forum, I felt that this thing must be more than just this. The future of this company is limitless, and too many possibilities can be expanded through the technology of this forum."
Masayoshi Son's eyes gleamed as he said with a happy smile, "That's why I want to invest in pokeni."
Good heavens.
Is it really for a forum?
Moreover, our pokeni focuses on game.
"But President Sun," Aoki Haruhi said with a wry smile, "pokeni is a game company, yet you're investing in us because you value the game forum. Isn't that a little strange?"
"No, no, President Aoki."
Masayoshi Son looked at Aoki Haruhi strangely, seemingly not expecting this guy's perspective to be so narrow.
"Internet, also known as the international network.
It's inherently an international thing.
President Aoki, as the leader of an enterprise, don't you want to make your enterprise world-class and international?"
Before Aoki Haruhi could answer, Masayoshi Son added, "Doesn't President Aoki want to become the richest person?"
Aoki Haruhi opened his mouth, and after a long while, he managed to say, "I do want to."
"Exactly, who doesn't?"
Masayoshi Son laughed heartily, "I've wanted to be the richest person since I was a child."
"Look, the internet, the international network, the world is a big net, connected by computers.
Whoever can master the future of the internet will become the richest person in the world.
But, one of the most crucial words in this is internationalization."
How keen was Sun Richest Man's sense of smell, and how bold and courageous was he?
Aoki Haruhi said, he wanted to, but they didn't seem to be short of money yet.
"Aoki-san, internationalization means going out and looking at the world. And making your allies numerous," Masayoshi Son said earnestly and passionately, "Let us take a stake, and SoftBank will become pokeni's first closely connected, fate-bound ally."
"Don't look at it as just a forum now, but the interactive model, topic model, and various section systems you've created, with a slight expansion, can become other things with infinite possibilities."
Sun Richest Man said, "Pokeni is not yet listed. Once it is, pokeni's assets can increase tenfold!"
The Internet Age was just budding, but SoftBank was already eagerly embracing the new era.
Sun Richest Man spoke with such passion that Aoki Haruhi was drenched in his saliva.
But Aoki Haruhi remained unmoved.
He didn't know why, perhaps influenced by many stories on the internet in his previous life, Aoki Haruhi had a natural resistance to others taking a stake in his company.
However, from this perspective, Masayoshi Son and Nao Tsuda were quite similar.
Nao Tsuda had also advised Aoki Haruhi more than once to aim for a public listing.
Once listed, assets would increase tenfold!
How tempting that was.
The current world's richest man, Bill Gates, only had a total net worth of 20 billion US dollars.
If pokeni increased tenfold...
Aoki Haruhi didn't even dare to imagine.
"We have 'Computer Weekly,' partial shares in Asahi TV, and also the agency rights for Cisco in Japan. 70% of software sales channels are controlled by SoftBank. President Aoki, do you understand?
As long as pokeni is tied to SoftBank, the future of computers and the internet in Japan will be ours."
Hiss...
Aoki Haruhi gasped.
Has SoftBank become this terrifying?
When did they start laying out the internet? How did SoftBank manage to extend its tentacles into every aspect of Japan's internet industry by 1995?
Aoki Haruhi's heart tightened, and at the same Time, he understood why Masayoshi Son had come knocking.
Perhaps pokeni was the only piece of internet industry untouched within his sight.
This piece of internet industry, which included forums and online game, was an entertainment industry built on the internet and computers.
After acquiring pokeni, SoftBank would complete its strategic deployment across the entire internet sector.
Internationalization.
Big picture.
So that's how it is.
Aoki Haruhi finally realized.
Of course, these are just the currently visible internet products. In the future, there will also be online banking, e-commerce, online lending, online video, streaming media, consulting, network services, network security, and a series of other derivatives.
However, Masayoshi Son's investment thinking truly enlightened Aoki Haruhi.
So that's how you play capital game.
What the heck was I doing before?
...
To be honest, Aoki Haruhi didn't feel much when Masayoshi Son was painting a grand vision for him earlier, but what Masayoshi Son said later about SoftBank's internet advantages did make Aoki Haruhi somewhat tempted.
"If President Aoki doesn't let us invest, then I'll go invest in pokeni's competitors, you know," Masayoshi Son said playfully at that moment.
Ah, this...
Good heavens, you just gave me a candy, and now you're threatening me with a big stick from behind, huh?
Do you know who pokeni's competitors are?
Aoki Haruhi said he still didn't know.
If he had to name pokeni's competitor, Aoki Haruhi's target was Nintendo.
Does Nintendo need SoftBank's investment?
However, Masayoshi Son reminded Aoki Haruhi of something, even making him open his mind and feel as if he had achieved enlightenment—
So that's how you can play it.
Please Support me by becoming my Patreon member and get 20+ chapters.
[email protected]/Ajal69
change @ with a
Thank You to Those who joined my Patreon