Chapter 890: The Death of Yagawa Masaru
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The old man had clearly seen many people like this in the past few days. Thus, he was very relaxed and proficient in saying such words.
However, this was normal. After all, j.a.pan was in a financial crisis, and there were definitely many people who would be headed up onto the rooftop.
As the iconic building of the Kanto region, Mid Tower was obviously a popular place. He had been guarding the rooftop recently, so he must have seen many similar people.
In the blink of an eye, Yagawa Masaru felt even more guilty.
After all, it was all because he was overly confident and looked down on Su Yang which led to him bringing Su Yang into his own country.
If his actions were to be described by China citizens, it would be him luring his enemy into his lair.
And now, that enemy had caused so much destruction in his home country, that he should indeed apologize for being the sinner.
However… Everything was going to end that day.
Yagawa Masaru was going to return to the arms of his G.o.d, along with his sins.
Thinking up to that point, Yagawa Masaru seemed to have let go of everything. He turned his head and smiled. Then, he said to the crowd on the rooftop, “Everyone, I’ll be taking my leave now. Be careful not to hit me when you jump later. If you do, it’s going to be difficult for the others to clean it up later.”
Hearing Yagawa Masaru’s words, the people on the roof could not help but be surprised.
A few of them had been there for several days, but they did not dare jump.
In the past two days, they had seen people who were afraid, hesitant, and carefree, but they had never seen someone so carefree.
‘Who is this man?
‘Why is he being so cool even when he’s seeking death?’
Just as everyone was curious about Yagawa Masaru’s ident.i.ty, Yagawa Masaru turned his head and looked at the bottomless abyss before him. He opened his arms and shouted, “I, Yagawa Masaru, have let down all j.a.panese people! Today, I shall apologize with my death! I hope that I can still live to be j.a.panese in my next life!”
As he shouted, he suddenly lost his balance and fell, facing the howling wind.
Listening to the howling wind, and seeing the ground getting closer and closer to him, Yagawa Masaru gently closed his eyes…
“Yagawa-kun! That’s Yagawa-kun! That’s Yagawa Masaru!”
When the people on the rooftop heard his words, they finally realized who the person in front of them was!
‘So… The person who just jumped in front of us was the richest man in j.a.pan, Yagawa Masaru!’
At that moment, the people on the rooftop were in an uproar. They rushed to where Yagawa Masaru had jumped off the building and looked down, wanting to take one last look at the richest man in j.a.pan.
However, 200 meters was just too high for them to see anything clearly. They could only hear a sound like a watermelon hitting the ground, and the sound of it shattering…
Thus, the legendary richest man in j.a.pan had ended his life, just like that…
…
While Yagawa Masaru had used his death to protect his family and Samsung and Toyota’s Conglomerate, Su Yang had also welcomed an important guest in Shanghai.
Back at Shanghai in Su Yang’s villa, Mr. Ma was sitting beside Su Yang, curiously looking at the aquarium of sharks in the living room.
That aquarium of sharks was prepared by Su Yang when he first cooperated with Wu Feng to suppress Wu Feng’s momentum. There were three little sharks swimming in it, and Su Yang called them the TFBOYS.
From then on, the three little ones moved into Su Yang’s house. Even after they were moved to a new place, they were moved in by the Little Monster Beans.
Regardless of whether they were ordinary people, rich people, or big shots, all the guests who came to Su Yang’s house would be shocked when they saw the TFBOYS and would come to take a look.
Mr. Ma was no exception.
That time, because of Su Yang’s invitation, Mr. Ma came all the way from Shencheng to Shanghai to discuss the details of his collaboration with Su Yang.
However, he did not expect to be attracted by the shark tank as soon as he entered the room.
Mr. Ma walked around the TFBOYS twice and sighed. “Mr. Su, you youngsters really are brave. You even dare to raise sharks.”
Su Yang smiled. “It’s fine. They’re quite docile.”
Mr. Ma asked curiously, “Docile? What do they usually eat? Fish bugs?”
Su Yang replied, “Of course not.”
He stretched out his hand to measure the length of his forearm and said, “They eat fish, about seven to eight of them that are this long.”
Mr. Ma gestured to measure as well and felt that the fish really looked like a human’s forearm. ‘In other words, these sharks would eat seven to eight arms-length worth of fish a meal, which makes it 20 over fish over three meals…
Mr. Ma then imagined each fish to be the size of his arm and suddenly felt… ‘What a b.l.o.o.d.y feeding method.’
He moved his gaze away from the shark tank and changed the topic. “Mr. Su, let’s sit down and talk about business. As for these aquatic animals, I prefer them cooked.”
Su Yang laughed and led Mr. Ma to the sofa.
The two sat down and started to talk business.
The collaboration that time was mainly about the aftermath of Nindentou’s downfall. Back then, before Su Yang went out to sea, the two of them had a meal and negotiated a collaboration. Su Yang helped Mr. Ma ensure Nindentou’s downfall, while Mr. Ma took out something valuable to exchange with Su Yang.
At the time, Mr. Ma did not believe that Su Yang had the capability to do so. However, the truth had been slapped to his face.
That was not all to Su Yang’s capabilities, he was even more capable than that. Dealing with Nindentou was just a matter of convenience for him.
Hence, it was Mr. Ma’s turn to fulfill his promise.
The most important thing in the business world was reputation. Although there would definitely be people who would break their promises, no one would dare to break their promises when the other party’s strength was about the same or even higher than them.
Hence, this time, Mr. Ma brought seven to eight sets of materials with him. They all had conditions listed in them for Su Yang to choose from.
Su Yang took the materials and looked through them.
The first was Su Yang’s previous motive, the shares of TTK, Korea’s largest social software.
It was obvious that Mr. Ma was very sincere that time. He immediately brought out his trump card.
Su Yang put down the doc.u.ment and picked up the next one.
The second doc.u.ment was Snap’s shares.
Snap was an emerging social media platform in America. It focuses on new types of social media with “photos deleted in 10 seconds” and “random graffiti”. Tencent had invested 200 million USD in the company’s potential in 2013.
This had always been regarded as a successful transaction for them.
This was because FB later offered 3 billion USD to buy Snap, only to be rejected.
According to the doc.u.ment, Snap has been doing very well in the past few years. In 2015, it made about 56 million USD, but in 2016, it made 270 million USD in eight months, and was expected to grow around six times that amount over the year.
Due to the smooth development, the company now had 150 million active users and was recently seeking to be listed.
Su Yang’s heart skipped a beat as he asked Little Deeny to check on the company.
Based on the feedback from Little Deeny, the company was hailed as the largest technology company in recent years, IPO, after Ali went public. It was well-liked by Wall Street.
Su Yang nodded and picked up the next doc.u.ment.
The next one was Tencent’s share purchase agreement. The agreement stated that Tencent would give Su Yang 30 million units of shares, which were worth about 1.5 billion USD.
That was 0.5% of Tencent’s total capital.
However, the market price was one-third lower than the market value, so it only cost 1 billion USD.
According to Tencent’s estimation, this price was very low. It was obviously a “friends.h.i.+p price”.
However, Su Yang noticed something even more than what was on the surface…
At that thought, Su Yang lifted his head from the doc.u.ments and looked at Mr. Ma, who had a bright smile on his face.
Su Yang did not say anything and continued reading.
The rest of the information was more complicated. Some were shares of an overseas company, some were creditor, some were cash, and some were land. However, all of them looked quite valuable.
Su Yang sorted through the information. Then, his brain raced as he weighed the prices of these doc.u.ments and the projects that he was interested in.
While he was thinking, Mr. Ma saw that he had finished reading and asked, “Mr. Su, are you satisfied with my sincerity?”
Su Yang nodded his head. Putting everything aside, just Tencent’s shares of TTK and Snap were enough to show his sincerity, not to mention Tencent’s own shares.
These things could not be bought with money. Choosing any one of them would yield a good return.
However, the strange thing was that according to Su Yang and Little Deeny’s estimations, these items were not worth as much as Nindentou, but any two of them were a little too much.
‘This “sincerity” of his seems a little strange. Perhaps Mr. Ma is prepared to pay a little more to befriend me so that we can work together in the future?’
At the thought of this, Su Yang pondered for a moment and probed, “How many of these can I choose?”
Su Yang’s next target was Korea. In the society where Korea was the leader of the financial group, he had to use social media to open up the situation. Hence, he had to choose TTK shares.
However, he was coveting Snap’s shares as well. After all, with this new social media app, when he gained control of Korea and Central Asia, he might be able to compete with America for global dominance.
When he heard Su Yang’s question, Mr. Ma smiled and said straightforwardly, “How many can you choose? You don’t have to, those are all for you.”
Su Yang raised his eyebrows. “They’re all for me?”
Mr. Ma nodded. “That’s right. Nindentou is too important to our organization, so after careful research, we believe that only the value of all those combined can match what you’ve given us.”
Su Yang looked at Mr. Ma and remained silent for a long time.
‘Only these combined values can match what I’ve given him…?
‘Nonsense.
‘How’s that possible?’
Su Yang recalled the value of those items. The shares of TTK and Snap totaled up to a few billion USD, while Tencent’s shares were worth a billion USD. On the other hand, Nindentou’s market value before j.a.pan’s economic crisis was only 20 billion USD, which had probably dropped all the way down to 10 billion USD at that moment.
‘Even if Tencent invests in us, it would be impossible to get more than 50%.
‘So, how could these be of equal value?
‘As for saying Nindentou is important to him…’
Nindentou’s IP, content creation, was indeed a huge supplement to Tencent’s gaming empire. However… Tencent was a huge corporation that was close to 2 trillion yuan. After all, their revenue did not just come from games.
Especially in recent years, in order to avoid walking on one leg, Tencent had been developing income in other fields, so as important as Nindentou was, it was not that important.
So…
‘Brother Ma is obviously putting on a huge show.’
At the thought of this, Su Yang looked at Mr. Ma and said with a half-smile, “Brother. Ma, we’re all on the same side. Let’s not beat around the bush. Do you need my help?”
Mr. Ma did not hide it and said straightforwardly, “Brother Su, actually, we really don’t have anything we want you to help us with right now.
“However, to be honest, in these agreements, the most important thing to us is not TTK and Snap’s shares, but Tencent’s shares.
“I have a good eye for people. I know you’re not an ordinary person, so I want to tie you to Tencent.
“With Tencent’s shares in your hands, you might prioritize Tencent when it comes to bringing us along. In the face of certain choices, you might also favor Tencent.”
Su Yang was enlightened when he heard Mr. Ma’s words.
‘No wonder I feel that there are too many resources being offered here. It’s because I’m treating Tencent’s shares as payment, while he’s treating this as a new partners.h.i.+p.
‘From the looks of it, TTK and Snap’s shares are the compensation for Nindentou, while the rest are the “compensation” for accepting Tencent’s shares. After all, taking over Tencent’s shares requires 1 billion USD. The other bonds, land, and cash would add up to about 1 billion USD.’
At the thought of this, Su Yang could not help but sigh at Mr. Ma’s appropriate arrangement. He was indeed the richest man in recent years. To be able to establish the Tencent Empire, he was indeed not a simple person.
Since this matter had been cleared up, Su Yang understood that it was not a simple matter of whether he could take the shares or not. He had to consider it carefully.
After all, once the decision was made, the moment Tencent decided to increase the shares of Jiadian Group, everyone in the wealthy circle knew that they were taking sides.
Therefore, he placed the doc.u.ment on the table and said, “Mr. Ma, your sincerity is too much, so I need to consider it carefully.”
Mr. Ma knew that this matter was very important and could not be rushed, so he did not rush him.
Then, the two stopped talking about business and started to talk about other topics.
After chatting for a while, Su Yang asked Mr. Ma to stay for dinner before asking the chauffeur to send him back to the hotel.
After sending Mr. Ma off, Su Yang called Zhao Licheng over and had a small meeting with him and Little Deeny to discuss whether they should accept Tencent’s shares.
At the mention of this topic, Zhao Licheng first a.n.a.lyzed the current situation in the country for Su Yang.
There are now four forces in the domestic capital market.
The first was an industrial company represented by w.a.n.g Wanda, the richest man in China. They relied on their connections and worked with relevant departments and banks everywhere to build houses on land. With real estate as the core, they touched on other industries and expanded like a s...o...b..ll.
The second force was Tencent, the company that occupied half of the country’s internet. Over the years, Tencent had used the flow of traffic created by his social media app to invest in a series of companies.